Tag: Tottenham

Arsenal interested in highly rated forward Azmoun as Lacazette replacement

Arsenal are eyeing Zenit St Petersburg forward Sardar Azmoun.

Onze Mundial says the Gunners have identified Zenit St Petersburg forward Sardar Azmoun as a potential Alexandre Lacazette replacement.

Lacazette is wanted by a host of top European clubs, including LaLiga champions Atletico Madrid. The 30-year-old’s contract expires next June, meaning a pre-contract can be arranged from January.

And Zenit’s Azmoun – dubbed the ‘Iranian Lionel Messi’ – is on the Gunners’ list to replace the Frenchman.

They are not the first Premier League side to be linked with his services. Azmoun revealed last month that he had rejected Tottenham during the summer.

On a potential transfer, he said: “I never said that I was leaving Zenit. The media wrote that I was undergoing a medical examination and agreed on everything with a certain team. I have a contract, even if I wanted to leave, the club will not allow it. It was the media that sent me to another team.”

“I had offers from Lyon, Roma, Bayer [Leverkusen], and Tottenham. But all the proposals were rejected, this year I will not move anywhere.”

The Iranian forward impressively scored 19 goals in 29 appearances for the Russian club last season. Currently, on duty with his national team playing in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers.

Beiravand in defiant mood

Team Melli and Antwerp’s goalkeeper was in a defiant mood when interviewed by a Dutch website. Here is the excerpt.

And then the sky cleared. He conceded seven goals in his first three matches, but in the past ten days, he collected three clean sheets. Alireza Beiranvand (28) is currently doing so well at Antwerp – last night he was Man of the Match against Eupen – that even an extra goalkeeper is no longer so urgent. ‘All the Iranian people are praying for me,’ he claims.

‘It was so difficult’ we could not describe the first months of Beiranvand near Antwerp any better. Months after his arrival was first announced, he still arrives at the Bosuil behind schedule. At a time when goalkeeper Jean Butez has been training for weeks with the team. Result: Beiranvand is warming the bench. ‘But the fact that I wasn’t playing meant that I had to train twice as hard. Leave? Didn’t think about it for a second. Never. I wanted to do my best to convince the coach.’  ‘You are two months behind,’ the coach told me when I arrived. But it’s not that I hadn’t done anything for two months, huh … It was frustrating that I didn’t get a chance. I was really angry. Watch out, that had nothing to do with Jean. He’s my best friend off the field. But on it, he is my nemesis. ‘

 

Casillas & Kepa

Ultimately, Beiranvand got his chance. Against Tottenham in the Europa League and afterward at home against Club Brugge. That did not go smoothly. Even more: Ivan  Leko was remarkably hard on Beiranvand after the match. Something Beiranvand and his 3 million Instagram followers could only accept moderately.

‘How could he say such a thing? You do not do that. I was mentally broken by those statements. A coach is like a father, then such a statement is a major mental blow. If a coach talks about you like that, you don’t think you will get a chance anymore of course. Look at the relationship between José Mourinho and Iker Casillas at Real Madrid at the time. He also put it behind him. But those things sometimes happen. Kepa, one of the best goalkeepers in the world, is now also on the bench at Chelsea. And somehow I knew that sooner or later I would get my chance. I’ve never doubted myself. Not a moment. And haven’t regretted signing here for a second, really. Every day I enjoy working more and more in Europe. And all the Iranian people are praying for me. That inspires me even further to work harder. I did not come to Antwerp to stay here for the rest of my life. From here I will go to one of the best clubs in the world, you will see. ”

AFC Annual Awards in need of reforms.

Once again the pathetic AFC Annual Awards are upon us, and once again the much criticized set of awards is being flaunted as the première platform of Asian Football top awards. Accusations that the awards are highly politicized, has very little to do with reality and lack of transparency has marred this annual process. All hopes of improvement and reform has been meat by deaf ear of the hierarchy of AFC with the announcement of this year’s list.

Unfortunately, it is the only award that the rest of the world looks at , as because no other forum or reputable organization nor any strong media in Asia bothers about creating a highly respectable alternative. So, for the those World Media unversed and the less informed in Asian football  , these awards can be mistakenly be taken as the representative of the best of Asian Football excellence while the reality is so far from it.

Year after years and without any culpability, the AFC announces a short list of names for the awards which has little relevance to reality or actual standards. The worst of the awards is the “AFC Player of the year”  which has been the main target of critics and frankly has been scandalous on occasions. All sort of criticism and accusations have been targeted by many who were affected by these nominations.  Political clout, influences and lobbying has been said to play the major part of nomination and selection of supposedly the best Asian footballer. No all criticism were impartial though as the West Asian Arab states have been always vocal when their nominees were absent from the list!

In reality, the flaw in the nomination process seems to be apparent when previous candidates and winners are scrutinized.  A quick look at the historic data and past winners will confirm to any knowledgeable person that the AFC list is out of touch with the real world. AFC Player of the year has even been selected on nepotism during Bin Hamam’s days and hardly improved ever since.

Whether the new President is willing to tackle this issue, or even if he has any interest in reforming this particular process or maybe very well be covenant with the highly unpopular process , is yet to be seen. However, the secretive on goings behind the scene or under the table in the nomination and selection procedures, is quite a thorn in AFC’s credbility.

At least the FIFA award has some transparency and is much closer to reality . That is hardly the case with the Asian version of the award.

Take a look at this simple and no brainer  list of quality Asian players who had made headlines in Europe with their exploits in European Champions League and the Leagues like Son Heung-min (Tottenham) , Sardar Azmoun (FC Rostov) and Keisuke Honda (AC Milan)  and what AFC thinks who should the best in Asia 2016 based on God know what ; Omar Abdulrahman (AlAin & UAE) , Hammadi Ahmed (Air Force & Iraq) and Wu Lei (Shanghai SIPG & China PR)

Not that the AFC nominees are bad players, but when it comes to the top awards, the excellence has to be measured in a systematic method. There is no way that these players have anything near the three top Asian players in performance and quality, but then again you be the judge.