New Queens Park Rangers boss Harry Redknapp has refused to rule out a January move for former Premier League star Nicolas Anelka as the countdown to the opening of the transfer window is in full swing.
Anelka only joined current club Shanghai Shenhua last January, but the risky move to China doesn’t seem to have paid off and a return to Europe and possibly England seems on the cards.
Redknapp has been asked about dozens of possible New Year signings since he took over from Mark Hughes at Loftus Road last month and with his reputation of thriving in the transfer market it is clear that Rangers are expected to add to their underachieving squad in January.
A move back to London may suit the former French international who enjoyed successful spells at Arsenal and Chelsea, but Redknapp knows that a number of clubs will be interested in the striker and so a deal to come to Rangers may be unlikely.
“I don’t know what the situation is with him,” Redknapp told Sky Sports.
“If he is available he is a player who I think would be of interest to people.
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“We will sit down and the owners will have a look at the situation.
“Maybe we won’t have to spend any money. Maybe we can pick up a couple of loans. It’s a case of knowing who is around, knowing who is available and who can do a job for you.”
According to reports in The Guardian, West Ham United and Everton are two of the Premier League clubs that would be interested in signing Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who earns £60,000-a-week according to The Telegraph, on loan this summer.
What’s the word, then?
Well, The Guardian says that the Blues won’t entertain any permanent offers for the 22-year-old before the window slams shut on August 9, but they would be willing to let him join another top flight team on a 12-month loan deal – as they did last term when the England international joined Crystal Palace.
The 6ft 3in midfielder has certainly made a big impression for his country at the 2018 World Cup following an impressive cameo from the substitutes’ bench in the 2-1 win against Tunisia, before he started ahead of the injured Dele Alli in the 6-1 success against Panama on Sunday.
The Guardian says that Loftus-Cheek has no intention of playing a bit-part role at Stamford Bridge having featured regularly for the Eagles and helped them recover from the worst-ever Premier League start to secure an impressive 11th-place finish.
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Why should he choose West Ham over Everton?
Firstly, a move to the London Stadium would allow the 22-year-old to stay in the capital, but a move makes sense for footballing reasons in particular.
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The England man could effectively fill the void left by the injured Manuel Lanzini – who is expected to be out for the entirety of the 2018/19 campaign – which should mean that he would be a regular Irons starter under Manuel Pellegrini, who should be looking to bring these three former Hammers stars back to the club this summer.
The chance to link up with Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez would surely be tempting, and the presence of Yannick Bolasie, Ademola Lookman and Gylfi Sigurdsson at Everton make it difficult to see where Loftus-Cheek would fit in either in a central attacking midfield role, or even on the left flank where he often featured in for Palace.
Everton fans have been feeling less than enthused with the team’s recent performances, and manager Sam Allardyce has taken the brunt of the criticism.
Following last weekend’s 2-1 defeat to Burnley at Turf Moor, the Merseyside outfit dropped to 11th in the Premier League table.
One area of the pitch that has sparked discussion among fans has been in defence, with individual players failing to put in consistently strong performances.
Michael Keane was recruited from the Clarets last summer in the hope of strengthening the back line, and while he has put in strong displays, the showings have not always been on a regular basis.
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Ashley Williams has also faced criticism from the supporters, which has sparked some members of the fanbase to call upon Ramiro Funes Mori.
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The Argentine has not played competitively for the Toffees for almost a year due to a serious knee injury, but he has been building up fitness by playing two games for the Under-23s.
Today, the defender is celebrating his 27th birthday, and fans have reacted to the club’s well-wishes by calling on Funes Mori to be brought back into the team.
Of all the Premier League teams, Newcastle United were certainly one of the busiest in the summer transfer window, bringing in no fewer than nine new recruits. Whilst other top flight teams were equally as tireless in their pursuit of new additions, with Liverpool and Manchester United standing out due to their headline-grabbing expenditure, Newcastle’s dealings have been a particular source of interest.
After a number of seasons of modest transfer activity under the ownership of Mike Ashley, with new arrivals coming in their ones and twos – much to the chagrin of the Toon Army – the controversial business magnate appears to have conducted a much-welcomed u-turn in his transfer policy this summer. A tenth-placed finish last season was no disaster, though it was far from being a memorable campaign for the Magpies either with early elimination from both domestic cup competitions and losses in half of their league games.
His uncharacteristically gratuitous money spending seems to suggest a belated acknowledgement on Ashley’s behalf of the need for a new lease of life at Newcastle, with the idea being that a freshly remodelled squad may lead to happier times for the long-suffering fans this season.
