Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has ruled out making a move for Chelsea defender David Luiz, reports the London Evening Standard.
What’s the word?
Ever since the Brazilian dropped down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge, he has been linked with a move away from the Blues.
A recent report in The Express claimed that Arsenal are favourites to sign Luiz, but Wenger has quashed the speculation.
According to the London Evening Standard, the Frenchman told reporters:
“I do not want to speak about any special name but these reports are wrong. We are open in any position for the exceptional player who can give us a plus, therefore of course it depends a little bit on the injuries as well and on the other hand, I must say it depends on extending the contracts of the players who are at the end of their contracts in June. We will have to take the consequences of these decisions and respond to it.”
Luiz was a crucial member of Chelsea’s Premier League title-winning team last season as he formed a back three with Cesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill.
At the end of October in the current campaign, manager Antonio Conte dropped the defender, who later suffered a knee injury that he has since recovered from.
Do Arsenal need him?
The Gunners have experienced problems at the back, and at the moment, injuries have affected the defensive line.
Sead Kolasinac is expected to be on the sidelines for two weeks, while Laurent Koscielny is an injury doubt for Wednesday’s league match against Chelsea.
After returning to the Blues from Paris Saint-Germain in 2016, the defender seemed to have cut out the reckless decision-making from his game.
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However, Luiz can still be hit and miss, particularly given the fact that he has fallen out of Conte’s good books.
If Wenger wants to improve his defence, he needs a reliable character, and the Brazilian may be too much of a risk.
The start of the summer and the transfer period had Reading fans as excited as they had been for a long while with the arrivals of the Wayne Bridge, Danny Williams and Royston Drenthe.
With the promised addition of one more striker we were set for a promotion push with a decent amount of cover in all positions and according to a lot of fans probably a stronger squad than the one that had started the campaign the season before in the Premier League.
The season is now starting to get into full flow and while it is still early days, Reading have looked far from convincing in picking up two wins, two draws and a solitary defeat away at Blackpool. Not the worst start on paper but it is the nature of the unconvincing performances in the last couple of games had fans including myself convinced that we would see a couple of incomings throughout the last few days of the window, especially upfront where we looked light to say the least. Adam Le Fondre will always score goals, but as we have all seen he is best coming off the bench. Pavel Pogrebnyak has not looked interested this term while Nick Blackman has failed to convince fans in the first month.
Despite this, the first bits of business in the last week of the window were actually outgoings with Jimmy Kebe and Adrian Mariappa leaving for Crystal Palace for a combined total of £5m. Jimmy Kebe has always been a player who divided opinion, unstoppable on his day but most frustrating on others and perhaps after six years with the club it was the right time for him to move on. Adrian Mariappa, despite being many fans choice for player of the season last year has rarely featured in Nigel Adkins starting 11 and perhaps he felt £3m for a player not in his plans was too much to turn down.
After recouping £5m I amongst other Reading fans was convinced there would be at least two or three players coming in on the last couple of days of August. As mentioned earlier we looked light up front and with Mariappa leaving we are left with only three senior central defenders, obviously not enough at this level.
So we waited.
There were a few rumours knocking about here and there but nothing concrete and as the excitement of deadline day unfolded it was all worryingly quiet over at the Madejski. As the evening wore on and deals were being confirmed up and down the country Reading fans took to twitter to vent their frustration. Every fan agreed that at the very least a striker and a central defender was needed, so what was going on? Well, by the sound of it, not very much at all.
So what was it that resulted in the failure to secure any players? A lot of the anger on social media has been aimed at the Director of Football, Nicky Hammond. It was reported that two deals fell through on deadline day and perhaps therefore it does seem correct to lay the blame at Hammonds door. One fan has even gone to the lengths of creating a petition for his sacking which to me seems slightly extreme but it is easy to see why the fans are so frustrated.
When the new owner took over, it seemed the days of having to sell our best players to balance the books were gone. We would no longer need to ship out the Gylfi Sigurdssons and Shane Longs of this world whenever the first club came calling. We had the money to bring in players, such as Drenthe who would be paid big wages. It therefore seems strange that no players were bought in to strengthen areas that it is plain to see need it. I think we must look at Hammonds role and he must be made to answer questions as to what happened, especially with the reported 2 deals that fell through on deadline day.
