English Clubs

What a moment this was: Philippe Coutinho, plagued by a back injury that, according to Brazil national team doctor Michael Simoni, “was something emotional” and simply required “a pep talk” to resolve, turned out for Brazil after missing Liverpool’s opening five competitive fixtures and scored a goal 16 minutes after coming on! Warrior.

News broke Wednesday that late Tuesday night burglars broke into the Emirates Stadium in London and took off with “a large quantity of merchandise” from Arsenal. A police statement said the suspects were in a car and two mopeds.

The police did not say exactly what was stolen but we at The18 have obtained exclusive police sketches of the suspects.

Since Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in June 2003, the London club has been known as one of the more extravagant spenders in the transfer market. But since shelling out $70 million to Liverpool for Fernando Torres in January 2011, the Blues have been fairly conservative in the transfer market in stark contrast to the rest of England.

This isn’t to say the Blues have stopped spending — in fact they’re spending as much as they ever have — but in a market where everyone else is paying massive sums for every player, Chelsea’s transfer business has stayed relatively the same.

No matter where Ravel Morrison goes or what he does with his career, there’ll always follow a quote from former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson regarding his prodigious talents as a teenager: “Sadly, there are examples of players who have similar backgrounds to [Ryan] Giggs or Cristiano Ronaldo, who, despite enormous talent, just aren’t emotionally or mentally strong enough to overcome the hurts of their childhood and their inner demons.