Tag Archives: Football

Saka left back for England

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After the dismal bore draw against Slovenia, Ian Wright floated the idea of Bukayo Saka being moved to left back. This idea has been derided by many. But is it really as crazy as it seems?

A lot of (mainly Arsenal fans), gave Wrighty some abuse for his suggestion. They saw his comments as both a slant on Saka’s form and that Wright would be sacrificing the Arsenal man to et Cole Palmer into the team. Neither of these are true.

A major issue for England this tournament is the team has lacked balance.

Take way that Southgate is playing the wrong formation (he should go 4141) and tactics (why play so defensive minded when we have so many great attackers?), the left hand side has been one of England’s biggest problems.

Kieran Trippier was lucky to make the squad.

He had an average season for Newcastle United, which led to many Geordies calling for him to be dropped. At 33-years-old, his decline this season has been rapid. Were it not for Ben White’s falling out and Reece James’ injury, I do not think Trippier would have been in Southgate’s final squad.

The former Spurs and Burnley player is also not a left back. A quick search of Transfermarkt shows that he ha splayed just one game domestically in that position – a League Cup tie against Barnsley back in 2017.

Trippier offers nothing going forward on that left hand side. He does not use his left foot, does not even pretend to go down the outside and does not hug the touchline. It makes England very narrow and predictable.

Ahead of him, you have Phil Foden.

Foden is a fantastic player. You do not win Premier League Player of the Year being average. But he is best suited centrally, either as the sole 10 or on the right hand side of a pair of 8s.

When Foden plays on that left hand side, he always looks to come inside to get more involved. He is just not your typical “chalk on the boots” winger.

Trippier not being able to play on the outside and Foden looking to come inside all the time has made our left wing almost non-existent. we are basically playing in just 70% of the pitch, which in turn allows teams to defend narrower and restrict our space.

Southgate needs to get width into the team.

He could play Saka on the left wing, but like Foden he will probably look to drop inside to be more involved. The solution therefore could be to move Saka to left back.

Often during his youth career, Saka would play at left back. And when he first broke into the first team, he was utilised both at left back and left wing back. I must say that these were emergency cases and the club always saw him as an attacking player.

Whilst you might lose some of Saka’s attacking contributions on the right hand side, you gain by having a natural left footer at left back. Someone that has the discipline and game awareness to provide width, get chalk on his boots, and make those runs in behind Foden.

It might not be a long-term solution as better teams will look to exploit Saka’s defensive weakness, however against Slovakia this has to be an option.

Slovakia are unlikely to attack us much, so doubling up with Foden and Saka on the left hand side could turn it into a strength.

Southgate then has the option of either Cole Palmer or Jarrod Bowen on the right hand side – whilst they might not be at our mans level, they can both certainly do a decent enough job on that wing.

In my view, you gain more upgrading from Trippier to Saka at left back, then you lose from downgrading from Saka to Palmer/Bowen on the right wing.

Wrighty’s (and mine) comments should not be seen as disrespect for Saka. it is not him being pushed back into defence due to his form. It is a compliment to the young mans versatility that he should be a genuine option there. And sometimes as a player you need to make a sacrifice for the betterment of the team.

Over the years I think of Thierry Henry playing left wing for France, Sergio Ramos playing right back for Spain, Javier Mascherano playing centre back for Barcelona and many others who have been pushed out of their natural position to do a job elsewhere.

I would be surprised if Southgate does select Saka at left back. the knock out stages of an international tournament is not really the time or place to be experimenting. But we can also not keep going with Trippier when he offers so little in attacking positions.

Enjoy your Thursday. Cricket starts at 15:30. Hopefully we smash the Indians!

Keenos

Fans of the “badly run 6” need to be careful what they wish for

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What a glorious morning!

I am feeling a bit tender from the best weekend of the year weather-wise. Two days spent out in the sunshine drinking quickly takes its toll at my age. A mixture of sunburn and over consumption (food and alcohol) is taking its toll this morning!

Just like we blogged last week, the transfer merry-go-round to circumnavigate PSR hit the headlines over the weekend.

I have no issue with clubs selling youth products at inflated prices, and then buying youth products at equally inflated prices to try and create a short term balance of the books. All this does is kick a huge amount of debt down the road.

These badly run clubs are struggling to make ends meet now. these sort of deals are short term and will just lead them to breach the rules further down the line.

I am laughing at the fans celebrating “getting one over” the Premier League, not realising that these deals merely paper over the cracks and increase the likelihood of issues for seasons to come. It is basically like taking out a loan because you are struggling to pay the mortgage.

If you support another club, are reading this blog and have spent your weekend on social media talking about these deals in a positive mind-set, please educate yourself. These deals are not a loophole, they are not something to be celebrated. They just move a problem from 2024 to 2025 or 2026.

At the weekend I also had a giggle over Everton fans welcoming a bid from Newcastle United for Dominic Calvert-Lewin. if it was Arsenal, Manchester United or Liverpool bidding for their star striker, they would be moaning about PSR forcing them to sell and the “Red Cartel”. But as it is their “friends” at Newcastle, they have no issue selling.

It just shows that everything is just posturing and the attack on “bigger” clubs is just a deflection tactic to take away the attention from their badly run clubs.

The narrative of PSR is always that “it stops clubs competing”. But this is not true. What it actually does is dramatically reduce the risk of clubs going into administration due to owners signing cheques they know they can not pay.

