Hernandez, Draxler & the most expensive Bundesliga transfers of all time
The France international leads the charts after finalising an €80 million (£68m/$90m) move, but who else ranks near the top?
The France international leads the charts after finalising an €80 million (£68m/$90m) move, but who else ranks near the top?
Ahead of Saturday's final between Real Madrid and Liverpool in Kiev, Goal looks back at the most disappointing aspects of this season's tournament
Some Manchester City fans have been reacting to the news that Borussia Dortmund reportedly want €150m (£128m) for their star striker Erling Haaland if they are to sell him this summer.
The Citizens have been heavily linked with a move for Haaland (The Mirror via BeSoccer), who has been in stunning form for Dortmund so far this campaign. In 30 games in all competitions, he has 31 strikes to his name, meaning he has 47 goals in just 48 matches for Die Schwarzgelben since signing for them in January of last year (Transfermarkt). Not only that, he has managed to hit the back of the net 20 times in just 14 Champions League games throughout his career.
It is common knowledge that the 20-year-old Norwegian has a €75m (£64.2m) release clause which comes into play next summer, but Dortmund would let him go for €150m (£128m) in just a few months according to German outlet Bild (via CBS Sports).
This news was shared by Twitter account @City_Chief, and it attracted plenty of attention from these City supporters, who took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.
“Write that check!”
Credit: @MatthewShehorn
“That’s a steal, to us he is worth twice that. Just get it done!”
Credit: @FplVester
“Just pay what they want!”
Credit: @peko3141
“That’s it? Let’s get this going ASAP!!”
Credit: @DaOGMuffinMan
“pay it and get him signed up….”
Credit: @mcfc_matty
“Worth that price tag no point waiting for the release clause he will be gone by then”
Credit: @dkrobinson2398
In other news, some Manchester City fans slammed this player against Fulham.
Gary Mabbutt has told Football FanCast that some fans do not appreciate the magnitude of Tottenham Hotspur signing Gareth Bale.
The Wales international is slowly returning to full fitness and seems to have unlocked some of the form that saw him become one of the best players in world football in recent weeks.
Bale scored twice at the weekend as Spurs put Burnley to the sword in a 4-0 thumping, a performance that came on the back of a brilliant match-altering cameo against West Ham United, and a goalscoring substitute appearance versus Wolfsberger.
It has taken some time for him to become an undisputed starter, as his start against Burnley was only his third in the league.
But Mabbutt believes he is a terrific player, and thinks he is still underappreciated by certain sections of the support.
Indeed, he feels that the influence of the Real Madrid man will be felt more keenly in the dressing room at times than on the pitch itself.
Speaking exclusively to FFC, the former Spurs captain said: “Well, of course, I think from when Gareth was first signed, I think at times, people don’t actually appreciate just the signing of Gareth Bale.
“I think the impact it had on the dynamics within the dressing room, it made the players believe that the club wants to go places. It made the players believe that they’re now in a dressing room with a world class player.”
Bale is no longer the fresh-faced kid that made his debut for Spurs back in the 2000s, but Mabbutt has insisted he is still a youngster!
There is an element of humour in that, of course, but Mabbutt says he played his final game when he was approaching 37.
He added: “And in a lot of discussions about him, that he’s 31 years of age, he’s still a youngster. In my last game, the Spurs just going up to 37, so with all due respect I think he is a fantastic player.”
Bale struggled to force his way into the team at times at Real, particularly towards the end of his stint, as he made 12 starts in La Liga, and Mabbutt believes that set him back initially.
He added: “I think his time at Real Madrid this last time, with pressures from the manager and the manager not wanting to use him, I think that set him back quite a lot. Certainly for match fitness, game fitness. He arrived to us with an injury. But even though we knew that he couldn’t play for the first like, yeah, three or four weeks, our raising in our performances throughout the whole team was immense.”
Having produced one of their most impressive displays of the season in beating Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford late last year, Arsenal will be relishing the prospect of taking on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men on Saturday afternoon.
The Gunners have turned a corner after beating Chelsea 3-1 at the Emirates, and have racked up five wins and a draw in their last six Premier League games.
Mikel Arteta’s side head into tonight’s match off the back of a fine victory away at Southampton, and they appear to have been given a late boost with some late injury news.
And with that in mind, below is a look at how Arsenal might line up to take on United.
In goal, Bernd Leno will be looking to preserve Arsenal’s record as the second-best defensive team in the league this season, with only Manchester City having conceded more goals than the Gunners.
The back-four could see one crucial change, with the return of Kieran Tierney at left-back. The £75k-a-week earning ace was pictured in full training with the rest of his teammates on Friday afternoon, and Arteta will surely be keen to get the man dubbed by Sir Alex Ferguson as “phenomenal”, back into the side.
The big call the Gunners boss will of course have to make is who starts at right-back, and based on current form, the nod should go to Cedric, who picked up an assist against Newcastle before providing the pre-assist to Alexandre Lacazette’s goal against Southampton.
