HARRY KANE'S INSUBORDINATION

England captain and Tottenham Hotspurs striker, Harry Kane was supposed to return to first team training last week Monday after players who were involved in the European Championships were given extended holidays to recuperate. 

He failed to do so and only returned on Saturday. And guess what? The reporting of this rebellion by the British press and the punditry by various analysts of this situation has been low key and toned down because of the individual rebelling. 

Imagine if a certain French midfielder playing in Manchester acted this way. We would not hear the last of it. 

Kane who prior to this time had tacitly indicated that he wanted to move on as Spurs currently were not matching his ambitions to win trophies has by his 5 day AWOL spoken louder than a thousand words. 

Reports indicate that he has a gentleman’s agreement with Spurs Chairman, Daniel Levy, that he would be sold as soon as a big club shows an interest in his services. But like Jamie O’Hara said on TalkSPORT, you don’t reach agreements with the likes of Daniel Levy without putting such on a sheet of paper with both parties signing it. 

It is a shame for Kane that he still has 3 years left on his contract and as it is, Levy will  get premium price for Kane no matter who comes and no matter how long Kane continues to grumble. It is reported that the figure that would persuade Levy to even consider selling him is £160 million pounds. 

Manchester City who are favourites to land his signature just acquired Jack Grealish for a 100 million pounds. They should be able to find another 100 million. Whether they can meet Kane’s valuation of 160 million though is another matter. Whether this deal should even be allowed to go ahead is debatable. City breaking the British record twice in one window should not be allowed in any shape or form. 

At the moment, there is no other club that can pay this collosal amount except Chelsea who are soon to complete the signing of Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan. 

In my honest opinion, Kane’s options are limited. No club outside England can pay that fee at the moment. Chelsea are not interested. Man United who might have been interested have more urgent areas in their squad to address and are also struggling to hold on to Paul Pogba. 

Moreover, United who refused to be held to ransom by Borussia Dortmund over Jadon Sancho won’t fork out 160 million anytime soon.

So we are left with Manchester City’s desire to meet Spurs evaluation of Kane or they give up on Kane and go for who else is available or play with a false 9. 

And if City do not get Kane this season, then Kane risks damaging a lot of the goodwill and legacy he has with the club when he leaves. He will get his move eventually but at what cost? 

Kane has a responsibility to conduct himself professionally until he gets his move but if he refuses to get with the programme, then Daniel Levy and Nino Espirinto Santo should let him rot for 2 years ( if he does not come back to his senses, after all, there is a World Cup in 2022) and sell him for whatever he is worth on the final year of his contract.

The Football Diary

The Premier League is back and returned with not too much of a bang on the opening weekend but it did bring up a shocking result and some entertainment.

With the arrival of superstar managers and players to the League coupled with the fact that most Premier League clubs have spent heavily this summer, the 2016/17 season is set to be one of the most keenly contested ever.

Leicester Start Defence of The Title On A Shaky Note.

The 5000-1 favourites last season surprised many when despite the odds, won the premier league title. Their manager, Claudio Ranieri, who was ridiculed because of his last job as Greece manager was tipped to get Leicester relegated after they just survived relegation the previous season under Nigel Pearson.

But he put his critics to shame and now the rest is history. 

A new season is here now and Leicester have strengthened their squad but have however, lost arguably their most important player in N'Golo Kante who moved to Chelsea and was in action for Chelsea as they defeated West Ham at Stamford Bridge.

Their opponents last weekend was Hull City who are in a shambles at the moment. Their manager Steve Bruce resigned after leading the team back to the Premier League the first time of asking. When they faced Leicester last weekend, they had only 13 fit senior players. Care taker boss, Mike Phelan, didn't bother to make any substitutions during the match.

But instead of allowing the gloom in the boardroom to affect them, the players led by Captain, Curties Davies, were  in inspirational form and shocked the Premier League defending champions with a 2-1 win. 

As any title winning manager knows, it is more difficult to retain a title than to win one. Ranieri has an uphill task in retaining the title if he actually believes he can. The big boys have strengthened and have attempted to poach his best players. So far, Riyadh Mahrez is still a target for Arsenal. Jamie Vardy though, has extended his contract after Arsenal also tried to sign him. 

Kante's absence was felt against Hull  and the new recruits have to quickly step up their game. The trusted senior players and spine of the team, Wes Morgan, Robert Huth,Vardy and Mahrez have to quickly discover their form if they don't want  to play catch up or worse, battle relegation...

Guardiola Starts Reign With Hard Fought Victory

Former Barcelona and Bayern Munich  coach, Pep Guardiola, kicked off his reign as Manchester City boss with a last gasp victory over Sunderland as they laboured to a win with help from Sunderland defender, new signing Paddy McNair who put the ball behind his own net.

David Moyes was looking to stamp his influence on Sunderland and they typically provided gutsy performance which suggests that they might yet surprise some teams during the course of the season. Jermaine Defoe remains as dangerous as ever and who knows,  his former boss Sam Allardyce might yet extend an England invitation if his current form continues.

Guardiola would need time for his philosophy to take root at City. There will be bumpy roads along the way but he remains most bookies and pundits favourite to win the title. 

Then there is the situation of the future of some senior players. Joe Hart was on the bench in the game against Sunderland while Willy Caballero was given the nod and now rumours are rife that Joe Hart might eventually be sold if Guardiola is able to sign Barcelona's Claudio Bravo. Yaya Toure was not even in the match day squad so also Samir Nasri and Eliaquim Mangala.

