FROM THE STANDSl a t e s t v i e w s o n t h e f o o t b a l l w o r l d

GARETH BALEWAYNE ROONEYLUIS SUAREZ

Plus the futures of

1SSUE

Big transfer stories of the summer

TITLE BATTLEDAVID MOYESAlso views on

31/07/13

CONTENTS

3 Wayne Rooney

7 Luis Suarez

9 Gareth Bale

13 David Moyes

15 Title Battle

BALE

ROONEYSUAREZ

They have all been linked with big money moves this summer but will they go? All leading players at their clubs this feature gives views on their current situations

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WAYNEROONEY

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It is clear that during Alex Ferguson’s final few months in charge of United that him and Rooney did not see eye to eye. Ever since being dropped from the Champions League game with Madrid there has been specualtion Rooney is on his way out.

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manager knowing Rooney since he was a youngster at Everton. However Ferguson’s presence will remain at United in a Director’s role, and it is not clear how this will affect Rooney’s thinking.

Sir Bobby Charlton has recently come out and said Rooney will stay at United and break his goalscoring record of 249 goals and become United’s all time leading scorer. You would think the thought of becoming the all time leading scorer at the biggest club in the world would be enough to convince him to stay and write his name in the history books.

The question is, does Rooney have the desire? After a mixed 2012/13 season disrupted by injuries and being played out of position, you have to wonder if Rooney has be-come fed up and needs a new chal-lenge to reignite his hunger from previous seasons. Surely the pros-pect of becoming United’s all time scorer is the driving force he needs? After a frustrating season, to come back to his best and reach that goal, surely that will silence the doubt-ers and Rooney will become part of United history, as if he isn’t already.

He knows he will have to work hard to win over the fans again. With that and the goal of becoming his clubs all time scorer surely this is the challenge Rooney needs at this point of his career. Rooney is not a footballer born to play second fiddle or back up to anyone, he wants to be appreciated doing what he loves, playing football and scoring goals.

These are Rooney’s peak years and they should be spent at United , becoming a legend and sitting alongside the likes of Charlton, Law and Best

Rooney has most recently been linked with a move to Chelsea where he would be given the opportunity to play in his favoured central role and be the focal point of the attack. Rooney is highlyregarded by Mournho, and the Chelsea manager has said as far as any more new signings go it is Rooney or noone.

You can see why Rooney may have grown disillusioned with life at United. After 9 seasons at United and plenty of trophies, it seems he is no longer guaranteed a start-ing place. Recently Moyes stated that Rooney would not be sold and would provide back up for Van Per-sie should he get injured, comments which left Rooney feeling ‘angry and confused’. Rooney is not a player who is happy to be back up. He wants to be on the pitch all the time.

It was suggested by Ferguson that Rooney requested to leave United, just as he did a couple seasons ago, and that was the reason for his absence from the team. However it is now believed that he merely wanted clarification on his role and did not ask to leave. This summer Rooney wanted the United board to come out and clarify that but they did not want to contradict Ferguson’s claims. This drama has left many fans fed up of Rooney, with some saying he is past his best, United don’t need him, he has grown to big for the club. The challenge Rooney now has is to win back those fans. The only way that can be achieved is by doing what he does best, scoring goals and helping the team win trophies.

It was thought a new man in charge would mean a fresh start for Rooney, especially with the new

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It is hard to think of a more controversial player in the Premier League than Luis Suarez. He is like Marmite, you either love him or hate him.

Having already been involved in major controversy the previous season for the race row with Patrice Evra, Suarez courted more controversy in the 2012/13 season by biting Branislav Ivanovic during a league clash with Chelsea resulting in a 10 match ban.

