Arsenal and Manchester United have offloaded players whose 2018 swap deal conspicuously failed to live up to expectationsThe Liverpool teenager Bobby Duncan appears to have bucked a growing trend by leaving to join Fiorentina in Italy. Whatever the rights and wrongs of a dispute with the European champions that led to the player’s exit, Fiorentina are at least getting a promising young talent at the right age.Most of the recent Italian imports from the Premier League have been just the opposite, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan joining Alexis Sánchez in Serie A after failing to convince he was worth a regular place at Arsenal. Related: Arsenal’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan joins Roma in loan with option to buy Related: Alexis Sánchez says he ‘didn’t...
The Real Madrid winger’s dream has turned into a nightmare and he finds himself in the same boat as Özil and SánchezIn his documentary State of Play, an examination of the current wellbeing of football aired on BT Sport last week, Michael Calvin was granted an audience with Gareth Bale. He put it to the Real Madrid winger that Rory McIlroy, in whose company Calvin had spent quality time while embedded with Europe’s 2018 Ryder Cup team at the invitation of their captain, Thomas Bjorn, had told him that when you reach a certain level as an athlete or sportsman you can no longer retain that joy you had as an innocent kid. “Have you found that?” he asked Bale.“Yeah,...
Alexis Sánchez might have been in Bernardo Silva’s place on Wednesday had things panned out differently but that would have gone against the tone and texture of Pep Guardiola’s teamOf the many telling facts, stats and scalding-hot takes to emerge from Wednesday night’s Manchester derby – a game that felt as if two clubs were passing briefly on airport travelators, waving curtly as they rolled off in opposite directions – perhaps the most poignant was the touch map of Alexis Sánchez. Related: Dominant Manchester City show how vast the gulf has become with United | Jonathan Wilson Alexis Sanchez came on for a total of 12 minutes tonight.This is his touch map...#ManchesterDerby #MUNMCI pic.twitter.com/yHyyaunyQK Related: Manchester City's derby delight, focus...
Time will tell whether United really have hit upon their saviour and, either way, the club must rediscover the boldness of oldFor those with long memories, the irony inherent in Richarlison’s marvellous opening goal for Everton against Manchester United was the way his overhead kick evoked the image of Denis Law defying gravity as he rose in a whirl of limbs.There were no Brazilians in the English game then, so the Scot’s combination of opportunism, athleticism and deadly marksmanship was something rare and precious, whether or not you were a Manchester United fan. The fact such a goal was being scored against United on Sunday, triggering their fifth consecutive away defeat, symbolised their plight. Related: Is there a single Manchester...
The forward, back at the Emirates, scores only his second goal for United since last March as he enjoys the rare treat of playing against the Arsenal defenceJust past the half hour on a chilly night Alexis Sánchez did something he managed far too seldom in the dog days of the late-Wenger era. He got the Emirates crowd on its feet: fists clenched, leaping about the seats with something close to delirium. Albeit, on this occasion Sánchez had just scored a goal against Arsenal, choosing to celebrate extensively with his grey-shirted Manchester United teammates in front of the home fans behind the goal.You can hardly blame him. For one thing it was just his second goal for United since March...