Vesper

The Younghusbands: From Chelsea to Philippines icons because of Football Manager https://theathletic.com/1788485/2020/05/02/chelsea-younghusbands-john-terry-philippines/ In the age of the virtual quiz, here’s a question that would grace any sports round: which brothers born in England have each earned more than 100 international caps? The answer is Phil and James Younghusband, two Chelsea academy graduates who brushed off disappointment in England to become football superstars in the Philippines, playing key roles in one of the most fruitful decades in the history of the country’s national team. It is a remarkable story and one made possible by their mother Susan’s decision to move from Manila to London in 1985. There she met Philip Younghusband, a chartered accountant and the man she married. They had three children: James and Phil, two football-mad sons born only 11 months apart, and a daughter named Kerry. Yearly summer holidays to the Philippines and some traditional Filipino cuisine ensured the Younghusband brothers always treasured their dual heritage but Susan also embraced English sporting culture. “She got more into football because that’s all we’d watch,” James tells The Athletic. “Her pronunciation of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Tottenham made us laugh.” James and Phil grew up supporting Manchester United but Chelsea made the biggest impression and ultimately won the battle to sign them as coveted youngsters in 1997. “Gianluca Vialli was still the manager,” Phil recalls. “The first time we went to Harlington for training, I remember the scout who found us telling us, ‘You just missed the manager hitting golf balls’.” Their football education at Chelsea gave the brothers front-row seats for the most transformative years in the club’s history. “Frank Sinclair was still playing right-back for Chelsea when we first got there,” Phil adds. “I remember him coming out to his car carrying all of his stuff in a black bag (when he was sold to Leicester in 1998).” They first found out about Roman Abramovich’s takeover watching CNN while on holiday in the Philippines with their parents in the summer of 2003. “We went through the whole transition when Roman came in,” Phil says. “It was nice to see something fresh and new but it was also sad to see old faces leave. It was a really interesting time and it all happened so fast.” “We were doing pre-season, which was a lot of running back then, and week after week, there were more big signings and the papers were constantly linking Chelsea with players,” James adds. “It was exciting. There was obviously a lot more competition but the advantage was we got to watch these players and learn from them.” As the older brother, James — a right midfielder who modelled his game on David Beckham — was first to get a taste of training with the seniors. He hasn’t forgotten the time he was paired with Juan Sebastian Veron. “He was a really nice guy,” he says. “I remember one time, he nutmegged me. I tried to get him back and he saw it coming and laughed. “I beat him in the one-on-one game with one goalkeeper, but in his mind he was only trying to get his fitness back. I had something to prove. We talked afterwards about his time in Manchester. He was a really nice guy. You don’t realise until afterwards how lucky you are to be in those situations.” James also got a taste of working under Jose Mourinho. “He was encouraging but he’d always keep you on your toes. I remember I tried to get out of one tight situation and he said, ‘No, James. That’s not the place to do it’. You really wanted to impress him because he was always watching. Even the captain of the club, John Terry, would be switched on when we were doing rondos. “He set the standard so high and we could see that even he wanted to impress Mourinho. It lifted the whole squad. I was a youngster exposed to that and it really helped me in my career.” Both brothers were still getting their game time in Chelsea’s academy and reserve teams. Aware of their Filipino heritage, some of their team-mates encouraged them to declare for the Philippines. “They said we should do it, that we’d be on billboards over there, and we just laughed,” James says. “We didn’t take it seriously because we didn’t know much about Philippines football until we googled it. The PFF (Philippine Football Federation) had a good website and we found out they at least had a national team but we didn’t know how we’d go about it.” Only two weeks after that conversation in 2005, head of youth development Neil Bath presented the brothers with some unexpected news: the PFF had been in touch, having been alerted to James and Phil’s potential eligibility by a teenage Chelsea fan who had spotted their dual nationality while playing Football Manager. They jumped at the chance. “A bit later, after we qualified for the Southeast Asian Championship, we went to a bar to celebrate and there was this kid who was 15 or 16 years old,” Phil says. “He was very shy but he did say he was the one who found us on the game. I was very thankful to him. “We loved Football Manager. I think James liked to put ourselves in the Chelsea team. I just played normally but it took up a lot of our time at that age.” Having dropped outside the top 200 in the FIFA rankings in the early 2000s, the PFF launched a fresh drive to bring more foreign-born talent into the Philippines national side. Chad Gould, who played his youth career at Bournemouth and Southampton, and the Greatwich brothers — Chris, Phil and Simon — were also part of the English influx but the Younghusbands were the headline recruits. James and Phil first trained with the Philippines national team in the summer of 2005. Chelsea academy team-mate Jimmy Smith, on holiday in the country, joined them for the session to keep up his fitness. It was rainy season and a far cry from the plush facilities at Cobham. “There was a brick on the field and people throwing javelins close by,” James says. “It was quite a compact sports facility. We changed at the side of the pitch. The thing I struggled with was the humidity. I couldn’t breathe. I was too busy trying to get my breath back to run and the local players really gained my respect.” Both brothers were included in the Philippines squad for the 2005 Southeast Asian Games. “It was different,” Phil