The central defender signed for a world-record fee has become a liability reluctant to leave. What went wrong?After Manchester United decided Harry Maguire’s on-off move away from the club is, barring a last‑minute about‑turn, decisively off, the 30-year-old reaches an odd career juncture for a defender Gareth Southgate still rates a mainstay of his England team.Maguire arrived at United in August 2019 on a ticket of being a yeoman defender and modern ball-playing centre‑half. The subsequent years have proved otherwise. He could be a powder‑puff last line of resistance and a paltry seven goals in 175 appearances showed a lack of aerial domination in opposition penalty areas. Continue reading...
Spurs have found midfield balance, Sean Dyche needs changes and Brighton are still a step ahead of the gameThe last time Luton visited Stamford Bridge for a league fixture, George HW Bush was US president, Bryan Adams was in the middle of his monster 16-week stay at the top of the charts with (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, and Liverpool had just broken the British transfer record by paying £2.9m for Derby’s Dean Saunders. The record has gone up a touch since August 1991 but again the Hatters visit west London in the wake of a new spending benchmark being set, and the player in question could well be in line for a first start for his...
New defender Udogie seems to sum up a team which looks much happier under the stewardship of Ange PostecoglouWell, that felt a little different. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was a lovely balmy place at kick off, the pitch in deep green late-summer shade. “Welcome to N17” read the vast, pre-match Tifosi sign on the South Stand, which was nicely done, but does sound more like a local estate agent tagline than a blood-chilling call to arms.But something seemed to shift here, if only in tone and texture and energy, if not anything that resembled, quite yet, a team to push the very best in the division. Continue reading...
Luton’s return to the top flight, a return of Everton’s anxieties and a big showdown at Stamford BridgeVincent Kompany’s old club provide a litmus test for his current one for the second time in six months. Burnley were storming towards the Championship title and unbeaten in 18 matches when pitted away at Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals in March. Club officials, as the new Mission to Burnley documentary reveals, viewed the tie as a gauge of Burnley’s Premier League credentials while Kompany fired up his players with talk of Wembley. They were swatted aside 6-0. There is no shame in a sound beating at the home of soon-to-be treble winners but Kompany will expect a more competitive display...
The goalkeeper will have to accept a wage cut or move on with André Onana the No 1 target to replace himThe key to the buy-to-sell transfer market challenge that Erik ten Hag faces is located in the Manchester United manager’s loss of confidence in David de Gea. Illustrated, the conundrum would depict the Dutchman as a juggler keeping aloft his ability to sign André Onana (or another goalkeeper) and a centre-forward only by offloading Harry Maguire, Fred, Anthony Elanga and, maybe, even more peripheral squad members.Why? Because Ten Hag’s budget is about £120m, of which £55m has been spent on Mason Mount, meaning Maguire, Elanga and Fred are the prime candidates to be sold to raise the requisite cash....