If Chelsea steal Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal may be squeezed out of the Premier League elite

  • This summer the transfer market is is all about Chelsea - who they buy and sell 
  • Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku could all move
  • Increasingly, Arsenal look like a club being left behind by their rivals
  • Without Champions League football, Arsenal risk being squeezed out 

Arsene Wenger will quite soon be given an opportunity to test his theory about the biggest club in London. 

For this summer is all about Chelsea. Who Chelsea sell, who Chelsea buy. 

And the prime job for the manager of Arsenal is to prevent his club being the collateral damage when that shakedown comes. 


Eden Hazard could be one of the stars at the centre of a busy summer of transfers for Chelsea 

Eden Hazard could be one of the stars at the centre of a busy summer of transfers for Chelsea 

Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku. Chelsea's decisions are key to the futures of each of those players. 

They are a big selling club, for sure — but a big buying club, too. It is not beyond them to sell players worth considerably more than £100million — and replace them with the same outlay.

That has been the pattern of the last three years. Since January 2014, six players alone — Oscar, Ramires, David Luiz, Lukaku, Andre Schurrle and Juan Mata — have brought in over £200m for Chelsea. 

Another six — Willian, Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa, David Luiz, Michy Batshuayi and N'Golo Kante — have cost nearly £190m. And there have been more than 50 deals, in and out, in the lesser range, below £25m.

So Chelsea will sell — which is why Real Madrid feel they can target Hazard. But Chelsea will buy — which is why Arsenal are vulnerable over Sanchez.  

The danger being that Arsenal are not in the same position of strength as Chelsea.

They may not be able to offer Champions League football next season, they do not have such a recent record of success.

Increasingly, they look like a club being left behind. This is the challenge for Wenger. If Chelsea take Sanchez to partner Lukaku, how does he respond?

Hazard will go, if Hazard wants. Having disappeared for one season already at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea cannot risk another year of injuries and sulks if he does not get his way. 

Real Madrid will make him one of the world's most expensive players and Chelsea will invest that money in the market, as they invariably do. 

The Stamford Bridge club are looking to sign Alexis Sanchez, which would damage Arsenal

The Stamford Bridge club are looking to sign Alexis Sanchez, which would damage Arsenal

Antonio Conte may be tired of Costa, too, and has a strong potential replacement in Lukaku. He also wants to strengthen in the wing-back role, to upgrade in readiness for the Champions League. Chelsea will be busy this summer.

Yet, if they come for Sanchez, where does that leave Arsenal, potentially needing to rebuild and replace their best player at precisely the worst time? A top-four finish looks more important than ever this season.

The Manchester clubs are also out to buy again and, without Champions League football, Arsenal risk being squeezed out, or pushed towards second choices. 

To Wenger's credit he wants to meet this challenge. Whether he can is another matter. Indeed, with the ground conceded in recent years, whatever he thinks about size, it may already be too late.

 

Kante earned a place in history 

As the time to cast votes nears, some are casting doubt on N'Golo Kante's claim for Footballer of the Year.

Kante is poised to be unique in English football history — the only player ever to complete successive seasons at separate clubs, and win the title both times. That, surely, would be sufficient testament to his influence and ability.

But, no. Leading the sceptics is Joey Barton. 'At the moment, everyone swears by Kante,' he said. 'It's fashionable.'

Actually, that isn't true.

What Kante is on the brink of achieving is historic and, therefore, tangible. Barton appearing on Question Time? That is fashion.

Kante is poised to be unique in English football history, and is more than just 'fashionable' 

Kante is poised to be unique in English football history, and is more than just 'fashionable' 

 

Can we now bring an end to the absolute nonsense that selling Dimitri Payet in the transfer window was West Ham's smartest, and only, option?

If the season was a month longer it would probably get them relegated. As it is, they may just escape. But nothing is yet certain.

 

McAuley's Best effort

Gareth McAuley lasted the full 90 minutes for West Brom at Manchester United on Saturday. Not bad for a 37-year-old. He has earned a one-year contract and is still keeping his place in the Northern Ireland team.

Last November he scored his ninth international goal. The significance of that? It means he equalled George Best. 

Admittedly, McAuley took a little longer — 70 caps, compared to Best's 37 — but then the West Brom man has played his entire career in defence. It could be said he struck lucky with the opposition, too — three against the Faroe Islands and one against San Marino.  

Gareth McAuley moved level with George Best by scoring his ninth Northern Ireland goal

Gareth McAuley moved level with George Best by scoring his ninth Northern Ireland goal

Yet four of Best's were scored against Cyprus, plus another against Albania, and one more versus Turkey when they were still among the weakest teams in Europe.

 McAuley scored in the finals stage of a tournament, too — against Ukraine at Euro 2016 — something Best never had the opportunity to achieve.

And no, the present generation of Northern Ireland players cannot bear comparison to one of the greatest players to grace the game; but what will never be said is that they do not punch their weight.

 

Sir Alex Ferguson was always curmudgeonly on the subject of Arsenal's Invincibles. 

'Too many draws,' he would say, when asked to assess the feat of going a season unbeaten. 

So it is with Manchester United's current run. It is true Jose Mourinho's team have not lost in the league since going down 4-0 at Chelsea in October. 

Yet that sequence includes draws at home to Burnley, West Ham, Hull, Bournemouth and now West Brom, which is why, far from being invincible, the club cannot even yet be sure of making the Champions League next season 

 

Years until heading risk proved

There is a reason we know smoking causes cancer. We started researching it in 1951. 

The British Doctors Study had the evidence by 1956, but did not wrap up until 2001, because there was still so much to discover. Questionnaires were issued to gather further research in 1957, 1966, 1971, 1978, 1991 and 2001.