In midfield, Goal journalist Charles Watts delivered a pre-game boost to the Gunners by confirming that Thomas Partey is expected to be fit to face United, and he could be partnered alongside Granit Xhaka once again.
Further forward, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is once again set to miss out, with Nicolas Pepe, Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka all set to start just behind number nine Alexandre Lacazette.
Meanwhile, Arsenal could sign their perfect Lacazette successor in this striker…
According to Football Insider, Aston Villa are prepared to send Frederic Guilbert out on loan in the January transfer window.
The Frenchman has been out-of-favour this season at Villa Park, with the arrival of Matty Cash in the summer from Nottingham Forest further sending him down the pecking order.
It’s meant that Guilbert has yet to play a single minute in the Premier League, with his only competitive appearances for the club coming in the EFL Cup.
Despite the lack of first-team action, Football Insider claim that Villa are not prepared to sell him on a permanent basis either in January or in the summer, and are instead keen on loaning him so he can get some first-team football before returning to compete for a starting spot next season.
Just what must the Villa owners be thinking?
Guilbert is about as out of the picture as you can get at a football club, and it’s quite telling that a 33-year-old Ahmed Elmohamady was keeping him out of a place in the match-day squad let alone in the starting eleven.
Cash’s arrival from Forest has given Villa a full-back that could well hold down his position for the next few years to come, so it’s difficult to see where Guilbert fits into the picture, other than as a potential fall-back if he gets injured.
But even then, Elmohamady seems to be the man Dean Smith is keen to rely upon. Earning around £40k-a-week, Guilbert is just a drain on the wages at Villa Park, and the sooner they permanently get rid of him the better.
Johan Lange is making an inexcusable blunder by refusing to make a ruthless call.
Carlo Ancelotti will be in dreamland if Marcel Brands is able to strike a deal with Real Madrid for Isco, potentially threatening Tom Davies’ future at Everton.
According to La Razon, Isco has rejected the chance to reunite with former Los Blancos and Spain manager Julen Lopetegui, after snubbing a potential move to Sevilla for economic reasons.
The 28-year-old has turned his nose up to slashing his wage in order to continue his career in La Liga, as the Andalusian outfit would not be able to match his €6million-a-season (£104k-p/w) salary despite only having to pay the remaining €3m to sign Isco on loan.
Isco has further rejected the chance of joining Andrea Pirlo’s maiden voyage as Juventus manager, feeling the Serie A would not be best suited for his talents and would prefer to join a league more to his liking in the January window.
Madrid are looking to offload Isco on loan this winter with a potential view to a permanent deal come the summer and with the midfielder snubbing two exit routes, the Premier League is seen to be the most likely destination.
Ancelotti allegedly ‘dreams’ of reuniting with the 38-cap Spain international following their time together at the Santiago Bernabeu, despite recently dismissing reports of a move in a fiery response.
While Ancelotti was quick to rubbish speculation of a move for Isco last month, the persistent rumours linking the Italian with a bid to bring the Real Madrid outcast to Goodison Park would suggest there is interest on the Everton manager’s behalf.
Isco has been drip-fed minutes in the Spanish top-flight by Zinedine Zidane this term, who has called on the £18m-rated talent – valued as high as £81m in 2018 – to start three La Liga fixtures while earning the remaining 121 of his 306 minutes over five substitute appearances.
The four-time Champions League winner is also yet to register a goal or an assist, while penning a measly average of 0.5 key balls and 0.5 shots per league game, including zero accurate crosses, 1.1 successful dribbles and 18.1 accurate passes in the opponent’s half, per SofaScore.
Ancelotti welcoming Isco to Merseyside, despite his recent form, would surely spell bad news for Davies, who has found himself an outcast of the Italian’s plans this term with just one of his two Premier League starts to date coming in his natural midfield role.
Davies was called on to play at right-back for last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Championship title-holders Leeds United, and had played just 18 minutes of top-flight football outside of his starting role in October’s 4-2 win over Brighton and Hove Albion.
Ancelotti clearly does not rate Davies to a high standard, and would surely be looking for a replacement to the Toffees product should Everton forge efforts to sign Isco in January.
Legendary Glasgow Rangers manager Walter Smith believes that James Tavernier is one of the best performing full-backs in the world when it comes to goals, let alone the Scottish Premiership, which is precisely why Rangers must keep him at all costs.
The free-scoring full-back has been in impressive form for Steven Gerrard’s side so far this season, having scored 16 goals and supplied 11 assists in 25 appearances in all competitions, via Transfermarkt.
Speaking to The Daily Record, the former Ibrox gaffer was effusive in his praise for the “remarkable” 29-year-old, saying: “James is doing a remarkable job. I think he must be the highest-scoring full-back in the world, never mind Scotland!
