All posts by h716a5.icu

For Arsenal fans, having more than one defender capable of playing consistently well seems like an almost impossible feat, but it was once the case when Gabriel Paulista was at the club.

The Brazilian defender joined the Gunners in the winter transfer window of 2015 when Arsene Wenger realised midway through the 2014/15 season that the team needed more than two fully fit centre-backs in Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker, and after a few games of Nacho Monreal and Calum Chambers covering in central defence, it was quickly apparent Arsenal needed reinforcements, and Gabriel was brought in.

Signed for £11.2 million from Villarreal, Gabriel joined the Gunners with a respectable reputation after a good half-season with the Yellow Submarine, and good things were expected of the Brazilian defender.

Gabriel’s first season with the Gunners saw the defender establish himself as a solid member of the Arsenal team, with his warrior-attitude and impressive last-ditch tackles the Brazilian quickly became a fan favourite in north London, but it soon became apparent that the centre-back might not last long in the Premier League.

First-team opportunities were hard to come by and there were reports that Gabriel had found it hard to adjust to life in England, which is why it didn’t come as a surprise when Arsene Wenger sold the defender just 18 months after signing him to Valencia for £9.9 million according to Transfermarkt.

It might have seemed like the right move at the time, but since returning to Spain, Gabriel has been nothing short of impressive for the La Liga side, manning a defence that has seen Valencia make it to the Champions League and subsequently the Europa League semi-final, where the Brazilian will face a reunion with his former club.

It will be a bittersweet affair for Arsenal. Whilst the fans will have no quarrels with Gabriel, the club will be kicking themselves for letting the Brazilian go after just 18 months at the club, especially with how poorly the Gunners have been defensively this season.

Gabriel has shown that Arsenal were wrong to sell him two years ago, and Unai Emery will be thinking why his predecessor didn’t keep hold of him just that extra bit longer.

Gunners fans, what are your standout memories of Gabriel? Join the discussion by commenting below…

[ad_pod ]

At 29 years of age you’d expect better from Hal Robson-Kanu. But, the fact of the matter is, the Welshman is now suspended for the entirety of the play-offs.

His red card was extremely petulant, kicking out at Derby man Bradley Johnson. Why he did it in injury time with his side three games from promotion, only he will know.

Robson-Kanu’s form hasn’t been particularly great this season but he’s still been a useful man to bring off the bench.

Because of his suspension, Jimmy Shan now only has two fit first-team strikers going into the biggest matches of the season. So, what should his solution be?

On the chalkboard

In truth, Albion haven’t needed more than two strikers this season. Both Dwight Gayle and Jay Rodriguez have been phenomenal, scoring 23 and 22 goals respectively in the league.

However, going into the weekend the Baggies could do far worse than giving Jamie Soule a first-team call-up. The 18-year-old has been exceptional for the youth teams this term and despite not bolstering huge experience, he seems to thrive on the big occasion.

In the FA Youth Cup, he found the net against the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City as Albion reached the semi-finals.

That proves Soule can do it in games of importance and although it would be a baptism of fire, he should be an option to consider. That’s especially considering the lack of attacking choices left at Shan’s disposal.

Soule would certainly prove to be a more lively customer from the bench than Robson-Kanu has been. He boasts the ability to run at the defence which is something that could be telling in the latter stages of matches.

Across all age groups this term, the forward has notched 14 goals. That’s a superb indicator of the talent he possesses.

It would be a considerable gamble to thrust him in at such an important stage of the season, but with a report suggesting Borussia Dortmund are lurking, a senior team call-up is sure to have him thinking twice about the possibility of moving away.

[ad_pod ]

Sheffield Wednesday have already announced that six players will be leaving the club upon the expiry of their contracts. That list could see a seventh man added if Keiran Westwood doesn’t agree to terms on a new deal at Hillsborough.

The stopper has been the subject of interest from Huddersfield Town as of late, and he has already rejected one contract offer from his current club.

What’s the situation?

According to The Sun (May 15, Page 51,), the Republic of Ireland international is reportedly unhappy with Wednesday’s current offer and could be willing to leave the club in the summer on a free transfer.

Westwood worked his way back into the Owls’ starting XI after being left out of Jos Luhukay’s plans, but Steve Bruce brought him back into the side where he flourished.

