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  • Transfer Rater: Kean, Malcom, Maguire, Koscielny

    The summer transfer windows keeps rolling with surprises, big money and bitter departures too.

    First up is Harry Maguire becoming the most expensive defender in world football. The 26 year old English player has signed for Manchester United from Leicester City for over €87 million. United have been in the midst of a slow rebuild with Solskjaer starting his first full season as permanent coach. The defender had been rumoured for weeks and even months and has now made the big move. His leadership and reputation has increased over the past two or three years and he now gets the big task of being the player that cost more than the previous most expensive defender, Liverpool’s Champions League winning defender Virgil van Dijk.

    Malcom has left Barcelona after only one season. Last summer the Brazilian winger was steps away from Roma but opted to join Barcelona instead. He was so close to the Italian capital that Roma even threatened to take the Spanish team to court. His expensive move didn’t lead to much playing time and he was often behind Ousmane Dembele and Coutinho in the pecking order. He played in only 15 league games and the 22 year old is now off to Zenit and Russia for a fee similar to what Barcelona paid to Bordeaux last summer. The reported fee was and is €40 million.

    Moise Kean is a somewhat surprising departure from Juventus. The 19 year old forward has the talent to be a very good goalscorer and some of the attitude to go with it too. That attitude may not sit well at Juventus but letting him go for less than €30 million was not expected. Everton can benefit from such a forward as they need goal scorers desperately. Juventus on the other hand are left with Higuain, Mandzukic and Ronaldo up front and with rumours of Dybala’s departure the old lady is old! However the transfer window is still open.

    Laurent Koscielny was Arsenal’s captain and spent nine seasons in North London. For some reason this season he refused to train and demanded an exit. The 33 year old defender had one season left on his contract and was not going to command a big transfer fee. Bordeaux did step in and offer €5 million for him and that made the decision relatively easy for Arsenal. In somewhat of a bizarre move he was shown on Bordeaux social media removing Arsenal’s jersey to reveal the French team’s one under it. Disrespectful or just fun it is not exactly the best of partings between the Frenchman and the Gunners.

  • 2019-2020 Kickoff

    With August approaching the long European seasons that start in August are about to begin. The 2019-2020 season will end with the scattered and complex Euro 2020 in June of next year. For now however the major European leagues and their immense wealth will start the season, some teams with many changes and more to come by the time the transfer window closes.

    The 2019-2020 English Premier League will kick off on August 9th with the three promoted teams, Norwich City, Sheffield United and Aston Villa, seemingly taking different approaches to life back in the top league. Aston Villa, notably, are on a spending spree and unlike the other two teams are very busy in the transfer window. Reigning champions and runners up, Manchester City and Liverpool are likely to challenge for the title again. Arsenal and Manchester United may not be challengers, they are both still a step or two behind. Chelsea with new coach in former player Frank Lampard look to be starting a new cycle. However, Tottenham, with the arrival of highly rated midfielder Tanguy Ndombele ,will push the top two once again.

    The Spanish La Liga will start on August 17th with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid providing the inevitable rivalry. Both Madrid teams have been busy spenders and Griezmann’s move from Atletico to Barcelona will mean all three teams have made big splashes. Osasuna, Granada and Mallorca are the promoted teams.

    Serie A’s three promoted teams are Lecce, Brescia and Verona. The top teams’ headlines have been of the coaching variety with Max Allegri leaving Juventus and Luciano Spalletti leaving Inter. They were replaced with Maurizio Sarri and Antonio Conte respectively. The new season starts on August 24th and will likely be dominated by Juventus once again. Napoli and Inter can be considered close rivals but will they last the season or collapse sometime in the middle again?

    Bundesliga starts on August 16th with a busy Borussia Dortmund making another attempt at dethroning Bayern. The reigning champions are a younger team with Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben gone. FC Koln, Paderborn and for the first time in their history Union Berlin are in the Bundesliga.

