Bayern Munich legends Oliver Kahn and Dietmar Hamann have delivered a damning verdict on Xabi Alonso’s tumultuous start at Real Madrid. Kahn argues the Spaniard’s tactical obsession clashes with the club’s DNA, while Hamann claims the squad are now 'untrainable' after Vinicius Jr was allowed to undermine the manager’s authority.
'Alonso's ideas do not fit Real Madrid'
The pressure is mounting on Alonso at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Real Madrid struggling to replicate the dominance of previous seasons. The Spanish champions have endured a nightmare December, suffering a shock home defeat to Celta Vigo before falling to Manchester City in the Champions League midweek.
Reports from the Spanish capital suggest the dressing room has grown weary of Alonso’s methods, with complaints emerging about "excessive" video analysis sessions and a perceived lack of creative freedom. Speaking on , former Bayern CEO Kahn suggested that these struggles were inevitable because Alonso's philosophy is fundamentally incompatible with the 'Galactico' culture.
"It is no surprise because his idea does not fit Real Madrid," Kahn explained. "The approach Xabi pursues with this system football and positional play requires very specific players. At Real Madrid, however, completely different football is played.
"It is about freedom and individuality; players do not want to be pressed into systems there, and that is the great misunderstanding. You need a coach who finds the best way to bring superstars together, but not one who starts explaining to them that they must play a very specific system."
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'Vinicius feels he is bigger than the club'
While Kahn focused on tactics, fellow pundit Hamann pinpointed a breakdown in discipline as the root cause of the crisis. Hamann believes the club's decision to boycott the Ballon d'Or ceremony in 2024 due to Vinicius Jr not winning it created a dangerous precedent, shifting the power dynamic fatally towards the players. The Brazilian escaping any serious punishment for his reaction to being substituted against Barcelona is proof, he says, that Madrid are now "unmanageable".
"The decline began with the FIFA Ballon d'Or, when Vini Jr. and the whole club boycotted the event," Hamann stated. "That gave Vini the feeling he is bigger than the club. Then came Barcelona, when he was substituted after 70 minutes, made a huge fuss, and received no punishment.
"The coach was finished after that, and now this is just a consequence of what has happened in the last few months. At the moment, they are unmanageable. It took five or six months to burn the hottest stock on the coaching market, and if an Alonso can't manage it, then God have mercy on whoever follows him."
Madrid struggling after strong start
The comments from the two German legends highlight the unique difficulties of the Real Madrid job. Unlike other elite European clubs where the manager is the primary architect of the team's identity, recent success at the Bernabeu has historically come under managers like Carlo Ancelotti or Zinedine Zidane – figures who facilitated the talents of their stars rather than imposing complex tactical grids. Alonso arrived as the most coveted young coach in Europe, but his attempt to implement the structured 'positional play' that won him the Bundesliga appears to have alienated a dressing room accustomed to on-pitch freedom.
Alonso enjoyed a perfect start after joining from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer. His side won their first seven games across La Liga and the Champions League before finally going down 5-2 to Atletico Madrid. Another six straight wins followed – including a 2-1 Clasico victory – but a European loss to Liverpool kicked off their current woeful run, which has seen them win just two of their last eight. They now sit four points behind Barcelona in La Liga and are seventh in the Champions League table.
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What comes next?
Alonso now faces a critical period leading up to the winter break to save his job. He must find a way to balance his tactical principles with the individual freedom his stars clearly demand. They return to domestic action with a game against Alaves on Sunday followed by a Copa del Rey clash in midweek.
West Ham have reportedly signalled their willingness to sanction the permanent departure of struggling striker Niclas Fullkrug, but a potential return to the Bundesliga withWolfsburg has hit a significant snag due to administrative delays involving incoming sporting director Pirmin Schwegler and the German international's substantial salary package. The delay will have rival clubs across Europe on alert to the situation.
