Pierre Aubameyang: The Liverpool and Arsenal-linked forward extends his stay at Dortmund

The Gabonian striker Pierre Emerick Aubameyang has pledged his future to ️Borussia Dortmund by signing a new deal, which will see him stay at the Signal Iduna Park until 2020.

Aubameyang was his team’s top scorer last season and has proved on several occasions that he is well suited to play at the number 9 position rather than the wings.

 

Stepping up to the plate

With last summer’s new signings Ciro Immobile and Adrian Ramos failing to live up to expectations it was up to Aubameyang to step up and take the charge up front.

He was the most consistent player last season, bagging 25 goals in all competitions, at a time where ️BVB were struggling to maintain any sort of good form.

He also formed a deadly partnership with star-man Marco Reus, which was also vital in the team’s ascension up the table in the second half of the season.

 

Linked with moves abroad

Known for his pace, acrobatics and ‘Marvin-comic’ type of goal celebrations the 26 year old has been linked with a move to Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal during the summer. But he has silenced all the speculation by agreeing to a new contract on Friday.

With Immobile’s departure on loan to Spanish club Sevilla, Aubameyang’s role will only become more prominent under new manager Thomas Tuchel.

He also has shown in Dortmund’s friendlies that he still has got his finishing touch and is ready for another season with the Black and Yellows.

 

Deal extension

This deal makes Aubameyang the fourth player who has agreed to extend his contract at ️Borussia Dortmund in 2015 after teammates Marco Reus, Neven Subotic and Ilkay Gündogan.

The German side also managed to hold on to key players like Mats Hummels and seem to have learnt their lesson from the previous departures of main players like Robert Lewandowski and Mario Götze, which left them in an awkward transitional state.

The Batman stays at Borussia!

 

Written by Brook Genene

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Robin van Persie: An Ode, a Fond Farewell to the Dutch artist

Farewell, then, Robin. Your time in the Premier League may have come to a rather acrimonious end with unverified claims and counterclaims about the manner of your departure but the ride has been eventful, full of niggling injuries, a controversial move and breathtaking goals.

Who could forget the “goal of a lifetime,” as Arsène Wenger succinctly described that 2006 volley against Charlton, the late winners against Liverpool and Everton in 2011/12 and of course the hattrick against Aston Villa that handed Manchester United their record Premier League title. The hattrick that, in hindsight, marked the beginning of the end of van Persie’s Premier League career.

The memories were beautiful and perhaps not as much as we’d have loved them to be due mostly to the litany of injuries that curtailed your time in Blightly but you were absolutely brilliant in your time there. You’ll be missed, no doubt.

van Persie arrived on English soil in the summer of 2004 having established himself as a serial troublemaker in his time at Feyenoord. Clashes with his manager Bert van Marwijk led to his demotion to the reserve side at some point. “His behaviour made it impossible for him to remain in the squad any longer, so he will join the reserve side for the time being,” said a frustrated van Marwijk.

Another round of off-field spats led to van Marwijk sending him home on the eve of the 2002 UEFA Super Cup against Real Madrid following van Persie’s reaction to being asked to warm up for a Champions League qualifier.

When Arsenal finally offered £2.75m for his services following lengthy negotiations– half of what the Dutch club initially wanted for him – Feyenoord were all too keen to get rid of the talented youngster with an obvious disregard for authority. Arsenal, for their part, saw van Persie as the ideal replacement for the ageing genius that was Dennis Bergkamp.

Like Thierry Henry before him, Arsène Wenger planned to convert van Persie from a winger to a striker, with the Gunners chief praising the versatility of his latest acquisition: “He can play on the left side of midfield, as a creative player behind the main strikers or as a target man.”

Injury worries derailed van Persie’s Arsenal career and the man dubbed “the flying Dutchman” had only one injury-free season in the entirety of his time in the north London – the 2011/12 season, which unsurprisingly was his best at the club.

Arsenal’s inability to compete for major honours meant van Persie followed in the footsteps of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri to seek pastures anew and the Dutchman switched London for the red half of Manchester to howls of discontent and crackles of burning polyester.