says. “We had to drive an hour to where the team was staying, up in the mountains in Bacolod. It was a lovely big white house but, every time we had to train it was a two-hour round trip to the stadium. Security was the armed forces with their AK-47 rifles sitting next to us.” The rest of the players agreed to give the Younghusbands the only TV in the house so they could binge watch Lost between training sessions. There were also singing and acting competitions to help the diverse squad bond ahead of the tournament. “The thing that kept us there was how nice everyone was,” James says. Football is the main sport in Bacolod, the Filipino province that hosted the tournament, and the strength of passion took the brothers by surprise. “There were people climbing up trees just to get to the games,” Phil says. “Outside the gates, there were thousands of people just waiting. Coming from Chelsea reserve games to playing in front of 30,000 sold-out crowds was amazing. “The president of the Philippines came to watch the last game and we had to go up and shake his hand. It felt like we were in the FA Cup final.” James scored his first international goal against Cambodia in the second game, a 30-yard shot that arrowed into the bottom corner. Phil, the striker and more frequent goalscorer, opened his account with two headers against Malaysia. “Filipinos don’t cheer — they scream,” he says. “It was a very high-pitched stadium but it was a wonderful feeling.” Both brothers quickly came to regard their international adventures with the Philippines as a welcome change of pace from the day-to-day battle to break into the Chelsea first team but their paths soon diverged for the first time. James was released when his contract expired in the summer of 2006, plunging him into the perilous world of life as a triallist in English football’s lower leagues. “By the time James’ contract ran out, we’d been at Chelsea for almost 10 years,” Phil says. “For those 10 years, every time I’d been to Chelsea, I’d gone with my brother. Every single time. So the first pre-season when I had to go on my own felt very weird.” James had trials at clubs across the country as well as stints with AFC Wimbledon and his local side, Staines Town. Chelsea’s technical director Frank Arnesen at the time even arranged a trial with Dutch club Den Bosch but nothing panned out. “It was a big lesson for me that if you go to a football club, you need to do your homework as a trialist,” he says. “You need to find out if the coach is looking for the type of player you are and if the team is looking for your position specifically. Even if you’re better than the player they already have, it’s very unlikely they’re going to take him out because he’s already contracted and has a good relationship with them. “I needed a bit of a break from football, so I did some other things in London. I did a bit of modelling, a bit of TV work. It even got to the point where I was picking up cars from people who couldn’t afford to pay for them anymore, just for some extra money. It was a good learning experience for me of how the football system worked.” Phil, meanwhile, was still trying to glean everything he could from Chelsea. “Jose would ask me about the Philippines: the culture, the football, how everything was,” he says. “I had a few conversations with Didier Drogba and he was always nice. He’d speak about Africa and I’d speak about Asia, and we’d compare. “I had more conversations with the English boys – John Terry, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole. I could have gone on loan to LA Galaxy and Joe Cole was saying it would be a good move. That was about a month before David Beckham went there. “I remember practising free kicks with Arjen Robben at the end of one session. I think it was his last day before he went to Real Madrid. It was very windy and I hit one that was going well wide but it came back and ended up going in off the crossbar. He just said, ‘Phil, go in. End on that one’.” By the time his own contract at Chelsea expired in 2008, the struggles of his older brother had convinced Phil that the Philippines offered more in the way of opportunity than England – and thanks to the profile the Younghusbands had generated through their exploits for the national team, those opportunities stretched beyond football. “We were able to get some modelling jobs and endorsements,” he says. “I even did a singing competition similar to X Factor (called Celebrity Duets). They got professionals from different industries; I was the athlete, there was a politician, a newspaper columnist and so on. We partnered with different local professional singers for a duet each week and then the public voted. “There were eight contestants and I was the fourth voted off. I sang Umbrella by Rihanna and a few others. Maybe that kept me in — not my actual singing; my song choice!” But the peak of the Younghusbands’ fame in the Philippines was still to come. The family had settled in the country by the time the 2010 Suzuki Cup rolled around and both brothers were able to play a key role in the most glorious moment in the national team’s modern history. The Philippines had only just qualified for the tournament with a fortuitous 0-0 draw against Cambodia and were rank outsiders in a group that featured defending champions Vietnam, Singapore and Myanmar. Preparations for the competition were less than ideal. “We did a camp in Thailand and the last game we played before the tournament was against a Thai club team,” Phil says. “We had to drive three hours there but the bus was late, which meant we only arrived 10 minutes before kick-off. We had to get changed in the bus, run out, warm up for 10 minutes and then play. We ended up losing 9-0. I think they were second or third division!” But the tournament itself followed a very different script. James set up Chris Greatwich for a last-minute equaliser against Singapore in the opening group game to pave the way for an even bigger shock against Vietnam — a match still remembered in the Philippines as “The Miracle in Hanoi”. Vietnam had beaten Myanmar 7-1 in their opening group game and the commentator predicted a cricket score. But the Philippines held them at bay, thanks to some heroic defending and spectacular saves from Neil Etheridge, the former Chelsea youth goalkeeper