Arsenal have officially announced that striker Stephy Mavididi has joined Juventus on a permanent deal, and it will leave fans wondering what could happen to the likes of Eddie Nketiah in the future.
What’s the story?
The 20-year-old spent time on loan with both Preston North End in the Championship and Charlton Athletic in League One last season. He was not able to make a big impact at either club though.
This move is a very odd bit of business on the part of the Italian giants, especially with Mavididi not even having been considered as close to the Arsenal first team.
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However, the Turin club’s interest begs the question as to whether the Gunners failed to spot the true potential of the young English forward.
If Mavididi is able to make himself a success in Serie A, then questions must be asked of Arsenal’s academy who have failed to produce a striker of first team quality for a long time.
With Chuba Akpom having already left the club this summer, Mavididi has simply become the most recent in a long line of promising young strikers, including Yassin Fortune and Kaylen Hinds, who have failed to make the grade at the Emirates Stadium in recent seasons.
This suggests a problem the club are facing at youth level to get the best out of these young marksmen. However, there is one at the club who can still dream of bucking that trend.
All eyes on Eddie
Nketiah enjoyed something of a breakout campaign at the Emirates last season. The 19-year-old made 10 senior appearances in all competitions last time out, and even scored two goals.
Having played a prominent role in pre-season under new manager Unai Emery, the England under-21 international will be looking to kick on again this time around.
With Akpom and Mavididi now out of the picture, Nketiah stands as the last great striking hope of this generation of Arsenal academy products. The club and fans alike will be hoping that the youngster has what it takes to be the one who makes the grade for the Gunners.
It has been the perfect start to the season for Manchester City. The Sky Blues have six points from a possible six to start their 2018/19 campaign.
The Etihad outfit comfortably beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates, in a match where the result never really seemed to be in doubt. They then bossed Huddersfield Town, and defeated the Terriers 6-1, in a fixture where the only question was really how many goals City would score.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side look like an unstoppable force in English football. Whilst they dominated in the Premier League last season, winning the title with 100 points, they once again faced disappointment in Europe, losing in the Champions League to Premier League rivals Liverpool.
The next step for Guardiola is surely to win a Champions League, as his side seem to have proved all there is to prove domestically.
Marco Verratti
Soccer Football – Coupe de la Ligue Final – Paris St Germain vs AS Monaco – Matmut Atlantique Stadium, Bordeaux, France – March 31, 2018 Paris Saint-Germain’s Marco Verratti gestures REUTERS/Regis Duvignau
Reports in Italy suggested Manchester City were interested in a move for the Italian international.
He forms a key part of the Paris Saint-Germain midfield. The technically gifted playmaker would be perfect for situations such as the one the Citizens’ currently find themselves in, with Belgian playmaker Kevin De Bruyne out injured. Verratti has a passing range almost comparable with that of De Bruyne, the strength in depth he could offer Guardiola would surely mean Manchester City would seal a Champions League trophy.
Not a cheap option, but with the money Manchester City have, they could well tempt the Italian to the Etihad.
Harry Maguire
A star of England’s excellent World Cup campaign, Manchester City would have all three of England’s World Cup first-choice centre-backs at the club if they could sign the star in January.
Alongside City players John Stones and Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire shone. He does not only possess the ball-playing ability that the Spanish boss demands, but he is a goal-scoring threat from set-pieces.
He could form an unstoppable partnership with John Stones at the back to propel Manchester City to a Champions League trophy.
Tottenham Hotspur did not sign anyone during the summer transfer window and manager Mauricio Pochettino has not appeared too worried by it.
At the moment, he has no reason to given that the team have kicked off the season in positive fashion.
On the opening weekend of the Premier League campaign, Spurs defeated Newcastle United 2-1.
Last week they followed that victory up with a 3-1 triumph over Fulham at Wembley.
There have been a number of goalscorers for Tottenham so far, including Jan Vertonghen, Dele Alli, Lucas Moura and Kieran Trippier.
Harry Kane also broke his August hoodoo by scoring in the win over Fulham, but if the club’s talisman suffers an injury, do Tottenham have enough quality to reach their objectives?
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Pochettino will be hoping for a title challenge, but if not, a top-four finish will be the minimum requirement.
Tottenham’s first team are capable of winning trophies, but they do not have many options off the bench that can match their stars.
With that in mind, should the North London outfit dip into the market in January to find a decent back-up for Kane?
According to West Ham United insider ExWHUemployee, Aston Villa will make a late offer to snatch James Collins from under the noses of Ipswich Town.
What’s the story?
