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Steve

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United won’t sign centre-back, virus shouldn’t stop football and more

https://theathletic.com/2079531/2020/09/21/manchester-united-centre-back-lamptey-england-ghana-alli-mourinho-calvert-lewin-everton-coronavirus-lockdown-football/

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Manchester United opened their Premier League campaign with a dispiriting home defeat by Crystal Palace on Saturday and it was a performance that led many to identify the centre of their defence as an area in urgent need of strengthening.

United’s first-choice pairing of Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof came in for sharp criticism as their side were beaten 3-1 and looked particularly vulnerable to the pace of Palace’s forwards.

Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer named Eric Bailly among his substitutes while Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Chris Smalling, Axel Tuanzebe and Teden Mengi are all on the books at Old Trafford.

With these options in mind, United did not view centre-back as a priority for the market and The Athletic has been told there has been no change in strategy, despite the perceived weakness. They have been offered players who could potentially help bolster that part of the team, however it has been made clear in conversations that other positions are of more immediate concern.

United’s focus all summer has been a right-sided attacker, with Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho still the preferred candidate even though that pursuit is at an impasse. Personal terms have been agreed with the 20-year-old Englishman but the clubs remain apart in their valuations.

United’s net spend has been considerably more than other leading European clubs in the last three transfer windows but they are losing between £4-5 million every home game without fans so do need to exercise caution.

It is also possible that a left-back will arrive to provide competition for Luke Shaw, with United holding talks over a potential move for Porto’s 27-year-old Brazil international Alex Telles. Yet at centre-back Solskjaer is said to have faith in his personnel.

Although Roma want to secure the permanent signing of Smalling, who enjoyed a successful loan spell there last season, the Italians’ offer of around £12 million is below United’s asking price towards £20 million. The 30-year-old could be reintegrated if a satisfactory bid fails to arrive.

Solskjaer has drafted Mengi into the first team set-up and the 18-year-old is highly regarded.

Brands’ intervention key to Calvert-Lewin’s success

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has enjoyed a spectacular start to the season with four goals in Everton’s opening two games, including a hat-trick against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. But had things worked out slightly differently, it is unlikely that the 23-year-old would be leading the line at Goodison Park.

At the beginning of last season, then-manager Marco Silva was keen to upgrade Everton’s striking options with Cenk Tosun struggling for goals. The club’s interest in Juventus forward Mario Mandzukic was well documented, as the Croatian’s time in Turin looked to be coming to an end following the appointment of Maurizio Sarri.

Silva wanted to bring Mandzukic to Everton and the club’s owner Farhad Moshiri is likely to have backed him. The move would have been expensive — more in terms of the 33-year-old’s hefty salary than a transfer fee — but the greater cost might have been to Calvert-Lewin’s development.

Director of football Marcel Brands is thought to have faced a fierce battle to convince Silva not to pursue Mandzukic and instead give Calvert-Lewin the platform to develop into the player he is today. Moshiri was spending heavily at the time — with Alex Iwobi, Moise Kean, Andre Gomes, Jean-Phillipe Gbamin and Fabian Delph costing more than £100 million combined last summer — and wanted to see his investment translate into success.

Brands fought hard for faith to be placed in Calvert-Lewin and some at the club believe the England Under-21 international would now be elsewhere, on loan or permanently, had the Mandzukic transfer proceeded.

Alli not sure why he wasn’t picked but exit could be tough

Dele Alli was given no explanation for his non-selection in the Tottenham squad to face Southampton on Sunday, my colleague Charlie Eccleshare understands.

The other Spurs players who didn’t make the cut were given no additional information either once the squad was put up at the club’s training ground, but clearly it was Dele’s omission that caused the most surprise.

Dele has been an automatic starter since joining Tottenham five years ago and was fully fit but was overlooked, as he was for the midweek trip to Bulgaria to face Lokomotiv Plovdiv in Europa League qualifying.

The decisions were made for football reasons and head coach Jose Mourinho attempted to explain the Southampton omission before Tottenham’s 5-2 win at St Mary’s by saying the club’s “huge squad” means there will always be players who have to be left out. But Mourinho is understood to be open to a loan move for Dele before the closure of the transfer window next month, with Gareth Bale’s arrival set to push him even further down the pecking order.

Dele, meanwhile, is conscious of the need for regular game time if he wants to reclaim his place in the England squad for next summer’s European Championship, by which time he will be 25. He also feels he needs to be at a club, and with a manager, who appreciates him, and though chairman Daniel Levy would ideally like to keep Dele, whose contract runs until 2024, it’s unclear whether that will be possible.

