@McKane

Ivan Perisic to Tottenham Hotspur is confirmed. He will add experience and dynamism to an already impressive squad.

Just watched Steve Kerr's emotional message before the Warriors-Mavericks game and I was absolutely blown away. If public figures come out more often to discuss sensitive issues without mincing words I think there will be a change. Gun violence in the US is a scary monster that needs tackling with immediately effect.

P4 and P6 for the Mercs. I was never really swayed by their yesterday showing during practice even though the car looked better due to the upgrades. Though it's still too early I'm gradually losing faith in the possibility of Hamilton dominating his team mate, Russell, as consolation this season. The terrible season continues.

After all the drama and media noisemaking, Kylian Mbappe has finally agreed to a three-year contract extension to stay at PSG. There was rumours that he will assume sporting decision making and be directly involved in deciding the managers and players signed by the club. If that is true then PSG are creating a monster that will destroy them in years to come. For now though, Kylian Mbappe stays at PSG! Did he play Madrid to get what he wants? That is a discussion for another time. But it does feel good to know that the high and mighty Real Madrid can also be rejected.

Ruthless! Eintracht Frankfurt just defeated Rangers (5-4) on penalties to win the Europa League! The man who was supposed to be the most experienced player for Rangers, Aaron Ramsey, was the one whose penalty was saved by Kevin Trapp. Ramsey was brought in on loan from Juventus with much fanfare. It was hoped he will take them to the next level. But the beautiful game has a mind of its own. Safe to say the Welshman won't be a popular figure in Glasgow the next few weeks. It was just brutal on him as anyone can lose a penalty.

Congratulations to Liverpool FC, The 2022 FA Cup Winners. For the fourth time this season Liverpool and Chelsea played out pulsating draws in Full Time. The tactical battle was awesome. I hope Liverpool go out there and beat Madrid on the 28th for their cup treble. They should forget the Premier League though. That quadruple thing is not happening!

A desperate soul find answers in the most stupid of opinions. A SkySports pundit questioned the rationale behind signing Ralf Rangnick to replace Solksjær last week. He was a mere consultant at Lokomotiv Moscow. He has far more achievements as a consultant than as a manager yet he got one of the most coveted managerial position in club football. I was absolutely shocked when I learnt the misfit Ralf was promised £1M to qualify Man U for the Champions League. What insolence! Promising a mid-level manager such an amount as a bonus is the height of it. That's pure desperation. And right now, the decision makers at Old Trafford are absolutely desperate. I hope we won't wait for 30 years before celebrating another league triumph.

I may not be the most ardent supporter of Mino Raiola's negotiation tactics but I have to admit he opened a new chapter in football. There was a time when footballers were nothing more than showmen, playing so many games and getting so little in the form of wages as the clubs and their owners swallowed most of the profit in football. Raiola gave players power and made them belief they deserved more money for their services. He fought admirably for his clients. Even though no football team out there will spot black armbands in respect of his demise his clients will never forget him. Rest in Peace, Mino Raiola - The man who made football agents popular.

The last time I've seen Man U this terrible was probably during the Moyes era. They go into games looking defeated already. The current bunch of players look uninterested in football. Ten Hag's appointment was well celebrated but he won't change the first 11 in one transfer window. As things stands I don't see myself watching any of the four remaining matches United has this season. I won't waste eight precious hours of my life watching a group of bums who only cares about their weekly wages and not about defending the club's badge.

Romelu Lukaku needs to be saved as soon as possible! A club needs to come clear and buy this dude before he becomes the forgotten man of football. His confidence is hit and it doesn't look like he will recover at Chelsea again. Brought in against Madrid he was presented with two very good chances. The Lukaku of old will score one of those two headed chances. Benzema had scored two headed chances of his own that match. Instead Lukaku wasted both chances. Yesterday, he had a chance to score from few yards out. He smashed the ball against the post. The fact that the much maligned Werner now plays ahead of him says the whole story. A £97M acquisition with a weekly wage of £325,000 will be very difficult to shift especially when you consider he is on a five year contract. At Inter he was earning way less at £142,000 weekly. Any club that wants him now won't pay more than £150,000 which is less than half his current wages. He's 29 years old now and will struggle to find any team close to matching his mammoth wage. If he is to leave he will need to agree to a massive pay cut. Chelsea will definitely want to recoup some of the £97M they paid for his services also which makes a complicated deal already. In all, I believe this guy has to leave Chelsea this summer. He's lost his way but football can be funny though. He may just stay and become the goal scoring menace he once was, battling, bruising, bullying and brutalizing everything on his way to scoring goals. We've seen worse players getting revived before!

