Vesper

2020-21 English Premier League Brighton & Hove Albion Manchester United http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/premier-league-brighton-hove-albion-vs-manchester-united-s1/ https://www.totalsportek.com/manchester-united-matches-stream/

the best realistic partner for him for a couple years would be Felipe from Atletico Madrid so wish we would swap Kante for him and Thomas Partey and loan Sarr to Simeone as a pot sweetener, which would so help his development

absolutely he would have been

I would take these in a heartbeat (small list and obviously not ALL at once) Saúl Ñíguez (best CMF in the world IMHO, best Spanish player atm) Rodri (3rd best DMF in the world, after Kimmich and Casemiro IMHO) Mikel Oyarzabal Ansu Fati (top 5 teen in the world, and he is still only 17, one of the few bright lights at Barca atm) Thiago (superb buy by the dippers, I do NOT like them getting him, and btw, yes he is a Spanish national team player, but he was born in Italy, and lived in Brasil too, and is Brasilian genetically) Koke Ferran Torres Dani Olmo Pablo Sarabia (last season on the list, as he turns 30 towards the end of the season after this one) Sergio Reguilón (I still rate the hell out of him, and 2 LB's are needed, it is just a matter of playing him enough so he doesn't get pissed off but oh well, sigh) Luis Alberto Fabián Ruiz Riqui Puig (insane that Barca are considering selling him, he has baby Iniesta potential) Gerard Piqué same deal like Thiago when he leaves (he is 2 and a half years younger) Sergio Ramos same deal like Thiago when he leaves (he is a year and half younger than Thiago, and is better than Pique for the rest of their careers IMHO, and always was, even though he is a cunt, lol) NO MORE SPANISH GOALKEEPERS!!!!!!!!!

Lampard refuses to rule out Kepa loan https://www.goal.com/en/news/lampard-refuses-to-rule-out-kepa-loan-as-cech-returns-to/hcecmiy1outo1p12kstk9ncgs

I know you are talking about Lollichon, but Cech is younger than Willy, lol let that sink in

................beat West Brom as he returns to the field, between the posts he is YOUNGER than Willy

he oozes class

Edouard Mendy: Everything you need to know about Chelsea's £22million goalkeeper The 28-year-old has signed a five-year deal at Stamford Bridge, where he will look to usurp Kepa Arrizabalaga as Frank Lampard's first choice between the sticks https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/chelsea-transfer-edouard-mendy-wiki-22736820

2020-21 French Ligue 1 Lille Nantes http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/ligue-1-lille-vs-nantes-s2/ https://www.totalsportek.com/lille-losc/

It’s time for Barcelona to stop obsessing over ‘The Guardiola Way’ https://theathletic.com/2090549/2020/09/25/the-barcelona-way-guardiola-koeman-messi-philosophy/ This weekend, Ronald Koeman will take charge of his first competitive match as coach of Barcelona. We’ve all had several weeks to process the idea of Koeman in the dugout at the Nou Camp, and amid the drama about Lionel Messi’s allegedly imminent departure, followed by his dramatic U-turn, the identity of Barcelona’s manager has felt like a side story. But it nevertheless remains a remarkable situation: Barcelona appointing somebody whose last club job ended so disastrously that his employers felt compelled to replace him with Sam Allardyce. Koeman has since rehabilitated himself, performing impressively as manager of the Dutch national side. But the reason he received the call from Barcelona is, of course, the same reason Frank Lampard did from Chelsea, Mikel Arteta did from Arsenal, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did from Manchester United and, perhaps most strikingly, Andrea Pirlo did from Juventus. Koeman was outstanding for Barcelona in his playing days, and therefore there’s a perception that he “knows the club”; he “understands the Barca way”. But it’s now fully 25 years since Koeman departed as a player, and 20 years since he left as assistant to Louis van Gaal. Since then, he’s been in charge of Vitesse Arnhem, Ajax, Benfica, PSV Eindhoven, Valencia, AZ Alkmaar, Feyenoord, Southampton, Everton and Holland and, while there have been sporadic successes — three Eredivisie titles — this isn’t a manager who has appeared to be one of Europe’s best, nor who has remained committed to a definitive philosophy as much as several other young coaches. The reality, of course, is that Barcelona still have a complex about Pep Guardiola, and almost everything that has taken place at the Nou Camp since he departed in 2012 relates back to him. That was a truly legendary four-year period; people were already asking whether Guardiola’s Barcelona were the greatest side of modern times after a single season, and he subsequently created an even better side two years later. It’s not unreasonable to ask whether we’ll ever witness a more celebrated club team. The inequalities in European football have grown so much over the past decade that such overwhelmingly successful sides now feel somewhat routine. Bayern Munich have just won the treble, winning 18 of their last 19 league games, all six DVB-Pokal games and all 11 Champions League games — including beating Barcelona 8-2 in the quarter-finals — and yet it still feels a stretch to put them up there alongside Guardiola’s Barcelona. And if they can’t compare, who else ever can? Comparing every modern team with Guardiola’s Barcelona is, of course, a particular issue for Barcelona themselves. Guardiola’s overwhelming success at the club was based on a combination of three things. First, a genuine philosophy of possession football that ran through the club. Second, an outstanding group of homegrown players, led by Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Messi, probably unlike anything any club has ever produced before. Third, a revolutionary manager who rebooted old ideas for the modern era and delivered at a level beyond anyone’s dreams. These three facets became established as the club’s core identity; the problem is that they align very, very rarely. The philosophy The philosophical problem with Barcelona is three-fold. First, their actual philosophy has always been slightly more flexible than is now perceived. Yes, there’s a lineage of possession football, a high defensive line and 4-3-3 that goes back to Rinus Michels, but various managers have tinkered with it. There have been eras where Barcelona have been based around individuals, and eras where they were based around the system. There have been times when they retained the ball endlessly and times when they’ve been more direct. Their approach hasn’t been as consistent as is now often portrayed. Terry Venables took the club to a European Cup final in the 1980s with a 4-4-2, a solid defence and a hard-working midfield, and he wasn’t summarily banned from Catalonia. The second issue is that Barcelona have been huge victims of their own success. Almost every single top club in Europe now plays, broadly speaking, attack-minded, possession football. This would have been almost unthinkable 15 years ago, when Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez were the most dominant managers in Europe, successfully boring their way to European trophies with deep defensive blocks and sporadic attacking transitions. That was universally acknowledged as the default, most profitable way to play in continental competition. Barcelona’s approach was considered a utopian alternative, an admirable and fairly unique commitment to entertainment. Now, every club wants to play that way. Clubs whose previous approach was about the primacy of winning, Chelsea and Juventus, have both appointed Maurizio Sarri on the basis that he created a beautifully free-flowing but ultimately trophyless side at Napoli, which marks a dramatic attempt to redefine themselves, a process which can be traced back to Guardiola’s success with Barcelona. Therefore, not only is Barcelona’s philosophy less unique, it also means that others are competing for the talent they might desire. In yesteryear, a coach in Sarri’s position — after three years at Napoli — would have seemed an ideal fit for Barcelona. They would never have been competing with the likes of Chelsea and Juventus. The third and most pressing issue is that Europe has moved on from pure tiki-taka. There was a period when Barcelona alone played that way, a period afterwards where everyone in Europe played that way, and now a period where everyone in Europe has incorporated those methods into their possession game while also offering more. Hansi Flick’s Bayern are a good example, as are Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. Klopp’s side aren’t truly about possession and build-up play in the manner of Guardiola’s Barcelona, but they play 4-3-3, they press aggressively, they play a false nine and two goal-scoring wide forwards. It should be enough. But Barcelona have convinced themselves that they’re supposed to be purer than anyone else, and therefore despite Klopp’s approach embodying many elements of the Barcelona way, they probably feel they have to be “more Barca” than that. Which is quite difficult, and probably leads them down a path where success is considerably more difficult to achieve. Perhaps most striking is the fact that Guardiola himself has created two sides, at Bayern and Manchester City, that demonstrate how he’s evolved his approach from those Barcelona days. Barcelona are more concerned with playing “The Guardiola Way” than Guardiola himself. They’re so desperate for someone who shares Guardiola’s beliefs that they’ve ended up appointing his old “defensive partner”, (as Johan Cruyff used to term them, given Guardiola would drop back and cover for Koeman’s forward charges) as their manager. The homegrown talent In 2012, just after Guardiola’s departure, Barcelona briefly fielded an team comprised entirely of graduates from their academy. The XI was Victor Valdes, Martin Montoya, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Pedro Rodriguez, Lionel Messi and Cesc Fabregas. There are a few caveats here — Pique, Alba and Fabregas all left the club and then rejoined. And while Fabregas moved to Arsenal before he was 17, Puyol and Pedro joined after they turned 17. So the criteria is a little flimsy — but the point remains. This was a wonderful era where Barcelona produced genuinely world-class footballers at an alarming rate. Again, this was an exaggerated example of Barcelona’s focus upon youth. Yes, there has always been some commitment there to developing young talent, but there was never anything comparable to this crop. Their 1992 European Cup winners, for example, featured just Guardiola himself and reliable right-back Albert Ferrer from the youth system — and this was a time when the three-foreigner rule meant teams were more likely to field homegrown players. That was often as good as it got. Also in the 1990s, there were the likes of speedy left-back Sergi, plus the hard-working midfielder Amor. But in terms of genuine attacking talent, the likes of Ivan de la Pena and Jordi Cruyff were realistically not a suitable level for making Barcelona the best side in Europe. Barcelona tended to mix homegrown, hard-working players with genuine superstars. Later, they would feature the likes of Puyol and Oleguer Presas at the back, and the likes of Ronaldinho and Patrick Kluivert going forward. The youth products formed a solid backbone. They didn’t really lead the charge. Today, there seems to be an expectation that Barcelona will continue to produce world-class talent after world-class talent from the academy. The expectations are enormous — young midfielder Carles Alena was briefly heralded as The New Xavi or The New Iniesta, and may yet become a Barcelona regular. Equally, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Alena “only” turned out to be good enough for Villarreal or Real Sociedad. Producing genuinely top-class players is incredibly hard. This season, focus has turned to youth product Ansu Fati and Pedri, signed in the summer from Las Palmas after a good Segunda campaign. They might be the future of Barcelona — but both are 17. While Messi was good enough at 17, others take time to develop. At 17, Pedro had only just joined Barcelona’s academy and was five years away from becoming a regular. Too much expectation upon a pair of 17-year-olds doesn’t merely risk an underwhelming season, it also risks harming their long-term footballing development, and Barcelona can’t pretend that every talented teenager will automatically grow into another world-beater. The manager The choice of Barcelona’s new manager was so inextricably linked to Guardiola’s legacy that it essentially came down to two men — Guardiola’s old defensive partner Koeman, and Guardiola’s first colleague and then successor in midfield, Xavi. Koeman got the job, but really only because Xavi doesn’t want it yet. It would have been a foolish decision for Xavi to take the job now, while the hapless Josep Bartomeu remains club president. Between November and March, depending upon how a vote of confidence in Bartomeu goes, there will be presidential elections at Barcelona, and the frontrunner, Victor Font, will almost certainly appoint Xavi next summer. So Koeman is probably only going to be in place for a year. The mood at the club is evidently gloomy — Messi was desperate to depart, and highly successful players such as Luis Suarez and Arturo Vidal have been almost paid to leave. If there is value in Koeman knowing the club, it’s probably about his understanding of the political side of things, and his history of understanding how big personalities operate at big clubs, rather than the tactical philosophy. Nevertheless, the tactical side of things should be interesting. In a 1-0 friendly win over Elche this week, Koeman used something that could be considered a 4-2-4, a 4-2-3-1 or (considerably more loosely than usual) a 4-3-3. Messi played in his Guardiola-era position as a false nine, with Coutinho in an advanced version of Iniesta’s role in the inside-left position. Fati attacked from wide left, Antoine Griezmann from wide right, while Frenkie de Jong was fielded deep alongside Busquets. When Messi drifted right, Griezmann moved up front. And if there’s to be a serious legacy from Koeman’s spell in charge, it seems highly likely to involve De Jong, surely the most fascinating player to emerge in European football in recent years, someone who felt like he was revolutionising the game at Ajax: starting in midfield, dropping into defence and then driving forward directly. A holding midfielder who is a press-resistant dribbler is Barcelona’s best chance of being at the forefront of tactical innovation once again, and Koeman knows his talents well, having coached him for Holland. “The plan is to start playing Frenkie de Jong in the position that he plays with the national team,” Koeman confirmed shortly after taking charge. “I remember attending a Barcelona game and I saw him play a position where I wouldn’t play him as a coach,” he continued, almost certainly talking about De Jong’s peculiar role almost on the left of a diamond. “You’ve spent a lot of money on a young player. You should then play him in his own position, where he can perform in a way you’d expect from him. He’s shown at Ajax and with the Dutch national team which position suits him best and that’s where he will be playing at Barcelona as well.” Just as Guardiola built his Barcelona side around his equivalents — Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta — Koeman will do so with the closest thing to himself. And that might just work. De Jong feels very Barcelona, but he doesn’t feel very Guardiola-era Barcelona, and that will help Koeman achieve his almost impossible task: staying faithful to the club’s classic approach, while creating something new.

