There are weeks when football seems determined to make itself unnecessarily complicated.
Contracts. Systems. Squad registrations. Transfer clauses. Lawyers. Players who want to leave clubs but reject opportunities to leave clubs. Managers inheriting wonderful footballers and then discovering their preferred formation has nowhere obvious to put them.
Then Saturday arrives and somebody kicks a ball.
Thank God for that.
After the transfer window dominated everything for what felt like an entire geological era, this week has felt a little more like the reason most of us became obsessed with football in the first place. We can actually talk about players again.
One of them, Lewis Hall, has signed a new Newcastle United contract and prompted a fairly predictable argument about whether Manchester United will eventually get him. My own reaction was slightly different. I’m increasingly convinced Hall is already the best left back in the Premier League.
Chelsea have a different problem with Estêvão. They possess one of world football’s most exciting teenagers, but Xabi Alonso appears to have constructed a system without an obvious position for him.
Then there is Richarlison, who told Tottenham he wanted to leave, rejected a return to Everton, ended up outside Roberto De Zerbi’s Premier League squad and is now reportedly exploring whether he can terminate his contract.
Footballers occasionally make baffling decisions too.
Finally, because we have an actual Premier League weekend to enjoy, I’ve had a go at predicting all ten games.
Given my record with predictions, feel free to use the exact opposite of everything below.
Lewis Hall Is Already the Premier League’s Best Left Back
I’ll start with something that will probably annoy supporters of about six different clubs.
Lewis Hall is the best left back in the Premier League.
Not the left back with the highest potential. Not somebody who might become the best in three years. Right now, if I could choose one Premier League left back for my team, I’m taking Hall.
Newcastle agreeing a new contract with him until 2031 therefore feels enormously significant.
Hall only turned 22 this week. He has already made 107 appearances for Newcastle, established himself as an England international and gone from barely playing during his first season at St James’ Park to becoming one of the first names on the team sheet. Newcastle originally paid around £28 million to sign him from Chelsea.
That increasingly looks excellent business.
What I love about Hall is how complete he already appears.
He’s technically excellent, progressive with the ball, intelligent in possession and capable of affecting games much further up the pitch. He doesn’t look like a converted winger masquerading as a defender, nor a conventional full back whose usefulness disappears when his team has possession.
He can play.
That sounds ridiculously simplistic, but sometimes football analysis ties itself in knots trying to describe players whose greatest strength is that they make difficult things look straightforward.
Manchester United wanted him this summer. Newcastle rejected their interest and have now strengthened their hand further. There is reportedly no fixed release clause in this new agreement, which means anybody wanting Hall will have to negotiate on Newcastle’s terms.
And why would Newcastle sell?
For all the grand declarations about projects, growth and eventually competing consistently for major honours, this is how you actually build something. You identify footballers young enough to improve with you and make them central to the next version of the team.
Newcastle have experienced enough instability. Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak have all asked to leave during the past 13 months. Hall signing a long term contract therefore matters beyond the player himself.
It suggests somebody central to their future still believes in where the club is heading.
Manchester United may return. Manchester City might eventually look. Liverpool could conceivably need another left back somewhere down the line. At Hall’s age, plenty can change.
But the conversation around him occasionally still sounds as though Newcastle are merely borrowing a future elite footballer until one of the traditional giants comes calling.
Perhaps people should update their thinking.
Newcastle already have an elite footballer.
Chelsea Need to Find a Place for Estêvão
There is a temptation whenever an exciting teenager isn’t playing to immediately manufacture a crisis.
Estêvão has played only 16 minutes across Chelsea’s opening three Premier League games. That sounds dramatic because we’re talking about a teenager widely regarded as one of Brazilian football’s great hopes.
But we’re also talking about three games.
He’s 19. He’s returning from a serious hamstring injury that cost him the World Cup. Xabi Alonso is implementing a new system. Cole Palmer exists.
Some perspective is required.
Still, there is something genuinely interesting underneath the noise.