that the Younghusbands had helped to recruit to the national side. The game was an ordeal for Phil for other reasons. “The night before the Vietnam game, I didn’t sleep at all,” he says. “I was on the toilet, I was vomiting. I went down for breakfast and could only have a bit of a banana before going back to bed. I had a bit of a temperature and it was clear I had food poisoning. “It was a question of whether I felt up to playing or not but going to the game and seeing the stadium filling up; the adrenaline took over. I felt I was OK to play.” He did more than just play. Vietnam poured forward after Greatwich had given the Philippines a surprise lead shortly before half-time, leaving space for Phil to lead a counter-attack and score the decisive second goal with 11 minutes to go. “After I score, you can see me touching my stomach and telling the coach that I don’t feel well,” he says. “I felt dehydrated and I was cramping up. Getting that goal made me feel like I’d done part of my job. “There are videos on YouTube of everyone celebrating in the changing room after the game and the camera pans to see me vomiting in the bathroom.” Vietnam did not take the defeat well, switching the lights off in the away dressing room. “They were so angry that when we got into the changing room, they told us to get out,” James says. “They kicked us out of the stadium — we weren’t even allowed to shower!” The result left Philippines needing only a point from their final group game against Myanmar to reach the knockout stage for the first time ever. They got it and the impact back home was seismic. “The responses on Twitter were overwhelming,” Phil says. “We arrived back in the Philippines and the amount of media was what you’d get for a Manny Pacquiao fight. “We had the press conference in the airport when we landed and there were hundreds of cameras. It was something we’d never seen before and that was the point we realised we’d done something special. We trained in Manila ahead of the semi-finals and the stand was sold out for the session.” The adventure ended in the semi-finals but interest in football spiked in the Philippines as a result. Fresh investment flooded into the United Football League (UFL), founded in 2009, and the brothers turned down a lucrative offer from Indonesian club Jakarta FC in order to help it grow. Both have played their club football in the Philippines ever since and almost always for the same teams. Unlike many brothers split apart by professional football, they have always been inclined to stick together. “That’s just always worked for us,” James says. “Some people have asked us, ‘Why don’t you separate?’ and we always said, ‘Why, though?’. My brother and I are best friends. I was best man at his wedding last year. “We’ve done everything together and we were even in the same year at school. Our mum and dad always wanted it that way, so it made sense to keep doing that.” Their chemistry extends to the football pitch; Phil estimates that James has played a part in setting up around a third of his 52 international goals — a tally that makes him the Philippines’ all-time record goalscorer. “In our school team, I’d take up a Thierry Henry position on the left,” he says. “James was playing on the right and would do a long diagonal between the right-back and centre-back. I’d run in between them and got a lot of my goals that way. “James’ strengths are his crossing and his energy to get up and down. I’m a striker, so naturally, I’m in the box. He knows what runs I’m going to make and we’ve had that understanding in all our teams.” Both were ever-present throughout the 2010s as the Philippines attained their highest-ever FIFA ranking of 111, recorded their first-ever win in World Cup qualifying and reached the group stage of the Asian Cup for the first time in their history in 2019. That tournament was Phil’s swansong before retirement and it was not a happy one under new coach Sven-Goran Eriksson. “He went for a more defensive shape, which meant he changed everything that we’d been doing before,” Phil says. “He played 5-4-1, which meant my role as a No 10 didn’t fit into the system, so my last games for the national team weren’t the most memorable. “He’s what you see on the TV: very softly spoken, very nice, very polite. I got on well with him, but I felt he changed everything that had worked for us within five minutes of coming in. He hadn’t been able to work with the team long enough. His contract was only for three or four months. We were very amicable but in terms of what he brought to the Asian Cup, it didn’t make sense to me.” Phil, now 32, retired on 108 international appearances, and has returned to England with his pregnant wife to raise their son. James, 33, on 101 caps, is still in Manila and isn’t ready to hang up his boots just yet. Both want to continue helping to raise the profile and the quality of football in the Philippines, working with investors to build on the soccer school they opened early in their international careers. “I’d like to coach but I don’t want to get straight into it,” James says. “But I also love movies and I’d like to see how that industry works. I’d love to do a road trip across the US. I want to explore other cultures and other interests, but I’ll always be involved in football.” Phil intends to take a different path. “I want to grow in football and if I want to be educated, I can’t be in the Philippines right now,” he says. “I need to be in a European country where I can learn and grow, and one day bring that back. I think I can help the Philippines — not so much on the coaching side but more the economics, the marketing, the organisation and the structure. “If there’s any way I can be around a club and see how it’s structured, then I can bring that back and really help football in the Philippines.” They both still follow Chelsea and have watched Lampard’s youth revolution with delight this season. “I really want them to qualify for the Champions League and see what they build when they start signing players again,” James says. “I’m sure he’ll get the right balance. “I see some of the first team posting flashback photos on social media in their academy gear and I remember wearing that gear. It makes me feel much older! They were little kids when I was in my teenage years. Your career goes so fast.”

