Some blockbuster deals are set to be concluded on transfer Deadline Day ahead of the transfer window being shut, while the cost of replica jerseys reaches astronomical amounts.
COUNTDOWN TO TRANSFER WINDOW CLOSING
We’ve got a few more hours yet another transfer window slams shut and frankly, it can’t come soon enough and we can concentrate on football itself. However, this is the window which always produces a flurry of last-minute, sometimes quite literally, moves.
So far, the highest transfer this European summer has been the £64 million that Atletico Madrid paid to Man City for Julian Alvarez, while Dominic Solanke’s £55m transfer from Bournemouth to Tottenham is the highest between English Premier League sides. It’s probably a 9/10 bet whether either of those fees will be beaten on the final day, but it will be worth keeping an eye on your favourite transfer source until midnight on Friday.
SHOULD THE EPL HAVE AN ENGLISH QUOTA?
As Wolves head into their third match of the EPL season, having lost both their first two, they hold the unwanted distinction of being the only club in the league to have not started a game with an English player. That’s one way to take the reference English out of the Premier League.
Mind you, champions Man City have only started one (Rico Lewis) and they have won both their games. However, it’s hard to escape the subject. Should there be an “English quota” in the EPL? Is that not one way to protect, and develop, home grown talent? After all, England are at No4 in the Fifa rankings? It’s something worth watching.
WILL WE SEE ANOTHER LUNCHTIME ‘UPSET’?
We regularly mention the early Saturday lunchtime kickoff and how often it produces the upset result. Last week it was Brighton who beat Man United 2-1. Except, does that constitute an upset these days? I’ll close the door on my way out. However, this weekend we have another Saturday lunchtime kickoff.
This time it is Brighton again – not sure how that works but anyway – and they travel to London to meet Arsenal. Both teams have maximum points from two games and Brighton actually have the better goal difference. OK, so let’s say that in this one, for now, Arsenal are the favourites because they’re at home.
TRYING TO PICK UP AN EARLY EPL TREND
As a former Superbru Global champion – with each new season it starts to fade into the rearview mirror – I love setting out my stall early on in a new campaign and then following those initial gut feels and formlines for a couple of months. As I explained when discussing the importance of pre-season results, my philosophy has always been that I don’t care too much about pre-season results, but don’t like it when a club concedes and doesn’t score at the other end.
Defences can be fixed, but creating chances and hitting the goals is tougher. After two matches both Southampton and Everton have failed to score. That makes them relegation candidates for me, already. At the other end, only Arsenal and Liverpool haven’t conceded. That makes them title candidates for me. That will reflect in my Superbru selections for the foreseeable future. Having said that, I’m expecting both Arsenal and Liverpool to concede this round.
SINCE WHEN DID REPLICA JERSEYS COST SO MUCH?
I’m in Paris at the moment for the Paralympics and on the way here I had a layover in Amsterdam. I looked around at Dutch national football jerseys in the airport and couldn’t see anything (men’s) under a hundred euros (call it R2000). Here, I looked on Amazon for a French national jersey. Also a hundred euros. As is Italy and every other “big” nation I looked for, including England and Germany.
Since when did a football shirt, with no name or number, cost that much? I looked for South Africa online and that is available at 70 euros, basically R1400. That’s the same price for a Springbok rugby jersey. But wait, search for club jerseys, like Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man United. They’re closer to R2500.
RONALDO EDGES NEARER TO 900 CAREER GOALS
This is one record that should have an asterisk and explanation because it’s impossible to truly know how many goals Pele, and others, scored. There is simply no way to believe that statistics from 50 years and more ago are reliable.
What we do know is that when Cristiano Ronaldo next scores he will reach 900 career goals (against opposition higher than pub teams or Sunday League), which is the accepted most of any player. He is followed by Lionel Messi (838), while Pele’s 762 is regarded as more reliable as the 1279 in the Guinness Book of World Records. Governing body Fifa doesn’t keep scoring stats. What we do know is that CR7 is a scoring machine.
