Does anyone remember a time when Chelsea were not owned by a Russian oligarch, but in fact, a rather unpopular Englishman who has, to put it politely, a very particular way with words. Roman Abramovich is coming up to a decade in charge of the Blues, having gone money crazy after taking over at Stamford Bridge from Ken Bates. Chelsea have changed the face of English football, splashing the cash at every available opportunity and not always wisely either.
Sometimes, they’ve simply thrown big fees at players who never really appeared for the club or merely made up the numbers sitting on the bench. Admittedly, Abramovich’s billions have finally bought the Champions League, but they’ve gone through a serious number of players (and not to mention managers) to find the winning formula. The previous owners aren’t entirely clean in terms of dodgy transfers and there’s certainly been some tripe pull on the blue shirt since the Premier League began. We look back and assess the worst Chelsea signing XI in the modern era of English football:
Hamburg playmaker Rafael van der Vaart is keeping his fingers crossed the club’s financial problems won’t result in a raft of exits.
The Rothosen are expected to announce huge annual losses this year and as such speculation in the German press has suggested they could be forced to sell off some big names.
Van der Vaart is one player who hasn’t been linked with a move away having only re-joined the club last summer but forward Son Heung-Min could be one player on the move, with Tottenham and Arsenal said to be interested.
Dutch international Van der Vaart hopes the reported financial problems won’t be as bad as first feared and is keeping his fingers crossed Hamburg might even be able to add to the squad this summer.
“It would be great if we could add to the squad,” the former Real Madrid midfielder said. “We need more experienced players with a winning mentality.”
“But I know there is not much money to strengthen the team,” he continued. “So it is important to make sure our best players stay.”
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Swansea City midfielder Leon Britton has claimed that winger Scott Sinclair would be welcomed back to South Wales this summer if he leaves Manchester City.
Sinclair has failed to break into the City side this season and has been resigned to sitting on the bench after his £6.2million move from Swansea last summer.
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini last week claimed it was better if Sinclair left in the summer after an unsuccessful season and a move back to Swansea has been hinted.
A number of Premier League clubs would be interested in signing the pacey winger this summer and so a bidding war may erupt in order to land the former Chelsea youngster.
Britton understands why Sinclair left the Liberty Stadium last year and would welcome him back with open arms.
“We’d be happy to have him back. Scott did great in his two seasons here. In the Championship season he scored 25 goals and was a massive part in the success we’ve had,” Britton told the Daily Mirror.
“When you get an offer to go the champions you understand why he went and maybe it hasn’t worked out how he wanted it to be.
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“If he did become available, and obviously it is down to the manager, but the players would welcome him back tomorrow.”
It’s coming to that stage of the year where trying to find something to do on a weekend is going to become a regular thing.
And with no World Cup or Euro competitions to look forward to this summer, what exactly do we have to keep us entertained in the coming months?
You could don an item of knitwear and stand in a field for numerous hours with the, albeit temperamental, sun baring down on you.
That is however as dull as it sounds, with the only slight perks of the job being the amazing lunch you get at half time, or at least I think it’s called half-time…
There is of course a Rugby League World Cup this year.
That will probably appeal to those of us that like a traditional media build up to a Three Lions squad competition before the ultimately inevitable painful exit of an England squad.
Well, I don’t know about you, but my heart can only take a painful England exit every other year, otherwise I’d be likely to slip into permanent depression, so that crosses Rugby off my list.
Other than that you could spend a few weeks of your summer sitting on Henman Hill, cheering on Andy ‘Charisma’ Murray with strawberries in hand.
You could clear the moth balls off your suit, shine your shoes, and get down to Royal Ascot to cheer on the nags.
Or, you could even buy tickets to this summer’s premier angling competition, ‘Fish-o-Mania’.
I know, I know, none of these really compare to the feeling you get half way through the week when you know football day is just a few sleeps away.
