If the buying period was shorter the playing out of footballer frustrations would be over in a few days rather than dragging on all through the summerIn newspaper terms this time of year has long been known as the silly season; everyone on their holidays, very little taking place in sport or politics, nothing much to report except exaggerated human interest stories or increasingly inane speculation.In football terms that still applies. Everton made their earliest start to a season the other night and despite their entire European campaign hanging on the result against Ruzomberok it still felt like a mid-summer friendly. Ronald Koeman even excused a below-par performance by claiming you could not expect 100% from players after a mere...
Spurs pair who cost pittance are second and third most valuable players in the world behind Neymar according to one estimate – but fans still crave a splurgeNow that the Lions tour and Wimbledon are over, and with the Test series against South Africa yet to grab the attention, thoughts can easily turn to the start of the new football season, which is only two weeks away. Or rather to the pre-season competition. I don’t mean friendly tournaments, like the money-spinning non-event of the so-called International Champions Cup. But the true sport and drama of the transfer window. A kind of fantasy football for chairmen, it is also a ritual that finds generous space for frenzied media and desperate fans...
Brazil’s young star has the world at his gifted feet and as such is highly unlikely to be playing in the Premier League any time soonWhen it comes to pure spectacle most people seem to have preferred the old pre-facelift model José Mourinho. Albeit it has been a few years since we saw that cheerfully acerbic entertainer, back in the days when Mourinho could be bothered to smile, play to the gallery, spook an opponent with his bastardish charm and generally floss, brush, pomade and change out of his pyjamas.Personally, I quite like the new version. Gloomy José, the shell-suited grinch, has his own appeal. Mourinho may be a more grizzled figure these days, resembling in his public appearances a...
Real Madrid and Chelsea desperately wanted Neymar from Santos but the Brazilian had his heart set on Barcelona. This extract from a new book reveals how the chase unfolded and why it ended up in courtOn a July evening in 2011 the football world’s focus was on the Vila Belmiro Stadium in Santos, which appears little changed from the days when a teenage Pelé lived in a dormitory under one of the stands. National-team coaches had arrived in Brazil before the World Cup qualifying draw, as a 19‑year‑old footballer called Neymar went toe-to-toe with Ronaldinho, the two-time world player of the year famous for his hip-swivelling trickery with the ball and toothy grin.Sporting a blond mohawk hairstyle that teenagers all...
The Brazilian has been criticised for a lack of goals but against PSG he led from the front, culminating in seven minutes and 17 seconds in which he won the tie“As long as there’s a 1% chance, we’ll have 99% faith,” Neymar wrote in the aftermath of Barcelona’s 4-0 destruction in Paris – but by the time he stood over the ball the odds didn’t even look that good. They didn’t to everyone else, anyway. 1%? If only. Their first comeback had failed, crushed by Edinson Cavani; the second had barely started and was surely beyond them now: Paris Saint‑Germain’s away goal had left them needing three goals in 30 minutes and 27 of them had passed. Related: Luis Enrique:...