This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Leeds’ transfer window hasn’t been entirely orthodox and that’s putting things lightly.
Through the door has gone Pontus Jansson but defensively they’ve only added Brighton’s Ben White on loan.
Their strategy has been rather questionable with no permanent head arriving for the 2019/20 campaign.
Of course, Helder Costa’s move will turn into that next summer but there hasn’t been a great deal to shout about.
There could yet be another departure before the window closes though.
On the chalkboard
Earlier last week, The Yorkshire Evening Post claimed that Championship rivals Barnsley were interested in the 21-year-old Tom Pearce.
A left-back, Pearce has made seven first-team appearances for the Whites in the Championship, whilst winning caps at youth level for England too.
The youngster is incredibly promising, enjoying five years with the club and spending a period on loan with Scunthorpe in 2018/19 as well.
Yet, at the age he’s now at, ideally you’d be expecting him to challenge for a spot in Marcelo Bielsa’s ranks.
That doesn’t look entirely likely, though, especially if you consider the options already ahead of him in the pecking order.
On the left-hand side of defence, Barry Douglas, Ezgjan Alioski and Stuart Dallas are all options but it’s perhaps the young Leif Davis who makes Pearce leaving significantly less of a concern.
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The fact is that opportunities to creep into Bielsa’s plans look incredibly slim, even if Pearce did play twice in the Championship last season.
That suggests Bielsa does see something in him but it would hardly be disastrous if Barnsley were able to capture him.
At just 19 years of age, Davis played four times in the league last year and despite being two years younger, looks as though he’s already ahead of Pearce.
With that in mind, it would certainly make sense if Leeds were to cash in on the latter.
The fee is unlikely to be too high given his reputation but a move away from Leeds would probably a good deal for all parties involved.
Ah, MySpace. Facebook’s predecessor is now an ancient burial ground of photos and posts from teenagers who are now fully formed adults, embarrassed by their past behaviour.
In recent years we’ve seen that some footballers aren’t safe from the cringefest that is their old MySpace pages.
Adam Lallana and Dele Alli have both had their old social media pages discovered by fans, and they’re absolutely hilarious.
However, this most recent one tops the lot. In an attempt to embarrass his friend Callum Robinson, Grealish posted an old photo on his Instagram story, before posting some rather hilarious images of his own childhood.
While Robinson’s tracksuit is a bit dodgy, it’s Grealish’s snaps that steal the show.
The midfielder shared a picture from his first-ever house party at the age of 15, and like any good teenagers getting up to mischief he and his pals had a bottle of Malibu rum to share between them.
Grealish’s dress sense absolutely screams late 2000s as well. A pair of beige chinos are the highlight of his attire, but seeing the Villa captain without his iconic haircut is a truly sad sight.
And now it is finally official – Djibril Sidibe has joined Everton on loan from Monaco for the entirety of the 2019/20 Premier League season.
The Blues also have an option to buy the right-back once his initial stint at the club comes to an end.
Sidibe was Everton’s sixth signing of the summer at the time of writing, joining the newcomers who, so far, consist of Jonas Lossl, Andre Gomes, Fabian Delph, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, and Moise Kean.
Rumours suggest that Marcos Rojo could arrive at Goodison by the end of the transfer deadline.
The 27-year-old defender has immediately taken to
/B04OtO9BTdv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link” data-lasso->Instagram to share the first snaps in his new colours.
And naturally, it didn’t take long for the Frenchman to get swarmed by his friends and other stars, who wished him all the best in the future and sent their regards on his new journey.
Thomas Lemar sent his well wishes by saying “congratulations my darling”, while Germany U21 international Benny Henrichs and Monaco youngster Jordi Mboula also responded.
Sidibe will no doubt bring a lot of experience and quality to his new side.
The Frenchman has already won the World Cup with his nation in Russia last year and has contributed directly to 27 goals, scoring six and assisting 21 in 114 games in all competitions for Monaco.
This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
In a conversation with Off the Ball, Gary Neville has thrown down the gauntlet to Paul Pogba on what he needs to do to become a success at Manchester United.
What did he say?
The France World Cup winner has come under heavy criticism in recent weeks and months amidst speculation linking him with a move away from Old Trafford.
