All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Kieran Trippier has completed a £20m move to Atletico Madrid.

Spurs confirmed on Tuesday that they had reached an agreement to sell the England international to the Spanish club.

It brings the curtain down on a four-year spell in north London, in which Trippier played 114 times for Spurs.

And he should be remembered as a noble servant who always strived to the best he could be.

Now, of course, he endured a difficult season in 2018/19. After the highs of last summer’s World Cup in which, amazingly, he briefly became the best full-back in the world and made a country believe that maybe, just maybe, it was coming home with that spectacular free-kick against Croatia, he saw his stock fall so far that he was left out of Gareth Southgate’s squad for the Nations League finals.

And yet, he has never been anything short of professional. He played a key role as Spurs reached the Champions League final and started in the showpiece.

He is an excellent crosser of the ball, he scored a brilliant free-kick against Fulham that actually topped his effort in the semi-final, and has always been trusted by Mauricio Pochettino.

Of course, it is easy to forget that he was simply a deputy when he was signed for a modest £3.5m from Burnley in 2015.

He came into the club in the era of Kyle Walker but made the right-back spot his own as soon as he left for Manchester City.

Those were big shoes to fill and he did it with aplomb; throughout the 2017/18 season, he was excellent, an assiduous defender and a danger going forward.

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He leaves with two goals under his belt and 24 assists.

This is a classic Daniel Levy signing; he was picked up for peanuts and moves on having raised his stock overall, become an England international and played at the very highest level in the game.

It remains to be seen if he will make it in La Liga but he will be playing under one of the very best defensive coaches on the planet in Diego Simeone.

One thing is for sure, though; he should be wished well as he heads out of the Hotspur Way exits.

This is a player who has been made into what he is by Tottenham Hotspur and he is now seeking pastures new as he looks to recover from a season when he simply didn’t live up to the high expectations he himself had set.

That is no bad thing. Every Spurs fan should want him to succeed.

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On Thursday, Liverpool revealed that young attacker Paul Glatzel had undergone successful surgery after picking up a knee injury against Tranmere Rovers.

The 18-year-old was making his first-team debut for the Reds when he suffered damage to a knee ligament in the second half of the pre-season friendly.

The statement on the club’s official website revealed that the teenager will now be undergoing a rehabilitation period at the training ground.

Glatzel broke into the Liverpool Under-23 side towards the end of last season having impressed for the club’s Under-18 outfit.

The injury is a huge blow for the teenager at this stage of his career.

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However, the club’s Under-23 boss Neil Critchley has insisted that Glatzel has “the strength of character” to bounce back.

The Liverpool fans have been out in their numbers offering their support for the attacker and a selection of the reaction on social media is available to view below:

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Celtic have continued to add to their squad this summer by bringing in 15-year-old Leo Hjelde from Rosenborg, but fans aren’t too impressed.

The left-sided defender will join fellow new signing Tobi Oluwayemi in the Development Squad with an eye to progressing up to the first-team.

The Norwegian has represented his country at youth level already despite not turning 16 until later this summer, and has signed a three-year deal at Parkhead, subject to international approval.

Of course, the last defender to go from Rosenborg to Celtic Park was none other than Mikael Lustig. The Swede has only just departed the club this summer having won eight league titles in his superbly successful stint in Glasgow.

With Lustig gone, Neil Lennon is still looking for a right-back despite bringing the versatile Hatem Abd Elhamed to the club this summer, and the failure to bring in a first-choice right-back as a replacement for the Swede is the reason this transfer has irked the fans.

Here’s what the somewhat disgruntled supporters had to say about their latest signing on Twitter, as they questioned why the Bhoys are swooping for young talent while their first team has obvious holes…

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At the time of writing this, Crystal Palace are still leading the race to sign former Chelsea centre-back Gary Cahill, reports suggest.

The Sun say that Hodgson is determined to pick-up the centre-back, who played under his tutelage during Hodgson’s tenure as England manager.

According to the report, the 33-year-old is keen to stay within the capital and hopes to land a contract worth £75,000-a-week for two years.

Cahill has also reportedly been talking to other clubs. West Ham and Burnley have been mentioned, though the latter seemed to have decreased their interest due to £40m-rated James Tarkowski being more likely to stay at Turf Moor.

If the £75,000-per-week rumours are true, then seeing Gary Cahill join Palace would be a surprising move. Palace already boast four established Premier League centre-backs in Mamadou Sakho, James Tomkins, Martin Kelly, Scott Dann and even have Jairo Riedewald at their disposal.

Indeed, within the Guardian’s season preview, they do stress that the club’s wage bill has been holding them back in the transfer market, so the idea of seeing someone come in on wages that’d make him the fifth-highest earner (via SpotRac) does seem somewhat far-fetched.

Furthermore, considering that Cahill hasn’t really played football for a year, it’s hard to see where you pick him in that side. Sakho and Tomkins are likely to remain as the first choice pairing if they are both fit, based on their 27 and 29 games in the league last season, before their seasons were both hampered by injuries.