Should City have signed Thiago or can they replace Silva from within? https://theathletic.com/2090519/2020/09/25/manchester-city-aouar-foden-thiago-bennacer/ For all the centre-back hokey cokey, the striker enquiries, the left-back wait-and-sees and the Lionel Messi rollercoaster, Manchester City have been clear on one thing this summer: there will be no new midfielders. No Denis Zakaria, no Ismael Bennacer, no Houssem Aouar, no Thiago, not even Douglas Luiz, who could have been re-signed from Aston Villa with a buy-back clause. Despite David Silva’s exit, and his importance not just to this City team but to every City team of the last decade, the club’s decision makers believe they have everything they need already. “At the moment we have enough players in this position,” Pep Guardiola said last Friday. But do they? Phil Foden is supposed to be Silva’s successor, of course, and that is something Guardiola himself has said many times. A year ago, had it been suggested that City would buy a replacement for Silva they would have been criticised for putting an obstacle in Foden’s path, and there would’ve been some justification for that criticism. A lot has changed in that time, however, as it has become increasingly clear that Guardiola is reluctant to play Foden or Bernardo Silva in Silva’s left-sided No 8 role. In the past few months, it has been more common to see Foden playing in the front three, and Bernardo’s appearances in midfield have generally been in place of De Bruyne. That’s because, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, Foden, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne are different players to Silva, and Guardiola wants one “De Bruyne-type” and one “Silva-type” when he plays two No 8s. Foden, Bernardo and De Bruyne will carry the ball and probe for openings, whereas Silva is a “take the ball, pass the ball” kind of player. By using the ball quickly and efficiently, it helps dictate the tempo of a game, and it gives an element of control. Ilkay Gundogan is the only similar midfielder in the squad, which is why the German has filled in for Silva far more than anybody else. But while Silva and Gundogan are the same type of player, Silva is far more effective in the final third. Even so, Silva was often left out last season because of his lack of physicality and energy, so in an ideal world City would need a mobile, hard-working, creative No 8 who can also dictate the rhythm of a game, which is obviously not easy. It seems a no-brainer to many of us to simply play Foden or Bernardo next to De Bruyne given they are all mobile, hard-working and creative, but without that element of control it’s just not a Guardiola team. Instead, one of the ways he planned to replace Silva and retain that level of control heading into this season was to play four central players in the team instead of three — for example Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne and Bernardo — and that is what we saw on Monday at Wolves. In Gundogan’s absence, Fernandinho returned to midfield alongside Rodri in a double pivot, which seemed to be Guardiola’s preferred mechanism for protecting his defence last season. De Bruyne floated around on the left, where Silva would normally be, and Foden dropped in from the right wing, making it a midfield four at times but still managing to provide an outlet out wide, which is bound to be very useful. It worked well enough and it is easy to imagine Bernardo slotting in somewhere (either in Foden’s position or even De Bruyne’s) and Gundogan being used basically anywhere, given how much Guardiola values him. So there are clearly ways to live without Silva, and in Rodri, Gundogan, Fernandinho, Foden, Bernardo and De Bruyne you would sound a bit spoiled to suggest City need another player, but… there’s a very good argument that they do. Guardiola’s two most successful seasons at City came with one holding midfielder and two No 8s, and of the four players who can play there (Foden, Bernardo, De Bruyne, Gundogan), three are effectively vying for the same role, with Gundogan the only one who can do close to what Silva did. That’s not ideal because even those around Gundogan believe he is better in a deeper position. It is obviously difficult to find another Silva in the transfer market, but there simply isn’t one in the City squad at all and that makes it very hard to return to the system that delivered so many trophies between 2017 and 2019. And clearly there were some options in the market this summer. It’s hard to make the argument that City need another deep-lying midfielder urgently, given Rodri is entering his second season, Gundogan is a very good option and Fernandinho is very capable cover even at 35, but… City are using the double-pivot quite a lot and sometimes a player becomes available that is worth going for. “That 20 to 25-year-old category, that’s the spot that we like,” City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak says of potential signings, “but at the same time, sometimes opportunities come up that fit with what the manager wants and with what we need for the squad that might be out of that box, and if that’s the case we’re pragmatic enough to make that move.” He was talking more about Kalidou Koulibaly and Messi, but surely that also goes for 29-year-old Thiago? There’s an element of fantasy football about this but given City would move for older players if they’re what’s needed, the relatively low transfer fee (£20 million) and his sheer suitability to the squad, then surely the Spaniard would have been perfect? It would have been harder to justify a move for Bennacer, the highly-rated Algerian at AC Milan, or even Douglas Luiz who improved so much at Villa last season. Thiago, on the other hand, may just be the best “control” midfielder in the world so it’s hard to think of an especially good reason why he would not have been of interest to City. If anything, it would have stopped Liverpool getting him and, with the benefit of hindsight, had City taken that approach with Virgil van Dijk, then history would have looked very different. And then there’s Aouar, a player City like a lot and one who played so well against them in the Champions League in August. With City short of options to play Silva’s No 8 role, the Frenchman would have been perfect. He is the same type of “control” player, but one who is creative in the final third. Lyon seem to be willing to sell for under £60 million, the type of figure City have spent on players in the past two summers, and going by the enquiries they have made in other positions, they have that money available. In fairness, Guardiola’s first attempt to crack life after Silva looked promising at Wolves, and if Foden’s ability to play in midfield and out wide at the same time is what it takes to help City move on then he will be, in a way, the Silva successor after all. But if the plan is to get four central players into the team instead of three, there’s bound to be a shortfall somewhere else eventually. There will be games when City need a right winger who can destabilise the opposition with a dribble, when somebody like Riyad Mahrez or new boy Ferran Torres will be needed to help unpick a deep defence, and Guardiola will have to come up with alternative arrangements in midfield. Perhaps that will be what he tried last season, with Rodri and Gundogan next to each other and De Bruyne further forward. The prospect of the “Rodrigan” pairing, rightly or wrongly, will not fill many fans with confidence. There is something to be said for trying to find solutions within the current squad. From within the City bubble it’s easy to say that the defence, midfield and attack all need new signings (and from my point of view, they do) but, at the same time, outside observers could surely argue that a squad filled with such quality and expensive players, coached by somebody as good as Guardiola, should not always rely on the transfer market. So it will be both interesting and refreshing to see Guardiola and his players come up with the solutions themselves. But you don’t win extra points for degrees of difficulty, and in terms of squad planning it does seem to be a risk for a club as prepared as City not to address the situation. They’re still trying to replace Vincent Kompany’s unique influence, after all. It would be a real achievement if they can get by without Silva.

