Daniele De Rossi has stated that he wants to stay at Roma and has no interest in moving to Manchester City.
The Italy international is a long-term target for Citizens boss Roberto Mancini, with the Premier League champions eager to add the midfielder to their squad this summer.
However, despite rumours of a big-money move by City, De Rossi has committed to the Serie A outfit.
“I’m staying for this team, for the affection of the fans, because I am a Roman and because I believe in this project,” he told Italian reporters, translated to English by The Guardian.
“I’m happy here. I feel good here. I haven’t asked anyone to leave. What I promise is that the day I want to leave Roma to win the Champions League or to earn more money, I’ll say so publicly.”
The news will be another blow to City in their blunt transfer period this summer.
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When Tottenham Hotspur make their seasonal trip to the Emirates next month for the first installment of this term’s North London derby, whatever the outcome on the pitch, they will have taken something of a beating, off of it.
On November 17th, supporters will be desperate to see Andre Villas-Boas’ side steal a march on Arsenal in the race for Champions League football and beyond. But for however much Spurs may try and match the Gunners on the pitch this term, off of it, there is simply no competition. And until that is rectified, Spurs are potentially hitting a glass ceiling in their development that is getting harder to break through with every passing season.
Although Arsenal went and eventually succumbed to Roberto Di Matteo’s Chelsea 2-1 at home, towards the end of last month, it wasn’t all doom and gloom in the red half of North London. Indeed, the match against the Blues represented the first ‘Category A’ game of the season at the Emirates, a price bracketing for the most desirable games of the season, with a minimum price tag of £62.
The Mirror reported that matchday income from the game – a few hundred seats short of a sell out – was near on, a staggering £6million. Spurs fans are set to contribute to at least matching that figure next month.
And no one should be under any illusions of quite how gloomy that reality check is for the Lilywhites. The most recent published accounts this year (which encompass the 2010/11 season) showed that Spurs made a relatively paltry £43.3million from matchday revenue, over 27 competitive matches played – working out at about £1.6million a match. If we include the fact that this figure includes Uefa Champions League matches, you can expect that number to shrink slightly when the next accounts are released. For those wondering, Arsenal made over double what Tottenham did for the same time period in matchday revenue – a cool £93.1million.
The elephant in the room here is of course Tottenham Hotspur’s dire need for an increase in stadium capacity, in order to compete with the likes of Arsenal and beyond. At just over 36,000, White Hart Lane simply cannot compete with a cash cow like the 60,000 seater Emirates Stadium – in both purely spectator terms and the holy grail of corporate hospitality.
With White Hart Lane selling out every week, Spurs have nearly hit the ceiling in terms of squeezing any more money out of their hallowed old ground. Their cheapest adult season ticket increased a further 5.79% to £730 this season, hopping above Liverpool as the second most expensive in the land. Even with 30,000 fans waiting for the chance to snap up one of 23,500 season tickets on a waiting list that seemingly refuses to budge, it appears difficult to see how much further the club can push prices up.
The statistics, in this case, have been written on the wall for a long time, but it’s putting them into context that appears slightly more difficult.
Tottenham cannot progress any further without some form of serious investment, most likely from foreign shores. And although it may not necessarily be in the guise of a Manchester City style buy out, the sort of capital the club need to raise to fund their Northumberland Development Project, still constitutes an enormous amount of investment. Daniel Levy and ENIC may well be looking for a naming rights partner to raise the money, but with The Telegraph’s Paul Kelso reporting an asking price of £400million spread over two decades, today’s economic climate renders that a very giddy amount of money indeed.
Some fans may shrug their shoulders at the level of investment and you can suggest that Spurs aren’t doing two badly for themselves at the moment. They’ve finished fourth twice in the space of three years, had a tasty little Champions League run and they’re looking to make another assault on European qualification this year.
The catalyst is however, in terms of need for development and the need for survival, the dark realm of Premier League wages. Some fans still seem to protest that Daniel Levy has stashed a chunk of their Champions League money under the sofa somewhere. What they don’t often consider though, is the extra £24million swell in wages, from 2010 to 2011. For all the jiggery-pokery of the summer transfer window and the smokescreen of Luka Modric, Tottenham Hotspur in fact made an initial net LOSS of £545,600, during the summer. Yes, that doesn’t factor in the Roman Pavlyuchenko sale in January, but this isn’t some form of Levy-defending propaganda. The club are operating upon their very limits.
