Daill Mail - 08.08.2019

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Daily Mail, Thursday, August 8, 2019

Transfer Deadline Day

Stoke’s £2.5m bill

to ditch Berahino

Saints fans get shirty as

wait for new kit goes on

SOUTHAMPTON fans are growing

increasingly frustrated by the

lack of kit available to buy

before the start of the season,

and it may not be in the shops

until the end of the month.

The new strip is still only

available to pre-order, two days

before the club’s Premier

League campaign starts.

Southampton have publicly

attributed the delays to

problems with a ‘third party’,

and Sportsmail has learnt that

the issue surrounds the logos on

the shirts peeling off, meaning

they are not fit to be sold.

Although Under Armour is the

club’s official kit manufacturer,

the ‘embellishment process’ —

where logos are printed on

shirts — was delayed due to the

late signing of Southampton’s

shirt sponsorship deal with

Chinese firm LD Sports.

The kit issues are likely to have

a big impact on the club’s

overall merchandise sales and

sources have indicated that it is

unlikely the shirts will be ready

for this weekend, suggesting the

middle to the end of August is

more realistic.

In a statement, the club

apologised to supporters and

added: ‘We understand your

frustration and we’re doing

everything in our power to

make the kits available to

purchase as quickly as possible.’

By LAURA LAMBERT

STOKE have scrapped plans to

sack Saido Berahino — and are

instead footing a bill of close to

£2.5million to release the striker.

The Potters appeared set to

tear up the former England Under

21 star’s contract without

severance money earlier this year

amid the fall-out over his drink-

driving case.

But Stoke chiefs have aban-

doned the notion of sacking Bera-

hino and agreed to pay him just

under half of the £5million remain-

ing on his playing deal.

The player was banned from

driving for 30 months and fined

£75,000 for being three times over

the legal alcohol limited when he

was stopped by police in London

in February.

Magistrates convicted the former

West Bromwich Albion forward,

despite being told he was only

driving to escape a gang of armed

robbers.

The Stoke hierarchy believed

they could sack him on grounds of

gross misconduct — but it became

clear that would not be possible,

particularly when details of

Berahino’s claims that he was

fleeing the armed gang had

emerged.

Berahino, 26, scored only five

goals after joining from West

Brom for £12million in January 2015

and can now focus on rebuilding

his future away from Champion-

ship club Stoke. He has trained

with Belgian club Zulte Waregem

and played in a pre-season friendly

for French side Nimes. Both clubs

are interested in signing him.

A Stoke statement read: ‘Stoke

City can confirm Saido Berahino

has today left the club by mutual

agreement.’

EXCLUSIVE

By SAMI MOKBEL

Moving on: Berahino GETTY IMAGES

From Back Page

Training spats have upset Lampard

defender to force through a

move to the Emirates Stadium.

Chelsea were yesterday

awaiting a formal offer from

Arsenal, who are hopeful of

securing the 32-year-old for as

little as £5million.

Despite being left a central

defender short — and without

the option of signing a

replacement due to their

transfer ban — Chelsea are

willing to let Luiz leave. The club

broke their policy of only

offering players over the age of

30 one-year extensions by

offering Luiz a two-year deal

earlier this year.

But despite that commitment,

the defender is determined to

leave and has not hidden his

feelings at the club’s training

base. Indeed, Luiz has been at

the centre of a number of spats

in recent days — irking Frank

Lampard and his backroom

team, who have been at pains to

nurture a united atmosphere

since their arrival this summer.

The Chelsea manager, who is

clearly unwilling to let anyone

damage team spirit, is

understood to have made his

stance clear.

The final decision over whether

Luiz is allowed to go will be

made by director Marina

Granovskaia.

INSIGHT

BY

MARTIN

KEOWN

Arsenal

must walk

away. He is

too high risk

IF I was at Arsenal and

had the ear of Unai Emery,

I would be advising my

manager not to sign David

Luiz. Walk away from this

deal. This is not the

defender for you. It’s too

high risk. Yes, Arsenal

want a centre back, but is

Luiz the answer to their

prayers? I don’t think so.

