kean

The faulty “alarm bells” in Graeme Souness’ head

When Graeme Souness left his native Edinburgh to join Tottenham Hotspur in 1970, much was expected of the young Scottish midfielder, not least from he himself. He repeatedly told the much-loved Tottenham manager Bill Nicholson that he was the best player at the club, and that he deserved to start every week. Nicholson clearly had different ideas. Souness would go on to only make one appearance for Spurs, as a substitute in a UEFA Cup tie. He was quickly moved on to Middlesbrough in 1972.

In his 1984 book, ‘No Half Measures’, Souness elaborated on why his Spurs career failed to live up to the expectations. “I owe that North London club more than one excuse for the way I behaved while I was with them,” he said, “I was still impatient, and I still couldn’t be told… As usual, my attitude was the problem and I didn’t try hard enough to put matters right.”

A striking contrast between Souness’ situation and that of Everton’s new Italian striker emerged before The Toffees game against Wolves recently. It seems as if Souness is a specialist at highlighting a player’s attitude, even if it’s his own. The Scotsman, whilst working for Sky Sports claimed that Kean’s move from Juventus to Everton has set ‘alarm bells off’ in his head.

Souness talking about Moise Kean (1/09/2019)

Souness continued: “Juventus are the wealthiest club in Italy, given that they’ve got an older strike-force you’re selling a 19 year-old who won’t be hurting you wage wise. They haven’t got £100 million plus for him.”

His flowing criticism was briefly abrupted as he quizzed Jose Mourinho on whether Juventus have a buy-back clause on Kean: “Do you know if they’ve got a buy-back clause, Juve?”

His knowledge, or lack of surrounding the details of the transfer, suggests that Souness is not in the greatest position to make such a scathing attack on Kean.

“It doesn’t make any common sense if you are Juventus,” argued Souness, “which would suggest his off the field activities are not the best.”

Souness wrapped up his point by comparing Kean to the once wantaway Arsenal striker, Emmanuel Adebayor: “Just about to enter his best years, Wenger sold him to City,” he said, “they’re not selling him because he’s not a very good footballer, it’s because of something not quite right with him.”

Souness has played for Sampdoria in Italy, whilst he has also managed Juventus’ neighbours, Torino. Furthermore, his own attitude problems, previously alluded to, may provide him an insight into a teenage footballer’s mindset. This suggests that the Scotsman is well informed on football matters, and specifically Italian football matters to make a sound judgement on this issue.

That is not the case. Despite Souness’ pool of footballing experience whether that be as a manager or a player, in England or in Europe, his opinion on Kean is both wrong and dangerous.

First off, Souness’ argument is littered by vague phrases, allowing him firstly, to make his point by not actually researching what he is about to say first, and also so he cannot objectively be proved incorrect. ‘Off the field activities’ is indicative of this unsubstantial argument.

Souness’ first point that “Juventus are the wealthiest club in Italy” is most likely true. This summer they have signed Matthis de Ligt for close to £80 million. They’ve also signed a few Serie A defenders for upwards of £20 million: Crisitian Romero, Luca Pellegrini and Merih Demiral. Add to this the free signings of Aaron Ramsey, Gianluigi Buffon and Adrien Rabiot and it seems that Juventus are flexing their financial muscles once more.

However, Juventus are facing an uphill task with Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, following their colossal signing of Cristiano Ronaldo last summer. As a result they have needed to balance the books somewhat. Kean was one of 10 Juventus players that was sold for £5 million or more. Most notably, their star right-back, Joao Cancelo was sold to Manchester City. So Souness is correct that Juventus are wealthy, but it is not a simple ‘black and white’ case.

It was also evident this summer that the club tried to offload Paolo Dybala to both Spurs and Manchester United. Whilst Gonzalo Higuain was defiant in his wish to stay in Turin, despite Juventus’ wish for him to depart to Roma. Thus, this is not an issue over Moise Kean’s attitude, but Juventus’ desire to sell players that they do not view as integral to their plans.

Souness was perplexed as to why Juventus could not command a fee of at least “100 million” for Kean. Again, a little research into the situation and Souness’ worries would be cascaded. Kean only had one year left on his contract. His agent, Mino Raiola is also known to favour his players running down their contracts, so he can command a greater fee. This was seen in the case of Paul Pogba, who shares the same agent. So Juventus were either forced to sell now, or keep Kean for one more season, and lose him for nothing. For a club pressured by FFP, the latter option was clearly not viable.

