Vesper

Straight Outta Cobham The Athletic's experts on Chelsea - Simon Johnson, Liam Twomey and Dom Fifield are alongside Matt Davies-Adams to take you behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge and bring you the very best insight on all the latest goings on at Chelsea Football Club Re-Injuries & A Losing Battle For Bellingham Plenty of new still coming 'Straight Outta Cobham' as Matt Davies-Adams and The Athletic's Chelsea experts reconvene to discuss the injury concerns beyond the Coronavirus, the losing battle to sign teenage sensation Jude Bellingham & Jorginho's future... Plus, Liam Twomey, Simon Johnson and Dominic Fifield also reminisce about this week's cult hero: The Flying Dutchman, Arjen Robben! https://theathletic.com/podcast/139-straight-outta-cobham/?episode=18

Jeremie Boga interview: Every time there’s a one-against-one, then I take it https://theathletic.com/1683869/2020/03/19/jeremie-boga-chelsea-sassuolo-interview/ Sassuolo are 2-0 up against Brescia when the news begins to filter through. It’s around 8pm on Monday, March 9, and the debate between the league and the players’ union is drawing to a close. A decision has been taken. Serie A is about to suspend the championship until further notice. Jeremie Boga doesn’t know that yet. Hemmed in on the left-hand touchline, he is untangling himself from the spidery legs of Brescia’s Finland striker Simon Skrabb. Just inside the opposition’s half, he manages to wriggle free and get into his stride and suddenly, there’s no stopping him. “Maybe (over) the first 10m, I’m the fastest (on the team),” Boga tells The Athletic. “But long distance, Gregoire (Defrel) and the other Jeremy (Toljan) probably are.” As the Ivory Coast international approaches the penalty area, Andrea Papetti, Brescia’s centre-back, must know what’s coming. His coach Diego Lopez presumably flagged Boga’s tendencies up during a video analysis session over the weekend. The thing with Boga, Lopez will have explained, is he loves to come inside onto his right foot and curl one into the far top corner. Don’t let that happen. But Papetti can’t stop it from happening. He’s a 17-year-old kid and this is his Serie A debut in a defence that has been leaking goals all season. Papetti wants to show Boga down the line. Every defender wants to show Boga down the line. But Boga has this knack of telling them: “Not today” and the next thing you know, he’s taking you inside and Lopez is thinking, “Here we go again”. Boga has Papetti right where he wants him. He’s on his stronger foot and he can see the top corner. This is what he’s been working on all season. “Both better decision-making and being more decisive,” Boga, 23, explains. “That’s really what people look for in my position because the dribbling has been there my whole career but people only see it now because maybe there’s more goals and there’s more assists.” The shot whooshes past goalkeeper Jesse Joronen and only decelerates when it hits the net. It is Boga’s fourth goal in six appearances. For the moment, it is also the last goal of the Serie A season. While the league hopes to resume in May, we can’t be certain there will be anymore even that soon. Currently locked down in his home about a 10-minute drive from Sassuolo’s training ground, Boga was in the form of his career and starting to realise the potential he showed in an all-conquering Chelsea youth team with Ola Aina, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham. “I think our generation was one of the best Chelsea ever had,” he says over a cappuccino. “We had so many talented players. It was not easy but every weekend, we were so used to winning 2-0 or 3-0.” Seeing the club undergo a shift in mentality under Frank Lampard this season and turn a transfer ban into an opportunity to promote from within brings a smile to Boga’s face. He remains in touch with his old team-mates from Cobham via Snapchat and WhatsApp. “If I score or do something, they say well done,” he says. Aina, the Chelsea player with whom Boga is closest, knows firsthand what a fine season the kid he used to play behind and cover for is enjoying. “You can see his reaction,” Boga points out, as we rewatch the January goal against Torino he considers to be the best of his career so far. As usual, Boga drifts inside onto his right; only this time, he nutmegs Tomas Rincon, the mastiff in the middle of the Torino midfield, and detonates a shot that brings the house down. His pal Aina, playing left wing-back for the visitors, is helpless to do anything about it. He turns and throws his hands up in disbelief. “I think he was angry because of the game (Torino ended up losing 2-1 having scored first), so he just said, ‘Well done, good game’. I said, ‘OK, you too’ because I knew if I were him and I’d lost like this, even if he’d scored a good goal, I’d just congratulate him. But not over the top.” When Chelsea sold Boga to Sassuolo for €3 million 18 months ago, a buy-back clause was a condition of the agreement. The Athletic understands it has subsequently been increased to around the €20 million mark with the removal of a sell-on percentage. His progress is being closely tracked and understandably so. I mean, when Boga makes Gigi Buffon look silly, sitting the legendary Juventus goalkeeper down and nonchalantly dinking the ball over his head at the Allianz Stadium in December, it kind of makes him hard to ignore. “This one just came with instinct,” he says, watching it back. “I don’t know how to describe it. My first thought was (to shoot) hard across the goal then, I don’t know, last minute it came to me and I changed my mind.” Already up to eight goals for the season, Boga is no longer just a dribbler. But the art-form he learned in the streets of Marseille remains at the heart his game. Growing up in Bengale, the same neighbourhood as Marseille’s current centre-back Boubacar Kamara, when Boga wasn’t at home with his brothers and sister, he was on the asphalt playing a game called Coupe du Monde (World Cup). “It’s everybody against each other and you have to dribble to score. So since I was little, it’s always been one-against-one and trying to get open.” The dream was to follow in the footsteps of other kids from Marseille, such as the Ayew brothers and Samir Nasri, and reach the top of the professional game. Sat in front of the TV with a plate of attieke, the Ivorian cassava dish his mother used to make, Boga got excited watching Hatem Ben Arfa, his future Chelsea team-mate Eden Hazard and, of course, Lionel Messi. Flash forward to the present and he’s the best dribbler in Serie A. In fact, you might say he’s in a league of his own. Boga is averaging 7.59 dribbles per 90. At the time Serie A shut down, he’d made 167 dribbles — 60 more than the next guy, Bologna winger Riccardo Orsolini. “That’s my style,” Boga explains, “but over the years, I think I’ve improved. Before, I used to force it. If there were three players, I’d still try and do something. Now, if there are three players, I’ll look for a one-two or a pass. But every time there’s a one-against-one for me, an opportunity to go past a player, then I take it.” The softly-spoken Boga is maturing as a player. Gym habits learned at Cobham remain. “Core and leg strength to keep my speed and explosiveness. Since Chelsea, we always work on that.” Where he’s looked to add to his game is not just in front of goal but in his off-the-ball work too. “My movement can always improve because the better my movement becomes, the more chances you’re going to create for yourself or for your team-mates.” His attitude to defending has changed with time as well. “I think it’s positioning. But it’s mostly mental. If the right-back is off again, you have to go with him. If you don’t and they score, it’s your fault. That’s what I learned. If you want to play, you have to defend hard like everybody else. It’s not because I’m a winger or that I play high up the pitch that I cannot defend. I don’t have the choice. You have to defend.” Moving to Sassuolo was the best decision Boga could have made at this stage of his career. The club have punched above their weight for years through great scouting, networking and the willingness to hand opportunities to up-and-coming coaches (including Max Allegri and Eusebio di Francesco) and talented young players. Away from the spotlight — Sassuolo’s population wouldn’t fill the San Siro — and without the history and expectation of the Emilia Romagna region’s other big clubs Bologna and Parma, the less-pressurised environment is perfect for honing one’s craft and nurturing top prospects. Players go there believing it’s a stepping stone to elite clubs such as Juventus (Merih Demiral and Simone Zaza), Inter Milan (Stefano Sensi and Matteo Politano), Barcelona (Kevin-Prince Boateng) and Atletico Madrid (Sime Vrsaljko), or a way back to a Chelsea (Boga), a Borussia Dortmund (Toljan) or AC Milan (Manuel Locatelli). “It’s a top club for young players who want to have game time or have a team where they can come and impress and then go to a bigger team,” Boga says. “Sassuolo is the perfect club for them.” The new training ground is state of the art and Roberto De Zerbi, the current coach, is tipped to follow Allegri and Di Francesco into a big job. His contract expires in the summer and Boga says “he’s up there” in comparison with the coaches he trained under at Chelsea, a list that includes Rafa Benitez, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte. Boga enjoys the short-sided games De Zerbi organises in training. “We do a lot of five-a-sides or 10-v-10s but in half the pitch, possessions in small areas, possessions in big areas but never in big, big areas. You have to think quick because if not, someone is pressuring you already. The mister (coach) has a good relationship with everyone. He’s tough. He’s always on to you but it’s for the best. After the work is done, he smiles, he laughs.” Whether De Zerbi joins in with the players in making fun of Marlon, one of the centre-backs, is unclear. The Brazilian is often the butt of the jokes in the dressing room. “(Domenico) Berardi is on him every day.” Whether it’s the music Boga and Marlon play — “they don’t like my taste (French rap) but we have the booth” — or the Brazilian’s fashion sense — “he’ll dress really nice, put on a nice top and everything, then wear his dirty gym trainers” — Berardi knows no mercy. The vice-captain doesn’t come across as a joker but Boga insists he’s the life and soul of the training ground. What the future holds for Boga remains to be seen. Higher-profile interest in him is percolating within Italy but Chelsea, no doubt mindful of what happened with his wideman predecessors Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah, still have a say. “When you become that good, it means it was always inside of you. So for me, I know it’s inside of me. So I just need the time to show it or maybe make the right decision, like coming here to the Serie A.” The situation has changed at Stamford Bridge since he left. A once-congested pathway is now beginning to clear. “When I was there, it was Willian, Hazard, Pedro,” Boga recalls, “When Mourinho was there, it was Salah. There were a lot of good wingers. For me, it has always been if I can’t play, then I will try to go on loan or try to go somewhere to improve, then maybe come back one day.” At the moment though, all the last goalscorer in Serie A is thinking about is when he’ll get a chance to score another one.