Aside from the controversy, what isn’t in doubt is the fact that Suarez is a very talented player. It’s fair to say, just like Van Persie did for United, Luis Suarez saved

LUISSUAREZ

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Now linked with Arsenal, it seems a strange move. Yes, Arsenal would give Suarez the Champions League football he craves, providing they get through their qualifier, but surely if one of the reasons you gave for wanting to leave is the English press then a move to Arsenal is not going to change things? Arsenal are also without a trophy in 8 years, though signing Suarez may help Arsenal fix this it is no guarantee they will be trophy winners any time soon. A move to Madrid would make sense, one of the best clubs in the world and challenging Barcelona for the title of Spain’s best team. Ma-drid and Arsenal are a class apart in terms of winning trophies.

And does he not owe Liverpool fans? The manger Brendan Rogers has even said the same thing, the fans have helped Suarez through difficult times and have always stuck with him. Surely Suarez owes it to the fans to stay and help make Liverpool a major force in England again? If Liverpool fail to qualify for the Champions League again next season then fair enough if Suarez wants to go.

The league is getting more competitive but Liverpool are build-ing a squad, and with a few more signings and a positive start to the season then they will surely be up there come end of the season challenging for the top 4. Brendan Rogers is in the process of creating something good at Liverpool, and it will take time, but it could put help put Liverpool back to the bettert days of challenging for Champions League rather than Europa League

LUISSUAREZ

Liverpool on more than one occassion last season and without his goals it is hard to see how Liverpool would have coped.

At the start of the summer Suarez signalled his intentions to leave, blaming intense media intrusion from the English press and inviting Real Madrid to make a n offer for him, claiming it would be ‘hard to say no’ to them. No approach from Madrid yet though.

GARETHBALE

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The stand out performer of the 2012/13 season scooping a hat trick of awards in the PFA Player of the Year, PFA Young Player of the Year and the Football Writers Award

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The biggest transfer story of the summer involves the most talked about footballer of the

past season, Tottenham Hotspur winger Gareth Bale. Winning every individual award possible shows what a breathtaking campaign it was for the player and is the reason Real Madrid want to team the play-er up with their very own superstar in Cristiano Ronaldo.

The latest news is that Gareth Bale has told Tottenham he wants to leave for Spain. It is rumoured Real Madrid have tabled an official bid of £85 million for the Welshman, which would make him the most expensive player in football history beating the previous record of Ronaldo, who cost Madrid £80 million in 2009.

Bale has steadily developed into the world class talent he is today since that memorable Champions League night against Inter Milan where he blasted Maicon away and scored a stunning hat-trick.

Just a week or two ago it seemed Bale was happy to stay at Spurs, with talk of a new contract being lined up where Tottenham were willing to break their wage structure and offer him a contract worth £150,000 a week. Aswell as Tottenham willing to break their wage policy to keep hold of Bale, the player has a very good relationship with the manager, Villas-Boas. It is credit to Villas-Boas that Bale has just had the season he has had, with the player himself saying how great the relationship was less than 2 weeks ago. It was hoped that would be enough to convince him to stay, atleast for another season.

At 24 Bale is still young. Michael Owen moved to Spain at the same age as Bale now and warned him that the dream may not be as great as he hopes for. He has recently been quoted as saying how hard he found it to settle, and ultimately returned home to England after one season. Then again Bale and Owen are completely different players and things may work out well for Bale, just as it did for David Beckham who enjoyed a 4 year spell at Madrid.

Moving away from football, Bale has to consider the effect a move abroad will have for his family. He has a young child which he needs to think about and he has a close relationship with his mum who he still visits regularly in the Cardiff family home. Is uprooting the right move at this stage of his career?

A wise choice could be for Bale to remain at Tottenham at this mo-ment in time where he buils upon his impressive season. A few more seasons like the last and noone could argue about him pursuing a move to Madrid.

Bale is still young, he has played well for the past few seasons but it is last season where he stepped up, scored consistently, took games by the scruff of the neck and became a match winner, and in the process showed what a world class player he is turning out to be. Bale needs to show last season was not just a one off though and take his game further into the new season. The Champions League is the stage Bale wants to perform on but he has time on his side, if he can continue his stunning form at Tottenham there is no reason why Madrid won’t come back next season with an offer.