The Game Of The Weekend Lives Up To The Hype

The big game of the weekend was the fixture between Arsenal and Liverpool which was filled with great entertainment, wonderful goals and drama. 

Walcott missed a penalty, then found the back of the net shortly after. Phillipe Coutinho scored a contender for goal of the weekend with his excellent free kick to draw Liverpool level while Liverpool in the second half raced to a 4-1 lead With Sadio Mane scoring on his debut with a wonderful individual goal.

Then there was the Arsenal fight back which ended with Liverpool managing to hold on for a 4-3 win instead of strolling to victory.

Arsenal need to be commended for their fight back when all seemed to be lost and when it appeared they were in danger of another capitulation Arsenal fans are very familiar with. Liverpool without the injury prone Daniel Sturridge showed great attacking ability and if this game is used as a reference point, then expect Liverpool to score many goals this season under the charismatic Jurgen Klopp.

For Arsenal, the same old questions remain. The question of spending big and solving the striker situation remains unanswered. We should remember though, that in the last 4 seasons Arsenal have lost 3 of the opening fixtures at the Emirates but have still ended up in the top 4. If anything, expect the Gunners again to end up in the top 4.

Sparing A Thought For The Dream Team

Nigeria takes on Germany in the semi finals of the Olympics soccer event in midweek. Since it is unlikely the team will be able to stop the Germans from scoring, this is hoping the team will be clinical when the opportunities come and out score the German machine.

This is wishing Samson Siasia and John Obi Mikel the best of luck. They are going to need it.

Loyalty And Respect Are Dying Virtues In Football

We have apparently come to the end of two transfer sagas involving the exit of Real Madrid legend, Iker Casillas, and Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling as Casillas and Sterling are set to sign for FC Porto and Manchester City FC respectively. Sterling was snapped up by City for 49 million pounds while Casillas' deal with Porto is nearing conclusion.

However, the manner in which both players are parting ways with their former employers is a stark reminder of how brutal and ruthless the modern game has become.

Player loyalty is no longer fashionable. It's  all about getting the best deal possible not minding the fact that, had the club not put faith in the player when he was a nobody in the first place, he would not be in a position to hold the club to ransom.

Sadly, the clubs are getting in on the act as well. Clubs use a player and as soon as there is a hint of a decline in performance they discard the player in a heart beat. The years of service and sacrifice by the player is quickly forgotten.

The fans are not left out either. Depending on how messy the transfer of a star player to a rival team or any other team for that matter is, boos and jeers will be unleashed on the player whenever the star player comes to town. In some extreme cases, fans go ahead to issue death threats and even subject the player to all kinds of abuse.

We have seen it already. Peter Cech's move to Arsenal didn't go down well with Chelsea fans despite having the blessing of Roman Abramovich. Cech, after serving Chelsea for 11 years impeccably was branded a snake by disgruntled Chelsea fans and was even sent death threats.

Pray, what was Cech supposed to do? He lost his position due to no fault of his aside that he was on the wrong side of 30. He didn't go about lamenting to the media about the unfairness of Jose Mourinho's decision to place him on the bench as Thibaut Courtois' understudy.

And as he rightly stated, at this stage of his career, he needs to be playing regularly. So, a move to Chelsea's London rivals Arsenal, makes a lot of sense where he would be number 1.

Reports already have it that Raheem Sterling has been issued death threats already and the police are currently investigating the sources.

This is all coming as a result of Sterling's insistence on leaving Liverpool for a team that will be more competitive than Liverpool for titles. However, the manner in which he has rebelled and forced a move is unjustified and so it becomes understandable why Liverpool supporters are upset.

With the benefit of hindsight, it would have made more sense for Sterling to stall in signing a new contract and hand over a transfer request at the end of the season while acting professionally all the while instead of giving that BBC interview during the past season and then skipping out of pre-season training.

At the very worst, Liverpool would have had to sell him without any pressure from him next year when he would have one year left on his contract to the highest bidder. But Sterling as has become the trend in modern day football has acted unprofessionally in order to force a move to another club forgetting how he started out as a Liverpool player.

Casillas' scenario at Madrid is the direct opposite of  that of Sterling's at Liverpool. After serving Real Madrid for 25 years, 8 of which was at youth level, he is being practically forced out of the club with 2 years left on his contract. 

The fans again were also involved in his forced exit out of the club. He was jeered and booed many times by sections of Madrid fans through out the course of last season. This was no way to treat a hero and captain of the club. A player who has won 5 La Liga titles and 3 Champions league trophies with Madrid.

But his running battle with Florentino Perez, who often has the final say when he has disputes with club icons, was one that would only end this way because of his rapid decline in form. Make no mistake, Casillas is still a decent goalie, but he deserves better than this.

Reports have it that, the official Real Madrid twitter account unfollowed Iker Casillas a few hours after it was announced that he would be joining FC Porto. As insignificant as this seems, it speaks volumes about the lack of respect the Real Madrid establishment has for Iker Casillas.

The only reason the Casillas situation has been ugly is because money is involved. Casillas has been widely reported to have  insisted that a full compensation for the termination of his contract be paid before  he moves on. Madrid's reluctance to do so is what has made this transfer saga stink.

Now, a compromise has been reached in these 2 case scenarios. Casillas can now say his goodbyes and enter a new phase of his career with FC Porto while Sterling now has his 'dream move' to Manchester City. He now has his chance to challenge for trophies at a 'big club' and of course, make more money than he would have ever dreamed of. 

Fair to say however, that loyalty and respect is a dying attitude and value between clubs, players and fans in present day football because of the allure of monetary gain and glory.