Sports

By Muhammadu Sabiu
 
Ángel Di Maria, the Argentine winger, is set to join Benfica in a verbal agreement.
 
According to a renowned football journalist, Fabrizio Romano, “Ángel Di Maria will become new Benfica player next week, verbal agreement sealed”.
 
He added that the deal will be valid until June 2024.
 
Di Maria’s arrival is expected to boost Benfica’s attacking prowess, and the signing is being hailed as an impressive move.
 
Fans eagerly await the official announcement and anticipate the impact the talented winger will have on the team’s success.

By Muhammadu Sabiu 

Moroccan midfielder Hakim Ziyech has reportedly reached a verbal agreement with Al Nassr, marking a significant transfer deal. 

Personal terms have been settled, and Ziyech is expected to sign a contract until June 2026. 

An agreement has also been reached with his current club, Chelsea, with contract finalization pending. 

The move signifies the advancing partnership between Chelsea and Saudi Arabian football. 

More details to follow as the deal progresses.

By Muhammadu Sabiu 
 
In a significant transfer development, N’Golo Kanté, the revered French midfielder and a longstanding figure at Chelsea FC, has officially signed a four-year contract with Al Ittihad, a Saudi Arabian football team.
 
The transfer marks the end of an era for Kanté, who has become an emblematic player for Chelsea and an integral part of their success in recent years.
 
Reports suggest that the financial terms of the transfer are substantial. Kanté’s total salary over the duration of the contract amounts to a staggering €100 million. 
 
Kanté’s departure from Chelsea evokes a sense of nostalgia among fans and the football community as a whole. 
 
The diminutive midfielder, known for his tireless work rate, exceptional ball-winning ability, and precise distribution, has etched his name into the club’s history. 
 
His contributions were instrumental in Chelsea’s success, including two Premier League titles, an FA Cup, and a UEFA Champions League.
 
During his time at Chelsea, Kanté has established himself as one of the world’s premier midfielders, earning plaudits for his consistent performances and humility both on and off the field. 
 

By Muhammadu Sabiu
 
In a stunning turn of events, Kylian Mbappé, the star forward for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), has issued an official statement through the AFP agency confirming that he will not be signing a new contract with the club.
 
The announcement comes as a shock to fans and the football world alike, as negotiations had been ongoing for some time.
 
Mbappé’s statement unequivocally states, “I have NEVER discussed any contract renewal with PSG.” 
 
This statement contradicts the narrative that had been portrayed in recent months, suggesting that talks were underway regarding a potential extension of his contract.

By Muhammadu Sabiu
 
Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior will henceforth be wearing the number 7 jersey, shortly after the departure of Eden Hazard, whose jersey used to carry the number.
 
Before now, the Brazilian international’s jersey was number 20.
 
In a Facebook post via its official handle, Real Madrid uploaded a picture of the player wearing the number 7 jersey, attaching the post with an inscription signifying a change from “20 to 7”.
 
Recall that Eden Hazard had, in the last two seasons, had difficult and bad moments as his fame and performance were below average, leading Carlo Ancelotti, the Real Madrid manager, to bench him almost throughout the season.
 
Apart from Hazard, Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio also left for Al-Ittihad and Paris Saint-Germain, respectively.
 
However, in another development, the club has been able to complete a deal with Borussia Dortmund to bring in Jude Bellingham.
 
Also, Madrid’s loanee at Inter Milan, Brahimi Diaz, has been brought back by the Spanish giants.

By Muhammadu Sabiu  

Argentina captain Lionel Messi has joined an American side, Inter Miami, after parting ways with the French club, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). 

According to Fabrizio Romano, Messi will make an announcement about the new club he has joined in a few hours. 

Reporting on his official Facebook page today, Romano wrote, “Lionel Messi to Inter Miami, here we go! The decision has been made and it will be announced by Leo in the next hours. 

“Messi will play in MLS next season. No more chances for Barcelona despite trying to make it happen.” 

