Premier League
Ins and Outs: Transfer Targets Lined up in Premier League
Manchester United and Chelsea appear to need a striker. Manchester City has a shortage of full backs. Arsenal’s transfer plans could hinge on whether Alexis Sanchez stays.
With six weeks to go until the Premier League begins, English soccer’s top clubs are gearing up for preseason training and in the process of reshaping their squads in what is set to be another offseason of heavy spending.
In 2016, the Premier League spent more than 1 billion pounds (now $1.3 billion) in an offseason transfer window for the first time, at least doubling the amount spent in any of the other big leagues in Europe.
Courtesy of AP, here’s a look at what last season’s top six in the Premier League are prioritizing this year:
ARSENAL
Retaining players, rather than signing them, appears to be Arsenal’s priority this offseason.
A failure to qualify for the Champions League makes Arsenal a less-attractive proposition to its big-name players, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. Sanchez, in particular, would be a massive loss to manager Arsene Wenger after finishing last season with 24 league goals.
Until the futures of Sanchez and Ozil are decided, Wenger’s plans in the transfer market could be paralyzed. Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette could be a realistic option.
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CHELSEA
With Diego Costa recently revealing that he is no longer wanted by Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, there is an obvious gap that requires filling in the attack.
One of the biggest transfer stories in England currently centers on the possibility of Everton striker Romelu Lukaku making a return to Chelsea. Lukaku has been quite open about his future while on international duty with Belgium this month, saying that staying at Everton “is not really an option” and that he had reached an agreement with an unnamed club.
Chelsea is back in the Champions League after a season out of Europe, so Conte also will probably look to strengthen his options at wing back and central midfield.
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TOTTENHAM
Of the top six, Tottenham has the most settled squad and no pressing concerns — provided that manager Mauricio Pochettino keeps hold of his best players.
Most intrigue surrounds the future of right back Kyle Walker, who was no longer assured of being first choice at the end of last season thanks to the emergence of Kieran Trippier. Walker, who is England’s starting right back, has been heavily linked with Manchester City.
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MANCHESTER CITY
Manchester City was the biggest Premier League spender last year ahead of Pep Guardiola’s first season in charge, splashing out nearly 175 million pounds (now $225 million). The club is already on the way to topping that figure.
In has come Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson Moraes for $45 million and Portugal playmaker Bernardo Silva for $55 million.
City has made no secret of its desire to sign as many as three full backs following the release of right backs Pablo Zabaleta and Bacary Sagna, and left back Gael Clichy. Dani Alves and Benjamin Mendy are expected to be two of the full backs coming in.
Heavily linked with Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Guardiola also bringing in a central midfielder.
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LIVERPOOL
Juergen Klopp’s squad was undermanned last season when Liverpool only had domestic competitions on its schedule.
Now back in the Champions League, expect Liverpool to strengthen in most departments over the next two months so the team can make a challenge on two fronts.
The Reds broke the club’s transfer record to sign winger Mohamed Salah for an initial fee of $42 million ($46.8 million) last week and have brought in Dominic Solanke from Chelsea as a back-up striker.
Klopp is also in the market for a center back — Liverpool ended its interest in Virgil van Dijk after a complaint from his team, Southampton — and will surely sign a left back to avoid having to play midfielder James Milner there for a second straight season.
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MANCHESTER UNITED
Manchester United is in the market for a striker after releasing Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is sidelined by a long-term knee injury. That has left manager Jose Mourinho light up front, with only Marcus Rashford, Wayne Rooney and potentially Anthony Martial as options.
Antoine Griezmann appeared to be United’s likely replacement for Ibrahimovic but the France forward announced he would be staying at Atletico Madrid, with the Spanish club currently serving a transfer ban and unable to register new players until January. Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata might be United’s chief target now.
There is also a doubt surrounding the future of Rooney, who struggled for game time under Mourinho last season.
United, which is back in the Champions League, already has signed Sweden center back Victor Lindelof from Benfica for 35 million euros ($39.4 million).
Premier League
Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to remain top of the Premier League as Arsenal and Manchester City came from behind to win on Saturday.
City were 3-2 victors over Fulham to stay one point behind Liverpool, alongside Arsenal who saw off Southampton 3-1.
Arne Slot has now won nine of his first 10 games since succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager, but was frustrated that the visitors invited a late onslaught from the winless Eagles.
