Everton manager David Moyes has confirmed that the club have extended Thomas Hitzlsperger’s contract until the end of the season.
The German international had originally joined the Toffees on a short term contract in October but Moyes has been convinced to keep hold of the former West Ham and Aston Villa player until the summer.
The 30-year-old midfielder has made only seven appearances for the Merseyside club since his arrival but with a relatively small squad, Everton need to have willing rotation players in the ranks.
Promising youngster Ross Barkley has been let out on loan once again, this time to Leeds United, in order to give him first team football and many Evertonians believe Barkley will be a future star for club and country.
Moyes is happy to see the youngster get some more first team football and is also pleased to see the experience of Hitzlsperger remain at the club for a few more months.
“We have decided to keep him on. Thomas is going to stay until the end of the season,” Moyes told Sky Sports.
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“He has played a few games for us now, and he has been around the block a few times. He knows exactly what is required.”
Newcastle United are reportedly lining up a summer move for unsettled Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw.
The Red Devils defender was substituted off at half-time in his side’s FA Cup quarter-final win against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday after failing to impress manager Jose Mourinho, who publicly criticised him – not for the first time – post-match.
Magpies manager Rafa Benitez tried to bring the 22-year-old to St James’ Park on a loan deal until the end of the season during the January transfer window as he looked to provide Paul Dummett with more competition at left-back, but a move failed to materialise as Mourinho held on to a player that had forced his way into the XI in December and through into 2018.
A summer exit may well be on the cards now however, although he may not be the only player making his exit from Old Trafford.
Goalkeeper Sergio Romero has once again had to settle to playing second fiddle to David De Gea between the sticks, and if he was to leave it would surely catch the attention of Benitez, who has endured all sorts of problems in the goalkeeper departments since he took the reins at St James’ Park – despite the success of January addition Martin Dubravka in recent weeks.
Here are three reasons Newcastle must forget Shaw and sign the Argentina international instead…
Romero joined Manchester United in the summer of 2015 but he has made just 37 appearances in all competitions for them since then, with six of those coming in the Premier League.
Considering he is an Argentina international who is now 31 years of age, the stopper will surely be thinking that he wants to play regularly again sooner rather than later, and he probably wouldn’t be short of offers if he did choose to leave the Red Devils.
Benitez has been looking for an established number one since the start of last summer’s transfer window, and there is no doubt that Romero could effectively fill the void.
While the Slovakia international has come in and impressed – especially in the 1-0 win against Manchester United at St James’ Park last month – and looks set to join the Magpies this summer following the end of his loan spell, few could argue that Romero wouldn’t be an upgrade on the 29-year-old.
The Argentina international has shown time and time again the qualities he has between the sticks and he has kept 24 clean sheets in 37 appearances for the Red Devils, conceding just 16 goals.
If Benitez wants more competition and quality in the goalkeeping areas then he should look to bring both to Tyneside, and let them fight it out for the number one jersey.
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With 138 appearances across the Eredivisie, Serie A and the Premier League – along with 93 caps for Argentine – it is clear to see that Romero is hugely experienced and could add so much quality and know-how to the Newcastle squad.
If the Magpies secure their top flight status for another year – something that will be looking very likely should they beat Huddersfield Town at St James’ Park on March 31 – Benitez will want to start the push for the top half of the table and eventually for Europe, and bringing players like the 31-year-old to Tyneside would only benefit the club in achieving those aims.
The Premier League table is going to be very positive viewing for West Ham and Southampton fans on Christmas Day.
The East London club currently sit comfortably in the top four on 31 points, with Southampton close behind on 29 points. Neither of these teams were tipped to excel this season but they have proved many doubters wrong. West Ham have adopted a new style of play that gets the best out of Andy Carroll but also keeps the Upton Park faithful happy. Ronald Koeman’s Saints side have been a joy to watch at times and really hit the ground running, with all their new signings working well together from the off.
It was as if many were waiting for at least one of either Southampton or West Ham to slip away come Christmas. However, there is a sense that the opposite is happening. As teams like Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton continue to drop points, the Hammers and Saints are starting to build a sizeable gap. West Ham are currently nine points ahead of Liverpool, with the Reds lying in 10th place. Due to there being such a gap, it has got many people wondering whether either side can maintain this run of form to seriously bid for a Champions League spot come May.
