Frost in the air ahead of EU-Russia summit

Trade disputes will be top of the agenda as battle continues over reform of visa rules.

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, will visit Brussels on Friday (21 December) for what is likely to be a very frosty summit with the EU, with both sides saying they are prepared to turn to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to resolve their differences. 

When the WTO agreed in November 2011 that Russia could become a member, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said that accession would take Russia’s relationship with the EU, its biggest trading partner, “to a qualitatively new level”. However, since formally joining the WTO in August, Russia has – according to Karel De Gucht, the EU’s trade commissioner – continued to impose tariffs on “hundreds” of goods, to ban imports of live animals from the EU, and has imposed fees on car imports.

Speaking on 13 December, De Gucht described Russia’s behaviour as “unacceptable” and indicated that the EU could refer Russia to the WTO.

“Next week we have a summit meeting with Mr Putin in Brussels, but if they do not remedy what they have been – how do I say it? – wrongdoing in recent months we will have to take action,” he said.

Russia, for its part, is threatening to refer to the WTO its dispute with the European Commission over the EU’s third energy package, which has since 2009 barred energy suppliers from also controlling distribution networks. Its energy minister, Aleksandr Novak, said on 12 December that Russia would ask the EU to give Gazprom a waiver.

Energy pressures

Tensions in the energy relationship have heightened in recent months. In September, the European Commission opened formal investigations into three types of alleged market abuse by Gazprom in central and eastern Europe. In October, Günther Oettinger, the energy commissioner, accused Russia of “pure blackmail” in demanding that Moldova abandon the European Energy Community in exchange for lower gas prices.

De Gucht and Oettinger will attend the summit alongside the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy, and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton.

Both Russia and the EU had said that they hoped Russia’s WTO accession would be a breakthrough in efforts to create a framework agreement for relations with Russia to replace a partnership and co-operation agreement, which lapsed in 2007. Putin’s return to the presidency in May was also seen as offering an opportunity to “inject momentum” into the relationship, as an EU official put it in June. There were also hopes that a summit last December could lead to some progress on visa liberalisation, with the launch of a ‘common steps’ programme. However, a dispute has flared this year over Russia’s demand that holders of ‘service passports’ – government employees – should be able to travel into the EU without visas. Russia followed up that demand by ending visa-free access for European airline crews, and in November Anvar Azimov, its chief negotiator on EU issues, said that Russia would find “adequate and asymmetric” ways to “strike” at the EU if it does not remove visa restrictions on Russians by the time Russia holds the winter Olympics in February 2014.

Putin’s return has also seen a deterioration in the climate for human-rights organisations in Russia. All Russian non-governmental organisations that receive some funding from abroad are now required to describe themselves as “foreign agents”, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was forced to leave the country in September because of its alleged “attempts to influence political processes through its grants”.

The Kremlin had also made clear that it would like to downgrade the role of human rights in its relationship with the EU, by cancelling the second ‘human-rights consultation’ of the year with the EU. It later rescinded that decision, and the consultations took place on 7 December.

Syria

Leaders will also consider international issues, chief among them the situation in Syria. Russia, which has armed the regime of Bashar Assad and defended it at the UN, has in the past week indicated some wavering in its position. Its deputy foreign minister has said that Assad’s forces are losing control. Russia has sent warships to the Mediterranean. This is seen as preparation for an evacuation of its citizens. Two Russians were recently abducted, Moscow said on Monday (17 December).

Greek Cypriots elect Anastasiades to presidency

New conservative president and head of government promises to secure a bail-out swiftly.

Nicos Anastasiades, a conservative, was yesterday (24 February) elected president of Cyprus, beating his left-wing opponent by 15 percentage points and ending five years of left-wing rule over the divided island’s ethnic-Greek community.

Anastasiades, who has led the Democratic Rally (DISY) party for the past 15 years, won 46% of the votes cast in the first round on 17 February, and he boosted that figure to 57.5% yesterday to beat off the challenge of Stavros Malas, an independent backed by the Communist Party of outgoing president Demetris Christofias. Support for Malas rose from 27% in the first round, suggesting that he secured the backing of most of those who had voted in the first round for George Lillikas, an independent candidate backed by a small left-wing party.

