Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Rafael van der Vaart says that Real Madrid attacker Gareth Bale would be wise to consider a return to the north London club.
What he said
Speaking to Cadena Ser radio station – as translated by ESPN – the 36-year-old Dutchman was asked about how Bale is doing at the Bernabeu. He said: “I think he [Bale] wants to stay at Real Madrid and play more…But I believe that a team like Manchester United or a return to Tottenham would be better for him”.
Bale has had a tough time with the La Liga giants this season. The club’s fans, and the local media, have all criticised the Welshman at times this year.
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The 29-year-old has racked up a respectable return of thirteen goals and five assists in all competitions so far, as per Transfermarkt’s stats. However, more is expected of the man Real paid £85 million to sign in 2013 – especially since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Out of reach
The 74-cap Wales international would certainly be welcome back at Spurs. Bale would also give Mauricio Pochettino’s side a huge boost of quality. How he might combine with the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen is a frightening proposition for other Premier League clubs to consider.
However, even though Bale is not the most popular figure in Madrid, he still has a Transfermarkt valuation of £72 million and a contract set to run until 2022. The Spanish club would surely command a huge fee in exchange for the forward, far beyond what Daniel Levy would likely be prepared to pay.
A return to Spurs may well suit Bale, but he is no longer within the club’s reach.
القميص 10 في ليون كان يرتديه في السابق ألكسندر لاكازيت وفلوري دي نالو، وبرتراند تراوري، لكنه على وشك الخروج من ليون أيضًا.
ويرى مشجعو ليون هذا كعلامة على أن ديباي قد يرفض الانتقال إلى برشلونة ويوقع عقد جديد النادي، وأشارت صحيفة “سبورت” الإسبانية إلى أن مشجعي ليون يجدون صعوبة في تصديق أن اللاعب سيطلب رقمًا جديدًا إذا كان يخطط للمغادرة.
Dans le vestiaire avant #OLNO ! 🔴🔵
Changement de numéros pour @Memphis et Tino Kadewere ☑️ pic.twitter.com/frEbq3hKzO
When Manchester United confirmed that they had signed Eric Bailly from Villareal for a reported fee of around £30m back in the summer of 2016, then Red Devils manager Jose Mourinho could not have spoken more highly of his newest recruit.
He said: “Eric has the potential to become one of the best around.”
Sadly for Mourinho, Bailly and just United fans in general, that statement hasn’t really come to fruition.
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The Ivory Coast international’s career at Old Trafford has been plagued by injury after injury, and it’s become more the exception to the rule if he actually does step up on the pitch on a rare occasion.
All in all, he has played just 79 games in total for the Red Devils, and a look at his injury history is really something to behold, missing 62 matches for United.
The big issue now for current United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, is that he has an incredible wealth of options at centre-back. After the big-money signing of Harry Maguire last summer, the Red Devils also boast the likes of: Victor Lindelof, Phil Jones, Axel Tuanzebe, Chris Smalling (on loan), Marcos Rojo (on loan too), and Bailly too. Not to mention Timothy Fosu-Mensah either.
The fact is Solskjaer has far too many players for that one position, and this summer will need to see him be ruthless with a couple of them at the very least. Smalling’s loan spell at AS Roma may see him be given one last chance to stake a first-team claim at Old Trafford, whilst Tuanzebe’s age – he is still only 22 – means the Red Devils surely see him as someone who can form the heart of their back-line for the next decade or so.
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That all leaves Bailly in a precarious position, and the £80k-a-week ace should be the one on the chopping block. His awful injury record means he just simply isn’t someone you can rely on over the course of a full and demanding Premier League season.
Pinning your hopes on someone like that, and continuing to pay him his wages whilst he’s out of action, just doesn’t make footballing or financial sense. It’s exactly why Solskjaer should make the gut-wrenching decision of bringing an end to Bailly’s United career, and moving forward with the likes of Maguire and Tuanzebe.
Meanwhile, Man Utd’s 2006 bargain signing is still paying off now.
After Aston Villa’s promotion to the top-flight, the big question no doubt would have surrounded whether they have the requisite quality to stay up this season. And after 21 games, the club find themselves 17th in the Premier League, and hovering just above the relegation zone by virtue of a single point.
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But one man who can’t be faulted for where Villa currently find themselves, is Jack Grealish. The play-maker has been at the heart of his side’s fight to stave off the drop, scoring six times and providing a further five assists in the competition. And naturally, fans of other clubs have taken notice.
Arsenal supporters have flooded to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the 24-year-old, and have urged their club to sign him up.
