Something I thought would never happen again occurred on Wednesday – Carlos Tevez pulled on a Manchester City shirt.
The Argentina striker was exiled by Man City manager Roberto Mancini after refusing to come off the bench in a Champions League match earlier in the season and it was thought he would never play for City again, especially after some of the comments he made in regards to the way the Italian treated him.
However, Tevez did come off the bench at The Eithad Stadium on Wednesday in the Premier League match against Chelsea and even set up Samir Nasri’s winning goal for City, which keeps them hot on the heels of Manchester United in the title race.
Here is Mancini giving instructions to Tevez, but what is the Italian saying?
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This week you can win a copy of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13
Blockbuster continues its assault on rivals with announcement of exclusive downloadable content for Tiger Woods PGA TOUR (R) 13, available to all Blockbuster customers who pre-order the classic title, out 30th March.
Fans who pre-order their copy of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR (R) 13 will receive two bonus golfer foursome downloads.
The first will allow gamers to take to the tee with legends of the Premier League – Wayne Rooney, James Milner, Theo Walcott and Petr Cech – in the Football Fourball.
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The FA have charged Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic with violent conduct, after he was caught punching Wigan forward Shaun Maloney in Saturday’s game at Stamford Bridge.
Television footage captured the Serbian full back striking out at the Scottish attacker, which was not picked up by the match officials.
The governing body has confirmed that Ivanovic is set to be punished, and has set the date for appeal.
“Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic has today [Tuesday 10 April 2012] been charged by the FA with violent conduct following an incident in his side’s game against Wigan Athletic,” an official statement reads.
“Ivanovic was involved in an incident with Wigan’s Shaun Maloney, which was not seen by the match officials, but caught on video, during his side’s 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge on Saturday 7 April 2012.
“Ivanovic has until 6pm on 11 April 2012 to respond to the charge,” it concludes.
Typical punishments for offences such as this generally carry a three-match ban, and if this was upheld Ivanovic would miss this weekend’s FA Cup semi-final with Tottenham and London derby fixtures with QPR and Arsenal.
Also, Mirror Football have indicated that Ivanovic has emerged as a transfer target for Real Madrid.
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The Serb’s versatility is reportedly an asset that would be appreciated at the Santiago Bernabeu, and Jose Mourinho is a fan of the Chelsea man.
It takes more than physical skill to be a winner at the highest level of professional sports. It needs grit, determination, focus and confidence. Chelsea have shown that in spades in their last three Champions’ League games. In both legs against Barcelona in the semi finals, the Blues were pinned to the proverbial wall from start to finish; tonight, in the main, was more of the same.
Home-town favourites Bayern Munich had more of the ball, four times as many opportunities on goal, and a plethora of chances to kill the 2012 Champions’ League Final both in regular time and extra time. Arjen Robben’s missed penalty, chances squandered by Mario Gomes and Thomas Muller, the botched pass from Ivica Olic which rolled past Daniel van Buyten before an open goal…
And yet Chelsea were the victors, courtesy of defying all the odds over 270 minutes. Even after John Terry’s moment of insanity in the Nou Camp, Roberto Di Matteo’s ten men clung grimly on, finding the mental strength to recover from 2-0 down and advance with an astonishing display of bloody-mindedness and sheer willpower.
Several of Chelsea’s staff embody this mental capacity. Di Matteo’s composure, level-headedness and humility in the face of all the pressures and plaudits he has encountered of late have been incredibly eye-catching. He refuses to let the incessant speculation over his future cloud the importance of the present, and has cajoled a squad which was at breaking point into an impenetrable, cohesive unit.
Didier Drogba’s selfless energy and work ethic have shone out over Chelsea’s run to the Champions’ League trophy. The Ivorian’s commitment to covering his teammates is outstanding. Chelsea fans will have noticed it long ago, I’m sure, but it’s only really dawned on me watching the semi-finals and tonight’s game that whenever Ashley Cole or Jose Bosingwa is caught out of position, it’s almost invariably Drogba who busts a gut to get back there and plug the gap. Yes, he conceded a penalty in extra time – but doesn’t that tell you something? How many strikers would have been in the position to concede it?
