As featured on NewsNow: Football news

Giulianelli: Benzema & Arsenal revisited; Why Evra quit Juventus; Dybala to Barcelona

The January transfer window has come to an end. Every supporter and every football team now are busy putting on the paper, or in their minds, their own balance sheet: was the outcome good or bad? Has it been positive or negative? The answer is up to you...

I'm not here to judge the market of any team, I just want to tell you one thing: never expect big moves in January; but always keep your ears up, because this is the moment where the teams, especially the big ones, start to build up the relationships and the deals that they will seal in the summer.

So, if your team hasn't taken a big player, don't be sad: maybe they have reserved one or two of them for next June.

Instead of crying for what hasn't happened, let's answer some of the questions that this window have asked me. And even many that you have...


How did Patrice Evra end up at Marseille? Why didn't he move back to England?

The relationship between Evra and Juventus had been over for many months and he had become separated from Max Allegri: the scream of the manager after the final lost against Milan, the famous statement about kicking the backside of the players, was mainly addressed to the former Manchester United fullback.

There had been contact with Premier League clubs, especially West Ham and Crystal Palace, but in the end Rudi Garcia worked very hard to get him to Marseille. Evra wants to show, as he has said, that he's still a good player and that he's not there to help the club sell shirts.


Why didn't it work out for Ravel Morrison at Lazio?

Nothing worked out between them: it's just like that, some marriages are born bad and keep going bad. The only solution, in those cases, is a divorce: and so it has been between Morrison and Lazio.


Will Juve keep Dybala - or will he move in the summer? Where?

I think that hardly Juventus will sell Pablo Dybala: he is the key player around whom they are planning to build the Juventus of the future.

But this future could depend on how this season will end, the Juventus path in the Champions League and the future of Allegri. I repeat, I don't think he will move; but if something will happen that could push him to go away, then I would keep an eye on Barcelona.


So could Benzema in 2017 end up at Arsenal?

I was the one who broke the news about the agreement between Arsenal and Benzema one and half years ago, so it's not a secret for me that Arsene Wenger wants him a lot and that Karim would appreciate much going there.

But there are already many months until this summer and everything can change. First of all Arsenal will have to decide if they'll keep working with Wenger, who has to decide if he wants to keep with the Gunners. From this decision will come the other ones.


Tell us a little about Suleiman Abdullahi at Spezia, is it just Real Madrid and Barca who want him? What about English clubs?

Eighteen years old, attacking winger, Suleiman Abdullahi has come to La Spezia from the Academy of Abuja, Nigeria.

The young player has attracted the attention of the two biggest clubs of Spain, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Even if he hasn't already made his debut with the first team of Spezia in Serie B, he has scored 5 goals in 14 matches with Primavera; and Real Madrid felt in love with him when he scored two goals against them in a youth tournament in Zagreb.

The experts are ready to bet that he has the potential to become a top player: and even the Blancos and the Blaugrana are ready to do the same thing.

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