Atletico Madrid have already been extremely busy in this summer’s transfer window, snapping up Jackson Martinez, Luciano Vietto and Yannick Carrasco to significantly bolster the club’s attack. Now, manager Diego Simeone is turning his attention to his side’s defence. 

According to AS, Simeone and Atletico have identified Monaco’s Aymen Abdennour, Fiorentina‘s Stefan Savic and Stuttgart’s Antonio Rudiger as three possible options to reinforce the club’s defensive depth, following the sales of Miranda and Toby Alderweireld to Inter Milan and Tottenham Hotspur respectively. 

So who’s the better fit for Los Colchoneros?

Given Atleti now only possess one experienced centre-back in Diego Godin, who’s currently partnered by the 20-year-old Jose Gimenez, the club needs to recruit an established defender rather than a long-term project. Additionally, Atleti’s defence has been defined by its strength and physicality, lending itself to aggressive and combative centre-backs who impose themselves on opposition forwards. 

As such, Abdennour, 25 and strongly built, has the edge over the less powerful Savic and the younger Rudiger, and he would represent a logical signing for Atletico Madrid. 

Below, we take a close look at what the defender would bring to the Vicente Calderon. 

Statistical Overview

Playing Style 

If you were to compare Abdennour’s playing style to some well-known centre-backs in La Liga, you might say he’s similar to Sergio Ramos and Nicolas Otamendi. That, of course, is not to argue the Tunisian is on the same level as those stars—he’s not—but he does look to utilise a similar approach to the Spaniard and Argentinian. 

Indeed, the 25-year-old is a powerful and aggressive defender with a front-foot mentality. Not one to sit back and play conservatively, the Monaco man looks to be proactive and break up opposition attacks by stepping up to meet the play and making strong, robust challenges.

Strong in the air, fierce in one-on-one battles and quicker across the ground than your average central defender, Abdennour was an important cog in Leonardo Jardim’s extremely tight Monaco outfit in 2014-15 and enjoyed some of his better performances in the Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen, Zenit St. Petersburg, Arsenal and Juventus.

Abdennour also possesses a surprisingly crisp left foot and can be effective in starting attacking moves from the back. In that regard, he’s far superior to the now-departed Miranda, whose distribution from defence was often shaky and wayward. 

Because of that strong left foot, the former Toulouse defender can also provide cover as a makeshift left-back, which will be very appealing to Simeone given Atletico’s difficulties at that position throughout last season following the departure of Filipe Luis and the arrival of Guilherme Siqueira.

But as is often the case with aggressive centre-backs, Abdennour and his bold approach can leave him susceptible to moments of questionable positional discipline, sometimes forcing him to use his excellent recovery skills to track down forwards who’ve gotten in behind.

Simeone may feel, however, that Abdennour would complement the rock-solid Godin nicely, giving Atleti a centre-back pairing of suitable contrast. 

Why the Small Number of League Appearances?

Eighteen appearances in Monaco’s 38 league games certainly isn’t a great amount, but Abdennour’s 2014-15 season had numerous interruptions. 

In September, he suffered an hamstring injury on international duty with Tunisia, which, kept him out for a month. He suffered a repeat of the injury in May. 

Additionally, Abdennour was on duty with Tunisia at the Africa Cup of Nations during January. 

Are There Any Concerns?

When AS first broke the news that Atletico Madrid were interested in Abdennour, there were concerns the Tunisian’s signing would be problematic because he would take Atleti past UEFA’s quota for non-EU players, given the club already has Martinez, Gimenez and Angel Correa. 

Now, however, AS is reporting no-such complications exist and that Abdennour is definitely Simeone’s preferred option over Savic and Rudiger. According to the European Commission, Tunisia is a partner country within the European Neighbourhood Policy for the period 2014-2020, possibly helping facilitate the potential of a deal for Atleti.

from Bleacher Report – Front Page http://ift.tt/1CwRoXZ
via IFTTT http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Real Madrid‘s pre-season schedule gets under way on July 18, with Los Blancos taking part in the International Champions Cup in Australia along with Manchester City and Roma. 

After two games at the colossal Melbourne Cricket Ground, Real Madrid will then travel to China to join AC Milan and Inter Milan for the second stop in a three-part pre-season tour that will eventually conclude with matches against Tottenham and Bayern Munich in the Audi Cup in Munich in early August. 

Interestingly, the pre-season matches represent significant opportunities for a number of Real Madrid’s players, with new manager Rafa Benitez expected to experiment with different systems and lineups to those the team has used over the past two seasons. 

Thus, the tour is a chance for rarely used players to stake their claim, and it’s also a chance for established stars to reinforce their worth to a new boss who has new methods and new ideas. 

Across the following slides, we examine eight Real Madrid players to watch closely this pre-season.

Begin Slideshow

from Bleacher Report – Front Page http://ift.tt/1HRMW8L
via IFTTT http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The 117th pre-season of Bayern Munich’s history begins in July, with the Bundesliga champions pitted against a host of great opposition. 

The Bavarian club are due to face Spanish, Italian and Chinese opponents in the coming weeks, with the pre-season games beginning on July 12 in the Telekom Cup against local rivals Augsburg.

The team will travel to China for an extended tour—where they are due to meet Valencia and Inter Milan. The players then return to Munich to host the Audi Cup, featuring AC Milan, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur.

Here is the full schedule for FCB‘s upcoming practice matches as they prepare for another year of action, per the club’s official website, including current available viewing details:

Douglas Costa Fulfils Bayern Dream

After being mentioned in passing with the elite clubs of European football for an extended period, Douglas Costa has finally made the jump—becoming Bayern Munich’s major new signing for 2015-16. 

