Arsenal full-back Bacary Sagna has slammed the club’s transfer policy and admitted that he is frustrated at the constant stream of players leaving the north London side.
The Gunners lost Robin van Persie and Alex Song to Manchester United and Barcelona this summer, and the France international has vented his annoyance at the club’s decision to sell important first-team members.
“I expected the departure of Robin van Persie. We all expected it. It was ‘obvious’,” the right-back stated in an interview with L’Equipe, translated to English by Sky Sports.
“But the Alex one, it was a surprise! He is 24 years old, he has three years remaining on his contract. I still do not understand. It is huge loss for the club.
“When you see the two best players of last season leave, you have a lot of questions. Sometimes in the street the fans talk to me. I can understand they are upset. I am just like them, I don’t understand everything.
“At Arsenal you come back after holidays, you make preparations, and you see two players leave and the season resumes – it has been like that since I have been at the club. I am used to it now.
“I am the last player from the 2007 starting XI remaining. In May, I watched Manchester City show off. I watched Samir [Nasri] and Gael [Clichy] lifting the trophy.
“That gave me desire for it. Were they right to leave? Yes. But when they left, we didn’t know.
“My own situation? At the end of the season, I will have one year remaining.
“Has the club contacted me about an extension? No, no one,” he concluded.
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Sagna is currently recovering from a broken leg suffered at the tail-end of last season.
’s Karl Oyston has told Sky Sports News that the club are looking for a speedy resolution to the Seasiders’ management vacancy following the departure of Ian Holloway last week.
The north-west club has fallen victim to a domino effect in the Championship which has seen Holloway move to Selhurst Park as former Crystal Palace manager Dougie Freedman fills the vacancy left by Owen Coyle at Bolton Wanderers.
Today, Blackpool Chairman Karl Oyston has announced that the club may reach a decision over their next manager by as early as this evening, and the application and interview process is already on-going.
“I’m hopeful well know by the end of today, but I’m not going to put any timescale on it” said Oyston.
“Other Lancashire clubs have took their time but instability has not done anyone any favours.
“We need someone that can settle quite easily in the great north west and adapt to the training ground and deal with the players weve got.
“It’s a key time in the season for us, we have been on the slide a bit lately but I think a quick appointment will address that.
“If we meet the right person and the interview goes well we will offer them the job straight away.”
Rumoured contenders for the job include Paul Ince, Owen Coyle and current caretaker manager Steve Thompson.
Oyston also told Sky Sports News he was disappointed by the number of agents contacting him from managers and coaches already in employment at other clubs.
“I’m disappointed to say we’ve had contact through agents from managers in work. This sort of culture needs stamping out.
“I know it goes on but it doesn’t make it any more acceptable, we’ve been around football long enough to know the type of person we want. We know how to do it the right way and not play any of those games.”
The Blackpool chairman admitted he may inform the clubs of the managers in question.
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“I do feel like contacting those clubs where the managers are employed and spilling the beans.
“It’s poor form. We’ll do things properly” he added.
Being linked with just about every player under the sun isn’t something that will come as any particular surprise to supporters of Tottenham Hotspur. But even by their standards, this summer’s transfer window saw the speculation that usually circles the North London club go into absolute overdrive.
A combination of a new manager, a new formation and £30million-rated departure saw Tottenham dominate the gossip columns and Daniel Levy requiring an auditor to sort out his phone bill. Seemingly no player was safe from being rumoured with a move either in or out of N17 and as always in North London, the crux of the business was left down to the last minute.
It is far, far too early to judge how the acquisitions that have been brought in will prosper, but such is the scale of players mooted with a move to White Hart Lane, we thought we’d have a look at those that haven’t made their way to Spurs; and decided to make a rival starting XI to boot.
We are at pains to disclaim that if Daniel Levy had acquired all of these players all at once, Spurs would probably be in financial trouble quicker than you could say ‘Peter Ridsdale’ and the balance of this team is more Football Manager 2012 than Villas-Boas reality.
