Barcelona Sign Neymar

Good morning.

Yesterday, Barcelona announced the gigantic news that Brazilian forward, Neymar, is to join the Blaugrana on a five-year contract this summer, putting an end to years of speculation as to where he’ll go. Santos received two offers for their prodigy, the other widely assumed to be Real Madrid.

Barcelona president, Sandro Rosell, said on the Barcelona club website: “We don’t sign players to smack people around, we do it to improve our team even more. Each year we try to improve the team and we believe that Neymar can help us with our style [of play], even though this year has been fantastic.”

What does the signing of Neymar mean? It tells me that Barcelona haven’t yet signed players in areas that are in great need of construction work. A new right-back is needed, as are two centre-backs and a goalkeeper to replace to outgoing Victor Valdes. Neymar is an exceptionally talented football player, but there is a lot he still needs to learn tactically and playing for Barcelona will come as something as a culture shock for him, as it did Cesc Fabregas when he moved from Arsenal. There is an intense learning curve to playing for Barcelona and not everybody is capable of handling it.

Don’t get me wrong, Neymar is a world class talent. I do have my doubts over how he will fit in and perform for Barcelona, but I’ve had those doubts before. What I am convinced of however, is the resulting transfer shopping dash that is destined to happen with the arrival of Neymar.

David Villa is now a certainty to leave, with Tottenham Hotspur currently getting a measure of his situation. Arsenal were interested in signing Villa in January, but Arsene Wenger has apparently “moved on” from Villa and is now pursuing other targets. Manchester United are reported to have an interest in signing ex-Arsenal midfielder, Cesc Fabregas. Arsenal however, have first option on re-signing Fabregas should Barcelona accept an offer, so any Manchester United move could quickly be scrapped if Arsenal decide to re-sign Fabregas.

Finally, Alexis Sanchez would appear to be the third player affected by Neymar. Alexis has just endured a poor season and it is widely understood that Barcelona are looking to sell him. Juventus are amongst his admirers, although if Barcelona make it clear they want to sell, there would be a massive dog fight between a lot of clubs to secure Alexis’ signature.

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Posted on May 27, 2013 by Craig in La Liga, Spain Leave a comment

Europa League Winners To Get Champions League Place / More Transfer News

Good morning.

I have precious little to look at across the many football websites this morning. One of the top stories on BBC Sport is of Titus Bramble suggesting he may or may not leave Sunderland. Reading that news fails to titillate me. Could there be a worse transfer story? “Ben May hints he may not renew his contract with Dover Athletic.” Okay, so there could be worse.

Tony Pulis has written Stoke City supporters a letter in their local newspaper, speaking of his pride when he looks at where Stoke were when Pulis took charge for his first spell, which was 21 in the old Division One, in 2003. He has done a great job in taking them so far, but his tactics and approach to the game are frankly, unsustainable in the long-term. Maybe not so in the lower divisions, but in the Premier League, it will only get you so far and for that, getting rid of Tony Pulis is the right thing to do.

Just when you think Stoke are on to something however, things take a turn for the worse. I applauded Peter Coates’ ambition to take a new direction. I’d even heard a rather audacious rumour that he’d try and lure Rafael Benitez to the Britannia Stadium! It was always “unlikely” to happen, but still, I appreciated the effort put in to name-planting Benitez at Stoke.

When I was on the cusp of thinking that they might coaxe Sir Alex Ferguson away from his retirement plan, they pulled one unlikeable character out of the frying pan at Stoke and launched the despicable Mark Hughes right in there. It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but bookies have slashed odds on the likelihood of Hughes taking over at Stoke and in general, they don’t do that for no reason. If Hughes does take over, it’s a huge disappointment for Stoke fans who were looking forward to something more exciting and instead, got another heap of boring in Hughes.

Maybe the biggest news that is to be announced later today, is the decision from UEFA on whether a team that wins the Europa League can be rewarded with a Champions League place in the following campaign. To be honest, I’m surprised it isn’t already in affect. I’ve always felt that the winners of the Europa League should be granted a spot in the Champions League. Said team have won a European competition and thus deserve to go compete in the “bigger” tournament. I don’t understand why it wouldn’t be allowed and I fully expect UEFA to announce that they’ll allow it later. Good decision, if so.

In transfer news, everything is getting slightly tedious already. It’s been 48 hours since Stevan Jovetic’s agents were in London to meet with officials and in that time, Fiorentina have claimed there to be no official contact from Arsenal and that they aren’t interested in buying him. It’s now going round Twitter that Jovetic favours a move to Juventus, just a couple of days after Arsenal was his preferred destination.

Pending an agreed fee, passed medical, signed contract and a photograph with the club shirt, Jovetic will definitely be a player somewhere other than Fiorentina next season.