The new president, who will also serve as the head of government, has said that he will resume talks immediately with a troika of international creditors – the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank – on a €17 billion bail-out package.

On Friday (22 February), the European Commission revised its economic forecasts for Cyprus downwards and believes a prolonged recession is on the cards. It expects Cyprus’s economy to contract by 3.5% this year, owing to the EU’s economic problems and austerity measures taken to secure a bail-out. It forecasts unemployment to be 13.7% at the end of the year. Cyprus’s problems stem from Cypriot banks’ heavy exposure to Greece.

Cyprus has been talking with the troika about a bail-out since June. In the meantime, it has received a €2.5 billion loan from Russia, with which Cyprus has strong ties, and has taken loans from state-owned companies.

The troika believes that the Cypriot economy is overly dependent on the financial sector and is demanding that the banking sector be restructured. That could entail losses for customers and could unsettle investors in other EU countries with financial difficulties. The focus on the banking system has also raised the prominence of long-standing claims that Cypriot banks are frequently used to launder money. The outgoing Cypriot government has insisted that its record stands up well in international comparisons.

Joseph Daul, the leader of the conservative European People’s Party in the European Parliament, highlighted one of a number of advantages that Anastasiades is seen as having over his predecessor: support from abroad. “I am convinced that Nicos Anastasiades long-standing experience and strong international network, together with his new coalition government, will succeed in implementing the necessary reforms towards the reconstruction of a new European future for the island,” he said. Anastasiades has forged close ties with centre-right leaders across Europe and was endorsed by Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor. By contrast, Christofias – the EU’s only Communist leader – was often isolated.

José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, interpreted Anastasiades’s victory as “a strong mandate to implement his programme of reform and do what it takes to ensure fiscal and financial stability”.

Click Here: All Blacks Rugby Jersey

It remains unclear, however, whether Anastasiades will be prepared to accept a large privatisation programme, amounting possibly to €2bn, that is being advocated by the troika.

In Cyprus’s political system, the president is head of the government and Anastasiades, whose party is the largest in parliament, will spend much of the coming week forming a new cabinet. Early reports from Cyprus suggest that Michael Sarris, who has worked with the World Bank, is likely to return to the post of finance minister, a position he held in 2005-08. The new foreign minister is widely expected to be Ioannis Kasoulides, a member of the European Parliament who was the candidate of Anastasiades’s party in presidential elections in 2008 and served as foreign minister in 1997-2003.

Cyprus’s financial difficulties have overtaken the division of the island as the main political issue in Cyprus. But there are hopes that stalled reunification talks with the Turkish-occupied north of the island could get a boost from the election of Anastasiades, who supported a United Nations reunification plan that was rejected by the Greek Cypriots in 2004.

Anastasiades has already indicated one significant change of tack in foreign policy, saying that Cyprus will apply to join NATO’s Partnership for Peace.

Parliament seeks shortfall guarantee

An eleventh-hour deal struck on the EU’s finances for 2013.

The European Union’s budget for 2013 is set to be signed into law within a week, after its adoption by member states’ interior ministers in Brussels today. The European Parliament’s plenary in Strasbourg is scheduled to vote on the €133 billion budget on Wednesday (12 December), following a vote in the budgets committee on Monday (10 December). The budget emerged from emergency negotiations between member states, the European Commission and MEPs on Thursday (29 November) and foresees €150.9bn in commitments and €132.8bn in payments (instead of €151.1bn and €137.8bn proposed by the Commission).

However, the Parliament is still seeking stronger guarantees that the member states will plug spending holes in the 2012 and 2013 budgets. Martin Schulz, the president of the Parliament, warned yesterday (5 December) that the plenary will approve the budget only if “the highest levels of the institutions” deliver guarantees that €3bn in payments rolled over from 2012 will be covered by the EU’s member states, in addition to the agreed budget of €133bn.