Firstly, Southampton have shown over the season so far that they are more than capable of maintaining a European push. They recently went on a five-game losing streak and many presumed that this was the start of Southampton’s demise. However, a hugely impressive 3-0 victory over Everton on Saturday silenced any critics as the Saints showed little sign of their recent poor form. The absence of players like Morgan Schneiderlin, Dusan Tadic and Victor Wanyama in recent weeks exposed Southampton’s lack of depth in midfield, with Koeman opting to select youngsters like Harrison Reed and Jake Hesketh as replacements. Although the reliance on the younger players can be seen as an issue, there is no doubt that Southampton have some of the finest young talent in the country who seem to thrive when they are given the opportunity on the big stage.
The key for Southampton is that they avoid becoming a selling club. Morgan Schneiderlin was angry at club chairman Ralf Krueger after he stated that the midfielder would not be leaving over the summer. However, the Frenchman knuckled down and has been one of Southampton’s best players so far this campaign. It will be interesting to see how the midfielder copes in January amid rumoured interest from both Tottenham Hostpur and Arsenal. If the south-coast club can avoid selling star names and actually strengthen their squad, there is no reason why they can’t challenge for a place amongst Europe’s elite.
Sam Allardyce’s West Ham side have been outstanding so far this season. An excellent transfer window for the East London club is paramount to the encouraging displays West Ham fans have witnessed at Upton Park and on the road as well. Almost every player that was brought in over the summer has made a positive impact and the squad depth is a key strength for Sam Allardyce over what is expected to be a long and dramatic season ahead. The return of Andy Carroll has been a bonus for the club who were performing rather well in his absence due to the partnership of Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia up front. The Geordie has scored three goals so far this season and has already won the second highest amount of aerial duels despite playing in only seven games so far. This shows that West Ham have kept the aerial strength that made them a threat in the last campaign but they have also incorporated a different dimension to their play. This is because players like the rejuvenated Stewart Downing and the impressive Alex Song can now open up teams through the middle, rather than going wide and becoming predictable.
The important element to West Ham’s push for Europe is keeping Andy Carroll fit. He has slotted into the side very nicely and their new style of play seems to suit him more than the aerial tactics that dominated the club’s play last season. He does provide West Ham with a second option as they can look long at times, something which will be very useful away from home if they can’t keep hold of possession – a target man to aim at who will always cause problems for any defence.
If they can keep their main striker fit and avoid a run of poor results they could easily finish fourth. However, Christmas fixtures against Chelsea and Arsenal will offer a clear perspective on where West Ham can realistically finish at the end of the season. January’s African Cup of Nations will also mean the potential absences of Alex Song, Diafra Sakho and Cheikou Kouyate who have been very impressive this season.
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If West Ham can cope without some of their key men in January, their return with inject a fresh impetus into the side. Hammers fans should be excited at the opportunity that awaits them this season, they just have to maintain the consistent form that has made them a joy to watch so far.
This current moment in time represents an interesting moment in the debate over “Safe Standing” at football matches. On one hand, the Hillsborough Charity Single, a cover of “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother” performed by a number of famous musicians including Paul McCartney and Robbie Williams has reached Number One in the UK pop charts, whilst at the same time, fourteen clubs throughout the football league have backed a proposal to take a step towards reintroducing standing, rephrased as “Safe Standing”, in sections of their respective stadiums.
But would Safe Standing, which has become a popular and successful element of spectating at Bundesliga games, have the same effect on the Premier League, or does it have the potential to open up some old, and even some fresh wounds, in light of the resurgence of interest in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster?
Well, it’s time to dispel a few myths. Firstly, I can safely say I have never attended a football match where at least one portion of the crowd, if not the entire away support, haven’t spent the majority of the game on their feet. Similarly, there are periods of the match where most of the crowd are unseated; waiting in optimum position to start celebrating or deliver an outburst of emotion that could not be successfully portrayed whilst sat down. From my experiences as a Charlton fan, of which I have attended a few other grounds around the country as well as The Valley on a regular basis, it seems fairly typical of English clubs that a designated area of the more hardcore fans would collectively assemble and remain standing throughout the match. Therefore, suggesting Safe Standing is hardly a huge deviation from the norm, it would more be a legalisation of a practice that is very much already on-going.
