This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Everton’s Gylfi Sigurdsson has nothing but respect for the club’s attacking star Richarlison.
The Iceland international has praised the Brazilian for the manner in which he has adapted to the English game following a difficult upbringing.
What did he say?
Richarlison seems to have finally kick-started his season this past month, with some impressive performances.
The 22-year-old has scored twice and assisted once in his past five games for Everton.
Prior to this, the attacker went five games without any sort of direct involvement in a goal.
Sigurdsson told evertonfc.com: “He comes from a different lifestyle.
“He’s very tough, he had a very tough upbringing, probably tougher than most people could handle, so personally I’ve got nothing but respect for him for the way he’s come through to get to where he is today.
“He gets on with it. He gets kicked a lot.
“He’s been fantastic for the Club since he’s been here,” Sigurdsson said.
“He works very hard. He’s one of those players who gets kicked.
“He’s not a Brazilian who just wants the ball and doesn’t do his job, he’s very good defensively and he works very hard and he scores goals.”
The best could be yet to come
The Brazilian left his homeland to join Watford back in 2017 for £11m, with little known about him back then.
A year later, he had become so highly regarded that he secured a £50m move to Goodison Park off the back of an eye-catching maiden campaign in English football.
In that first campaign, Richarlison bagged five goals and four assists and helped keep Watford in the top-flight. However, his first season on Merseyside was where he really proved his worth by scoring 13 league goals – the joint-most for Everton.
Now, once again, the versatile player is leading the charts and continuing to be of great importance to Marco Silva.
The former Fluminense star has three league goals and is constantly showing how well he has adapted to the English game.
This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Former Manchester City superstar Yaya Toure has heaped the praise on Angelino after his recent performance for the club.
What did he say?
The left-back situation has been an issue for some time now at City. The likes of Fabian Delph and Oleksandr Zinchenko have had to step into the role in recent years whilst big money signing Benjamin Mendy has been injured.
Now, it seems that the City boss has found a man with great ability for his left-back spot.
Angelino has impressed since he has been brought into the side and still has only nine senior appearances for the club. And, in his latest display at Anfield, he surprised former City midfielder Toure.
He told Sky Sports: “Angelino played very very well, I was so surprised by the young lad at left-back, he was good and I appreciated him a lot.”
Making the spot his own
Ever since 2017, Guardiola has struggled to cement one man in this role. Gael Clichy and Aleksandar Kolarov both left in the summer of that year, as Mendy came in to replace them. However, the Frenchman has spent more time on the sidelines than he has on the pitch.
Now, perhaps Angelino is finally the man to take the left-back spot on a permanent basis.
Against Liverpool, the 22-year-old struggled against Mohamed Salah but showed fantastic attacking intent throughout. In truth, he was one of City’s best attacking players on that crucial day.
Although he has just two starts in the league so far, the former PSV Eindhoven man has averaged 1.8 crosses and 1.5 key passes per game – more than Mendy’s 0.7 crosses and o key passes per game.
Zinchenko is still injured and, for now at least, it looks like Angelino is Guardiola’s man.
This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
Sheffield Wednesday are approaching quite the milestone, although it’s not exactly a positive one.
Next year will mark a second decade that the club have been absent from the top-flight of English football, and their chances to enact on that may well be dependant on whether or not the EFL sanction them this season.
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The Owls are in line to face a points deduction after being charged for financial misconduct over the sale of their Hillsborough stadium Dejphon Chansiri.
Trends tend to stick in south Yorkshire as the club have twice been faced with a transfer embargo while another long-term issue is once again rearing its head.
Over the past few years, it’s hard to think of many players that have gone onto become a regular figure in the blue and white shirt that the club have actually produced themselves.
The current squad is the oldest in the Championship, after all.
In fact, no player under the age of 23 has featured for Wednesday this season, and that is quite damning.