He has asked President Demetris Christofias of Cyprus, the current holder of the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers, to sign such a guarantee ahead of the vote in the budgets committee, together with José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission. A spokesman for Cyprus said that Christofias would sign the declaration.

Top-up funds

The sum of €3bn is part of a €9bn top-up request from Janusz Lewandowski, the European commissioner for financial programming and budget, to cover payment shortfalls in the 2012 budget – a request that derailed budget talks earlier last month. The deal struck last week adds €6 billion to the budget for 2012 and rolls over €2.9bn into 2013 (while €100 million will come from the Commission having pared back requests).

Schulz is now seeking water-tight guarantees that the member states will indeed find the money to cover the shortfall.

The gap mostly concerns structural funds. €1.5bn is for the closure of programmes from the previous programming period, 2000-06, where it is deemed that the delay has already been so great that further delay is not critical. €1.4bn is for projects where payments are currently suspended, pending checks.

While the Greens and some of the centre-left group of Socialists and Democrats – which was formerly led by Schulz – are unhappy with the budget, its adoption does not appear to be in question, despite Schulz’s bid for strong guarantees.

Click Here: NRL Telstra Premiership

MEPs threaten to derail budget deal

MEPs can approve or reject the MFF.

The real negotiations will start now with the European Parliament,” said the leaders of the four main political groups in the Parliament just moments after the leaders of the 27 member states had struck a deal on the European Union’s long-term budget last Friday (8 February). The member states can agree on whatever they want, but without the consent of the Parliament, such an agreement is meaningless, the message suggested.

Formally, MEPs have the power to approve or reject last week’s deal once it has been recast as draft legislation (see below). But the threat to reject it gives them leverage in the negotiations with Ireland (holder of the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers) and the European Commission.

For that leverage to work, the threat needs credibility, and that hinges on MEPs’ capacity to resist instructions from their national capitals to back the summit deal. MEPs are under “a lot of pressure”, Martin Schulz, the president of the Parliament, said after his discussion at the European Council on Thursday. In order to protect MEPs from that pressure, Schulz announced that a move was under way to allow a secret vote in plenary on the budget. “There will be a request for a secret vote,” Schulz said, and suggested that the requirements for such a request to be valid – the signatures of 151 MEPs – would be met.

Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, a Dutch Liberal MEP and a member of the budgetary control committee, believes the secret ballot is a bad idea – indeed, “one of the most ridiculous ideas that I have ever heard in Parliament”. He conceded that there was pressure from national governments on MEPs. But, he said, parliamentarians “should always be transparent and open in the decisions they take”.

“They have to be politically accountable,” he said. “What are you worth as a politician if you are not able to stand up to pressure, from non-governmental organisations, from political parties, from member states? This is part of your job: to stand by your ideas and to be strong.”

But the possibility of a secret ballot will reinforce the threat that MEPs might reject the entire budget deal, and could help the Parliament to extract a host of concessions from the member states. In anticipation of these demands, the member states included two provisions in last week’s deal: there would be a mid-term review of the long-term budget, and there would be “specific and maximum possible flexibility” of allocations, across years and across budget headings.

In essence, this would allow unused funds to be re-allocated elsewhere instead of being transferred back to the member states at the end of each budget year, as is currently the case.

These two concessions are not enough, warned Alain Lamassoure, a French centre-right MEP who chairs the influential budgets committee: “It is impossible for us to agree as the deal stands now.” He indicated that the Parliament had two main concerns: the first is political – “we want more money” – and the second is institutional, he said.

 

Irrespective of the figures agreed at the European Council, the heads of state and government have exceeded their powers by adopting such detailed conclusions, he said. The decisions of the government leaders have political significance, but no legal standing, he argued, and EU leaders have “encroached on the powers of the European Parliament given [to it] by the [Treaty of] Lisbon”.

Click Here: NRL Telstra Premiership

He suggested that MEPs are “in no hurry” to agree the MFF regulation and could instead simply approve the sectoral agreements that make the framework operational, so that no programmes would be interrupted on 1 January 2014.