But seeing as we’re all such gluttons for punishment, here is Tottenham’s 2012 failed transfer XI. Lining up in a shamelessly copycat 4-3-3, it’s dubious as to how they’d cope away to Stoke City, but they’re certainly a talented bunch.
Click on Jack Butland to unveil the XI
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Are you glad that some of these stayed well away from White Hart Lane this season? Or do you feel that the team are crying out for one of these transfer targets that they missed out on? Tell me what you think on Twitter: follow @samuel_antrobus and let me know who’s in and out.
On Saturday, 99% of English football fans undoubtedly became Wigan supporters for 90 minutes. But rather than it being a case of the British knack of favouring the underdog in every situation they are naturally neutral to, the love affair with Wigan, shared by many across the country regardless of what club they’d pledge their undying loyalty to, spans far beyond the simple notion of a David and Goliath contest in an FA Cup final.
The Latics are forever the underdog, defying logic, reasoning, resources and finance year upon year to maintain Premier League survival, labelled as the cockroaches of the English top flight. But the description which implies grotesqueness, cunning and cowardice couldn’t be further from the truth; the overall adoration of Wigan, hailed by many as their second club or at least their second most favoured, has been bred through their underlying philosophy of playing attractive, attacking football, full of confidence and always without fear, despite their constant impending doom – a combination which never fails to capture the hearts and imagination of the neutrals.
[cat_link cat=”Wigan-athletic” type=”tower”]
The persistent efforts of Roberto Martinez at the DW Stadium have always been well documented in the media, with the Spaniard being the constant recipient of rave reviews and often linked to vacancies at bigger clubs, but this year, the Latics have finally received a material reward to signify their achievements in the form of the FA Cup. Yet it could prove to mean very little in the grand scheme of things should they fail to claim all six points from their final two Premier League fixtures, the first coming tonight against Arsenal, and in the process secure their fate of playing Championship football next season.
No one doubts the tough task Roberto Martinez has undertook in keeping Wigan’s heads above water since his appointment in 2009, but with yet another year of no progress and the Greater Manchester club continually flirting with the prospect of relegation, is the philosophical football which has earned them so many admirers actually paying off? Is it time for a change of tact, on and off the pitch?
The eternal problem at the DW Stadium has been holding onto key players. Every season, a select few personnel step up their game, or progress naturally to a higher level, which in the summer leads to an exodus of the club’s top talent. The Wigan alumni now contains so many noteworthy individuals you could make a Premier League team out of them, including the likes of Leighton Baines, Antonio Valencia, Mohamed Diame, Wilson Palacios, Lee Cattermole, Hugo Rodallega, Titus Bramble, Victor Moses and Ryan Taylor to name a few who’ve gone on to bigger, better paying top flight clubs.
The trend will continue yet again in the summer, with James McCarthy, Callum Mcmanaman and Arouna Kone set to be figures of interest for those on the prowl for new recruits, and furthermore, should the Latics fail to avoid the drop, even their more rank and file players, such as Shaun Maloney, Ali Al-Habsi and Jordi Gomez could well be given the opportunity to remain in the top tier of English football by other clubs, rather than take their chances in the ever-unpredictable Championship.
Amid the continual in-goings and out-going of the club’s top talent, it makes sense that the one constant that remains is Martinez’s expansive brand of football. It’s created a level of consistency from season to season under the Spaniard, and furthermore brought the fans to the DW stadium.
Yet the club’s most successful league standing was not under the 39 year old, but rather Steve Bruce, a polar opposite in terms of tactic, manner and philosophy. He may not have the credentials to lead Wigan to an FA Cup final, but the former United defender certainly made a lighter task of Premier League survival, finishing up in 11th place during the 2008/2009 season, all be it with better players in Palacios and Valencia at his disposal.
