Archive for the ‘Transfers’ Category

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Manchester City have signed Aymeric Laporte. Manchester’s poor relations, (according to their manager, Pep Guardiola), who can’t afford to spend a lot of money on players have now spent a club record £57 million on buying the Frenchman.

They have a very expensive, if not very good, defence having bought Claudio Bravo, Ederson, Kyle Walker, Danilo, Benjamin Mendy, John Stones and now Laporte so, hopefully for them, things will improve.

By the way, the poverty-stricken Manchester team also splashed out on a private jet to fly from Madrid to Bilbao, collect their new signing, then fly from Bilbao to Manchester where he stayed in the 5* Radisson overnight before being chauffer-driven to the CFA on Tuesday morning. (more…)

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Manchester City beat Cardiff City without their new signings Fred and Aymeric Laporte mainly because they are not yet their new signings.

Laporte is expected to be announced on Tuesday because the weather will be nice in Manchester and there are no direct flights from Bilbao on Monday evening since easyJet cancelled their service. So he will have to fly with TAP which stops off in Lisbon on the way!

Either that or they could splash out on a private jet but, given that Pep Guardiola has been at pains to point out how poor City really are, that is unlikely. (more…)

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Alexis Sánchez made his expected debut against Yeovil Town in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday evening.

Martin Keown, ex-Arsenal-destroyer-of-all-things-football, decided that the Chilean did enough to merit being awarded man-of-the-match. Doing enough, in Sánchez’s case, included giving the ball away on at least five separate occasions and firing a free-kick tamely into the arms of the Yeovil keeper.

He did, however, assist in two of the goals and looked, at times, to be different class to everybody else on the pitch.

We have to agree with Keown’s assessment which leaves us wondering where this signing leaves Marcus Rashford. (more…)

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So José Mourinho has signed his new contract. He has put to bed all the rumours, mainly started by himself, of leaving for Paris or anywhere else for the next couple of years at least.

Unless, of course, he finds something to fall out about. If Ed Woodward fails to sign a player he wants, or sells a player he wants. If it rains too much. If certain other managers in the Premier League upset him. If a player or players at United don’t do as he says. If he gets fed up living in a 5* hotel costing more than £800 per night. If room service doesn’t deliver his breakfast quickly enough, etc., etc. (more…)

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Aymeric Laporte – About to join the scrap for places at City

Manchester City are on the verge of completing a deal for Aymeric Laporte. The Frenchman currently plays for Athletic Bilbao and City have circumvented any needless haggling and price manipulation by the Spaniards by just agreeing to pay the release cause, meaning that there is nothing Bilbao can do about the transfer other than sanction it.

The player has yet to he capped by his country but that, in truth, is more a reflection on the strange selection policy sometimes adopted by the French manager, Didier Deschamps.

The question now is; will he play regularly for City? Most people would think that a player costing around £60 million would be nailed on for a place in the first team but, as usual, that is not necessarily the case when it is Pep Guardiola picking the starting eleven. (more…)

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Manchester City are, as we write, twelve points clear at the top of the Premier League. They have just reached the final of the Carabao Cup and are about to play Cardiff away in the FA Cup, a game they should win.

They will face Basel in the knockout stage of the Champion’s League and should expect to progress further in that competition. Is there anything they cannot win? No, there isn’t.

Only an unlucky draw in a cup competition or a bad performance will prevent them winning the four trophies. (more…)

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It’s finally “Welcome to Manchester, Alexis Sánchez!” who attended his first day of training early-ish on Tuesday morning.

He is now officially a Manchester United player and has already had a pop at some Arsenal “legends” whilst also telling everybody where he would he best used at Old Trafford.

So good times are ahead!

Having managed to bring in the finished article in Sánchez, it is to be hoped that he can hit the ground running with United and that José Mourinho will not get him bogged down with too many tactics involving running back and tracking the opposition. That is not his game and would seriously restrict his effectiveness. (more…)

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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Will the Arsenal fans soon be chanting his name?

Stubborn Old Man, having persuaded Henrikh Mkhitaryan to assist in baling out the slowly sinking good ship Emirates, is still looking to add to his squad. Anyone handy with a bucket will do!

Reports have it that Ivan Gazidis is currently in Dortmund looking to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Gabon international should be available for around £53million and would be a direct replacement for Alexis Sánchez as he is also quite good at disrupting the dressing room when the mood takes him.

He could turn out to be an excellent signing for The Gunners but would surely signal the end of Olivier Giroud’s time at Arsenal.

Already behind Alexandre Lacazette in the pecking order the Frenchman would drop down even further with the arrival of a new man. (more…)

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Yesterday we decided the futures of Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool coming to the conclusion that Liverpool, currently, are best equipped of the three to challenge Manchester City at the very top of the Premier League.

Today we look at the credentials of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur and whether or not they can provide a more serious challenge next season.

680  Manchester United

Assuming that, at some stage this year, the Alexis Sánchez deal goes through then his signing will, almost single-handedly, make United contenders for most trophies next time round. (more…)

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There hasn’t been much movement yet by the top six clubs in this transfer window. Only Liverpool have strengthened significantly while, at the other end of the scale, Tottenham Hotspur don’t appear to think that buying anybody is necessary.

Over the next couple of days we take a look at whether the other five can get closer to City next season or even if any of them can overhaul Guardiola’s team.

602  Arsenal

As we have been saying for many a month now Arsenal, as long as Arséne Wenger insists that he is the right man for the job, are going backwards. (more…)