Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ROBBIE FOWLER No Mour quick-fixes... United have to think long-term for success
IT’S a big week for Chelsea. For me, Newcastle away is the first proper test for Maurizio Sarri – because it’s not the easiest place to go for a manager new to the Premier League.
But bigger, much bigger, is not only whether they keep Eden Hazard (above) this week, but exactly where his head is at when the transfer window closes in Spain.
I know the club has said he’s not going and I know they are suggesting he’s happy with that. But if Real Madrid do make a huge play for him this week, how will that affect his mentality going forward?
Madrid have only made a couple of biggish signings – and that is ominous.
One is a keeper, the other an 18-year-old kid from Brazil, who we probably won’t see for a year or two.
They haven’t even spent all the Cristiano Ronaldo money – and haven’t replaced him – and it looks as if Hazard is the ideal signing in that respect.
It’s a test for Sarri.
He’s had a decent start and his side look as though they are playing some stylish football.
Yet beating Huddersfield and an Arsenal team who will be far better in a few months is not anything to get carried away over.
Sarri looks a thoughtful manager, but he’s never actually won anything.
No trophy in senior football at all.
It’s a tough job he’s inherited already because, with Manchester City, Spurs and Liverpool all looking powerful and making it hard to hit the ground running, it won’t be easy to break that trophy duck.
But if he has Hazard upset that he missed out on a move – then it suddenly becomes much, much harder.