Soccer legend Ronaldinho recently repped NBA superstar Jayson Tatum's Boston Celtics jersey on an episode of Survivor Turkey.
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The attacker is one of the most productive forwards in the Premier League this season but did not have the patience to make it with City
Manchester City must have thought they were quids in when they sold Cole Palmer to Chelsea for £42.5 million ($53m) given they had barely used him in the first team. Palmer was the star export among a flurry of academy players to leave City last summer, banking the club £156m ($196m) within the last two years.
But as they have watched Palmer flourish in an otherwise malfunctioning Chelsea team, City might now be thinking they were short-changed when they let him leave. Palmer has racked up 12 goals and nine assists for his new club and came back to haunt his boyhood club when he starred in Chelsea's thrilling 4-4 draw with City in November.
The winger will be Chelsea's main threat again when City host the Blues on Saturday, knowing that Arsenal and Liverpool will be waiting to pounce on any mistake from Guardiola's side.
According to The Telegraph, Daniel Levy remains interested in hiring Hansi Flick as the new Tottenham manager.
Despite having an 81% win percentage at Bayern (Transfermarkt), Flick will leave the club at the end of the season (dw.com) due to his tense relationship with sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic (france24.com).
He has been heavily linked with the vacant Germany job (si.com) but, as of yet, there has been no confirmation as to whether or not he will take over the role from Joachim Low.
As such, Levy is said to be interested in convincing Flick to make the switch to north London, according to The Telegraph.
Reports have previously suggested that the 56-year-old would be interested in the position.
Flick has only been manager of the Bavarians for around 18 months, but he has achieved fantastic success during that period. Bayern have won seven trophies under his tutelage, including two Bundesliga titles and a Champions League trophy, while they have been on the losing side on just eight occasions in his 85 matches in charge.
He currently earns €312,300 (£269,000) per week at Bayern, which is a hefty sum. However, given his track record, he would surely be welcome at Tottenham even on a wage close to that. It now remains to be seen whether Levy is able to get his man.
In other news, this man’s Tottenham departure is reportedly “almost done”.
Southampton’s season ended with a disappointing 3-0 defeat against West Ham on Sunday afternoon, in a game which summarised many of the faults of Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side in what has been an ultimately underwhelming campaign from the Saints.
The game followed an all too familiar pattern for Southampton as after starting the game well and missing some excellent chances, West Ham capitalised on some poor defending to open the scoring through Pablo Fornals, who quickly added a second to put the Hammers in control.
Hasenhuttl’s side had plenty of opportunities to get back into the game before some more woeful defending late on allowed Declan Rice to waltz into the penalty area before slotting past Alex McCarthy to secure a comfortable win for David Moyes’ side, which confirmed their place in the Europa League next season.
One man who disappointed in the defeat at the London Stadium was Danny Ings.
As per SofaScore, the England international would earn a poor 6.5/10 rating for his performance, with only Kyle Walker-Peters (6.4), Alex McCarthy (6.4) and Takumi Minamino (6.4) rated lower.
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During his 84 minutes on the pitch, the 28-year-old striker would have just 22 touches of the ball, which was the fewest of any Southampton player to start the game, which is not what you would expect from the talismanic striker.
Ings would also complete just 10/14 of his passes during the game, which again was the fewest of any Southampton player including goalkeeper McCarthy, who would complete 13.
The “hugely impressive” striker was simply not involved, as he would lose his only duel of the game, whilst he also failed to contribute a single shot on target, dribble or key pass during his time on the pitch.
The service to Ings wasn’t great, but when the ball did get to him, he was pretty poor at keeping hold of it.
Despite being involved so little, he still contrived to lose possession on nine occasions, and it was no surprise to see him substituted with around 10 minutes to go, as Hasenhuttl was clearly not impressed with the way his star striker failed to turn up for the final game of the season.
And, in other news… Southampton can finally replace Hojbjerg with £8.6m beast who dreams of playing in the PL
Christian Pulisic may soon have a new head coach at AC Milan, with Stefano Pioli reportedly facing a fight to keep his job at San Siro.
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MUNDIAL is a 100-page magazine released four times a year that reminds you why you love football through cult heroes, weekends away, brilliant writing, forgotten goals, beautiful photography, and more. All the good stuff.
Join the MUNDIAL community todaySubscribe here!
From Sunday League and sausage and chips, to Champions League and iconic kits, we celebrate the game and the things around it that make people happy.
