Real Madrid chase Harry Kane and Deli Ali
Iwrote last week about discussions at Spurs’ stadium that Harry Kane is worth more than Paris St Germain’s world record signing Neymar. Now the Tottenham chairman has come out this week and claimed that very thing: Kane is worth more than Neymar. He also made it clear that despite Real Madrid’s interest in Harry, Spurs have no intention of selling him at any price. Real’s manager Zinedine Zidan said that Harry is “a complete player” which shows the interest he has in adding the striker to his team. Tottenham have come out publicly and said that they will not listen to offers for their top stars which also includes Deli Ali who is on Real’s radar. Kane’s value is not only the 11 goals he has scored in 7 matches but also his commercial value as Spurs move to their new 61,500 seater stadium next season. Harry brings in the fans and his name sells merchandise and advertising. Harry arrived in Madrid for this week’s Champion’s League match to be greeted by the front page of Spanish newspaper “Marca” with the headline “Harry el Fuerte” (Harry the Powerful). Deli Ali is a more realistic target for Real and he is also being chased by super agents Jorge Mendes, who works closely with the Spanish club, and also Mino Raiola. Both want him to join their stable of players and they have told Ali that his wages of £50,000 a week with Spurs are a joke compared with other leading Premier League players and it is half what Harry Kane earns. Arsene still upsetting the fans Arsene Wenger has come in for a lot of criticism this week because once again he substituted record signing Alexandre Lacazette. He played only 68 minutes against Watford in the 2-1 defeat. It was the seventh time in eight games that the Frenchman has been replaced and he has only played one complete game and that was in the 4-3 win over Leicester where he scored within 2 minutes of his League debut. His total playing times for each match are 78 minutes, 28, 75, 66, 83 and 68. Now it seems that many Arsenal fans are asking why Wenger paid £52million for Lacazette when he doesn’t use him to his full potential. They are also wondering if this will have an impact on the player’s confidence and see him eventually looking for a way out of the Emirates. Yet again, the fans are on Wenger’s back and criticising his every move. Comments from fans are currently: “Lacazette can play wide or behind Giroud. Why does he have to come off every time? He was one of our best players.” - “Wenger is wrong! He won’t give Lacazette 90 minutes. Look how many goals Lukaku has scored in the last ten minutes of games, it makes no sense!” - “Even if Lacazette was Messi, Wenger would still sub him for Giroud.” And those “Wenger Out!” banners have not gone away either! Alex taking time to settle in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has taken a while to settle into Liverpool’s style of play but manager Jurgen Klopp believes he will be a large part of the team’s success going forward. Jurgen said this week, “Since he came in he has been twice with the national team, there have been a lot of games with no training and so his start has been interrupted.
“It has been kind of okay but not what we know he is able to do. But then Saturday, bang! He came on, used his speed, was really spot on, it was a very nice sign. I loved to see it. I was happy with Alex’s performance.” He also added that the contrast in styles between Arsenal and Liverpool means that Alex has had to learn a completely different approach. Klopp intends for the 24 yearold to eventually command the midfield but in the meantime he is playing on the wing. The manager and assistant trainers have spent a lot of time on the training field practising the advantages of playing out wide in Liverpool’s three man prong attack. Pep’s master plan is working When Pep Guardiola suffered a Champion’s League knock-out in March by Monaco and then lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup semi final, the headlines of the media said unkind things like “Guardiola fails his English exams.” Manchester City’s powerful owners however kept their faith in their highly talented manager and it has paid off. Manchester City are now awesome to watch, well organised and in Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva, they have two players of genius quality. Guardiola takes players and moulds them into better tacticians, ball players and increases their work ethic. His Barcelona team showed his depth of expertise. Now City are the team that every manager is scared of and every fan knows that when playing them the odds are that they won’t leave with any points. Stoke City’s seven goal demolition last weekend was testament to that awesome power. Guardiola spends big money but he arguably makes the players worth even more from his input on the training field. Kyle Walker’s fee of £54million was questioned but Guardiola knows that a solid wingback can create width on the pitch, taking the ball from deep inside City’s half and moving the play forward at speed. Guardiola is teaching him to go wide and cut inside and thus creating chances for Sterling, Aguero and Jesus. John Stones is another who has suffered from a lack of confidence but is now playing like one of the best defenders in the game. Raheem Sterling was there when Pep arrived but the manager has increased his performances and he has scored six goals with two assists. Ederson is doing well in goal and Fabian Delph is back in the England squad. City is a young team and will improve even more and other managers can only look on with admiration
and fear.