The Athletic understands a move to Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid is unlikely.

Dele will “probably” be involved away to fourth-tier Leyton Orient in a Carabao Cup third round tie tomorrow night, Mourinho said on Sunday.

Chelsea included sell-on clause in Lamptey deal with Brighton

Tariq Lamptey was one of this weekend’s standout performers as Brighton won 3-0 at Newcastle, the 19-year-old impressing at both ends of the pitch and speaking eloquently on TV afterwards.

Chelsea fans will no doubt be disappointed to have learned recently that their club do not have a buy-back option for a player they sold for just £3 million in the last January window — although The Athletic can reveal that a sell-on clause was included in the deal. But that will only come as a small consolation to Chelsea, who it is understood were desperate to keep Lamptey.

The teenager was highly-rated by the club and was handed his Premier League debut by Frank Lampard in a win over Arsenal last December, as well as appearing in brief FA Cup cameos against Nottingham Forest and Hull City.

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Chelsea had intended to send him out on loan to further his development but Lamptey did not agree with that plan and felt his pathway to their first team was unclear. And despite interest from the likes of Arsenal, Wolves, Leeds and Rangers — as well as from overseas, at French club Lille — Lamptey decided to join Brighton.

While Lamptey is unlikely to leave Brighton anytime soon, there remains much speculation about his international future. The Londoner made his England Under-21 this month, but Ghana — the country of his parents — are keen for him to represent them.

Lamptey is yet to make a final decision as he concentrates on club matters and the FA is thought to be relaxed about the situation, having seen the player progress through their youth system while also boasting a wealth of options at right-back.

Clubs angry at lack of clarity over taking a knee

Players taking a knee before kick-off in the battle against racism has been a powerful image in recent months. But while Premier League sides continue to do so, there is confusion in the EFL, with some clubs angry at the lack of guidance from the governing body.

Coventry and Queens Park Rangers did not take a knee before their televised match on Friday night, likewise Norwich and Preston North End at Carrow Road on Saturday. And in Leagues One and Two, a majority of matches kicked off without the anti-racism gesture.

The decision on whether or not to take a knee is left to the clubs on a match-by-match basis. This has resulted in widespread confusion and the EFL is facing growing calls to provide its clubs with official guidance on the issue. Despite clubs confused by the league’s stance, The Athletic understands the EFL has no plans to meet to discuss the topic, although it remains in a constant dialogue with its clubs.

It will instead remain for clubs to decide whether or not to take a knee, with both teams needing to inform the match referee of their decision ahead of kick-off. The EFL last provided guidance on the topic at the start of the season, believing it to ultimately be a player-led initiative.

This viewpoint is unlikely to go down well with the 72 EFL clubs and will surely result in a repeat of this weekend’s inconsistencies.

One high-level football executive told The Athletic that he believes the EFL is deferring responsibility by leaving the decision up to the clubs, instead of issuing collective guidance, and coaches certainly made their feelings known this weekend. QPR manager Mark Warburton complained on Friday that “there is no guidance from the authorities”, while Middlesbrough assistant boss Kevin Blackwell pleaded for “guidance from the Football League about this” after their draw with Bournemouth on Saturday.

Lower leagues confident second coronavirus spike won’t stop games

The UK could find itself temporarily back in lockdown in the coming weeks as the government looks to slow down the second wave of the coronavirus.

But while that could mean people being asked to work from home, not mix with other households and avoid pubs and restaurants, football is confident that it will — this time — carry on. Months of action were missed across the country earlier in the year, with leagues below the Championship abandoned and most clubs still feeling the strain from lost finances.

But clubs believe that football will be given an exemption this time, even though testing for the virus outside the Premier League is not commonplace because of how costly it is.

As Mark Cooper, manager of League Two Forest Green Rovers, told my colleague Stuart James: “As we understand it, elite sport will carry on. We’ve heard it’s not going to affect football. We had a pilot scheme on Saturday where we got a really good grading with the assessors. It was completely safe — safer than going to a pub or a park or a restaurant. We had about 600 there.

“But, listen, if there is another lockdown and they stop football, 90 per cent of the National League will go bust because they can’t operate without crowds. In our league, there would be some clubs who would be really close.”

Playing under current circumstances is already tough, with clubs incurring extra costs such as paying for more hotel rooms as players can no longer share rooms due to social distancing rules.

Arsenal agree deal with PSG medic

The Athletic reported in June that Arsenal were working on a deal to recruit Brazilian medic Bruno Mazziotti from Paris Saint-Germain and it can now be revealed an agreement has been reached.