We think this issue is perfect for you because you love football in the same way we do… so here’s a little look at some of the things you’ll find inside Issue 27.
The Frenchman didn't register a single shot on target as the Parisians crumbled at St. James' Park
Kylian Mbappe was a peripheral figure, and the rest of his Paris Saint-Germain team-mates did little to contribute, as the Parisians lost 4-1 to a rampant Newcastle side in their second Champions League group-stage fixture. The Frenchman never got on the ball in the right areas, while a trio of defensive breakdowns handed the Magpies easy goals as the other end, as PSG's mixed start to life under new manager Luis Enrique continued.
Newcastle applied pressure early, and were good value for their opener. Marquinhos gave the ball away in his defensive third, and Eddie Howe's side pounced. Gianluigi Donnarumma saved Alexander Isak's initial effort, but Miguel Almiron latched onto the rebound and found the bottom corner.
They made it two shortly before half-time, with Dan Burn rising above Milan Skriniar to nod home at the far post after a hectic scramble in the box. Their third came after the break, provided by academy graduate Sean Longstaff. The midfielder scampered into the right channel untracked, and fired low to Donnarumma's right — the Italian failing to keep it out despite getting a hand on it.
PSG stayed alive, and it started with Warren Zaire-Emery, who dinked a delightful ball over the Newcastle defence, which Lucas Hernandez headed into the corner. They created further opportunities, Ousmane Dembele twice missing after bursting into the box, but they could never get their main man Mbappe involved, and looked short of ideas until a belter from Fabian Schar put the game well beyond reach.
GOAL rates PSG's players from St. James' Park…
The Norwegian went missing for the second Premier League game in a row, but few players distinguished themselves in a disappointing defeat
All good things must come to an end, and Manchester City's incredible run of 12 straight Premier League victories over Arsenal was finally halted thanks to a heavily-deflected Gabriel Martinelli goal.
Pep Guardiola's side played without their usual swagger and confidence, and there was an air of shyness about them without Rodri. Indeed, they have lost all three matches that the influential Spaniard has been suspended for.
But most worrying for the treble winners is the form of Erling Haaland. The Norwegian gave Arsenal almost nothing to worry about and uncharacteristically ducked out of a header which he usually would have powered straight into the net. He has now failed to score in his last three matches.
The international break comes at a good time for him and will give him time to reset for City's next matches, against Brighton and Manchester United.
GOAL rates Manchester City's players from the Emirates Stadium…
Premier League Golden Boot winner Kevin Phillips backed Xherdan Shaqiri to ‘shine’ if he joined Celtic.
Football Insider reported at the end of April that Shaqiri is looking for a new club.
And they asked Phillips this week whether Celtic should pursue the wantaway Switzerland international.
“Shaqiri has got a lot of quality and I think he would shine up in that league,” he told FI.
“That would be a great signing for Celtic so long as they did not have to break the bank to get him in.”
Shaqiri is valued at £12.6million by Transfermarkt, a touch under Liverpool’s £13million outlay in 2018.
The 29-year-old has just over two years left on his contract however, so perhaps there could be some wiggle room on that value seeing as he has started just five league matches this season, via Whoscored.
Phillips says one worry for Celtic would be the consistency of Shaqiri’s performances.
“He is a good player but I’d be concerned that sometimes he goes missing,” he said.
“You need perform week in, week out because it is paramount that they win the league next season.”
Shaqiri has played a total of 788 minutes for Jurgen Klopp’s side this season, scoring one goal and providing four assists.
Klopp has predominantly deployed him as an attacking midfielder but he’s also been used on the right-hand side.
After Shaqiri teed-up Diogo Jota’s winning goal against West Ham at the end of October, Graeme Souness labelled him a ‘door opener’ who ‘sees a pass and can deliver on it’.
It seems a little harsh to question Shaqiri’s consistency levels given that he’s rarely given a sustained run in the side, such is the quality in Liverpool’s squad even despite their faltering campaign.
Were he to head to North, he would be the most successful player in the entire league – let’s not forget this is a man with English, German and Swiss league titles to his name as well as two Champions League, two Super Cup and two Club World Cup medals, via Transfermarkt.
The unfortunate truth is that he might be aiming a little higher than the SPL, but if Celtic could convince the playmaker to reignite his career north of the border, it would be one hell of a coup.
In other news, could this player head the other way?
Liverpool will face LASK and Union SG in the group stage of the 2023-24 Europa League, while West Ham are set to take on Olympiacos and Freiburg.
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