Latest news with #Bernabeu-bound
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
'Real Madrid humiliated me – Trent Alexander-Arnold is in for a rude awakening'
Wesley Sneijder knows all too well the challenges that come with wearing the famous white shirt of Real Madrid, and he has issued Bernabeu-bound Trent Alexander-Arnold a stark warning As the dust begins to settle around Trent Alexander-Arnold's impending move to Real Madrid, a voice from the club's cutthroat past has stepped up with a sobering dose of reality. Wesley Sneijder – once seen as a future Los Blancos legend – understands better than most the brutal demands of life in the white-hot Bernabeu spotlight. Having joined Real from Ajax in 2007 amid high hopes and glowing press, his dreams quickly turned disillusionment. Just two years later, he was quietly - but bluntly - pushed out, despite playing a central part in the club's 2008 La Liga title triumph. Now, as Trent prepares to trade Merseyside familiarity for the intense glare of Madrid, Sneijder has issued a stark warning: hit the ground running, or risk being swallowed by a club that shows no patience for underperformance. "The only advice I have for him is: it's Real Madrid. It's the biggest club in the world so you have to deliver – and you have to deliver from the first day," Sneijder told the Liverpool Echo, via BetMGM. "If you don't deliver, even if you are a great player, it will go fast. And the fans will start to be against you. That's not going to be easy for him. He must deliver from the first day." Though Sneijder quickly won over Real's notoriously-fickle supporters, he never managed to impress president Florentino Perez. Within days of Perez returning to power in 2009, Sneijder – along with fellow rising stars Arjen Robben, Alvaro Negredo and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar – was told to pack his bags. The decision was part of a ruthless overhaul aimed at funding the next generation of Galacticos, which included blockbuster arrivals like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, and Karim Benzema. Still, Sneijder recalled feeling "humiliated," especially after discovering his belongings had already been cleared from his locker before he'd even been spoken to. "I went to speak with the president. He didn't give me much time and just told me I no longer fit into their plans and that they wanted to win the Champions League," Sneijder revealed in a 2023 appearance on Dutch television. "Before leaving his office, I said, 'Sir, know that wherever I go, I will play to win.'" He backed up those words. Later that summer, Sneijder completed a £12m transfer to Inter Milan – and within a year, he was lifting the very Champions League trophy Perez had been chasing. The venue? None other than the Bernabeu. "[Being kicked out of Madrid] was a little bit tough. But the beautiful thing was that I got back a year later and played a final [and won the Champions League in Madrid]," he added, a satisfied grin spreading across his face. Though Alexander-Arnold's switch to Madrid has not yet been officially announced, reports suggest the Spanish giants are keen to finalise the deal ahead of the Club World Cup which kicks off in June. The free transfer will be a stunning acquisition for one of the continent's most gifted full backs. However, amid the excitement and buzz, Sneijder's cautionary tale is a reminder: the spotlight in Madrid is dazzling – but it's also scorching. Alexander-Arnold certainly has the talent to thrive, but he is walking into a pressure cooker, where legends are forged – and forgotten – in an instant. And slow starters are shown little mercy, if any at all.
Irish Independent
27-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Why Erik ten Hag can be a success as Bayer Leverkusen's risky hire – they want the Ajax version, not the United variant
But now he is Bayer Leverkusen manager, a year after 'Neverkusen' ditched their unwanted tag. Their unbeaten German double, their maiden Bundesliga title, their run to the Europa League final all helped forge Xabi Alonso such a reputation that he was targeted by Bayern Munich, of interest to Liverpool and, a year later, hired by Real Madrid. Ten Hag's return to football comes with his new and last club forming a contrast: United, with their pretensions to be the biggest in the world, Leverkusen perhaps not even the biggest in the Cologne region of North Rhine-Westphalia. Yet United have become arguably the global game's greatest underachievers – Ten Hag has some culpability in that – whereas Leverkusen represented the overachievers extraordinaire in 2023-24, ending Bayern's 11-year reign in the Bundesliga. United can look among the worst run clubs in football, Leverkusen among the best. Leverkusen have spent recent years getting decisions right; Alonso, after all, was untried in senior management before they hired him. They have turned to Ten Hag to replace the Bernabeu-bound Basque. It is hard to imagine the Premier League runners-up appointing him now, but their Bundesliga counterparts have. But then Ten Hag's reputation is higher in Germany than England, just as his German is better than his English. It may be a legacy in part of his time with Bayern Munich's second team when he was nicknamed 'Mini Pep', but he also has admirers at Borussia Dortmund, though Niko Kovac's heroics in salvaging a Champions League place meant there was no vacancy at the Signal Iduna Park this summer. Or it may mean the distance from Leverkusen to Old Trafford camouflaged his issues there. Sporting director Simon Rolfes, in his explanation of Ten Hag's appointment, put more emphasis on his record at Ajax, which means the 55-year-old has won more than Leverkusen, and then referenced 'ensuing success at Manchester United under difficult circumstances at times'. One explanation of Ten Hag's excellence with Ajax, with three league titles and a Champions