Sportsnet’s “Worth A Click” column aggregates some of the best soccer writing on the Internet, and news stories you may have missed.
IS MESSI ON HIS WAY OUT OF BARCA?
If you’ve been following this column this week you know that FC Barcelona has turned into a bit of a soap opera—with sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta being fired, icons Johan Cruyff and Hristo Stoichkov publically lamenting the state of their former club, and Lionel Messi apparently at odds with manager Luis Enrique after he was benched in a weekend loss to Real Sociedad. The entire saga is nicely outlined here.
All of this led English newspaper The Independent to speculate that it’s not completely out of the question that Messi might soon leave Catalonia and start anew either at Chelsea or Manchester City.
The Independent’s Nicolas Riggs writes “The question over whether Lionel Messi really can cut it on a cold, wet Tuesday night at Stoke is as close to being answered as ever before thanks to a dramatic weekend at Barcelona that has left the star’s Camp Nou future up in the air.”
Riggs goes on to list a series of recent events that could lead to Messi leaving the only club he’s known in his professional career.
It all seems a bit of a stretch, though. If there is a major riff between Messi and Enrique, then surely the manager is going to lose that power struggle, and the club will back the player and not Enrique.
Honestly, would Messi really leave Barcelona for England over this spat? It’s very hard to believe.
Another “minor” stumbling block is that Messi still has three years remaining on his €20 million per year contract and has a buy-out clause of €250 million.
In other La Liga news…
Martin Ødegaard, the 16-year-old wunderkind from Norway, is reportedly close to signing with Real Madrid.
Alvaro Negredo impressed his Valencia teammates with this amazing curled strike in training.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Brian Glanville, one of the people who inspired me to become a soccer journalist, talks about his life in the industry in this fascinating interview with The Set Pieces website.
Michael Cox of Zonal Marking fame argues that the FA Cup still has relevancy despite the lack of upsets.
Harry Kane’s outstanding form for Tottenham this season has caught the eye of England manager Roy Hodgson.
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
In a bit of a shocker, the New York Red Bulls fired Mike Petke, considered one of the brightest young managers in MLS.
Steve Davis has this feature over at Soccer Gods about Steven Gerrard, arguing that the story here isn’t that the Galaxy signed one of the Premier League’s biggest stars—but rather “this is an aggressive move by a team determined to stay on top in performance and in branding.”
BUNDESLIGA
The Bundesliga’s official website has this pretty cool graphic on the all-time best XI of mid-season transfers in the German topflight.
Is pop star Selena Gomez dating Hoffenheim’s Sejad Salihovic? It sure looks like it. (Man, I hated typing that sentence and pasting the link on the blog).
SERIE A
Football Italia’s Varun Mathure argues that despite some patchy results, Inter Milan is taking shape under new manager Roberto Mancini.
Gianfranco Zola’s debut as manager of his beloved Cagliari didn’t go quite to plan, but the former Chelsea star is confident the Sardinian side can turn things around and avoid relegation.
LIGUE UN
Julien Laurens outlines the brewing problems in PSG’s locker-room for ESPN.com.
Also at ESPN.com, Andy Brassell looks at the ramifications of Hatem Ben Afra’s move to Nice from Newcastle United.