Rebooted: Nicolas Anelka, the electric striker who wanted ‘to go too fast’ https://theathletic.com/1769146/2020/04/28/nicolas-anelka-arsenal-wenger-real-madrid/ When Arsenal’s Nicolas Anelka was awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year award in 1999, he declined to attend the ceremony. In the absence of the nation’s finest young footballer, it was left to club captain Tony Adams to collect the trophy. “I didn’t attend the ceremony because I didn’t want to do the English press the honour of going,” Anelka later admitted to French magazine VSD. Anelka’s absence was widely taken as confirmation of his surly insouciance. He was the boy with the world at his feet and a chip on his shoulder. He was “Le Sulk”. There was something to that, certainly. Anelka didn’t have the showmanship of his predecessor Ian Wright, nor the oozing charisma of his successor Thierry Henry. His football was red hot, yet it wasn’t particularly easy to warm to him. Yet the caricature masks some of his complexities. Anelka is an introvert whose career has been littered with confrontation. An astonishing sprinter who ultimately moved too fast. A young man seemingly sure of his own mind, who has been left with regret. Anelka was born in the Parisian suburb of Le Chesnay to Martinique-born parents Marguerite and Jean-Phillipe. His two brothers, Claude and Didier, were almost a decade older, and their seniority would make them major influences in his life — and his short-lived Arsenal career. Spotted playing for local team FC Trappes, he was recruited to the esteemed Clairefontaine academy. Anelka was part of the class of 1995, along with future French internationals Louis Saha and Philippe Christanval. Legendary French coach Andre Merelle oversaw his development in those first few formative years and identified the withdrawn personality that characterised the early part of Anelka’s career. “I saw him arrive at INF Clairefontaine at 13 years old,” Merelle told Le Parisien. “He was very good technically and already so lively and fast. It was a pleasure to see him play and he was above everyone, even if he was quite withdrawn, which made contact very difficult. But once he had a ball, he was happiest there. The pitch is his world.” Speak to anyone who has worked with Anelka and that theme will reoccur. For him, the football field seemed to offer respite. For all the controversy that would follow him, there was never any debate over his ability. Anelka’s potential saw him snapped up by Paris Saint-Germain and he would turn out for their youth team at the weekends while from Monday to Friday, he continued his footballing education at Clairefontaine. Contrary to the popular myth, Arsenal didn’t pluck Anelka from total obscurity: he had a burgeoning reputation in France. By February 1996, he had already made his debut for the PSG first team, playing against AS Monaco at just 16 years old — at the time, it made him the second-youngest player in the top division’s history. At the start of the 1996-97 season, he scored his first Ligue 1 goal against RC Lens. Anelka was fast making a name for himself. He was, however, impatient. PSG had a squad packed with attacking talent such as Rai, Julio Dely Valdes and Patrice Loko — and Anelka didn’t want to wait around. He had grown up a PSG fan but that did not weigh much against the ambition of his advisors. Consensus dictates he left Arsenal too soon but there are those who would say the same for PSG. “Sometimes I think of Nicolas in his early days,” recalls Luis Fernandez, the coach who handed him his professional debut as a teenager. “He’s someone who wanted to play, to succeed. He had enormous potential. When he started out, a certain entourage of bad advisors drew him to the dark side… Nicolas badly negotiated the different turns of his career, at least the first. He wanted to go too fast.” And he wanted to go to Arsenal. By now, Anelka’s brothers were representing his interests and when he failed to return to PSG training after the winter break, it set the wheels in motion for an acrimonious departure. PSG were offered little protection by the rules governing youth players at the time: they could either accept compensation in the region of half a million pounds or hold on to him until the end of the season and lose him for nothing. They decided to recoup what little money they could and in February 1997, Anelka arrived in north London. Lee Dixon remembers Anelka’s first training session at London Colney. “Just in the warm-up, before getting the balls out, he looked an absolute pure athlete,” Dixon tells The Athletic. “I remember I was running flat out and he was just skimming across the grass, barely touching it.” “We had a practice match, 11-v-11, in one of his first sessions. The team was mixed up and he was on our side. He made it so easy… We realised we could basically hit the ball over the top and however bad a pass you hit, he’d get on the end of it. He was just instantly a brilliant finisher. Thierry (Henry) and Dennis (Bergkamp) struggled to hit the net to begin with but Anelka was an absolute natural.” This was a player who did almost all of his talking on the field. “He was so quiet,” says Dixon. “He didn’t speak. He probably said about three words in the whole time he was there.” “Around this time, Tony Adams went through a period of coming into the dressing room and making sure he said hello to everybody. He’d walk round and as you’re sat there putting your underpants and your socks on, wanting some privacy, big captain would come round and say, ‘Morning Dicko’, then stand in front of you and shake your hand. Then he’d move on — ‘Morning Bouldy’ — and so on. “Every time he got round to Nicolas, he was so so shy. He’d just stick his hand out and barely even look at him. It was probably three weeks until he murmured something back to Tony, out of embarrassment., if anything. It was just ‘Morning Nicolas’, ‘Morning Nicolas’, ‘Morning Nicolas’, with nothing coming back!” Arsenal had a growing community of French players but Anelka shied away from them too. He was not a social creature, spending his time outside football with his brothers in the four-bedroom Edgware home they’d purchased on arrival. “He was just really shy and introverted,” says Dixon. “But he was ballsy when he was out on the pitch. That was his stage, that was where he felt comfortable.” Arsene Wenger had given Anelka the No 11 shirt vacated by Glenn Helder — seemingly an indicator he envisaged him being immediately involved in the first-team squad. At first, however, he played less than he managed in Paris. Between his arrival in February and the end of the season, he made just four Premier League appearances. The following season saw a change in fortunes — and shirt numbers. Anelka, now wearing nine, ousted Ian Wright as the first-team’s starting centre-forward over the course of the