The week that was – 8th September 2020

Background

In the midst of the international break sandwiched between the traditional curtain raiser of the community shield and the premier league resuming, on the day the 2019/20 PFA player of the year was announced four days before the 2020/21 season resumes, Newcastle and Everton doing good transfer business and a team that has won the champions league and premier league in the last two years and just starting a new lucrative sponsorship deal with Nike not being able to afford to buy players, we do live in strange times. Oh, and one of the greatest players of all time being forced to stay at his dream club in his favourite city for twelve more months getting sympathy!

Article

No winners in the Messi Saga

So Messi’s father finally had that coffee session with Barcelona and found out that they were not willing to let their money making machine leave on a free transfer. Shock, horror, we never expected that? We then had that statement from Messi of how he had been promised to be allowed to leave all season, his family in tears when told the news about moving to the rainy and covid hotspot Manchester and how there is no proper project in place at Barcelona. All of which had our sympathy until we worked out that on June 10th, the club that he wanted to go would not be in the champions league for the next two years, until of course their multi million pound team of lawyers sorted it with CAS later on. And granted, football is like any profession where you should have your next gig sorted before you hand in your letter of resignation. Anyway, in the halls of UEFA towers, there will be some joy after all of denying Man City their ultimate show off toy. Here’s to a year of Messi scoring goals without celebrating!

Good transfer business for sleeping giants

Everton and Newcastle are genuinely two sleeping giants of english football. Who can forget the awesome Everton team of the mid eighties and of course, Keegan’s champagne attacking vintage of 1995-96. These clubs have passionate fans and would be an asset to the premier league to have them in good shape. Normally though, they seem to mess up in the transfer market. This time however, Everton who needed a serious midfield upgrade have seriously upgraded their midfield. Allan and Doucoure to make them physically imposing and Rodriguez to give the guile. Looks like a really nice balance and should be a good watch. Newcastle have also got in good players in Wilson, Fraser and Lewis. Wilson was once wanted by Chelsea for £50m+, Fraser a player with good numbers for assists and Lewis, a player who was wanted by the moneyballers at Liverpool a few weeks ago. Expect good campaigns from them and good results against the champions league spots challengers. And maybe the Everton cup can be won by one of these two as well!

De Bruyne deserved PFA winner but not for last season

De Bruyne is a world class player and seems like a genuinely nice person. He is a warrior on the pitch and refined off the pitch. And he was amazing last year as well. He does deserve to be a PFA player of the year but not for last season. That should have come from a Liverpool team who won the title with seven games to spare. However, as happened in 1999 when non of the historic treble winning Manchester United team won it with David Ginola nipping in, the same seems to have happened here. Anyway, enough moaning on that. It has been a privilege to watch De Bruyne since he returned from his Mourinho enforced german exile. His passing, shooting, dribbling and intelligence on the pitch is unmatched. Great with both feet, those beautiful through balls, those random dribbles, the creative vision and when he hits the ball really hard and yet so elegant. He is a modern day Platini and it is a joy to watch him grace our league. He is the one player from City who would enhance any team in the world. All this, with the temperament he has to be a winner makes him almost the perfect player, almost, because the perfect player is of course ‘Barcelona’s’ Messi. Anyhow, let’s put rivalries aside this coming season and genuinely enjoy watching this great artist paint his pictures on our football pitches.

Liverpool need to build from strength

This is a critical moment for Liverpool. With teams around them as they say in hyped up transfer language ‘splashing the cash’, Liverpool do need to at some stage spend some money as well. With their current position of strength in terms of being successful on the pitch and the brand that is Jurgen Klopp, now is the time to snap up the best young players in Europe. Good players choose clubs for the success and the manager, and then the money. They know that if they become the best they can be, the money will come. Missing out on Werner, Havertz, Sancho, Thiago and other such long term prospects may come back to haunt them in a few years time. It is clear that were Liverpool to put in genuine bids for Sancho and Thiago, they would come to Anfield, and imagine that. We have also seen them miss out on Jamal Lewis for the sake of £5m. Of course, it is always dangerous with Liverpool and their impeccable transfer dealings to write them off. There is still a fair way to go in this transfer market with players now finally back from holidays and international breaks. Expect a busy few weeks coming up at all clubs as they clear out the unwanted and bring in new blood. And the next few weeks will tell us how serious Liverpool are about building the dynasty which is the next step to getting back to the glory days of the seventies and eighties.

PFA defender choice will sit uncomfortably at Old Trafford

No, this is not Van Dijk who Manchester United could have signed had they made an effort. It’s his partner, Caglar Soyuncu. He was brought for £19m in 2018 as an understudy to Maguire and Evans. When United wilted and paid the £80m for Maguire, it was felt in the corridors of Leicester City that they had somehow kept their better player. Since coming in, he has formed a good partnership with Evans which almost took their team to an unlikely champions league spot. Leicester have over the last few years done really well in the transfer market. Kante, Vardy, Maddison to name a few and Soyuncu also belongs this list. If £80m for Maguire seemed a lot of money a year ago, now, he looks even more overpriced than ever. And seeing the backup make it into the PFA team of the year should sound a few more alarm bells around their scouting system.