This, after all, is a player who was sold with hoots of disbelieving laughter for a fee rising to a possible £50m in 2014, becoming the most expensive defender in the world – a record he still holds. How had Chelsea got so much? And what were Paris Saint-Germain doing signing a player whose greatest asset is arguably that he is instantly recognisable in silhouette? And then two years later, Chelsea decided they would spend 60% of that fee to get him back; that rather than looking to the future, rather than seeking a young talent they could craft to one day form an enduring partnership with Kurt Zouma, they would bring in the familiar, gaffe-prone devil they knew.
– Prior to his return for Chelsea against Liverpool on Friday night, Jonathan Wilson discussed David Luiz’s move back to the Premier League for The Guardian.
The demonstration, along with the way it came about, suggests to me that none of these people really know what they’re trying to say, nor do they really understand what Colin Kaepernick is protesting. Conflating a refusal to stand for the national anthem with being anti-military is the most painfully obtuse conclusion that could possibly be drawn from these actions.
– Jezebel’s Kara Brown examines the Seattle Seahawks’ gesture of unity ahead of their NFL season opener against the Miami Dolphins.
When the Football Manager club scout sent his rankings to the head of Norway operations, it raised a red flag. How could a 15-year old score so highly? The Norwegian chief went to see Odegaard play a dozen times before corroborating the data sent through to the London HQ, where it was again rejected as improbable. Dr Markham says Odegaard’s stats went through a dozen different checks before his astonishing grades were accepted. Recruitment is so important to professional clubs that the average Premier League team has 7 international scouts. But clubs don’t have the resources to cover players in every country – and many teams use Football Manager to inform their own scouting strategies, Dr Markham said.
– Insights into the data behind the football industry, both real and simulated, from the brains behind Football Manager, by Jonathan Sullivan for the BBC.
The days of the net-minder teeing it up, putting the head down and gritting his teeth as he let the ball go as long as he could for the big men in the centre field to fight over, died around the middle of the last decade. When he first emerged Cluxton, who practices his art relentlessly, knew that he could look up and aim towards Ciaran Whelan. The big Raheny man was likely to get the better of most men he was marking. But it didn’t take the 34-year-old secondary science teacher long to start adding new strings to his bow.
For RTÉ, Peter Sweeney looks at the importance of goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton to the Dublin senior footballers ahead of today’s All-Ireland final against Mayo.
Imagine living in a world where Mayo were All-Ireland champions. We would have to decommission the term marquee forward. Somebody call up the OED and tell them to get their Tipp-Ex out. From this point on, you only get to say “marquee forward” when you’re directing someone who is baloobas drunk around the Electric Picnic by the elbow. Mayo, God Help Us? That would have to go too. What would we do then? Roscommon, God Help Us doesn’t have the same ring. Galway, God Help Us sounds like a craft beer. One of those 6.3 per cent by volume ones that leaves you bent double over the bowl crying for your maker the following morning.
– Malachy Clerkin of the Irish Times tries to picture what life will be like if Mayo can finally end their All-Ireland famine today.
