Month: November 2019

Ralph Hasenhuttl has urged Southampton’s squad to prevent the shame of being hammered 9-0 by Leicester becoming a catalyst for the club sliding towards Premier League relegation.

Manager Hasenhuttl admits Saints’ players and coaching staff must live with the ignominy of the heaviest home defeat in English top-flight history for the remainder of their careers.

But the Austrian has also called for perspective in the wake of the embarrassment and, with only 10 games played, demanded his side take control of their own destiny to avoid dropping out of the division.

“We know it’s not over, we have a long way to go,” said Hasenhuttl, whose team sit 18th in the table ahead of Saturday’s daunting trip to Manchester City.

“When it’s at the end of the season and you are relegated at that moment this is something completely different but we lost one game in a hard way.

“We lost also our goal difference and this is very, very bad for this whole situation.

“But in the end it is not over if you stand up again, and this is what we try to do, if you stay on the floor then it’s over but if you stand up and show up and get your heads up…

“You can’t make it un-happen and this mark we will have for the rest of our entire life and this result will stay, but focus on the next three points you can get.

“This is the good thing of football. You start 0-0 the next game.”

 

 

Hasenhuttl was quick to accept full responsibility for the debacle which equalled the highest defeat of the Premier League era and was the biggest loss in Southampton’s 134-year existence.

The former RB Leipzig coach says he struggled to sleep following the humiliation at the hands of Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes.

“I said that it’s not an easy situation for anybody at the club if you lose like this,” he said.

“Nothing before the game shows in this direction for me.

“These moments are not nice for anybody and it’s not easy to find the sleep then and the next days to find the right words and the right tone for the team.”

Saints produced an improved display during Tuesday’s 3-1 Carabao Cup loss against City and face a swift return to the Etihad Stadium in the league on Saturday.

Hasenhuttl wants his team to be “nasty as possible” against Pep Guardiola’s champions.

“It is another game that is against a not so bad opponent but as always you have a chance to get something and both teams will take from the Tuesday game the good and the bad things and try to change things,” said the 52-year-old.

“It’s another game of being as nasty as possible to not give them many chances and be a little more self-confident.”

Wingers Nathan Redmond and Sofiane Boufal should shake of minor knee problems to be involved, while Cedric Soares (calf) and Moussa Djenepo (hip/thigh) have returned to training.

 

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp are in agreement over the congested fixture schedule.

Liverpool’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa was scheduled to be played the week commencing December 16 but the Reds will be in Qatar for the Club World Cup.

Klopp threatened to quit the competition if they were not given a favourable alternative slot – which is looking increasingly like January 7 or 8, the scheduled dates for the first leg of the semi-finals – but he has ruled out leaving players behind in England to fulfil the fixture while they are in Doha.

When Manchester United where involved in the 2000 World Team Championship (the forerunner of the Club World Cup), they pulled out of the FA Cup to aid their fixture congestion, but withdrawing midway through a competition would be equally as controversial.

“If I create headlines for a day then people say ‘Why is he moaning? He earns so much money’. That’s what I don’t like,” said Klopp, whose side, coincidentally, travel to Villa Park on Saturday as they look to maintain their six-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

“It is obvious it is too much. Absolutely obvious. Everyone involved in the game will tell you that. Let’s have a look how they deal with it.

“Premier League: what a competition, sensationally cool. Then Carabao Cup: nice competition, what a wonderful game we had on Wednesday. But then in January, after a very busy schedule in December, there is two (legged) semi-finals.

“It is an easy decision for me to say ‘OK, if you keep that competition why have two semi-finals?’ That is the difference to other countries. We are the only country where no-one wants to touch it.

“The FA wants to touch the League Cup, the Football League wants to touch the FA Cup but no-one wants to talk about it.”

And Guardiola agrees that something needs to be done: “I completely agree. We need less fixtures, more competitions, more recovery, we play 27, 28 [games] in winter time. It’s a debate from a long time ago. I completely with Jurgen on these kind of statements about ‘too much’.

“I prioritise – I didn’t play Ilkay, Kevin, Silva last game. Jurgen has done the same, Arsenal have done the same. It’s too much, it’s too much.”

The Germany stopper has had to battle with Manuel Neuer and Marc ter Stegen, but can show that he belongs to be mentioned in the same breath as them

Germany goalkeeper Bernd Leno is not short of confidence. A first-team player at Bayer Leverkusen since his debut as an 18-year-old, he has probably achieved all he can at the club, and now can prove he is as good as he believes at Arsenal.

