That week flew by, no? All it means is that it is time for me to dip into the hat and pull out 7 random names of footballing folk that have been, er, magnificent in the last 7 days. And do I really mean magnificent? No, no I don’t.
7. Serge Gnabry
“Geez, he’ll never let me go to Bayern. Never. Wenger hates them, they always beat him. Tell you what, get me to any Bundesliga club you can think of, create a clause where I can leave at the end of the season and then I can sign for Bayern on a free. That’ll work, surely?”
The conversation Serge Gnabry most certainly did not have with his agent a year ago
That’s right, they pulled if off. And Arsene fell for it completely. Finger. On. Pulse. Of course, a player good enough for the German national side and Bayern Munich is nowhere near as a good an option as Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey is he, Arsene? Arsene?
6. Joe Hart
Joe, my dear chap. When it is clear you are on your way out of your club because the manager doesn’t rate you I would propose that letting in two long range free kicks in the last ten minutes of a game against the Auld Enemy is unlikely to end with offers being sent in your direction anytime soon. As Torino’s director said towards the end of last season, “we didn’t expect him to make so many mistakes so no, we won’t be keeping him”.
5. Olivier Giroud
I know, picking on the Arsenal again. Did you see his goal the other day? Superb, wasn’t it? World-class you might day. A goal to grace any game, against the mighty giants of….? Oh, Sweden you say. So another quality goal against a mid-table side and your side went on to lose to them. Home from home is international football for Olivier.
4. Jake Livermore
I confess I have only watched the goals in the Scotland v England clash. But I did notice that Jake Livermore was still in the side. A midfielder coached in the arts of skilful midfield play by Tony Pulis. Fair play, I am all for it. More Jake Livermore’s please, players that actually cannot believe their luck that they are representing their country and don’t see it as an inconvenience. If we could make the next ones just a little bit better, that would be great.
3. Arsene Wenger
All credit to Arsene, his master plan is working. “Arsenal target Andre Silva to sign for AC Milan”. He’s getting in there early this season, forcing all the players he doesn’t really want to join other big teams so that when it comes to the players he really wants, well the other big won’t go in for them as they’ve been lumbered with over-rated, expensive show ponies like Andre Silva, Kylian Mbappe, Bernardo Silva, Ederson, Alvaro Morata, Alexandre Lacazette etc. He’ll get down to the really serious business of signing the truly mediocre soon enough.
2. Dominic Solanke
When Dominic gets to 35, maybe 36, and has played his last game for Doncaster he will look back at the summer of 2017 which fond memories for winning the Golden Boot at the U20 World Cup and securing a cheeky move to Liverpool will almost certainly have been the highs before the low of ten years following in the footsteps of Jose Baxter and, probably, Adnan Januzaj. A bit harsh? Come back to me in 15 years time and we will review it then.
1. Gareth Southgate
No, not for getting a last minute draw at Hampden Park, but for this.
What a moment for Freddie Woodman and England 🙌
His godfather Gareth Southgate will be very proud.
đź“ş https://t.co/TdM7uos1fo pic.twitter.com/4i9XvBgpvY
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) June 11, 2017
I mean, who cares who Freddie Woodman’s actual Dad feels, hey? Let’s make it all about Gareth…