Football transfer news

Last season’s Player of the Year is having a bit of a rough time. I mean, three goals in his last 17 appearances is hardly the makings of a £46m frontman, is it?

Call me old-fashioned, but I like my strikers to score goals. Y’know, the one-in-two(ish) rate where you’re almost assured that if they didn’t score this weekend, they’ll bag one in the next.

? North London derby day!

Send us a ? if you’re right behind the lads! #TOTARS pic.twitter.com/vwa7oc3c8N

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 12, 2020

In the ever evolving world of football, this isn’t always the case anymore. In many instances, strikers aren’t just goalscorers. Instead, they’re the string of the bow as opposed to the arrow. Was Alexandre Lacazette signed to be the string though? No…no he wasn’t.

But in Mikel Arteta’s setup, that’s become his function. It’s clear in his playing style that the Frenchman likes to be involved in the early phases of attacks, with such characteristics coming at the cost of, well, that goalscoring thing.

His style is something the Spaniard has clocked on to, though, and one he now embraces.

Eddie Nketiah on the other hand, is an entirely different striker, one who prefers to play on the shoulder, but it’s Lacazette’s style – goals or no goals – that could be the key to Arsenal securing a positive result in Sunday’s NLD.

3 years since I joined Arsenal and I’ve enjoyed every single day of it. Thanks to my teammates, all the staff and fans for all your support ???? #TrustTheProcess pic.twitter.com/BhYVw2YerS

— Alexandre Lacazette (@LacazetteAlex) July 5, 2020

Look, he must start scoring again, end of, but what he brings to the team in aggression and work rate could be the hugely important against a rigid Jose Mourinho setup. As due to his willingness to drop deep and collect the ball in front of the back four, he could act as a disrupter for Arsenal on Sunday.

Disrupting the Spurs backline will be key to forcing errors. The spaces that open in between the full-back and centre-back are where the Gunners can hurt Tottenham, with the pace of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka in the inside-forward roles likely to be their main weapon.

Spurs are a side short of confidence, and ensuring they remain on the back foot throughout will begin with Lacazette’s tenacity. When he comes short to collect the ball – likely from Dani Ceballos – the overlapping runs from the wide players will stretch the game, playing into Arsenal’s hands.

Nevertheless, Lacazette has to step up to the plate. He simply does not score enough goals and recapturing that touch is essential to him regaining his place in the starting XI. Yet, against Spurs, scoring will not be his most requisite task.

Getting in the faces of the opponents, harassing and pressing from the front, opening up spaces behind him for his fellow forwards and buying Ceballos time to distribute the ball will be where Arsenal win this game.

Many pre-match assumptions are that Arsenal should secure victory given the turmoil at Tottenham, but it’s a classic case of ripping up the form book when the north London derby is concerned.

Which, coincidentally, is precisely what Lacazette must do. Start scoring again, yes (please), but put any goal-shy woes to one side on this occasion and focus on the task at hand; you’re integral to that.

For more from Ross Kennerley, follow him on Twitter!

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Juventus boss Maurizio Sarri hailed Cristiano Ronaldo’s ability to handle pressure after his pair of spot-kicks rescued a 2-2 draw for Juve against Atalanta.

The Bianconeri were sub-par against an on-song La Dea outfit on Saturday night, and they were forced to come from behind twice to snatch a point.

The result means that Sarri’s men currently hold an eight-point advantage at the top of Serie A following Lazio’s defeat to Sassuolo, while Atalanta missed the chance to close the gap at the summit to six points.

And Sarri was full of praise for Ronaldo after the Portuguese international cancelled out strikes from Duvan Zapata early in the second period and Ruslan Malinovskyi in the dying embers of the contest.

“He is a champion with his feet but also with his head,” Sarri said post-match, as quoted by Goal.

“He manages to handle the pressures he has on him in an incredible way.”

The 35-year-old took his Serie A scoring tally up to 28 with his penalty brace on Saturday, as he attempts to chase down Lazio’s Ciro Immobile (29) in the Capocannoniere race.

Sarri also believed that his side were worthy of a point against Gian Piero Gasperini’s men.

“Tonight’s point was sweaty and deserved. We drew against one of the best teams in Europe, and it’s a very important result,” he said.

“Merit goes to a second half of quality, in which we attacked Atalanta higher while focusing on their physical decline, and we scored goals in our best moment.”

The Bianconeri boss was also quick to rule out that the title race is already done and dusted after closest challengers Lazio dropped more points prior to Juve’s draw.

“The Scudetto race is by no means closed, there are still 18 points available. It is a very difficult phase of the season, the games are very expensive, and it is difficult to find continuity,” he added.

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New Chelsea signing Hakim Ziyech completed his first training session with the Blues on Saturday and admitted he was looking forward to getting started at his new club.

The former Ajax man agreed a £37.8m deal to join Chelsea back in February, but has been on a brief holiday after the Eredivisie season was brought to an early end.