Veteran striker Drogba may have just played his final game for Chelsea – but between his effort defensively, the bullet header to equalise in the dying moments and the title-clinching penalty conversion, surely he has done enough to extend his eight-year stay in London. And even in the jubilant scenes which followed the shoot-out, the Ivorian found time to console not only Bastien Schweinstaiger, but his former Chelsea teammate Robben, with whom he talked and hugged for some time while his teammates celebrated.
Depleted in midfield, Di Matteo leaned heavily on Frank Lampard to anchor his team, and the Chelsea stalwart did not disappoint. This was not a night for Lampard to showcase his attacking talents, but he covered as much ground as he could in shadowing Muller and Toni Kroos and harrassing Bayern’s creative talents when they came within shooting range.
Ashley Cole rolled back the years to produce one of the finest defensive displays of his Chelsea career (Image | Sky Sports)
And then there was the back four. Many – me, for a start – believed that the absence of John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic would be decisive. Although Bosingwa and David Luiz weren’t perfect in their performance – Luiz committed so many fouls it wouldn’t have been surprising to see him sent to an early bath – their work rate was outstanding. Gary Cahill played through the pain barrier in extra time.
Cole, meanwhile, personifies the siege-defence mentality Chelsea have been forced to adopt in the latter stages of this tournament, the England left-back producing one of the most memorable displays of his career in timing every tackle to perfection and getting in block after block as Munich threatened to overcome their ‘visitors’.
Many in red showed that they had what it takes to win tonight, too. Manuel Neuer, barely tested in two hours of football, stood up to save Juan Mata’s penalty and then convert his own in the shoot-out. Philipp Lahm exorcised his shoot-out demons of the semi-final; Muller recovered from a couple of poor misses to score the opening goal seven minutes from the end of normal time.
In the end, however, Bayern didn’t get enough from their front three tonight. Robben, Gomes and Frank Ribery combined to blaze shot after shot over the bar or round the post, and on several occasions missed the target when it should have been easier to hit it. And after Robben’s penalty miss in extra time seemed to herald a shoot-out, it was Schweinstaiger, the archetypal Munich hero, whose stuttering run-up backfired so spectacularly in the final moment of the competition.
There will, naturally, be endless questions over the next couple of months about the futures of Di Matteo, Drogba and others in the Chelsea squad. For now, at least, they have proven their worth – mentally, as well as in terms of results – to Roman Abramovich and Chelsea.
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Article courtesy of Rob Schatten from his excellent blog ‘The Armchair Pundits’
Gary Neville thinks it’s part of the game. Continentals accept it. The British despise it, despite being rather good at it themselves. The question is: what are we to do about diving?
The British like to see themselves as paragons of virtue. Playing the game (whatever that game may be), in the right spirit, with a stiff upper lip and a sense of fair-play. Of course football has rarely been like that. There were enough scandals to fill many a paper even in the old days, and thuggery was a common occurrence both off and on the pitch, but even nowadays barely a minute passes in a football match without some form of cheating, be it claiming a throw-in you know not to be yours, feigning injury, diving, or just trying to influence the referee. Cheating in all its forms is part of the game – but that doesn’t mean we have to accept it.
One of the most irritating aspects of the past year is how football’s most hateable figure turned out to be a sensible and erudite football pundit. But whilst I’ve agreed with most of what Gary Neville has said during this season, I can’t back him up on the issue of diving. In an article he penned for the Daily Mail last week, he wrote about how a practice that initially disgusted him and his fellow youth team colleagues soon became accepted as they progressed into the first team, and through Champions League campaigns.
“Quite soon we were all playing for United’s first team in Europe. And that’s when the real education began. Between 1995-1999, when we won our first Champions League, we learned tactical and technical lessons, but we also had an education in other aspects of the game: running the clock down, slowing the game down, tactical fouls and, yes, winning a free-kick. Slowly it dawned on us. This isn’t going to change. This is the way the game is played at a global level. It doesn’t matter what Gary Neville from Bury thinks. This is the game at the top level.”
