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Why Franck Haise to Liverpool makes more sense than you might think
Although we’ve heard a lot about names like Xabi Alonso and Roberto De Zerbi, Lens manager Franck Haise has also been linked as one potential outsider for the Liverpool job after his impressive work in Ligue 1.
My understanding is that, yes, there has been interest in him going back a couple of years now, not just from Liverpool but also from other clubs across Europe. Haise has spoken about the Liverpool links publicly and said he’s quite flattered, and that it gives validation to the good work that he and his staff and players have done so far.
I think it’s important, however, to flag up precisely what Haise has achieved, as there’ll be some fans in England whose first response to links with Liverpool might be “who’s he?” and “what’s he achieved?” and I don’t think you can underplay the massive role that he’s played in the restoration of Lens to being one of France’s major clubs once again.
Lens has huge cultural significance to French football, a huge fan-base, and there are a lot of parallels between them and Borussia Dortmund, which perhaps makes sense as him being linked as someone who could follow Jurgen Klopp. Still, in terms of what he’s done on the pitch he’s not had quite the same amount of time with Lens as Klopp had with Dortmund, so he doesn’t have the silverware or European runs to boast.
What Haise has done, though, is ensured Lens got back into the Champions League this season, after finishing just a point behind champions PSG last term, and they’ve never finished lower than 7th under the 52-year-old. They are statistically the most in-form team in France in 2024, so if you bear in mind that he’s done all this with a fraction of the budget of PSG, he has done a phenomenal job.
He keeps improving players as well, if you look at the names the club have sold at a major profit, while he’s also kept the team competitive even after they’ve left, so it’s hard to underplay what a terrific job he’s done, and it’s not gone unnoticed by English clubs, with Brighton looking at him before appointing Roberto De Zerbi to replace Graham Potter.
While I’d expect Haise to continue being on the radar of top clubs around Europe, there might be some issues with the language barrier at Liverpool, but in terms of the overall fit I don’t think it’s a nonsensical story at all.
Theo Hernandez transfer interest looks likely this summer
Theo Hernandez has been linked with Bayern Munich as a potential replacement for Alphonso Davies, and obviously there’s a sparsity of real quality full-backs in world football these days, so when you have someone of the calibre of Hernandez, then he’s going to be linked with the likes of Bayern.
It does seem like Davies is likely to go to Real Madrid, and in terms of Hernandez there’s a number of European clubs who’ve been interested in him, though I think Bayern could be a good fit as they’ve historically had success with French signings. So it wouldn’t be a step down from AC Milan, while his brother Lucas Hernandez has played there as well, so he’d be able to find out everything he needs to know about what it’s like to play there.
One important factor will be whoever becomes Bayern’s next head coach, as we know Thomas Tuchel will be leaving his position at the end of the season. Xabi Alonso is a name high up on their list after impressing at Bayer Leverkusen, but we’ll have to see who ends up being the official choice and how Hernandez would fit in stylistically with that appointment. There is currently no clarity on who will be leading Bayern after Tuchel so I think those questions will need to be answered for this move to make sense.
There’s been a bit of speculation as well about Milan’s future and potentially needing to cash in on players depending on where they finish in Serie A. So I do think Hernandez is someone who will have a fair bit of interest in him this summer, and possibly it’s a move that could materialise depending on if Davies leaves Bayern and who is chosen as the club’s next manager.
PSG duo still feature in the club’s future plans
Both Randal Kolo Muani and Goncalo Ramos made big moves to PSG last summer, and it’s no secret that they’ve not looked at their best so far. Still, despite any speculation about the two forwards, I think it’s a situation that will be cleared up once Kylian Mbappe moves on. In many ways they haven’t lived up to expectations, considering how prolific Ramos was at Benfica, and the role Kolo Muani had at Eintracht Frankfurt, but it’s worth remembering that this is a completely new PSG team – they’ve had to bed in with a number of new teammates, as well as a new manager in Luis Enrique, who I think has actually done very well to knit together this squad in such a short space of time.
I don’t think all hope is lost – Ramos has certainly turned a bit of a corner of late, and while it’s not been easy for Kolo Muani I think the opportunity will come for him to prove himself. And obviously once Mbappe is no longer available to Enrique, as he’s been saying publicly recently that he’s building for the future without him, perhaps then he’ll settle on a system that relies more on both these strikers. Still, for the moment it feels like only one can thrive at the moment, so that’s why both of them have struggled this season. They’re not going to get in ahead of Mbappe, while Ousmane Dembele is doing well out wide and Bradley Barcola has come on leaps and bounds in recent months, which now makes him a pretty much nailed-on starter in major games.
Ramos and Kolo Muani will get their chances, but it also seems likely that one of them will continue to miss out and it’ll probably only be properly cleared up next season. Both of them are very capable attackers, though, and I don’t think PSG will be looking to separate with either of them at the moment. Remember that PSG made Ramos’ loan move permanent even while his form’s not the best, so I don’t think we’ve seen the last of them at this point. I think both of them figure in PSG’s plans for the future.
Lamine Yamal to PSG – how realistic is this transfer?
The Lamine Yamal and PSG stories are interesting – how much truth is there to PSG’s interest? Well, they’re always interested in the best young talents around, and although I’d say their interest is stronger when it’s domestic-based talent now, hailing from the Paris region where possible, Yamal is certainly one of the world’s most exciting prospects, so the links make sense.
Still, is a deal for Yamal actually realistic? I think if PSG could move for him at a favourable price, but if it’s a question of triggering his release clause at Barcelona, and we know that they have extremely elevated release clauses, I don’t think that’s a realistic scenario.
PSG will have money to spend once Mbappe moves on, but the way I’d expect them to spend that is to go a handful of players, rather than blowing it all on one name. I think it’ll be three to five players, as opposed to just one or two big names. If the deal was interesting and favourable to PSG financially then they’d look into it for sure, but I don’t think he’ll be at the top of their shopping list for now if the price tag remains in the hundreds of millions, as rumours have suggested it would be.