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We will now see what happens in the next week or so in terms of any free transfers and loan deals but I would say that in my opinion it will be nigh on impossible to achieve the clubs ambition of getting promoted this season with the current squad. Time will tell.
Liverpool’s owners and manager Brendan Rodgers are set to come to loggerheads again, after the club announced plans to form a “technical committee” in light of the Andy Carroll debacle. The Telegraph reports.
Supporters are still fuming at the decision to let £35million signing, Carroll leave with Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini as the only options upfront.
The Reds were interested in securing a deal for Daniel Sturridge to bolster their attacking options, but were only willing to bring him in on loan whereas Chelsea were keen on a permanent deal.
But the most high-profile failure came after the club could not meet the £6million valuation which Fulham set for Clint Dempsey, resulting in the USA international joining Tottenham instead.
This new proposed committee will be set up to avoid future situations like this, advising both Rodgers and owners John W Henry and Tom Werner about all aspects of the club, including transfer dealings.
It is likely to cause even more tension between owners and management, particularly as Rodgers made it clear he wants total control over all first-team matters, but the owners have since said this so-called British model is unsustainable and costly.
The American owners want to replicate a similar kind of model that is already in place at West Brom, where Dan Ashworth has the role of sporting and technical director and is now wanted by the Football Association.
Under this new model, Rodgers will have to discuss prospective transfer targets with members of the committee, who in turn will advise the manager on the best way forward.
Ian Ayre, the current managing director is likely to hold a key role in the new set-up, along with a chief scout and an experienced football administrator.
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Liverpool fans will hope this goes some way in improving the club’s fortunes, especially as they seem a long way off from competing at the top level in the near future.
Arsenal are prepared to pay a £57m release clause to sign Napoli midfielder Piotr Zielinski, according to Corriere dello Mezzogiorno.
What’s the word?
Despite the fact that the Gunners are yet to appoint a replacement for outgoing manager Arsene Wenger, transfer plans are being formed.
A report in Corriere dello Mezzogiorno claims that the North London outfit are big admirers of Zielinski and are willing to activate a £57m release clause in the midfielder’s contract.
The Poland international is only 20 years of age, but he has been impressing on the main stage in Italy this season.
In total, the midfielder has featured 43 times in all competitions, including 12 starts in Serie A.
Would Zielinski be a good fit?
At 20 years of age, there is always a risk when throwing an inexperienced Premier League player into the deep end.
However, Zielinski has proven that he can cope with the pressure of playing for a big club.
The midfielder predominantly plays in the centre of the park, but can also perform on the right or left side of attack.
Santi Cazorla has been missed during his lengthy injury absence, and even though the fans are delighted to see him return to the training field, his long-term future remains uncertain.
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Zielinski has the attributes to fit into the current Arsenal side, but a lot will depend on what direction the new manager will want to take.
With Petr Cech recently completing his much anticipated switch to the Emirates Stadium, Jose Mourinho and his formidable Chelsea outfit are currently in the market for a back-up goalkeeper for the upcoming season worthy of challenging Thibaut Courtois for the No.1 spot at Stamford Bridge throughout 2015/16.
In a subsequent turn of events for the Potters this summer, Stoke City’s reliable shot-stopper, Asmir Begovic, has seemingly become a strong candidate to replace the departed Cech at Chelsea, with Mourinho’s side reportedly willing to spend as much as £8 million on acquiring the 28-year-old’s services.
Victor Moses will supposedly be used to sweeten the deal for Stoke, yet for those among the Britannia Stadium faithful who still want Begovic to remain a Potters player ahead of the 2015/16 campaign, it seems the writing may already be on the wall for the Bosnia & Herzegovina international.
However, as Manchester United will also likely be in the hunt for a new ‘keeper with the ever coveted David de Gea expected to make his switch to Real Madrid this summer, should Asmir Begovic continue on his probable route to Stamford Bridge in the not too distant future, or would the Stoke City favourite be better served by waiting for Louis van Gaal to come a-callin’? After all, there are tentative links…
Well, if Chelsea were to land the highly respected ‘keeper in the run up to the new season, it would admittedly have to go down as a brilliant bit of business on the club’s part.
At 28-years-old, Begovic still has enough years in him to do the business at the highest level, his know-how of the Premier League remains a truly important asset and, with the former Portsmouth man having represented his nation at the 2014 World Cup last summer, experience and reliability are two traits that seemingly come naturally to the shot-stopper’s overall game.