So if none of those options really get your pulse racing, than why not just wait for the new season to commence by following the transfer window’s ins and outs.
You can keep up with the window by following various media outlets or ITK’S (In the knows.)
I however wouldn’t recommend following ITK’s on social media platforms, they’re generally 14-year old boys, and following little boys is generally frowned upon, that is unless you used to work for the BBC.
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I personally have already reached transfer window mode, and have compiled a top 10 transfer targets for West Ham below.
They are in no particular order, so feel free to comment, condone, or bemoan my choices.
Click on Andy Carroll to start the countdown and get your transfer fix
David Moyes is reportedly looking to pip Chelsea and take Southampton’s highly-rated left-back Luke Shaw to Manchester United, according to the Daily Mail.
The 17-year-old academy graduate and England youth international has taken the Premier League by storm in the past season having been thrust into the first team by former Saints boss Nigel Adkins.
Shaw remained in the side when Argentinian coach Mauricio Pochettino replaced Adkins in mid-January and has gone on to make 28 appearances as the side successfully secured their Premier League status.
Shaw is a self-confessed Chelsea fan and the Blues were thought to be lining up a summer swoop for the youngster. But Pochettino recently spoke out to insist that the player would not be leaving St Mary’s in the transfer window.
However, Moyes, who has scouted Shaw on several occasions during his time as Everton boss, is now believed to be pondering an offer as he looks to find a long-term replacement for Patrice Evra and is likely to be rebuffed in his efforts to take Leighton Baines with him from Goodison Park.
Despite the Premier League champions expressing an interest, the Telegraph claims Shaw will be happy to stay put at Southampton and will sign a five-year contract at the club when he turns 18 in July.
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It is almost unbelievable that only a month or so on from the apparent chaos at Arsenal that we are now talking about a desperate bid from the club to keep hold of Arsene Wenger, football is a mad sport isn’t it?
Since the aftermath of defeat to Aston Villa on the opening day of the season, the club have been riding the crest of a wave. Playing the brand of football we all associate the club with, Arsenal have taken the Premier League by storm. Toppling North London rivals Spurs amongst a series of eye-catching displays, they now sit pretty at the very top of the table going into October.
Such an unbelievable turnaround in fortunes has seen the board move quickly to secure their French manager on a longer-term deal. The Daily Mail reported the following in relation to a prospective contract:
“Arsenal are preparing formal discussions with Arsene Wenger over a new three-year contract worth £8million-per-season.”
“The new contract – that would see the Frenchman net a £500,000-per-year increase – would take Wenger beyond 20 years at the north London club.”
Just as fans begin to ditch their “Wenger Out” banners is it not a bit soon to totally change their opinions of the man?
[cat_link cat=”arsenal” type=”list”]
It isn’t as if Wenger has somehow changed overnight. He bought one big money player, it doesn’t mean he has changed the habit of a lifetime. Those that were concerned about his spending back in August have every reason to continue with their pessimism even now. Nothing has changed.
Now of course Ozil has been a revelation so it is difficult to criticise Arsenal’s transfer policy that aggressively. However, the point is that Arsenal are still very much a team in transition and if fans are concerned about Wenger’s aversion to spending then they have no reason to change their opinion.
However that said my belief is that tying Wenger down to a new deal would be a major coup for the club. Arsenal’s main divisional rivals have all undergone mass change in one way or another this summer and are currently paying the price in the short term for it. Take a club like City who have a new manager, new signings and an altogether new way of playing and you can really gauge the advantage Arsenal have here.
Arsenal know what they are getting with Wenger, and a settled squad regardless of its arguable inferiority in comparison to others, is consistently able to punch above its weight and deliver the results that fans desire.
The other point is that if Arsenal were to let Wenger leave who could they really get? There really is a small pool of experienced, European pedigree managers to choose from. Arsene Wenger is an experienced and masterful tactician who continues to get the very best out of the players at his disposal. £24m to keep arguably one of the best managers in World football at your club is small change in my opinion.