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The largely forgettable tenure of Fullkrug in London appears to be drawing to a premature close. Having arrived from Borussia Dortmund with a reputation as a traditional, hard-working target man capable of flourishing in the Premier League, the German international has struggled to adapt to the rigours of English football. Hampered by niggling injuries and an inability to fit into the Hammers' tactical system, Fullkrug has found himself on the periphery of the squad.
However, while West Ham chiefs have reportedly agreed that a sale is the best course of action for all parties in the upcoming transfer window, facilitating his exit is proving far more complex than a simple handshake deal. According to reports from , a return to his homeland is the striker's preferred option, with Wolfsburg said to already be in agreement over a fee with West Ham, but the deal is currently in a state of limbo due to a vacuum in the German club's hierarchy.
The primary obstacle preventing an immediate agreement is the current restructuring of Wolfsburg's sporting department. The Bundesliga outfit have identified Schwegler as their new sporting director, a man tasked with overhauling the squad and identifying the necessary reinforcements to climb the table. However, Schwegler is not yet officially in his post.
The report details that until Schwegler has his feet under the desk and is fully operational in his new role, no major transfer decisions – particularly one as financially significant as signing a German international striker from the Premier League – can be signed off. While the will to complete the transfer exists on both the player's side and, seemingly, from Wolfsburg’s scouting department, the lack of an executive trigger-puller means negotiations cannot advance to the final stage.
West Ham, eager to recoup a portion of the fee they paid Dortmund and clear Fullkrug's wages from their books to fund their own January business, are reportedly growing impatient with the delay.
The wage barrier
Even if Schwegler were to arrive tomorrow, a significant financial hurdle remains: Fullkrug’s salary. Upon moving to the Premier League, the striker secured a lucrative contract reflective of the English top flight's financial dominance. indicates that his current earnings at West Ham are significantly higher than the salary structure currently in place at the Volkswagen Arena.
Wolfsburg, while backed by corporate owners, operate within a stricter financial framework than their Premier League counterparts. For the move to materialise, a compromise is essential. This would likely require Fullkrug to accept a substantial pay cut to return to the Bundesliga, or for West Ham to agree to a severance package or wage subsidy that makes the numbers work for the German club. As of now, neither solution has been finalised, adding another layer of complexity to the stalling talks.
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This paralysis has not gone unnoticed elsewhere in Europe. While Wolfsburg dither over directors and decimal points, other clubs are monitoring the situation with keen interest. The report highlights that Fullkrug’s availability has alerted teams in the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A.
In England, there is always a market for a physical striker with international pedigree, and lower-half Premier League clubs looking to survive the drop may view Fullkrug as a gamble worth taking. Meanwhile, interest from Spain and Italy adds an intriguing dimension. La Liga clubs, often in search of a focal point for their attack, and Serie A sides, where the pace of the game might better suit Fullkrug’s style, have reportedly made inquiries.
For Fullkrug, the priority remains playing football. With the national team setup always in flux, he knows he cannot afford to spend another six months warming the bench at the London Stadium. Whether his escape route leads him back to the Bundesliga under Schwegler’s new regime, or to a fresh adventure in Europe, will likely depend on who can untangle the financial and administrative knots first. For now, West Ham are ready to sell, but the buyer is yet to step forward with a pen in hand.
In recent years, National Baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. has been spotted at multiple sporting events working as a photographer. His most recent gig? The 2025 MLB Home Run Derby.
Griffey Jr. was spotted at Truist Park in Atlanta on Monday night hours before the Derby began. He was seen talking with various All-Stars on the field, possibly even giving some of the participants for Monday night's event advice since he was a three-time Derby winner.
It's fitting that Griffey is back at the Home Run Derby as he holds the record for the most Derby wins (three) and appearances (eight). He is a staple of the event, and now he's back with a new gig.
The MLB legend also covered the HBCU Swingman Classic and Futures Game over the weekend as a part of the All-Star events.
Griffey went viral earlier this year during the Masters as he shot some pretty iconic photos of golfers, such as Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth.