campaign. His breakout season culminated in setting the seal on Arsenal’s double with a goal against Newcastle in the FA Cup Final. Anelka was barely 19. With his first professional silverware under his belt, and his place in the team seemingly secure, the summer of 1998 should have been the start of something beautiful for Anelka and Arsenal. Instead, it was the beginning of the end. If Anelka is to be believed, it all started to go wrong with a supporter poll. “When I started my last year, there was a survey because I took Ian Wright’s place,” Anelka later explained in a French DVD commemorating his career. “I thought the fans really wanted me and were happy with my performance but when I saw the results in the newspapers and on TV (Wright won), it hurt me a lot. I felt like I did all that stuff for nothing.” Anelka’s sensitivity was surely misplaced. Losing a poll to Arsenal’s record goalscorer at the time is no slight. Arsenal’s fans undoubtedly felt a debt of loyalty to Wright for his years of his service. What’s more, his bubbly personality made him more personable — more loveable, perhaps — than the withdrawn Anelka. It was not a comment on his ability. Nevertheless, it hurt him. “I thought, ‘So that’s how it is. That’s how you thank me?’,” he continues. “So now look what’s going to happen: I’m going to play, score my goals and just when you chant my name, I will leave. This is exactly what I did because I was furious with them. I left Arsenal to punish the fans.” Sure enough, in 1998-99, Anelka was in blistering form. He arguably peaked in the month of February, when he was not only named Carling Premiership Player of the Month after scoring in every league game but also netted twice for France in their first-ever win over England at Wembley Stadium. His coruscating form saw him finish the season as Arsenal’s top goalscorer with 17 goals. Unfortunately, in that same February, Anelka’s relationship with English football soured further. Anelka granted an exclusive tabloid interview which ran with the headline: “The gloomy Gooner in Cor Blimey land”. In the piece, Anelka had admitted to being “bored in London” — “I don’t know anybody in London and I don’t want to. I don’t think I’ll see my contract through.” Anelka disputed his portrayal as a sulk — hence the antipathy towards the press that led to him swerving the PFA ceremony. To his mind, he was a young man struggling with adaptation to a new country. Wenger was quick to defend him. “He is not the type of person the media represent, at all,” the Arsenal manager said. “He is not an arrogant guy. He is reliable and shy, much more sensitive than people think. I sometimes put myself in his position and he is amazing for a 20-year-old. He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke, he is at training every day, he has played nearly every game this season. That deserves a lot of respect.” Anelka’s nomadic career might suggest there is an inherent restlessness to his character. Having walked out on the club of his heart, PSG, perhaps he would never really be happy anywhere. Arsenal felt the advice of his brothers was a more significant catalyst in Anelka’s unhappiness than the British press. Claude and Didier didn’t wait for Arsenal’s permission before beginning negotiations with half a dozen clubs on the continent. Having engineered the move from Paris to London, they knew what it took to force a club’s hand. At the end of the 1998-99 season, the two brothers informed Wenger and David Dein that Nicolas was determined to leave the club — this despite signing a four-year deal just months prior. Anelka was whisked away to a hotel in Martinique, from where his brothers conducted the negotiations via mobile phone. Anelka himself could not be reached, despite Wenger’s attempts. “He has been isolated,” Wenger said. “We have lost contact with him. I understand that he wants to leave but for him to lose contact is more difficult for me to understand. I don’t believe he was so keen to leave. He’s not a bad boy. He’s not someone who is unwell in London. That’s completely untrue. He has been pushed to say that.” Wenger was particularly disappointed by the player’s refusal to inform him of his wishes to his face. At 20, Anelka was already a starting player for a Champions League club. As far as Wenger could see it, there was only one reason he could be so determined to leave: “the money”. Arsenal fielded offers from Juventus before entering advanced negotiations with Lazio. At one point, they appeared on the brink of a most unusual transfer deal. At the time, fees were spiralling so dramatically that Arsenal were concerned Lazio might be attempting to buy Anelka only to sell him on at an inflated price shortly afterwards. In 1998, Lazio had bought Christian Vieri for £10 million only to sell him to Inter Milan for £30 million 12 months later. Consequently, Lazio proposed an £18 million fee, with a further £4 million due to Arsenal if they sold him any time in the next four years. While some sections of the Arsenal board were minded to accept, Dein believed Arsenal should hold out for the money upfront. In the end, the vice-chairman was proved right. A few weeks later, shortly after the family doctor announced Anelka could not report for training as he was “suffering from stress”, Real Madrid completed the £23.5 million signing of the player. Arsenal were reluctant sellers but the deal has since been heralded as one of the most important of Wenger’s tenure: it enabled the club to modernise their training ground and sign Thierry Henry — the man who would become the greatest goalscorer in their history. The immediate future was less kind to Anelka, who was moved on from Madrid after one difficult season. Vincente del Bosque later claimed Anelka refused to train after accusing his team-mates of not celebrating his goals enough. The anecdote adds to the portrait of a complicated young man who expected loyalty and love when he didn’t always offer it — and those closest to him, those he trusted most, did not always have his best interests at heart. His place in Arsenal’s history remains a curious one, sandwiched between the brilliance of Wright and Henry. Anelka arguably matches them for pure talent but not for longevity — not for legendary status. In recent years, he has admitted regret over both his decision to leave and his conduct, particularly walking away from the coach who understood him best. At Arsenal it’s said that a curse hangs over the No 9 shirt, one that’s lingered ever since Anelka vacated it. Had he chosen to remain in north London — had he somehow ignored the irritation of the media and the agitation of his brothers — perhaps this story might have ended differently. Perhaps it would be Anelka, rather than his replacement Henry, cast in bronze on the stadium’s concourse. No one doubts he had the talent. If only he’d taken his time.

