All posts by h716a5.icu

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This week, Nuno Santo confirmed that he would like all of his players to have picked up Premier League minutes before the season ends.

In the process, he hinted that goalkeeper Will Norris, who has been left in the shadows, might play for the first time this term.

At the moment, Wolves are in the driving seat to secure a Europa League place. Sitting in seventh, three points above their nearest competitors Leicester.

However, by playing fringe players and rotating the squad, Nuno’s team could be at a big risk of missing out on the Europan football they’ve dreamed about.

As such, he can’t afford to change his team.

On the chalkboard

Wolves fans will remember the final day of last season all too fondly. Facing the possibility of achieving 100 points, the manager rotated and as a result, they suffered an embarrassing 3-0 defeat to already relegated Sunderland.

It was a terrible end to a fantastic season. It may not have mattered but with the club on the verge of realising their European ambitions, they can’t afford for it to happen again.

Norris has been a complete professional this season, travelling with the team to each match but not actually featuring. He was the clubs regular cup ‘keeper last season, playing in four Carabao Cup games and two FA Cup clashes.

But if his performance against Sunderland on the final day last term is anything to go by, Wolves must avoid playing him.

The Midlands side has lacked depth this season and, when they have tried to offer minutes to the likes of Ivan Cavaleiro and Helder Costa, they’ve rarely provided moments of quality.

A Wolves fan shares his most gutting moment of the last 10 years supporting the club in the video below…

Achieving Europa League football ahead of next season may have an adverse effect, as it did with Burnley, but it would be foolish for Nuno to dismiss their possible chances.

Wolves have a fantastic starting XI but beyond that there is a real lack of consistency.

If the management team decided to switch up the side, especially on the final day at Liverpool, it could turn out to be disastrous.

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Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pocketing has suggested that he could walk away from the club if they win the Champions League, per The Guardian.

What’s the word?

Spurs face Ajax on Wednesday wary that a two-goal victory will see them qualify for the final.

After a 1-0 first leg defeat, the north London club must win in Amsterdam to have any chance of meeting domestic rivals Liverpool, who produced a staggering comeback to beat Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate on Tuesday, in Madrid.

Spurs, thus far, have beaten the likes of Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City, while also drawing with Barca in the Camp Nou.

And Pochettino has now dropped the bombshell that he could walk away if the biggest prize in club football is secured.

Speaking to reporters, he said: “It should be fantastic, no? Close the five-year chapter and go home.”

Pressed to clarify what he meant, he added: “It’s not a joke. Why?

“To win the Champions League in this circumstance, in this season – maybe I need to think a little bit to do something different in the future.

“Because to repeat this miracle, you know … But for sure, I go home. Whatever happens tomorrow, I go home.”

An achievement that cannot be topped

Where would Tottenham winning the Champions League rank among the greatest sporting triumphs in history? Pretty darn high.

This is a team that has been shorn of its star striker, Harry Kane, for much of the campaign and has been ravaged by injuries, as well as a lack of investment. They have not signed a single player since January 2018.

And yet, here they are, in the semi-finals of the Champions League, 90 minutes away from a meeting with destiny.

Pochettino, then, is perhaps right to claim that he could leave the club; Spurs winning this competition would better them potentially lifting the Premier League trophy – there is a reason, after all, that Manchester City, perennial champions of England, so covets European glory.

There would simply be no more worlds to conquer if he were to become a champion in Madrid; more than anything, he would deserve the right to decide his own future.

And, actually, walking away would make all the sense in the world. The only place to go after climbing Mount Everest is down.

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According to The Mirror, Manchester United have made Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly their No.1 transfer target for the summer, but face paying a world-record fee for the defender.

The current highest figure spent on a defender remains the £75m splashed out on Virgil van Dijk by Liverpool 18 months ago, and the Red Devils may need to trump that after boss Carlo Ancelotti said: “He is worth €150m and he is not available for transfer.

Will OGS still be in charge of Man Utd come next May? The Flying Pig discusses in the video below…

“Koulibaly’s contract expires in 2023, in 2021 there’s a €150m clause but Napoli do not need to sell, the president [Aurelio De Laurentiis] does not want to sell and the question doesn’t come up.”

