Radamel Falcao’s father has confirmed that Manchester City and Chelsea want his son, and that it is likely that the Atletico Madrid striker will move to England in January.
The Colombian marksman has become on of the most lethal forwards in world football, and showed his pedigree with a hat-trick against the Blues in the European Super Cup last Friday.
With speculation that the South American could be in-line for a big-money move, Falcao’s father has confessed that the attacker could leave the Vicente Calderon in January.
“There are three teams interested – Manchester City, Chelsea and a Russian team,” The Daily Mail report Falcao senior as saying.
“Falcao has always wanted to play in the Premier League.
“Ever since he was a boy he has loved Chelsea and has always thought it would be an honour to play for a big Premier League team.
“I don’t want to talk about any pre-agreements.
“I spoke to Falcao very briefly yesterday. The minimum release clause in his contract with Atletico Madrid is about €55million, but Falcao doesn’t want to talk figures,” he concluded.
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Neither Manchester City or Chelsea bought new strikers in the summer transfer window.
Not that long ago, many Tottenham Hotspur fans would have wondered whether Erik Lamela would ever regain form.
The Argentina international spent a year on the sidelines with hip problems that required multiple operations.
This season after making his comeback, Lamela made 33 appearances in all competitions, provided four goals and two assists.
The traditional winger struggled for regular game time, though, as he was named in the first XI only 12 times by manager Mauricio Pochettino.
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Lamela predominantly plays on the right wing, but fans are wondering whether his positioning should be tinkered with.
On occasion, the Argentine has played more centrally in attack, just behind Harry Kane, but he has also been farmed out to the left.
On Reddit, some supporters suggested that Lamela, who is valued at £22.5m by Transfermarkt, should be used as cover for Dele Alli.
Plenty agree, while some fans had other suggestions for the ex-Roma star.
Lamela better in a central attacking role/ backup to Dele? from r/coys
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Duncan Ferguson turned 46 on Wednesday, and as expected, Everton’s official Twitter account was on hand to pay tribute to the club’s former centre-forward.
Ferguson is now on the coaching staff at Everton, and it would be fair to say that the Scot is a very popular figure at Goodison Park.
He initially joined Everton from Rangers in the summer of 1994 – representing the Toffees for four years before making the move to Newcastle United.
Ferguson was back at Everton in 2000, and he went on to make another 123 league appearances for the club before retiring from professional football in 2006.
Ferguson scored 58 league goals for the Merseyside outfit, and formed a reputation as one of the hardest strikers around.
A no-nonense Scot, Ferguson managed 98 league goals in 360 appearances during his professional career, and is now tasked with assisting Sam Allardyce at Everton.
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There are some that believe Ferguson was overrated when looking at his numbers for a centre-forward, but not too many would be interested in telling him to his face.
Blackburn Rovers defender Scott Dann has Fulham, Swansea and Everton chasing him this summer, according to Sky Sports.
Dann is a key man for Rovers but the club are willing to listen to offers for any big money players after spending big last summer and showing little reward.
The strikeforce of Jordan Rhodes and Leon Best cost over £10million and a bottom half finish and three different managers showed little reward for that.
Fulham boss Martin Jol is still in for a defender to complete his squad after spending most of his summer improving his attacking options with Darren Bent the latest signing.
Swansea boss Michael Laudrup will move for Dann if Arsenal follow up their interest in City defender Ashley Williams with a big money bid in the coming weeks.
Dann played for Rovers last night but a number of scouts were at the game with just 17 days to go until the end of the transfer window.
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Sergio Aguero should only be side-lined for a month, despite being stretchered out of Eastlands against Southampton.
When the Premier League champions’ top scorer went down clutching his knee ten minutes into City’s 3-2 win over The Saints, many feared the diminutive Argentine could have suffered ligament damage.
But scans have shown no major damage and the 24 year old could return as early September 15 when the Blues face Stoke.
