Vesper

as are you and I think it is so so meh seen worse, but not having thsi one either

sloppy 1 1 game huge howler by Sommer and then an OG by Pavard

Bayern Munich v Borussia Monchengladbach http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/bundesliga-bayern-munchen-vs-borussia-mgladbach-s1/ https://www.totalsportek.com/bayern-munich/

I do not blame her at all for the shit buys (although I do blame her for paying Drinkwater a crazy amount of salary and for 5 fucking years) she has no control (or very little) over that BUT she has cocked up an insane amount of timely sales, turned down sales, price-jacking to the point we lose the sales, and she deffo has mismanaged contract situs plus she gets lead around by the nose by Italian clubs like those Juve cunts pathetic

swap him for Varane buy one (Tonali doesn't want to leave Italy (FUCK he is a huge piece to my puzzle) and I have seen zero links between us and Camavinga)

we can always pay £80-100m in 5 or 6 years lololol

Friday June 12 2020 Football Nerd United and City are quick off the mark. Newcastle are not By Daniel Zeqiri Saint-Maximin will want to help Newcastle mend their reputation for slow starting Such is the football fan's inclination towards baseless optimism, every supporter will believe their team is uniquely well prepared for the Premier League's resumption. In the absence of performance data from training sessions, is there any evidence to suggest which teams will be fast re-starters? The only available comparison to a three-month hiatus caused by a global pandemic is the break between seasons in non-tournament summers, and how teams begin the following campaign in August. The importance of flying out of the traps has changed over the course of the Premier League era. Sir Alex Ferguson famously remarked that title challenges begin in February and Manchester United were masters of timing their run, like a champion jockey keeping a horse on the bridle before picking off the field in the closing furlongs. Arsenal lost four matches before the turn of the year when they won their first title under Arsene Wenger in 1997-98, with 13 victories in 14 games propelling them to the summit in the second half of the season. This pattern changed when Jose Mourinho arrived at Chelsea in 2004, who prepared his team to start the season in top gear. They won consecutive titles by establishing early leads and holding their rivals at bay. Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have taken things to another level, setting a relentless pace and making 100-point seasons feasible. Based on the opening day fixtures from the past five seasons of domestic football, City and United have been the best starters winning all five games. Of course, some of the 20 teams currently in the Premier League have had seasons in the Championship during this period but their results have still been considered. Unsurprisingly, United have the best opening day record across the Premier League era, losing just five of 28 and beating Chelsea and Leicester City in their last two openers. Chelsea have punched below their weight on recent opening weekends. A 2-2 draw at home to Swansea in 2015 was the start of Mourinho's demise and two years later they were beaten by Burnley at Stamford Bridge. This season, Frank Lampard's reign began with a 4-0 loss at Old Trafford. Arsenal are another team who tend to teeter on the brink of crisis every August due to injury problems or a transfer saga. They have lost four of their last seven opening day fixtures - including home defeats by Aston Villa and West Ham - but have had some difficult starts including Liverpool and Manchester City at the Emirates. By far the worst starters however, are Newcastle United, with just one point from their last five opening day fixtures. That includes their season in the Championship under Rafael Benitez when they lost their first two games - away at Fulham and at home to Huddersfield. Newcastle's last two opening day fixtures have been at home to Tottenham and Arsenal, losing both.

