Cristiano Ronaldo: From hot cake to unwanted brand, iconic player may have overstayed his welcome
Cristiano Ronaldo is all about the mythology building. It’s explicit in that relentless demand for betterment and in the endless chase for records and trophies. This has always been a player who’s given the impression of having one eye on his legacy. He never just wanted to be the greatest....
Age just a number: Better remuneration, diet and lifestyle change makes playing past 30 years a new normal
One of the big anomalies of this summer’s transfer window has been the amount of money spent on what are perceived to be ‘older’ players. Whether it’s the reportedly boracic Barcelona dropping £40 million on the 33-year old Robert Lewandowski, Lionel Messi still plodding along for PSG at the ripe...
Senegal’s Sadio Mane win of African Player of Year cements his credentials as a national icon
After an exceptional season, the writing was on the wall that Sadio Mané was going to win the African Player of the Year award, his second in history. And on Thursday he did. Mané is more of a national symbol for the Senegalese whom he led to their first African...
Chelsea risks losing out to Barcelona again as transfer target Jules Kounde jets off to Portugal
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel could be in danger of losing out to Barcelona for the second time this summer, with Jules Kounde jetting off to Portugal instead of arriving in London to complete his medical. The Blues came close to signing Raphinha from Leeds United earlier this month before La...
He’s not at sell-by date, why Arsenal loan returnee Saliba has Gunners’ fans cooing over the centre-back
Living in the north, we largely have to judge Arsenal fans on what we see on Twitter. And that leaves us with the impression that Arsenal fans are fickle, prone to extremes of giddiness and glumness, argumentative and entirely split on whether Mikel Arteta and his process should be trusted...
Arsenal set to bid for Juventus’ Arthur Melo as new signing Vieira assures Gunners’ fans ‘I like to do the last pass‘
Reports at Emirates Stadium say Arsenal are “set to make an official bid” for Juventus midfielder Arthur Melo ahead of the 2022-23 campaign, six months after a similar move failed to materialise. The 25-year-old previously spent two seasons at FC Barcelona between 2018 and 2020. He featured 72 times for...
Makeweight: De Jong getting ‘shirty’ at Man United as clueless Arsenal fail to sign De Bruyne
The football media is particularly silly today, with Lisandro Martinez getting his dream Manchester United shirt number allocated and then taken away again… Things change very quickly in the extraordinary world of dream shirt numbers. ‘Lisandro Martinez can grab dream shirt number following Manchester United announcement’ – Manchester Evening News,...
Revealed: Worried his rival Messi will outscore him, Ronaldo is hunting for Champions League stage
Cristiano Ronaldo is concerned that arch-rival Lionel Messi could break his Champions League goals record amid his desire to leave Manchester United this summer, according to reports. The Red Devils icon wants to depart Old Trafford ahead of the new season to continue playing in the elite European competition. Ronaldo...
From onset leading television channels were involved in a dogfight for Premier league broadcast rights
Initial bids came from four parties that were interested in the management and running of the newly-founded English Premier League – two of which came from groups that were considered to be non-starters, one of which hoped to set up a football-only pay-TV channel. ITV didn’t want to work with...
Down memory lane: How after showing commercial promise English football transited to Premier League
By the time the formation of the Premier League was announced on April 5, 1991, much had changed from the FA’s original lofty intentions. Of the suggestions in Alex Fynn’s report on how a new top division could segue with the interests of the game in a general sense, only...