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“So gradually your thinking changes. You might say your morality weakens. Certainly the value system you grew up with is challenged.”
“The game we play in England has changed. It is now influenced by the global game and how it is played. Only around 35 per cent of players starting this weekend will be English. And just as those Italian parents would get so het up about Nicky Butt, we have to accept that different cultures have different value systems.”
“At the end of it all I’m in a moral daze because I can see my values have changed so much. And, when I analyse it, I realise over time I’ve come to accept other people’s values.”
“In the same way our game has changed and the authorities are not going to accommodate English cultural attitudes into their refereeing. I do understand why we get so upset about diving. I’m sad that the innocence of the seven-year-old has been lost. In some ways I like the purity that game represented. But it’s not the game we play any more.”
That’s fair enough. But the attitude of fans is always going to be different to that of players. The problem with clamping down on diving is that there is such a thin line between a dive, a stumble, and ensuring contact with an opposition player. It would be hard to punish Ashley Young for his two efforts as there was contact despite the fact he engineered it in one instance and was lightly brushed in the other. Players such as Gareth Bale have argued that they have dived to avoid a crunching tackle, to get out of the way. So where do we draw the line? Only a blatant dive could realistically be punished. A friend came up with a suggestion that if a player dives and then claims a penalty, then he should be open to retrospective punishment, as it is proof of trying to con the referee – and it sounds like a good idea to me. Either way, it’s unlikely that any clampdown will occur.
There is a valid point, as made by Neville, to be made that English football is part of a global game, financed, staffed and played by English and foreigners alike. It is hard to eradicate a practice that many in the game don’t have a problem with. And if the English game completely clamped down on diving, then it would fall foul when in European competition, when suddenly the old rules persist, where different ideals exist.
And what’s more diving works. It gets Ashley Young two penalties, when being properly fouled and staying on your feet often results in no reward, and the thought from the fans that “he should have gone down there”.
My problem is that such practices are diluting my enjoyment of the game. Take El Clasico this weekend. What on paper should be one of the most exciting games of the season will inevitably be reduced to me shouting abuse at the screen after yet another player lies crying on the pitch clutching his ankle after the merest of contact. I will never stop watching or loving football, that much I know, but sometimes my patience is tested, and I can understand why some have fallen out of love with the modern game. It seems winning at all costs is the game’s only mantra now.
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But whilst writing this blog and watching football over the past week, I have begun to realise there’s something much worse than diving anyway. Diving is there to try and win a goal, by any means (as players seem to lose their balance most when suddenly entering penalty areas). It can have a consequence of further punishment for the opposition player, but I would speculate that most dives aren’t committed with that aim in mind. There is one form of “cheating” though that seeks not only to gain an advantage in play, but to also cheat the opposition, and to con the referee into punishing the other team further – it’s the feigning of injury. Didier Drogba gave a masterclass in it this week, though I think his intentions may have been partly (if not mostly) to disrupt the game, and Barcelona’s rhythm. For a true master of the dark arts however, look no further than Franck Ribery’s ninety-minute display of life-threatening tackles from Real Madrid that I presume have ruled him out of the game for at least six months. It truly was a pathetic spectacle to behold, and what’s more, like El Clasico to come, it totally ruined my enjoyment of a greatly-anticipated match. But even more than diving, how could you possibly prove a player was feigning injury? And like the boy who cried wolf, taking a harder attitude on injured players will one day leave someone in real peril.
So it’s fine to want to eradicate diving out of the English game – it’s much harder to actually implement it. And whilst other countries have banned players for diving retrospectively, a sign that it can work and act as a warning to all players, let’s not forget that it’s not the only problem with the game right now, and if we are serious about cleaning up the game, then let’s look at other forms of cheating too.
When Txiki Begiristain left Barcelona alongside former President Joan Laporta, there were naturally a number of Premier League clubs alerted to his availability. The former Barcelona Director of Football had played a big part in transforming the Catalan club from the disappointments of the last few Ronaldinho years and towards the dominance of Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi. But is Begiristain the right man for a number of Premier League clubs looking for a similar continental theme and a Director of Football?