7 Players Who've Flopped This Season https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2020/02/09/7-players-whove-flopped-this-season/#ap Football is a precarious business, as my recent video looking at seven of the biggest player declines during the 2010s showed. Even in a much shorter period of time though, it’s possible to go from Ballon d’Or candidate one season to an overrated flop the next. Football fans are fickle, and the sport can be ruthless. I don’t intend to be quite so hasty in writing players off in this video as many supporters are these days, and I point that out primarily because a number of the players in this seven are quite young. I am not saying anyone in this seven isn’t talented or won’t go on to have a wonderful career, just that they have been underwhelming this season, before anyone crucifies me in the comments. I’d be delighted if everyone in this seven had a barnstorming second half of the season, this seven is just based on the first half of the season. Kwande Mfayela requested this video, and it was a popular suggestion, so here are seven players who have flopped this season: snip 4 of the 7 were heavily linked with us

I rate him a bit, depends on the price. If he costs £40m or more, pass if we could snatch him for £30-35m and Dembele is £50-60m or more, then perhaps

Islam Feruz always was dogshit, plus he was a fucking dwarf at CF I am literally TWENTY cms taller than him in my bare feet

Adam Hložek is a badass 17yo striker. 1.86m and very pacey, deadly shot so far Massive potential upside. Mohammed Daramy just turned 18 in January. He has huge upside potential too, he is more of RWer, and pure speed merchant

It is a great site, first sports only one I ever subscribed to. I subscribe to a shit tonne of financial and political and news papers. I also subscribe to The Private Eye via an overseas physical subscription (they do not have much online content)

Kepa Arrizabalaga 'ready to fight for Chelsea future' By Matt Law, Football Editor | 1m https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/chelsea/transfer-talk/news/kepa-arrizabalaga-ready-to-fight-for-chelsea-future_393330.html Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga is reportedly not interested in leaving Stamford Bridge this summer. The 25-year-old has struggled for consistency since joining the Blues from Athletic Bilbao in August 2018 and has conceded 43 times in 33 appearances at club level this term. Kepa recently lost his starting role at club level to Willy Caballero, although he did return for his side's last Premier League clash at home to Everton earlier this month. There continues to be speculation surrounding the Spain international, but according to the Daily Mail, Kepa is determined to stay and fight for his future. The same report claims that the stopper is confident that he has the support of the club's hierarchy despite being removed from the starting XI by head coach Frank Lampard. Kepa, who has a contract at Stamford Bridge until June 2025, has conceded 32 times in 25 Premier League appearances this season. snip