Continuity is important in football and for me change at Arsenal should not be in the managerial department. Instead the club should be looking towards the way in which they divide the workload between staff. Arsene Wenger has always been keen to maintain his control over all aspects of the club and for me this is the bigger issue that needs addressing. Rather than bringing in a manager with a different view on the game, they would be better off seeking out a Director of Football to ease the transfer burden off of Wenger’s shoulders.
For one reason or another football is dominated by knee jerk short-termism and a yearn for constant change. The reality for Arsenal and Wenger is that his availability would mean a huge queue of clubs lining up for his services. Just because you know what you are getting and that he isn’t quite the breath of refreshing air that many desire isn’t to say he isn’t the right man for the job.
This isn’t a deal which will be concluded overnight, Wenger is usually keen to work things out towards the very back end of his contract. A fact which probably suit both parties with the club having a better idea of how the season is likely to pan out by then.
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Few would have predicted that it would be Wenger holding all the cards come contract renewal time, but as it stands the club need and want Wenger now more than he probably does. Familiarity may well lead to unrest from fans, but at Arsenal I think they have the manager that most other clubs can only dream about.
As other clubs face tumultuous upheaval, Arsenal fans should feel comfortable in the knowledge that they are able to depend on the work of their tireless French tactician.
The progress is evident at Liverpool. If Brendan Rodgers guides the club into the top four in the Premier League, it would count as a considerable step forward, but yet still quite a distance from the final goal.
Liverpool’s form this season will likely extend Luis Suarez’s stay at the club beyond January, but you still get the sense that the Uruguayan isn’t in it for the long haul and that he’ll depart in the summer.
That doesn’t take away from Liverpool’s objective, however. You could tell by their activity in the summer that they weren’t going to be distracted by Suarez’s public desire to leave Anfield. Where Wayne Rooney’s uncertain future played a part in the poor transfer business at Manchester United, Liverpool regardless went ahead and upgraded the goalkeeping department, the defence and added a small handful of attackers to supplement what they already had. The fact the Suarez decided – or was convinced – to stay has only counted as a bonus.
Champions League football will set Liverpool up nicely for next season – yet even with UEFA’s premier club competition, I still believe Suarez will be persuaded to go elsewhere, possibly Real Madrid. European football simply isn’t enough to retain the world’s best players when major silverware looks to be out of reach, as evidenced by the departures at Arsenal in recent years.
[cat_link cat=”liverpool” type=”list”]
What Liverpool will get is a boost of funding, both in the income from the Champions League but also in the sale of Suarez. But even if they finish outside of the top four, there’s little reason why they shouldn’t demand a sizable fee for the striker in the summer, especially if dealing with Real Madrid.
The project, as these things are so often called, isn’t over at Liverpool. How many disruptions will there be if the club fail to land Champions League football for next season? Only Suarez is to be considered a real commodity that other clubs will look to pursue. Names like Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge are obviously vital to this Liverpool side, but they don’t hold the same value as the Uruguayan, therefore limiting the chance of major squad disruptions.
It also helps that Liverpool are looking towards younger players. Coutinho and Sturridge are well off their peak years and therefore know they have time on their side to win trophies. Luis Alberto, Mamadou Sakho and Simon Mignolet are the same. Importantly, there appears to be a very settled atmosphere at Anfield, where even Suarez has kept quiet since his return from a 10-match ban. That is largely owed to the work put in by Rodgers.
There is an inevitability about Suarez’s departure. He’s from Latin America where clubs like Real Madrid hold far more weight than Manchester United or Liverpool do. But Liverpool look to be prepared for what may come in the summer. In fact, had a foreign club come in this past summer with an “acceptable” offer, it would have been likely he’d be playing somewhere else by now.