Of course Chelsea were one of the first to sound out Begiristain about a possible role at Stamford Bridge. Roman Abramovich has made no secret of his desire for the attractive football that’s on display at the Nou Camp. However, Abramovich doesn’t share the same patience with those who have succeeded at Barcelona.
It’s important to understand that Begiristain’s work was not simply advising Guardiola, and previously Frank Rijkaard, how to go about their transfer business; it all started with Johan Cruyff’s vision for the club. As Director of Football, Begiristain was entrusted to oversee and ensure the club’s youth academy became a prominent part of the first team. In doing so, there is an absolute necessity for the Director of Football, manager and President or owner to have the same vision for the club.
Begiristain would bring with him a great deal of expertise to any football club. Barcelona’s style of play is put into motion by individuals who were brought to the Nou Camp under Begiristain’s watch. Dani Alves and David Villa are integral to Barcelona’s current success, as well as those promoted from La Masia.
There is also a real sense that Begiristain conducts his work in a meticulous way, helping to shape Barcelona’s squad where it’s needed, rather than simply buying for the sake of luxury. However, the club’s move for Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a sobering reminder that even the very best can fluff their lines.
The real question with regards to Premier League clubs and the potential desire for Begiristain is whether success is a given. There was a lot in place at Barcelona that didn’t happen by accident, such as the appointment of Pep Guardiola and the decision to move on players like Deco and Ronaldinho. Again, Begiristain had to ensure the club were doing everything to be successful on the pitch, but his role shouldn’t take away what managers like Guardiola and Rijkaard have done. Can people like Begiristain succeed in football without the right people around them?
Chelsea, perhaps not surprisingly, have opted against offering Begiristain a role at the club and buying into his and Barcelona’s ideals. Abramovich is of course in favour of similarly entertaining football, but he wants it done now. With Directors of Football such as Begiristain, there is a need to look ahead long term and make good use of youth.
Would he be better suited at a club like Tottenham? Perhaps. The football ideals are in place and there is a desire from the club to build long term and sustainable success. But the club would need to accept that Begiristain would take a prominent role in shaping the club and working alongside whomever the manager may be. Patience and understanding would be key.
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Is Begiristain the ideal candidate to help revolutionise a Premier League club? One side of the coin would suggest that if he were he’d be working with one now. Maybe clubs aren’t buying into the idea of patient and careful thinking towards success in the future. The Premier League is an environment greatly different to that of La Liga; club’s are not given countless opportunities to achieve a top four finish and build from there. While at the same time, Begiristain’s success came with a club who already knew how it wanted to operate following the work of Cruyff. Yes he’s good at what he does, but it still remains to be seen whether that role of a Director of Football can become as prominent in the Premier League as it is on the continent.
The Barclays Premier League has been doused with a whole array of exciting descriptions in recent times. Phrases like “the greatest show on earth,” have adorned countless advertisements, pundit descriptions and newspaper columns alike.
Although there is another side to our nation’s fabled top flight. And as these 15 footballers demonstrate, the term “sponging an easy living,” may well have a place in our footballing vocabulary.
Like a creepy mutual friend overstaying their welcome at a house party, these men have been eating at the Premier League buffet for far longer than they should have been.
Their awe-inspiring mediocrity is matched only by their perceived divine right to play in the top flight. So whilst our ticket purchases continue to reward their seething averageness, let us appreciate the top 15 ‘Hangers On’ in the Premier League.
Click on Michael Owen to unveil the 15
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Disgusted by any of my picks? Or do you hold the answers as to how they’re still earning Premier League money? Get it off your chest on Twitter, follow @samuel_antrobus
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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has taken another swipe at the mega-rich clubs currently operating within Europe, such as Manchester City and PSG, stating that they are damaging the game and distorting the market, but does he have a point?
The club look set to tie up a £16m deal to bring Malaga midfielder Santi Cazorla to the Emirates this summer, while it looks as if there may be more to the Nuri Sahin loan switch than Wenger is letting on. This comes off the back of a summer of pretty big investment by Wenger’s standards, as he’s already sanctioned the signings of Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski to bolster the club’s attack for a combined figure of £24m, with Robin van Persie’s future still up in the air.