The Brazilian international is set to link up with the FCB squad on July 11—the day before the Telekom Cup—and could potentially make his Bayern debut just 24 hours later, per the Associated Press via the Daily Mail.

Costa has been a burgeoning talent for many seasons, but his performances at Shakhtar Donetsk have elevated in the past couple of years.

The attacker has also returned to the international fold, appearing three times at the recent Copa America, per WhoScored.com. However, he missed a vital penalty in the shootout against Paraguay as Brazil departed proceedings.

Costa was clearly delighted at joining the historic German team, per the Associated Press: “A dream has come true for me today. I’m proud to become a player for Bayern, following in the footsteps of so many magnificent Brazilian players.”

Douglas might be viewed as the long-term heir apparent to Arjen Robben, who is prone to constant injury concerns, but the Brazilian has much to live up to in order to meet the Dutchman’s standards.

Robben started only 20 Bundesliga games last term, but he returned a stunning 17 goals and seven assists, per WhoScored. 

It is unlikely Costa is ready to meet this lofty standard at present, and he will need to be broken into Pep Guardiola‘s setup with a gentle hand.

Bayern defender Rafinha supported this train of thought after the announcement of Costa’s €30 million transfer, speaking to the club’s official website (h/t Stefan Coerts of Goal.com): 

Douglas Costa is a quality player, but with all due respect to the Ukrainian league and Shakhtar, Bayern are a different world, and Bundesliga opponents are better, more dynamic, more physical and quicker. He’ll spot that straight away. We’ll certainly have to give him time to settle in.

I’m delighted we’ve signed another Brazilian, but the coach decides who plays where. I only know Douglas Costa from our matches against Shakhtar last season. However, when Dante and I flew from Brazil to Germany last week, he was coincidentally on the same flight, although he was seated a fair way away from us and we couldn’t talk a lot. As a result, I can’t really say a lot about him yet.

Guardiola needs to bring fresh blood into Bayern‘s operation, and Douglas is a player who can bring this element.

He is a talented player who is no longer just a kid with potential, but it will be a transition over the next 12 months.

The expectations at Bayern are huge, and Costa will have to adapt his game to German football. Diminutive players of the calibre of Xherdan Shaqiri have failed to make the jump at Munich, so Costa must bring his “A” game with him, when he settles in Bavaria.

from Bleacher Report – Front Page http://ift.tt/1HN4CAp
via IFTTT http://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The extremes to which Dani Alves divides Barcelona supporters highlight his status as the club’s most frustrating player.

Anyone who watched Alves play in the first half of last season and then again in the second half could be forgiven for thinking they were watching two different players.

And that’s not just a comment on how Alves changes his fashion style so regularly that he must have a wardrobe bigger than Barcelona’s trophy cabinet.

Alves‘ role in helping his side lift La Liga, UEFA Champions League and Copa del Rey hardware last season is further confirmation of his unpredictability.

If he played like he did between January and June for Barcelona all the time, there would be no question marks over him.

It’s important to say that any doubts over Alves stem purely from some of his performances—not because of any other misgivings.

Alves is loved like he came through Barcelona’s youth system, despite signing for the club from Sevilla in 2008.

They way he speaks so frankly and openly endears him to the club’s supporters, with the most recent example being his press conference as he tried to get Barcelona to give him a new deal. Alves managed to explain his frustration with the club while simultaneously stating his commitment to the team itself.

“I’ve had to put up with a lot this year and this is the reason why I’m speaking out. I feel a lack of respect and I have limits,” he said, per Press Association (h/t the Daily Mail).

The fans appreciated his position, and the overall feeling in the city was one of delight when he put pen to paper on a new deal at the end of the season.

Alves had gone further still, crying as he told supporters at Camp Nou that he would always be one of them after the Champions League final win over Juventus, making it seem like he was certain to leave. Having lifted the treble, club president Josep Maria Bartomeu decided to surf the wave of goodwill and extend Alves‘ deal.

The 32-year-old agreed a two-year deal with the Catalan giants, but which Alves we will get next season remains to be seen.

As Barcelona closed in on their three targets last season, Alves stepped up and delivered time and time again in big games, as his contract wound down.

But now that he is tied down, could his form drop again? With Martin Montoya off at Inter Milan, the only competition Alves has in the first half of the season is Douglas.

Barcelona have signed Aleix Vidal from Sevilla, and when he is eligible to play from January onwards, he will be more of a threat to Alves. Until then, the Barcelona defender may choose to coast, like he did at times under Tata Martino in 2013-14.

Under the Argentine coach, Alves produced a lot of unsuccessful crosses, and that continued until Luis Enrique changed tack partway through the season.

Sport’s Marti Perarnau explained how Alves played a lot smarter in the second half of the season.

In January, Luis Enrique began to make some modifications to the way Alves was asked to play. He now played in a more reduced area, where his runs were less frequent but more direct and just as dangerous.

He played better and his all-round performance—in attack and defence—became much more effective.

On his day, Alves is unbeatable at the back and a truly exhilarating presence going forward. When he is not playing well, he is a danger to his side.

Opponents can exploit the gaps he leaves, and if Alves‘ crossing is out of sync, it can be dreadful.

Barcelona supporters will hope and expect the player who finished the season with them to turn up again in August, but from a detached perspective, it’s impossible to predict whether he’ll be at the top of his game or off it.

And that is what has made him the club’s most frustrating player.

from Bleacher Report – Front Page http://ift.tt/1CmXn1R
via IFTTT http://ift.tt/eA8V8J