Rangers reportedly are set to table a new bid of around 6 million pounds for Feyenoord striker Danilo, who is considered their main transfer target for the summer. With the departure of key players such as Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent and Glen Kamara and Scott Wright to follow suit, Rangers have been quick to refresh and rebuild their squad with Cyril Dessers, Sam Lammers, Abdallah Sima and 4 other players already joining Rangers the summer.
Danilo Pereira is at the top of Ranger’s summer transfer wishlist, with the striker contributing to 13 goals in just 1,336 minutes of playing time in Eredivisie. Rangers look to make a statement with the signing of Danilo, as the player is well-suited for the playing style of coach Michael Beale where he can play as a lone striker in a 4-3-3 formation or play as an inverted winger in his system. Beale told reporters “Danilo is a player that we like, but he is not the only forward we are talking to, but is the one out there.” Rangers pursuit of Danilo is “still progressing”, transfer insider DeanJones has told GIVEMESPORT.
Dean Jones
Jones told GIVEMESPORT: “I believe Danilo is back in pre-season training now. But that deal is still progressing as far as Rangers are concerned. Their problem is that Feyenoord are holding things up at their end.
“I believe that half the job is done here, from a Rangers point of view, because the player is up for the move.
“They just now need to get to the next stage of that, where the selling club are open to this happening. So, they’ll keep plugging away at it.”
Danilo had a pretty underrated 2022-23 season, with him being the backup to Santiago Gimenez and Alireza Jahanbakhsh. Danilo had exceptional underlying stats for a striker. He was in the 98th percentile for total shots, in the 97th percentile for non-penalty xG and in the 97th percentile for touches in the opposition box. Danilo is also a very hard worker off the ball with him being in the 99th percentile for blocks and the 98th percentile for interceptions.
It is also being reported that Rangers are in for a centre-back and their main target is Nottingham Forrest’s 22-year-old Centre-back Jonathan Panzo. Reported a 2.5 million pounds would be adequate to entice Nottingham Forest to sell their young centre half.
This offseason was one of the most interesting, fascinating and bizarre offseason in terms of clubs appointing new managers. With premier league clubs such as Spurs, Palace and Everton taking an eternity to appoint their new head coach, to the manager merry-go-round between Bundesliga and Serie A clubs. Here are some of the managerial appointments that I think would go on to achieve tremendous success with their respective clubs.
1. Christophe Galtier
Preferred formation: 4-4-2
Galtier would be taking the reins at Nice, after a terrific season with Lille in which they defeated PSG twice in a season on their way to winning the Ligue 1 title after 10 years. Gaultier’s teams generally do press but aren’t a prolific pressing team such as Leeds or Liverpool, their defensive shape is really solid, in fact they conceded just 23 goals which is the least in the top 5 leagues. He developed young players such as Botman, Soumare, David and improved ageing players such as Fonte and Yilmaz. At Nice, Galtier is inheriting a young squad that would be eager to learn from one of the best coaches in the country and motivated to win titles.
Nice are one of the few clubs that are not affected (were insured against the TV rights deal) by the TV Rights debacle of ligue1 which has forced the majority of clubs to sell their best players. Nice could be a Champions League regulars in year’s to come if they are smart at recruiting the right players and developing the ones they have like Amine Gouri, Dolberg and Hicham Boudaoui. They can also be a force in the transfer market because they are bankrolled by Sir Jim Ratcliffe who is the second richest man in Britain. An exciting future may lie ahead for Nice fans.
2. Nuno Espírito Santo
Preferred formation: 3-5-2
One of the most challenging jobs out there is being the manager of Tottenham Hotspurs because the manager has to navigate several hurdles such as a very demanding owner who generally doesn’t splash the cash, a divided fanbase, an unsettled squad and an expectation to over-achieve which Pochettino did to a tee, let’s be honest Poch was a victim of his success. Taking Spurs to a Champions League final on a net spend of 30 million could be the textbook definition of over-achieving and Nuno would be expected to do the same if not better.