PSR is needed to protect the future of clubs. I am sure if the rules did not exist, Everton would have already entered administration. Aston Villa, meanwhile, with their 80% wages to turnover, would have quickly become the “new Leeds”, bankrupting the club for future generations in an attempt to spend their way up the league.

In the 10 years since PSR / FFP came in, just 6 English clubs have gone into administration. In the 13 years previous, 44 clubs went bust!

You get fans of Newcastle complaining that PSR stops their oil rich, sportswashing Sheikhs bank rolling them to success. But I would rather Newcastle’s spending being restricted and them forced to build naturally, then return to a situation where we were losing 3 or 4 clubs a year to administration.

The issue we arrive to is fans want their clubs to be able to spend what they want, regardless of the long term damage it might to do their club. And it is very short sighted.

What we have learned over the last few months is many fans do not care about the long term survival of their club. They are happy their owners bankrupting their future on the off chance of short term success.

And the irony is, if they got rid of PSR, it would not make the likes of Everton, Aston Villa or Nottingham Forest ore competitive. They would still be the paupers in comparison to Manchester City and Newcastle United who could spend even more! And then their fans will be moaning about an uncompetitive league with state sponsored clubs ruining things!

My final thought is be careful what you wish for.

I always remember Everton fans celebrating when Moshri became owner. About how he would be financed by Usmanov and Everton would become a force to be reckoned with again. A few years down the line and after overspending by hundreds of millions and run poorly, the club is on the brink of administration.

Fans need to stop wishing for short term solutions. The only way to sustain success in football is by having a long term plan.

Enjoy your Monday!

Keenos

Transfer merry-go-round circumnavigates PSR

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Aston Villa close on signing Ian Maatsen after agreeing terms on six-year deal
Aston Villa forward Jhon Duran ‘excited’ to complete Chelsea transfer

Chelsea looking to sign Jhon Duran for around £40m, whilst Aston Villa pursue Ian Maatsen in a deal worth around £37m has raised a few eyebrows considering both clubs were on the list of “needing to sell” by the end of the month to avoid breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules.

How can they spend without selling first was a common comment under social media posts providing updates on the deal as many scratched their head. But what both clubs are looking to get out of their PSR predicament by scratching each other’s backs.

When you sell a player, 100% of the book profit goes straight into the accounts – the book profit being the difference between what you sell for minus what you still have remaining in amortised transfer fees.

But when you buy a player, you only need to account for 20% of their transfer fee if they are signing a 5-year deal.

Duran was signed in January 2023 by Villa for £14.75m. They have around £10m remaining in amortised transfer fees. If they sell for £40m, they then show a book profit of £30m. That is probably more than enough to keep them out of trouble with PSR.

Ian Maatsen has come through Chelsea’s youth system, so the £37m rumoured transfer fee would be 100% book profit.

Working the deals the other way (based on 5-year deals), Duran will cost Chelsea £8m a year, and Maatsen £7.4m to Villa.

For the 2023/24 accounts, the difference between Chelsea selling Maatsen and buying Duran is £29m, whilst Villa’s side of the deal will show a net £22.6m. These figures might be enough to ensure neither club falls foul to PSR for this year.

To make it clear, what they are doing is not a loophole, nor is either club twisting the rules. But it is the sort of transfer merry-go-round we will begin seeing clubs partake more in.

If you and another club are close to breaking PSR, instead of “having” to sell a star player to stay within the rules, you could just do a deal with another club in a similar situation for a “player swap”. But instead of just swapping players, you assign a fee to both.

At its extreme, you could both pick a 20-year-old academy graduate that you no longer really want, and sell them for £100m. Neither club is really spending anything as you are bank-transferring £100m across and then receiving £100m back. But what you are then doing is adding £100m profit to this years accounts.

Back in 2020, Juventus signed Arthur Melo from Barcelona on a five-year contract for €72m. “Going the other way”, Miralem Pjanić joined Barcelona from Juventus for €60m. The huge fees ensured that both clubs did not breach UEFA FFP rules.

The issue with this tactic is it is very short term.

Whilst you are adding £100m to your accounts for this year (based on if 2 clubs decide to push the situation to the max), it then adds a further £20m to a clubs amortisation costs for the next 4 years. That is money they then need to find. And whilst they could continue repeating the trick, each time you do it adds more to your costs for a player you might not really want.

And this is where a lack of knowledge comes in.

If Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Newcastle or Nottingham Forest do this sort of deal together, their fans will celebrate “getting one over” the Premier League, not realising that they are not really solving the fact that their club is badly run.

I think we will see more of these sort of deals over the next few years. Aston Villa are this morning getting linked with Everton’s Lewis Dobbin. Do not be surprised if you see someone like Jacob Ramsey go the other way.

These sort of deals are a move of desperation. They are short-term. The footballing equivalent of taking out a pay day loan. They are not something a serious club would do.

Like Chelsea offering extreme long term contracts to bring down the amortisation costs, these sort of transfers are perfectly fine. But there is a huge downside that should be clear and obvious to all.

Badly run clubs need to come within the rules by ensuring their books naturally balance, and not by relying on selling hotels, training grounds or involving themselves in transfer merry-go-rounds. All of these are short term solutions and will just kick the can of debt and punishment down the road.

Keenos