Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta/HANDOUT
Chelsea’s Noni Madueke, who played no part in Chelsea’s Club World Cup win, has an agreement with his club to leave and underwent a medical on Monday at the Emirates.
I have talked to many Arsenal fans this week, and the majority are questioning why the club is buying Madueke. He is a good player, but the Gunners have Bukayo Saka, who is a definite starter every week, but of course, he frequently gets injured. Madueke has a reputation for not wanting to sit on the bench as a number two. Chelsea usually played Jadon Sancho in front of him, which is one of the reasons he was so dissatisfied with his role at Stamford Bridge and Enzo Maresca didn’t want Sancho either.
On the brighter side, Viktor Gyokeres’ difficulties with Primera Liga club Sporting CP seem to have been resolved and he says there has been a valuable breakthrough in negotiations. Christian Mosquera arrived at the Emirates Stadium after he rejected two new contract offers from Valencia. He, too, underwent a medical on Tuesday.
Two more wingers are on Mikel Arteta’s list, Crystal Palace international Eberechi Eze and Real Madrid’s Brazilian star Rodrygo but there are problems with pursuing either of them due to the official financial rules and neither club wants to lose their best players.
Arsenal might be forced to part ways with some of their big names to progress and Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus are under threat.
Kudus chooses shirt number
Watching Tottenham’s new signing, Mohammed Kudus, meeting his new teammates and taking his first training session on Tuesday gave us an excellent opportunity to see how he is working with new coach Thomas Frank. The ex-Brentford boss spent much of the session with Kudus in preparation for his own first game in charge against Reading on Saturday.
Playing in a rondo, Kudos did well with Djed Spence making crisp, short passes for other players to chase. Earlier in the gym, Kudos worked with Tottenham’s longest-serving player, Ben Davies, who was giving the new man lots of information about how the club works.
We also got a chance to see the first team individual development coach Cameron Campbell, who has been brought in from RB Leipzig, where he was head of player development and this is very much a Thomas Frank appointment. Frank believes that improving players is vital to success and whereas many coaches have yet to exploit this form of progress, for Frank it is a priority.
It came as no surprise when Tottenham signing Mohammed Kudus chose the No. 20 shirt. It is the number he wears for his native Ghana national team and previously wore at Ajax.
Newcastle officials fly to Frankfurt for Ekitike
In a dramatic move, officials from Newcastle, including Head of Recruitment Steve Nickson, flew out to Germany and met with Eintracht Frankfurt representatives to discuss a possible deal for 23-year-old Hugo Ekitike. Newcastle’s big problem is the current financial ruling and the striker has an £86million release clause. There is also the matter of personal terms and his agent is known to be challenging to deal with. Further terms were discussed during Newcastle’s training camp in the Alps this week.
The Magpies are anxious to make another big signing after Forest’s Anthony Elanga moved to the north east. They want to signal their intention of contesting the Premier League title next season with the strongest possible squad.
It might be possible for Newcastle to spread Ekitike’s cost over some time, which would keep within the financial rules, but his agent has to be involved and that is a potential banana skin.
The other problem is persuading Ekitike to join whilst top striker Alexander Isak is at the club, but the Magpies will fight to keep the Swedish international despite persistent noise coming from Liverpool, who are said to be mounting an offer in the region of £120million.
The German club’s CEO said of Ekitike this week, “He’s one of the most interesting strikers in Europe but Hugo has to decide his future. I am glad we have him but we won’t stand in his way if he wants to leave.”
Ekitike had an outstanding season, scoring 22 goals and he helped Frankfurt finish third in the Bundesliga table.
Garnacho on Chelsea’s radar
News from inside Chelsea headquarters are very much centred around the impact Joao Pedro can have this coming season after he scored when the Blues defeated Paris Saint-Germain at the Club World Cup.
Chelsea had been skirting around the possibility of signing Manchester United forward Alejandro Garnacho. The Argentine international has been told to find another club and coach Ruben Amorim says he will play no part in his plans for next season.
Chelsea have already signed their main targets, such as Pedro, Jamie Gittens, Liam Delap and earlier this year, deals were completed for Estevao Willian, Dario Essugo and Mamadou Sarr.
Everything regarding Garnacho depends on what happens with Chelsea winger Noni Madueke if he makes a move to Arsenal. Rumours coming out of the Nou Camp in Barcelona report that officials have contacted Garnacho’s representatives, but now the Spanish giants have failed to lure Nico Williams from Atletico Club, where he has signed a new contract.
If Madueke leaves, I am hearing that Chelsea would more likely try to arrange a loan deal with United for Garnacho.