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One of the toughest jobs in football has to be replacing the most successful British manager in history, Sir Alex Ferguson, a man who won a total of 38 trophies in his reign. That is exactly the challenge David Moyes faces as he becomes Ferguson’s successor as he looks to build his own Old Trafford legacy.

Originally it seemed a big name manager would be the only way to go, with only Mourinho or Guardiola fitting the bill. However thinking about it Moyes is the most suitable choice. With everything going right Moyes is here for the long term after a successful 11 years at Everton, whereas it would be hard to see Mourinho or Guardiola offering the same lenghty spell. Moyes does not bring the drama that other managers may bring, for example Mourinho is known to be controversial from time to time and maybe United were aware of the dramas Mourinho may bring, although a highly successful manager. Also Moyes is a man very similar to Ferguson and if Ferguson says your the right man for the job then who is anyone to argue

Moyes has had a mixed start to his United reign in the pre-season tour, but Ferguson didn’t have the best of starts either. It took him a few

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WELCOMEMOYES

years to win his first trophy and it is said there was a time in 1990 where Ferguson was one game away from the sack.

There is pressure on Moyes to de-liver right away. He has come into a club that is used to glory and winning silverware and the fans want to see Moyes continue this tradition. The United job is a whole new level compared to the Ever-ton job where expectations greatly differ.

One of Moyes first jobs was to handle the future of Wayne Rooney, which didn’t go entirely to plan when in a press conference he said Rooney would not be sold as he was needed as cover for Van Persie, statements which Rooney was not to happy with. A situation which could have been handled better.

Moyes has admitted it will take him time to fully grasp the role of United manager, as you would expect, but Moyes has shown at Everton what a capable coach he is. Moyes is more than able to handle the expectations of the fans heading into the new season.

It’s a new chapter for Manchester United, one Moyes hopes will be a successful one.

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The 2013/14 Premier League season is lining up to be the most exciting and entertaining campaign to date.

With new managers at the helm for 3 of the top 4 clubs from last season it will be interesting to see how the campaign unfolds. It’s the return of the ‘Special One’ Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and a new man in charge of Manchester United for the first time in 26 years, David Moyes. United’s noisy neighbours Manchester City have former Malaga manager Manuel Pellegrini at the helm, a man well respected in Spain who will be hoping to challenge for the top honours at City. You can expect all 3 of these teams to put up a strong fight for the title.

The clubs have new talent lined up and exciting youngsters. Heres a quick blast through: City have signed two new strikers in Negredo and Jovetic aswell as Spanish winger Jesus Navas and the Brazilian Fernandinho. Swansea have signed WIlfred Bony, a player who scored 34 goals in 31 games in the Dutch league last year to lighten the load on Michu. Anelka has returned to the English game with West Brom. The likes of Swansea and West Brom will be looking to improve on last season’s impressive showings. Tottenham have signed Paulinho and winger Chadli and are close to signing Soldado from Valencia, if they can keep Bale to they could be in for an exciting season. Liverpool will get full seasons out of two January signings Sturridge and Coutinho, both mahor hits in the close season. Last season’s star strikers such as Van Persie and Benteke will be looking to repeat their goalscoring heroics and aid their teams. Norwich City have signed Celtic’s leading scorer from last season Gary Hooper to partner another new signing in Van Wolfswinkel. Stokes new man Mark Hughes will be looking to silence his doubters while Sunderland manager Di Canio has so far made 9 signings in his rebuilding of the squad.

Looking at youngsters the main man to keep an eye on is Romelu Lukaku.Lukaku is back at his parent club Chelsea after a very impressive spell on loan at West Brom last season where he bagged 17 premier league goals. Given the chance, and with the likes of Mata, Hazard and Lampard creating chances for him you can’t help but feel this could be an even bigger season for Lukaku.

An exciting season ahead.

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THE 2013/14BATTLE

THE 2013/1416