Stories By Graham Ruthven

• Sport

  Underperforming Everton yet to match lofty ambition

  Only three Premier League clubs have spent more in the transfer market over the last five years than Everton. This is a measure of the ambition now harboured at Goodison Park, as was the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti as manager a year-and-a-half ago.

• Sport

  Jadon Sancho would be a perfect fit for Liverpool

  Jadon Sancho has been chased by Manchester United for so long that most can’t imagine the winger moving anywhere else when he finally decides to leave Borussia Dortmund, as is inevitable. With another window in sight, speculation is starting to swirl once more and the majority of it points to Old Trafford.

• Sport

  Gareth Southgate must include Buyako Saka this summer

  It would be understandable if Gareth Southgate has stopped watching Arsenal this season. At this point, not even the club’s own fans are enjoying watching the Gunners play such has been the dismal standard of their recent performances.

• Sport

  Virgil van Dijk return won’t solve all of Liverpool’s issues

  There hasn’t been much to enthuse Liverpool fans this season, but a short video clip from the club’s training ground last week caused some excitement. It showed Virgil van Dijk jogging at half-pace from one end of a football pitch to another and proved the Dutch defender is further along the road to recovery than previously thought.

• Sport

  Will Sergio Aguero transfer to another Premier League club?

  When Sergio Aguero leaves Manchester City at the end of this season and secures a transfer to a new club, he will do so as the most prolific active goalscorer in the Premier League. The Argentine striker currently sits on 182 goals in the division following his expertly-taken strike against Crystal Palace last Saturday.

• Sport

  Man City and PSG clash is about more than football

  The symbol of the Champions League trophy, the famous European Cup that has been handed out to the continent’s best teams since the 1950s, has been in the sights of Man City and PSG for years. For over 10 years, to be exact.

• Sport

  Arsenal should not sell Joe Willock this summer

  Few players have done more to affect the race to finish in the Premier League’s top four than Joe Willock in recent weeks. First, the Newcastle United midfielder scored a late equaliser against Tottenham Hotspur on April 4, which was surely appreciated by his parent club Arsenal.

• Sport

  Is Kylian Mbappe already the best player in the world?

  There were no fans inside the Camp Nou to see, but those fortunate enough to be inside the famous old stadium on February 16 witnessed a changing of the guard at the top of European football. This pitch, and the sport’s elite level, had long been Lionel Messi’s domain.

• Sport

  Could Julian Nagelsmann be the next Bayern Munich manager?

  Until only a few weeks ago, it seemed Bayern Munich would only be in the market for two new central defenders this summer after David Alaba and Jerome Boateng depart. Now, though, it appears that Bayern Munich will need to find their next manager too, following Hansi Flick’s public admission that he wants to leave the Allianz Arena at the end of the season.

• Sport

  Paul Pogba becoming the player United hoped he would

  Had it not been for the Covid-19 pandemic, there’s a good chance Paul Pogba would have left Manchester United last summer. Everything was set up for the Frenchman to bid farewell to Old Trafford for a second time in his career only for a transfer market, and wider economic, depression to cut off his escape routes.

• Sport

  Jurgen Klopp facing tough dilemma over Sadio Mane

  Last season, only Mohamed Salah scored more than Sadio Mane for Liverpool. 18 goals in 35 Premier League appearances represented another significant haul for the Senegalese forward after he’d struck 22 in 36 games the season before.

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