I know!! and I just renewed my subscription a month ago or so!! GRRRR at least all you can read their stuffs here

riot riot in Merseyside incoming

hell YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO IT

not from me he can fuck right off

Who is the most underrated attacking player in the Premier League? https://theathletic.com/1678594/2020/03/17/underrated-attacker-premier-league-mailbag/ Discussing (or arguing) whether players are underrated, overrated or just plain adequately rated is one of the more enjoyable topics to spitball in football. With that in mind, we asked you who you thought was the most underrated attacking player in the Premier League, so Tom Worville could add the objective to the subjective… By my count, there were 51 votes for attacking players in the Premier League who are perceived as underrated — thank you all for responding. I tallied up each direct response to the question as a vote for each player and you can see the results below. I ignored threaded replies agreeing (or disagreeing) with the player suggested and also didn’t count the “likes” per player (Son Heung-min wins comfortably if these were included). This looks like a pretty solid list, with many names that I definitely agree are generally “underrated”, as well as a few I’m less sure about. Marcus Rashford, I’d firmly place in the rated camp, Eddie Nketiah feels like he needs more time on the field before opinions are thrown around, and I might have to spend a considerable amount longer debating the inclusion of Andy Carroll. I’ll go through the “gold” tier in a bit more detail, then give you a line for each of the “silver” tier players with a stat to back me up. Finally, I’ll tweet out some visuals backing up the “bronze” tier choices throughout the week over on Twitter. Gold Tier Dominic Calvert-Lewin Calvert-Lewin’s inclusion isn’t much of a surprise. Despite having yet to receive an England call-up, he’s been prolific this season, especially under Carlo Ancelotti. Since the Italian’s appointment, Calvert-Lewin has scored eight goals, good for 0.69 per 90 minutes played and more than any other player since late December. His ability to consistently get into great goalscoring positions and finish may be going under the radar but it certainly shouldn’t be when you look at the numbers. Of all the players in Europe’s top five leagues with 1,800-plus minutes to their name since start of the season, Calvert-Lewin has the 10th best goalscoring rate. This scoring streak doesn’t look to be a flash in the pan, either. His 0.7 xG per 90 minutes is third in the Premier League, behind Manchester City duo Sergio Aguero (0.89) and Gabriel Jesus (0.85), and he’s nearly played more minutes than the two of them combined. Goalscoring isn’t everything for a striker, though, and Calvert-Lewin’s aerial ability is worthy of a mention. Smarterscout is a football analytics site owned and run by Dan Altman, previously a senior advisor to Swansea City and DC United. A free-to-use site, smarterscout breaks down elements of a player’s game into different performance, skill and style metrics. The approach to quantifying some of these measures is novel, and worth taking a look at. Take Calvert-Lewin’s aerial ability, which the eye test tells us is pretty good. Smarterscout can help us put a figure on how good that ability is, with the model used treating each aerial duel a bit like a bet. For example, if Lionel Messi is to go up for an aerial duel with Peter Crouch, he probably wouldn’t bet much money that he’d win it, for obvious reasons. The odds would be stacked in Crouch’s favour (say, he’s got a 90 per cent chance of winning the duel) and therefore, he’d need to bet a lot to win a small amount. What if Messi does win, though? He’d win that large chunk that Crouch staked, and Crouch would lose out by a lot. Over the course of many bets (or aerial duels), players will start to emerge as winners (good in the air) or losers (bad in the air). Novel, right? According to smarterscout, Calvert-Lewin rates as 82 out of 99 for aerial duels in open play, a great score and underlining his ability in the air. This score is calculated by taking into account all of those “bets” over the course of his career, comparing his numbers to other strikers, and then standardised for the difficulty of the league played in. This league adjustment is important. If Calvert-Lewin were to play in Serie B in Italy for example, his ability would jump to 95/99 because players there are, on average, of lower quality (both overall and in the air). A rating of 82 in the Premier League, therefore, holds weight. A standout season backed by great goalscoring figures, and a slightly different skill set to others available with his aerial ability; Calvert-Lewin represents a great option for England, whenever football gets going again. Dwight McNeil It really doesn’t feel like there’s been enough fanfare about Dwight McNeil’s season. He’s 20 years old, has missed just 76 minutes of football and has a not-unreasonable five assists to his name. Assists, though, can be a noisy statistic as a player may put their team-mate into a great scoring position only to see them fail to hit the target, therefore not registering an assist despite doing his own bit right. Situations like this may result in a chance created being logged (ie, the player does get the shot away but doesn’t score) but knowing the quality of the created chance cuts through the noise and more accurately allows us to assess a player’s creativity. If we consider the expected goals from chances created, an exactly-what-it-says-on-the-tin metric where we assign the xG of the chance that a player created to the creator himself, we can get a better understanding of the quality of chances created. By this measure, McNeil ranks fourth in the Premier League behind Kevin De Bruyne, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Riyad Mahrez. His 6.8 xG from chances created tells us that, on average, we’d expect him to have closer to seven assists based on the chances he has created, yet he only has five. A very respectable total, and shows that judging him on assists alone doesn’t give the complete picture. Adjusting this for the number of minutes played drops McNeil down to 19th but of the players ahead of him, only Alexander-Arnold has played more. I find this aspect of analytics and team selection an interesting one — would you rather have a player who is good for a large amount of minutes, or great in a smaller amount of minutes? A topic for another mailbag, perhaps, but let the record show that McNeil is having a great season and to use the classic cliche, “we’d be talking about him more if he played for (insert top-six team name here)”. Richarlison Rounding off our so-called gold tier is Richarlison. Arriving from Watford in 2018 for £35 million, which in today’s money, feels like a snip, Richarlison is lauded by many — including The Athletic Everton writer Patrick Boyland — as the complete modern striker. It’s hard to argue with that sentiment. Richarlison has played all across the front four positions this season and is something of a dual-threat. He’s contributed 10 non-penalty goals and three assists this season but his underlying numbers paint him as equal parts a scorer and creator. His expected goals total of 7.8 hints at a degree of luck in his goalscoring tally this season, whereas the quality of the chances he’s created (as explained above with McNeil) would on average return 6.1 goals, the inverse of his fortunes as the Brazilian currently has three assists. Richarlison is potentially an underrated dribbler, too. According to smarterscout, his dribble rating is 92 out of 99 and historically only matched over multiple seasons by Jordan Ayew and Eden Hazard. Scoring, creating and dribbling? No wonder Barcelona are reportedly on the hunt. Silver Tier David McGoldrick Zero goals from 6.2 xG isn’t overly flattering but no striker in the Premier League either attempts or wins more tackles than the Sheffield United man. Emi Buendia I’m an admirer of Buendia’s and have written about him in the past. One of the more underrated creators in the league, according to smarterscout’s ball-progression model, he gets the ball upfield at the same rate of Mohamed Salah when adjusting them both to having the same time in possession. Harvey Barnes is fourth in terms of xG per 90 minutes played (0.35) for all left midfielders or wingers, behind Diogo Jota, Raheem Sterling and Sadio Mane. I can’t not support a fellow ginger, especially with numbers that good. Raul Jimenez He’s starting to become one of my favourite players to watch in the Premier League. I definitely didn’t understand the move to begin with based on his goalscoring record at Atletico Madrid and then Benfica, which serves as a great reminder that past performances don’t always reflect future performances. Of all strikers, only Teemu Pukki has played more minutes this season, and 10 goals and six assists shows Jimenez’s ability to contribute plenty to Wolves’ attack.