Furthermore, I have never been at a match where stewards or club officials have made a considerable effort to make supporters keep to their seats, most probably because the effort would be futile. Apart from threatening to postpone the game, when it comes down to it there is little a handful of stewards can do to control a lairy mob of football fans anything from a couple of thousand to tens of thousands strong.
Another myth is that English stadia in the top two divisions are currently all-seater by law due to the Hillsborough disaster. Although the Taylor Report, which examined the terrible tragedy, recommended the transition away from standing sections at stadiums, it was more to do with providing better crowd control and giving the police a better opportunity to do their job than it was an effort to avoid future crushes. All seater stadiums allow for easier surveillance, a better record of who and how many are attending the game as well as where they are situated, provides natural lines of division through large groups, and furthermore makes petty crimes such as pick-pocketing and scuffles between fans much more difficult.
As previously mentioned, standing has long been a feature of the Bundesliga following a decision by the German footballing authorities not to switch to all-seater stadia in 1993. But surely it would be wrong to suggest that our continental friends are simply toying with fate and waiting for a tragedy of their own. Much money and time has been invested in providing the right safety measures to allow fans to remain standing without endangering themselves or those around them. Editor of European football website “Gannin’ Away,” Andy Hudson, describes how the “vario” seats used in Germany provide safety to standing supporters: “There are metal barriers situated at regular intervals on the terracing. This removes huge gaps of open terracing that many people remember from UK football grounds. As a result of the barriers, there are never too many fans squeezed into a confined space. This eliminates any potential for surges and people tumbling down the terracing. Also, ticket numbers are regulated so the standing areas are never to full capacity. While you could get X amount of fans in an area, clubs sell less than that volume. This is a practice that’s replicated across many European countries”.
The Bundesliga has been so readily compared to in this debate as a model of success not just because they have effectively handled the safety aspects of having standing fans, but the German league has also reaped the benefits. Most fans would argue that standing at a match is more fun, it may sound a trivial point but for the majority of supporters it is true. Furthermore, there is some evidence of this in the Bundesliga. The fantastic atmosphere at matches has been acknowledged by reporters for some time, and has even carried across into Champions League clashes involving Bundesliga clubs, where German fans, although seated for European occasions (another benefit of the Vario seat, which has a foldable rail seat), have remained loud, passionate and electric in their support throughout. Similarly, back to the domestic league, German clubs have regularly high attendances with the average stadia being of larger capacity than their English counterparts.
So, where do I stand on this? Well, I do support the idea of standing sections of stadia. Other journalists have suggested that seated stadiums have allowed for minority groups, women and children to feel more comfortable attending matches, but the Safe Standing campaign is directed at choice rather than being either all standing or all seated. But the proposals have received condemnation by those affected by Hillsborough and it is easy to understand why.
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Unfortunately, along with the disaster came a huge injustice that has still not yet been fully overcome. It is not the technical aspects of Safe Standing that alarm fans, it is the emotional and historical connection to a tragic event. Currently, there is an unwritten law that football fans are allowed to stand at their own digression, and as long as they don’t cause trouble authorities allow them to remain on their feet. In my opinion this convention should continue, regardless of the benefits to the English spectator experience, until the wounds left behind from Hillsborough are fully healed.
Everton fans have been reacting to the news that Gylfi Sigurdsson may be out for the rest of the season with knee ligament damage.
Sigurdsson appeared to sustain a serious knee injury in the 2-0 win against Brighton on Saturday, but continued playing anyway. In fact, the Icelandic international ran 11.11 kilometers in the match, despite getting the injury in the 23rd minute.
The Blues won the match 2-0 thanks to Cenk Tosun and a Gaëtan Bong own goal, but the result may feel insignificant if Sigurdsson is seriously hurt.