With the new Premier League domestic television rights alone, securing up to £3billion to be shared around with clubs, Daniel Levy can afford to push the boat out on handing players like Gareth Bale a lucrative new contract. But such is the nature in the way broadcasting money is split between clubs, everyone is afforded a similar financial reprieve. Spurs have simply chosen to spend a chunk of theirs on securing their most valuable asset.
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Perhaps in some ways, the best way of analyzing your own strength is upon the strength of those around you. There was a school of thought with some Spurs supporters, that the club was only ‘two or three players away from challenging for the league’ last season under Harry Redknapp. If we accept that the notion doesn’t involve the weakening of the squad by selling any players, that means that in wages and transfer fees, the club would have had to find that money from somewhere to acquire those players. Spurs made a £7million operating loss last year, just for a bit of added context before we finish.
From the last available accounts (2010/11 season), Tottenham Hotspur finished fifth. The difference between their wage bill and Arsenal’s, who finished one place above, was £33million. The difference between third placed Manchester City’s wage bill and Spurs? An increased £83million. And to wrap up, the contrast between Spurs and second placed Chelsea’s wage bill was £98million.
Although 2011 champions Manchester United’s was a little lower, you get the point. The cost between bridging even one place in this league can be phenomenal and Spurs are running out of room for financial maneuver. Yes Financial Fair Play will help, but they cannot make serious developments without the construction of a new stadium. A fourth placed achievement this term would represent a stunning achievement and have fans celebrating and three points on Saturday would go a long way to achieving that in the short term. In the long term however, it would be the announcement of a naming rights partner, that the club needs just as much.
Do you feel Tottenham have hit a glass ceiling in being able to move further up the league? How do you feel about the implications of a foreign naming rights partner? Let me know how you feel on Twitter: follow @samuel_antrobus and bat me all your views.
The old adage that the league normally sorts itself out after ten games is one which usually stands up to close inspection and certainly does so this season, but with Liverpool languishing down in 12th under new manager Brendan Rodgers, there are legitimate reasons for the club’s fans to be concerned. Should results fail to live up to expectations and the side continue to flounder inconsistently, how long until patience begins to wear thin about the man at the helm’s vision?
Firstly, let me just say that I find all the talk involving the word ‘philosophy’ absolutely farcical. It seems along the way, in an attempt to make yourself sound more intelligent, that this word has been confused with ‘style’. Liverpool have a clearly defined style, there’s no doubt about that, but let’s not pretend it encompasses more than one principle, which is keeping hold of the ball and using possession as both a means of attack and defence.
Capitalism, Anarchism, Darwinism, these are philosophies, these are schools of thought cultivated over years of work, debate and ideas. Passing a football well, something most teams would aim to do given they have the right resources and players available, most certainly is not.
There’s also the fact that Rodgers has shown a worrying lack of flexibility in adapting to new players. His two summer purchases of Joe Allen and Fabio Borini were both targeted because they were familiar with the new manager’s style of play and methods, with the thinking being that it would take them less time than usually associated with a new player to settle into fresh surroundings. It’s proved the case with Allen, who has been superb thus far, but for Borini, the jury is still well and truly out over whether he’s up to the task.
This also applies to the players that Rodgers has marginalised at the club and shipped out. Andy Carroll was allowed to depart simply because he’s incapable of playing the sweeping, counter-attacking, one-touch football the club has adopted. Meanwhile, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson have been reduced to Europa League outings for the most part on occasions when the squad is rotated.
This hasn’t stopped Rodgers from complaining of a ‘thin’ squad repeatedly, but when you alienate some of the only senior players that you have, then it’s no wonder that results have been erratic. Is a new manager’s job not to solve problems, particularly in light of the club’s reduced budget and belt-tightening? At every turn so far, Rodgers has taken the easy option out. To paraphrase a well-known saying, it really is his way or the highway.
