All posts by h79snht.top

The 2018 World Cup is well underway and there are a number of players that have already made a big impact for their country in their opening group game, and surely some of them will have caught the eye of new Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa

The Argentine will surely be keen to make some big moves in the transfer market to ensure the Yorkshire outfit, whose fans have called on their club to sign a 27-year-old South American winger who starred in the World Cup on Saturday, are serious about securing a Premier League return in the 2018/19 season following another disappointing campaign, in which they went from genuine automatic promotion candidates at the start to mid-table mediocrity by the end.

If the 62-year-old is to bring his famous 3-3-3-1 formation to Elland Road then he will need the players that will work in that particular system, and strengthening all across the pitch may well be his priority.

The veteran boss will already have some targets in mind, but he may have been convinced by the impressive displays of a number of individuals in Russia, too.

Here are three World Cup stars that Bielsa has surely added to his summer transfer wishlist…

The 26-year-old’s future at club level is certainly up in the air right now considering he has just finished a loan spell with Grasshoppers Zurich from Jiangsu Suning – where is contract expires at the end of 2018 – but he may well have earned himself a move with a brilliant display for Argentina against France on Saturday.

The defender, who can also play as a defensive midfielder, impressed against the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann by making seven clearances and two interceptions, as per WhoScored.com, while he was decent in possession of the ball too to suggest that he could be more than a good Championship player for Leeds.

The Udinese midfielder may only be a bit-part player for his club and be 33 years of age, but he put in a monstrous display in the middle of the park for Iceland in their impressive 1-1 draw with Argentina on Saturday.

The Serie A man made three tackles, two clearances and two interceptions, as per WhoScored.com, as he helped to keep the likes of Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero quiet when they dropped deep, and his ability to either play a defensive or attacking role in the middle of the park may mean he is ideal in a Bielsa side.

Mile Jedinak showed for Aston Villa how important he is despite the fact he is getting no younger, and perhaps Hallfredsson could have a similar impact at Elland Road.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Bielsa’s sides in the past have thrived with a big centre-forward up top – like when he had Fernando Llorente at Athletic Bilbao – and he may want to bring one to Elland Road this summer in order to get the most out of his preferred system.

One option could be Dzuyba, whose future with Zenit Saint-Petersburg appears to be in doubt after he joined fellow Russian outfit Arsenal Tula on loan until the end of the season during the January transfer window.

The 6ft 5in centre-forward certainly made a big impression as a substitute for his country in their 5-0 win against Saudi Arabia last week, scoring one and assisting another despite only having 11 touches in his 25 minutes on the pitch, while he also netted in the success against Egypt.

Do you agree, Leeds fans? Let us know below.

Manchester City expect to sign Napoli’s Italian international midfielder Jorginho by the end of the week, according to Sky Sports. 

What’s the latest, then?

Sky Sports report that City’s long-running pursuit of the Napoli man is set to come to a conclusion before the end of the week.

They claim that while a medical is yet to be arranged, a £46.5m deal will be concluded as soon as the final details, which include the payment of a five per cent sell-on fee to Jorginho’s old club Verona, are ironed out.

They also report that Jorginho has concluded his family holiday and is ready to jet to Manchester to have a medical as soon as the agreement is finalised.

[ad_pod ]

City are already streets ahead

It was a procession for Manchester City in the title race last season and even without any additions, it would be tough to bet against Pep Guardiola’s men clinching glory at a canter this time around as well.

The Spaniard has his pick of Europe’s players in some ways, because the prospect of joining his revolution is so appealing and the arrival of another technical maestro, to replace the disruptive and ageing Yaya Toure will only make them even tougher to beat.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Guardiola’s recruitment at City has been immaculate so it is tough to picture Jorginho being anything other than a perfect fit.

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”256220″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch Chattin’ Shirt World Cup Absentees”]

Liverpool fans are absolutely crucifying Lyon owner Jean-Michel Aulas after the 69 year-old contradicted himself, and they have a feeling the Nabil Fekir saga is not over yet.

Not too long ago, Lyon’s Fekir looked all set to become Jürgen Klopp’s second big money signing of the summer.

A midfield trio of Fabinho, Naby Keita and Fekir would be quite the transformation from the Reds, and fans were getting excited about their new look team.