Wenger stated in his attack on Manchester City and PSG: “Overall we are not mega-rich because we do not have unlimited resources. A club can buy players like PSG has done or Manchester City or Chelsea, with unlimited resources, but overall football suffers. Look at the activity on the transfer market since the start of the summer.
“PSG are ambitious and they have resources and that’s it. We talk always about the same things. I don’t think anything is new in that domain. Europe at the moment is like the Titanic but we live in football like nothing matters. More than ever we have to run our club in a strict way because it looks like everybody suffers in Europe. I would be surprised if football is not touched by it at some stage. If you look at debt in football across Europe at the moment it is quite massive and we have to be responsible. We have to be ambitious but also make sure we are not getting in trouble financially. It is difficult for us because the wages in some other clubs are very high. But of course our players quite rightly compare themselves to the players of the other clubs.”
It’s completely reasonable to think that during a double-dip recession such as this, it beggars belief that some clubs are spending in such a fashion and it’s amazing that not more situations like the one currently taking place at Portsmouth haven’t happened elsewhere or with more frequency. Lower league football has been starved of money for quite some time now and they have had to adjust accordingly and with the Financial Fair Play rules coming into effect next season, the elite of Europe will have to do the same very soon.
The FFP rules, UEFA President Michel Platini’s brainchild, is a sound idea in principle but it remains to be seen how strictly they will be imposed on those clubs who fail to make the grade in terms of balancing their budgets. It’s been Wenger’s saving grace for quite some time now and the club have planned sensibly for the future and could be the main benefactors, in England at least, of their introduction.
Wenger has been routinely derided for a failure to dip into the club’s transfer war chest (cliche alert), but spending great deals of money has never been Wenger’s way or style. Only once since the club last won a trophy, back in 2005 with the FA Cup, has Wenger had a net spend higher than £10m before this season, coming in 2007-8 when he spent £31m but brought in a further £17.6m.
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The club are often called a ‘selling club’, but then again, that’s always been the case, going right back to the likes of Nicolas Anelka, Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit. Buying at a reasonable price and selling on at a higher rate, a tactic that Newcastle have been lauded for in recent times, has been common practice at the club since Wenger took over back in 1996.
Arsenal’s best years under Wenger came between 1997 and 2005 – during that eight-year spell, before the trophy-drought set in, they went on to win three Premier League titles and four FA Cups. In total they spent around £120m on new players, which works out at £15m per season. In the seven years since, the Gunners have spent approximately £175m on new players, which comes in at £25m a season – £10m more per season than they did when they were winning trophies.
Last season, Wenger was guilty of a mad trolley-dash on transfer deadline day, spending £29.2m on the likes of Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker, Park Chu-Young and Andre Santos, but only the Spaniard is assured of a starting place in a fully fit squad. It just shows the panic that must have set in as he had to compensate for the sales of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. The lack of planning was terrible, but is shows what happens when the normally calm Wenger gives in to market trends and the results have been far from successful.
Arsenal are very much a club, which despite their high turnovers, operate within their budget and means. It may be somewhat disingenuous to compare the likes of Manchester City and PSG to the titanic, for the sheer wealth of their owners means they will always be well looked after, as will the built up nature of their ‘brand’, but they have indisputably inflated the market for the worse. The situation at Malaga is also the first time that a billionaire owner has actually lost interest and while the clubs may be play-things of a sort, they’re in no real danger of being dropped in favour of a fancier, newer toy because football is the biggest sport across the world. It’s a criticism often levelled at Chelsea and other clubs with such wealth, but it’s a lazy stick to beat it with, to be quite frank.
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Since Wenger has been at the club, they have spent £338m and recouped £319m, for a net spend of £19m over 16 years, which works out at just £1.1m per season net spend which is a truly staggering statistic. It seems as if the club have been preparing for the FFP rules long before they were even originally conceived.
I really don’t buy into the argument that clubs such as Manchester City and PSG are the ‘death of football’, it’s over the top hyperbole and it will soon be defunct when the FFP regulations are introduced (or at least in theory it should do), these clubs are merely trying to get in all of the great expenditure while they still can and after that, a levelling of the playing field will hopefully occur.