The keeper went on a run of keeping eight clean sheets in 15 games, Showing the higher-ups at Hillsborough exactly what he brings to the table.

It seems that those types of performances didn’t impress the men in charge at Wednesday as they haven’t offered him a contract which he deems worthwhile.

Undervalued

If Wednesday haven’t offered Westwood a deal that he finds acceptable then they are seriously undervaluing him.

The goalie is amongst the most valuable players in the Championship, and his weekly wage should reflect that.

Pl>ymaker FC Exclusive: Jermaine Jenas reveals he would have snubbed Tottenham for Arsenal if they’d come knocking in 2005…

If Bruce doesn’t understand what calibre of player he has on his hands then he may be about to make a grave error.

If the Yorkshire club allow Westwood to join one of their rivals they will live to regret it, as he can single-handedly win points for any team in the division.

There aren’t many goalkeepers available at Championship level who even come close to the Irishman, and unless Bruce has an incredible replacement lined up he can’t afford to let him go.

Sunderland fans have got the glamour of a Wembley play-off final to look forward to next weekend, but as that game draws closer, the silly season continues to roll on. One rumour that has surfaced thanks to Football Insider claims that Adam Matthews could be set to leave the Stadium of Light for free and join Sheffield Wednesday, although his future isn’t what the fans should be worried about.

That deal might not be one that the Black Cats want to see go ahead, but in all honesty, the Mackems would do much better to let the former Celtic man leave and hold onto a different full-back in Bryan Oviedo. The 50-cap Costa Rican has starred for them this season, particularly against Portsmouth, and holding onto him will be absolutely vital if they’re to make the climb back to the top flight again soon.

Adam Matthews is definitely a talented defender, and at the age of 27 years-old, there is still plenty that he has to offer either Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday or whoever else he may end up plying his trade for at the start of next season. For now, though, both Matthews and Oviedo will be focused on getting past Charlton and into the Championship, and only then can the transfer rumours really start spinning.

If promotion is achieved or not, all that the Mackems will be focusing on is keeping the players they know that can help them make the climb and getting rid of those who will be of no use to them in seasons to come. Oviedo may be two years senior to Matthews, but he is the better option, and they should do anything they can to hold onto him, even if it does mean allowing Matthews to leave.

Bryan Oviedo has been a loyal servant to the club in his days in the Northeast since he left Everton back in January 2017. His Transfermarkt valuation stands at a meagre £1.8 million, but his worth to Jack Ross’ side is a whole lot more than that of just under £2 million, and he can certainly be key to any future promotion pushes in either League One or the Championship.

[ad_pod ]

During the Avengers: Endgame conclusion, Thanos, the big bad in Marvel’s pop culture phenomenon, squares off with Robert Downey Jr’s brilliant scientist turned superhero Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. He tells him, with chaos all around him and having made half of the Earth’s population disappear with a snap of his fingers, “I am inevitable”.

Avengers continues to be shown in cinemas, with billions around the world flocking to see the epic conclusion to an arc that has spanned more than 20 films. It is perhaps fitting, then, that it exists at the same time as this phenomenal Manchester City team, managed by a brilliant footballer turned genius manager Pep Guardiola.

City won the Premier League title this season by one point from a game Liverpool side who chased them all the way. They clocked up 98 points en route to them lifting the trophy; only one other team has ever accrued more across a 38-game season: City, last term. This triumph, then, was perhaps inevitable.

It is easy to fall into the trap of casting Liverpool as the heroes, here, as the Avengers battling to bring down the man who wants to snap half his competition away. But that would be to oversimplify it.

At the end of the day, City are and were inevitable both as victors of this Premier League season and as an entity. They are backed by a Gulf state and have all the money in the world; the ownership could, were it not for Financial Fair Play’s flimsy regulations, perhaps buy Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo in one transfer window and have change to add another football club to their ever-expanding portfolio that currently includes teams in the USA (New York City), Australia (Melbourne City), Japan (Yokohama F.Marinos), Uruguay (Club Atletico Torque), Spain (Girona) and China (Sichuan Jiuniu). There is an idea that they could also expand into India.

This is no flash in the pan, and City are likely to continue winning, but, really, it is a compliment to the genuinely astonishing competitiveness that exists in English football.