Nuno as a coach is adaptable, he used 4-4-2 at Porto, 4-3-3 at Valencia and more recently 3-5-2 at Wolves. He doesn’t have a set play style but certain principles to which he adheres by such as being hard to break down, neat triangle plays both in defence and attack and he is outspoken about keeping fruitless possession. Many Spurs fans were again this appointment (given the fact #NOTONUNO was trending No.1 in the UK), Spurs have a tough start to the season in which they play City on the opening weekend and then face back to back matches against Chelsea and Arsenal, Nuno has to hit the ground running otherwise things could turn ugly quickly at Hotspur Way.
The squad he inherits is without a doubt talented but also disjointed, he would have to sell some players like Lamela, Aurier and Alderweireld and bring in young, hungry players to the club. Spurs have some players that suit Nuno’s style such as attacking wing-backs like Reguilon and Doherty (who was extremely productive under Nuno at Wolves), solid midfielders such as Hojberg, Skipp and Ndombele (he could become the fulcrum of Nuno’s Spurs) and hardworking forward which Spurs have in abundance such as Lucas, Son, Bergwijn and Kane. I genuinely feel Nuno could be a huge success at Spurs if Levy doesn’t repeat the same mistakes he made with Poch. If Nuno is backed in the transfer market Spurs could be challenging for the Premier League title within 3 years and would definitely end their long trophy drought. Will Spurs shed their tag of being Spursy under Nuno? Only time will tell.
3. Simone Inzaghi
Preferred Formation: 3-5-2
Inter start the next season as champions of Italy and the deserved it, beating Juve to the Scudetto is no mean feat. They won the last eight on the bounce and had one of the best players to ever play in their ranks but Inter powered through the season with only AC Milan challenging them for a brief time. Inzaghi on the other had a decent season, with Lazio finishing sixth in the league and were knocked out by Bayern in round 16 of the Champions League but the job Inzaghi did at Lazio for the past five years is praiseworthy. When he took over the job in 2016 Lazio we’re languishing in mid-table, that season Lazio finished eighth. In Inzaghi’s first full season Lazio ended the season in fifth place, playing an exciting brand of football which helped them score 74 goals that season(fourth highest in the league) and have consistently been getting better each season, they were also in an unlikely title battle with Juve and Inter in 2019/20 before Covid break halted their momentum and eventually they finished fourth.
At Inter, Inzaghi has better Individuals and a better team all-round, losing one of the best performers of last season in Hakimi to PSG is a big loss but they have recouped seventy million euros for him which they can use to invest in the team. In Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez they have two of the most deadliest strikers in the world, have a solid back three of Skriniar, De Vrij and Bastoni and a good balance of craft and power in midfield with the likes of Barella, Brozovic, Sensi and Vecino. Inzaghi likes his full-backs to push high and get involved in the attack, a midfielder who can attack the box from deep and a creative fulcrum (Sensi could do that job until Eriksen is fit). While defending the full-backs are required fall back and form a back line of five defenders, while defending Lazio’s formation looked like 5-3-2 and the defended in a mid-block.
Inter have the quality to retain the Scudetto and challenge for the Champions League, they could prove to be the dark horses like Chelsea last season and along with quality they have a manager who will get the best out of every player and team as a whole. Yes, Inter would be in a compromising position because of the financial crisis of the owners but in Inzaghi they have a manager who has consistently punched above his weight and he would be expected to do the same at Inter.
4. Jesse Marsch
Preferred formation : 4-2-2-2
In his short managerial career Marsch has already achieved some unprecedented records no other american has ever achieved like being the first american to win a Champions league match and second American to manage a bundesliga club. Marsch came through the Red Bull ranks and is highly influenced by Ralf Rangnick coaching style and methods of gegenpressing and playing fast paced, vertical football. His teams looks to attack through the middle with attackers trying to find spaces between the lines. Marsch is flexible while setting up his teams (most common formations being 4-2-2-2 and 4-3-1-2) but he religiously abides by certain principles such as attacking with speed, pressing high up the pitch and playing with great verticality .i.e not keeping possession just for the sake of it.
Marsch is a trailblazing coach who as an american is in uncharted territory (.i.e managing a top club with title aspirations and competing at the highest level) as he begins a new journey with Leipzig. The team is in a transitional stage with key players of the club looking to leave such as Sabitzer or have already left like Konate and Upamecano and new players coming in such as Simikan, Gavardiol and Szoboszlai (returning after injury) can all play a key role in Marsch’s team. Along with new addition to the team Leipzig also have some very talented players in their roster, who have excelled at Euros such as Poulsen, Gulasci and Forsberg. Leipzig have a very decent blend of youth and experience in the team and Szoboszlai could be one of the breakout stars of bundesliga this season because under Marsch he performed really well and was the key and player for Marsch at Salzburg.
