Brendan Rodgers goes into the history books as the man sacked over the telephone by the Fenway Sports Group (FSG) as they lined up his replacement. His legacy will be he’s the only Liverpool manager since the 1950s not to win a trophy after having three seasons in charge, though he’ll hang on to the fact he took them to a runners-up spot in the Premier League.Many have argued he should have been given more time, while very few have questioned the board. Are FSG any better for the Anfield club than their previous American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett?The quick response from most Liverpool fans will be to dismiss the suggestion out of hand. It’s understandable when the debacle of their ownership turned into something from a soap opera. They couldn’t even remain friends with one another and there were failed attempts to make coups for power from within. The tabloid saga is just one element of their time there, the other was the performance of the team and standard of players on the pitch.Under their watch Liverpool also finished second in the Premier League, they’d been fourth the season before. In their runners-up campaign they managed to get to the quarter finals of the Champions League, a feat that looks beyond the current crop of English entrants into that competition.[ffc-gal cat=”manchester-united” no=”5″]Pound-for-pound the players on their team sheet are a level above the current crop. Fernando Torres at his best, Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano, Pepe Reina, all eye-catching names that had claims to be the best in their field. The support cast would easily walk into the Liverpool side of today.Many will point out that after the 2008/09 season they went onto finish seventh the following year. This is true but they didn’t force the sale of any top players.The feeling they used the club to service a debt isn’t reflected in transfer dealings. They retained talent and it was Hicks and Gillette that bought some of the big names within the squad.Running a club like a business, with debts or not, is fine as long as the on-field activity remains successful. Rafael Benitez paid for the poor season with his job, a move that was an attempt to continue the high bar that had been set in the previous two years and prevent a constant downward trend.While the fuss surrounding their ownership meant it was a necessity they were removed, it doesn’t mean John Henry and FSG have a free pass that allows them to avoid criticism. Some of their decisions have left Liverpool in a worse position and wasted resources.A club does need to be run like a business in today’s game. They shouldn’t be applauded for giving Rodgers £310m to spend, instead they should be asked why they allowed so much to be wasted for zero return. They have created the transfer committee to replace the failed Damien Comolli experiment, in doing so allowed more money to be ploughed into players the manager didn’t request.After taking over from men seen as villains John Henry has had an easy ride. His public persona has been warm and FSG have largely delivered on key promises, like the stadium issue. But the backdrop has been the decline of the team.Many state that Hicks and Gillette could have bankrupt Liverpool before FSG saved them. I think it’s more likely the pair were playing a game of chicken and would never have allowed a valuable part of their portfolio to fold. While they were facing off, and losing favour with the Liverpool fans, they did keep the team healthy.FSG on the other hand have ran a great PR campaign. They even appointed club legend Kenny Dalglish as a manager for a second time in a nod to fan and player pressure. It’s as if they give a little, speak of understanding tradition, then do things their way regardless. The truth is they are novices in the world of football and throwing money around aimlessly produces a club without direction.The club may be financially secure under FSG but the team is more fragile than ever. It’s hard to imagine them challenging for the title again any time soon. Under Hicks and Gillette there was always a threat off the pitch but Liverpool remained one when on it.

The Premier League took it’s second managerial casualty of the season on Sunday as Tim Sherwood was relieved of his duties as Aston Villa manager.

The news was unsurprising and probably welcomed by significant sectors of the Birmingham outfit’s fan base, who have witnessed their club pick up just four points out of a possible 30 so far this term.

That leaves the Villains at rock bottom of the Premier League table after Sunderland took all three points from Sunday’s Tyne-Wear derby and subsequently, on the look out for a new manager.

But who’s in the frame to take over at Villa Park? Which managers would be open to accepting the troubled task of steering the struggling club clear of relegation?

The tabloids have already mooted a number of possible candidates so being the helpful bunch we are at Football Fancast, we’ve shortlisted the FIVE most likely.

Which of these would you like to see get the job Villa fans? Let us know by commenting below!

SEAN DYCHE

Sean Dyche may have failed to keep Burnley in the top flight last season but the fact they finished just five points short of safety and gave a positive account of themselves throughout the campaign was an achievement in itself, considering they had virtually no Premier League experience in their squad and one of the smallest budgets in the division.