Chelsea apparently regarded Estêvão as effectively untouchable during the summer. Yet Alonso’s preferred structure has removed the conventional right wing position in which the Brazilian looked so comfortable last season.
That leaves him with two obvious routes.
One is right wing back.
I’m not convinced.
Could he do it? Probably. His former youth coach Joao Paulo Sampaio believes Estêvão is tactically intelligent enough and willing to contribute defensively. Chelsea’s asymmetric shape would also allow him to play higher than a traditional wing back.
But when you possess somebody this gifted, I’m generally reluctant to begin the conversation by asking how we can make him spend more time defending.
The other route is centrally.
That feels more natural. Estêvão played as a No 10 during his youth career and there have long been people in Brazil who believe his technical talent is eventually best utilised inside. Chelsea themselves apparently helped convince his camp to choose Stamford Bridge partly because they saw him capable of playing there.
Unfortunately, Palmer and Morgan Rogers are currently standing in the doorway.
Nice problem to have.
And that is ultimately what this is, a wonderful problem rather than a catastrophe.
The challenge for Alonso is ensuring it remains that way.
Exceptional managers build structures. The very best also recognise when an exceptional footballer deserves some flexibility within them.
Estêvão doesn’t need to start every game in September. Chelsea would be irresponsible to treat a teenager returning from a major muscular injury as though he needs 90 minutes twice a week.
But if we arrive in December and we’re still discussing where he fits, that becomes different.
One of Estêvão’s former mentors describes him as one of the outstanding talents of his generation, capable of changing a match within minutes.
Players like that eventually demand space.
Chelsea’s job is to make sure somebody else doesn’t offer it first.
Richarlison Has Made a Mess of This
I’m struggling to find a winner in the Richarlison situation.
Perhaps there isn’t one.
He reportedly told Roberto De Zerbi during pre season that he wanted to leave Tottenham. That’s perfectly reasonable. Players move on.
Everton then offered him a route back before the transfer deadline.
He turned it down.
Trabzonspor showed interest. Brazilian clubs have shown interest. Tottenham reportedly wanted significant money. No deal happened.
Now Richarlison isn’t registered in Tottenham’s 25 man Premier League squad, is training separately from the first team and his lawyers are reportedly investigating whether FIFA’s “sporting just cause” regulations could eventually allow him to terminate his contract.
How have we ended up here?
Richarlison has to accept a significant portion of responsibility.
If you’ve made clear that you want to leave, and your former club offers you a Premier League escape route where you already know the environment and supporters, turning it down carries risk.
He took that risk.
It hasn’t worked.
Tottenham have subsequently moved forward. Omar Marmoush arrived from Manchester City, initially on loan with a £60 million obligation, while Dominic Solanke remains another option through the middle.
De Zerbi’s position is brutally straightforward. Richarlison told him he wanted out, so he planned without him.
That doesn’t mean Tottenham’s handling has been perfect.
Richarlison is 29. His contract expires next summer. He isn’t part of the squad.
At that point, what exactly is a £35 million valuation protecting?
Sometimes the market tells you what a footballer is worth. Clubs can put whatever number they like on an internal spreadsheet, but if nobody is prepared to pay it, eventually reality intervenes.
Richarlison has hardly been a complete disaster at Tottenham either.
He joined for £60 million in 2022 and has scored 32 goals in 134 appearances. Last season, his 11 Premier League goals played an important role in keeping Spurs in the division.
That’s not £60 million worth of success, but nor is it somebody who suddenly forgot how to play football.
Now everybody appears trapped by decisions made earlier in the summer.
Richarlison wanted to leave but rejected one of his best opportunities.
Tottenham wanted to sell but couldn’t secure the price they wanted.
De Zerbi has moved on.
The transfer windows that could solve things are closing.
And lawyers are involved.
As a general rule, once lawyers become central to a footballer’s attempt to get onto a football pitch, somebody has probably made a mistake.
Here, I suspect several people have.
Premier League Predictions: Derby Drama and Goals Everywhere
We have ten games this weekend and I’m going to do something incredibly foolish.
