From William Carvalho’s switch to Real Betis to Danny Ings’ Southampton loan, there were some shrewd-looking deals done across the continentThe crisis at Sporting has led to a summer exodus, with several players leaving Lisbon for cut-price fees. Goalkeeper Rui Patrício joined Wolves for free and Lille snapped up promising forward Rafael Leão. After years of Premier League interest, William Carvalho has also moved on – but Real Betis were the surprise name at the head of the queue. The Seville side have spent well this summer, signing Japan winger Takashi Inui for free and loaning Giovani Lo Celso from PSG. Carvalho, an accomplished box-to-box midfielder signed for less than £15m, may be the pick of the bunch. Continue reading...
The two players were prolific together at Dortmund and could bring back the high-velocity style of Wenger’s best teams of oldA few years ago, when Jens Lehmann was in between spells as an Arsenal player and coach, he explained a key to the Invincibles team with a teasing question: “What is the fastest thing on a football pitch?” he asked cryptically, looking smug as he waited for the wrong answer. “It’s not the ball,” he added, before the big reveal: “Nobody is faster on the pitch than a thought. And then the ball comes. And then the players come. I can honestly say between 2003 and 2006 we played such fast football. One touch. It was amazing to see.”Fast football....
The deadline day drama is flagging and football’s content era is desperately in need of new characters‘In Argentina we say that the job is the electric chair,” Mauricio Pellegrino explained last week of the manager’s gig. “It is not easy to stay in the seat.” The fact that it is easier to stay in an electric chair than almost any other seat – historically, occupants have tended to be strapped to it at multiple points – is irrelevant. We know what the Southampton manager means. And if we don’t, the statistic that eight out of 20 of this season’s Premier League managers had been shown the electrodes by mid-January should bring home the reality of the bronco ride.As the player...
This January transfer window will be as frantic as any and an attempt to hijack Real Madrid’s expected move for football’s hottest property can’t be ruled outThe transfer window officially opens on Monday, though this one has been so eagerly awaited that some clubs have jumped the gun. It is slightly odd that this should happen in a season when all interest in the title race will most likely be over by the end of January but, perhaps because they feel the deal properly belongs to last summer, Liverpool went ahead early with the announcement that they had agreed to pay Southampton a record £75m for Virgil van Dijk. Related: Ten January window transfer targets – from Griezmann to Lozano...
Upcoming deals could involve Lyon’s Nabil Fekir, Bordeaux’s Malcom, PSV’s Hirving Lozano and two English players, Ryan Sessegnon and Ross BarkleyDespite Arsenal’s failure to secure the France international on the final day of the summer window after having a £92m offer accepted by Monaco, the size of the bid was an indication of how highly Arsène Wenger rates the versatile 22-year-old. He is not alone. Liverpool and Chelsea have also been keeping a close eye on his situation even if Monaco’s vice-president, Vadim Vasilyev, has insisted Lemar will not be sold in January following the big-money departures he sanctioned in the summer. But another bid in the region of £90m, particularly from either Jürgen Klopp or Antonio Conte, would probably...