Premier League

THIS Arsenal star looks unrecognisable back in his non-league days.The player is now an integral part of Mikel Arteta’s side and a three-time capped international.
The Arsenal star played for Southport in 2014Credit: Getty
He looks unrecognisable without his distinctive haircutCredit: Getty
But his first senior appearances came in the 2014/15 campaign at then Conference League side Southport.
He was loaned to the club for four months as a teenager just two years after touching down in England from his homeland.
The learning done at Southport and the “hard road” led to him earning a £30m transfer to Arsenal.
But back ten years ago, his iconic beard and haircut were nowhere to be seen with a shorter style chosen.
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Despite leaving his old look behind, he remembers his non-league days fondly, saying: “You took your kit home to wash, came with your bag, towel. I was used to that, I’d lived alone since I was 15, but it grounds you, teaches you not to take things for granted.”
He impressed coaches while on loan and was quickly in the first-team fold at his parent club Blackburn.
After continuing to move up the ranks at Ewood Park, he signed for Brentford in 2019.
And last summer he secured his dream move to Arsenal and was called up to the Spain squad for the first time.
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The unrecognisable star is of course 28-year-old David Raya.
He has played 22 times for the Gunners this season and appears to have beaten Aaron Ramsdale to claiming the No1 shirt.
David Raya was just a teenager at SouthportCredit: Action Images – Reuters
The goalkeeper has worked his way up the leagues and is now first choice at ArsenalCredit: Rex More

MAURICIO POCHETTINO wants a dead-ball wizard to make Chelsea better at set-pieces next season.The January window closed on Thursday without any new arrivals — but the Blues’ head coach is already plotting for the summer.
James Ward-Prowse is an esteemed Premier League set piece takerCredit: Getty
Mauricio Pochettino was quick to praise his impact at West HamCredit: Getty
Chelsea have scored only five goals from set-pieces this season, way off front-runners Arsenal’s 14.
So boss Pochettino is now eyeing up a set-piece specialist like James Ward-Prowse.
Ahead of hosting Wolves tomorrow, he said: “We work a lot on set-pieces.
“After that, it is about the quality of the player and takers. We don’t have a specialist.
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“Ben Chilwell is good in the delivery but, after that, we lack a specialist.
“We are trying to find one for next season. Look at West Ham.”
The Hammers are sixth in the Prem table and renowned for their strength at corners and free-kicks.
They signed Ward-Prowse in the summer and though he is yet to score a free-kick this season, the midfielder boasts 17 in his Prem career — one off David Beckham’s all-time record.
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Pochettino said: “Look before at West Ham and after. What changed? When you add a player like him, you increase the percentage. That is football.”
Chelsea are a whopping 12 points off the Premier League’s top four —  and languish tenth in the table.
But Poch insists he is happy that the only keynote transfer dealings in January were loans taking striker Armando Broja and defender Ian Maatsen out of the club.
The Stamford Bridge chief explained: “Maatsen and Broja’s moves are not going to affect the performances.
“Of course they are good players who wanted to play more.
“Maybe they didn’t see that they could play more here and that is why they are moving. It is about two parts.
“We didn’t find anyone that can improve us. We didn’t decide to sign anyone because we are happy, I think.
“It’s about opportunity, situations. We have the players  we want. Of course we can perform better and, for me, it is not a problem not to sign anyone.”
Chelsea need to bounce back after Wednesday’s 4-1 drubbing at Liverpool — but Pochettino believes they can.
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The ex-Tottenham chief added: “At Tottenham I didn’t sign anyone for 18 months.
Maybe it was because we were so good at helping players to evolve.” More

