As reported by The Sun, Real Madrid are lining up a surprising summer bid for midfielder Paul Pogba this summer, just two years after the Frenchman arrived at the club.
What’s the story?
We’re still months away from the summer transfer window opening but already the big headline grabbing stories are emerging and a potential Paul Pogba move away from Man United is sure to raise some eyebrows.
The Sun report that Real Madrid are plotting to bring him to La Liga at the end of the season despite both Man United and Pogba himself not being receptive to such a move.
The paper reckon that the Spanish side are keeping tabs on his happiness in Manchester due to his dip in form and the fact Mourinho has either substituted him off or dropped him completely in recent matches.
However, any bid would need to be well over £120m if business is to be done, says the report.
Should they sell?
Given United’s investment in Paul Pogba and the fact that Jose Mourinho is looking to build a team around him in years to come, it would be silly for the Manchester side to consider any move for the French international in the summer, regardless of what money is offered.
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He may be struggling to find his most effective role in the Red Devils first team, but he has a quality that can be priceless when he is on top form and rather than give up on him, United need to find the best way to utilise him.
Selling him to a potential UEFA Champions League rival makes even less sense and despite Madrid’s reported desire to land him, this is one transfer rumour that the Old Trafford side should shut down.
Fifa have hit Liverpool and Uruguay striker Luis Suarez with a four-month ban from all ‘football-related activity’ as a result of his heinous bite on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in their World Cup tie.With it being the third time the striker has committed such an offence, he has been slapped with the biggest ban in Fifa’s history, as well as an additional ban of nine international games and a fine of 100,000 Swiss Francs.Following a record-breaking season from Suarez, he was believed to have become a ‘reformed character’, but his regression towards childish stupidity has landed him with a hefty suspension, of which he will doubtless appeal.Surprisingly enough, with the issue being the largest debate in sport over the past 48 hours, Twitter has been out in force giving their reaction.Here is the general gist of public reaction to Suarez’s ban.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who sympathises with Suarez, with most opinions ranging from congratulatory praise for Fifa, to those who believe the ban was too lenient. Either way, he has few supporters outside of Uruguay.
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Tottenham bounced back from a disappointing draw in the Europe League on Thursday night to inflict more pain on lowly Southampton whose defensive errors are costing them badly.
Just seconds after Jermain Defoe missed a sitter for the visitors, former Saints winger Gareth Bale headed a Tom Huddlestone cross back across goal and into the far corner to end a fantastic week for him personally after becoming a father.
Clint Dempsey then doubled Spurs’ lead before half time as Defoe’s shot was blocked on the line before the American strolled in to tap the ball home as Southampton’s leaky defence continues to struggle in the top flight.
Spurs dominated the first half of the game and despite only having one striker in their 18 man squad; they looked very dangerous going forward with the pace of Aaron Lennon a notable worry for the hosts.
Southampton however did try and get back into the game in the second half with Rickie Lambert recalled to the starting line-up causing problems with his physicality and heading.
It was Lambert’s strike partner Jay Rodriguez who poked home a consolation goal for the hosts though after Jose Fonte’s header was saved by the recalled Brad Friedel from a corner.
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Spurs did manage to hold on for the vital three points after a late onslaught and Andre Villas-Boas’ team are now in the top four with Southampton still second bottom with just four points.
West Ham fans are getting excited over a potential summer swoop for Joaquin Correa, as Manuel Pellegrini is reportedly eyeing Sevilla youngster as a Manuel Lanzini replacement.
The injury to Lanzini earlier this month was absolutely devastating news for both player and club, as the Hammers summer plans were all set to bring the best out of both Lanzini and Marko Arnautovic.
The two attackers are undoubtedly the Hammers’ best players, and adding the likes of Felipe Anderson to the exciting duo was a really enticing prospect.
Lanzini’s knee injury has thrown a spanner in the works though, and Pellegrini now must find a direct replacement for the creativity the crafty little Argentine brought to the team.
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According to TuttoMercatoWeb, the Hammers have made contact with Alessandro Lucci, Correa’s agent, over a potential summer move.
The tricky 23 year-old has a similar dribbling style to Lanzini, and grabbed seven goals and seven assists in all competitions for Sevilla last season.