85m euros is MADNESS for him, especially in this market

Lautaro gets wet for Barça (wtf is with the headline!) https://www.mundodeportivo.com/futbol/fc-barcelona/20200502/48890893724/lautaro-se-moja-por-el-barca.html FC Barcelona continues to work quietly ahead to strengthen their squad ahead of next season in a context complicated by the effects of the pandemic of the coronavirus . The technical managers of the club are narrowing down the market objectives very well for the next season and the one that is clearer is that of a center forward who is giving the relay to Luis Suárez . In this sense, the favorite is Lautaro Martínez (22 years old), the 'nine' of Inter Milan , and the Barça club's movements seem to be paying off. The fact is that Lautaro is working quietly and without fuss in favor of the Barcelona cause. With a contract until 2023 and with a termination clause of his 111 million contract between next July 1 and 15, the Argentine has opted for Barça . snip

Why Chelsea teen Billy Gilmour wears a Liverpool shirt while playing football in the garden https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/why-chelsea-teen-billy-gilmour-wears-a-liverpool-shirt-in-the-garden-a4430146.html It's a rare sight football fans never want to see: one of their own wearing a rival club's shirt. Well, Chelsea fans - look away. Breakthrough star Billy Gilmour has revealed he is currently opting for a Liverpool shirt when practising in the garden. speaking to Chelsea's official website, Gilmour was asked when he last wore the shirt of a team he wasn't playing for. Gilmour responded: "It was probably Andy Robertson’s Liverpool shirt when I swapped with him after the recent FA Cup game. I wear that sometimes at the moment, just out in the garden playing football." The 18-year-old - who despite his slight frame and minimal experience - has emerged as one of the club's more exciting prospects this season. And with his performance against Liverpool a real defining moment for the youngster, this harmless act may just be excused. A dominant 2-0 win put Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, while Gilmour was named man of the match after an eyebrow-raising performance which earned him significant praise from a number of figures within the game. snip

BILLY GILMOUR: FIRST, LAST AND ALWAYS https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2020/05/02/billy-gilmour-on-childhood-chelsea-kits--scottish-sitcoms-and-re?cardIndex=0-0 In our feature where we ask players to make selections based on their past, their recent choices and what crops up time and time again, Billy Gilmour tells us about getting his first Chelsea kit and the Scottish sitcom he recommends everybody watches... First: What was the first football kit you ever wore? It was a Chelsea strip when I was about five. I was a fan then because they had so many great players and were winning trophies. Last: When was the last time you wore a football shirt of a team you weren’t playing for? It was probably Andy Robertson’s Liverpool shirt when I swapped with him after the recent FA Cup game. I wear that sometimes at the moment, just out in the garden playing football. Always: What is the best old football shirt you have kept? I’ve always kept shirts and training gear from every season, from Boys Club to Rangers and now Chelsea. My mum keeps them safe in boxes in the loft at home. Read - Gilmour exclusive: 'I was raging after my debut!' First: What was the first movie you really liked growing up? Grown Ups or Step Brothers. Last: What was the last film or TV programme you watched? I’ve been watching a lot at the moment – Power, Prison Break. The last one I actually watched was Peaky Blinders and the latest series has just come on Netflix so I’ll have to watch that. Always: What have you watched most often in your life? It’s probably Still Game, which is a Scottish comedy. It’s just a couple of old Scottish guys who are really funny. It’s on Netflix now but I’m not sure people will understand it! snip

pure class, I love him LEGEND always!!

lol, Cesc trolling spuds hard

Chelsea ‘clearly ahead’ in race to sign Napoli defender https://www.chelsea-news.co/2020/05/chelsea-clearly-ahead-race-sign-napoli-defender/ And according to Italian Journalist Massimo Brambati, Chelsea are ‘clearly ahead’ of the competition to sign Koulibaly this summer, as cited by Sport Witness. Interestingly, the clubs he claims Chelsea are ahead of is their English rivals Manchester United and Manchester City. Brambati said: “I have received three market news. “The most important one concerns Naples. They tell me that Kalidou Koulibaly will leave Naples. “On his trail, there are three clubs: Chelsea, Manchester United and City coached by Spanish coach Pep Guardiola. “Chelsea would be clearly ahead of the other two clubs.” https://www.areanapoli.it/calciomercato/brambati-napoli-individuato-il-sostituto-di-koulibaly-mi-sono-arrivate-tre-notizie-di-mercato_370047.html

Liverpool to miss out on Timo Werner as club puts summer spending on hold https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/liverpool-miss-out-timo-werner-21960456 for what it's worth, which being The Mirror, wouldn't buy you a curry take-away in Tower Hamlets

well said SJ fuck do I MISS footie though!

Loan to the Bundesliga Borussia Mönchengladbach VfL Wolfsburg SC Freiburg Hertha BSC