Billionaires – and you do have to be a billionaire these days – flock to buy clubs in England because they want to achieve success and have their profiles raised because of it. It has been happening since the inception of the Premier League. A businessman named Jack Walker, who broke the British transfer record when he signed Chris Sutton for £5m in 1994, backed even plucky little Blackburn Rovers to the title.

The Glazers own Manchester United and have financed them handsomely, Roman Abramovich is in charge of Chelsea and made waves when he jostled his way to the front of the Premier League queue by appointing a brash Jose Mourinho and splashing the cash, and even Joe Lewis has financed Tottenham Hotspur’s glistening new stadium, which cost over £1bn to build. FSG at Liverpool bought the world’s most expensive defender in Virgil van Dijk just in a bid to compete with City.

It is just that the Blues have the endless reserves to sustain it. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan owns City and his family’s wealth is estimated to top £1trillion. Spending £100m on a footballer to Mansour is akin to the average Joe buying a pack of chewing gum, or, perhaps, a ticket to an Endgame screening.

Now, there are questions to be asked over the ownership, not to mention the fact that there is the very real threat of City being expelled from the Champions League over financial irregularity too.

But this article is to focus on the on-pitch stuff; and City have done plenty, winning a domestic treble and becoming perhaps the greatest Premier League team of all time in the process.

They will go again this summer, buying the best talent they can and paying handsomely to do so, and will likely get even better next season.

They have set the bar so high that it is unlikely that the majority of clubs will be able to compete; only Liverpool, Chelsea and United really have the finances to do so and the latter two have routinely shown that they cannot be trusted to buy success.

City can. And they have.

Their 6-0 FA Cup triumph over Watford that clinched the treble was the subject of a piece by the Independent’s Chief Football Writer, Miguel Delaney, who wrote: “The English game’s great showpiece became a great showcase for a huge problem in football, and not just in this country.”

He added: “We are just seeing in England a predictability that has become a massive problem in Germany, in Italy, in France and in Spain.

“City thereby aren’t alone in that, but they do stand alone in terms of the nature of their project, and how they could prospectively make this problem so much worse.”

It is not their fault, really. City never asked to be bought out in 2008 in one of the most astonishing deadline days football can remember; Sky Sports will continue to hope for a repeat but, I’m sorry to say, Jim, it’s almost beyond the realms of possibility.

It happened and we have to deal with it; we have to hope that the Premier League catches up.

Or maybe the bubble will burst and every team will be forced to start the season with exactly the same transfer budget, like some socialist Football Manager experiment.

But for now, we will continue to gawp on as City rack up title after title. They will probably do it again next season.

Or maybe the inevitability will cease and the top-flight’s own Avengers will step up and ensure that Pep doesn’t get his hands on English football’s Infinity Stones again.

But it feels too late; the snap has taken place and half the competition has dissipated. It was always going to happen. The Premier League was too unpredictable to stay that way forever. A duopoly or worse was forever lurking, it just took the right ownership of the right club to happen.

Next season, it’ll be another two or three-horse race and the rest will fight on, aware that they can’t even hope to be involved in the title picture in 2019-20 or, perhaps, ever again, at least until the latest billionaire rocks up looking to spend some of their cash in England.

[ad_pod ]

Tottenham Hotspur continue to be linked with a summer move for Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale.

All the options have been discussed in various stories. It could be a free transfer. There could be a loan deal. Perhaps Christian Eriksen, the attacking midfielder targeted by Zinedine Zidane, could move the other way.

There is, it seems, a genuine will within the media or perhaps at Real for Spurs to re-sign a player that they turned into a superstar.

Bale moved to Spain in 2013 in a then-world record £85million deal. He signed a new contract in 2016, which contains a €1billion (£878m) buyout clause. That won’t be reached this summer but it doesn’t seem to matter, with the Spanish club seemingly desperate to rid themselves of the Wales international.

The problem, inevitably, lies in the finances. Bale earns £350,000-per-week at Real and, for a second, we have to put to bed the arguments about whether or not he’d actually be a good signing. He might be, he might not be, but let’s have a look at the financial side.

If Bale were to move without a transfer fee – potentially on loan – with Spurs matching his current wage demands, he would cost them £18.2m-per-year before any sort of bonus is considered.

It is unthinkable that Spurs would countenance such a payment to any player, such is the stringency of their wage bill.

