By Joel Oberstone 18 August 2016 Arsenal began the season with a home defeat. Some fans already have their annual revolt against Arsene Wenger underway. It’s business as usual, this growing disquiet that club and manager will make a mess of hiring good new players. With the next fixture on Saturday away at champions Leicester, now is perhaps […]

By Nick Harris 10 June 2016 Two interesting and credible studies published this week have attempted to quantify the cost (and separately, the value) of the 24 squads that will contest Euro 2016, which begins this evening in Paris when hosts France face Romania at the Stade de France. The first was conducted by Profit […]

By Sam Jackson 11 June 2015 Gianluigi Buffon demonstrated in the Champions League final last Saturday that age needn’t be an impediment to high-level performances by a goalkeeper. And as the rumour mill turns on the future of David de Gea, the debate intensifies around what price Manchester United will persuade Real Madrid to pay, and who can […]

By Nick Harris 9 June 2014 With the World Cup in Brazil just a few days from kicking-off, five-times winners Brazil are the bookmakers’ favourites on home turf, with twice-winners Argentina second favourites, followed by holders Spain and three-times winners Germany. Then the chasing pack comprises Belgium, France, Italy, Uruguay, Portugal, England, the Netherlands, Colombia […]

By Brian Sears 7 March 2014 There have been seven ‘ever-present’ clubs in the Premier League, none of them relegated from the top flight since England’s top division was revamped in 1992-93: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham. That means each of those seven have now faced each of the others […]

By Brian Sears 28 February 2014 Everton will start the weekend 11 points outside the Champions League qualification spots, albeit with a game in hand on fourth-placed Liverpool, and are now outsiders to reach Europe’s top table for 2014-15. But their home form and their historical record against Saturday’s opponents West Ham both suggest they […]

By Brian Sears and Nick Harris 7 February 2014 Everton and Tottenham are both aspiring to play Champions League football next season and along with Liverpool, and perhaps Manchester United, are the only credible challengers for a top-four finish behind the three teams already highly likely to finish inside the top four: Arsenal, Manchester City […]

By Nick Harris 21 January 2014 Barcelona produce more first-team footballers across Europe’s elite ‘Big 5′ divisions than any other club in the world, according to new analysis by the CIES Football Observatory and published today by Sportingintelligence. The Spanish giants have developed 44 players currently with top-flight clubs in Spain’s La Liga, England’s Premier […]

* EUROPE’S major leagues delivered a string of titles by procession in Spring 2013 as a group of the biggest, richest clubs across the continent romped to runaway victories. Most leagues have always had one or two dominant clubs but is there something else afoot now? And what if anything does that say about the […]

By Nick Harris 17 June 2013 There are 60 footballers in the ‘Big 5’ leagues of Europe who each carry a market value of £20m-plus this summer. The world’s best and most expensive player is Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, whose ‘guide price’ is between €217m and €253m (£185m-£215m). Next comes Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo (£87m-£101m), then […]