Lopetegui: Drama with Spain, misery at Real but now rebirth at Sevilla https://theathletic.com/1864515/2020/06/12/lopetegui-sevilla-real-madrid-spain-la-liga/ Sevilla’s 2-0 victory at home to Real Betis on Thursday, June 11, the first La Liga game in 93 days, was a successful and low-key return for Spanish football after what has been a very difficult three months for so many. The game was also another important landmark in Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui’s personal “project restart”. Two years after he left the Spain national team for Real Madrid on the eve of the 2018 World Cup, he is rebuilding his reputation. The manner of that move to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu and his subsequent failed 139-day spell as Madrid coach continues to colour the perception of the Basque — a stubborn and inscrutable character, even at the best of times. There was widespread relief around Spanish football that Thursday’s first game back went off without any major incident. Lopetegui may or may not have been happy that the “derbi” against Betis was chosen as the first game back but the convincing victory allowed him to show the footballing world his progress. Fair or otherwise, most people still associate Lopetegui’s name to his acrimonious exit on the eve of the World Cup in Russia. Having succeeded Vicente Del Bosque as Spain coach following Euro 2016, the former Spain youth international had guided them impressively through qualifying and many were tipping a side which still contained serial winners like Sergio Ramos, David Silva and Andres Iniesta for success in Russia. That was until Real Madrid president Florentino Perez tempted him to replace Zinedine Zidane as Los Blancos coach. Spanish federation chief Luis Rubiales reacted to what he saw as a betrayal by immediately firing Lopetegui just two days before their tournament opener against Portugal. The drama turned out to be a disaster for all involved. Spain stumbled to an early exit under temporary coach Fernando Hierro and the manner of Lopetegui’s arrival at the Bernabeu meant he never had a chance of replicating the success of three-time Champions League winner Zidane, especially with the club’s record goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo leaving for Juventus. Diego Costa and Diego Simeone ambushed an unprepared Real team in their first high-profile game, with Atletico Madrid inflicting a 4-2 European Super Cup defeat. A short run of positive results in La Liga did not last long. Lopetegui’s media appearances grew gradually terser. He steadfastly claimed that his team were playing quite well, despite the observations of many. His sensitivity to criticism contrasted hugely with predecessor Zidane’s total assurance in public and private. Big-name players quickly realised that their coach had little real power. An awful run of form included five La Liga games without a win, culminating in a 5-1 hammering at Barcelona in the league. Lopetegui looked pale and shaken at the Nou Camp press conference after that game. He fooled nobody when claiming that his team had been “in control” for long periods and were unlucky with the result. It was an intolerable situation, and Florentino’s axe fell after a short spell of just 14 games, a total of six wins, two draws, six defeats. That led to a new forensic analysis of Lopetegui’s previous blunders, which included calamitous first games as a goalkeeper at both Madrid and Barcelona, and fainting live on TV when working as a pundit during the 2006 World Cup. After an unconvincing managerial spell at Rayo Vallecano in 2003, he had worked his way up through the underage national teams to earn a shot at what should, in theory, be the top job in Spanish football. After throwing that away to take over at Madrid, he had not been able to stand the heat in the Bernabeu pressure cooker. Where he could go from there was not at all clear. One person with a different idea of Lopetegui’s abilities was Sevilla sporting director Ramon “Monchi” Rodriguez, who made a personal bet by appointing him last summer. “Julen is a coach who needs a success,” Monchi said as the new Sevilla coach was presented on a three-year contract in early June 2019 to local reporters who still needed convincing. At first glance, Lopetegui seemed quite fortunate to have landed the manager’s job at Sevilla. They were regular challengers towards the top of La Liga and serial Europa League winners. However, since Unai Emery left in June 2016, they had run of six managers in less than three years, with an array of contrasting characters, from Jorge Sampaoli to Vincenzo Montella to Pablo Machin, struggling with the unique nature of the city and the club. The cold, calculating approach of an introspective Basque did not seem to be an exact fit for the passion of the scorching Andalusian capital, either. Lopetegui had to piece together an entirely new team, with 43 players either coming or going last summer. Monchi was looking to rebuild his reputation, too, after struggling at Roma. The 2019-20 season started very well. Sevilla won four of the first five games in all competitions and topped the La Liga table in September. There were some hiccups along the way — to be expected with so many new faces — but a functional team was quickly assembled. Lopetegui focused on the basics, with his team more efficient than sparkling. Brazilian centre-back Diego Carlos and former Manchester City holding midfielder Fernando provided a platform for Argentina international Ever Banega to go to work constructing the play. The resulting side was tough to break down and they conceded 18 goals in their first 19 La Liga games. But they were also not scoring too many — Dutch striker Luuk De Jong was good at holding up the ball but scored just three goals in his first 19 games of the season. Through the ups and downs, Lopetegui was looking more relaxed than during his time at the pressure-cooker Bernabeu. He was not exactly laugh-a-minute when facing the press but he looked more comfortable. He also quickly built relationships with a motley bunch of players, from Argentine attacker Lucas Ocampos to local lad Jesus Navas, the former Manchester City right winger turned right-back. They aren’t galactico names, but neither do they have the oversized personalities that Lopetegui had trouble organising and motivating at Madrid. The roughest spot came when a weakened Sevilla team exited the Copa del Rey to second-tier Mirandes in February. That began a winless run of five games and the more temperamental local fans and pundits started to get anxious. A 3-0 win at high-flying Getafe strengthened the impression that Lopetegui had instilled a tough mentality in the team, which was mirroring its boss’ ability to roll with the punches. Their final game before the COVID-19 pandemic struck was a deserved 2-2 draw at Atletico, keeping Sevilla in third place through the lockdown, with a crucial two-point lead over Simeone’s side in the race for Champions League qualification. “Lopetegui came as a coach with lots of international experience,” Sevilla president Jose Castro told The Athletic during the build-up to La Liga’s return. “When we signed him, we were convinced he was the ideal coach for us. He has brought new ideas and theories, but above all, he is a very serious and hard-working guy. He is very methodical and studies very well for each game. Without a doubt, the players take strength from that. We hope to see that again in the ‘derbi’, such intensity in our team.” Even counting a Bernabeu return in January (Sevilla narrowly lost 2-1), Lopetegui’s most pressurised game for Sevilla so far had been his first derby at Betis’ Estadio Benito Villamarin in November. After a tense 2-1 victory, in a game that could have gone either way, the final whistle brought a rare release of emotion. Lopetegui jumped from the bench with a roar and punched the air in a mix of suppressed fury and relief. It was a sign of how he has acclimatised to his passionate Andalusian surroundings and an indication of how much his long-term career depends on success in Seville. The unusual and prolonged lead-up to this week’s return saw Lopetegui in relatively relaxed form. He showed off a greying lockdown beard and dealt openly and calmly with the extra media attention around the league’s first game in three months. “All the world is going to be watching,” he said, while also stressing that he and his players were just trying to approach it like any other game. Thursday’s game was pretty much in keeping with Lopetegui’s time in charge so far. There was nothing like the usual drama of a fixture which had served up 21 goals in the last five games. Betis had the better ball-players but they were slowly squeezed by a very efficient, if not very brilliant, Sevilla performance. Sevilla’s expertise at set-pieces was their route to the opening goal early in the second half. Referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz gave a very debatable penalty, which the game’s outstanding player Ocampos converted. With Betis’ heads dropping, a second soon arrived. Ocampos flicked on another corner at the near post, and Fernando nodded in from six yards. Sevilla closed the game out from there, with centre-backs Carlos and Jules Kounde superb. Betis had just one shot on target over the 90 minutes. Both teams using all five substitutes also killed the tempo of the game. Both coaches seemed to be planning for future fixtures well before the end. Given the circumstances, it was no surprise that the game lacked the colour and passion of a typical “gran derbi” in the Andalusian capital. It was a grind but Lopetegui was full of praise for his players. “It is all very different, but we did a lot of work. The lads took advantage of that,” he told the virtual post-game news conference. “They worked hard, showed a good attitude and felt like a team.” Those who know Lopetegui say that he knows how important it is for his reputation to succeed now at Sevilla. From start to finish, the experience as Madrid coach was traumatic for him and his family. He has still not opened up in public about its effects but he was hurt by what happened and how he was treated. Stubborn as he is, he would admit that leaving the Spain national side was a mistake, but he feels he let people down. He knew he was taking on a challenge by accepting the Sevilla job. He has shown bravery to swiftly return to another pressurised position in Spain but knows this is the chance to rebuild his reputation. The result leaves Sevilla well positioned in what is almost certain to be a tight four-way race for the final two Champions League spots over the next five weeks. Then comes Sevilla’s favourite competition in August, with a tricky tie against Roma awaiting in the Europa League last 16. There are still some critics in the city — the team’s lack of flair is a problem for some and the reactive style has seen their best results and performances come on the road. Thursday’s complete dismantling of the local rivals will have gone some way to ending those grumbles. Given the trajectories and psyches of Lopetegui and Sevilla, it is too early to make too many predictions. The usual raucous derby celebrations had to be kept to a minimum after the game, but that probably suited their serious coach, who was already thinking ahead to Monday’s trip to Levante and Friday’s home match against Barcelona. “Victories always make things easier, but we have to recover now and keep working to prepare for our next game,” Lopetegui said late on Thursday night. “We will enjoy this with our families but tomorrow morning we’ll be back to work again.” Spanish football needs to be careful as it comes back from the harrowing experience of the last three months, but it is putting its best foot forward in difficult circumstances. Lopetegui, too, is making sure to be cautious as he moves decisively forward from his own traumatic experiences.

