Dismayed over Virgil van Dijk’s decision to join Liverpool, Manchester City have gone and broken their own club transfer record (the $77 million paid to Wolfsburg for Kevin De Bruyne in 2015) by signing La Liga’s most promising young defender, 23-year-old center back Aymeric Laporte, from Athletic Bilbao for $80 million.
In November of 2016, months after signing a one-year contract with Manchester United, Zlatan Ibrahimovic outlined his vision of one-upping Napoleon by accomplishing what the Emperor of the French could not: "I can see myself conquering the U.S. as I have with Europe. Lots of people stay in one place throughout their career, but I’ve travelled around like Napoleon, and conquered every new country where I’ve sat foot.
Arsenal didn’t play this weekend, which is probably a good thing for Gunners fans. The team was already knocked out of the FA Cup by Nottingham Forest in the third round, meaning Gooners can’t even take pleasure in Tottenham having to replay Newport County. But the curl on this Arsenal youth goal almost makes up for not having a match to watch this weekend.
Manchester City winger Leroy Sané is one of the most exciting young players in the world, with the pace, dribbling and finishing to terrify any defense. He could be a breakout star for Germany at the 2018 World Cup, assuming he doesn’t break his leg first. Joe Bennett’s Leroy Sané tackle looked like it might have caused serious damage to the German on Sunday and the German national team’s Twitter account stood up for its player.
Alexis Sanchez made his Manchester United debut, starting against League 2 side Yeovil Town in the FA Cup. Manchester United won 4-0, which was to be expected. Marcus Rashford, Ander Herrera, Jesse Lingard and Romelu Lukaku scored the goals, and Alexis collected a debut assist. For that, it appears he was named man of the match.
#Alexis7 is announced as man of the match.
All-Star gaaaames. There’s nothing more exciting than watching the NBA’s West beat the East 192 to 182 while the 6-10 Anthony Davis scores 52 points off 39 shots, and there’s nothing more sporting than watching Canadian journeyman Will Johnson crunch Bastian Schweinsteiger on the ankle after the German graciously appears following a grueling summer spent winning the World Cup.
24-year-old Englishman Ravel Morrison appears to be finding his feet in Mexico after arriving at Club Atlas on loan from Italian side Lazio last August. The former Manchester United prodigy had a stop-start beginning to life in Liga MX, but he’s now scored three goals in his last three appearances for Atlas.
On Sunday, January 14, Morrison opened his Clausura account with a stunning free kick against Pumas.
Arsene Wenger, the Professor with an economics degree, is dipping Arsenal’s pocket book into the crypto-currency markets. The club reached an agreement Wednesday with California-based CashBet, which will thus be allowed to advertise at Emirates Stadium. Now Gunners fans can watch ads for fake money while cheering for fake trophies. The Arsenal crypto-currency deal might just be the most Arsenal thing ever.
Arsenal advanced to the Carabao Cup final after defeating Chelsea 2-1 Wednesday at the Emirates Stadium. An opening 12 minutes of comedic defending from both sides led to goals from Eden Hazard and Antonio Rudiger — the defender scoring an unfortunate own goal to bring Arsenal level — but Granit Xhaka popped up to score the winner on the hour mark.