AGL apathy

Rewind a decade and Al Hilal’s right wing was lit up by a dash of blond. Christian Wilhelmsson was produced by Sweden, but discovered his footballing home in Saudi Arabia. A nomadic career had taken him to seven different clubs in seven different countries – a list that includes Belgium’s Anderlecht, France’s Nantes, Italy’s Roma and England’s Bolton Wanderers – from 1997. That is, until an “unexpected call” arrived in August 2008. Few Europeans then made such an intrepid switch.

Chelsea currently find themselves in the middle of a series of unfortunate events. The Blues are out of the direct European qualification spots in the Premier League table after managing just two wins in the last five games. They are also banned from signing players for the next two transfer windows and the players are not enjoying a particularly amicable relationship with the manager. Gonzalo Higuain could be a victim of the fallout, but it is partly due to his own inability to perform at Chelsea.

England manager Gareth Southgate was saddened and dismayed by “unacceptable” racist abuse endured by his players in Montenegro and vowed to report it to UEFA. This was always likely to be a difficult evening for the Three Lions, whose players were made aware of what could lie in store in Podgorica by the management team in the build-up. Southgate said there had been “no evidence of any racism” on the eve of the game, but sadly that changed in Monday’s Euro 2020 qualifier at the Gradski Stadion.