This was, of course, something that former manager Jos Luhukay tried to eradicate during his spell – the Dutchman made bold calls to drop Keiren Westwood for the then-inexperienced Cameron Dawson while Jordan Thorniley, Matt Penney, Ash Baker, Fraser Preston, and Connor Kirby were all handed regular opportunities.
All of those players, at the time, were 22 or younger – but it ultimately cost him his job.
However, during that summer, the club let slip of George Hirst, who is now a frequent and prolific member of Leicester City’s youth team.
He has bagged six goals this campaign across the Premier League 2 and the EFL Trophy, per Transfermarkt.
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The 20-year-old striker is only proving that the club’s attitude towards younger players is entirely wrong as had he still been on the books, then he may have been vital in putting a stop to their goalscoring woes under Garry Monk.
Under the 40-year-old’s stewardship, the Owls have scored 14 goals in ten league games, four of which coming in the very same match while top goalscorer Steven Fletcher is enduring a run of six successive matches without finding the net.
Those involved with the decision-making at Hillsborough need to buck up their ideas fast, or they’ll risk losing many more players like Hirst, who clearly had the potential brewing inside.
Monk may well fear the use of their academy because of what happened to Luhukay too.
At the time, Angel Di Maria’s move from Real Madrid to Manchester United in the summer of 2014 was the biggest in British football.
Reports suggested that the transfer fee involved was in the region of £59.7m, which was a record. And the way in which then United manager Louis van Gaal spoke about him, it was clear why the Red Devils splashed out big money on him.
Speaking after Di Maria’s deal was confirmed, he said: “There is no doubting his immense natural talent. He is a tremendously fast and incisive left-footed player who puts fear into the most accomplished defence. His dribbling skills and his ability to take on and beat opponents are a joy to watch. He is an excellent addition to the team.”
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Unfortunately for United, none of that was on show in the lone season that the Argentine spent with the club at Old Trafford.
Despite registering a very impressive twelve assists in 32 games, things really turned sour towards the second-half of the campaign. The winger started the season on fire with three goals and seven set-ups in the first 11 matches of the Premier League.
But after that, he scored just once more, whilst injuries also played its part in disrupting the rest of his campaign. As per Whoscored, his top-flight averages of 2.3 shots, 1.9 key passes and 1.7 dribbles per game are all significantly worse than what he is managing at PSG this season, even despite recently turning 32.
To compound United’s and Ed Woodward’s misery, the Argentine left Old Trafford just a season later, and at a much reduced cost than the amount they originally signed him for – £44.3m.
How well do you really know the Premier League’s greatest ever manager? Find out below…
His total of a measly four goals meant that Di Maria cost United an eye-watering £14.9m per goal, and certainly not the kind of record of someone who was brought in for a record transfer fee.
Selling him just after one year, and his performances not entirely being up to scratch, Woodward’s bold decision to sign Di Maria back-fired big time for the club.
Meanwhile, Man Utd’s 2006 bargain signing is still paying off now.
What proved to certainly be a fruitful move for Kyle Walker has turned out to be problematic for Tottenham Hotspur across their backline.
The right-back departed the club back in 2017 for a sum of £45million after Mauricio Pochettino decided to cash in, and the Englishman has certainly reaped the rewards of the transfer. Since his arrival at the Etihad, Walker has enjoyed tremendous achievements, including two Premier League titles and an FA Cup win.
However, it hasn’t been rosy for both parties. Since the 29-year-old left London, Spurs have increasingly let in more goals as they struggle to plug the defensive leak. In Walker’s final season with the club, Tottenham finished second in the Premier League and conceded just 26 goals, less than champions Chelsea and the lowest amount in the entire league.
But following his departure, defensive issues presented themselves and each campaign since Walker’s absence has seen Spurs let in more and more goals. The 2017/18 season – the first without their right-back – saw Spurs concede 36 goals, followed by 39 goals in 2018/19 and their worst yet this campaign having already let in 40 goals.