Recall that before this year’s Ligue 1 campaign came to an end, it was already announced that Messi would not continue at PSG. 

There were speculations that the 7-time Ballon d’Or winner would return to his former side, Barca, but the deal wasn’t sealed by the two parties.

By Muhammadu Sabiu
 
Iconic Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced his retirement from football after a very long career.
 
He started his senior career at Malmo FF in 1999 after subsequently going to Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, PSG, and others.
 
Fabrizio Romano, via his social media handle, said, “Zlatan Ibrahimović has now decided to retire from professional football with immediate effect”.
 
Zlatan finally retired at AC Milan in the midst of the club’s fans waving good-bye at him.

By Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf

For the past 10 years, Bayern Munich have enjoyed a complete monopoly on the Bundesliga title. They often won it at a canter with no legitimate threat from any of the other German league big guns like Dortmund, Leverkusen and Leipzig. That’s why when Bayern lost their penultimate game at home to Leipzig, an unexpected door was opened for Dortmund to pip Bayern to the title. 

It’s human nature to always side with the underdog. That’s why almost all neutral football fans rallied around Dortmund to get the job done at home to ninth-placed Mainz. However, Dortmund’s players didn’t read the script. They contrived to miss chance after chance and conceded two goals at the other end in the first half that, extinguished their title ambition. Even Bayern players can’t believe their luck at full-time. In short, Dortmund managed to hand over the Bundesliga title back to Bayern on a platter of gold. 

Dortmund players were crestfallen at full-time. They were well aware of the fact that this is their lifetime opportunity to slap Bayern’s painful dominance of the Bundesliga. And they bottled it. 

Spare a thought for the legendary Marco Reus. This is a player who sacrificed winning titles elsewhere in favour of loyalty to his boyhood club, and all he got was an absolute spanking from the club he snubbed several times. This is a player who missed the World Cup triumph in 2014 through injury, only for him to watch his beloved Germany triumph at the Maracana in the showpiece event. Surely he deserved to end his career with a flourish. 

It will take ages (perhaps another decade) for Bayern Munich to have another poor season for other Bundesliga clubs to have a sniff at the title. Bayern are head and shoulders above all the other clubs in terms of history, prestige, revenue, worldwide support, you name it. I think it is going to take a monumental collapse from Bayern and an out-of-the-world season from Dortmund and co before a different name is inscribed on the Bundesliga title.

By Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf 

Racism in football has been a problem that refuses to go away. Football is often rightly described as the beautiful game. However, the persistent problem of racism has been a blight on this enduring beauty. Despite the fact that numerous campaigns (such as “Say No To Racism” and “Black Lives Matter” etc.) sponsored by FIFA and other regional football associations, racism has seemingly been kryptonite for the footballing establishments. 

I firmly believe that FIFA, UEFA, the media and most fans in Europe and America are not sincere about fighting racism. All these campaigns against racism are merely lip service that will never bring an end to this menace. Vinicius Junior is just the latest case that opens a fresh can of worms in a long list of racism storms that rocked the football world. 

When the trio of Saka, Sancho and Rashford missed crucial penalties in England’s Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy, they were racially abused online by their own fans. Even Real Madrid fans are also guilty of racism towards black players from other clubs and their players. When FIFA released the votes for the last Ballon d’Or, and it appeared that Real Madrid’s Austria captain, David Alaba, had voted for Lionel Messi as his first pick ahead of his teammate Karim Benzema, Real Madrid fans racially abused him online. And he was forced to apologise. And these are the same people that are up in arms “protecting” Vinicius. If this is not hypocrisy, I don’t know what is. 

Heck! Even fans at various French clubs were reported to have racially abused black players. And this is a country whose national team is simply an amalgam of players from their former African colonies. Imagine! 