Lamassoure dismissed a review clause as meaningless if it did not lead to an actual revision of the budget ceilings, “opening up the whole deal, revenue and expenditure side, with qualified majority voting among the member states” so that no single government can block the process.

This is also one of the demands made by the leaders of the four largest groups – Joseph Daul from the centre-right European People’s Party, Hannes Swoboda from the centre-left Socialists and Democrats, Guy Verhofstadt from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, and Rebecca Harms and Daniel Cohn-Bendit from the Greens.

A full-blown re-opening of the deal is highly unlikely, for political and procedural reasons. MEPs are therefore likely to focus on their other core demand, of added flexibility in shifting unspent funds between headings and budget years, again with qualified majority voting in the Council. They are also expected to make another bid for lowering the EU’s dependence on member states’ contributions by beefing up the ‘own resources’, notably from a tax on financial transactions.

Europe’s solar industry at war

Industry split by prospect of EU action against China.

When Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, arrived in Beijing on 30 August last year, rumours were swirling that the European Commission was about to launch an investigation into China’s solar-panel industry. Merkel took up the issue publicly, saying that it would be best to avoid a trade war. For a moment, the concerns of the Chinese – and in Europe’s solar industry – were allayed. But the Commission pushed on regardless, announcing an investigation on 6 September.

The Commission says it is legally obliged to open an investigation if – as in this case – an industry provides evidence that products are being dumped. Critics of the complaint, which was lodged by ProSun, the alliance of 44 or so companies, suggest it could have questioned the submission more rigorously. But, either way, the European Commission is now at the centre of a trade case that is massive in financial terms – China sold €21 billion of solar panels and components to the EU in 2011 – and vitally important in policy terms, since both for the EU and for China clean energy is a priority.

History might suggest that ProSun starts with an advantage: last May, the United States slapped tariffs on Chinese solar panels (in the case of some companies, the duties were 200%). But opponents of the complaint – including the 60 European companies from across the industry that attended a Commission hearing on Monday (18 February) – are pinning their case on a clause not in US trade policy: EU trade regulations recognise that ‘the Community interest’ – the EU’s greater good – is an argument for not imposing penalties, even if someone’ interest were damaged.

Just how much damage Chinese manufacturers might have caused – or could now cause – to the European industry is a point of contention. ProSun argues that Europe could lose hundreds of thousands of jobs if no action is taken. “The numbers in that study are bullshit,” is, however, the assessment of Thorsten Preugschas of Soventix, a German builder and operator of solar plants.

Instead, Preugschas points to a study presented to the Commission on Monday by the Swiss research company Prognos. Duties would reduce demand, with knock-on effects down to local installers, the most labour-heavy part of the industry.

Depending on whether duties on solar modules were 20% or 60%, Prognos believes that 145,000 to 269,800 jobs could be lost over three years and the European economy would lose an aggregate of €18.4bn-€33.8bn in valued added.

Some parts of the industry might gain – but only enough to add 15,000-58,000 jobs. Duties of 60% (about the level that ProSun is asking for) would halve the market.

The impact would be compounded if China were to retaliate. There is widespread expectation that such retaliation would be rapid, reinforced by China’s decision in November to file a case with the World Trade Organization accusing some EU states of favouring EU producers of solar-energy equipment.

However, Germany’s Wacker Chemie, a producer of polysilicone, a high-quality energy conductor, is more concerned about the impact on the market.

“Duties would result in long-term economic losses for the EU economy that would be much greater than any short-term benefit for the small number of EU wafer, cell and module producers,” its chief executive, Rudolf Staudigl, says.

For opponents of duties, to shrink a strategic market and risk a trade war is a high price to pay for an investigation based on a questionable price calculation: in assessing whether prices are at ‘dumping’ levels, the Commission uses the US as an ‘analogue’, or point of reference – a mistake, some argue, because the US market is small.

There is another ‘community interest’ that they believe is at risk. After years of subsidies, the solar-energy industry is now competitive with other energy industries.

