Manchester United’s first-team squad are currently in Dubai as they prepare for next Monday’s Premier League clash with Stoke City at Old Trafford.
Head coach Jose Mourinho decided to take the team away on a warm-weather training camp due to the fact that their next game is not until January 15.
Romelu Lukaku was among those to arrive in Dubai over the weekend, before the rest of the first-team squad flew in on Monday.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan was among them, which seems to suggest that the Armenian, who is valued at £31.5m by transfermarkt.co.uk, will not be leaving the club during the January transfer window.
It has been a tough few months for the former Borussia Dortmund attacker. The 28-year-old has struggled in his last two appearances against Southampton and Derby County, and speculation surrounding his future is refusing to go away.
Meanwhile, it seems that the Man United fans are currently divided on the attacker, and only he can turn things around in the coming weeks.
Liverpool became the first side in the English Premier League to defeat Manchester City this season after a thrilling 4-3 win at Anfield on Sunday.
The Reds produced a stunning 90 minutes to blow away a City side that have brushed aside almost everyone in their path so far this season.
The win puts Jurgen Klopp’s side up into third position in the table, level on points with Manchester United and Chelsea.
Supporters were obviously delighted with the win and were full of praise of most of their heroes after the match. However, it was one Scottish international who received more plaudits than most.
Andy Robertson arrived at Anfield in a relatively low profile move this summer but has quietly became one of the most important members of Klopp’s first team.
He produced a gutsy performance against City on Sunday, with many feeling he was Liverpool’s man of the match.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Southampton sold star centre-back Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool in a £75m deal at the start of January, and it appears as though bringing in a replacement for the Dutchman before the January transfer window shuts isn’t a priority.
The Telegraph reported on Saturday that the club are eyeing a £50m double swoop for Spartak Moscow forward Quincy Promes and Monaco striker Guido Carrillo, with no mention of any defensive reinforcements.
However, given Saints currently find themselves in the relegation zone and have conceded 35 goals in 24 Premier League matches this season, perhaps it should be more of a priority.
Harry Kane’s header against them in their 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at St Mary’s on Sunday was just another in a long line of headed goals against them in recent weeks, and individuals like Jack Stephens and Maya Yoshida have often been caught out in the air.
Meanwhile, Hannover 96 defeder Salif Sane, who is rated at £7.2m according to Transfermarkt, has arguably been his team’s best performer in the Bundesliga this season.
If Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino is looking for a new centre-back before January 31 then bringing the Senegal international to St Mary’s could prove to be a shrewd move.
Here are three reasons Southampton must sign Sane to partner Hoedt this month…
Defensive qualites
According to WhoScored.com, Sane has been the joint-second best player in the Bundesliga statistically this season, and much of that is down to how well he has done from a defensive point of view.
While the 27-year-old has a decent passing accuracy of 82%, he has also won 33 tackles, made 53 interceptions, 35 blocks and 138 clearances in 18 German top flight appearances this term.
The Senegal international is capable of bringing the ball out of defence too though, and he has successfully completed six of the seven dribbles he has attempted.
Aerial ability
The 6ft 5in centre-back is dominant in the air, and according to WhoScored.com he has won 106 of the 132 aerial duels he has faced in 18 Bundesliga appearances this season.
That strength in the air is certainly something Southampton have been missing in the absence of Van Dijk, with the likes of Yoshida and Stephens too easily muscled off of the ball when it comes to winning headers.
Sane is tall and strong though, and he would have no problem competing against any Premier League striker in the air.
Price tag
Soccer Football – Premier League – Manchester United vs Southampton – Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain – December 30, 2017 Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino REUTERS/Andrew Yates EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or “live” services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative fo
According to reports in The Telegraph on December 28, Southampton were said to be keen on a January deal for Swansea City defender Alfie Mawson.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
However, it seems as though they have been priced out of a move for the 24-year-old – who scored the winning goal against Liverpool on Monday night – with The Sun claiming in December that the Welsh outfit want £40m for the centre-back.
According to Transfermarkt, Sane could be available for less than one-fifth of that price and considering how highly-rated he is, bringing him to St Mary’s would be a smart move and help to address what is an ongoing problem in the Southampton backline.