Ramsey on ‘agent’ Szczesny, ‘breathtaking’ Dybala and being best as Juve’s No 8 https://theathletic.com/1866402/2020/06/12/aaron-ramsey-szczesny-agent-dybala-ronaldo-emery-juventus-arsenal/ When Wojciech Szczesny hangs up his gloves and gives some thought to what he might fancy doing after his playing days are over, don’t be too surprised if the Pole stays in the game. “He did joke around about wanting an agent’s fee,” Aaron Ramsey laughs as he opens up about to The Athletic about his decision to swap Arsenal for Juventus last summer. Ramsey called Szczesny, his old Arsenal team-mate, when Juventus first started showing an interest in signing him last year. A club as big as Juventus did not need to sell themselves to Ramsey. As a Wales international with more than 50 caps, he already knew about John Charles and the part he played in their history. But he remained curious about what it’s like to play for Juventus today. “Tek (Szczesny) was my guy for inside information,” Ramsey says. “He’s been here a while now and knows the club inside out. He only had positive things to say. Great words.” Birds are tweeting in the background as Ramsey takes our call on his terrace and life in Turin sounds pretty idyllic. The 29-year-old is neighbours with Cristiano Ronaldo — “We live in the same complex” — and chose to base himself in the city rather than out of town near the Mandria park and the golf club. A hectic fixture schedule means Ramsey hasn’t had the chance to get in more than one round since he moved to Italy. “Especially with three boys running around the house,” he says. It’s probably for the best he hasn’t hit the fairway with Juventus’ vice-president and the 2003 Ballon d’Or winner Pavel Nedved. “I think he plays off three or four,” Ramsey says. “Pavel’s a very good golfer.” Before lockdown, Ramsey tried to take in as much of his new surroundings as he could, with trips to Barolo-producing vineyards in the Langhe and train rides to Milan. “My wife and I wanted to take advantage of going into the countryside,” Ramsey explains. “We’ve thrown ourselves in at the deep end, trying different foods, different wines, a different culture. We wanted to make the most of it.” After almost a decade at Arsenal, moving club and country has understandably been “a big change” for him. The injury he suffered in last season’s Europa League quarter-final against Napoli meant he missed much of pre-season, including the tour of Singapore, China and South Korea. Ramsey’s induction to what Juventus means came at Villar Perosa, the small village nestled in the Chisone valley, where the Agnelli family estate is based. Every August, the players are invited here for a ritual. They visit the Agnelli’s villa and listen attentively as the president, Andrea Agnelli, makes a speech, setting out the season’s objectives. A friendly is then played between the first team and the best of the academy. “I went along and was part of the day,” Ramsey recalls. “It’s one of the little traditions the club is really big on. The new players come in and recognise what Juventus is all about. I like these traditions.” One of the giants of world football, Juventus remain, at heart, a family club. Generations of Agnellis have looked after the Old Lady for going on a century now and the personal touches have helped Ramsey feel at home. “Agnelli is in most days if not every day, having conversations with the players or just having a coffee with the boys,” Ramsey says. “If you see the president of the club doing that, it sets an example for everybody else and shows everybody we’re in this together.” Agnelli speaks English, as does Maurizio Sarri, and much of the Juventus dressing room. It has made Ramsey’s adaptation to life in Italy that little bit easier. His Italian is coming on. “The restaurant bit, I can do,” he laughs. And as anyone relocating to Piedmont knows. being able to order a bagna cauda, a plate of agnolotti and a nice glass of Dolcetto is really the most important bit of all. “I’m understanding a lot more now,” Ramsey says. “I understand the structure of the sentences and the way they work. I need to learn more words because I don’t know enough vocab yet. I have tried to read the sports pages in the papers and things like that but I’m still on Google Translate a lot.” However, Ramsey is fluent in the language of football and he was curious to experience the difference in rhythms and cadences of playing in a league like Serie A. “It’s different from what I’m used to,” he says. “Even though last season under Unai Emery was going through a lot of things on pictures as well for tactical reasons, Sarri does like to go over things very thoroughly. Tactics here, especially in Italy, are such a big thing. Most days, we’ll be doing some sort of tactical work in preparation for the next game.” In comparison with the handbrake-off approach in England, where the mind is often left relatively uncluttered by tactical detail, football in Serie A can often resemble a chess match. “The Premier League is more end-to-end,” Ramsey analyses. “There’s a bit more freedom to attack and probably more spaces to exploit there. Whereas over here a lot of teams, especially against the bigger sides, drop a lot deeper into a low block and encourage you to come and break them down. You have to be a lot more patient, try to move the ball quicker in certain areas to encourage somebody slightly out of position.” Ramsey scored on his Serie A debut and first game at the Allianz Stadium, a 2-1 win against Hellas Verona. He is the first Welshman to find the back of the net for Juventus since Ian Rush in May 1988. Mostly deployed as a No 10 in a 4-4-2 diamond, the role isn’t new to Ramsey but he expresses himself better from deeper as an 8. “That’s the position I came here to play,” he says. “And that’s where I feel most comfortable on the pitch. I’ve said it many times over the years. That’s my position. That’s where I play the best football.” We caught a glimpse of that shortly before the pandemic stopped play. After not starting Ramsey in the league between October and the beginning of January on account of a particularly cautious reintegration from injury, Sarri included him from kick-off in four of Juventus’ last five games. Operating in his preferred role as a No 8, he scored in his final two appearances. The beautiful dinked finish he applied against SPAL in February, with Paulo Dybala spotting his run and slipping a pass through to him behind the defence, offered a hint of what was to come in the Derby d’Italia when the Welshman and the Argentine combined like Charles and Omar Sivori did in the 1950s. The season’s interruption “happened at the worst time” for Ramsey. He’d found a groove and delivered a goal and an assist in Juventus’ biggest rivalry, a match built up as a potential title-decider. “That game was massively important for us, for the fans,” Ramsey says, “even though it was played in an empty stadium. It was a big job for us to get the three points and return to the top of the league because nobody knew what was going to happen in terms of whether the league was going to continue, if it was going to be cancelled, if the standings were going to stay as they were. So we made sure that we gave everything on the day. It was great to be involved in both goals.” His connection with Dybala, who often comes over to the right to combine with Ramsey, and Juan Cuadrado was beginning to flourish into one of the team’s principal strengths. Ramsey had an idea of how good Dybala was before he accepted to join Juventus but the player known as La Joya — the Jewel — still surprises him every day at the club’s Continassa training facility. “I can just confirm that Dybala is an unbelievable player,” Ramsey says. “He’s very gifted — a team player — and some of the things he’s done in training and some of the games this season has been quite breathtaking.” As for Ronaldo, The Athletic is curious to learn if the mythology around his training regime is accurate. Blaise Matuidi tells a story about finding the five-time Ballon d’Or winner in the gym first thing in the morning after a flight back from a 2-1 win away to Manchester United in the early hours. “Nah, he’s always last in,” Ramsey says, laughing. “He’s one of the best players in history and there’s no questioning his commitment to the game and to what he needs to do for himself. He’s first into the gym doing all his bits and bobs and then he wants to win every single match on the pitch. All the players do but there’s a real determination every single time. He just goes out there and produces week-in, week-out and scores so many goals. So many important goals as well. Hopefully, it can help us achieve our targets this year.” One point clear of Lazio at the top of Serie A, Juventus are on for a treble and return to action tonight for the second leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final against Milan. If Juventus reach next Wednesday’s final in Rome, Ramsey could emulate Charles and become the first Welshman to lift the trophy in 70 years. A Brit hasn’t collected a winners’ medal since another former Arsenal and Juventus midfielder, David Platt, who played a role in the Sampdoria side that triumphed over Ancona back in 1994. Knowing Ramsey’s record in FA Cup finals, in the event Juventus win the Coppa, Szczesny will no doubt expect more credit for helping lure his old mate to the club.

