Sport

Man City agree £30m deal for Mateo Kovačić as Ilkay Gündogan prepares to leave for Barcelona

As one Champions League winner leaves, another one arrives.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 22nd June 2023

Manchester City look to have got their transfer business underway this summer as they have reportedly agreed a deal with Chelsea to sign Mateo Kovačić just as outgoing captain Ilkay Gündogan prepares to leave the club after seven years.

There had been rumblings that both Gündogan and Bernardo Silva would be departing Man City at the end of the season and while there has been no more movement on the 28-year-old Portuguese international, it is reported his midfield partner has sealed a move to La Liga at the end of his contract.

Donning the armband and helping the club lift not on their first Champions League trophy but complete the treble this past season, they couldn’t have asked for a better parting gift.

With the Euro 2024 qualifiers now over, the 32-year-old is set to be unveiled as a Barca player imminently, joining the Spanish giants on a two-year deal with an option for another year.

City fans will no doubt be gutted to see Gündogan, having been one of their best players for the past couple of seasons, the board aren’t wasting any time in plugging the gaps (not that there really are any in that squad) as Pep Guardiola looks to have already found his replacement.

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As Chelsea look to be off-loading a number of players to balance the books and restore some equilibrium following a campaign that was defined by too many signings and too few points, a key player in their own Champions League winning season, Mateo Kovačić, looks to be one of the first out the door.

The 29-year-old former Real Madrid man has won the UCL a total of four times, as well as winning the league in Spain and Croatia, not to mention multiple Supercups and Club World Cups, which makes a reported £30m deal and even better bargain.

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Better still, he’s about as like-for-like a replacement as you could hope for, playing a very similar shuttling role as Gündogan has for the last few years, able to play further forward in the number 10 role and also as a defensive midfielder if needed.

As Gündogan heads to Barcelona, Man City have an immediate replacement in Kovačić.

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It looks to be a deal that suits everyone all-round and while City are obviously loving a fan-favourite of great talent, you wouldn’t see many people turn their nose up at signing Kovačić for under £50m.

It goes without saying that there aren’t many more players City actually need, but with the Blues reportedly set for the “biggest transfer budget in history“, we expect this won’t be the last bit of business they do.

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Who would you like to see make the move to the Etihad?

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Featured Image — Steffen Prößdorf (via Wikimedia Commons)

Sport

The player celebrations from Stockport County’s League Two trophy presentation are glorious

Danny Jones Danny Jones All Stockport County player celebrations from League Two trophy presentation

If you’re a Stockport County fan, you’ve had a very good year as the Hatters have just been crowned League Two champions and will be back in the English third tier next season – safe to say they’ve been making most of the trophy celebrations.

Players and staff very much included.

Edgeley was filled with flares and even people climbing on rooftops when they officially secured promotion back to League One for the first time in 12 years – the second time they’ve managed to go up in three seasons – and there was a great attendance in Stockport town centre for the bus parade.

But it was last week’s trophy presentation back at the stadium that produced some of the most memorable scenes, with County topping off a season of impressive and often high-scoring performances on the pitch with plenty more pageantry. Cue the music.

Kyle Knoyle giving Undertaker vibes.
He’s been red-hot all season.
No one ever takes those pitch invasion ‘warnings’ seriously – not even the players.

We still haven’t stopped laughing at Kyle Knoyle.

From bringing Isaac Olaofe’s ‘Tanto’s on fire!’ chant to life to hammering home puns on names like Fraser Horsfall, no matter how obvious, these are the kind of deeply unserious celebrations we expect from a trophy presentation.

County fan or not, you’ve got to admit it looks like a good party.

It’s moments like these that players, fans and staff work hard all season for; to prat around like muppets in front of their adoring supporters. They even got assistant coach, Clint Hill, in the mix and, as it turns out, he proved to be one of the biggest ring-leaders.

Clint was the real star of the show during Stockport County’s trophy celebrations.

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We sincerely hope the Hatters keep trickling out more of these party scenes as we know there’s plenty more that fans would love to watch back.

