In Demand: The Fab Four of World Cup 2018’s Group Stage
With the knockout stage of the 2018 World Cup looming, some standout players have emerged. Though most of the headline grabbers are already well-known across Europe, there is nothing like an excellent World Cup to boost a player’s value. Here are four that even the richest clubs will rue not snapping up before now…
Hirving Lozano
The PSV starlet will be first on every list of this ilk until his inevitable £40m transfer to Barcelona. Though this price may be something of an exaggeration for some, the links to the Catalan club were almost instantaneous, after his heroic match winner against world champions Germany. That, along with Mexico’s 2-1 win over South Korea on matchday two, saw the CONCACAF heavyweights’ sports spread betting buy price (to win Group F and to win the cup) rocket impressively.
Lozano is, of course, well-known for his blistering turn of pace, and his ability to switch between roles as a wide player and an inverted winger. Although the rumours of a move to Barcelona appear mostly grounded in reality, curious links to Everton persist, with the club’s new ‘DoF’ Marcel Brands having an existing connection to Lozano.
Manuel Akanji
The Swiss failed to keep a clean sheet in their first two outings at the 2018 World Cup. However, the fact that they took four points from two difficult games is a reflection of how the nation’s defence, as well as its attack, has evolved over the years. Amongst the backline, it is impossible to tell that twenty-two year old Manuel Akanji is playing in his first World Cup.
Debuting on the biggest stage against five-time champions Brazil is as tough as it gets, but the Borussia Dortmund defender never once looked out of place. His interventions, along with those of his colleagues, rendered the likes of Neymar and Gabriel Jesus mere mortals in a 1-1 draw.
After Borussia Dortmund held out for a Champions League place on goal difference in 2017/18, the powers at the club can offer him a tangible incentive to stay put. Nonetheless, there will be links to clubs that are expected to once more romp to titles, and not merely pursue them. Even the lure of Dortmund’s main rivals Bayern Munich has been irresistible to some supposedly ‘loyal’ Dortmund players in recent years, so nothing can be assumed.
Francis Uzoho
In his nation’s 2-0 win over Iceland, 19 year-old Nigerian keeper Francis Uzoho became the second-youngest player ever to keep a clean sheet at a World Cup tournament. One win over a strangely off-colour Iceland team does not warrant a record-breaking move to a European giant. However, all a player needs is one watershed performance to turn from boy to man, and that match was undoubtedly Uzoho’s coming of age.
Unbelievably, the Nigerian stopper spent 2017/18 in near-perpetual exile, after promotion from Deportivo B. Not even gifted the opportunity to look on from the bench, as Deportivo La Coruna dropped out of the top flight, Uzoho’s future at the club now looks non-existent. Concrete links between Uzoho and a new club have yet to surface. Yet, with La Coruna in need of funds to take the financial hit demotion brings, Uzoho has every chance of being moved on to a more deserving club.
Denis Cheryshev
Alongside Aleksandr Golovkin, Cheryshev has already been linked with a move to Liverpool, implying that there will be a war for his signature. Indeed, should Mo Salah’s rumoured transfer to Real Madrid come to fruition, Cheryshev would be an apt replacement for him on current form.
While the opponents he has thus far destroyed (Saudi Arabia and Egypt) have never impressed at a World Cup, the newly-heightened reverence with which Cheryshev is now held is palpable. Prior to the final Group A matchday, no Russian (or Soviet) team had ever managed to win every group game at a World Cup. His determination to right that statistic was clear to see from the outset, with his contributions at the tournament making a mockery of Russia’s doubters.
With fair fortune in the knockout stage, Cheryshev still has the potential to become the first Russian to win the golden boot outright, after Oleg Salenko shared the award with Hristo Stoichkov in 1994. At twenty-seven years old, the Villarreal man (formerly of Real Madrid) is at his peak, and now is the ideal time for him to move back into the highest echelons of European football – if he continues to perform well.