Despite veteran internationals Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen, as well as replacement right-back Serge Aurier, Spurs can’t seem to stop leaking goals. Meanwhile, Walker has contributed to Man City’s extremely low tally of conceded goals since he joined, including their +72 goal difference last season after conceding just 23 times.
Spot the fact from the fib: Are these Premier League records true or false?
In fact, City’s No.2 has registered an average pass rate of 88.9% which is much higher than his usurper Aurier (78.3%). Walker also averages more passes per match (67.5) than the Ivorian (37.7) – (via WhoScored).
Although Tottenham made a tidy £39m profit on the Sheffield-born ace, the repercussions have been costly with the London side struggling to get near the second-place finish they managed in 2017. They are currently having a torrid season, sitting eighth in the league table, just two points ahead of Burnley and Crystal Palace.
Patrick Bamford has revealed that he has learned to ignore some of the criticism he has faced from Leeds United fans this season, in an interview with iNews.
What did he say?
The former Middlesbrough man has come in for some tough criticism from fans and pundits this season after missing some rather presentable goalscoring opportunities.
With 13 goals in 36 Championship appearances he remains Leeds’ top scorer this season, but the club did dip into the transfer market over the winter to bring in Jean-Kevin Augustin on loan.
However, Bamford appears to continue to have Marcelo Bielsa’s support and said that he has learned to deal with some of the criticism sent his way.
“Earlier this season, some of the fans wanted me out of the team and it probably would have been easier for Marcelo to do that,” he told iNews.“But while I wasn’t scoring goals, I was bringing other things to the side and the fact he has stuck with me means a lot. Ultimately you’re going to be judged on your goals, but there is more that a striker brings to the team, especially when you’re playing up front on your own. I would like to score more – I probably should have a handful more – but if you look at my all-round game I feel I’ve done alright.“Earlier this season, I would be lying in bed after a game and scrolling through Twitter, not even looking for myself, and would see some abuse. My missus would say ‘just ignore it’, so I’ve got better at doing that. I’m quite laid-back so it doesn’t affect me too much and I know in my own head whether I’ve played well and should have scored or not.”Learning to copeSome of the abuse subjected at footballers on social media is pretty unedifying and it is good to see that Bamford has found a way to cope with it.Obviously, he is aware that some of his finishing has not been of the level required this season and it appears that he is keen to improve on this.If Leeds are promoted, he will likely see another forward brought in to compete with him in the top-flight and it will be interesting how he deals with the competition.
Manchester United have seen just five permanent managers since the formation of the Premier League in 1992 but plenty of players have come and gone.
It’s those that we’re going to be focussing on in this list as we whittle the many down to the few and look at the Red Devils’ 20 worst signings of the Premier League era.
Sir Alex Ferguson may have been a managerial genius and oversaw the gold era of Manchester United’s history, but he still made many mistakes in the transfer window. While Fergie’s successors have not exactly been successful on the pitch, they’ve made very similar mistakes in the recruitment department.
So let’s have a look at the 20 biggest Man United flops of the Premier League era…
Morgan Schneiderlin
First up is a midfielder who you may have forgotten even plied his trade at Old Trafford – current Everton and ex-France man Morgan Schneiderlin.
United tried to follow in the footsteps of their rivals Liverpool by poaching some talent from Southampton when they paid an eye-watering £25m for Schneiderlin in the Louis van Gaal era, but unlike the Sadio Mane’s and Virgil van Dijk’s, this Saints star was to flop at a much bigger side.
William Prunier
How could we leave Willian Prunier off this list?
When he was on the field Sir Alex Ferguson’s Red Devils would have been no worse off with an actual statue in central defence.
The former France international, somehow, is widely regarded as one of the worst players to ever ply his trade at “The Theatre of Dreams” and he’s now managing in France’s fifth tier.