This season could prove to be tricky for Leipzig and Marsch, as they are in a transitional period and it may take time to develop team chemistry with number of new signings coming in and number of key players leaving the camp. It helps that Marsch is proficient in German and that he can deliver his ideas and tactics clearly but Marsch is going to need time to stamp his mark on this team and this would require patience from both the fans and the hierarchy. This would be his biggest and the toughest challenge yet and Leipzig’s greatest gamble yet in their short history, but as they say “If you don’t buy a ticket, you don’t win the lottery”.
After a dismal season for Spurs, the new season brings a glimmer of hope for the fans that this season would be different from the previous one. Let’s be honest last season was one of the worst in my recent memory for Spurs, they finished 7 their worst league finish since 2008/09 season, we’re handed an embarrassing loss by Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League which Spurs were the favourites to win and had a chance to win silverware but Ryan Mason parked the bus in the Carabao Cup finals, all this compelled with the fact the way Tottenham played was as dull as dishwater. Well now, all that negativity is in the past and Spurs now look to push on from that abysmal season and look to chase that elusive trophy once again.
Players after losing to Dinamo Zagreb
Europa Conference League is the third-tier of European football, this tournament was created for clubs from small nations who do not get the chance to compete in the Champions League or Europa League, so it’s safe to say that Tottenham don’t belong here and the level of competition would considerably be lower. This gives liberty to the manager to chop and change and field a considerably weaker side this gives opportunity to youngsters such as Dane Scarlett, Alfie Devine, Oliver Skipp, Dennis Cirkin and fringe player an opportunity which they wouldn’t get in any other season. This gives youngsters valuable knowledge and know-how of what it’s like to play against professional players and teams, this could help fasten the development of young players and increase the value of certain fringe players. Moreover, this allows the manager to rest important players for the Premier League games which allows them to focus on the Prem and increases the chances to get into the coveted Champions League.
Harvey White and Alfie Devine
It’s right that the new Tottenham Hotspurs stadium wasn’t built for the Conference League but to host the biggest games of the Champions league but as people say something is better than nothing. With now fans being allowed in the stadium again imagine how much revenue Spurs could have missed upon if they didn’t qualify for the Conference League. With at least seven home games to be added to the calendar if Spurs can go on a deep run in the competition. This could certainly go a big way in clearing the stadium debt as soon as possible and then the owners can start investing in the team again.
The most important reason the Conference League could be good for Spurs is that they can end their trophy drought and go down in the history books as the first team to win the Conference League. Tottenham have a proud history of winning European football tournaments, they were the first English team to win a European trophy in 1963. It’s almost criminal that a club of Tottenham’s stature has not won a trophy for 13 years and the last time Spurs won a European trophy was back in 1984, Spurs also won the inaugural UEFA Cup in 1972. No matter who will be the manager next season, Spurs would be the favourites to win the Cup with their main rivals being Jose Mourinho’s Roma team. Other notable teams to participate in are Union Berlin, Stade Rennes, Feyenoord and Anderlecht these teams are without doubt good teams with good players but none have better individuals or are on the same level as Tottenham, the Europa Conference League is Tottenham’s to lose. Let’s just hope that this season provides more excitement than the previous one and hope that Spurs can finally end their trophy drought.