With the likes of Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo and Victor Lindelof currently on the books, should United part with a world-record sum for the Senegalese international? Football FanCast’s writers have their say…

James Beavis

“Absolutely. United missed a trick when they failed to enter into a bidding war with Liverpool for Virgil van Dijk. The impact the Dutchman has made at Anfield shows just how important having a quality centre-back can be, and Koulibaly fits into that mould. The Senegal international is brilliant and would lead the Solskjaer revolution at Old Trafford. Strong, dominant and decent on the ball, this is the signing that will prove United mean business again.”

Harry Sherlock

“Yes. Koulibaly is everything Man United need in defence and more. He’s a brilliantly commanding defender with genuine European pedigree and would walk into most sides in Europe. The current options, of course, are Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof; Koulibaly is three times the player of all of them. United have been erratic with their spending in recent years but this is one money-spinning deal that makes sense; Ed Woodward needs to get it done.”

Matt Dawson

“Absolutely. If United were able to bring Koulibaly to the Premier League it would be a game changer and would certainly have Ed Woodward back in the supporters’ good books. He’d be an instant fix to their leaky defence and is exactly the type of authoritative defender they’ve needed for years. His quality is undoubted and I’m sure he’d be a phenomenal success in the Premier League.”

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Marcelo Bielsa has long been revered as one of the best managers in the world by his peers.

He has been an influencer for the likes of Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino, and it may be time for those two to give a little back to the man who helped make them the managers they are today.

Bielsa’s influence

It’s no secret that the Argentine was a hugely important part of making Pochettino one of the world’s leading coaches.

The Leeds manager initially scouted the Spurs boss at the beginning of his playing career, and he eventually played under him as he took the reins at Newell’s Old Boys.

Pochettino went into detail about his time working with Bielsa in an interview with Gazzetta Dello Sport (Via SportWitness) saying:

‘I was 13 when Bielsa and Jorge Griffa took me from a small town called Murphy and brought me to Newell’s. He gave me my debut.

‘He’s like my second father. We were also together at Espanyol and in the national team. I owe him everything.’

The former Marseille boss also has a strong relationship with Guardiola, who once described him as “the best coach in the world.”

Ask for a favour

Although Bielsa is a very proud man, he shouldn’t hesitate to ask his two protégés for a favour now that they’re managing two of the biggest clubs in the world.

City and Tottenham both have a wide array of youngsters available for loan, and Leeds should have first dibs due to their manager’s close ties with the men in charge in both Manchester and north London.

Guardiola has already helped the 63-year-old by sending him Jack Harrison last year, but they should approach the Citizens for a few more players.

Patrick Roberts, Tosin Adarabioyo, Douglas Luiz and many others could be useful additions to the Leeds squad next season, and Bielsa could use his relationship with the City boss to broker a deal.

The same goes for Pochettino and Spurs, Josh Onomah, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Oliver Skipp are all candidates to go out on loan to the Championship this summer.

The Whites will almost certainly dip into the loan market again in the upcoming window, and when they do their first port of call should be their gaffer’s two close allies.

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Alexis Sanchez looks set to leave Manchester United after an abysmal year-and-a-half at Old Trafford. The dream move hasn’t worked out for the Chilean, who lit up the Premier League when he arrived from Barcelona to Arsenal in 2014. With a very mixed highlight reel since his time in England, how will he be remembered among if he were to leave this summer?

Perhaps the easiest way to determine his legacy is by simply listing out his pros and cons. You can argue that there’s never been such a wide spectrum of performances from a single player. Sanchez’s best moments in a red shirt are easily matched by the direst of turnouts, leaving everyone wondering what on Earth has happened to him.

At his peak, Sanchez was the star-man for the Gunners. Everything flowed through him, and you could see just how many levels above his team-mates he truly was, with the exception of Mesut Ozil. The forward had a first touch, change of pace, a wider skill range and a natural love for the game beyond any player I’d seen at the Emirates since Thierry Henry. With this, he possessed a hunger and tenacity that was almost humbling. Being the best player on the pitch wasn’t just born out of talent but also from a natural, overwhelming desire to give his all and be better than those, and for those, around him.

