Pep Guardiola racking up € 141.5million this Summer

Pep Guardiola has spent €141.5million on three transfers to strength up the team and increase their chances of lighting the EPL, as they did back in 2012 and 2014. These transfers include Ederson for €40million, the Brazilian Goalkeeper proved what all the hype was about last season with Benfica last season. The second transfer was Bernado Silva for a fee of €50million, the Portuguese winger had an amazing season with AS Monaco, helping them reach the semi-finals of the Champions League and win the Ligue 1. The third and most expensive transfer is Kyle Walker with a fee of €51.5million, the English right-back as trasfered from the London side to become one of the most expensive defenders in the world.

Ederson will be an amazing addition to the side as current keeper, Claudio Bravo had a horendous season for the blues and leaked goals that a divison three goalkeeper would save. The 24-year-old hasn’t come cheap as Benfica were asking for the big bucks for their goalie, as Ederson is now the most expensive goalkeeper ever infront of Gianluigi Buffon. Ederson proved the hype with getting 17 clean sheets from his 27 appearances, getting him an amazing 0.44 goals per game, compared to Bravo’s 1.81 goals per game. The young goalie will really help Manchester City in the Champions League and Premier League.

The next transfer was Bernado Silva for a fee of €50million, the young Pourtagese star was a major part in AS Monaco’s success last season. His vision and passing was crucial for the French side as he created 59 chances in the Ligue 1 alone, and proves that he will be a main part in City’s tactics out of the right wing. Guardiola is keen to develop Manchester City’s youth, has 16 out of 32 players in the first team are 23 and under. His success for his club saw him get a call-up to the Portaguese National side with playing 2 matches and racking up one goal and two assists in their wins against Gibraltar and Belgium. This transfer will be a brilliant addition to City’s side as Silva has had experience in the Champions League knock-out stages.

The most recent and biggest transfer yet this summer has been Kyle Walker witha price tag of €51.5million, who is now the most expensive defender ever. Walker is leaving a 8-year-spell with Spurs including loans to Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers in 2011. The English right-back was a key part for Tottenham’s defence last season with a 71% tackle rate and won 35 one-on-ones. The 27-year-old is a very versitile player getting five assists last season, which mostly came from his 96 crosses he put into the box. Walker is able to get from attack to defence so quicly beacuse he is know for his extrodinary pace with allows him to get so involved to attacks. Walker is supposedly a replacement for Pablo Zabaleta and Bacary Sagna’s depatures and will be a amazing talent to help Manchester City succed.

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Rooney returns to Everton

Farewell to the Manchester United legend who is leaving them after an outstanding 14-year-old spell after arriving at the Red Devils from Everton for a fee of € 37million, and now Rooney is returning to his boyhood club on a free transfer. He has done some amazing things throughout his career at Old Trafford including playing in three world cups, winning the Premier League five times and becoming England’s all-time goal scorer with 253 goals from 559 appearances. However, Rooney’s match-time petered out last season under new boss Jose Mourinho.

Many United people are sad to see Rooney go, with vice-chairman, Ed Woodward saying: “Wayne has been a fantastic servant to United since the moment he signed for us as a prodigiously talented, explosive teenager some 13 seasons ago.” Rooney will be glad to return to the club where his love for football all began, with his family including Wayne himself slept in Everton Pj’s will he was still playing for the Red Devils. Since Rooney had arrived back at Goodison Park, he has proven many wrong that he has still got with a stunner long-shot in their 2-1 victory in pre-season against Gor Mahia.

It will be interesting to see how the 31-year-old performs with Everton as he probably still has a couple more years of good seasons left in him, and maybe we can see if they can manage to get back into the top 5 once again.

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Lukaku arrives at Old Trafford for £75million

Romelu Lukaku just recently signed for the red devils with a fee of £75million, which makes him the most expensive striker in the Premier league in front off Lacazette. The Belgium striker has supposedly been the replacement for Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the 35-year-old has had bids in from L.A Galaxy, as his hectic career is finally starting to come to an end. However, many thought Lukaku was supposed to be Diego Costa’s replacement, after Chelsea’s manager, Conte said that he is no longer welcome at the club. Now the likes of Alvaro Morata and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have been linked to Chelsea after United’s bid for Morata got rejected by the Spaniards.

Lukaku will bring the same physical status as Ibrahimovic brang to Old Trafford last season as the 24-year-old is 5cm and 1kg off Ibrahimovic. However, being 11 years younger than the Sweedish master, he can guarantee a couple of amazing seasons to Jose Mourinho. Lukaku will be a great addition to United’s attack, especially being good mates with Paul Pogba. His presence up front will be shown with high work rates inside the box and still has a deadly shot on him which gives him the title as the target man for the Manchester side. However, Mourinho obviously still doesn’t believe in his young prospects, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford especially now with Wayne Rooney gone because of this signing happening.

