EPL
A brief history of Liverpool beating Manchester United to signings
You’ve got to hand it to Liverpool, really.
In total contrast to the click-baiting nature of the modern transfer market, the Reds prefer to do their business behind closed doors, resulting in some of the biggest surprise deals in recent years.
This week, it was announced that Liverpool had struck a deal with PSV Eindhoven for the transfer of their star forward Cody Gakpo, after weeks of intense speculation that the 23-year-old would be joining rivals Manchester United instead.
United fans will no doubt be left fuming by the sudden news – and with good reason. For this is not the first time they’ve been beaten to a signing by their deadly foes from down the M62.
Let’s look at a few of the times Liverpool have pipped United to the post in the transfer market.
A new striker was at the top of Erik ten Hag’s shopping list when he arrived at Old Trafford in the summer, and Nunez fit the bill perfectly after a breakout season at Benfica.
However, the Uruguayan opted for a move to Liverpool instead, supposedly due to the allure of Champions League football and the chance to play under Jurgen Klopp.
While Nunez is still in the process of winning over the Anfield faithful with some questionable displays since his arrival, United’s search for a striker continues.
Sadio Mane is one of the best Premier League players of his generation and a part of Liverpool folklore, making this feel like a real ‘sliding doors’ moment for the Reds and United.
The Senegalese forward claims to have had a contract agreed with the Red Devils in 2016 before joining Liverpool instead. Having won the Premier League and Champions League at Anfield, we reckon it was probably the right call.
Manchester United’s interest in midfield maestro Thiago can be traced back to 2013, when the club were reportedly interested in signing him from Barcelona only to lose out to Bayern Munich.
Seven years on, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and company were reportedly desperate to reignite the club’s interest in Thiago, only for Liverpool to swoop in once again and sign the Spaniard themselves.
While his fitness remains an issue, the midfielder is imperious on his day and another player who has kept Liverpool a cut above their rivals in recent years.
To be fair to United, sometimes their failure to close deals works out in their favour.
El Hadji Diouf claims to have had offers on the table from the Red Devils and Barcelona when he left Lens in 2002, but instead chose to join Liverpool.
79 appearances and a measly six goals later, he was off to Bolton to begin the steady decline into footballing anonymity. Given some of his antics over the course of his time in England, you do wonder what his relationship with Sir Alex would have been like.
Another missed opportunity that might have completely reshaped the past few years of English football, Manchester United were supposedly rather keen on Firmino following his performances at Hoffenheim.
Unfortunately, they paid the Brazilian a little too much respect by deciding to let him play out the Copa America with his country before entering negotiations.
While they sat on their hands, Liverpool sent representatives over to Chile where the tournament was taking place and ground out a deal. Oops!
Once upon a time, Nathaniel Clyne was considered the hottest young right-back in the English game.
Having broken through at Crystal Palace and starred under Mauricio Pochettino at Southampton, a big move was always bound to happen.
United were reportedly very confident of agreeing a deal for Clyne, but found themselves holding the bag once again as Liverpool snapped him up for £12.5m.
He never really got going at Anfield, with Trent Alexander-Arnold emerging just a couple of years later. Who knows what he would have become at United?
How close United actually ever were to signing Van Dijk, we may never know. Once Liverpool registered their interest, it was basically game over.
While it felt like one of those transfer sagas that lasts forever, the Red eventually got their man in January 2018 and it wasn’t long before the Dutchman was being hailed as the best defender in the world.
Interestingly, one of the biggest legacies of this move was that Liverpool never let any transfer news leak from their side ever again, having been accused of tapping up Van Dijk by his club at the time, Southampton.
This is what the kids today would describe as a ‘big oof’. Just how different would things be if Klopp had gone to United instead of Liverpool?
If you don’t believe that this was on the cards, the man himself confirmed it to Sky Sports a while back, saying: “Yes there was interest – Manchester United, yes they were interested a year or a year-and-a-half before, but it didn’t feel right. I couldn’t say Man United is my club, it didn’t feel right.
“When Liverpool called, I had no chance. It was actually too early for my plans. I said, ‘Wow, come on!’ But then coming here and feeling the spirit immediately, it was just, for me, a match in heaven.”
Ouch. But Jose Mourinho was just as good of a hire, right?
The Europa League final may not be a bucket list event that, say, the Champions League or World Cup finals are, but UEFA’s secondary club competition will mean a whole lot to those supporters whose sides progress into the showpiece event.
Just eight teams remain in this season’s iteration of the competition with several European behemoths of yesteryear still going strong. Manchester United, Juventus, and AS Roma sit among the favourites to at least reach the final in Budapest.
While the final at the Puskas Arena is still some time away yet, tickets for the event are set to go on sale soon.
Here’s everything you need to know about purchasing tickets for the 2023 Europa League final
There’s little information to access regarding 2023 Europa League final tickets right now, with more details expected to be released later this month.
Thus, exact ticket prices for the final in Budapest are not yet known. These were the prices for last season’s final between Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville:
A release date has not yet been revealed for 2023 Europa League final tickets. In 2022, tickets went on general sale on 20 April.