Unfortunately, his Arsenal legacy will forever remain tarnished. A failed transfer to Manchester City seemed to play on his mind for the best part of six months either side of the collapsed move. Before, rumours of failed contract negotiations and Pep Guardiola’s interest seemed to turn his head. After the summer fiasco of 2017, Sanchez never looked the same again, cutting a figure of someone wondering what could have been as City took the league by storm. A free transfer was on the cards in the summer of 2018, but he opted to move to the red half of Manchester in January instead.

A swap deal involving Henrikh Mkhitaryan hasn’t worked particularly well for either party. Two players past their peaks have struggled, though both can be forgiven for enduring spells out of position. In Sanchez’s case, his deployment as a number 9 under Arsene Wenger in the 2016-17 season breathed new life into the forward, contributing to his final tally of 30 goals and 18 assists, but Olivier Giroud’s return to form forced the ex-Barca man out wide again and his form never reached the same heights. At Old Trafford his rapid decline continued, leaving him a shell of the player he once was.

Gary Neville summed it up brutally, but brilliantly. The player looks shot of confidence, his legs seem to have gone and the tenacious, humble and hard-working player we used to love and admire simply doesn’t exist anymore and perhaps never will.

It’s so easy to remember the negatives though – Sanchez delivered some of the finest footballing moments in many Arsenal fans’ lives. His FA Cup final goal against Aston Villa in his first season was spectacular, hit with a modern, lacey approach that encapsulated what an elite talent he was, perhaps a class above the side he was with. His second cup final goal against Chelsea was less easy on the eye but doubled in importance. His semi-final winner against City lies in the same category. United fans themselves won’t forget the day the Chilean turned up to tear City apart with a stellar display to deny their rivals the league title for another week.

Could Harry Maguire be on his way to Old Trafford? Check out the video below to see why it would make so much sense…

He wasn’t always loved, and perhaps there were too many emotional aspects of his nature that came to light throughout his time in England. He could have been an Arsenal legend, genuinely, but the stain of a ‘money-grabbing’ reputation will follow him forever. Regardless of what the last few years have thrown up for him, he’s one of the most talented footballers I’ve ever watched live in the flesh and he’ll go down as one the best in the Gunners’ recent history.

With two FA Cups and two Copa Americas won since his arrival at Arsenal, coupled with some incredible goals as well, when the dust has settled we’ll look back on his time in England very fondly – and rightly so.

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Wolves are interested in signing Liverpool talent Rafa Camacho this summer, according to The Daily Mail.

What’s the story?

The paper say that the 19-year-old prospect is unsettled at Anfield after being utilised as a right-back in his limited Liverpool appearances to date.

Rejecting the chance to sign a new long-term deal at the club, it appears he will be sold this summer with just one year left on his current contract and Wolves are the team leading the chase on a potential transfer.

The Mail reckon he would be available for around £10m.

Worth that cash?

Given he has only made two senior appearances in his career so far, Camacho would clearly be a player bought for his potential rather than on the evidence of past form and £10m is no small fee for an untested player.

Nonetheless, that promise of an exciting future is certainly there and there’s no better evidence of that than Liverpool being keen to extend his current contract at the club.

He’s shown exciting progress at reserve and youth level this season, netting 12 goals and assisting 8 in 20 appearances across Premier League 2 and the UEFA Youth League.

The Portuguese youth international would appear to have the potential to play for a top six club in the future and that’s exactly the kind of talent Nuno Espirito Santo needs to bring to the club and develop for Wolves to reach the next level.

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Eric Dier has been urged to repeat his training ground heroics in the Champions League final by excited Tottenham Hotspur fans after a video emerged of him scoring a brilliant free-kick.

The England international, who netted a stunning set-piece against Russia at Euro 2016, was videoed practicing free-kicks prior to Saturday’s mammoth clash with Liverpool.

Dier, who can play as both a midfielder and a defender, bent the ball into the top corner via the post, leaving his teammates awe-struck.