After ending a four-year spell with Everton, he will leave many fans heartbroken with being their man they play their tactics around. He managed to find the back of the net 26 times and racked up 6 assists in his 36 appearances for Everton last season, thus being his best season yet. Lukaku also got called up to play for the Belgium National team with scoring 4 goals in his 3 appearances.

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Arsenal swoop up Lacazette for €53million

Alexander Lacazette recently signed a long-term contract for Arsenal on a record fee for both clubs. Arsenal’s previous record deal was the £42.4 million signing of Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid in 2013. The deal is a massive boost to manager Arsene Wenger, who has finally landed the type of elusive top-class striker he has been seeking for years. This deal has also put a lot of smiles on Arsenal fans faces as they were wanting Wenger to leave because of this.

Lacazette will be a great addition to Arsenal’s attack, as he is a more versatile player compared to Giroud. This is because, Giroud is only a real threat in the box with his physicality, but Lacazette is more of a dynamic player as he is a threat inside and also outside the box because he’s got an amazing shot on him. The Frenchman can really lead the Gunners attack and can also do the same out on the wing because he has the pace if necessary. Wenger signed Lacazette, to start day one for Arsenal as he can fit into both their formations, especially in the most recent and dominate 3-4-2-1, where he can play both the striker and tight forward.

Wenger defiantly signed the 26-year-old because of his ability to put the ball into the back of the net. Lacazette managed to rack up 36 goals and 4 assists for Lyon in just 39 appearances across all competitions. The most impressive competition was the Ligue 1, where he was one of the only players in the world alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and a few others to average a goal a game or more, with 28 goals and 3 assists in his 28 appearances. He will be a major loss for Olympique Lyonnais, as he joined the French giants back in 2009 and that’s where he started his career.

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Liverpool sign Salah for £36.9million

Mohamed Salah has recently agreed to sign a long-term contract to play for Liverpool for a fee of £36.9million with possibly a further £7million in add-ons. The Reds’ previous highest outlay was for Andy Carroll in 2011, when they paid Newcastle United an incredible £35 million. Klopp will be looking to exploit Salah’s speed alongside Sadio Mane, as that was one of their strengths last season on the wing. He is also coming here wanting to get Liverpool some trophies, as he said, “I will give 100 per cent and give everything for the club. I really want to win something for the club.“

As I said before, Klopp would like to exploit his strengths out on the wing, as he played out on the right wing against Wigan in a 1-1 draw. However, he managed to find the back of the net in that game with an assist from fellow attacker Roberto Firmno, before he got substituted out for the 19-year-old Dominic Solanke. However, many people have bad thoughts about this transfer as Mane and Salah both play in the right winger position, what if this leads to either playing in a more central position like a centre-forward, as we saw Mane play this in his 2-year spell for Southampton before arriving at Anfield for £34million.

Salah was a crucial part in Roma’s attack and success in Italy, with helping them become runner-ups in the Seria A. Salah managed to score an astonishing 17 goals and 12 assists in his 33 appearances. The Egyptian’s strengths are his sprint speed, positioning, agility and dribbling. He also helped Egypt to reach the final of the Africa’s Cup of Nations. However, I think Salah will be a great player for Liverpool and a great addition for their attack.

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Chelsea winning the EPL

Firstly, I will begin by congratulating Chelsea on lifting the trophy, as many people wouldn’t have seen it happen from a year back in the 2015/16 season, as they finished a disappointing 10th under the influence of Jose Mourinho. However, since Antonio Conte arrived at Stamford Bridge after a 3-year spell with Juventus, he has developed the side into an unbeatable team. He rebuilt the side with the signings of Michy Batshuayi, David Luiz, Marcus Alonso and the powerhouse of N’Golo Kante, who then went on to become the EPL Player of the Year.

Batshuayi had a pretty quiet season behind Diego Costa managing to only get 20 appearances with many of those being substitutes. He came into play with an 82th-minute stunner against West Brom to secure the league. However, many said it couldn’t have been done without Conte, as he helped to develop Eden Hazard into one of the best players in the league after a poor season under Jose Mourinho, and use his tactics of playing five at the back with two central-midfielders and the two wingers either side of the main striker.

This five at the back helped secure many clean sheets for Chelsea as now one could match this wall of defenders. Not only did they have five defenders to stop oppositions strikers, they also had Thibaut Courtois in goal. This defense included the likes of David Luiz, Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpilicueta as the centre-backs and Marcus Alonso and Branislav Ivanovic as the wing-backs, with John Terry and Kurt Zouma. This lineup of defenders made it very hard for the opposition to find a weakness against Chelsea.