Ryan Gravenberch 2019/20 – scout report https://footballbh.net/2020/04/24/ryan-gravenberch-201920-scout-report-tactical-analysis-tactics/ Ajax Amsterdam is one of the world’s most prominent and respected clubs regarding youth development and academies. In the last few decades, we saw plenty of their students emerge as world-class players, wining everything with their clubs and their national teams, many of them earning a legendary status by the end of their careers. There is no change in the Ajax philosophy ever since: they invest tremendously in the youth, making sure that the players receive the best physical and mental development, and what is even more important, that they are granted the earliest possible trust on the highest level. A research published in April 2020 by Swiss sports organisation CIES (International Centre for Sports Studies) recognised the club as the ‘Main stepping-stone club to the big-5’ which means that with 22 players at the time of speaking the Dutch giant has supplied the most players to the top five leagues from their academy. In this scout report, we will analyse the latest sensation in the making: Ryan Gravenberch. At only 17 years of age, the Dutch midfielder already has 14 appearances in the first team of Ajax, nine of which coming from the 2019/2020 season of Eredivisie, the top-flight of the Netherlands. Even though these nine games included only a total of 513 minutes on the pitch for the youngster, in this short period of time there are two goals and some outstanding figures by his name already, proving why he is so highly rated and has been approached by European giants like AS Roma, Juventus or FC Barcelona. No question that he has already outgrown Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, and in this tactical analysis we will analyse his performance in more depth and details, by comparing his statistics to the average figures of those midfielders in the Eredivisie who has at least the same playing minutes as the youngster. 1) Defending With 186 cm and 77 kg, Gravenberch has a close to perfect stature of body for the role that Erik Ten Hag seems to assign to him. He is mainly used as a pivotal defensive midfielder in Ajax’s usual 4-3-3 tactics or as a left-defensive midfielder if the team is set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. By this, he mostly serves as the deepest lying member of the central trio which allows his two other teammates to join the attacks more often and play in a free roam role while Gravenberch rather sticks to his position and aims to provide stability to the team. As illustrated in the below chart, his defensive statistics are above the league average in general. One of the most important elements of a holding midfielder is their involvement and success rate in defending duels. In this area, Gravenberch has a great advantage coming from his physical attributes: his height, strength, and long legs all help him a lot in succeeding. By numbers, he is around average in the league with 7.72 defending duels per game – a decent figure with such a short experience. Moreover, with an outstanding success rate of 68.18%, Gravenberch surpasses the average by 15.45% and is the fifth-best midfielder in the Eredivisie from this perspective – we can see his great position among the midfielders in the next diagram. Another key factor is that he manages to end these duels mostly with gaining back ball possession for his team instead of a dead ball situation – with his massive presence in the heart of the pitch he helps his team tremendously in controlling the game and turning from defending into attacking with ease. However, he still has room for improvement in offensive and aerial duels: his 46.15% and 33.33% figures per 90 minutes are quite far from best, as visible in the next chart. While the offensive duels are not key for the role he fulfils, in the air the youngster must be more aggressive and prolific, confirmed by the fact that he is 30.70% below the Eredivisie midfielders’ average. The ability to read the game quickly and effectively is also a fundamental element of the Ajax style of play. Gravenberch has a great vision on the pitch which he uses both for offensive and defensive tasks. In defending, he needs to be able to understand the game in full, predict what will happen one or two touches later, and tailor his movements and actions proactively, so that he can overcome his opponents and stop their attacks even before starting. Gravenberch is very good at cutting the passing lanes, covering the zones, and intervening in the offensive actions. His 7.43 interceptions per 90 minutes in the current Eredivisie season is 42.56% better than the average of the league. 2) Transition Apart from his physical appearance, Gravenberch’s greatest attribute/skill comes to the surface when his team turns from defending to attacking: in these situations, he uses his acceleration to bring the ball out of defence by performing long progressive runs into the middle and final third of the pitch. He plays with a great rhythm and is almost unstoppable when at full speed. As an example, let’s take a situation illustrated below: the youngster intercepts a pass inside his penalty area and initiates a progressive run across the middle third. With his agile movements and strength, he successfully gets past two opponents and in only a few seconds time, he is already at the half-way line from where he can supply his teammate without any challenge. This explosive style is clearly visible in his statistics too: he has an average of 3.16 progressive runs per 90 minutes which is three times better than the average of all Eredivisie midfielders and on top of all, it is the best figure in the whole league. He is also a key element of the transitions when he is not the one carrying the ball. In these cases, he constantly looks for empty zones and passing lanes, and with his movements he always aims to provide a passing option for the teammates, just like in the below snapshot from the game against ADO Den Haag in December: as the away team is pressing high up the pitch with six players, the Ajax defender is forced to get rid of the ball, therefore Gravenberch steps between two attackers and creates a free passing lane. In the Ajax academy, Gravenberch has grown up surrounded by a philosophy in which possessing the ball and controlling the game is placed above everything else. He is deeply accustomed to this style of play and seems to fit into the system perfectly. No need for a better indicator than his 88,92% passing accuracy in the current season which is a figure of the elite. It is true, on the other hand, that the majority of his passes are rather safe ones, not taking much risk, with an average pass length of 15,62 meters which is 17,04% below the Eredivisie midfielders. Some would call these actions dull or even alibi ones, but the youngster’s pass range statistics suggest otherwise: 40% of his total is in a forward direction which underlines his contribution to the build-ups of Ajax. In the other chart, it is also transparent that his numbers of passes per 90 minutes are above the league average from almost all perspectives. Obviously, young age and the lack of experience will always have their imprints on the player’s performance. The most common critics that Gravenberch receives is that he often looks sloppy and lazy on the pitch: he tends to wait too much on the ball and therefore loses the opportunity to make the best possible decision in many situations. In the 2019/2020 season, he has 7 ball losses per 90 minutes, an alarming figure from a holding midfielder. Just during the encounter between Ajax and Heracles in February, Gravenberch registered a total of 20 individual ball losses – no wonder that his team lost the game eventually. After the final whistle of the clash with old rival PSV Eindhoven – in which he was not able to avoid the mistakes once again –, the youngster was very self-critical and brave enough to admit in public that these types of errors are not acceptable on such a high level of football. The fact that he was aware of his underperformance and did not try to blame it away shows great signs of a personality that is inevitable for a player’s development. 3) Attacking From his deep-lying position, the main task of Gravenberch is to get the ball into the final third of the pitch as quickly as possible – and he has all the talent to live up to the responsibility. When fully concentrated, he constantly aims to find his teammates near to the penalty area which is visible from his 11,75 passes into the final third per 90 minutes which is a figure far above average. But an even more impressive data, demonstrated in the next chart, is that Gravenberch sends the most passes into the penalty area among all the Eredivisie midfielders: his 4.39 per 90 minutes is an outstanding figure from a rather defensive, pivotal role. Although the player spends most of his time in the midfield, far from the goal, he does not shy away from stepping up with the attacks and take part in the combination plays. Being excellent with his feet, he can easily be involved in one-touch plays and can support his teammates in the short build-ups. Also, in many cases, he creates space for the rest of the attackers with quick runs into the half-spaces, stepping in between the defenders and creating an option to receive the ball. A perfect example is his first goal in the Eredivisie from December, against ADO Den Haag: as Dusan Tadic brings up the ball from the usual position of Gravenberch, the Dutch moves forward into the left half-space and is found easily by his teammate. After a few quick and controlled touches on the ball, he places it perfectly by the post from the edge of the penalty area. The constant comparison to Paul Pogba is not a coincidence: Gravenberch plays in an elegant and solid defensive style paired with great technical skills and dribbling. His 3,68 dribbles per 90 minutes is almost the double of the average in the 2019/20 Eredivisie season among midfielders – so he tries and mostly succeeds: 66,67% of his tricks pay off. In the below chart, we will see how effective he is compared to his fellow midfielders, and not only in dribbling but in other areas as well: even though shooting and crossing are not incremental elements of Gravenberch’s role, when he gets there, he is outstandingly precise and effective. Conclusion Like any player in his age, Gravenberch is ahead of a lot of things to learn and develop. There is nothing to doubt about his talent and capabilities but these traits alone will not be enough to fulfil his potential: a lot will depend on his personality which is already the topic of discussions in the media and between fans. He has strong self-confidence which is translated as arrogance by many, but this is an attribute that can differentiate a player from the average if it can be paired with humbleness and respect towards the game. Ajax pays immense attention to the mental development of their players which determines that Ryan Gravenberch is just in the right hands. Should he continue next season in the same style as he did so far, Gravenberch can count with significantly more playing time than what he was trusted with in the 2019/20 campaign. He has great chances of earning his place in the starting eleven very soon, probably in a more offensive position with a possible transfer of Donny Van de Beek who is currently the heart of the midfield and fulfils the box-to-box role that seems to be the most beneficial for Gravenberch too, given his technical abilities, rhythm, vision and explosive runs. Until that, he has nothing else to do than remain patient and value the trust he is granted at such a young age, by such a prestigious club.