Dyche demonstrated an ability to make players consistently perform beyond their means, albeit at the cost of exciting football on the most part, through discipline, organisation and motivation, suggesting he could well perform wonders with a squad of superior quality.

The Aston Villa gig would certainly intrigue the former defender but he’s committed to the long-term project at Turf Moor and was allowed to invest heavily during the summer. With Burnley currently third in the Championship, he seems unlikely to walk out.

NIGEL PEARSON

Accusing journalists of ostrich behaviour aside, Nigel Pearson was the mastermind behind Leicester City’s great escape at the end of last season, winning seven of their last ten games to become only the third club in Premier League history to avoid relegation after being bottom at Christmas.

He was sacked in favour of Claudio Ranieri during the summer as relationships with Foxes board members strained, in no part due to his son’s involvement in racist-orgy-gate.

But the 52-year-old has proved he’s capable of performing minor miracles and maintaining confidence in his own abilities even when results aren’t going his way – which could prove vital for a Villa side who haven’t won in the Premier League since the opening day of the season and haven’t picked up any points since the end of August.

Likewise, he’s well acquainted with Midlands football from his time at the King Power Stadium. Controversies, however, including his berating of a journalist, expletive rant at a fan and touchline strangling of Crystal Palace’s James McArthur, cast doubts over his capacity to handle the pressure of top flight football.

BRENDAN RODGERS

After getting the boot in favour of Jurgen Klopp earlier this month, Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool tenure continues to divide opinion – some declaring he’s been hard done by, others insisting his time at Anfield has rightly come to an end.

Indeed, the northern Irishman’s complicated tactics and poor record in the transfer market slowly turned the Reds fan base against him.

But he was also the manager who guided Liverpool to a second-place finish, matching their best ever league standing throughout the Premier League era, less than two years ago and although certain aspects of his job left much to be desired, there’s no questioning Rodgers’ ability as a first and foremost head coach.

He’s an imaginative tinkerer, an entertaining character and has priot experience in relegation battles. Well, not exactly – his Swansea side finished in 11th place, a comfortable eleven points above relegation, during their debut Premier League campaign.

But the 42-year-old wants a short break before returning to management so the Villa vacancy might be a little too soon for him.

DAVID MOYES

David Moyes’ decade as Everton boss, propelling them from relegation battles towards the realms of regular European football despite operating on a shoestring budget, has unfortunately been overshadowed by his nightmare ten months as Manchester United boss, but he’s still a talented and proven manager who knows all there is to know about Premier League football.

It’s not going so well for him at Real Sociedad at the moment, winning just twelve of his 40 games in charge, and rumour has it the Scot’s adventure in Spain could soon be coming to an abrupt end.

Although Moyes has always held a soft spot for the Bundesliga, the Premier League is the right place to revive his stuttering career. Furthermore, there are plenty of similarities between the challenge of the Aston Villa job and the Everton gauntlet the 52 year-old picked up back in 2002. Particularly, a big club with a passionate fan base operating on limited financial backing.

Moyes has already turned down offers from English clubs to stay in Spain, however, so it may require Sociedad pushing out the Scot as much as Villa pulling him in.

REMI GARDE

Former Villa star Stan Collymore believes the club are already in talks with Remi Garde about the managerial vacancy whilst The Guardian also moot him as the front-runner.

The news is perhaps no great surprise, considering the 49 year-old is well respected from his tenure at Lyon and has been linked with a number of Premier League hot-seats since stepping down at Stade de Gerland in summer 2014 – particularly the Newcastle gig.

Indeed, the former Arsenal defender gained a reputation for exciting football and developing young players during his three years at Lyon – something which last year’s Ligue 1 runners-up are now reaping the rewards of through the likes of Alexandre Lacazette and Nabil Fekir – and many have resultantly compared him to ex-employer Arsene Wenger.

Villa signed five French speakers and four former Ligue 1 stars during the summer, all of which have struggled to settle, and Garde’s bi-linguistic skills give him a significant advantage over the rest of the candidates on this list. Whether the Birmingham outfit can match his ambition, however, remains to be seen.

