Sports Category
Sports news, commentary and scores with wit and added value. We compare and contrast the best and worst sports reporting in the mainstream press, blogs, TV and online. We love the English Premier League (Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and Manchester City) and all things football but we cover cricket, rugby, the Olympics, tennis, golf, F1 and highlights of the sporting year.
Transfer balls: Liverpool move for Chelsea winger Hudson-Odoi
The less he plays the better he gets. News is that Liverpool have joined Bayern Munich in the chase for Chelsea and England youth winger Callum Hudson-Odoi, 18.
Bild says Hudson-Odoi’s brother and advisor has met with Liverpool representatives. The club’s manager, Jürgen Klopp, likes the player whose Chelsea contract expires in 2020. The German paper adds that Chelsea are moving heaven and earth to keep their man, offering him more money and playing him for a whole ten minutes as they went down 2-0 at Arsenal. It might not be enough.
Having introduced a player apparently worth over £30m to Chelsea fans in dribs and drabs, the Blues are keen to insert a buy-back clause in any deal. Chelsea want to avoid making the kind of mistakes that saw them miss out on Romelu Lukaku when their former striker joined Manchester United. Although how big of a miss that was is debatable.
Posted: 24th, January 2019 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Gonzalo Higuain: Chelsea sign Juventus striker who played for Arsenal
Chelsea have signed Juventus striker Gonzalo Higuain. The 31-year-old Argentine will remain at Chelsea until the end of the season.
“When the opportunity to join Chelsea presented itself I had to take it,” said Higuain. It’s a team I’ve always liked that has a lot of history, a wonderful stadium and they play in the Premier League, a league I’ve always wanted to play in.”
Has he forgotten signing for Arsenal in 2013?! Surely not:
Such are the facts.
Arsenal Transfer Balls: Suarez and Rodriguez in; Ramsey out; Ozil shoots
You’d suppose Denis Suarez was lightning fast given how long Arsenal have been chasing him without landing a finger on the Spaniard’s shirt. The chase continues because Barcelona want Arsenal to buy their man at the season’s end. Arsenal would prefer to take the Suarez on loan and wait and see.
The Gunners are also keen on James Rodriguez, the Real Madrid player who wants to cut short his two-year loan spell at Bayern Munich. Absurd, no, that a player can be on loan for two seasons. Why no just sell him? Rodriguez joined Bayern because the German missed out on Alexis Sanchez, who opted to learn the piano at Old Trafford.
Rodriguez costs Bayern €15m a year – €5m to Real and €10m to the player. At the end of two years, Bayern have an option to buy him for another €35m. They don’t want to. And Real don’t need him. The Colombia forward signed a six-year deal at the Bernabeu in 2014.
Should the Gunners get both players, they will allow Aaron Ramsey, 28, to join Juventus this month for a peppercorn transfer fee.
One player not longer heading to the Emirates is Manchester United. Old Trafford have blocked any loan deal. Also not playing for Arsenal is goalkeeper Emi Martinez, who is to join Reading on loan.
In other news, Arsenal went paintballing. The Mail says: “He cannot get a look in for recent games but German midfielder Mesut Ozil was brought back in from the cold.” Or as the Sun puts it: “PAINTBAWL – Mesut Ozil can’t even get in Unai Emery’s paintball team… let alone Arsenal starting XI.”
Such are the facts.
Arsenal: Mislintat out; Overmars to bring Ajax talent to The Emirates
Finally some transfer news from Arsenal: head of recruitment Sven Mislintat will leave the club. He’s not leaving in the transfer window, which would be fitting. He’s leaving in February. The German arrived at Arsenal in December, 2017, at the behest of then chief executive Ivan Gazidis, aka ‘Ivan the Terrible’. Arsenal says Mislintat has “done a truly outstanding job in helping us recruit players who are making a big impact now and will do so even more in the future”. If he’s that good, why is he leaving?
