Solskjaer’s Haaland pursuit, United seek data scientists, Liverpool set for move
https://theathletic.com/2159352/2020/10/26/haaland-solskjaer-liverpool-training-ground-united-data-scientists-drug-tests/
Edinson Cavani has made a very good impression in his first week at Carrington and will offer Anthony Martial genuine competition for a starting place this season, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer still has designs on enhancing his centre-forward options in the long term. The name at the top of his list? Erling Haaland.
Manchester United’s negotiations with Haaland’s agent Mino Raiola may have ended fractiously last year but bridges are said to remain intact between Solskjaer and the player.
Jadon Sancho will also continue to be uppermost in Solskjaer’s mind, even if Cavani now has the shirt originally bracketed for the England international. Sources say an informal codename among those trying to strike a deal for Borussia Dortmund forward Sancho was “Project No 7”.
As far as Haaland goes, Solskjaer wanted to bring him to Old Trafford at the earliest opportunity having managed his fellow Norwegian at Molde in their homeland, but United refused to agree to the release clause demanded by Raiola.
Dortmund won the pursuit for the then-Red Bull Salzburg striker through their presentation of a sporting project and by accepting a clause that is understood to allow Haaland to leave if there is a bid of €75 million (about £68 million) in the summer of 2022.
Cavani’s 12-month contract with United can extend to that date if a clause is triggered, although sources say an earlier move for Haaland could materialise at a higher price if it becomes clear the 20-year-old is ready to move.
This weekend, Haaland scored his fifth goal in five Bundesliga games with a dinked finish in the derby against Schalke and Solskjaer believes the Norway international will become Europe’s elite striker for the next decade, justifying the high price tag.
Whether United would be willing to engage in more talks with Dortmund remains to be seen though, after the Sancho saga and a bruising episode that saw them lose out to the Germans over Birmingham City’s Jude Bellingham.
Liverpool finally set to move into £50m training ground
Liverpool are set to finally make the move to their new £50 million training complex in Kirkby next month, reports James Pearce.
The Premier League champions were initially scheduled to leave their historic Melwood home at the end of last season. However, those plans had to be shelved due to delays to the construction project in Kirkby caused by social distancing measures.
Melwood was sold for around £10 million to be turned into housing but Liverpool inserted a clause that gave them the option to stay put for the entire 2020-21 campaign in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
The decision over whether to make the switch mid-season has rested with Jurgen Klopp and The Athletic understands the manager has now indicated he’s keen for it to happen during the next international break.
It means Liverpool’s Premier League trip to face Manchester City on November 8 is likely to be the final game where preparations take place at Melwood, which has been the club’s training base dating back to Bill Shankly’s reign 60 years ago.
Klopp championed the idea of bringing the first-team and youth set-ups together on one site shortly after his appointment in 2015. He felt constrained by the lack of space at Melwood and the club’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, backed his vision by purchasing 14 acres of additional land next to the academy base. Work started in September 2018 and was close to completion before being halted in March as a consequence of the pandemic.
Klopp was heavily involved in the design process of the 9,200-square-metre complex, which was led by London-based architects KSS. Senior players such as Jordan Henderson and James Milner also had some input in terms of the layout of the dressing rooms. The building, seen below in designs released before the pandemic, includes two gyms, a large indoor sports hall, swimming pool, an extensive hydrotherapy complex, specialist sports rehabilitation and medical suites as well as relaxation and dining areas.
There are also dedicated TV studios, press conference facilities and an array of offices, with balconies overlooking three GrassMaster hybrid pitches.
Klopp has also had a paddle tennis court built for his pre-training session battles with assistant manager Pep Lijnders.
United search outside of football for new data scientist
Manchester United are closing in on appointing a data scientist to support research across a number of areas at the club, Adam Crafton reports.
Head of football development John Murtough has whittled down a shortlist to a handful of candidates, whose credentials will be presented to Joel Glazer and Ed Woodward for final selection. Industry insiders expect a decision to be made on the hire within a month.
United originally had a very long list of targets from the football world but are now looking at a more corporate external hire, possibly from a pharmaceutical background, although this is not guaranteed. The aim has been to entice specialists from these fields with the lure of working for an elite football club.
United want someone who can study data across a range of performance indicators — including medical and recruitment — but will also be able to straddle the business side of the club.
The role is a step in the direction of United establishing their own research unit, similar to what Liverpool have done with Dr Ian Graham. Graham holds a Cambridge degree in theoretical physics and his modelling has helped improve Liverpool’s record on injury prevention, conditioning, on-field performance and recruitment.
United’s process has been in the works for several months, prior to the outbreak of coronavirus, and the pandemic raised the prospect of the appointment being paused.
But Joel Glazer, who is in daily contact with executive vice-chairman Woodward, wanted United to press on.
Three Premier League players ‘failed’ drug tests last season
Three Premier League footballers recorded positives in drug tests during the 2019-20 season, The Athletic can reveal. They were found not to have broken any rules and were allowed to continue playing by UK Anti-Doping (UKAD).
It is understood one of the banned substances a player tested positive for was methylphenidate, which is often sold under the trade name Ritalin. The stimulant medication is most commonly used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) banned list because it may enhance explosiveness, power, strength or stamina.
Another player tested positive for methylprednisolone, a corticosteroid commonly used to treat inflammatory and allergic disorders. It can also help athletes train more often and at a higher intensity.