Friday September 25 2020 Football Nerd How Crystal Palace's attacks have been the fastest in the Premier League By Daniel Zeqiri Exploiting attacking transitions is crucial in modern football. Thanks to the exhaustive use of data and ever more forensic video scouting, teams have never been more well organised and attuned to their opponent's strengths. The few seconds after possession changes hands when defences are disorganised is a precious chance to launch an ambush. No team has been more impressive in this regard than Crystal Palace, who collected maximum points from two difficult opening games against Southampton and Manchester United. Palace have recorded the fastest attacking sequences of any team in the Premier League so far this season. With the important caveat that the season is only two games old, I analyse those numbers here.

will be interesting to see if he progresses, he has stalled out, thus went off my main board of targets for us massive potential

you forgot Drinkwater

Fall 2020 - bit-part striker Batshuayi still not sold, lolol

What next? Sissy Spacek and Jennifer Aniston to buy Solihull Moors? THE GANG BUYS A NON-LEAGUE FOOTBALL CLUB The Fiver’s downtime is usually spent slugging super-strength Tin while watching 2. Bundesliga matches with chalkboard in hand. Who needs Netflix when Talking Pictures shows old episodes of Budgie, Catweazle and the late Jill Gascoine in The Gentle Touch? Superhero films are also a no-no at Fiver Towers. Who needs caped crusaders when you have Paul Lambert and Phillip Cocu? Thus, the news that Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have been revealed as potential investors in Wrexham AFC required some frantic googling on our abacus. Isn’t Deadpool a Dirty Harry sequel? It is really Always Sunny in Philadelphia? And what comes to mind about Wrexham’s football club itself? Yes, Mickey Thomas thudding a free-kick past David Seaman in January 1992 and dumping league champions Arsenal out of the FA Cup when Wrexham had finished the previous season 92nd in the league. And yes, then Mickey T’s printing machine. Perhaps that lurid tale caught the eye of a 15-year-old Reynolds as he grew up in Vancouver or a 14-year-old McElhenney while he grew up in, er, Philly. Or perhaps the pull of a club that gave the world Dai Davies, Brian Flynn, Horace Blew, Albert Kinsey and Joey Jones did it. Either way, a wash of cold reality is required. 'This could be a game-changer': Wrexham prepare for dose of Hollywood Read more Wrexham are in the National League, an entity for which there is no guarantee the 2020-21 season will be started, let alone completed. And the second wave of Covid-19 is likely to starve lower- and non-league clubs of access to the lifeblood of gate receipts for the foreseeable future. The club is fan-owned, a state of being that would have saved Bury and Macclesfield from their recent collapses, and the Wrexham Supporters Trust Board voted overwhelmingly in favour of allowing the interest to progress. There is palpable enthusiasm at the prospect of dollars and immaculate dentistry coming to Clwyd. “97.5% of voters (1,223 members) voted in favour of the resolution,” chirruped a statement. Reynolds is something of a magnate, having made decent coin beyond the screen from having stakes in designer gin and mobile telephony. He and McElhenney see something in a small club that has struggled on for years. Should they be successful at Wrexham then lower-league fans begging random north American actors to bail out their club may become a common sight to behold on social media disgraces. Matt Damon and Bryan Cranston to buy Boreham Wood? Sissy Spacek and Jennifer Aniston for Solihull Moors? Scott Baio and Bronson Pinchot to rescue Rochdale? Struggling provincial football clubs could soon become the new Hollywood A-list must-haves.

so wish we draw them some day again!! or a miracle takes place and they get promoted those fuckers even managed a pitch invasion at the new Wembley

Cox: Jota will score goals, ‘press like a monster’ and… get opponents sent off https://theathletic.com/2087584/2020/09/24/jota-liverpool-klopp-pressing-fouls/ Look up the statistics from Diogo Jota’s first two Premier League campaigns and you’ll be quietly impressed — 16 goals and six assists is a decent return for a young attacker (he was 21 at the start of the 2018-19 season). What you won’t find among the usual statistical categories is a quality that remains undervalued: the ability to get an opponent sent off. Over the last two seasons with Wolves, an opposition player has been shown a red card for fouling Jota on five occasions in the Premier League, and when you calculate how many minutes he has played over that period (4,670), it means he gets an opponent dismissed every 934 minutes — roughly once every 10 matches. That tally probably should have been six red cards (more on that later). But what do all these incidents demonstrate about Jota’s game, and what he’ll now bring to Liverpool? It’s clear that Jurgen Klopp wants his attacking players to be energetic and tenacious when pressing from the front — yesterday, his assistant Pep Lijnders said Jota is a “pressing monster, so he will fit right in” — which makes this first incident particularly intriguing. Early in Jota’s Premier League career, Everton are hosting Wolves, and their captain Phil Jagielka is receiving a simple square ball across his defence. Jota doesn’t close down too early, for fear of the pass being played elsewhere, but as soon as it is played to Jagielka, Jota takes the opportunity to charge towards him. Under pressure, Jagielka miscontrols, lunges in on Jota and is shown a straight red card (which could arguably have been awarded either for serious foul play or for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity). Wolves had a numerical advantage for 50 minutes and drew 2-2, scoring both their goals against the 10 men. That could have been an isolated incident, but Newcastle’s DeAndre Yedlin — unusually, playing at centre-back in this example — found himself in an almost identical situation in the December of that season. Again, there’s a square pass towards the opposition’s right-sided centre-back, and Jota glances over his shoulder to check his team-mates’ readiness for pressing. Yedlin plays the ball on to right-back Javier Manquillo, who is pressed from behind by Jonny Castro Otto, so Jota senses the ball will be returned to Yedlin… …and the American does a Jagielka — he miscontrols under pressure from Jota, is caught in possession, and hauls him down. He’s dismissed by Mike Dean. Wolves played the final 34 minutes of that game with a one-man advantage and won 2-1 thanks to a last-minute Matt Doherty goal. Pressing was a fundamental part of Jota’s game at Wolves, particularly in combination with Jonny behind him. This incident doesn’t lead to a red card — it leads to a goal — but it’s another example of his intelligence and work rate. Away at Brighton last December, Jota leads the press in the inside-left channel, which leaves right-back Steven Alzate free… …the ball is played forward to Davy Propper, and then out towards Alzate… …but Jonny is following up Jota’s initial press and pounces on the loose ball… …and slips in Jota to score. He started the press and then finished off the move. Jota’s tendency to close down high up the pitch was also in evidence at Anfield in a narrow 1-0 loss just after Christmas last season, when he caught Virgil van Dijk in possession… …and ran in behind to fire a decent effort at goal, with Van Dijk a spectator. But back to the red cards. Two days before that Liverpool defeat, Jota earned his most “valuable” opposition dismissal. It came in Wolves’ 3-2 victory over Manchester City and meant his side had the luxury of playing against the defending champions with an extra player for 78 minutes in the busiest period in the season. It proved crucial — Wolves came back from 2-0 down after 51 minutes to win, again with an 89th-minute goal from Doherty. This was a simple move — one of Conor Coady’s typical long passes over the top into the inside-left channel… …which allowed Jota to run in behind, forcing Ederson to sweep way outside his area. After Jota knocked the ball past the Brazil goalkeeper, he was bundled to the ground. That run is a typical feature of Jota’s game and worked particularly well with the passing range of Wolves’ defenders and midfielders. Here’s a fine goal Jota scored against Everton late last season, with Ruben Neves out on the right flank, and arrowing a long pass in behind… …for Jota to run on to and finish excellently with his left foot. That goal was familiar to anyone who watched Wolves’ 4-3 victory over Leicester City in January 2019, which featured a Jota hat-trick. Again, there was a long Neves ball into the left channel… …which saw Jota streaking away from Wes Morgan and finishing coolly. Jota also linked excellently with centre-forward Raul Jimenez, and that combination brought another of the red cards Jota earned — in a trip to Watford on the first day of 2020. This featured a bouncing ball that Jimenez got up above Christian Kabasele to nod in behind… …Jota was first onto the ball, and Kabasele could only recover enough to haul him to the ground. On this occasion, Wolves couldn’t launch a fightback with their extra man. Combination play between Jimenez and Jota became a familiar part of Wolves’ attacking moves, particularly when Nuno Espirito Santo played 3-5-2 rather than 3-4-3, allowing his forwards to combine more closely. Wolves’ opener in a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge in March 2019 was particularly memorable — Jota slipped in Jimenez close to the halfway line… …Jimenez returned the pass… …then Jota dribbled forward before slipping in the Mexican to dink home. The two forwards played one-twos all the way through Chelsea’s defence. Sometimes, Jota’s capacity for one-twos features wall passes with different players in the same move. The opener in that 2-2 draw away to Brighton last December showed that — Jota received the ball deep on the left and swapped passes with Jonny… …then played in Jimenez while continuing his run into the box… …and then converted from Jimenez’s stabbed ball into the box. Another outside-of-the-boot Jimenez pass created what should have been another red card earned by Jota. It came at home to Bournemouth just before Christmas 2018, when this excellent through-ball found him in his usual position… …and Bournemouth centre-back Steve Cook — already on a yellow, for a foul on Jota — somehow escaped punishment for this blatant push on him, when he was otherwise through on goal. But Cook’s defensive colleague Simon Francis wasn’t so lucky in Bournemouth’s 2-1 defeat when the clubs met on the south coast last November. Making his first Premier League start in nearly a year after injury, Francis slid in to halt Jota’s run on the edge of the box for his first booking. Joao Moutinho whipped the resulting free kick into the top corner… …then later, Francis cynically pulled Jota back on the halfway line to receive his marching orders. Through these various situations, Jota’s game becomes clear — he loves attacking the inside-left channel, he’s excellent at playing one-twos with opponents, he’s very useful in terms of pressing, and his speed terrifies opponents. What it doesn’t demonstrate is how two-footed Jota is. He made 32 per cent of his passes with his supposedly weaker left foot last season, the fourth-highest figure of attackers in the Premier League (behind Pedro, Max Meyer and Cenk Tosun, all of whom played the equivalent of less than eight complete games anyway, which represents a small sample size). That suggests Jota would be happy playing on either flank, making him a capable understudy for Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah. Although mostly used on the left of Wolves’ 3-4-3 — or left-centre in the 3-5-2 — he split his time more equally among the four attacking roles in Porto’s 4-2-3-1 in 2016-17, suggesting he can essentially play anywhere in attack. Liverpool had the best disciplinary record in the Premier League last season — an impressive achievement considering their all-action, aggressive approach to regaining possession. The next step can be offered by Jota, a player with a handy habit of racking up the cards for the other team.

