Less than a year ago, Renato Sanches was the toast of Europe. On Sunday he will make his Swansea debut. So what went wrong for him at Bayern Munich, and how good can football’s captive prince still become?Football has always tended to eat its young. Although not, perhaps, with such gleeful, richly rewarded haste as this. The ballad of Renato Sanches, European football’s great invisible wonder kid, is set to enter its latest phase on Sunday afternoon as Swansea City take on Newcastle United in their first game since Sanches joined on loan from the dingiest corners of Bayern Munich’s Säbener Strasse training complex.From obscurity to celebrity to entropy to the Liberty. And all in less than two years. It...
West Brom, even without Jonny Evans, give a masterclass in defending again; Newcastle underpowered in attack; Sadio Mané shows his importance to LiverpoolNathaniel Chalobah had an eventful match for Watford on Saturday. By dummying the ball at the suggestion of Bournemouth’s Harry Arter he inadvertently reminded the world of the subclause to Law 12 which states a player should be cautioned if he “verbally distracts an opponent during play”. The England Under-21s midfielder missed two good chances to score; a header and a one-on-one. He gave the ball away several times. But in only his second Premier League start Chalobah also led the match in both tackles and dribbles. It was his breakaway sprint that proved to be the catalyst...
A fee of £45m may seem excessive but the quiet and dedicated Icelander is a set-piece master with a bright football brain and Everton are set to reap the benefits now the transfer saga is finally overIt turned into one of those dreaded transfer sagas, leaving senior figures at Swansea City and Everton exasperated with the snail’s pace of the discussions to the point that even those on the inside became bored with the story, yet confirmation finally arrived on Tuesday evening that Gylfi Sigurdsson was on his way from the Mumbles to Merseyside for £45m.The passage of time – more than a month – has arguably diluted some of the excitement at one end and certainly the level of...
Liverpool’s defensive frailties, Wayne Rooney’s nous in both boxes, an unwanted headache for Paul Clement and Manchester United’s unsung heroesSo, why was it that Chelsea decided they could afford to let Nemanja Matic join Manchester United and willingly pass over one of the more brilliantly effective midfield players of the modern game to a major rival? When that question was posed to José Mourinho after Manchester United’s biggest league win since he took over as manager he made it sound as if he was slightly bewildered, too. “It depends on what is happening, or what was happening, behind doors and we don’t know,” he said. “The only thing I know is that, with Chelsea’s money, I brought him to Stamford...
Paul Clement’s preparations in limbo due to standoff over Gylfi Sigurdsson and how side perform may depend on events in rest of transfer window Guardian writers’ predicted position 17th (NB: this is not necessarily Stuart James’ prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)Last season’s position 15th Related: Premier League 2017-18 preview No15: Stoke City Related: Premier League 2017-18 preview No14: Southampton | Ben Fisher Continue reading...