MARCUS RASHFORD committed one cardinal sin last week.It wasn’t that he went out on a 12-hour tequila bender in Belfast — not that this was advisable.
Marcus Rashford missed training last week after a boozy night out in BelfastCredit: Alamy
The England international scored for United on his return to the squadCredit: Getty
It was that he didn’t turn up for work the next morning.
If, as a player, you go out on a school night, rule No 1 states that you report for training the next morning — even if you’re throwing up in the bushes.
A lot of players in the Manchester United dressing room will have taken a dim view of Rashford for calling in sick after his  drinking session.
I know some are wondering about the double standards shown by Erik ten Hag towards Rashford and Jadon Sancho.
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When they found out that Rashford was going straight back into the team to face Wolves on Thursday, some will have raised their eyebrows.
Ten Hag will have told him in no uncertain terms that he owed him one and not to let him down.
The fact he scored after just five minutes and played well in the 4-3 win at Molineux didn’t actually surprise me.
Rashford seems to play better when he feels slighted — but I’d like to see more consistency from him.
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Last season, when he scored 30 goals, was an outlier. Most of his career has been patchy.
If Rashford scores against West Ham tomorrow and United win, then his drinking session will be put to the back of most people’s minds.
Yet there will be team-mates wondering, ‘When is it going to stop? When is he going to stop missing games for disciplinary reasons?’
It is not the fact he’s gone out for a drink in itself, though.
Even now, when top-flight footballers don’t drink as much as they used to, it’s not completely rare for a player to turn up for training the worse for wear.
Players are urine-tested every day as standard to check on hydration levels.
And they can tell if you’ve even had a glass or two of wine with your dinner the night before. Your pee is a much darker colour.
Drinking in midweek is not completely banned but players will certainly hear about it if they are knocking back too much, too regularly.
The real ‘drinking culture’ at the top level of English football, of players going out on the lash together and drinking shed-loads of lager, is long gone — ever since Arsene Wenger arrived at Arsenal in 1996.
I’d say about 30 or 40 per cent of Premier League players are teetotal — certainly during the season at least.
A lot of younger, especially single lads, will have nights out quite often without drinking a drop. There’s been a cultural shift with that.
They still want that escapism, a bit of ‘normal’ life — to see their mates and maybe to meet women.
More players smoke than you might think and it’s well publicised that a lot take Snus — a smokeless tobacco product placed in the mouth.
Some do ‘balloons’ — nitrous oxide.
Married players might still have a bottle of wine with the missus over dinner two or three times a week, depending on their schedule.
On a night out, players are more likely to drink cocktails or shorts, rather than beers, as they are easier on the waistline.
Whether you’re drinking or not, the key is to pick your moments to have a night out.
Going out to celebrate your birthday straight after a 3-0 home defeat in a Manchester derby, as Rashford did back in October, is not the right moment.
And when you’ve got new owners coming into the club, as United have after Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s partial £1.03billion takeover, that’s definitely a time to keep your nose clean.
It’s possible that Rashford was going out for drinks quite frequently last season when he was at the top of his game.
But nobody is too bothered about that sort of thing, inside or outside the club, when things are going well.
But Rashford has had at least three major scrapes with Ten Hag in the last year or so and the interesting thing for me is how differently the manager has treated him and Sancho.
No two cases are the same and Sancho did challenge the manager’s authority after Ten Hag criticised his poor performances in training.
But he was dealt with severely by being frozen out of the first-team squad before  he was loaned to his former club Borussia Dortmund early last month.
With Rashford, Dutchman Ten Hag is being far more lenient.
And that’s chiefly because you can’t keep binning off major assets.
Sancho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mason Greenwood have all been allowed to leave during Ten Hag’s time and United’s squad got thinner in January.
They struggled at Wolves and looked weaker once Ten Hag started making subs.
I believe the manager is on thin ice and it would not surprise me if United returned to Jose Mourinho.
The Special One reckons he has unfinished business at Old Trafford and would fancy a second go at the job.
Some say Mourinho is outdated.
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But during his two full seasons at the club, they finished runners-up in the Premier League, won the Europa League and the League Cup.
United would love that sort of ‘failure’ now.
Ex-Watford star Troy Deeney tells SunSport that Rashford’s boozy Belfast night out would not have been the main issue for his club and team-matesCredit: Getty
Rashford was fined £650,000 for missing training after a night outCredit: The Sun More

TOTTENHAM defender Micky van de Ven has revealed why he chose to wear No37 when joining the club.The 22-year-old joined Spurs in a £43million transfer from Wolfsburg last summer.
Micky van de Ven has revealed why he wears No37Credit: Alamy
He quickly established himself as a crucial first team player before suffering a hamstring injury against Chelsea in November.
Van de Ven returned to action last month, making his 13th Premier League appearance.
But he raised eyebrows upon his arrival in North London when he chose to wear No37 rather than a traditional centre-back’s number.
The Dutchman recently revealed that he picked the number for a sentimental reason.
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He said: “With a friend of mine, he passed away when we were younger, and it was always his favourite number.
“So when I had the opportunity to choose No37 when I signed for Tottenham… to be honest, it’s for him.”
Van de Ven was one of several summer arrivals at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last year.
Alejo Veliz, Guglielmo Vicario, James Maddison, Manor Solomon, and Brennan Johnson also joined the club.
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Ange Postecoglou’s side currently sit fourth in the Premier League table, three points behind Arsenal.
They face Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday. More

THE Ghana FA is trying to persuade Manchester United youngster Kobbie Mainoo to switch international allegiance.Mainoo has represented England in three different age groups, but he is yet to make his senior debut.
Ghana want Kobbie Mainoo to switch international allegianceCredit: Getty
The 18-year-old is also eligible to represent Ghana, the homeland of his parents.
He regularly visits the country during his time off and the Ghana FA now want to persuade him to commit to the Black Stars.
Randy Abbey, a member of the executive council of Ghana FA, told The Times: “The Ghana Football Association is interested in monitoring, attracting, and persuading all eligible talents for its various national teams
“Kobbie is definitely one of such incredible talents, and the Association will love to work with him and many like him home and abroad.”
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England boss Gareth Southgate reportedly planned to hold talks with Mainoo at the end of last year.
Southgate desperately wants the teenager to commit his future to the Three Lions.
Mainoo made his first team breakthrough at Man Utd in November.
His first Premier League start came in a match against Everton at Goodison Park.
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Mainoo made his Man Utd first team breakthrough this season
The midfielder has since made 15 appearances across all competitions for Erik ten Hag’s side.
Mainoo scored the winning goal for United against Wolves on Thursday evening.
With the score at 3-3 he took on three players before curling the ball into the bottom-right corner.
Man Utd went on to clinch a 4-3 win.
After the match, Mainoo told TNT Sports: “It is a dream come true.
“I have still not come down from it. I still feel like I am dreaming to be honest.
“To start playing in the Premier League for my boyhood club has been amazing. Now it’s about trying to win more games.” More