It sounds as if he’s already pleading for more time too, hailing the Newcastle draw as a dominant performance and stating last week: “I have signed a three-year deal here and the process will go on beyond that. Hopefully I can be here to keep building it. I am loving every minute here. I came for the challenge, but it is easier said than done. I just look at the stats over the last three years and it has been going the other way. Our job was to spin that around and, through a lot of hard work, get us on an upward spiral.”
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He’s argued that there’s ‘no quick fix’ and while I wouldn’t disagree, for the club has lacked stability for quite some time at every level which has only served to hasten the downward spiral that Rodgers talked about, the side wasn’t that bad last term under Kenny Dalglish.
It was unquestionably a cup side, capable of beating anyone on their day in the league and they did reach the FA Cup and Carling Cup finals, going on to win one with largely the same side. Ask yourself this, could you see the team doing that this season under Rodgers?
This is not to cast a wistful look back at Dalglish’s time in charge, because it became clear by the end of the campaign that the players had long since checked out mentally and gone on their holidays and some of the performances down the back straight were embarrassing, but they looked far more fluid, dangerous and intuitive going forward earlier on than anything we’ve seen so far this term.
Liverpool fans are often mocked for being paranoid and have an almost irrational sense of loyalty towards their club, rejecting even the faintest whiff of reasoned criticism. Of course, it’s a parody for the most part and there’s been a distinct lack of pressure placed on Rodgers so far from the fans. It seems they are willing to be patient for now just so long as it looks as if progress is being made.
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Integrating young players such as the exciting crop of Andre Wisdom, Raheem Sterling and Suso into the starting eleven is the sort of move that the fans want to see and it’s a commendable approach which has bought him time, but should the club finish in the bottom half of the table by the end of the season, something not out of the realms of possibility at the moment, then where do the club go next?
That in itself is the real crux of the issue here – just how long to you give Rodgers to implement his ideas on the squad if results aren’t improving on a consistent enough basis? Is one season enough? Two? Three? Most managers get a honeymoon period, and Rodgers has made all the right noises about the culture and tradition of the club which means he’s well-liked by most, but when that gives way, is the football really all that much better than what they were capable of producing under Dalglish? The fact that these questions have been glossed over so far remains troubling and provides food for thought in the future.
For many years, Scottish football has been considered to be one of the least competitive leagues in the world. But it has the potential to become extremely popular.
Financially, football in the country is not at its best. However, this is the perfect excuse to produce young Scottish players that can prove their doubters wrong. The most successful Scottish club is Celtic, now managed by Ronny Deila.
Each and every year, Celtic clinch the title with relative comfort. The Glasgow club have now won the Scottish title on 45 occasions, winning it in three consecutive seasons from 2012-2014 after the notable absence of Glasgow Rangers from the top tier of Scottish football. Despite struggling at the start of this season, collecting seven points from four games and occupying a relatively low 5th spot in the division, it is certain that the Hoops will be lifting their fourth consecutive league title.
Aswell as league commitments, Celtic will again have to contend with European matches. Failing to qualify for the Champions League after a 2-1 aggregate defeat at the hands of NK Maribor from Slovenia, Celtic are now in the Europa League group stages where they face Red Bull Salzburg, Dinamo Zagreb and FC Astra. With the Celtic Park outfit firm favourites for the Scottish Championship, they should now concentrate on getting as far as possible in a European environment in order to put Scottish football back on the map.
Fulham had a remarkable Europa League back in 2010, reaching the final, and beating teams such as Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, Wolfsburg and Hamburg along the way. If the Cottagers can do it, then why can’t a club like Celtic, a club with huge tradition and stature, do the same?
In the past, Celtic have qualified for the Champions League and caused a threat to top opposition, including grinding out stunning victories against the likes of FC Barcelona and Manchester United. When Celtic Park is at its full capacity, which it often is, the phrase ‘the crowd is the 12th man’ is an understatement, as the atmosphere for a European fixture is astonishing and frightens the opposition.
For the rest of the world to see this would prove that Scottish football is a hidden gem, and has huge potential to continue growing. Money is an issue, with the likes of Rangers who have both performed in European competitions in the past, being demoted to the third division because of tax debts, while Hearts also entered administration, which resulting them in plying their trade in the second tier of Scottish football.
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Nevertheless, Celtic will get the title sown up within no time at all, and the main target should be to focus more the Europa League, which the players will gain much needed experience from for the future.
