Box-office concerns dominate European game

The Independent’s football newsletter [The Independent]( October 07, 2022 [View in browser](   [The Independent]( [The Independent]( Box-office concerns dominate European game Haaland: difficult to stop, but going nowhere for a long time Pressure is growing again on Ralph Hasenhuttl at Southampton - and some believe he may be gone before the World Cup - which makes it a timely weekend to be facing the Premier League’s greatest test. The Austrian has to figure out how to stop[Erling Haaland](. It is something that now obsesses analytics departments in the build-up to weeks where they face [Manchester City.]( The current belief - nay, acceptance - is that there is always a way he is going to get you. If you try and isolate him, it just releases other attackers to eventually open the space for one of those tap-ins. If you try cut off the supply, he just gets in behind, with someone like Kevin De Bruyne supplying the passes. And then of course if all else fails, [Haaland has the physical and technical capabilities to just smash the ball in the net](. It is now increasingly likely [he breaks 40 goals in the Premier League this season](, and probably many more records. The wonder is whether he’ll get bored of the challenge in England, but then there is something inevitable about his future, too - and not just because of the false claims in Spain that he has a clause to go to Real Madrid. There’s first of all the fact that the Premier League is currently set to be the biggest show in the game for some time, which makes it the natural home for someone who wants to be the sport’s next megastar. There’s then the manner in which City ensure their top figures are content, so stay for a long time. You only have to consider how they never sold a Sergio Aguero or a David Silva against the club's will. [Even Pep Guardiola has already stayed]( for double the time anticipated, at six years. There’s been no sabbatical this time. It’s an ominous thought for the rest of the division, all the more so because Haaland gives City that box-office quality that they had been missing. Someone had better figure out something soon. The next best thing to watch after Haaland Haaland isn’t the only must-watch element in European football right now. There’s also an electric [Napoli team](, and especially Khvicha Kvaratshkelia. Their form is all the more impressive given it had been anticipated this would be a transitional season for the club, after the loss of so many senior players in the summer. It is instead possible that the turnover, and the introduction of young players like Kvaratshkelia, might have actually perfectly suited Luciano Spalletti’s livewire approach. It’s of course hard to know whether it is sustainable, and this may represent a real chance for a first title since Diego Maradona and 1990, but that’s almost beside the point right now. They are there to be enjoyed. They are must-watch. It’s also not like no one was watching Kvaratshkelia, either. [Tottenham Hotspur]( were very close to him in the summer. Bid for 2030 could be more political than Qatar [Spain-Portugal announced their 2030 World Cup bid]( on Wednesday with a gesture that was genuinely a surprise, and a positive, and sets a few other things in motion. There had been expectation that the Iberian plan would include games in Uruguay, both to recognise the centenary of the World Cup and harden Uefa’s new alliance with Conmebol. They instead went in another direction, and included Ukraine, in a move that will carry an obvious emotional sway. Government sources have actually stated that this was something to be expected with Ukrainian sport in the long-term. They believed that it would build up to a West Germany/west Berlin situation where there would be incentives to stage hugely attractive sporting events there to make it look all the more positive, against Russia. It means there is going to be considerable intrigue for the 2030 process. At least two of the bids will have genuine emotional aspects attached. There is this, with Ukraine, as well as the attractiveness of just staging it in Spain and Portugal. There is now renewed expectation of a Uruguay-Argentina-Paraguay bid to recognise the centenary. There is then a political momentum towards Saudi Arabia-Egypt-Greece. The current Fifa regime has a strong relationship with Saudi Arabia - despite the kingdom’s political rivalry with Qatar - [and many observers expect a will to bring the World Cup there](. That might seem a surprise, given it would bring all the same debates about Qatar (human rights, sportswashing, winter World Cup) yet multiplied but that is the current chatter. It might yet mean this is the most political bidding process yet. Perez's big statement has one curious passage The new movements behind a [European Super League]( will be dealt with in more detail by the Independent over the next few weeks but, for the moment, it’s worth picking up on one thing Florentino Perez said in his latest speech relaunching the project. It perhaps speaks to his mindset. The Real Madrid president came out with the following. “Football used to be the top sport; now it has been widely overtaken by American sport.” That will come as a surprise to… virtually every US investor. The truth is that there is something of a gold rush right now, with consortiums and billionaires from across the Atlantic almost falling over themselves to buy [European clubs](or set up multi-club projects. They have realised that football is not just the most popular sport in the world, but may be the most powerful cultural force the world has ever seen, in the sense of how many borders it crosses. It may be more popular than Elvis or the Beatles in that regard. That is being reflected in the number of US ownerships or attempted buy-outs. It is widely expected that both the Premier League and Serie A will have US owners as considerable majorities in the next few years. They feel it is still a sport rife with potential. The next Hasenhuttl? With at least four Premier League clubs currently considering managerial changes, one to watch as a newcomer is Mainz coach Bo Svensson. The Dane is attracting a fair bit of interest for his football.   Top stories [Mikel Arteta’s table-topping Arsenal will resonate with Jurgen Klopp over early Liverpool struggles]( [Nottingham Forest hand head coach Steve Cooper surprise new contract](   Miguel's Dispatches AC Milan may not have too many star names in their team these days, but they still have plenty in the wider entourage. Paolo Maldini was on the Stamford Bridge pitch before the game as a club executive, but there were also figures like [Alessandro Costacurta]( and Clarence Seedorf doing press or there in ambassadorial roles. Many were sat in front of the press box, and it was instructive to see how people - even some influential football individuals - still respond to these genuine legends of the game. There is still an awe of them. Gianfranco Zola was certainly delighted to be placed beside Seedorf.     QUOTE OF THE WEEK "He has no release clause for Real Madrid or any other team. It’s not true, what can I say? I have the feeling he is incredibly happy here and we will try to make him happy." Pep Guardiola on the free-scoring Erling Haaland   Reading the game quiz Reading the game quiz Arsenal-Liverpool is the highest-scoring fixture in Premier League history, with that record also fortified by six hat-tricks. Name the players responsible for those triples, and the seasons they did it in. 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