Sports news

Liverpool are set to be handed a major injury boost by the end of the week, with Trent Alexander-Arnold ready to step up his return from a calf problem.

The England international limped off against Manchester City almost a month ago, leaving manager Jurgen Klopp with a major injury headache, given the ongoing unavailability of Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and many, many others.

Neco Williams and James Milner have deputised at right-back in the interim, but Alexander-Arnold now looks to be closing on a return to action after The Athletic’s James Pearce revealed that he’s expected to be back in training by the end of the week.

Alexander-Arnold is unlikely to feature against Wolves this weekend, but Klopp – speaking prior to the Reds’ victory over Ajax in the Champions League – did hint (via the Metro) that a return to action is edging closer.

“They [Alexander-Arnold, Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri] are all getting closer to being back,” he revealed. “I saw him today on the pitch doing his rehab stuff outside so that looks good but I cannot deiced when this rehab stuff is finished, I take the players when I get the green light.”

News of Alexander-Arnold’s impending return had obviously lightened Klopp’s mood after an extraordinary post-match rant at the weekend. The German laid into BT Sport’s Des Kelly after Milner was forced off against Brighton with a hamstring injury, offering his ‘congratulations’ that Liverpool’s hectic schedule had resulted in another problem for one of his players. The game finished 1-1.

Consequently, Williams played the full 90 minutes against Ajax as Curtis Jones punished Andre Onana’s mistake to claim the game’s only goal, sealing the Reds’ place in the last 16 of the Champions League.

As soon as Alexander-Arnold is fit, an immediate return to the starting lineup is likely. The 22-year-old has combined with fellow full-back Andrew Robertson to directly contribute to 22 goals this calendar year, though he’s yet to fire on all cylinders during the 2020/21 campaign.

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It’s the most wonderful time of the yeaaaarrrrrr…unless you’re an Arsenal supporter.

On the pitch, the Gunners have made the worst start to a season since 1982, and all of those hopes and expectations that reached a crescendo after winning the FA Cup in August have come crashing back down to earth with a bump.

Thirteen points from ten games have left the Arsenal faithful feeling more Grinch than Elf, but there is still time to turn this Christmas into a merry little one. After all, if John McClane can save the day from Hans Gruber, anything is possible.

And yes, DIE HARD IS A CHRISTMAS FILM!

Anyway, what better way to forget all about football and to embrace the festive cheer, than by buying football-related merchandise from Kitbag or UK Soccer Shop to gift to your Arsenal-supporting loved ones? Foolproof, right? So, let’s get stuck into it you filthy animals!

Starting off with the obvious, and every football fan’s weakness – the replica shirt. I think we are all in agreement when we say that Arsenal absolutely nailed it with their kits this season, with each one resembling a work of art.

So, it makes sense that the item at the top of every Gooner’s wish list is this home shirt, which could be yours for only £81. It’s on sale right now for even less than that, so you’ve got to act fast!

There was always one kid at school who turned up in a goalkeeper’s jersey, while everyone else was rocking their favourite outfield player’s shirt.

It has to be said though, Arsenal have killed it with their goalkeeper strip this season, and if your kid wants to pull this one on for mufti day, you can hardly blame them!

Want to buy somebody the snazzy, bruised banana Arsenal jersey from 1991, but don’t really like them enough to splash out on an actual shirt? Well, guess what? You can just go and get a keyring of the glorious shirt for only £8.95!

This way, Gooners can recognise one another swiftly and discretely, by flashing a cheeky glimpse of their keys across the tube station. It’s so much more practical than a real jersey!

If you’ve got some important business meetings coming up on Zoom, and you need to dress your top half accordingly, then these classy Arsenal cufflinks are a must-have!

Stainless steel and only £35, you’d be crazy not to shirt up and pyjama down with these stunning accessories.

How about this little bargain then? The days of boring, neutral mouse mats are long gone everyone, it’s time for your mouse to pick a side!

Mice may love cheese, but there is nothing cheesy about this wonderful interpretation of Arsenal’s 1988 home jersey. Get it while it’s cheap.

