Tag: Transfers

URC 2022/23: 7 to Watch

URC 2022/23: 7 to Watch

We are now just days away from the return of the URC. The debut season of the new league was a roaring success and the new season, kicking off on Friday evening as Benetton host Glasgow, will surely even be more exciting.

And so with jut days to go, there is only one thing that remains: my look at all the players who have moved clubs this summer and selection of 7 players who I think we should be keeping an eye on this season. And as usual, we have a nice blend of domestic transfers and new arrivals to the league…

Marcus Watson

Not my original pick of Benetton’s new signings as I was going to look at Alessandro Garbisi, however with the announcement that Monty Ioane has been released from his contract, the acquisition of Marcus Watson suddenly goes from being a great signing to a crucial signing. The former England 7s star and Olympic silver medallist has impressed in the 15s game for years with Newcastle and Wasps, and I can only assume that he was one of the many casualties of the reduced salary cap in the Premiership, but I expect him to thrive in the URC. He may have lost a little pace from his prime but is still more than fast enough, while his years of top flight experience will be vital as Benetton push for a Champions Cup spot.

Sio Tomkinson

It’s a new name for Dragons RFC and (hopefully) a new and more successful start. Well the signing of Sio Tomkinson from the Highlanders certainly feels like a step in the right direction. Tomkinson is a highly physical centre who, at 26, should be in his prime years. The former New Zealand U20 will have a key role to play in a team that has not qualified for the top tier of European Cup competition since the 2010/11 season, helping to set and organise the defence, while using his hard running to create space out wide for the wings.

Malakai Fekitoa

Tomkinson isn’t the only former Highlanders centre joining the league this year as Malakai Fekitoa makes the journey from Coventry to Limerick. With Damian de Allende leaving, there wouldn’t have been many replacements of the same quality available but Munster managed to find one as they look to rebuild under Graham Rowntree. A solid and dependable all-rounder, the former All Black and now Tongan international will be looking to provide an X-factor that will help the province compete with Leinster.

Vaea Fifita

The second former All Black to leave Wasps for the URC this summer, Fifita is one of many who tried and failed to secure the All Blacks 6 shirt since Jerome Kaino left New Zealand, but that does not mean that he is not a talented player. Has transitioned from blindside flanker to lock over the years, creating a dynamic option in the Scarlets tight five with solid handling skills. New World Rugby eligibility laws could make this signing interesting, as he is now eligible for Tonga, so have the Scarlets signed someone who will be an ever-present, or someone who will be absent during international windows?

Vincent Tshituka

Considering the Sharks have also signed Eben Etzebeth and Rohan Janse van Rensburg, this may seem like an odd pick, but such is the potential of Tshituka. One of the few players to stand out for the Lions against the British & Irish Lions, Tshituka is a hard-hitting, dynamic loose forward and one of the new generation of impressive loose forwards coming through in South African rugby. With the Bulls and Stormers facing off in last season’s final, Tshituke is the kind of player who can help the Sharks be even more dangerous this season, while also giving them a true talent to build around in the future.

Josh Furno

It’s been all change at Zebre Parma this summer, with 21 players leaving and 22 arriving. One of the most recent of the 22 is my pick here, Melbourne-born Italian international lock Josh Furno., who returns to the club he played for in the 2016-2017. A journeyman whose list of former clubs includes Newcastle, Biarritz, Otago, San Diego Legion and most recently Union Sportive Bressane (Bourg-en-Bresse), Furno brings years of experience, including 37 caps for the Azzurri. With such a turnover of playing staff, such experience will be crucial to help the suad gel quickly and effectively in a competitive league.

Byron Ralston

This time last year, Irish-qualified Australian Mack Hansen was preparing to make his competitive debut for Connacht after a summer move from the Brumbies, and we all know how well the last 12 months have turned out for him. Well Connacht will be hoping that lightning strikes twice as this summer sees 22-year-old Irish-qualified Australian wing Byron Ralston arrive from Western Force. A real speedster whose chance came when COVID saw the return of the Force to top-flight competition in Super Rugby AU, which led to a place in Super Rugby Pacific. While a repeat of Hansen’s first season feels unlikely given the depth Ireland have on the wing, don’t be shocked to see Ralston become a regular starter at The Sportsground.

Which new signings are you most looking forward to watching?

Thanks for reading!

Premier League 2022/23: New signings to watch (Part 2)

Premier League 2022/23: New signings to watch (Part 2)

Ahead of the start of the new Premier League season, I looked at the transfers teams had made over the summer and selected 8 who I thought were worth keeping an eye on. Well the timing of Transfer Deadline Day meant that there was still over a month for teams to make transfers after the point that I released this article, so I’m back with a part 2, looking at a handful more signings, with the caveat being that they were signed after 27ᵗʰ July, when I wrote Part 1.

Part 1’s list has already seen a number of players putting in fantastic performances, so can the players below continue the trend?

Alexander Isak

With the takeover of Newcastle United and the end of years of stagnation under Mike Ashley, there was talk of all the superstars that the club could afford to sign. And while Eddie Howe has focused on solid and reliable players rather than “superstars”, the signing of Swedish international Isak is a signal of intent. At just 22 years old, Isak already has 37 caps (9 goals) and has averaged a goal every 2-3 games throughout his club career. A huge upgrade on Callum Wilson and Chris Wood (while also much younger), expect him to quickly become a fan-favourite at St James’ Park.

Neal Maupay

Last season showed just how desperately Everton needed to find a capable back-up striker for whenever Dominic Calvert-Lewin was unavailable, as Anthony Gordon is not a striker and players like him, Demarai Gray and Dwight McNeil desperately needed someone to target in the box. Is Maupay the answer though? While an experienced player, goals have never been his specialty, with his 2018/19 Championship season for Brentford (28 goals in 49 matches—all competitions) a clear outlier as he has only hit double figures for a season 4 other times, with 13 goals in all competitions his best return. Can Lampard get the best out of Maupay? At least he should still be an upgrade on Salomón Rondón…

Emmanuel Dennis

Making the jump from Championship to Premier League survival is far from easy and needs some good work in the transfer market. And while Forest have been very busy this summer, Dennis could be a key signing. While the Nigerian’s goal returns are far from the most impressive, he was one of the more impressive players for Watford during the nightmare that was last season, with his 10 goals double that of any of his teammates. With players like Jesse Lingard and Neco Williams now looking to set him up, Dennis has the opportunity of a breakout year in England, which will be crucial for Forest as Dean Henderson does his best to keep out the goals at the other end.

Mikkel Damsgaard

When Christian Eriksen became unavailable following his collapse during the Euros, it was the young Damsgaard who came in for him and made a name for himself with his impressive performances through the rest of the competition. Now, with Eriksen choosing Manchester United over a return to Brentford after they gave him a return to professional football, the Bees have made the same move as Denmark by signing the 22-year old from Sampdoria. The Dane has shown himself as an impressive technical player and should thrive with target men like Toney and Mbeumo in the box, while the Danish contingent at the club will also hopefully help him settle quickly.

Which new signings are you keeping an eye on?

Thanks for reading.

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Premiership Rugby 2022/23: 7 to Watch

Premiership Rugby 2022/23: 7 to Watch

It feels like it has been gone for ages, but we are now just weeks away from the beginning of the new Premiership Rugby season! While there may still be plenty of stories to play out between now and the opening games on 9ᵗʰ September (Bristol v Bath and Sale v Northampton), it’s time for us to start getting excited for another season of rugby.

And that can only mean one thing: the return of my “Players to Watch” series, where I look at all the players who have moved clubs this summer and pick out 7 players who I think we should be keeping an eye on this season. And as usual, we have a nice blend of domestic transfers and new arrivals to the league…

Ellis Genge

The news that Leicester Tigers captain Ellis Genge would be returning back home to Bristol was already somewhat of a shock, and now feels even more of a surprise after last season ended with him lifting the Premiership title, but after developing from a dynamic young prop into a genuine world-class talent it will be interesting to see just how well the baby rhino adapts to a new team. Genge’s ability in the loose certainly seems a good mix with Bristol’s expansive attacking game as they look to put the disappointment of last season behind them.