The way the 32-year-old

plays, he would be

exposed in that Arsenal

defence. He would not get

the same protection he

enjoys at Chelsea, where

N’Golo Kante patrols in

front of the back line.

In possession, Luiz is a

wonderful passer, but he

makes mistakes when

playing as part of a

back four. He has a

tendency to lose his

marker and is one of those

all-or-nothing players —

if he doesn’t win the ball

in a challenge, then

congratulations

because you’re in.

Luiz is clearly a

big personality.

Maybe Emery

(right) thinks

he can control

the Brazilian

— they crossed

paths at Paris

Saint-Germain

— but him missing

first-team training

with Chelsea yesterday is

a red flag. Let’s not forget

that Arsenal have just

been forced to sell a

player to Bordeaux who

did this to them. Laurent

Koscielny was club

captain and always came

across as a good egg, but

he still made sure he got

his move. He refused to

take part in their pre-

season tour of the United

States.

That showed how even

the most well-balanced

player is prepared to rock

the boat in a bid to get his

way. Do Arsenal really

want to be on the

receiving end of someone

willing to kick up a similar

fuss now?

That’s why I question

whether Luiz is suitable

for Emery. As for Chelsea,

all eyes are now on Frank

Lampard. How do you

react? We know the

Chelsea dressing room

can be a difficult place.

Previous manager

Maurizio Sarri suggested

that last season when he

accused certain players of

being impossible to

motivate. Was Luiz one of

those? Has Lampard

picked up on that since

arriving? Did they clash

before or after Chelsea’s

final pre-season friendly

against Borussia

Monchengladbach,

when Luiz was an

unused

substitute?

We aren’t privy

to everything

that goes on

behind the

scenes. Either

way, this is a big

test for Lampard

so early in the job.

Chelsea’s options in

central defence are

limited. They have Kurt

Zouma, Andreas

Christensen and Antonio

Rudiger, who is injured.

So on the one hand, they

could do with keeping

Luiz. On the other,

Lampard will not want a

disruptive force in his

dressing room as he

tackles his first season in

the Premier League.

Luiz signed a two-year

contract with Chelsea in

May — a move which

broke the club’s policy of

handing players aged 30

or over one-year deals

only. Now, it looks like he

has heard a whisper about

another club wanting him

and is happy to jump ship.

Let’s see how Lampard

handles this situation.

Everton line up Iwobi

in case Zaha deal fails

Palace’s refusal to sell following

Everton’s huge offers.

Having rejected a £40m bid from

Arsenal, Palace have snubbed

£52m from Everton along with

cash-plus-player deals, the

highest being £70m plus Cenk

Tosun and James McCarthy.

McCarthy is set to join Palace in

a separate deal, and Everton

are interested in Arsenal’s

Alex Iwobi, posing a

double threat to Zaha’s

hopes of a move —

though Everton are

readying yet another bid

to prise him away.

In an attempt to accelerate

his exit Zaha, who was on a

day off yesterday, travelled

to the club and asked

to be allowed to

leave. Palace are uncertain if

Zaha (below) will ramp up his

attempts to leave before today’s

5pm deadline. He wants a new

challenge and senior figures at

the club had accepted this

summer was the right time to let

Zaha go. But Parish has decided

he can’t let him leave, having

already sold Aaron Wan-Bissaka

to Manchester United.

Everton boss Marco Silva is

determined to reinforce his

attack today and Everton have

had a £30m bid for Iwobi

rejected. They are expected

to return with a new offer for

the 23-year-old. Palace are

finalising a loan move for

Real Betis midfielder Victor

Camarasa and have made an

improved £23m bid for

CSKA Moscow striker

Fedor Chalov.

From Back Page

SO, WOULD HE

BE AN UPGRADE?

HERE’S how David Luiz compared to

Arsenal’s current first-choice centre

backs last season...

LUIZ MUSTAFI SOKRATIS

Games 36 31 25

Tackle

success 76% 73% 60%

Clearances 144 161 108

Interceps. 35 58 26

Errors leading

to goals 1 1 0

Dribbled past 7 9 13

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