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Fans are absolutely loving the links, and you can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…
West Ham United have sent Toni Martinez on loan to Real Valladolid for the remainder of the 2017-18 campaign.After scoring nine times in 13 appearances for West Ham’s Under-23 team, Martinez appeared in three FA Cup fixtures for the Hammers before leaving on loan.When considering that West Ham currently have a lack of options in the final third of the field, it was a surprise that the loan of Martinez was sanctioned.The majority of the club’s supporters were not pleased when the deal was announced, but the 20-year-old could yet become a very important player for the London club.On Tuesday, Martinez, who is valued at £1.4m by transfermarkt.co.uk, posted a message on Twitter where he revealed that ‘it was a dream come true’ to make his first-team debut for West Ham this season.As expected, the response section was full of the club’s fans already looking forward to having the Spaniard back for the 2018-19 campaign.A selection of the Twitter reaction to Martinez’s post can be seen below:
Eleven months and three days ago, Liverpool’s Luis Suarez threw away his chances of claiming the Premier League’s Player of the Year award with one moment of absolute madness. He decided to take a bite of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic’s shoulder, in front of a 45,000-strong Anfield crowd, countless television cameras and a live world-wide audience reaching well into the multi-millions.
Already a controversial figure in England, the Uruguayan’s nibble on Ivanovic’s upper arm confirmed the opinion that such a provocative and self-admitted amoral player should not be allowed near the most coveted individual accolade in English football, regardless of his 23-goal haul and talismanic attacking displays for the Reds that without, would probably have left Brendan Rodgers fearing for his job last summer.
The award went to Gareth Bale instead, just a matter of months before his world-record-breaking £86million move to Real Madrid.
But when the Premier League’s peers gather together at the end of the season to decide who should claim the prize this term, few would be surprised at a near-unanimous verdict in Suarez’s favour.
The fact the 27 year-old has lasted an entire year without mortifying the English public is an achievement in itself that deserves some form of trophy-based reward, but Suarez’s expected overwhelming majority vote is sourced in the manner in which he’s used performances on the pitch and nothing else to answer his critics this season.
The Liverpool striker, despite missing the first five games of the campaign through his biting ban, is currently leading the Premier League’s scoring charts with an astonishing 28 goals in 25 appearances, including hat-tricks against West Brom, Norwich City and most recently Cardiff. But more than simply a lethal striker of your Andy Cole variety, the Uruguay star has claimed eleven assists – working in close attacking tandem with strike-partner Daniel Sturridge – and by Whoscored.com’s reckoning, has notched up 13 Man of the Match awards. That’s an average of more than 0.5 MoM’s per appearance.
But enough of signing Luis Suarez’s praises – no matter how much statistical evidence I can find in a finite amount of time to prove so, no matter how fruitfully eloquent I could explain how the Kop icon synergizes the roles of an attacking playmaker and natural poacher so perfectly and still works consistently harder than any forward on the continent, by now it goes without saying that Luis Suarez is a world-class talent, and if we are being truthful, a world-class talent that deserves a greater stage than Anfield.
So, like current Player of the Year award-holder Gareth Bale, who understandably ditched White Hart Lane for the Bernabeu just months after claiming the Premier League’s highest individual honour, does Suarez owe it to himself to answer his higher calling at the end of the season?
Don’t get me wrong – Liverpool is a fantastic club with an enormous history, and after their four-year absence from the Champions League has once again become an incredibly exciting institution to be a part of. This season, Brendan Rodgers has created a sense of fearlessness in his players that has not only revived the Reds back to the European status a club of their size and prestige truly deserve (providing Liverpool’s season doesn’t enter into an unforeseeable capitulation in its last eight Premier League fixtures) but furthermore completely rewritten the balance of power at the Premier League’s summit.
Fuelled by the combined 47 goals of Sturridge and Suarez, the Reds are currently second in the league, just three points behind table-toppers Chelsea with a game in hand – anything could happen between now and May-time. And although I remain pessimistic that the Anfield side will be able to mimic their role in the title race next season, their continuous momentum under Brendan Rodgers suggests that the days of eighth-place finishes and Europa League football are now well behind Liverpool. There are certainly worse places to be than the red half of Merseyside right now – the red half of Manchester for example – and considering Liverpool’s enormous improvement this season, silverware in an auxiliary form could not be far off.
But this is not a case of the Fernando Torres ilk, a case of a talented player leaving Liverpool for another club with a greater chance of silverware success after some unprecedented money being put on the table. This is a case of arguably the best player in the world right now – certainly the best player outside of Ballon D’or monopolisers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo – joining a club, be it Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich, that despite Liverpool’s incredible history domestically and in Europe, are no longer directly comparable to in terms of prestige and historical significance.
These are clubs that reach the semi-finals of the Champions League without fail almost every season – the kind of matches of immense magnitude and honour that a player of Suarez’s quality should be involved in. These are clubs whose fortunes, unlike Liverpool’s, do not depend upon a core of quality players and a talented manager alone. These are clubs that define players in the context of historical hindsight. These are clubs where trophies and silverware are a way of life, not a rare, almost miraculous occurrence.
And it’s not as if Suarez still owes something to Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers or the fans. Agreed, the Anfield side provided the Uruguayan the platform to impress that others wouldn’t when they invested £20million in the former Ajax star back in 2011. Subsequently, you can certainly argue that the club deserves the 27 year-old’s loyalty after unwaveringly standing by him amid every controversial episode – who can forget Kenny Dalglish’s ill-fated ‘Support Suarez’ t-shirt campaign.