    Holland’s Eredivisie will feature a weakened Ajax. The champions sold two of their Champions League semi final team stars. With Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong leaving for big money the team will have new restart to tackle. PSV are likely the only challengers but Ajax will not have fallen much behind their 2018-2019 form. Twente, RKC Waalwijk and Sparta Rotterdam rejoin the top league which starts early on August second.

    The 2019-2020 Primeira Liga features a team promoted via a court decision. Gil Vicente won the right to return to top league and are joined by Famalicao and Pacos de Ferreira. Benfica stormed to the top after January and have sold Joao Felix, their super star to be teenager, for over €120 million to Atletico Madrid. The Porto challenge will be as fierce as ever and Sporting will be in the mix but likely to be weakened because of the departure of the soon to be sold Bruno Fernandes. The new season will start on August 9th.

  • Transfer rater: Fekir, de Ligt, Trippier, Delph

    With the transfer window in full swing some surprising low cost and some not so low cost moves provide for interesting talk.

    First up is Nabil Fekir’s move from Lyon to Real Betis. A fee of around €25 million is low for the attacking 26 years old. There had been talk of a move to Liverpool last year – and this year – that would have cost the Reds more. The Frenchman’s production had dipped this past season but Betis do have a relative bargain.

    Matthijs de Ligt career has risen considerably, while talented his debut for the Dutch national team, at 17, was seen as a failure. Still only 19 he has improved immensely and is seen as of one of the best defenders in the world, at any age. Part of the Ajax team that reached the 2018-2019 Champions League semis he is a big star and having chosen to sign in Italy is a good statement for Serie A. Juventus have paid a very big prize for him, €75 million plus bonuses, but he will give them many years of top quality service.

    Kieran Trippier is a surprise move from Tottenham to Atletico Madrid. A 28 year old English player moving to Spain is not a common occurence. The € 22 million paid for him is not the most surprising but it is nevertheless unexpected. The right back is probably most famous for his free kicks, most notably for the semi final game that was played against Croatia at World Cup 2018.

    Fabian Delph is not the first central midfielder to move to Everton as a veteran, he is not even the first one to make the move from Manchester City to Everton. Much like Gareth Barry and Morgan Schneiderlin’s moves the Toffees grab a solid player at a relative bargain price. This move falls under €10 million. Very good value for the 29 year old.

  • York9 FC 2-1 FC Edmonton

    In Canadian Premier League action York9 FC beat FC Edmonton 2-1 on July 14, 2019. The first half was mostly played in York9’s half as both teams struggled to muster anything meaningful.

    A counter in the 13th minute gave York9 FC the lead. A rare foray into Edmonton’s half was finished by Kyle Porter. The score remained the same when in the 67th minute Ramon Soria’s equalized with a freekick. The ball made its way in just at the far side. Most players seemingly misjudged the ball and let it drift in. In the 80th minute Ryan Telfer converted another counter. Connor James in Edmonton’s goal could probably have done a better job of closing the angle.

  • Africa Cup of Nations Semis

    The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations has reached the semi final stage.

    The hosts exited at the round of 16 stage of the 24 team tournament. Mohamed Salah led Egypt could therefore be seen as the disappointment of the tournament, losing 1-0 to South Africa.

    Madagascar were the surprising team of the group stage topping Group B with seven points, one more than Nigeria. The Barea islanders were led by Carolus Andriamatsinoro and their form extended into the knockout stage where they beat DR Congo on penalties before losing 3-0 to Tunisia in the quarter finals.

    Benin were also surprising. The did finish only third in Group F behind Cameroon and Ghana but in the first knockout round beat Morocco on penalties, before losing 1-0 to Senegal. Mickael Pote scored Benin’s only two group stage goals as they tied all three games.

    Despite the surprises the final four is made up of traditional African powers. It is Senegal vs Tunisia and Algeria vs Nigeria.