Tottenham Hotspur might feel they should have beaten Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, but when you concede a goal away to a top six rival to go 2-1 down with just seconds left to play, you really do have to celebrate a point.
This game was so strange, so crazy, that both teams will feel they should have won, and both will do so on the basis that they should have been able to convert late chances without the other side going up the other end and equalising.
Harry Kane’s missed penalty might have put Tottenham in a winning position before Mohamed Salah’s late goal could well have been a winner. But Kane showed he’s made of stern stuff indeed, converting a pressure penalty in front of the Kop End in the final few seconds.
And yet, despite all of the drama, it’s fair to say that there weren’t too many outstanding performances. Had Harry Kane been on form, for example, he may not have needed a last-ditch penalty to salvage a point. He might have scored the first, or buried an earlier chance or two instead.
It’s a similar story with Son Heung-Min, who missed a one-on-one earlier in the game.
So, Spurs, fans, after all that we want to know who you think was your best player on Sunday. Was it Kane simply for the cojones he showed in burying a late penalty? Or someone else for their endeavour all game and their contribution to what was a stunning and dramatic game?
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Let us know by giving us your rating out of ten for each of the Tottenham players below.
Danny Welbeck has fallen down the pecking order at Arsenal, largely because of his injury woes.The Gunners may have lost Alexis Sanchez to Manchester United in January, but they gained attack-minded players Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.Alexandre Lacazette is also ahead of Welbeck at the North London club, but former defender Martin Keown believes that the England international has a chance of taking the top spot.As it stands, Arsenal could be without Lacazette for six weeks due to a knee injury, while Aubameyang is ineligible to play in the Europa League due to his outings for Borussia Dortmund earlier in the season.https://video.footballfancast.com/video-2015/wenger-signings.mp4Keown thinks that the European competition presents the perfect opportunity for Welbeck to prove that he should be in Arsene Wenger’s consideration on a regular basis.The former Arsenal man made the claims during his punditry stint for BT Sport.
Welbeck has made 22 appearances in all competitions this season, starting 12 and scoring five goals.
According to the Liverpool Echo, Everton manager Sam Allardyce says he hasn’t seen enough from Davy Klaassen in training to bring him into his squad in the Premier League, and Toffees fans have been quick to react to the comments from their boss.
Hopes were high for the Netherlands international when the Merseyside outfit signed him from Ajax last summer following another impressive campaign for the Dutch giants, but he has struggled to make an impact during his time at Goodison Park so far.
Allardyce said, via the Liverpool Echo: “At the moment Davy Klaassen comes in and trains as best as he possibly can and does all what he can on a regular basis.
“But at the moment we see what we see, and we see the qualities of the players and haven’t quite seen that in Davy to encourage us to put him in.”
The 25-year-old has only made one appearance since the 63-year-old took charge in November, while he hasn’t made the matchday 18 in the English top flight for the club since October even though he cost £23.6m just eight months ago.
Everton supporters took to social media to give their thoughts on the quotes from their manager, and while one said Klaassen has a “better attitude than Schneiderlin”, another said “he’ll be at the club longer than this clown” when speaking about the midfielder.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
There’s a school of thought that says Tottenham need to win a trophy very soon. It’s more than just a school of thought, in fact: it’s become received wisdom.
Probably this season, they say, Spurs must lift silverware aloft or risk losing what may well be described as their greatest generation – certainly for quite some time.
There’s a grain of truth in that. Mauricio Pochettino has created a team which is now the darling of the media. I say that with no bitterness: it is a fact and one which comes about because people love it when football teams are created through building from the ground up. The more pertinent question would be how could you not love Spurs and what they’re doing?
But that just makes them high-profile: clubs and players with profiles inflated by their last few great season like Spurs are ripe for picking off in the transfer market. Just look at last season’s Monaco side, who lost the majority of their team in the summer. They made it all the way to the semi-final of the Champions League last season and won Ligue 1 along the way. This time, they crashed out of Europe before Christmas and are in a battle for second place in the league, miles behind the leaders, PSG.
And yet, Spurs are not Monaco.