But Suarez had the opportunity to depart from Merseyside last summer; he could have taken his, albeit, rather classless, demands to leave during the Confederations Cup a step further; he could have insisted upon an exit when Arsenal made their £40million plus a quid bid, which it turns out, did activate the South American’s release clause; like Gareth Bale, he could have declared he’d never play for Tottenham again; like Gareth Bale, he could have refused to turn up to training.
Yet the star striker stayed put for another year, and in return has provided Liverpool fans with their most memorable Premier League campaign since 2009. In terms of individual contribution, Suarez’s efforts this term parallel that of Steven Gerrard’s in the Reds’ famous 2005 Champions League final, even if, unlike that unforgettable night in Istanbul, the Reds’ current season doesn’t end with silverware.
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But of greater significance than the allure of trophies is the fact Suarez is now 27 years of age. By my reckoning, in the modern transfer climate, that gives the Uruguayan a shelf-life of two more transfer windows before his value to the European powerhouses begins to quickly corrode.
Liverpool fans will view that critique as a blessing – should Suarez’ many suitors be put off by his lack of longevity, that only cements the Uruguayan’s opportunity to immortalise himself as a Kop legend, on par with the likes of Ian Rush, Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Kevin Keegan and Dalglish. Certainly an enormous honour and achievement even if it can’t be represented in material reward.
But in the process, that would hold back a few-in-a-generation, world-class talent from realising the historical acclaim he truly deserves. Suarez will already go down in Merseyside folk law as one of the greatest strikers Anfield has ever seen. Now he owes it to himself to become one of the greatest strikers the world has ever seen – before it’s too late.
have sent scouts to watch Netherlands under-21 goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet, who they have identified as a possible transfer target according to The Daily Mail.
The Tyneside club have a recent reputation for snapping up bargains on the continent, with their scouting network bringing the likes of Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote and others to the club for affordable transfer fees.
One such success story is current goalkeeper Tim Krul, who was bought by the St James’ Park outfit back in 2005 for a paltry €220,000, and is now one of the most consistent stoppers in the Premier League and a full international.
Newcastle are eager to snap up another bargain in Holland, and have identified Zoet as a potential superstar in the making.
Chief scout Graham Carr and coach Andy Woodman travelled to watch the tall keeper in action for Netherlands under-21’s against Slovakia on Monday night, and saw the 21-year-old keep a clean sheet in a 2-0 victory for Cor Pot’s men.
Zoet is registered as a PSV Eindhoven player but has never made an appearance for the senior side; he has been on loan at RWC Waalwijk since last year and is gaining first-team experience in the Eredivisie.
Zoet has also made 14 appearances for the Dutch under-21’s and is highly regarded back in his homeland, where a number of world-class goalkeepers have been produced in recent years.
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Newcastle are weighing up a move for Zoet once the transfer window opens in January, who would provide first-team competition for Krul and back-ups Steve Harper and Rob Elliot.
The 2018 World Cup is well underway and there are a number of players that have already made a big impact for their country in their opening group game, and surely some of them will have caught the eye of Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Nuno Espirito Santo.
The 44-year-old has already added Willy Boly to his squad on a permanent basis as well as wrapping up the arrivals of Raul Jimenez and Rui Patracio, but the Portuguese boss will surely want to add more quality to his squad in order to ensure they don’t find themselves in a Premier League relegation battle this season following a brilliant promotion campaign.
Considering how ambitious their owners are the west Midlands outfit, who could be set to deliver another marquee signing if they sell a £9m-rated key man, may even be targeting Europa League football and if they want to achieve that, Santo may need to strengthen his team in the wing-back and attacking areas in particular.
The former Porto boss will already have some targets in mind, but he may have been convinced by the impressive displays of a number of individuals in Russia, too.
Here are three World Cup stars that Santo has surely added to his summer transfer wishlist…
If Nuno Espirito Santo really wants to progress and aim high up the standings with Wolves in their first season back in the Premier League, he will know that he perhaps needs to strengthen in the wing-back positions, which would include finding an upgrade on Matt Doherty despite an impressive campaign for the Irishman.
Varela was brilliant for Uruguay in their win against Egypt with a passing accuracy of 96.4% from 55 passes, as per WhoScored.com, and while he made three tackles and one interception at the back, he also showed his attacking ability by completing one dribble and making one key pass.
The former Manchester United man is currently with Penarol, but he may well find himself back in European football this season if he continues to impress.
Similarly to with Doherty, Santo may want an upgrade on Barry Douglas on the opposite flank despite a standout 2017/18 campaign for the Scotland international.
