[ad_pod ]Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Luka Modric took to Twitter to say “Congratulations” to his former employers as they booked their spot in the Champions League final on an astonishing night in Amsterdam.
Spurs looked to be dead and buried as they fell 2-0 behind on the night and 3-0 on aggregate, but from then on it was the Lucas Moura show, with the winner coming five minutes into added time.
The north London club will now face Premier League rivals Liverpool in the final held where Modric is currently playing his football for Real Madrid, although it is being held at Atletico Madrid’s wonderful new home.
Modric is still seen as something of a hero by the Tottenham Hotspur stadium faithful given how well he did for the team before departing for the Spanish capital, scoring 17 goals and providing a further 27 assists in 160 appearances in all competitions.
Having been victorious in the final last year, the Croatia international will surely be willing on the team he once represented to get their own big moment in the spotlight on June 1.
Unai Emery’s men finished the season in fifth place and all of their Champions League eggs now sit in one basket; winning the Europa League.
The Gunners take on Chelsea in the final but, regardless of the result, the squad needs a major overhaul this summer.
Reports suggest that Emery will only have £40million to work with if they don’t qualify for Europe’s premier club competition, but who should the club keep around and who should they bin off in a bid to boost the coffers?
Football FanCast has taken a look…
[snack_break title=”Goalkeepers – Bernd Leno, Petr Cech, Dejan Iliev “]
Soccer Football – Premier League – Southampton v Arsenal – St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton, Britain – December 16, 2018 Arsenal’s Bernd Leno looks dejected as he applauds the fans at the end of the match REUTERS/David Klein EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or “live” services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your accou
Bernd Leno – The best goalkeeper Arsenal have had in a really long time. Keep him.
Petr Cech – Already gone – retiring at the end of a distinguished career.
Dejan Iliev – Nobody knows. Keep him and play him in the Carabao Cup.
[snack_break title=”Full-backs – Hector Bellerin, Nacho Monreal, Sead Kolasinac, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Carl Jenkinson “]
Soccer Football – Premier League – Arsenal v Huddersfield Town – Emirates Stadium, London, Britain – December 8, 2018 Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin prepares to take a throw in REUTERS/Hannah McKay EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or “live” services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further
Hector Bellerin – The best defender Arsenal have but injuries have ravaged him this season. Keep him but wrap him up in cotton wool.
Nacho Monreal – Ageing but has another year on his contract. Sell him if a bid comes in.
Sead Kolasinac – Has struggled to nail down the left-back position and seems unsuited to the Premier League. Would be a wrench to sell him after such a short Gunners career but it makes sense if he can be replaced.
Stephan Lichtsteiner – He’s too old for the Premier League. Sell and replace.
Carl Jenkinson – Amazingly still on the books at the club. Sell him and give him the chance to reignite his career elsewhere.
Laurent Koscielny – The only defender to emerge from this season with any real credit. Keep him but ensure that a succession plan is put in place as he turns 34 in September.
Rob Holding – He does not appear good enough but he’s just 23. Keep him and hope he delivers on his long-held potential.
Shkodran Mustafi – An absolute disgrace of a defender, crowbar him out of the club.
Konstantinos Mavropanos – Loan him out and hope he gets the minutes he needs to improve; has looked out of his depth at times this season.
Sokratis – He’s not quite as good as Koscielny but he’s nowhere near as bad as Mustafi. Keep him.
[snack_break title=”Central midfielders – Mohamed Elneny, Aaron Ramsey, Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi, Joe Willock, Denis Suarez “]
Soccer Football – Premier League – Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers – Emirates Stadium, London, Britain – November 11, 2018 Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey reacts Action Images via Reuters/John Sibley EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or “live” services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further
Mohamed Elneny – Sell him and bring in a defensive midfielder who can actually, you know, defend.
Aaron Ramsey – It’d make sense to write ‘keep him with bells on’ here, but he’s already gone after perhaps the worst transfer decision in the club’s recent history. Juventus will love him.
Granit Xhaka – He has shown signs of becoming the midfield general Arsenal thought they were signing this season and deserves another shot next season.
Lucas Torreira – A pleasingly effective terrier of a midfielder, keep him and give him some support in midfield.
Matteo Guendouzi – Perhaps the best signing the Gunners have made in recent years, given the fee and the context of his rise, Guendouzi has a high ceiling and should be kept.
