The Football Observatory has updated their list of the most valuable players in the world and it has a very English flavor to it, with seven of the top 10 players either being English or they play in the Premier League.
That is a huge turnaround from even three years ago, when the list was dominated by La Liga stars.
The three most valuable players are all forwards: Kylian Mbappé (€252M), Mohammed Salah (€219M) and Raheem Sterling (€208M).
La Liga has made a lot of headlines this summer, and many for the wrong reason. The main talking points have been Atletico Madrid and Barcelona’s legal dispute over Antoine Griezmann’s transfer, Eden Hazard’s eventual move to Real Madrid, Nabil Fekir’s shock decision to join Real Betis and Valencia managing to keep hold of their boss Marcelino Garcia Toral after a turbulent summer.
Despite the transfer window remaining open, the focus now switches back to the football and it promises to be one of the most intriguing seasons in recent years.
One of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Virgil van Dijk will be named UEFA Men’s Player of the Year after making the three-man shortlist.
The winner will be announced – alongside the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year – during the Champions League group stage draw on Thursday, August 29.
Van Dijk is up for the award following a fine time of late with Liverpool, playing an influential role as they won the Champions League before going on to win the UEFA Super Cup against Chelsea on Wednesday evening.
When Zinedine Zidane took over Real Madrid in March last season he had 11 games left to lift the club and lay the foundations for this coming campaign.
He was unable to do so. There were five wins, two draws and four defeats, and never any clear sign of the direction he wanted to take.
His record was worse than his predecessor Santiago Solari, who during 17 games in charge, won 12, drew one, and lost four.
This pre-season Zidane has taken charge of seven matches and Madrid have finished the summer with a worse ‘points’ ratio tally than any of the 20 clubs set to kick-off the new La Liga season this weekend.
Alexis Sanchez wants a Manchester United escape over the next fortnight in pursuit of first-team football.
The Chilean, who trained with the United squad on Wednesday, has made just four Premier League starts since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over last December.
Solskjaer insisted last week that he expects Sanchez to stay at Old Trafford but the 30-year-old has an eye on Italy before the European transfer window closes on September 2.
Sanchez’s agent, Fernando Felicevich, met with Juventus earlier in the summer, while Napoli and AC Milan also hold an interest.
Jurgen Klopp hailed stand-in goalkeeper Adrian as Liverpool’s very own Rocky Balboa as he delivered the knock-out blow in Istanbul.
The goalkeeper, who only joined the European Champions 11 days ago, saved Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham’s penalty in a tense shoot-out to emerge as the hero as Liverpool added the UEFA Super Cup to their euphoric Champions League win in Madrid in June.
Adrian arrived at Anfield as understudy to undisputed No 1 Alisson Becker, but the Brazilian’s calf tear suffered during the opening day win over Norwich has opened the door to the Spaniard.
Frank Lampard has bemoaned Chelsea’s narrow UEFA Super Cup defeat by Liverpool on Wednesday night and expressed his unhappiness at the fact that Jurgen Klopp’s side had two extra days to prepare.
Chelsea were a far cry from the side who were humbled by a ruthless Manchester United on Sunday and for long spells looked the better side in Istanbul.
The match ultimately went down to the lottery of a shootout, and Lampard admitted it had been hard for his side to take the defeat but added that he had seen plenty of positives in the performance.
Liverpool won the Super Cup for the fourth time in their history by beating Chelsea 5-4 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in Istanbul.
Goalkeeper Adrian kept out Tammy Abraham’s spot kick to secure victory for the Champions League winners.
Chelsea had taken the lead in the first half through Olivier Giroud’s clinical strike but Sadio Mane scored twice to give Liverpool the lead.
Jorginho’s spot-kick took the game to penalties, where Liverpool triumphed.
The win comes just two months after Jurgen Klopp won his first trophy as Liverpool boss when he led the Reds to a 2-0 win over Tottenham in the Champions League final.
Frank Lampard has launched a staunch defence of his Chelsea youth policy ahead of the UEFA Super Cup final against Liverpool.
The Blues boss has already shown he is not afraid of giving the club’s academy talent a chance to shine – selecting Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham in his starting XI that lost 4-0 to Manchester United on Sunday.
The manner of the defeat has raised questions over Lampard’s willingness to give Chelsea’s youngsters further opportunities – but the Chelsea legend insists the likes of Mount and Abraham deserve their chance.
Most neutral observers expected FIFA to hand Manchester City a two window transfer ban for breaches relating to the international transfer and registration of players under the age of 18. That is what Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Chelsea all received.
But when you are dealing with state run teams the rules are different and Manchester City have instead been hit with a £315,000 fine and no transfer ban.
City was found to have breached, amongst others, article 19 of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players.
A Fifa statement read:
