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Metro
10 hours ago
- Sport
- Metro
Lineker surprised Arsenal didn't rival Chelsea & Man Utd for 'exciting' striker
England legend Gary Lineker is surprised Arsenal did not push harder to sign Liam Delap and believes the striker could be the 'missing ingredient' for Chelsea. Chelsea beat off strong competition from Manchester United to lure Delap away from Ipswich this summer, with the Blues capturing the 22-year-old forward for a fee of just £30million. Though Arsenal had been tentatively linked, it's understood the Gunners decided to focus their efforts on other attacking targets overseas, namely RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko and Sporting's Viktor Gyokeres. Delap has put pen to paper on a six-year contract at Stamford Bridge, tying him to the west London giants until 2031. Cleary desperate to make an immediate impression under Enzo Maresca, the young centre-forward has turned down the chance to represent England at the upcoming Under-21 Championship in order to play for Chelsea at the Club World Cup. Wake up to find news on your club in your inbox every morning with Metro's Football Newsletter. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link so we can send you football news tailored to you. 'It's an interesting one. I thought maybe Arsenal would go for him. Perhaps they did? I don't know,' ex-England, Tottenham and Barcelona striker Lineker said on the latest episode of The Rest Is Football. 'But Chelsea have got their man. We said many times this season that Chelsea also needed back-up for [Nicolas] Jackson up top, or an alternative. 'I think he's a young, exciting centre-forward. 'I saw someone say they saw a bit of a young Alan Shearer in him. Shearer with a full head of hair! 'I think that's the only thing that Chelsea were missing really.' Lineker has been impressed by Delap's 'intelligent' movement on the pitch and is confident the attacker has the mentality to succeed at Chelsea. 'Jackson's got something in him, but his finishing isn't as good as a could be and if Delap does realise his full potential, that might just be the missing ingredient. We'll see,' he added. 'What I see in him is movement which is intelligent, I see someone that's not scared… I know that sounds ridiculous for a centre-forward but I judge it on when he's goes one-on-one with the goalkeeper, I think he'll finish, he'll score. 'Certain players you get that and now he's got to prove it at a bigger club. I know he was at Manchester City, but he didn't really feature much there and he has done at Ipswich. 'He's now got to step into the limelight, it's a big club, Chelsea, they won a Chelsea, of course, this season as well, so he'll go into this season with a very good side. 'He'll have to deal with pressure, but you get a feeling that it's not going to faze him and he's a very, very good finisher. 'That's the most important thing, having a cool head in those circumstances, and I think Chelsea have got a good one. 'You can never be sure, obviously, but I've obviously been singing his praises for quite a long time.' Alan Shearer was similarly upbeat about Chelsea's 'smart' piece of transfer business and feels Delap is 'only going to get better' over the coming years. 'I like him as well. For £30m, I think it's a no-brainer,' the ex-Newcastle and England striker, the Premier League's all-time top goalscorer, chimed in. 'I think Chelsea have got a great deal and I gather that there were other big clubs in for him. More Trending 'For Chelsea to get him at that price, for me, that's very, very good business because he's only going to get better. 'I think he's a bit old-fashioned, he's like a throwback from what a centre-forward was maybe 20 or 30 years ago where they were all in fashion: aggressive, horrible to play against, doesn't mind mixing it up and can run in behind. 'Obviously, he scores goals. The number of goals he scored in a really struggling team, that is only going to get better. 'At his age, his ability he's got now… I think he's got a really bright future and I would have liked to have seen Newcastle get him, but for whatever reason he's decided to go with Chelsea and I think that's a really smart move for them.' For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. MORE: PSG urged to sign £65m Arsenal star and Liverpool's 'biggest transfer flop' MORE: Frustrated Liverpool star fires warning to Arne Slot over his future MORE: Viktor Gyokeres headache for Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal as new rivals enter race
The Guardian
09-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Serbia and Albania move on from ‘drone' game but tensions still simmer