Griffey's photography resume includes him covering some MLB games (including this year's opening series in Tokyo), NFL games, MLS games and IndyCar events. Photography has been something Griffey's been working on for years now, and his passion continues to grow for it. So, don't be surprised if you keep seeing Griffey's name attached to sports photos in the future.
Australia’s attack takes advantage of a timid batting display, but could we have expected different?
Andrew Miller11-Jun-20252:55
Hayden: Australia won day one because of SA batters’ lack of intent
The agony was palpable as Wiaan Mulder and Temba Bavuma ground their way through a third-wicket stand of six that spanned 40 interminably accurate balls.Hard length on off stump… nip, bounce, rinse, repeat. Some balls were stared down, and patted straight back whence they came. Others seared past the splice, to the oohs of a stacked cordon and the groans of a packed South Africa contingent in the stands, whose previous sense of a day well dominated was retreating with every non-shot.Despite facing 132 balls in a fraught evening session, close to 50% of South Africa’s 43 runs came from exactly five scoring shots – a trio of driven boundaries from Ryan Rickelton at the top of the order, then two more fours in consecutive deliveries at the absolute close of play, as Pat Cummins over-reached in his bid for an inswinging yorker, and gifted David Bedingham a brace of leg-stump freebies.Related
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Alex Carey has another eventful outing at Lord's
Australia's quicks follow Rabada's start as wickets tumble
Yes, there was a certain dignity in South Africa’s strokeless defiance, most particularly from the captain Bavuma, who will resume on 3 not out from 37 balls on Thursday morning with another vast burden to shoulder. And yet, in between whiles, there were four very emphatic wickets – three of them bowled, and the fourth snicked to first slip – as Australia’s magnificent seam attack, all 955 Test wickets between them before the start of the WTC final, accepted the invitation to come at their opponents and bowl their best balls without any real threat of retaliation.”I thought the guys bowled pretty well, to be fair,” Steven Smith said at the close. “It wasn’t the easiest surface to come out and wallop it. The couple of times they went at it and tried to drive the ball, we got the edges. A couple [of them] played nicely when they were late and defending under their eyes. They were difficult to get out. It’s the kind of wicket you’ve got to be solid in defence and, when you get a loose ball, you pounce on it.”Smith’s logic was sound enough, and earlier in the day, it had been borne out in his own performance – a vital 66 from 112 balls that was as composed in its compilation as Beau Webster’s 72 had been neurotic: “for his first 30 balls, it didn’t look like he could spell ‘bat’,” as Smith evocatively put it at the close. As Kagiso Rabada proved with his own magnificent five-for, this pitch has plenty to offer to the very best in the business.1:45
‘Pretty cool to have it in the home changeroom’ – Rabada on his five-for
Even so, it was an atypical day of Test cricket for the many neutrals in the stands – in other words, the regular Lord’s clientele who have got used to watching England take a radically different approach to batting in recent seasons. And there were doubtless some conflicting emotions at play as a consequence.On the one hand, it’s fair to assume that most of those neutrals would have been urging South Africa to start giving it some welly (because, let’s face it, everyone loves an underdog in these parts, especially when they aren’t Australian). But also, for those with memories that stretch back longer than three years, there might also have been a ghastly realisation: yikes, this was us once.Whether or not Bazball is an actual thing that Australians acknowledge as a tactic, Cummins’ team saw the whites of its eyes on this ground two years ago. In the 2023 Ashes, England served up perhaps the diametrically opposite performance to today’s fare, particularly, in a first innings of such self-immolating recklessness that they wrecked their own chances of victory by swinging too high, too hard, and too often. Alex Carey’s instincts in the second innings may have ignited a furious final act, but the match – and the Ashes – were lost in that blizzard of over-eager aggression.Even so, the manner of that defeat was infinitely preferable to – and, in fact, a direct consequence of – the experience England had endured in their previous encounter with the Australians in 2021-22: a trial by paralysis, of precisely the type that South Africa experienced today.The Wiaan Mulder experiment at No. 3 didn’t come off•Getty ImagesThe nadir of that series was reached in the third Test in Melbourne – a strokeless surrender in which Haseeb Hameed, not unlike Mulder today, batted to the absolute limit of his brief in making seven runs from 41 balls across two innings, as Scott Boland served up the ridiculous second-innings figures of 6 for 7.And if England, in that moment, declared “never again”, and vowed to find a different way to shape their narrative, then it needs also to be acknowledged that they did so from a position of privilege: as a Big Three nation, with the financial clout to schedule 22 Tests in a WTC cycle, compared to South Africa’s 12, and with the certainty of selection that allows their players to chase their shots with impunity. Zak Crawley’s entire Test career has been built on the premise that one false move will not bring down either his ambitions, or those of the men around them.It’s not so simple for South Africa at this delicate juncture of their evolution. Win this Test, and the team’s development might yet be self-perpetuating – amid the interest and accolades that come from being world champions. Lose, however, and maybe it’ll be back to the square minus-one that they faced at the start of this cycle, when Neil Brand (remember him?) led a scratch first-class squad to get crushed in two Tests in New Zealand, while the main characters got stuck into the first season of the SA20.So, it’s hard to argue that South Africa played their cards wrong today. “One does not simply walk into Mordor and Bazball,” as that Boromir meme might have put it, not even when you’ve recruited one of the concept’s chief architects, Stuart Broad, to impart some mindset gems.1:28
Steyn: Doing it in big games has become a habit for Starc
But what’s a team to do when faced with one of the very best attacks in Test history, on a pitch which, as Smith put it, was “doing enough all day… [with] a bit of variable bounce and a bit of sideways movement”?More of the same, presumably, when Bavuma and Bedingham resume on the second morning, with brighter sunshine in prospect, but with a dry surface already itching to bring the spinners into play – if and when they are required. For Smith didn’t anticipate any significant deterioration in the ball’s hardness until the 40th over, which was when Webster’s first-innings effort had been able to escape the pressure and develop into something meaningful.But for that to transpire in the current conditions, South Africa’s remaining batters will need to endure for the best part of the morning session without further error – and even then, as Carey showed with the ill-conceived reverse-sweep after tea that triggered Australia’s dramatic loss of five wickets for 20 runs, you’re as likely to be damned for doing as you would be for sticking to your original plan.At moments such as these, though, you’re still entitled to wonder whether it’s more reckless to roll the dice, or to dig in with such blinkered determination that you’re closing yourself off to the inevitable.
كشفت تقارير صحفية، عن تحقيق برشلونة رقمًا مميزًا بعد فوزه على ريال بيتيس، ضمن منافسات الدوري الإسباني “لا ليجا”.
وحقق فريق برشلونة فوزًا على ريال بيتيس، خلال مباراة الفريقين مساء أمس السبت، ببطولة الدوري الإسباني لموسم 2025-2026.
وحل برشلونة ضيفًا ثقيلًا على ريال بيتيس، مساء السبت، ضمن منافسات الجولة الخامسة عشر للدوري الإسباني “الليجا” للموسم الجاري.
وتغلب برشلونة على ريال بيتيس بنتيجة 5-3، وقد سجل فيران توريس “هاتريك”، روني باردجي، ولامين يامال من ضربة جزاء.
وأصبح رصيد برشلونة 40 نقطة في صدارة جدول ترتيب الدوري الإسباني، بفارق 4 نقاط عن ريال مدريد لحين نهاية مباريات الجولة.
وفقًا لصحيفة “سبورت” الكتالونية، فإن التشكيل الأساسي لبرشلونة هو الأصغر في تاريخ النادي الممتد لـ95 عامًا، حيث بلغ متوسط أعمار اللاعبين 23.34 عامًا.
اقرأ أيضًا | مدرب إسبانيا يحسم الجدل بشأن أزمة يامال وكارفاخال
وأضافت الصحيفة أن هذه الإحصائيات لا تشمل مباراة ريال سرقسطة في 9 سبتمبر 1984، والتي خاضها فريق الشباب بسبب إضراب اللاعبين في تلك المباراة، حيث بلغ متوسط أعمار التشكيلة الأساسية 20.69 عامًا.