Albert Tuisue

Gloucester’s only new arrival of the season, the Fijian back row will be looking to quickly establish himself as a favourite of the Shed following his move from London Irish. In a back row corps that already boasted Jordy Reid, Lewis Ludlow, Ben Morgan, Ruan Ackermann, Jake Polledri (returning from injury) and Jack Clement (Senior Academy) among a number of other talented academy players, Tuisue will bring his own brand of strength and athleticism, and if rumours of Zach Mercer arriving a Kingsholm for the 2023/24 season are to be believed, he will have to be consistently at the top of his game to make the 23.

Handré Pollard

Tigers may have just won the title, but they are facing a big reset this season with a number of big names leaving. And part of that reset is the arrival of South African Pollard to be the new fly half. On paper, it feels like Leicester would have a playstyle that would suit him, with a strong pack and a back line featuring game managers at 9, physical centres and explosive game changers in the back 3, but he comes in with the pressure of having to follow on from George Ford, while much of his last season in France was spent at 12.

Danilo Fischetti

One of my favourite signings of the summer, I’m just absolutely gutted that he isn’t coming to Kingsholm. The Italian loosehead is quickly developing into one of the top props in the world, and this move from Zebre to London Irish will see him training with and competing against some of the best i the world on a weekly basis, which can only be good news for his development and the Azzurri. Watch out for him racking up the turnovers at the breakdown.

Lukhan Salakaia-Loto

This seems an interesting move for the 25-cap Wallaby, as it will be bringing a halt to his international career. The Queensland Red makes the move to Northampton, and I feel that this could be the move that makes his career. Formerly a back row but now a lock, Salakaia-Loto brings dynamism and strength, and has plenty of experience for a 25-year-old. An expansive attacking team like Northampton will surely benefit from his qualities, while I think that a couple of years in the Premiership could help his development as a lock, setting him up to be a key part of the Wallabies squad when he returns Down Under in a couple of years.

George Ford

As I alluded to earlier, Ellis Genge isn’t the only big name leaving the defending champions this summer, as George Ford moves to Sale. Ford is a clearly talented player, and was in some of the form of his life at Leicester with Steve Borthwick. Will he be able to maintain this form at Sale, whose back line’s most notable talents will be the injury Risk called Manu Tuilagi and fellow new signing Tom O’Flaherty?

Hugh Tizard

And finally we reach Hugh Tizard, who moves to Saracens off the back of a fantastic season with Harlequins. Tizard was a standout player at the Stoop last season and I was honestly shocked that he did not tour with England this summer, such was his dynamism and general talent. Now the big question is on the gametime he will get, as he moves from a club where he was a guaranteed starter to a side that already boasts Maro Itoje, Nick Isiekwe and Theo McFarland at the position.

Which new signings are you most looking forward to watching?

Thanks for reading!

Premier League 2022/23: New signings (so far) to watch

Premier League 2022/23: New signings (so far) to watch

The new Premier League season is almost here, and with it, a chance. For Manchester City: to defend their title. For a couple of others: to fight City for said title. For a few more: to fight for European football in the 2023/24 season. And for the rest, to secure their spot in the league for another season.

All 20 teams have been strengthening themselves (or at least trying to) in the transfer window. And today, I will be looking at those signings and picking out 8 of them that I really think will be worth keeping an eye on during the season. In making this list, I have forced myself to pick a maximum of 1 new player per team, while please be aware that this is correct as of 27ᵗʰ July, though I may do a second list once the transfer window closes picking up any new signings. *Crosses fingers and hopes United sign Frenkie de Jong and hold onto Ronaldo*

Dean Henderson

I’ll start this off with the one loan signing on this list. Henderson had an incredible 2019/20 season with Sheffield United and broke into the Manchester United XI the next season, putting himself on Gareth Southgate’s radar. But a return to form for David de Gea saw him only make 3 appearances last season. With de Gea holding the starting spot, Henderson has been given the chance to go back out on loan this season to newly-promoted Nottingham Forest, and will be hoping for a repeat of his exploits with Sheffield United, with a strong start to the season potentially earning him a spot on the plane to Qatar.

Richarlison

This is a very interesting signing, with the Brazilian leaving Everton for Spurs. He has impressed in some poor teams, so in theory becoming part of a strike team that contains Son Heung-min and Harry Kane, who could perhaps now drop into a slightly deeper position where his range of passing can be utilised. However, at a reported £60m, Richarison seems a very expensive signing, especially when you look at some of the other forwards who are on this list, and he can also be a little hot-headed at times, which could cause trouble if Spurs have some issues.

Sékou Mara

At 19 years old, Southampton’s signing from Bordeaux feels like a risk. Southampton struggled for goals last season, with their top scorer being James Ward-Prowse, with 11 in all competitions. Is Mara going to be the answer to that? Granted he is still young so should be improving by the year, but with just 12 goals in 50 professional appearances, is he really going to be the answer, especially considering that he will have to get used to a new team and an arguably more difficult league. Could develop into a great player over the next few years, but will be interesting to see what chances he gets this year and how quickly he adapts.

Nick Pope

I talked earlier about Dean Henderson’s loan to Forest giving him the chance to push for a spot in England’s World Cup squad. Well if we assume that Jordan Pickford and Aaron Ramsdale are the top 2 choices, Henderson is likely competing with Nick Pope for the final spot. Pope shot onto the scene years ago now when Tom Heaton got injured, and though he has continued to play well, Burnley’s form kept him far too busy and eventually saw them relegated. Now having moved to a Newcastle team that has been on the up since the Mike Ashley era ended, this looks like a great chance for Pope to remind everyone of his quality an help secure the Magpies in the top half of the table.

Lisandro Martínez

Manchester United’s defence has been a mess in recent year, not helped by the form of Captain Calamity Harry Maguire, while the signing of Raphaël Varane did not quite go as expected as he struggled with injuries. With other options not overly reliable, Martínez could be a huge signing. Coming fro Ajax, you can imagine that he is a player Erik ten Hag knows a lot about if he feels confident to shell out £57m for him, but if he can start making United more secure at the back and reducing David de Gea’s workload, then he’ll be worth every penny.

Erling Haaland

The big signing of the summer. After a couple of seasons of Manchester City largely playing without a recognised striker, they have signed the 22-year-old Norwegian to lead their line. If he can quickly adapt to the league (coming from the Bundesliga, Ithink this is more likely than from La Liga or Ligue 1) then I expect to see him taking the City attack to a new level as they once again have a focal point in front of goal. Signed for a reported £51.2m, it won’t take long for him to start paying Pep Guardiola back with goals.

James Tarkowski

Was linked with Arsenal a few years ago but stayed with Burnley and saw the team decline and eventually get relegated. Now he moves to Everton looking to remind everyone why he was in and around the England squad 4 years ago, while at 29 he is still in his prime for a centreback and can help the Toffees fight back from an awful season that saw then just avoid relegation and get back to the top half of the table.

Gabriel Jesus

I could have picked either of the players who have made the move from the Etihad to the Emirates (or to sound much cheaper, from Manchester to London), but Jesus just beats out Zinchenko here. The Brazilian will finally get the chance to lead the line, while his ability to play out wider keeps the fluidity up front that highlighted the young Arsenal attack last season. At £45m he feels a much better signing that rivals Spurs have got with Richarlison, can he prove it by helping propel Arsenal into a title fight?

Which new signings are you keeping an eye on?

Thanks for reading.

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Premier League 2021/22: August

Premier League 2021/22: August

Football may not have quite come home this summer, but the Premier League has returned, along with grounds full of cheering fans!