However, spending money wisely, rather than freely, is the key to success, and upon closer inspection Newcastle have been glaringly myopic in their purchases. The underrated Jack Colback, signed for a free transfer from arch-rivals Sunderland, adds quality to the midfield, while World Cup semi-finalist Daryl Janmaat brings depth to a defence which conceded 59 league goals last season, only three fewer than relegated Norwich City.
Useful though these two additions may turn out to be, what Newcastle needed most was a proven goalscorer, and in this regard they have crucially failed to deliver.
Such a failure may be understandable as a single, isolated occurrence. Identifying a player for a specific position who is affordable, suited to the team and a realistic target is not easy and even not possible in every transfer window, especially for a team who lack the clout of the Premier League’s big spenders.
In Newcastle’s case, however, it has been a recurring problem ever since the departure of Demba Ba to Chelsea 18 months ago. Although this may not seem like a long time, the club has had four transfer windows to find an adequate replacement for Ba, with no success. In his one full season at Newcastle, the Senegalese scored 16 league goals in a campaign which saw the Magpies come close to qualifying for the Champions League and manager Alan Pardew consequently being named Premier League Manager of the Year.
Since Ba’s exit, and with no proven goalscorer coming in as his replacement, Newcastle have not come close to a top four finish.
It must be noted that Newcastle have in fact signed four strikers this summer, which at least suggests that the club’s hierarchy is aware that such a problem exists. Moreover, last season’s loan signing of Loic Remy from Queen’s Park Rangers, who was excellent for the Magpies, shows that the club is capable of attracting top-class striking talent. However, failing to make the signing permanent was a huge disappointment, and arguably of no fault of the club’s when Liverpool and eventually Chelsea came calling.
The attacking quartet of Siem de Jong, Ayoze Pérez, Emmanuel Riviere and Facundo Ferreyra which Newcastle opted for instead will not soften the blow of seeing the French international at a different club this season, and with no prior Premier League experience between them and unremarkable goalscoring records at their previous sides, the prospect of one component of Newcastle’s new-look strikeforce emulating Remy’s feats last season is unlikely.
In the grander scheme of things, Newcastle’s shortcomings in the transfer market hint at an uncomfortable truth for the Toon Army. They are a big club with a fanatical fanbase and an impressive stadium who, since Ashley’s takeover in 2007, seem content with stagnation and mid-table mediocrity. The selling of the club’s best players has become commonplace.
Though Pardew is one of the Premier League’s longest serving managers, there seems to be no definite indication of where the club is heading or how it is progressing, with the impressive fifth-placed finish in Pardew’s award-winning season three years ago looking more like a fluke, a freak accident, than a sign of better things to come.
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Ultimately, it is perhaps a recent departure, rather than an arrival, which symbolises Newcastle’s striking problems and the club’s deeper malaise. After being with the club for nineteen years, loyal servant and fan favourite Shola Ameobi was released by Newcastle in the summer. Though the striker was never prolific for the Magpies, some of his most memorable appearances in the black-and-white jersey came in the Champions League. His equalising goal at the Nou Camp and his brace against Bayer Leverkusen happened during the twilight days of Newcastle’s last noteworthy era, at a time when the club was still considered a force to be reckoned with and serious contenders for qualification to Europe’s elite club competition.
Ameobi was the last relic of these happier times, the last remaining Newcastle footballer with memories of playing Champions League football at St James’ Park.
While Ameobi has moved on, Newcastle remain stuck in the mires of mediocrity, with a return to the heights of European football nothing more than a pipedream.
How far can one man distort the boundaries of footballing genius? Lionel Messi’s seemingly unrelenting crusade to solidify himself as one of the greatest, if not the greatest players of all time, seems set to sweep up another milestone along the way, with the announcement of the Fifa Ballon d’Or winner in Zurich in January.
The Barcelona forward is the bookies’ favourite to pick up an unprecedented fourth win on the bounce, after a calendar year which has seen him put away an almost ridiculous 80 goals and counting for both club and country. To many, he seems almost untouchable; a footballing deity who boasts a resume which appears flawless in just about every way possible.
In oh so many ways, Lionel Messi is incomparable to his peers (a certain Cristiano Ronaldo may object to that), but it’s not only his on field genius that has placed him on a different plateau of recognition.
Of course, such is the fierceness in which Messi guards his private life, the Argentine could theoretically dress up as Captain Scarlett and strut around his front room in a pair of high heels for all we know, but from what we do, he appears as close to flawless as we could possibly come to expect in the world of football.
And it’s the humbleness, the amiability, the penchant for normality and the introvert of the man off the football pitch, which in some ways, only assists in catapulting him into a realm of his own.