The 26-year-old publicly admitted he would embrace a “new challenge” before sparking major controversy with his role in the penalty fiasco at Wolves this season.
Neville, who criticised Pogba in the aftermath of that clash at Molineux, has now revealed the Frenchman has to carry United on his shoulders as the side’s best player.
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He said (as quoted by The Manchester Evening News): “When I criticised Paul Pogba after the penalty incident at Wolves, I don’t see it as being any different than the criticism of Roy Keane or David Beckham or Wayne Rooney. The best player, the leader, the captain in the team, will stand up and he will take the brunt of the criticism. Just as the manager will and the coach will.
“He’s the Bryan Robson of the 80’s now. United were in trouble, people hung everything on Bryan Robson, everybody now hangs a lot on Paul Pogba. But that’s the pressure that he wants, he wants to be the best player in the world. So now go and show us you’re the best player in the world.
“What does he need to do that? Carry Manchester United into the Champions League, win the Europa League, drive them forward. That’s what I want from Paul Pogba, that’s what I want from him because I believe he’s capable of doing it. I have faith in him to do it.”
Responsibility
Whilst Neville has previously criticised Pogba, his latest comments on the Frenchman certainly do have a lot of weight to them. The 26-year-old is seen as the main man at United, and as such will take the bulk of the flak when things don’t go the right way.
The pressure of being the Red Devils’ star player inevitably brings about increased attention. Mistakes are heavily scrutinised whilst below-par performances are simply not accepted. The Manchester side are in a period of transition at the moment and so things are understandably a little more tense. But if Pogba can embrace the responsibility and thrive in it, he could yet turn his United career around and cement a far more positive legacy.
This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
Philippe Coutinho has rejected a loan move to Tottenham Hotspur from Barcelona, Sky Sports reports.
What’s the word?
A separate Sky Sports report had claimed that Mauricio Pochettino actually phoned Coutinho to attempt to convince him to move to Spurs in this transfer window.
But the Brazil international has rejected the opportunity to move to north London, as he would prefer to leave the club on a permanent deal.
Barca are said to feel the same way but they value Coutinho at £80m, per Sky, making a move to the Premier League unlikely this week.
Coutinho had worked with Pochettino at Espanyol but there is not set to be a dramatic reunion prior to Thursday’s 5pm deadline.
Full steam ahead
Spurs can’t let this blow destroy their plans.
Sources have confirmed that the club are also interested in Juventus’ Paulo Dybala, Sporting Lisbon’s Bruno Fernandes and Real Betis’ Giovani Lo Celso, while they would also like to sign Ryan Sessegnon from Fulham.
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There is a confidence that the latter deal will be agreed, sources claim, but their hunt for a playmaker simply has to move on.
There have been consistent negotiations for both Fernandes and Lo Celso, sources have said, and Coutinho’s rejection cannot prove to be too much of a setback.
The club simply need to pick themselves up and go again.
It feels like yesterday that Real Madrid were on top of the world.
In 2017, Zinedine Zidane’s “black magic” was in full effect – the Champions of Europe had a squad that was either in its prime or getting there shortly – the coach was vibrant, full of new ideas and innovations and the world was at their feet.
That summer, after clinching the Champions League and thrashing Barcelona in the Spanish Supercup, Los Blancos looked unstoppable. Like the Community Shield in England, it’s a trophy some don’t really regard as a major honour per se. But it matters to the ones who win it and their fans as well, especially if it’s Manchester City beating Liverpool or, in this case, Real Madrid beating Barcelona.
But as much as everyone thought it was the beginning of something rather spectacular, and to quite a large extent it truly was, but not in the way anyone expected. Instead of crushing their opposition, the Spanish capital outfit happened to slip and go face-first into the gutters.
Fast forward to 2019. The transfer window is in full effect and has already closed in England and Real are back to square one: Zidane is in charge, the club is in disarray and the mouth is full of the same mud they’ve been tasting since 2017. It’s quite the sight for everyone involved and Florentino Perez, try as he might, just can’t seem to figure out a solution.
The transfer market is definitely his ticket out, the rope that just might pull him out the gutters and bring them back to life. But even after a series of promising transfer activity, there is still a feeling in the air that it somehow isn’t enough. But why is that?