Fantasy Premier League: the team of the 2019-20 season (so far) https://theathletic.com/1674420/2020/03/14/fantasy-premier-league-team-of-the-season-so-far/ With the news that there will be no Premier League football until April 4 at the earliest, I’m going to take stock of the Fantasy Premier League season so far for this week’s column, delving into the underlying statistics of the top-performing players after 29 gameweeks. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before we are making transfers and picking captains again… Goalkeeper Nick Pope (Burnley) 128 points Burnley goalkeepers have performed well in FPL over the last few seasons and Pope is no different this year. He’s proved to be a bargain for those who got him for £4.5m way back in Gameweek 1. Selling him on my first wildcard was one of the few mistakes I’ve made this season. Bringing him back in with my second wildcard was a good move. Reversing mistakes is an important aspect of FPL. Don’t be stubborn. Pope has kept 11 clean sheets and earned 17 bonus points, the most in each category by any goalkeeper. He ranks seventh among goalkeepers for saves made (89) and keeping out Jamie Vardy’s penalty in GW23 boosted his points total. The only players to have saved two penalties this season are Tim Krul and Rui Patricio. In 2017-18, Pope received 19 bonus points on his way to a 152-point season. He’s on course to have his best FPL season to date. Defenders It’s no surprise to see three Liverpool players sitting at the top of the defenders’ chart. The Reds have recorded the most clean sheets (12) and conceded the fewest goals (21). Couple that with the ability of their defenders to get attacking points and you’ve got the most attractive defensive options in the game. Jurgen Klopp’s side have conceded just 83 shots on target and boast the lowest xGC (expected goals conceded) in the division (27.79). Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) 166 points Andy Robertson’s record of 213 points (the highest ever score for a defender in an FPL season) is under threat this time round from his team-mate Alexander-Arnold. He has featured in every league game, scoring two goals and providing 14 assists. And he’s also got more bonus points (18) than any other defender this season. One of the highlights of 2019-20 for his owners was the match away to Leicester in GW19. A goal, three assists, a clean sheet and maximum bonus points rewarded loyal managers with a whopping 24 points. FPL legend John Lundstram (38) is the only defender to have had more goal attempts than Alexander-Arnold (36). The 21-year-old has taken 132 corners, only four players have taken more, all of whom are midfielders. His set-pieces account for a large proportion of his 75 chances created, a statistic that only Kevin De Bruyne (96) can beat. Trent’s xA (expected assists) for the season is 8.36, which is unsurprisingly the highest among defenders. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) 141 points Another Liverpool defender having a great fantasy season is Van Dijk. The Dutchman has four goals, one assist and 12 bonus points to his name. Having played every minute of every league game, he has one more clean sheet than Alexander-Arnold and Robertson. He is one of only five defenders to have played every minute, with Conor Coady (Wolves), Harry Maguire (Man United), James Tarkowski and Ben Mee (both Burnley) being the others. The towering centre-back always looks a threat when he goes forward for set-pieces. He’s registered 23 goal attempts and 10 of them have been on target, which ranks second among defenders behind Wolves’ Matt Doherty (15). Andrew Robertson (Liverpool) 137 points The dream team defence is completed by “Robbo”. Last season’s top-scoring defender is enjoying another productive campaign with one goal and seven assists (he managed 12 assists in 2018-19). Alexander-Arnold is the only defender to have received more bonus points than Robertson’s 15. The Scotland captain has featured in all but one of Liverpool’s league matches, missing out on the most recent one against Bournemouth. He’s picked up just one yellow card all season which helps a lot in terms of bonus points. Bombing forward from left-back he has created 43 chances, the third-best for defenders behind Alexander-Arnold and Everton’s Lucas Digne (58) in second. Nine of Robertson’s chances created were deemed big chances by Opta, which is bettered only by Alexander-Arnold. Doubling up on the Liverpool full-backs has been successful at certain stages of the season! Midfielders Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) 186 points Salah leads the way at the top of the FPL scoring charts and looks set to make it three seasons running as the top points scorer. His team-mate Sadio Mane looks the most likely to stop him from completing the hat-trick. The Egyptian has scored 16 goals (more than any other midfielder), provided six assists and received 23 bonus points. Raul Jimenez (99) is the only player in the league who has fired off more shots than Salah (98). Shots from inside the box is a key metric I always look to for FPL and Salah has 81 of them this season, the most in the division. Forty-three of the former Chelsea man’s attempts have been on target, which is again the best in the league. When it comes to chance creation, Salah ranks ninth among midfielders having created 46 chances. He’s touched the ball 248 times in the opposition penalty area, surprise, surprise, the highest number of any player. Penalty-taking responsibility attracts FPL managers to players and Salah has scored all three he has taken this season. Salah’s xG (expected goals) of 14.43 ranks second behind Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford’s (14.94). Rashford has taken seven penalties which accounts for a lot of his xG. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) 178 points The best player in the league (in my opinion) is smashing it in FPL. After just 29 gameweeks, he’s got eight goals and 18 assists, identical numbers to his best-ever season (2017-18) where he finished on 209 points. He’s well on course to beat his previous best. He needs three more assists to equal his record of 21 from 2016-17. De Bruyne managed just 968 minutes of game time last season due to injuries but he has missed just two games this time around with City losing both of those matches, 2-0 to Wolves and Manchester United. City simply haven’t been anywhere near as good when De Bruyne has been absent. The Belgian has registered 76 goal attempts and created an astonishing 96 chances. He’s also taken 144 corners, the most in the league alongside Leicester’s James Maddison. De Bruyne ranks first for final-third touches with 1,136 so it’s no surprise that he’s also first for xA (10.78). To top it off, he’s racked up 23 bonus points, the same as Salah. Sadio Mane (Liverpool) 175 points Double GW24, 2019-20, will never be forgotten by those managers who triple-captained Mane only to see him hobble off after 32 minutes against Wolves then miss the West Ham game through injury. The scars from getting three points from your triple captain chip take a long time to heal… Aside from that disastrous gameweek, Mane has been an excellent FPL asset this season, with 14 goals, nine assists and 22 bonus points. He’s fired off 60 shots, 51 of them from inside the box. Salah has taken 38 more shots than Mane but has just two more goals. One thing Mane has over Salah is his ability in the air. Mane has recorded 17 headed goal attempts to Salah’s six. Richarlison has the most headed attempts (23) among midfielders. Mane is joint-top in the midfielder’s chart for big chances (23) alongside Raheem Sterling. In terms of chance creation, Mane ranks 15th among midfielders with 41. He’s fourth for penalty area touches (164) and has an xG of 11.93. Richarlison (Everton) 133 points Richarlison is a name very few would have tipped to make it into the team of the season but here he is. The Brazilian has 10 goals, five assists and 13 bonus points. He ranks third behind Salah and De Bruyne for shots with 72, fifty-six of them from inside the box. The former Watford attacker has touched the ball in the opposition box 155 times which ranks fifth among midfielders. Since Carlo Ancelotti took over at the end of December he has four goals and two assists. Can he keep his place in the team of the season come GW38 (whenever that may be) is the big question? He’s certainly flown under the radar to some extent this year. Forwards Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) 167 points Vardy remains at the top of the Premier League goalscoring chart despite not scoring for 10 Gameweeks before his brace from the bench against Aston Villa on Monday night. In addition to his 19 league goals, he has chipped in with six assists and has been awarded 27 bonus points. The 33-year-old has had more big chances (28) than any other player and has scored four of his five penalties, missing against Burnley in January. He’s outperformed his xG (14.18) but Vardy has always been like that, he doesn’t need many chances to find the back of the net as we witnessed against Villa: two shots, two goals. He will take some stopping in the race for the golden boot. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) 152 points Aubameyang has Vardy in his sights. The Arsenal man has 17 goals, three assists and tops the league for bonus points with 29. Despite spending a lot of time on the wing and being forced to track back, he has still managed to put the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis. His number of crosses this season (72) sums up his position on the pitch for most of the campaign. Watford’s Gerard Deulofeu (96) is the only forward to have sent in more crosses and that’s largely down to him taking corners. No matter how ineffective Aubameyang might look when you watch an Arsenal game, he always finds a way to score, much to the frustration of his non-owners. He’s well down the rankings in terms of xG for forwards in 13th with 10.41, which makes his tally of 17 goals even more impressive. Raul Jimenez (Wolves) 147 points Jimenez is the main man when it comes to forward stats this season. He’s top for shots (99), shots in the box (78), headed goal attempts (22) and xA (4.53). It’s crazy to think he’s had 40 more shots than Vardy. In GW1, many believed a price tag of £7.5m was too high but he’s made a mockery of it, scoring 13 goals, providing six assists and racking up 23 bonus points. The best thing about Jimenez is his ability to create chances as well as score them. His 42 chances created is a figure bettered only by Deulofeu (44). Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino (184) is the only forward who has had more penalty area touches than Jimenez (171) and the Mexican has scored all three penalties he’s taken and has an impressive xG of 14.10. So, here is the team is in all its glory. Hats off if you’ve had a strong core of that XI… To listen to Mark’s podcast, The 59th Minute FPL Podcast, which is part of The Athletic’s podcast offering, click here. You can also follow Mark on Twitter @FPLGeneral or at patreon.com/fplgeneral

