Football Insight

Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, is ready to sign a new contract with the club. But he will only do so, if the Red Devils offer him terms which he believes reflect his achievements at the club and their current status under him. Mourinho is almost halfway through the three-year deal he agreed in the summer of 2016. In his first season at Old Trafford, the former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss won two trophies – the EFL Cup and Europa League. Winning the Europa saw United return to the Champions League, after his predecessor, Louis van Gaal, could guide the team only to fifth place. Mourinho earns around £15m a year, but is thought to want a marked improvement on his package of salary and incentives, to reflect the achievement he has brought and the team’s evolution under him. On Sunday, Mourinho said United would not be his last job  and praised Paris Saint-Germain, in what may have been part of a contract renegotiation strategy.

MIKE ASHLEY has put Newcastle on the market – and wants to sell the club by Christmas.   It is the second time the sports magnate has put Newcastle up for sale during his controversial decade in charge – and this time Ashley is so desperate to sever his ties that he is willing to let a buyer pay in instalments. He remains deeply unpopular with the Toon Army and his relationship with manager Rafa Benitez is strained following a botched transfer window this summer. But with Newcastle back in the top flight and looking on course to stay there under Benitez, Ashley believes he can now sell from a position of strength. It has been an open secret for several months that Ashley wants out, with managing director Lee Charnley meeting interested parties in China during the summer and the chairman himself admitting in a TV interview that he was ready to listen to offers. Despite being a billionaire, Ashley claims he does not have the wealth to compete with the elite. But wi

ZINEDINE ZIDANE has refused to back Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for the Ballon d’Or award. Despite a slow start to the campaign, Cristiano Ronaldo is widely expected to lift the coveted prize when the winner is announced on December 6. Having lifted the La Liga and Champions League last term, the Portuguese is expected to clinch the accolade for the fifth time. Barcelona star Lionel Messi will be in the running once again after he was nominated for the award. But when he was put on the spot, rather than endorse Ronaldo for the award, he gave an awkward response. “I'm not going to put anyone on the podium," Zidane said. "The Ballon d'Or is something else, people vote." However, Zidane was happy to sing the praises of Isco, as he said: “I will only tell you that I like Isco a huge amount because he's always creative, he always tries. "For me, the player that always tries ends up with success." Real take on To

HUGO LLORIS insists the lesson of Lyon in 2010 can help Tottenham stop “the machine” that is Cristiano Ronaldo. Lyon won the home leg 1-0 and when Ronaldo put the Galaticos ahead in the sixth minute at the Bernabeu, the Spanish giants looked set to march on. But a Miralem Pjanic equaliser saw Lyon pull of a huge shock, going into the semi-finals where they were knocked out by Bayern Munich. “We play in the Champions League to play against the best teams,” said Lloris. “It’s a massive opportunity for us. They know how to increase the levels because they have the experience in this competition to help them. “For us, we have to try to be solid and believe in ourselves, in our football. It is a collective sport and it is possible to make great achievements. “The target is to be competitive and enjoy our football, to make a great team performance and to show the face of Tottenham. To play with our concepts, to keep possession, to be aggressive and try to be dominant.

A player with the innate ability of Ronaldinho and the discipline of Cristiano Ronaldo would have been the perfect footballer. Hard work and talent have always been considered to be the fundamentals of a successful career in any field, but even more so in sports. However, this by no means implies that a person who possesses innate ability does not need to work hard, as basketball star Kevin Durant once famously noted: “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.” And if anyone from the footballing world ever wanted to see an example of what Durant was referring to, they needn’t any further than the respective careers of Ronaldinho and Cristiano Ronaldo. On the face of it, both Ronaldinho and Cristiano Ronaldo are undoubtedly two of the greatest players to ever grace a football field. But a closer look at their respective careers’ shows you why one has managed to outlive the other. In Ronaldinho’s case, the Brazilian was easily one of the most natur

A brief analysis of why Arsenal fans can be confident about their team's chances of winning the Premier League.   For the first time in a very long while, Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal side are not being seen as title challengers. Given the huge amounts of money spent by rivals (Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City) and the fact that the others (Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur) have been able to keep their star players, the Gunners were not tipped for the title at all. An underwhelming transfer campaign saw the arrival of Alexander Lacazette from Lyon as the only high-value acquisition. Sead Kolasinac was brought in on a free from Schalke while the rumours about the situations of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Özil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (who eventually moved to Liverpool) dominated the headlines. The poor start where the team lost two of its three opening games certainly contributed to the doom and gloom scenario but a run of no losses and 3 wins in the la