“It’s been an amazing experience to work at a great club like Arsenal in what has been a big time of change,” says Mislintat. “I am excited about what the future holds for the club and am looking forward to new challenges for myself.”
During Mislinat’s tenure, Arsenal signed Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. All three not only delighted the Arsenal store manger who charges £2 a letter for players’ names on replica kits but also Borussia Dortmund, the club where all three used to play and – yep – Mislintat was head scout. You might suppose his job was to get them and once he’d got them, he was spent. You might also suppose that in looking to replace Mislintat with Ajax’s Marc Overmars, the Gunners are more than a bit interested in some of the Dutch club’s talent.
Arsenal: Ian Wright serenades the post-Chelsea glow under a Red Moon
A Red Moon soars into the night skies. But not only God is a Gooner. Bathed in the glow of Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Chelsea on Saturday evening, Ian Wright shared a video on Instagram of giving full throat to Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Wrighty. So good they named him thrice.
Arsenal balls: the Bellerin knee ‘horror’
In today’s 2-0 win for a hard-working Arsenal side over a limited Chelsea, Gunners defender Hector Bellerin was injured. Something happened to his knee. There was no blood. No broken bones. No flesh let on the turf. But to the Sun it was a “horror injury”. How bad was it? Well, the paper wants you to look, oozing: “BELL TOLLS – Watch moment Bellerin suffers horror leg injury before being carried off in tears during Arsenal’s win over Chelsea.” Ghoulish? Yep. But anyone hoping for gore will be sadly disappointed.
After watching a short video of Bellerin falling over – the film topped by an advert for Ibis Hotels (check out those brand values, lads) – readers are told Bellerin was stretchered off “after appearing to suffer a horror leg injury”. Adding: “Replays seemed to show a ligament next to his left knee SNAP.” They did? Maybe. Maybe not. The paper then opines: “Gunners boss Unai Emery will be hoping Bellerin’s injury is not too serious.” He can hope all he likes; the Sun has spoken: it was a “horror injury”. If Emery doesn’t believe us he can watch the video.
The Metro gives us a second opinion: “Hector Bellerin suffered a suspected cruciate knee ligament injury during Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Chelsea.” Suspected by whom?
The Standard doesn’t hear the knee go “SNAP”. Bellerin “went down without contact from a Chelsea player, appearing to twist his knee.” He twisted his knee. Painful. But a “horror injury”?
The Express thunders: “ARSENAL star Hector Bellerin faces nine months on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury against Chelsea.” That all? The diagnosis is rooted in the opinion of a US physio watching the game on the telly.
As for facts… “It is his knee,” Arsenal manager Unai Emery confirmed after the game. “The first prediction is it is an important [bad] injury. I hope no, but it is not positive, our first impression.” More to follow…
Posted: 19th, January 2019 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Transfer Balls: Liverpool £61m for Felix; Martial stays at Manchester United; Everton in for Chelsea striker; Higuain jets in for Spurs
A round-up of today’s transfer rumours and other fluff and nonsense in the Press. Let’s kick off with Liverpool, who’ve bid £61m bid for Portugal Under-21 attacking midfielder Joao Felix, 19. Correio da Manha says Benfica, his current club, think the teenager is worth more. Someone arguably worth less is Philippe Coutinho. The Liverpool Echo in a no-news special says Liverpool won’t be resigning the Brazil midfielder, 26, they flogged to Barcelona for a whopping £142m just 12 months ago. Many other clubs also won’t be buying Coutinho.
One player who could be finally on his way to the Premier League is Juventus and Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain. Chelsea want to sign the 31-year-old before week’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Tottenham, says the Sun. That’s the same paper that told us Higuain played for Arsenal. That story remains live on the paper’s website. Chelsea fans shouldn’t buy those Higuain replica shirts just yet.
In the sunny uplands of Manchester United, Anthony Martial, 23, is all set to agreeing a new five-year contract, says Sky Sports. And Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (aka Fergie Mark 2) wants to leave his rooms at the Lowry Hotel in Salford and find a permanent address in Manchester.