Kicking off midway through the month, we have had 3 rounds of football before the first international break of he season, and boy did it leave the table in an interesting place. Champions Manchester City opened up their campaign with a loss to a Tottenham side who were not even playing star striker Harry Kane as they tried to avoid loving him to the sky blues, while newly-promoted Brentford defeated Arsenal in Friday night’s opener. And for the two North London rivals things just continued in the same manner, leaving Spurs top of the table with the only 100% winning record, while the Gunners find themselves dead last, one of 3 teams yet to earn a point.

The race is on!

The race for the Golden Boot: Michail Antonio (West Ham) – 4 goals; Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton) & Mason Greenwood (Manchester United) – 3 goals

The race for Playmaker of the Season: Paul Pogba (Manchester United) – 5 assists; Michail Antonio (West Ham) & Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) – 3 assists

The race for the Golden Glove: Hugo Loris (Tottenham Hotspur) – 3 clean sheets; Édouard Mendy (Chelsea), Alisson (Liverpool), Ederson (Manchester City) & David Raya (Brentford) – 2 clean sheets

Heading for trouble

Remember how both last season and during the summer professional football continued to show that it doesn’t care about player safety when it comes to concussions? Well it appears that narrative will continue this season.

The game: Chelsea’s 0-2 win at Arsenal. Reece James went up to compete with Nuno Tavares for an aerial ball and the pair made contact, with James flopping to the ground on landing, before lying there unmoving in a star shape. To everyone watching, it looked like James had been knocked out, but after the game was stopped and he received medical attention, the Chelsea fullback was allowed to play on. The incident conveniently didn’t even appear in the Match of the Day highlights.

Now if James was knocked out (more on this shortly), then it is absolutely disgusting that medical professionals allowed him to play on. Contact sports like rugby and American football continue to sponsor research that shows the danger of head injuries, and yet football—a game where you are legally allowed to play the ball with your head—continues to bury its head in the sand, which will likely have fatal (and expensive, to use language the people in charge may actually care about) consequences.

Of course, if you ask anyone at Chelsea, James never lost consciousness, with Thomas Tuchel saying that he stayed down as he was afraid that he had broken a tooth. Now watching the footage of James staying down, that is not how I imagine someone reacting if they think they’ve broken a tooth. Especially given the visible worry of players and officials, it feels like James would have had more of a reaction if this was the issue. It feels like a poor excuse to cover for the fact that they risked their players life. And if it is true, then you have to ask why acting as if you’ve been knocked out is acceptable.

Hopefully this is the last time we see an event like this, but given recent history, I very much doubt it!

Wingman

It’s been a strange old summer for Manchester City. The defending champions successfully brought in Jack Grealish, but with Sergio Agüero no longer at the club and Gabriel Jesus apparently not fully trusted as the lead striker (judging by the amount of times the team played without a recognised number 9 last season), many would argue that their summer spending was somewhat of a failure as they failed to come to terms with Spurs for Harry Kane and similarly failed to bring in a striker, which was even more noticeable given the signings some of their rivals made (more on that later).

So with no new striker signed, it has been interesting to see how City have began the season up front, with Ferran Torres in the middle of a front three, with Grealish on the left and Jesus on the right. And yet it’s working. Jesus has had a brilliant start to the season, causing all manner of problems for defenders on his side and putting in a number of super dangerous crosses, which should have led to more than 3 assists so far, while he has also been able to come in from a wider position to cause trouble in the box, or move more centrally once substitutions are made.

While I still think that City will regret not bringing in a bigger striker before the season is out, it looks like Gabriel Jesus may just have found the opportunity to become a regular in the starting XI.

Building for success

It’s been a mixed summer transfer-wise for the big six. But who has been put in the best position by their summer’s business.

While Jack Grealish is in my personal opinion an upgrade on Raheem Sterling, he is arguably a luxury in a position where City already have plenty of options, especially with Jesus now playing a wide position. Much more important was getting a star striker in. Harry Kane would have been the perfect option, as someone who can play as a classic 9 but also has the skill to play a little deeper, so to miss out on him could be costly. That said, with the depth they have elsewhere in the squad, don’t be shocked to see them still remain favourites for the title.

Moving across the city and Manchester United have had a busy summer! Though Dan James will be a loss, the Red Devils had already secured his replacement in Borussia Dortmund starlet Jadon Sancho, while the arrival of Raphaël Varane should go a long way to solidifying things at the back, something the team has needed for years! But to then end the transfer window by bringing back the prodigal son in Cristiano Ronaldo was a masterstroke. Not only will his return pump up a crowd that is already excited to be back, but his talent belies his age and he will be such a threat leading the line and at set pieces. But what United also benefit from now is leadership. In Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani—who has vacated the 7 shirt to let Ronaldo have it back—United now have 2 world class strikers to teach Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood the finer points of the position whilst also ensuring the supply men are putting the ball in exactly the right position. But more than that, the leadership of those 2 and Varane, combined with a high number of top class players will hopefully bring out the best in Paul Pogba, whose prodigious talent has too often been outweighed by a lack of effort. They may still be a man short in the midfield, but this looks like a team that can compete for the title once again.

United aren’t the only team who look really set to challenge now, though. Chelsea looked a real threat under Thomas Tuchel last season, and the only thing that appeared to be missing was an elite striker, with Timo Werner struggling to get the results his effort deserved and Tammy Abraham never quite convincing. However, a return for Chelsea’s own prodigal son in Romelu Lukaku has given them the missing piece and I think that they will be genuinely pushing for the title this season.

As for Spurs, they’ve had some ins and outs, but arguably their most important piece of business was keeping hold of Harry Kane. They have started the season well with 3 clean sheets helping them earn 3 wins, but having a player of Kane’s quality around for another season is huge. Will it be enough for them to compete with some of the other teams for a top 4 spot? Only time will tell.

Liverpool’s summer has been largely quiet, with their one signing being defender Ibrahima Konaté. It’s a lot of money for a young defender and has the potential to be a bust, but if he can live up to expectations, he and the returning Virgil van Dijk could become one of the strongest—if not the strongest—centreback partnerships in the league. However, with the loss of Georginio Wijnaldum and no new names coming in up front (unless you count some of the younger players beginning to take a slightly larger role), there is a risk that things could get stale further up the field. With Chelsea and United both strengthening, I expect a top 4 finish but I think they will fall short in the title race.

And so we reach Arsenal, and what do I really say here? While they managed to sign Kieran Tierney and Emile Smith-Rowe to new contracts and sign Martin Ødegaard following a successful loan spell last season. However while Ben Smith looks a promising young player, £50 million is far too much for a young defender with just 1 season of top flight football under his belt, especially when previous seasons have continually shown the Gunners to have defensive frailties regardless of who plays in the defence. Elsewhere, signing Aaron Ramsdale for more money than the vastly superior Emiliano Martínez was sold for is just bad business. Arsenal have had a shocking start to the season, which hasn’t been helped by ongoing COVID issues, but even before the first 3 rounds, I would have struggled to envision the Gunners getting anywhere near a Champions League spot. If things don’t turn round soon, Mikel Arteta will be in trouble.

Team of the Month

Tottenham Hotspur

While West Ham were certainly in contention after scoring 10 goals in 3 games to finish the month second in the table, in the end I had to go for Spurs. Not only have they started the season with 3 wins from 3, but they are yet to even concede a goal! Meanwhile, they have barely used Harry Kane so far as it looked like just a matter of time before their star player left, and yet they still managed to pull out the wins, including what must have been an especially sweet victory over defending champions Manchester City in Round 1.

They certainly weren’t perfect and need to start finishing more of their chances, but after a positive start, keeping hold of Harry Kane will be a huge boost, which they can use to push on this month.