The identity of the third substance was withheld by UKAD. The Athletic understands this is because it relates to an ongoing investigation.
No punishments were handed out because the players received therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) to allow them to continue playing. TUEs permit the use of substances or methods that are on the prohibited list, depending on the athlete’s clinical situation.
In total, UKAD handed out eight of them last season, while five additional TUEs were granted by UEFA to players in European competition.
The number of Premier League players to have recorded positive drug tests is down compared to previous seasons.
In 2018-19, there were 11 instances of players testing positive for substances on WADA’s banned list. This follows from eight during 2017-18, six in 2017-18 and two during 2016-17.
Dele left out of Spurs squad for Burnley game
It is understood Dele Alli will not feature for Tottenham Hotspur in their Premier League match against Burnley this evening having not travelled north with the squad yesterday.
The 24-year-old midfielder is not injured and did play in the Europa League win against LASK on Thursday, coming off the bench for the final 30 minutes of that 3-0 victory.
At the end of last month Dele was left out of the squad for the Carabao Cup game against Chelsea having been linked with a move away from Tottenham, but no offers were forthcoming before the transfer window closed on October 5.
Dele has not started a league match for Jose Mourinho’s side since the opening day of this season, a 1-0 defeat at home to Everton on September 13 when he was subbed off at half-time and replaced by Moussa Sissoko. His only minutes in the league since then were the final 21 against Manchester United earlier this month, at which point Spurs were 5-1 up and cruising.
His lack of playing time has also impacted on his England chances, with Gareth Southgate leaving him out of both squads so far this season. His last appearance for England was in the Nations League match against Switzerland in June 2019.
Bubble gives Arteta greater control over under-23s
Mikel Arteta’s control at Arsenal extends to the under-23 side, it has emerged. Conscious of getting minutes for some of his fringe players, Arteta spoke to Steve Bould before the Premier League 2 game against Manchester United on October 17 so that Cedric Soares, William Saliba, Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe all started.
Bould, Arsenal’s under-23s manager, changed his team accordingly for a match that ended 3-3. Arsenal’s first-team and academy players are mixing as part of the same bubble at the club’s London Colney training base, so the transition between the sides is straightforward. No additional distancing measures are required.
The situation is different at United, where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first-team squad trains separately to youth groups. And that meant an unusual set of arrangements when Brandon Williams, Marcos Rojo and new signing Facundo Pellistri dropped down to the under-23s for Friday’s home match against Everton.
Protocols dictated that the trio could only mix with their team-mates on the pitch at Leigh Sports Village. So they each had to arrive individually by car, rather than on the team bus, and also get changed in a separate dressing room.
The Leigh site has four changing rooms, making the situation more manageable, but manager Neil Wood had to give his pre-match instructions to the players in his usual under-23s squad, then to the three from Solskjaer’s first-team side one after the other.
He still had to remain socially distanced from Williams, Rojo and Pellestri, who also had to wait for their team-mates to go onto the pitch before they could step into the tunnel to walk out.
EFL keeps new squad lists secret
Mesut Ozil was the highest-profile casualty when Premier League clubs were asked to submit their official 25-man squads last week. He was far from the only senior player who will have to sit out matches until January at the earliest after failing to make the cut at their team.
Down in the EFL, however, it is not quite so clear-cut. A new rule has been introduced this season stipulating that each club must submit a list, with a limit of 25 players for Championship teams and 22 for those in League One and League Two. The deadline was last Tuesday.
All fairly straightforward, apart from the delay involving Nottingham Forest’s proposed loan arrangement for West Bromwich Albion’s Kamil Grosicki, which went through 21 seconds after the 5pm deadline and subsequently had to go to an appeal.
The difference is that the EFL, unlike the Premier League, has not publicised the squad lists and when contacted by The Athletic it was not prepared to share who was in and who was out.
All very peculiar — and our understanding is that position might eventually change. For now, however, it remains a guessing game when it comes to which EFL players have missed the cut.
Lansbury turns down Villa pay-off
Henri Lansbury has turned down the offer of a payout on reduced terms as Aston Villa try to offload him, reports Gregg Evans.
The 30-year-old has not started a Premier League game since last December but refused to follow goalkeeper Orjan Nyland and midfielder Jota out of the club at the start of October.
Villa could not move Lansbury on to another club before the transfer deadline and subsequently tried to sort out an agreement to end his contract early. Without the full value of his deal being paid, however, he was not interested in leaving. His three-and-a-half year agreement, signed in January 2017, expires next summer.
The former Nottingham Forest captain has scored just two goals in 41 league appearances since. He is not in Villa’s 25-man squad but will continue to train at the club.
Why Brighton named academy coach in squad
A shock return to the Premier League for Andrew Crofts at the age of 36 has not been totally ruled out, but his appearance in Brighton & Hove Albion’s squad is for regulations-related reasons, Andy Naylor reports.
The former Wales international returned to the club for a third spell as a coach and an over-age player for the under-23s in July 2019. He had to be named in Brighton’s official 25-man squad list as he is a professional player above the age qualification criteria for exclusion.
Crofts is unlikely to ever be needed, but he is viewed at the Amex Stadium as an emergency option if Brighton were to be hit by a COVID-19 or major injury crisis.
The midfielder made 24 appearances for Norwich City in the Premier League in 2011-12 between two stints with Brighton that spanned five seasons in the Championship and League One. His last senior game was for Newport County in the 2019 League Two play-offs.