Everton have £40m for Chelsea and Belgium forward Michy Batshuayi. Everton are determined to catch the so-called Big 6. That means gaining ground on Arsenal, a club seemingly determined to return to a state of mid-80s torpor. News is that James Rodriguez, 27, will remain at Bayern Munich for the rest of season. The Express says Arsenal have as much chance of signing him as they have of keeping a clean sheet.
And finally Barcelona have had enough fo Malcom, 21. ESPN says that any club offering the £35.2m they paid Bordeaux for the player last July can have him. Spurs are interested.
Posted: 19th, January 2019 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Chelsea, Liverpool, manchester united, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Jose Mourinho rewrites Chelsea history; Petr Cech and me
News that Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech is to retire at the season’s end is exciting the mouth of Jose Mourinho, who managed the goalkeeper when they were both at Chelsea. Talking to beIN Sports about life at Manchester United before he was sacked and more, thoughts turn to Cech.
“When I arrived in Chelsea, he was a kid, only 20 years old. The goalkeeper was Carlo Cudicini – the season before he was elected the player of the season – and the first game of the season was Chelsea against Manchester United and I decided to leave out our player of the season before, and play a kid that nobody would know how to even say his name because Petr Cech was quite difficult to say. After that everything was about him. My influence was zero.”
Really?
On 2 June 2004, Mourinho moved to Chelsea on a three-year contract. Chelsea bid for Cech (born 20 May 1982) on 7 January 2004 – when Claudio Ranieri was Chelsea manager. Real Madrid and Inter Milan were also interested in him thanks to, as the BBC put it, “some stirring performances for his club and country over the past 18 months”. Cech was in goal for the Czech Republic team that reached the semi-finals of Euro 2004. Chelsea got their man in February for £7 million. Cech signed a five-year contract, to commence in July 2004. He was 22. Cech competed for a first-team place at Stamford Bridge with Cudicini, Marco Ambrosio, Jurgen Macho and Neil Sullivan.
The Chelsea player of the season the year before Cech arrived was Gianfranco Zola.
Mourinho did not decide to leave out Cudicini. The Italian was injured. Sky Sports reported:
Czech Republic international Petr Cech was satisfied to keep a clean sheet on his competitive Chelsea debut. Cech was given the nod by Jose Mourinho to start Sunday’s Premiership meeting with Manchester United and he repaid his manager by shutting out the opposition. The summer signing had relatively little to do between the posts and is hoping to retain his spot ahead of Carlo Cudicini.
But after all that Mourinho says his influence was “zero”. Claudio Ranieri is away.
Posted: 18th, January 2019 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Transfer News: Arsenal lose Ramsey for nothing; player gets £300,000 a week at Juventus
And so it came to pass that Arsenal failed in their desperate bid to secure a transfer fee for Aaron Ramsey. The 28-year-old Welshman has signed a pre-contract agreement to join Juventus in the summer. Ramsey, who was seeking parity with Arsenal’s absurdly overpaid Mesut Ozil – £350,000-a-week – has signed a four-year contract with the perennial Italian champions worth £300,000 a week.
Any transfer fee Arsenal were hoping to get has gone instead into Ramsey’s pockets. The Gunners are now faced with the prospect of paying a player who no longer has his heart in the club £140,000-a-week until May, and picking him over Ozil, who they are trying to offload but can’t.
Arsenal’s beancounters can focus on the fact that between them Mesut Özil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan cost the club a combined £530,000 a week. This means Arsenal can only recruit players on loan until the season’s end.
What a mess.
Manchester City Transfer Balls: Frenkie de Jong confusion; chasing Spurs star Christian Eriksen
To say that the Daily Mirror’s transfer reporting on Manchester City’s pursuit of Ajax’s Netherlands midfielder Frenkie De Jong is sourced at bullshit.com is to give it too much credit. Today’s news in the “intelligent tabloid” is that the 21-year-old dreams of playing for Pep Guardiola. So City it is. But Frenkie’s a pragmatic sort so he’s willing to join PSG because they’re the only club willing to meet Ajax’s £66m asking price.
