SOME WEBSITE RUN BY SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE
The Fiver has no fresh information on the future of Harry Kane. And with regards to Jack Grealish, sorry, no developments on that front either. Raphaël Varane to Manchester United? Nope, not done yet. OK, bye everyone! Bye!
[Glug, glug, glug]
[Man, angry: waves big stick at thirsty Fiver]
Wait, reader, come back! There’s more! [Man lowers stick] The summer transfer market is absolutely abuzz, darn near aflame [Man stops swearing]. It’s true that Varane has not yet completed his move to Manchester United but that’s partly because Real Madrid want him to go to PSG instead – as one element of a deal that would see none other than Kylian Mbappé move to Madrid! It’s true, reader, it said so on some website run by somebody somewhere! And here’s the twist: if United do succeed in signing Varane, then Mbappé, who has only one year left on his contract at PSG, will not join Real … and could instead take up his second option: to join Liverpool. Oh, United!
Of course, that last scenario depends on Liverpool’s owners forking out a couple of hundred million pounds for a player who has scored fewer Premier League goals than Andy Carroll. And Carroll is available on a free following the expiry of his contract at Newcastle, so The Fiver knows which deal is more likely to appeal to John W Henry, last seen huddling by a fire feeling sorry for himself after the nixing of his €uropean $uper £eague hustle. Which is not to say that Liverpool will definitely not talk to PSG: in fact, mutterings on Monday suggest that the Parisians, having already lured Gini Wijnaldum, are plotting a bid for Jordan Henderson, whose talks with Liverpool over a new contract have, if not stalled, then at least adopted an awkward gait.
Inevitably, Liverpool fans on various social media abominations are getting annoyingly annoyed. But not Jürgen Klopp, who spoke to the club’s official website on Monday to reassure supporters that, to whom it may concern, Joël Matip is back after knack and looking at least as sharp as Bobby Firmino. “When Joel scored the goal [in training on Sunday], [a person called] Pete Krawietz was standing next to me and said ‘good surgery!’. He’s in good shape. Wow!”
[Glug, glug, glug]
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It really hurt me because I hate Roberto Mancini, everyone knows I have no love for him. I wouldn’t say he’s the worst [manager] I’ve had, but tactically he isn’t that great. Not only was my family cheering for England, they were cheering that Mancini was losing, so it hurt us even more” – tell us how you really feel, Wayne Bridge.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Get your Football Weekly fix with this archive episode in which Philippe Auclair goes off on one about Fifa and Eric Cantona.
FIVER LETTERS
“Re: penalties (Fiver letters passim) and the idea of counting corners to determine winners AET, since it points to the more attacking team. I’ve never understood why attacking gets all the limelight. Sure, it’s great watching, but defending is just as much part of the game. Maybe, instead, one should reward the team that is able to withstand, say, 20 shots on goal and let none in, since obviously the opposing team’s attackers are useless, and deserve nothing” – Leon-Ben Lamprecht.
“I adore football and I am counting days before the Premier league starts. I am so hooked on the beautiful game that during this weekend I was watching matches from the Icelandic, Slovenian and Belarussian league. I think that on the scale of (footballing) desperation from 1 to 10 I am somewhere on 18 or 19. So, 25 days to go and in the meantime a lot of football from exotic footballing nations. By the way, I think that Neman Grodno could finish this season in style in the Belarussian league and that Olimpija Ljubljana are the favourites to win the Slovenian title” – Bogdan Kotarlic (and no other lost causes).
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Leon-Ben Lamprecht.
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
Luton assistant manager Mick Harford has revealed that he is undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. “What I want is to raise awareness and encourage other men to go and get themselves checked out,” said Harford. “That’s what I did and it’s not something that we are good at, us middle-aged and older men.”
George Curtis, the former Coventry defender and FA Cup-winning coach, has died aged 82.
Baroness Casey of Blackstock has been commissioned to lead an independent review into the trouble which marred England’s Euro Not 2020 final defeat by Italy. “A key emphasis of the findings will be to ensure that lessons are learned and such disgraceful scenes are never able to be repeated,” said an FA statement.
Arsenal have signed whizzy Belgium Under-21 midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga from Anderlecht for a cool £15m.
The Pope’s O’Rangers will take on Malmo or HJK Helsinki in their opening Big Cup qualifier while the Queen’s Celtic face a tough task against PSV Eindhoven or Galatasaray if they reach the third qualifying round.
And Jordan Henderson has been gushing in his praise of, erm, Mark Cavendish, who he trained with last year. “You’re a top person and to see you making history, it was an unbelievable achievement so massive congratulations and enjoy it with your family,” whooped Liverpool’s captain, of the Tour de France comeback kid. “It’s nice to know I played a very small part with those tough sessions in lockdown on the bike!”
STILL WANT MORE?
“I was constantly made aware I was different”: BBC football presenter Jason Mohammad talks to Sachin Nakrani about how racism affected his childhood.
The new Europa Conference League isn’t just a chance to poke fun at Spurs – it’s good news for smaller clubs too, says Paul Doyle.
Lucy Bronze gets her chat on with Suzanne Wrack about her gold medal ambitions, making friends with boxers and Team GB buffet tactics.
Gareth Southgate’s England were tactically on-trend at EN 2020 but risk slipping behind more cohesive sides, notes floating football brain in a jar Jonathan Wilson.
A lack of pre-season world tours is bad news for Premier League suits but good for the players, writes Louise Taylor.
Catch up with the latest moves in our women’s and men’s transfer interactives.
Sign up for a daily Big Sports Day email here.
Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO!
INTERNET!!!
