The Sunday Times April 24, 2022 11Declan Rice could bring the
dynamism missing from the
midfields of Chelsea, who he faces
today, and Manchester United’s
midfields. Manchester City are set to
land Erling Haaland as the centre
forward they failed to sign last
summer. Arsenal and Tottenham’s
new arrivals may depend on which of
them finishes in the top four and
Eddie Howe’s initial signings for
Newcastle United will have
encouraged their Saudi owners to
sanction more spending. It promises
to be an interesting summer window.MANCHESTER CITY
They got it wrong in the summer.
They should have prioritised Harry
Kane and not gone for Jack Grealish.
You should keep your powder dry to
land your No 1 necessity, which was a
striker capable of scoring 20-plus
goals per season. With Kane, City
would be out of sight by now in the
league. Haaland is cheaper — he has a
buyout clause of €75 million — and
younger than Kane and I’d be amazed
if a deal has not been done by now,
wherever he’s going. But, if it’s City,
can he settle straightaway in the
Premier League, which is more
demanding than the Bundesliga?
I know Zlatan Ibrahimovic didn’t
work out for Pep Guardiola at
Barcelona, but Haaland’s a different
animal. He is a rampaging old-style
centre forward with a bit of
everything in his game. He wants to
run without the ball, which is a
dream for those behind him.
City got it wrong last summer by
signing Grealish from Aston Villa. To
commit £100 million on an area that
didn’t need strengthening — they
already had Raheem Sterling,
Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and
Phil Foden — was a mistake. You can’t
say Grealish has made a difference.
The Grealish fee also sets a
precedent if City come calling for a
player. If you’re selling, you would
always ask for more than you value
the player at because you know clubs
like City, and Newcastle now, have
deep wallets.MANCHESTER UNITED
The priority for United will be
midfield. They must get more energy
in there, players who are willing to do
the hard yards. Nemanja Matic lacks
the intensity to play the way the
modern game demands, while Paul
Pogba just didn’t have the appetite to
work hard enough to be effective in
the Premier League. Scott
McTominay is a good squad player
but United need more and Rice could
be part of the answer. But West Ham
United have had a good year and will
want to keep him because he’s been
an integral part of that.
In attack, United have to think they
can get a tune out of Jadon Sancho
and Marcus Rashford. Edinson
Cavani will go, so maybe another
centre forward, as the Cristiano
Ronaldo decision works both ways.
Will he want to stay?CHELSEA
Rice would also be a perfect fit for
Chelsea’s midfield, as a more athletic
alternative to Jorginho. We don’t
know who they will be yet, but new
owners often try to get people on side
with a splurge to strengthen.
Does Romelu Lukaku stay or go? I
thought he’d come back to the
Premier League with a point to prove
but since he said he’d like to return to
Inter he’s been a shadow of the
player I expected. That controversial
interview and injuries have
combined to make it an ordinary
season from him. I can’t see anyone
affording him, so he has to buckle
down and get on with it.ARSENAL
They need a centre forward, which is
the hardest position to find. They
won’t get Haaland so have to find one
like him. They have a young group
that on paper should get better, but it
doesn’t always work like that. They
have been inconsistent this year,I can’t see anyone
affording Lukaku, he
has to buckle down
and get on with itNew Chelsea owners wanting to make
a splash and United’s midfield mess
are going to spark a Rice bidding war
Graeme Souness
West Ham have had a good season but can they hold on to Declan Rice?Brighton & Hove Albion v
Southampton, kick-off 2pm
Leandro Trossard, Steven Alzate
and Yves Bissouma are available
for the hosts. Southampton have
won on their past three trips to
Brighton.Burnley v Wolverhampton
Wanderers, kick-off 2pm
Managerless Burnley are
unbeaten in their past six league
games against Wolves, who have
Raul Jimenez back from a ban.TODAY’S OTHER
TOP-FLIGHT GAMESwhich you get with young players,
but next year they should be older,
wiser and more consistent.TOTTENHAM
There will be two people knocking on
the chairman’s door asking the same
question. One will be Antonio Conte,
asking if Harry Kane is staying, and
the other will be Harry, asking if
Conte is staying.