Will we really finish the season in June? Football’s new calendar explained https://theathletic.com/1681602/2020/03/18/coronavirus-football-june-euro-2020-champions-league-uefa-season/ Eight weeks after the outbreak of a virus led to some Olympic women’s football qualifiers being moved from one Chinese province to another, the last football fixtures were removed from the calendar everywhere. Of course, we will play, watch, argue about and enjoy football again, but on Tuesday the last football dates we could circle on the calendar were moved. The 2021 Club World Cup, Africa Cup of Nations, Copa America, Champions League, Europa League, Euro 2020… all paused, pushed back and provisionally rearranged. And those are the tournaments everyone knows. The day in England started with coaches, officials, parents, players and volunteers reading emails from their county Football Associations and local leagues telling them the grassroots and youth seasons were on hold. Tuesday felt like the first day football got a foothold. There were meetings and there were decisions. Those decisions were sensible and clearly communicated. And, for the first time in a fortnight, nobody appears to be threatening to sue anyone. OK, what was decided and who decided it? Last Thursday, a day before Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta contracted COVID-19 and the Premier League was forced to suspend its season, European football’s governing body UEFA invited its 55 member associations, the European Club Association, European Leagues and world players’ union FIFPro to discuss how the game should tackle the coronavirus outbreak. That discussion took place in three separate video conferences on Tuesday, with the key announcement being the widely-trailed decision to move the European Championship finals from this summer to next. In a joint statement, signed by the four presidents of the ECA, EL, FIFPro and UEFA, it was also revealed that the Euro 2020 play-offs scheduled for later this month to decide the last four sides in the 24-team competition will hopefully take place in the now-vacated June international window. The Nations League finals, Euro Under-21 Championship and Women’s European Championship that had all been scheduled for next summer “will be rescheduled accordingly”, as will the third and fourth rounds of European qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. On the club side, a “commitment” was made to complete all domestic and European competitions “by the end of the current sporting season, ie 30 June 2020 at the latest, should the situation improve and resuming playing be appropriate and prudent enough”. To facilitate this, there will be “possible limitations or drops of current exclusive calendar slots”, which means domestic games might be scheduled at the same time as European club fixtures and European games might have to take place on weekends. But, and this is potentially very significant, it was also admitted that further “possible adaptions” to next season’s qualifying rounds for the Champions League and Europa League, which usually start in early July, might need to be considered “in case of late completion of the 2019-20 season, ie after 30 June 2020”. And it was also announced that two working groups would be set up: one to look at the fixture list and how best to complete the current season “in a coherent manner”, and another to “assess the economic, financial and regulatory impact” of the outbreak and “propose measures to mitigate its consequences”. Elsewhere, South America’s governing body CONMEBOL followed UEFA’s lead by moving the 2020 Copa America back 12 months and the African confederation postponed the 2020 African Nations Championship, which alternates years with the Africa Cup of Nations, indefinitely. Later on Tuesday, world football’s governing body FIFA added its voice to the chorus of common sense by “accepting” the various postponements and agreeing to reschedule its new and improved Club World Cup, which had been pencilled in for next summer, to later in 2021 or some as yet to be discovered gap in the calendar in 2022 or 2023. If that sounds like the very least it could do in terms of leadership, it did also commit $10 million to the World Health Organisation’s COVID-19 solidarity response fund and suggested setting up a “global football assistance fund to help members of the football community affected by the crisis”. FIFA president Gianni Infantino was probably not across the latest breaking news from north London when he dictated this statement but the very obvious need for such a hardship fund was confirmed shortly before it arrived when Barnet, a former English Football League side now in the fifth-tier National League, announced it was putting all non-playing staff on notice. As FIFPro general secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann told journalists on a conference call on Tuesday, “our industry employs hundreds of thousands — there is the potential for it to turn ugly very quickly”. Why have all these different football bodies agreed to postpone their tournaments? For the simple reason that everyone — apart from those like West Ham United vice-chair Baroness Karren Brady or Southend United owner Ron Martin, who might have an agenda or two — agrees priority must be given to finishing this season. To do anything else will only spark rows, resentment and reams of billable hours. That might happen anyway, such is the utter unpredictability and mounting gloom of the situation in Europe, but what was impossible a week ago, when Euro 2020 was still starting in Rome on June 12, is now less impossible. Nobody believes football will be resuming in England, or anywhere else, on April 3, which is when the initial pause is programmed to expire. In fact, there is almost no chance of any professional football until May at the earliest, and many are wondering if even that is ludicrously optimistic given the prediction that the outbreak’s peak in the UK is still 10 weeks off. But let’s just be ultra-positive for a moment. Teams in England have 10 or fewer league games to play, eight of them are still in the FA Cup and there are the three EFL play-off competitions to complete, which add another 15 games. It is a similar story across Europe, where most leagues have about a quarter of their games to finish, plus a domestic cup, and in UEFA’s two club competitions 12 of the 16 last-16 games have not been completed. With a fair wind, some creative thinking, the best efforts of the players and a bit of luck that not too many of them will be self-isolating at once, it is just about feasible to squeeze all of that into nine weeks of non-stop football. That way, Liverpool get their title, asterisk-free, the relegation chips will fall where they may, Manchester City can seal the most litigious treble of all-time, Leeds United are given a fair crack at scratching their 16-year itch, the Championship’s Grand National-sized chasing pack are allowed to fight to the last fence, Celtic receive no gifts, Coventry City and Crewe Alexandra are forced to seal the deal and all the other sporting questions are answered as the fixture computer intended. Though if Manchester City continue in the Champions League and FA Cup, their schedule will be very tight. UEFA might have to drop the two-legged quarter-finals in its competitions and organise “Final Four” weeks in Gdansk and Istanbul, and we might all have to get used to four different competitions being played on one day, but after two months of board games