The whistleblower whose leaks led to Manchester City’s Champions League ban https://theathletic.com/1866642/2020/06/12/whistleblower-hacking-manchester-city-rui-pinto/ To his enemies, he is a criminal. A bandit with a laptop and an anarchist’s lust for chaos. To his supporters and sympathisers, he is a hero, a moral crusader who was brave enough to shine a light upon the shadowy hinterlands of the world’s favourite sport. In the world of Rui Pinto, the man behind the Football Leaks revelations, nothing is ever cut and dried. He has gained access to tens of millions of private documents yet he is adamant he is not a hacker. His lawyers call him “a great European whistleblower” but he also stands accused of attempted extortion. To describe him as a complex character would be to undersell things by an order of magnitude. This much, however, is crystal clear: Pinto is unlikely to slip into irrelevance any time soon. For a start, we are still feeling the aftershocks from a series of exposes published by German magazine Der Spiegel, based on information shared by Pinto. Manchester City, who are awaiting a verdict from the Court of Arbitration for Sport on their appeal against a two-year Champions League ban, can attest to the far-reaching consequences of Pinto’s actions — UEFA’s original investigation into the club began shortly after documents and emails obtained by Pinto were published in November 2018. Then, there is Pinto’s own legal situation, which continues to be the source of much controversy, particularly in his home country. The 31-year-old spent over a year in custody in a Lisbon prison after being extradited from Hungary in March 2019. During that time, the number of charges against him grew from six to 147, before being reduced to 90. In April, he was released on house arrest, without access to the internet. He has yet to stand trial. Pinto grew up in Vila Nova de Gaia, on the rolling hills opposite Porto, Portugal’s second city. As a boy, he was obsessed with football, holding a special passion for FC Porto. His mother died when he was 11. In the years that followed, he became distracted at school, preferring to stay up late at night on his computer. Hindsight can be a blunt instrument but those who knew him seemed to sense something different about him, even then. “It’s very, very difficult to characterise Rui,” one of his former teachers told the New Yorker. “If he wanted it, he would probably be the best pupil from the class but he was not.” This chimes with the image painted by Christoph Winterbach, one of the journalists at Der Spiegel who later worked on the Football Leaks stories. He describes Pinto as an “autodidact” — someone who felt his intelligence was best cultivated alone rather than within bounds set by an authority figure. “Rui certainly is a deep, self-conscious thinker,” says Winterbach. “He embraces a do-it-yourself mentality. He very quickly grasps and remembers the context of complex matters.” All of which goes some way to explaining how a history undergraduate — he never finished the degree — with no formal IT qualifications could end up obtaining and sifting through the data that formed the basis of the first set of Football Leaks in 2015. At that stage, Pinto was living in Budapest, working as an antique dealer. He was publishing on a rickety Russian blog platform and says that his information had been leaked to him by disgruntled football insiders. It was the start of a tidal wave: by the end of 2018, he had supplied Der Spiegel and their partners in the European Investigative Collaborations group with more than 70 million documents, rewriting much of what we know about the business of football in the process. Look at the clubs and individuals mentioned in the investigations and it is not difficult to understand why Pinto might be regarded by the establishment as an irritant at best, a walking time bomb at worst. There were frothy tales about bizarre clauses in players’ contracts: a “no red boots” rule imposed on Rafael van der Vaart by Real Betis, for instance, or Liverpool’s insistence that Roberto Firmino could be sold for £98 million two years before the end of his deal at the club… as long as the buying club was not Arsenal. Even more amusing was the suggestion that Real Madrid had played down the scale of the transfer fee paid to Tottenham for Gareth Bale and preserved Cristiano Ronaldo’s status as the world’s most expensive footballer in 2013. Then were the knottier, more consequential stories on the tax dealings of Ronaldo, Jose Mourinho and Mesut Ozil; on the movement, led by Bayern Munich, to start a breakaway European Super League; on City and Paris Saint-Germain’s compliance with financial fair play; on a rape allegation against Ronaldo. This is by no means an exhaustive list but it hints at the scale of the waves made by one man (Pinto has repeatedly claimed that he did not work alone but responsibility for the leaks has thus far fallen on his shoulders alone). Bayern Munich denied being involved in breakaway discussions, UEFA dropped their case against PSG and Ronaldo, who has always denied the rape claims, has never been charged. Yet Pinto’s supporters argue that the weight of the legal case against him is in large part down to his revelations about Benfica, Portugal’s biggest team. They claim that a sequence of explosive emails released in 2017, appearing to reveal widespread corruption at the club, prompted a web of officials sympathetic to the Benfica cause to close ranks. Benfica have always maintained the corruption claims are groundless. Ana Gomes, a politician who represented Portugal in the European Parliament for 15 years until 2019, has been one of Pinto’s most vocal advocates. “Rui Pinto revealed things about all of the big clubs in Portugal,” she says. But she adds that as Benfica are the best-supported club in Portugal, they have an advantage even within the justice system. In the tribalistic world of Portuguese football, it was no great surprise that Pinto’s motivations were called into question. The fact that some of the Benfica emails were first sent to Porto, their main rivals, did little to persuade Pinto’s critics that he was not simply trying to cause trouble, perhaps even to the benefit of his own team. Beyond that, there were two obvious chapters in his story that seemed to cast doubt on his moral rectitude: a 2013 police investigation into two suspicious bank transfers that led to an out-of-court settlement with Caledonian Bank and the alleged attempted extortion of a third-party ownership fund named in Football Leaks (Pinto has protested his innocence in the latter case). The alternate view, of course, is that Pinto was simply holding power to account — that he should be treated as a whistleblower and protected by the state. Revered, even. “Rui Pinto should be the pride of Portugal,” his French lawyer, William Bourdon, told Publico magazine earlier this year. There have been protests in Porto; a group of supporters snuck into parliament in March to shout for his release. “He is already seen as a hero by many in Portugal,” says Gomes. “But I hope that the legal system does him justice. He may have committed some crimes but they must take into consideration the extraordinary public service he has done. “I have the impression that his work with Football Leaks was very important in the development of his political conscience, his understanding of what a whistleblower is. Today, I do not doubt that he is well aware of what he has done. I do not doubt all that he acted in the public interest. It was a conscious act of citizenship.” Winterbach, who travelled to Lisbon to interview Pinto late last year, echoes that view. “Rui’s love for football and his disdain for the dirty business surrounding the game seems genuine to me,” he says. “He never tried to influence the spin of the articles that were written based on his material. He just wanted lots of journalists to work with the data [and run with it]. I believe his idealism has not been shattered yet.” The outlook for Pinto appears to have improved slightly in the past few months. The stance of the Portuguese authorities, who were initially more focused on building the case against Pinto than using his information, has softened. It has been reported that he was moved to house arrest after agreeing to provide the passwords for 10 hard drives that the police had seized but had been unable to decrypt. News that Pinto was behind Luanda Leaks — the release of a slew of documents that pointed to questionable financial dealings by Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman — has not harmed his reputation. “I think Luanda Leaks has been very important,” says Gomes. “It showed people that it wasn’t just about football — that this wasn’t motivated by rivalries between fans.” Then there was a recent interview given by Luis Neves, the director of Portugal’s national criminal investigation agency, who hinted that a more collaborative relationship could be in the offing. “Throughout my life, I have worked with collaborators, people with whom we have created bonds of confidence, who bring us information that is very relevant,” Neves told newspaper Diario de Noticias. “Pinto is a relatively young, educated person who is concerned about protecting society — about questions of equality and social justice. That is important. “He will respond to the court, which will decide which crimes he did or did not commit, what punishment he will face. My hope for Rui Pinto, like anyone accused of a crime, is that he can return to a normal life.” It might be slightly too late in the day for that. It also seems unlikely that this tale will draw to a quiet close whenever Pinto does take the dock. “This fight is far from over,” he told Der Spiegel in December, and to hear Winterbach’s memories of that meeting in the prison is to get the sense that Rui Pinto may not be done with the world of football yet. “I remember him storming into the room, beaming with joy to see us,” says Winterbach. “He’s very charismatic and even in that stressful situation, you could see the twinkle in his eyes. “He avidly follows everything that happens in the football world and he’s ready to make his case in front of the court.”