Day one at Cobham for our new signing! ? pic.twitter.com/NaXje6EHel

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 11, 2020

He travelled to London on Friday in anticipation of his first day of training, which saw him undergo a light session on his own ahead of joining up with the rest of the squad over the coming weeks.

Ziyech took to Instagram after the session to write: “First session done for Chelsea. Very excited and happy to be here and can’t wait to see you guys at the bridge soon.”

He is unable to play until the 2020/21 season and is also not permitted to feature for Chelsea in this year’s Champions League. Given the Blues are already 3-0 down to Bayern Munich from the first leg of their last-16 tie, that European run probably isn’t going to last much longer.

Fellow new recruit Timo Werner is yet to physically make the move to London as the Bundesliga season only finished a few weeks ago. The German is being given some time off before jetting off to the Bridge.

Manager Frank Lampard has already admitted that signing the expensive pair puts him under more pressure, but that’s simply a necessary consequence of making your team stronger in the transfer market.

Chelsea could have done with both Ziyech and Werner on Saturday as they fell to a humiliating 3-0 loss to Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United, blowing the race for Champions League qualification wide open.

Chelsea finished the game with 76% possession but did very little with the ball. As noted by Opta, no team has ever fallen to such a heavy defeat while simultaneously posting that kind of possession stat.

The Blues remain third in the Premier League but could be down to fifth by the time they next play, with Leicester City and Manchester United both yet to play this gameweek.

For more from ?Tom Gott, follow him on ?Twitter!

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Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes the Red Devils have once again established themselves as a dream location for any young player.

United’s slump in the last few seasons has seen their reputation take a slight hit, and their problems in recruitment were summed up in January when they failed to convince now-Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland that Old Trafford would be a better home than Signal Iduna Park.

Solskjaer’s current focus is on landing Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho, who has also been linked to pretty much every European giant, and the boss insisted (via The Mirror) that United are back to being an attractive side,

“I’m not in a job to get excited – I’m here to improve the team and try to mould the team in a way we as coaching staff and a management team believe that the club should be playing,” he said.

“Results and performances are coming and I think Man Utd is attractive for any young player out there with ambition.

“I think the earlier you get the players in and the longer you have them in the club environment the more loyal they will be to the club. They will trust you as coaching staff and management that we have their best interests and the club’s best interests at heart.

“We’ve always given young players a chance, that’s in our DNA and it will always follow us.
I don’t know how many games we’ve had now with academy players in the team, I know it’s more than 4,000, so we’ll still keep on improving our Academy and put players through that system.”

It’s actually 4,028 consecutive games with an academy player in the squad. Not bad.

United currently find themselves on a 17-game unbeaten run in all competitions and have recently looked like the only side who actually want to join Liverpool and Manchester City in the top four, earning impressive results through some outstanding team performances.

“I think you have a responsibility when you are at Man Utd to play a certain way and play with pace and power,” the boss added. “You’ve got to attack quickly and you’ve got to have some youth players in there.

“You’ve got to have courage and risk things, so sometimes we do leave ourselves open at the back but that’s also an instinct I learnt from my time here at the club with Sir Alex. You have to give players the freedom to express themselves, but you’ve also got to work hard, and that’s improving.

“If it’s my team…well, we are working towards something and trying to get better and better and improve all the time.”

For more from ?Tom Gott, follow him on ?Twitter!

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Manchester City have not ruled out the possibility of extending Sergio Aguero’s stay with the club for another 12 months, taking him through to 2022, despite currently being sidelined through injury.

The club’s all-time top scorer hasn’t featured since the 5-0 thumping of Burnley in June, suffering a knee injury that required surgery and has ruled him out of the Cityzens’ Champions League semi-final second leg with Real Madrid on 7 August.

Aguero has been hit with a string of injuries throughout his time at the Etihad Stadium, but his importance to the side remains unquestionable – scoring over 23 goals in all but one of his nine seasons with the club.

His current deal expires at the end of the 2020/21 season and it was widely expected that upon the completion of his contract he would return to his native Argentina and sign with boyhood club Independiente.

However, the Mirror claim that this may not be the case, with City mulling over the possibility of handing him fresh terms to see out the following two Premier League campaigns.

Pep Guardiola will continue to keep an eye out for a new striker in the coming transfer window, but as Aguero shows no signs of letting up his immense scoring rates, despite being 32 years old, the prospect of keeping hold of him becomes a more likely outcome.

Gabriel Jesus has filled in in Aguero’s absence, grabbing his 20th goal in all competitions during the recent 5-0 drubbing of Brighton. The Brazilian is on course to have his finest goalscoring season to date, sitting just one shy of matching his overall tally for the previous campaign.

There are still some concerns over whether Jesus can be the long-term successor to Aguero’s throne however, with Guardiola yet to be ‘convinced’ he has what it takes.

For more from Ross Kennerley, follow him on Twitter!

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