Collins left West Ham at the end of last season following the expiration of his contract, but was actually linked with a return to the Hammers before the club’s head coach Manuel Pellegrini confirmed that the stories were false.
A number of clubs are believed to be closely monitoring developments surrounding the central defender, and there is no question that he will soon have a new club.
At the age of 35, Collins is not a long-term option by any means, but there is no doubting that he is good enough to play a season or two at Championship level.
According to ExWHUemployee, Collins has been training with Ipswich, but Villa are expected to make a late move for the central defender, which appears to suggest that a return for John Terry will not take place.
Collins played over 100 times for Villa between 2009 and 2012 before returning to West Ham, and he would certainly be a welcome addition at Villa Park.
Should Aston Villa sign him?
Villa have been strongly linked with a move for Terry, who left the club at the end of last season when his contract expired.
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However, Sporting Lisbon are now believed to lead the race for the former Chelsea captain, which has seen Villa switch their attention to Collins.
Villa boss Steve Bruce allowed Tommy Elphick to leave on loan in the latter stages of the window, which has left the Championship outfit incredibly short at centre-back.
Mile Jedinak continues to be selected alongside James Chester in that area of the field, and the Villa fans are becoming increasingly frustrated with Bruce’s desire to play the Australian.
Villa are also now five games without a win in all competitions, meanwhile, and suffered a heavy 4-1 loss at Sheffield United in the Championship on September 1.
Central defence is an area that Bruce must strengthen in the coming weeks, and bringing 6ft 2in Collins back to Villa Park is a no-brainer.
Stoke City were promoted to the Premier League in 2008 under Tony Pulis and, largely thanks to Rory Delap’s throw ins, the club quickly gained a reputation for playing direct route one football.
Love it or hate it though, Pulis’ style of play cemented Stoke’s place as a mid-table Premier League side before the Welshman left by mutual consent in the summer of 2013.
The Stoke board subsequently appointed fellow Welshman Mark Hughes as manager, but even they probably hadn’t expected what happened next.
Hughes began assembling a team that would come to be known as Stokealona thanks to the former Manchester United and Barcelona player’s penchant for doing his shopping at the Nou Camp.
Barcelona’s tiki-taka style of play could not have been more different to Pulis’ legacy at the Staffordshire club, but Hughes seemed insistent that he would change the club’s style of play by importing a raft of players from Catalonia.
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Centre-back Marc Muniesa was the first to arrive in the same summer that Hughes began his reign at the Britannia Stadium. The now 26-year-old arrived from Barcelona’s B team on a free transfer so carried a relatively small amount of risk other than the obvious risk of asking a Barcelona graduate to defend alongside Ryan Shawcross.
The next summer brought perhaps the most surprising of all the signings though when Bojan Krkic, the man who had been tipped to be the next Messi at the Nou Camp, joined on a four year deal. The Spanish forward had 41 goals in 163 games for Barca having made his debut in 2007 but arrived in England to further the Hughes revolution.
After two ninth placed finishes Hughes went back to his old club in the summer of 2015, signing young winger Mohamed El Ouriachi from the youth side and Ibrahim Afellay from the first team on free transfers. Both looked like quite incredible bargains for Stoke at the time but neither went on to have glittering careers.
Where are they now?
Unfortunately for Hughes, Stoke weren’t quite able to replicate the dominance of Barcelona in La Liga here in the Premier League and the 54-year-old was sacked in January this year with the club sitting in the relegation zone. Paul Lambert was the man chosen as the saviour for Stoke, and just seven games in to his 15 games in charge he had reportedly told Afellay to stay away from the club after becoming frustrated with the former wonderkid’s attitude and performances in training.
Lambert was unable to keep the club up after winning just two games and Stoke were relegated to the Championship after 10 years in the top flight. Interestingly though, Afellay was the only former Barca man still at the club as the other three were away on loan spells. How different things could have been.
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Afellay is technically still at the club now under new boss Gary Rowett and has a squad number, although he is yet to feature in the Championship (he’s also now 32 years old despite looking about 14). One man who has though is Bojan. Easily the biggest talent of the four, he told The Guardian that he struggled with anxiety from the pressure that comes after netting over 900 goals for Barcelona’s youth sides.
In his first few years at Stoke he became a fan favourite, before being loaned to Mainz 05 in Germany and Alavez back in his home country. Now though the diminutive forward is back and has made four appearances in the league so far this season, much to the delight of Stoke fans.
Muniesa made his loan move to Girona permanent in the summer after Stoke’s relegation and at just 26 years of age he has a great deal of his career still to play. As for El Ouriachi, you’d be forgiven for having never heard of him before today.
