How Liverpool can take advantage of Real Madrid’s ‘ridiculous’ Diomande problem | OneFootball

Liverpool need to ‘win’ the next transfer after losing Yan Diomande to Real Madrid, who offer four of eight potential targets for the Reds.

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Vini vidi vici

Vini Jr to Arsenal? Managed by Mikel ‘trying to handle Auba and Özil made me wee my grey slacks/I see attacking football as the eighth deadly sin’ Arteta? F**k yes please.

Watching them falling apart as Ickle Mikel comes slowly to the realisation he is but a mere polyp on the anus of Vini Jr’s planet sized ego will be hilarious. Have they got Amazon in this year? Imagine Vini’s face when Mr Charisma breaks out the whiteboard. RHT/TS x (Love it when folk send in their big “I’m a football analyst” audition – did you ever consider Xabi Alonso might not be wedded to one style Esco Pablavar IV?)

Back-up Yan

If Real Madrid beat Liverpool to Yan Diomandé, Liverpool shouldn’t panic. They should ask Madrid a different question: who becomes available?

Adding Diomandé to an already ridiculous collection of attacking talent inevitably squeezes somebody out.

Arda Güler would be the most intriguing. Left-footed, technically exceptional and comfortable starting from the right before drifting inside, he could become a creative focal point under Andoni Iraola. He isn’t Salah 2.0 — but Liverpool shouldn’t necessarily be looking for one.

Rodrygo is the safer option. At 25, he’s proven at the highest level, quick, direct and capable of scoring from wide areas. Give him a permanent role rather than continually asking him to accommodate Madrid’s latest superstar and Liverpool might finally see his best football.

Franco Mastantuono is the gamble. Just 18, left-footed and naturally suited to the right, his ceiling is enormous. Madrid won’t want to sell, but Diomandé arriving would at least make the phone call worthwhile.

Brahim Díaz is less spectacular but potentially excellent value: technically gifted, experienced and capable of playing wide or centrally.

But Liverpool shouldn’t restrict themselves to Madrid.

Maghnes Akliouche at Monaco has the profile Liverpool traditionally love: technically excellent, left-footed, comfortable from the right and approaching his prime without yet carrying superstar pricing.

Yankuba Minteh offers Premier League experience, frightening pace and direct running — attributes that look particularly attractive in an Iraola attack.

And then there is the Championship.

Million Manhoef at Stoke is worth serious scouting. A powerful, left-footed right winger, he produced seven goals and four assists last season and already possesses the physicality required for English football.

Karamoko Dembélé at QPR is a much bigger gamble. The former Celtic wonderkid still has exceptional close control and carries the ball beautifully, although one goal and no assists in last season’s Championship campaign shows just how much development would be required.

Liverpool could even go further left-field and scout the best 18–21-year-old wide players across the Championship with a view to buying two attackers rather than one £100m superstar.

That’s the real point.

If Madrid take Diomandé, don’t chase them into an auction.

Güler offers genius. Rodrygo offers certainty. Mastantuono offers potential. Akliouche offers the middle ground. And somewhere below the £100m market may be the next Diomandé before everybody knows his name.

Liverpool don’t need to win the Diomandé transfer.

They need to win the transfer that comes next. Esco Pablabar IV

Top Marcs

Looks like Man UTD is stuck with Rashford now; 2 more years and those high wages. But the more immediate danger is once again introducing his attitude and side-show to a squad who looked settled and in harmony last year.

You can’t really blame Barca though. There is precedence that Rashford plays great the season he wants a fat new contract. Done it 2 times in United already. Even though, he was decent last year, Barca choosing Gordon instead makes sense. Gordon’s younger and they probably liked his hunger and attitude better.

Just look at how Cunha and Mbuemo went about playing last year. Rashford hasn’t played with anything like that kind of verve for good few seasons and those widespread criticisms of his attitude are not really blown out of proportion.