I like Rodrigo Bentancur, who they
have signed from Juventus, and
Dejan Kulusevski, who’s on loan from
Juve with an option to buy.
Bentancur snaps passes into people,
knows how to get on the ball when
surrounded by bodies and looks like
he’ll do well in the Premier League.
Conte is getting a tune out of Spurs
now. It will be interesting to see if
they can get into the Champions
League because that might dictate
what he has to spend and he’ll want
the biggest say in who arrives. If that
doesn’t happen, there could be
fireworks from him.LIVERPOOL
Jürgen Klopp will want to go again,
but if the season started right now
without any additions Liverpool
supporters would not be alarmed.
They have young midfielders on the
fringe, cover in defence and
Caoimhin Kelleher, the young Irish
goalkeeper, looks like he can deal
with playing for a big club. There’s
nothing screaming, “you need more
cover there”. Maybe another creative
midfielder who’s also a workaholic,
but Klopp may feel the young players
will be good enough in the long term.NEWCASTLE UNITED
Eddie Howe did not panic when it
wasn’t happening early on. Saudi
Arabia doesn’t want to play second
fiddle to anyone, so if the people who
matter want to really give it a go they
will have been encouraged by what
they have seen in the past couple of
months and could sanction another
splurge this summer.ON TV TODAY
Chelsea v West Ham United
1pm Sky Sports PL, Kick-off 2pmonly Toni Kroos and Clermont’s Johan
Gastien have been better at progress-
ing the ball this season.
4:23 THIAGO TO MATIP
Why did Guardiola want Thiago so
much? He wanted Bayern to learn
how to control games through posses-
sion and, having worked with Thiago
at Barcelona, knew he possessed the
rare gift of timing. “This team just
needs to slow down a bit. They’ve got
everything else. They need some
deceleration in the middle of the
field,” Guardiola told the writer Martí
Perarnau when explaining Thiago’s
signing.
On Friday, Klopp scoffed when a
journalist said: “Some people think
Thiago slows up Liverpool.” “Thank
God these people don’t make deci-
sions,” was Klopp’s retort. Thiago is a
thinker, Klopp said, and an intelligent
player might “calm a game down due
to a lot of reasons”. The build-up to
Liverpool’s first goal against United
featured a crucial example.
Liverpool had begun the match
playing jittery passes in their own
penalty area, with Fernandes twice
almost pressing Alisson out of posses-
sion. Thiago then came deep into his
defensive third to receive the ball
from Van Dijk, in a pocket between
Rashford and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
There was the opportunity to turn
quickly and risk a pass forward, but
instead Thiago jogged back towards
his own area before striking a square
pass to Matip.
United’s press relaxed and Liver-
pool got out down the other side to
penetrate via a through-ball by Sadio
Mané to Mohamed Salah, who cen-
tred for Luis Díaz to score. Thiago is
the fifth-best player in Europe’s big
leagues in 2021-22 for passes involved
in xG build-up. Only Kroos and Joshua
Kimmich combine progressive
passing and xG build-up passing in a
similar way.
15:01 THIAGO TO MANÉ
Thiago is dribbling towards United’s
area when engaged by Matic and he
toys with the Serbia midfielder, tap-
ping the top of the ball with the sole of
his right boot, then almost instantane-
ously slipping a cute pass round Matic
to Mané with his left. Mané shoots,
Liverpool win a corner. “It’s looking
ominous, this” says Gary Neville on
the Sky Sports commentary. This
beguiling moment of cheek and skill is
reminder of Thiago’s heritage — his
father is the Brazil World Cup-winner
Mazinho. For the book Pep Confiden-
tial, Thiago told Perernau how Guard-
iola taught him to remove certain frip-
peries from his game — but not self-
expression. “I’m Brazilian after all.”
27:45 THIAGO TO DÍAZ.
In a congested area, as Thiago
receives possession, Fernandes slides
in to challenge. Standing strong, Thi-
ago rides the tackle, chests the ball,
His beguiling skill
and cheek offers
a reminder of
Thiago’s heritage —
his father is the
Brazil World Cup
winner MazinhoContinued on page 12→