and boxsets we will be desperate for some live sport so, who knows, it might be just what the doctor ordered. Finish by that June 30 target, six days after the Europa League final is supposed to happen in Poland and three days after the Champions League final’s new date, and you also avoid the headache of having to persuade thousands of out-of-contract players to accept short deals to keep playing or returning any money to broadcasters and sponsors. You also avoid completely scuppering the start of the following season and if these games have to take place behind closed doors for public health reasons, well, at least we are avoiding meltdown on Merseyside and the prospect of Brentford trying to sue the Premier League. Great, will it work? Erm, no. Probably not. Not by June 30, anyway. And that is why the only date in the joint statement was prefaced with a bizarre but telling “ie” and then slightly contradicted two bullet points later with the reference to “possible adaptions” being needed if the seasons go beyond the end of June. Because right now it just does not seem plausible that a continent at the epicentre of a global pandemic, which has killed nearly 8,000 people, will be playing much professional sport in six weeks’ time. As FIFPro’s Baer-Hoffmann puts it, “the players will not just be able to walk out of their apartments and go straight on the pitch… they will need mini pre-seasons”, while Accrington Stanley owner Andy Holt has talked about the resumption in even more sobering terms — “we could start playing again with quite a few of our fans missing”. This brings us to the debate nobody wants to have this week — for good reason — but everyone knows must be had at some point in the next month. Do we start as soon as we safely can and then just keep playing until this season’s games are finished, whenever and wherever that is, or do we wrap up the season without playing all the games and dish out the merits and demerits as best we can? At present, there does appear to be a consensus in the game to finish what we have started. In a call with reporters on Tuesday afternoon, FA chief executive Mark Bullingham repeatedly said “football is firmly of the view” the season should be completed, while the 24 Championship clubs held their own video conference and decided unanimously to play on until the last kick of their play-off final, even if that means continuing to Halloween. It is heartening to hear that commitment to the principle of competitive integrity and letting teams decide their fates on the field but it will be interesting to see whether that consensus holds if the lockdown lingers beyond May. The contractual conundrum has already been mentioned and FIFA has said it will need to come up with some solutions to its rules on registering players after certain deadlines and working out when to open and close the next transfer window. Broadcasters and sponsors will want certainty at some point, too. So far, they have not publicly started throwing their weight around but having invested so much in the football industry, they will be desperate to get back to normality with a brand new narrative to tell. Fans with no dogs in the fight at the top or bottom of the tables might tire of the stoic march to completion, while FIFA and UEFA will also start to get a little antsy about the never-ending season and the knock-on effects it will have on their 2020-21 plans. One possible hurry-up would be to come up with a series of play-offs to decide who wins what, who comes up and who goes down. It is something the Italian football federation has started thinking about… and apparently already decided against. There is, of course, another solution to a season you cannot finish: you pretend it never happened. This is the idea floated by Brady in a newspaper column last weekend and backed by Southend’s Martin, whose side are 16 points off safety in League One with nine to play, in an interview with the local paper on Tuesday. But it is an idea that attracted howls of indignation across the game, forcing the baroness to back-pedal. This does not mean, however, these two pantomime baddies are the only ones thinking “null and void” is the only way out of the contractual chaos and scheduling nightmare the sport faces. What Tuesday’s outbreak of collegiate thinking has done is silence those whispers for a few weeks. By removing this summer’s hard deadline for finishing the club seasons, the game’s bosses have created just enough space for a minor miracle to occur. What happens next, then? The big bosses keep talking, the working groups get working, hard-pressed clubs cut costs and triple-check insurance policies, players post workout videos, broadcasters run their back catalogues, referees creosote their fences and agents moan to each other on WhatsApp. But, most of all, we wait. And for those who follow, play for or work for a club that needs to sell tickets, burgers and raffle tickets to carry on, we probably pray, too. It was good to hear FIFA, with its reserves of nearly £2.3 billion, talk about a hardship fund, and it would be nice to think that UEFA might be able to chip in from its rainy-day fund of over £500 million, but there will be many mouths to feed after the economic shock of COVID-19 and it is hard to see how money tied up in a governing body’s bank account in Switzerland can help Macclesfield Town pay its bills in the coming weeks. The next set of wages are due in a fortnight. “It was important that, as the governing body of European football, UEFA led the process and made the biggest sacrifice,” said UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin on Tuesday, and in purely numerical terms he is probably right. As The Athletic reported on Monday, the European confederation believes postponing the Euros will cost it, and therefore all of its 55 member associations — the majority of whom depend on UEFA’s handouts — £275 million. It is also perhaps worth noting that most of the money UEFA makes from its club competitions barely leaves a trace in Nyon because it is back out the door and on the way to the clubs so fast. Like the World Cup for FIFA, UEFA makes most of its money on one event every fourth year, the men’s European Championship. France 2016, for example, cleared £2 billion, which Ceferin has dished out to FAs over the last three years. Euro 2020 — sorry, 2021 — is meant to do the same thing. “Moving (it) comes at a huge cost for UEFA but we will do our best to ensure that the vital funding for grassroots, women’s football and the development of the game in our 55 countries is not affected,” he added. “Purpose over profit has been our guiding principle in taking this decision for the good of European football as a whole.” Infantino is no doubt feeling similarly magnanimous wherever he is right now — Switzerland’s various sporting headquarters have all been shut to slow coronavirus’s spread — after agreeing to delay his Club World Cup, a tournament with no teams, broadcasters or sponsors at the moment. But the 60 staff at Barnet who have just lost their jobs might have something to say about who has made the biggest sacrifice, not that such talk even makes sense when people are actually dying ahead of time because of this awful illness and health workers are risking their lives to save others. Tuesday was a better day than the most of the last seven or so in terms of football’s response to these uncertain times but we should be under no illusions that we are only just getting into this and that worse is still to come.