For those of us who have moved on from mouse mat technology, and do just about everything on your mobile phones, you might be more keen on this little gift.

Get your hands on this phone case for your iPhone or Samsung, paying tribute to the famous 1984 away jersey. Can’t go wrong for a little stocking filler.

If you’re feeling a little bit more generous, then this is exactly the kind of present your five-a-side playing niece or nephew deserves. This Arsenal Icons jersey in the classic yellow combines the colours of the Gunners with the adidas stripes, culminating in a bit of a masterpiece.

Wear this to your next football gathering, and you’ll be the talk of the town. For the collectors among us, this is a bargain at £50.

Then again, this might not be the year to be forking out huge sums of money on jerseys for a relative you see once a year, so I’m sure they’d also love this fancy Arsenal mug!

Once again sporting the 1988 jersey, you can sip your tea with pride while watching Arsenal concede a third at home to Brighton next year, knowing you’ve got the best drinking vessel in Europe.

What good is a swanky new mug though, if you’ve got nowhere to put it?! Fear not folks, we’ve got that one covered, too.

There is literally no better double-present combo (for less than a tenner) than adding this set of retro coasters to your basket and partnering them with the retro mug. Retro is cool. Mugs are cool. Coasters are cool. Cool.

The best way to celebrate the Chinese New Year, is by seeing it in while wearing this slick, black Arsenal jacket.

Be the envy of all your pals by asking for this fancy number, sporting the Gunners’ crest, snap closures and a phoenix emblem on the arm.

Do you want your child to become the next Ian Wright, but you’re getting pretty tired of fetching the ball from the bushes as it flies between your jumpers for goalposts?

Boy, do we have the solution for you! For the measly price of £27.50, you can buy a fantastic pop-up target goal for your child prodigy to practice their finishing! No brainer.

How much do you really love your family? How much do you really love Arsenal? Enough to spend £830 on some signed shirts? Absolutely! And these are not just any old signed shirts.

A trio of Arsenal legends, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires have all touched these jerseys with their pens, and you can have them framed for under £1,000. It’s such a steal, you could probably throw a mouse mat in with this one, too!

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Joan Laporta has announced his intention to run for the Barcelona presidency and succeed Josep Maria Bartomeu.

Bartomeu resigned in October, dropping a bombshell about proposals for a European Super League as he exited. The election to determine his replacement takes place on 24 January.

Laporta is one of eight candidates for the post, alongside Victor Font, Toni Freixa, Agusti Benedito, Jordi Farre, Lluis Fernandez Ala, Xavier Vilajoana and Pere Riera. Here’s everything you need to know about him.

This would not be Laporta’s first stint as Barcelona president, having previously been at the helm between 2003 and 2010.

He oversaw a glittering period in the club’s history, as Barcelona stormed to four La Liga titles and two Champions League triumphs. The club became synonymous with reaping success with a cluster of home grown talent at the core, and Laporta was the man responsible for hiring a virtually un-tried and un-tested Pep Guardiola in 2008.

Barcelona subsequently enjoyed the finest season in the club’s history in 2008/09, finishing the year with a record six trophies. They are widely regarded as one of the greatest club sides of all time.

When running for the Barcelona presidency in 2003, Laporta was initially considered an outsider.

However, he won favour with his charisma and promise to bring Manchester United star David Beckham to Camp Nou.

Laporta eventually beat the favourite Lluís Bassat to the presidency, and Beckham joined Real Madrid. The new president compromised by signing Ronaldinho instead.

Despite the huge success Barcelona enjoyed during Laporta’s tenure, he was not always universally popular.

In June 2005, five members of the Barcelona board resigned, accusing Laporta of abusing his power as president.

Later that year, his brother-in-law Alejandro Echevarria – another member of the Barcelona board – was forced to resign after it emerged that he was a member of the Francisco Franco Foundation – an organisation which promotes support for controversial Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, a man not well liked in Catalonia due to the suppression of Catalan culture during his regime.

Laporta himself is a Catalan nationalist and a supporter of Catalonia independence. He has been accused of allowing his own political allegiances to interfere with the running of the club.