State of the Club, a new series from Tifo and The Athletic. Episode 1: Arsenal https://theathletic.com/2084259/2020/09/23/state-of-the-club-tifo-the-athletic-arsenal/ What is Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal? It’s a broader question than it seems, not least because of the subtle ideological conflict in north London. Arteta is a portrait of footballing modernity, very much Pep Guardiola’s 2.0. Surrounding him though, are the rigid confines of a club which can’t quite decide what it wants to be — or what it’s willing to stake in pursuit of that nebulous ambition. From one angle, Arsenal are fixing to run. They’re full of ideas, energy and — ultimately — life. From another, they’re anchored by the many concerns that have come to define this generation. The silent owner. The bad deals. The frothing conflict and deadening myopia. It’s that duality that makes them the perfect subject for State of the Club, Tifo Football’s newest content series, in which we’ll be combining our style with The Athletic’s finest journalists to apply as many lenses as possible to everything that matters in the game. In this pilot episode, we talk to David Ornstein about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s new contract and the reconfiguring of the club’s hierarchy. Matt Slater describes Arsenal’s commercial future and the shackling effect of deals agreed in the past. James McNicholas also drops by to talk to us about the boardroom, while we lean heavily on Amy Lawrence too — first to speculate on what the future of recruitment may look like and then, on a baking hot day, to lead us and Adam Leventhal around Highbury’s marble halls, to remember what once was. But this is still Tifo: Alex Stewart casts his tactical eye over what Arsenal are and what they may one day become while, in a debut appearance, Jasmine Baba digs into Mikel Arteta’s past, to sketch the person beyond the former player and the Guardiola patronage. So, we’ve been busy. We’ve been trying a few things which we haven’t done before and asking a couple of people to step beyond their comfort zones. Hopefully, the result is the right people answering the right questions and our cameras trained on what matters — an eclectic show in which there’s something for everyone. Here is what to expect in our brand new video (below) 1. Introduction. 2. Who is Arteta? 3. Tactical identity. 4. Recruitment with David Ornstein. 5. Tifo Audit with Matt Slater. 6. James McNicholas on the boardroom. 7. Amy Lawrence & Adam Leventhal revisit Highbury.

The Hawthorns: Where two Chelsea managers lost their jobs https://theathletic.com/2081629/2020/09/24/west-brom-chelsea-hawthorns-villas-boas-di-matteo-sack/ Chelsea will hope to kick-start their Premier League season against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday following an opening home loss to Liverpool last weekend that led to fresh question marks over goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga’s future. The bad news is that although they clinched the title there in 2017 under Antonio Conte, The Hawthorns has not always been a happy hunting ground for Chelsea managers. Andre Villas-Boas lost his job the day after a limp 1-0 defeat there in March 2012, then his successor Roberto Di Matteo’s final Premier League game in charge was a 2-1 away loss to former club Albion eight months later. Villas-Boas feared the worst when he sat in Roy Hodgson’s office after seeing his Chelsea team lose to West Brom and drop to fifth in the table with 11 games to play. “Roy asked everyone else to go. In his office, it was just Andre and Roy,” recalls Pat Frost, who was Albion’s kitman at the time. “Roy asked me to fetch them some milk, so he could make him a cup of coffee. I’m not saying someone had told Andre before the game that if he lost he was out, but there was definitely a sense of resignation.” Sure enough, the Villas-Boas was sacked the next day, with assistant Di Matteo placed in caretaker charge. “That was a massive result for us and one of my favourite moments in football was just coming off the pitch after that game and seeing the look on Roy Hodgson’s face,” recalls Gareth McAuley, who scored in the 82nd minute to seal Villas-Boas’ fate. “Roy was smiling and I was smiling and we had a laugh with each other. We were just getting a bit of belief that we could ‘get about’ the bigger teams. There was a belief that we weren’t just turning up for these fixtures, we were competing. For us, it was a massive victory and for me, it was the first big scalp.” That win over a Chelsea bound for Champions League final glory less than three months later came during one of Albion’s finest spells in the Premier League as they claimed three impressive victories on the bounce. Two games before, they had battered local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-1 on their own Molineux patch with a Peter Odemwingie hat-trick that led to Mick McCarthy losing his job as their manager the next day. They followed that up with a 4-0 drubbing of Sunderland at The Hawthorns, with Odemwingie scoring twice more. But it was McAuley who was the unlikely match-winner against Chelsea. “It was a set piece that fell to Liam Ridgewell. He headed it back across the goal and I stretched out my left leg to guide it in,” the former defender says. “Pete (Odemwingie) was standing right behind me as well. I’ve got a picture in my house and Pete is swinging behind me, so if I hadn’t scored he would have.” Frost adds: “The team spirit at the time was unbelievable. It was almost like they felt they could go out and beat anyone. They were full of confidence at that point. The dressing room was a great place to be at the time. “We’d always have Sky Sports on, with all the goals coming in, and after games (goalkeeping coach) Dean Kiely would come in and instead of saying, ‘How have Sunderland got on?’ or ‘What about Burnley?’, he’d be saying jokingly, ‘How have City and United got on?’” Villas-Boas’ sacking led to Di Matteo — who had steered Albion up into the Premier League less than two years earlier — taking over on what was initially an interim basis. Incredibly, Chelsea recovered to beat Liverpool in the FA Cup final and Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in the May and Di Matteo was awarded a two-year contract. Three months into the next season, though, he returned to his old stomping ground, where his reign came to a juddering halt. Di Matteo was ultimately sacked following a 3-0 Champions League loss to Juventus as Chelsea became the first European Cup holders to fail to get out of their group, but the writing was on the wall after a defeat away to West Brom three days earlier. “After that game, goalscorers Shane (Long) and Peter (Odemwingie) were singing each other’s songs in the showers,” remembers Frost. “Pat Murphy, in his report on the BBC, said someone heard Di Matteo saying, ‘You can’t even beat this lot’.” West Brom’s matches against Chelsea are rarely short on drama. In November 2013 at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was saved from his first-ever home Premier League defeat by a controversial late penalty award. Ramires went down under in the box in stoppage time under a challenge from Steven Reid and Eden Hazard converted the penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw. Albion’s players were furious and their protests continued into the tunnel. Mourinho then branded them a “Mickey Mouse” side. “There were loads of people involved, and there were 10 or 15 big bouncers in the tunnel so nobody could do anything — it was just people shouting this and that,” McAuley says. “Jose is a winner and he would have been so disappointed with his team and the fact little West Brom went to Chelsea and almost took his unbeaten record. “We were still complaining to the referee as we went down the tunnel and he was always going to defend his players. When you calm down afterwards, you can laugh and smile about it. But in the moment, when you’re part of it, everybody’s emotions are through the roof. “Reidy didn’t make any move towards Ramires and I’m not sure anyone watching it back could claim it was a penalty. The big teams do seem to get that kind of penalty and they quite often get them at big moments. “I thought we were good value for the win in that game and I don’t think Jose had lost a game at Stamford Bridge. “It was the lead-up to the goal that was a real killer. They cleared a ball wide and Goran Popov sprinted as hard as he could to keep the ball in when it was going for our throw-in. He has a shot and they broke straight away and got the penalty and you’re thinking, ‘Oh my God, what has just happened?’ “I have seen pictures of me and big Jonas Olsson in the referee’s face, but I can’t remember a thing about it. It’s one of those moments where you’ve worked so hard in the game and it was pure red mist. That would have been massive for us. We were never going to win leagues, so to go to somewhere like Chelsea and inflict Jose’s first defeat is the kind of thing we played for. “So then it all kicked off with some fun and games afterwards.” Less than two years later, Mourinho’s men arrived at The Hawthorns as the newly-crowned Premier League champions. Even with the title in the bag and West Brom safe from relegation, what should have been a happy, end-of-season affair could not avoid controversy as Cesc Fabregas picked up a bizarre red card just 29 minutes into what ended up as a heavy away defeat. “There was the famous 3-0 when Fabregas pinged the ball against Brunty’s (Chris Brunt) head from about 40 yards away,” jokes McAuley. “Only a technical player like him can half-volley a ball from 40 yards away and hit somebody in the head with it! “I think it was just pure frustration because we’d started the game well. A free kick was given against us and he just picked the ball up and half-volleyed it. He’s got the quality to pick out Brunty’s head, but if I’m honest I’m not sure he meant it. “Yes, we had some right ding-dongs with Chelsea in my time there!”