Ralf Rangnick is known as “The Professor” because of his demeanour and his rimless spectacles. He got this nickname will he was working for Ulm in 1998, back then he was an unknown quantity and his tactics and methods were questioned because they were 15 years ahead of its time. After Ulm, he would go on to manage various German clubs such as Stuttgart, Hoffenheim, Schalke and Hannover over the next decade. He was the mastermind behind Gegen-Pressing which is now the default way to play for every top clubs around the world. Every club Rangnick has gone to the left a mark at the club, at Stuttgart he won the UEFA Intertoto Cup, at Hannover he lead to a promotion to Bundesliga, at Hoffenheim they went from the third tier of German football to the Bundesliga under him, at Schalke he won the DFB Pokal in 2011 along with a run to the semis of Champions League. After that he became the Technical Director for the Redbull organization, during his time there the valuation of the three clubs (Leipzig, Salzburg and New York) sky-rocketed from 120 million to 1.2 billion euros. RB Leipzig a club that was founded in 2009 and was competing in the fifth tier of German football rose through the divisions under him and they were promoted to the Bundesliga in 2016. The next season was even better in the 2016/17 campaign (their first in Bundesliga) they finished second and qualified for the Champions League, that’s just 8 years from fifth-tier football to the pinnacle of club football that is just staggering.
Ralf explaining his revolutionary tactics in 1998
His coaching philosophy is really simple, as soon as his team losses the ball they press as a team and try to get the ball back as high up the pitch as possible so that there is less distance between the goal and the ball. If that sound familiar then yes you are correct this style of play is called gegen-pressing or counter-pressing adopted by a lot of top coaches such as Klopp, Tuchel and Hansi Flick. He founded philosophies that are widely prominent in today’s game.
As for Spurs, they are in seventh place destined for a place in UEFA Conference Cup with the players seeming to forget what it’s like to play as a team and above that the team’s talisman Harry Kane looking to leave for greener pastures, it’s safe to say that are miles off from winning the title and that the current cycle which started when Pochettino was appointed has come to a grinding halt. Spurs need to refresh and restart with a different project (either with Kane or without him that remains to be seen). The managers on the shortlist are kind of underwhelming to say the least, Graham Potter is one exciting option but he is inexperienced for the task at hand, Roberto Martinez has impressed with Belgium but he underperformed both at Wigan and Everton and Erik ten Hag is likely to stay at Ajax.
Dejected Tottenham players after Carabao Cup final loss
Ralf Rangnick is perfect for Spurs as he plays attractive, free-flowing brand of football and has a knack for scouting and developing young players and above everything else the players need to be coached again on how to play as a team, how to play in unison and not depend on individual moments of magic and who’s better to do that than “The Professor” himself. For the duration of the 2020/21 season, Spurs have depended on Kane and Son for the goals, they both contributed 62% of Tottenham’s entire goal output this season. Imagine if clubs like Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig could climb through the football pyramid in record time with limited funds an facilities under him, then what could happen if Ralf is given sufficient funds and state of the art facilities at a club?
It’s high time now at Spurs for people to do jobs that they are good at and at Tottenham that’s not the case. For six years all the footballing decisions are taken by Levy and those decisions have been horrendous like the sacking of Poch and the hiring of Jose. It’s time for Levy to leave the footballing decision to someone much more competent than he is and focus on the business side of thing because that’s where he is good at and leave the footballing decisions to Ralf Rangnick, that way the club would be better run and prosper on and off the pitch. Ralf could prove to be a messiah for a lot of reeling Spurs fans and lead their beloved Tottenham towards a bright and joyous future with trophies galore.
Daniel Levy along with his partner Joe Lewis has owned Tottenham Hotspurs since 2001, they bought a 27% stake in the club for 22 million pounds. When he became the chairman of the club Spurs were dabbling in mid-table mediocrity. In 2007 ENIC bought rest of Alan Sugars shares for 25 million pounds. Eventually ENIC owned 85% of Tottenham.
Since Levy acquired Spurs one thing no one can argue about is that financially Spurs have grown exponentially, they are now the 10th richest club in the world with a market value of 2.3 billion. Under Levy Tottenham league and European performances have also improved considerably. They are consistently battling for champions league places, which provide huge revenue for the club and they were the finalist in the 2018-19 champions league campaign.
Poch and Levy after Miracle of Amsterdam
But for all the success Daniel Levy has achieved since the acquisition of Spurs there is a feeling of “what could have been”. He is notorious for being a fussy spender in the transfer market and leaves deals to be done till the last moment. He is also a tough negotiator as chronicled by Sir Alex saying that “negotiations with him were more painful than his hip replacement” and getting a world record 85 million pounds for Gareth Bale. In today’s market where owners of rival clubs are oligarchs and prince of oil-rich nations, it can prove to be a little difficult to compete with them in the transfer market for the top talents. Over the last 5 years, Spurs net spend is 43 million pounds which is 18th in the Premier League behind the likes of West Ham, Brighton and Watford. Whereas the net spend of Man City was 493 million pounds, Man Utd net spend was 401 million pounds and Spurs arch-rivals Arsenal spent 222 million pounds.
