Tag Archives: Real Madrid

Alvaro Morata – What can Arsenal expect?

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Rumours seem to be growing about an agreed deal between Arsenal and Real Madrid over the 6 month loan signing of Spanish youth international Alvaro Morata in January. These rumours seem to of originated in a Spanish newspaper which many compare to the UK’s ‘The Sun’. They were thing picked up by The Daily Star, giving credence to the story. What will likely happen next is other more reputable papers in both the UK and Spain will pick up on The Daily Star’s story and run with it, giving the rumour even more legs.

Whether the deal is a ‘done deal’ yet is unlikely. Arsenal have been linked with 7 players since we started our A to Z of Transfer Speculation yesterday. What is the more likely story is Arsenal have agreed 1st refusal on the striker. That if he is available for loan, he will come to us first.

But if Arsenal do get the young striker, even for 6 months, what can they expect?

At 21, Morata has long been touted by the Real Madrid faithful as the next Raul. Not in a playing sense, but in a culture sense (He is more similar to style to Fernando Morientes). He is a Real Madrid born boy and has been at the club since 15. Whilst Barcelona have bought through the likes of Puyol, Xavi, Ineista, Valdes, Fabregas, Pique, Messi, Alba (via Valencia), Montoya, Busquets and Tello in recent years, Real Madrid have not provided a regular international to the Spanish National side since Casillas in 2000.

In a country still split with regional differences, it hurts Madridistas that over recent years, the majority of the Spanish side has been made up by Catalan’s, a region of Spain which do not accept they are Spanish. Morata is supposed to stop that rot, with him being pencilled in as a potential to lead Real Madrid’s line for the next decade, as well as break into the Spanish National side sooner rather than later.

Why would Real Madrid be looking to loan him in January? For the simple reason that he needs to play. With Karim Benzema currently number 1 striker, Morata has started just once in 12 appearances for Madrid this season. If he is to progress next season and take over the number 1 spot from Benzema, he needs to prove himself. With lack of opportunities at Madrid, the only option is a loan deal, and with the Spanish league so weak, a long deal abroad will be best.

Where does Arsenal fit in? Florentino Perez was very impressed with the way Arsenal handled themselves during the transfer negotiations with Mesut Ozil. Already a fan of Arsene Wenger, having attempted to prise him away from Arsenal numerous times, he knows Morata will be in safe hands with Arsenal. With Olivier Giroud as Arsenal’s only option upfront, Morata will get more playing time at Arsenal than at Madrid, and will benefit from top coaching. The physicality of the Premier League will also add something to Morata’s game which you do not get in Spain. 6 months in England could make him a very rounded striker for European competitions.

Morata is 6ft 3in. He is a giant of a man. He has the height of Oliveir Giroud, but not yet the core strength. This can be built into him though. To this physicality, he also adds pace. Quicker then Giroud, he might not be lightning, but he has enough pace that once he has turned his man, he can run away from him, similar to Robin Van Persie. What he also has is brilliant technique and skill, a given with Spanish players these days. He also has excellent movement, able to drift into space like a true poacher, and has the clinical finishing to match. With his physical attributes and technique, you can see why Real Madrid are keen to progress him.

Whilst he might not have much first team experience, 30 games for Real Madrid, scoring 4 goals, his appearances for Castilla (Real Madrid B) highlight his ability, scoring 45 goals from his 84 appearances. You can start to understand why Real Madrid want him to get more 1st team experience. He also scored 34 goals in a single youth season.

For Spain, his youth record is equally as impressive, scoring 23 goals in 24 games. He won the Golden Boot in both the u19 European Championship and u21 Euoprean Championship, leading the line to glory for Spain in both competitions.

If Arsenal do get Morata, they would have signed a very talented, but very raw striker. Whether he is what we need to push us to glory in January is inconclusive. He is certainly better equipped than both Bendtner (Who will surely leave if we get Morata in) and Sanogo, but good enough to take pressure of Giroud? That is up for debate. Especially taking into account his wage and whether he settles quickly.

Were we signing him on a permanent contract, I would be very happy, as he is clearly talented. A loan is a risk, although he will add depth. Also, if no one else is available in January who is of quality, it is perhaps better to not spend but see what is available in the loan market. Signing Morata would give us striking options of Giroud, Podolski.