But Suarez is a Liverpool player at this time and he’s doing a lot to place them in the top four come May. Being knocked out of the League Cup and not competing in Europe at all this season may have been viewed as a step backwards, but it counts towards the club taking a far greater step forward into the Champions League next season. And like Napoli for example have done with the sale of Edinson Cavani, Liverpool will also be given the opportunity to significantly upgrade the squad as a whole.
Even with Suarez’s sale, it’s unlikely Liverpool will be knocked too far off course.
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Tottenham continued their fine form under Tim Sherwood win an emphatic 3-1 Premier League win away at Swansea.Emmanuel Adebayor stole the show, notching a brace for the visitors to ensure their fifth away win on the trot – the club’s best run since 1960.Adebayor opened the scoring in the 34th minute, getting on the end of Christian Erikson’s delectable cross, before Chico Flores turned into his own net.The Togo international had all the time in the world to tuck home Spurs’ third, with Wilfried Bony’s late strike proving little consolation.Here’s what Twitter said about the the game’s key moments…
24 mins- Bony hits the bar!
34 mins- Adebayor scores against the run of play for Spurs
53 mins- Chico Flores weighs in with an oggy
71 mins- Adebayor has eternity to slot in his second
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WOW! Emmanuel Adebayor now has 88 Premier League goals, overturning Dennis Bergkamp’s 87. #THFC (@richardajkeys)— Addicted to Spurs (@AddictedtoSpurs)
In the wake of Manchester United’s dyer defeat away to Greek side Olympiakos, manager David Moyes has been quick to take the blame for his side’s performance.
The result, a comfortable 2-0 win for the home side, was if anything generous to the Premier League champions whose players looked withdrawn and disinterested throughout much of the encounter.
The dismal display then, served to further highlight the desperate need for new faces at Old Trafford, with the current squad looking beginning to look almost dilapidated in comparison to those of their domestic and continental rivals.
New signings Mata and Fellani, though logical buys, are in essence luxury players, though the performances of the latter perhaps merit that label in about the loosest way possible following his £27.5m move from Moyes’ former club Everton. Meanwhile, the form of longer serving players, something that could, when the club was under the stewardship of Sir Alex Ferguson, be more or less relied upon has stuttered with players like Vidic and Van Persie failing to live up to expectations of late.
Thus at present, it would seem that the Red Devils require an evident leader, something that has been conspicuous by its absence in recent weeks.
One player in whom that quality is almost continually evident is Fulham’s Scott Parker. The midfielder, who has represented England at every level from under-16 onwards, has become renound for his high-effort performances which saw him become a regular for Roy Hodgson in the nation’s Euro 2012 campaign.
In the summer, with Spurs increasing ideas of grandeur that subsequently fell a little flat under then-manager Andre Villas Boas, it was evident that the midfielder would be available for the right price, which was almost certainly less than £5m.
Yet it was inexplicably relegated QPR who were the early front-runners for his signature, with none of the top-4 appearing the slightest bit interested, which considering the relatively nominal fee he would of commanded is little bizarre.
It’s not that he’s such a vocal leader on the pitch, or that he’s so phenomenally talented. What he is, however, is a bastion for an industrious, hard-working midfield game, something that fans’ have absolutely no trouble buying into and getting behind. Indeed, one would go as far as to say, if any player earns his money week in week out, it is without a doubt Scott Parker.
American Journalist William Saletan upon watching the 33-year old during his time at Tottenham commented “Parker doesn’t score or get credited with assists. He leaves that to the guys up front. What Parker does instead is win games. He does this not by punctuating the match but by controlling it. He smothers oncoming attacks. He forces opponents off the ball. He orchestrates distribution out of the back, setting in motion a Spurs onslaught that will culminate 60 yards downfield.
I’d seen Parker in TV highlights last year when he scored the odd goal for West Ham United. Otherwise, I’d hardly thought of him. But you can’t watch the game up close without noticing Parker.”