The race for Kai Havertz, one of the most coveted players of his generation https://theathletic.com/1870255/2020/06/12/kai-havertz-leverkusen-bayern-chelsea-manchester-united-city/ In the beginning, it was all about the garden gnomes. Richard Weidenhaupt-Pelzer lined them up on a wall and got his grandson Kai to shoot them down with a football. “The boy himself was barely taller than the plastic dwarves,” former Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Hans-Peter Lehnhoff recalls with a smile. “But he shot them all down.” Lehnhoff knows the Havertz family well. They hail from the same village as him: Mariadorf, near the west German city of Aachen. In his youth, he played for the local club, SV Alemannia 1916, where Weidenhaupt-Pelzer was the chairman. Havertz’s grandfather had briefly played for Roda Kerkrade just across the border to the Netherlands and shared a pitch with Jupp Derwall, the future West Germany coach (1978-1984), at well-respected amateur side Rhenania Wurselen. “Richard was the life and soul of our club,” Lehnhoff says. “And when he realised that Kai could play, he made it his mission to support him as best as he could.” Aged four, Havertz joined Alemannia Mariadorf’s under-six side. He was only “the size of a fire extinguisher” in the words of his first coach Dirk Morfeld but his tiny figure belied a tenacity that astounded the coaches. “At first, they thought, ‘Okay, we’ll let him play a bit’. Then they say he was so good at everything that they couldn’t leave him out anymore. He had a wonderful left foot and was even good at headers.” Havertz got better and better, and the whole village was starting to realise that they had a special talent on their hands. Scouts from Bundesliga clubs Borussia Monchengladbach, Cologne and Bayer Leverkusen rubbed shoulders with granddad Richard and Kai’s parents Ralf and Anne during the games, holding out the promise of a big career. But aged 10, Kai joined up with nearby Alemannia Aachen (then in Bundesliga 2) before moving to Leverkusen a year later. “To understand what kind of person he is, you need to know his family,” says Markus Anfang, his former youth coach at Bayer. “His father is a policeman and his mother a lawyer. They’re very level-headed, honest and down-to-earth people, and he’s been raised the same way. He’s an unassuming guy, a real pleasure to work with. You can talk to him about absolutely everything.” After overcoming some growth spurs problems (he is now a little over 6ft 2in), Havertz’s progress was fast and continuous. He joined Anfang’s under-17s at the age of 15. “My first impression of him?” says Anfang. “He was an outstanding footballer. Tall, elegant, calm on the ball. But he didn’t fully appreciate his qualities. We needed to convince him a little.” Anfang explains that Havertz always felt that it was really important for him to start a game well. If he made a mistake early on, he told himself it wasn’t his day and lose heart. “He thought a lot about football and had very high expectations of himself. Sometimes he’d get disappointed too quickly if he felt he wasn’t doing himself justice. We had to get him over that and make him realise that it didn’t matter how a game started, that he should stop worrying and enjoy himself. Football was supposed to be fun. Especially for a kid like him, who made the most difficult stuff look easy.” Opponents didn’t appreciate his effortlessness, however. It upset them. Anfang remembers one player trying to provoke Havertz with insults during a game. He took him to one side and told him not to worry: “That guy will one day stand on the Bayer terraces cheering you on.” Maybe he is today. At the start of 2015, Havertz found his rhythm. The 16-year-old was good enough to move up to the under-19s but the coaches thought he would benefit from staying with the younger team. “We thought it would be very beneficial for the development of his personality if he went from being one of many good players in his side to being the outstanding one,” Anfang says. “Instead of being part of the group, he had to become a role model and a leader. It turned out a key moment in his career because he stopped looking at his performances that much. He learned to take responsibility for the whole team. He would play well, score goals, fight.” Havertz duly led his side to the under-17s championship in 2015-16, scoring 18 goals in the process. “He was a leader without having to raise his voice. The other boys listened to him because they saw what he could do,” Anfang says. “Kai had a girlfriend and played video games but he’s a guy who is devoted to the game. He is football, through and through.” A 15-year-old Havertz fights for the ball in a UEFA under-16s tournament (Photo: Filipe Farinha/Bongarts/Getty Image) The German FA was watching too. Meikel Schonweitz, Germany’s head youth coach, recalls Havertz being part of a course of 60-80 kids in 2014. “He could obviously play but was trying to do everything in a purely technical way,” the 40-year-old tells The Athletic. “I said to him during a practice game: ‘Listen. I know you’re very elegant but what about using your body?’