here is a tough one Aouar or Bellingham? (no, you cannot say both, lol) btw another really young (17yo, 1.83m) CMF to keep an eye on (besides my long pushed Ryan Gravenberch, who I would take over Bellingham I think) Aster Vranckx from KV Mechelen, in the Jupiler League (Belgium top flight) very good (and VERY detailed) scouting report on him https://footballbh.net/2020/04/21/aster-vranckx-2019-20-scout-report-tactical-analysis-tactics/

If this is true, then we are INSANE to not make a move for him. The only 2 strikers I would take over him would Mbappe and (I would need to see one more full year at top level to know for sure) Håland fuck Kane, I hate him too much, lol and Lewandowski is too old now to buy (although I only rate Mbappe better as of NOW) If they cost the same, I would take Werner over Lautaro atm, probably, that's a tough one Dybala is not a pure striker, and Icardi is not that great at pressing BTW Icardi looks like he is going back to Inter, as PSG do not now (Covid) want to buy him, which FUCKS up Inter if Barca has the cash, bye bye Lautaro (Conte will have a meltdown, but hej, its a new Covid world) Skriniar might be on the selling block too (he would be the best CB we can possibly buy, as Real will not sell Varane, and I rate Skriniar the 3rd best in the world, after VVD and Varane, with Koulibaly (too old now to buy though) 4th, Laporte (if healthy) 5th, Marquinhos 6th, José Giménez 7th, Romagnoli 8th, Lucas Hernandez 9th (still think he is a better LB though than a CB atm, but that will probably change and, he is WC at either and 95% of teams will use him at CB anyway), Dayot Upamecano 10th, de Ligt has fallen out of my top 10 atm) our huge problem is that we have 18 (NOT JOKING) dregs (well 17, Mario Pašalić is not dregs and Atalanta will buy him and sell him for a profit, even in this market) to sell, and the market is SHOT overall

I still say (and I approve of this, as I have said repeatedly Thomas is the best buy in terms of the 'NOW' factor, not a buy based off potential like a Eduardo Camavinga or Boubakary Soumaré or Florentino would be) that this only makes sense if we are selling Kante

Exclusive: Liverpool sign Victor Osimhen for € 50M https://www.todofichajes.com/exclusiva-el-liverpool-ficha-a-victor-osimhen-por-50me/ no clue if this is legit it makes zero sense if they are going for Werner

Max Bird to Chelsea Chelsea are 'very close' to completing their second summer signing, reports claim. The Blues have already captured Ajax winger Hakim Ziyech for an initial £37million, but another deal is in the pipeline. Website Todofichajes claim Chelsea are close to 'finalising' a deal for Derby midfielder Max Bird, who was given his Championship debut by Frank Lampard in December 2018. The report claims Chelsea will pay £4.7million for the talented 19-year-old after manager Lampard 'requested' his services at Stamford Bridge.

great news!

Victor Moses return Inter Milan will not pay the full asking price for Chelsea defender Victor Moses. Moses, 29, joined Antonio Conte's side on a six-month loan deal that includes an option to buy for £10.5million. The Nigeria international has made seven appearances for Inter Milan, providing one assist during a 4-2 victory against rivals AC Milan. Calciomercato claim Conte wants to sign Moses on a permanent basis, but that will require a significant discount and it's not clear whether Chelsea will sanction the reduction.

Man City join race for River Plate defender with €22m release clause and more transfer rumours Manchester City are interested in River Plate centre-back Lucas Martínez Quarta, reports say. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/man-city-transfer-real-madrid-18185044 The 23-year-old defender has been tracked by Inter Milan and Real Madrid, according to Calciomercato, and now City have been named as potential buyers for Quarta. Ajax, Borussia Dortmund and Real Betis are also said to be interested in the defender, who has a €22m release clause and has been a regular for River Plate over the last two seasons. City are in the market for a new central defender to replace Vincent Kompany, who left the club last summer. Injuries to Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi have highlighted the need to bring in a new centre-back. Players like Kalidou Koulibaly, Nathan Ake and Dayot Upamecano have been linked with moves to the Etihad in recent months. Meanwhile, two Spanish clubs are attempting to sign David Silva when he leaves City this summer.

Strange as I saw another one where he said Tomori was the fastest.

Tomori is the fastest player on the squad. All the other players have said so. CHO and Pulisic included.