Joe Willock – Loan him out and ensure he gets some minutes under his belt; sometimes cup competitions don’t cut it.
Denis Suarez – Already gone. A waste of a signing, he’s injured and he’s off. Bye.
[snack_break title=”Attacking midfielders and wingers – Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Mesut Ozil, Alex Iwobi, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Danny Welbeck “]
Soccer Football – Europa League Semi Final First Leg – Arsenal v Valencia – Emirates Stadium, London, Britain – May 2, 2019 Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil looks dejected after Valencia’s Mouctar Diakhaby scored their first goal REUTERS/David Klein
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – Played his part in perhaps the worst transfer in Premier League history, joining the Gunners as Alexis Sanchez went to Manchester United. Both teams lost; if a buyer can be found, sell him.
Mesut Ozil – His £350,000-per-week wages are an albatross around Arsenal’s neck. Sell and ensure no such luxury players are bought again.
Alex Iwobi – He’s got the raw talent to be a success. Give him another season and hope he starts to deliver.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles – Nail down his best position and give him a run of games there; stop chopping and changing between playing him in defence and on the wing.
Danny Welbeck – Already gone with contract expiring. He doesn’t have the ability to score regularly and he’s too injury-prone.
[snack_break title=”Strikers – Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Eddie Nketiah “]
Alexandre Lacazette – Reports claim that Barcelona could come knocking this summer; if they do, extract a massive fee, sell and reinvest. If they don’t, hope he keeps banging them in next season.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Keep him but teach him to score the gilt-edged chances as well as the difficult ones.
Eddie Nketiah – Promote him to the first-team and start playing him; his pace and finishing ability is frightening.
Liverpool fans have taken to Twitter to debate over what the club should do with young sensation Harry Wilson.
The 22-year-old has starred whilst out on loan with Derby this season, scoring 18 goals and recording six assists to fire Frank Lampard’s Rams into the play-off final.
Already a full Wales international, Wilson clearly has heaps of potential.
Luis Suarez certainly had no qualms about celebrating against his former employers in the video below…
However, the Reds are reportedly willing to listen to offers for their academy graduate and have slapped a £25m price tag on the young talent’s head.
Wilson is arguably the best performing youngster out on loan from Anfield, and it would be fairly cruel for him to be sold on so quickly given the fact he has expressed his desire to play for Liverpool; he hasn’t put a foot wrong, so cashing in on him immediately would be harsh.
However, it is a tough one in the respect that £25m for a player who probably won’t be in Jurgen Klopp’s first-team plans next term is difficult to turn down.
The issue has made its way onto Twitter, where the Liverpool supporters also can’t agree on the matter…
100 chances created. That’s the remarkable tally that James Maddison clocked up in the Premier League this season. It beat even the very best in the division as he topped the list for creativity.
Yet somehow, that isn’t enough to get you in the England team. This side has been heralded as one picked on form and merit, rather than the club you play for. However, that certainly hasn’t been the case with Maddison, who rather unfairly has been left out of the squad for the Nations League in June.
For all too long, the Three Lions have lacked a player like the 22-year-old. He’s someone capable of grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck and injecting a sense of life into proceedings from a central area.
But despite his exclusion, it can serve as a positive going forward and could take the Foxes man to a whole new level.
Southgate knows best
When it comes to young English players there aren’t too many people with better knowledge and expertise than Gareth Southgate.
You only need to look at the chances he’s given the likes of Jadon Sancho and Callum Hudson-Odoi this season.
Maddison was called into the squad to face Croatia and Spain last October but didn’t actually play, so it’s clear he’s on the mind of the former Middlesbrough boss.
After missing out, the attacking midfielder will likely go to the U21 European Championship instead this summer. England are arguably one of the favourites and with the Leicester midfielder in their ranks, that will only be elevated further.
Southgate has made a brave call in not selecting him for the senior side but it could be a masterstroke.
He knows the benefits of a youth tournament and the experience some of the country’s very best young talents have gained in the past has been significant.
England’s World Cup wins at U17 and U20 level have seen players go onto thrive in the Premier League and also selected for the senior national side.
As such, Maddison’s likely appearance at the U21 Euros could be a game changer for him.
That tournament will arguably be even more competitive than the Nations League and will also boast some incredibly strong teams, specifically France and Spain.