Now, of course, there is the possibility that Real could help subsidise those wages but surely they would want at least a portion of them paid by the loaning club. If they took on half of his wages and Spurs the other half, they would each pay him £175,000. That is less than what is paid to Harry Kane, currently, per Spotrac, with the England international earning £200,000-per-week.

But it would still add £9.1m to the wage bill – a figure which exceeds the annual salaries of Davinson Sanchez, Christian Eriksen and Heung-min Son.

If Spurs were willing to match Bale’s current demands, however, he would tower above the rest of the club’s top earners.

The shirt sales argument comes in here – it is very rare that fans purchasing those shirts has any bearing on the club making money back – but it is also prescient to ask whether or not Bale is actually worth this kind of outlay.

Son, the second-highest paid player at Spurs, earns £140,000-per-week and he plays on the left side of the attack, in what is essentially Bale’s favoured position.

Bale played 42 games this season in all competitions and Son played 47; the South Korea international scored 20 goals and laid on 10 assists, and could add to that tally in the Champions League final, while his counterpart netted 14 and provided six.

Why would Bale suddenly come in and earn more than Son when he is actually only receiving half his wages?

Not only is it an irrational prospect, it’s one which could genuinely unsettle what appears to be a thoroughly harmonious dressing room.

This is not something that can be considered. Could he potentially lower his demands? That is a possibility, yes, but not to the level Spurs need. Only Kane and Son earn over £100,000-per-week – or £5.2m-per-year – and several key players, the likes of Eriksen, Lucas Moura and record signing Davinson Sanchez, earn under £80,000 every seven days.

This is not at all a hard-luck story for those players but it bears considering when one considers the likelihood of a transfer. Bale would have to take a hit of roughly £12m-per-year, personally, to make such a switch.

The question here is simple: why would he do such a thing? The return to Spurs is a romantic notion, of course, but it simply doesn’t make any sense from either side.

A deal could cause Pochettino a major problem in his endeavour to incorporate Bale into the starting XI, and Alexis Sanchez’s time at Old Trafford serves as a pertinent reminder of how major disparities between wage and contribution can sour the dressing room atmosphere.

Considering the enormity of his current salary, financially and logically a Tottenham move doesn’t add up.

Klopp here to stay.

In the not so distant past, beIN Sports correspondent Tancredi Palmeri made the sensational claim that Juventus had been in touch with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp about their manager position, which was recently vacated by Massimiliano Allegri.

Naturally, Klopp didn’t hold back when responding to the speculation, dismissing it out of hand.

The German coach, who is preparing to lead Liverpool into a second successive Champions League final on Saturday night, has reaffirmed the fact that there is absolutely no chance of him walking away from Anfield this summer, which we are 110 per cent inclined to believe.

“Of course it’s a league that I like, it’s really exciting but all these rumours I hear about Juventus are bull****,†Klopp told Sky Italia (via Liverpool Echo).

“There is nothing true about it. I am not going to leave Liverpool. I know Serie A very well, I follow it and I like it, but I am going to stay at Liverpool.â€

And breathe…

Remarkably, Klopp will be looking to end a run of six straight final defeats in his managerial career when his Liverpool side battle with a club who know a little something about bottling themselves, Tottenham Hotspur.

It just seems nonsensical that Klopp would even consider leaving at this point. The Premier League may not have gone to plan, but surely if they replicate their form from this season next time around then the master of man management has a domestic title to look forward to. Not to mention the fact that they will more than likely be challenging for another major European cup next season. When they’re on the cusp of something special, why would he give that up now?

Simple answer: he wouldn’t.

Liverpool fans, could you ever see Klopp leaving the club? How badly do you think it would damage your future prospects? Let us know in the comments below…

[ad_pod ]

Tottenham Hotspur have submitted an improved bid for Real Betis midfielder Giovani Lo Celso, per Football Insider.

What’s the word?

The report claims that Spurs are willing to “smash their transfer record” to secure the 23-year-old, who has enjoyed an outstanding season in Spain.

The bid is reported to be worth £60m, a major increase on their current record purchase, which stands at the £42m paid for defender Davinson Sanchez.

Lo Celso scored 16 goals in 2018-19 while also laying on six assists; five of those goals came in just seven Europa League games.