Predict all of them.
Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest
Villa’s start worries me. Three league matches without a victory would be one thing, but failing to score in any of them is harder to ignore. Last season showed they can recover from slow starts, but Forest look capable of making this uncomfortable.
I’m going for a score draw.
Prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Nottingham Forest
Bournemouth vs Brentford
Two teams I enjoy watching because both tend to know exactly what they are trying to do.
Bournemouth look direct and inventive, Brentford carry real attacking threat and have started strongly in the underlying numbers.
Goals.
Prediction: Bournemouth 3-3 Brentford
Chelsea vs Hull City
Hull deserve enormous credit for reaching this stage without conceding a Premier League goal.
I suspect that ends fairly emphatically at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea look stronger with every game under Alonso and have too much attacking quality.
Prediction: Chelsea 4-1 Hull City
Crystal Palace vs Ipswich Town
This feels like one of those games we’ll look back on later in the season as more important than it appeared in September.
I’m impressed by the recruitment at Ipswich.
Palace can hurt them, but I fancy the visitors to get a point.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-1 Ipswich Town
Liverpool vs Fulham
Liverpool finally looked much more like themselves against Ipswich and then produced another encouraging performance against Atletico Madrid.
Alexander Isak is scoring, Cody Gakpo looks sharp, Bradley Barcola is settling and Alexis Mac Allister suddenly resembles the footballer Liverpool supporters know he can be again.
Fulham at Anfield should represent another step forward.
Prediction: Liverpool 3-1 Fulham
Tottenham vs Everton
I’m not convinced by either side enough to trust them.
Tottenham have quality but remain in transition under De Zerbi. Everton have started positively and look capable of causing Spurs problems.
This has draw written all over it.
Prediction: Tottenham 1-1 Everton
Sunderland vs Arsenal
Sunderland can make this horrible.
They did last season and the Stadium of Light is exactly the type of place where title challengers can find themselves dragged into a contest they didn’t particularly want.
Arsenal should still have enough.
Prediction: Sunderland 0-1 Arsenal
Coventry City vs Brighton
Promoted sides occasionally receive schedules that feel personally vindictive.
Coventry have already discovered how brutal this league can be and Brighton are producing some of the strongest attacking numbers in the division.
I think this could get ugly.
Prediction: Coventry City 1-3 Brighton
Manchester United vs Manchester City
Game of the weekend.
City have started perfectly, but Manchester United under Michael Carrick look much more comfortable at Old Trafford.
Derbies also have a habit of ignoring whatever sensible analysis preceded them.
I think City edge a tight one.
Prediction: Manchester United 1-2 Manchester City
Leeds United vs Newcastle United
Monday night. Elland Road. Under the lights.
Leeds have energy, aggression and the type of intensity that can overwhelm teams before they’ve properly settled into the evening.
Newcastle are improving, but I’m going for my biggest gamble of the weekend.
Prediction: Leeds United 3-1 Newcastle United
At Last, Football Is Doing the Talking
This is probably the first Friday in months where I haven’t finished writing Gibbs’ Game with transfers occupying half my brain.
No deadline countdown.
No unnamed sources claiming a player has verbally agreed personal terms.
No pretending anybody really understands PSR.
Instead, I’ve spent the morning arguing that Lewis Hall is the best left back in England, wondering how Chelsea find enough minutes for Estêvão, trying to understand how Richarlison managed to strand himself outside Tottenham’s squad and predicting ten football matches that will probably make me look stupid by Monday evening.
Much healthier.
This is what September should feel like.
The summer creates possibilities. Football eventually provides answers.
Hall now has to prove my opinion right. Estêvão has to force Alonso into difficult decisions. Richarlison has to find a route back onto a pitch somewhere.
And the ten predictions above have approximately 48 hours before they begin being systematically destroyed.
Perfect.
Because for all the money, contracts, transfer sagas, agents, lawyers and endless speculation surrounding modern football, the part that keeps dragging us back remains remarkably simple.
There’s always another match.
And finally, we’re talking about them again.