Racism is here to stay as long as the powers that be are not serious about tackling it. FIFA has a three-step process for dealing with racism during matches. First, the referee should stop the game and announces that racist chants are going on and should stop. Then, if the chants continue, the referee should apply the second stage, which is to instruct the players to go back to the dressing room and wait. After a while, the referee should ask the players to resume on the pitch and restart the game. Finally, if the chants continue, the referee should apply the third process, which is to stop the game entirely and award the three points to the opponents. 

However, instead of making it mandatory for all regional football unions to adopt this process, FIFA only “recommend” it. Everyone knows that the only way to stop racism once and for all is to enforce this law. When clubs realise that some unscrupulous elements within their fanbase are making them lose points unnecessarily, they will fish out these “fans” and give them lifetime bans from stadiums. 

The question is, ‘Do black lives really matter’?

Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf wrote from Bayero University, Kano. He can be reached via aliyuyy@gmail.com.

By Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf

At the beginning of every league season in Europe, football pundits look at the strengths and weaknesses of every team and make predictions on what they think will be the outcome and the position of every team at the end of the season. These pundits predict the likely winners of the league, the top 4 places, the relegated teams, the top scorer, the best player, the best goalkeeper, the best young player, the dark horses and so on.

I have followed these predictions on nearly all the major British tabloids like BBC, Daily Mail, GiveMeSports, Telegraph, Guardian, Athletic, etc. I did not come across a single pundit that predicted Arsenal to finish in the top 3 in the EPL. Most pundits earmarked Arsenal for the sixth position below Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United. In fact, some pundits went as far as predicting Arsenal to finish in the seventh spot below Newcastle United.

Looking at Arsenal’s title challenge from this context, it can be argued that Arsenal have punched well above their weight. By finishing second in the league, the Gunners have overachieved relative to everyone’s expectations at the beginning of the season. I have no doubt that most Arsenal fans who are now disgruntled would have indeed accepted the second position gleefully were it offered at the beginning of the season.

Arsenal’s squad is full of players in their mid or early twenties. Most of these players have never experienced a title race in their careers. The current disappointment may serve as a learning curve for Arsenal players. With Saka, Jesus, Odegaard, Martinelli, White, Ramsdale, Saliba, White, Smith-Rowe, and Gabriel approaching their primes, the future certainly looks bright in the red half of North London. A glass half full.

For the 36 weeks so far played in the EPL, Arsenal led the table for 29 weeks. In other words, the Gunners sat at the top of the table for more than 90% person of the matches played. And having led the EPL table for so long, it must be quite disheartening for the Gooners to lose the title in this disappointing fashion.

At a time, Arsenal appeared to be running away with the EPL trophy. However, most Arsenal fans will remember when their team seemed not to put a foot wrong when everything Mikel Arteta touched turned into gold. Thus, it must be heart-breaking to “bottle” everything when victory looks so tantalisingly close.

This season represents a golden opportunity for Arsenal to slap their 19-year wait for the EPL title. Considering their lofty standards, Manchester City were relatively poor for most of the season. Save for the last two months, Liverpool were having one of their worst seasons in recent memory. Chelsea were having a season from hell. Manchester United were in their usual shambles, though the coming of Erik Ten Hag has brought some semblance of calm. Spurs are just…well, ‘spursy’.

Looking at the whole picture, most of the EPL big boys were largely underwhelming for most of the season. It is difficult to imagine Liverpool and Chelsea having another miserable campaign next season for the Gunners to capitalise on. Therefore, this might just be a good opportunity missed. As I said earlier, most of Arsenal’s crop of young players have performed tremendously this season. This may spell trouble for the Gooners in the near or distant future.

Arsenal have grown a reputation of selling their best players just when they appear to hit their peak. Players like Fabregas, Nasri, Van Persie, Adebayor, Hleb, Toure etc., were all forced to leave Arsenal to realise their dreams of winning the big trophies. Will the current Arsenal players resist the temptation if (or when) big boys come calling? The vultures come circling. And this may well be another Groundhog Day for Arsenal. A glass half empty.

Aliyu wrote from Kano. He can be reached via aliyuyy@gmail.com.