Mazziotti will join once the terms of his exit from PSG have been finalised, having left the French champions after their run to last season’s Champions League final. The 42-year-old arrives at Arsenal after head of physiotherapy Chris Morgan moved to Liverpool. It is not clear what job title Mazziotti is to take but he will work alongside head of medical Gary O’Driscoll.

Mazziotti has a close relationship with Arsenal’s technical director Edu after the pair worked together at top Brazilian club Corinthians and the Brazil national team.

Brighton reject bid from Leeds for another defender

Brighton are in another tussle with Leeds United over a centre-back after rejecting an offer from Elland Road for 18-year-old Haydon Roberts.

Having resisted three bids from Leeds for Ben White in the summer, Brighton are understood to have knocked back an approach for Roberts late last week and are once again adamant that a defender will not be sold. Roberts is an England Under-18 international and well thought of at the south coast club.

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He has played twice for Brighton’s first-team in the Carabao Cup and is discussing an extension to a contract which ends next summer. Leeds have thrown money at their under-23 squad in this transfer window, making numerous signings including the £700,000 capture of Wigan’s Joe Gelhardt.

Forest legend Cohen leaves for Luton

Nottingham Forest stalwart Chris Cohen is ending a 13-year relationship with the club to join former Yeovil team-mate Nathan Jones at Championship rivals Luton as first-team coach.

Cohen, 33, made 305 appearances for Forest, scoring 17 goals, after signing from Yeovil in 2007. After helping win promotion from League One, the midfielder battled three serious knee injuries in as many years, the cumulative effects of which forced him into early retirement in 2018. The man Stuart Pearce labelled “the most professional” he had ever worked with, then took on a coaching role and has most recently been head coach of the under-23 side.

Wigan administrators reject £3m bid for club

Wigan’s administrators have rejected a second bid for the League One club from former Port Vale owner Norman Smurthwaite.

The 60-year-old businessman made an initial offer of £3.3 million — £700,000 below the asking price — for Wigan last month but then withdrew his interest, citing concerns about the number of assets the administrators have sold since taking control in July and a negative response to his potential takeover from fans.

Smurthwaite, who grew a thick skin during a tempestuous seven-year reign at Port Vale, appears to have got over the latter but remains convinced of the former, as his second bid, which went in on Wednesday, was for just £3 million. It is understood he believes the fire sale conducted by joint administrators Gerald Krasner, Paul Stanley and Dean Watson of Begbies Traynor has gone too far, with 19 players and one of Wigan’s two training grounds sold. As a result, he thinks the package — the club, the lease they have to play at the DW Stadium, which is owned by the council, their original training ground and some development land near the stadium — is worth considerably less than it was even a month ago.

My colleague Matt Slater understands his reduced bid was quickly dismissed by Krasner and co, which suggests they are still optimistic someone else will meet the price tag and save Wigan from the threat of liquidation they have faced since former owner Au Yeung Wai Kay cut off their funding. A 12-point penalty for entering administration condemned them to relegation from the Championship.

Ian Lenagan, the owner of Wigan’s co-tenants at the DW, rugby league’s Wigan Warriors, remains the fans’ favourite to lead a local rescue but doubts persist over his ability to guarantee the two years’ worth of funding the EFL wants to see before sanctioning a deal.

This is also the main obstacle to a fan-led takeover, despite an impressive fundraising effort that has seen £670,000 pledged.

Wolves make big scouting changes

Wolves have made significant changes in their scouting department this summer, explains my colleague Gregg Evans.

Ten part-time scouts have been laid off in what was explained to them as a “cost-cutting procedure” and John Marshall, the club’s head of recruitment for the last five years, has also seen his title changed to head of technical scouting. Among the departures are long-serving staff members John Green and Joel Roberts. Russell Taylor, a scout who does a lot of work in Belgium and the Netherlands has also been let go.

Wolves may also look to hire a new European scout, after Ian Atkins left this week. The 63-year-old had been working in his role for 14 months but has decided to seek a new challenge. The club have also decided to promote some of their academy staff into first-team positions in recent months.

The club still have no plans to hire a sporting director, though Simon Hunt, former director of football at neighbours West Bromwich Albion and the head of scouting at Nottingham Forest had been earmarked as a possible candidate before the coronavirus pandemic.

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Special Juan

Special Juan 27,104

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Just now, Fulham Broadway said:

Come on Luton. Was at a Luton game in late 70s and could hear this cunt shouting Come on Luton about three rows in front every two minutes. It was Eric Morcambe RIP :cig:

Plastic pitch?

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