Stories By Graham Ruthven

• Sport

  Is Ilkay Gundogan Manchester City’s unsung hero?

  If Manchester City go on to win the Premier League title this season, Kevin de Bruyne will likely be hailed as the player to drive them there. The Belgian is, after all, the most influential player at the Etihad Stadium.

• Sport

  Gareth Bale hasn’t lived up to his Tottenham billing

  Gareth Bale might not have been afforded the ticker-tape homecoming in front of a packed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium he surely would have have received in normal, non-Covid-19 times, but the excitement around the Welshman’s return to North London could still be felt last summer.

• Sport

  City must sign Erling Haaland to replace Sergio Aguero

  No player defines the Sheikh Mansour era at Manchester City like Sergio Aguero. The Argentine striker’s £38 million signing from Atletico Madrid a decade ago was a statement of intent from the new owners and Aguero delivered on that intent by scoring the goal that famously secured the club’s first Premier League trophy.

• Sport

  Championship stars in demand for January transfer window

  It is one of football’s well-worn truths that January is a challenging time to find value in the transfer window. Clubs are generally unwilling to let go of their best players midway through the season and so the majority of moves concluded at this time tend to be loan deals and short-term solutions.

• Sport

  Could Christian Eriksen be heading back to the Premier League?

  It was only a year ago that hundreds of Inter fans gathered at the club’s headquarters to welcome Christian Eriksen. The signing of the Danish playmaker from Tottenham Hotspur was seen as something of a coup for the Nerazzurri at the time.

• Sport

  Could Eric Bailly be the key to a title push for Manchester United?

  His name was nowhere to be seen on the score sheet, but Eric Bailly did more than anyone else to secure three points for Manchester United against Aston Villa last week. In what felt like a pivotal match for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men, it was the Ivorian defender who proved the biggest difference between the two teams.

• Sport

  Could Dele Alli resurrect his career at PSG?

  It is convenient for Mauricio Pochettino that he was appointed Paris Saint-Germain’s new boss just two days into a transfer window. The Argentine has inherited a talented group of players, but the squad at the Parc des Princes is unbalanced and in need of strengthening in a number of key areas.

• Sport

  5 Liverpool centre-back transfer targets in January

  The sight of Joel Matip hobbling off against West Brom on Boxing Day was not a welcome one for Jurgen Klopp or anyone associated with Liverpool. The Reds’ injury troubles this season have been well documented.

• Sport

  Could Yves Bissouma be Liverpool’s next star?

  There is no Premier League club, at least at the elite level, better than Liverpool at finding value in the transfer market. Consider how they paid a combined £70 million for Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, two players who would cost at least that fee each.

• Sport

  John Stones and the unlikeliest of revivals at Man City

  If the Manchester City career of John Stones wasn’t already in jeopardy, it certainly became so when the club failed once to make their long-awaited breakthrough in the Champions League. Against Lyon, with City’s season on the line, Pep Guardiola favoured a back three that included teenager Erick Garcia and midfielder Fernandinho over the 26-year-old who watched the full quarter final defeat from the bench.

• Sport

  Are the USA entering a football golden generation?

  As the football world gathered in Russia for the 2018 World Cup, the USA was absent. For the first time since 1986 there was no sign of the stars and stripes at the sport’s biggest party after the country suffered a disastrous qualification campaign.

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