Weekly Window update; Silly Season Begins

Hello and Welcome to a new series here on A Mata Of Opinion! Here we will be discussing new key signings, new gossip and whatever is going on in the transfer window. I, for one, massively enjoy reading the BBC sport gossip column first thing in the morning, mostly to laugh at the absurdity of The Mirror claiming Leo Messi will join Man city for £200m for the the thousandth time, but also to keep up to date with how sides are preparing for the new season.

And, eventually, after 10 months of games, goals and glory, the 2016-17 Premier League season has finally come to a close, and that means it’s time for the rumours and gossip on transfers to come out of hibernation once more.

A few sides have already made a few signings, even if the window doesn’t officially open until June 19th, including Man City signing Benfica goalkeeper Ederson Moreas for £33m and Monaco midfielder Bernardo Silva, for £43m.

Some sides are also being heavily linked with new signings, and, as per usual, Man United are at the forefront of the rumours. The Red Devils have been “set to sign” Antoine Griezmann for what seems like years now, with Inter’s Ivan Perisic and Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata being more recently dragged into it.

It is easy just to completely disregard these rumours straight off the bat, as lots of newspapers do seem to be very reckless with what they class as reliable news at this time, especially news feeds like The Mirror, The daily Star and The Daily Mail, however when the rumours get to the point that they are at now with the Griezmann affair, you have to think “there’s no smoke without fire”. I was quick to laugh off the Paul Pogba to United rumours last summer, but they intensified hugely, and now the Frenchman is a United player.

 Of course you should be realistic about what you believe when you are reading the papers, and I only tend to trust something if it is reported by the BBC, or possibly Sky Sports, but always be careful to avoid fake news.

A good way to see if a club is making a big name signing is if they have surprisingly left a prominent squad number, that  is relevant to the player (If they left open, say, the number 11, don’t use this technique for a defender), for example, last year Man United left open the number 6, hinting to the fans that Pogba could be on his way. This year, they have the number 7 open, perhaps for Antoine Griezmann.

Recently, there have been hundreds of reports of Monaco youngster Kylian M’bappe joining multiple different clubs, ranging from Real Madrid to Man City, and, unsurprisingly Man United. M’bappe, who already has two caps for the french national team at just 18, has not publicly spoken out about his transfer status as of yet, but I think he’s pretty sure to stay at Monaco.

Right now, what he needs is first team experience, and he’s getting that at Monaco, but if he were to move to Real Madrid he would be behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and maybe even Isco. Also, look at what has happened to other youngsters moving to Real Madrid. Take Isco, he moved to Los Blancos in June 2013, and has only scored 33 goals in 190 appearances, and has struggled to find a regular spot in the first team.

So, who do you think will sign for who? Where do you think Antoine Griezmann will be next season? Please do join in the discussion in the comments. If you enjoyed this post then please do leave a like, just click the little button that says “like”. If you want to see more, and be alerted when I post new content then please subscribe, just scroll up, and a little button saying “follow” should appear, click that, and you can then either enter your E-mail address for E-mail alerts, or sign up with your WordPress account. There will be new content out at the weekend and another Weekly Window Update on Thursday next week.

Billy