This would all be less interesting were it not for the fact that the Mirror has previously told us De Jong agreed to joined City for £61m:
In other Manchester City transfer balls, AS says Pep likes Spurs midfielder Christian Eriksen, although Real Madrid remain favourites to sign the 26-year-old. City also like Crystal Palsce’s 21-year-old right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka. And a deal has been agreed to recruit Hajduk Split’s Ante Palaversa for an initial £7m.
Posted: 17th, January 2019 | In: Back pages, Manchester City, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Manchester United transfer balls: Fellaini out; Carrasco, Brooks and Under in
Manchester United are trying to offload the Hairy Elbow, aka Belgium midfielder Marouane Fellaini. The club says he can go if a bid for around £15m arrives. AC Milan, Porto and Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande are said to be interested.
Once upon a time, Arsenal wanted Fellaini. They couldn’t afford him now. Just as they can’t afford Cengiz Under or Yannick Carrasco. Both players are wanted by the Gunners. But United have the cash to take them. Mrs Carrasco, aka Miss Belgium 2013 Noémie Happart, was asked if she knew of Arsenal and United’s interest in her husband. “Yes they are very interested,” she offered. “I do not hide it but nothing is signed.”
Rumours abound that United also fancy Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly, Juventus’s Douglas Costa and Bournemouth’s David Brooks.
Finally, filed under one of the future is Tromso’s over 14-year-old Norwegian Isak Hansen-Aaroen. Everton and Liverpool are also keen.
Posted: 16th, January 2019 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Arsenal Transfer Balls: Carrasco and James Rodriguez in; Ozil and Mislintat out
Today’s round-up of Arsenal transfer news has no update on Aaron Ramsey’s departure to Juventus but does note that Mesut Ozil could also be bound for Italy. Rumours are that Unai Emery wants shot of the German and Inter Milan will take him if Arsenal pick up a chunk of that £350,000-a-week wage bill.
Arsenal need to get rid of Ozil in order to pay for Belgium winger Yannick Carrasco’s return to Europe from Chinese club Dalian Yifang.
Arsenal also rather like Colombia and Real Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez. He wants to cut short his two-year loan spell at Bayern Munich. With just six-months left to run, Rodriguez could cost Arsenal a mere £3m in wages – roughly what Ozil earns in two months.
It really is all change at Arsenal. Emery is part of a charge to revolutionise the club post Wenger. Chief executive Ivan Gazidis left; two club stalwarts, Ramsey and Ozil, are being shunted out; the club’s technical director / chief scout, Sven Mislintat, is set to leave; Petr Cech announced his retirement; and Danny Welbeck’s unlikely to get a new deal. Arsenal’s new director of football, Raul Sanllehi, and the managing director, Vinai Venkatesham, are catalysts for change. Former midfielder Edu, a coordinator for Brazil’s national team, could be on his way in.
Arsenal balls: Petr Cech retires
Farewell, Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech. He’s due to retire at the end of the season. “Having played 15 years in the Premier League and won every single trophy possible, I feel like I have achieved everything I set out to achieve,” says the former Chelsea ‘keeper.
“I will continue to work hard at Arsenal to hopefully win one more trophy this season… I am looking forward to seeing what life holds for me off the pitch.”
This is good news for the Gunners. Cech has been no more than a decent goalkeeper at Arsenal. His best days were behind him when he signed from Chelsea in June 2015. At his best he was formidable.
Cech’s career nearly ended in October 2006 when he required surgery for a skull fracture after a collision with Reading’s Stephen Hunt. The injury caused him to miss three months playing. He returned to the field wearing that now familiar scrum cap. As Giles Smith quipped in the Times, the cap contain a “lightweight electronics and incorporates a personal organiser and an entertainment system, enabling the.. custodian to access crucial match-play data in real time and also, during bored moments, book cinema tickets or download and listen to the latest Beyonce album.”
