The January window may only be five days in but Bournemouth are not messing about. With some cash left over from allowing Jermaine Defoe to join Rangers on an 18-month loan deal, the Terriers have stolen Nathaniel Clyne right from Cardiff City’s noses and signed the Liverpool right-back on loan.
After fitness concerns led to the collapse of his move to Crystal Palace, Bournemouth are also set to sign Dominic Solanke for £19m.
You may scoff at the idea that a striker who has only looked decent for England’s youth teams and only scored one goal in English football, is suddenly worth £19m. However, you may never have heard of the premium that comes with being English.
The jury’s still out on Solanke, though. He’s way too tall to play Premier League football. He’s So-lanky.
I’ll get my coat.
After Bournemouth’s 3-3 draw with Watford in midweek, you get the impression goal scoring will definitely not be a problem this season. Not bad business from a Liverpool point of view.
They’ve received more than £40m from Bournemouth since 2016, with Jordon Ibe and Brad Smith the two other players to help facilitate that. And this is from a club who paid £35m for Andy Carroll. Whatever you think of their big money signings over the years, you can’t help but be impressed with the way they have let some players leave.
And if rumours are to be believed, they could be signing Nabil Fekir from Lyon this month. This is after he was curiously left out of their French Cup tie with Bourges Foot, with no explanation.
Speaking of the Reds, there was the small matter of the clash between Manchester City and Liverpool this week. And unlike other matches hyped up to epic proportions by Sky, this one certainly lived up to its billing.
With Joe Gomez on the treatment table, it was up for Croatian Dejan Lovren to step up to the plate. I mean how hard is it for a World Cup finalist? Very, as it turns out. Not only would a one-legged Joe Gomez had been a better alternative to Lovren, so too would a one-legged Katie Hopkins.
The match was packed with quality that provided a terrific advertisement for the Premier League. An unplayable Sergio Aguero put City in front before some brilliant link-up play between Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson teed up Roberto Firmino to equalise. Then Leroy Sane scored the winner to close the gap on the leaders to four points.
There was also a massive match at the bottom of the table. Huddersfield and Burnley, both sitting in the bottom three, locked horns in a match that had a bearing on who were more likely to visit the dreaded Rotherham next season.
On this occasion, Burnley reigned supreme. In a heated game where both teams finished with 10 men each, Burnley beat the home side 2-1.
Chelsea’s inconsistencies were plain to see once again when they failed to find a way past Southampton at home. With news that they have confirmed the signing of the talented Christian Pulisic, it seemed as though they had addressed that.
Or so I thought until I read that he had scored just 10 goals in 80 games for Borussia Dortmund. Why would Chelsea need a prolific goalscorer anyway?
To Cardiff now. Another sell-out crowd for a match against a top-six side, and yet another hammering. After Marcus Rashford’s goal for Manchester United in the second minute two weeks ago, I was just praying Cardiff could keep Spurs at Bay for 10 minutes.
Unfortunately not, and the exact same thing happened again when Harry Kane put Spurs in front in the exact same minute as Rashford did.
Aaron Ramsey, Piers Morgan’s favourite Arsenal player, looks set to join Italian giants Juventus in the summer. He has come under scrutiny by some Arsenal fans for refusing to sign a new contract.
In my opinion, he needs a break from the club. And he’s earned the right to leave on a high with a massive thank you for all he has done for that club. With the score at 2-1 at home to Fulham, Ramsey sprung into action immediately after coming on to score Arsenal’s third before Aubameyang settled the match in the 83rd minute.
It’s FA Cup action this weekend. Has it lost it’s magic? Keep asking that and it soon will.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
