The Neymar Effect : A fantasy future based on the world’s record transfer fee

Neymar posing with in his new PSG kit at the Parc de Princes. Photo: Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images Europe

Neymar’s world record transfer is sure to have a ripple effect on football for years to come.

However, if one were to speculate and build a fantasy world, what domino effect would this transfer really have on Europe’s top leagues?

For a select number of clubs, we can only imagine….

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The Transfer Window

Real Madrid have noticed that Barcelona has just been weakened and push to sign

Can Arsenal win the Premier League?

Then two came along. After years of mockery, of jokes about trophyless seasons, Arsenal has now seen the FA Cup in succession. There seems to be a change in mood and atmosphere. Arsenal is now buzzing, the Emirates stadium a place that is once more being conditioned to the habit of winning. Pre-season trophies such as the Barclays Asia Trophy and the Emirates Cup are adding to this, while just like the FA Cup, the traditional English season curtain -raiser — the Community Shield — has been won back to back.

It thus begs the question, can the Premier League title be conquered?

It is a question that invariably points towards

Will Arsene Wenger’s managerial legacy produce disciples?

Socrates, then Plato, then Aristotle. Those three form a trinity of Greek philosophy. One influencing the next, each having separate ideals; three tributaries flowing from one stream. It is the basis of continuity; master teaches pupil before pupil surpasses master and goes on to teach other pupils. From generation to generation, life has a consistent way of self-preservation.

In the same way, football carries that same trend. Football coaches are most of the time merely the master; their players and members of staff pupils who learn from their every move. In the end, the independent minds that are influenced by similar ideals create a nebulous quarry of

Arsenal’s new era must now get a sense of big game mentality

At the end of it all, Arsene Wenger seemed relieved. As he walked up the Wembley stairs to accompany his team accept the FA Cup, it seemed as if all the pressure was now off. The tie was off, presumably too strangling to still be kept on while the coat was nowhere in sight, presumably too heavy to wear. The top button on his shirt was open, the heat presumably too much.

A relief as cumulative years of pressure culminated into one defining moment. After nine years of trophyless seasons, here at last was a trophy to

The Sign of Four : Arsene Wenger

A gaping blank – an unexplained one at that – exists in Arsene Wenger’s managerial CV. For all his achievements at club level, it is odd that a manager of his status has never won a continental title.

Twice, he was denied in UEFA’s secondary cup competitions. In 1992, his Monaco lost to Werder Bremen in the Cup Winners Cup Final while it was the heartache of a penalty shootout that brought about loss to Wenger’s Arsenal in the 2000 UEFA Cup final against Galatasaray.

It is however Europe’s premier competition

Derby day delight for Arsenal

Arsenal celebrate Derby Day Victory

If calls for ‘Wenger Out’ had intensified before the first North London Derby of the season, the match itself proved to be a reincarnation of what used to happen before Arsene Wenger came in.

In the George Graham days, 1-0 to the Arsenal was a familiar score line. It proved to be once more as Tottenham Hotspurs became Arsenal’s latest victims. Arsenal’s resurgence since that opening day defeat to

Arsenal: The invisible invincibles

Arsene Wenger ***image courtesy of zimbio.com***

by Victor Karuga

Two weeks ago, Arsenal finished fourth, and rightly so, qualified for the Champions League, (much to Tottenham’s chagrin). Meanwhile, the red half of Manchester was revelling in an umpteenth 20th Premier League title. It was oh so heartbreaking to see their manager of 20-odd years, Sir Alex Ferguson retire. Glowing tributes, gushing international 

The portrait of Arsenal as Dennis Bergkamp

Arsenal Legends *** image courtesy of zimbio.com ***

A statue of Dennis Bergkamp will stand outside the Emirates stadium.

Alongside the bronze cast immortalisations of Herbert Chapman, Tony Adams and Thierry Henry, the figure of this majestic non-flying Dutchman will forever be grounded. Ultimately, it is as appropriate as it is symbolic to have Bergkamp’s statue. For a club like Arsenal, beyond the early years of English pragmatism and 1-0 to the Arsenal regime of George Graham, Bergkamp may very well epitomise evidently the new Arsenal. The Arsenal whose history changed on that day in November 1996 when Arsene Wenger walked through Highbury’s gates.

It also, inadvertedly, epitomises much

The Myth: AVB needs to play two strikers upfront for Tottenham Hotspurs

Andre -Villas Boas needs to play two strikers. Or does he? *** image courtesy of zimbio ***

There has been criticism.  Andre-Villas Boas has been attacked for his apparent lack of attacking bite. With two well accomplished strikers in Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor, the question has been why he doesn’t play both. When he did play both, it seemed to work until Adebayor’s needless dangerous tackle earned him a sending off.

The reasons for criticism though are clear. The English mentality is simple; fewer strikers connotes negative intentions. It is commonplace to find teams in England playing in this way – two strikers at home (where it is expected that they will take the initiative) and one striker away from home (where it is expected that the home team will take the initiative). The one striker policy is also used against teams of superior quality who have enough to take the initiative whether at home or away.

Less is negative, more is positive.

This thinking probably has foundations in history. In 1872,

Has Arsene Wenger outlived his usefulness?

Is the sun finally setting on Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal regime? *** image courtesy of whoateallthepies.tv ***

The problem, as Jonathan Wilson writes, is that Arsene Wenger can be frustratingly quixotic at times.

A man of ideals, Arsene Wenger is a genius in his own right. Two doubles and an undefeated league campaign attest to that. He has also been a pioneer in more than just tactics. Pre-game squad preparation and selection, youth development, aspects of scouting (in particular international scouting) and player nutrition were all pioneered in England by the Frenchman.  Indeed, it is sometimes said that Wenger’s successes at Arsenal opened the door for the influx of foreign managers into the English game as English clubs became more trusting of their methods.

But now, his revolutionary methods are no longer his advantage.