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Premier League 2020/21: May

Premier League 2020/21: May

And so, we have reached the end of the season. A season like no other, which saw empty grounds around the country for all but a few weeks of the season. A season that saw fans and players united against the greed of the “Big Six” owners. A season that Manchester City go from looking completely out of the title hunt to winning it by a country mile. A season that saw Arsenal’s 25-year streak of European qualification come to an end, despite the creation of a 3ʳᵈ European competition opening up an extra spot. A season that saw the return of Leeds United to the top flight in stunning fashion.

Congratulations to Manchester City for their 5ᵗʰ Premier League title in 10 years. They will be joined in the Champions League next season by Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea, while Leicester must suffer the disappointment of just missing out on the top competition for the second year running and must settle for a place in the Europa League alongside West Ham, while Spurs must settle for a place in the new Europa Conference League.

At the other end of the table, Sheffield United bid farewell to the top flight as they finished bottom of the table, while West Brom and Fulham make an immediate return to the Championship. They will be replaced by Norwich and Watford, who are both making immediate returns after relegation last season, and they will be joined by the winner of Saturday’s playoff final between Brentford (who have the chance of making it into the top flight for the first time since the 1940s) and Swansea.

And your winners!

football manchester city premier league champions

Golden Boot: Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 23 goals

Playmaker of the Season: Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 14 assists

Golden Glove: Ederson (Manchester City) – 19 clean sheets

A perfect end?

We’ve known for a few months now that legendary Manchester City forward Sergio Agüero would be leaving at the end of the season, but who could have predicted how things would pan out in his final Premier League game. The Argentine came off the bench with 25 minutes remaining and took just 6 minutes to find the back of the net after Fernandinho won the ball back deep in the Everton half. But that wasn’t enough to make this special day perfect, and just 5 minutes later, he scored again, securing a 4-0 victory in front of a returning home crowd, but in the process, setting a new record of 184 Premier League goals scored for 1 club, beating Wayne Rooney’s Manchester United tally of 183.

Having scored that famous goal in the final minute of injury time against QPR to win the Premier League over Manchester United in his first season at the Etihad, he was always going to go down in Manchester City history, but over the years he has become such a key part in the rise of Manchester City to a global superpower, while he leaves the Premier League with the best minutes per goal figure (108) of any player with a minimum 50 Premier League goals.

In terms of bowing out of the Premier League, it was a almost perfect ending. But can things still get better? The one thing that has eluded Agüero and City this last 10 years is winning the Champions League. On Saturday, they face Chelsea in the Champions League final. Whether he starts or not, how fitting would it be to see Agüero score the winning goal in the final, securing his and the club’s first Champions League title before riding off into the sunset? As a United fan, any City success hurts, but it would be hard to deny such a legendary player such a perfect ending.

A crucial moment

Agüero isn’t the only person calling time on their Premier League career this month, and the most notable is probably Roy Hodgson, who announced a few weeks back that he would be stepping down as manager of Crystal Palace at the end of the season. The oldest person to have managed in the Premier League, Hodgson did not officially retire, but has said that he is stepping back from football for a time. He has had a long and varied career, having managed 16 different teams in 8 countries, with notable achievements including:

  • Guiding Switzerland (who had not qualified for a major tournament since the 1960s) to the last 16 of the 1994 World Cup and qualification for Euro 1996
  • Guiding Finland to their highest-ever FIFA ranking of 33ʳᵈ place
  • Fulham’s Europa League campaign that began in the third qualifying round and went all the way to the final—their first major European final—where they went to extra time and were minutes away from taking Atlético Madrid to penalties

Of course, as well as the good, there has been the bad, with a move to Liverpool not working out and resulting in him leaving after just 6 months, while his time as England manager is not looked back at fondly—despite a strong start which saw them become defensively solid and rise to 3ʳᵈ in the FIFA World Rankings—as the team struggled to hit the highs that their personnel suggested they should, with dull performances, finishing bottom of their group with 2 losses and a draw at the 2014 World Cup, and dropping to 20ᵗʰ in the FIFA World Rankings.

Looking back, it is clear that Hodgson was at his best with smaller teams, who he could train into solid organised units that were hard to break down defensively, allowing them to pick up points against stronger teams by frustrating them and holding on for draws or catching them on the break or at a set piece for unlikely victories. And this has all been on show when you look at Palace’s place in the league tables. Though their position has fluctuate, they have always been in a secure position with a considerable points advantage over those relegated.

And now, with Hodgson stepping down, Crystal Palace find themselves in a crucial position. First of all, the wrong manager could easily turn things around in a heartbeat. While they have anew young star in Eberechi Eze, its just a matter of time before more attractive clubs come after him and their star of the last 10 years Wilfried Zaha, while the squad is full of players who are getting on in age, and it will be hard to replace their consistency and experience, made even worse by the sheer number of influential players who are out of contract this summer, including Christian Benteke, who has had something of a revival this season. This is a key moment for Crystal Palace, which could define their next couple of seasons. Don’t take your eyes off the situation as it unfolds.

On the move

It’s never an easy situation when you get relegated to the Championship. The Championship is full of teams desperate to jump up to the next level so there’s no easy match, just like in the Premier League. But it can often be harder than that as you lose some of your top players, who impressed enough in losing efforts to stand out and attract the attention of other teams in the Premier League and other top flight leagues. So who could be on the move this summer?

Well first of all, half the Fulham squad this season were loanees, including Alphonse Areola (Paris Saint-Germain), Joachim Andersen (Lyon), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea) and Ademola Lookman (RB Leipzig). While they may not be required by their parent club, it is hard to imagine that they will be loaned out to the Championship, and it is more likely that these players are allowed to sign for (or be loaned to) other Premier League clubs or other top flight leagues. A defender with a year of Premier League experience will be very attractive for mid-to-lower-table clubs looking to shore up their defence, and while Loftus-Cheek and Lookman had ups and downs this campaign, they certainly feel like the kind of players that teams will be looking to bring in to help secure Premier League safety.

As for Sheffield United, I can’t help feel that there were no true standouts in what was truly an awful season, but someone like John Egan could again look attractive for a team who wants to bring in a defender with top flight experience.

Meanwhile at West Brom, vice-captain Kyle Bartley could be another potential pick-up in the same vein as Egan and Andersen, but the true shining star was Matheus Pereira, who had a strong season, scoring 11 goals in 33 league games. As if that scoring record (ore than double that of his closest teammate, and almost a third of the club’s league goals this season) wasn’t enough, he was also top within the team for assists (6), with his dead balls a nightmare to defend. I will be shocked if the Brazilian remains at the club next season as he would be a great addition for any team expected to be fighting in the middle of the table or below, and I can’t help feel that a team like Aston Villa could come calling as Jack Grealish’s injury highlighted their lack of creative options.

Team of the Month

Liverpool

It’s not been a great season for Liverpool, with the loss of Virgil van Dijk just the tip of the iceberg as they suffered an injury crisis especially at the back, going through millions of different centreback combinations. And yet a strong end to the season saw them creep into the top 3, only 5 points behind Manchester United.

The team went perfect in May with a 100% winning record, winning 2-0 against Southampton before a 2-4 victory at Old Trafford, a last-gasp 1-2 victory at West Brom, a 0-3 win at Burnley and a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace to secure a Champions League spot at the end of the season.

The strikers got scoring again and the defence got settled, and once again Liverpool looked like a top Premier League team. Expect them to be back in the title hunt next season.

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Premier League 2020/21: December

Premier League 2020/21: December

Happy New Year Premier League fans!

Before I get into this, I have a sincere apology to make, to my good friend Chris and all Spurs fans. It was beginning to look like this would finally be their season, but it would appear that I jinxed them by praising them so much in last month’s article, as they promptly went off the boil and dropped right out of the Champions League qualifying spots.