The deal for the young Frenchman fell through just before the World Cup though, and after weeks of speculation about what happened, Aulas has finally had his say on the saga… and we’re still none the wiser.

“I am not in discussions with Liverpool anymore,’ Aulas said.

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”257647″ player=”12034″ title=”Three reasons we love to hate… Brazil and Argentina”]

“Nabil was supposed to join Liverpool, I gave the green light. It didn’t happen because things went on too long.

“I have always listened to what players want, because in terms of relationship for me they are very much my children, my sons.”

Many fans suspected the deal died because of a medical issue, so Aulas’s comments that the deal “went on too long” are confusing to say the least.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

After seemingly ending any hope of a move though, the Frenchman went on to say “nothing is ever dead in the footballing world,” and fans are now confident a deal is still on the table.

You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…

Liverpool fans have been reacting to the news that Atletico Madrid striker Joao Felix is set to miss the Champions League last 16 clash against the Reds due to injury.

The highly-rated Portuguese attacker pulled up with a muscular injury during his side’s La Liga match against Leganes on Saturday, with fears from the Atleti contingent that he could be out for some time. This throws into doubt whether he will be available for the Reds’ meeting on 18th February. However, he will miss the Madrid derby against the Los Blancos this weekend.

Felix was a substantial investment for the outfit from the Spanish capital, having spent £113m on the ex-Benfica man. The 20-year-old has scored four goals in 24 appearances for Los Colchoneros (as per TransferMarkt), which has prompted a reaction from the Kop faithful with many indicating that they did not rate him anyway.

Check out some of the best Twitter responses from Liverpool fans down below…

Liverpool fans! What do you make of Joao Felix’s injury? Join the discussion by commenting below…

Tottenham have started a campaign where their fanbase have high hopes of success in rather underwhelming fashion, with Mauricio Pochettino’s men only picking up one point from their first two Premier League games.

Although the North Londoners can feel slightly unlucky from their showing at Old Trafford, giving up a two-goal lead at home against Stoke is unforgivable for a club with ambitions of a top-four finish.

One of the facets that changed that game at White Hart Lane was the second-half substitute of attacking talisman Harry Kane at 2-0, with Spurs lacking an offensive impetus after the removal of the England international.

Erik Lamela was introduced in the youth graduate’s place, with Nacer Chadli pushed further forward with little-to-no impact.

Tottenham’s over-reliance on Kane is due to the poor performances of his understudies, with Roberto Soldado being offloaded to Villarreal and Emmanuel Adebayor going off on a trademark strop.

[ffc-gal cat=”tottenham” no=”5″]

This means that Pochettino’s number one transfer priority ahead of the transfer window closing should be the addition of another centre forward that can play alongside Kane or provide quality cover for him.

Clinton Njie is an exciting acquisition but is more suited to playing on a flank more than through the middle, while Chadli, Lamela etc are not options that can be relied on to play out of position.

The situation is reminiscent of North London rivals Arsenal and their over-reliance on Olivier Giroud at this time last season.

The French forward has not fully convinced the Gunners faithful of his merits even now and 12 months ago the jury was out on the former Montpellier man to some degree.

However, Giroud was asked to play pretty much every game that Arsenal had due to Nicklas Bendtner and a host of unproven youngsters being the only other options for Arsene Wenger’s men.

Giroud has since proven that he has all the attributes to score goals relatively consistently in the English top flight, but fatigue was a key issue in halting his progress last term.

Come November last year, the Frenchman was visibly drained due to playing too many games and Arsenal suffered as a result.

Although it was not a direct reason that the Gunners did not win the Premier League title last term, the lack of striking options certainly played its part in Wenger’s men not ending the season in top spot.

For Tottenham and Pochettino, Arsenal and Giroud should serve as a real example.

The last thing that the White Hart Lane side want after Kane’s phenomenal 31-goal season last term, is to overplay the star and his form and confidence to drop as a result.

The fact that Tottenham are completely reliant on a player with such little experience is worrying and would add pressure to someone who should be enjoying his football.

Spurs need to look after Kane and without a valid back-up option they rise ostracising their most valuable asset.

