The international break has come at just the right time for Arsene. He needs time to recover having forced open his wallet and handing over £50m in the last 24 hours. Both Mustafi and Lucas Perez are on the same Easy Jet flight from Spain and are said to be really looking forward to the opportunity of losing to Barcelona/Bayern Munich in the Champions League knockouts.
Never let it be said that Cesc Fabregas is difficult to manage. Jose did not regret signing him for a single moment, and it is very, very easy to upset the human time bomb that is Antonio Conte. Still, Cesc is apparently in the Chelsea manager’s bad books and could be set for a cut price sale before the window shuts.
Jose Mourinho appears to be contradicting himself. He has stated he would like some more quality defenders at the club, hence United being linked to both Jose Fonte and Fabinho. Yet, Jose is also prepared to let Marcos Rojo stay at the club, which surely defeats the object? That said, Rojo isn’t young and English so I suppose he gets a little longer to prove just how bad he is at marking players at corners.
Big Sam had to field some fairly obvious questions following naming his first ever England squad. The question I would have asked, if invited of course, would have been “how on earth do you think that Walcott is better than Rashford?” Everyone is banging on about Ross Barkley’s omission, but would the Everton midfielder be able to track back and put tackles in like Danny Drinkwater? To a certain extent, it is a very similar squad to one Roy would have picked so maybe Sam is going to prove that he is capable of making these players a decent team. I mean, who can forget that thrilling side he put together at Blackburn Rovers, right? Sam was expected to name his captain in Monday’s press conference, but that has been delayed. “Will Rooney be replaced by Henderson?” is the rumour based question doing the rounds. God I hope not, mainly because that means Henderson will be playing every match. Mind you, him and Drinkwater in the middle will track back and put in tackles. At least Danny can pass a ball though, it’s not all bad.
Joe Hart spent Monday morning ringing around a few English football teams in the hope of finding a new home for the winter. Everyone must have been at training, hey Joe? One team that is waiting by the phone in case Joe calls is Torino of Serie A. They’d be very keen to boost the sales of a well known dandruff free shampoo in their club shop and bring England’s new number two to Italy.
Ravel Morrison was once considered a better midfield prospect than Paul Pogba when they were both at Old Trafford. Where Pogba has earned a financially emotional reunion with the red shirt, Morrison has to serve a little more time before getting a second chance at United. Ravel is set to trade the Lazio substitutes bench with about nine starts with either Hull or Sunderland. The two clubs are also set to duel over Spurs midfielder Ryan Mason, showing that the list of players that are (a) still available and (b) willing to play for Hull or Sunderland is quite a short list. I wonder if Ballotelli is on it?
Abel Hernandez isn’t interest in winning Premier League titles, so he is about to up sticks from Hull City and re-emerge as Ross McCormack’s strike partner at Aston Villa. Villa are quietly spending a bit of cash on players that are unlikely to win them promotion. Sadly, my bet on them to win League One next season might need to be torn up as I can’t see them getting relegated, especially now they have persuaded a club in Greece to take Lescott off their hands.