We can expect to see him sat on the BBC pundit sofas dwarfing lesser ex-players soon…
Posted: 15th, January 2019 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Gymnastics: UCLA’s Katelyn Ohashi scores a perfect 10 plus
Sport can make you gasp. The floor performance by 21-year-old UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi is spectacular. Watch out for the eye-watering splits bounce at the 1:25 mark.
Uproxx has more:
Katelyn Ohashi is about to become a household name. The 21-year-old UCLA gymnast wowed spectators with an absolutely flawless routine at the Anaheim Arena over the weekend, which subsequently went viral when the UCLA Gymnastics Twitter account tweeted video after her performance. Gymnastics Twitter account tweeted video after her performance. “A 10 isn’t enough for this floor routine by Katelyn Ohashi,” the tweet correctly expressed.
Posted: 15th, January 2019 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment
Arsenal balls: Ozil and the Hookah
The Mail has a pop at Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil. The paper says the player “was recently pictured on holiday in a hookah lounge as the Gunners lost to West Ham”. Arsenal lost 1-0 to West Ham on Saturday in the 12:30 kick off. The image reproduced by the Mail is of Ozil at Istanbul venue Lulu Hookah Lounge.
Ozil is seen posing for a photo with a well wisher. The image was posted on an Instagram page belonging to @paletzengin on January 13. The same image can be seen on Palet Zengin’s Facebook page on the 12th at 11pm.
Istanbul is three hours ahead of London time. So was Ozil “chilling” at the same time as Arsenal were suffering defeat at West Ham? If he was, the paper provides no proof.
Posted: 14th, January 2019 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Arsenal Transfer Balls: Ramsey agrees to disagree with Juventus
The Sun told us that today Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey was taking his Juventus medical. He’d already agreed to join the Italian side in June on a free transfer. The BBC, Sky Sports and Guardian agreed. Ramsey to Juventus was a done deal. And so to today’s news – the day of the Ramsey’s MoT – and the Sun tells readers that nothing has been agreed. Cancel the knee tapper:
The pick of today’s transfer balls being the inverted commas around his “medical today”. It was the Sun that told us: “The Wales international has already agreed a five-year deal to move to Juventus in the summer once his current contract expires, and will undergo a medical at the club today.”
The Standard told us that no deal had been done:
So what is it? Has Ramsey signed a deal or not? He can’t have agreed to join for nothing in June, be keeping his options open and heading to a club other than Juventus in January?
Posted: 13th, January 2019 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Key Posts, Sports | Comment
Mesut Ozil look alike Daniel Kaye jailed for DoS attack on African internet
Daniel Kaye, 29, admitted attacking Lonestar, an African phone company, in 2016 – accidentally crashing Liberia’s internet. The Briton was this week jailed for 32 months. Anorak can’t help but notice that Kaye looks a lot like Arsenal FC’s Mesut Ozil. Can the pair be related?
According to court papers, Kaye was hired in 2015 to attack Lonestar, Liberia’s leading mobile phone and internet company, by an individual working for Cellcom, its competitor.There is no suggestion that Cellcom knew what the employee was doing – but the individual offered Kaye up to $10,000 (£7,800) a month to use his skills to do as much as possible to destroy Lonestar’s service and reputation.
– BBC
Kaye harnessed the power of the Internet of Things to carry out a DOS attack:
How Kaye did it is of no little interest. It’s all about the Internet of things.