Tottenham were replaced at the top of the table by Liverpool, who led the league at Christmas as saw in the new year at the top spot, though Manchester United finished the month just3 points behind with a game in hand. Leicester and Everton filled out the top 4, though Villa are just 3 points behind, with a game in hand on Everton and 2 on the Foxes. The rest of the big name teams (other than 13ᵗʰ-placed Arsenal) fill out the rest of the top 8, with Chelsea, Spurs and Manchester City all finishing the month on the same number of points as Villa, though games in hand favour City and Villa.

At the bottom of the table, Chris Wilder’s seat must be feeling pretty toasty, as Sheffield United’s 1-1 draw at Brighton saw them double their points tally for the season, 6 points behind West Brom, who have turned to Sam Allardyce to keep them up. Fulham fill the final spot in the relegation zone, but they are only 2 points behind Brighton with a game in hand, while Burnley will hope that their improved form helps continue to pull them away from danger.

The race is on!

The race for the Golden Boot: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) – 13 goals; Son Heung-Min (Tottenham), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton) & Jamie Vardy (Leicester) – 11 goals

The race for Playmaker of the Season: Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 10 assists; Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) & Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) – 7 assists

The race for the Golden Glove: Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa) – 8 clean sheets; Ederson (Manchester City) & Alex McCarthy (Southampton) – 7 clean sheets

Rewarding honesty

Anyone who has been reading my Premier League thoughts for years will know that I hate diving. It’s cheating, pure and simple, a way to deceive the officials into giving a penalty or a free kick.

Now, we’re certainly in a much better place then we were a few season ago, but there are still far too many occasions where you see players either going to ground without being touched or feeling the slightest brush from a defender and Launching themselves through the air as if they were taking flight.

This issue (and the obvious solution) was highlighted to me as I watched 2 matches on 5ᵗʰ December: Chelsea’s 3-1 win over Leeds and Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Fulham. With the score 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, Ian Poveda was caught in the box by Ben Chilwell. Rather than go to ground, he stayed on his feet in an attempt to still make something from the situation, but the chance was now gone. What should have been a clear penalty to Leeds ended up being nothing. Meanwhile at the Etihad, Fulham defender Joachim Andersen caught Raheem Sterling in the box. Though there was less contact than in the Poveda incident, Raheem didn’t hesitate in throwing his legs into the air and doing a dramatic belly flop, and the penalty was awarded for Kevin De Bruyne to double the score and secure the win.

And herein lies the issue and the reason that players will continue to dive: if they are honest and stay on their feet, officials will not react. Officials need to go back to basics and look at what constitutes a foul – it does not need to include the player going to floor. If they start rewarding the honesty of players by awarding a free kick or penalty even when the player keeps their feet, then players will not have to dive in order to win the decision they are due – and anyone who continues to can be rightly vilified!

Classless

On 16ᵗʰ December, West Brom became the first Premier League team this season to part ways with their manager, with he announcement that they had sacked Slaven Bilić. That very same day, Sam Allardyce was announced as the new manager. It’s understandable why West Brom made the change, as they were 19ᵗʰ in the league on just 7 points. The problem is, this came less than 24 hours after the team held Manchester City to a 1-1 draw at the Etihad.

No offence to West Brom, but a draw at the Etihad is likely going to be one of the best results of the season, and the fact that both the sacking and the new appointment were announced the next day says to me that the decision was already made ahead of the match, so to sack a manager right after such a positive result shows a certain lack of class.

Big Sam may be an expert in keeping teams up, but this is a weak team in a strong league, and I can’t see this appointment paying off. Bilić will find another team and it would be a beautiful irony if West Brom drops to the Championship and Bilić manages in the Premier League before the Baggies make it back up.

Boom or bust

Leeds have been a breath of fresh air in the league this season. Under the watch of Marcelo Bielsa, the Whites have brought a flashy attack-minded gameplan that has surely been winning them the support of neutrals in a number of matches.

Of course, it hasn’t been all success for them, as their big wins (like 5-2 against Newcastle and 0-5 at West Brom) are a flip side to equally big losses, like the 6-2 loss at Old Trafford. They find themselves entering the new year with 7 wins, 7 losses and 2 draws, with 30 goals for and 30 goals against.

While this level of success will be enough to keep them up this year, they will need to find some way to adapt their game in the long-term, so that they can continue to be super dangerous in attack, but not at the expense of their defence. After all, a focus on attacking brilliance is fine, until your star striker gets hurt or hits a barren spell – I’ve learned that the hard way on FIFA!

Transfer talk

The new year means that the transfer window is open again, and some teams certainly need to be utilising it, as some teams have a clear need.

While Manchester City may finally be creeping back up the table, they are still feeling the impact of playing much of the season without a recognised striker. With Aguero and Jesus, they don’t need to break the bank on a superstar, but they need to get someone who has a striker’s natural instincts if they want to start winning the close games.

Other teams that are in desperate need of a striker are Wolves – who have really missed Raúl Jiménez since his head injury – and Brighton, who are rotating between Neal Maupay, Aaron Connolly, Florin Andone and Danny Welbeck of all people!

Meanwhile, Edinson Cavani has been a great option for Manchester United while Bruno Fernandes has helped drag the Red Devils into the title hunt, but they will need an elite winger and centreback if they legitimately want to win the league – though their early elimination from the Champions League will make it even harder for them to get that kind of quality, especially with Ed Woodward still in his role!

What other teams do you think have a burning need to fill during this transfer window?

Team of the Month

Everton

The Toffees get my vote for December as, following a drop in form, they returned with an unbeaten month. Things kicked off with a 1-1 draw at Burnley, and then they followed this up with 4 wins: 1-0 against Chelsea, 0-2 at Leicester, 2-1 against Arsenal and 0-1 at Sheffield United. That’s a 7-2 aggregate score in December, including wins against 2 of their rivals for European qualification and another big name team to boot!

They are certainly not the perfect team, with Jordan Pickford skittish between the sticks and summer loan signing Robin Olsen not sufficient competition, but in this season where nobody looks like they will run away with the league, a Champions League spot looks a real possibility, so long as they can stay consistent.

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Premier League 2020/21: September

Premier League 2020/21: September

It feels like only yesterday that we finished the 2019/20 season of the Premier League but we’re already back up and running with many teams already 3 matches into the 2020/21 season.

4 teams made it through September unbeaten: defending champions Liverpool, local rivals Everton, Leicester City and Aston Villa (who have only played 2 games), while newly-promoted Fulham find themselves without a point in 3 games, alongside Sheffield United and Burnley (though the Clarets have only played 2 games).

As with last season, I’m back again to give my big thoughts from each month’s action and stories. I will also be unveiling a few new features for this season’s articles. So without further ado, let’s get to the football!

The race is on!

The race for the Golden Boot: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton) & Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) – 5 goals, Son Heung-Min (Tottenham) – 4 goals

The race for Playmaker of the Season: Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 5 assists, 7 players on 2 assists

The race for the Golden Glove: Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa) – 2 clean sheets, 11 players on 1 clean sheet

A welcome improvement

After last year’s farce, I was worried about how well VAR would work given the limited time between seasons, but – and I hope I’m not jinxing anything by saying this – things appear to be going much better this season. Personally, I put this down to 2 main factors.

First of all, it seems that when it comes to checking offsides, we’re not getting the ridiculous checks to see if the attacking player is offside by the narrowest of margins. I’m not sure whether this is down to attacking players holding their runs a little more to ensure they are onside, or if there has been some directive that VAR hasn’t got to atomic levels of precision when checking an offside (or maybe a bit of both). Regardless, getting rid of these incidents is saving so much time and making the system look much less pathetic when making its decisions.

Secondly, the VAR is now being used properly by having many of the subjective decisions checked by the referee. Part of the VAR system has always included a pitchside monitor for the referee to use, but it was largely ignored last year as those in the booth made all the decisions. Using the pitchside monitor leads to a much better experience as there is the consistency of the same person making the decisions as during the rest of the game. VAR is not a way to catch the referees out and berate them for getting the initial decision wrong, instead it is there to give them an opportunity to view an incident again to ensure they are making the correct decision.