League semi-final appearance, is that he was surrounded by the right structure, in director of football Marc Overmars and CEO Edwin van der Sar. Another is that he had the biggest budget the club had ever had. Each has a pertinence. Leverkusen should offer the structure United lacked (though part of the rationale they offered for giving him a reprieve after talking to other managers last summer was that he would fare better with the Ineos-led appointments behind the scenes; he didn't and was sacked a few months later). Financially, though, Leverkusen can never rival Bayern's wage bill, which proved no impediment to Alonso. Yet they will surely have the largest transfer fund in their history, assuming Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong join Jonathan Tah in leaving. It would also leave Leverkusen without some of the outstanding figures in their greatest team. ADVERTISEMENT Ten Hag's time at Old Trafford left questions about his judgement of players if he invariably overrated his fellow Dutchmen and Ajax alumni. United had too little to show for a £600m spending spree and yet, somehow, Ten Hag always seemed to think the way of demonstrating ambition was to spend more. So perhaps the club should make the signings and counsel the manager against the kind of feud he had with Jadon Sancho, which lent little benefit. It will be instructive how much Ten Hag changes; Alonso often preferred a back three, whereas he has tended to favour 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1. After a fine debut season at Old Trafford, Ten Hag's tactics felt increasingly incoherent at United. Rolfes nevertheless felt he and Leverkusen are a fine fit. 'Our ideas of football coincide,' he said. 'With technically demanding and dominant football, we want to carry on in the Werkself style.' And part of the job is to simply carry on. Few managers are fortunate enough to inherit a success story; Ten Hag did not at Old Trafford. He does now, even if a two-year contract does not amount to a huge vote of confidence. Leverkusen's hope may be that they are getting the Ajax Ten Hag not the United variant. His lone Champions League campaign with United was a shambles, whereas he punched above his weight in taking Ajax to the last four. It is an achievement that has stood the test of time. It has helped Ten Hag land one of the plumb coaching jobs on offer in Europe this summer. And that, in turn, reflects the peculiar position United may now occupy: those who leave Old Trafford may escape blame for failure. If Ten Hag can argue his record looks rather better now Ruben Amorim is doing significantly worse, Antony and Scott McTominay are the latest examples of players prospering after they left United. For Ten Hag, who hitched his fortunes rather too closely to Antony's, the task at Leverkusen is twofold. To be a worthy successor to Alonso and the managerial equivalent of Antony.
Daily Mirror
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Liverpool wait on Florian Wirtz green light after private transfer talks
Liverpool are expected to be active in the upcoming summer transfer window and they have already been in contact with Florian Wirtz over a potential switch to Anfield Liverpool have joined Bayern Munich and Manchester City in the race for Florian Wirtz after contacting the Bayer Leverkusen star's camp to gauge his interest in a potential transfer this summer. The sought after 22-year-old attacking midfielder has been linked with Bayern and City in recent months after another stellar season for Leverkusen under Xabi Alonso. Interest from the Reds is understood to be longstanding, with Liverpool ready to make significant moves in the summer transfer window to build upon their Premier League title triumph. With Arne Slot and the club's recruitment team seeking reinforcements in attack, a potential swoop for Wirtz would tick a lot of boxes - if the Germany international is open to moving abroad. As first revealed by The Athletic, contact between Liverpool and Wirtz's representatives was purely for the former to express interest in the player. It has been speculated Wirtz wants to stay at Leverkusen - or at the very least within the Bundesliga - but Liverpool are ready to pursue a deal if the player indicates he is open to a move to England. Leverkusen are in a strong bargaining position if Wirtz does decide to move on; he is contracted to the club until 2027 and is believed to be valued at a seismic €150million (£126.2m) by the former German champions. Wirtz has 10 goals and 12 assists to his name this season after starring in last year's title-winning campaign and is among a number of key figures Leverkusen could soon lose. They are already aware that Alonso will move on at the end of the Bundesliga campaign with the former Real Madrid midfielder primed to replace the outgoing Carlo Ancelotti at his old stomping ground. Join the debate! Where do you think Wirtz will be playing next season? Let us know here Liverpool, meanwhile, are also interested in acquiring Jeremie Frimpong, the attacking right-back who many believe would be the perfect replacement for Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is also Bernabeu-bound. The 24-year-old has a release clause written into his contract and there had been talk a deal was close earlier this week. Bayer Leverkusen's managing director, Fernando Carro, however, insists this is not the case. "Jeremie Frimpong has a long contract with us, which also has an exit clause, but we are currently unaware of any transfer," Carro told "The rumors surprised me a bit when I started in the football business seven years ago. "As I've gradually become more involved, there are always different interested parties, there are different parties, there are different relationships. It's actually quite difficult to figure out where the rumors come from, but I have to say, there are many that really surprise me."