And Spurs are attempting to persuade Betis to do business for the Argentina international, who has won 12 caps for his country.

Lo Celso’s current release clause stands at £88m but Football Insider report that Spurs are hopeful the Spanish club will do business for less.

Brilliant but volatile

Lo Celso is clearly an excellent footballer with the ability to score goals and provide assists for his team-mates.

But he also has a competitive streak.

He collected ten yellow cards in all competitions last term, two more than any Spurs player. Danny Rose picked up the most for the north London club, with eight, while Harry Kane and Erik Lamela both had six to their name.

It is a problem that Lo Celso must fix, particularly in the Premier League, if he is to adapt to life under Mauricio Pochettino.

The Argentine clearly wants to improve the quality of his starting XI and a move for the Liga star would certainly do that, but he simply has to work on his discipline if a transfer is to be deemed a success.

[ad_pod ]

Having won the Champions League last term, their sixth major European Cup success, Liverpool gained entry into the Club World Cup which will be held in Qatar this December.

The competition will mean that the Reds have at least an extra two games added to their schedule, in addition to their already hefty fixture list that includes competing in the Community Shield against Manchester City, as well as League Cup, FA Cup, Champions League and Premier League commitments.

Jurgen Klopp’s men also have a UEFA Super Cup game to think about against Chelsea on the 14th August – they are in with a chance to win a staggering seven trophies next term.

You can relive Liverpool’s Champions League celebrations in glorious 2D thanks to the guys at 442oons in the video below…

But with that, they will need a big squad that is able to contend with a possible 67 games if they make it to the finals of every competition – 69 if they are taken to replays in the FA Cup third and fourth round.

So, do the Reds have a big enough squad to cope?

Above are all of the players available to cover in each position.

It can be said that Liverpool have a very strong first and second team, which could compete competently in competitions such as the FA Cup and League Cup.

However, their third-string side doesn’t look too much different other than the likes of Harry Wilson, Caoimhin Kelleher, Adam Lewis and Ryan Kent, all of whom are unproven at the top level.

Furthermore, Liverpool have already slapped £15m price tags on the heads of Clyne and Mignolet with Napoli and Bournemouth respectively interested, whilst there is also interest from Leeds in both Wilson and Kent; their squad could get even thinner.

When title rivals Manchester City have the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Leroy Sane sat on their bench – perhaps that depth is the reason they won four trophies last season – then it can easily be argued that Liverpool don’t have enough bodies for their seven-competition season next term.

While certainly not the most glamorous name, Scott McTominay has been the biggest sustained success of the club’s academy in recent seasons. Indeed, the young Scotland international has impressed under both Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, winning an award last season under the former as a result of his rise to prominence.   

Even in fairly limited appearances amid what has been a difficult period for the Red Devils, strong praise from both the Portuguese and the Norwegian certainly suggests the youngster has a place at Old Trafford.

Still, according to Sport, the club are apparently interested in Ivan Rakitic if Barcelona sell the Croatian this summer. Undoubtedly a big name and someone who has played at the highest of levels for a number of seasons now, the fact he’s 31-year-old and was described as “baffling” by Sport (via Metro) after his performance at Anfield in the Champions League should be a worry.

United have spent a lot of money on big names since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson and not an awful lot of such signings have been a success, with even Wayne Rooney suggesting the club should change their strategy on that front when talking to ESPN recently.

Indeed, if his poor display against Liverpool wasn’t enough, then his decision to attend an annual festival in Seville (via AS) immediately after the humiliation was potentially as bad as Paul Pogba’s social media post after Mourinho’s sacking. Yes, it seems churlish to talk about off-field matters but with so much talk (Gary Neville really wasn’t happy) devoted to the Frenchman, criticising one and not the other would be unfair.

So, when you compare all that with McTominay’s impressive showing in the first leg against Barcelona in the Champions League, where he won 100% tackles and defensive aerial duels and completed two out of three take-ons (via Statman Dave), perhaps there’s an argument to suggest he should be given more of a chance.

Obviously, it wouldn’t be a like-for-like replacement should the Barca star arrive but with the likes of Eric Dier also linked with a move to the Theatre of Dreams, McTominany shouldn’t be lost in any potential shuffle.

United fans, do you think McTominay can continue his impressive development next season? Join the discussion by commenting below…