Manchester City’s humiliation at the hands of Liverpool came as a huge surprise to most people who expected at least a close game, but less of a surprise to Manchester City fans – in all honesty, this defeat represents the latest in a long line of poor performances at the hands of what must surely be described as a bogey team for City.

That doesn’t mean that City shouldn’t be concerned by this performance. This is a team who have – and certainly should have – title ambitions this season. What’s more, City are fighting on at least two fronts, the Premier League and the Champions League, and are probably looking to win the League Cup and the FA Cup too.

So to have suffered their second 4-1 defeat of the season at the hands of another team who pressed them with urgency isn’t just another humiliating defeat, but a worrying sign that shows City’s vulnerability all too clearly.

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The team spirit isn’t in question. The fact that they suffered another heavy defeat isn’t a sign of fraction in the side. The reports of a first-team meeting to clear the air and sooth grievances in the wake of the defeat is a good thing, not a sign of division.

And there are other mitigating factors to defeat – Sergio Aguero will get fitter and sharper as the weeks go on, Wilfried Bony will come back, Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi will resume their blossoming partnership at some point.

The fact that City had Mangala and Demichelis as a back two against Liverpool was like trying to build a dam out of chocolate.

The calmness and composure at the back were missing as Liverpool pressued City’s defenders, but that begs an obvious question – are City strong enough in their lower orders to withstand the kinds of injuries that happen during the course of a season, especially a season where you’re fighting on so many fronts?

The answer there remains to be seen. But if this were cricket we’d be talking about the later batsmen, the guys who come in after the starters are gone and simply try to hold on for as long as possible. There’s no way Wilfried Bony is as good as Sergio Aguero, no way that Jesus Navas – for all his effort and industry and pace – is as good as David Silva. They’re different players, sure, but they’re there to add new options to the team for when things aren’t working out initially. They’re more plan B than plan A.

I don’t mean to be too harsh on those second choice players at City, nor do I mean to be harsh on Pellegrini. It’s not his fault that the second string isn’t as good as his first string – after all, that’s why they’re second string.

City have spent a lot of money on some very talented young players over the summer. The youth production is as good as it’s ever been, players like kelechi Iheanacho, George and Maffeo have been given their spot in the first team this season, adding to the new young blood that City have acquired, such as Patrick Roberts, Fabian Delph and, of course, Raheem Sterling. City’s ageing squad has been overhauled, and this season is only the beginning.

But short term, the cracks that have appeared twice already this season just make you wonder if this team is strong enough to cope with injuries and fixture pile up.

Sergio Aguero will get fitter, but will you bet against him getting injured again? If they lose David Silva again, if they lose Vincent Kompany again, if they lose Yaya Toure, will City be able to cope?

Defeats to Spurs and Liverpool this season expose City’s weaknesses. If that weakness is the squad, then even though the drive towards youth is a good thing, it doesn’t bode well for the latter stages of this season. If that weakness is the style of play, the lack of calmness on the ball and a real vulnerability to heavy pressing, then City have a real problem. Because you can bet that other teams will notice that too.

It might not be that Liverpool are City’s bogey team – it might just be that being hassled and harried is City’s biggest vulnerability.

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Everyone is in agreement that this is one of the strangest Premier League seasons in recent memory. Not just because Leicester City are still in the title reckoning going into the New Year, and not just because defending champions Chelsea are so far below the rest of the chasing pack, but also because of how inconsistent almost every team has been.

Every team except Spurs, really.

Mauricio Pochettino’s team started slowly and built progressively. There were no huge performances, no explosive results – the Manchester City game aside, perhaps. Everything just built gradually. It all built so gradually and crept up on everybody so stealthily that now Spurs find themselves only four points off top spot – what seemed a long way is no longer so very far.

The Man City game showed that Spurs were capable of playing well sometimes, but it didn’t seem to show much else about Pochettino’s team at the time. Instead, what we took away from that game was how bad City were.

Yet since that game, the most surprising result that Spurs have managed was their defeat against Newcastle. They’ve gradually come into the consciousness as a very good side.

But that City game should show more than that. It should show Spurs as a team who are now capable of doing something very few Spurs sides have been able to do over the last few seasons of trying to break into the top four: hold their nerve in the big games.