A couple of fans suggested that Grealish has proved he is ready for a move to a “better team”, with one supporter in particular urging the Gunners to move quickly so their rivals don’t sign him first.
A few fans brought up Mesut Ozil’s name in the conversation with Grealish, suggesting that the latter could potentially be the perfect man to replace the German talisman. In contrast, another supporter even felt the two could even perform in the same team together.
With Ozil not getting any younger, Arsenal may well be in the market for a number ten in the not-so-distant future. The former Germany international will turn 32 later this year, and whilst the Gunners may turn to an academy product like Emile Smith Rowe, there is no doubting they will be on the look-out for a proven player too.
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And Grealish’s performances in the Premier League have shown that he can handle the rigours of the top-flight, and could well be the man to carry the Gunners forward.
Meanwhile, Arsenal must avoid losing this much-criticised man due to their growing crisis.
Everton did not have the best of season’s last year, which saw Sam Allardyce replaced by Marco Silva in the summer.
The Portuguese manager has made a number of changes to the way the Goodison Park outfit operate on the pitch and has also brought in some new additions which has certainly freshened things up.
That arrival has seen a renewed optimism surround the club of being able to achieve some of their short-term aims, with the club getting back into European football likely being one they want to be able to do.
Everton have had a number of players put in a bunch of impressive performances for the club in 2018, however, without these two at Goodison Park, who knows where they would be.
Jordan Pickford
Despite his horrifying gaff against Liverpool in one of the biggest games Everton will play all season, Jordan Pickford has no doubt been a star for the club.
The goalkeeper joined the club from Sunderland in the summer of 2017 for a fee believed to initially be around £25million and that now appears to be a bargain for the Toffees.
Without his performances in goal, there would be a concern that the club could have had a tougher campaign under Allardyce than they previously had as he continued to make vital saves and performed heroics that allowed him to go to the World Cup with England.
Following on from his superb performances with the national side, he has come back stronger and better and is certainly one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League.
Richarlison
Richarlison may have only joined in the summer, however, he has quickly proven to have become one of Everton’s best players under Silva.
The former Watford man was reunited with his manager at Goodison Park for a mammoth fee, which had initially been surrounded by scepticism.
However, the majority of his performances have already gone a long way to justifying the amount paid out for him and has become an important member of the squad.
In his 13 Premier League appearances so far, he has netted seven goals and has become a focal point of the Toffees’ attack, as has Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Should the Brazil international, who earned a call-up to the national side for his performances, keep producing as he has, then he and Everton will surely have a great 2019 ahead of him.
Manchester United travel to the Swiss capital on Wednesday evening for their opening Champions League match against BSC Young Boys, but José Mourinho’s men will hoping for a better result than the last time they played a match in Switzerland.
What happened?
In November last year United had a Champions League encounter against Basel and after beating the 2017 Swiss League champions 3-0 at Old Trafford, the Red Devils would’ve fancied their chances of picking up points to go through the group stage with a perfect record.
But Mourinho’s side only had themselves to blame when the 90 minutes was over, losing 1-0 thanks to a second half goal by Basel defender Michael Lang. Despite having close to 70% of the possession throughout the match, United failed to get the ball in the back of the net as poor finishing let the side down in what could and should have been a comfortable win.
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Paul Pogba captained the side that night and United were quick out of the blocks with centre-forward Romelu Lukaku and wingers Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard applying loads of pressure on the Basel defenders.
Midfielder Marouane Fellaini squandered three golden opportunities before half time with accuracy letting him down and one headed chance deflecting off the post. Marcos Rojo also had a powerful long range effort bounce back off the bar.
In the second half, however, Basel started to up the ante and got their rhythm going with some slick interplay, piling the pressure back on United. Basel would eventually sneak a winner in the 89th minute when Lang slipped in behind United defender Daily Blind to tap home a pass from Raoul Petretta.
Current form
On Wednesday, Mourinho and his side will have a good opportunity to make up for last year’s result and start their Champions League campaign on a positive note. United are coming off the back of two good Premier League victories at Burnley and Watford after suffering defeats to Brighton and Tottenham Hotspur earlier on in the season.
Young Boys, on the other hand, head into the match as the current Swiss champions after winning the league in April with four games to spare. Just like Basel last year, Young Boys could be a threat if Mourinho gets his tactics wrong.
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It was a game in which Manchester United rode their luck at times, but it was also a game which sets next weekend’s derby up perfectly. It kept United in the title race.
