N'Golo Kante is the best player in England. So say the Professional Footballers' Association, and now the Football Writers' Association.
Last season, Kante's Leicester City teammates Riyan Mahrez and Jamie Vardy split the awards. This season, with Chelsea, Kante has reminded everyone who the real engine of that Leicester City team was.
Kante's PFA win was announced in April, and his FWA win was announced on Monday.
Look at that!
Up in the sky!
What is it?
It's a bird!
No, it's a plane!
No, it's Francis Coquelin!
Coquelin flying pic.twitter.com/vPH7vC9jat
— TouchofÖzil (@Touchofozil) May 7, 2017
Today was a big day for Lionel Messi. The Barcelona star scored his 50th and 51st goals of the season – in only his 49th match. This puts Messi well ahead of Ballon d'Or rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored only 35 goals to-date this season in all competitions. Messi has scored as many in La Liga alone.
Lionel Messi has scored 51 goals in 49 games this season for Barcelona. So, it's no wonder that club executives are in a hurry to get negotiations over with and to get Messi's contract finalized.
It appears today that the club and Messi's agents may be close to a deal. Only a day after we reported that Messi's camp rejected Barcelona's initial offer, Barcelona VP Jordi Mestre said "it won't be long" before Lionel Messi signs a new contract with FC Barcelona.
Carlos Vela is quietly putting together a good season for Real Sociedad. The Mexican international's latest act was bringing Sociedad level with Sevilla Friday.
Here's that Carlos Vela equalizer. #ElTriEng pic.twitter.com/Wl76aCSCFs
— Jon Arnold (@ArnoldcommaJon) May 5, 2017
According to Diario AS, Lionel Messi's camp has rejected Barcelona''s initial offer of a contract extention. Messi's contract runs through June 2018.
Despite the initial rebuff, no one expects Messi to play anywhere besides Barcelona. It's understood he'll sign an extension eventually, but certainly the powers that be at Barcelona will be much happier should that happen sooner rather than later.
The offer was reported to be in the neigborhood of 30-30 million Euros per year.
Marc Bartra, the only player with serious injuries after Borussia Dortmund's team bus was bombed before their Champions League match against Monaco last month, is back in training.
Bartra's injuries were to his right hand and arm, but he and the team are lucky things weren't worse.
Italian football has a crisis on its hands and I’m not even sure they realize how serious it is. For the better part of a decade now, with the exception of Juventus, Italy’s Serie A has been in decline. League officials would like to blame the country’s aging stadiums or the lack of a lucrative television deal - and those are valid points - but the real issue is much more serious.
Italy does not have a football problem. Italy has a race problem.
18-year-old Kylian Mbappe and AS Monaco’s youth revolution has garnered the headlines throughout the club’s thrilling run to the Champions League semifinals, but there’s a similar movement taking place in Europe’s less prestigious club competition, the Europa League, at AFC Ajax.
Ajax dismantled Lyon 4-1 in their Europa League semifinal first leg at the Amsterdam ArenA, and, after landing 16 shots on target, they’ll be disappointed that they didn’t add more to their total before the return leg.