While there, he can step out of the shadow of Germany goalkeepers Manuel Neuer and Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and show his worth to his national side as well as childhood club Real Madrid.

“It is now my goal to become one of the best goalkeepers around in Europe,” Leno told  T-Online last year.

“We are regularly playing European football with Leverkusen, but it remains my dream to one day play for a major club abroad. And Real Madrid are the team I have supported since my childhood.”

Leno has now sealed his move abroad, and is one step closer to his dream of playing for Madrid. He is an experienced goalkeeper, having played 200 Bundesliga games and over 50 European matches since his debut as a teenager in 2011. With Leverkusen missing out on the Champions League, now was the perfect time for Leno to move on and prove himself somewhere else as one of Europe’s best shot-stoppers.

Despite a season when he was sometimes criticised for not living up to the high expectations he had set for himself, Leno helped Leverkusen return to Europe with a fifth-placed finish in the Bundesliga. Heiko Herrlich’s side only missed out on a spot in the Champions League on the last day of the season, losing out on goal difference.

In the 2018-19 Europa League, he could face his former club as Arsenal’s new €22 million (£19.2m/$25m) goalkeeper , and will be hopeful that he can make that his first piece of silverware at club level.

Leno made his debut in 2011-12 after first-choice goalkeeper Rene Adler was injured in pre-season, starting Leverkusen’s second game and keeping his place for the remainder of the campaign. Then general manager Michael Reschke knew it was a gamble to throw Leno in and make him the third youngest goalkeeper in Bundesliga history, but he was confident from what he had seen in just four days’ training after the 18-year-old moved on an initial loan spell.

“He came from the second team of VfB Stuttgart and had not played a minute of professional football,” Reschke told 11Freunde . “We decided to play him although we knew, by doing so, that we had an inexperienced 18-year-old in goal for at least 10 Bundesliga matches, three matches in the Champions League and two cup matches.”

Despite being a regular in Germany’s top flight, Leno was just like every teenager. He was a big fan of computer games, and loved playing FIFA on the Playstation. He played against Barcelona using his favourite teams, one of which is his new club.

“I’m a fan of Arsenal and Real. Arsenal, because the club has always focused on young footballers. Real, especially for Iker Casillas,” he told the Daily  Express .

“I have sometimes dreamed as a child of becoming his successor in Madrid. [Iker] Casillas is like a cat. I often watch him on videos and try to learn.”

New Gunners boss Unai Emery is confident his new No. 1 can deliver the goods at the Emirates, praising his high quality and the experience he brings to the club. Leno will replace veteran Petr Cech between the sticks for Arsenal, with the Czech Republic international downgraded after a poor season in favour of a player 10 years his junior.

“We are very pleased that Bernd Leno will be joining us,” Emery told the club’s official website .

“Bernd is a goalkeeper of high quality and experience. He has been a top performer and regular number one goalkeeper with Leverkusen in the Bundesliga for the past seven years.

At Arsenal, Leno can show exactly why he should be considered as one of Casillas’ successors in Madrid. Keylor Navas has never fully impressed for the back-to-back-to-back Champions League winners, and every summer Real are linked with a variety of replacements.

New coach Julen Lopetegui would be wise to keep an eye on Leno, someone who has all the raw materials required to be number one at Santiago Bernabeu for the next decade. The 26-year-old has a wealth of first-team experience despite his age, has strong reflexes and commands his area well.

Ter Stegen is already at Barcelona having played 108 Bundesliga games for Borussia Monchengladbach, and Leno can be the next German goalkeeper to make it big in Europe. Germany are blessed with goalkeeping depth for the next few years, and the former Leverkusen man will need to make the next step now to challenge Neuer as Germany’s first choice.

But, perhaps more importantly for Leno, who has often expressed his disillusion with being overlooked for Germany, the move can help him prove his value at club level.

A disappointing opening game at last summer’s Confederations Cup showed why international boss Joachim Low prefers Neuer and ter Stegen over him, even choosing PSG’s substitute goalkeeper Kevin Trapp in his final World Cup squad, cutting Leno from his preliminary selection .

