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Showing posts from December, 2022

Best XI of 2022 : Hectic end to the year sways advantage as new faces emerge for coronation

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The year 2022 has been an eventful one with the African Cup of nation and the FIFA World Cup all taking place during the course of it, while the annual UEFA Nations League also presented European players the avenue to represent their countries. The year saw Real Madrid extend their record of most Champions League title won to 14 while also winning the league for a record 35th time. Manchester City won a fourth Premier League title in five years, Milan won first Scudetto in eleven years, PSG reclaim the Ligue un title from Lille and Bayern continued their dominance in the Bundesliga. The highlights of the international stage was Senegal winning their first African Cup of Nations title and Argentina winning their first FIFA World Cup title since 1986. Morocco also made history for Africa and Arab as they become the first country from the aforementioned regions to reach the semi final of a FIFA World Cup tournament. Individually, Karim Benzema won the Ballon d'or title and Lionel Mess

Chelsea under the Boehly's : The ineffectiveness of the aftermath of opulent desire raises alarm in early days

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Chelsea have spent well over £350 million since the Todd Boehly takeover in May despite it not been up to two full transfer windows since then, but the Chelsea's seemingly unchanged starting XI is a worry going forward. The players, a few of them big names have not been able to replicate the form or fitness that made them daring to Blues fans upon their arrival at the club few months back. Raheem Sterling, who joined from Manchester City as the marquee signing to kickoff the new era seems to be the only fresh leg added to the squad that consistently show up in the starting XI for games. Even the English winger hasn't been at his best but he is still able to get selected ahead of others because of the obvious dip in quality in the depth available at the club. Marc Cucurella is also getting minutes but coming in the left-back position, where they also have Ben Chilwell, it appeared at a time that the English fullback was already displacing the former Brighton man but for injuries

Mykhaylo Mudryk over Cody Gakpo a bizarre decision but Mikel Arteta has earned the right to be unquestionable

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You look at Mykhaylo Mudryk and go wow as the mercurial winger utilizes his speed, coupled with skills to skip past one two three four defenders, leaving them all in his wake and then you feel this player potentially has the world at his feet. The Ukrainian without a doubt is one of the hottest prospects in Europe today albeit he only plays in the Ukrainian league, he has been able to earn himself more fans with his sensational displays in the Champions League group stage. Even though Shakhtar disappointingly failed to reach the round of 16, Mudryk’s star shone brightest for the club and he was directly responsible for five of their eight goals in the group campaign. That's massive, right ? Of course. Also in the league, he has been in stupendous form. The winger, who turns 22 next month has been directly involved in 14 goals, seven goals and as many assists in 12 games. His desire to improve hasn't gone unnoticed by staff in Shakhtar. According to Shakhtar coach Igor Jovicevic

Potential striker options for Manchester United and the prospects of getting a deal over the line in coming transfer windows

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After passing the chance to sign Cody Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United must surely have plans of bringing in a No.9 in the coming windows, be it now in the winter or later in the summer. We take a look at a number of No.9 profiles the club could possibly move for and the degree of the feasibility to get the potential deal over the line. 1. Dusan Vlahovic The Juventus striker only moved to Turin from Fiorentina about a year ago and it's not been all plain sailing. No one could have had the Serbian on this list but due to the crisis at the club, Juventus night be in the end be forced to let go of some key players. Vlahovic, who has a contract until the summer of 2026 in Turin has struggled to fit into the system of Massimiliano Allegri but still manage to get decent numbers in front of goal. There's no questioning his prowess in front of goal and in him and should Manchester United be able to complete a move for the 22year old, they could have their own Erling Haaland

Manchester United have no excuse for strengthening a direct rival by letting slip the chance to sign 'level raiser' Cody Gakpo

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Under their noses, Liverpool have secured the signing of one of the hottest properties in the world of football today and knowing Cody Gakpo wanted a move to Manchester United will always make the deal a big failure on United's part. 23year old Gakpo has been linked with a move to Old Trafford since last summer while Erik Ten Hag is a huge fan of the Dutchman. However, United could not follow their interest following the late signing of Antony from Ajax. Even before Liverpool tabled a bid to Ajax, the player was adamant of his love to play for United, under Erik Ten Hag who had scouted him since his Ajax days. Gakpo was even recommended to Ajax as replacement Antony’s replacement but that did not materialize. PSV are in need of the money to solve inner financial troubles and Gakpo, being their hottest prospect, they put forward for sale, demanding at least €50 million from prospective suitors. However, no offer was received despite the endless speculations of interests from Manches
Cody Gakpo numbers per game in the @eredivisie this season: 0.6 goal 1.9 shots 54.7 touches 4.3 key passes 0.6 interceptions 0.9 tackles 0.5 dribbles 5.9 duels won 1.9 succ. dribbles 2.1 fouls committed 0.9 fouls suffered 0.2 clearances All-rounder. ⭐🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/KpjWbov9Gg — H/F (@hfworld_) December 27, 2022