The weapon, known as “Mirai #14” worked by secretly hijacking a vast number of Chinese-made Dahua webcams, which are used for security in homes and businesses around the world. He identified that the cheap cameras and other similar equipment had a security flaw – and he exploited that to take over the devices without owners knowing. That meant he could turn them into what amounted to a “zombie” cyber army to attack his target. In November 2016, working secretly out of Cyprus and controlling the botnet via his mobile phone, Kaye ordered it to overwhelm Lonestar’s systems.On his command, hundreds of thousands of the webcams began firing data requests at the west African company. The system began to struggle to manage the demands and parts of the infrastructure crashed.
Mesut Ozil is injured and has never hacked anything – indeed, he rarely tackles anything harder than a sponge.
Posted: 12th, January 2019 | In: Arsenal, Key Posts, News | Comment
Spurs balls: Levy tells Manchester United his price for Pochettino
How much is Mauricio Pochettino worth to Spurs? The BBC says Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy will not let manager Pochettino join Manchester United, even if the Old Trafford club offer £50m for the Argentine. To put it another way: offer Spurs over £50m and see what happens.
The Sun has more. “DANIEL LEVY will not let Mauricio Pochettino join Manchester United — even for £50million,” chimes the paper. “The Tottenham chairman has made it clear to his board he plans to reject any Old Trafford approach at the end of the season.” He also made it clear what kind of transfer fee he puts on Pochettino’s head.
We then get more about the figure:
Poch has four years left on a deal worth £34m. And United are tempted to pay it in full, plus an additional £16m for the world’s most wanted football coach. But Levy, who convinced Poch to sign a new contract last May, fully expects his manager to honour his agreement. And he is even prepared to give Poch the last word on all transfers.
You can unpack that. What United are prepared to pay is known how? No quotes are offered. And Poch might have the last word on transfers if there are any. Spurs didn’t sign a single player over the summer. Had they have done would they now be in better shape to challenge for the title? And what of hanging on to the players they already have? Many of the club’s best performers know they can earn more at other clubs.
Take Christian Eriksen, the Spurs player whose contract expires in 2020. Eriksen earns about £70,000- a-week at Tottenham. He wants an improved deal. Chances are that he’d get a far bigger wage packet at Real Madrid, who are keen on the Dane. Factor in the bill for a £1bn new stadium and Spurs are unlikely to be buying at the top of the market. Poch has done well at Spurs. And if they do win something this season, Levy will hope United and Real both want him. If players can be transferred why not mangers? Let a bidding war begin…
Posted: 12th, January 2019 | In: Back pages, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Transfer Balls: £40m reasons for Arsenal to thank Aaron Ramsey
Having been told Aaron Ramsey has signed with Juventus but will remain on the Arsenal books until June (Sky), the media now says he’s signed nothing. Juventus are now mere “favourites” (Standard) to sign the Welshman. Other teams in the offing are: two from Spain, Inter Milan, PSG, Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Liverpool. If Ramsey is as good as every pundit says he is, why hasn’t a team put their money where their mouth is and tried to take him this January?
The Standard says Arsenal want £40m for the player. Given Ramsey’s reputation and his being in the prime of his career, you’d suppose many teams would be in for him. Perhaps one will offer Ramsey the £250,000-a-week he was seeking at Arsenal and a chunk of any signing-on fee? Some of the world’s richest clubs have been linked with Ramsey. Will one make a move? Why are only Juventus offering hard cash?
Might it be that injury-prone Ramsey’s not that easy to deal with? The Standard says the deal Arsenal offered him was “left unsigned for several months”. Arsenal tired of the wait. The deal was withdrawn.
Posted: 10th, January 2019 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey takes the money and lingers
Arsenal can continue to pick and play Aaron Ramey until the season ends at which point he’ll head to Italy for five years, says Sky Sports. Ramsey will earn around £140,000-a-week at Juventus – around the same fee Arsenal will have to pay him until his contract expires. Arsenal will get no transfer fee for the Welshman. After ten years at Arsenal, Ramsey is now stinking out the place. The one issue is that Sky’s story has no quotes to support it. No word from Ramsey. No word from Arsenal. Just a fact floating in the internet ether. And good enough for the Guardian:
We’ve been here before:
Ramsey joined Arsenal from Cardiff for £4.8m. He played 252 Premier League matches for the Gunners. He scored 52 goals, including the winning goals in the 2014 and 2017 finals.