Alisson Becker has played 40 games for Liverpool this season. His weekly wage is £150,000. He was already one of the best goalkeepers in the world when Liverpool signed him. Ederson has played 39 games for Man City this season. His weekly wage is £65,000. Edouard Mendy has played 38 games for Chelsea this season. His weekly wage is £52,000. Aaron Ramsdale has played 30 games for Arsenal this season. His weekly wage is £35,000. Dean Henderson has played just 3 games for Man U this season. His weekly wage is £120,000. I wonder how he was able to convince Man U to pay him the salary of a top class goalkeeper despite having just one reasonable season at Sheffield United. Enough said!

I was busy scrolling down a page when I stumbled upon this quote that infuriated me, "...this guy is 50 and still does this, it's outstanding. He's about the same level as a Xavi or Iniesta." The quote above was Thierry Henry's way of praising Luka Modric for his outstanding performance against Chelsea, especially that unbelievable pass for Rodrygo's goal. He was being praised here so you have to wonder what got me infuriated. It's none other than the word 'about' used in the quote. The last player to have won the Ballon D'Or asides Messi and Ronaldo in the last 13 years is Modric. So it beats my imagination when people still rate him as about or not in the level of Xavi and Iniesta. Iniesta is a technical genius but I wouldn't place him ahead of Zidane as an attacking midfielder. Xavi was unbelievable and yes, I wouldn't place him far ahead of Pirlo. So why is Modric still rated below these four midfield legends? At 36 Andrea Pirlo moved to the US, Zidane was already retired, Xavi was playing at Al Sadd while Iniesta was at Vissel Kobe. Modric is 36 and dominated PSG and Chelsea. He's the best midfielder of a team that has won four of the last eight Champions League on offer. What does this guy have to do to be placed amongst the best midfielders ever? Well, maybe I'm too inquisitive. Or maybe Modric is underrated because he doesn't enjoy media circus. He's rarely found in the news and you don't see him at press conferences. I don't even want to go into stats that will make this post a lot longer. What I'm sure of is I'm yet to see anyone that will convince me that Modric is not at the same level as Xavi and Iniesta. Maybe he'll finally get the accolades he deserves when he retires. For now, at 36, Modric is still the best midfielder in the world. No one is even close to his magic!

Looks like Manchester United's decision to appoint Ten Hag has made some people in the French capital very sad. PSG fully expected Man U to sign Pochettino. They don't want him anymore and will have to fork out £17M to sack him. If another club were to sign him however they wouldn't have to pay him a dime. With Madrid stunning Chelsea at the Champions League QF you can't rule them out now. That strengthens Ancelotti's position at Madrid. With no advances from Madrid and Manchester, PSG will either stick with Pochettino for one more season or pay £17M to sack him. They are definitely caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Reports have it that Manchester United are now very close to finalising the deal to sign Erik Ten Hag. Even though most people favoured Mauricio Pochettino for the job recent developments may have contributed to the swift move for Ten Hag. Real Madrid will win La Liga this season. However, they are not one of the favourites to win the Champions League. Ancelotti will be sacked if he doesn't win the cherished trophy and Pochettino is the rumoured favourite to take over the Madrid job with Zidane touted to take over at PSG. It will be very unreasonable to expect Mauricio Pochettino to choose a very unsettled Manchester United ahead of Madrid. Ten Hag has done well with Ajax. He's about to get this complicated job on the back of his exploits in the Champions League with Ajax in the last 4 years. I hope he is finally the one to at least make Man U a football force to be reckoned with once again. It's been five years since the last trophy already - a much derided Europa League triumph.

It will be very naive of anyone to expect Burnley will take points off a business-like Man City. Yes, we all want an intriguing battle between Liverpool and Man City for the league but City won't slip up at underwhelming Burnley. They're two goals up at half time by the way.

Bruno Fernandes just extended his contract with Man U till 2026 with an option of a further one-year extension . That should quell the rumours about a possible Barca bid. And that definitely means a likely pay rise. Man U's board members have mastered the art of money wastage.

I finally mustered the confidence to check my FPL score for the last game week. I had just five available players and I'm not willing to play my last Free Hit with GW33 being the target for that. The point score was expectedly terrible. Amidst the disappointment a new lesson was learnt. Both my captain and vice captain bands were handed to players who weren't available (these players had it for GW 29). I assumed FPL will automatically hand it over to any of the available ones. To my surprise, it wasn't handed out to any of them and that cost me some important 13 points. Of course I won't make that mistake again. And with three chips still intact I believe I can still make a dash towards the top 5 in some of my mini leagues.

Even till now I'm still asking myself if Will Smith will confidently go slapping if Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson instead of Chris Rock was the person with the G.I Jane joke. He wouldn't dare line himself up for a beat down.

Oh my w... Italians are not the only ones stunned right now. I am super stunned (if their is anything like that)! North Macedonia just knocked European champions, Italy, out of the 2022 World Cup right in their backyard. It is nights like this that reminds me of Sir Alex's famous phrase: Football! Bloody hell!!