Because not all the geniuses to have graced the game have been as apparently flawless as Messi. In fact if anything, it’s quite the opposite.
History suggests that a flaw or two in either your personal or footballing repertoire hardly denies you entry into the pantheon of greats. When Messi does eventually find himself there, providing he keeps his head screwed on for the rest of his career, he’ll be the squeakiest clean black sheep you’re every likely to find.
Think of his countryman, Diego Maradona. One of the greatest of them all and for the romanticists out there, maybe the greatest there ever will be. A man whose talent knew no boundaries, a player who was capable of single handedly dismantling the teams and winning the greatest prize of them all on his own – a World Cup winning feat that his heir to the crown is yet to complete.
But what of his supposed flaws? Could you imagine the reaction in today’s world if Messi developed a cocaine addiction, developed alleged links with the mafia and attacked a group of journalists with an air rifle? El Diego’s flaws bordered on the downright outrageous, but they haven’t changed a single thing he ever did on the football pitch.
Zinedine Zidane was widely considered to be the greatest player of his generation. The closest thing to Van Gough we have seen on the football field, the man was an artist, a visionary. But similarly to the Dutch painter, he was also a bit, well, mental. A raft of stamps, headbutts and spiteful acts punctuated his career, culminating in his infamous assault on Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final. If you did that in any other walk of life, you might end up in a police cell. But it still didn’t take away that volley in the 2002 Champions League final or his France 98 World Cup victory.
George Best was plagued by alcoholism and a nose for the hedonistic, but he remains immortalized at Old Trafford to this very day. Paul Gascoigne has had some very dark personal moments indeed, yet none of that has dampened his exploits in an England shirt at Italia 90. The list goes on.
The point here is, the notion of a flawed genius is relatively flawed itself, simply on the premise that a footballer’s shortcoming on or off the pitch, will always be superseded by their achievements upon it – if they’re good enough, of course.
It’s arguable as to even if Luis Suarez single handedly catapulted Liverpool to a Premier League title, people would ever forget his eight-game ban for racist abuse. Then again, as much of a national treasure as he remains, Gazza once confessed to domestically abusing his wife for two years. Has that really tainted his footballing legacy?
No one forgets the perceived flaws in the geniuses game’s or their mindsets. Although while the cult of celebrity and the sensationalist media may thrive upon the faults and weaknesses that adorn some of our heroes, most importantly, the annals of footballing history doesn’t care quite as much.
Lionel Messi’s humble attitude makes him a fantastic role model, but it doesn’t give him any preferential status amongst the greats. That’s reserved solely for what you do with your feet, not your head. He could fall into personal turmoil, get sent off for violent conduct in a Champions League final or get caught doing a ton in a sports car under the influence. It wouldn’t shatter his legacy.
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It would shred his role model image, probably harm the odd marketing deal and maybe make him a slightly less wealthy man. But it’s not going to take away anything he has achieved or may continue to achieve, on the football field.
In principle, of course the concept of a ‘flawed genius’ holds gravitas. No matter what their talents on the pitch, be it a suspect temperament or a dabbling in the uncouth off the pitch, a flaw remains a flaw, however you wish to paint it.
But football is a sport that doesn’t always adhere to normal principles. These so called flaws or misgivings, is what helped mould the geniuses into what they are today. In many ways, having flaws is all part and parcel of being a footballing genius.
Lionel Messi appears to have a hell of a lot less than most. But if he is eventually judged the best of all time, it’s got nothing to do with any mindset or attitude. Merely what he achieved with a football at his feet.
Do you think there is such thing as a flawed footballing genius? Join me on Twitter and tell me what you think.
The role of the co-commentator is pretty straightforward when broken down to its nuts and bolts. While the anchor describes the action taking place before our very eyes their companion’s obligation is to chime in from time to time, providing snippets of insight where possible; insight usually garnered from years of playing experience.
In America they’re called ‘color commentators’ and that’s bang on the money because without them a singular commentary would be as black and white as reading aloud from a phone book. Elsewhere the role is sometimes known as a ‘summariser’. In more optimistic climes they’re referred to as ‘analysts’.
I have a question though: if the role is so prosaic – and it is: it really, really is – then how come former British footballers are so thoroughly terrible at doing it?
Take Glenn Hoddle as a case in point. Better yet, just take Glenn Hoddle. Please. Anywhere will do. Anywhere that doesn’t have a microphone and a gantry that is.
The ex-England boss is widely regarded as being a shrewd and astute tactician, or at least that’s what we’re commonly informed. How strange then that an hour and a half in his company is less a masterclass in footballing nuance and more akin to a wittering drone sidling up next to you in the pub to make your afternoon a complete misery.