Not only did they had this rock solid defense, they also had a master-class of a midfield with the likes of N’Golo Kante, Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic. This midfield was the core of Chelsea’s tactics and made sure everything went to plan, especially Kante. Fabregas was also a key part of this midfield has he provided his experience and clinical passing for the forwards to then finish off. Chelsea’s midfield is likely to get a major boost with the rumour of AS Monaco’s defensive midfielder supposedly linked to the blues.

Finally, Chelsea wouldn’t be the same without the front three, Diego Costa, Willian and most importantly Eden Hazard. These three along with Batshuayi, Pedro and Victor Moses were the stars of the team. Costa had an outstanding season with a total of 20 goals and 7 assists in just 35 appearances. The Spaniard’s form saw him get named as the national teams’ first striker. Alongside Willian, who managed the rack up 8 goals and 2 assists, but most importantly, Eden Hazard who scored 16 goals and got 5 assists to top off Chelsea’s incredible season.

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BVB Future looks Promising

Borussia Dortmund is definitely the team for the future with the average age of the squad being 24. With a total of 13 players under the age of 24, everyone is interested and excited to see if Dortmund become one of the best in Europe. However, with being 4th in the table, Tuchel is looking to improve and move up with the recent signing of 17-year-old Alexander Isak for $8.6million. In the rest of the article, I’ll be looking at Dortmund’s most promising youngsters’.

Christian Pulisic: The American youngster saw him start his professional career at Dortmund in 2015, and is now making more and more appearances for BVB with a total 13 matches with 2 goals and 4 assists. After being promoted from Borussia Dortmund’s U19, he has been an amazing talent for the main team with beating the likes of Andre Schurrle and Shinji Kagawa to the Attacking midfielder spot. The 18-year-old saw him have is first offer from the Premier league with a $11million pound offer from Liverpool however, he was loyal and stuck with the team he’s had all his success and opportunities from. That may not be the case in the future has he’ll be offered bigger contract from possibly bigger teams.

Emre Mor: The 19-year-old has been an important part in Dortmund’s campaign this year as he has the ability to dribble past any player with his incredible agility and acceleration. Mor was originally born in Denmark but decided to change to Turkish nationality. The attacking midfielder made his name known after his brilliant performance against Real Madrid in the Champions league group stages, where he made Madrid’s defense and midfield look amateur as he dribbled past them like it was nothing. However, his stats this season don’t reflect on his talents as he’s featured in 15 matches and only had 1 goal and 1 assist. The youngster is looking to improve those stats in the other half of the season.

Julian Weigl: The German star has been a work-horse for Dortmund and has maintained his position in the midfield. Weigl came to Dortmund back in 2015 from 1860 Munchen for a price tag of $5million and in that season made 30 starts for BVB and helped them to come second place in the Bundesliga and DFL Pokal. The 21-year-old has made 16 appearances for Dortmund this season and has beaten the likes of Sahin and Castro, who are two very experienced midfielders. Weigl is looking to become a world-class defensive midfielder and help Dortmund to the Bundesliga title.

Ousmane Dembele: The French winger is probably BVB’s most promising youngster as he was voted best Bundesliga player of the month for December. Dembele has been a key player for Dortmund out on the wing, and after his performances in the UCL, he is a hot prospect for everyone to sign. The 19-year-old has made 22 starts for Dortmund and from those games had 12 assists and scored 6 goals, and also has started in every Dortmund UCL game where he as had the astonishing 1 goal and 5 assists in only 6 matches. Dembele joined Westfalenstadion for a $15million fee from Rennes at the start of this season. The youngster has made BVB’s future even more brighter and is going to be a player to look out for in the future.

Other young talents are the Swedish striker Alexander Isak, The Portuguese full-back Raphael Guerreiro and Spanish midfielder Mikel Merino.

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Wayne Rooney breaks Sir Bobby Charlton’s goal-scoring record

Wayne Rooney is now the premier league and England’s top goal-scorer after his 250th goal on Sunday in the 1-1 draw against Stoke City, which was previously held by Charlton, with his 249 goals in the EPL. The record displays Rooney’s class, therefore is known as a world-class striker and a true legend to United and England. His stoppage time free-kick to equalise the game was the right way to surpass Sir Bobby Charlton’s record and Rooney said after the match “It means a hell of a lot.” After the match, Charlton congratulated Rooney and said that”He’s a true great for club and country.” Not only has Charlton congratulated him even the best player ever has, with Pele mentioning on twitter, “Congratulations @waynerooney for being a tremendous talent and a great representative of your club and country.”

