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Premier League champions Manchester City should not risk injury doubt Kevin De Bruyne against leaders Liverpool on Thursday, according to captain Vincent Kompany.

The Belgium international missed the 3-1 defeat to Southampton due to a muscle problem, and has been absent for swathes of the campaign due to separate knee injuries.

Liverpool’s trip to the Etihad Stadium starts a run of seven games over 26 days for City and Kompany feels Pep Guardiola would be best off looking beyond the summit meeting this week.

Editors’ Picks

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• ‘Happy New Year Everyone’ – Ronaldo, Mbappe, Neymar and Modric celebrate the start of 2019

“We all know Kevin’s strengths and his ability to change a game,” he told Sky Sports.

“I really don’t know what physical state he is in.

“He seems to be alright but in a way I feel this season still has so much to offer.

“If I had to decide myself, what I would prefer is for Kevin to be fit for the rest of the season.

“Everybody is focused on Liverpool but there is much more we’ll need him for.”

De Bruyne faces a fitness test before his availability is determined for the visit of the Reds.

The former Chelsea and Wolfsburg star trained on Tuesday and underwent further checks on Wednesday and Guardiola confirmed that his condition is improving.

Jurgen Klopp is braced for De Bruyne to return but admitted that it would be a major boost to his side if the playmaker missed out.

“We can’t specially prepare for Kevin De Bruyne,” the German coach added.

“Missing a player like Kevin De Bruyne is a massive blow, unbelievable.

“He played only from time to time and he was unbelievably influential immediately.

“He scored fantastic goals, he’s just a world class player.

“I expected that he’s playing, I’m happy that he’s not seriously injured again, I said before that I was really happy when he was back.

“They have a lot of options, obviously, if he would play that would give them a massive boost, yes.”

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The start of 2019 was supposed to serve as the unofficial launch of the Christian Pulisic sweepstakes, what with a growing number of teams being linked with the 20-year-old American sensation.

Chelsea ended the contest before it had a chance to ever get going, though, making Borussia Dortmund a £58 million ($73m) offer that they simply couldn’t refuse. And now instead of a chase for Pulisic, the next six months will serve as a half-year engagement before Pulisic’s long-expected marriage to the Premier League becomes reality.

Being the subject of transfer talk had previously been Pulisic’s reality, ever since he made his Bundesliga debut as a 17-year-old in January 2016.

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• Ozil, Isco and 10 players who need a January transfer

It is easy to forget, though, that he arrived onto the scene in Germany with little fanfare and no expectations. Only true American soccer diehards knew about Pulisic’s budding talent before he made his first-team bow at Signal Iduna Park.

While he started out as a bit of a novelty, this fearless American teenager passed every test which came his way and now finds himself on his way to one of the world’s most high-profile clubs. Essentially, Pulisic is about to face more scrutiny than any American before him.

Was Chelsea the right move for Pulisic? It might seem like a silly question considering the riches his new contract are going to guarantee, but American soccer fans have seen enough players make lucrative transfers in Europe only to see their careers stall.

The hefty price paid for Pulisic won’t guarantee him a starting role, either, as Chelsea’s past spending history can attest, but the price does suggest it was an acquisition Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri was fully behind.

Salary alone wouldn’t have been enough to convince Pulisic to agree to leave Dortmund. There is obviously the appeal of playing for Sarri, a man who has forged a reputation as one of the best attacking soccer minds in Europe, a man who has also shown an ability to develop young talent.

Throw in the fact that Sarri’s preferred 4-3-3 system is one Pulisic is very familiar with, and well-suited to flourish in, and you begin to understand why Chelsea would be so eager to end the bidding before other European powers decided to get serious about joining the chase for Pulisic.

Sarri wants wide forwards who can take on defenders, but also combine well with team-mates, as well as press defensively. These are all characteristics that Pulisic has developed at Dortmund, and while Pulisic does not have the goal totals that will make anybody think he can be the second coming of Eden Hazard, Sarri is sure to have seen enough video of Pulisic to know he could be a perfect fit in his 4-3-3.

If Sarri was eager to find a dynamic and defensively honest young winger to eventually replace aging options Willian and Pedro Rodriguez, then he couldn’t have done much better than Pulisic.

Chelsea fans who aren’t too familiar with Pulisic will surely express concern over such a high price tag being paid for a player who is currently struggling for regular starts with Borussia Dortmund, but that would ignore the fact that Pulisic’s regular starting role has been taken over by English phenomenon Jaden Sancho.

It would also ignore the reality that Pulisic has still seen regular playing time, has been on a steady run of starting every other match, and started each of Dortmund’s past four Champions League group matches, suggesting that manager Lucien Favre hasn’t lost faith in Pulisic so much as he has settled on a squad rotation that has worked well for the current Bundesliga leaders.

Pulisic has already shown he can handle the big stage, having featured in three Champions League campaigns. He has faced Real Madrid four times in Europe, and delivered some impressive performances in those meetings.

He also showed well against Tottenham, a match Dortmund lost, but one in which Pulisic was a constant threat in the kind of game Chelsea fans would be wise to watch in order to better understand why he is such a highly-regarded prospect. 

It is that track record, and Pulisic’s ability to thrive against the toughest of challenges, that has driven his move to Chelsea even more than the obvious allure of marketing muscle.

Pulisic is the kind of player who could help Chelsea take the lead in the European soccer’s race to win over the lucrative American soccer market, and that marketing appeal clearly played some part in Chelsea’s final valuation of Pulisic.