Let’s quickly take a look at their five most valuable incoming transfers this summer so far, according to Transfermarkt.
The first thing that we notice here is that Perez is trying to increase squad depth, which is completely fine and exactly what every top team in Europe should do if they want to compete with the best. That much we can agree on. But squad depth, although essential to have, is unfortunately not the solution Madrid are looking for.
What they have on their hands is an ageing core and that issue simply hasn’t been addressed this summer. How many of these players will actually improve Real Madrid’s starting XI? The answer to that question: one. Obviously, that man is Eden Hazard.
The Belgian arrives as a due replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo but you’re still going from 40+ goals per season to 20+ at best. Sure, he offers assists as well and his quality is not in question here. He’s arguably the only player that automatically slots into the team and makes it better.
But even Hazard looks more like a “flex buy”, a Galactico to please the fans and silence the riot, and not so much a signing born out of necessity. Sure, Madrid have lacked a prolific goal scorer ever since Ronaldo moved to Juventus. That much is visible from their extreme decline from 94 goals in 2017/18 to 63 in 2018/19.
And while that may be true, was it really necessary to buy a wide player when Gareth Bale, Marco Asensio, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Takefusa Kubo are all players who can play that role and still be effective?
Hazard will inevitably improve the team but there’s only so much he can do without improvements to other problem areas as well.
And there will be problems and we can see that based on Madrid’s most used 11 in the last couple of years. If we take a look and compare the 2018/19 lineup to the 2017/18 one and even the one before that, there are minimal changes made, which tells us a lot about the core of the team.
The same old players feature week in, week out and while that may have worked when they were peaking, it’s hardly the case now that they’re all quickly approaching their 30s or even stepping over them. One quick glance to one of Real Madrid’s pre-season games can also tell us quite a lot about Zidane’s preferences.
Notice the number of the familiar faces? Again, the only newcomers are Hazard and Militao but can the latter really usurp one of Varane or Ramos? Most likely not since those two are among the most valuable defenders at the club. So the chances of Zidane fielding the same old squad again are quite high, except Hazard, really.
Soccer Football – Real Madrid Unveil Luka Jovic – Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain – June 12, 2019 Real Madrid new signing Luka Jovic poses for a photograph on the pitch REUTERS/Susana Vera
And what did that get the team in the last couple of years? Not trophies, that’s for sure. They ended up third in La Liga behind Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, were eliminated by Ajax in the last 16 of the Champions League and reached the semi-final of Copa del Rey. Far from satisfactory given their stratospheric expectations.
There’ still time, however, for them to go into the market and strengthen the squad with players that actually might make their best 11 better than it is now.
Currently, it seems like they’ve only added more people to the bench.
Of course, who’s to say that some of those signings won’t win over their places in the gala lineup? That can happen, sure, but is Zidane ready to bring something new to this team that, judging by all of the above, is in a serious need of a revamp?
After all, doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results is hardly the right thing to do.
This article is part of Football Fancast’s Monthly Review series, which analyses what managers can learn from the previous month and what the coming month could have in store.
Wolves have endured a rough start to the Premier League season, even though the table says they’ve lost just one match.
The strain of European football has clearly had an effect on Nuno Santo’s men as they’ve drawn their three other league matches, whilst in the Europa League they have won all six games, clinching a spot in the group stages.
The Portuguese boss needs their form in the competition to translate into top-flight results otherwise they’ll continue the worrying trend of teams struggling because of the added distractions.
But what must be done to ensure that September is more of a success for the west Midlands club?
Check out the most insane fan meltdowns in the video below…
Play through Adama Traore
Traore has been quite the revelation at right wing-back for Wolves this season after Santo converted him from a winger and occasional right-sided forward.
In the Europa League, the 23-year-old has recorded three assists in six matches but this form has only earned him one start in the Premier League to date, per Transfermarkt.
Considering Matt Doherty’s lack of fitness and the impact of Traore, it only makes sense to continue to let him thrive in the role going forward – something that Ian Wright has also mentioned this week.
Rotation will be vital
Last season, Santo very rarely tweaked his side – he had no reason to considering it was just the Premier League and the domestic cups.