Pl>ymaker FC’s Matchday with Max caught up with Jamaica’s women’s team. See what happened when he met the history makers in the video below…
Maddison is likely to be a part of England’s plans going forward and the more tournament experience their young players gain the better.
With the Nations League only being held over the space of a few days, he’d learn far more from a month long competition. On this occasion, Southgate’s got it right.
In the first half of the Premier League season, Xherdan Shaqiri looked to be one of the best signings of the summer, but fast-forward to now, and it’s easy to say pundits and fans alike were a bit too excited early on.
Six goals and two assists in the first 19 games from a player that only cost £13 million was a solid return for Liverpool, but since the turn of the year, Shaqiri has barely had an impact on the Reds team, assisting just once in the second half of the Premier League campaign, and now there’s talk of the Swiss international could be ready to be move on from Anfield for a younger model.
According to Goal via the Metro, Liverpool are considering selling Shaqiri to make room for Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze, who had been a reported target for the Reds for some time.
The Nigerian winger would be a welcome addition to Liverpool, being able to play on both wings will mean both Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane both have cover for their respective positions, and a departure from Merseyside will do Shaqiri some good.
Valued at £25 million Transfermarkt, Liverpool stand in a great position to make a profit on the Swiss attacker, and although Shaqiri has been underwhelming in the second half of the season there is no doubt that the former Bayern Munich man will be able to attract interest from some big clubs.
Shaqiri’s move might not have worked out as most fans thought it would, but moving the attacker off for profit and bringing in Chukwueze will be another masterstroke from Liverpool, who will be signing a player who can one day become a starting attacker for the team.
Liverpool fans, would you sell Shaqiri if it meant signing Chukwueze? Let us know!
The hunt for their inaugural technical director almost seems a never-ending one at Manchester United.
Ever since Ed Woodward indicated the need for an experienced head to oversee the club’s rebuilding under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, there have been plenty talked about for the position.
However, Woodward seemingly isn’t ready to give the helm to someone without experience, thankfully. Exactly why he’s done that in terms of having a manager remains to be seen, but that’s a different story for a different time. Instead, he would give it to someone who has produced genuine results in such a role and United seem to have found one with such a resume. That’s because, according to reports (via The Sun), the Red Devils want Stuart Webber to be their first technical director.
He’s working as Norwich City’s sporting director and done a great job with reviving the Canaries. Indeed, he played a role in Daniel Farke’s innovation, signing promising players and also giving rise to many youngsters. This is something which can please Solskjaer, whose philosophy revolves around building his team around young, exuberant players.
Indeed, he was also the reason for Huddersfield Town’s promotion before moving to Norwich. Last season, Webber made quite the profit for the Canaries, selling James Maddison for £20 million and just looks like he knows what he’s doing. That’d be nice, wouldn’t it? Moreover, he also signed the Championship highest scorer Teemu Pukki on a free, while also signing Tim Krul as a free agent. Clever, clever transfer business, the kind not heard about at Old Trafford for years now.
Webber definitely understands what he’s doing. He’ll know which players to keep and whom to buy to restart United’s development. A shrewd footballing personality with the ability to make financial profit and also sign prolific talents, Webber’s the down-to-earth, pragmatic personality needed to make United a fearsome unit once again.
United fans, do you think Webber is the right man to oversee the restructure? Join the discussion by commenting below…
[ad_pod ]Both Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino took their places before the media on Friday afternoon, ahead of the biggest game of the season for their respective sides.The Liverpool boss is more familiar with this kind of environment having already overseen two Champions League finals throughout his career, whereas his counterpart in Pochettino is far less experienced; the Argentine has only ever made it to the League Cup final as a coach.It may be for that exact reason why Klopp was in such good form in front of the onlooking journalists, leading to a couple of genuine comedy moments. Let’s take a look at two of them…What one weakness can Spurs exploit against Liverpool in the UCL final? Fans discuss in the video below…
On the format of the competition potentially changing
It has been reported that the Champions League could become a competition consisting of four groups with eight teams in each, which would be a major shift from the current format.
When quizzed on what he thought about the proposal, Klopp was in good spirits and reacted with a typically cheeky answer.
The German said: “If they could make the semi-final the final then I would be completely happy with it! I don’t know what people want to change. I love the competition. The right teams play in it, each team has the same chance to go through.”
He was, of course, referencing the fact that he’s twice made it through the semi-finals of the competition, but never won the grand prize.