And supporters have urged him to repeat the trick when Mauricio Pochettino’s men bid to win their first ever Champions League trophy.

Spurs have qualified for the final after a miraculous run that has seen them draw with Barcelona in the group stages and beat Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and Ajax in the knockout rounds.

Dier has made a total of five appearances in Europe this season and has only completed the 90 minutes once, in the first fixture, a 2-1 defeat to Inter Milan.

He was on the bench for both legs of the semi-final but, still, supporters are hopeful that he could well see the net ripple in Madrid.

Take a look at the best of the reaction below!

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According to The Sun’s Alan Nixon, Sheffield United will look to bring Kieran Dowell back to Bramall Lane next season.

Dowell spent the latter part of 2018/19 at the Yorkshire club, and he seemingly impressed Chris Wilder as he looks to be on his way back to the Steel City.

Deal for Dowell

The attacking midfielder has been linked with a return to the Blades for a while now, but the deal seems to now be edging towards completion.

United have been in the market for an attacking midfielder, but their previously linked target Jota is seemingly Aston Villa-bound.

Whether Dowell is good enough to play as a number 10 in the Premier League remains to be seen. He has spent the majority of his young career on loan in the Championship where he has performed well, but he didn’t light the division up last season.

The Everton man has also been linked with a move to recently relegated Huddersfield Town.

“Finding a Lionel Messi in Sheffield… bit of a tall order!” – Watch Championship fans attempt to name their clubs’ Messi in the video below…

Won’t be a starter

Dowell wasn’t always guaranteed minutes for the Blades last season, and now that they’re in the Premier League he surely won’t be expected to start every week.

Mark Duffy has been the man occupying the attacking midfield role more often than not for Wilder, but the Yorkshire club surely must’ve highlighted this position as an area to improve on.

The former Birmingham City man did a great job for the Blades last season as a number 10, but at the age of 33 he has never played a Premier League game, and there is a reason for that.

He simply isn’t up to top-flight standards and neither is Dowell. With that in mind, you have to believe that this isn’t the last time the Blades dip into the transfer market for an attacking midfielder this summer.

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Arguably one of the signings of the season last year, Lucas Torreira enjoyed a fine debut campaign at Arsenal after arriving from Sampdoria in a £26m deal.

The little Uruguayan was a terrier in midfield and captured the hearts of the Gunners faithful, and etched himself into folkore with the side’s fourth in a 4-2 comeback win over Tottenham in the north London derby back in December.

After understandably seeing his form tail off towards the end of the season, Torreira’s summer isn’t quite yet over and he posted a snap on

/?hl=en” data-lasso->Instagram sharing the news that he will be off to the Copa America in Brazil.

Despite only joining the Gunners last summer, there are doubts over Torreira’s long-term future at the club.

In an interview with Uruguayan outlet Ovacion (as translated by the Evening Standard), Torreira admitted that he has struggled to adapt to the culture and lifestyle in England.

He said: “I don’t know if there are many things that I enjoy. I think it was better in Italy. The language [barrier] has stopped me, to be able to relate with my teammates and with the people. It is very difficult when you can’t have dialogue.”

Reports in recent weeks have suggested that Milan would interested in taking the 23-year-old back to Italy, although it remains to be seen whether Arsenal would be willing to cash in on one of their star players.

Danny Welbeck has had a really unlucky season at Arsenal. Ridden with injuries, this 28-year-old centre-forward only managed eight appearances in the Premier League, scoring and assisting once in the process.

But, as was also quite expected, Arsenal released the English forward 10 days ago when his contract was confirmed to have expired. Still, it seems that that didn’t affect his good spirits as Welbeck posted an

/Byp9QhVHD0m/” data-lasso->Instagram snap of his holiday trip to the seaside.

Naturally, his ex-teammates and friends were quick to jump to make some quality banter content as well as showing their love for Welbeck. Alexandre Lacazette posted a series of emojis to his ex-teammate, showing his love for the Englishman.

Jesse Lingard, his compatriot and rival on the pitch, also took to Instagram to reply but in a more banter-like manner, teasing Welbeck that vitamin D, in fact, stands for Daniel.