“I always listen to the little boy inside of me in these situations – when you have to make the harder decisions in life. What does he want? That boy was screaming for Man United,” said van Persie at his United unveiling.

Having been pipped to the Premier League title by Manchester City on goals difference the previous season, Ferguson was desperate for the perfect farewell and in van Persie he found the player he wanted. van Persie, too, was desperate for a Premier League title and at 29, was fully aware that time was fast running out to actualize his dream.

van Persie was the embodiment of Ferguson’s vanity project, the veteran manager splurging £24m on an injury-prone 29 year old while his central midfield was bound together with paper, glue and a couple of Hail Marys in between crossed fingers and hearts-in-mouths moments. Both men were raging fiercely against the dying of the light, turning back the hands of time for one final hurrah. Sir Alex Ferguson and van Persie, in more ways than one, were a perfect match.

In that season, we witnessed what was close to footballing perfection. United swatted away all opposition before them, with van Persie naturally the tormentor-in-chief. The Dutchman was virtually unplayable, obliterating opponents with the dogged determination of a man who could not be stopped.

There was a Premier League title to be won and nothing could stop United, not with van Persie in the form of his life. 38 games and 26 goals later, the title was United’s in what was essentially a procession. It was time for a period of sustained success, or so van Persie thought but Sir Alex had other ideas.

van Persie has claimed Ferguson’s influence was one of the reasons why he moved to Old Trafford and during their year together, they developed a close working relationship. When Sir Alex announced his retirement in 2013, van Persie was the worst hit of a shell-shocked group. It was a descent he never quite recovered from under David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.

In an interview with MUTV, former United defender Ferdinand described how distraught van Persie was when Ferguson announced he was stepping down: “Everyone was really appreciative for what he’d done for our careers. The person it hit more than anyone was Robin. He’d come the year before, tasted that success and wanted more. Visually you could see it hit him harder than anyone else at the time.”

Under David Moyes, the van Persie of old was gone, in place of the high-grade marksman of previous years was an injured parody of the real deal. Although there were moments of genuine quality, most notably the hat-trick against Olympiakos, it was never quite the same again with him.

“I had to gasp for breath and I shook my head. Had he really said what I thought he’d said? The room fell silently quiet and then everyone became emotional. Sir Alex then had a long talk with the squad, I found it a very special speech and felt privileged to have witnessed it,” said van Persie with the tone of a jilted lover trying to come to terms that his once beautiful relationship had come to a sad, unexpected end.

van Gaal’s appointment at Old Trafford was expected to be the shot in the arm for his fellow countryman’s United career but in the end, van Persie was too far gone. The injuries had taken the hugely talented goal machine we all knew. The van Persie that bestrode the Premier League was a rare breed, all clean lines and geometric awareness.

In a game that has become increasingly fast-paced, van Persie was somewhat anachronistic, rarely relying on pace but instead on his manipulation of space. Give him an inch of space and the Dutchman manipulated it to his advantage with ruthless efficiency. van Persie at his pomp was gracious, beautiful and wonderfully technical.

At 31 (he turns 32 next week), van Persie is entering the twilight of his career and it is hoped there is enough left in the tank to terrorise defences across Turkey in his new sojourn with Fenerbahce. If there is, we’ll all be richer for the experience.

Farewell, thee, Robin.

 

Written by Aanu Adeoye

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Vlad Chiriches: Spurs get rid of their Romanian flop as Pochettino’s reign continues apace

This transfer window at Spurs, Mauricio Pochettino’s second during his time in charge of the club, has seen a ruthless clear out of the squad. Paulinho, Etienne Capoue, Benjamin Stambouli and Lewis Holtby have all been packed off while Emmanuel Adebayor, who appears to be close to a move to Aston Villa, is set to follow them out of White Hart Lane.

Younes Kaboul, with a £3 million move to Sunderland, and Vlad Chiriches, who has joined Napoli, are also on the exit list in Daniel Levy’s summer decluttering.

The sales of Kaboul and Chiriches are especially significant in how Levy is now seen to be supporting Pochettino as he sets about shaping the squad to his own liking.