It does beg the question however; would Wigan be better off with a hint of pragmatism mixed into their attractive style of football? The Latics certainly play to their strengths, but for all the attacking flair and ball retention, their continual lack of quality in defence has become a constant thorn in their side throughout the Martinez era, and furthermore, being solid at the back has always been a pre-requisite in the Premier League. It will surely be his first port of call in the summer transfer window, pending Wigan’s Premier League status, Martinez not being poached by another club and whether or not their star players will need replacing yet again.
Finance will undoubtedly get in the way. The club’s record transfer fee of just £7million, paid to Newcastle for Charles N’Zogbia, tells its own story regarding the lack of resources at the DW stadium, and match-day profit will always be limited in a rugby town where the stands on a Saturday always remain half empty.
But clearly something has to give; the way it stands, Wigan will either slowly but surely solidify themselves as a Premier League club at a snail’s pace, never far from the threat of relegation, or as they may well do this season, go down with their sinking philosophical ship, with the players jumping at the point of its submergence into the Championship.
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A sense of identity is an unquantifiable, intrinsic asset that is often over-looked in the modern era, with foreign owners preferring the power of the purse as a means of progress rather than forging success via a club’s development on the football pitch itself. Furthermore, Martinez should always be praised not only for his ability to get the best out of his players and avoid relegation, but additionally his insistence on playing attractive, exciting football, with the beautiful game’s equivalent of morality at its core.
The identity itself is often more important than the quality of football on display. We’ve seen it with the likes of Stoke, Norwich, Everton, West Ham and Swansea and the solidarity it has brought to them, and we’ve seen the adverse effects of lacking identity with the poor seasons of Queens Park Rangers and Newcastle. And thus, the worst thing Wigan could do would be to abandon their brand of football in its entirety, even if it were to hypothetically allow them to sign a higher class of footballer.
But I believe this season, despite the FA Cup triumphs, has made it clear that resting on their laurels presents as much of a serious risk as it does to bring in a fresh approach, with an element of balance, pragmatism and Englishness to it. It is hard to envisage the process taking place under Roberto Martinez, and perhaps it is a blessing in disguise that the Spaniard and his beloved club will be expected to part company in the summer. Furthermore, the players would almost certainly be unable to replicate the confidence in which they play their expansive brand of football without their talented manager at the helm.
Sunderland winger Adam Johnson has revealed that he is desperate to earn a recall to the England side after being dropped in recent squads.
Roy Hodgson has opted to give younger players such as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Raheem Sterling and Wilfried Zaha a chance over the past few months and that could spell the end for players like Johnson.
Despite making the preliminary squad to face Poland and San Marino back in October, you have to go back a long way to find Johnson’s most recent England appearance.
The former Manchester City winger had hoped that his £10million move to Sunderland would give him the opportunity to impress Hodgson with his consistency rather than substitute spells at the Etihad.
This has failed to materialise and the naturally left sided winger now has a number of players to push ahead of if he is going to be back in the England squad later this year.
“It’s always difficult because I have been in the squad for a while and then I have been overlooked for the last couple of games” Johnson told The Sun.
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“I have just got to get my head down and get better, really. If I do that, then I am confident that I can work my way back into the squad.”
It has been coming for a few seasons now. Bacary Sagna’s injuries have finally caught up with him. He has lost that yard of pace and incision which used t0 ensure he was a cut above of all the other full backs in the Premier League.
The right hand side is a flank which is left heavily exposed with Arsenal due to Theo Walcott choosing to wreak most of his havoc down this wing.
Nacho Monreal has been signed on the left hand side to combat the wing threat other teams posses which has been the undoing of the North London club recently but this only half resolves the issue.
Wenger’s success used to be built on knowing when it was the right time to move players on and develop the team for the better when it is necessary.
Despite Sagna still being capable enough he is not up to the burden of the upper echelons of the Champions League anymore so drastic action needs to be taken.
Arsenal’s dominant play has always been based around counter attacking starting from the fullbacks so solving their current right back conundrum could reignite them back to the glory trail they so desperately desire.
