Outsiders for place on plane
PETER SHARLAND picks seven players making a late push for a place on the planes to Brazil
With the World Cup only three months away many countries are still finalising their squads. So here are seven men who will be hoping to make it onto the plane as the deadline edges closer.
Ciro Immobile
His team-mate Alessio Cerci stole the headlines early on in the season but since the winter break Immobile has been Torino’s main man. At the time of writing he has scored 13 goals this season, placing him just behind Fiorentina’s Giuseppe Rossi who may not play again this season after another serious injury.
Immobile is not the most talented of Italy’s potential strikers like Manolo Gabbiadini and Domenco Berardi but he does have something over them, consistency. At 24 he is older than his rivals and with that age comes experience and greater knowhow on how to score regularly in Serie A, which isn’t the happiest of hunting grounds for strikers at the moment.
With Rossi injured, Mario Balotelli will need another strike partner and given that most of Italy’s more experienced strikers are hopelessly out of form Immobile could be the man Cesare Prandelli turns to.
Raheem Sterling
At the start of the season most people would have laughed if you had suggested Raheem Sterling could be in the reckoning for England’s World Cup squad. The young winger hadn’t had a great end to last season and most observers would agree that he was suffering from burnout from over-usage in his breakthrough season with Liverpool.
One of the things that Brendan Rodgers prides himself on is his man-management and he is one of those bosses who takes great pride in coaching a player both as a player and as a person. This can probably explain Jordan Henderson’s dramatic upturn in form this season and Sterling is another to have benefitted. Henderson is probably ahead of his young colleague in terms of England reckoning but that’s because of England’s lack of depth in the centre of midfield. Both have flourished under Rodgers and Sterling has become a key part of Liverpool’s front line.
The young winger looks completely transformed in comparison to the player who stuttered over the line last season. So far this season he has contributed five goals and three assists and his pace on the break is key to Liverpool’s devastating counter-attacks. One of the biggest criticisms of Sterling when he first broke into the first team was his decision making. Too often his pace and quick feet would get him in a great position but he’d choose the wrong option.
This season that aspect of his game has dramatically improved and, interestingly, it looks like Luis Suarez is playing another key role in Sterling’s development.You can see on the pitch that the Uruguayan is thrilled when Sterling scores and he has assisted more than one of Sterling’s goals. It would be a severe case of poetic irony if Sterling scored against Uruguay in the World Cup.
Kurt Zouma
Given the abject state of some of France’s defenders at the moment it seems strange that Chelsea’s new acquisition Kurt Zouma is being overlooked. The new signing in West London is seeing out the remainder of the season at his former club Saint-Etienne and since his return from a ten-match ban he has looked really impressive.
The ban shouldn’t give the impression that Zouma is a dangerous player, it is common practice in France for tackles that cause serious injury to be punished with lengthy bans retrospectively. It is hard to say whether Zouma’s ban has counted against him in terms of his World Cup hopes but it certainly wasn’t enough to put off Chelsea.
The thing is that Chelsea are planning far more long term than the national team and perhaps Zouma’s age is having an effect on his chances. However his age makes his accomplishments more impressive as it is difficult to think of a more talented 19-year-old defender in recent history and most French pundits are of the opinion that he’d have no problems slotting into Chelsea’s first team next season. Liverpool’s Mamadou Sakho and Real Madrid’s Raphaël Varane, two players whose form this season has suggested they do not warrant their place in the squad, currently block his route into the national team. Varane is supremely talented but his form for Madrid has been inconsistent at best and he is currently behind Pepe and Sergio Ramos in the pecking order. That is no shame but being at such a big club might not necessarily help his development. Sakho hasn’t fully settled at Liverpool and given Zouma’s stability, playing time and form it seems he could be on the threshold of a call-up.
Serge Gnabry
Outside of Arsenal fans most football watchers probably wouldn’t have heard of Serge Gnabry before this season but he is becoming better known every week. He may not be playing too regularly but whenever he has appeared he has looked very impressive and he seems to have benefitted from Arsene Wenger’s cautious approach to blooding him in.