Stoke manager Tony Pulis insists the club’s board are still right behind him despite their recent run of poor form.
The Potters have won just once in 13 games and their defeat at home to fellow strugglers Aston Villa last weekend saw them drop to within four points of the bottom three.
That has led to speculation regarding the future of boss Pulis, despite the great strides the club have made since he took over in 2006 with the Potters in the lower reaches of the Championship.
The 55-year-old admits that his past achievements will count for nothing if the current side continue to tumble down the table.
However, the former Gillingham boss insists he still has the confidence of the club’s chairman, Peter Coates, and is determined to steer the side away from danger.
“You get no grace for what you have achieved, people look at what you are doing now, and what we are doing now isn’t what we have done in recent years,” said Pulis.
“People question things when things aren’t going well. I am fortunate to have a family in charge of the club who are fantastic.
“This week the chairman has been down and had a chat with the lads. He’s a top man, and we are fortunate to have him here.
“The time has come for us to win a couple of games and put this right. Then we will look at what went wrong at the end of the season.
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“Things aren’t going for us at the moment, but when that happens you have to work even harder, and that is what we are doing.”
Andre Villas-Boas is a manager who took the wrong first step in English football, taking up the impossible job at Stamford Bridge and subsequently walking around with the apparent weight of failure following his short time at Chelsea.
But what can you say about the current Tottenham manager? Villas-Boas at Chelsea was the same manager we see today, but now he’s been given an environment where he can show his worth. In fairness, we’re very unlikely to see the true and lasting qualities of a manager who takes over the helm at Chelsea, such is the struggle to gain some form of control.
And here’s the thing: I don’t believe we should take this season for what Villas-Boas is really worth, and that on its own should tell us how good he could be. This season at Tottenham has been described as a transition, and that’s certainly the case for both the squad and the manager. The Portuguese continues to learn his trade, just as others in his age group will do despite past successes, and anything added on top – such as Champions League football, which is looking increasingly likely – will be seen as an incredible bonus.
So what do we take from Villas-Boas now? After what may have been described as a frustrating first few months, rather than difficult, this is finally looking like his team, even if it isn’t quite the finished article. Unlike at Chelsea, it appears that the manager has everyone on side, working hard for the club as well as the man in the dugout.
The manager’s handling of Brad Friedel and Hugo Lloris has been excellent; anyone who didn’t believe the Frenchman would become Tottenham’s No 1 at some stage this season was only kidding themselves. But what Villas-Boas has done is create a settled atmosphere, one where the older figure in goal knows his place but is treated with the respect and offered the dignified move to the bench he deserves. If Lloris had come in and been offered the starting role immediately, it would have been a backhand to the good work Friedel had done last season. As of now, Villas-Boas has two very good goalkeepers he can count on, rather than one in a positive frame of mind for what the future holds and the other feeling dejected.
There’s something quiet and efficient about Spurs, too. Yes, they will receive praise for being in the top four and sustaining their charge on Champions League football, but they’ve done so in the background and behind the praise that has been shelled out to David Moyes’ Everton and Steve Clarke’s West Brom.
The results over Manchester United have been outstanding, notably because Spurs have offered a resilience and fight that few have put forward against Alex Ferguson’s side this season. Yes, United have been challenged, but how many teams have been successful in taking points off them? The win at Old Trafford was incredible for Tottenham, and yet Villas-Boas had no time to rest on the glory of that win. Tottenham very much are becoming about the finish, rather than the personal glories along the way.
Football is now a young man’s game, where much more energetic and hungry figures take up the positions in the dugout. It’s a game which sees the old style of management thrown out the door and replaced with something a little more complex. Managers take notes, present spreadsheets, over examine an opponent they should beat regardless. Villas-Boas has brought greater attention to detail; he’s not a manager who will wait around for problems to fix themselves. Even if changes aren’t needed, he seems the type to make tweaks to things that do work until the whole picture is perfect.
The manager has taken what Daniel Levy has given him in terms of a squad and gone about making positive strides: more than anything, he’s holding up his end of the bargain if top four was the target for this season. You really can’t make guarantees in football, but Villas-Boas’ management style suggests that his team are unlikely to crumble the way Harry Redknapp’s did last season.
