The Warm-Up: Salah announced, England's serene progress
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Updated 23/06/2017 at 07:53 GMT
Liverpool have broken their club record, while England Under-21s just keep marching on.
A volunteer takes a selfie with Egypt's Mohamed Salah
Image credit: Reuters
FRIDAY'S BIG HEADLINES
Liverpool have finally expunged a never spoken about period of their recent history with Mohamed Salah joining the club from Roma for £39 million and removing all mention of previous record signing Andy Carroll from the history books. Well, not completely: we'll always have those six Premier League goals.
The worst-kept secret at Melwood this summer was finally confirmed by Liverpool yesterday evening in a now traditional social media onslaught, replete with its own hashtag, the slightly awkwardly phrased #AnnouncedSalah. The big reveal itself was very meta indeed:
One of the 18 Twitter posts which followed - yes, really - pointed to an interview with the club's TV channel where Salah spoke of his delight at moving from Roma and returning to the Premier League. In fact, the word "excited" was used no less than 10 times.
Jurgen Klopp was no less effusive about the forward, who adds even more pace and threat to one of the most dangerous attacks in England.
He believes in what we are trying to do here at Liverpool and is extremely keen to be part of it. He is very excited about performing for our wonderful supporters. He is an ambitious player who wants to win and win at the highest level; he knows he can fulfil those ambitions with Liverpool.
Now to sort out that defence.
England continue a very un-English summer
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England's midfielder Nathan Redmond (2nd L) celebrates scoring his side second goal with his teammates (L-R) Ben Chilwell, Nathaniel Chalobach, and Jacob Murphy
Image credit: Getty Images
Congratulations to Andy Boothroyd and his England U21s, who made it into the semi-finals of the European Championship thanks to a 3-0 win over Poland on Thursday evening. Leicester City winger Demarai Gray opened the scoring, with Jacob Murphy and Lewis Baker also on the scoresheet.
Coming so soon after the U20s won their World Cup, it's encouraging to see another young England team play with belief and, importantly, control. Just listen to how Gray talked about England's game management:
It was a very professional performance, we stuck to the game plan and we had a few injuries and adjustments to deal with, but everybody played well and stuck to their job. In the second half we had to get another goal to kill it and once we did, we controlled the game. Part of the game plan was to defend well and counter and we did that so we could then play at our own tempo.
That's how you do international football. The Warm-Up can't wait to see how this impressive maturity and awareness gets drummed out of them in the senior set-up and a talented group of young players get infected with crippling pressure and doubt.
Sanchez sets new record at Confederations Cup
Alexis Sanchez is now Chile's all-time record goalscorer after his 38th international goal took him clear of 90s cult hero Marcelo Salas and helped his country to a 1-1 draw with Germany in the Confederations Cup
Lars Stindl equalised for the Europeans with a well-constructed team move.
Lovely.
IN OTHER NEWS
It was the NBA draft last night, which produced this gem of a social media fail. It's the basketball equivalent of Victor Anichebe's 'can you tweet something like', and it is glorious.
HAT TIP
The market can move values, of course, but so can the environment. Last year, when Newcastle United was relegated from the Premier League, it knew it would have to cash in on its two most saleable assets, the French midfielder Moussa Sissoko and the Dutch wing Georginio Wijnaldum. Privately, the club believed that 15 million pounds would be a healthy price for each player. When Real Madrid inquired about Sissoko and suggested, without prompting, that it would be prepared to pay twice that, Newcastle duly increased its valuation. When news media reports suggested that Wijnaldum might fetch 25 million pounds — and his two most active suitors, Everton and Liverpool, were not deterred — Newcastle did the same with him. Both players soon departed, each at the new prices.
The New York Times have an excellent piece by Rory Smith on the haywire transfer market and how prices are set seemingly at random. It's a good primer for the summer ahead of us.
RETRO CORNER
As Salah returns to the Premier League, what better opportunity to shoehorn in a video of one of his Egyptian predecessors, Hossam Ghaly, greeting the news of being substituted as a substitute by tossing his Spurs shirt to the floor in 2007.
COMING UP
The European Under-21 Championship continues with Spain taking on Serbia and Portugal playing Macedonia. Both of those games kick off at 7.45pm on Sky Sports.
Monday's child is fair of face, except when it's Adam Hurrey and he's up early to write The Warm-Up.
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