(Video): Chelsea player fighting for his first team place shows impressive long ball skill
All the talk around Chelsea and their goalkeeper situation in the last week has been about one man – Mike Maignan.
The Frenchman is pushing for a move to Stamford Bridge, and it seems like it's all about to come down to a final hectic 48 hours before the Club World Cup window closes.
Petrovic signs off season with another great showing
Djordje Petrovic playing for Chelsea. (Photo by)
If we don't sign him, the shirt will be battled for between Robert Sanchez, who had it this season, and Djordje Petrovic, who had it the season before. The Serb has put himself in a strong position to come back to Chelsea and start after a brilliant season on loan at Strasbourg, and he helped his chances further with a great showing in the fiery Albania – Serbia game of Saturday night.
Advertisement
Petrovic made some great saves, some important high claims under immense pressure from the crowd in Tirana, and then saved a crucial penalty with a superb leap and strong right hand.
You can see his highlights from the game in the clip embedded here:
Petrovic happy to go long when situation calls for it
One thing we note from this compilation is how often Petrovic is going long. Now this is nothing to do with him, of course, this is clearly what he's been told to do by his national team coach.
It's hard enough for a club team manager to teach his team to play out from the back, one can only imagine how tricky it is for an international coach,
Advertisement
Still, we saw plenty of evidence from Strasbourg that Petrovic has levelled up that part of his game compared to when he was last at Chelsea.
Impressively, he actually completed 11 of the 13 long balls he played in the game.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
26 minutes ago
- Forbes
Manchester City's New Signings Mark New Era In Pep Guardiola's Tenure
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak vowed the club would be 'aggressive' in this summer window after ending last season empty-handed. So far, City has lived up to al-Mubarak's words and then some. In nine days since the transfer window opened, City has already completed the signings of AC Milan and Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders for £46.3m ($62.7m) and Wolverhampton left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri for £31m ($42m). A deal for Olympique Lyon attacking midfielder Rayan Cherki, meanwhile, has been all but finalized. As per The Athletic, Cherki will move to England for £33.7m ($45.6m). City must register their new signings by 7pm BST (2pm EST) on Tuesday to have them available for the Club World Cup, which begins next week. The significance of City's spending spree is two-fold. First and foremost, it comes with a verdict into alleged breaches of the Premier League's financial rules still hanging over the club. In February 2023, City was formally charged with breaking financial fair play rules between 2009 and 2018 and with failing to co-operate with Premier League investigations into their finances. The club's hearing in the case against the Premier League began on September 16 last year and ran until December 6 in front of a three-person independent commission in London. Back in February, Pep Guardiola admitted he expected the verdict 'within a month'. His forecast has proved to be wide of the mark, with the commission yet to return a judgment six months after the hearing ended. By comparison, it took UEFA just two days to find City guilty of financial manipulation in January 2020, a verdict which was subsequently overturned on appeal. With a judgment still pending, City has wasted no time in reshaping its squad after spending $245m on players in the January transfer window. Omar Marmoush joined from Eintrach Frankfurt, while Savinho and Nico Gonzalez arrived from Troyes and Porto for respectively and centre-back Abdukodir Kushanov signed from Lens. The spending spree was not enough to prevent City from finishing without any silverware for the first time since the 2016-17 season, Guardiola's first campaign in the Premier League. City has won the Premier League six times in the past eight seasons, but finished third 13 points behind eventual champions Liverpool last season and never looked like retaining its crown. The Champions League brought an elimination at the hands of Real Madrid in the Round of 16 and there was heartbreak in the FA Cup final for the second consecutive year with defeat to Cyrstal Palace. In that respect, the arrivals of Reijnders, Aït-Nouri and Chekri point to a clear desire to refresh the squad. Despite the $67.8m arrival of Gonzalez from Porto in January, City's midfield lack of physicality and running power was badly exposed both domestically and in Europe. The issue was exacerbated by the absences of reigning Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, who missed almost the entire season with a knee injury, and Mateo Kovacic. Reijnders' arrival should go some way towards addressing the lack of dynamism in City's engine room. The Dutch international was arguably AC Milan's player of the season, with 10 goals and four assists in Serie A. Among midfielders, only Scott McTominay, had more goal involvements with 16. City's new signing, who turns 27 next month, also ranked fifth for through balls and ninth for forward passes in Serie A last season. Milan signed Reijnders from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the summer of 2023 for $22.8m, but he netted only four goals in 50 appearances across all competitions – a figure that should have been much higher. When he met him in Saudi Arabia in January for the Italian Super Cup, former Milan manager Stefano Pioli teased him about his frequent shots off target. Twelve months on, Reijnders found the same promising positions but now with newfound composure, leading to a significant increase in his goal tally. His shots on target more than tripled last season (from 0.25 to 0.87 per match), while his conversion rate more than doubled, soaring from 10% to 23%. With Kevin De Bruyne leaving the Etihad Stadium as a free agent after 10 trophy-laden years and Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva approaching the winter of their careers, Reijnders could become a key figure in City's midfield. Just like the Dutchman, Aït-Nouri's arrival addresses a glaring weakness in