Just like three-and-a-half years ago, Matic is about to bring balance to a Mourinho side and bring big-game pedigree, this time to United's midfield. Matic could be decisive in the showpiece matches when United field a midfield triumvirate and United supporters will hope for performances similar to that Monday masterclass at City in 2014. Matic was indomitable and Chelsea's...

Everton midfielder Ross Barkley will have to lower his wage demands to join Tottenham, who are not willing to pay the £120,000-a-week wages the 23-year-old England international turned down at Goodison Park. The Toffees are also prepared to hold out for a fee of £35m for Barkley, despite him having less than 12 months on his contract. Barcelona will...

Antonio Conte has often stated that he won the title with 13 players — their starting XI Cesc Fabregas and Willian — but, like all managers plotting a European campaign, he longs for two first-teamers for each position. Chief among Conte's concerns has been a transfer window which leaves him with a dearth of realistic first-team options. Eden Hazard and...

MATIC DETAIL We understand the fee for Nemanja Matic's move to Manchester United will be around £40m. Sky sources: Chelsea are letting him join United as a goodwill gesture because of his contribution to two titles in three years. They would have preferred to sell him to Juventus, but the Serb wants to go to United. Working again with Jose Mourinho again...

“A  year  at  Barcelona  is  like  two  anywhere  else”  –  Victor  Valdes   The  problems  only  started  to  become  clear.  Recruitment  being  a  obvious  one.  Apart  from  Neymar  and Luis  Suarez,  Barcelona’s  recent  transfers  have  been  expensive  failures;  Arda  Turan,  Andre  Gomes,  Vidal and  Paco  Alcacer  have  failed  to  make  much,  if  any  impact. Since  the  World  War  2,  only  two  Barcelona managers  ever  stayed ...

After reading Carlo Garganese’s coy attempt at reducing what Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have given to the footballing universe blessed enough to witness them in full flow to a number of ‘lucky’ coincidences and luck of the draw as regards the era that they find themselves playing in. I thought I might take a crack at correcting the...

"Attack wins games, defence wins titles" Sir Alex Ferguson   The quote above may be explained as discussing a whole and not parts of a football ecosystem  i.e. all the players on a soccer field tasked with some form of defensive duty regardless of position or role. But it also applies where the focus is on the parts; those whose traditional...

Currently, the Madrid Reserves’ team that Zidane continues to deny is a ‘B team’, have smashed 13 goals in their past 3 matches and look unstoppable. They are better than many starting eleven of genuinely decent teams around the world and boast of premium attacking talent. Of course, the main problem with any remotely good B-team is that it...

Agṓn have entered into a beneficial partnership with Cone Sports Limited, an indigenous sports kits brand founded in the year 2000. Cone Sports Limited, in its seventeen (17) years of business has had (and still has) partnerships and been responsible for producing merchandise for some of the NPFL’s (Nigerian Professional Football League) most visible teams - Kano Pillars FC, Shooting...

Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima ‘Il Fenomeno’ the boyish grin that had defenders in tears. Ronaldo had it all! Aesthetics – watching Ronaldo at his peak was an astonishing experience, comparable to viewing artwork by Michaelangelo or Picasso or listening to a concerto piece co-written by Mozart and Beethoven leaving not only opponents but some people on his own...