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This Tottenham team still need further investment to launch themselves away from the rest of the pack chasing a top four spot and into a position where challenging for Champions League football becomes the minimum requirement. But as is always the case, that’s down to the chairman.
It’s still early days for Villas-Boas at Tottenham, but unlike names we’ve seen in the past, this vibrant manager with the winning mentality could be the real deal.
Steve Clarke has indicated that star loanee from Chelsea Romelu Lukaku wishes to stay with West Brom.
Since joining the Baggies, Lukaku, who was an £18 million signing for Chelsea has started just three matches. However, he has managed three goals in those appearances and it is thought that he will play against Southampton tonight.
Though Chelsea are able to take back the 19-year-old in January’s transfer window, Clarke has insisted that Lukaku feels happy with West Brom and is wanting to continue improving his game at the Hawthorns.
“I haven’t spoken to Chelsea about what might happen but I speak to Lukaku and I know he’s happy. He’s in a better place now than he was when he came to us because he has played matches in the Premier League and has been a handful,” Clarke said.
“Lukaku has shown everybody that he’s a big talent and one for the future. He’s raw, he works hard on the training ground and he wants to be better.”
The Baggies play Southampton in a home match tonight, and Clarke has warned his team to be wary of the side.
“Nigel has had two successive promotions and done a great job for the club. They are a team we will treat with 100 per cent respect. We expect a really difficult game. Nigel’s teams always like to pass the ball. They are dangerous, can create chances and score goals,” he added.
West Brom are waiting on tests to see whether Shane Long and Claudio Yacob will be fit for tonight’s match. However, Chris Brunt and Billy Jones are now available to play.
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Maybe this is a case of a footballer getting exactly what they deserve—and not because he’s a bad person. David Bentley seemed to make poor decision after poor decision in his career, with recent injuries really bringing him to his knees. He has now been banished, seemingly, to one of the far corners of European football, with very little left of the promising player we once knew.
It said a lot when Bentley couldn’t find his way into a Birmingham side who were relegated in the season he went on loan with them. It was also incredibly disappointing that he had his spell with West Ham cut short by injury, but maybe we should be looking at the level of clubs that were interested in him.
This is a player who once scored a hat trick against Manchester United, was compared favourably to David Beckham, and cost Tottenham a fee around £17 million in 2008. You wouldn’t think that now when you look at his recent years, but his career has spiralled downwards and is very close to becoming irrelevant. Who can speak about Rostov in Russia with any great confidence? A club who aren’t competing for league titles or even European competition, but maybe it’s good that the player has put all that aside and is just intent on getting back on course.
The lure of Russian money isn’t there, nor is the chance of playing to large crowds usually associated with top European football. But is David Bentley’s case even remotely similar to what we saw with Joe Cole last summer? Both previously hailed as great internationals for their country, but both of whom fell heavily out of favour at their parent clubs. It said something about Joe Cole when he ended up at Lille in France. No disrespect to the then reigning French champions, but a title-winner at Chelsea, an England international and Liverpool star (at least that’s what his wages suggested) should maybe have landed a little higher.
Cole proved to have a good spell while in France, perhaps opening that door a little further for English players to explore leagues beyond their comfort zone. Russian football, like all the other empires under construction around the world, are looking at leagues like the Premier League for the next big opportunity. And while there’s no certainty what will happen with Bentley at Rostov, he’s definitely fallen into a minority who are willing to go abroad for the good of their career.
David Beckham, Michael Owen and Steve McManaman are different cases, because who would turn down Real Madrid if they came calling?
David Bentley surely would not have expected his career to pan out this way. Coming through the Arsenal academy, he already seemed too big for his boots before firmly establishing himself as a Premier League footballer. His attitude to the senior players sometimes bordered on the embarrassing, while his decision to pull out of the England U21 squad in 2007 also heaped the pressure and bad feeling on the player.
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He spoke so highly of Spurs when he joined the club, and maybe he could have been an integral member of the first-team even now. But there were mistakes, notably his lack of ability to really take his chances, and lets not forget the ice bucket incident with Harry Redknapp during that interview.