And this was what is termed a prospective cohort study, where the factors being assessed — heart disease versus smoking or diet — are common.

To try to find direct links between heading a football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the rare disease that killed Jeff Astle, is harder. 

Anyone who thinks that we are in the home straight because the FA and Professional Footballers' Association have invited bids for research will be disappointed. 

Evidence-based study requires control groups, and the rarer the disease, the harder a correct reading of the data becomes. 

Jeff Astle's death led researchers to try and find direct links between heading and his illness

Jeff Astle's death led researchers to try and find direct links between heading and his illness

Stirling University, for instance, recently published findings that heading a football causes instant, if short-term damage to the brain.

 They took a sample of 19 amateur footballers and subjected them to heading practice — a series of 20 footballs fired to simulate a corner — while testing brain function and memory.

Tests were completed before and after the drill, after 24 hours, 48 hours and two weeks. 

Readings were back to normal after a day, but the study found memory-test performance fell between 41 and 67 per cent immediately after the drill.

'The "beautiful game" often involves intentional and repeated bursts of heading a ball,' explained a statement from the university. 

No it doesn't. No footballer will head the ball 20 times in a short period during a match. 

Equally, 19 is rather a small sample in a game played by 250 million worldwide. Stirling's research is interesting and valid, but it is only the smallest step.

If we wish to move beyond possibility, this is a process that will require years to resolve. Think mobile phones and brain cancer, rather than the evils of a packet of Rothmans. 

We are nowhere near, and won't be for some time if we want certainty, not soundbites.

Anyone who thinks that we are in the home straight on this research will be disappointed 

Anyone who thinks that we are in the home straight on this research will be disappointed 

 

Anthony Taylor held up three fingers. Three times, the referee seemed to be telling Ross Barkley. Three times the Everton man had committed a foul of significance, and the Merseyside derby was only 39 minutes old. It was to be his first booking, though. 

It should have been his second, at least, maybe even a straight red, according to some observers. 

Yet this is Britain, where we play a version of the rules, and so Barkley escaped. 

His team-mate Seamus Coleman was not so lucky and will not return until deep into next season. 

And while we refuse to confront our tolerance levels for foul play, that will always be the way it is.

If we refuse to confront our tolerance for foul play, injuries like Seamus Coleman's will happen

If we refuse to confront our tolerance for foul play, injuries like Seamus Coleman's will happen

 

Friendly lesson

A significant number of Premier League managers, not least Ronald Koeman and Jose Mourinho, have complained about the timing of this past round of international friendlies. They have a point.

The late season fixtures always seem ill-considered. Terry Venables, who admittedly did not have a compulsory competitive schedule to complete, got around this by replacing a match with an extended training camp. 

He thought he got fewer withdrawals, more co-operation from club managers and better time to work on team shape.

That route is not open to Gareth Southgate, but at least he can argue England's games were not meaningless this time. 

The win over Lithuania moves them one step closer to the World Cup finals but of equal importance was discovering England's defenders can play three at the back.

That development may be remembered long after the actual qualification campaign is forgotten. 

 

Lizzie Armistead lives in Monaco, but not for tax purposes; she missed drugs tests but there's nothing suspicious; and she has experienced sexism on tour, but says she had to play along. 

Maybe there should be a three strikes rule for autobiographies, too.

 

Pick the kids, managers are always told. Danny Blind did, and was sacked by Holland. 

He gave Matthijs de Ligt, 17, his debut against Bulgaria at centre half, his mistakes cost the game and Blind was gone soon after. 

It is very easy to be bold from the sofa, less so when your job is on the line, which is why most managers are pragmatists.

Danny Blind went with youth last week, lost, and was sacked by Holland as a result

Danny Blind went with youth last week, lost, and was sacked by Holland as a result

 

Steve Ogrizovic, a member of Coventry's 1987 FA Cup-winning team and now the club's goalkeeping coach, led the team out for the Checkatrade Trophy final against Oxford at Wembley. 

Other club heroes were not feted. Micky Gynn, a team-mate of Ogrizovic's that historic day, was particularly upset.

'None of us have been invited, so I will be watching at home,' he said. 'It would have been nice if they'd contacted us to say, "It's 30 years on — come along as our guest and meet the supporters".'

There is another way to meet the supporters, if that is Gynn's wish. Buy a ticket. 

Despite the excellent attendance, tickets were still on sale a week before the event. If Gynn, or any ex-player, has such feeling for Coventry, why wait for a bunch of chisellers like club owners Sisu to lay on hospitality? 

'You would think they'd like to do a PR exercise for the club,' Gynn added, but Coventry's peril has moved well beyond stunts. 

They need real commitment and supporters, not soundbites from armchairs, or champions who only turn up when it's free. 

 

Cheat's charter 

Maria Sharapova claimed to be fighting to expose the truth around her positive test for meldonium as she prepares to return to tennis on April 26.

In common with most drug cheats, this 'truth' will be whatever is needed to get her off the hook. 

But it wasn't so much what she said, but where she said it.  At the ANA Inspiring Women in Sports conference in California.  

Maria Sharapova spoke at an Inspiring Women in Sports conference, despite her drugs ban

Maria Sharapova spoke at an Inspiring Women in Sports conference, despite her drugs ban

Sharapova was among eight speakers, including Billie Jean King and United States Olympic gymnastics captain Aly Raisman.

Who would book a drugs cheat as an inspiring woman? Probably the same company that in a 294-word profile of Sharapova on the conference website found room to mention her sweets, her finances, her charity work, her skincare products, her Facebook following, her Twitter account, her Instagram numbers — but not the fact that the reason she has time to do a turn on the ANA podium is that she is banned from tennis for taking drugs. 

If you feel inspired to choose another airline in future, that would be entirely understandable.

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