Arsenal should have secured a transfer fee for a decent player in the prime of his career. You wonder what the previous regime under the dire Ivan Gazidis was up to. But it’s not over. There is chance the Gunners will get some cash for the player they developed. I hear through the grapevine that Real Madrid are looking to pay some money to get Ramsey this month. Watch this space…
Transfer Balls: Liverpool old boy Coutinho to Manchester United and maybe Man City
The Manchester Evening News rivals the Daily Express for Transfer Balls – that strain of football reporting that treats readers as mugs. The latest tosh is that former Liverpool players Phillipe Coutinho will leave Barcelona for Manchester United. This would be quite some transfer given that Coutinho played for United’s rivals and became the world’s this most expensive player when he moved to Barcelona in 2018 for £106m. But news and no news is coming thick and thicker in the MEN:
“Manchester United ‘open talks’ to sign former Liverpool FC midfielder Philippe Coutinho and more transfer rumours” – January 7, 11.20am.
“Manchester United fans are saying the same thing about Philippe Coutinho transfer rumour” – January 7, 14.17pm.
“Why Manchester United won’t move for Philippe Coutinho in the January transfer window” – January 8, 5am.
“Manchester United favourites to sign Philippe Coutinho in the January transfer window” – January 8, 11.21am.
“Philippe Coutinho, Toby Alderweireld and the 30 players bookies are linking with a transfer move to Manchester United” – January 9, 6:30pm
Any Manchester United fans dreaming or dreading Coutinho joining the club can read another story by Aidan McCartney. This one was also published on Jan 9:
The choices cut of the tosh linking Coutinho to Manchester City being: “Pep Guardiola’s side have been handed odds on signing some of the biggest names in world football.” Pep had no idea which players he was going to sign until Paddy Power and the mugs who make them rich told him.
Posted: 9th, January 2019 | In: Back pages, Key Posts, Liverpool, Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Spurs are ready to sell Eriksen
Real Madrid like the look of Christian Eriksen, the Spurs player whose contract expires in 2020. Eriksen earns about £70,000- a-week at Tottenham. He wants an improved deal. Chances are that he’d get a bigger wage packet at Real. But Spurs stand in his path, asking – get this – £220m for the player they signed from Ajax for £11 million. If he’s worth that much to Spurs, why not pay him £300,000-a-week? Answer: because Spurs are a selling club.
The fee asked is huge and nuts, of course, but the fact Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, put a number to the question ‘What’s he worth’ shows that he’s ready to sell an asset. Eriksen would be mad not to leave Spurs for Real. Levy knows that. The player realises his value and wants to play for one of Europe’s best sides. The bigger question is if Eriksen is part of a deal that will also take the club’s manager back to Spain? Reports in Spain say Real are prepared to offer £80m for Eriksen. Pick a number around £100m and they’ll get their man.
Which only makes you wonder what Harry Kane is worth – and what price Levy would place on his had?
Posted: 9th, January 2019 | In: Back pages, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Transfer Balls: Dembele quits Spurs and shames Arsenal
Arsenal fans watching their club get no transfer fee for Aaron Ramey will be doubtless pleased to note that Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele is costing Chinese Super League club Beijing Guoan £11m. Like Ramsey, Demeble is in the final throes of his current deal, which expires in the summer.
Unlike Ramsey, 28, Dembele, 31, will earn his club a few quid this month. The money sugars the pill for Spurs, who are losing one of their best players – a better player than the overrated Ramsey. As for the Gunners, well, according to the Sun, Ramsey has signed a contract with Juventus and will leave for free this summer. According to other new sources, he’s signed nothing.