His apparent guess that Juventus do not have a buyback clause on Kean is correct. There is no buyback clause, but the clubs share a good relationship, and the deal reportedly includes a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ which will allow Juventus to match any future offer for Kean.

Moreover, Souness failed to consider the situation from Moise Kean’s perspective. He wants to be a starter for a big European club, at Juventus he was not that- only making 13 Serie A appearances last season. It was rumoured that Arsenal were interested in Kean, but he rejected their advances as they too could not offer him first team football, with Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette already at the club.

Kean has featured in every Everton game so far this season, and he started his first Premier League game against Wolves at the start of September. His decision to move to Merseyside clearly seems to be highly charged by a guarantee of football.

Surely this is something that should be applauded, not looked down upon. A young prodigy who has chosen to move from the comfort of a European giant, to a new country, all to gain more footballing experience, and to work his way up the footballing ladder. Yet this is something that Souness has chosen to lambast.

More importantly, Souness did not touch upon the abhorrent racist abuse that Kean was subject to, whilst playing in Serie A. In an away game against the infamous Italian club Cagilari, Kean, who had only just turned 19, was subject to monkey chants from sections of the home crowd throughout the match. Kean went on to score before holding out his hands in a passive celebration in front of the Cagilari supporters. Following the match, his team-mate, Leonardo Bonucci made the spectacular claim that Kean provoked the fans, and the blame was “50-50”. It would not be surprising if Kean felt that he was not welcome.

Perhaps, Souness should have touched upon this fact, and how, although racism is still present in English football, it is a galaxy away from the situation in Italy. Just take the example from the Inter match on the same day that Souness made these comments. Former Man United striker, Romelu Lukaku was also subject to racist chants, once again, by Cagilari supporters.

Thus, it is a much more delicate and serious situation than just the players “off the field activities”. Souness, whether deliberate or not, ignored this.

His comparison of Kean to Adebayor is arguably the most puzzling aspect of his entire argument. The two players are separated by six years from the time they departed their respective clubs. And Arsene Wenger actually wanted to keep Adebayor at Arsenal. Once more, there are holes in Souness’ argument.

To rub salt in the wounds, the Scot failed to discuss the transfer of Patrick Cutrone to Wolves. The situation has many parallels with that of Moise Kean’s transfer. Cutrone is also from Serie A, he also moved for a modest fee (£16 million), he is Italian, and he is young- only 21.

Similarly, he had no qualms about the attitude of Spurs’ Christian Eriksen, despite the Dane desperately seeking a move away from North London all summer.

“I don’t know him at all, I’m assuming he’s not been a problem around the place. I’d play him.”

He does not know Kean at all either.

Does Souness’ criticism of Kean have deeper racial undertones then? It would be wrong to accuse him of this. But his views should still be criticised, for implanting an idea into the vast audience that he has, that Moise Kean, a black footballer, has ‘attitude problems’ off of no basis.

Instead, Kean’s move to Everton should be celebrated. Firstly, the Premier League is getting a classy young striker, who will only improve. His courage to make the move from Italy to England and just 19, due to his desire to play first-team football should be commended, not criticised. The only “alarm bells” that should be ringing should be inside the heads of Premier League defenders, as they gear up to face Moise Kean this season.

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Premier League Summer Transfer Window: Star Signings

The 2019 Premier League summer transfer window has finally shut. In total close to £1.4 billion was spent in the last three months, with the most expensive transfer being that of Harry Maguire who moved from Leicester to Man United for a reported £80 million fee. In this article we will be looking at the five best signings of the window. Before we begin, it is important to note that we are not ranking these in any particular order. The players that have been chosen are those that: firstly, addressed an area of weakness at their new club, and secondly, have the ability to thrive at the club that has bought them- enabling the player to considerably improve the team’s performance.

We will start of with the cheapest and oldest of the five players. Tom Heaton. Heaton joined Aston Villa for £8 million this summer, which seems to be great value for money when you consider both his Premier League experience and goalkeeping ability. In 96 Premier League games, Heaton has kept 24 clean sheets- averaging one clean sheet every four games, an outstanding record for a goalkeeper at a ‘bottom-half’ club like Burnley. Heaton’s best asset is his reliability in goal, making just three errors leading to goals during his three years. He also has outstanding reflexes, which allow him to make saves from the unlikeliest of positions. What is of equal importance are his leadership qualities- he was Burnley’s club captain before he departed, and he will lead the team from the back. Overall, for just £8 million, this has all the marks of a great signing for the Midlands club.