Saying that I was shocked would be an understatement. What effrontery! Why will they even make that move in the first place? Is this a political move of some sort? These words aren't even enough to describe my emotions when I read that Putin's Russia is rivaling the UK and Ireland for the rights to host Euro 2028. Even a toddler knows that Russia's bid will be thrown out of the window. They are being sanctioned across all sports yet they are bidding to host a major sporting event. They know clearly well their bid will fail so why are they still making the move? I think UEFA needs to be careful so as not to set a bad precedence here. FIFA have always maintained that football has no place for politics but Russia's bid is simply the definition of politicking in football. I hope this lovely sport survive this raging, incoming storm.

UEFA CL Quarter Final Man City vs Atletico Madrid Chelsea vs Real Madrid Villarreal vs Bayern Munich Benfica vs Liverpool With this draw it looks like we may witness an all English Champions League final once again. Football can be quite unpredictable though.

If the words of Mattias Sammer (Dortmund adviser) are to be believed Haaland will join Manchester City this season. That will definitely make them more dominant than they already are.

I ran down the wages of Liverpool players this morning and I'm literally going crazy right now. Mane on £100,000. Salah on £200,000. Jota on £90,000. Van Dijk on £220,000; he's the highest paid. A quick comparison with that of Man U clearly shows why several managers have failed at Old Trafford in recent seasons. How do I explain that Marcus Rashford (£200,000) takes home the same weekly wage as Salah and double that of Mane and Mahrez (£120,000). It's even crazier when I factor the unbelievable wages players signed last summer are paid. Ronaldo (£510,000), Sancho (£350,000) and Varane (£340,000) came into the team and turned a team that came second to City last season to one that will definitely miss out on the top 4 this season. To think McTominay gets paid £20,000 despite working like a horse in the midfield while a particular Paul Pogba does whatever he wants and get paid £290,000 is the craziest of all. Once again, I believe Woodward and those behind these ambiguous contracts should be tried in a law court for ruining this wonderful club. This is just unbelievable!

Sanctions continue to pile up for Russian sponsors from the sporting world. After UEFA moved the Champions League final from St. Petersburg to Paris, Man U have now dropped sponsors Aeroflot. UEFA are under intense scrutiny to cut ties with Gazpröm. Formula 1 just cancelled the Russian Grand Prix set for September. And Abrahamovich may still lose Chelsea and his £100M mansion if some UK politicians effectively convince HRM. The sporting world stand united against Russian brutality.

When you have a team of hard working, world class players being managed by a world class manager you just find them unstoppable. For all the complaints about City building a formidable team because of their superior spending power one thing that can't be denied is that the manager has also found a way to make them all tow the same path. Dressing rooms filled with star players are notorious for being toxic with players forming caucuses and being indisciplined. Guardiola's Man City has none of these problems. You rarely come across a bad news from their camp. And these brilliant footballers run as fast and work as hard as players fighting and scrapping to escape relegations. He's built a winning machine with an irrepressible mentality. Even though Sir Alex is considered the managerial royalty of EPL, in years to come I think we can all sit and discuss with merits if Guardiola is actually a better manager than the legendary Scot.

Youri Tielemans for just £35M will be an absolute steal. He has performed at a consistently high level since he moved to Leicester City. Pair him with £100M rated Declan Rice and then tuck a certain Bruno Fernandes in front of them. Congratulations, you've just set up a midfield triad capable of matching any in the EPL. If rumours swirling around are true this could be Man U's midfield next season. For all the shameful and disjointed display you find on the menu for each Man U match played this season, one area that has been glaringly worse than the others is the central midfield. Add to it the fact that Paul Pogba will likely leave this summer and you've got a midfield lacking in quality and personnel. If they recruit wisely this time the long journey back to the top may begin. For now, the hard journey down the basement continues for Man U.

Looks like their is nothing good that can come out of Manchester United right now. A news by Swiss based company CIES has the club topping the table of net spend losses on transfers in the last 10 years. Manchester United has lost over €1b on transfers the last decade. Costly and ridiculously expensive transfers that ended up becoming nothing for the club. Pogba will for free by July. He was bought for a whooping £89M. Van de Beek and Martial - both are on loan - costs £40M and £35M respectively. The ridiculously high wages given to players like Sanchez, Ronaldo and co further shows the lack of direction.

It's never easy watching a young, talented footballer suffer a serious injury. It's more frustrating if the player is having a good season. Despite the steamy dislike I have for LFC I felt broken when Harvey Elliott was injured last September. He was in the first team and playing really well. After several months of gruelling rehabilitation it feels so good to see him fit and firing once again. His well taken goal on his return only serves to highlight how good he is.

Their is just no end in sight to Man U's woes. It gets worse by the day. It's so unfortunate that Man U's best 11 couldn't put away Championship side Middlesbrough in 120 minutes. Just unbelievable.

I'm not a Brentford fan but I will definitely watch their next match as long as Christian Eriksen will play. It will be a wonderful sight to behold watching him step on a football pitch once again to compete healthily.