I call 100% bullshit on this, he turns 33yo next season now, if he were 5, 6 years younger, then hell yes, I would be all in, he is great CB Chelsea 'interested in veteran Lazio defender Francesco Acerbi'... but club face competition from former boss Antonio Conte and Inter Milan https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8125965/Chelsea-interested-Lazio-defender-Francesco-Acerbi-face-competition-Inter-Milan.html Lazio defender Francesco Acerbi is a transfer target for Chelsea and Inter Milan The veteran centre back has impressed in a successful campaign for Lazio The Blues and Inter are set to battle it out for his signature in summer window Acerbi's current contract at Lazio is set to run through until June 2023 Chelsea could enter a bidding war with Inter Milan with both clubs eyeing up a move for Lazio defender Francesco Acerbi, according to reports in Italy. The veteran centre back as been the cornerstone to Simone Inzaghi's side this season that has seen Lazio mount a monumental title challenge, leaving them a point adrift of Juventus before the coronavirus called a halt to proceedings. And his performances have not gone unnoticed with Frank Lampard set to rival former Blues boss Antonio Conte for his signature, according to FCInterNews.It via Football Italia. snip

also I defy someone to find a lot of posters anywhere other than me who has been consistently on Telles, Gosens, AND (this is the key) Theo Hernandez for LB (and I do mention Grimaldo as well a lot, albeit often as being overpriced) those 3 especially are a really rare combo if you are just going to name 3 LB targets, especially months ago I read comments sections and post a lot off this site and I usually get blank stares when I mention Gosens and Theo (Theo now not so much, as he was explored this year) most of the posters are still obsessed with Chilwell, OR they are on about typical casual idiot fanboy/girl bullshit name-recognition like Jordi Alba, Marcelo (NOT joking, lol) or Gaya IF that UJ on the DM had mentioned Rayan Aït Nouri (my main young LB target as Alphonso Davies is a pipe dream, Bayern will NEVER sell him) that would have lead-pipe cinched it that it is the same bloke I think our UJ must be still reading the board, wish he would start posting again