It was far more than a football flashpoint when, on a night in Belgrade that resembled the most vivid fever dream, all hell broke loose in a Euro 2016 qualifier between Serbia and Albania. The 'drone' game of October 2014 is notorious and the abiding memory is of Albania's players fleeing down the tunnel at Partizan Stadium, a tinderbox that had ignited dangerously. It sparked a diplomatic incident, the home country immediately summoning its near neighbour's ambassador to discuss the chaos wreaked after a 'Greater Albania' flag had been lowered over the pitch before half-time. Blame flew in every conceivable direction and it was a case study in how sport can amplify longstanding enmities in visceral, deeply consequential fashion. Maybe it was a dream after all. On Tuesday Uefa announced that the two countries would co-host its Under-21 Championship in 2027, confirming a decision effectively made last year after Belgium and Turkey withdrew their bids. There is justifiable contentment inside European football's governing body given the hurdles that needed to be overcome. The line, as repeated by the Albanian FA president and Uefa ExCo vice-president Armand Duka, is that the event will be 'a catalyst for breaking down barriers, enhancing mutual understanding and creating a more positive future for the people of Albania and Serbia'. In truth the bidding process, such as it was, may have been the simple part. It was a surprise when, last May, they announced the joint initiative after Albania were advised a solo bid would not pass. They have the region's most modern stadium in Tirana's Arena Kombëtare, which held the Conference League final in 2022, but would have struggled to stage the entire event. Serbia's unexpected arrival on the scene offered a solution and was encouraged by political figures keen on demonstrating closer ties, not to mention a Uefa leadership keen to foreground football's role in bridging the unbridgeable. In 2014 the respective FAs had not even managed to agree on details for ticket sales to away fans; now they were in lockstep over sharing a major competition. Others, though, are not so keen to play happy families. When Duka emphasised in September that 'I do not think and have never thought … that organising the European Championship can amnesty what has happened' he was referring, among other historical traumas, to Serbia's brutal war in the mainly ethnic Albanian Kosovo during the late 1990s. He was responding directly to protests from supporters' groups, who had made their feelings known when news of the bid emerged. Members of Tifozat Kuq e Zi, an influential ultras association that claims to number more than 7,000, sprayed red paint outside the FA's headquarters and displayed photographs relating to atrocities committed in Kosovo. 'We oppose any collaboration with the murderers,' read part of a post on social media. In November's match against Ukraine at Arena Kombëtare, some supporters held up banners condemning the tournament and referring again to war crimes. Lorik Cana, the Kosovo-born former Albania captain, described the co-hosting plan as 'not the proper step'. Although feelings are largely much less strong among Albanians who were not directly touched by the war in Kosovo, and dissent against Euro 2027 has been less pronounced in Serbia, there will remain a concern Uefa is playing with fire until the event has concluded successfully. It is hardly as if everyone involved has rubbed along nicely since the fateful evening in Belgrade, which was awarded to Albania as a walkover by the court of arbitration for sport. Fans and players of either persuasion continue to give Uefa's disciplinary chiefs periodic headaches with breaches of conduct involving the other. Albania were punished for a number of incidents at Euro 2024, including the striker Mirlind Daku's decision to shout 'fuck Serbia' and other nationalist chants down a megaphone after a match with Croatia. Serbia were fined in December after fans tried to set an Albania flag alight at a game against Switzerland. The list could go on and on. Level heads may well prevail but it is hard to think of a European competition in which tensions in the hosts' orbits have been so fresh. Any nerves within Uefa will face an acid test during the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Serbia and Albania were not barred from being paired in draws despite the disgrace of Belgrade; fate has put them back together this time in a group that also contains England, the first meeting taking place in Albania on 7 June before Serbia holds the rematch on 11 October. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion The sides faced each other a year after the drone fiasco, Serbia winning 2-0 in the Albanian city Elbasan amid smothering security. Much of the central boulevard in Tirana was closed when the Serbia team, staying in the capital, went for a pre-match walk, and snipers perched above the stadium during play. Everything went smoothly and the odds are it will again in June; the acid test may come four months later. Any major incidents would pose a flurry of awkward questions about the optimistic logic behind Euro 2027. For now, those planning the event hope to lay a platform for its success. Uefa points out the potential tourism and infrastructure benefits for both and preaches the potential of football to help smooth out a troubled past. Maybe it is right, or maybe football again overstates its role as panacea. Should they pull it off, the events of 2014 may finally fade from memory.