Roberto Mancini spoke to The Independent, “I don’t think Sergio will be out for a long and we are hoping he will be back after the international break…we feared he could be out for six months or maybe even more which would have been very bad news.”
Aguero managed 30 goals in all competitions for the Manchester club last term, including the notorious stoppage time, title winning goal against Queens Park Rangers.
With an international break at the start of September, City may only be without their £38 million striker for two games.
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There is constant taunting between rival football fans over the course of the season, particularly when it comes to the North-West enemies Liverpool and Manchester United.
Jose Mourinho’s side have the bragging rights as far as the Premier League is concerned given that they finished second in the table, six points above fourth-placed Liverpool.
The Red Devils are also one win away from lifting the FA Cup, but their Merseyside rivals will trump them if they come away with the Champions League trophy on May 26.
Jurgen Klopp’s men will take on Real Madrid in Kiev in the hope of claiming a sixth European crown for the club.
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Understandably, United fans are praying that Liverpool fall short against Los Blancos, but an interesting article by Scott Patterson for ESPN shows a deeper insight into the rivalry.
In the piece, it is claimed that the Red Devils are just as keen to see their rivals lose in the Champions League final as they are to witness their own team win the FA Cup.
In a discussion on Reddit, Liverpool fans were not hugely surprised by the opinion, and in fact, some of them mirrored it while others embraced the rivalry.
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Starved of meaningful football we project importance and worth onto a series of post-holiday kickabouts, Stephen Tudor wonders when we’ll ever learn.
That they matter. At all.
We begin with the biggest whopper of them all, a porkie so grandiose in scale it would make a Tory minister blanch.
So starved are we for any meaningful football after a long summer of golf matches and tennis innings that the sight of our team in a spanking new kit squaring up to Portland Timbers or Brisbane Roar suddenly takes on a huge significance.
We take time off work and set the alarm clock for some ungodly hour because this matters. This actually matters. Each spurned chance is railed against, every wayward pass a harbinger of a disappointing season to come.
In reality though, these fixtures are little more than a glorified gym session with the players and management far more interested in increasing their respiratory muscle capacity and reducing lactic acid in the legs than, y’know, the actual result of the game.
Silverware
After thrashing a Singapore Select XI in their national stadium Arsenal proved themselves slightly fitter than Everton at this stage of proceedings to bashfully lift the 2015 Barclays Asia Trophy.
Whereupon the commentator said – and I quote – “Arsenal win their first silverware of the season”. Really? Because if that’s how low we’re now setting the bar that isn’t even true. We heard Per Mertesecker recently won the egg and spoon race at his son’s school sports day.
The false promise of youth
With your South American contingent still absent following the Copa America and several more superstars being granted a gradual return to the fray it offers your gaffer a rare opportunity to blood a few kids on tour. This is an entirely welcome development with surely no downside? Wrong. There is a huge downside.
The pups enthusiastically bark into tackles but otherwise show composure beyond their tender years. They generally impress and just ninety minutes is enough to convince you that your club have uncovered the next Class of 92.
That wondergoal Vine from a previously unheard of Spanish prodigy gets you briefly dreaming you’ve found the next Messi. The way the scrawny local lad nonchalantly megs the Italian with over a hundred caps makes you firmly believe there is no further need to chase that megabucks midfielder.
This is all a cruel delusion.
The youngsters in question will get as close as you will to the first team from August onwards and the next time you’ll hear their names they will be struggling to break into a Wycombe side on a three month loan.
Experimental 4-2-4
Last season it was all so predictable. A pivot, box-to-box and advanced midfielder making up a central trio; two inverted wingers and a big man up top. At times it felt like your manager had skim-read Pep Confidential and misunderstood all of it.
If only your full-backs had dared cross the halfway line once in a while the plan may have worked. But they didn’t and it didn’t.
Suddenly though, here they are in an entirely unfamiliar experimental formation designed for all-out attack. Watch out defences, we’re coming for you! It’s going to be carnage with goals aplenty.
