Section:GDN 1N PaGe:36 Edition Date:190724 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 23/7/2019 20:04 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Wednesday 24 July 2019
(^36) Sport
Football
Football
In brief
Manchester City
Guardiola slams ‘crazy
schedule’ for players
Pep Guardiola claims football’s
“crazy schedule” could “kill our
players” and does not want his
resting international stars to
return to training too soon. City are
without a number of their big names
on their pre-season tour of Asia
because of summer commitments
in international tournaments,
including Sergio Agüero, Nicolás
Otamendi, Fernandinho, Ederson
and Gabriel Jesus. “Some of them
will come on 29 or 30 July , others
come back 3 or 4 August. They
decide whether to come back after
three or four weeks off ,” Guardiola
said. “It’s a crazy schedule and we’ll
kill our players sooner or later. We
cannot sustain it for a long time.
They have to rest.” PA
Real Madrid
Bale will not leave
on loan, says agent
Gareth Bale remains “one of the
best players on the planet” and
will not be leaving Real Madrid on
a “makeshift” deal, according to
his agent. Zinedine Zidane left Bale
out of the pre-season game against
Bayern Munich last weekend and
said afterwards he expected the
Welshman to leave Real shortly.
Bale’s agent, Jonathan Barnett,
labelled Zidane a “disgrace” over the
handling of his client and maintains
any transfer will be done in the best
interests of Bale. “There will be no
makeshift deals to get him out of the
club,” Barnett said. “Gareth is one of
the best players on the planet. I can
guarantee you he will not be going
on loan to any club.” PA
Manchester United
United relaxed over
technical director role
Manchester United are relaxed
about potentially entering the
season without a technical director
despite it being almost a year since
the search to fi ll the role began. Ed
Woodward, the club’s executive
vice-chairman, is understood to be
content at how Ole Gunnar Solskjær
and the manager’s assistant, Mike
Phelan, have dovetailed with the
recruitment department and the
board regarding transfers this
summer. Jamie Jackson
Gareth Bale’s agent
said the player won’t
leave Real Madrid
on a ‘makeshift deal’
Delph relishing
change of ethos
and Everton’s
higher work rate
Midfi elder says move from
Manchester Cit y is already
paying dividends and may
also help his England cause
Paul Wilson
F
abian Delph has been at
Everton only a week and
already he is exhausted
from the training. The
former Manchester
City midfi elder is not
complaining, however, as he prefers
to push himself as hard as possible.
“The volume of training is a lot
higher here than it was at City and
that’s OK with me,” the 29-year-old
said. “We cover a lot more distance,
there’s a lot more intensity and you
defi nitely feel like you’ve worked
come the end of the day. City’s
training is very good but it’s shorter
and sharper and focused on the way
the manager likes to play. The ethos
is a little diff erent here and I love it.
“There’s nothing worse in my
book than going home with energy
left over. I like to go home knowing
I’ve put a shift in, feeling that I’ve
pushed myself to the max. I’ve been
here about a week and I’m going
home tired. I am getting a good
night’s sleep.”
Delph is probably noticing the
diff erence between training regimes
at a club used to keeping hold of the
ball and a club that realises it will
spend a lot of time in games working
hard to win it back. To an extent he
has been signed for his work ethic
and his leadership qualities, both
of which were evident, indeed
amplifi ed, in the dressing down he
gave his City teammates after the
defeat by Manchester United that
put the title celebrations on hold in- That sweary footage – basically
a complaint that City had stopped
running and handed their rivals the
initiative – was brought to the world
via the behind-the-scenes Amazon
documentary that City allowed to be
broadcast, though the player himself
has yet to revisit his starring role.
“I am quite a private person and,
though I have been told to look
at the clip, I haven’t watched it
back,” he said. “I don’t want to see
myself effi ng and blinding and I’ve
got young kids who are probably
going to end up seeing it before I do.
They have obviously done it for the
documentary , though I do admit to
being quite emotional and vocal a lot
of the time. I was a vocal presence in
the dressing room as an 18-year-old
at Leeds. I was quite vocal at City last
season, even though I hardly played.
“I want everybody including
myself to be working just as hard
towards the same goal and, if that’s
not happening, I think it’s only right
to voice that opinion instead of going
into your shell and not speaking
about it.
“People don’t necessarily need
to take my criticisms personally but
everyone in a team should want
the same thing and I see myself as
someone with a bit of experience
now who can pass on a few tips and
promote good habits to the younger
members of the side. I just want
everyone I am playing with to be
fully switched on. You don’t have
to be the best player in the team to
have an eff ect on the players around
you.”
Everton are believed to want
Delph as a defensive midfi elder,
though his exact position will
probably depend on what happens
to Idrissa Gueye before the end of
the transfer window. Delph played
most of his games in Pep Guardiola’s
fi rst title-winning season as an
emergency left-back and would do
so again if necessary.
“I’m not the best left-back in the
world but I can play there,” he said.“I think I’ve shown that and also
that, whenever I’m asked to do a job,
I’ll give it 100%.‘ I
think the [2017-18) season
at City is one of the things
I’ll look back on with pride
at the end of my career.
At the start of the season I
thought I was on my way
out and a lot of people wrote me off.
But I stuck at it, even playing in an
unfamiliar position. I could have
stayed at City, no one forced me to
leave, but I felt the time was right
to move on after a fantastic three
seasons under Pep. It was frustrating
being out of the fi rst team for long
periods and I thought I needed a new
challenge and more regular football.
“I really enjoy playing for
England. I already know some of
the lads at Everton through meeting
up with the national team and I
believe the more often I play the
more chance I have of being selected
for England. Pep just thanked me
for the three years we had together
and wished me all the best for this
new adventure.”You don’t have to
be the best player
in the team to have
an eff ect on the
players around you
▲ Delph says Everton’s volume of
training ‘is higher than Man City’s’
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