Football: What Now for Want-Away Players?

It’s been a bit of a disaster transfer window for most clubs as deadline day arrived with much promise but left with a lot of disappointment. It was a crazy end to a rumour-filled day with Arsenal’s move for Thomas Lemar probably summing up the over-hyped day. The Gunners made a £92m bid for Lemar but retracted it within 33 minutes for reasons unknown.

Several want-away players were so convinced their deals were on that they told the media they would never play for their current clubs, and others turned back half-way through. What’s going to happen now with these want-away brats?

Ross Barkley

The late drama between Chelsea, Everton and Ross Barkley epitomised a chaotic transfer deadline day.

The England man went all the way down to Surrey for a medical and according to reports decided half-way through that the move wasn’t for him and headed back north.

As strange as it sounds, that will probably be the best decision he ever makes as a footballer. The chances he would get much game time at Chelsea were very slim so he has a better chance of playing more for Everton. I do think he will end up signing for Antonio Conte at some point this season but for now he’s probably made a solid choice considering the fact that several players have rejected the Premier League champions.

Philippe Coutinho

You have to feel a little sorry for Coutinho in this one. He’s done everything in his power to get to Barcelona, with the Spanish giants bidding as much as they could but Liverpool simply refused to budge.

The Brazilian handed in a transfer request, allegedly faked an injury and even declared that he won’t play for the club again.

Oops! He’s now going to have an awkward nine months ahead unless he apologises to the fans. Despite Barcelona suggesting that Coutinho has missed his chance, I expect a summer transfer to go through although I don’t think we’ll see a lot of the 25-year-old over the next couple of months under the stubborn Jurgen Klopp.

Alexis Sanchez

Arsene Wenger and Co. got a little stuck on this one. The fans wanted to get rid of Sanchez because he wants out but the only club interested was Manchester City.

Had the Gunners chosen to cash in it might have turned out like the time they sold Robin Van Persie to Manchester United only to watch him lead the Red Devils to the title.

The fact remains that the Chilean doesn’t want to be a Gunner. He was grinning on the bench when his team was 4-0 down against Liverpool and has sounded pretty keen on a move to Manchester. Unfortunately for Wenger, he had no choice but to keep Sanchez and now he has an angry forward on the bench and that’s where I expect him to spend most of his season until he finally gets a move out of London.

Riyad Mahrez

Simply put, Mahrez got it all wrong. The Algerian had a chance to leave the club last summer but didn’t push hard enough with rumours of Leicester City rejecting £40m from Barcelona.

Fast forward 12 months and he’s struggled to perform at the elite standard that made his name, so Roma don’t want to pay more than £31m for him.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Mayhrez left training with Algeria to chase a move but unfortunately failed after travelling to Italy and Paris, ending up back in Leicester. It looks like another season with the Foxes lies ahead and as every year goes by, the 26-year-old’s dream move to Spain looks more and more unlikely.  Although he will probably start most games for Leicester this season, it’s unlikely we’ll ever see the Mahrez of 2016 again in a blue shirt.

 

YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCtMg-fWm7awR41vM1GhVOkA  Twitter: twitter.com/rambofyi

 

The post Football: What Now for Want-Away Players? appeared first on Felix Magazine.