Leno has shown his worth in the Bundesliga, even with his stats not being as impressive in 2017-18 as they had been in the previous campaign when he led the league in goals prevented. His consistency sometimes lets him down, but this is something he can build on now that he has moved on from the familiarity of Leverkusen, and show Real Madrid why he should be their future.

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The Liverpool man was nowhere near his usual self and his country now face early elimination from the World Cup as the hosts progress

By the time the real Mohamed Salah finally stood up, it was already too late.

Clearly rushed back into the Egypt side, despite official declarations that he was fit enough to start their opening game last Friday, the Liverpool man could only rally himself, and his country, when they were already 3-0 down and facing the possibility of World Cup elimination as early as Wednesday afternoon.

After 67 minutes of loose touches and little else, Salah did at least provide a cameo of what could have been, had he not injured his shoulder in the Champions League final just over three weeks ago.

In the first half, he touched the ball fewer times than any of his outfield team-mates. He looked lost, far from the talisman of this team and one of the best players in the world on last season’s form.

He did not look ready and it appeared his team-mates knew it; he rarely looked to get involved and they rarely looked for him either. 

Russia could only make their resultant dominance pay two minutes into the second half, when Ahmed Fathi bounced off the giant Artem Dzyuba and contrived to slice the ball into his own net.

It was hardly a classic but the hosts cemented their lead with two neat goals within three minutes, with Denis Cheryshev and Dzyuba himself finishing off neat moves.

Only then, five minutes after his team conceded their third goal, that Salah showed that he had something in the tank. A tidy pass on the edge of the box presented Trezeguet with an opening, but he placed a shot wide.

Moments later, Salah sprinted at full tilt, as he had not done since the end of the club season, to win the ball back deep in the Russia half, only for another loose touch to waste the advantage.

Not long after that he won a penalty following another burst forward, which proved too much for Roman Zobnin to handle. Salah stepped up himself, of course, and blasted his effort down the middle, and while he does at least now have a World Cup goal to his name, he will be left to rue that it could have been so much more.

He could fill his boots against Saudi Arabia even this far below his best, but it is likely that it will make no difference. If Uruguay draw with the Saudis on Wednesday, Egypt will be out.

The game to watch when Group A comes to a close next Monday, then, would be Russia against Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani & Co. 

 

Few gave the hosts much chance of making a mark at this competition, including millions of their own fans, but they have now put in two accomplished performances.

Given many fancied Uruguay and Salah’s Egypt to make it out of the group, the hosts’ exploits deserve credit. Yes, the draw was favourable to say the least, even down to the fortunate organisation of the fixtures, but out of so little expectation they are creating a buzz, at home and abroad. 

Aleksandr Golovin was the star of the 5-0 defeat of Saudi Arabia and he was once more impressive against Egypt in St Petersburg, and again he was joined by Cheryshev, who certainly knows how to arrive into the box at the right time.

An already injury-ravaged squad was further hit by Alan Dzagoev’s hamstring problem in the opener but in his absence the tree-sized Dzyuba is coming to the fore. He was the target of an innumerable amount of first-half crosses, and his sheer presence led to the opening goal here, but he also proved there is more to his game with a tidy finish that sent the home crowd into raptures.

Many Russians had been downplaying the significance of their opening victory in recent days, pointing instead to Saudi Arabia’s dreadful showing. But it is clear that belief, and pride, is now growing.

The hosts are through to the next round and for them the party will go on. But Egypt, who arrived here with much higher hopes even despite those doubts over their main man, they are surely on their way home.

Salah’s dream season has descended into a nightmare.

 

The Eintracht Frankfurt player hopes he’s cheered on in a different way with the controversial shout once again causing headaches for El Tri

Mexico midfielder Marco Fabian says there are better ways for fans to support El Tri than to shout “p*to” after opposition goal kicks.

The chant has become a tradition that is unwanted by FIFA. The governing body regularly fines Mexico for the chant, which it rules is homophobic. While many Mexico fans insist it is not offensive, LGBT groups in Mexico continue to request the chant not be used.

FIFA announced Monday it opened an investigation into allegations the chant was heard in El Tri’s 1-0 victory Sunday over Germany. Fabian says it’s an unnecessary distraction, and fans should use other methods of supporting the team.

“This is a good time to send a message. We’re inviting the fans not to shout [the chant], to support us in a different way,” Fabian said at a news conference Tuesday. “I know people have been doing it for a while, but I think there are different norms now. Now they’re saying they might take away people’s Fan IDs and not letting people into games to support us.