The opening day of the campaign, however, sees your side reverting back to the tried and trusted, its brief flirtation with adventure akin to a one-night stand with a Greek waiter only without the STDs to accompany the hazy memories of playing two up front.
We’re going to win the league
Dismissing a Walsall side splattered with trialists before battering a hapless Hitchen Town 8-0 gives you the warm glow of optimism only July can offer.
All of your team’s flaws and foibles from last term are instantly forgotten and despite this being virtually the same eleven who meekly rolled over at Stoke and Sunderland it has now transformed into a hardened group of world-beaters. The magical powers of a few week’s rest, hey.
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The opening fixture sees this bunch of losers painfully abject and submissive at the Brittania and you hate yourself for your annual bout of the stupids.
A prima donna shines
Last year your 28-year-old ‘wonderkid’ from Argentina did little more than hopelessly fail with a few showboaters while flicking his luscious hair from his piercing Latin eyes. Putting in a shift was anathema to this extravagantly gifted trickster as too was actually showing more than an occasional glimpse of his extravagant gifts.
Now, though, he is a man reborn, tracking back, laying off simple balls, eschewing the spectacular for the effective and what’s this? A tackle. He only went and flipping well made a tackle.
It doesn’t last of course. Once he’s secured his first team place once more the flicks, shrugs, and strolling return like the learned behaviour of a doped-up lab-rat.
“He just needs a solid pre-season” you recall saying to your mate around Christmas. You were wrong.
UEFA have appointed David Gill to chair their licensing committee under the new Financial Fair Play, sparking a debate about the position of a current Manchester United board member and the quite clear conflict of interest it raises.
Of course it’s a conflict of interest, but such is the way that football works that you’re always likely to come across situations like this. UEFA may be questioned for their decision to offer Gill a level of power over clubs who breach the rules laid out by Financial Fair Play, but to do that would also indirectly question Gill’s integrity, assuming that he’d simply go out of his way to clear Manchester United’s path of their nearest rivals.
Manchester United are one of the clubs to advocate a limit on spending, where they were also backed by the majority of Premier League and European clubs. The problem of this appointment, however, is that there is access to the accounts of domestic and European rivals. The matter shouldn’t be that Gill will blindly swing the hammer and show his continued allegiance to United, but rather that his position can work in their favour.
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For that it’s understandable why clubs like Chelsea or Manchester City would be fearful or at least mindful of Gill’s new position. But regardless of whether the power holder has ties to Manchester United or not, they’ll still come down firm on those who fail to balance the books. At least that’s what we’re led to believe. You’re either cynical or a realist if you believe FFP is coming into place to keep the rich at the top. Malaga were battling to attain a license to compete in Europe next season, Rayo Vallecano too, yet you’d be stretched to imagine any of the big or money-making clubs facing such struggles.
Isn’t it also best for UEFA to appoint someone for this role who does hold a good working knowledge of the game? Gill will retain a position on the board at Manchester United and as such is on the frontlines to deal with the matters of his new position accordingly. The issue here, or the lack of one, is that only clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea will speak out on this matter. They are the clubs compressing 15 or 20 years of build into three or four and they have shown a continued willingness to spend heavily in a time of economic recession.
Where is Bayern Munich? Adding to that, where is Manchester United in this debate? It doesn’t matter whether Gill is one of their own, shouldn’t they also be mindful of possible fines and bans due to their own history of lavish spend? Bayern and United, and many others, are not comparable to PSG, Chelsea and Monaco. It doesn’t really need further explanation, such has been their status at the top of the European game for decades.
You’d also like to assume that Gill will come down hard on United if they’re found to be in breach of UEFA rulings. Those who will go on to laugh off that assumption should probably be mindful of the idea that United may go all out to ensure they don’t fall foul of the rules in place. Their approaching sponsorship deals will give them the ability to continue spending as they please. The bigger conflict of interest is in the sponsorships aligned with Manchester City.