Man City’s new right-back, Joao Cancelo may have cost up to £52 million more than Heaton, but that should not detract from the immense quality that he will offer his new club this season. The fee is believed to be £34.1 million, plus the departure of Danilo to Juventus (as part of a swap deal with Cancelo’s previous club, Juventus)- totalling the complete fee around £60 million. The Portuguese full-back is still only 25, and he will surely be pushing for a place in Man City’s first team. For any player to have the potential to improve the current Man City team, suggests that they have immense quality. Cancelo certainly has that. He perfectly fits into Man City’s philosophy, an attacking full-back who is comfortable giving and receiving the ball. His has rapid acceleration and refined crossing abilities from his stints as a winger at Valencia and Inter. In Serie A last season he made on average 1.4 key passes pet game and 2.4 dribbles per game, high numbers for a full-back. These stats will only increase in an attacking Man City team. Perhaps, he is not as strong defensively, he is prone to committing fouls often, but Guardiola should improve his defensive abilities, as he has done with Kyle Walker. By the end of the season, do not be surprised to see Cancelo ahead of Walker in the Man City right-back position.

Following their heartbreak in the Champions League final to Liverpool, Spurs needed a lift in the transfer window this summer. The signings of Sessegnon and, in particular, Lo Celso add quality to an already great squad. However, it is the acquisition of the 22 year-old box to box midfielder, Tanguy Ndombele that was their greatest addition. A fee of up to £60 million is great value, considering his age and the talent he showed at Lyon in France. One of the most attractive aspects of Ndombele’s game is his adaptility. He can fill in an at central defensive midfielder, as shown by his average of 2.7 tackles per 90 in Ligue 1 last season- 0.4 than Wanyama (Spurs’ highest tackler p/90). He excels most though when he is making driving runs from midfield, allowing Spurs to progress up the pitch. He also boasted a 89.1% pass accuracy last season, which was second only to Harry Winks’ 91.8% accuracy. If needed, Ndombele can adapt to play higher up the pitch too, as he created 1.6 chances per 90 last season, for comparison, Sissoko only managed 1.0 per 90. He is proven at the top level, with his impressive Champions League performances last year against the likes of Man City and Real Madrid. If his is able to match his high-level performances of the last couple of years, Spurs’ midfield will have been transformed.

Another young midfielder joined a London club this window. They starred at the u-21 European Championships for Spain. It is not Arsenal’s Dani Ceballos though, but instead Pablo Fornals of West Ham. The Spaniard signed for around £25 million from Villarreal, and at just 23 he is someone that will only improve. Fornals can play across the midfield- right, left, central, or attacking. He will help West Ham maintain control of the ball and he should link up nicely with their other technical players like Manuel Lanzini, Jack Wilshere and Felipe Anderson. He can also make late runs into the box, either supplying the ball to their new striker, Sebastien Haller or shooting himself. Sceptics may point to the fact that in 50 appearances last season he only recorded five goals and six assists. Despite this, it is important not to become overly wrapped up in goal and assist statistics. Fornals offers West Ham creativity in their build-up play, this is seen through his 1.3 key passes per game in La Liga. This was something that the club have been missing with their previous central midfielders like Obiang and Noble. If he does not score or assists bundles of goals this season, he is sure to have played a key part in creating flowing attacking moves.

The sole striker on this list, is Everton’s new Italian forward, Moise Kean. What is most appealing at this transfer is the potential of Kean. A reported £25 million fee may have some fans scratching their head, as the 19 year-old only made 13 appearances last season for Italian giants, Juventus. However, his young age and recent performances on the pitch should disperse any worries over his price. Despite his 533 minutes of game time last season, Kean scored six goals and made one assists, which resulted in a rate of a goal every 89 minutes. His clinical finishing abilities in the box are something that Everton have been crying out for since the departure of Romelu Lukaku to Man United. Although Kean is unlikely to score a goal every 89 minutes in the Premier League, he should heavily improve their attacking options. Furthermore, at such a young age his future re-sell value should give the Merseyside club a healthy profit.