. He looked at me, nodded, and then in the next couple of minutes, he went into two tackles that were so heavy that we nearly had to abandon the session. ‘Oh,’ I thought. ‘He’s special’.” Schonweitz learned that Havertz’s easy-going demeanour and unfailing politeness were hiding a fierce ambition. “He’s got ability and willpower. It’s a pretty useful combination.” Playing a slightly deeper role in midfield, Havertz showed that there was one thing he had more than almost any other player: time. “That’s his most outstanding feature. He set the benchmark in that respect. Thanks to his vision and technique, he has more time to think about solutions than others. He’s quicker and clearer in his actions. He’s always got the extra metre, even though he looks rather slow with his long feet. But he isn’t. He’s quick and he’s quite hard. Early on, he was quite the complete player.” Boosted by winning the championship with Leverkusen’s under-17s, Havertz matured a lot that season, capping a fine year by helping Germany to reach the semi-finals at the 2016 European Under-17 Championship in Azerbaijan. He went straight up to Leverkusen’s senior team in the following months, “playing as if he’d been at this level for many years,” as his former coach Roger Schmidt tells The Athletic. Havertz quickly became a regular and even played in the Champions League, even though an A Level exam precluded him from playing in the second leg against Atletico Madrid in the last 16. “Young technical players sometimes struggle to adapt but there was a strong sense of purpose to everything he did,” says Schmidt. “Everybody respected him for his quality and mental fortitude. Instantly.” Anyone who’s watched just a little German football over the last couple of years knows how this story continued. Havertz has grown into a Germany international, as well as one of the most coveted players of his generation, scoring 24 goals and providing 19 assists before the start of the current campaign. This season didn’t go off to the best of starts but Impect, the football data firm founded by former Bayer Leverkusen midfielders Stefan Reinartz and Jens Hegeler, still rates Havertz the third-best attacking player under the age of 21 in the Bundesliga (behind Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho). His game-by-game chart this season clearly shows his dip in performances in the autumn followed by a return to brilliance after Christmas. The 100 per cent mark at the top delineates performances that are better than any of the other attacking players in the Bundesliga and 50 per cent stands for a Bundesliga attacking players’ average performance. Balls signify goals. “Havertz had his worst first half of the season since playing for the seniors, clocking in at only just above average 58 per cent for a player in his role,” Reinartz says. There were a few reasons for the drop-off but the last few months have proven that the reduced output was merely a temporary glitch. Nine goals and four assists in 12 league games have firmly restored his position as the most mesmerising young playmaker in the game. “Havertz’s way of playing reminds me a lot of Mesut Ozil”, Reinartz says. “But there are differences.” In the graphic below, Havertz is blue and Ozil is red. “The outstanding quality of both is in creating passing options, the ability to receive balls between the lines and thus to move the whole game forward. On average, Havertz takes out 85 opponents per game by collecting the ball. He’s the best in the Bundesliga in that respect, ahead of Thomas Muller.” Havertz is less secure in his ball retention than Ozil. The Leverkusen midfielder, however, makes many more deep runs than Ozil, to get into dangerous positions himself. So what’s next? Havertz was ready to move last summer but no club was willing to meet Leverkusen’s €120 million (£107.6 million) valuation. A year on, their stances are essentially the same: he feels it’s time to take the next step but Leverkusen will only sell for the right money. They still value him above €100 million but, with two years left on his contract, Bayer know that Havertz won’t command the same price tag next year. Interested clubs might start the bidding as low as €60 million, half Leverkusen’s original asking price. The question is whether accepting a compromise this summer — a fee of around €80 million — is worth it, in sporting and financial terms. Without Havertz’s creative skills next season, Leverkusen are far less likely to qualify for the Champions League, missing out on €30 million at a bare minimum. Keeping the player for one more year might be the more economical option, even if the anticipated loss in transfer value is accounted for. Bayer are not under pressure to sell. The club’s CEO Fernando Carro has internally outlined an ambitious push for trophies, and financial support by owners Bayer, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, provides a degree of protection from the COVID-19 fallout. Havertz’s potential will continue to attract attention. The player’s representatives have been fielding enquiries from all of Europe’s top clubs over the past 18 months, which is why every story you have read linking him with Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester United or Chelsea has a basis in truth. There have been plenty of meetings with sporting directors and scouts, and some, like Bayern, went as far as outlining their exact tactical plans for the player a year ago. Yet negotiations with Leverkusen never started in earnest. Following a period of relative silence during football’s enforced absence, momentum has noticeably picked up again in the last couple of weeks. Reports that Chelsea have shown a renewed interest are accurate. Due to the sheer number of potential takers and Bayer’s intransigence, it would be wrong to suggest that Chelsea are somehow in the lead of this race, however. The Athletic was told by a source close to Chelsea that the Premier League club, Leverkusen and Havertz are currently “miles apart” in terms of striking a potential deal. Bayern are no closer. They are concentrating their efforts on signing Leroy Sane from Manchester City this summer and there’s only an outside chance that they’re willing or able to commit the best part of €150 million (fee and wages) on Havertz’s capture. Signing a right-back is higher on their list of priorities. The saga could well rumble on through August, when a Havertz-inspired Leverkusen will challenge for the Europa League, which would likely put him under the spotlight even further. By then, Europe’s elite should also have a firmer grip on the financial implications of coronavirus; a quicker than feared return of crowds into the stadiums could alleviate some of the expected damage and free up funds. Judging by the spectacular potential of this future superstar, whoever wins this battle is unlikely to count the cost for too long.