[ad_pod id=’ffc-poll’ align=’center’]

[ad_pod id=’ricco’ align=’center’]

Given the sheer popularity of their brand worldwide, it will come as no surprise that despite their horrendous start to the new season, Chelsea will be one of the most sought-after teams to play with in the forthcoming Ultimate Team mode of FIFA 16.

Facing a do or die game against London rivals Arsenal on Saturday lunchtime, Jose Mourinho is in uncharted territory right now finding his Blues side just one place outside the relegation zone after five games with a points tally of just four.

If FIFA 16 had been released already, we could’ve forgiven Blues supporters for escaping onto their consoles while trying to make everything right in a virtual world at least.

We all know by now that to beat your mate in the hugely popular FIFA series, pace is vital and with quite a lot of Chelsea’s players having pace to burn in the real world, this has been mirrored in the latest release this time around.

The stats are always heavily debated in the lead up to FIFA games being released with self confessed know-it-alls claiming they know better than EA Sports but with the developing body having all but added the finishing touches to their latest football game for another year, we’re taking this moment to list the five quickest Chelsea players in FIFA 16 when playing Ultimate Team.

[ffc-gallery]

Click on the image below to reveal the 5 quickest Chelsea players on FIFA 16 Ultimate Team.

[/ffc-gallery]

Alex Kiwomya

The fastest player in the entire Chelsea squad on FIFA 16 is actually somebody who more fickle Blues supporters might not have ever heard of!

Boasting an incredible pace rating of 93 which is three more than the twinkle-toed Eden Hazard, Kiwomya is a member of the Blues’ academy ranks and last season played five games for Barnsley on loan in League One.

A right winger by trade, Kiwomya is hugely unlikely to make an appearance in Chelsea’s first team this season simply due to the fact that youth products don’t get brought through so readily at Stamford Bridge but don’t let this stop you throwing in Andy Kiwomya’s son from the off on FIFA 16 as something of a wildcard option to rinse your mates’ opposition full back!

Eden Hazard

The second fastest Chelsea player on FIFA 16 is unsurprisingly the UK cover star from FIFA 15 in the shape and form of Eden Hazard.

We’ve all become accustomed to seeing the Belgian international leave opposition defenders trail in his wake as he gallivants beyond them with his superb pace and trickery.

With FIFA 16 having slapped him with a pace rating of 90, Hazard will be one of those players who’ll be a nightmare to defend against in the game.

We can see a few red cards coming for cynical tackles on Hazard when Chelsea are cruising against whoever their opposition is in FIFA 16.

Ramires

Branded by many as Chelsea’s running man, we all know that Ramires possesses incredible athleticism, having showcased his talents in England for five years now.

Trusted by Jose Mourinho as somebody who can contribute towards parking the bus while also being a threat in counter attacks, unfortunately for Ramires, he has witnessed Chelsea bringing in Nemanja Matic and more recently Cesc Fabregas who have usurped him to a place in the starting eleven.

Receiving a pace rating of 88 in FIFA 16, you might want to replace a subdued Fabregas with Ramires simply given the improvement in pace when attacking your mates’ defence.

Willian

Another of Chelsea’s speed merchants, we may see Willian receive a lot more of his game time in the number 10 role this term given the fact that new boy Pedro is set to become a mainstay on the right wing for the duration of the campaign.

With Pedro only receiving an 82 pace rating – no slouch we know – Willian beats him by seven with an overall pace rating of 89.

The Brazilian international may receive criticism from Chelsea supporters for his final ball but they’ll be no Blues fan complaining when they manage to dodge their mates’ opposition full back with the extreme speed of Willian on FIFA 16!

Loic Remy

Chelsea fans haven’t seen a lot of him so far this season but Loic Remy is another Blues star who is rated as one of the quickest players not only for Jose Mourinho’s men but also in the whole game of FIFA 16.

Boasting a pace rating of 90, Remy is ranked as faster than the 82-rated Diego Costa and 72-rated Radamel Falcao so this may provide some food for thought when selecting your one up top for the Blues within the game.

Remy has scored seven goals in 21 Premier League appearances so far but as long as Diego Costa is around at Stamford Bridge, we can only see the French international remaining a bit-part player in Mourinho’s plans.