وأفادت أنه كان ماركوس راشفورد، البالغ من العمر 28 عامًا، أكبر لاعب في تشكيل فليك الأساسي، بينما كان لامين يامال وباو كوبارسي أصغر اللاعبين وكلاهما يبلغ من العمر 18 عامًا.
Fifty-one years ago, baseball legend Hank Aaron broke what was thought to be an unbreakable record, belting his 715th career home run to surpass iconic Yankees slugger Babe Ruth for the most career long balls in MLB history at the time.
So with the MLB All-Star Game in Atlanta on Tuesday, July 15—7/15—it was the perfect time for MLB to tribute the late Aaron's monumental achievement.
And the league couldn't have come up with a cooler tribute.
After the bottom of the sixth inning, the lights went out at Truist Park, and fans were transported back in time to April 8, 1974 in hologram form on the field, which was projected with the original broadcast footage of Aaron's home run.
Words don't do it justice.
Fox announcers Joe Davis and John Smoltz, as well as fans on X, greatly enjoyed the tribute.
Making the tribute even better was the fact that Aaron's widow Billye was there to witness it.
Aaron, who passed away in 2021, is widely regarded as one of the best players to ever step onto a baseball diamond. He ranks in the top-five all-time in home runs, hits, runs scored, RBI and total bases.
The New York Yankees haven't made a big splash ahead of Thursday's MLB trade deadline just yet. Though they've made a few minor moves in the past few days, it seems as if the Yankees' front office has been working the phones with little coming to fruition.
According to a report from MLB insider Jon Heyman, New York has been fielding calls from teams interested in acquiring standout outfield prospect Spencer Jones, but they have rebuffed any attempt by declaring they'd only be willing to move Jones, along with other pieces, for Pirates ace Paul Skenes.
Heyman indicated that teams had been dangling good players in front of the Yankees in hopes of working out a deal for Jones, but the team has been consistent in that it won't trade him for anyone other than Skenes, who is not going to be traded by Pittsburgh.
It makes sense why the front office is so hellbent on keeping Jones. Since his promotion to Triple A, Jones has hit 13 home runs in just 21 games, and he has 29 home runs in 70 games in total this year. A former first-round pick, Jones has tremendous upside, and it seems the Yankees are determined to keep him in the organization at virtually any cost.
New York still has some other attractive prospects who could potentially fetch a big name at the trade deadline, including starting pitcher Cam Schlittler, but it appears Brian Cashman & Co. aren't even entertaining the idea of letting Jones go.
O São Paulo perdeu por 2 a 1 para o Talleres nesta quinta-feira (4), em estreia na fase de grupos da Libertadores. A partida foi disputada no Estádio Mario Alberto Kempes, na Argentina. Assista aos melhores momentos no vídeo acima!
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Com o resultado, o São Paulo fica na lanterna do Grupo B, enquanto o Talleres lidera a chave. Barcelona (EQU) e Cobresal têm um ponto cada.
Let’s scale back two years. Liverpool had completed their midfield rebuild under Jurgen Klopp and were primed for a new chapter, putting that bleak 2022/23 campaign to bed.
Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and co had gone past their sell-by dates, and FSG went full ham as they countered the midfield exodus with four interesting signings: Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch.
Those additions led Klopp’s side back into the Champions League and saw the German cap off his Anfield dynasty with one final slice of silverware, beating Chelsea against injury-hit odds in the Carabao Cup final.
Arne Slot approached the recent summer market with a similar need for change.
Well, similar insofar as much money needed to be spent, but Liverpool had just won the Premier League and were supported by the many years of Klopp’s labours. This is supposed to be a successful season for the Reds.
And it still could be, but so much has gone wrong for Slot’s tactically imbalanced team, who have lost four matches in a row and lack any sense of confidence or coherence.
We could pick at any area of the field, but the midfielders have certainly left something to be desired in recent months.