Being described as a ‘shiny’ person
As reported by the Liverpool Echo, one journalist described the former Mainz boss as a ‘shiny’ person, which is a fairly unusual term.
Klopp clearly felt the same after the attempted compliment, looking on in confusion before being told that it meant he was in fact ‘brilliant’ and not literally shiny.
Injuries are just about the worst thing that can happen to a professional footballer in their careers. They’re often unexpected, soul-crushing and require a long time to get over. And unfortunately for Nathaniel Chalobah, that has happened far more often than he could have imagined.
The Watford midfielder was considered one of Chelsea’s brightest young prospects but has seen his career blighted by injuries and setbacks, and suffered a horrific knee injury at the start of the 2017/2018 campaign that saw his season virtually wiped out entirely.
But after making his return to football this campaign, the 24-year-old took to
/BykQ6Tlnu35/” data-lasso->Instagram to post a video of the long and arduous journey of his long-awaited comeback.
The response was understandably met with a wave of strong supportive messages, including from his club captain Troy Deeney, who urged him to keep working hard.
Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku, who was teammates with Chalobah during their days at Stamford Bridge, also sent his love to the England international.
The likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Pedro Obiang and Marco van Ginkel amongst others added to the wave of feel-good messages sent Chalobah’s way.
Having now made his return to first-team football this season, the midfielder will be hoping that he has put away the worst of his injury nightmares behind him and can concentrate instead on his efforts on the pitch.
According to Le10sport, Aston Villa have made a €10m (£8.9m) bid for Brentford playmaker Said Benrahma, who enjoyed an excellent season with the Bees in 2018/19.
What’s the word, then?
Well, the Villans seem keen to bolster their squad following their return to the Premier League and have already been linked with a number of targets.
Dean Smith’s side have already completed the signing of Jota – formerly of Brentford – in a swap deal for Gary Gardner, and have been linked with a move for Celta Vigo frontman Maxi Gomez after Villa scout Juanfran raved about the Uruguayan.
“Finding a Lionel Messi in Sheffield… bit of a tall order!” – Watch Championship fans attempt to name their clubs’ Messi in the video below…
23-year-old Benrahma scored 11 goals and recorded 17 assists for Brentford last season, putting in a number of excellent performances which have clearly caught the attention of top-flight clubs such as Villa.
More sensible than Maxi Gomez
As good as Gomez is, he has been linked with the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham in recent weeks and should certainly be left alone from a newly promoted team’s viewpoint.
The 22-year-old hit 13 goals and recorded five assists last term, but he has a £43.5m release clause in his contract which should definitely put Villa off.
Additionally, the fact that he has already proven himself and as such has been linked with moves to Champions League clubs should be a warning sign to Villa that, even if they do land him, he will be using them as a stepping stone.
While Benrahma is a completely different kind of player, one who operates in support of the front-line rather than leading it, he represent the type of deal Villa should really be looking at this summer.
He comes with much less risk given the cheaper fee and desire to prove himself having only played as high as the Championship in England, so it would be a much more sensible move for a club like Villa who wouldn’t want to risk repeating the mistakes of Fulham.
The Cottagers spent big last summer having won promotion, spending almost £60m combined on Jean Michael Seri and André Frank Zambo Anguissa, before seeing the nucleus of their squad disappear and finishing bottom.
Gomez feels like another trendy name that’s inevitably tempting to go and grab, but Benrahama is a much better fit for the Midlands outfit. Cheaper deals like this should be Villa’s priority.
According to Football Insider, Aston Villa are considering a swoop for Huddersfield Town defender Terence Kongolo ahead of the 2019-20 campaign.
It is expected to be a busy summer for Villa as they prepare for life back in the Premier League.
According to Football Insider, Kongolo has emerged as a target for Dean Smith’s side, with the 25-year-old keen to return to the Premier League.
Kongolo, who joined Huddersfield on a permanent deal from Monaco last summer, made 32 Premier League appearances during the 2018-19 season.
Capable of operating as a centre-back or a left-back, the Netherlands international’s versatility will be attractive to Villa.
The club’s supporters have been on social media offering their views on the speculation and it would be fair to say that there are some differing opinions.
A swoop for Kongolo could also mean that Villa have potentially admitted defeat in their bid to sign Tyrone Mings on a permanent deal from Bournemouth.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below: