Monthly Archives: December 2015

By Karl Matchett.

Tottenham Hotspur are widely acknowledged as being interested in making an additional attacking signing in January to beef out their squad, having been largely reliant on Harry Kane to lead the line throughout the first half of the season.

After some initial struggles, the England international has found scoring form again and now has 11 Premier League goals for the season, but Spurs have little in the way of alternative threats to play as a true striker, with Clinton N'Jie set for several months on the sidelines and most of their other front men more comfortable as support cast members or creators from the second line.

Spurs might have to big bid to get their top target, but there are other options potentially available who might be considered smarter buys; here are three they could look at landing

19 points up in the French Ligue 1, Paris Saint Germain are sitting pretty heading into the New Year. In fact, the Parisians have more of a leg up over their league than any team in any major European football league. With the rest of the field so far back, there's very little chance that PSG won't win a fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title come springtime.

Needless to say, Paris Saint Germain have been on another level from every soccer club in France this fall. They've done so well, in fact, that you have to wonder whether or not manager Laurent Blanc will even dive into the January transfer market. Sure, he could probably pick up a few new players, same as any soccer club, but why fix what is definitely not broken?

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By Greg Lea.

If Liverpool supporters were told at the start of the season that they would defeat Leicester City 1-0 at Anfield on Boxing Day, the most common response would probably have been: "only one?"

It is a sign of the times, though, that the Reds' narrow triumph on Saturday was seen as an impressive result; Leicester, after all, are not the relegation fodder that many expected but the unlikeliest of Premier League title contenders.

A top-four finish remains the aim for Jurgen Klopp's outfit this term. Victory at Sunderland on Wednesday night will move Liverpool to within five points of the Champions League places, a gap that would keep them within touching distance of fourth heading into the New Year. The Merseysiders have been consistently inconsistent in 2015/16 although they are far from alone in this most open of Premier League campaigns but still have an excellent chance of returning to Europe's primary continental club competition next season.

With Chelsea thoroughly imploded and Manchester United struggling under the command of Louis van Gaal, Manchester City are seemingly in a perfect position to race back to the top of the table and reclaim the Premier League title. However, the football club has shown signs of weakness in recent weeks, and could very well enter 2016 in a three-way race with Arsenal and Leicester City. Will manager Manuel Pellegrini and the other higher-ups at Etihad Stadium use the January transfer market as a means of putting their club on top?

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Gunning for Vardy

Perhaps the biggest transfer rumor floating around right now is that Manchester City could be interested in offering Leicester City a £30 million fee to sign Jamie Vardy.

Boxing Day brought several surprises and upsets in the English Premier League, with many of the division's top-ranked teams succumbing to losses. Key among those football clubs were Leicester City and Arsenal, who kept their spots at first and second place on the EPL table, but sacrificed some of their lead margin in defeats against Liverpool and Southampton, respectively. Manchester United also lost, intensifying the conversations that Louis van Gaal's days as the club's manager could be numbered.

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A Rough Week

It would be easy to single out Arsenal as the English club that had the worst Boxing Day. Falling 0-4 to Southampton, the Gunners suffered not only the worst loss of the week but also their worst loss of the entire season. Playing an away match,

It's official: Pep Guardiola to leave Bayern Munich at the conclusion of the 2015 2016 campaign. The Spanish head coach, who has become a legend thanks to his stints in charge at Barcelona and Bayern, has been managing the Bavarians since 2013, on a three-year contract. That contract expires in summer 2016, something that has caused fans and soccer pundits alike to speculate about Guardiola's future all season long.

Bayern Munich officially confirmed that Guardiola was leaving on Sunday, a day after the football club won their final match of the year, a 1-0 away fixture against Hannover 96. The win leaves the reigning German champions up eight points in the Bundesliga, well on their way to winning a fourth consecutive title-and a third with Guardiola in charge. The wearers or the Bayern Munich home shirt 2015/16 are also in good shape in the Champions League and the DFB Pokal, and could feasibly win a treble in 2016-a fitting way to send their world-class manager on his

Real Madrid have an immense amount of talent that they put on the soccer pitch every week. Between Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Luka Modric, Isco, and Sergio Ramos-to name just a few of the great players at Santiago Bernabeu-Real Madrid should have one of the best football teams in the world. What looks great on paper hasn't translated to greatness this season, though. The Vikings have played solid but unspectacular football in the La Liga since Rafa Benitez took over as manager, with recent losses to Cadiz and Villarreal underlining a somewhat confounding lack of consistency.

Add a disqualification from the Copa del Rey, and it's not difficult to see why some fans in the Real Madrid home jersey 2015/16 are ready for their club to kick Benitez to the curb. In fact, it's really on the Champions League-where Real Madrid won five of their six group stage matches, led by Cristiano Ronaldo's stunning 11-goal performance-that is keeping the 2015/16 season

By Matthew Amalfitano.

The transfer window is almost upon us and Italian clubs are already on hot pursuit of talented players to reinforce their respective squads for the second half of the season. After slow starts, Napoli and Juventus find themselves within the first four places. Leaders Inter and Fiorentina have perhaps been the most surprising of the top teams while Roma and Milan round out the top six.

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Here's an overview of what areas clubs should invest in during the January transfer window:

Inter

Roberto Mancini arrived in November of last year to replace Walter Mazzarri and quickly began to form the squad of his liking in the subsequent transfer window. Further additions were introduced

Based on the rumours that have been swirling around in the English press for the past few weeks, Liverpool FC and new manager Jurgen Klopp are gearing up for an active January transfer window. Klopp has injected a lot of new energy into the proceedings at Anfield since taking over for Brendan Rodgers at the beginning of October. The Reds, however, continue to be a disappointingly inconsistent soccer team, showing their weaknesses in games including a recent loss to Newcastle United and a 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion. Klopp will seek to rectify the issue by bringing in some fresh faces.

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Are Transfers the Answer?

Liverpool's lineup is already made up of a lot of new faces this season, following the summer departures

For the first part of the 2015/16 Serie A season, it seemed as if Juventus' reign at the zenith of Italian soccer was about to come to an end. The Zebras entered the season as just about the surest bets in the world: not only were they carrying four consecutive Serie A titles (and going for a fifth), but they were also the reigning holders of the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italia, and were fresh off a runner-up finish in the UEFA Champions League.

And yet, when Juventus kicked off their 2015/16 campaign, they didn't look like the decorated football club they are. Week one brought a 0-1 loss against Udinese-and at home, no less. Week two and week three were hardly better, bringing a loss against Roma and a draw with Chievo, respectively. The Zebras finally won a game roughly a month into the season, winning 2-0 at Genoa. But subsequent losses