HOT RIGHT NOW
An old friend could be about to return. N’Golo Kanté is a wanted man in east London, desired as part of the Julen Lopetegui revolution at West Ham. Kanté, the boy next door of defensive midfielders, had disappeared from view after leaving Chelsea last year, sucked into that lucrative black hole known as the Saudi Pro League. But a few livewire, cover-every-blade-of-grass performances for France at Euro 2024 have brought the loveable footballing vacuum cleaner back into the mainstream, and a move at the backend of his career would see him join a surprisingly healthy list of Premier League winners who have opted for a sunset runabout with the Hammers. Freddie Ljungberg, Patrice Evra and Samir Nasri – you’ve forgotten about these, haven’t you? – budge up and make some room for N’Golo.
Kanté’s reemergence suggests we’re in that post-major tournament sweet spot: anyone to have had a decent 45 minutes or more at the Euros is bound to be linked with a move away, £20m added to their price tag if they bagged a goal or two. A quick Google suggests that Golden Boot winner Dani Olmo is supposedly being chased by Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Bayern Munich and the Democratic Party as their presidential candidate.
Barcelona supporters have been particularly enthralled by Spain’s victory, taking to the streets … sorry, no, TikChat to convince the suits that Nico Williams should team up with Lamine Yamal at club level, too. Supporters have peppered the comments on Barça’s videos with pleas to sign the electric 22-year-old alongside paid-for ‘gifts’ on the platform. They’re throwing away their own hard-earned coin for the cause. They should remain somewhat wary, though. There remains a degree of peril when players are signed on the back of seven impressive displays across four weeks in a game that differs so greatly from the one played at club level.
Occasionally, for whatever reason, it just doesn’t work out. Yes, feel free to retreat to the ‘10 signings who FLOPPED after starring at the World Cup’ clickbait from elsewhere that will probably feature Manchester United and Brazil’s Kléberson, El Hadji Diouf and potentially even James Rodríguez. Sometimes there’s also the player who doesn’t nosedive at club level but is best left as a near-mythical figure, one who pops up every couple of years, turns it on at a major tournament, and becomes a more reserved operator at domestic level. Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podoloski, we’re looking at you two.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
The argument they gave was, briefly: we’ve looked at everything and put it all together, but we think we already have the best manager in-house. Then I did say: ‘Then we need to discuss some things, about how we interact and collaborate.’ We had a good, honest, but also confrontational conversation about that. As it should be” – Erik ten Hag recalls the spiky chats that led to Manchester United keeping the best “in-house” manager in the business and how he got fresh and funky with his overlords about the club’s direction.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Re: yesterday’s Football Daily. I would say we are now in the 2024-25 season. I think clubs immediately move up or down to their new league as the old season finishes. Luton Town are no longer Premier League and, more importantly, Bromley are now Football League. If this is not the case then the quiz question ‘which is the only football team whose ground is in a Tory constituency’ doesn’t work. I fear I may have given the answer away” – Dan Ashley.
Speaking as someone enduring the torment/surfing the joyful waves (delete to taste) of a season that’s now halfway through, may I be the first of what I imagine will be substantially fewer than 1,057 pedants to point out that, for many of us, the debate over whether 2024-25 is still ‘next season’ is moot. With second-leg matches of the first qualifying rounds of European competitions taking place, those newly-expanded Big Cup and Big Vase group stages aren’t going to exclude the smaller leagues by themselves, thank you. In Tin Pot, the second-best team in our league this season were unable to overcome a two-goal first-leg deficit against something called Bruno’s Magpies. Elsewhere, the best team in our league this season managed to preserve a narrow first-leg lead against the team who finished one place above those Magpies last season. As my mate Steve said to me as we sat freezing our backsides off watching an opening-day fixture in February a few years back: ‘Thank goodness for summer soccer …’” – Mike Slattery (and others).
When considering the appointment of Frank Lampard and Steve Gerrard as joint England managers, Rasteen Nowroozi (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) suggests combining their surnames to produce a moniker for this hybrid boss. May I suggest a portmanteau which more accurately reflects those matches when they played alongside each other, using their first names instead? Stank?” – Richard Prangle (and others).
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Dan Ashley. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.
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