He only used 21 different players and two of those can even be chalked off considering they featured for just one solitary minute all year.
That trend has continued, despite the club adding a couple of squad depth options in the likes of Patrick Cutrone, Pedro Neto and Jesus Vallejo.
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The 45-year-old has utilised 17 players this season with nine of them featuring in all four Premier League matches so far.
Should they progress far in the Carabao Cup then two games per week will become very much the normality going into 2020. As a result, this key tactical tweak could be necessary on a regular basis.
Get Jimenez scoring
Their Mexican striker has been prolific in Europe, scoring six goals in six appearances, but has netted just twice in the league – one of which was a last-minute penalty.
Against Everton, the 28-year-old managed 46 touches but just five of those came from inside the penalty area – that’s not a recipe for success based off his xG chart, per Understat.
The forward is for some reason struggling domestically and if Wolves want to get better, they’ll need their number nine on form.
This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
According to Football Insider, a number of MLS sides are eyeing up a bargain £4m January move for West Ham striker Javier Hernandez.
What’s the word, then?
Well, the Mexico international has entered the final year of his contract at the London Stadium and it is said to be unlikely that he will receive an extension anywhere close to his current £140k-a-week earnings.
As a result, the 31-year-old is of interest to MLS teams who have sniffed out what could be a potential bargain deal for Mexico’s all-time top scorer, as the Hammers may be tempted to sell for a small fee rather than lose the former Manchester United and Real Madrid man for free.
Hernandez cost the Irons £16m when they signed him from Bayer Leverkusen back in 2017, and it seems like the east Londoners will have to accept a big loss on that investment.
Would be a major risk to sell him
Selling Hernandez in January could potentially derail West Ham’s season.
Why? Well, having sold Marko Arnautovic in the summer whilst also allowing Andy Carroll to leave on a free, the Hammers have just one striker who is proven in the Premier League – Hernandez.
Admittedly, their two summer signings to replace the aforementioned duo who left the club do seem like exciting additions – £45m man Sebastien Haller and £8m recruit Albian Ajeti scored 20 and 21 goals respectively last season.
Watch the video below to find out how CR7 achieves some his best skills…
However, neither of them are proven in England and it remains to be seen how they will cope with life in the Premier League.
Contrastingly, Hernandez is extremely well accustomed to life in the English top-flight having made 158 appearances for both Manchester United and the Hammers, scoring 53 goals and recording 10 assists.
Allowing their only Premier League proven frontman to leave the club mid-season would represent a huge risk for Manuel Pellegrini’s West Ham.
This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
Marco Silva’s transfer record as Everton manager has, on the whole, been largely successful, but one newcomer is yet to get going yet.
The Portuguese manager has made improvements to the Everton squad in both defence and attack since his arrival, and he has used the funds at his disposal to add strength in depth throughout the squad.
One player the Toffees brought in over the summer who is yet to make his mark is Djibril Sidibe, after he signed on a season-long loan from Monaco on transfer deadline day.
The right-back arrived with a good pedigree, having earned 18 caps for France and made 19 appearances in the Champions League, reaching the quarter-final in 2017 and knocking out Manchester City along the way.
However, there have been notable disappointments already despite it being less than a month since he signed.
Firstly, he arrived injured and missed Everton’s first two games of the season, which is less than ideal if he was intended to be cover for Coleman, who only returned from a serious leg break earlier this year.
Things haven’t worked out on the pitch yet either, and he could struggle to dislodge the Irishman from the team. Coleman has been able to bring out the best in Richarlison, providing a base for him to venture forward into the box whilst also ensuring safety at the back, with two clean sheets in four league games so far.
Richarlison’s three goals this season show the pair have continued their effective partnership from the end of last season, and if Sidibe doesn’t get up and running soon then he could find his chances limited.
Silva handed him his debut away at Lincoln in the League Cup, and although Sincil Bank can be a tough environment to visit, a French international should really be performing better than Sidibe did.
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He was at fault for the first goal – which was conceded after a matter of seconds – and fans didn’t appear overly impressed on Twitter.
It’s clearly still early days, but it would be accurate to describe him as underwhelming so far. Everton fans and management alike could be thankful that he wasn’t signed on a permanent basis unless a big improvement is shown.