Having inherited a team from the year of Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood, mostly built by the former with his scatter-gun use of the £85 million recouped by the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, Pochettino is now overseeing a clear-out of the disappointments and ushering in a new dawn of seemingly sensible, measured business.

With Tottenham having shipped 53 goals last term, only four Premier League teams conceded more and even relegated Hull City and Burnley managed better defensive records, it is at centre-half where Pochettino has started his renovation with reasonable extent to believe the other areas of his squad are in good shape.

Nabil Bentaleb, Moussa Dembele, Ryan Mason and Tom Carroll make for a good centre-midfield quartet while the craft and guile of Christian Eriksen, partnered with the improving Nacer Chadli and Erik Lamela will provide the chances for the prolific Harry Kane.

Pochettino can plug full-back positions with Eric Dier, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker or Ben Davies and if Spurs can resist overtures from Manchester United for Hugo Lloris, they will retain one of the league’s best goalkeepers.

The Argentine coach is correct to identify centre-half as the troublesome position as he struggled to find a regular partnership last season. Federico Fazio and Jan Vertonghen was his favoured duo but with Fazio only making 20 appearances as he settled into his first year in England, Pochettino often found himself lacking inadequate cover.

Younes Kaboul was given the captaincy last September before being dropped in November whilst Chiriches continued to endure a miserable time in north London, making just 10 appearances as he battled injury before finishing his campaign early with a red card at Stoke in early May.

It is then, equally as fortunate as bizarre that Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri has said that he “doesn’t know much” about his new Romanian centre-half. “I saw him for half of a match, and he seemed to have discrete physical qualities, but I don’t have a clear impression” he said, “but if they [the club] chose him…” referring to the actions of his chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis who appears to have taken matters into his own hands after missing out on Cagliari’s Davide Astori.

The Partenopei were also rumoured to have chased Juventus’ Daniele Rugani, Torino’s Nikola Maksimovic and Roma’s Alessio Romagnoli in their hunt for a centre-half but it is on the €6 million Chiriches whom they have been forced to settle.

Taking over from Rafael Benitez, Sarri has had to undertake work on his own defence after the exit of Miguel Britos to Watford so in comes Chiriches, aiming to rediscover in Italy the form that convinced Spurs to stump up Steaua Bucharest’s record selling fee of €9.5 million to land him in 2013.

Spurs are now taking a loss of around half that fee for the defender who managed just 27 league appearances across two years and who has now seen Kevin Wimmer, the 22 year old signed from Koln, and Toby Alderweireld, who joins for £11 million from Atletico Madrid after a year in England with Southampton, jump ahead of him at White Hart Lane.

He leaves as another unwanted memory, together with Paulinho and Roberto Soldado, of how easily the Bale money was squandered by Levy, Villas-Boas and Franco Baldini, who somehow still remains in his post as the club’s technical director.

If Chiriches settles in Naples however, having failed to do so at five clubs across three different countries so far at the age of 25, they will have got themselves an astute bargain. Spurs will attest to his quality at the start of his spell before his form deteriorated and he is captain of a Romania team that conceded just three times in the whole of 2014 and is on the brink of qualifying for Euro 2016 with just one goal conceded so far.

Despite a poor second year in England, he still finished the season with impressive stats of 2.7 interceptions and 1.9 successful tackles per game, suggesting a defensive quality that is still intact. Though winning on average just 0.7 of his aerial battles despite standing taller than 6ft indicates an indecision when challenging for the ball, while similar hesitation and tentativeness were in evidence as he made memorable errors against Sunderland and Besiktas.

“One mistake after another mistake” said Pochettino after the Europa League meeting with the latter.

The writing was on the wall from that October evening and though Pochettino didn’t quite give up on Chiriches after that, it is no surprise to see him depart after his nightmare ending to life in England against Stoke.

In Italy, where the pace of the game is slower and he will be afforded more time on the ball as a result, and under Sarri who worked wonders with limited resources and talent in his time with Empoli, the Romanian will find prime opportunity to revive his career.

As Pochettino and Levy also move on, it could be the best move for all parties.

 

Written by Adam Gray

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