If he does join, I hope we have an option to make the deal permanent, as Morata could become a very special player over the next couple of years.

Keenos

Arsenal most followed Premier League club – Full stats revealed

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At the weekend, Arsenal passed 3,000,000 followers on Twitter, making them the first Premier League club to pass through the milestone. This surprised me when I see Mesut Ozil has over 4,000,000 and Justin Bieber has 46,000,000. I thought I would explore how many followers the rest of the Premier League have;

Premier League – 3,014,009
Arsenal – 3,005,680
Chelsea – 2,970,819
Liverpool – 2,086,130
Manchester United – 1,296,966*
Manchester City – 1,275,000*
Tottenham – 689,142
Newcastle – 304,220
Everton – 267,676
West Ham United – 228,383
Aston Villa – 221,244
Fulham – 177,848
Sunderland – 176,191
Swansea City – 171,814
Southampton – 156,853
Norwich City – 155,216
Stoke City – 148,038
West Browmich Albion – 104,770
Cardiff City – 79,997
Crystal Palace – 67,720
Hull City – 59,577

Now a lot can be made from the above data. You could argue that it is a cross-section of society and therefore indicates the level of support of each club throughout the world. But it would be ludicrous to claim that Manchester United have less supporters throughout the world than those above them – their amount of followers was surprisingly low.

What it does show is, Manchester United apart – Arsenal still have a strong world-wide supporters base, still above the nouveau clubs Chelsea and Manchester City. Although Chelsea have shown the amount of fans you can gain through success. Are they now supported more throughout the world than Liverpool? Perhaps.

What is certainly shows is Arsenal’s online presence. For a long time, it has been a belief of mine that Arsenal have the strongest online presence in the UK. We have the most and best blogs & podcasts. We eat up social media. It is why media outlets write so much about us, as they know writing about Arsenal will get more online hits then any other club.

And how does Europe compare?

Barcelona (English) – 10,438,412
Real Madrid (Spanish) – 9,318,902
Barcelona (Spanish) – 5,604,562
Barcelona (Catalan) – 3,898,654
Galatasaray – 3,238,592
Arsenal – 3,005,680
Chelsea – 2,970,819
Real Madrid (English) – 2,734,033
Fenerbache – 2,490,906
Liverpool – 2,086,130
AC Milan – 1,560,114
Manchester United – 1,296,966
Paris Saint-Germain – 900,593
Juventus – 836,397
Olympique Marseille – 774,761
Bayern Munich – 714,642
Borussia Dortmund – 611,246
Atletico de Madrid – 518,833
Inter Milan – 403,667
Valencia – 322,284
Ajax – 277,414
Celtic – 189,556
Olympique Lyonnais – 187,281
FC Porto – 134,317
Benfica – 132,109

A few things jump out. Firstly the popularity of Barcelona & Real Madrid. This clearly shows them as the two biggest clubs in the world. But also shows a fascination with both clubs outside of Spain. The fact that Barcelona’s English account is has the most followers shows the fascination with them outside of Spain, and in the UK itself. Real Madrid’s English account also being high shows the unhealthy fascination with Spanish football and El Classico within the UK.

The second thing was how high Galatasaray and Fenerbache were. this perhaps shows why the ‘Arab Spring’ spread so fast throughout Social Media such as Twitter and Facebook. Twitters popularity in the ‘middle east’ and surrounding area is interesting – and not really for a football blog – but the popularity in Turkey is likely to also be the reason why Mesut Ozil has 3,000,000 followers.

Lastly is the lack of followers both German clubs and other Central European sides have. Which shows more how little Twitter has taken off in Central Europe.

A lot of opinions can be made about Twitter, including size of football following, Twitter throughout the world, and popularity of social media throughout the world. Or you can just say this was boring and pointless.

Either way, I found it interesting

Keenos

*Manchester United also have an Official Indonesian account (93,747), Spanish (31,891) & Malaysian (9,551)
*Manchester City have an additional 9 foreign language accounts totaling 33,202
*All at time of writing, Noon on Sunday 3rd November

Walcott v Townsend (and Sturridge, Welbeck, Ox & Bale)

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After 6 goals in 2 games, a lot of England fans have been asking the question “Will Walcott get back into the team.” Well, here is some breaking news. Yes he will.