Tottenham boss Maurico Pochettino has done a fantastic job of moulding a vibrant young side at White Hart Lane since he took over last year. The Spurs boss came into a side that failed to capitalise on the money received from Gareth Bale’s world record transfer to Real Madrid, and a host of big name stars who had failed to perform pretty much made up the side.

The likes of Paulinho, Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado have been moved on, and the North London side are creating a dynamic young team. Spearheaded by Harry Kane, the likes of Dele Alli and Eric Dier are helping form a new look spine in north London with a great deal of potential.

The 4-1 demolition of league leaders Manchester City showed a Spurs side in full flow, with the likes of Son Heung-min, Clinton N’Jie and Erik Lamela also adding to the aforementioned stars. Things are looking up for Pochettino, though there’s still work to do.

After such expenditure in the infamous summer spree of 2013, the Argentine must continue to sell unwanted players in order to add to his project.

Here’s a look at FIVE players who haven’t yet earned their spurs, and should be sold.

Mousa Dembele

The Belgian dynamo is no doubt a good player and is excellent on his day, but he doesn’t really fit the Mauricio mould. In this exciting new setup at White Hart Lane, the former Fulham man has lost his place to more energetic options such as Ryan Mason, Nabil Bentaleb, Dele Alli and Eric Dier.

He’s unlikely to be short of suitors, and the funds could be put towards a more exciting target. Linked with a move to Napoli, the midfielder should be thanked for his endeavours and moved on as soon as possible.

Federico Fazio

The Argentine defender has been kept out of the side thanks to the strong partnership of Belgian international pair Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld.

A summer move to West Brom fell through, and the 28-year old is on the periphery of first-team proceedings. Summer signing Kevin Wimmer and utility man Eric Dier can support the main choice centre-halves who have been so far extremely impressive.

Andros Townsend

The England winger is an odd one. On occasion, he can provide direct, old fashioned wing play by driving at defences and either shooting from distance or offering a teasing ball into the corridor of uncertainty.

However, those performances are too few and far between, and the 24-year old has lost his place in the side. Limited to just two starts in the Premier League this year, the likes of Son Heung-min, Nacer Chadli, Clinton N’jie and Erik Lamela can offer wide options around Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen.

Selling an England regular in January is likely to yield an almost excessive transfer fee, and Spurs can afford to get rid.

Tom Carroll

Tom Carroll is a classy footballer, but is out of his depth in this vibrant new Tottenham outfit. The attacking midfielder has been farmed out on loan a few times without ever imposing himself at any of the clubs.

The 23-year old is far from first team contention, and having him in the squad is doing neither party much good. A former England under-21 international, the classy midfield maestro may be better off getting his career back on track elsewhere. You don’t want to become another Josh McEachran, Tom.

Alex Pritchard

Like Carroll, Alex Pritchard could do with some time away from White Hart Lane. The 22-year old has been loaned out to the likes of Brentford and Swindon without really doing enough to force himself into Pochettino’s immediate plans.

Perhaps the youngster is exciting enough to be afforded another loan, but if a decent offer comes in for him from an ambitious promotion chasing Championship outfit, the north London titans should consider cutting their losses. With Christian Eriksen only a few years older, Spurs could surely afford to sell him.

It’s always a massive challenge for newly promoted sides to stay in the Premier League and the pressure to preserve precious top-flight status often prompts clubs to recruit rather than trust the players that have helped them gain promotion in the first place.

Regardless of what happens to Watford, Norwich and Bournemouth by the end of the current campaign, they each have individuals from their successful 2014-15 season that are continuing to impress despite the step up.

So here’s a look at three particular newly promoted stars who have impressed in the Premier League so far this term…

Nathan Redmond

Redmond’s excellent start to the season might have surprised Norwich manager Alex Neil or even the player himself.

While he was a key figure in the Canaries’ promotion last year, the winger scored only six times all season.

He is already on his way to matching that figure with  four strikes and only a quarter of fixtures gone in the bright lights of the Premier League.

At just 5 ft 8in and blessed with pace, the England U21 international is a classic nippy winger.

The former Birmingham man though, is also creative and loves the ball played into his feet. His confidence to take the ball anywhere across the Norwich forward line has led to him catching the eye over the early portion of the season.