Nothing spectacular will come from this move to Russia. He may get back to full fitness and find a good home in a team for the next four-months or so. But if not, then it’s as good as over for him, at least in top-flight football. Not too many will be paying attention, and he certainly won’t force the sales of Rostov shirts in England, but this is really make or break for Bentley. A chance to get his career back on the right path or a confirmation of what we’ve all known for a good few years.
Ah, the FA Cup. The best domestic Cup competition in the World. It still is right? Despite all the bashing it gets? Well, there’s certainly some eye-catching matches this weekend and Thomas Rooney of Footballtips.com has three essential bets.
Cardiff to beat Wigan
First up, I’m going for a bit of an upset on Saturday afternoon. Wigan are the FA Cup holders and they head to a Cardiff side that will be far too pre-occupied with their battle against relegation.
The Bluebirds (do we still call them that?) have done well to make it this far and picked up impressive FA Cup wins at Newcastle and Bolton. They would have enjoyed the decreased pressure that comes with playing away from home though.
At the Cardiff City Stadium, they will probably have a crowd that isn’t too enthusiastic and in all honesty, is getting a bit impatient after a run of just one win in the last five home games.
Are they REALLY up for the Cup? I don’t think so. Hence why backing Wigan – who have won their last seven on the road in the FA Cup – is the way to go.
Back Wigan to win inside 90 minutes @ 14/5 with Stan James
Man City to get Chelsea revenge
One of the best away performances you will see occurred when Chelsea travelled to the Ethiad Stadium a couple of weeks ago. They won 1-0 and thoroughly deserved the three points.
I have my doubts about whether they can replicate this though. I even doubt how highly Jose Mourinho values the FA Cup. Will the same motivation, preparation and determination go into this latest trip to Manchester? It’s doubtful.
Man City are then a team with a point to prove. They will want to come out all guns blazing and aside from wanting to progress in the FA Cup, there will be a feeling of revenge in the air.
Don’t forget they’ve had more rest too after their midweek game was postponed and I think it’s highly likely they will make less changes / rest less players than Chelsea.
I expect more goals this time too, with less emphasis on the importance of the match than last time.
Back Man City to win @ both teams to score @ 3/1 with William Hill
Luis Suarez to score first
It’s Arsenal v Liverpool on Sunday and I fully expect the Gunners to see their season continue to take a downward spiral. February is a famously bad month for them remember.
With one eye on Bayern Munich next week, Arsene Wenger might struggle to get his team selection correct. He doesn’t want burn out to occur (it has already to be fair) nor does he want to be knocked out of the FA Cup.
I expect a strange Emirates atmosphere and a positive start from the visitors. They are back in the title race, playing excellent football and hammered this weekend’s opponents 5-1 last weekend.
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Brendan Rodgers will play his best team, including former Arsenal target Luis Suarez who I’m backing to break the deadlock for his first goal since January.
Back Suarez to score first at 9/2 with bet365
Thomas Rooney is the editor of Footballtips.com, the best place for all your FA Cup tips.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has confessed that summer signing Olivier Giroud is under pressure to get his first goal for the club.
The France international joined the Gunners from Montpellier during the off-season, and has been identified as one of the players who must harbour the golascoring burden of replacing Robin van Persie.
Giroud has failed to hit the net so far for the north London outfit and started from the bench against Southampton on Saturday; Wenger has admitted that pressure is starting to build on the new forward.
“I felt that he is under much pressure at the moment and sometimes to get a little breather is good,” the French coach stated in The Daily Mail.
“What I will do on Tuesday [against Montpellier in the Champions League] I honestly don’t know.
“I just felt that the time has come for him to not be under too much pressure,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Santi Cazorla has thoroughly impressed since moving to the Emirates Stadium from Malaga in the summer, and Wenger has been quick to sing the Spanish midfielder’s praises.
“Cazorla is a player who is just a pleasure to watch. You want him to have the ball,” the experienced trainer continued.
“I think he typifies what the midfielders in Spain are today – technically perfect, great vision and a great team attitude.
“We did fight with Malaga at the time [to get him last summer from Villarreal] and they were in Spain, they were quick to do the deal.
“But we remained on the ball, we were quite advanced with him last season already,” he concluded.
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The Gunners face Montpellier in their first Champions League group stage fixture on Tuesday.