The player currently occupying his position on the right hand side of a front 3 is flavour of the moment Andros Townsend. Some have claimed he is already better than Theo Walcott. Others say that he will become better than Theo Walcott. Both statements are a fallacy and as likely to come true as me getting below 12 stone. Do not believe me? Theo Walcott is currently 24, Andros Townsend 22. So that no one moans (usually from up the road in North London) I have made a fair comparison. What had Theo Walcott achieved up to the season when he was 22 years of age, due to turn 23, in comparison to Andros Townsend:

Walcott-Townsend

There is nothing to show in Andros Townsend past to prove the statement “Andros Townsend will become better than Theo Walcott”. And taking into account that the year after 2011/12 (my cut off year for Theo Walcott), he went on to score 21 goals and get 14 assists, it is also a fallacy that “Andros Townsend is better than Theo Walcott”. Townsend has 14 career goals. Walcott scored 21 in 1 season. I think some people need to learn the definition of the word ‘better’.

For a final note on this, Theo Walcott has had a ‘terrible’ start to the 2013/14 campaign, whilst Andros Townsend has had a brilliant start. Yet they have both scored just the 1 goal in all competitions, whilst Theo leads the assists 2 to 1. Just shows, Theo being useless so far is still better than Townsend’s best season so far.

Expanded this a little more, there are 3 attacking positions up for grabs in the England squad. In the last 2 games, they have been occupied by Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge and Andros Townsend. Now some are saying that these 3 will be the front 3 for the World Cup, and that all 3 are better than Theo Walcott. Well, lets look at some more stats: England Striker

For the 3 forward positions, there are 5 players in contention (Sorry Manchester United and Manchester City fans, but Ashley Young and James Milner are useless, as for Lennon, if he gets in, Townsend, the future of English football, won’t be there). I have also stuck Gareth Bale in the comparison just to see how the English players compare to the most expensive (and therefore surely the best?) player of all time.

What is obvious from the statistics is Daniel Sturridge is by far the best goalscorer and his lightning form justifies his selection. 17 goals in his last 2 seasons (28 games) is a decent return and whilst he might not be a World Class striker, he is certainly the best England have. As for the wide positions, the one that stands out, obviously, is Theo Walcott. The two statistics a wide forward needs to be judged on his goals and assists. In his career, he is pretty much level with Gareth Bale, and last season they also averaged a similar number. So how much does that make Walcott worth?

It also makes a mockery of people saying he will not get into the side. Last season, Townsend, Welbeck & Chamberlain scored 4 goals and got 9 assists between them. Theo got more than these on his own. Walcott has made the right wing his own at Arsenal, and will be one of the 1st names on the team sheet for England.

The other interesting comparison is between Welbeck, Townsend and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Welbeck currently has the left hand side, but he showed against Poland he is useless. Townsend is left footed, played most of his youth career on the left wing, but he broken through this year playing right wing. And Oxlade-Chamberlain played left wing at the last European Championship for England. It is clear it is between these 3 for the left wing position. So what do the stats say?

Over his career, Welbeck is the more effective, but interestingly, they all averaged around 5 games per goal/assist last campaign. When you consider Walcott averaged 1.3 and Sturridge 1.5, it is clear England’s left wing will be the week side of the attacking trio.

What is also interesting is how poor Oxlade-Chamberlain’s stats are. I have felt since joining Arsenal, his hype does not come through on his stats and 3 goals and 5 assists in his career perhaps highlight this. Although he is just 20 so the youngest of the group. And he has still got more goals and assists then the future of England, Andros Townsend, despite him being 2 years younger (which again makes a mockery of people calling Townsend ‘England’s Future and saying he is better than Theo Walcott).

If England can get the left wing sorted, and with Rooney playing in the hole with 3 ahead of him with pace and finishing ability, England could surprise a lot of people in Brazil. It would be a fairly exciting forward line!

Theo Walcott is nowhere near losing his England spot, least of all to Andros Townsend. And what is clear by the comparison’s is that he is every bit as effective when it comes to playing as a wide forward as Gareth Bale.

Keenos