    Algeria are the in form team having scored six but not conceded in the group stage. The North Africans then beat Guinea 3-0 in the round of 16 and won on penalties vs Ivory Coast (coached by Clarence Seedorf)

    Algeria’s Adam Ounas shares the lead of the goal scoring chart and has scored three times so far. Riyad Mahrez and Youcef Belaili have scored two each. Senegal’s Sadio Mane has scored three and so has Nigeria’s Odion Ighalo.


  • Finals Day

    July 7, 2019 featured three finals. The 2019 Women’s World Cup, Gold Cup and Copa America played their finals on this Sunday.

    In the day’s first final the 2019 Women’s World Cup was decided between the USA and Holland. The latter had reached their first final on the back of solid if unspectacular play and needed a massive game to dethrone the defending champions. The US had won the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada and was big favorites to repeat. A scoreless first half had given the Dutch some hope but US took control and scored twice to win for the fourth time since 1991. Megan Rapinoe from the penalty spot and Rose Lavelle sealed the win.

    The day’s second final featured favorites and hosts face the surprising Peru in the Copa America final. Peru had surprised a disappointing and aggressive Chile in the semi final and reached the final. Peru was one of the third placed team to qualify fro the knockouts. The VAR (Video Assisted Referee) dominated Copa had reached farcical levels at times with multiple stoppages to check a play on video. The once again struggling Argentina had been beaten in the semis and Brazil overcame Peru with relative 3-1 ease. Everton had opened the scoring but Peru had leveled late in the half through a Paolo Guerrero penalty. The Peruvians couldn’t hang on to the tie with a minute left in the half as Gabriel Jesus found an opening in the middle and beat Pedro Gallese. Late in the second half the win was confirmed with a Richarlison penalty.

    Unsurprisingly the Gold Cup final was contested between the US and Mexico. Although the match was taking place in Chicago the crowd consisted, as usual, mostly of Mexican fans. The first half featured the US missing several half chances and a good one early when Jozy Altidore missed the net by inches. The second half was a mirror of the first with Mexico repeatedly winning the ball back and not being able to finish. Andres Guardado shot high several times as Mexico threatened often. In the 73rd minute a simple and short Raul Jimenez layoff was shot in by Jonathan dos Santos. The 1-0 score stood in a sometimes scrappy game. Mexico raised the trophy for the eighth time.

  • Transfer rater: Pellegrini, Spinazzola, Suarez, Manolas

    Konstantinos Manolas is off to Napoli

    It is July 1st 2019 and the European transfer window is open. As usual lot of changes will happen and unimaginable money will be spent for the upcoming season.

    Teams like Real Madrid are on a spending spree, Barcelona making changes after a disappointing European season. Others like Arsenal and Milan will need to find creative ways to improve. Liverpool get ready to take a shot at overcoming Manchester City in the premier league. PSG continue the search for European glory.

    Two related but officially separate transfers that have been confirmed are the swap of left backs between Roma and Juventus. Twenty year old Luca Pellegrini was sold by Roma to the Turin team for €22 million and at the same time 26 year old Leonardo Spinazzola went the other way €29.5 million. The latter has seven Italian caps and didn’t play much for Juventus, spending many seasons away on loan. The former is more of a prospect. The deal being concluded separately makes a big difference in the teams’ finances as they can both claim a majority of the amount received as profits for UEFA’s Financial Fair Play purposes. Both players had been on the books of their now former teams for a long time and a big portion of their transfer fees count as gains. A very good deal for both sides. One gets an experienced full back and the other gets a prospect to play behind Alex Sandro on the pecking order.

    Denis Suarez, 25, spent the second half of the 2018-2019 season on loan at Arsenal. The Barcelona midfielder failed to get much playing time due to not being 100% fit. His stock has fallen and now Barcelona in the midst of a mini rebuild have sold him to Celta Vigo for less than €13 million. The deal will have a relatively small net gain on Barcelona’s finances but if Suarez regains some of his promise he will be a good player for Vigo’s midfield for many years to come.