He recently opted to continue to represent Germany, a country he played for at youth level and reject the advances of the Ivory Coast, a country he qualifies for through his father. Joachim Löw has watched the midfielder on numerous occasions and he seems open to the idea of Gnabry making the World Cup squad while Arsene Wenger seems sure it can happen.
Gnabry’s biggest asset is that he doesn’t appear to have too many weaknesses; he’s a strong passer, he’s quick, he’s a good finisher and he appears to be very two footed.
With Theo Walcott’s season-ending injury, many thought Gnabry would become an even more integral part of Arsenal’s season but for some reason Wenger seems reluctant to use his prodigious talent. This seems a shame and it could be that his manager’s hesitancy could cost Gnabry his place in Germany’s World Cup squad.
Morgan Schneiderlin
Few players on this list or even in English football can feel more aggrieved at remaining on the fringes of their national team squad than Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin. The former Strasbourg man has been with the Saints for nearly six years through their rise from League 1 to the Premier League and is one of the fans’ favourites on the south coast.
His performances over the past couple of seasons have won plenty of plaudits and one of his strongest assets is his tackling. The Frenchman is definitely the grit in the Southampton midfield and his hard defensive work has been key to their ascent into an established Premier League club.
Schneiderlin is extremely versatile and although he is primarily a defensive player he can play a pass pretty well. He could easily function as a team’s playmaker if required and the fact that he isn’t close to the national team just seems bizarre.
If PSG duo Blaise Matuidi and Yohan Cabaye are certainties to go along with Paul Pogba, it seems baffling that Didier Deschamps would consider anyone other than Schneiderlin for that other midfield slot.
Radja Nainggolan
January transfer moves are often engineered for one of three reasons; 1) the club who are selling need funds, 2) the player in question is out of favour or 3) he wants to make a move for his own ambition.
In the case of Radja Nainggolan’s move from
Cagliari to Roma it was most definitely the latter. The Belgian midfielder has been one of Serie A’s standout performers in the last few seasons and unsurprisingly he is constantly linked away every time the window opens. This time Cagliari were unable to keep hold of their prized asset and Roma won the race for his signature.
Since the move he has slotted seamlessly into Rudi Garcia’s team and the € 3 million Roma paid to bring him in looks like a bargain.
They have the option to make that permanent in the summer and it would be hugely surprising if they didn’t take up that option. The midfielder is a true box-to-box player. He can push forward and support the attacks but he is also brilliant at breaking up opposition bursts forward.
For all their attacking brilliance Belgium sometimes look as if they have an exposed centre of midfield.
Some of their players don’t always produce the goods on the national stage but yet it seems as if Nainggolan has done something to offend Belgium boss Marc Wilmots. He is an extremely useful player to have in the squad and his form for Roma means he is going to be fighting for his place right until the wire.
Jese Rodriguez
Sometimes an injury to one player can open the door for another and never has that been truer than with Jese Rodriguez. At the start of the season the Castilla youth product that everyone was talking about was Alvaro Morata but now the name on everyone’s lips in Madrid is Jese.
The young winger has taken advantage of Gareth Bale’s fitness problems to force his way into Carlo Ancelotti’s side and in the Italian’s favoured 4-3-3 Jese also appears to have displaced Isco.
Jese has an explosive change of pace and with his quick feet he is a nightmare to stop once he gets going. His biggest asset though is his mentality, unlike a lot of other young players Jese doesn’t crack under the pressure.
Most of his goals this season have come when it mattered most, he scored in the Classico and he scored a late winner at the Mestalla. Throw in the fact that he scored in the San Mames and that is a hat-trick of three of the toughest away trips in Spain.
Jese still has a job on his hands though to force his way into Vicente Del Bosque’s World Cup squad. The national team coach seemingly prefers the technical playmakers over the explosive wingers, just ask Jesus Navas.
Football is changing though, physicality, and in particular speed, are becoming more important again – you only have to look at the German demolition of the Spanish giants in last season’s Champions League to understand that.
Jese is still a technical player and he is the ideal player to bring off the bench. It may seem like a long shot but he could be a world wide star in a few months if things work out.