If you want to watch something truly pathetic today, here’s Jose Mourinho, the manager of 20-time English champion Manchester United (squad value of just over $1 billion), acting scared shitless at the prospect of playing Brighton & Hove Albion (squad value of $183 million) in the second week of Premier League action because of the World Cup impact on club season preparations.
If you’ve been keeping up with the latest transfer news, you will have heard of the Richarlison Everton deal, Watford’s Brazilian forward moving in a deal worth upwards of $65 million. That’s a lot of money for a guy who has spent one season in the Premier League, is only 21 and scored a measly five goals.
If you think $65 million is way too much for Richarlison, we’re inclined to agree. What on earth compels Everton to splash out so much money on this fella?
At this point, it’s hard to imagine Mo Salah being picked last for anything. He’s already a Liverpool hero having scored 43 goals in all competitions in his first season at Anfield. And, well, Egypt is so obsessed with him after he led the Pharoahs to their first World Cup in 28 years that schools have been renamed after him. If you want to win, if you need a clutch performance, Salah is probably your first choice.
After lifting the 2018 World Cup with one of the youngest squads at the tournament (average age of just 26), there’s been a growing fear that France could turn a bit tyrannical at the international level. That fear was further confirmed today when England’s U-19s were on the receiving end of a 5-0 beatdown from their French peers.
This news flew under the radar for many fans, but if you didn’t hear, Aston Villa now has the third richest owners in all of English football. Yes, the Championship side that finished dead last in the 2015-16 Premier League season is now absolutely loaded. But how did this all come about?
Every professional footballer on the planet wants to train under Pep Guardiola (apart from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Yaya Toure). His approach to playing the game has revolutionized football and brought unmitigated success to Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Now, thanks to Amazon Prime Original docuseries “All or Nothing: Manchester City”, we get a behind-the-scenes look at Guardiola and total access to City’s stable of world-class footballers.
After playing 56 games last season, Liverpool FC basically said to hell with it and just kept playing. The Reds began their 2018-19 fixture list back on July 7 as part of a nine-game preseason tour that includes a trip to Ireland and the United States. This is how Jurgen Klopp ensures that the gegenpressing is still pressing come the 90th minute of matches in May.
Arsenal fans are in a weird place right now. Longtime manager Arsene Wenger is gone after 22 years, but a strong roster has been supplemented by positive moves in the summer transfer window under new coach Unai Emery.
There’s the hope new management can propel the talented team back into contention in England and Europe, but also the fear of slipping into irrelevance just as Manchester United struggled after the retirement of Alex Ferguson.
Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson is on his way to England for a medical after agreeing to a transfer to Liverpool. Three months ago, AS Roma president James Pallotta said that Alisson would not be sold, even for a massive “sack of money.” But when that sack of money turned out to be $87.4 million — shattering the previous most expensive goalkeeper transfer — the Italian club just couldn’t refuse.
Marco Silva’s first match in charge of Everton proved to be quite difficult for the scoreboard operator. The Toffees destroyed Austrian minnow ATV Irdning 22-0 to open the 2018 Everton preseason campaign on Saturday in Austria.
You read that right: 22-0.
Who needs Wayne Rooney?