While the extent of the injury is not yet known, Sigurdsson was sent to see a specialist amid fears of serious ligament damage. The 28 year-old will definitely be out for the next couple of weeks, and there are even concerns about his availability for Iceland at the World Cup.
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Sigurdsson signed for Everton last summer, and is perhaps the one big money signing that has shown his class at times for the club. While he still has plenty of doubters at Goodison, most fans are gutted to hear the news that his season could be over.
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Some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…
The overall quality of the Premier League is consistently increasing and thanks to an equal share in TV rights, along with the Financial Fair Play rule. The league is becoming incredibly tight and is consequently creating a division where any one team can beat anyone else. Not only due to the money but also purely down to the sport itself, football is a game full of luck, and if things go your way as an underdog, you can topple the big boys on many occasions.
It’s because of that reason that every team should be prepared for a roller coaster season, where their fortunes look fantastic one moment, yet dreadful the next. Although the current season is in it’s early stages, there have already been some strong examples of positive turnarounds, and it won’t be long until there are some in-form sides dropping down the league table like stones.
We’re only 11 games into the season yet take Alan Pardew and Newcastle for prime example. After a rough end to last season, the pressure was on Pardew very early. He signed a whole host of new players, for more money than his previous seasons. Things didn’t work immediately and only four game weeks ago they were one of only two teams without a win (after seven games) and were sitting in the relegation zone. Now after a run of five wins in all competitions (4 league, 1 cup), including trips away to Spurs and Man City, along with the home match versus Liverpool, The Magpies sit in eighth position. The ‘Pardew Out’ calls were growing at an increasingly alarming rate and to say his days looked numbered was an understatement. However, this run alone has sent all those who were calling for his head into the shadows of St James Park, and just like that things are good again at Newcastle.
Despite it being so early in the season, there are other examples of drastic changes. Queens Park Rangers were bottom of the table after eight games, and after a dismal lack-lustre defeat to West Ham, things were looking very bleak for the London club. However, after an unfortunate loss to Liverpool they beat ‘relegation rivals’ Aston Villa before losing to the only unbeaten side in the league Chelsea via a penalty. Not exactly a massive change in terms of points and positioning but following a hard fought 2-2 draw against Man City, the change in their belief and work-rate has changed a few people’s minds over the future of the club this campaign.
It’s fair to say that Southampton, West Ham and Swansea are all punching above their weight at this point in the season as they occupy 2nd 4th and 5th places respectively. Yet there will certainly come a time when times get tougher, maybe they’ll go a whole month without a victory and/or their strikers will stop scoring. It’s at these inevitable times that the supporters must get behind the team and the good times will come flooding back sooner than expected.
Life in the Premier League isn’t easy, but it’s certainly becoming more open. With the exception of Chelsea, everyone has already faced positive and negative moments – especially after Burnley became the final side in England’s professional leagues to pick up a victory. Yet times will get tougher for some and better for others, the roller coaster ride will unsure that everyone tastes the good and the bad, so sit back and enjoy as much as possible.
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The general consensus when it comes to transfer activity is that January is never the best time to do your business, and while for the most part the long-term planning that the summer offers is clearly preferable, mid-season signings can often have a fantastic impact at the club, sometimes better than they are given credit for meaning the winter window shouldn’t be feared as much as it often is, with plenty of bargains to be had.
Doing the lions’ share of your transfer business in the summer is without a shadow the best approach to take; it allows the new player time to settle in to fresh surroundings, among new players, a new manager and potentially completely different style of play, but it also allows them the opportunity to build up their fitness and come to terms with the culture of their new club.
When it comes to the January transfer window, when a club moves for a new player, it can often be seen as a panic buy or a chance to compensate for a flaw in the squad which was previously assumed to be an area of strength and not weakness; managers up and down the country will be looking to do the odd piece of business, but it’s not the time for wholesale changes, despite the inherent tinkering nature of the window.
However, this feeling that the winter window now no longer offers you value for money is certainly a false one by and large and while there may be plenty of banana skins to avoid, with the right scouting, there are treasures to be found which have made positive changes both long and short-term to the team’s that they represent and there’s no real reason for this great taboo to exist anymore.