The Moroccon winger spent time on loan with Shrewsbury and Hearts while at Stoke, but this summer he joined CF Badalona in the third division of Spanish football, perhaps as an attempt to get as close to Barcelona as possible even if it is just by club name.
Hughes always had a tough job on his hands to change the way that Stoke played after Pulis, and nobody can accuse him of not targetting the right players. Unfortunately too many of his signings flopped and have moved on with their careers. Now Stoke must do the same, progressing into a new era with a new manager and leaving the Stokealona tag where it belongs. You never know, they just may pick it back up again in the Premier League one day.
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Perhaps because there isn’t much time left until England’s friendly with Switzerland on Tuesday night, the Three Lions have announced they won’t be calling up a replacement for Dele Alli following news the Tottenham midfielder has withdrawn from Gareth Southgate’s squad due to injury.
But we at Football FanCast reckon that represents a valuable opportunity wasted for England – Switzerland are strong opposition that will give the Three Lions a good game and there are certainly a number of English talents who deserve their chance to impress within the international setup.
With that in mind, we’ve given our writers one simple question – who should England have called up to replace the Spurs midfielder, who Transfermarkt value at £90million? Read their verdicts below…
Greg Potts – James Maddison
“Southgate should have used Alli’s injury as a chance to introduce Leicester’s new signing James Maddison into the senior England setup for the first time. Maddison’s storming season for Norwich last term got him the big-money move to the Foxes and he has already proved that he has the talent to produce in the Premier League. The 21-year-old is a classy, attack-minded midfielder with quick feet in a similar mould to Alli and has earned his right for a call up.”
James Beavis – Callum Wilson
“With Ruben Loftus-Cheek ready to step in for Alli against Switzerland, Southgate should have taken advantage of yet another withdrawal to introduce another striker into his squad. Harry Kane seems unlikely to play the duration at the King Power Stadium, and with Marcus Rashford having picked up a knock against Spain, the only other option is Danny Welbeck. Wilson arguably deserved a call-up originally following his bright start to the Premier League season with Bournemouth, and he should have been given the opportunity to pick up his first cap and make an impression in a friendly game in Alli’s absence.”
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Josh Challies – Lewis Cook
“The 21-year-old Bournemouth man certainly stood out as the leading candidate to replace Alli and should have got the edge over Manchester City starlet Phil Foden due to his experience, which includes being named amongst England’s back-ups for the World Cup. While he is yet to start for the Cherries this season, Cook remains an important part of Eddie Howe’s side and he should have certainly been promoted from the U21 ranks alongside Ben Chilwell and Demarai Gray.”
Danielle Joynson – Will Hughes
“Given that Tuesday’s game against Switzerland is a friendly, Southgate can afford to give fringe players a chance to prove their ability. Instead of opting against calling up a replacement for Dele Alli, he should have turned to Watford midfielder Will Hughes. The 23-year-old may not be the obvious choice, but he could provide an extra creative spark to the Three Lions. Currently, the former Derby man is in good form having started all four of Watford’s Premier League fixtures, and he found the back of the net against Burnley in their 3-1 triumph.”
“This isn’t a reflection of his West Ham form which has been unspectacular at best but England desperately need a creative passer in their midfield and Jack Wilshere is still probably the best option the Three Lions have. Switzerland would have been the perfect opponents to test that theory against and Wilshere’s at least fit at the moment, even if he’s hardly uprooted trees at the London Stadium. Fabian Delph or Ruben Loftus-Cheek will fill Alli’s void instead, but neither offer Wilshere’s instinctive guile in possession.”Â
Which player do you think should have been called up to replace Alli, England fans? Let us know by voting below…
Unai Emery’s start to life in the Arsenal dugout, having replaced long-serving manager Arsene Wenger this summer, has been a rollercoaster ride so far. A summer of exciting transfer activity was followed by defeat to two rivals before back-to-back victories turned things around and even featured a triumph away from the Emirates Stadium – an all too rare commodity for the Gunners in recent times.
However, despite the recent upturn in results, Emery’s side are still very much a work in progress. The Spanish coach is still figuring out his best starting XI and what system the players at his disposal are most suited to.
A return to a three-at-the-back formation could provide a new way forward for Emery. The extra centre-back should ease the defensive burden on the midfield and also provide the Gunners with an extra passing option when seeking to begin building moves up from the back.
What’s more, this system would also open the door for the North London club’s two star strikers, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazettte, to be deployed together as a strike partnership.
When Football FanCast asked Arsenal fans if they would like to see Emery make this bold tactical shift, 58% of those polled agreed that it would be a smart move for the new coach to make. See the full results below.