Any team willing to offer him a chance, he should be willing to grab it with both hands. Because what will happen after his contract expires in 2 years? Best he can hope for is mid-table premiere league. Or MLS. Or Saudi.

The sooner he realizes he’s not above compromise for his next move and he’s not all that, the better. Karen Asad

Busquets case

I was reading this site’s ranking of Manchester United’s central midfielders and, for the most part, I agreed with the player they put at No. 1. My only caveat is that we signed him when he was already at the mercenary stage of his career.

That said, for one glorious season he was football’s version of Deathstroke. When he was on it, he was absolutely on it. As a defensive midfielder, he dominated games, broke up attacks with ease, controlled transitions and reminded everyone why he’d been regarded as one of the best in the world.

Buuuuutttt, If we’re talking about the player United SHOULD really have signed to succeed Michael Carrick, though, my answer will always be a peak Sergio Busquets (yes, I know, a man can only dream).

He would have transformed that midfield. Busquets wasn’t just a holding midfielder; he was the complete package. Elite positioning, press resistance, passing range, intelligence and composure. He had everything you’d want in a No. 6. And, let’s be honest, even his trademark sh*thousery would have added a ruthless edge that United have lacked for years.

We’ll never know how it would have turned out, but of all the “what if?” signings in the my life as a fan, Busquets to United remains my favourite fantasy. Gaptoothfreak,  Man. Utd., New York (Signing Wesley Sneijder was once a fantasy)

The final reckoning is coming

As recent mails make clear, we’ve clearly reached the stage in the Man City narrative where either Chris Nolan makes a film about it or the Proclaimers write a support song ( ‘And I would break one hundred and fifteen rules, and I would break one hundred and fifteen more, just to be the club…’ Out, now.). It must be an inflection point one way or t’other, though.

When the new season begins in – checks Bugs Bunny wall calendar – 26 days, the Premier League will have discarded the PSR framework in favour of the new Squad Cost Ratio (SCR). One of the core principles of this new system is real time adjudication and punishment. There will be in-season checks of various financial and activity markers, meaning naughty clubs get fines and really naughty clubs get point deductions immediately. What sense then would it make to deliver these judgements to transgressors of the cool new rules while continuing to delay justice (either way) for City?

Overall, the SCR approach seems quite sensible, transparent and equitable. It needs to be introduced in a manner which suggests the League itself is similarly endowed. Failing to wrap up old nonsense before heralding this New World Order would be a ridiculous self-own. King Rat, Retired pebble-collector, Spaceville

Hande hoch

Given the prevalence of grappling at corners in the World Cup, I can only assume it will be more of the same once the domestic season starts. Worse still, I fear we will see more of it rather than less. Whilst this “disease” has yet to reach epidemic proportions, it has set a precedent that, if not addressed, will eventually change Football into simply playing for corners so as to exploit these set pieces. Something needs to be done, sooner rather than later.

One could argue that Referees have allowed this to get worse by not being tougher and issuing a few more yellow cards, but how are they expected to watch everyone?

The loophole that teams are exploiting is that before the kick is taken, the ball is not live, so unless a defender does a “Paredes” and strikes a blow, the Referee is limited in their powers. Sure they could hand out dozens of yellow cards but they usually save that for more clinical offences when the ball is in play.

What if, instead, we tried to modify the offending behavior instead? It hasn’t taken long for defenders to learn to keep their arms by their sides when defending in the box, so they CAN learn new tricks! So, what if defenders were required to hold their hands in the air before the corner was taken? I believe this could work for the following reasons:

It would be much easier for the Referee to see which defenders do NOT have their hands in the air so they do not have to watch everyone all the time

Once the attacker can start their run unimpeded, any subsequent egregious grappling could constitute a penalty offense as the ball is in play

Once the attacker does start their run, the defender will also need to start their run and their hands will naturally come down

I’m not saying this is the solution, or even if it is a viable one but surely it is time for us to be thinking creatively about how to address this before teams consist entirely of Goliaths taking corners.