Finally, it’s the Champions League Final this weekend in London. I really, really wish that me and my brother would be going down to London to watch the match in a bar with Borussia Dortmund supporters, as we have a good following from them on Twitter and have always had nice e-mails from their support whenever we’ve covered them on here. Unfortunately, my brother isn’t old enough to drink and I’ll be watching the game at home, but it would have been lovely to meet up with a few of the Dortmund fans we’ve spoken to on here.

Due to my affinity with Dortmund because of playing FIFA 2004 and seeing them play my team, Arsenal, at the Emirates Stadium two years ago, I’ll be rooting for them completely as they player Bayern Munich. Hopefully we can get to Germany to watch Dortmund next season!

A word on the final itself - I’d prefer Kevin Grosskreutz to the out-going Mario Gotze, who is moving to Bayern Munich at the end of the season, for the Champions League Final. I know that’s a bold thing to say, as Gotze is a very special talent, but Grosskreutz bleeds yellow and if I were to need an extra edge of mental strength on Saturday, then I’d pick Grosskreutz every day.

That’s all from me today!

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Posted on May 24, 2013 by Craig in Champions League, England, Europa League, Premiership, Stoke City Leave a comment

Fulham Sign Amorebieta / Pellegrini To Manchester City

Good morning.

It is quite staggering just how much change has happened in the Premier League over the past few days. Tony Pulis has “mutually” walked away from Stoke City, which actually means he was sacked without ceremony by Peter Coates. Arsenal have been linked with any striker that has a £30 million price tag, whilst everybody’s favourite little Russian nuisance said a heart breaking farewell to Arsenal on Twitter. I shed a tear.

More so than any other season I can remember, clubs are acting rapidly to tie up transfer deals, appoint new managers and sell players. Everybody is looking to get ahead of their rivals early on and probably the most pro-active club yesterday, was Fulham, who went about signing Derek Boateng and Fernando Amorebieta on free transfers. I know nothing on Boateng, but I know of Amorebieta; an imposing defender who has been a key figure at Athletic Bilbao for eight seasons. Arsenal were interested in signing Amorebieta last summer and maintained an interest in January, but nothing happened. There was contact made between Arsenal and Athletic Bilbao, but for whatever reason, it didn’t happen and Fulham have landed a very good defender on a free transfer, tying the Venezuelan to a four-year contract.

Fulham have got some frightening individual talent, but are let down by a base that just isn’t “solid.” The acquisition of Amorebieta will surely amend that.

It has also been announced in Spain, that Malaga manager, Manuel Pellegrini, will be leaving the club and is set to take over at Manchester City.

Like Amorebieta above, my knowledge on Pellegrini is little, but what I do know, is that Pellegrini just guided Malaga to the quarter-final stages of the Champions League, only losing to Borussia Dortmund through two cruel, late goals. He managed all of this under the heavy cloud of key players such as Santi Cazorla and Salomon Rondon leaving in the summer, amongst others.

Clearly, Pellegrini is a manager who can lead men through a difficult time and under Roberto Mancini last season, Manchester City lacked that kind of guidance when they were fighting amongst themselves. For me, Pellegrini is the right appointment for Manchester City and about the most sensible one they could have hoped to have made.

Right, that’s yer lot from me today. See you tomorrow!

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Posted on May 23, 2013 by Craig in England, Fulham, Manchester City, Premiership Leave a comment

Jovetic To Arsenal / Kolo Toure To Liverpool / Tony Pulis Leaves Stoke

GOOD MORNING!

Do you wanna know why I typed that in caps lock? Because Tony Pulis has “mutually walked away from Stoke City after chairman Peter Coates sacked him for a sh*t run of results.” There’s nothing “mutual” about Pulis’ departure, he’s been sacked. Why? Because Stoke City have stagnated badly. Pulis has one way of playing football and it’s not a sustainable method.

If a new manager were to arrive at Stoke, could he get them playing passing football? Of course he could. For those who think not, look at the quick transition that Owen Coyle made at Bolton Wanderers when he first arrived to replace Gary Megson, who played an awful brand of football. Bolton were a team of cloggers and “experienced pros” but a different style of management brought the best out of them and under Coyle, they started to play good football. With a whole summer under a new manager, if that’s sorted quickly, then Stoke will be fine next season. They’ll be stronger without Pulis and I don’t see them being relegated.

Stevan Jovetic to Arsenal

Italian journalist, Tancredi Palmeri, yesterday broke the news that Arsenal had launched an official bid of £24.5 million for Fiorentina player and Montenegro international, Stevan Jovetic. There were then reports that Jovetic’s agents were in London to discuss a potential move. It’s also said that Jovetic hasn’t decided between Arsenal and Juventus yet, but an early, bold move by Arsenal has set the race for signature and caught the Serie A winners cold.

