Financial Chelsea and Liverpool players leaks – you might have missed | Soccer

TIME TO RECOVER

After the spectacle of the world cup of Geopolitics, we can return to the modest, limited world of the domestic game. While our attention was elsewhere, Manchester City shelled out £116m for Elliot Anderson. Chelsea, to no avail, shelled out £117m for Morgan Rogers. Even Tottenham parted with £230m to revive their slightly battered squad. Manchester United, who went down to Wrexham in their first pre-season friendly in Helsinki, kept things modest, signing Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans for the same £85m that Spurs splashed on West Ham winger Mateus Fernandes.

Liverpool, who blew all their dosh last summer, are one of the Premier League’s three heavyweights under new management. Andoni Iraola, it seems, is more concerned with stopping the flow of the club he inherited after Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Iraima Konaté were all out. The smiling Spaniard revealed his transfer strategy this week and said: “I want to keep my good players.” Any big club with a short memory will focus on Alexis Mac Allister, and Iraola is determined to hold on to his experienced players. “We need indicators like Virgil [van Dijk]Alisson, Joe Gomez,” was taken twice in USA USA USA, where Liverpool will face friendly rivals Sunderland, Wrexham and Leeds.

At Chelsea, Xabi Alonso was last seen standing on the shoulder of Rogers for the club’s record signing when he signed his contract, presumably making sure he didn’t run. The nine-figure fee is an expensive way to keep Rodgers’ good colleague Cole Palmer happy and some kind of financial shoulder for a club that has dropped £355m in the 2024-25 season. Chelsea have also spent over £100m on Marco Palestra, Geovany Quenda and Emmanuel Emegha (all genuine players) this summer as they attempt to reach the top of the Tin Pot. Pre-season takes them to Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia – but Marc Cucurella will be absent. He was shipped off to Real Madrid, raising the money for the polish needed to keep that Copa Gianni gleaming, with Chelsea wondering if he still thinks about them.

Manchester City have moved on from the Pep Guardiola era by selling the contents of his office for charity, including his mug, notes, desk chair and coffee mugs. Football Daily lost his incense collection, which reached £1,294 this morning. Enzo Maresca can take solace in the arrival of Anderson, one of England’s bravest bronze medalists, before City fly to Hong Kong to face Inter in the Asahi Super Dry Trophy. That is followed by dates with the K League All-Stars and Atlético Madrid in Seoul. “City are an incredibly well-run football club,” said Maresca, no doubt reminiscing about his days at Stamford Bridge. Amidst the noise of the GWC, Chelsea produced a statement blaming last season’s failure on the “disruption caused” by Maresca’s resignation in January. They call him “Head Coach” all the kind of bitterness and cruel capitalization you’d expect from a Community Truth post. If Donald Trump really has fallen for soccer, maybe he’ll be around to call another trophy celebration in August. Run for Community Shield!

SAINT OF THE DAY

I was happy with most of the things I saw in the game. We can do better. We could have taken more responsibility to have the ball instead of just watching and reacting … efficiency is very important at this level. If you don’t kill, you get killed” – new Hearts manager Wouter Vrancken prefers to focus on the positives after being beaten 4-0 by Sturm Graz in the first leg of the Bigger Cup qualifiers.

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The final word on GWC – for now – with our writers’ picks.

How’s your World Cup hangover? I must be bored because I couldn’t help but notice that Tuesday was a tough day for the British, Irish and British Overseas Territory club teams in the Bigger Cup. Not only were Hearts, Larne, Shamrock Rovers and Lincoln Red Imps all beaten in their first qualifying round, they didn’t concede a single goal between them! Rovers’ Cape Verdean Pico Lopes went from taking Argentina to extra time in Miami a few weeks ago, and was stripped by Armenia’s Ararat. Larne were not given the comforts of home on the coast of Northern Ireland by Red Star Belgrade, who brought in Marko Arnautovic, the Austrian veteran who retired from his country’s side after the GWC exit at the hands of Spain. The ball just keeps going. ” – Peter Oh.

Here it is again, another new face at the top job, you know the drill now. Smiles, handshakes and social media sounds. Claims to ‘understand why people are frustrated’, promises of ‘change’ and ‘progress’. Speculation about who is being brought in to play a key role, and who is not. Sooner or later, the realization that there is neither the time nor the confidence to make the difficult long-term changes that everyone knows is necessary. Media pressure, fighting, ‘the need to act before it’s too late’. Out of the door to be replaced by the next big prospect, who is more distinguishable by having a different voice. All I can say is, I wish Alessio Dionisi the best of luck at Watford this season. Now to see what is happening in UK politics…” – David Craddock.

If you have them, please send letters to .boss@theguardian.com. Today’s useless letter o’ the day goes to … David Craddock. The terms and conditions of our competitions, if we run them, are in place.

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