“Grid parity is almost here and we are looking at pulling back from that golden moment,” says Jodie Roussel of Trinar Solar, a multinational with Chinese origins. It would be perverse, she and others argue, for the EU to make it harder to reach its goal of generating 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

The Commission is also considering whether China is subsidising its solar-panel producers unfairly. The two aspects of the investigation may be separate, but in assessments both the dumping and subsidy aspects are partly shaped by the history of how the European and Chinese solar industries emerged and the role played by subsidies.

In Europe, countries eager to nurture a nascent clean-energy industry subsidised solar-panel producers heavily – mainly through ‘feed-in tariffs’ that guaranteed prices for solar power. In China, a centrally dictated demand for cleaner energy triggered a wave of investment, often involving members of local political elites. Both in China and the EU, the solar-energy markets and industries have matured dramatically. As well as making solar energy competitive with other sources, price drops are squeezing margins in Europe, taking some firms to the wall.

To cope with competition, price volatility and policy uncertainty, those parts of the European industry exposed to international competition are internationalising their businesses. In China, the market is also consolidating and a “wild East” of small, cheap producers is being tamed.

One side-effect is that, to recoup some of their investment, some producers have been selling off stock at low prices, members of the European industry acknowledge.

But Soventix’s Thorsten Preugschas suggests it would be “unfair” to ignore the role that the EU’s own subsidies played in China. “We [the EU] created this market” and “we screamed for [China] to get volumes in place”.

If China has invested more heavily – and created economies of scale – to ensure that its producers’ costs are low, they should not be blamed. From this perspective, in imposing duties, the Commission would be fighting a battle that has already been lost, and in the process would jeopardise victories that European companies could still win, in higher-value parts of the industry.

Many in the industry now describe their business as a ‘financial product’. That is a view of subsidies shaped by the industry’s history. But what if China is now using subsidies in a different way, not to nurture a domestic industry that is important for climate-policy reasons, but, rather, for use as an offensive weapon to conquer foreign markets?

Paulette Vander Schueren, a lawyer with Mayer Brown, says that the scope of the Commission’s investigation into subsidies is broad enough to include trade credits. If the Commission decides that trade credits and other easy money are part of a strategic industrial policy, the debate about the two cases could be re-framed as a battle over what is in the EU’s greater interest – to leave the solar industry alone, or to use these cases to halt aggressive policies by China.

The Commission has until the end of this year to decide whether China is dumping solar panels and offering subsidies. Opponents of duties are suggesting at least three options.

Soventix’s Preugschas argues that the market should be left to do its work. Wacker Chemie believes that the EU should ask the World Trade Organization (WTO) to organise a formal dialogue with China on developing the global renewable-energy market. SEMI, a global association for the micro- and nano-electronics industries, thinks that the solar industry, rather than governments, should push for a global solution.

But it could be that the case will become part of a broader debate about how to bring China to the negotiating table on bigger-picture trade issues.

The EU has long wanted to persuade China to submit its trade credits to the disciplines of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The possibility that the WTO could in December 2016 recognise China as a market economy – making it harder to bring anti-dumping measures – could add urgency to trade strategists’ thinking.

The stakes are high. Soventix’s Preugschas suggests they are extremely high: “Will there be a dawn of a solar century or a severe consolidation of the market?”

What is certain is that until the end of the year, when the Commission will announce its decisions in both the dumping and subsidy cases, a fast-changing and volatile industry will be unsettled by two big questions: What might the EU want to achieve with this case? And how significant will the EU’s market be in the next few years?

A former Red believes a promising English winger needs to show more “consistency” in order to earn a big-money move to Anfield

John Barnes has welcomed the prospect of Jadon Sancho arriving at Liverpool this summer, but says the Borussia Dortmund star would have to be content with a bit-part role in Jurgen Klopp’s side at this stage of his career.

Sancho is currently enjoying another superb season with Dortmund, helping the team fight for the Bundesliga title and success in the Champions League.

The 19-year-old has racked up 34 appearances across all competitions, scoring 17 goals, while attracting plenty more attention from some of the world’s biggest clubs.