We’re still yet to see captain Paddy Madden, who won Player of the Month for April, and the gaffer himself, Dave Challinor, who has comfortably secured his legacy as one of the club’s all-time greats.

Challinor and the club have made no secret of seriously eyeing up the Championship and who knows what else at County’s momentum continues to build, especially with a huge stadium redevelopment kicking off soon.

What do you reckon, Hatters – do you reckon a third promotion could be on the cards?

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Featured Images — Stockport County (via X)

Sport

Erik ten Hag opens up on Man United’s failed Harry Kane and Frenkie de Jong transfers

Danny Jones Danny Jones Erik ten Hag on failed Harry Kane and Frenkie de Jong transfers

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has shed more light on his club’s failure to sign two key transfer targets in previous transfer windows, Harry Kane and Frenkie de Jong.

With Man United‘s interest in the proven Premier League star and England captain along with the former Ajax star turned Barcelona midfielder having been widely publicised last year, it was no secret that they were top of the wish list at Old Trafford but nothing concrete ever came of it.

Now, addressing the Kane and de Jong transfers directly for the first time, ten Hag not only admitted that he wanted to sign them but that he wasn’t given the full backing of the board to do so, suggesting that his squad therefore missed out two key talents that he hoped to build the playing style around.

Speaking to club legend Gary Neville in a Sky Sports exclusive, the 54-year-old was careful not to outwardly criticise the previous executives – the majority of whom have now departed – but confessed that they weren’t able to get either deal across the line.

As you can see, ten Hag revealed that he quickly identified Kane as the ‘proven’ striker who could have brought “30 goals” to the team but that they simply couldn’t get him, presumably down to the potential transfer fee and wage expectations.

The 30-year-old striker obviously went on to sign for German giants Bayern Munich and has now broken the record for the most goals in a debut Bundesliga season, not mention being on the verge of surpassing the highest-ever tally in a single campaign, held by Robert Lewandowski (41).

He went on to express that he has every faith in the striker they did manage to sign, insisting that 21-year-old Rasmus Højlund “will get there [to that level] but needs time” and was offered some of “the biggest potential” on the market when they snapped him up.

As for his fellow Dutchman, de Jong – who he previously coached as part of the hugely talented Ajax which impressed so many in 2018/19 – ten Hag hinted at the failure to sign him as being a key factor in why he couldn’t implement his tactics at United, telling Neville: “you have to bring in [the right] players”.

The three-time Eredivisie winner went on to explain, “You need the player with those typical assets and you can’t bring a player, say, here who has a [certain] style of play I don’t want to change his nature.”

With Neville naming de Jong specifically, ten Hag confirmed the name by adding that he envisioned a partnership between him and Casemiro or, indeed, Kobbie Mainoo eventually, adding: “They would have been really complimentary with each other, absolutely. That is the [type of player you need] if you want to play the Ajax style.

However, despite having reportedly agreed on a sizeable fee with Barcelona (the number of which has been much disputed), it came to be that de Jong seemingly didn’t want the move and preferred to stay with the Catalan club.

As a result, this meant that United had to continue experimenting with different midfield combinations and signing alternatives like Christian Eriksen and Mason Mount, who perhaps weren’t as high up on the list of transfer targets or as well suited to ten Hag’s desired approach on the pitch.

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ten Hag ultimately went on to add that a laundry list of injury problems this season has also derailed the progress of his squad as a unit, with the Red Devils having been forced to utilise 31 different back-four combinations so far.

There have been some rumblings that de Jong could be open to another potential move elsewhere again this summer, but it’s fair to say that even if they were in the running it will take more than one player to get his side back on track.

You can watch the interview with Gary Neville in full HERE.

It remains to be seen how well ten Hag will be backed by the new footballing administration this summer but it is said United are willing to consider serious offers for several members of their first-team squad as they look to raise funds for any prospective incomings.

Only three Manchester United players are said to be ‘off limits’ this summer transfer window

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Featured Images — Wikimedia Commons/Sky Sports (via YouTube)/Frenkie De Jong (via IG)

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