But wait a moment. One source says Arsenal are looking to get £20m for the Welshman and get shot of him this January. Gazzetta.it says the Gunners have told Juventus that they can sign Ramsey this month for £20million. It’s all very confusing. We’d ask the player’s agent what’s occurring, but they’re still mowing the grass.
Posted: 8th, January 2019 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Spurs Balls: Pochettino gets ready to quit Invincible Spurs in 2034
Mauricio Pochettino has “cast doubt on his future” at Tottenham Hotspur, says the Times. Or as the BBC puts it: “Mauricio Pochettino says he hopes to be Tottenham boss for 20 years and perhaps finish his career with the club.” Two twist on the same interview.
The Argentine is wanted by Manchester United and Real Madrid. He knows his value. “Daniel Levy [the Tottenham chairman] is creating a legacy that is going to be amazing for the club,” he said. “I can see in the future Tottenham winning trophies.” When will future Tottenham be ready?
“I don’t know if that will be with us, without us; in one year, in five years. But all the foundations are down for one day to start to win titles and be like other successful clubs.” One day…
Maybe Spurs can be like Arsenal. Pochettino wonders if he can be the next Arsene Wenger – not the one who won things; the one who stagnated. “All that Arsène Wenger gave to Arsenal, to finish in the way it finished was a little bit unfair,” Pochettino said. “He deserves amazing recognition about his work.” He gets it. Not a week goes by without Wenger collecting some gong. Late last year he scored the Humane Order of African Redemption with the rank of Knight Grand Commander. He was pictured with a baby named after him – his namesake wrapped in a replica Arsenal shirt. Pochettino has Chelsea in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup. He needs to win. To date, the affable manager has won nothing with Espanyol, Southampton and Tottenham in 2014. Not that any of those clubs have ever won all that much – Spurs haven’t lifted a pot since Juande Ramos’s team beat Chelsea in the League Cup final 11 years ago.
“If you have money, like the other top six clubs, and you need [something], you buy it,” said Pochettino. “If we need, we build and we need time to build. There is Chelsea, Arsenal, City, Liverpool, United – and us. When people put us in the same level with expectations and everything, it’s unfair.”
Will he get the money? And will it be enough to out-spend Spurs’ more successful rivals? And lastly: if Pochettino is not the kind of manager who demands more money for big-name signings, when the new stadium is ready, should Spurs upgrade the coach and hire one who is?
Posted: 8th, January 2019 | In: Back pages, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Arsenal fans support Spurs Yid Army
We’re back talking about the ‘Yid Army’ and Spurs fans right to sing what they want to. This week something called The World Jewish Congress – I’ve not been invited to attend – and the Board of Deputies of British Jews – not been invited to that shindig, either – politely requested that Tottenham Hotspur Football Club have a word with their fans. They must tell them to stop freely referring to themselves as ‘Yids’. And that goes for the club’s Jewish fans, too.
Robert Singer, the CEO of the World Jewish Congress, stood in the pulpit and opined: “[The use of the word ‘yid’] by fans in the stands, either as a self-designated nickname or as a slogan against rivals must not be tolerated in any way. We would also ask Tottenham Hotspur to take a stand against the use of ‘Yid Army’, ‘Yid’ and ‘Yiddos’ by their fans. Such a long overdue action is important to kick antisemitism off the pitch and create a welcoming environment for all.” To which the reply from this Arsenal fan is: “We’ll sing what we want to.”
If Spurs fans want to self-identify as Yids, let them. It’s self-determination. The Yid Army is not the least bit anti-Semitic. What is bigoted and censorious is telling people what they can and cannot say about themselves. Singer and his ilk should spend more time calling out genuine acts of anti-Semitism than disabusing ‘Yids’ of their language. Most anti-Semites I’ve encountered are more subtle than to give full throat to the Yids. They speak of those “clever Jews”, those “rich Jews”, and those Jews who are loyal only to one another and don’t get “English irony”.
Posted: 7th, January 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Sports, Spurs | Comment