Asmir Begovic would also represent a truly marvellous deal for the Blues from a financial perspective – £8 million seems like a good deal for a player clearly good enough to make it at Chelsea in the modern era.
The likes of Liverpool and Arsenal could have both really done with someone of Begovic’s standard operating at their respective goalmouths in the past few seasons. With all due respect to Stoke City and their loyal following, the Bosnian star certainly could have been playing for a club more prestigious and respected than the Potters if his current employers had decided to part ways with his services earlier on in his Premier League career.
With Jack Butland currently providing the Britannia Stadium faithful with a promising future in the goalkeeping department, now would seemingly be an opportune moment to sell the Chelsea target from Mark Hughes’ point of view.
Yet because the Blues can only realistically offer the 28-year-old a bit-part role on the bench throughout the next few seasons, Begovic himself would arguably find a better future at Old Trafford should Louis van Gaal genuinely be interested in landing the Bosnian this summer.
Manchester United have reportedly singled out Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris as a suitable candidate to replace the potentially outgoing David de Gea in the run up to the new season, but if Spurs manage to hold onto their highly coveted French shot-stopper, Begovic would represent the next best option for United with all things considered.
Operating on a stage as grand and significant as Old Trafford could certainly go down as a potentially defining chapter in the career of the current Stoke City ‘keeper, especially as Manchester United could offer Begovic a first-team role next season if all else fails.
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The World Cup star would most definitely be able to help fill the likely void left by David de Gea this summer – and although the Bosnian obviously doesn’t offer quite the same level of potential as his Spanish counter-part in the Old Trafford net, his overall prowess in the air, organisation of his back-line and ability to stop opponents in one-on-one situations could prove more than successful with the Red Devils should this particular transfer rumour really take off in the coming weeks.
Whilst a move to Chelsea would nevertheless represent a genuinely good opportunity for the Stoke shot-stopper ahead of the 2015/16 campaign, Manchester United would ultimately offer Asmir Begovic a much better chance to further develop his career in the Premier League, rather than just watch it fall by the wayside on the bench at Stamford Bridge.
Liverpool have been heavily involved in the football rumours already this transfer window. After signing Manchester City defender Kolo Toure on a free transfer, Brendan Rodgers has been strongly linked with moves for Henrikh Mkitaryan and Simon Mignolet. The duo are expected to cost a total of £30million, as the Northern Irishman aims to get his business done as early as possible.
The Reds are keen to strengthen their squad this summer, after finishing 7th in the Premier League this season, just two points behind neighbours Everton. But with their £20million transfer kitty set to be overspent on the duo, Rodgers will not only need to sell some players, but will also need to find some bargains across Europe if he wants to continue adding to his squad.
With that in mind, here are 10 transfer bargains Rodgers should consider before the new season starts.
Click on Jermain Defoe to see 10 players Liverpool could pick up on the (relatively) cheap
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Wayne Rooney has poured cold water on rumours that he could leave Manchester United.
The England international has been decidedly off the boil recently, both in Euro 2012 and in the Red Devils’ opening games to the 2012-13 season.
With Sir Alex Ferguson bolstering his attacking options with the signatures of Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa this summer, the British tabloids have speculated whether the Old Trafford outfit were getting ready to cash-in on Rooney.
However, the attacker has dismissed this as nonsense and stated he wants to stay with United.
“Read the nonsense in the papers and heard what people have to say it is absolute rubbish. #heretostay,” he told his Twitter followers.
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Rooney suffered a nasty gash on his leg in the 3-2 win over Fulham at the weekend, with the extent of the injury meaning the striker could be out for as long as two months.
A Newcastle United scout was reportedly in attendance for the Europa League semi-final second leg tie between Red Bull Salzburg and Marseille in Austria on Thursday night, and Magpies fans are confident that the person was there to watch the hosts’ Valon Berisha.
The Tyneside outfit have already been linked with the midfielder in 2018, and he impressed against the Ligue 1 outfit as his team were just minutes away from a penalty shoot-out and the chance to face Atletico Madrid in the final.
The 25-year-old played on the left-hand side of a midfield three – although he has also played in the centre on occasions – against Marseille, but he failed to add to his 13 goals and 11 assists in all competitions this season.