Carrow Road fans will be bracing themselves for bids from rival clubs come the January transfer window.

The 21-year-old is an important part of Neil’s side and if he can maintain his form over the season, could yet come into Roy Hodgson’s thinking head of the Euro 2016 competition.

Odion Ighalo

Many a striker finishes a Championship season with plenty of goals to his name only to fail to carry that form up into the Premier League.

Odion Ighalo’s 27 strikes last term might be hard to replicate in the top flight but the Nigerian has set about the task impressively so far.

The 26-year-old was a bit of a journeyman in the early stages of his career, having played in Nigeria, Norway, Italy and Spain. Watford snapped him up after he was released by Udinese and the Lagos-born man has not looked back since.

With the Hornets expected to be involved in the relegation fight come the spring, the strike partnership between Ighalo and Troy Deeney will be responsible for scoring the goals to keep them safe.

The side are sitting comfortably in 11th at the moment, thanks largely to their star striker maintaining his impressive form and bagging seven goals with little regard for the supposedly tighter defences at the top level.

Matt Ritchie

Another diminutive winger that has made no little impact this term.

Ritchie did in fact feature in the Premier League as a young player with Portsmouth several years ago when he made just a couple of appearances.

The wideman, now 26, has played a lot of football at a lower level since then but can now, at last, call himself an established Premier League player.

The former Swindon man has been a stellar fixture for Bournemouth so far this season, continuing the fine form which saw him score 15 times as the Cherries were promoted last year.

His contribution so far has featured a couple of goals in the league including a belter against Sunderland.

It has even been reported that Louis Van Gaal is among several rival Premier League managers monitoring Ritchie.

The Gosport-born man has also made an impact on the international scene with a superb strike for Scotland against Poland. His long range shooting and indeed his crossing, will be valuable assets to Eddie Howe’s men in their fight for survival.

Sir Alex Ferguson won 24 major honours with Manchester United (Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League). He is widely regarded as the modern era’s greatest manager and is in an all time hall of fame that contains the greatest managers the world has ever seen. In short, he’s an Old Trafford legend. However, it didn’t always look like this was going to be the case. It took him four years to win his first major trophy, and in that time there were plenty of loud and vociferous calls from the fanbase for him to pack his bags and leave.

I mention this now because those same calls are being heard again at the Theatre of Dreams, and this time they’re directed at Louis van Gaal, who’s coming under fire not only for the slow, ponderous and frankly boring style of football his side are playing at the moment, but also because results in this first half of the season haven’t really been good enough. Dumped out of their Champions League group after never really getting going in the competition, they’re now in crisis mode in the league as well after consecutive defeats to newly-promoted Bournemouth away and Norwich at home.

Looking at those results then, as well as the frankly soperific football that the side is playing, one can easily see why fans are getting agitated with what they see as a complete lack of progress since the Dutchman was appointed back in summer 2014. For fans used to regularly seeing their side win silverware, these fallow periods will inevitably be hard to take.

However, I believe Man United would be making a grave mistake if they were to sack Van Gaal now. His reputation, and the fact that he successfully managed to get them into the Champions League last season surely means that he should be given at least until the end of the season (or very close to) to try and turn things around and get United back on track. This would be a fair amount of time to give him, bearing in mind that the Red Devils are still definitely in the running to win the league this season, as well as no doubt preparing to have a good crack at the FA Cup and maybe an extended run in the Europa League.

I also think that if they do get rid of the current manager now smacks of panic . Already half way through the season and with the January transfer window looming just around the corner, surely it would be far better to wait for the end of the campaign, and then if the hierarchy are still unhappy with how things are going, make a change then?

Nobody is saying that this season has not been a poor one so far for United and Van Gaal. However, this is a club which does not panic and is always exceedingly meaningful about hiring and firing managers. It would be a shame for everyone if that changed now. Getting rid of LVG would only destabilise the current squad and the club even further, and potentially make it even less likely that they can achieve what they want to this season. Patience is an underrated and underused virtue in football these days, and the United fans could do with some of it right now.

[ad_pod id=’writeforus’ align=’center’]

It happens so often in any walk of life, but football is just so public that it really makes an impact.