With Dominic Fifield and The Guardian describing Palace as a team “with an onerous wage bill demanding an imaginative approach to strengthening” within their season preview, then Gary Cahill doesn’t really fit that bill and seems more of a panicked, safe option rather than finding someone who can do a job on far less money and have a better resale value.

With Palace already struggling with their wage bill, getting Cahill on £75,000-per-week would be really lacking foresight as it could prevent them from reinvesting in the future.

They already have four accomplished centre-backs, so they would’ve been better getting another young player, playing Riedewald or sorting a loan deal, rather than tying down a player on expensive wages for two years who might not even play.

How much of a waste would Cahill be? Join the discussion by commenting below…

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Georges-Kevin Nkoudou was, amazingly, included in Tottenham Hotspur’s squad for the Audi Cup tournament.

The Frenchman, a flying winger, has struggled to adjust to life at Spurs and it is of little surprise that he has yet to find himself a move away from the club.

Signed from Marseille in 2016, Nkoudou has roundly failed to make a tangible impact in north London.

But what happens if he doesn’t leave this summer?

He has made a total of 26 appearances for Spurs and has scored one goal – in a Champions League tie against APOEL Nicosia. He has also registered two assists, with one of those coming last season, as he crossed for Harry Winks to score an injury-time winner in a 2-1 win over Fulham.

Across his Spurs career, he has made four starts. None of them came in the Premier League.

Indeed, the most he has ever played in the top-flight came in a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in 2016; Nkoudou played a total of 17 minutes.

It is not just Spurs who have struggled to see his talent, either. A loan spell at AS Monaco last season drew three appearances in Ligue 1, though injuries played a major role in his lack of outings in France.

At Burnley in 2017/18, Nkoudou played eight times. He didn’t score, nor did he provide an assist.

Indeed, that sample size is the biggest one can find since his move to Spurs and the statistics do not make pretty reading.

Per WhoScored, in the Premier League, Nkoudou averaged 0.5 shots per game during his time at Turf Moor and was dispossessed 1.6 times per game.

He also averaged a mere 0.1 key passes per game and a pass success rate of 79.5%. He crossed the ball 0.1 times per game.

Just two of those eight appearances were starts, but the statistics don’t get much better when you look at per 90-minute metrics either. 0.4 key passes, 1.6 shots, 5.2 times dispossessed.

2.4 successful dribbles would be more encouraging, were it not for the 3.6 unsuccessful ones accompanying them.

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For a winger, those are genuinely execrable stats and one has to wonder why on Earth Spurs actually decided to bring him in.

Nkoudou is quick, yes, but he does nothing with that pace and has never been a deciding factor in the final third, apart from that one cross against Fulham.

His contract does not expire until 2021 and it would be a surprise if another club decided to make a move for him, particularly one with a semi-competent scouting department.

Spurs, then, may well be stuck with him. They are unlikely to be happy about it.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

West Brom were dominant in their 1-1 draw with Millwall on Saturday but ultimately in front of goal they looked rather lacklustre with the visitors scoring both goals in the game.

The Baggies, aided by a piece of misfortune on Alex Pearce’s part, took the lead just before the hour mark as the defender headed a Matt Phillips cross into his own net before striker Matt Smith slammed home an effort from close range which really could have been avoided.

Albion enjoyed 72.5% possession and heavily controlled the game but failed to really get going in forward areas.

The problem seemed to lie with £8m summer signing Kenneth Zohore failing to have much of an impact on the game – he recorded just 12 touches in his 57 minutes which was one less than his substitute Hal Robson-Kanu, who played just over half the time of the 25-year-old.

Zohore also fluffed the best chance of the game in what was his home debut – probably one to forget.

On the Chalkboard

The season is only two games deep but Albion are showing signs of encouragement – they look more cohesive and more organised but lack that cutting edge up top.

During spells last season, even when looking particularly poor, they’d be able to get by thanks to goals from the likes of Jay Rodriguez and Dwight Gayle, who netted 46 in total.

It’s been the absolute contrast of that so far this campaign but their solution could lie in £4m deadline day signing Charlie Austin.

Manager Slaven Bilic brought in four new names on deadline day but none were able to feature on Saturday. therefore the best of West Brom might be a couple of weeks away.

The Croatian will be hoping he can get the former Southampton striker up to speed as soon as possible – a particularly hard task given the lack of a pre-season he’s had on the south coast with Ralph Hasenhuttl seeming to freeze out the 30-year-old.

Thogden ranks all 24 Championship home kits in the video below…

Austin’s record in the Championship is impeccable having netted 66 goals in 129 appearances across spells with Burnley and Queens Park Rangers, where he became a playoff winner in 2014.

Zohore may well be Albion’s number nine for the time being but that won’t last long if this current level of performance continues.

Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup opener against the very same team they faced at the weekend, Millwall, presents an ideal opportunity to give Austin and the other signings much-needed game time.