Jovetic, should he sign for Arsenal, has the qualities that dictate he could play across the entire front line. Supremely gifted, Jovetic is that extra yard of quality that Arsenal have missed this season in matches against the big teams. He possesses a Suarez-like ability to dribble through crowds of players, but his goal record has been highlighted as a weakness. Personally, I wouldn’t pay much attention to it. I looked at his stats yesterday and I think, without time to look right now, that Jovetic scored 14 goals in 31 appearances last season for Fiorentina. The guy is only 23, still in the development stages of his career and in a better team, Jovetic will prosper.

What Jovetic isn’t, is a specialist striker. As I say, he could play across the entire front line and even behind another striker. Life the specialist defensive midfielder, the specialist striker is a dying breed; you have to be so much more than a lump of meat who scores goals. What that means for Arsenal, is that with only Jovetic, Olivier Giroud and the incoming Yaya Sanogo, there is room for one more striker of a quality calibre at Arsenal. With Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott both tried in roles as striker at various stages last season, it could mean that one or the other could be seen primarily as a striking option. If that were to happen though, then a right or left-winger would need to be signed.

What is a certainty, that even with Jovetic coming, if it is indeed true, that Arsenal will still need more forward options, whether it be on the flanks or through the middle. Arsenal are from done with their transfer activity.

Kolo Toure to Liverpool

Ben Smith of BBC Sport reports that Kolo Toure will move to Liverpool once his Manchester City contract expires in June. Once dubbed the “African Cannavaro” by Italian press, Toure only made 18 appearances for Manchester City in all competitions and was left out of their Champions League squad.

The rumours are that Brendan Rodgers wants two central defenders after the retirement of Jamie Carragher and the departure or Martin Skrtel imminent. Kyriakos Papadopoulos is Liverpool’s priority signing, but an asking price of £20 million for the Greek international could prove to be too much, even for a club which spunked £35 million on Andy Carroll. Alternatively, Liverpool could turn their attention to Swansea City captain, Ashley Williams and rumours are that Winston Reid is being measured up by two other Premier League clubs, with Arsenal being one of them.

That’s all from me today, see you tomorrow.

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Posted on May 22, 2013 by Craig in Arsenal, England, Italy, Liverpool, Premiership, Serie A Leave a comment

Mourinho Leaves Real Madrid / Is He So Special?

Good morning.

Real Madrid have officially announced what we’ve all been expecting since about November: Jose Mourinho is leaving Real Madrid after three years in charge, in which time he won the league and Copa Del Rey. Mourinho will take charge for the final time against Osasuna on June 1st, at the Bernabeu.

Nobody in Barcelona will miss his mind games, that much is for sure. Constant barbs in the press and provocative behaviour, paired Mourinho’s quality for coming straight into a new club and making an impression, meant that he eventually overhauled Barcelona last season and won the La Liga title. In the final weeks of last season, Barcelona had looked weak, while Real Madrid were strong and dominant. From that moment of winning the league, Real Madrid were expected to march on this season and win it again. Pep Guardiola had departed, Tito Vilanova took charge of Barcelona and they looked there for the taking.

As many people questioned just why Real Madrid were performing so far below standard, it became quite apparent as this season aged. Fights with players and mind games lead to factions of the dressing room opposing Mourinho, none more so than Iker Casillas, a pivotal character at the club who had been cast aside. Other dressing room leaders, such as Pepe, had also turned against their manager. Cristiano Ronaldo had already turned against his compatriot months, if not years ago.

When appointing Mourinho as club manager, there has to be an acceptance on all parties concerned as to what this divisive character brings. It can’t be argued that Mourinho doesn’t bring success, as he will win trophies. He was with Inter Milan for two years and won four trophies. In three years, he claimed five trophies for Chelsea.

If so successful, why does Mourinho not stay anywhere for more than four seasons? Because after a certain time, his methods become psychologically straining. There are always players who work for and against Mourinho and it’s when in his second or third season at a club, where he needs players to fight and back him after some negative press, or a string of poor performances, that Mourinho is found wanting, for his players won’t back him. Or at least, not all of them.

Mourinho isn’t going to be the type of manager who stays at one club for seven years and nurtures youth players, for he has no time for that. Nurturing youth is a risk because of their inexperience and there are no “guarantees” as to whether they will play well from match to match. Losing matches and missing out on trophies hurts Mourinho’s CV, meaning young players won’t be risked in important matches under Mourinho’s charge.

For me, the best managers recalibrate and adjust to their external and internal surroundings. They are always great at being able to judge the landscape in which they work and alter their methods slightly to adapt, yet still continue to win as normal. Jose Mourinho is not that type of manager. For all of his trophies, he remains under a certain band of managers whom he cannot compare to.

That’s all from me today. See you tomorrow!

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Posted on May 21, 2013 by Craig in Europe, La Liga, Spain Leave a comment

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