More teams

A move to the Premier League has been mooted for the England international when the transfer market reopens, with Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool all reported to be interested in his services.

Despite his tender age, Sancho is reportedly already being valued at around £100 million ($129m), which means the Reds would have to smash their transfer record in order to lure him away from Westfalenstadion.

Click Here: new zealand rugby team jerseys

Barnes is not certain the teenage winger has justified such a price tag yet, and doesn’t think he would slot straight into Liverpool’s line-up given the fact Klopp already has Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino at his disposal up front.

The Anfield legend told BonusCodeBets: “If Jadon Sancho is willing to come to Liverpool and not play every week and sit on the bench, then absolutely he should come to Liverpool. But I always tell young players to be careful and play at a high level for four-five years before moving to a bigger club.

“Salah and Mane have been around for four or five seasons now and have shown their quality and experience, whereas Sancho has been around for 18 months and needs to show that consistency over a three-year period before he costs £100 million to a huge club. That doesn’t happen in modern football anymore, nowadays, if you are young and have just one good season, someone is going to spend £80 million-plus on you.

“I would advise Jadon Sancho to develop more and show that level of consistency before he is going to be put under a lot of pressure by being a £100 million player playing at one of the biggest clubs in the world.”

One man Barnes does feel is capable of forcing his way into Liverpool’s front three is RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner, who has made no secret of his admiration for the Merseyside outfit.

The 24-year-old has hit 21 goals in 25 Bundesliga outings for Julian Nagelsmann’s side this term, and is expected to move on to pastures new later in the year.

“Timo Werner would be good competition for Mane or Salah,” said Barnes. “It is more of a question about keeping the current group of players rather than going to sign new players.

“In football, it is likely that a team could lose some of the players in the summer, you never know what is going to happen.

“Right now, I would be thinking about forgetting the plans for the summer and focus on winning the league this year and finish the season strong, and then worry about what is going to happen in the summer.”

Liverpool are currently gearing up for a Champions League last-16 second-leg showdown against Atletico Madrid, as they aim to win Europe’s top prize for a second successive year.

The Premier League title will almost certainly be heading to Anfield come May, with only two wins standing between the Reds and an elusive piece of silverware, and Barnes is of the opinion that domestic glory is more important than continental success.

“Liverpool have not won the Premier League in over 30 years,” he added. “Last year, beating Barcelona and winning the Champions League was a bonus.

“I would take winning the Premier League over the Champions League every single time. Winning the Premier League for Liverpool will be absolutely immense.”

The 18-year-old made his Premier League debut against Everton but is yet to put pen to paper on a new contract despite ongoing talks

Few academies are getting a better showcase this season than Chelsea’s. Whether by choice or forced by the club’s transfer ban, Frank Lampard has turned to numerous homegrown talents in a bid to maintain the Blues’ status among the European elite.

The latest to earn their opportunity was Billy Gilmour, whose star turns in midfield against both Liverpool and Everton in front of live television audiences in the UK should ensure that he becomes a household name sooner rather than later.

Gilmour, of course, does not have the same history as some of Chelsea’s other young players in terms of his upbringing, with the Scot having been brought to west London from Rangers in 2017.

The next midfielder off the rank at Cobham, however, could not be more different.

Tino Anjorin joined Chelsea at Under-7s level, and has worked his way through the various age groups to now be on the cusp of earning a regular berth in Lampard’s first-team squad.

A physically imposing presence who has been compared to Ruben Loftus-Cheek due to his stature, 18-year-old Anjorin has been the shining light in Chelsea’s youth team this season, contributing 11 goals and six assists thus far.

Born to a football-obsessed family of Nigerian heritage, Anjorin was christened Faustino to pay homage to former Newcastle and Colombia forward Faustino Asprilla. It is a tradition that has run through the family, with his younger brother named Zico after the Brazilian legend.

His father, Sheriff, has played the lead role in overseeing his development, and revealed that he has been overpowering opponents from a very early age.