Having followed a number of sports for years that utilise video replays, I know how effective VAR can be if used right. Hopefully we are now seeing things go in the right direction.

Poorly handled

While VAR seems to be improving, the way that handballs are being dealt with this season is absolutely ridiculous!

The Premier League went against the curve last year with how they refereed potential handballs, but this year they have had to come in line with the other leagues around the world. And it has shown to have an impact, with a massive rise in the number of penalties for handballs in these early rounds.

Now firstly, I want to say that I do agree with bringing the Premier League in line with other leagues. Football is one sport and to me all the leagues should be in line with each other as it creates a consistency to the product.

However, the way that the law is being refereed is an absolute joke! The idea of what constitutes a handball relies on the arm being outside a standardised silhouette of someone standing with their arms by their sides. However, this same silhouette is used for all circumstances, including a player jumping for the ball. Try jumping for the ball while keeping your arms by your sides and you won’t get very high and will look ridiculous, but this means that as soon as a player uses their arms to help propel them into the air, they’re giving away a penalty if the ball hits their arm. But then things get even more ridiculous as Gabriel escaped a handball penalty against West Ham when the ball struck his arm away from the body, only for nothing to be given as the ball struck his upper arm where his sleeve is – which apparently doesn’t constitute a handball!

Something needs to change. Is the answer to say that any contact between the arm and the ball is a handball, similar to how any contact with the foot or the back of the stick is an offence in hockey? Or do we need more situational parameters set as to what constitutes a handball in different circumstances – eg challenging in the air, going to ground to make a challenge, protecting body with arms? That’s for people who get much more than me to decide, but something has to change.

Immediate impact

Is there anyone who would argue right now with the opinion that James Rodríguez has been the signing of the summer?

The Colombian, signed from Real Madrid, has had an immediate impact at Goodison Park, providing the range of passing and movement to find holes between the midfield and defence and create space for Richarlison to run into, while also being a goal threat himself on the edge of the box.

After his World Cup heroics, it looked like he would be fighting with Messi and Ronaldo for the Ballon d’Or for years to come, but he was just anther big name at Real and eventually fell out of favour, leading to a loan spell at Bayern Munich. However coming to Goodison Park and reuniting with a manager that has a good history with him is really bringing out the best in him and I think that we are going to really see that quality for Everton this year.

Perhaps he is the missing piece that can see the Toffees compete for Europe again.

Same old story

While Everton may have brought in just the player they needed in the offseason, Manchester United are looking pathetic in the transfer market once again.

Not only are they struggling to offload the players deemed surplus to requirements, but the only signing they have made is Donny van de Beek, who appears to be giving some depth to midfield rather than fixing some gaps in the starting XI. The Jadon Sancho transfer saga is dragging on and it’s not hard to imagine United missing out on their man, while they are also in desperate need of an upgrade at centreback and on the left side of defence.

The problem is that this isn’t a one-off, but just another example of Ed Woodward’s inability to deal effectively in the transfer market. Manchester United remains one of the biggest names in football, but the lack of success has not been helped at all by an inability to bring in the players required on a consistent basis. When you look at the signings that Chelsea and Arsenal have made for this season and the players Liverpool have brought in to to strengthen their squad – hell, even Spurs have actually had a decent transfer window with Højbjerg, Doherty and Bale arriving – United need to be doing better if they want to consistently finish in the Champions League places and look to compete for the title again.

Team of the Month

Leicester City

I wasn’t intending to just pick the league leaders for the first month, but when I looked deeper into things I had to pick the Foxes.

An away match at newly-promoted West Brom is far from the hardest way to open a season, but it could still very easily be a banana skin, yet Leicester came away with a 3-goal win despite having a goal disallowed. They followed this up with another goal-heavy win over Burnley, and ended the month with an incredible 2-5 victory at the Etihad where they completely outplayed Manchester City.

And all this while having limited options at centreback and having to use a midfielder there at times! You couldn’t ask for a much better start to your campaign!

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Post-Lockdown Blues

Post-Lockdown Blues

We’re 3 rounds into the return of Premiership Rugby following the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and if I’m being completely honest, I couldn’t care less! Almost as soon as the competition went on hiatus, my feelings were that the season should just be considered null and void and preparations should be made for the 2020/21 season. And while I have really tried to give the competition a chance, the action we’re seeing is making me feel that I was right.

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The season should have been over months ago, so in order to cause minimal disruption to the next season, the remaining games are being crammed into the shortest time possible. While this may work fr a limited contact game like football, the body needs time to recover and this is a nightmare for player well-being, as teams are having up to 3 matches in a week. What this is leading to is heavy rotation within teams between matches, and this has taken away any point of these games being competitive. Bristol’s rotation saw them put out a largely 2ⁿᵈ string (if no weaker) side against a Sale team that was close to its ideal XV. That Sale ran away with the game says nothing about their ability and everything about the lineups being used, while we had similar in Exeter’s demolition of Worcester and Bath’s win at Leicester. Even in Gloucester’s match against Tigers this weekend, the game was a rout in the first half until Tigers brought their stars off the bench and Gloucester took their big names off to keep them fresh. Yes, we as fans want to see tries, but we don’t want to see a team having a glorified training session running though a vastly inferior lineup. Alex Shaw put it best on Twitter when he asked if the integrity of the individual matches being sacrificed (uneven squads) to maintain integrity of the competition (play whole fixture list), and I can’t help feel that the answer is yes, which as a result is ruining the spectacle of such a good competition, while now a team may also make the playoffs thanks to playing a number of weakened teams at the expense of a better team who continually faced XVs that were close to the ideal selection. There is no easy way to get around all this, and it will leave questions over whoever wins the competition, which could have been avoided by having an extended preseason to prepare for 2020/21.

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Considering the amount of international rugby coming in the next 12 months – the Home Nations have the Autumn Tests, Summer Tests, the remains of the 2020 Six Nations, the 2021 Six Nations and the British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa – the rest caused by a longer preseason would have benefited everybody, while also allowing players to adapt to the new interpretation of the breakdown, which has only further ruined the early weeks of matches as penalties are given continuously while players learn the limits of the officials’ tolerance.

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The issue of player selection doesn’t even just come down to squad rotation, but also the players available to pick from. Due to the season having gone longer than usual, player contracts expired, and that has led to a number of players moving clubs mid-season (like Ben Spencer’s transfer from Saracens to Bath), leaving the league altogether (Will Skelton), signing short-term contracts to stay with the club until the end of the current season (Franco Marais), signing short-term deals with a new club until the end of this season (Matt Garvey, who is currently with Gloucester after leaving Bath) or entering the league midway through the season (Jonny Gray). Even the players Saracens are loaning out when they are in the Championship next season are already playing for their new clubs! What this has led to is completely different squads – especially when you look at the turnover at a club like Leicester – competing in this final stretch of the season, including the playoffs, and giving a completely different feel to this final stretch. You just have to look at Northampton’s struggles since the restart after being one of the best teams in the league pre-COVID to see how heavily impacted this season has been, and as such it doesn’t feel like a continuation of what came before.

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Obviously, I understand that with a league that is not ring-fenced, I understand that usually the league season would need to be completed if only to see who would be relegated, but this season that was not an issue as Saracens were already officially relegated as their punishment for years of cheating by breaching the salary cap. I would argue that the Sarries case even added to the argument to make the season null and void as if you look back at the lineups they were putting out before the lockdown, they were heavily varied first as they looked to try building up enough points to avoid relegation despite the initial points deduction, before then resting a their first XV as they switched their attention to Europe. How would it have been fair if a spot in the playoff was decided by one team beating Sarries’ 3ʳᵈ XV while another lost to their 1ˢᵗ XV? With Saracens relegated, it would have been easy enough to declare the season null and void, relegate Saracens – with Newcastle coming up in their place – and then using last season’s standings (with teams below Saracens pushed up a spot) to decide who qualified for the 2020/21 Champions Cup. It may be harsh on teams who improved this year, but it seems that it would have been a fairer way to do things.