No shirt number, not playing – but Chelsea will struggle to part with Batshuayi https://theathletic.com/1864033/2020/06/12/batshuayi-chelsea-transfer-contract-pecking-order-abraham-giroud/ The camera never lies. With arms folded and a stern expression on his face, Michy Batshuayi looks like he has well and truly got the message regarding his future at Chelsea. A picture posted on the club’s official website and app last weekend of an in-house game between squad members at Stamford Bridge captured Batshuayi in a sombre mood. Just a few days earlier, it emerged that Chelsea had agreed a £53 million fee with RB Leipzig for forward Timo Werner, increasing competition for places up front. Given Tammy Abraham has been the first-choice centre-forward in coach Frank Lampard’s debut season and Olivier Giroud was handed a new one-year contract last month, Batshuayi already had reason to be concerned. This photo, taken as Lampard addressed both teams, showed Batshuayi as one of only two players among the group without a shirt number (the other was academy graduate Armando Broja). A club insider has told The Athletic that Batshuayi only came on for the last third of the match. To not make the starting XI for either side in a Chelsea vs Chelsea game is clearly a worrying sign. His prospects looked even grimmer after club sources confirmed he did not play at all in a friendly when Reading came to the Cobham training ground on Wednesday. Batshuayi shouldn’t be too surprised by his fall from grace. It was clear Lampard was losing patience with him before COVID-19 forced football’s postponement in March. For most of the campaign, he had been ahead of Giroud in the pecking order (24 appearances to 13). But that all changed following a disappointing performance against Manchester United four months ago in the absence of the injured Abraham. Giroud started the next five matches while Abraham recovered from an ankle problem and in the last fixture Chelsea played, against Everton, Broja came on instead of fellow substitute Batshuayi for what was the 18-year-old’s senior debut. It is inevitable Chelsea will try to move on fringe members of their squad and The Athletic has been told Batshuayi is one of the names they want to let go. However, that is not going to be easy. For starters, Batshuayi is on a £110,000-per-week salary, which few clubs will be keen to pay in the current climate, especially for a man who has started just 27 league games in the past four seasons, including loans at Borussia Dortmund, Valencia and Crystal Palace. Twelve months ago, Palace were keen on signing him permanently. They paid Chelsea a £1 million loan fee and all of his salary to take him to Selhurst Park for the second half for the 2018-19 season. But Chelsea decided they could not sell after FIFA’s transfer ban prevented them from signing a replacement. Sources have told The Athletic that Palace are no longer interested. A combination of his wages and his diminishing sell-on value (he turns 27 in October), has put them off. West Ham United have also ruled out making a bid. That is a major blow to Batshuayi’s hopes of staying in London. He is settled in the capital and regards as a “cool” place to live, but is not on the wanted list at Arsenal or Tottenham, either. Newcastle United have been mentioned as a possible option since news of their proposed takeover broke, although until that deal is completed, it cannot be taken too seriously. He only has one year left on his contract, which would prove appealing to interested clubs. However, Chelsea have scared teams off in the past by asking for a huge transfer fee. Dortmund ended negotiations when they were quoted £50 million in 2018. Batshuayi had done well on loan in Germany — he scored nine times in 14 appearances — but wasn’t valued as highly as that. The short time left on his contract means Chelsea have little hope of getting the £33.2 million fee paid to Marseille for the Belgium international in 2016, but it is believed they will still attempt to get a large sum. Batshuayi’s agent, Meissa N’Diaye, is understood to still have a good relationship with Ligue 1 clubs Marseille and Monaco but neither of those is in a position to afford the player. To protect their valuation, Chelsea could always try to agree on a contract extension and then sell, or just loan him out once again in the hope a good spell elsewhere will generate offers. Then there is the option of using him as part of a swap deal to get a player they want from another team. It is a tactic many clubs across Europe are increasingly considering in light of the pandemic’s financial impact, but it won’t be straightforward for Chelsea. One possible scenario would be to offer Batshuayi, plus cash, to tempt West Ham into selling England midfielder Declan Rice, who is on Chelsea’s wish-list (although he is seen as a low-priority signing). Batshuayi is in danger of wasting the potential that took him to Stamford Bridge in the first place. The Athletic has learned how his time-keeping has got him into trouble on occasion — not just at Chelsea, but during last season’s loan spell with Valencia, too. An inability to understand a tactical game-plan put forward in training has frustrated coaches as well. There was one case when Antonio Conte was still in charge at Chelsea and trying to prepare the side for a match without an injured Diego Costa. At the start of the week, Batshuayi was in line to start. By the end of the week, Conte had decided to use Eden Hazard as a false nine instead — because Batshuayi kept forgetting what he was being told to do. An annoyed Conte was heard saying, “Michy is not a genius”. Roberto Martinez is also understood to have concerns about Batshuayi’s mindset. The Belgium manager believes Batshuayi is too comfortable in London, staying in the city on a high wage despite his lack of games. The threat of losing his place in Belgium’s squad for the European Championship now postponed to next summer might force a change in thinking. Christian Benteke and Divock Origi are more likely to be the back-up options to Romelu Lukaku as things stand unless Batshuayi gets a move and starts playing more regularly. What isn’t in doubt is that Batshuayi’s career is at a crossroads. Unfortunately for him, there is no simple solution.