“When he was three-and-a-half, he went and joined in a training session with six-year-olds,” Anjorin senior told Goal. “He was dribbling better and shooting with more power than those older than him.

“It was like he had been beamed back down to earth as a complete player overnight!

“After that, he was always the standout player; people knew him before he even knew how to spell his name. He is a goalscoring midfielder in the Frank Lampard mould. Lampard was one of his idols, but so were Lionel Messi and Zinedine Zidane.

“He has a high level of technical ability, great finishing quality and a great passing range. We felt that the Chelsea environment was perfect for Tino.

“It has really stretched him. The training has always been harder than the matches, he’s highly competitive and he just wants to get on the pitch and beat his opponent.”

Having progressed through Blues’ academy, Anjorin was part of the Under-18s side which won an unprecedented quadruple in 2018, with only the UEFA Youth League alluding him of the major trophies available to young players in England.

The Poole-born teenager made his first team bow in late September against Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup while his first Premier League appearance came on Sunday as he stepped off the bench for the closing stages of the 4-0 win over Everton.

Though he was overshadowed by the performance of Gilmour, it was clear that Anjorin will not struggle in senior football given his frame, though – like Loftus-Cheek – it has played a role in him picking up more injuries than he would have liked in his early career.

He also needs to work on building up both his speed and acceleration when running if he is to take the next step and become a regular first-team footballer at the top level.

Whether he makes that step at Chelsea or elsewhere, however, is up in the air somewhat.

With the Blues looking to tie down a number of their prodigious young talents, the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori have all signed new contracts over the past 12 months.

Anjorin, however, has not been able to agree terms, and as such is now just over three months away from entering the final year of his current deal. Talks have been ongoing regarding a renewal for some time, with the Blues having previously been confident pen would be put to paper sooner rather than later.

Their interest in Birmingham City starlet Jude Bellingham, who is being heavily linked with Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund, has further slowed matters, and there is some concern another of the club’s brightest prospects may follow in the footsteps of Tariq Lamptey – who joined Brighton in January – and leave.

Chelsea must now fight to show Anjorin that he is in the right place to further his development, and handing the England youth international more first-team opportunities will likely help. But should they fail to tie him down then there is set to be a long list of suitors for one of the most impressive teenage footballers the Premier League currently has to offer.

The Blancos have revealed that a member of their basketball team has tested positive for Covid-19, leading to a complete shutdown in activity

Real Madrid have revealed that a member of their basketball team has tested positive for coronavirus, forcing the whole club to be quarantined.  

The Blancos’ football squads share the same training facility as members of the basketball ranks.

With that in mind, precautionary measures are being taken to help try and prevent the spread of a disease that has become a global pandemic.

No training sessions were held in the Spanish capital on Thursday ahead of the announcement.

A statement from Real on the club’s official website read: “Real Madrid CF reports that a player from our basketball team has tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus.

“Since then, the recommendation has been made to quarantine both the basketball first team and the football first team, given that the two squads share facilities in Ciudad Real Madrid.

“Likewise, it has been decided to close the facilities of our sports city and it is also recommended that all Real Madrid personnel who provide their services in Real Madrid City remain in quarantine.

“The matches that were scheduled for today and tomorrow, corresponding to the Euroleague basketball and La Liga soccer, will not be played.”

Real had been due to take in a home date with Eibar on Friday.

As it happens, that contest would not have gone ahead regardless of the actions being taken at Santiago Bernabeu after La Liga announced a complete shutdown in their fixture list across the next two matchdays.

As a result, Real will also be forced to rearrange a meeting with Valencia that was due to take place on March 21.

There are now serious doubts as to whether the second leg of their Champions League last-16 encounter with Manchester City can go ahead as planned.

The quarantine period for coronavirus is 15 days, which stretches beyond a trip to the Etihad Stadium on March 17.

Click Here: Putters

Scheduling issues are becoming commonplace around the world, with sporting authorities and governments being forced to take decisive action.

A number of games have already taken place behind closed doors, with plenty more to come, while La Liga has followed the lead of its Italian counterparts in Serie A by postponing matches across the board.