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Instead, we’re stuck watching 1ˢᵗ XVs piling on the points against glorified A-League lineups in empty grounds that takes away home advantage, while being forced to listen to awful manufactured crowd noise. Coming off the back of Super Rugby Aotearoa, it looks an absolute shambles.

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Unfortunately, what is right is not he priority for the RFU or Premiership Rugby. We see all the time that the organisations only care about what will get them money or keep them safe, as seen by the loss of contracts for the England 7s program, or the way that deserving teams like Georgia never get a shot in Tier 1 tournaments but Japan buy their way into SANZAAR competitions. The league season is being finished, the competition put in jeopardy and players put at risk is just for money, and that has to change if we want the rugby to go to the next level.

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Premier League Offseason Needs 2020

Premier League Offseason Needs 2020

With the 2019/20 season finally over (except for those teas still competing in Europe) thoughts can turn to preparing for the upcoming 2020/21 Premier League season, which is set to start 12ᵗʰ September. Unfortunately for Norwich, Bournemouth and Watford, they will be looking to regroup in the Championship, while for the other 17 teams it is time to strengthen for another year of fighting for the title/Europe or avoiding relegation.

Now this offseason is interesting, as the delayed finish following the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that many teams were already busy in the transfer market before the season was even over, most notably Chelsea, who already had a couple of big names announced before their final game.

But what is the biggest need for each team? Well I have combined with 2 of my close friends and occasional contributors who are football fans, Chris (Spurs) and Ed (Arsenal) and we have picked what we believe to be the biggest offseason need for each of the 17 teams remaining in the league. Let us know what you think of our picks!

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Aston Villa

Villa stayed up by the narrowest of margins this season and will surely be scrapping near the bottom again next season, so this summer will be key for them.

Our initial thoughts went towards a keeper after a series of blunders from Ørjan Nyland, but Tom Heaton’s return from injury will sort this for them. Instead, the need became obvious: find a way to hold onto Jack Grealish. Despite the millions of pounds Villa spent on new players this season, Grealish was by far the star,  scoring more goals than any of his strikers and being a key feature of the attack. It’s just a matter of time until he leaves for a bigger club and Villa should be glad they have kept hold of him as long as they have, but with such a short offseason they have little time to find the players to sufficiently replace him, so will be hoping to get another season from their talisman.

West Ham

West Ham were saved from relegation by having more goals than the team around them It looks like they were improving up front, so where they need help is in the defence. Though it may not be as old as in some recent years, there is still a dearth in experience and quality at the back that will need sorting if they want to rise up the table.

Now where West Ham go here depends very much on the money they are willing to spend. There is the potential that if they were willing to spend the money, they could bring in one of Manchester United’s out of favour defenders – Marcus Rojo, Chris Smalling or Phil Jones – which would give them that high quality defensive experience. However I can see them looking for a cheaper option, in which case they could look to raid relegated Norwich, who have a number of younger defenders fresh off a season of Premier League football who may be available at a cut price as the canaries prepare for Championship football.

Brighton & Hove Albion

It’s pretty clear where Brighton need to strengthen: up front. With just 39 goals in 38 games, they had one of the worst scoring records in the league – only 4 teams had worse, 2 of whom were relegated – and another season like that will probably prove costly. Neal Maupay finished with 10 Premier League goals, but nobody else managed more than 5 league goals, while none of the other strikers Aaron Connolly (3 in 24 games), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (2 in 10 games) and Glenn Murray (1 in 23 games). With Adam Lallana incoming, he deserves better quality getting on the end of his crosses.

The good news for Brighton is that there should be players available. Bournemouth need to offload Callum Wilson as they cannot afford to keep him in the Championship, while Norwich’s Teemu Pukki may also be available following relegation.

Crystal Palace

So the usual call here has been to say find a way to keep hold of Wilfried Zaha, but he’s coming off his lowest scoring season since 2014/15 and does not look as irreplaceable as he once did. Instead, we’ve gone for the striker, as Palace’s 31 goals was better than only Norwich. Roy Hodgson does a great job of organising a defence that is better than the sum of its parts, and if they can bring in someone to provide 10-15 goals a season then they could find themselves in the top half of the table.

While Wilson and Pukki would also be good fits at Crystal Palace, I feel that Palace may find Josh King a better fit for the squad as he is more mobile, to go with that current attacking unit, while they could also benefit from Michy Batshuayi, who scored 5 goals in 11 games for Palace while on loan a few seasons back, or trying to get Divock Origi on a season-long loan. Even Watford’s Andre Gray is worth a look, to see if a change of scenery can improve his fortunes, but that seems like another risk akin to Christian Benteke.

Newcastle United

Newcastle are that special case where their biggest offseason need is nothing to do with the players, or even the manager: Mike Ashley needs to go!

What was once a proud club has been run down into the ground on his watch and the sooner he has gone, the sooner the team and its fans can begin to heal. It says it all that Newcastle fans were willing to get behind a Saudi-backed bid full of controversy due to human rights issues.

Dear Mike Ashley, kindly f*** off. Sincerely, Football fans

Everton

Remember when Everton were consistently one of the best teams in the league once you got past the big 6? Well Carlo Ancelotti’s men are a long way off that at the moment. While it feels like they need an upgrade at most positions, and I was very close to saying a more trustworthy keeper, what we decided was key for them is getting a striker who will contribute 20+ goals a season.

Their top scorers this season were Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who both finished with 15 goals in all competitions. However, I don’t feel that Calvert-Lewin is reliable enough to be a lead striker for a team who wants to play in Europe, while Richarlison is a winger as opposed to an out-and-out striker. With Timo Werner arriving at Stamford Bridge, Ancelotti could do much worse than checking the availability of Giroud, who will score goals if given a chance to regularly lead the line. Alternatively, they could take a risk by putting in an offer for Rangers’ star striker Alfredo Morelos and see if they can beat Lille to the Colombian’s signature.

Southampton

Well first things first, Southampton need to find a way to bottle whatever it was that saw their performances drastically improve halfway through the season. On a more serious note, the Saints need to find someone to back up Danny Ings. The former Liverpool striker finished with 22 league goals – almost half of the team’s tally – while the next nearest was Stuart Armstrong with 5 goals.

Judging by the final months, Ché Adams will be more of a factor next year, but they still need to find another striker to supply 10-15 goals a season and provide a legitimate option to lead the line should Ings be unavailable. With the quality of service he would receive, it could be just the spot for Callum Wilson to push himself back towards international contention, as could Norwich’s Teemu Pukki.

Burnley

Burnley were a difficult team to decide on their biggest need. Obviously a bit more strength in midfield and defence would never go amiss, but we couldn’t help feel that they were in a strong position to keep themselves around mid-table through their chemistry and the top work of manager Sean Dyche.

Finally though, we realised that the key need wasn’t bringing someone in, but instead holding onto Nick Pope. Despite having a much cheaper defence in front of him, Pope finished 2ⁿᵈ to Ederson on clean sheets (15 compared to 16), yet he made considerably more saves, making this a much more impressive feat. If there is any justice in the world, the battle for the England starting spot would currently be between him and Dean Henderson.

With this in mind, he would be an attractive option for a number of teams who look like they may be willing to make a change between the posts. With Chelsea’s increased focus on the young English talent this season, Nick Pope would not look out of place at all in the number 1 shirt at Stamford Bridge, while he also looks more reliable than Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris and Everton’s Jordan Pickford. The other season, this wouldn’t have been the end of the world with Joe Hart and Tom Heaton also on the books, but they are long gone now and therefore they need to do everything they can to keep hold of the 28-year-old.