Everything I am seeing on Chilwell shows zero signs the last couple days of Leicester coming off the £80m valuation. In fact I saw £85m tossed out. It is madness to fuck off a chance at Havertz just to overpay by £40m or or more for a LB who I remain unsold on anyway. So many on social media rare acting like Chilwell is the bloody second coming of Cafu, ffs.

Fans flock to see Partizan beat Red Star in tense Belgrade derby – in pictures https://www.thenational.ae/sport/football/fans-flock-to-see-partizan-beat-red-star-in-tense-belgrade-derby-in-pictures-1.1032137

Juventus v AC Milan HD Streams http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/coppa-italia-juventus-vs-milan-s3/ https://www.totalsportek.com/juventus/

http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2020/bundesliga-hoffenheim-vs-rb-leipzig-s1/

around (this is cray) £500 to £550m or so worth of players here We need to sell Álvaro Morata (Done Soon) Mario Pasalic (Done Soon) Tiemoué Bakayoko Emerson Ross Barkley Michy Batshuayi Davide Zappacosta Danny Drinkwater Abdul Rahman Baba Victor Moses Kenedy Marco van Ginkel Juan Familia-Castillo (Done Soon probably as Ajax have an option to buy) Nathan Charly Musonda Jr. Danilo Pantic Matt Miazga Lewis Baker Jamal Blackman Lucas Piazón Jake Clarke-Salter Izzy Brown Josh Grant Richard Nartey Luke McCormick Jacob Maddox We cold sell Kepa Kurt Zouma Andreas Christensen Marcos Alonso Jorginho N'Golo Kanté Olivier Giroud Leave on a free Willian (unless he renews) Pedro

Contract expires: 30.06.2023 Date of last contract extension: Sep 12, 2019

that is hideous it looks like something a Primark stock-boy would wear

How Will Hakim Ziyech Fit at Chelsea?