Exit China, enter the US. Who wants to own a European football club? https://theathletic.com/1887653/2020/09/23/chinese-america-money-european-football/ Sergio Aguero has made a career out of audacious shots but the selfie he took on October 23 2015, was perhaps the boldest, cheekiest and most lucrative of the lot: Aguero, flanked by Chinese president Xi Jinping and British prime minister David Cameron, all grinning. President Xi was visiting Manchester City’s Etihad Campus as part of a state visit to the UK and Cameron was in full “Suits you, sir” mode, eager to demonstrate just how open Britain was to Chinese investment. Just over a month later, two Chinese companies, with close links to the state, bought a 13 per cent stake, worth £265 million, in City’s parent company. Within 18 months, Chinese owners would be in charge at AC Milan, Aston Villa, Auxerre, Birmingham City, Espanyol, Granada, Inter Milan, Parma, Slavia Prague, Sochaux, Southampton, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers. There were minority stakes, too, investments in stadiums, bumper broadcast contracts and Chinese firms on the front of teams’ shirts around Europe. As Xi’s predecessor Chairman Mao once put it, the direction of the wind in the world was changing and the east wind was prevailing over the west. But now, nearly five years after Xi’s visit to City’s football factory, the weather vane has swung around again. China’s money is blowing home and Europe, not for the first time, needs the New World to fill the breach. Chinese owners have already sold to Americans at Parma and Villa, and the Chinese investors who popped up out of nowhere at Northampton Town, have popped back again, leaving no trace. At least their disappearing act did no lasting damage, unlike the abrupt and mystifying decision Wigan Athletic’s former owner Au Yeung Wai Kay took when he cut the Championship side off, condemning them to administration, a fire sale and relegation. Li Yonghong’s short-lived reign at AC Milan ended when he defaulted on loan repayments to a US hedge fund, while property giant Dalian Wanda Group sold most of its shares in Atletico Madrid and bought Dalian Yifang FC back home instead. Birmingham City, Reading, Southampton and West Brom are all available to whoever is willing to meet whatever their current owners require to save some face, and Inter’s owner Suning has just seen its broadcast deal with the Premier League ripped up over missing payments from its digital streaming service PPTV. For European football, the financial equation is simple: China is out, America is in. “The years from 2014 to 2016 were peak ‘Chinese football dream’ in China,” says Dr Jonathan Sullivan from the University of Nottingham’s Asia Research Unit and a co-founder of the China Soccer Observatory. “Three major policy reform packages were put forward, designed to revolutionise — industrialise, really — Chinese football at all levels. It was a time of great excitement and was one of Xi Jinping’s projects, with a lot of political will and big amounts of money behind it. “There were already a fair number of big Chinese companies involved in football, but now more had the green light to get in on the action, whether domestically with the Chinese Super League as international sponsors, media partners or investing overseas. “But not all the companies rushing in were the most solid or transparent. It is said that some were motivated to invest overseas in order to evade government controls to get money offshore. Others had state owners, or close state links, and were more strategic, investing in clubs near ports and transport hubs. “Some made sensible investments, with good-looking long-term prospects. Others overpaid, were over-leveraged or didn’t appreciate how much it costs to run a football club. And some were castigated and then legally constrained for making ‘irrational’ investments.” For Sullivan, the Chinese government’s primary interest in overseas football was the platform it potentially provided for raising the country’s profile as a global player and promoting Chinese brands. Buying foreign clubs did not do much for its main sporting goals of strengthening the China national team, improving public health and building a leisure industry. Once it became clear that these investments were not working as “soft power plays” either, it was time to pull the plug. “If we fast-forward to today, the football dream has lost some of its momentum,” says Sullivan. “Private companies are seeing their freedom of movement from Chinese Communist Party (CCP) oversight eroded and the pandemic has made everything less certain, including the broader issue of a growing backlash against China in most of the western world. “So, from a political perspective, there are no incentives to make investments in foreign football, and lots of restrictions and risk. “This may change. Chinese political winds are changeable. But the pandemic, the deterioration of US-China relations and souring relations elsewhere, the CCP deciding to become more demanding of private firms and domestic economic uncertainties, make football investments overseas not that attractive right now, and for the foreseeable future.” Peter Stebbings is a sports reporter for the AFP news agency in Shanghai, which makes him the only accredited and dedicated western sports journalist in mainland China. “As with everything in, or related to, China, it’s a guessing game,” says Stebbings, when asked why Chinese investors are pulling out of European football. “China has definitely not cooled on football but the ambition was always about making China good at the game, not helping anyone else. “It’s possible those investors naively jumped on the bandwagon, thinking it might somehow buy some goodwill or credibility with the Chinese government. But they misread the signs and later realised their mistake. “I’m not convinced by the argument it can be linked to worsening relations with some western governments. While there’s a lot of bluster, for example between the UK and China, things are apparently chugging away not too badly in the background, and that includes trade.” An example of this “chugging away” would be the Chinese broadcast deal the Premier League was able to patch together for this season with Tencent. In cash terms, it is understood to be worth about 15 per cent of what PPTV promised to pay, once a profit-sharing element is included, but the Premier League is relatively relaxed about the drop as it has already banked half of what PPTV committed to for the full three-year term of its deal and Tencent was the broadcast partner English football’s “big six” wanted in the first place, only for the other 14 clubs to opt for the bigger cheque on offer from the smaller company. For Stebbings, the real sign that rows over COVID-19, China’s human rights record, Hong Kong or Chinese telecoms firm Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s 5G network have really poisoned the well would be Wolves. “They’re the one to watch in the UK because their owners are the real deal and have serious money, which is the opposite to Gao Jisheng (at Southampton) and (former Villa owner) Tony Xia,” he says. “If Fosun start pulling funds and making noises about leaving, I’d say something bigger is afoot.” David Hornby, vice-president of sports at Shanghai-based marketing firm Mailman Group, agrees. “This decrease of Chinese investment into European football doesn’t mean the Chinese are less interested in football,” Hornby tells The Athletic. “It’s simply a pivot in terms of where the money is going. “This is in part due to recent government efforts to restrict large amounts of capital leaving China through international investment into sports teams, particularly football clubs. The investment focus has shifted towards the growth of grassroots football domestically, typically into the development of facilities, training infrastructure and football curriculum.” A key factor in President Xi’s call for investment in Chinese football was his desire to see a competitive national team at the 2022 World Cup, with a longer-term ambition of hosting, and doing very well at, a World Cup eight years later. Sadly, national teams are like investments in that they can go up and down. China’s national sides, both the men’s and women’s, have been drifting south for decades. The men’s team is currently ranked 76th, sandwiched between Bolivia and Uganda. A disappointing return for the world’s most populous nation. Cameron Wilson has been writing about Chinese football since 2000 and is the founding editor of Wild East Football. “It’s hard to imagine that the worsening of relations between China and Europe is completely unrelated to the withdrawal of investment,” says Wilson. “Investment anywhere is often an indication of which way political, entrepreneurial or wider development winds are blowing and there does seem to be a change in direction recently. “But I also suspect that in some cases investors may have found out that owning a European club is a totally different proposition to doing the same in China. Fans have to be satisfied, local communities listened to and the pressure to produce results on the park is much greater. “Outside of bragging rights, there’s not so much in it if they can’t make money out of it. There’s nowhere near the same kind of political brownie points that can be scored in China with city governments when propping up a club. “But I don’t think the powers that be in China have cooled on football — there is some rational thinking behind some of the development here which is aiming to make it more sustainable. We will need to wait and see where the Chinese money that was going into overseas football is diverted. I’ve a feeling that it won’t end up in China, as many entrepreneurs don’t regard Chinese football as a good investment.” Some might say the same about European football, of course, but those voices are currently being drowned out in the virtual HQs of family offices, hedge funds, private equity firms and any other variety of sports investor in North America. “The European football economy is in good shape — its commercial revenues are growing, club valuations are growing, the players’ values are growing, the TV ratings are up,” explains American sports business expert Bruce Bundrant, who has worked for Liverpool and Monaco, and now runs Riviera Sports Marketing. “American interest in European football isn’t new but it’s ramped up recently because some organisations are struggling and existing owners are trying to get out. Another factor is it’s hard to get into US sport — the valuations are astronomical and minority stakes are rare. But for £200 million, you could buy Southampton, for example. The prices are appealing.” John Purcell is the co-founder of Vysyble, a London-based financial consultancy that has been analysing football’s finances since 2016. “We’ve sold a lot of reports in the US, on both coasts, with family offices (firms set up to invest the wealth of rich individuals) quite prominent,” says Purcell. “But the track record of US investors in British football isn’t that great. Crystal Palace, Fulham and Swansea are three recent examples where American investment has come in, with some fanfare, but has so far failed to deliver much in the way of success or a return on investment. “Randy Lerner’s experience at Aston Villa is another cautionary tale, as his time at the club was an absolute disaster in financial terms. Villa’s economic efficiency declined every year under his ownership and he appeared to be a good example of what happens when a businessman leaves his common sense in the car park and gets emotional about his club. “In many ways, (Liverpool’s owners) Fenway are the exceptions. They’re top of the pile now but Liverpool were a basket case when they bought them. The lesson there is they’ve learned from their mistakes and hired the right people for the right jobs. Fenway deserve credit but it’s hard to imagine Liverpool’s success without Jurgen Klopp.” Steve Horowitz is a partner at Inner Circle Sports, a New York-based “boutique investment bank focused on the global sports industry”, and has been at the heart of some of the more successful North American takeovers in European football. But even he starts his relationships with investors by issuing a warning. “The first thing I say to any of these guys is, ‘Why would you do this?'” explains Horowitz. “If you are coming into this industry thinking about returns on investment, go do something else. If you are here because you like competition and want to have some fun, fine, I can help. And if you do it really well and have a bit of luck, you might make some money on the way out, too. “Look at Liverpool. Those guys are killing it. They paid about £280 million for that club but it’s probably worth £2 billion now.” Bundrant agrees. “John Henry and Fenway took five years to get it right at Liverpool, but they didn’t come over thinking they knew everything,” he says. “They learned that you can’t just plug in American ideas. They stayed, they adapted. European football is tougher than US sports because of the threat of relegation and there’s no salary cap. It’s not for the faint of heart.” Paul Conway has learned this the hard way. He and his business partners have now bought four clubs in four different European countries — “we have high and lows almost every day” — and they are looking for more. Having been part of a consortium that bought Ligue 1’s Nice in 2016, Conway was a central figure in the group that bought Yorkshire side Barnsley in 2017 and has since added Swiss club FC Thun and Belgium’s KV Ostend to the portfolio, although France’s Nice were sold, for a tidy profit, to one of Britain’s richest men, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, last year. “European football is not as professional, from a business point of view, as American sport, but many Americans make the mistake of thinking that must mean it’s easy,” says Conway. “Let me tell you, it’s not. You cannot manage these investments remotely — you have to spend a lot of time on site. “The upswing in interest from the States is almost entirely driven by valuations. Even the worst teams in US sport make money, which makes them very valuable. The cheapest NBA (basketball) team would cost you $1.5 billion, which is five or six times their annual revenue. That multiple is even worse in Major League Soccer, where the minimum price is $250 million — 10 times revenue — but in Europe you can buy a football club for one times revenue. “The other thing to remember is that, apart from the NBA, the world isn’t watching American sports: it’s watching European football. OK, COVID-19 has knocked things back, but the trend is positive. Broadcast rights were experiencing double-digit growth and I think we’ll get back to that. “So, we have just bought 72 per cent of Ostend, a Belgian first division club that was in the Europa League in 2017 (getting knocked out in the qualifiers by French giants Marseille), for €4.2 million. The cheapest investment you can make in an NBA team, a three per cent stake to become a limited partner, costs $50 million — and you don’t even get a season ticket.” Oliver Finlay is the chief executive of Beautiful Game Group, a private equity firm based in Delaware, USA, but with an international make-up. It is planning to build a multi-club model similar to the one pursued by Conway and City Football Group and is currently doing its due diligence work on what it hopes will be the first of several investments in European football in the coming years. Having trained as a physiotherapist, Finlay has spent the last 20 years working in elite sport as a physio, sports science consultant and sporting director, including stints with the FA, Hearts in the Scottish Premiership, the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and UK Athletics. He describes the changing weather in global sport as “two perfect storms”. “First, you have the changed political position in China,” explains Finlay. “They had hoped to be a force in world football by now but have realised that is way off. Never underestimate how important it is in Asia not to lose face and China have just been through that with the Basketball World Cup. It was held in China last year and the home team were disappointing. “So now it’s very hard to get money out of China or, if you’re a foreign investor, do much in China yourself. There’s a lot of uncertainty. “And then you have the States, where sports franchises have been through this period of exponential growth. Between 2015 and 2020, the enterprise values of NBA teams have risen by an average of $300 million. So you have a saturated market, with a high price of entry, driven by scarcity value. “But in Europe, you have thousands of clubs, with a much lower entry point, and you can also make money on player trading, something which appeals to US sports investors, as they have all been using data for their recruitment for years and think they can do it better than Europeans. “My concern, though, is that too often all these private equity firms, whilst very clever at investing, do not know how to manage sports teams, particularly European ones. They repeatedly underestimate the risks and fail to understand the culture. We have probably been offered 90 different teams to look at in the last two months but we’re very careful to say we’re an international fund, not an American one.” Finlay’s observations raise some interesting questions. Having pinned its hopes on Chinese money for so long, why is European football now so convinced US-based private equity is the way to go? Isn’t a blend of all human experiences usually best? And having been buffeted by one wind for so long, why are our clubs so keen to be blown the other way? Aren’t we better off enjoying a period of calm? Questions for another day, perhaps. In the meantime, the new American owners at Parma, Roma and Toulouse have lessons to learn, while the Americans circling Bournemouth, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Southampton and a dozen other English clubs have decisions to make. China had its turn. It’s time to make American-owned football clubs great again.

