Manchester City and Pep Guardiola confirmed that star midfielder, Rodri, would miss the remainder of the season after sustaining an ACL tear in the club’s top-table clash with Arsenal. The statistics show that City are much better with the Spaniard, than without, so who in the Manchester club’s squad can step into the vacated role?
22-year-old Morgan Rogers has slipped seamlessly into Aston Villa’s starting line-up since joining in January of this year. The attacking midfielder has come from a background of football pedigree, but is he a key component in keeping Villa at the top of English football?
Last season, Des Buckingham’s Oxford United defied the odds, dominating heavy favourites Bolton Wanderers, to win the League One Play-Off Final 2-0. With a step up, comes new pressure, and Oxford have once again been written off, with many bookies having them as favourites to head straight back down. Despite the media having its day on the Oxfordshire club, I believe this team can stay up, and pick up some scalps along the way.
Liverpool are on a quest to find Arne Slots perfect No. 6, whilst Wataru Endo is more than capable in the position, the Reds are looking to make an upgrade. First target Marin Zubamendi has chosen to stay with boyhood club Real Sociedad, could Borussia Monchengladbach’s Manu Kone be the answer?
The final member of the crazy gang that is the EFL, is League Two. The gateway to the league to the EFL is always the hardest to predict, with stories like Crawley Town’s relegation favourites to play-off promotion, Forest Green Rovers double drop and the continuation of Wrexhams upward trajectory being just a few that have occurred in the fourth tier of English football.
The Championship’s middle sibling, League One is as stacked as ever, with big spenders Birmingham City adding to the mix, alongside as Huddersfield Town, who were in the play-off final only two years ago and Hollywood’s sweetheart team, Wrexham.
English professional football returns this week with the EFL getting underway on Friday. Tiers two through four kick off their campaigns as teams up and down the country look to navigate our wonderful football pyramid, hopefully going in the right direction.
Riccardo Caliafiori was one of Italy’s only shining lights at this years Euro’s, after a stellar year at Bologna, he looks to be on the move this summer. Courted by those at the top of European football, it looks as though Arsenal have beaten the rest to the Italian defenders signature.
Wolverhampton Wanderers have moved to fix their goalscoring issues, bringing in Celta Vigo’s Norwegian International, Jorgen Strand Larsen. Gary O’Neill will be hoping the versatile forward can add much needed goals to his Wolves side and help them really break into the top half of the Premier League.
On the back of giving Boss Erik ten Hag a new deal, Manchester United looked to strengthen their attacking options. The Red Devils did so by recruiting Bologna’s Dutch forward Joshua Zirkzee.
A player more than familiar to fans of the EFL is Ronnie Edwards. The highly touted Peterborough defender will get his chance in the top-flight with newly promoted Southampton.
Aston Villa were one of the first Premier League sides to get their business started following a Champions League qualifying campaign. Whilst PSR may have been a contributing factor, they shipped star Douglas Luiz to Juventus, bringing in English youngster Samuel Iling-Junior as part of the deal.
Here we are again. Another semi-final for England. That’s odd to say, but here we are. A lot of what I’ve written on the site has been against Southgate, and yet he continues to graft a group of players that make us believe.
Each tournament, Southgate’s tactics; or lack thereof, have been scrutinised to no ends, and yet we’ve always gone far, and had at least a few games where the Three Lions look like the real deal. This time, that momentum is yet to reach the England camp, so what’s different?
England began their Euro 2024 campaign in Germany, beating a headstrong Serbia side 1-0, a job well done? Well not in England apparently.
It used to be the age-old question; will it be different this year? Is it finally time? Can England realise it’s potential? Although, in recent years, it’s become more of, we have to do it.
The Euros begin in Munich tonight, with the hosts, Germany, taking on Scotland in the opening game. Whilst football fans will rejoice in the month-long feast of international matches, we will all be asking the question, can England do it? And if not, who’s taking the trophy?
EURO 2024 is just over a week away, with England playing one last warm up game against Iceland this Friday. After this, Gareth Southgate will be tasked with trimming his initial 33-man-squad down to just 26. Whilst James Maddison and Curtis Jones have already been informed, they will not be on the plane, here is who I would take to Germany from the original squad chosen by Southgate.
Xabi Alonso has thrown a spanner in the works for Liverpool, as he announces he will stay at German club Bayer Leverkusen for at least next season. The Spaniard’s decision ends the idea of romantic reunion on Merseyside for now and leaves the Reds still hunting for Jurgen Klopp’s successor.
With Profit and Sustainability rules being at the forefront of times in the Premier League, it is always helpful when a club can be in the green, rather than the red. This is often a rarity, with the trials and tribulations of England’s topflight being a lot to comprehend, despite this, Brighton announced record profits from the 2022-23 financial year.
Coventry City face a task on their hands if they’re to keep hold of star midfielder Gustavo Hamer. The Brazilian-born player looks set on a move to a Premier League team after he nearly guided his side there, scoring in the Play-Off Final, albeit in vain.
Liverpool continued their midfield revolution, adding Hungarian talisman Dominik Szoboszlai to their ranks, in a deal that see’s the Red’s spend £60m to bring in the player from RB Leipzig.
Tottenham Hotspur continue to fight against the depths of mediocrity, but time and time again fail to complete the process in order to join Europe’s elite. Daniel Levy’s pride and joy have overseen attempted tenures of Managers who regard themselves as some of the best, Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho, but both have failed to captivate fans and take the club to the brink of trophies.
In January of this year, Premier League clubs spent over 800 million Euros on transfers, but clubs in Italy’s Serie A, spent just 33 million Euros. That figure is just over half of what strugglers AFC Bournemouth spent alone. So just where has this disparity come from?