Perhaps the biggest criticism of Jose Mourinho’s side this season is that they haven’t looked to attack their opposition when playing in games against top six rivals, especially away from home. And one look at every stat apart from the scoreline might look similar: Arsenal had 33 shots to United’s eight, whilst the Gunners had over 75% of the possession.
And yet, United earned the right to defend in numbers once they took a 2-0 lead after only 11 minutes. It was the sensible thing to do.
But what made it all the more impactful was the fact that when the Red Devils did get the chance to break, they did it with directness and devastation. Jesse Lingard’s stats show exactly what the gameplan was.
Despite not being one of the sexier names in the Manchester United team, Lingard is fairly reliable and often gets the job done. With two goals from three shots, he was deadly efficient, and at his contribution at the other end, with three tackles and three clearances showed his worth.
Interestingly, the fact that Lingard attempted only 18 passes across the entire game – of which 83% found their intended recipient, much higher than the team average of 66% – showed the efficiency of his performance.
United may have David de Gea to thank for thank for ensuring that there was no Arsenal comeback, but the game would not have had the same outcome if Lingard wasn’t just as precise and efficient at the other end.
If Jose Mourinho was looking for a Ji-Sung Park or Darren Fletcher figure, a man to rely on in the bigger games of the season, then he may well be uncovering one in Lingard.
According to the Newcastle Chronicle, Newcastle are keen to bring Tom Lawrence to the club, to help strengthen their attacking options ahead of the Premier League season.
What’s the Word?
After an impressive season in a struggling Ipswich Town side, Newcastle are reportedly ready to make an offer for Tom Lawrence, who has just returned to parent club Leicester City.
The Foxes are happy to listen to offers for the 23-year-old and it is thought that Rafael Benitez will want the Welshman as cover for a number of offensive positions next season, especially with Yoan Gouffran and Vernon Anita set to leave St James’ Park in the coming days.
While Newcastle are yet to make an official bid, Transfermarkt suggests that Lawrence’s market value is around £1.3million.
How good has Tom Lawrence been this season?
Arguably the standout player in an underwhelming season for Ipswich Town, Lawrence contributed nine goals in 34 appearances for the club.
However, the Welshman has impressed with his versatility offensively. Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy used Lawrence as a winger on the left and right, and was also frequently used as a striker. In each of these positions, the 23-year-old looked more than comfortable.
Rafael Benitez was ready to bring Lawrence to Newcastle in January, after watching a man of the match display when his side were beaten 3-1 by Ipswich at Portman Road. However, Ipswich were keen to keep hold of their man until the season’s end.
With the player now back at Leicester, Benitez is set to reignite his interest in the former Manchester United youngster.
I’m sure José would have allowed himself a little smile when Kevin De Bruyne managed to hit the bar from a yard out. José in his hotel room thinking: “I was right and better still, I have the real Belgian star in my squad. Someone I can really rely on.”
City and Chelsea was a game of incidents and it was this incident that changed the course of the game. Not Luiz cleverly avoiding a red card, that barely made the footnotes by the end of the game. De Bruyne did better than Raheem usually does from that position as the England midfielder would have got it up and over the bar, but the £50m Chelsea reject still achieved the improbable.
Suddenly Chelsea were with us, clearly feeling that they only needed to play for half an hour to beat their title rivals. The game will be remembered for more than the result however, and one or two questions will need to be answered.
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Firstly, how is Gary Cahill still considered England’s number one centre back? Secondly, how many red cards would José have got for sarcastically clapping the 4th official in the style of Guardiola and, thirdly, what is the true reason for Aguero wanting to finish Luiz’s career?
I think the final question is the most important. I mean, this is not the first time Aguero has launched himself into the Brazilian. Maybe we will never know. One thing we do know is that Sergio is going to get another four game rest, somewhat conveniently smack bang in the middle of December when all the Christmas parties are going on. Credit to Cesc Fabregas, though. He skilfully set up Costa and then equally skilfully set up Fernandinho. Quite the return to the starting eleven.
Speaking of Christmas, it is guaranteed to happen once a year, a bit like Andy Carroll heading one past the Arsenal. Yes, Carroll was the most obvious anytime goalscorer bet of the weekend and I hope someone cashed in. The problem for West Ham was that he needed to do it six times if they were going to outscore Arsene’s men.
Sanchez was in one of those moods and his treble was the best thing to happen at the London Stadium to date. Wenger claims Alexis will not be staying at Arsenal just for the money. Really, Arsene? He won’t be staying to win league titles, will he now. Therefore it is a fairly safe assumption that the pounds and pence have something to do with it.