Southampton see Loftus-Cheek as a potential loan option – but not McTominay https://theathletic.com/2090315/2020/09/24/southampton-ruben-loftus-cheek-scott-mctominay-tom-davies/ Southampton’s 5-2 home loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday highlighted a gaping hole in Ralph Hasenhuttl’s squad. Once Oriol Romeu had to be withdrawn early out of fear he was going to earn a second yellow card, the Southampton manager could only turn to Will Smallbone as he tried to prevent the game getting away from his team. For a 19-year-old to come off the bench and make a difference in a match that was quickly slipping beyond Southampton’s control was always going to be difficult, despite his best efforts. What it did do though, was re-emphasise the fact they need to sign a midfielder sooner rather than later, especially as Hasenhuttl is going to stick with his new high defensive line despite the tactic being so ruthlessly exploited by Spurs. Sunday’s second half highlighted how important the central midfielders will be in that system. During the opening 45 minutes, Romeu and James Ward-Prowse both made a nuisance of themselves, pressing Tottenham at every opportunity. But the intensity dropped after the break and Jose Mourinho’s creative players had time to look up and spray passes beyond the defence for Son Heung-min and Harry Kane to run on to. What Southampton really need is a player who can come in and hit the ground running or, at the very least, need only a handful of games to get up to speed with Hasenhuttl’s methods. Having already lost three games on the bounce, two of those in the Premier League, there will be a desire to arrest that slide before it turns into a worrying decline. While the now-departed Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was never the most exciting midfielder, he was effective alongside Ward-Prowse, with both players knowing their role in the team and sticking to it religiously. They were disciplined and had the positional awareness to close out danger but, more importantly for Hasenhuttl, they pressed the opposition relentlessly, not allowing them more than a handful of seconds to look up and spot a potential pass. Mario Lemina and Harrison Reed have also left the club this summer, meaning three central midfielders have gone through the exit door without any coming in the entrance. Going into this transfer window, strengthening the defence was always Hasenhuttl’s priority. Mohammed Salisu and Kyle Walker-Peters arrived before pre-season and it then became a case of selling players before being able to buy again. Even though the likes of Guido Carrillo, Sofiane Boufal and Wesley Hoedt are still at the club, there’s been a realisation that the midfield is undercooked. It’s something Hasenhuttl has admitted and is now looking to rectify. With less than two weeks to go before the window closes on October 5 though, time is starting to run out to strengthen that department. But in Thursday’s press conference, Hasenhuttl made it clear that he will be adding to his squad before the transfer window closes: “I know we will get players in,” he said ahead of the trip to Burnley. “I think it has come to the moment where there are some good opportunities coming up for us. The players who were our No 1 choices were not so easy to get.” Weston McKennie was one player the club had targeted, but they were unable to get a deal over the line before Juventus swooped in offering the USA midfielder a financial package Southampton just weren’t able to match. “We have some alternatives now, and we are still keen for them to come to us — whether that’s on loan or permanently,” Hasenhuttl added. “I think we know we need one or two players minimum, maybe three.” The Athletic is led to believe Southampton are considering both the permanent and loan markets to bolster their midfield ranks. If a player joins on loan, the expectation is they will come with Premier League experience as opposed to an overseas import likely to need time to get up to speed with the rigours of England’s top flight. The midfielder attracting plenty of attention from Southampton fans, especially on social media, is Chelsea’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The 24-year-old England international has been left out of both of Frank Lampard’s match-day squads since a disappointing performance against Brighton in the opening game of the season. Following their most recent match on Wednesday, a 6-0 win over Barnsley in the Carabao Cup, Lampard didn’t rule out the possibility of some players leaving, saying: “I keep getting asked about the size of the squad. “There might be movement, we know that, but nothing is concrete so don’t read too much into those selections at the minute. It will have to be things which are right for the club and individuals and me and in terms of what happens in the next couple of weeks.” The Athletic understands Southampton are currently monitoring the situation closely, although there is some debate as to whether Loftus-Cheek can play effectively in the No 6 role. But should he become available on loan, it would be an avenue the St Mary’s side would be keen to explore. However, another issue could be his wages. Loftus-Cheek is believed to be on over £100,000 a week, considerably more than any current Southampton player makes. For any move to come to fruition, it would involve Chelsea subsidising a chunk of his salary. There could be some hope, though, as Burnley managed to secure a 50/50 wage split with Chelsea when they took midfielder Danny Drinkwater on loan for last season, which shows the London side could be willing to negotiate. However, as explained by The Athletic last week, Loftus-Cheek is believed to be part of Lampard’s plans this season, although, as another source explained, a lot could happen between now and the end of the transfer window. One area of concern regarding any move for Loftus-Cheek could be his recent injury record. He sustained a serious achilles injury in a US friendly against MLS club New England Revolution in May last year, meaning he’s played just 288 minutes of first-team football in the past 16 months. Another name that has been discussed within the club is that of Manchester United’s Scott McTominay — a midfielder Hasenhuttl is said to admire greatly. However, any ambitious move for the Scotland international was effectively ruled out when United didn’t sign Thiago Alcantara. Had the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich star headed to Old Trafford rather than join Liverpool, Southampton believed it could have opened the door for a loan move for 23-year-old McTominay. Another player linked in recent days has been Everton’s Tom Davies. On the face of it, the 22-year-old fits the bill. It wouldn’t be too difficult getting him out of Goodison Park as Carlo Ancelotti is well stocked in midfield and he has fallen down the pecking order, starting just one of Everton’s four matches this season — the Carabao Cup win over Salford City — and playing just a single minute in the Premier League. Yet, although he’s a player Southampton have previously monitored, The Athletic revealed this week there has been no contact between the clubs regarding any move. If Southampton were to sign a player permanently, something they are also working on behind the scenes, then it would be a Moussa Djenepo-type investment. In other words, a young midfielder who has the potential to come in and do a job, but would more than likely need some time to adapt. The club’s revamped recruitment strategy sees them target “rough diamonds”, who, eventually, can be developed into highly-rated players before being sold for a sizeable profit further down the line.