Laporta also faced a vote of no confidence shortly before hiring Pep Guardiola in the summer of 2008 after Barcelona had finished third in La Liga during the 2007/08 season, 18 points behind rivals Real.

Barcelona have long prided themselves on being the ‘people’s club’, and for the first 107 years of their history, they never had a shirt sponsor.

Laporta was the man to first introduce a name on the front of a Barcelona shirt, when in 2006 the club signed a five-year agreement with UNICEF and donated €1.5m to the charity.

The club have since made their first foray into commercial sponsors, signing a deal with the Qatar Foundation in 2011 – a move which prompted criticism from Laporta.

Upon announcing he intended to run for Barcelona presidency once more, Laporta has pledged to reinstate the club’s famous La Masia academy back to its former glory under the slogan of “You’ll Never Walk Alone’.

He has also talked up his ‘relationship of mutual respect’ with wantaway talisman Lionel Messi, and revealed his desire to bring Guardiola back to Camp Nou when he first announced his intention to stand in May – although Guardiola has since signed a new contract at Manchester City.

Fa 14 anys #undiacomavui el #Barça va guanyar la Champions a París. La primera d’aquest gran equip.

21.000 culers a l’estadi, un bon rival, remuntem el partit, Puyol aixecant la copa, la celebració… un dia meravellós!

Sempre ens quedarà París…
?❤️?⚽️ pic.twitter.com/cD09HoGQiV

— Joan Laporta Estruch? (@JoanLaportaFCB) May 17, 2020

Laporta is the ex-boyfriend with absolutely no chill on social media whatsoever.

A quick trawl through his Instagram and Twitter accounts will show you he posts about nearly nothing else.

A throwback to the 2006 Champions League winning team on that all important 14-year anniversary? Of course. Retweeting endless Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola fan boy tweets? You bet.

There’s having the occasional, guilty, subtle social media stalk of your ex, and then there’s tweeting nostalgically about the former good times every day despite breaking up over a decade ago. You can’t fault his commitment.

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With a surprising golden generation of English players emerging in recent years, there was always likely to be a few who went under the radar.

18-year-old left-back Matthew Bondswell is one of them.

One of a number of English players to head to the Bundesliga in search of a fast-track to first-team game time, the RB Leipzig man was sent on loan to the Netherlands in the summer.

His performances for second-tier FC Dordrecht have been so impressive that the young defender has been linked with a move to Premier League sides Chelsea and West Ham.

Here’s everything you need to know about Bondswell…

Bondswell is a Nottingham Forest academy graduate, following in the footsteps of the likes of Michael Dawson, Jermaine Jenas, Matty Cash, Marlon Harewood and Premier League winner Wes Morgan.

He joined the club aged eight and spent eight years at the club before moving to Germany to pursue regular football and a new footballing education.

After leaving Nottingham Forest in 2018 Bondswell signed for Bundesliga side RB Leipzig, who have a fantastic reputation for bringing through young players.

He joined up with the Leipzig academy and spent two years with the youth teams before going out on loan this season to the Dutch Eerste Divisie.

An explosive left-back, Bondswell is a modern full-back who is excellent going forward but defensively needs work.

Currently he relies a lot on his pace, whether it’s offensively or defensively, and Leipzig are hopeful that his loan move will help him improve positionally before returning to the Bundesliga next summer.

In another world, the 18-year-old could have swapped studs for spikes after representing Nottinghamshire in athletics events.

Bondswell won a silver medal in the triple jump at the English Schools Track and Field Championships in the summer of 2017 and took gold in the same discipline at country and schools level. He also represented Nottinghamshire schools in the 200m sprint event too.

While coming through the Nottingham Forest academy, Bondswell was linked to a lot of top Premier League clubs.

The likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham were touted but it was Manchester United who were most heavily speculated as a possible destination for a professional contract.

As it turned out, he rejected the offer of the Old Trafford side and his beloved Forest to follow in the path of Jadon Sancho by moving to the Bundesliga.

Highly-rated throughout his time in Nottingham Forest’s academy, he has been representing England since the ripe old age of 14. He was even part of the England Under-17 squad that won the Syrenka Cup in 2019 by beating Poland on penalties.