Levy is known for being less patient with his managerial appointments, 12 managers have worked for him. He has appointed some incredible managers like Harry Redknapp and Jose Mourinho but one of the best decisions taken by him or by any chairman or owner for that matter of fact is the hiring of Mauricio Pochettico in the summer of 2014. For many years Spurs were trying to get into the champions league places, but they couldn’t break that glass ceiling. Pochettino was a perfect match for Spurs, they both had the same principles: playing attacking, attractive football and developing young talents. Under Pochettino Spurs regularly competed for titles, finished above Arsenal 4 years in a row (this feat wasn’t achieved for 20 years before Pochettino’s appointment) and developed genuine superstars like Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Heung Min Son. The only blemish during this era of relative success was that Poch and this wonderful squad couldn’t win a trophy, they always fell at the last hurdle like losing in the champions league finals, losing to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge to hand Leicester City the title and losing numerous semi-finals. This was nothing new to the Spurs fanbase, Spurs were given the infamous moniker of “being spursy” which meant bottling it at the last moment. But people didn’t realise that Pochettino was overachieving given the budget he had to work with in the transfer market. Spurs made some absolute bargain buys for the likes of Dele Alli (bought for only 5 million pounds) and Heung min Son (bought for 22 million pounds), but they did not compete for the best talents in the market. Still, they competed with the likes of Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea in the league. In the summer of 2018 Spurs did not buy a single player in both the transfer windows, this was a first in the premier league era and still Spurs finished fourth in the league and played in the finals of champions league. This period left Spurs fans thinking what could have been if Levy backed Pochettino in the transfer market? It is safe to say that appointing Pochettino as the manager was one of the best sporting and financial decision taken by Daniel Levy.
Under Levy, Spurs have gradually become one of the top football clubs in the world. Opening of a brand new training base in 2013 was just the beginning after that a brand new state of the art stadium was opened in 2019 which cost over a billion dollars, both the training base and stadium are considered one of the best in the world. More importantly, the new stadium retained the atmosphere and soul of White Hart Lane. This facet of changing stadiums is challenging because the new stadium doesn’t quite retain the atmosphere or the vibe of the previous stadium and that has a huge impact on the fans, just ask Arsenal or West Ham fans. But it’s a pity that this world-class stadium hasn’t hosted a north London with fans present to witness the match. After the coronavirus pandemic fans weren’t allowed to go to the stadiums and this was a huge blow for Levy and Tottenham board because they were missing out on revenue that would be generated from ticket sales and if the revenue couldn’t come in, the club could not afford to pay the loans to the bank that were borrowed for the stadium. Above that sacking of Mourinho would be a significant financial undertaking because he was on 15 million pounds a year. Tottenham are in a precarious position financially with debt amounting to 39% of the total value.
Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium
With all this financial burden, the board of directors decided to join the European Super League which led to huge fan protest against Levy and ENIC. Most of the owner of other clubs were foreign owners and hence they didn’t care about the rich cultures all the other clubs had but Levy was a childhood spurs fan and this was pretty disappointing decision by Levy and it would be an understatement that the fans were frustrated with all the impulsive decision making, shoddy financing and lack of activity in the transfer market. The Super League debacle was the last straw for many spurs fans and that led to fan protest outside the stadium before the Southampton match with fans holding ‘ENIC OUT’ banners.
The Spurs supporters and the management are at a crossroads, the fans want significant activity in the transfer market to back the next manager who comes in and Levy would like to be careful in the market and balance the books and look to gain some profits with now fans looking more likely to attend home games from next season. This summer is by far the most pivotal period in the club’s history with key decisions to be taken like appointing the next manager and a manager who meets the club’s style and expectation, and key players looking for an exit this summer with the likes of Kane and Dele Alli. The question Spurs fans keep asking is whether Levy is ambitious to led Spurs forward? And the answer is yes, but the other question is whether Levy is willing to spend large sums of money to take Spurs to the next level?
The Football Bull 