How these players made the 30-man Ballon d'Or shortlist will remain a mystery! The 30 man Ballon d'Or shortlist is out and it's not gone down well with the fans. Here's the full list if you don't know yet: Gianluigi Buffon, David De Gea, Jan Obla, Leonardo Bonucci, Mats Hummels, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Philippe Coutinho, Kevin De Bruyne, N'Golo Kanté, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Karim Benzema, Edinson Cavani, Paulo Dybala, Edin Dzeko, Falcao, Antonie Griezmann, Eden Hazard, Isco, Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski, Sadio Mané, Kylian Mbappé, Diers Mertens, Lionel Messi, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez. While most of them were brilliant this year, some of them are just on the list based on the clubs they play for or the trophies won by their team. Here are 5 players who should NOT be on this shortlist: #5 - Mats Hummels Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga, just like they did the year before, and the year befo

All 30 nominees for the 2017 Ballon d'Or have been announced by France Football, with Cristiano Ronaldo the favourite to retain his crown.   Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were among the standout names on the 30-man shortlist for the 2017 Ballon d'Or released by France Football on Monday. Real Madrid star Ronaldo and his Barcelona rival Messi have shared the past nine awards, the latter becoming the first man to win it on five occasions in 2015. The Portugal captain is expected to draw level with Messi, having helped Real Madrid win LaLiga and become the first side to successfully defend the Champions League in its modern guise. Ronaldo is joined by six of his Madrid team-mates, making the European champions the best-represented club in the nominees. LaLiga accounts for more than a third of the shortlist with 11 of the players plying their trade in Spain's top flight. The Premier League is next (7), followed by Serie A (5), Ligue 1 (4) and

Ranking the ten greatest ever midfielders who played in the famous white shirt at Santiago Bernabeu.   What is Real Madrid ? Simple. The greatest football club in the world. Financially and historically, the Spanish club has been unmatched for years. Walking out onto the turf of Santiago Bernabeu in the famous white shirt is meant only for a few among a pool of many players. The lure of the Los Merengues is too hard to reject or turn down. A club that guarantees glory and fame to the zenith of the football world. The word Real means royal in Spanish, and the Los Blancos have a charisma that matches their name. Extremely rich with a glittering history, Real Madrid rightly sit on the throne of the greatest clubs in the world. Make no mistake, the crown in their logo signifies their absolute power and domination around the football globe. Their glorious past is all down to the giants that have donned the white shirt at the Bernabeu. It is a long-lasting catalogue of

A list of the five players who have been the best players in the world not named Messi or Ronaldo.   The argument as to who is the greater player between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi is one that we will continue to have for time to come. Never in the history of the sport have two players dominated the scene like these two gladiators, sharing titles and accolades. In fact, the last person to win football’s biggest individual prize not named Messi or Ronaldo was Brazil’s Kaka in 2007. This has led to an intense argument as to who has been the THIRD best player in the world of the Messi/Ronaldo era. While we have seen a lot of very good (Cech, Falcao, Aguero, Lewandowski, Lampard, and co) and world class players (Suarez, Ramos, Torres, Neymar, Drogba, Busquets, Chiellini among others) in the Messi/Ronaldo era, 2008 to the present, the five chosen ones have stood out for reasons of consistency, delivery on big occasions, importance to their teams and being depend

Jurgen Klopp pulled no punches in his post-match comments as Liverpool were held to a 1-1 draw by Newcastle. Joselu handed Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez a draw against his former club as missed chances cost the visitors dearly. –– ADVERTISEMENT –– The Spanish striker cancelled out Philippe Coutinho’s sumptuous 27th-minute opener nine minutes later, although what he knew about it is debatable after Joel Matip’s attempted clearance came back off him and ended up in the net. “I am disappointed, frustrated, whatever you want,” Klopp revealed. “Away at Newcastle for each team will be a difficult place to play. We scored a wonderful goal and created wonderful chances. “We shot the ball over the goal even when it was empty. We created five or six outstanding, big chances. Usually we score with one of them. I didn’t see one more chances for Newcastle. “They got one chance and scored. That doesn’t feel too fair. We had a clear penalty. I don’t kno

Alvaro Morata has got off to a decent start in terms of goals as he looks to fill Diego Costa’s boots at Chelsea, but how well does he compare to his predecessor in other respects? With Costa scoring 20 goals in the Premier League for Chelsea last season, Antonio Conte’s decision to make him available for transfer and seek a replacement was a brave one. Morata was always going to come under scrutiny, therefore, but a hat-trick in the 4-0 win at Stoke City on Saturday took him to six goals from five starts and one substitute appearance in the Premier League. it’s an impressive return for a player undoubtedly still adapting to a new league and country, but with Costa’s return to Atletico Madrid now agreed, how is Morata measuring up as his replacement in other areas? Goals and assists As a centre-forward, both players will ultimately be judged by the number of goals they score. And in this respect, Morata has a lot to live up to. Over three seasons at Stamford Br