    Roma’s decision to sell 28 year old Konstantinos Manolas to Napoli is a bit strange, even though the Naples team had triggered his release clause so Roma found themselves handcuffed. The €36 million received is a very good amount but that strengthens a direct rival and leaves Roma’s defensive line weaker too. Roma are now surely buyers as only having Juan Jesus and Federico Fazio is a weakness. Ivan Marcano is there as well but likely to exit as well. To sort of make up for it Roma have bought 21 year old defensive midfielder Amadou Diawara from Napoli for €21 million.

    It is very early in the window and late August is weeks away. A few teams like Real Madrid have jumped quickly and fast but others will need to be more careful and need time to find realistic deals.

  • Copa America 2019

    Copa America’s group stage has now concluded and the 12 teams are down to eight. The three groups of four tournament has featured two invitees in Japan and Qatar. Both invitees got eliminated in the group stage. The so called controversial decision to have 2 invited teams, to make the tournament an imperfect 12 teams, is bound to be questioned again.

    Qatar have the stable coaching of Felix Sanchez but failed to improve on their surprise Asian Cup winning form of early 2019. The former Barcelona youth coach may be retained as the build up to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar ramps up.

    Japan are in transition and with a new post 2018 World Cup coach in Hajime Moriyasu brought a team with only three players above 25!

    Bolivia’s decline continues and with few players on the horizon it may not be improving in the short or medium term. They all lost three games and scored only twice against Brazil, Venezuela and Peru.

    Ecuador are not in much better shape and the somewhat older team coached for the second time by Hernan Dario Gomez will likely continue its decline for a while.

    The first quarter final features Brazil, the hosts, vs Paraguay. The latter finished third in group after unimpressive ties vs Qatar and a poor Argentina. They lost their other game 1-0 to Colombia. Brazilians didn’t impress at all in their first two games and the likes of David Neres and Richarlison lost their starting spots for the third game which the hosts won 5-0 (vs Peru)

    Venezuela’s slow climb continues. The South American none football country has managed two quarter finals and a fourth place in the last four copas. Prior to 2007 the Rafael Dudamel coached team never managed to get out of a group stage. They now meet Argentina in the quarter finals. The Argentinians have mostly struggled in the Messi era and coaches have failed to get the best out of the talent of the Barcelona star and others like Kun Aguero and many others, not to mention even failing to find a proper, workable and stable formation to fit all the big names. Lionel Scaloni’s men lost the opener to Colombia and tied Paraguay 1-1, they needed to beat Qatar in their last match to progress.

    Colombia have so far impressed the most, being the only team with nine points in the group stage. Carlos Queiroz is their somewhat surprising new coach and three wins without conceding has the set them up as favorites vs the aging Chileans. Chile finished second behind Uruguay in group C. Alexis Sanchez’s team features only one outfield player under 25.

    Uruguay have a mix of aging but still capable stars with the likes of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani. A younger group all over the pitch bodes well for the future of Oscar Tabarez’s team. Maxi Gomez up front, Lucas Torreira, Rodrigo Bentancur and Matias Vecino in the middle form a good core with Jose Gimenez at the back.

    Brazil play Paraguay on June 27th. Argentina play Venezuela on the 28th. The winners meet in the semi finals on July 2nd.

    On the other side of the bracket Colombia meet Chile on the 28th and Uruguay play against Peru on the 29th with the semis being on July 3rd.

    The final is set for Rio’s Maracana on July 7th.



  • Top 10 Most Expensive Transfers, Rated

    Joao Felix is on the verge of making a €120 million transfer from Benfica to Atletico Madrid. The Madrid team triggered the 19 year old second striker’s recently signed release clause. Antoine Griezmann could also enter the record books this summer. The Frenchman’s move from Atletico to Barcelona provides the cash to Diego Simeone and Atletico to spend on the aforementioned Portuguese. It is a good time to take a look at the current top 10 most expensive transfers.

