July 04, 2017
e are given to believe that Premier League managers are becoming as impatient as Premier League fans, with Antonio Conte, Jürgen Klopp, Rafael Benítez, José Mourinho and Mauricio Pochettino among those already reported at some point this summer to be close to flouncing off in anger at their club’s failure to land all their transfer targets. We are in the first week of July. So far this impatience seems to be confined to transfer dealings but the way this unreasonableness is going, don’t be surprised to see Conte booing his own substitutions if Chelsea are trailing in the Community Shield or Sean Dyche waving a white hankie at himself if Burnley concede a late goal on the opening day of the season.
As for Arsène Wenger, well, presumably he’s at Elstree Aerodome as we speak, taking flying lessons so that he can personally pilot a plane dragging a Sack the Board banner if Arsenal don’t get a big deal over the line soon. Granted, an announcement of the signing of Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon may be just hours away but these are fast-moving times and people who love Arsenal must be already fretting about missing out on the next targets: for example, why the heck is Riyad Mahrez still at Leicester? And is it really true, as reported today, that Arsenal are plotting a £70m double-swoop for Sporting Lisbon’s William Carvalhoand Gelson Martins? If it is, why hasn’t it been done yet? Waah! Waaaaaaah!
