Monthly Archives: January 2018

Europa League finalists last season and narrowing the gap on PSV at the top of the Eredivisie this term, Ajax are unlikely to recapture the glory days of the early-1970s or mid-1990s, but there is a sense they are on the cusp of a new era of success.

Not least because they are able to boast some of Europe’s most gifted young players, all thriving and developing alongside one another. Here are six Ajax youngsters destined for stardom.

Frenkie de Jong

Although he has only become a regular starter at the Johan Cruyff Arena this season, 20-year-old De Jong has been regarded as a prospect with elite potential within the Ajax academy system for some time.

A gifted dribbler with sharp vision and textbook technique, the youngster has already become the focal point of the Ajax senior side this term, the player through whom all the team’s attacks begin.

Most comfortable in central midfield, De Jong, whose ability to ghost past opponents and effortlessly pla

12th January 2018.
Arsène Wenger's time at Arsenal has now reached the point where the candle has been burnt right down to its core and is on it's last flicker.

It has been sad to see one of the all-time Premier League greats become a focal point of humiliation and desperation from the Arsenal fans in recent years. It has been a long time coming that the French manager is being ushered to leave the club.

Unfortunately for Arsenal fans, their team has not progressed for over a decade. While they go in and out of winning the FA Cup, their domestic form and European record is forever on the decline.

Last year, Wenger failed to finish in the top four for the first time since the 1994-95 season, over two decades ago. It was a sad indictment of his power and presence at his beloved club, but the truth of the matter is that Wenger simply cannot take Arsenal to the next level anymore.

While the former Monaco manager is one of the most respected coaches of a

10th January 2018.
A recent interview given to German tabloid Bild by Bayer Leverkusen winger Leon Bailey has garnered widespread attention throughout the football world. Partly due to the dubious line of questioning, with the Jamaican youngster asked to comment on his home country's association with marijuana "Hey, Jamaica is not just smoking joints. It's a wonderful country where it's always summer and people are happy," Bailey protested.

But the Bild interview has also made headlines outside of Germany because of the Leverkusen star's admission that it is his "dream" to someday play in the Premier League. Linked with Chelsea during the January transfer window, while Manchester United and Liverpool have previously been credited with an interest in the dynamic 20-year-old, his batting of the eyelids in the direction of the English top flight has sparked frenzied speculation.

"Of course I have a dream club, but I will not tell. Basically England

5th January 2018.
There has already been plenty of press briefings this January, as the supposed rift between the Manchester United Board and Jose Mourinho widens.

The Portuguese boss has made it quite obvious that he does not have complete faith in the Board to complete and bring in the players he desires.

Mourinho wanted both Antoine Griezmann and Ivan Periši? last summer, but ended up with neither and now does not possess a true wide player that can offer the Red Devils a different means of attack.

Griezmann was perhaps out of the Board's hands, given his mind changed when Atlético Madrid's transfer ban was upheld, but the failure to recruit Periši? was due to Ed Woodward, Man United's executive vice-chairman, squabbling over a few million.

Mourinho said after the win at Everton: "I don't know about transfers.

"In this moment we are in trouble, in two to three weeks' time maybe we recover and we breathe in a different way, can we im

3rd January 2018.
These are strange times at Molineux. Wolverhampton Wanderers, three-time champions of England with a proud and rich history and large fan base within a one-club city, have been underachieving for too long; a sleeping giant of a club. As the English game raced towards the riches and acclaim brought by the formation of the Premier League in 1992, Wolves were largely left behind, making just two brief forays into the top flight in that time. But that's about to change.

A takeover by Chinese conglomerate Fosun, brokered by former Manchester United and Chelsea CEO Peter Kenyon, has emboldened the Black Country side with cash. And the new owners' connections with 'super agent' Jorge Mendes has helped Wolves punch way above their weight already in the transfer market as they build towards promotion from the Championship.

The two standout additions of the summer both came from Porto. Mendes leaned on his contacts in his homeland to sign promising international