One would opine then, that it is exactly this kind of influence that United need right now, as opposed to the luxury (such as it is) of someone like Fellani, what the Old Trafford supporters crave at this time of discontent is players who will stand up and be counted.
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During their years of plenty, united became the epitomes of the squad depth principle. Among those various collections over the players, have been the workhorse type characters that every team needs to have in reserve like Nicky Butt, Park Ji-Sung both of whom would work very hard for the cause and justify the place on the pitch when it arose.
A example of a regular starter with such qualities, would have been the Roy Keane of old. That is not to say for a second that Parker is a good as Roy Keane, he isn’t, but what he is is a player who can consistently be relied upon and who’s effort levels are almost uncompromising.
And a purchase like that, for the princely sum of £5m, wouldn’t have been a bad bet by a manager who’s motivational skills are coming under close scrutiny.
For the majority of David Moyes’ first season in charge at Manchester United, there has been a criticism of the Glaswegian’s inability to shake the mentality he held on to while at Everton: the mentality of the underdog.
Moyes quickly understood the vastness of his new club; he’s alluded on a number of occasions to just how overwhelming his new working environment is compared to the expectations he held prior to the move.
The constantly reloading rifle told of the dissatisfaction at seeing a Manchester United team play as if they were the weaker side in a tie, even if playing at Old Trafford. Moyes was conservative in his approach to tactics. Of course, he was handicapped by the severe lack of creative outlets in the centre of midfield, but he hardly ever gave the impression he was abandoning caution and sending his team out to pummel at the door of the opposition defence, as United have been known to do under Alex Ferguson.
The tie against Bayern Munich in the Champions League does give Moyes that opportunity to call on his ace card, the one that became such a valued ally while at Goodison Park.
Moyes hasn’t become a bad coach over night. The job at Old Trafford has exposed some of his shortcomings, but this is still a manager who was praised for the organisation of his Everton teams, building from the back and going out not to lose. It’s not the United way, but it can be over the course of two legs against Bayern.
United don’t have two of their three most important cogs to call on. Robin van Persie is out injured and Juan Mata is cup tied. It may force a recall of Adnan Januzaj to the starting XI, as well as a stay in the team for Shinji Kagawa, who has shown some promise in recent games.
But United, like most, have a steep climb. They’re unlikely to outscore Bayern if it turns into a back-and-forth, open game. Guardiola’s side can be irresistible going forward when they choose to turn on the style.
Instead, it should be about damage limitation. There is still a lot to salvage in the league, even if Champions League football is out of reach. A strong finish to the domestic season will be a boost to the rebuilding phase of this summer.
At Everton, Moyes knew how to prepare his sides defensively. Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin’s excellent partnership this season has the Moyes stamp all over it. It’s given Roberto Martinez a strong base with which to build his own team.
It’s not to say it will be easy against Bayern. Patrice Evra is out through suspension and Rafael has at least one mistake in him over the course of two legs. Adding to that, Nemanja Vidic is no longer the centre-back he once was, and, evidenced by the home derby defeat to Manchester City, United can suffer immensely from a lack of protection in midfield.
But that was when Moyes needed something. He threw caution to the wind with his team selection and went for a positive result. We’ve seen on a number of occasions this season that attacking, expansive football isn’t his strong suit.
Against Bayern, it will be time to call on his defensive preparation. His organisational skills as a manager have been plain for all to see over the years. He does have players currently at his disposal who are capable of working the flanks and tracking Bayern’s runners. Stacking the defences and forcing the game wide when in possession – which can bring a lot of promise if Rafinha is chosen at right-back and isolated – is part of what brought Moyes success at Everton.
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The clash with Bayern won’t be used as a means to measure Moyes as a United manager. It will be an opportunity for him to show his credentials as a good coach, a coach his builds defensive stability. His Everton sides may have had a poor record against the top teams in England, but you never expected them to get mauled to the tune of five or six-nil.
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