Take Manchester United for example, who have benefited hugely from their transfer dealings in the past midway through the campaign. They brought vice-captain Patrice Evra to the club back in 2006 from Monaco for a fee in the region of £5.5m and while he may have needed to have been subbed at half-time during his debut against Manchester City, he has proved to be a fantastic servant to them during an eight-year stay so far.
During the very same window, Sir Alex Ferguson also purchased club captain Nemanja Vidic from Russian outfit Spartak Moscow for £7m and while Fernando Torres, then of Liverpool, may have given him a torrid time on a number of occasions, the Serbian international has been one of the best, most consistent defenders in the entire top flight since moving to Old Trafford and he was absolutely instrumental in helping the side to four league titles and two Champions League finals.
Newcastle also reaped the dividends of their good scouting work after they bought Papiss Cisse from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg for a fee in the region of £8m and he helped to spearhead the club to an unlikely but hugely deserved fifth-placed finish in the league last season, with his 13 goals in 14 games from January onwards more than making up for the goal drought of team-mate Demba Ba. With Lille right-back Mathieu Debuchy set to move to the club this time around, and with Danny Simpson out of contract in the summer, Magpies fans can be pleased with the business that they’ve done so far, even if more is surely required to stop the rot and make up for their lack of movement before the start of the campaign.
Everton also stand out as a club which have made the most of other clubs wariness of doing deals in January and after selling Diniyar Bilyaletdinov back to Russia to Spartak Moscow, with the £5.5m picked up from the sale they were able to bring in Nikica Jelavic and Darron Gibson on permanent deals and Steven Pienaar back on loan from Tottenham, which more than prepped the ground for a full-time switch in the summer. It completely transformed their season and this term they look a more organised and creative side truly capable of cracking the top four again. Phil Neville, Louis Saha and Tim Howard were all picked up at the same period in the past too, proving that manager David Moyes has an enviable transfer record in January compared to most.
Throw into the mix that Blackburn managed to bring in Christopher Samba from Hertha Berlin back in 2007 for just £450k, Fulham pinched Brede Hangeland from FC Copenhagen for just £2.5m, Matthew Etherington moved to Stoke for £2m from West Ham, not to mention Luis Suarez and Martin Skrtel switching to Liverpool and Gary Cahill to Chelsea and there are quite a few examples of fantastic deals being struck at this time of year.
It will always be tricky to get more bang for your buck when it comes to the notoriously difficult January window, but these deals prove that there are loads of players out there available at a decent price that can come in and leave a lasting impression on the starting eleven. For every Andy Carroll there’s a Luis Suarez and for every Fernando Torres there’s a Nikica Jelavic, but the same certainly applies to the summer transfer window and to completely write off a time to do some potentially superb deals based on the worst excesses of the past is the wrong viewpoint and approach to adopt.
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With many top clubs still competing in Europe at this time of year, there’s an obvious reluctance from most to part with their best players while they still stand a chance of winning something, therefore inflating their value to coincide with their true worth to their current club, but dig a little deeper and explore a little more off the beaten track and the cultural backwaters of Europe have so much to offer. It takes more imagination, creativity and bravery to take the plunge in January, but for those that do, even though there’s more risk, the rewards if it is done right can be huge.
Tottenham Hotspur are unbeaten in 17 matches in all competitions after comfortably beating Huddersfield Town 2-0 at Wembley in the English Premier League on Saturday.
It’s their longest unbeaten streak since 1967 and couldn’t be coming at a more perfect time with Juventus set to visit this week and the race to reach the top four in the top-flight heating up.
They never looked like losing Saturday’s match against the Terriers with Son Heung-min securing the win with a goal in each half, much to the delight of supporters.
Fans were also pleased to keep a clean sheet and see one of their heroes return after missing out on last week’s match against Crystal Palace.
Jan Vertonghen was a doubt for both the Huddersfield and Juventus match after suffering an ankle injury in training, but was in exceptional form on Saturday, looking set to lead the defence against the Italians too.
Rated at £25.2m by Transfermarkt, some supporters believe he’s not only the best defender at the club, but also the best in the entire league.