Rooney joined Old Trafford at the age of 18 from Everton for a hefty fee of $37million, and the 546 appearances since he joined has helped United to lift an astonishing 5x Premier league titles, 1x F.A Cup and a Champions League trophy. The 119 capped Englishman had great success with England scoring an incredible 53 goals through his 10-year career with the three lions. His career highs were his stunning debut hat-trick for Manchester United is a strong contender, but it cannot top being named as the best player in the country by his fellow professionals, as he scooped the PFA Players’ Player of the Year Award in for the 2009-10 season. Throughout Rooney’s career, he has always been the striker known for his aggression and shot power and at the age of 31, we may see an exit from the United hero since the up and coming youngster’s Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial and the world-class forward of Zlatan Ibrahimovic showing that age is only a number.

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Steven Gerrard returns to Liverpool as Academy coach

The former Liverpool and England captain is returning Anfield because of his new job as the Youth Academy coach for Liverpool FC. After making his debut back in 1988, he is excited to be part of Liverpool once again as he said, “If feels like completing the circle; returning to the place where professionally it all began.” After his 18-moth spell with the L.A Galaxy ending in with his retirement from all competitions football, he is back at the club that he spent 17 years with. Gerrard is looking forward to finding new and fresh talent for Liverpool as he was one of the graduates from the academy. “This gives me a great opportunity to learn and develop as a coach, while at the same time offering my knowledge, ideas and experience to the young players at an important period of their development.” Gerrard said.

The Liverpool legend had always been weighing up the options of whether he should return back to England once he left. “When I knew coming back was a serious option I wanted to make sure it was a substantive role. With the decision of retiring from football he now has made the decision to work towards his Uefa A coaching license, which is required to manage in the Premier League. Gerrard has won F.A cups, Champions leagues, Europe Leagues and even a Fifa club world cup with Liverpool over his 710 times he’s put on the red shirt. Not only has he been a legend for Liverpool he’s also been an England great with 114 matches for Britain. The move will likely be the first step of a massive manager and coach career for Gerrard.

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Tianjin Quanjian offering big money to Europe strikers, and more transfer talks

The Tianjin Quanjian boss has said to media, he can now bid on offshore players because of the recent departure of an overseas player from the club. Last week, the Chinese club was told they can’t buy any more offshore players because of the new China transfer rules, saying that one club can only buy three overseas players per season. So now they are offering contracts and big money to any striker they can find in Europe.

Since Tianjin Quanjian found a way to buy overseas play, they have offered the same contract back to Diego Costa after it got canceled. The contract has stirred tensions within Chelsea team. Costa has come out and said, that if Chelsea don’t offer him the same contract China did that he would leave. Because of these words said by the Spaniard, has now built anger within Chelsea’s side, with Kante saying, “Go f*** off to China.” The 28-year-old was offered the $675,000 a week contract and will be interesting if he joins the Chinese league. If this deal goes through, it would give Michy Batshuayi the game time he has always been looking for.

Joining Costa’s offered multi-millionaire contract is Edinson Cavani. The Uruguayan striker has scored 27 goals in 27 games this season and it the top goal-scorer in the Ligue 1. Newspapers have said that Cavani’s move is more likely than Costa’s and that PSG are already looking for replacements. The 29-year-old has stepped up as PSG’s main man after the departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the end of last season. Unai Emery is looking for replacements and is very interested in the Belgium, Christian Benteke. Benteke has had a solid season with Crystal Palace and is looking to play for a world class team and prove his worth. Emery is also interested in the Chelsea’s Batshuayi, but the blues may want to keep hold of him if Costa’s leaving.

Manchester United are reportedly lining up a $150million double swoop for Antoine Griezmann and Bernardo Silva. Both players have been amazing players for their clubs and are looking for something new. United are looking to offer $80million for Griezmann and $70million for Silva. With Diego Simeone claiming he would not stand in the way of Atletico Madrid exit. Silva has been an unbelievable player for Monaco, with 7 goals and 6 assists this season and has helped the ‘Red and Whites,’ to make 2nd place in the league table. Griezmann was named in the 2016 Uefa player of the year, with his stunning performances with France as he’s scored 7 goals and 4 assists in only 9 appearances this season. Not only has he been incredible for France he has helped Atletico Madrid make the round of 16 in the UCL with 3 goals and 2 assists in 6 matches. There is nothing stopping the two inform players from the Manchester move.

Other Transfer news is Liverpool has offered the American youngster from Dortmund, for a price tag of $11million. Christian Pulisic is looking to join his former boss in the EPL and has a bright future ahead of them. Jose Fonte has made the $8million move to West Ham and is looking to improve his career as an anchor at the back. Memphis Depay has moved to France for a fee of $21million. The Dutch winger made the move after he hasn’t got the game time he wanted at United and is hoping to get back to his best at Lyon.

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