In 2012, Harry Redknapp’s final season, Spurs were in a similar position to where they are now. By late January they were being heralded as possible title contenders after having come from slightly under the radar. That time, they had the two Manchester clubs in front of them. And it all fell apart during a January meeting against Manchester City, when Spurs came back from two goals down, but lost 3-2 to a last-gasp Mario Balotelli penalty.

That doesn’t tell all the story, though. Spurs should have won that game. They had chances at 2-2, including one for Jermain Defoe just before City went up the other end and won the game.

That was the Spurs that would reign for the next few seasons, even with all of the changes in the team. A good side let down by bottling the bigger games. Not simply against the big teams, but against any team in a big game. Some of the smaller ones can be ‘must-win’, too.

Since then, there have been some big scorelines suffered at the hands of Manchester City, but this season things changed. It was Tottenham dishing out the goals and City suffering on the big occasion.

And that’s the difference. Spurs now have a side that seem capable of winning the big games, or at least not losing them. They have the fewest losses in the league and also the most draws. Their machine-like grinding into fourth place has put them only four points off the top of the table, but it has also given them the best goal difference in the league.

It’s that sort of consistency that will see Spurs through this season because no other team has that level of it.

In a tight season, it’s all about making your team hard to beat, but also about having enough to win games too. Spurs have all the ingredients – they have the best defensive record, they have the happy knack of drawing the games they can’t win, and they also have one of the best attacking records in the division, too.

But by far and away the most important aspect of this Tottenham title challenge is that they now don’t look like bottling the big games. After defeat to Manchester United on the opening day – down to an unlucky Kyle Walker own goal, Spurs have suffered only one defeat, and that was one of the very few shocking results of their season.

In a season where we simply can’t tell who can win the league, with no favourites and no stand-out team, why can’t Spurs win the league?

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Happy Anniversary Arsene Wenger and Theo Walcott!

It’s ten years to the day since Arsenal signed Walcott as a youngster from Southampton, and just over ten years since he stealthy sneaked into the England World Cup squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Since then, Walcott has become a fixture in the Arsenal side, become a regular international for England, but he has seemingly flattered to deceive as well. A pacey and talented player, for sure, but one who was all speedy industry without much of an end product. His finishing has always been questioned, even when he played as a winger.

But given that Walcott wants to play as a striker, and not as a winger, that point about his finishing has been rehashed more than perhaps it would have been if he had stuck to the wings.

But these stats do seem to show a different story:

They show Walcott as a player who has a hand in a goal every two games, which is hardly a terrible return for a player who has played for most of his career on the right.

Clearly not known for being prolific, pitching in 81 goals from midfield isn’t a terrible return for a pacey player, playing out wide in a team who have traditionally been more of a passing side than a pace-orientated, counter attacking side.

He’s not a youngster any more, but at only 26, he still has a lot of time to prove his worth to Arsenal and to England. Most younger players struggle with consistency, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Walcott’s form shored up over the next few seasons. Maybe his second decade at Arsenal will be his best one!

Zlatan Ibrahimovic will divide opinion no matter how many league titles across Europe he has won.

Though he’s been at the forefront of European football for much of the last decade, the Swede is yet to wholly convince he is truly top quality.

Much of that is down to his perceived failure to impact games in the latter stages of the Champions League, despite the fact he has played in great teams with great players.

Perhaps it is largely an English based perception of the marksman, due to the fact he’s at times struggled to ‘do it’ against opposition in these isles.

That’s an unfair assessment and one that is often levelled at Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest to have ever grace the professional game.

Still, the recent social media war that has erupted between PSG and Chelsea ahead of the Champions League last-16 clash between the two brings up a good point.

The Parisians labelled Blues forward Diego Costa a ‘fraud’ in a tongue-in-cheek video posted on Twitter ahead of tonight’s clash at Stamford Bridge.

However, that may have been a tad ironic considering the fact Ibrahimovic is undoubtedly the focal point of their side.

Labelling him a ‘fraud’ may be a touch too radical, though the former Inter Milan and Barcelona ace does, at times, flatter to deceive.

In 37 Champions League knockout games across his glittering career, the Swedish legend has been able to notch just 8 goals.

That’s despite the fact he has had the likes of Lionel Messi, Wesley Sneijder and Pavel Nedved providing him service at a number of different clubs.