“They’ve come such a long way to be here with us supporting us, so it would be a shame if they didn’t let fans in. So we want them to support in a different way. It’s really lovely to hear ‘Cielito Lindo’ and the chants ‘Mexico’. We like the support at 100 percent, but hope that we can stop doing this chant that is affecting us as much as it is, and above all [affecting] Mexico.”

Mexican fans have taken Moscow, where the first group game took place, by storm with their presence welcomed by locals. In addition to “Cielito Lindo,” a traditional Mexican song, and the three-syllable intonation of the country’s name, fans also chanted, “You can see that we’re the home team once again,” (a phrase that rhymes in Spanish) and “Germany is going to try the national spice,” a song with a double entendre in Spanish. Those chants are welcomed as part of the atmosphere and color Mexicans have added to the tournament.

On the field, it was an impressive performance from El Tri, which controlled the first half and was able to keep the reigning champion from finding the back of the net after the break. The North Americans now have the realistic dream of winning the group, but know they can’t let their guard down against South Korea on Saturday or Sweden next week.

“We’ve see Korea’s games. They’re very quick opponents, really well disciplined tactically and we have to be ready for their counter-attacks,” forward Raul Jimenez said. “We have to show our best level in every game. We still have two opponents left, and we’re focused on winning.”

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The Serie A champions are also closing in on a deal for Valencia full-back Joao Cancelo, although Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is seen as too expensive

Juventus are looking to tie up a deal for Russia forward Aleksandr Golovin, although Goal can confirm that departing Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is not currently on the Serie A club’s radar.

Golovin has emerged as one of the stars of the 2018 World Cup, standing out for the host nation in their opening two games of the competition that has seen them seal their progression to the last 16.

The Serie A champions have been so impressed by Golovin that they have made him their No.1 summer target, and have lodged a €20 million (£18m/$23m) offer to CSKA Moscow in an attempt to get ahead of the competition for his signature.

Indeed, Juve have an agreement in place with the player that would see him earn €3m per season, although CSKA are hoping to push the transfer fee higher and are holding out for €25m (£25m/$29m), plus bonuses.

Golovin has also been linked with a switch to Arsenal, with his father having admitted recently that the talented forward has been learning English – it’s Juve, though, that are at the front of the queue.

Wilshere, meanwhile, had been linked with a move to Massimiliano Allegri’s side, although Goal understands those reports are wide of the mark and the 26-year-old is not currently a target for the club.

The Arsenal midfielder has announced he will be leaving the Gunners after 17 years with the club when his contract expires at the end of the month, although it remains unclear where he will move next.

Juve are already well stocked in the central midfield area, with Emre Can having arrived from Liverpool to join the likes of Miralem Pjanic, Sami Khedira, Blaise Matuidi and Rodrigo Bentancur, and, as things stand, simply don’t need Wilshere.

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Goal understands Allegri’s side, who are still looking to further strengthen their squad with a view to another push for glory domestically and in Europe, are closing in on a move for Valencia full-back Joao Cancelo.

The Portuguese spent last season on loan at Inter but it is their Serie A rivals that are pushing ahead with a €40m (£35m/$47m) deal, with the player expected to undergo medical examinations on Wednesday and agree a four or five-year contract.

Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is not considered a realistic target, however, with the Biancocelesti demanding a huge fee of €150m (£132m/$175m) for the player, who is attracting interest from the Premier League.

The Portugal superstar sported a new style ahead of his side’s World Cup clash against Morocco at the Luzhniki Stadium

A goatee for the GOAT?

That’s how plenty of people reacted when discovering that Cristiano Ronaldo – regarded as the world’s greatest player by many – is sporting a new style.

Ronaldo, 33, unveiled his fresh look ahead of Portugal’s World Cup clash against Morocco when the superstar forward was aiming to build on his stunning hat-trick against Spain.

And the goatee appears to be bringing him some luck after he scored a header in a matter of minutes to take his tally at the World Cup to four goals in two games.

In fact, Ronaldo has revealed that his good fortune in front of goal is precisely why the new look appears to be here to stay.

“It’s a joke with Quaresma,” Ronaldo said in a post-match interview. “We were in the sauna on the eve of the match against Spain, and I started shaving.