Yet it furthers the whole issue on whether these new rulings are simply in place to keep the best teams at the top and almost unrivalled. Monaco, Manchester City and up until recently Malaga had to dip into the pockets of outside investors in order to make up ground in league competition. That can’t happen now.
What if QPR decide they want to continue spending their way out of trouble? UEFA won’t allow it. They want to encourage organic building in football, something which can take at least a decade to achieve, all the while masking their true goal in the game which sees a maintaining of the equilibrium. At least that’s the cynical view.
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How will David Gill’s position with UEFA play out across England?
Everton’s ambitions are lofty but at the moment their aging defence is not fit for purpose for the goals the club wants to achieve, under Sam Allardyce or another, more stylish manager.
Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines and Ashley Williams have seen better days and that is why the absence of Seamus Coleman for large swathes of the season has been so keenly felt.
Whoever is in charge at Goodison Park next season will need to address the defensive situation as a matter of urgency, so it is little surprise to see the Toffees linked with Rangers man James Tavernier, as per the 21:41 entry of the Mirror’s Transfer Liveblog for 28 April.
Valued at just £675k by Transfermarkt, the Rangers defender would be a cut-price option and we’re asking you whether he would be a good buy for the Toffees?
Let us know by voting in the poll below and keep your eyes peeled for the results…
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The successes of Brendan Rodgers at both Swansea and briefly at Liverpool should not be overlooked. How he steered a squad with that defence to within a game of the title deserves great credit, but his transfer dealings have left a lot to be desired to say the least.
The relative success of 2013/14, albeit without a trophy, has been put down to the brilliance of Suarez by many. It seems unfair to take total credit away from Rodgers as his tactical ambition allowed a free flowing attacking game that saw the rise of Raheem Sterling as the third in the attacking triumvirate.
Rodgers the coach helped his side to within 90 minutes of an unbelievable title even with the continued misbehaviour of Suarez. The short-termism of football is not shown better than the plethora of Liverpool fans asking for Rodgers to be replaced so soon after providing a season of breath-taking attacking football and nearly their first title in over two decades.
The real criticism for Rodgers comes for much more than his brilliant 2013/14 season, but his job at managing the transfer market has been abysmal.
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Going into the 2014/15 season, Rodgers had just lost Luis Suarez for mammoth fee and was left with the chance to reinvest into a balanced squad. Unfortunately, Rodgers couldn’t live true to his comments when Tottenham were in a very similar position. Occasional patches of improved form and the loss of Daniel Sturridge for the majority of the season put a lot of pressure on Rodgers’ signings.
Adam Lallana, for instance, came into a team playing without a recognised centre forward and has only been given fleeting opportunities in a variety of systems and positions. This season has been an opportunity for Rodgers to shape Liverpool to a team in his image and regardless of excuses, he has failed in that task.
Even previous trust in his tactical ability has dropped with continued naivety towards creating a stable defence that has seen his side ship goals at an alarming rate. Not to mention the use of one of their best central midfielders as a centre-back.
Emre Can is one of the transfers that can be considered more of a success than most. This is not to say much from a manager who has signed Aspas, Alberto, Lambert and Allen. Adam Lallana certainly has the ability to succeed but regular football has been difficult to come by, whilst we all know the difficulties of Mario Balotelli and Rodgers’ bizarre attempts at man management.
In many ways, Rodgers’ biggest failings for transfers have been the lack of ambition often shown and this is starting to show in this window. Milner and Ings are perhaps shrewd additions, but unless they are the start of more ambitious signings it could be a truly underwhelming summer for the Anfield faithful.
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Although the dark times of Damien Comolli were equally disappointing in the market, Liverpool’s entire transfer system has been dysfunctional for years. The bargains of Sturridge and Coutinho are often quoted in defence of this regime, but their talent was known across Europe and Rodgers’ success in their cases is again down to his coaching. As Raheem Sterling appears to be edging closer to Manchester, there may be a chance for Rodgers to redeem himself with some big investment over this summer and put right his mistakes from Borini to Kolo Toure.
Along with the small task of replacing Steven Gerrard.