How and why Edouard Mendy joined Chelsea https://theathletic.com/2055673/2020/09/24/how-and-why-edouard-mendy-joined-chelsea/ The list is long and includes some high-profile names, such as Jan Oblak, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Dean Henderson, Nick Pope and Andre Onana. These are just some of the goalkeepers with whom Chelsea have been linked in recent months, so how did they end up buying a man who was unemployed six years ago? Until Mendy increasingly emerged as the strong favourite to move to Stamford Bridge, the initial reaction from many Chelsea fans to the prospect of him joining was, “Edouard who?”. After all, this is one of the most important transfers for the club to make in 2020. With Kepa Arrizabalaga struggling to justify his £71.6 million fee, a world record for a goalkeeper, every pundit in the game has been talking about Chelsea’s need for a new man to stand between the posts if they are to challenge for the biggest trophies. So stories about Atletico Madrid star Oblak being on the wish list naturally generated much excitement. However, it is understood that the prospect of spending a big fortune on a new goalkeeper, someone like Oblak, was quickly dismissed. After paying such a sizeable sum for Kepa, doing it a second time so soon wasn’t regarded as a suitable option. As one source put it: “You can’t just keep throwing lots of money at it after paying over £70 million a few years ago.” It would be a surprise if anyone outside the decision-makers at Chelsea considered the answer would actually come from a man plying his trade for Ligue 1 side Rennes. There might be concerns that this is a panic buy, a sign the club have been unable to get a top target and had to settle for anyone reasonable they can afford. Wrong. Sources have told The Athletic that Mendy has been monitored for two years. The club’s technical and performance advisor Petr Cech has rightly been credited with playing a big part in this deal. But Cech was still starting games for Arsenal when Mendy became a player of interest. It was Christophe Lollichon, Cech’s trusted former goalkeeping coach who is now employed as a scout and the head of the goalkeeping department at Chelsea, that spotted Mendy first. Some might take great note of the timing as it was around December 2018, just four months after Kepa arrived from Athletic Bilbao. But it would be a mistake to read too much into this and think Chelsea were already having doubts about their expensive No 1. It is normal for clubs to be on a constant look-out for talent in all positions and at that stage, Mendy was probably only being considered as a possible future back-up. He was playing in Ligue 1 for Reims at that point and enjoying his third season there. He had kept 18 clean sheets in 34 appearances the year before on the way to winning promotion and was on the way to getting another 14 from 38 games in France’s top division. Lollichon, who has always appreciated keepers with great athletic ability and a huge arm span, was said to be very impressed with what he saw and has kept a close watch ever since. Mendy’s performances continued on an upward curve following a £3.5 million switch to Rennes in 2019 and he helped them qualify for the Champions League via a third-place finish. Mendy’s rise, which has also seen him win eight caps for Senegal, has coincided with Kepa’s demise. Head coach Frank Lampard made it pretty clear his patience had run out by dropping the Spaniard for five games in February, as well as for key fixtures during the run-in last season. Lampard asked for a new keeper to be brought in as part of the plans being drawn up for this window. It was some call to make, with the club investing so much in Kepa and it is understood one of the opening candidates suggested to the Chelsea coach was a very cheap one in Joe Hart before he joined Tottenham as a free agent. The former England international was quickly ruled out of the reckoning and Mendy rapidly became the favourite, ahead of the other candidates mentioned. Although Lampard has studied what Mendy can do, those close to the deal suggest that he understandably leaned on the expertise and opinion of former team-mate Cech, arguably Chelsea’s greatest-ever keeper. What have they seen that they like so much? Inevitably, people will talk about his 6ft 6in frame and how the 28-year-old is significantly taller — five inches is a fair margin — than Kepa. That is definitely a factor because even though observers say he is not physically strong, Mendy’s height means he has an advantage when it comes to collecting crosses and dominating the penalty area. For the second successive season, both under Kepa’s watch, Chelsea had one of the worst records in the Premier League for conceding goals from set-pieces. A tendency to stay on his line has been regularly exploited by opponents, which has damaged the trust of his defenders. As one insider suggests: “Getting a keeper now that can come out and catch it will make a huge difference to the team.” Another observer who scouted Mendy regularly in France tells The Athletic: “Collecting crosses is a real strength of his. Edouard is very comfortable taking high positions in the area, something Cech and Lollichon like. Cech used it in his own game. “The higher a keeper stands, the higher the defensive line can stand and the higher that pushes the ‘corridor of uncertainty’ away from the goal. This reduces the chance of the opposition scoring from a set piece into the box. The downside with that is there is more space to exploit behind, but if you have a taller keeper, that is reduced.” Mendy is a good shot-stopper, too. He had the third-best save percentage in Ligue 1 last season (78.4 per cent), whereas Kepa ranked bottom in the Premier League (54.5 per cent). Things haven’t improved for Kepa this campaign. Firstly, he was beaten by Leonardo Trossard’s tame shot from 25 yards during Chelsea’s 3-1 victory at Brighton. It meant that he had conceded nine goals from the last 13 shots on target. No goalie has been beaten by more efforts from outside the area (19) since he moved to England and sources claim it is another area which is a cause of great concern, that the ball doesn’t have to be in the corners to get past him. Lampard did make a point of backing the Spaniard when asked about his form following the Brighton contest. “I’m very happy with Kepa,” he said. “With the shot, I’m not sure if he could have done any better but I saw a bit more confidence in how he was playing. He’s our keeper and I’m happy with him.” But Lampard struggled to defend him following another error in the 2-0 loss to Liverpool. Kepa’s attempted pass to Jorginho was cut out by Saido Mane, who had a simple task of finding the net. This is another key factor why Mendy has been approached. Chelsea have identified that Mendy has a far better ability with the ball at his feet than Kepa and back-up Willy Caballero, especially when it comes to kicking the ball long. With Timo Werner and Kai Havertz providing the side with more pace in attack, the prospect of trying to find them with quick clearances from the area — just as Alisson and Ederson do for Liverpool and Manchester City — is an appealing tactic to Lampard. Even if it doesn’t work as part of an attacking ploy, it will help relieve the pressure from teams that press them high up the pitch like Liverpool did to great success. Inevitably, people will be asking what role Mendy is being brought in to fulfil. Is he merely replacing Caballero as the No 2 to provide stronger competition and push Kepa? Will Kepa and Mendy be rotated? Or could Mendy be a regular starter? Kepa’s poor form has certainly made the decision to bring Mendy straight into the side an easy one and it would be a surprise if he doesn’t do just that. Contacts have confirmed Mendy will be given plenty of opportunities to play, so Kepa’s position is definitely in doubt. There have been claims he wants to stay and fight for his place but he may not want to risk sitting out too many fixtures and lose the chance to play for Spain in the European Championships. In that case, a loan would be likely. The 25-year-old’s confidence was hit hard by his loss of form last season — so much so that he didn’t complain after being dropped following a 5-3 loss at Liverpool in July. Sources speak of a man who is uncomfortable if a conversation begins about how he can improve parts of his game. He’d rather the subject not be broached at all. Yet it shouldn’t be forgotten Kepa remains highly-rated in his homeland and was part of the Chelsea side that won the Europa League in 2019. Cech also spoke in glowing terms to sport.cz at the end of August, saying: “Additions will be made to the squad, perhaps even in goal, and this is what is being discussed now. But nobody is giving up on Kepa and we all hope he has a great future.” It could be an awkward situation for Mendy to find himself in. That is certainly the view of Rich Allen, who writes for Get French Football News and French Football Weekly. “There is going to be some responsibility on playing ahead of the most expensive keeper in the world,” Allen says. “Mendy has to contend with that pressure. The question is whether he can manage the scrutiny. It’s not the fee paid for him — it’s coming in for Kepa and the price he cost. “But I think he will thrive. If you’re looking across the last few seasons, he has been one of the most consistent keepers in France. He does the basics very, very well and after Kepa, that is exactly what Chelsea need.” Has he got the personality, as well as the ability, to cope with such a situation? Chelsea is a huge step up from Reims and Rennes. “It is difficult to know how he will handle the Chelsea dressing room but he is certainly very calm,” explains the former scout in France mentioned earlier. “On a personal level, he is quite quiet, softly-spoken, but on the pitch, he certainly speaks, commands and tells the defence what to do. He is a nice guy.” It is understandable that Mendy is so grounded. In 2014, he was considering giving up the game for good after being released at the age of 22 by Cherbourg and found himself queuing up at the local job centre. Speaking to So Foot magazine last year, he said: “For a football player or anybody else, being unemployed is like getting slapped across the face. Repeated failures leave marks on you and you start thinking that maybe you are not made for it.” After training for a year unpaid at boyhood club Le Havre, Mendy earned a trial at Marseille, where striker Michy Batshuayi — now on loan at Crystal Palace from Chelsea — was making an impact. He was given a contract to become their fourth-choice keeper and, crucially, an opportunity to learn from France international Steve Mandanda. “I reached a new level in Marseille,” he said. “I trained with the pros throughout the year, which you normally would not expect as a number four goalkeeper. It was proof that I performed well and made all the efforts required. It was a rewarding year.” Then Reims came calling and Mendy hasn’t looked back. His story is certainly one that is celebrated in Senegal and the prospect of joining Chelsea has captured the nation’s attention. Senegal sports journalist Saikou Seydi says: “It is a dream for all Senegalese people. Chelsea are already very popular over here because of the number of African players they have had in the past: Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Salomon Kalou and Demba Ba, who is also from Senegal. We have this history. “People are excited that a Senegal player is joining a club like Chelsea. There is a feeling of pride. It will bring great pleasure to see Mendy playing for Chelsea. We have been waiting for this day when Mendy is announced as a Chelsea player. “We feel it’s time for Mendy to make a move to this level. It will also help the Senegal team. We want to win the Africa Cup of Nations and compete for the World Cup and need our players at the big teams. Going to Chelsea with Kepa still there is a bit of a risk but he has the character and quality to fit in there.” Chelsea may get assistance in this regard from a rival club — well, one individual who plays there, at least. Liverpool’s Sadio Mane is an influential member of the Senegal side and has already come to the aid of compatriot Ismaila Sarr following his switch to Watford in 2019. “Mane is very helpful with all the Senegal players. He will speak for them and do what he can for them,” Seydi says. “I’m sure he will be in touch with Mendy and do what he can to help him settle in England. “Chelsea were more popular in Senegal than Liverpool before they signed Mane but that changed everything. Liverpool are now up here (points high to the ceiling). Mane is the star here, so that won’t change but Mendy will help Chelsea close the gap again. “The Premier League is the most-watched league in this country and people always like to support Senegal players when they’re involved, even if it’s not the team they follow. I expect Chelsea games will be watched even more now.” Just as Kepa has experienced, Mendy’s every minute in a Chelsea jersey will be surveyed on a global scale every time he plays. The acquisitions of Havertz and Werner have attracted the most attention this summer, yet the club may end the campaign feeling they saved one of their best until last.