If he is looking for a wing-back that is able both defensively and from attacking point of view, he could do a lot worse than take a look at Mexico’s Jesus Gallardo, who only joined Monterrey from Pumas UNAM last month.
However, following a stunning display in his country’s win against the holders Germany he could be targeted by a number of European clubs, and a big offer could be enough to tempt his new club and the player to accept a move to the Premier League instead.
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If Wolves are in need of another attacking midfielder who can also play wide this summer, they could do a lot worse than bring FC Porto’s Quintero to Molineux – especially following his brilliant goal for Colombia against Japan on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old usually plays on the right but started in a central role in the absence of the injured James Rodriguez against the Asian outfit, and he scored a clever low free-kick to put his country back in the contest following an early red card.
Clever and quick, Santo should go all out to bring the Colombian to the west Midlands before August 9.
Manchester United centre-back Phil Jones has paid tribute to the finishing qualities of in-form teammate Anthony Martial.
Martial struggled for consistency in the early stages of the season, but the Frenchman has been in terrific form for the Red Devils in recent weeks.
Indeed, the 22-year-old has scored in each of his last three Premier League appearances – including the only goal of the match against Burnley on Saturday afternoon.
The former Monaco attacker now has nine goals and four assists in 22 league fixtures this season, whilst he also managed one goal and three assists in the group stages of the Champions League.
Jones, who has also impressed for United in recent weeks, has explained why Martial is so crucial to the 20-time English champions at this moment in time.
Jones told MUTV:
“Martial needs one chance and he scores and that is why he is so crucial for us at the moment. He doesn’t need a second chance, his finish was terrific as well.”
Martial, who is valued at £58.5m by transfermarkt.co.uk, is expected to be rested when United travel to Yeovil Town in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday night.
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Arsenal are top of the Premier League – does it really matter how they got there?
There are 20 teams in the Premier League. If the basis of an argument against a title challenger is that their wins against the lesser teams in the league are worthless, then why not put into motion the concept of a European Super League and rid ourselves of such banal discussion?
It seems Arsenal can do no right. Yet they’ve fared better than the other “heavyweights” in the title race who have tripped up multiple times by teams well below their class.
Arsenal were said to be just about where they deserved to be over the past three or four seasons: the club’s spend and quality of player placed them round about fourth in the Premier League, third at best. Now that they’ve invested heavily in a star name and have the base for a consistent title threat – albeit with one or two short – isn’t top of the league, or at least serious title contender, about right?
Manchester City and Chelsea, conversely, have fallen against the smaller teams in the league. Had it not been for a mistake by the officials – another one – Chelsea would have lost at home this season to West Brom. Manchester City, imperious at home with a record branded as something for the entire league to show off against the powers of Europe, were incapable of holding their lead against Cardiff City – a team, recently promoted side from the Championship, whose future is arguably uncertain with Vincent Tan as owner.
Instead of questioning Arsenal’s credentials, or lack thereof apparently, shouldn’t we be hammering Chelsea and Manchester City for falling behind a team who, without logic, are incapable of winning the Premier League?
Liverpool’s situation in comparison to Arsenal is strange. Both teams share similarities, both taking a huge leap from where they were last season, but also a case could be made that they are indeed quite dissimilar.
It’s not entirely correct to say it’s a criticism of Liverpool; rather they’ve benefited from a lack of midweek fixtures, enabling them, for much of the first half of the season, to keep key players fresh for weekend Premier League games. Brendan Rodgers’ handling of certain spiky situations has been first class, and his faith in Daniel Sturridge has been greatly rewarded.
But Liverpool are still in a building phase. The squad is short of quality in certain areas, notably with a need for more goals beyond just the two primary forwards. Arsenal, arguably, are not the complete package yet either, but they’re further along the road than Liverpool. Arsenal are short by one or two; in Liverpool’s case, it wasn’t too long ago that Brendan Rodgers bemoaned the lack of depth following a loss at Hull. That doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be in the mix as contenders and at the very least one of the favourites to finish in the top four.
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But the larger point is that teams shouldn’t be questioned how they got to where they are now. Why boast of the strongest or most competitive league in Europe – of which there is great irony because many seem to loathe the idea of a different title winner in Arsenal – when the next minute small teams count for very little when beaten by a title contender? If we’re going to put so much emphasis on the worthlessness of points picked up from, say, Cardiff, who Arsenal beat with late goals on New Year’s Day, then why not make it two points from a win from those teams and three for just the top four or five in the league? A ridiculous idea, right?
Arsenal are top of the Premier League at present. It’s January. Questions about their legitimacy could have been asked in October, as they were, but surely it’s now time to throw them out the window. Yes, Arsenal may not finish first because of the unpredictability of this season, but they are currently leading the race. There should be absolutely no doubt that they are firm title challengers.