European Newspaper Review

It’s late July and a time of pre-season games, opinion stories and intense transfer speculation.

In Germany, legendary former coach Ottmar Hitzfeld wrote in Kicker magazine (23.07.15) that Pep Guardiola is damaging the soul of Bayern Munich, stating “the language of the dressing room must be German”. His views will find much agreement in Bavaria.

Bayern have traditionally aimed to recruit the very best German players at any cost and the supposed abandonment of their roots has been best exemplified by the sale of Bastian Schweinsteiger - a “dyed in the wool Bavarian”. The signing of his replacement, the Chilean Arturo Vidal from Juventus, is set to be close to completion with Die Zeit reporting a transfer fee of €36m and a five-year contract.

Kicker also debated who, from Neven Subotic, Matthias Ginter and Sokratis, is the best option to partner Mats Hummels at centre-back for Borussia Dortmund, and reported on how Kevin Grosskreutz’s long-term knee problem has apparently been solved by his dentist, who linked it to a wonky jawbone.

Die Zeit reported on Saturday evening that Juventus have reached an agreement with Julian Draxler’s agent to sign the Schalke player. Draxler’s buy-out clause next summer would be a staggering €45.5m. All that remains is for the two clubs to make contact, whereby reports in Kicker suggest that Schalke would accept a fee in the region of €30m.

Still in Kicker, Chelsea have offered €20m for Augsburg’s Ghanaian left-back Abdul Rahman Baba, and Cologne manager Peter Stöger has rather bizarrely received a signed portrait of Jose Mourinho. We don’t know why either.

The German press have followed Schweinsteiger closely throughout Manchester United’s US tour and German journalists have been at every pre-match conference, though United have held him back from speaking too much.

Louis van Gaal’s mild criticism of the midfielder following United’s 3-1 win over San Jose Earthquakes was gleefully reported in BILD, who appeared to revel in an opportunity to report on the United manager’s infamous temperament again. The same paper also reported on Friday that the German captain was injured “again”, and reminded its readers of the knee ligament problems he has suffered over the last three years.

Staying with United, Die Welt picked up on Schweinsteiger’s claim that his new club are bigger than Bayern Munich. The paper compared the two clubs based on league titles (Bayern 25-20 MUFC), domestic cups (17-11), membership (258,000-150,000), value according to Forbes (€2.1m-€2.7m), 2013-14 profit (€487.5m - €518m) and head-to-head record (Bayern 5, United 2, and 5 draws).

The presence of eight clubs from the former East German Oberliga in division 3 this season has launched a wave of nostalgia through the country, with Die Zeit launching an “Eastern Block” series of articles ahead of the opening round of games this weekend.

On Saturday, Die Welt published a sizeable feature on Manchester City’s €250m “Sheikh’s Academy”, reporting on Patrick Vieira and Brian Marwood’s determination to improve on a pitiful record of producing young English players.

On Saturday evening, Kicker hailed Germany’s “luck of the draw” after being placed in a “do-able” qualification group alongside the Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Norway, Azerbaijan and San Marino.

In France, international news outlet France24 reported on Michel Platini’s potential candidacy for the FIFA presidency, saying that it is “now or never” for the Frenchman.

FIFA confirmed that the election of Sepp Blatter’s successor will take place on 26 February 2016 and, according to a source close to the current UEFA boss interviewed by Agence France Presse (AFP), Platini is expected to officially announce his candidacy in the coming days or weeks. France24 quoted the former France captain’s biographer Jean-Philippe Leclaire as saying: “Barring any last minute surprise, it’s been clear right from the start. If he doesn’t stand this time, he never will. He has always lived by his favourite motto throughout his political career: ‘I’ll do it if I’m sure to win’.”

The news that five Chelsea fans had received bans following racist chanting on the Paris Métro before the Champions League tie against PSG back in February made the headlines in all major outlets.

France24 published Mourinho’s remarks that Didier Drogba is a perfect choice for L’Impact de Montréal, the only francophone team in the MLS, whilst FranceFootball produced a slightly tenuous piece comparing Olympique Lyon to Arsenal ahead of the Emirates Cup.

According to the major football magazine, similarities between the two clubs include an emphasis on youth, outright ownership of a ground, former manager Rémi Garde who played for both, the fact that each club lives in the shadow of more successful sides (Manchester United and Liverpool and PSG and Marseilles respectively), and the positive effects of Sonny Anderson and Thierry Henry at each club in the 90s. The similarities weren’t particularly evident on the pitch as Arsenal won 6-0.

FranceFootball published an optimistic list of five transfer targets on which Arsène Wenger could spend his supposed €280m budget on, the figure having been quoted by Arsenal director Lord Phillip Harris on Friday. The list features Karim Benzema, Sergio Aguero, Marco Reus, Yaya Touré and Jérôme Boateng.

As for transfers, FranceFootball report Lorient’s Ghanaian striker Jordan Ayew is set to choose Aston Villa over Lille, Tottenham are interested in PSG goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu and PSG have made enquiries about Sporting Lisbon midfielder William Carvalho. The Portuguese impressed during the U21 European Championship and is considered a replacement for Thiago Motta. L’Équipe finally “confirmed” the transfer of Angel Di Maria from Manchester United to PSG on Saturday evening for “slightly more” than the previously reported €65m.

There had been concern over France’s potential opponents in qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Following defeats to Belgium and Albania, France dropped to 22 in FIFA’s world rankings, placing them in pot 2 for the draw conducted in St Petersburg on Saturday evening. They avoided France24’s “worst nightmare” of Germany, Poland and Turkey, but will hardly be jumping for joy at the prospect of group A, where they have been drawn alongside Holland and Sweden. L’Équipe said the draw “hadn’t been kind” and said Les Bleus faced a “tough task”.

In Spain, the futures of Sergio Ramos and Pedro have been prominent in the Spanish media, with Manchester United wanting both players. Madrid based AS accurately reported that Barça are reluctant to sell the player before Barça’s three Super Cup games mid-August. They say that the Canarian wants out of Camp Nou because of a lack of game time since the signing of Luis Suarez.

It’s not easy getting into a team ahead of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Suarez, and Pedro started fewer than half Barça’s league games last term. He played a token minute in the Champions League final against Juventus in Berlin and has got Euro 2016 to think about with Spain.

The Catalan paper Sport reported Barcelona coach Luis Enrique as being positive, despite his side losing 3-1 to Manchester United in Santa Clara - though they claimed Barça weren’t the same without Messi and Neymar. United fans won’t be getting too carried away. Their team beat Real Madrid 3-1 last season…before losing to Swansea on the opening day of the season.