Thirteen years after leaving Everton for Old Trafford, Wayne Rooney could be about to return - but does Ronald Koeman really a need a player who seems to have his peak years behind him?Romelu Lukaku was always going to leave a big hole to fill at Everton but few would have predicted a combination of, say, Wayne Rooney and Olivier Giroud, perhaps to take over in the likely event of the Belgian striker’s departure.Reported overtures to Arsenal’s Giroud make perfect sense; he is a reliable goalscorer, proven in the Premier League, at 30 he will have a few good years left in him and he was no longer a regular starter under Arsène Wenger. Those imagining Everton would seek a...
Michael Keane’s arrival took Ronald Koeman’s summer spree beyond the £80m mark and the Goodison faithful will be hoping their manager’s decisiveness filters through to the team once the season startsThere is no doubt which Premier League club have made the quickest start in the race to do business in the summer transfer window. One might not go as far as Robbie Fowler, who believes Everton’s resolve and targeted investment are making the rest of the league look stupid, though there is plenty to admire in the way Ronald Koeman and his club backers go about their business.Everton have made five major signings before most clubs are properly back from their holidays, although Henry Onyekuru will be going straight out to...
The manager wants eight to 12 players and expected more arrivals by now. Although Benítez is not minded to walk out, tensions are rising at a club where the next crisis never seems to be far awayShortly after 8am on Monday the security barrier at a deceptively nondescript‑looking suburban football training facility was raised and Rafael Benítez’s car entered the sometimes parallel universe known as Newcastle United.A couple of minutes later the club’s manager was pictured smiling warmly while extracting a bag from the boot before heading in to his office and awaiting the arrival of first-team players reporting back for the start of pre‑season training. Related: Premier League at 25: fans from all 47 clubs on their best and...
The German’s contract standoff with Arsenal has echoes of Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie – until you count the big clubs currently interested in signing himArsène Wenger was asked about the Mesut Özil contract issue after Arsenal’s 3-2 home win over Swansea City last October. It was not the first time that the manager had been pressed on it and, goodness knows, it would not be the last. Type “Özil” and “contract” into an online newspaper archive and, at the time of writing, it brings up 4,117 hits from the British national press over the past year. “I don’t think Mesut needs convincing to stay,” Wenger said, back then. “He wants to stay here. If you have a good...
The lust for buying and selling players is all-pervasive but it favours the rich, stifles tactical experimentation and hampers youth developmentEven after the exposure of familiar failings by familiar opponents at a familiar stage of the Under-21 European Championship, a rosy glow remains about English youth football. World champions at under-20 level, victors in the Toulon tournament, finalists in the European Under-17 Championship and semi‑finalists in the European Under‑21s, we have never had it so good. Call this generation golden and prepare for the bitter retrospectives when they have won nothing in a decade and the question of whether the Lewises Cook and Baker can play together in the same midfield remains frustratingly unresolved.But enough of that: the transfer window...