“I told the others that I would leave the goatee until the end of the tournament if I scored the next day. And it brought me luck.”

And thus the fresh chapter in the GOAT debate between Ronaldo and Argentina ace Lionel Messi has begun! Your move, Leo…

It appears Ronaldo’s new look has gone down fairly well, then!

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In part two of the series, Goal looks at the changes in EA’s latest football release as business continues in Russia

Welcome back, gamers!

By now the majority of you will have your teeth sunk firmly into both the World Cup proper and FIFA 18’s shiny new game mode.

A fair few things have changed since part one of the FUT report, so let’s take a look at what’s going on both in real life and in game.

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In Russia, the group stages have wrapped up and the round of 16 clashes are set – but not everything went as many had imagined.

The hosts got the tournament off with a bang, winning 5-0 against Saudi Arabia on the opening day, which helped Russia progress to the knock-outs. A half-fit Mohamed Salah did what he could for Egypt, but it wasn’t enough as nine-point Uruguay joined Russia in moving on.

Croatia surprised a few in joining Uruguay and Belgium as the three sides that won of all their group games, while Argentina scraped by with the skin of their teeth after being saved by the great Lionel Messi and a late goal from Marcos Rojo.

The biggest shock by far, however, was Germany, who struggled throughout and picked up only one win thanks to a last-gasp free-kick strike from Toni Kroos against Sweden.

Heading into the next round, the match-ups look like so:

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So what’s new in the game?

Given EA released the free World Cup mode on May 29, over two weeks before the start of the tournament, there was always going to be some tweaks.

The main ones, of course, would be the late additions – a whole 62 of them. Full list below:

Player	Team	Player	Team
Nicolás Tagliafico	Argentina	Majid Hosseini	Iran
Cristian Ansaldi	Argentina	Mohammad Reza Khanzadeh	Iran
Franco Armani	Argentina	Jeong Seung Hyun	Korea Republic
Cristian Pavón	Argentina	Lee Seung Woo	Korea Republic
Giovani Lo Celso	Argentina	Ayoub El Kaabi	Morocco
Brad Jones	Australia	Joel Obi	Nigeria
Andrew Nabbout	Australia	Bryan Idowu	Nigeria
Dimitri Petratos	Australia	Bartosz Białkowski	Poland
Daniel Arzani	Australia	Dawid Kownacki	Poland
Adnan Januzaj	Belgium	Manuel Fernandes	Portugal
José Izquierdo	Colombia	Mário Rui	Portugal
José Cuadrado	Colombia	Rúben Dias	Portugal
Jefferson Lerma	Colombia	Artem Dzyuba	Russia
Ian Smith	Costa Rica	Sergey Ignashevich	Russia
Marwan Mohsen	Egypt	Mohamed Kanno	Saudi Arabia
Mohamed El-Shenawy	Egypt	Ali Al Bulayhi	Saudi Arabia
Ashley Young	England	Abdullah Al Khaibari	Saudi Arabia
Fabian Delph	England	Sergej Milinković-Savić	Serbia
Nick Pope	England	Andrija Živković	Serbia
Trent Alexander-Arnold	England	Luka Jović	Serbia
Ruben Loftus-Cheek	England	Nemanja Radonjić	Serbia
Steven N’Zonzi	France	Marko Grujić	Serbia
Lucas Hernández	France	Yohan Benalouane	Tunisia
Benjamin Pavard	France	Ellyes Skhiri	Tunisia
Marcos Reus	Germany	Saber Khalifa	Tunisia
Albert Gudmundsson	Iceland	Dylan Bronn	Tunisia
Samúel Kári Fridjónsson	Iceland	Mouez Hassen	Tunisia
Frederik Schram	Iceland	Saîf-Eddine Khaoui	Tunisia
Saman Ghoddos	Iran	Ahmed Khalil	Tunisia
Amir Abedzadeh	Iran	Lucas Torreira	Uruguay

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Sadly, some players that were projected to take part in Russia didn’t make the cut and have since been made unavailable in packs. Don’t worry though, if you picked them up before the update you’ll still get to hang on to them.

Full list:

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As mentioned in part one of the FUT Report, players who put in man of the match performances would receive an in-game boost based on their performances in real-life games. 