Gabriel Obertan
Football – Manchester United v Crawley Town FA Cup Fifth Round – Old Trafford – 10/11 – 19/2/11 Manchester United’s Gabriel Obertan and Kyle McFadzean (R) of Crawley Town in action Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Jason Cairnduff Livepic
Signing Gabriel Obertan for his all-star Old Trafford team and spending actual money on him, too, was hardly one of the Fergie’s masterstrokes – and it’s not the first time you will see the legend get his recruitment woefully wrong in this list.
The hapless winger made just 27 appearances in his four-year United career, scoring a mere one goal and only registering four assists, he did get a Premier League winners’ medal though.
Radamel Falcao
Radamel Falcao was hardly the first player to come to England with a huge reputation in European football and prove he’s not even near English top-flight standard, and he surely won’t be the last either.
Having scored bags of goals on the continent for the likes of Porto, Atletico Madrid and a resurgent Monaco team, the Colombian was given his big chance to shine in the Premier League on loan in Manchester for the 2014/2015 season.
Needless to say that he didn’t take it, with the striker finding the back of the net on four occasions and he even got another opportunity with Chelsea the campaign after, to show everyone once again how below-par he is in England.
Zoran Tosic
The picture above rather sums up Zoran Tosic’s time in west Manchester – the Serbian was surrounded by some wonderful players such as Michael Owen, Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand and more – and he was somewhat the odd one out.
This was because, like so many in this list, Tosic simply never had the ability to be a star at the world’s biggest club and that’s why he lasted only one term after joining from Partizan Belgrade in 2009.
Wilfried Zaha
Manchester United may well now regret letting go of Wilfried Zaha for well under £10m just four years go, however, this doesn’t take away from the fact that he wasn’t good enough for them.
£10.58m plus add-ons was a lot of money back in January 2013 and that’s exactly what David Moyes paid to capture him from Crystal Palace, only for the Ivory Coast international to appear on four unmemorable occasions – now Zaha is once again knocking on the door of a move to a “Big Six” side having come on leaps and bounds since then.
Memphis Depay
Louis van Gaal should have been more cautious knowing how many attackers purchased from his native Netherlands have struggled to adapt in England after thriving over there.
Look up Dutch Premier League flops in the dictionary and Depay’s name will appear.
Massimo Taibi
Southampton’s Latvian striker Marian Pahars (L) scores past Manchester United’s Italian goalkeeper Massimo Taibi (R) as Dutch Manchester United team mate Jaap Stam (2L) looks on during their English premier league match at Old Trafford September 25.AS
Few members of this list have an iconic moment in a Man United shirt to their name, although we must confess Massimo Taibi’s is seminal for the wrong reasons.
Having impressed on his debut against Liverpool after replacing Peter Schmeichel in the summer of 1999, the Italian let Matt Le Tissier score with one of the tamest efforts in Premier League history against Southampton a game later, and barely featured again.
Angel Di Maria
It’s hard to overlook our next United failure when it comes to the title of the biggest club-record signing dud in world football ever – Angel Di Maria.
To be fair to the Argentian, though, he’s since shown his true quality at Paris Saint-Germain.
However, under the weight of a £59.7m transfer from Real Madrid ahead of the 2014/2015 term, the Argentina star failed to make himself worthy of the famous Red Devils number seven shirt, providing little more than an eye-catching lob away at Leicester City.
Diego Forlan
Football – Stock 03/04 , 28/2/04 Diego Forlan – Manchester United Mandatory Credit:Action Images / Andrew Couldridge
A case of De Ja Vu here with Di Maria’s fellow South American Diego Forlan, a player that seemed to do extremely well at pretty much every club in his career apart from Man United.
Forlan was so bad at Old Trafford that it was laughable, as he somehow managed to rack up close to a century of matches under Fergie, who probably didn’t want to lose face after splashing out £6.9m on him, which was a large sum of money in 2002 football.
A number of Manchester City fans have voiced their displeasure with transfer reports indicating the potential sale of Angelino.
