Page 3 - Liverpool

It has not been a Premier League classic in terms of any sort of title race given Manchester City’s dominance over the whole country, but that’s not to say there haven’t been great performances elsewhere.

The spotlight is firmly stuck on Pep Guardiola and his men, and rightly so, but three players have performed to a level that looked incomprehensible before the season had begun.

Here are Liam Canning’s three Premier League overachievers this season: 

Mohamed Salah: Liverpool, right wing

It’s not right to call Salah an underrated gem, because he’s not anymore. He was, however, looked at as a gamble when Liverpool decided to spend £35 million on the Egyptian King to bring him from AS Roma last summer.

Questions were being raised, even by Liverpool’s fans, about Salah’s last stint in England at Chelsea, and how it did not go according to plan under José Mourinho. That was putting it kindly.

However, with more experience and maturity in

A fiery debate takes place every year which awards the Premier League Player of the Year to the best footballer in the division. The usual suspects are put up for the award, seldom anyone but forward players, and this season is going to be no different.

Two players stand out for their teams - who have both been phenomenal in their own regard - and have been a cut above everyone else this season. It is the obvious duo of Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Liverpool’s Mo Salah.

One set of fans is going to be bitterly disappointed their man didn’t win the award, but here’s Liam Canning’s take on who deserves to be crowned the Premier League Player of the Year: 

Kevin De Bruyne

After being sold by Chelsea in 2014 to Wolfsburg, not many thought that the Belgian would make a comeback to the Premier League. Not least of all with Manchester City.

However, four years later, the Belgian is on course to winning his first Premier League title. De Bruyne

With the setup of the summer transfer window reportedly meant to be changing, where the business completed by the teams will have to be done before the new season starts, most clubs and managers will have to prepare themselves by creating a small list of targets before the current campaign is over.  

Sometimes, the best way to be effective within the market and be one step ahead of the other teams is by looking out for which individuals are close to being available on a free transfer. One of the huge factors to this, is that a potential club can negotiate and come to an agreement with a player that is in the final six months of his contract to go on to completing a move to his next destination on a summer Bosman move.

Here are the six European players that will become a free agent at the end of the season...

• Bundesliga – FC Schalke’s Max Meyer

Although the big sides in Europe tend to focus on bringing in central midfielders

22nd December 2017.

As the January transfer window is just around the corner, clubs all over Europe will be discussing their plans to bring in the targets they have identified.

Historically, January has been a time period where you might find a bargain in the market, due to the player forcing his way out of the club, or because their contract is expiring in six months' time.

With that being said, here are the three best free transfers available in Europe right now:

Mesut Özil Arsenal

The German's next club, should he leave Arsenal, will realise that they have secured one of the biggest bargains of the last decade.

It has been surprising to see the Gunners allow Mesut Özil to run down his contract with no contingency plan involved, and so there is no surprise to see a number of teams interested in signing the World Cup winner when his contract expires next June.

Özil is in the position now, coming into January, where he can

12th December 2017.
After years of English teams failing to perform in a competitive manner in the Champions League, this could be the first season of their return to past glory. The last team from the Premier League to win the elite European competition was Chelsea, in 2012, a long six years ago.

Since Chelsea's triumph in the Allianz Arena against Bayern Munich, only Manchester City have reached a semi final, which was staged against eventual winners Real Madrid. On paper, a 1-0 aggregate loss looks kind, but the truth of it is, is that Real Madrid dominated both legs and it was a non-event, at no point did the Citizens look genuinely threatening.

It has been disappointing to watch English teams fail so miserably in the Champions League, but there could be a changing of the guard, as there usually is in cycles. As the draw for the knockout rounds was made this week, England have five representatives to restore some honour and pride back into the division.

Four

23rd August 2017. By Ryan Baldi.
With the 2017/18 season now under way in the major European leagues, all eyes are focussed on the stars of the previous campaign, many of whom have switched clubs for huge fees, to see whether they can maintain the form shown last term.

Kylian Mbappe was undoubtedly the youngster who made the biggest impact in 2016/17, breaking into the Monaco first team to star domestically and in the Champions League, helping the Monegasque side earn a first Ligue 1 title since 2000, when the prodigious forward was only 18 months old.

But the new season also presents a chance for new stars to emerge, young hopefuls primed to take the next step in their development and establish themselves as genuine stars of the game.

Here are seven young players from across Europe set for breakout campaigns this season.

Adam Ounas Napoli

Before his move to Napoli this summer in a deal which could reach up to €12million

16th August 2017. By Ryan Baldi.
In a summer that's seen the transfer market reach giddier heights of inflation than previously imagined possible with Neymar's switch to Paris Saint-Germain doubling the world transfer record and talk of €200 million bids for Kylian Mbappé ­ it's puzzling that a player of Jean Michaël Seri's quality, said to have a measly €40 million release clause, has not been snapped up.

The Ivory Coast midfielder shot to the attention of the wider European football-viewing public with his stellar displays for Nice last season, pulling the strings in midfield and guiding the Côte d'Azur club to a third-place Ligue 1 finish.

Having initially attracted interest from Barcelona, Roma and Arsenal, Seri is now being linked with a potential move to Liverpool as the Reds eye up an alternative to Naby Keïta. But the fact that no potential suitor has yet stumped up the asking price for the 26-year-old playmaker remains baffling, with inferior players

14th August 2017. By Edward Stratmann.
At the completion of the 2016/2017 Premier League crusade, where Liverpool finished a credible fourth and secured their chance to qualify for next season's Champions League, their fans were expecting plenty of spending to bolster the squad.

Although the Reds have bought in dynamic Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah from AS Roma for a sizeable €42 million, former Hull City fullback Andrew Robertson for €9 million and ex Chelsea starlet Dominic Solanke on a free transfer, many have still been left scratching their heads at the lack of strengthening.

The defence was considered an area that could do with improvement, and Southampton's elegant centre-back, Virgil van Dijk, looked like he was the man do just that. But unfortunately Liverpool were forced to pull out of the race to sign the Dutchman due to the Saints reporting Liverpool to the league for tapping up the player.

7th June 2017. By Ryan Baldi.
Picked up from Inter Milan for Just £8.5million in January 2013, Philippe Coutinho has to be considered one of the greatest signings in Liverpool's recent history.

In his three-and-a-half years with the Anfield club the Brazilian playmaker has 42 goals in 182 appearances, marking himself out as one of the Premier League's finest creative talents along the way.

However, the 24-year-old's superlative form on Merseyside is a double-edged sword for the Reds; his performances have helped elevate Jürgen Klopp's men to Champions League qualification for next season, but they have also drawn the attention of Barcelona, who are reportedly considering a big-money summer bid for his services.

Liverpool will be reluctant to part ways with their star man as they look to build towards a title push next term as well as aiming to be competitive