Hello good people, hope you’re all loving the World Cup?
I certainly am, been some brilliant football and the tournament really is heating up! I’ve been so engrossed I almost forgot we’re in the middle of a Premier League season, what’s more, there’s loads of stuff going on, especially as we’re also just a few weeks away from the January transfer window.
Couple of the big speculative stories that are poking around the back pages: Declan Rice really let the cat out of the bag ahead of England’s game against Senegal by stating: “I see my friends here, who are playing Champions League and for big trophies.
“You only get one career and at the end you want to look back at what you’ve won and the biggest games you’ve played in.”
I mean if that aint a goodbye to West Ham, what is? I think the kid’s a bit overrated, but he’s good and would be a great addition to any Premier League side.
It’s no secret that he’d love to go to Chelsea, and with N’golo Kante on his last legs, it would make absolute sense.
Sticking with Chelsea and Calciomercato journalist Daniele Longo claims that the Blues are still in the mix to sign Ronaldo who’s apparently “very tempted” at the possible opportunity to stay in the Premier League.
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly was reportedly keen on signing Ronaldo in the summer but coach at the time, Thomas Tuchel, disagreed.
Onto bigger matters and its being widely reported that a joint Saudi-Qatari consortium have emerged as strong early contenders to buy Liverpool.
BREAKING Fenway Sports Group have had a massive bid to buy Liverpool FC. £3.2B, believed to be a Middle Eastern partnership 🇶![CDATA[]]>🇦 🇸![CDATA[]]>🇦 #LFC pic.twitter.com/jIaZaZwQOm
— InJurgenWeTrust (@Kay__Gee) December 5, 2022
Their initial bid is expected to be worth around £3.2bn (R65bn) and are in a strong position. However, it’s far from a done deal as Liverpool owners (the Fenway Sports Group) are weighing up offers from unnamed consortiums based in Germany and America!
Of even more importance and really upsetting to all of us who have been brought up on football is the awful news that legendary Brazil forward Pele has been moved to palliative care.
According to media in Brazil the former Brazil international’s chemotherapy has been suspended and he is now undergoing measures aimed at relieving pain and shortness of breath.
The 82-year-old has been receiving treatment for colon cancer, having undergone surgery to remove a tumour in September 2021.
How sad… one of the greatest players and characters in the game being taken like that. One of the pioneers of skilful football, someone who brought beauty into the Beautiful game.
Back to the World Cup and yeah, as predicted, and history tells us it aint hard to predict, despite some glorious ‘underdog’ moments, the ‘big boys’ are all moving through in the knockout stage… England, France, Argentina and Holland the first four to hit quarterfinals.
Senegal’s performance was particularly disappointing. And even more so for me, because I had bet on ‘over 3.5 goals’.
Jude Bellingham stars as England ease past Senegal to set up a quarter-final showdown with the defending #FIFAWorldCup champions France 🔥
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) December 4, 2022
📺 Stream the wrap live: https://t.co/Tg69y0EeUL pic.twitter.com/eVH5MXWTWN
After an hour the Three Lions were 3-0 up and I was already planning what to do with my winnings. But Gareth Southgate made a bunch of changes, which included Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden, who were livewires for England and the last half hour kind of fell away regarding the possibility of more goals.
I think that says a lot about the current England squad. Ok, they didn’t need to push to score, but you could see they were trying, and simply not connecting.
Moving forward in the tournament that might be quite telling.
As mentioned, England could win the trophy, but can they get past France? Not sure I’ll be dropping a couple of Rand on that outcome! Ladies and gents, enjoy it, chat next week, bye byeeee.