To see who Arsenal need to defensively deploy on the right click on the man himself to reveal the list
Manchester City defender Kolo Toure admits he could be tempted to make a switch to France after slipping down the pecking order at the Premier League Champions.
The Ivorian defender has been at the City of Manchester Stadium for the past three seasons after joining from Arsenal and has helped his club to FA Cup and Premier League success.
However this season he has fallen out of favour with Roberto Mancini and has just featured in three games.
Reports suggest that Toure is keen for a move away from the club in order to get first team football and could do so in January. A number of clubs are believed to be interested in the services of the 31-year-old.
Toure has admitted the thought has crossed his mind and has hinted that a fresh start in Ligue 1 could be an option.
“Why not France?” The commanding centre-back told Sky Sports.
“There is PSG, Lille and the league is getting stronger.”
The French league is fast improving and has recently seen the arrival of superstars like Zlatan Ibrahimovich, who has joined oil-rich Quatari-owned Paris Saint Germain.
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Toure has been in England since 2002 when Arsenal signed him from Ivory Coast side Asec Mimosas for a fee of £150,000 and has gone on to play in over 250 Premier League games.
Liverpool have confirmed the arrival of AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli in a deal believed to be £16million.The 24-year-old Italian international has signed a long-term deal with the Anfield club after Âa year-and-a-half in Italy with AC Milan.And the striker, who netted 30 goals in 54 gamesÂin Italy, has put expressed his delight at finally being able to complete his move back to the Premier League and admits it was a mistake when he left Manchester City.He told Liverpool’s official site: “I’m very happy. We’ve been talking about coming here and now I’m happy to be here.”Liverpool are one of the best teams here in England and the football is very good here. It’s a great team with young players, and that’s why I am here.”I’m happy to be back because I left England and it was a mistake. I wanted to go to Italy but I realised it was a mistake.”WANT MORE? >> Liverpool transfer news | Latest transfer newsAnd Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is understandably delighted to have got his man and has replaced the void left by Luis Suarez, who left for Barcelona earlier this month.”This transfer represents outstanding value for the club and I think we have done a really smart piece of business here,” he explained.”There is no doubting Mario’s ability. He is a world-class talent and someone who, for such a young age, has vast experience of playing at the very highest challenge.”I believe we have the infrastructure, culture and environment to get the best out of him and help him achieve his true potential.”Balotelli will wear his iconic number 45 shirt at Anfield.
Tottenham winger Gareth Bale has claimed that he would like to experience a move abroad during his career sparking more speculation over the midfielders future at White Hart Lane.
Bale scored and assisted in Spurs’ terrific 3-2 victory at Manchester United on Saturday evening and his performance and comments may well interest some European footballing giants.
“I’d never be scared of it,” he told The Guardian.
“It’s something I’d like to experience. It’s in the future but if something did come up I would obviously look at it with interest.”
The Spurs winger also took time to praise his new boss Andre Villas-Boas and what he has done since arriving in the summer.
“He’s very approachable,” said Bale.
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“If there is a problem, or something we feel is not right, his door is open. He wants us to work that way: together, the players and staff, and if there is a problem we can always share our ideas with him and he will take it on board.
“For example, if we feel we are working too hard in training, if we say that to him, then he’ll ease it off. He’s still learning as well as a manager but he does all the coaching and everything himself, which is great.”
Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse absolute wonder-strike against Chelsea towards the end of last season will go down as one of the greatest strikes of all time. The Senegalese forward’s swerving volley secured victory for the Magpies on the night, and cemented his status as one of the signings of the season.
In truth there have been plenty of great efforts across through the Premiership’s 20 year history that have been etched into the memories of football fans. From cheeky lobbed goals to all out thunderbolts, players have produced the sort of moments that make us all realise why we love the beautiful game so much.
This list looks at the 20 most outrageous goals in Premier League history, counting through a selection of the greatest strikes in the English top-flight to that all important number one spot.
Click on Cantona to unveil the top 20 most outrageous Premier League goals
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