It is no different than Juventus factoring in Cristiano Ronaldo jersey sales into their move for the Portuguese star. That is the reality of the modern game, but any suggestion that Chelsea’s motives were more about marketing than about Pulisic the player ignores both his impressive body of work over the past three years and the reality that he fits in well with what Chelsea and Sarri need.

It may feel like Pulisic is leaving Dortmund when his star is starting to fade at the club, but the reality is now is the time for him to go. He only had one more season left on his Dortmund contract after this current campaign, and once it became clear he had no intention of signing a new deal, the clock started ticking on Dortmund needing to sell.

You could argue that Pulisic should have been more patient, and signed a new deal with Dortmund to give him a few more years of seasoning before the move to England. As reasonable as that alternative may have been, you also can’t fault Pulisic for believing he is ready for a new challenge, especially after how much he has already been able to achieve before his 21st birthday.

The final verdict on whether joining Chelsea is the right move will be determined years from now, and it will be up to Pulisic to show he is worth the investment. He is no longer the unknown teenager shocking German soccer by thriving at such a young age.

Now he is the high-priced American heading to England to realise a dream, but also to face the challenge of proving he is worth every penny.

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Barcelona star Lionel Messi is almost at the level of Diego Maradona but Pele is the greatest of all time, according to Brazil legend Zico.

Messi is enjoying another wonderful season, having scored 15 times in as many games for the Catalan club in La Liga.

He is well on course to surpassing 30 goals in a single league season for an eighth time, while Barca are favourites to win the title and likely to be among the Champions League frontrunners.

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• ‘Ozil’s future is with Arsenal, end of story’ – Gunners star’s agent rejects exit talk
• The one position Man Utd, Arsenal & the Premier League’s top six can improve in
• ‘Happy New Year Everyone’ – Ronaldo, Mbappe, Neymar and Modric celebrate the start of 2019

The Argentina forward has won everything with Barca and has a record-tying five Ballons d’Or to his name.

Yet Zico – who starred for Brazil in the 1970s and 80s – thinks Messi is still not at the standard Maradona was in his heyday, while he ranks Pele above both because he had “everything”.

“Messi is close to Maradona,” Zico, who works as a director at Kashima Antlers, told Omnisport.

“That means, in my opinion, he can’t be compared to Pele. I still consider Maradona in front of Messi. With Pele, no. Pele has all the qualities and characteristic that a football player has to have.

“When God created him [Pele], he put every quality a footballer needs; speed, strength, impulse, technique, kicking ability, heading, dribbling – all of it, everything that a player might have.

“Few people could jump like him for a header. He is 170 centimetres tall. His foundations are perfect, [he had] mastery of the ball, [and mastery of] headers. He improved in every way. Everything you can imagine from a player, Pele has done it.”

Zico accepts Messi does possess most of the qualities needed by the very best, though he feels a lack of success on the international stage is a big part of what sets Pele and Maradona apart from him.

“[Messi has] almost everything, but he doesn’t have the World Cup titles that Pele has. This [means] a lot,” the Flamengo icon said.

“Because, I think Maradona played, like in our period, with a player in his back all the time. Maradona has done a lot for his clubs, as Messi does, and for the Argentina national team. Maradona was a world champion.

“Maradona has always stood out in the big competitions, and in a moment where Argentina was not a favourite with so many stars, like today, [when they have] high-level players in the big European teams.

“I think he didn’t play in a team like Messi plays in for Barcelona today. He didn’t have a [Gerard] Pique, an [Andres] Iniesta, a [Luis] Suarez, a Xavi or a Neymar beside him like Messi has today.”

Messi and Barcelona return to action on Sunday following the winter break in Spain as they take on Getafe.

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Paul Pogba has been named Manchester United’s Player of the Month for December following a spectacular upturn in form since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho.

Pogba’s performances for United had been the subject of great scrutiny due to his seemingly deteriorating relationship with Mourinho prior to the Portuguese’s exit on December 18.

The pair often seemed to be at loggerheads, with Mourinho saying Pogba would not be captain again under him at United earlier in the season, while the midfielder was dropped towards the end of the coach’s tenure.

Editors’ Picks

• Chelsea’s £58 million signing Pulisic can prove himself worth every penny
• ‘Ozil’s future is with Arsenal, end of story’ – Gunners star’s agent rejects exit talk
• The one position Man Utd, Arsenal & the Premier League’s top six can improve in
• ‘Happy New Year Everyone’ – Ronaldo, Mbappe, Neymar and Modric celebrate the start of 2019

Pogba was left on the bench for Mourinho’s final game, a 3-1 defeat at Liverpool, while he was also kept out of the starting XI for Premier League fixtures against Arsenal and Fulham.

But Solskjaer reinstated him for the 5-1 thrashing of Cardiff City in the Norwegian’s first match in charge, and reaped instant rewards.

 Say hello to our #MUFC Player of the Month for December: @PaulPogba ! pic.twitter.com/uYy8tL5SWG

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 2, 2019

The 25-year-old claimed two assists in that game, before scoring a brace in a 3-1 win over Huddersfield Town next time out.

He followed that up with another double and an assist in Sunday’s 4-1 triumph over Bournemouth, a display which led Solskjaer to suggest Pogba was at his best.

Marcus Rashford – who has also been excellent since Mourinho’s sacking – and Jesse Lingard were the other two in the running for the award.

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