Supporters will be able to purchase 2023 Europa League final tickets via UEFA’s ticket portal once they go on general sale.
There are three different hospitality packages for the 2023 Europa League final, but all are sold out on UEFA’s website.
The most expensive of these packages – Private Suite Gold – costs €890 per person. UEFA’s Private Suite Silver package is €200 cheaper at €690, with the main difference between these two options being where the suites are located. Silver suites are behind the goal, while gold suites are in the main or opposite stand.
Customers in both suites will also receive a match ball.
The Club package also costs €690 per person which grants access to UEFA’s Sky Club lounge.
All packages include prolonged hospitality service before and after the match, world-class catering, a live TV feed, a parking pass, and, most importantly, a match programme.
The 2022/23 Europa League final is scheduled for 31 May and will be held at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary.
Tottenham managing director of football Fabio Paratici has been banned from football worldwide after FIFA extended the punishment imposed in Italy following his involvement in Juventus’ penalised accounting practices.
In January, the Italian giants suffered a shock 15-point deduction after the club was deemed to have inflated player transfer values in swap deals among other financial offences.
Paratici joined the Juventus hierarchy in 2010 and was the club’s sporting director between November 2018 and the summer of 2021, before he took up a similar role at Tottenham. The investigation into Juve’s accounts scrutinised transactions between 2019 and 2021 – when Paratici was at the heart of the club’s dealings.
At the start of the year, Paratici was one of several former Juventus board members that were banned from football following the conclusion of the investigation by the Italian Football Federation. Initially, Paratici was handed a 30-month ban from just Italian football, although the threat of extending the scope of that punishment internationally always loomed.
On Wednesday, FIFA released a statement confirming that they had indeed taken up that option, extending the ban handed out to Paratici and the other Juventus board members – including former owner Andrea Agnelli – worldwide.
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The statement read: “FIFA can confirm that following a request by the Italian FA (FIGC), the chairperson of FIFA disciplinary committee has decided to extend the sanctions imposed by FIGC on several football officials to have worldwide effect.”
Paratici was due to be in court this week for a a preliminary committal hearing regarding a portion of the charges levelled at Juve, but the date for those proceedings have been shunted back to 10 May. Juve appealed their 15-point penalty – which the prosecution only recommended as a nine-point punishment – and will hear the ruling of which on 19 April.
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On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth discuss Julian Nagelsmann’s future and links to the vacant Tottenham head coach role, Barcelona’s ambition to bring Lionel Messi ‘home’, Brighton teenager Evan Ferguson, Florian Wirtz, Kalvin Phillips and more!
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Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have become the first managers to be inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame.
The duo won 16 Premier League titles between them across respective long-term spells with Manchester United and Arsenal.
With 13 of those championships, Ferguson is the most decorated manager in the history of the competition. He is the only coach to have won the Premier League three times in a row, doing so on two different occasions.
Ferguson said: “I’m truly delighted to be inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame. It’s an honour when you receive recognition like this. However, it’s not just about me as a person. It’s about the job at Manchester United and the bond we had over many years, so I’m also proud for the club, the staff and my players.
“My job was to send the fans home happy. United’s history and my own expectations were the things that drove me, and I then had to try and develop all my players with the same expectations and make sure we could go out and achieve them.
“I feel Arsene is a very worthy inductee as he transformed Arsenal Football Club fantastically. They became a tough team to compete with and we both wanted to win, which motivated us further. Through the years since retirement, we’d go for dinner together in a little restaurant he knows well in Switzerland. He is a really interesting man and I enjoy his company, but it is still my job to pick the wine!”
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Wenger arrived in England in 1996 as one of the Premier League’s first foreign coaches, and quickly proved sceptics wrong, transforming Arsenal into title winners and changing English football’s culture with his scouting and dietary expertise.
The Frenchman won three Premier League titles with Arsenal, including an unbeaten ‘Invincibles’ season in 2003/04.
Wenger said: “I am very grateful to have been selected for the Premier League Hall of Fame. We always wanted to give something special to the fans and when you have players capable of remarkable things, the most important thing for me is the obligation of perfection.
“I’d like to be known as someone who loved Arsenal, who respected the values of the club and left it in a position where it can grow and become even bigger.
“To share this with Sir Alex is a great honour for me. It’s like two boxers, you fight like mad and go the distance together. At the end of the day, you have respect and it will be a great opportunity to meet with him, share a good bottle of wine and memories of our old battles.”
In addition to Ferguson and Wenger, there are 16 other inductees in the Premier League Hall of Fame.
Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry were the first two people inducted when the Hall of Fame was created in 2021. They were followed later that year by Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Frank Lampard, Dennis Bergkamp, Steven Gerrard and David Beckham.
In 2022, Wayne Rooney, Patrick Vieira, Sergio Aguero, Didier Drogba, Vincent Kompany, Peter Schmeichel, Paul Scholes and Ian Wright were inducted.
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