Tag: EYE

It isn’t often Pep Guardiola wishes he had suffered defeat. But as he looks back four months, to what now looks the moment Manchester City’s era of dominance came to an abrupt end, he said: “I would have preferred to lose that game and have Rodri all season, absolutely.”

Guardiola didn’t lose the game in question. John Stones’ 98th-minute equaliser against Arsenal in September seemed colossal in the context of the title race. Not now: or only in the way points have tended to escape Arsenal’s grasp. It was the second of seven games this season they have drawn after leading, despite a heroic defensive display in the second half.

For City, however, the seismic setback had nothing to do with the scoreline. Penalty shootouts aside, they lost a lone game in which Rodri appeared last season: the FA Cup final. They have lost 10 this season: none in the first month after the Spaniard was sidelined, then in a flurry.

Ferguson has been the subject of interest from around Europe with Arsenal, Leverkusen, Bournemouth, and Tottenham all keeping tabs on the Irish 20-year-old.

Brighton are apparently willing to sell the youngster despite his potential, with a reported asking price of around £40m.

The 19-year-old Bayern Munich forward is a wanted man this winter, but he has rejected a £50m transfer to Tottenham and reports say he is keen on Old Trafford as a short-term destination.

Bayern would like to keep Tel, but he wants to depart for more playing time after a fading role under Vincent Kompany this season.

“Mathys can imagine a move away. We need to come to terms with the facts,” said Bayern Munich sporting director Max Eberl this week.

“Whether it’s a loan or a sale, we’ll see. It needs to be right for all parties. Will we do it? Our squad is very well set up.”

Chelsea have signed England midfielder Keira Walsh from Barcelona on a four-and-a-half-year deal, the Women’s Super League club said on Friday, with the 27-year-old keen to move closer to her family.

The move marks a return to English football for Walsh after two-and-a-half years with the Spanish club having joined Barcelona from Manchester City in Sept. 2022 for a then world record fee in women’s soccer of 400,000 pounds ($495,920.00).

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t realise how difficult it would be to be away from my family and friends when I went abroad,” Walsh said on Chelsea’s official website.

“It’s no secret that I wanted to come and wanted to play closer to my friends and family. Just having my family back in the stands, it’s something I’ve just wanted for a long time.”

Walsh had been with City since 2014, where she had won one WSL title and three FA Cups, and at Barcelona won eight trophies at Barcelona including two Champions League titles and two Spanish league wins.

The midfielder has made 80 appearances for England, winning Euro 2022 and a runner-up at the World Cup in 2023 and joins a Chelsea team who have a seven-point lead over Manchester United in the WSL, and their next game is at Aston Villa on Sunday.

The signing comes just days after Chelsea made Naomi Girma the first female million-dollar player, signing the United States defender to a for a world-record transfer fee reported by British media to be in the region of 900,000 pounds.

Will Lankshear has joined West Brom on loan from Tottenham until the end of the season.

The 19-year-old striker has made six first-team appearances for Spurs this term, scoring against Galatasaray in their Europa League meeting in November.

Lankshear will join up with West Brom on Monday, ahead of next Saturday’s Championship meeting with Sheffield Wednesday.

He told wba.co.uk: “I am delighted to join this great club. I’m looking forward to meeting my new team-mates and I can’t wait to play in front of all the fans.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for me to compete for game time and, hopefully, score goals that can help the club push on to get promoted during my time here.

“Tony Mowbray is a manager who everyone says only good things about and I’m keen to learn as much from him as I can over the next few months.”

“It depends what the players are looking for,” Postecoglou said on potential new signings.

“You can look at it two ways, OK the league form is not great but there’s some pretty big possibilities to have success here in the last three or four months.

“It’s still a big club, it’s still a club that can challenge for honours and it’s whether the player sees the potential that we see right now, or certainly that I see. If it’s too much of a hard sell, it’s probably not the right one for us.

“You need a bit of discipline. The one thing I don’t want to do is bring somebody in who is just going to be another body.

“I don’t think that serves any purpose knowing what we’ve got coming. That aside, there is definitely a need for us and has been a need. That’s why we’ve been looking for a player or two to help us with what’s ahead, but they have to be the right types and fit in with what we’re doing.

“I guess that’s the tricky bit. There are plenty of players available but are they going to be the right ones? That’s the question for us.”

Tottenham remain an attractive proposition for new players ahead of Monday’s transfer deadline, according to Ange Postecoglou.

Spurs are in desperate need of reinforcements with nine first-teamers unavailable for the trip to Brentford on Sunday.

It has been a similar story across the last two months and while Postecoglou has repeatedly called for his depleted squad to be given help, the club are yet to sign an outfield player going into the final days of the transfer window.

Talks have taken place with Bayern Munich over the potential signing of Mathys Tel, but the 19-year-old forward has reportedly rejected the move.

Tottenham can still end a 17-year trophy drought this term with key Carabao Cup, FA Cup and Europa League fixtures to come during the next six weeks, but have dropped to 15th in the Premier League to raise relegation fears.

Spurs are also reported to on the hunt for Alejandro Garnacho, after losing out on the chase for Mathys Tel of Bayern Munich.

Tel rejected a move to Tottenham after a transfer fee had been agreed between the two clubs.

But the Mail reports that Spurs have quickly shifted their attention to Old Trafford, where Garnacho is available and being courted by Napoli and Chelsea among other clubs in Europe.

Man Utd want £60m for the young winger, according to the Mail.

Spurs are closing in on the signing of AC Milan defender Fikayo Tomori.

That’s according to Sky Sports, which claims the former Chelsea centre-half is a key target at Tottenham.

Spurs want to add a defender before the deadline on Monday, with Christian Romero and Radu Dragusin both injured and Micky Van de Ven only just recovered from a hamstring strain.

But Sky Sports says that although Spurs and Milan are in ‘advanced talks’, no agreement has yet been made with the player.

One to watch over the weekend.