    Neymar tops the list as the then 25 year old moved from Barcelona to PSG for €222 million. The forward has had a somewhat injury riddled two seasons but has scored 51 goals in 58 games, in all competitions. The French team haven’t gotten much closer to their aim of winning the Champions League. The transfer is probably a B- at best.

    Kylian Mbappe had everybody reaching for the Financial Fair Play rule book when he made a €180 million move to PSG, in 2017 and initially on loan. Once again PSG haven’t won more with the French international but he has provided the goals and plenty of them. His transfer is a B+.

    Philippe Coutinho made a move to Barcelona from Liverpool for around €118 million. The perception of the transfer and it usefulness to the Catalans has been questionable at best. He could be on the move again this summer having been expected to provide more. Few would be willing to give this transfer anything above C.

    Ousmane Dembele falls into the same category as Coutinho. His €105 million transfer from Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona was initially injury interrupted. He has scored 18 times in 65 games since 2017. Another C for this transfer.

    Manchester United spent a lot to get Paul Pogba back from Juventus, years after he left to Italy for free. The €105 million was a record in 2016. United have won little since and have not adjusted to the post Alex Ferguson era. The player himself has not had a constant place in any given formation the team has played since his arrival. The expense and the return make this a poor transfer. A D is not too harsh.

    Eden Hazard spent seven years at Chelsea helping the team win two Premier League titles and two Europa league titles. Often the star with a few dips in form he nevertheless was the creator and the star of the London team. His €105 million move to Real Madrid this summer is a success for both the player and his now former team. This gets an A for now because Real are getting an under 30 player with more years in him.

    Cristiano Ronaldo moved from Real Madrid to Juventus for €100 million in 2018, nine years after he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid for €94. The earlier transfer has of course been a big success and put the player fully on the map. Two La Liga titles are less than the impression one has of the recent Real Madrid. Four Champions League titles however are Ronaldo and Real Madrid’s to brag about. He moved to Juventus in 2018 hoping to replicate the Champions League success in Turin. The failure to do so can still be rectified. The transfers both get an A grade.

    Gareth Bale moved from Tottenham to Real Madrid for €100 million. In his six years there he has sometimes fallen out of favour with coaches but has scored 102 goals in a total of 231 appearances. The player was not a major influence in the 2016-2017 La Liga winning season as he spent months out with an ankle injury. The Welshman provided decent returns in the four Champions League titles while at Real but he won’t be remembered as much due to Ronaldo’s contributions in the same competition and period. This transfer gets a C.

    Gonzalo Higuain spent two full seasons at Juventus after moving from Napoli for €94 million. The season before moving, 2015-2016, he had been Serie A’s top scorer (aka capocannoniere) with 36 goals. He scored 24 and 16 goals in the two subsequent seasons where Juventus won the title. The transfer gets another C.

  • 2019 Gold Cup

    The Gold Cup is the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football national team championship. The 2019 edition is the 15th edition and takes place in United States, Costa Rica and Jamaica. The latter two will host two games to open their respective groups, B and C. The Gold Cup features 16 teams for the first time and runs from June 15 to July 7. The Gold Cup has shifted between odd and even years and is held every two years.

    The 16 qualifiers (out of 41 total members) are those who finished in the top 6 of 2018 World Cup qualification, the so called hexagonal plus the top 10 in the newly created CONCACAF Nations League. It is the first time that the Gold Cup is contested with 16 teams. It began as an eight team tournament in 1991.

    A big total of 17 venues will be used with the smallest being Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy Park with a capacity of just under 19,000, the home of MLS’ Sporting Kansas City. The largest will be Pasadena’s Rose bowl with a 90,888 capacity.

    Four groups of four were drawn and they are as follows

    Mexico
    Canada
    Martinique
    Cuba    		Costa Rica
    Haiti
    Nicaragua
    Bermuda
    Honduras
    Jamaica
    El Salvador
    Curacao    		USA
    Panama
    Trinidad and Tobago
    Guyana

    Mexico have won the Gold Cup seven times, USA six times and the only other winners were Canada in 2000. USA are the defending champions.