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Slaven Bilic is clearly on borrowed time at the Hammers, not just because the owners have publicly backed him. He suggested that the “intensity” has gone in training, which is kind of falls under his remit of things to fix.
All Bob Bradley had to do to avoid a thrashing against Spurs was to read some of my recent columns over on my daily blog. My tactical plan for Spurs is fairly simple. My theory is that you don’t put any kind of tackle in in the area and certainly don’t let anyone called Harry shoot. Sadly for Swansea they chose to ignore my advice, Dele Alli going all Michael Owen and earning Harry Kane the chance to score yet another penalty. They say Ozil and Sanchez are the best double act in North London but they are wrong. It’s Harry and the penalty spot.
When quizzed about Alli’s shameless dive, Pochettino took the opportunity to make it clear he still bears a grudge towards the aforementioned Owen. Back in the 2002 World Cup Poch’s dangling leg led to Owen gaining England a match winning spot kick of their own. Still, it’s good to see that he’s over it.
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I’d really appreciate it if David Moyes could go back to being rubbish. I have no interest in eating humble pie for my Christmas Day meal and the way Moysey is turning it around at Sunderland is concerning me. Having said he spent many nights sitting in a darkened room after a defeat his electricity bill must be going through the roof.
As of now I refuse to refer to Leicester City as “champions” as they clearly cannot be bothered to do the title any justice. I still think Ranieri would be best off getting all the Premier League game between now and the Champions League knockouts moved to a Tuesday or Wednesday night. That’s the only way I can see him getting a decent league effort out of Mahrez and Vardy.
Smug Al was on top smug form after Palace eased past Southampton. Pardew wasted no time to wax lyrical about how he had changed the training on Friday to address some defensive issues. Honestly, it had nothing to do with the entire squad demanding that they do some defensive work for once, particularly on defending set pieces. Nothing at all.
Smug Al also took the opportunity to have a pop at Palace’s recent investors, claiming they know very little about football. Of course they don’t, Alan, they haven’t sacked you yet. Pardew’s thumbs up to his boss mid-game was cringey, and only out cringed by the fact Mark Bright had to give Parish a nudge to make sure he responded in kind. Please lose to Hull at the weekend lads, call it an early Christmas present to me.
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Nathan Ake has done more good for Chelsea since playing for Bournemouth than in any of his U23 Development squad matches. He will have dreamed about scoring the goal that kept the Blues top of the table, but he probably didn’t envisage it happening whilst he was playing on the South Coast alongside Jack Wilshere.
Bournemouth refused to give up against Liverpool and it was the introduction of Fraser and Afobe that did for Klopp’s men. Let’s be honest, Jurgen, big Benik Afobe up against Lucas was only going to end one way. Kloppo was gracious in defeat and was thought to be getting on the phone to Pardew to find out exactly what they did in training on Friday as Liverpool need a bit of that right now.
Everton and United closed out the weekend and it reminded us all of the days when José would capably shut up shop away from home when in the lead. It’s not that he has gone all gung-ho in his older, slightly more narky days. It’s just that he has to turn to Fellaini to close the game out. There were a mere three minutes on the clock when the Belgian managed to make himself the social media trend of the weekend, and you can only imagine what Mourinho had to say to him after the game.
Mind you, it plays into his “United are the unluckiest side in the land” narrative. Zlatan was peak Zlatan after the game, claiming his kick to Coleman’s head was unintentional. The big Swede claimed that he knows how to kick someone in a way that they never wake up. If you know how to kick things properly, Ibra, why have you missed so many chances this season, eh?
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Three Championship clubs are keeping tabs on Leeds United manager Garry Monk, according to the Daily Star.
The 37-year-old, who was sacked by Swansea City in December 2015, has done a fine job at Elland Road since taking over the club in the summer.
With just under three months left to go until the season comes to an end, the Whites are sitting pretty in the playoff spots.
They currently reside fourth in the standings, eight points adrift of the closest playoff challengers Fulham.
Earlier this week, Monk told reporters that he is in no rush to sign a new contract, even though his current one expires in the summer.
Due to his situation, Derby County, Nottingham Forest and Norwich City are interested in possibly recruiting him, reports the Daily Star.
Steve McClaren returned to Derby just five months ago, but his failure to guide the team towards the playoffs could affect his position in the summer.
Forest have Gary Brazil in caretaker charge following the sacking of Philippe Montanier, while Alex Neil’s job could be under pressure due to Norwich’s inability to create a promotion push after getting relegated from the Premier League last season.