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They took to Twitter to enthuse about his performance against Huddersfield…
Liverpool have made a stuttering start to the current Premier League campaign and look a shadow of the team that came so close last season to winning the title.
Are their title aspirations from last season a mere flash in the pan? It seems that way so far this season and they have fallen way short of the required standard to mount any sort of serious title challenge.
First of all, recruitment was a disaster over the summer. They had a lot of money to spend in the transfer market after the sale of Luis Suarez, and despite one or two decent transfers, the majority of the players they recruited did not add anything of any substance to the squad. In a world where you’re supposed to improve on what you have to move forward, Brendan Rodgers has merely added bodies of a similar or worse quality to what he already had, rather than actually bringing new players in that would have significantly improved the squad to actually push on from where they left off last season.
The panic buy of Mario Balotelli has mis-fired horribly on Liverpool so far; he was a marquee signing to keep the fans happy after losing their biggest star, but the wrong signing all together. They should have gone for someone who could have replaced Suarez’s goals and contribution to the team, not necessarily someone who was just a ‘big name’ maybe along the lines of Wilfried Bony who would have guaranteed a good return of goals, getting his head down and getting on with the job in hand.
Balotelli was nothing short of disastrous against QPR on Sunday; he was misplacing his passes, scuffing his shots, looking confused and out of place at the best of times. He has stood out like a sore thumb in most games he has featured in for his new club since his arrival and as much as this blog is not supposed to be revolving around the Italian, it has to be said that he was one of the reasons Liverpool struggled to score the goals they needed to kill the game off against QPR early on; he was given a large number of chances to provide a goal for team-mates but chose to sky the ball into ‘row z’ and an equal number of chances in front of the goal to slot the ball home which went equally as high.
Mario bashing aside, the whole team looks truly awful at the moment. It seems that apart from club captain Steven Gerrard, they have no one there at the moment with the drive and urgency to grab a game by the scruff of the neck and do something of any substance. They do not look hungry enough or organised enough as a unit at the moment, which is a far cry from the Liverpool of last season which you knew would have been all over the opposition in the first 20 minutes of any game and would be looking to create chance after chance, look fluid and organised in both attack and defence.
Sunday’s game made them look like they would concede a goal every time QPR came forward, apart from some heroics from Simon Mignolet and some very poor finishing from the QPR strikers, it could’ve been a lot worse for the Reds; it was a very scrappy and fortunate victory in the end.
Liverpool sit nine points behind the leaders Chelsea at the moment, in fifth place on 13 points. There already seems to be too big a gap to make up between them and the top, especially if you consider how poor they have been so far, and if they continue to play in this manner, the gap is only going to get bigger.
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Whatever it is that Liverpool had last season, they have not got it this time around in the slightest. They look like they do not want to win a game let alone any silverware. Rodgers will have his work cut out and will have to kick his troops into shape.
He best also hope that he manages to do a bit better in the next transfer window as well, otherwise they might not even finish in the top four. Liverpool this season are not title contenders, they are average at best.
Sir Alex Ferguson should try and sign Liverpool starlet Raheem Sterling according to former Manchester United winger Willie Morgan, reports the Daily Mail.
The United old boy has told Ferguson to make a shock bid to bring the highly rated winger to Old Trafford in a move that would certainly ruffle the feathers of arch rivals Liverpool FC.
The 18-year-old has flourished under new manager Brendan Rodgers and has become a regular in the team, featuring in every Premier League game so far this season apart from the defeat to West Brom on the opening weekend.
Morgan who made 236 appearances for United between 1968 and 1975 told the Manchester Evening News: “Sterling is the first winger I have seen in a long time who looks like a proper winger. He looks very good already and I think he is going to be great.
“If you just let him go wide on the outside of the full-backs all the time I think he will be a great player. He’ll frighten people to death, so long as nobody coaches it out of him. He’s the brightest prospect out there and would suit United.”
Sterling’s form this season has also caught the eye of England chief Roy Hodgson who awarded him his first senior cap in the friendly defeat to Sweden last month.
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A deal would seem unlikely though, as no player has moved straight from Liverpool to Manchester United or vice versa since Phil Chisnall made the switch from Old Trafford to Anfield in 1964.