With his estuary colloquialisms and compulsion to finish every banal observation with ‘if you like’ Hoddle regularly drives a nation to the mute button and the sane sanctuary of Radio 5 live so as to listen to grown up, interesting input from the likes of Pat Nevin and Chris Sutton.
Acknowledging this throws up another query. Are Nevin and Sutton naturally better suited to the role than the creepily detached Hoddle? Unquestionably yes; a thousand times yes. But is the difference in format also to blame?
Perhaps, and not just for the obvious reason that with radio the absence of pictures requires the ‘color commentator’ to come into their own and swish around some paint-strokes. Radio stations, by and large, are not constantly petrified of you switching over to a rival. If you tune in, great, welcome aboard. If you tune out, we’ll see you again real soon. This security lends itself to a more relaxed affair and so listening to Nevin in particular feels like you’re settling in to enjoy a game with a better informed mate.
There’s more too. Radio has a higher opinion of its listeners. After all, you’re unlikely to be some kid with twitchy fingers and a five second attention span because you’ve not only tuned into the adult medium of the wireless but you’ve eschewed the shouting and juvenility of Radio 1.
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Whereas with television it’s open house policy curtails this thinking. Even when showing a national sport that is the sole draw in luring you to its channel they require chatter to fix you to the sofa and away from the remote. And chatter is a funny thing. Firstly it needs charisma and a large dollop of personality injected into it to make it engaging but more so it needs to appeal to millions of very different people across very different demographics. That requires an everyman.
Glenn Hoddle isn’t an everyman. He was simply an extremely talented midfielder. In ‘real life’ he’s a bit odd: the kind of guy you encounter through circumstance and walk away feeling as if there is a veneer of strangeness on your skin that needs shaking off. Martin Keown isn’t an everyman either. Five minutes of enduring his intensity down the pub and you’d be wondering where the hell your wife is so you can get away from the lunatic with the penetrating stare.
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Add Mark Lawrenson’s pantomime miserablism into the mix, along with Danny Murphy’s chippy hostility, and a poor schmuck in Philip Neville who desperately needs a professional counsellor to tell him that he doesn’t need to try so hard at everything in life just because his older brother is a superior human being, and you have a compendium of oddballs if fame was taken from them.
It’s hardly a surprise then that we recoil with twisted spleens whenever they pipe up during a game we’d otherwise be enjoying (and in Keown’s case piping up a LOT – honestly Martin, you really don’t need to make a judgement call on a throw-in). It’s hardly a surprise that social media goes into meltdown any time these individuals pollute our ear-drums with their scrambled vernacular and stupid opinions, individuals chosen for their stature rather than the human qualities they profoundly lack.
We were all so much looking forward to this World Cup. We deserve better than this.
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As reported by The Sun, Everton forward Sandro Ramirez has ruled out a return to Goodison Park next season, believing loan club Sevilla is exactly where he wants to be.
What’s the story?
Ramirez was a much-hyped arrival from Malaga last summer after an impressive 2016/17 season in La Liga, but failed to settle at Goodison Park before moving to Sevilla on loan in the January transfer window.
Now it seems he’ll be looking to stay there, despite only being at the club for two weeks.
As quoted by The Sun, the 22-year-old said: “I’ve been here two weeks and I want to continue next season at Sevilla. I’m really where I want to be.”
Of course, it won’t be completely up to the player where he ends up, but it certainly appears that forward does not want to make the move back to Merseyside come the end of the season.
Rated at £9m by Transfermarkt, the Toffees may at least make a profit on his spell at the club, having reportedly bought him for a budget £5.2m.
What could have been?
With a football education at Barcelona and a decent scoring pedigree in Spain, the failure of Sandro Ramirez to make an impact at Everton will be seen as a disappointment to supporters.
Last season he scored 16 goals and provided 5 assists in all competitions for Malaga, the kind of attacking contribution that should have made him a hit at Goodison Park.
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The player never really got the opportunity to player regularly, starting two matches in a row just once during his spell at the Toffees.
Was that a failure of the player or of the management?
We may never know, but a player who could have been a success at the club appears to have slipped through their fingers.
Before the first match in last night’s round of World Cup fixtures all the talk was about Ronaldo’s fitness for Portugal’s game against Germany. And when he was judged to be fit, the world expected a fierce encounter between two of the world’s best sides.
But the Germans dominated proceedings after Joao Pereira pulled down Mario Gotze in the penalty box in the 12th minute, resulting in Thomas Muller scoring from the spot.