Incredible Cody Gakpo : The closest Liverpool have come to replace Sadio Mané and reason to reserve faith in owners

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Liverpool have all but completed the signing of Cody Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven after a fee was agreed between the two clubs in the late hours of boxing day. Liverpool have agreed to pay a guarantee fee of £37 million and another £13 million in add ons to PSV while Gakpo will sign a six year contract with the six time European Champions. The 23year old attacker, who had been linked with Manchester United since the last transfer window but couldn't move to the club after the Antony deal with Ajax. There was also contact with Ajax, who intended to sign Gakpo as a replacement for the Brazilian, Antony, who left for Manchester United in a big money move. However, Gakpo decided to remain at PSV after the two clubs let him down, even though Premier League duo of Leeds United and Southampton offered him a way out of the Eredivisie just before the end of the summer window. While with the Netherlands for the World Cup, Liverpool defender and dutch teammate, Virgil van Dijk rubbished reports l

Premier League return: Arsenal find themselves in a familiar position but in a condition to prevent a repetition of disaster

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Arsenal have been here before but they look better and capable of overcoming the storm that wiped their predecessors and fortune seems to be on their side because the transfer window is not far away. The emergence of the news of Gabriel Jesus’ knee injury has obviously not been well received by Arsenal, Mikel Arteta and Arsenal fans world wide and to worsen matters, he is expected to be out for at least three months. The Brazilian has had a promising start to life at the Emirates and the fans are now dreaming of the possibility of winning the Premier League title, which has eluded them since the Invincibles in 2004. However, just as it had happened in the past, with the likes of Edouardo da Silva, Robin van Persie and Aaron Ramsey to mention but a few have all been victims of unfortunate injuries, when they Gunners were in good positions to challenge for the league title. This time, it looks like it is the turn of the 25year old, who has now been ruled out to return in March following

NPFL restart: Fans have to stick with clubs to ensure league growth amidst the superfluous disgruntle by organizers

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According to reports, the Interim Management Committee, IMC has decided that the new kickoff date for the new Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL season is set to kickoff on the 8th of January 2023. The committee also confirmed that meeting will be held on the 28th of December, 2022 to discuss the schedule for the league, which will be played in an abridge format following the delayed start, which has seen a lot of time already wasted. Clubs have also been informed that the deadline for the completion of their licensing ahead of the 2022/23 season is the 28th of December, and teams that failed to meet the deadline face the prospect of being barred from participation. The decision to finally adopt the abridge format was concluded due to the lengthy of time wasted since the conclusion of the previous season back in mid July, where Rivers United was crowned Champions following a remarkable campaign, which saw them record 77 points, the most in a 38 game a season in the league histo

Premier League : How ready are the heavyweights to overcome their faults and reestablish their paramountcy ahead of return

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The Premier League returns following the end of the FIFA World Cup tournament, which saw the top teams go into an unusual mid-season break because the mentioned tournament was slated for winter months. Premier League teams, our focus in this article have enjoyed different fortunes in the aftermath of the break. While it was a break that came at the right time for a team like Chelsea and their new manager, Graham Potter, it was case for some others. In this articles, we will be looking at the impact of the break, and how prepared the top teams are ahead of the restart. Also with the winter transfer window a matter of days before opening, we will also look at the possible targets of these teams to help them make up for the injured players as well as increase the depths and quality of their options. With Arsenal in an unfamiliar position, at least that has been the case since they won the league unbeaten in thr 2003/04 season while Newcastle United’s project as apparently skyrocketed, muc

Players whose individual FIFA World Cup performances can potentially secure them a better move

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The FIFA World Cup is a tournament know to present a platform to players whose names are barely heard to give good account of themselves in the hope of securing moves to elite clubs. In the case of some others, it is an avenue to prove that they are not only a system player, thereby showing that what they actually do consistently at club level, they can replicate it on the international stage or any other places. The Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup was not an exception as a lot of players really delivered some astonishing individual performances and scouts from the big clubs would without a doubt have been convinced by some, whom they could add to the list of prospective addition in the coming transfer window. Either in the winter or the summer transfer windows, these players will be expected to secure bigger moves because of their stellar outing in Qatar for their respective countries. In this article, we will be bringing you the names of players and suitable clubs for their style of play a