In light of the record breaking stats set by Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic pales in comparison. Even Luis Suarez, Robert Lewandowski and Neymar have had bigger impacts than him in Europe’s top competition during much shorter timeframes.

Teams who win the Champions League are usually a cohesive unit. It seems rather odd that such a prestigious competition, packed to the rafters with top level talent, can be won largely down to team spirit.

Fragmented Liverpool, Chelsea and Real Madrid sides have all lifted the continent’s top prize due to it, despite there being better sides technically.

His individuality is much celebrated and part of what makes him such a star. However, his tendency not to get involved in a high team press, or to drift deep and out wide when the going gets tough can seriously impact the teams he dazzles otherwise in.

Even Cristiano Ronaldo acted like the first line of defence when Real Madrid trounced Bayern Munich in 2014. Well, at times anyway.

Clearly, we cannot blame Ibrahimovic for the failings of his teammates throughout his career. However, the astronomical levels of self-belief that make him such a big star in other competitions have not proved as useful a tool in the Champions League.

So, is Costa really the fraud after all?

Is Zlat really all that? Not at Champions League level.

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Unless you’re a Manchester United fan, you must be wondering what the fuss is about their ex-Spurs midfielder Michael Carrick. After all, he hardly ever grabs the headlines within world football and hasn’t done anything special for England.

However, at the Theatre of Dreams, Carrick is the conductor within the midfield and builds a lot of the good play the team to benefit from. It is no wonder that when he was injured in February his loss was noticed. His fellow midfielders, Marouane Fellaini and Bastian Schweinsteiger, struggle to combine effectively, and although Ander Herrera did perform well, Louis van Gaal appears to have a vendetta against him. It is no wonder then that without Carrick, the win rate in the aforementioned month dipped as low as 33.3%.

So, with his contract set to expire this summer, and United looking reluctant to offer him a new one, can the man from Wallsend still do it in the Premier League?

Well his experience is priceless, and he is about to enter his 10th year as a United player, which ironically coincides with United’s most fruitful period. Considering he was meant to be the replacement for Roy Keane, he has done a great job. Even now at the considerable age of 34, he still brings a composed, level head to the side, and if United offer him a new contract, you can guarantee that, although he will have a bit role, he will still have a part to play.

Yet if he does leave United, he could still prove useful at another Premier League club. Though he has got no assists or goals in his 22 Premier League games this season, he has started United attacks from the back, and helped out his defence more often than not. Any of the teams that get promoted in the summer would benefit from having Carrick within their midfield, as he knows the league very well and has the experience to teach the young players coming through.

However, we have already seen how purchasing experienced players doesn’t always work. Of course it can work, as Frank Lampard showed at Manchester City, but when Rio Ferdinand went to QPR, the move was forgettable – although there were some extenuating circumstances. With Major League Soccer and the Chinese game growing, it may be worth Carrick attempting to get one last big pay day before he retires.

He has already been pushed out of the England squad because of his age, even though others such as Phil Jagielka have been kept by Roy Hodgson, and considering the success of fellow Ex-West Ham teammate, Lampard, at New York City, as well as Andrea Pirlo, David Villa, and then Steven Gerrard, David Beckham and Robbie Keane at LA Galaxy, Carrick could do very well in America.

With the English game becoming more fast paced, Carrick should consider a move to the sunny states. He has the quality to walk into any of those teams and have an effect on the game. But if he does stay in the Premier League, he should be given more respect from Man United, and then end on a high through a testimonial.

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Arsenal have Alex Iwobi, and Manchester City look set to have a similar option within their own ranks after rave reviews.

Kelechi Iheanacho who is still only 19, has broken into the first-team in recent months with seven goals in five starts for Man City and can progress even further under the guidance of incoming boss Pep Guardiola.

Fortunately for the young talent at the Etihad, Guardiola has a reputation for taking youngsters under his wing and developing their talent.

The Nigeria striker’s breakthrough in his first Premier League season has seen him rack up a better goal-per-games ratio than any other striker in the league. Iheanacho only made his first appearance for the club in August and his five Premier League starts come alongside 19 appearances off the bench for a total of 610 minutes.