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On-loan Wolves winger Ivan Cavaleiro was at the forefront of Fulham’s 4-0 win over Millwall last night, scoring twice as the Cottagers moved up to third in the Championship.

His first goal on the quarter-hour mark was superb, the 25-year-old cutting inside past two opponents before unleashing a powerful drive into the top corner of the visitors’ net, and a video of the goal was posted on the @TalkingWolves Twitter channel.

Cavaleiro also scored the fourth goal for Fulham to round off a comprehensive home win for Scott Parker’s team, as well as setting up fellow loanee Anthony Knockaert for the Cottagers’ second goal of the night. [via BBC]

The Portugal winger now has three goals inside a week for Fulham, having also netted in last Friday’s 2-1 win away to Huddersfield.

He has already matched his tally of league goals from last season, when 17 of his 23 Premier League appearances came as a substitute, and is only two goals away from equalling his tally for all competitions in 2018/19.

Cavaleiro signed for Wolves in 2016 when they were in the Championship but was allowed to join Fulham on loan this summer after struggling to get into the first XI last season.

These Wolves fans on Twitter seemed a little wistful upon seeing his magnificent first goal from last night:

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

As confirmed on Arsenal’s official club website, Nacho Monreal has joined Real Sociedad on a permanent transfer.

What’s the word?

The Spain international joined the Gunners from La Liga side Malaga in January 2013, and made 251 appearances for the club, scoring 10 goals.

The versatile 33-year-old spent the majority of his Arsenal career at left-back, but provided able cover as a centre-half too.

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Unai Emery started Monreal in the Gunners’ first three Premier League games of the season, but his departure means he will not play a part in the north London derby against Tottenham on Sunday afternoon.

Timing

Just one day before one of the biggest games of the season for the club, and the Gunners have opted to confirm Monreal’s exit. The timing is bizarre to say the least. The Spaniard had been an ever-present for the north London side and was trusted lieutenant of Emery’s following the manager’s arrival last summer.

The 33-year-old is reliable defensively and would have undoubtedly been a safer option against Spurs than Sead Kolasinac. For all of the latter’s qualities going forward, chalking up seven Premier League assists throughout his career, his style of play comes with big question marks about how he does going back towards his own goal.

Couldn’t the Gunners simply have waited until the north London derby was over before giving the green-light to Monreal leaving? Reports claim that Sociedad are paying just a minimal amount to take him back to Spain, and so a move collapsing due to a possible injury would not have robbed Arsenal of big-money. Instead, they would have stood to gain on the pitch.

Monreal could have helped lead the side to victory against Spurs, before waving goodbye to the Emirates faithful. But because of some questionable decision-making, the Gunners head into the game without their best left-back.

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Some Southampton fans have taken to Twitter to hurl abuse at Mario Lemina, after he harmlessly posted a tweet about his first training session with Galatasaray.

The Gabonese midfielder recently joined the Turkish giants in a season-long loan move, after his Saints career turned sour under Ralph Hasenhuttl.

The former Juventus man was axed by the Austrian boss and was taken off the first-team schedule at St Mary’s along with Charlie Austin.

Lemina’s exit comes after the 26-year-old uploaded a montage of his best bits in what appeared to be a come-and-get-me plea to other clubs this summer, and his general attitude on the South Coast seems to have placed him in some supporters’ bad books given their reaction to his seemingly harmless tweet.

One fan said that the £18.1m man has ‘no backbone’, whilst another told Lemina that he has ‘failed massively’.

Let’s take a look at what some Saints fans on Twitter have been saying on Twitter…

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

According to The Sun, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer tore into his Manchester United players following their 1-1 draw with Southampton last weekend.

What did he say?

The Red Devils began their campaign on fire after thrashing rivals Chelsea 4-0 at Old Trafford. However, Solskjaer’s side have failed to pick up a win in their past three league games, drawing to both Wolves and Southampton, and losing to Crystal Palace.

Now, The Sun claim that following the end of the clash against the Saints, Solskjaer told the players their performance was a “joke” and that it was “embarrassing how they were failing to finish teams off”.

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The report further adds the Norwegian accused the squad of playing for themselves, and has been left frustrated that their work on the training ground isn’t being implemented as he wants.

Some backbone

If Solskjaer did indeed lay into his players following their disappointing draw against Southampton, then he surely has to be applauded. The Red Devils have had serious questions asked of them about their poor attitude and lack of work ethic.

Until now, the big conception of Solskjaer has been of someone who likes to toe the party line, and is a little reluctant to engage in serious confrontation. But taking a stand in the dressing room after the Saints clash shows someone who is willing to get his hands dirty.

The Red Devils desperately need Solskjaer to take charge of the situation before it really threatens to spiral out of control. By questioning their commitment to the cause in the game before the international break, the players will now be forced to look in the mirror over the course of the two weeks to see if they really are pulling their own weight. It may have been a dramatic action, but the United boss was absolutely right to do so.

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