Newcastle supporters were quick to have their say on who their scout was watching via social media, and while one said “Valon Berisha I’d assume”, another said “could be for Berisha”.
Love or hate, possess and interest or cannot be bothered, politics is really on the agenda right now. The United Kingdom’s General Election is looming large, with the future of our nation set to be decided for the immediate future. Conservative ‘rule’ – albeit with a Lib Dem coalition – has been the way for some time now, but Labour are battling, while other parties such as UKIP and the SNP have emerged.
Football in itself bears many similarities with politics, so it comes as little surprise that many players, both past and present, have taken an interest in what’s going on in parliament… and here are SIX examples.
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Paolo Di Canio
Where better – perhaps ‘better’ is the wrong word – to start than West Ham hero Di Canio. The Italian is known for his right wing views, and is a self-declared admirer of former dictator Benito Mussolini and landed himself in hot water with a fascist salute to Lazio fans.
“I am a fascist, not a racist. I made the Roman salute because it’s a salute from a comrade to his comrades and was meant for my people.”
Okay then, Paolo.
Karl Henry
QPR’s midfield… erm… just midfielder Henry barely made headlines or attracted attention at all. However, some recent frank views displayed on Twitter have revealed his Tory leanings on the political spectrum:
His views are strong, but are they perhaps born from a desire to keep his hard earned cash? Maybe, which certainly riled many fans on Twitter. Last week he also confirmed where the cross on his piece of paper will be going…
Sol Campbell
Controversial in his playing days, and even more so now he’s out of the game, Campbell is a staunch Conservative supporter. Politically active and forthright in his views, there is plenty to respect about the former England international’s eagerness to make a difference, and he has even hinted that he could run for the seat in Kensington.
Frank Lampard
“Frank has got some very strong opinions on the way the country should be run. People tend to think of footballers as being a bit one-dimensional but Frank takes pleasure in talking about big social issues when he has guests round to dinner. “
Well, these are the words of a friend of ‘Lamps’ who appears to be as blue as the famous shirt he once donned for Chelsea on a regular basis. He’s also met David Cameron and, whom he had a “good chat” with back in 2007.
Cristiano Lucarelli
While Paolo Di Canio may give the impression that Italian footballers are right leaning, Lucarelli couldn’t be much further left in terms of his views. The big forward once declared his team, at the time, Livorno to be “Communists”, while he spent a large chunk of a big signing on fee at Shakhtar Donetsk in 2007 on funding a left-wing newspaper and helping with causes back in his home nation.
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Roman Pavlyuchenko
From the bench at Spurs to the bench in Russia (of a different kind), ‘Pav’ won a seat on the Russian regional council in 2008, running as a part of Vladamir Putin’s United Russia party.
“Roman Pavlyuchenko is a source of pride to Stavropol [the region he represented],” said Dmitriy Edelev, Stavropol parliament’s United Russia leader. “He leads a specialist Olympic Reserve School project in the region which is headed up by Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov, so the party representatives in the city decided to include him on the candidate list.”
Sir Alex Ferguson
As red as his nose, ‘Fergie’ is a Labour enthusiast. Prior to his days of footballing fame, Sir Alex became a shop steward in the union when working in the shipyards of Clydeside and also led an unofficial walkout over pay.
boss Andre Villas-Boas thinks a chat with flying winger Gareth Bale earlier this season was the catalyst for his subsequent stunning form.
Bale picked up the 2012-13 Footballer of the Year award at the Football Writers’ Association’s dinner in central London on Thursday evening after what has been an outstanding Premier League campaign for the Wales star.
Just 11 days before, the Tottenham forward became only the third man in history to win PFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year in the same season.
After a season which has seen him bag a total of 30 goals for club and country, it is hard to imagine Bale having experienced any doubt about his abilities this year, but Tottenham’s manager revealed last night that the player had sounded him out after a period where he felt he was not enjoying his football enough.
Speaking on stage at the Lancaster London hotel last night, Villas-Boas said: “I had Gareth knocking on my door once, not crying, but he was complaining a little bit. He said he wanted me to help him to enjoy his football a little more.
“We had a good conversation. Hopefully it turned out well for both of us. From that moment onwards his drive, his passion and his ambition towards the height of elite football has been immense and it shows through the great season he has had.”
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