Iheanacho’s scoring ratio is exceptional in comparison with his older, more experienced professionals. He has a further six goals in the domestic cup competitions, including his first-ever hat trick in the 4-0 FA Cup fourth round victory over Aston Villa in January. That makes his strike record an impressive one goal every 82 minutes.

Such has been the youngster’s emergence that Manuel Pellegrini had to readjust his Champions League squad in January to squeeze in the teenager, with Samir Nasri dropping out after a long-term injury. While he is yet to make his first start in Europe, it will have been a big boost to Iheanacho that Pellegrini opted to bring him on early in last Tuesday’s first leg 0-0 draw with Real Madrid after David Silva limped off in the first half with an injury.

The Nigerian seems to be further up the pecking order than even the likes of Wilfried Bony. The Ivorian has not scored in 2016, and his four Premier League goals this season have come at a rate of one every 303 minutes.

Pellegrini revealed in January that he allowed strikers Stevan Jovetic and Edin Dzeko to leave the club in the summer to allow room for Iheanacho. “I see him working every day so I know what he can do during the game,” he said. “Maybe I received some criticism for why we didn’t replace Dzeko and Jovetic at the beginning of the season and I answered that we have Kelechi.”

With the Champions League semi-final return leg at the Bernabeu tonight, Iheanacho is unlikely to start, but says that it’s a dream come true to go there: “It is a dream come true for me and I am happy if I go there.”

Pellegrini now appears to have an option from the bench with the youngster and someone to back up star striker Sergio Aguero. After the two goals at the weekend against Southampton, on an otherwise dismal afternoon for City, his emergence as a real talent was cemented in the minds of the current and incoming bosses.

Guardiola will be tasked with bringing through City’s own talent from the £200m Etihad Campus, as the mega spending starts to slow down to allow the academy players to integrate with established first-team players and thus create the stars of the future.

With Guardiola’s ability to find the gems and bring them on, at the Camp Nou, he gave debuts to 15 youth team players in four years.

Iheanacho has been the only youth player to have been given a consistent opportunity in Pellegrini’s three years at the club and is surely set to be a huge part of Guardiola’s plans.

It seems as though the forward line is the least of the new managers problems next season.

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The departure of Juan Mata from Stamford Bridge in 2014 shocked many – not least because it was to Old Trafford.

The Spaniard had just won the Player of the Year award at Chelsea following the club’s Europa League winning campaign under Rafael Benitez, was in the form of his life and had become a fan favourite at the Bridge.

All that changed however following the re-appointment of Jose Mourinho, and the World Cup winner soon found himself isolated, making only 11 Premier League starts up until Christmas with Oscar preferred by the Portuguese.

Frustration set in, and the fan favourite was soon on his way to the Theatre of Dreams in a shock move and claiming to ‘be really happy to go’.

The fall from grace was not the former Valencia man’s fault, thought it was monumental.

A player who in only 135 games had scored 33 goals and provided a whopping 58 assists had moved for pastures new and Chelsea fans were left wondering what just happened.

In a strange twist of fate however, history looks to repeat itself this summer.

The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ has now followed the man he sold to the Red Devils to become their manager, and is reportedly happy to once again let the 28-year old go as he looks to build his squad at Old Trafford.

Mata again has been impressive at United, and should count himself desperately unlucky if he were to once again given the axe from the ‘special one’.

The door however, may just be open at Stamford Bridge, so here is why the Blue’s should do all they can to re-sign their once midfield dynamo ….

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PRESS THE IMAGE BELOW TO SEE 5 REASONS WHY CHELSEA SHOULD RE-SIGN JUAN MATA FROM MANCHESTER UNITED THIS SUMMER

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Point to Prove

Mata left Stamford Bridge on a downer after such a previously successful stint at the club, and his departure may have dampened the memory of what was truly a glistening spell at the Blues.

If the Spaniard were to re-join Chelsea, he would certainly have the desire to prove his worthiness and once again regain his status as a fan favourite in West London.

Chance for Revenge

It is clear that the relationship of Mourinho and Mata is not one made in heaven. While he has had the chance to exact revenge against Chelsea during his United tenure, the 28-year-old failed to do so.