Guardiola's squad. According to Opta stats, in the season just ended among defenders only Trent Alexander Arnold had more goal involvements per 90 minutes than Aït-Nouri, with 0.34 to 0.32 respectively. The prototypical modern full-back, who can use his athleticism to burst forward and is comfortable with the ball at his feet, the Algeria international is a versatile player. Aït-Nouri played at left wing-back under Vitor Pereira following the Portuguese's arrival at Wolves in December. Pereira switched between a five-man defense and a 3-4-3 formation, with the 24-year-old operating as an attacking wing-back in both circumstances. The Algeria international played in the same role under Gary O'Neill, Pereira's predecessor, when he was also deployed further forward as a left midfielder. But of the trio of signings, it is arguably Cherki who is the most intriguing. The 21-year-old is coming off a breakout season, with 12 goals and 20 assists in all competitions and made his France debut last week, scoring in the 5-4 defeat against Spain in the Nations League semi-final. Cherki also scored in both legs of the Europa League quarter-final against Manchester United and was named in the Europa League Team of the Season. Data from Opta shows he outperformed City's attacking midfielders - Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and Savinho - in all but one category last season, shots per 90 minutes. Cherki and Doku both took 2.2 shots per game, while Savinho and Foden took 2.8 and 3.0 respectively. The Frenchman, however, led the quartet in goals per 90 minutes with a 0.4 figure, compared to Foden and Doku's 0.3 and Savinho's 0.1. Cherki's 0.6 assists per game were the high watermark in the category, when compared with Doku's 0.4, Savinho's 0.3 and Foden's 0.2 and he was also significant better in terms of creating opportunities. The Lyon midfielder set up 3.7 chances per 90 minutes, comfortably ahead of Savinho and Foden with 2.3 and Doku with 2.1. A versatile player who can operate either as attacking midfielder or on the wing, Cherki is gifted with superb technique and looks ready to fill the void left by De Bruyne. Former Arsenal striker and current CBS analyst Thierry Henry said he has "never seen a player in history who dribbles as quickly as him". High praise indeed. The Premier League has been warned.
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Man City signs left back Aït-Nouri from Wolves ahead of Club World Cup
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City signed Algeria left back Rayan Aït-Nouri from Wolverhampton for a reported fee of 37 million euros ($42 million) on Monday. City has been deploying center backs Nathan Ake and, more recently, Josko Gvardiol at left back in recent seasons but now has a specialist option in Aït-Nouri, who is a very attacking full back. The 23-year-old Aït-Nouri joined Wolves from French team Angers in 2020. His contract at City runs to 2030 and he will be available for the new-look, 32-team Club World Cup, which starts on Saturday. City is in the same group as Juventus, Al Ain and Wydad Casablanca and its first match is on June 18. ___ AP soccer:
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
Ronaldo on his club future after Portugal win? 'Nothing will change'
It was a night of adulation and another trophy for Cristiano Ronaldo as the Portugal star shed tears after helping his team win the Nations League on Sunday. Ronaldo scored to help Portugal draw level with Spain 2-2 in the final, then watched as his teammates won the penalty shootout 5-3. "I have many titles with my clubs, but nothing is better than winning for Portugal," Ronaldo said. "These are tears. It's mission accomplished and so much joy." The 40-year-old Ronaldo was the first to run out onto the field for the pre-game warmup, sparking a huge roar from the Portugal supporters, including many wearing jerseys emblazoned with his name. His appearance prompted many supporters to pull out their cell phones to record the superstar while they could still see him in action. Ronaldo conceded Saturday that he won't be able to play forever. That was three days after he helped Portugal to its first win over Germany for 25 years, scoring the winner for a 2-1 victory in the Nations League semifinals. On Sunday he was driving the team again, though it was initially a frustrating game as his chances were limited by Spain's hard-working defenders. Nuno Mendes fired Portugal level after Martin Zubimendi opened the scoring for Spain. Then Mikel Oyarzabal put Spain ahead 2-1 at the break. But Ronaldo was in the right place at the right time to fire home the equalizer from Mendes' deflected cross in the 61st, setting off joyous scenes among his faithful fans. It was Ronaldo's 138th goal for Portugal. Nobody has ever scored more for their country. Ronaldo kept trying in what was his record-extending 221st appearance for the country, but eventually had to go off exhausted in the 88th to standing ovations from fans and a hug from coach Roberto Martínez. Ronaldo said he was carrying an injury into the game. "I had already felt it during the warmup, I had been feeling it for some time, but for the national team, if I had to break my leg, I would have broken it," Ronaldo said. "It's for a trophy, I had to play and I gave it my all." It also seems that Ronaldo is set to make his sixth World Cup appearance should Portugal qualify for next year's tournament, to be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States. "[This win over Spain] gives us confidence to go to the World Cup and see that it's possible to beat any team in the world." Ronaldo also seemingly answered whether will continue playing with Saudi club Al-Nassr. Earlier in June, he posted "this chapter is over" on social media after the club's last Saudi Pro League game of the by reporters on Sunday, he noted that "nothing will change" regarding his club situation and when asked if he would stay with Al-Nassr, he simply replied: "Yes." On Saturday he quelled rumors that he would play at the Club World Cup with a new team despite "quite a few" offers from participating clubs to play there. Whatever club Ronaldo plays for, he will keep striving for Portugal. "I have lived in many countries, I have played for many clubs, but when it's about Portugal, it is always a special feeling," he said. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!
