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LAURA WOODS: ROONEY’S RIGHT… UNITED NOT DESIRABLE ANYMORE

MO SALAH DESERVES BALLON D’OR

Mohamed Salah’s been phenomenal this season. He’s been the driving force behind Liverpool’s dominance in the Premier League and their Champions League form.

He scores, he creates, he inspires. His numbers at the start of the season were reaching Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo returns.

Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jnr come into the conversation, for sure, but without a major international tournament all focus is on club form this season.

If Liverpool seal the Premier League and the Champions League it would be very hard to argue the case for any other player to pick up the Ballon d’Or ahead of him.

He is that guy. He has been overlooked for a very long time on the world stage, but he’s always been consistently one of the best, this season I think he might be the best.

MAN UTD NOT A DESIRABLE LOCATION ANYMORE

I always remember Graeme Souness telling me back in 2018 at a Christmas party just before Jose Mourinho got his marching orders that Manchester United would never lose their global appeal.

Fast forward to today and you have another legend, this time a Manchester United legend in Wayne Rooney, saying it’s happening.

Things change very quickly in football and, although they still have a huge global appeal, United has certainly lost its shine. And players love a bit of shine.

I’ll never forget Gary Neville calling it a graveyard for managers. It’s becoming a graveyard for some players’ careers too!

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has made a few questionable moves – not least severing ties with Sir Alex Ferguson, a bad PR move, and cuts to scouts and staff.

But it’s what fans we are seeing on the pitch that matters the most. The new generation of fans weren’t around for their glory years and that includes players. So, in that sense, a page is turning.

United have been consistently bad for a while now, it’s not such a desirable location anymore.

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE ARTETA’S ARSENAL TRANSFORMATION

While Arsenal’s Premier League hopes are fading – and they have nobody but themselves to blame for that – in Europe they look sharp.

It might be easy to question Mikel Arteta if you want to judge him on trophies alone but, for me, it’s about much more than that.

The Premier League is the hardest league in the world. They’ve gone from a mid-table shambles with a toxic, divided fanbase and players who quite clearly didn’t want to be at the club to one of the best teams in the league.

Beautiful football, brilliant players, challenging for the league for the last three seasons and having a lovely time in Europe – as it stands – so I think the transformation under Arteta has bought him time.

Losing Edu was big for the club while not signing a striker will haunt them and has probably already cost them the league.

I know there are rumblings and sections of the fanbase that are getting impatient with Arteta. To them I’d say be careful what you wish for.

Those dark days could be just around the corner if the hierarchy presses that button.

DANA WHITE & TURKI ALALSHIKH’S DEAL COULD REVITALISE BOXING

Boxing has needed a fix for a long time.

It’s a convoluted, complex and confusing way of working and the fights we want to see, inevitably we don’t see them, or we wait years and by that time both fighters are over the hill.

The UFC has always looked to be a better model with one champion in one weight division. The best fight the best and there’s a clear ranking system.

But there’s criticism in the UFC, too, from the fighters themselves due to pay disputes and conditions.

We don’t know what boxing might look like within that regard under this new agreement, though of course Saudi involvement spells money for the fighters involved and has done during the Riyadh Season events.

So, from a boxing purist’s perspective, this looks like it might fix boxing moving forward.

But I do have concerns. Where will the venues be? Will we see mega-fights in this country?

Fighters might not necessarily want centralised contracts either. What if some big names join and others don’t? Do you lose boxing’s charm by doing this?

Yes, it’s messy and, yes, it’s chaotic but that’s boxing and it’s a big reason why so many people love it too.

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