Mats Hummels then rose to head in a corner on the 32nd minute before Pepe got sent off for head-butting Muller (who went down rather easily just before after an errant arm from the notoriously hot-headed Portuguese enforcer.)
From then on it was a walk in the park for Germany, with Muller adding two goals to his penalty to become the first player in this year’s World Cup to bag a hat-trick.
It ended Germany 4 – 0 Portugal.
Nigeria 0-0 Iran
On the other hand there were no goals in the game between Nigeria and Iran, resulting in the first draw of the tournament.
Iran, led by former Manchester United assistant coach Carlos Queiroz, were able to hold off the Africans with some good defensive work.
The African champions held most of the ball, but were unable to carve out a clear cut opportunity with the Iranians limiting them to long-shots and crosses.
It’s the first time Iran have managed a clean-sheet in the World Cup finals, but more importantly it’s a small step forward in their slim hopes of reaching the knock-out stages.
Ghana 1-2 USA
The last game of the day saw another dramatic ending what has so far been a World Cup of surprises.
Ghana have always seemed to get the better of USA and have knocked them out of two previous World Cup campaigns. However, this year, the curse was finally lifted as the United States started with a lot of energy before a late header gave them a 2-1 victory.
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Clint Dempsey was first off the mark, scoring the country’s fastest ever tournament goal, clocked at 30 seconds. The African side continued to pile on the pressure in search of an equaliser as Jozy Altidore was replaced through injury.
In the 82nd minute, Ghana’s pressure eventually paid off as Asamoah Gyan’s perfectly timed back-heel met Andre Ayew just outside the six-yard box before he sent the ball flying into the back of the net with only eight minutes remaining.
With the game looking likely to end in a draw, a Graham Zusi corner met the head of substitute John Brooks, who on his debut gave his team all three points with only four minutes of time left to be played.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes the club’s recent dip in form is due to a lack of confidence.
The Gunners have been out of sorts over the course of their recent encounters, losing to Norwich and failing perform impressively against QPR and Reading.
Their most recent loss came at Old Trafford, where they were beaten 2-1 by Manchester United.
Wenger is not worried by their displays of late and believes that his team need to rediscover their sense of belief if they are to get a positive result against Schalke in the Champions League:
“I believe that if you look at our overall performance we are indeed good, we are still the best defence in the league.” He is quoted as saying by The Metro.
“If you look at the goals conceded, I believe at the moment we don’t have to focus too much on that. What is most important is that we find our game back. Our game is about creating chances, about going forward, about having an offensive drive.
“That at the moment is a bit missing and the most important thing.
“I believe I have a team of great players and at the moment they have forgotten it a little bit how good they are.
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“What is most important is that we play again with our enthusiasm, desire to create chances and enjoy our game, more than about do we concede a goal or not.”
“What is most important is that we play again with our enthusiasm, desire to create chances and enjoy our game, more than about do we concede a goal or not.”
As reported by The Daily Mail, Steven Gerrard believes Alfredo Morelos has a key role to play at Rangers next season, despite recent speculation that clubs around the world are interested in his services.
What’s the story?
Gerrard is currently preparing his side for crucial UEFA Europa League qualifiers next month, on a pre-season training camp in Spain. Having already made a number of signings ahead of the new season, his squad has quickly been assembled ahead of the competitive action.
Just as important this summer though is retaining the players that can still play a big part at Ibrox, despite the club’s failed season last term.
It appears that one of those players Gerrard has decided he wants to keep is Alfredo Morelos, despite reported interest from France, Turkey and China.
As quoted by The Daily Mail, Gerrard said of Morelos:
We love the player. The fans love the player. He’s a goal scorer. We know what he can add to this team and squad.
If you’re asking me if his head has been turned that’s a question you’d have to ask the player himself. But where we stand right now he’s a Rangers player and I’m delighted to have him.
I take it is a positive, in terms of the interest that is coming his way. It shows we have a good player here. A player capable of scoring heavy numbers, which is what we need.
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Can Morelos shine under Gerrard?
Morelos’ reputation at Rangers took a massive hit towards the end of the season after he missed a number of golden chances against rivals Celtic, but his return of 18 goals was actually very decent for a debut campaign at Ibrox.
If he stays at the Light Blues and keeps himself fit, he should be aiming to score at least 20 goals next term, which would be a vital goal contribution for Steven Gerrard’s side. The fact the new boss has so much faith in the Colombian youngster could be huge for the player and bring his game onto new heights.
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There’s no doubt that Morelos isn’t the finished product, but Rangers shouldn’t be considering offers for him this summer, unless the money involved would be trans-formative to Gerrard’s squad budget.
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