“You can tell he’s enjoying being in the team and getting great results for them. Normally you look at a right-back and say to yourself: ‘If he gets up the park and delivers a good cross into the box, then that’s fine’.
“But he’s delivering an incredible number of goals. He’s top scorer in the division. I know he does penalties. But there are loads of boys who have been top scorers as forwards over the years and taken penalties as well.”
He added: “James has settled into playing for Rangers. He came when they were second best to Celtic so it’s great now he’s doing so well.”
Rumours about his future have also been rife, with his former teammate Andy Halliday expressing his concern that Premier League clubs will be closely monitoring his situation.
“Take away his penalties, he has still scored six goals. How can a team not be watching that? Everyone has their price, I think he would wait until the summer,” Halliday said, via Open Goal.
“But if a team sits down and offers double, triple your money – some people are going to get their head turned.”
Tavernier has previously insisted that he wants to stay at Rangers but Ross Wilson simply cannot afford to take any risks.
His goals and assists ratio are pretty incredible for a right-back, to put it mildly, with the Bradford-born beast having already bagged ten goals and seven assists in the Scottish Premiership after he contributed yet again against Ross County at Victoria Park on Sunday afternoon.
Since moving to Scotland, Tavernier has found the back of the net a whopping 62 times, whilst he has also scored twice and supplied three assists in the Europa League, including what now seems like a customary penalty against Standard Liege on Thursday night as the Gers fought back to qualify for the knockout stages for the second season in a row with a game to spare.
Not only is Tavernier a set-piece specialist, with nine from the penalty spot this season so far, he is also a marauding full-back who brings others into play like Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe with his crosses and key passes, working in tandem with his teammates on the right wing.
Once “crucified by his own fans”, he seems to have finally won them over, for the most part at the very least.
With Brighton, Burnley and West Ham United among the interested parties, it goes without saying that he may be tempted by offers from clubs south of the border, as the club captain currently earns wages worth £14,000-per-week, which is less than what his young teammate Ianis Hagi earns.
Therefore, Wilson must rebuff any transfer interest in January, and he could fend off any potential suitors by offering the defender a bumper new deal to bring his wages in line with some of the highest-paid players at the club.
AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers wonderkid Leon King could be Steven Gerrard’s next Connor Goldson…
Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, Chris Kirkland has admitted that he could see Mauricio Pochettino being appointed Newcastle manager if a takeover went through.
After months and months of hope and promise, Newcastle fans had to watch as the Saudi consortium’s proposed takeover fell through.
It all looked as though Mike Ashley’s tenure at St James’ Park would be coming to an end, but in a cruel twist of fate, the Premier League’s indecision and labouring eventually saw things collapse in the final stages.
But with the Magpies still being linked with a potential takeover, all may not be over just yet. And speaking to FFC’s James Beavis, Kirkland delivered his thoughts on the Tyneside club appointing Pochettino as Steve Bruce’s replacement.
He said: “There’s talk if they get taken over, they will sack him [Bruce] and get Pochettino in or get somebody else in which is absurd for me. Nothing should surprise you in football.
“I could see it happening if they do get taken over. You can see them going for Pochettino if he’s still available.”
With his track record at Southampton and Tottenham especially, the Argentine would arrive with a wealth of top-level experience in the Premier League, and with an identity of playing attractive football.
The kind of negative approach that Bruce has adopted at St James’ Park is seeing indifferent results, with the Magpies of course suffering a 2-0 defeat to Southampton on Friday night.
If they do get taken over, bringing a name in like Pochettino could be the start of something great on Tyneside.
According to a report from the Daily Mail, Tottenham Hotspur have completed the signing of Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale on a season-long deal worth a reported £270,000-a-week – with manager Jose Mourinho apparently key in driving one of the deals of the summer window.
Bale, who left north London for the Bernabeu seven years ago in a then-world record £85.3m move, has now completed a sensational return on a temporary basis, with the Welshman putting pen to paper on a loan deal which will make him the highest-paid player at Spurs above the likes of Harry Kane and Tanguy Ndombele.
The 83-cap international’s return has excited a plethora of Spurs supporters, all of whom consider him a real cult hero, and they apparently have Mourinho to thank, with the manager reportedly key in striking a deal.
Indeed, the ex-Chelsea boss thought that Bale’s transfer was imperative to Tottenham’s 2020/21 Premier League hopes due to his flair and dynamism, and he will join fellow left-sided star Sergio Reguilon, who underwent a medical yesterday (Evening Standard).
As per the Daily Mail, it would appear that the 31-year-old is now a Tottenham player, a notion which has excited many supporters given the various updates over the last 48 hours.
However, despite reportedly securing a deal for one of their club icons, Lilywhites could have even more reason to get excited, with recent updates suggesting that Spurs are not done there.
Reliable Football.London correspondent Alasdair Gold has claimed that a centre-back and striker are still on the agenda, and the end of the window could prove just as exciting as this latest update.
Spurs fans, who should the club sign next? Have your say in the comments below…