Jota prodded the Reds into the lead from Cody Gakpo’s cross on nine minutes.
The Portuguese international was then guilty of missing two big chances to extend Liverpool’s advantage.
Palace failed to make them pay, but victory came at a cost for Slot as goalkeeper Alisson Becker limped off with a hamstring injury.
“If you score the second you break them mentally,” said Slot. “All the fans kept believing in a result because it was only 1-0, even though in my opinion we were the dominant team.”
Fresh from a dominant win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Arsenal were expected to sweep aside winless Southampton.
But the Saints shocked the Emirates 10 minutes into the second half when Cameron Archer fired in his first Premier League goal since a summer move from Aston Villa.
The lead only lasted three minutes before Kai Havertz scored for the seventh consecutive home game.
Gabriel Martinelli was introduced after an hour and took just eight minutes to make his mark with a finish on the volley from Bukayo Saka’s cross.
Having set up Arsenal’s first two goals, Saka pounced on a loose ball to score the third himself.
Fulham’s outrageous opener
Rodri’s season-long absence due to a serious knee injury is expected to be a major blow to City’s chances of retaining the title for a fifth consecutive season.
But it was the Spaniard’s deputy Mateo Kovacic who scored twice to turn the game around for the champions at the Etihad.
The visitors had not lost since the opening night of the season at Manchester United and led thanks to Andreas Pereira’s finish from an outrageous backheel assist by Raul Jimenez.
Kovacic’s deflected effort quickly brought City level before a cleaner strike less than two minutes into the second half made it 2-1.
Jeremy Doku then smashed into the top corner from outside the box to give City a two-goal cushion, which they needed.
Rodrigo Muniz gave Fulham hope on 88 minutes, but City held out for a 17th consecutive win against the Cottagers.
West Ham eased the pressure on new boss Julen Lopetegui by ending a run of three home defeats to start the new season.
Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta struck for the Hammers in a 4-1 win over Ipswich, who are still waiting for their first Premier League win 22 years.
There were six goals before half-time as Brentford beat Wolves 5-3 to leave the visitors still rooted to the foot of the table.
Leicester secured their first league win of the season as Facundo Buonanotte’s strike beat Bournemouth 1-0.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag faces a huge match if he is to remain in charge when the Red Devils visit Aston Villa in the pick of Sunday’s action.
-AFP
Premier League
Premier League rejects City request to delay next season’s games after Club World Cup
The Premier League has rejected Manchester City’s request to postpone the first two games of the 2025-26 season to help the players recover after their FIFA Club World Cup campaign in the U.S., the club’s manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.
City and Chelsea are the two English clubs who have qualified for the expanded month-long Club World Cup set to start on June 15. The Premier League’s season will begin in August.
An increasingly packed soccer calendar has been a concern among a growing number of players and managers. A report by global players’ union FIFPRO said some players get only 12% of the year to rest.
The Premier League did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
City midfielder Rodri said in September that players could be close to strike action over the time they are required to play. A knee ligament injury has since put him out for the season.
“I don’t know if we will play more games than the treble year (2022-23)… maybe we’ll play less games,” Guardiola told reporters.
“The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery. Thank you so much. They don’t postpone these games so that will be the moment of, oh, what do we have to do?”
He said the Club World Cup will make it even more difficult for clubs to manage player workload.
-Reuters
Premier League
Ten Hag’s Man United future not my call, Ratcliffe says
Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said a decision about under-fire manager Erik ten Hag is not his call, and was reticent about whether he still has faith in the team’s boss amid their worst start to the Premier League season since 1986-87.
“I don’t want to answer that question,” Ratcliffe told the BBC. “I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.
“That team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April — Omar (Berrada, CEO), (Sporting Director) Dan Ashworth — they only arrived in July.
“They’ve only been there . . . you can count it in weeks almost — they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.”
Ten Hag’s job was the subject of speculation for much of last season en route to the team’s lowest Premier League finish of eighth. After an FA Cup final victory over Manchester City and an end-of-season review, however, Ten Hag signed a new contract to extend his stay at Old Trafford until 2026.
“Our objective is very clear, we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously, that’s very clear,” Ratcliffe said.
Ten Hag continues to plead for patience from fans with the team languishing 13th in the Premier League table, having lost three of their six opening games. They were headed towards defeat by Porto in the Europa League on Thursday before Harry Maguire scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a 3-3 draw.
-Reuters
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