The former Tottenham boss admits a club that had been on an upward curve heading into the 2019-20 campaign now finds itself stuck in reverse

Tottenham have “gone backwards quite a way” in the 2019-20 campaign, says Harry Redknapp, with Jose Mourinho needing to invest heavily in the summer transfer market.

The Portuguese has suggested that there will be no major overhaul of his squad in the next window.

That is despite obvious flaws being identified over recent weeks, with untimely injuries highlighting an alarming lack of depth.

With Harry Kane and Heung-min Son sidelined, Spurs have struggled for attacking spark during a slump which is threatening to undermine their entire season.

Mourinho’s men are slipping off the pace in a keenly-contested top-four battle, while a last-16 exit has been suffered in the Champions League.

Mauricio Pochettino guided Tottenham to the final of that competition in 2019, while also cementing a standing among the Premier League elite.

Positive progress had been made over the course of a number of years, but that hard work is now in danger of coming undone.

Former Spurs boss Redknapp fears that is the case, with Mourinho needing to steady the ship before asking his board to back him in pursuit of more proven performers.

“They’ve got a bit of work to do to get back to where they were a few years ago,” Redknapp told Sky Sports.

“The last year or so they have gone backwards quite a way in all honesty – Jose has a big job to do in the summer.

“He needs some good recruitment, a couple of new players and see where they go next year.”

Mourinho has vowed to get things right at Tottenham, with the former Chelsea, Inter, Real Madrid and Manchester United boss adamant that he will be a success in his latest post.

He has boldly stated: “I believe Tottenham is not going to be my only club without silverware.

“I won it at every club and I believe I am going to do it also with Tottenham.

“I am here for three or four months. I took on the team in a very difficult situation and now it is even more difficult with so many problems we’re having but I believe in me, in the players, in the club and I believe that during my contract I am going to help the club to do it.

“It’s not me winning, it’s me helping the club and the players to do it.”

Click Here: New Zealand rugby store

Spurs will be back in action on Sunday when they take in a home date with fellow top-four hopefuls United.

The former Red Devils midfielder claims the likes of Fred and Nemanja Matic are already benefitting from the Portuguese’s presence at Old Trafford

Bruno Fernandes has quickly become a Paul Scholes-esque presence for Manchester United, says Owen Hargreaves, with the Portuguese midfielder making “everybody else play better”.

Plaudits have rained down on a January addition at Old Trafford since he completed a €55 million (£47m/$60m) move from Sporting.

Big things were expected of him, with the Red Devils having pursued his signature for some time, but the speed in which Fernandes has settled in England has come as a welcome surprise to everybody.

The 25-year-old has hit the ground running, offering added creativity and goal threat to the United cause, and comparisons are already being made between a new boy and superstars of the past.

Former midfielder Hargreaves told United’s ‘Tunnel Insider’ series of Fernandes and the impact he has made in a short space of time: “Well I think you can just look at the other players around him.

“I know that Fred has been playing well this season, but I think he looks more comfortable with having another ball player who he can get it into on the half-turn.

“With Anthony Martial, you saw a connection with the goal [in a 2-0 derby win over Manchester City] – I don’t think that was a training-ground one, it was just pure instinct.

“City played a high line, Martial recognised the space and Bruno played a brilliant ball over the top. He is just a really good player and good players love to play together. 

“I was saying to Scholesy, when we did a show together a few weeks ago, we are never going to see another Paul Scholes but Bruno has that capacity to make everybody else play better and to play football.

“It looks like the boys are enjoying it. [Nemanja] Matic looks great with him, Fred looks great with him, Anthony has got a partnership there and, really, everybody looks better with him.

“I think he has taken on a bit of leadership, which is important, and he works hard. In every phase, he has probably improved or played better than everybody could have hoped for.”

Fernandes’ next outing for United could come in the Europa League on Thursday, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side preparing for the first leg of a last-16 showdown with Austrian side LASK that will be played behind closed doors.

Click Here: kanken kids cheap