From defensive rocks to midfield dictators to goal-scoring heroes, the full list of MOTM performers is as such:

Players from teams that have made it into the knock-outs can still get a boost if they impress in their upcoming matches, but big names such as Salah, Kroos, Nemanja Matic and Robert Lewandowski, having been dumped out of the competition, will stay as they are.

If, unlike most gamers, you don’t already have a team packed with Icons (due to the relative ease of the repeatable Squad Building Challenge) then Europe is probably still the best shout in terms of retaining good chemistry due to nine UEFA teams still being involved.

Of course, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia are still representing CONMEBOL and have the likes of Messi, Neymar, Suarez and James Rodriguez in their ranks, all of whom already boast high scores. 

Commiserations to those who chose to build a CAF team, with Senegal’s exit meaning there are no African sides left in the tournament for their players to get MOTM boosts.

That’s all for now – we’ll see you after the quarter-finals for the final instalment of the FUT Report.

Until then, enjoy the football!

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Goal previews the clash between the 2010 champions and the host nation of this summer’s tournament, as well as three other last 16 matches

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The Croatia midfielder desires to leave the Spanish side this summer and is wanted by a number of Europe’s top clubs. So where should he head next?

Mateo Kovacic wants to leave Real Madrid this summer. After three seasons in which he has featured mostly as a substitute for Los Blancos, the Croatia midfielder has his mind set on a more important role elsewhere.

Signed by Rafa Benitez in the summer of 2015 for a fee in the region of €30 million, he is probably the greatest legacy from the Spanish coach’s short reign at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The Croatia midfielder has made 109 appearances in his three seasons and won nine trophies, including three Champions League crowns. However, he has more often than not been left out of the side for the most important matches of all.

“I want to play more and the best thing is to leave Madrid,” he told Marca last week. “I love football and being on the pitch. I want the opportunity to be a starter on another team. If I do not play, I’m not happy.”

It is understandable. At the age of 24 and approaching his best years as a three-time Champions League winner already, Kovacic now wants to be a protagonist and not just a bit-part player, even if Real Madrid still hope he will stay.

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Mateo Kovacic is under contract at Real Madrid until 2021 and the midfielder has a release clause set at a prohibitive €300m. They will not let him leave without a fight.

The Croatia midfielder was seen as a long-term replacement for Luka Modric, who will be 33 in September, and is likely to be a part of the plans of new coach Julen Lopetegui.

His real value in the transfer market is obviously much less than his clause, but Madrid will be reluctant to let him leave for a fee similar to the one they paid Inter three years ago.

With the market inflated by Neymar’s move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain last August and Kovacic described by Benitez to Real president Florentino Perez as “a future €100m player”, Madrid will want at least €50m for the midfielder if he is to leave this summer.

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A number of Europe’s elite clubs are considering a move for Kovacic and will have been alerted by his recent comments about a summer switch for more playing time.

In Italy, the Croatian is already well known from his time at Inter and a return to Serie A is one possibility. Juventus are interested in the midfielder, although no contact has been made yet with Real Madrid.

Roma are also in the market for another central midfielder following the departure of Radja Nainggolan to Inter and are keen on Kovacic, while the Milan side would also like to bring back their former player.

There has been interest from Manchester United in the 24-year-old, too, while Tottenham are keeping tabs on the player they believe could be a replacement for Belgium midfielder Mousa Dembele in north London, with the 30-year-old already admitting that he may leave this summer.

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Of those five, all are potentially good fits for Kovacic. Given regular playing time, he is good enough to hold down a first-team place at any of the teams pushing for his signature this summer.

Juventus could be the most difficult in that respect, with competition for places likely to be fierce in central midfield with Miralem Pjanic, Sami Khedira, Claudio Marchisio, Blaise Matuidi and now Emre Can at the Turin-based club.

At Roma, Kovacic would surely be a starter, especially after the departure of Nainggolan to Inter, with the capital club set to build on last season’s success of reaching the Champions League semi-finals by bringing in more exciting players under sporting director Monchi.

At Inter, a partnership with Nainggolan is potentially mouth-watering, while he also looks like an ideal fit for the Premier League given his technique, speed and ability to run with the ball. If Dembele does leave Tottenham, he would be a good fit for Spurs, and his skill set means he would also slot in well under Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford.

Ultimately, it will come down to personal preference for the player and after spending so much time on the Bernabeu bench, he may prefer to choose a slightly smaller side where he can feel important instead of opting for another giant like Juventus or United.