The people and the pitches that shaped Kai Havertz https://theathletic.com/2085232/2020/09/24/kai-havertz-hat-trick-chelsea-mariadorf/ Shivering slightly with a football in his hand as he navigated the easiest of pitchside interviews at Stamford Bridge, a smiling Kai Havertz soaked up the latest in a series of new experiences since moving from Bayer Leverkusen to Chelsea — and by far the most enjoyable to date. The first hat-trick of his senior professional career was always going to be a moment to savour, but frustrating outings against Brighton & Hove Albion and Liverpool only amplified the satisfaction. “I am delighted with Kai, it was everything I wanted the night to be with him,” Frank Lampard said afterwards. A lack of pre-season preparation dulled his impact on arrival, but Havertz, 21, showed more than enough flashes in his preferred No 10 role against an admittedly generous Barnsley defence in the Carabao Cup to underline what he can offer his new team. Aside from the clinical finishing and the early signs of a natural understanding with Tammy Abraham, there were the effortless movements into pockets of space, the sharp passes into open team-mates and the ruthless pressing that all combined to establish him as one of Europe’s most coveted talents at Leverkusen. Those qualities will also have been easily recognisable to many in the place where Havertz’s football journey began — a place where his every new achievement is worn as a badge of pride by the community that formed him. In the peaceful and picturesque west German village of Mariadorf, around eight miles to the north of Aachen, the pitch that provided the first stage for Havertz to showcase his spectacular talent is on its last legs. Bumpy and unkempt, it was supposed to have been ripped up in August and replaced with a state-of-the-art synthetic surface at a cost of €1.3 million, funded by the local authority. That refurbishment has been postponed until 2021 and so Stefan Zander, Alemannia Mariadorf’s enthusiastic new youth coordinator, is watching the club’s under-nines scamper around on the battered grass, joyfully undeterred by the unpredictable bobble of the ball. “We hope we will get the new field in February and we hope many more kids will come,” he tells The Athletic. “Maybe we will get the new Kai…” It’s Saturday and all of Alemannia Mariadorf’s youth teams are in action, from the under-six side that Havertz once joined as a prodigious four-year-old to the under-19s. The older teams play on the red ash pitch separated from the grass field by a thin line of trees, where every contact with the ball kicks up a plume of dust. The sounds generated by the younger age-group matches — high-pitched shouts, referee whistles, the light thuds of boot on ball — drift out onto the surrounding streets. The football club serves as one of Mariadorf’s main community hubs, with an impressive number of committed locals turning out to watch the various teams — all predominantly consisting of boys born and raised in the area — alongside friends and family members of the players. Zander says it’s part of the reason he was drawn to the club, and it’s also why, 17 years ago, excitement about the young Havertz spread so quickly. “He used to play in teams where the others were two, three, four years older and he was still the best of them,” says Paul Breuer, a former Alemannia Mariadorf player and member of the club’s veterans’ board. “His best qualities were his technique and his drive to fight for every ball. He was a small player but he was not afraid, even if they were much bigger than he was. It was unbelievable.” Havertz’s grandfather, Richard Weidenhaupt-Pelzer, was Alemannia Mariadorf president at the time, and club rules were bent to allow the exceptional four-year-old to play with the under-six side. One of his team-mates and earliest friends was Andre Hochmuth, who now plays for the men’s first team. “He was always two years younger than the others but you couldn’t see it on the pitch,” he says. “He was always the best and he always had the power to do whatever he wanted. “After a match, we would go back to his house and continue to play in the garden. It was only one or two minutes away and they had a big garden. We played one versus one or we would try to hit the gnomes. He won every time.” The house that Havertz called home during his Alemannia Mariadorf days is still lived in by his parents, Ralf and Anne. It stands less than 500 metres (550 yards) from the clubhouse on a quiet residential street where traffic is infrequent and all of the properties are understated in style but generous in size. There are no signs bearing the family name outside, and nothing to indicate that the house belongs to the family of a millionaire footballer. That, by all accounts, is very much by design. Havertz’s parents — Ralf a retired policeman, Anne a lawyer — are private people who have never courted media attention, and the explanation offered for their continued presence in Mariadorf is that it allows them to go about their daily business as normally as possible. They did not raise Kai, his brother Jan or sister Lea, to seek out the kind of attention that his football stardom has made inevitable. At his unveiling press conference as a Chelsea player, Havertz was asked about his interests outside football, chiefly his passion for playing the piano and his love of donkeys. During his childhood, he and his family rescued one from being sent to a slaughterhouse, stoking his desire to adopt animal protection as a personal cause. “Of course, football is one of the most important things in my life as well but to be honest, there are very many more important things in life than football, and I’m trying to do my best to help as much as I can,” he said. Those who knew the young Havertz are in no doubt that his parents deserve credit for helping to shape his rounded worldview. “His mother and father were behind him all the way, but the main thing was always school,” Hochmuth says. “They always pushed him to perform there first, then football second. I remember one time he had to skip a game because of homework — his parents just told him ‘school is first’.” “You always have players who people say will be one of the best in the world, and all of a sudden they disappear because they have other interests, girls etc,” Breuer says. “But Kai is a clever guy. His results at school were very good. His family gave him this atmosphere.” Havertz left Alemannia Mariadorf at the age of 10 to join Alemannia Aachen and test himself at the higher levels of German youth football, and his family moved into the city to make things easier. “Everybody said he was good when he went to Aachen, but many players from here go to Aachen,” says Dirk Knops, who was involved with Alemannia Mariadorf for 10 years and still regularly watches the youth and men’s teams. “Until two years ago, we had a cooperation with Aachen: good players from here went there, and players who had no chance there come to us. It was normal. But then he goes to (Bayer) Leverkusen and you see his path: youth national player at under-13, under-14, under-15, and then you can see he’s better than the others.” Leverkusen had first made contact with the Havertz family when Kai was eight and finally convinced them to send their son to the club’s renowned Kurtekotten academy — one hour’s drive from Aachen — three years later. “It wasn’t easy because for the first years he commuted every day,” Breuer says. “His father stopped working as a policeman and took him in the car.” Every step in Havertz’s football journey has taken him further away from Mariadorf and his family are no longer involved with the club. Jan, who also made his way through the Alemannia Mariadorf youth teams, now works for the agency that represents his brother and Weidenhaupt-Pelzer passed away 15 years ago. But while Ralf and Anne are not on the sidelines, connections remain close. “In a club like Mariadorf, you’re a family,” Breuer says. “Everyone knows everyone. We meet once a year and invite all the veterans of the club. Last year my mother — who still lives at 92 — was sitting next to Kai’s grandmother, Maria, talking about Kai. Maria was showing us WhatsApp messages from him asking how she was and saying he hopes all is well at Alemannia Mariadorf. I think it’s a good relationship.” Whenever he returns to Mariadorf, Havertz is greeted by friendly faces. “I saw him three weeks ago,” Hochmuth says. “We had training and Kai waved to me as I passed him in the car. He recognised me even though I have a beard now!” “I saw him at the petrol station two or three years ago,” Knops says. “We spoke for about three or four minutes, ‘Hello, how are you?’ and so on. About half a year before that, I saw him in the supermarket — he’s a very tall man now so his head was poking over the aisle.” Alemannia Mariadorf’s clubhouse is not dominated by pictures of Havertz or mementoes relating to his time there. This is a club with a proud 114-year history of its own in the lower leagues of the German football pyramid, as well as a broader pedigree when it comes to producing Bundesliga talent. Hans-Peter Lehnhoff enjoyed spells at Koln, Antwerp and Leverkusen in a 16-year professional career in the 1980s and 1990s, while Moroccan-born Rachid Azzouzi played for Duisburg, Koln and Greuther Furth. A picture of the pair hangs prominently in the atrium. Below that image, in a glass cabinet half-obscured by a staircase leading to the bar, lies a carefully folded Leverkusen shirt bearing Havertz’s name, number and signature, next to a small signed squad picture. Down a corridor to the left of the bar is a small office with two desks and walls covered in pictures relating to the youth teams. Front and centre are two certificates referring to the Fritz Walter Medal, an award given to the best German players of their age group: Havertz won silver at Under-17 level in 2016 and claimed the Under-19 gold two years later. Knops was there when Havertz received the first award in Monchengladbach. “We found his first Alemannia Mariadorf shirt with No 7 (on the back) and I gave it to him,” he says with a smile. “We are trying (to use Kai’s story as inspiration), but it’s negative as well as positive,” Zander says. “If you use it too much, all of the kids are thinking they can be Kai Havertz.” In any case, the clubhouse itself stands as a monument to Havertz’s rise to the status of Germany’s golden boy; the milestones he passed in those teenage years, including those Fritz Walter Medals, led to €16,000 worth of payments from the German Football Association (DFB) to each of the clubs who played a role in his training and development. That sum might be paltry to Leverkusen and even perhaps to Alemannia Aachen, but not to Alemannia Mariadorf. “We refurbished our clubhouse with this money,” Breuer says. Alemannia Mariadorf had been operating in reduced financial circumstances before the COVID-19 pandemic. “Kai’s grandfather used to be the chairman of the board of a German company based in Hamburg called Edeka, which is like Aldi or Lidl (a budget supermarket),” Breuer explains. “He made a lot of money with that, and at the time (he was president) we were playing one division higher and we paid a lot of money. Players from all across the area came to play for Alemannia Mariadorf because we paid. “The players now have normal jobs, in administration, in other factories and so on. We only pay them a small fee and the money we get is based on donations from different people.” There was never going to be a further windfall for Alemannia Mariadorf from the initial £62 million deal that took Havertz from Leverkusen to Chelsea; DFB rules stipulate that €16,000 is the most that any former club can receive in terms of training and development bonuses. “It’s enough for a little club like us,” Breuer adds. “We’re happy with it.” The clubhouse bar is where Alemannia Mariadorf’s first team, along with current president Guido Lenz, Breuer and several other club veterans, gather on Sunday afternoon to watch Chelsea’s big Premier League match against Liverpool. The mood is unexpectedly sombre. Their team has just been beaten 6-1 in the neighbouring village of Hehlrath by Sportfreunde Duren, their third defeat in three games to start the new season in a new league, the Landesliga Staffel 2. The notion that this might not be a satisfying day for anyone from Mariadorf had already been established by the pre-match soundtrack in Hehlrath: Anfield anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone played not once but twice over the PA system as the teams went through their stretches. Not all eyes in the clubhouse are focused on the giant projector screen as the teams walk out at Stamford Bridge, and Frank Lampard’s surprise deployment of Havertz as a false nine goes relatively unremarked upon. Lenz leaves his seat to conduct a post-match inquest with Alemannia Mariadorf’s young Italian coach, Gabriele Di Benedetto. “Guido is not allowed to sit here because we lost three matches in a row,” Breuer jokes. Attention wanes further when the cautious nature of Chelsea’s game plan and the ease of Liverpool’s possession dominance becomes clear, though eyes and ears perk up whenever Havertz or his countryman Timo Werner manage to get themselves on the ball with an opportunity to counter-attack. Andreas Christensen’s VAR-assisted red card for hauling down Sadio Mane and Lampard’s subsequent decision to take off Havertz at half-time is the cue for most to head home. Hochmuth reacts with shock at the substitution of his childhood friend but for many others, the match holds no more interest and there are disappointments closer to home to ponder. By the time Werner wins a penalty that Alisson saves from Jorginho in the 75th minute, Lenz, Breuer and Hochmuth are among a handful still in the clubhouse. When the dust settles, Alemannia Mariadorf’s future looks brighter. They will get their new pitch soon and even if the current season ends in a swift relegation for the men’s seniors, the one that follows should at least yield fewer miserable days like this one. There is similar confidence that happier times lie ahead for Havertz. “I always said that if someone was going to get to this level, it would be Kai,” Hochmuth says. “He’s got everything in his blood and everybody knew he would reach his goal. You could see he had the drive. He will succeed at Chelsea, 100 per cent.” Mariadorf’s golden boy is taking the first thrilling steps towards proving them right once again.