The writing is clearly on the wall for Nicolas Jackson. Following his sending off in the Club World Cup and consequent two-match ban, he had to sit in the stands and watch Liam Delap score his debut goal for Chelsea and Joao give Chelsea much-needed striking power upfront.
Enzo Maresca says 23-year-old Delap is far from the finished product and plans to allocate a lot of time working with the ex-Ipswich striker. Pedro struck a two-goal introduction for the Chelsea fans at the Club World Cup and Maresca has already said that the ex-Brighton man will be his main striker.
That all leaves Jackson high and dry. There is a problem, however, because it is mainly Italian clubs who are interested in the Senegalese international and they can only realistically afford in the region of £35million, and Chelsea won’t even look at that figure.
Jackson also has a long contract, which was extended a year ago and put him in the £60million category and therefore, at the moment, he looks like staying at Stamford Bridge as back-up to Pedro and Delap.
Bees buzzing after signing Jordan Henderson
Brentford are concerned that they have lost experience in their squad with the loss of coach Thomas Frank to Tottenham, club captain Christian Norgaard to Arsenal plus the possible sale of Bryan Mbeumo. Highly rated goalkeeper Mark Flekken and Ben Mee have also left.
This coming season is likely to be a tough challenge for rookie coach Keith Andrews, who takes over from Thomas Frank after being promoted from set-piece coach.
Those are just some of the reasons why the Bees have signed ex-Liverpool and Ajax skipper Jordan Henderson, who, at 35 years of age, is still performing at the top level, is incredibly fit and brings a wealth of experience. Henderson can replace Norgaard in the centre of midfield, giving the team a solid base from which to work.
He will join his old Liverpool teammate, goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
Relegated Ipswich Town have turned down several approaches by Brentford for a forward
Omari Hutchinson. They are anxious to strengthen their strike force, especially as they
might lose Bryan Mbuemo. Chelsea product Omari showed last season that he can take on
the best defenders in the Premier League, but Ipswich are determined to hold onto him as they fight to get back into the elite league.
Chelsea very confident going into new season
Following their epic Club World Cup win over Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea players have been given a three-week holiday before playing Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan in a mini-tournament at Stamford Bridge on August 8. That is just nine days before the kick-off to their new season when they face Crystal Palace on the 17th.
The Blues won a total of £72.9million from the competition, which officials at Chelsea’s headquarters said would be added to their transfer funds to strengthen the squad.
Enzo Maresca is a master tactician who studies every move his opponents are likely to make based on previous performances. It is a mirror of how Pep Guardiola works.
Against Paris Saint-Germain, Maresca said, “…we saw there was a lot of space on the left side of the field and that's where we tried to win the game. It went well, but I think we won in the first 10 minutes, when the team came out to demonstrate that we were here to try to win, respecting the rival, considering they are the best team in the world at this time. I think in the end, you can give the players a plan, but it's them who have to execute it and they did it very well.”
“Just one year ago, when I joined the club, I said since the first press conference that I was in love with the squad, and it's true. But we said many times that talent is not enough. We need sacrifice, we need togetherness, we need a game plan where all the players think in the same way. And it's just because of them. I want to say again that I have a lot of respect for Paris Saint-Germain, I respect their coach but I planned the game to win it. Now, if it's Paris Saint-Germain or any other team, I think the team we have can compete against everyone in this world.”
Forest threaten Spurs with court action
Nottingham Forest have threatened Tottenham with court action for what they believe is an illegal approach for Morgan Gibbs-White. Owner Evangelos Marinakis will not be negotiating with Spurs and has cut off all communications.
Gibbs-White, if he signs, will not be able to wear his favoured No. 10 shirt he wears at Forest; it is the possession of James Maddison.
Gallagher considers Premier League return
Following Conor Gallagher’s Chelsea exit after signing a £34million transfer to Atletico Madrid, coach Diego Simeone and the club executives are pleased with his performances. That is despite Conor only starting 50 per cent of Atletico’s matches and it appears that the club want to overhaul their first team squad and he is not certain of retaining his position in the new set-up. Newcastle have picked up the info and are considering throwing Conor a lifeline if the right price agreement can be reached. Tottenham have shown interest but that could be difficult for Chelsea fans if he joins one of their London derby rivals.
Why Palace have been dumped out of the Europa League
Under the UEFA rules, Crystal Palace have been demoted to the Conference League instead of the more respected Europa League competition. The reason given was that they broke the multi-club ownership rules.
Palace’s major 43.9 per cent shareholder, John Textor, also owns 77 per cent of French club Lyon and they too qualified for the Europa League and the rules do not allow two clubs under the same ownership to participate in the same competition.
The Football Association wrote a letter to UEFA supporting the Eagles, requesting they keep their Europa League status but so far nothing has been done. Palace plans to take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