Since joining Everton from Besiktas in January for a fee in the region of £27 million, Cenk Tosun has failed to live up to his price tag so far.
In his first 15 games for the Toffees the Turkey international managed 5 goals and many were hoping that given a full pre-season at Goodison Park the 27-year-old would be able to kick on this season. However, Tosun has begun the new campaign in very poor form and now his place in the starting XI must be under threat.
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Against West Ham last time out, the 6’0” striker missed a handful of clear goalscoring opportunities that, had he managed to convert, may well have spared Everton the defeat they ultimately slumped to.
With the likes of Oumar Niasse, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Theo Walcott all at Marco Silva’s disposal and capable of taking Tosun’s place, the time has surely come for the forward to be taken out of the firing line.
When we asked Everton fans whether or not they want to see Tosun start against Arsenal on Sunday, 77% said they didn’t want the striker in the starting XI. See the full results below.
Sheffield Wednesday earned an impressive 1-1 draw with Leeds last Friday night thanks to Adam Reach’s spectacular long-range half-volley, knocking the Whites off the top of the Championship table.
There is no let up for Jos Luhukay’s side though as on Wednesday they face the new league leaders West Brom at Hillsborough.
Against Leeds, Fernando Forestieri made his long-awaited return from suspension for the Owls and looked busy in the first-half before tailing off in the second period. The ex-Watford man has netted twice so far this season in seven Championship appearances, but for the visit of West Brom Luhukay may be better off going with Lucas Joao.
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The 25-year-old replaced Forestieri with 10 minutes remaining against Leeds and has a slightly better record than his 28-year-old counterpart this season, with three goals and one assist in his seven Championship appearances.
His pace and directness could be crucial against West Brom’s back three, which is hardly blessed with pace, and alongside Steven Fletcher and Reach the Owls could test the early pace-setters in the league.
So, Wednesday fans, would you like to see Lucas Joao start against West Brom on Wednesday? Have your say by voting in the poll below.
Aston Villa supporters have been pretty quiet in recent times after seeing their side fail to get back to winning ways in the Championship on Friday night.
Steve Bruce’s men went into their clash with Bristol City off the back of losing 2-1 to Sheffield Wednesday in their previous league encounter, a result which left the Villans with just one win from their preceding eight matches in all competitions ahead of their trip to Ashton Gate. And that poor run was extended to nine games on Friday night as Josh Brownhill gave Lee Johnson’s side the lead in the first half, only for Birkir Bjarnason to cancel that out on the stroke of half time to secure a 1-1 draw for Bruce’s team.
Nonetheless, there have been many disappointed Villa fans up and down the country in recent times, several of whom are growing increasingly frustrated with manager Bruce, with plenty calling for the former Hull City and Birmingham City boss to lose his job.
And several took to Twitter to make the case for current Brentford chief Dean Smith to replace the 57-year-old at Villa Park, and those supporters are so right as replacing Bruce with the Bees manager could prove to be a masterstroke.
Ultimately, things have been pretty tricky for Bruce in recent times given the poor run his Villa side are currently on, and while he did lead them to the Championship play-off final last season, he wasn’t able to inspire them to victory over Fulham at Wembley back in May.
And for a club of Villa’s stature, promotion appears to be the minimum expectation of any given manager, and failure to meet those ambitions, alongside playing a relatively bland style of football as well as failing to give young players an opportunity, has seen many fans turn on the ex-Manchester United centre back.
And if Villa’s disappointing run of form continues on for much longer, Bruce could well find himself out of a job, and the Villans hierarchy could do a lot worse than seek to replace him with Brentford chief Smith were that to play out.
47-year-old Smith took over at Griffin Park back in 2015 after an impressive stint in charge of League One side Walsall, whom he took over in January 2011 and thus led to a 20th place finish that term to keep them in the third tier.
And he continued to keep the Saddlers in League One right up until Brentford came knocking in November 2015, clearly impressed with the job he was doing at the Bescot Stadium, and he has since gone from strength to strength with the Bees in the Championship.
The 47-year-old has led the club to three successive top ten finishes in the second tier on a budget which isn’t even close to many of their promotion rivals, with Smith bringing an exciting brand of attacking football to Griffin Park, in turn making them one of the most attractive footballing sides in the division.
And in getting results along the way, they currently sit sixth in the table this term, it’s clear that Smith is a very adept manager at second tier level, and must be commended for the job he is doing at Brentford from taking them from the lower regions of the Championship to being a genuine contender for promotion.
And in doing so in a way that excites supporters, he appears to be the ideal man to take over at Aston Villa.
Thus, those Villa fans are so right to call for their club to replace under-fire Bruce with the Bees chief.