Liverpool need a new midfielder
Two years on, FSG may need to shop once again for a high-level midfielder. While the Merseysiders have talented options in the engine room, the woes of Mac Allister and Szoboszlai’s new role at right-back suggest more physicality and press resistance could be added to ease Gravenberch’s burden.
The 26-year-old Mac Allister, in particular, has been dreadful this term, lacking his typical coolness and energy on the ball, that rare ability to marry technical elegance with combative physicality.
That simply hasn’t been there, with one Premier League noting that the Argentina international is “not up to scratch” at the moment, winning only one tackle per game and losing 57% of his ground duels, as per Sofascore.
It hasn’t been good enough, and while, candidly, part of Mac Allister’s struggle is down to mismanagement, there’s a sense that an upgrade is needed to add a much-needed dimension to the midfield.
Well, that man could arrive in the form of Real Madrid’s Eduardo Camavinga, with Spanish sources confirming this week that the France international could be on the move in 2026, an update which has certainly put Anfield’s sporting director, Richard Hughes, on alert.
Valued by Los Blancos at around €80m (equating to £69m), Camavinga is no longer considered untouchable by Xabi Alonso, and those in Spain believe an audacious January bid could be staged by the Premier League champions.
The 22-year-old has been in Madrid for over four years, but injuries and Alonso’s vision have opened the door for potential suitors. Manchester City and Manchester United both expressed interest this summer.
Why Camavinga could be an upgrade on Mac Allister
Camavinga was regarded as a wonder-kid when he first took steps onto the professional stage. Joining from Rennes for around £35m in 2021, he has since featured 186 times for the Spanish giants, winning two La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues.
Though the past year has been an effort to maintain regular fitness levels for Camavinga, he remains a world-class talent, a “duel-monster” in the words of analyst Raj Chohan, who could benefit from a change of scenery, joining a Liverpool team where he could foster his skills for many years to come.
His arrival would not knock Mac Allister from his prominent position, but it would give him competition, to be sure, and Camavinga might even come to be an upgrade down the line, with the statistics drawn from the past year certainly suggesting he has what it takes to outstrip him.
Camavinga vs Mac Allister (past 12 months)
Stats (per 90)
Camavinga
Mac Allister
Goals
0.12
0.18
Assists
0.06
0.18
Touches
76.36
63.29
Pass completion (%)
90.1
82.7
Shot-creating actions
2.51
4.01
Progressive passes
5.07
5.64
Progressive carries
2.04
1.37
Successful take-ons
1.11
0.53
Recoveries
6.30
4.69
Tackles won
2.91
1.63
Interceptions
1.40
0.89
Aerials won
1.52
0.50
Data via FBref
As you can see, Camavinga has played with a touch more completeness and energy than his Argentine counterpart over the past year, and that having suffered with injury problems all the while. He might actually boast a higher standard of quality than Mac Allister, and that is not to the Liverpool man’s discredit.
There is also the matter of age. Camavinga is only 22 years old, and with a wealth of elite experience at that.
He might be struggling for minutes and fluency at Real Madrid, but he’s so young and clearly such a talented midfielder, an expert on the ball and relentless in the challenge.
These are attributes shared with Liverpool’s No. 10, though there’s a case to be made that the Frenchman is even more complete in his midfield game, hailed for his “extraordinary qualities” by former Real boss Carlo Ancelotti, who went on to claim his young star could “play anywhere on the pitch”.
Similar praise have been laid at Mac Allister’s feet in the Premier League. Shortly after the South American’s £35m transfer from Brighton to Liverpool, TNT Sports pundit Joe Cole described him as a “superstar” signing for the Reds, drawing attention to his own ability to “play anywhere” his manager wants him to.
Such dynamism. Though Liverpool would want to retain Mac Allister’s services for as long as they can, it’s clear he plays a role unlike any other in the Liverpool squad. To put that another way, he provides a dimension his teammates cannot mimic.
Arne Slot and Alexis Mac Allister for Liverpool
And, with that in mind, adding Camavinga to the fold might prove a stroke of genius on Hughes’ part. Real Madrid might want something in the ballpark of £69m, but Liverpool could take advantage of his injury struggles and seat on the Santiago Bernabeu fringe over the past 12 months.