Sheffield United

The darlings of the season did a fantastic job of keeping the goals conceded down, but it was the goals scored that saw them drop out of contention for Europe. While it is easy to blame the strikers here, I can’t help think as well that they would benefit from improved attacking options to supply them and chip in with goals.

And what a summer this could be for them to fill this need. Ryan Fraser is a free agent and Gerard Deulofeu may be available following Watford’s relegation. But beyond that, there may be eve better options. Ross Barkley has been announced by Chelsea as for sale, Juan Mata and Xherdan Shaqiri found their appearances limited at Manchester United and Liverpool respectively. And the there’s Gylfi Sigurðsson, who could be available following a down season at Everton. If Sheffield can get the money together to pick up one or two of these players, they will be feeling much more confident about their chances of scoring next season.

Arsenal

How the mighty have fallen. The Gunners can always be relied upon to score goals (though even there they struggled to match their rivals) but they are so soft at the back it costs them.

While a much-publicised move for Willian – or even Wilfried Zaha – would help up front, it is in their own half of the field that they need to strengthening with some leaders in midfield and defence. Guendouzi is a liability and while Xhaka has come through a season of ups and downs, he needs some help securing the midfield, while the centreback positions see a conveyor belt of players brought in who prove to be too skittish to cure the team’s woes at the back.

Atlético Madrid’s Thomas Partey is a known target of the Gunners, while Chelsea have also made N’Golo Kanté available -though whether they’d sell to a local rival is another matter. At the back, Cédric Soares will be almost like a new signing after spending most of the season out injured. Eric Garcia is supposedly available for £30 million from Manchester City after turning down a contract extension, but if Arsenal wanted a more experienced option, they could do much worse than to look at James Tarkowski of Burnley.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolves’ first first European campaign since 1980–81 took them to within minutes of extra time in the quarterfinals and they were unlucky to not make it into the Europa League again next season due to Arsenal finishing below them but winning the FA Cup.

Wolves have a great shot to keep pushing for European qualification, but they need to get more depth down the centre of the team. Their season ended with 7 players amassing 50+ appearances, and the majority of those players were along the spine of the team: centrebacks, midfielders and central striker Raúl Jiménez. That’s not something that can continue long-term, especially with a shorter offseason, and for that reason Nuno Espírito Santo needs to find some players that can come in to help take some of the weight off these players. Fabian Delph would add an experienced central midfield option to cover for Rúben Neves and João Moutinho, while Chris Smalling could provide European experience, while Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen are both available this summer and would be great acquisitions for teams hoping to regularly fight for European qualification.

Tottenham Hotspur

So our first pick here was going to be a holding midfielder, but the signing of Pierre-Emile Højbjerg means that they will probably not be looking for further options here. Instead, we have gone in a different direction, and that is fullback.

Aurier is inconsistent and more of a cult figure than a superstar, and may not even be at the club next season. Meanwhile, Kyle Walker-Peters supposedly is set to sign for Southampton which leaves Spurs with no options at right back. Danny Rose’s loan spell at Newcastle suggests his time at Spurs is limited, leaving Ben Davies as first choice and Ryan Sessegnon as his backup. Mourinho has said he sees Sessegnon as more of a winger than a left back, leaving Spurs very short in key positions.

Right now, Tottenham have to be making an effort to sign Norwich right back Max Aarons, who was linked with Bayern Munich in recent weeks. At just 20-years old, Aarons is a great talent who will just get better over the coming years in the right environment. They are being heavily linked with Lille’s Turkish international Mehmet Zeki Çelik, who would provide a slightly more experienced option but not one with experience of the English leagues. Failing that, free agent Nathaniel Clyne would be a great addition if he could prove his fitness, or they could contact Hertha BSC about Belgium international Dedryck Boyata.  Meanwhile at left back, Marcos Alonso is available this summer from Chelsea and Ben Chilwell would be an upgrade if he felt that Spurs were a better option in the long-term than Leicester

Leicester City

So near yet so far for the Foxes, who could not quite hold on to a top 4 spot. While Vardy’s age remains a worry for me, he continues to lay to a high level and has not appeared to lose much pace yet, while there is also more attacking support available for him now than in many previous seasons. As a result, while an extra attacking threat and a back-up striker in case Vardy was injured would never go amiss, we have instead looked at the back 4.

Ben Chilwell is a high quality left back and they need to try hard to keep hold of him or find a quality replacement like Marcos Alonso or Danny Rose, while bringing in Andreas Christensen or Kurt Zouma would help the team get deeper and younger at centreback as Jonny Evans and Wes Morgan are both the wrong side of 30. Alternatively, John Stones  or Dejan Lovren could see a move to a smaller team pushing for Europe as a chance for redemption after falling out of favour at Manchester City and Liverpool respectively.

Chelsea

The Blues have recruited well up front to make up for the loss of Eden Hazard, while the rise of Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham – and improved trust in Olivier Giroud – have left them with plenty of attacking options. Instead I have looked at leadership in their own box.

Kepa fell out of favour and is available for transfer and Willy Caballero is a good back-up but not someone you want to rely on all season, so Chelsea will want a keeper to inspire confidence and start taking command of the defence. While it would not surprise me to see the enquire as to the availability of either David de Gea, Sergio Romero or Dean Henderson from Manchester United, I think that Nick Pope would be a great option for them, while a centreback like James Tarkowski could create a solid pairing alongside Antonio Rüdiger. Stones and Nicolás Otamendi would provide experienced options if either of them could be picked up from Manchester City, but both would probably come with price tags too high to justify given the mistakes they have made.

Manchester United

The second half of the Premiership season showed just how strong United’s ideal XI is, however matches like their laboured win over LASK highlighted their need to improve the overall depth of the squad. With Odion Ighalo’s loan lasting until the end of next season, they will be in a great place up front if they can seal Jadon Sancho’s signature, while if United choose to keep hold of Dean Henderson, I can imagine they will look to offload David de Gea to free up some funds. Also leaving will probably be Chris Smalling, who spent the last season out on loan and Jesse Lingard, who is nowhere near productive enough for a team pushing for top domestic titles.

In their place, United need to bring in players to build some depth through the squad. Another attacking midfielder to relieve some of the pressure on Bruno Fernandes, who has revolutionised the team since his arrival – Jack Grealish would be an ideal option for them. Another reliable centreback like free agent Jan Vertonghen would make the team much more solid at the back, while some cover at fullback, especially on the right, would help give the team options.

Manchester City

City’s big area of focus is one that they failed to deal with last summer: centreback. Aymeric Laporte is a fantastic player, but Vincent Kompany was never replaced and Fernandinho is wasted at that level. Nathan Aké could be a great signing for them but feels overpriced at £41 million. Beyond this, Eric García is for sale after deciding not to extend his contract beyond next season (continuing a trend of young talent leaving), while nether John Stones nor Nicolás Otamendi seem fully trusted by Guardiola.

Jan Vertonghen would be a great option for them as he is comfortable on the ball while also reliable and experienced in defence. Similarly, with money never being an issue for City, who can sign whoever they want an get away with breaking Financial Fair Play, don’t be surprised to see them look to some of the smaller teams pushing for Europe, with James Tarkowski and Çağlar Söyüncü both looking solid options that could probably be prised away from their clubs for ridiculous prices.

Liverpool

How do you improve the Champions? They don’t need much and for that reason, it is more a matter of keeping hold of the big names if clubs like Barca or Real Madrid come calling, while building for long-term success by replacing some of the more expensive players who don’t feature much in order to promote the youth coming through.

This has already began with Adam Lallana leaving, while Nathaniel Clyne is a free agent. Xherdan Shaqiri made only 11 appearances in all competitions, while it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see one of Dejan Lovren or Joël Matip considered surplus to requirements.

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