When Real Madrid’s latest wonder kid, 18-year-old Brazilian Endrick, was asked recently to choose which player he preferred, Jude Bellingham, his new clubmate, or Neymar, his international colleague, his response didn’t go down tremendously well back home.
“How can he choose Bellingham over Neymar?! Endrick knows nothing about football! How can he compare Bellingham to Neymar?! It’s ridiculous! Neymar is far superior!”
Those were the thoughts of former Brazil international José Ferreira Neto, who was also less than enamoured of Endrick’s choice of his two favourite players of all time. Cristiano Ronaldo wasn’t all that surprising a pick, but the second one, who played his football in the 1950s to 1970s, was a bit more unexpected – considering Endrick’s age. But if it was Pele, that would have been understandable enough. But it wasn’t, it was . . . Bobby Charlton. Neto emoted:
“He tries to be funny! Bringing up Bobby Charlton! He probably doesn’t even know who Bobby Charlton is! He thinks it’s a brand of cigarettes!” O . . . kay.
Word of Mouth
“I miss it so much even now, really badly. When I watch a sh*t player and he’s on £300k a week, I think ‘God, almighty!’” So do we Paul Gascoigne, so do we.
“If I could, I’d swap Rasmus Hojlund for Darwin Nunez because he has more in his locker – he just needs to improve his finishing and he’d be the best striker in the league. So yes, I’d choose Nunez over Hojlund any day of the week.” It might be a while before Manchester United old boy Dwight Yorke is invited back on MUTV.
“We talk about Mohamed Salah being a world-class footballer – is he a world-class footballer? I don’t think he is a world-class footballer. But his stats suggest that he is, because his stats are through the roof.” It might be a while before Liverpool old boy Gary Gillespie is invited back on LFCTV.
“Juventus got rid of him, he wasn’t good enough there and he obviously hasn’t been good enough at Bayern Munich – Eric Dier was even playing in front of him. He’s coming to us almost like a second-rate defender.” How excited is Paul Scholes about Matthijs de Ligt’s arrival at Manchester United? Not very.
Thou shalt not kill your career at Chelsea, striker told
Despite now having a first-team squad that, by the Athletic’s calculation, numbers 53 players (53!), it looks like Chelsea’s shopping isn’t done yet, manager Enzo Maresca still hopeful of bringing in some more recruits.
One of the players they’ve been most heavily linked with is Victor Osimhen, but if the Napoli striker listens to the head of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church in his native Nigeria, he won’t be heading for Stamford Bridge any time soon.
“I want to advise that Osimhen should not go to Chelsea because if he does, he will not shine and it will kill his career,” said Primate Elijah Ayodele. “And NFF [Nigeria Football Federation], if Osimhen should go to Chelsea, don’t call him up again.” That’s Osimhen told.
Ipswich fan’s good Juan
Supporter of the week? We’ll go with the Ipswich Town fan with a prosthetic left leg who turned up for their game against Liverpool on Saturday, their first in the top flight in 22 years.
What was the name on the back of his replica shirt? “Juan Leg.”
Quote
“Maybe the others will have to go and play on the moon if Manchester City win five titles in a row because there won’t be a team on Earth that could compete with them.”
Arsenal and Chelsea old boy William Gallas rather eager for someone, anyone, to banjax City’s drive for five.
By the Numbers: 3
The number of Republic of Ireland players who started for their clubs at the weekend – Will Smallbone (Southampton), Matt Doherty (Wolves) and Nathan Collins (Brentford). Sammie Szmodics, Jack Taylor and Marcus Harness all came on as subs for Ipswich.
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