some of that poster's other comments sure do sound like our UJ

no biggy, lolol, hugz

Time is running out for Danny Drinkwater https://theathletic.com/1680716/2020/03/18/drinkwater-danny-villa-leicester-chelsea-burnley-headbutt/ The tone of disbelief in the voice on the other end of the telephone is unmistakeable. “This just doesn’t tally with him. It’s like you’re describing someone else.” One of Danny Drinkwater’s close friends at Chelsea has just been told by The Athletic about the midfielder headbutting Spaniard Jota during an Aston Villa training session, and is in a state of shock. There have been many negative things said and written about Drinkwater since 2017 but the latest incident, which took place earlier this month, is a new nadir. The England international is believed to have been fined but, before a decision was made to put the season on hold, Villa were considering cancelling his loan from Chelsea prematurely. Even if the campaign is completed, there is a strong possibility Drinkwater will not play for Villa again. That means he will have started just 10 Premier League games over three years and one has to wonder if his career at the highest level is in doubt. So how has it come to this? In 2016, Drinkwater was rightly celebrated as a vital cog in the Leicester City team that stunned the world by winning the Premier League. Now he is in danger of becoming more widely-renowned for scandals off the field. In the last 12 months he has also been charged for drink-driving after crashing his car last April and been in a fight outside a nightclub five months later. It’s easy to form an unfavourable view of Drinkwater’s personality with the kind of headlines he’s been making but, as with many stories, there is more to it than that. Former Leicester manager Nigel Pearson gave a little bit of insight back in 2014 as he presented Drinkwater with the club’s Player of the Season award, referring to him on stage as a “complex character”. There was no talk of altercations with team-mates back then. Although, in training he was very intense and self-critical over any mistake he made. For example, if a pass was misplaced, he would berate himself and even punch himself in the face, much to the bemusement of watching team-mates. Drinkwater had joined Leicester in 2012, but chose to remain living in the Manchester area. It’s where he was born and also where his football developed, having come through the academy ranks at Manchester United. A desire to be close to family members has been a consistent concern throughout. One source suggests his tendency to withdraw from, or not make himself available for, England squads is because he didn’t want the stress of travelling and being away from home, especially if he wasn’t going to be playing. Drinkwater earned all three of his caps in 2016, yet was left out of the Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2016 squad that summer and has never appeared under Gareth Southgate. The real turning point in the 30-year-old’s professional life came at the end of the following campaign, when Chelsea made it clear they wanted to buy him in order to reunite the midfield partnership with fellow title winner N’Golo Kante. Instead of being an upgrade, you could argue it was the beginning of the downturn. It didn’t help that the west London club overplayed their hand during negotiations. Drinkwater made it clear he wanted to leave from the get-go, but this didn’t mean Leicester would sell their asset on the cheap. The asking price was firmly set at £35 million and yet bids of £18 million, £25 million and £27 million (plus add-ons) were made and swiftly rejected. Increasingly, Drinkwater became more disruptive and handed in a transfer request to try to force a move. It is believed his actions upset several members of the club’s hierarchy and he had arguments with director of football Jon Rudkin towards the end. He was warned by others that his behaviour was out of order and could actually scupper his chances of joining Chelsea. With the 2017-18 campaign already under way, Drinkwater found himself training with the youth team instead of the first team squad. But on deadline day, Chelsea decided to meet Leicester’s valuation at last. Unlike Kante’s departure to Stamford Bridge a year earlier, the parting was not on good terms. It didn’t help that the situation was resolved too late for Leicester to sign Adrien Silva as his replacement. As one Leicester source put it, the feeling was that while Kante had moved to Chelsea to further his career, Drinkwater had merely gone there for the higher salary of £120,000-per week. Drinkwater, though, said he moved to win more trophies. Any speculation regarding a return to the King Power Stadium since then has always been given short shrift. When it came to making a big impact at Chelsea, a lot of damage was already done. Then-manager Antonio Conte was renowned for his tough training regime and demanded very high levels of fitness. Drinkwater was an unused substitute for his first Chelsea game at, of all places, Leicester. One source has told The Athletic how Conte was warned by a member of the opposition staff after the match that his new signing was not in the best condition to play because of what had gone on over the previous two months. In response, Conte arranged a special fitness programme and ordered the player to perform intense running drills. Within days he suffered a painful calf injury and his debut was delayed until October 25. It was an uphill battle from then on to make Conte’s first choice side, although it should be pointed out he did start in some big games that season, including at Liverpool and Manchester City. Drinkwater was a popular member of the group, noted for a rather cheeky sense of humour, but there was the issue of being on his own in a flat in Chelsea Harbour. It meant being away from the north west and in particular his young son, who lived with a former partner. If 2017-18 didn’t go as planned, 2018-19 was a complete disaster. Maurizio Sarri replaced Conte as coach and made it clear to Drinkwater he wasn’t part of his plans. Inquiries came during the transfer window from West Ham United, Crystal Palace and Southampton. Others from unnamed clubs abroad were also made, but the prospect of living further away from his family did not appeal. Overall, teams were scared off by Chelsea’s asking price in excess of the £35 million they paid and/or covering his wages, especially for someone who hadn’t been on the pitch that much. So he was stuck. When Sarri informed Drinkwater he wouldn’t even be included in the Europa League squad, a message was enforced he wouldn’t be playing at all. And so it proved. After playing for 30 minutes as a substitute against Manchester City in the Community Shield, Drinkwater didn’t make another appearance. Even in training, he was largely ignored. A friend at Chelsea revealed: “In the latter part of the week, Sarri would only use the players that were (going to be) playing so Danny would sometimes be standing on his own to the side, left to his own devices. “There was a small group who were in a similar situation and there was a bond between them. The fitness coach might take them off to do some running. They shared a sense of humour about it. “You could see Danny still had quality on the ball when he did get a chance earlier in the week. But he coped with it well under the circumstances. He didn’t cause problems.” Other people did hear him refer to Sarri in unflattering terms as he walked out for a session. When warned he might be overheard by the Italian, the former Manchester United trainee answered he didn’t care because his situation was set in stone anyway. The drink-driving incident sparked more talk about what Drinkwater was getting up to in his private life. With no football to occupy him, going out had become more of a norm. However, sources insist this shouldn’t be misconstrued as him having a drinking problem or being unprofessional. “He was a lad in his 20s,” as one friend put it. Another remarked that there were periods where no alcohol was consumed for “weeks”. There were achievements off the pitch too, the most significant coming last March when he proudly opened his own restaurant in Manchester called Foodwell. The chance to escape Chelsea two months earlier had been taken away. Cesc Fabregas was also keen to organise a transfer elsewhere and the club made it clear that only one of them would be let go. It was the Spaniard who got his wish, securing a switch to Monaco. But by setting up a new business, it showed Drinkwater was using some of his Chelsea fortune and spare time wisely. A change of agent finally led to a change of scenery this season. New manager Frank Lampard involved him at the start of pre-season, yet was always going to prioritise promoting youth talent such as Mason Mount and Billy Gilmour, so a move elsewhere was inevitable. Burnley made a bid to take him on an initial six-month loan with the view of extending it in January for the remainder of the season. The fact Chelsea agreed to pay £70,000-a-week of Drinkwater’s wages though showed just what kind of price had to be paid just for him to find a new team. It was always going to take time for him to match the physical levels of his new team-mates, but those close to the club suggest that he fitted in well and there were no problems with the Burnley players. A full 90 minutes in the Carabao Cup against Sunderland, albeit in a 3-1 defeat, was promising. But the nightclub incident, in which he sustained ankle ligament damage as well as bruising to his face, came just a few days later. It was a setback he never recovered from. Drinkwater, who had been regarded as a positive influence in the dressing room up to then, made a point of speaking to the squad and acknowledged he had made a mistake. That was well received but there was just one more outing for Burnley after that: his first Premier League appearance for 21 months was not one to remember, as Manchester City won 4-1. Tellingly, Burnley team-mate Erik Pieters spoke positively about Drinkwater afterwards: “It takes time, but that’s normal. He didn’t play for a while, but he’s looking good, he’s feeling well. He’s a great guy, he’s funny. He fits perfectly.” Sources suggest it was Drinkwater’s decision to cut short his loan at Burnley because he wanted more game time — another sign that he wasn’t just content to just pick up a pay cheque. That is when Villa came calling. From manager Dean Smith, to assistant and former Chelsea defender John Terry to those in the hierarchy, Drinkwater’s experience was regarded as an asset in their relegation battle. Only four starts, in which he has been subbed all four times, have followed, though. The first came in a humiliating 6-1 reverse at home to Manchester City and the last was over a month ago. One can only guess what was in his mind when he squared up to Jota during a six-a-side game, but perhaps all the frustration of what he’s been through over the last three seasons came to the surface. Who knows what will happen next? There are still two years left on his Chelsea contract, yet there is little chance of forcing his way back into contention there. But following two disappointing loans this season, both overshadowed by controversy, there won’t be many clubs queuing up to buy or borrow him either. Drinkwater can still turn things around, but time is beginning to run out.

Bernard Arnault (LVMH) has lost (this is jaw-dropping) lost 41 BILLION USD in net worth YTD. He was tracking, at one time, to pass up Bezos as the richest person (publically reported, I still say there are others with hidden wealth that dwarf these people) on the planet. .https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/

Superb and classy move!

welcome to the Blue side

I have to get a little credit on this, after all the stick I received when I made this call as soon as the winter window closed

rolling dice on winning the Sancho sweepstakes it would seem surely we're not going to drop fucking £85m on Leon Bailey that is MADNESS (the price) as he is worth half that or so