Arsenal are a responsible club, they were open about the need to cut transfer budgets after their move from Highbury to the Emirates back in 2006, but they look in exceptionally good nick going forward for the future and while the club’s fans may be frustrated by their lack of movement in the market at times (a fallacy exposed above), they will surely benefit in the long-term more than many of their rivals. As such, signings like Cazorla and Sahin, two exceptionally gifted players, may be more common place than they have been these past five years or so as they look to reap the dividends of sound, long-term financial planning.
Newcastle, Norwich and Aston Villa are tracking Cluj winger Modou Sougou, according to reports from talkSPORT.
The Senegalese star has been in impressive form the Romanian outfit both domestically and on the continental stage this season.
This has led to reports that the Premier League trio are monitoring the situation ahead of a possible swoop next month.
The 27-year-old has gained a reputation as a goal scoring winger during his time in Europe, which has been shown by his four goals in five Champions League appearances this year.
It’s unclear which side holds the upper hand in the chase for Sougou, but the presence of fellow countrymen Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse at Newcastle may give them an advantage
Villa are also firmly in the race and are expected to bring in delve into the transfer market this winter as are Norwich who are thought to be looking to strengthen their attack.
Sougou’s career began in his homeland before he moved to Portugal playing for Uniao Leiria and Vitoria Setubal.
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His most successful spell came with Academica, for whom he made almost 100 appearances.
Cluj swooped for his signature in 2011, handing him the number 99 jersey.
We all think of footballers as well paid individuals and indeed they are. If a Premier League star invests his money correctly, then there’s a good chance he’d never have to work again for the rest of his life. However, a football career isn’t exactly a job for life, as you never know when injury or loss of form may strike that could result in your career plummeting to depths of horrendous lows.
It’s wise therefore, for players to have some sort of other interests outside of football, to keep them occupied off the field, but also to earn a living if things go wrong. The vast majority of players just invest their money into property or start life as a media pundit, but others take a more interesting route and immerse themselves in something a little different. We bring you 15 footballers with a different life outside the game that you should definitely know about.
Click on Stuart Pearce to unveil the 15
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It’s always dangerous to indulge in a transfer fantasy. Hope for the best, expect they worst, is what they say. But like a hopeless romantic building themselves up for a massive fall, there has been one name mentioned recently that has caught the imagination of supporters more than any other. If Tottenham signed Fernando Llorente, it would be represent a signal of intent like no other.
Now before the boo-boys attempt to bring this down like a lead balloon, this article is at a disclaimer to say this talk is purely hypothetical. Although the seeds of this transfer speculation aren’t quite akin to Torquay putting in a deadline day bid for Lionel Messi. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the big Spanish international could trade in Athletic Bilbao for the pastures new of White Hart Lane.
A flurry of ITK-driven gossip has driven Tottenham supporters to absolute frustration this summer, but this isn’t a reactive piece to the scribbling’s of some 14-year-old hiding behind a suit and briefcase avatar on Twitter. Several sources have suggested that a Llorente move to N17 could be on the cards and when Guillem Balague speaks, people in football listen.
The Sky Sports favourite announced on his Twitter page in recent days that not only were Tottenham Hotspur after Fernando Llorente, but that the Spanish star would be happy to make the switch to North London. The stumbling block? A potential €36million transfer fee. Balague is a journalist and consequently, nothing he says can be or ever should be taken as gospel.
Although as sources go, he is as reliable as you are ever going to get in football and you sometimes wonder that short of taking the likes of Florentino Perez and Sandro Rosell out for a slap up meal, how he managers to attain such reliable information. There is no smoke without fire and there is a feeing that the Llorente whispers have some legs.