There were many that eagerly awaited the start of Louis van Gaal’s tenure at Old Trafford, after all, he had been successful all over Europe and experience is not lacking with this high profile coach.

When you look at his CV, he has won three Dutch titles, the UEFA Cup, the Dutch Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the Champions League with Ajax. With Barcelona he won two Spanish titles, the UEFA Super Cup and a Copa del Rey. At AZ Alkmaar he won another Eredivisie title and then with Bayern Munich he won the league title, the German cup, the German Super Cup and reached the final of the Champions League. After all that he led the Netherlands national team to the 2014 World Cup, performing well in Brazil. If that wasn’t quite enough, Van Gaal has been named as manager of the year, coach of the year and so it goes on… This man is no idiot.

Clearly he has a pedigree and clearly he knows his football. Success has followed him around, but at United, the whole thing has changed and he has had a trophy-less 18 months. Expectation levels at the Old Trafford club are not up for negotiation, so when he took over from the short-lived David Moyes era, Manchester United fans were looking for more than they’ve been given.

What they have had is at least qualification for the Champions League, but that was over all too soon, and now they have the Europa League and Thursday night football to look forward to. The only other trophy, realistically speaking, that is up for grabs is the FA Cup, as the league now looks a speck on the horizon.

If we are very honest, Manchester United could be without any silverware for another season, and that will unsettle an already unhappy set of natives, but with Van Gaal being thought of as a top coach, where has it all fallen away?

If you watch United these days, the football as we know is monotonous, dull, uninspiring and frankly pedestrian in appearance. With no disrespect to teams like Norwich and Southampton, Manchester United at home should be winning these games at a canter, but times are a changing in the Premier League and clubs are buying better players for a start. His spending at United has been exorbitant, as over £200m has been splashed, but the club are seemingly no further forward. The January transfer window has come and gone with no arrivals. Was this the board saying – ‘Sorry Louis, but you’re not staying, so we are not buying in this window?’

And this is another point. United always attracted the top players. Playing for Manchester United was the ultimate achievement, but not anymore. With Sir Alex Ferguson retired, they cannot seem to fill transfer targets with enough desire to get them on a plane to Manchester airport. The players that are joining the club, in some cases, are absolute stars, but for some unexplainable reason, they are being played out of position or sat on the bench. Wayne Rooney isn’t the player he was, but then he’s out of position. Michael Carrick is an ageing star of the team and has had his fair share of injuries and none of this has helped Van Gaal, but he calls the shots. The buck stops with him.

It is also indicative of the Dutch way, that he comes across as slightly arrogant. He may not mean to, but in the press conferences of late, he has a manner, a demeanour that isn’t doing him any favours. He famously stated that the media have sacked him three times and then another piece of theatre was asking for an apology that never came. Whatever you do, keep the press onside, or they will kill you.

The knives aren’t exactly out for Van Gaal, but he is doing a grand job of driving a huge wedge between those that could support him or get him sacked. And he won’t get sacked.

He could walk at any time. He could decide tomorrow that enough is enough.

Van Gaal obviously thinks that his way is right. A strict disciplinarian, a knowledgeable, intelligent man that seems a tiny bit lost right now. He can see the end is coming, but he will see the season through now that Ed Woodward has bought him another bottle of excellent wine. In his personal life, he has suffered and with that type of suffering comes a change in any person.

However, under the bright lights of the media and all its available channels, his time will be seen as a failure.

For Manchester United, there is next season to plan for. Knowing that you neighbours have stolen a lead on you with a managerial target of your own – Pep Guardiola – means that the board will need to appoint a name to take over. The hierarchy at United don’t want to be seen as hirers and firers, but something needs to be done. With a limited choice, they will need experience and so Ryan Giggs will need to wait. Jose Mourinho is an option, but there are as many reasons to employ him as to pass him by. There is the outside chance that Van Gaal will stay, but it is thought to be unlikely. For the team, a new manager means an overhaul, and as Liverpool will be doing the same this coming summer, United’s entrance doors may be swinging back and forth, as players come and go. Interesting times ahead.

For LVG, it’s a sad note on which to end a managerial career. He has already said that retirement looms, but surely he hoped for more than this.

[ad_pod id=’football-survey’ align=’center’]

[ad_pod id=’ricco’ align=’center’]