For one thing, the Premier League was the destination for Benjamin Mendy, Bernardo Silva and Tiemoue Bakayoko. Spurs are already in possession of that particular draw – and at this precise moment in time, the Premier League is a draw. They are also a London club, and rightly or wrongly, football clubs outside the capital have a more difficult time attracting players.
But more importantly, football has reached an extreme that it can’t get comfortable in. These days, everyone seems to think that a trophyless season is a disaster which could lead to a managerial sacking. Even one trophy is often not enough – had Manchester United won only the League Cup last season, there would have been untold pressure on Jose Mourinho. Arsenal’s three FA Cups in four seasons is enough to see their fans break down in sobs on radio phone-ins. It’s too much.
Spurs, though, are the pushback against the tide. They are a team who, despite no trophies in what is now over a decade, still manage to make others envious of what they currently have. They are the antithesis of short-termism, a club who are willing to build for the sake of the game, not the trinkets victory brings.
There shouldn’t be the usual pressure on such a team to win a trophy. But there should still be pressure.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
If we reach back to Monaco’s Ligue 1 victory for another example, the problem isn’t that Tottenham will be stripped bare of their best assets and left to rot, like a car on bricks with no engine or interior. The problem is that this is Tottenham’s best chance of silverware in quite some time.
The squad is there and it’s growing together. The manager is one of the best around. The excitement about the new stadium and the general health of the club is palpable. And Harry Kane is the best striker in the world.
The pressure on Tottenham isn’t ‘win or else’. It’s more profound than that. It’s the fact that the golden generation may not win a trophy. But wouldn’t it be better to remember them for the football than the trophies anyway?
According to reports in the Northern Echo, Middlesbrough are keen on signing on-loan Everton midfielder Mo Besic on a permanent deal this summer, but Toffees fans are split on whether their club should cash in on the 25-year-old.
Former boss Roberto Martinez brought the Bosnia and Herzegovina international to Goodison Park in 2014, but while he made 35 Premier League appearances in his first two seasons with the Merseyside outfit, injuries and lack of form mean that he has only played eight games for them since the start of the 2016/17 campaign.
Besic joined Boro on temporary basis during the January transfer window even though some of the Goodison Park faithful were keen on a permanent deal, and while he only has six outings to his name so far he has already made a big impression on the fans and manager Tony Pulis, although the Toffees are looking for more than the £4.5m they signed him in 2014, according to the Northern Echo.
Everton supporters have been quick to have their say Besic’s future via social media, and they are divided.
While one said simply said “don’t sell him”, another said “sell sell sell”.
Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Seamus Coleman has only just returned to action for Everton after recovering from the horrific leg break that he suffered whilst representing Republic of Ireland in March 2017.
The full-back has five Premier League appearances to his name this term, however, and is expected to be involved in Everton’s Premier League clash with Manchester City this weekend.
In terms of popularity with the Everton fans, few Toffees players come close to Coleman.
The 29-year-old joined the Merseyside club from Sligo Rovers in 2009, with the Premier League club paying just £60,000 to complete a deal.
These days, Coleman is considered to be one of the best right-backs in the Premier League.
Earlier this week, the topic of Everton’s captaincy was put to the club’s supporters, and many were in agreement that Coleman should take on the armband next season.
Poor old Phil Jagielka, Wayne Rooney and Leighton Baines did not really get a look-in as the fans demanded that Coleman be appointed the new first-team skipper.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
Newcastle United have the opportunity to take a huge step towards Premier League survival as they host Huddersfield Town in a match that could see them go seven points clear of the drop zone.
It could well be a tense and cagey affair, although the Magpies did blow Southampton out of the water in their last home match and a similar result today would see Rafa Benitez’s side become all but safe.
Huddersfield have approached their maiden Premier League season with bundles of enthusiasm and will try their best to exploit any nervousness in the home ranks with their heavy pressing and boundless energy.
The Terriers would leapfrog their hosts with a win, further shuffling the pack in the bottom half, so Benitez has to ensure he gets his team selection absolutely right.
Magpies fans reacted to the Spaniard’s selections and while he selected an unchanged team, they spotted something on the bench they liked a lot – Islam Slimani. We’ve taken a closer look at the best of the reaction as the forward is a surprise inclusion on the bench…
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.