Looking at how it could all transpire in the long run, Liverpool might strike a player who could yet grow into one of the best in the world, eclipsing a star in Mac Allister, who has already provided the club with a higher brand of technical midfield play than they had been treated to in the years before his signing.
Slot can fix Konate & Leoni blow by unleashing Liverpool's 19-year-old star
Liverpool have something of a sore spot in defence this season.
Newcastle United fans will be clinging onto Nick Woltemade’s electric start in England as one major positive so far this season.
Indeed, despite the Magpies only picking up two Premier League wins to date, the lofty and instinctive German has already powered home four goals in the demanding league from just five outings.
Still, while the ex-Stuttgart striker has already proven why he cost a significant £69m to bring to Tyneside this summer, Anthony Elanga, on the other hand, is in danger of looking like a major waste of money so soon into his Toon career.
Elanga's poor start at Newcastle
Woltemade ultimately stole the limelight right at the death of the transfer window when leaving Germany behind for that bumper amount.
However, there was equal excitement in the air when Elanga put pen to paper on a £55m switch to leave the Tricky Trees behind for St James’ Park, having been branded a “frightening” talent in the past by the Athletic’s Laurie Whitwell.
With six goals and 12 assists under his belt for Forest last season, too, it did seem as if this was going to be a sublime bit of business from the get-go. Unfortunately, his time so far under Howe’s wing hasn’t gone to the pre-planned script.
From eight Premier League games to date this campaign, the Swedish attacker has zero goals or assists to shout about, touching the ball just 24.4 times per game across those largely forgettable league showings in black and white.
Long gone now are the days when the “electric” winger – as he was once labelled by statistician Statman Dave – was bursting forward with pace and scaring the lives out of Premier League defenders, with just 20 touches of the ball and one feeble attempted dribble against Brighton, leaving Howe with no choice but to hook Elanga at the half-time interval.
He won’t be completely written off, with the 23-year-old perhaps just needing more time to gel and acclimatise, before finding his mojo again.
But, Howe could now be looking for some left-field options on the right wing to add some depth – away from solely relying on the trusty back-up option of Jacob Murphy.
Howe's surprise Elanga replacement
Howe hasn’t shied away from gifting rising youngsters chances to impress in his senior side since taking on the Newcastle reins in 2021, with Lewis Miley only 17 years of age when he was chucked into the Premier League deep-end on his debut.
William Osula has also been handed the odd chance here and there in attack, with U21s superstar Alfie Harrison no doubt eager to leave a lasting impression too when a first-team opportunity heads his way, having once been branded a “star in the making” by football writer Thomas Hammond when first signing for the Magpies.
Coincidentally, Harrison – much like Elanga – opted to walk away from Manchester to try and kickstart his career, with the 23-year-old also well aware of how tricky it is to make that step-up from youth football to the demands of the men’s game.
Still, with 14 goals and eight assists under his belt for the Man City U18s, it was clear that the Toon had bagged themselves a gem going after Harrison when they did.
The goals have somewhat dried up in the U21 frame at Newcastle, with zero goals in Premier League 2 action for the teenager this season to date.
25/26
8
0 + 4
24/25
22
3 + 7
23/24
10
0 + 3
But, it’s clear when assessing his numbers above that he has a laser focus on picking up assists after bursting forward with pace from down the right wing, or in a more central spot on the pitch, which are two trademark parts of Elanga’s game when he’s at the peak of his powers.
Woltemade will surely already be dreaming of lining up next to such an assist-heavy presence, with the German very rarely needing a second bite of the cherry to score.
Further lauded as an “electric” talent this summer by Magpie Media, it only feels like a matter of time before Harrison is making waves in the senior scene, with Howe perhaps ready to test him out imminently if Elanga continues to falter.
Newcastle man who was "tough to watch" is now on borrowed time under Howe
Newcastle United’s defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion has highlighted some issues for Eddie Howe.