Instead of taking sight at his former club however, it really should be Mourinho however that Mata diverts his efforts to proving wrong, and given the chance at Chelsea he could just do so, and it would be just be oh so sweet.

Chelsea’s Exodus

While it will be a summer of change up north in Manchester, the same is also true of the West London giants, with incoming Chelsea boss Antonio Conte looking to put his stamp on his new club.

Many are rumoured to be leaving the Bridge, including attacking midfielders Oscar who seems destined for Juventus, Pedro and Willian who is subject to interest from Guangzhou Evergrande. That leaves plenty of room in the midfield should Mata want to make a return.

Familiarity

After a dismal last campaign, Chelsea will want to find players that will take little to no time to adjust to Premier League life so that they can quickly rejuvenate their success of past seasons.

Mata already as 5 seasons of English football under his belt, 2 and half of time spent at Bridge so he would slot right back into the midfield and certainly wouldn’t require the time to calibrate.

Welcome Arms

Most Blues fans were disappointed to see the once Spain international leave the Bridge, and not only because it was to rivals United.

Mata was instrumental to the Blue’s success during his two and a half year tenure at the club, and Chelsea are in the eyes of many yet to find a replacement for the one time PFA Player of the Year nominee. You’re always welcome here, Juan!

Pep Guardiola will have some work to do when he finally gets his feet under the manager’s desk in Manchester.

Manuel Pellegrini did a fair job at Man City, but the challenge for the title was not as forthcoming as many had hoped. Certainly the 2015/16 season seemed to stutter and was disjointed at times.

Once the announcement was made that Guardiola was joining the club and Pellegrini leaving, the wheels did seem to wobble in the blue half of Manchester.

Pep comes to the Premier League as one of the most highly-regarded managers in the world. Very few can boast his achievements at managerial level and after continued success in the Bundesliga, it was clear that the Premier League was his next destination. It was a matter of where.

Although, Guardiola guided his Bayern Munich team to a domestic double, he would have been keeping a keen eye on Manchester City and has no doubt thought about possible changes to style, club management and personnel.

Here are FIVE areas for Pep to consider:

Defensive rebuild

Aside from Vincent Kompany, the defence has been a bit of a disaster. Pep will want a central figure to build his defence around and he may opt for a complete new line, if the current crop cannot get their act together. In excess of £60m has been spent on Nicolas Otamendi and Eliaquim Mangala with little or no success. At least one world-class centre-half will be high on his shopping list. Younger players will be required as well, since City have an ageing back line.

Midfield reshuffle

Another change and a certain Yaya Toure will surely be leaving. Guardiola will not be keeping hold of the City man and sold him to Manchester City when he was at Barcelona.

The midfield will need to do their fair share of work without the ball. Last season’s City were great with the ball at their feet, but didn’t fight enough to win back possession. Skilful individual talents like David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne will need better quality around them and will flourish under Pep’s guidance.

Another striker to support Aguero

Pep may well play with one up front and that has to be Sergio Aguero with Kelechi Iheanacho as back-up, but you can’t keep relying on the Argentine. Another top class front man is required and that’s why Guardiola is linked so heavily to Dortmund’s, 26 year old striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. His 39 goals for Dortmund last season had alerted the top clubs in Europe and City are up against Real Madrid for his signature.

Guardiola got a close-up view of Aubameyang in the Bundesliga in his time as Bayern boss, and clearly he rates the A­frican Player of the Year as the most natural forwards in European football.

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The Vincent Kompany question

The Belgian international is a born leader and inspires his team, but he has become so injury-prone and is missing from the current Belgium squad due to another problem. Pep needs to decide whether to twist or stick.

The 30-year-old is at a crossroads although the player’s agent, Jacques Lichtenstein, has said that Kompany will be going nowhere and that his best years are ahead of him. That may be so, but will Pep decide that those best years are elsewhere?

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Make City Harder Workers

When they flow in attack, they are a joy to watch, but City have been lambasted at times due to a perceived lack of tenacity and work-rate in the team at key times. Pep will have the great individuals at his disposal and is used to working with some of the best, but his success has been founded on the graft put in by his teams and their willingness to pressure opponents all over the field. Pellegrini’s City team was great with the ball, but next season look for them to be great without it, too.

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