He didn’t feature in the final of that but was part of the travelling party along with the likes of Harvey Elliot, Jude Bellingham and Jamal Musiala.

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Just five months after winning La Liga, Zinedine Zidane’s reign at Real Madrid could be coming to an end.

The French legend is on the verge of crashing out of the Champions League at the group stages, while currently sitting seven points off the top of the league table following just four wins in their last 11 games in all competitions.

With reports coming out that Real Madrid are considering sacking Zizou, 90min ranks the possible candidates who could take over.

During his career at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger was linked constantly with a move to the Bernabeu. He’s revealed since leaving the Emirates Stadium that he in fact turned them down on more than one occasion, but could Real try and bring him in again?

He currently has a role as FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development and has mentioned as recently as October that he is unsure if he’d manage a football team again.

Football has moved on from Wenger now, and that includes Real Madrid.

Likelihood Rating: 2/10

A high profile name who’s out of a job, Sarri left Juventus in the summer despite being crowned champions of Serie A.

His methods are very meticulous and old school, and he struggled during his time at Chelsea and Juventus to get the top players on side. He tends to stick to his philosophy no matter what and that doesn’t really suit at a club as big as Madrid, where simply winning isn’t enough.

Suitability Rating: 3/10

Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel has developed a decent reputation, but has struggled to live up to expectations placed on him at Paris Saint-Germain this season.

Despite winning the league every year since joining and reaching the Champions League final last season, it hasn’t been so rosy this campaign.

PSG have been iffy in their group and could very well leave the competition in the group stages alongside Madrid, which would almost certainly see him sacked. Madrid could look to move in for the coach who thrives on attacking football but with their obsession also being European success, it would be an odd move to say the least.

Likelihood Rating: 3/10

There’s a bit of a trend across Europe right now with hiring inexperienced managers that were once legendary players, which was ironically probably started by Real Madrid hiring Zidane.

Guti has previously been the manager of Madrid’s youth team and was most recently manager of second tier Spanish side Almeria, but he was sacked in June for underperforming.

While he might be loved at the Bernabeu, he’d be a stop-gap at absolute best (remember Santiago Solari?).

Likelihood Rating: 4/10

The club’s greatest academy product ever, Raul is as big a legend as anyone that has ever worn the famous white jersey of Real Madrid.

He sits in second place behind Cristiano Ronaldo as the club’s highest ever goalscorer, and has been relatively successful as a manager in the youth ranks too. He is the current manager of the Castilla team, and last season also filled in as the Under-19’s manager, leading them to glory in the UEFA Youth League.

Much like Guti, he’d probably be a better short-term replacement, but he has a bit more success behind him should they fancy taking a chance.

Likelihood Rating: 5/10

One of the hottest coaching prospects in Europe, Nagelsmann is at that point now where he will be an outside shout for every big job that becomes available.

His attacking style and ability to bring through young players fits well with Madrid’s expectations and current squad building, and he likely wouldn’t demand too big a wage or severance package.

He took RB Leipzig to the Champions League semi-finals last season and is competing with PSG and Man Utd this year in a tough group, so Madrid could look to tap into his potential in what would prove a shrewd decision.

Likelihood Rating: 7/10

The most decorated manager on this list and he’s without a club.

Allegri left Juventus in the summer of 2019 after winning five consecutive Serie A titles, having also lost two Champions League finals. His style of football isn’t the most attractive, which could go against him, but he has proven to be a top manager domestically and in Europe.

Available immediately, a big name and has the adaptability to get the best out of a squad given to him with youth and experience, Allegri is a very good shout for the job.

Likelihood Rating: 8/10

The obvious choice for the position and the current favourite to get it, Mauricio Pochettino will surely be the one they want.

His attractive style, his availability and his reputation all suit and he is arguably the best fit. He dislikes Barcelona too which will immediately endear him to the fans, and his run to the Champions League final with Tottenham shows he can compete with Europe’s best.

He’s proven, is ready for a top job and is clearly waiting for a specific project, so Madrid should move in before any of the other underperforming top clubs do.

Likelihood Rating: 10/10

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