TransferMarkt UK reported that RB Leipzig, where the left-back is currently on loan, have until 15 June to trigger a clause to sign him permanently, with any such deal costing them €22m (£19.44m). Although this figure is likely to exceed the German club’s budget, Manchester City have indicated a willingness to negotiate, with the update shared on Twitter by @SuperbiaProelia.
The 23-year-old was previously on City’s books for five years before they re-signed him from PSV Eindhoven last summer, although he has only made 15 senior appearances for the Cityzens, having gone on loan several times since 2015. The latest of those saw him move to RB Leipzig in January, where he has made eight appearances, scoring once and setting up two goals.
Pep Guardiola currently has Benjamin Mendy and Oleksandr Zinchenko as senior left-back options, while City have been linked with a possible move for Bayern Munich’s David Alaba (as per 90min.com) to potentially strengthen in that department.
However, these Manchester City fans want to see Angelino being given a fair chance to prove himself at the Etihad Stadium, with one supporter believing the club should “get rid of Mendy or Zinchenko” to make room for him:
Man City fans, do you think Angelino should be given a proper chance at the Etihad or would you be in favour of selling him to RB Leipzig? Join in the discussion by commenting below!
A recent transfer claim has sparked Everton fans into a frenzy on Twitter this week.
Speaking to Football Insider, Noel Whelan has tipped the Toffees to make a play for Manchester City centre-back John Stones amid reports linking him with a move to Newcastle United.
The ex-Leeds striker-turned-pundit claimed that the Magpies “would have a fight on their hands” over the Englishman with his former club keen on bringing him back to Goodison Park.
It’s clear to see that many would love to see it happen, too…
The 26-year-old hasn’t featured as regularly as he’d have liked this campaign due to injury, being restricted to just 20 appearances in all competitions, via Transfermarkt.
Stones left the Toffees for City in 2016 in a whopping £47.5m deal and has gone on to lift the Premier League twice as well as clinch a FA Cup trophy too.
How big of an Everton fan are you? Can you spot Mikel Arteta from Graham Stuart? This quiz will test your knowledge, try it if you’re brave enough…
Many in the blue end of Merseyside believe their former star is vastly superior to their current options, namely Michael Keane and Yerry Mina.
It remains to be seen if Stones is even available for transfer this summer – or what sort of fee he would command. Transfermarkt currently value him at £32.4m, which may be a stretch in the current financial climate given the consequences the pandemic is having on teams across the country.
Although that hasn’t stopped other members of the Goodison Park faithful from imagining the 6 foot 2 defender under Carlo Ancelotti.
A return to Everton could be exactly what Stones needs to get back on track, but for the time being, the England international is still appears to be in City’s plans.
AND in other news, Everton fans divided by links to Serie A powerhouse…
The proposed takeover of Newcastle United has been majorly boosted as a report from Bloomberg stated that the sports cafes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) have gone back to broadcasting the Qatari channel beIN Sports following the findings from the recent report from the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Following accusations from Qatar, the pirate satellite TV channel beoutQ, which was responsible for the illegal broadcast and streaming of games from the Premier League, was ruled to be operated in Saudi Arabia by the WTO body.
As per Bloomberg, beoutQ boxes are no longer widely available to be purchased, and some people from the Kingdom said that they no longer worked as some may have tried to stream the matches between Aston Villa and Sheffield United and Manchester City versus Arsenal upon the return of the English top flight.
This news could have provided a major boost to the prospective takeover of the Tyneside club because of KSA’s involvements in the £300 million deal with Mike Ashley.
Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and his Public Investment Fund (PIF) are part of the buying side to try ans steer through the bid, and any potential involvement between them and beoutQ may have just been eradicated if the television station is no longer available.
There were possible fears that if they were found to be associated or supportive of the channel, then it could seriously jeopardise any hopes of the Premier League approving of the takeover, but whilst it does not clear everything up, the news could well help the case of the buying side.
Geordies, will the takeover go through? Comment below!