Arguing about the credibility of the speculation is one thing, but let’s take a minute to consider the ramifications of a possible switch. For starters, the moody naysayers who have, in some respects quite rightly, had enough with Daniel Levy’s brinkmanship, would remain firmly silenced. Tottenham might have just signed Emmanuel Adebayor, but the acquisition of Llorente would blow supporters expectations out of the water. There’s been a lot of waiting for all parties this summer, but there can be doubt that signing the Bilbao man would have made all those hours clicking refresh on
But more than anything, this is a striker of serious pedigree. The man known as El Rey León (The Lion King in English), is almost the perfect fit for Villas-Boas’ new system and he comes ready made with no need for assembly.. At the age of 27, he’s about to hit the peak years of his career and there is no need to harness the worries about development and changing his game. You can never guarantee a foreign player will adapt to the Premier League, but if there was ever a potential banker, it has to be Llorente.
Tall, powerful and mobile, Llorente has the skillset to prosper amongst the fast and furious trappings of English football. Whilst their relationship may have soured recently, esteemed Bilbao coach Marcelo Bielsa has developed the 27-year-olds game. Whilst his power and physicality have always been his key traits, Bielsa rounded Llorente into a far more complete player able to play deeper and bring his teammates into play. His skillset and technique have never been in doubt but there is a feeling that the Pamplona born star has finally evolved into player everyone knew he could become.
English football fans have seen first hand just how deadly Llorente can be. He was a talismanic figure in the 5-3 aggregate victory that sent Manchester United crashing out of the Europa League last March and few will forget his scorching volley past David de Gea at the Estadio San Mamés, His two against Sir Alex Ferguson’s team contributed to a 29 goal haul in 53 appearances during the 2011-12 term. Don’t let the notion that he doesn’t play for a top Spanish team leave you in any doubt of his abilities. Llorente is a superb striker and he can fire Spurs to the next level.
It’s not hard to him succeeding in Villas-Boas’ side, either. Emmanuel Adebayor had a superb term last season although as well as the Togolese hitman did to strike 17 times in the league, he should have had more. It’s grossly unfair to negate too much of Spurs’ failure to kill off teams on his shoulders, but he still should have scored more. You can argue that it’s not the ones you miss, but the ones you put away, that count. Although thee is still capacity for improvement at White Hart Lane.
Llorente has all the traits that Villas-Boas could wish for as a figurehead in his 4-2-3-1 set-up. He can link up fluidly with the attacking trio behind and work seamlessly laying balls off to the channels and playing in the teammates. But as potent as his finish maybe, he also offers the trump card of being something of a Plan B himself. Spurs struggled for an alternate outlet last term. The focus is going to be on attacking football played on the deck at White Hart Lane this season, but if they wish to knock it up to the big man, they’re more than able to with Llorente.
The Spaniard isn’t quite an archetypal English number nine, but if needs must, then AVB would have the option. He won’t get bullied by the Stoke City’s of this world and he certainly isn’t going to fear going toe-to-toe with the touted hard men of English football. He’s 6ft 5 of Mediterranean footballer and certainly no shrinking violet either. If you thought the horror cliché ‘good touch for a big man’ was wheeled out enough with Crouch, then you’ve not seen anything yet. Technical excellence comes as standard when purchasing from La Liga and Fernando Llorente is no different.
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Whether Spurs can realistically pull this off, however, is a different story. The notion of the player wanting to come to the Lane is outstanding but agreeing personal terms means diddly squat without negotiating a transfer fee. The strength of the Spanish economy would strengthen Tottenham’s hand but quite how much they can knock off a €36million transfer clause remains to be seen. Daniel Levy is a shrewd negotiator and the thought of splashing out those sort of figures on a 27-year-old isn’t particularly in the mould of the Spurs supremo’s usual spending patterns.
But the chance is there for Levy and Tottenham Hotspur. The club have been run astutely and events during this transfer window are a microcosm of such business acumen. The singing of Llorente, however, could be a potential gamechanger for the club. It wouldn’t just capture the imagination of the fans but it would send a real message of intent out to silence the doubters. Levy won’t care about what anyone else has to say. But he does care about success and Champions League qualification in particular. Signing Llorente could go a long way to securing both.
How do you rate the chances of Fernando Llorente going to Tottenham? Can you see him swapping the bars of Bilbao for the Chick King of the High Road? Let me know what you think on Twitter: follow @samuel_antrobus and tell me what you think.
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