Opinion

England international centre-back John Stones moved to Manchester City this summer for a fee of around £47.5million from Everton. He is regarded as one of the brightest young defenders in the European game.

Young Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford scored a hat-trick on his debut for England under-21’s in a 6-1 victory. It must have been a strange experience for the 18-year-old who has already played and scored for the senior national team.

Arsenal has been crying out for a new striker for the past few seasons and just before transfer deadline the Gunners purchased a new striker in Spaniard Lucas Perez. The 27-year-old is a late bloomer and arrived in north London from Deportivo La Coruna for £17million.

Group D of the European section of World Cup qualifying could be the most interesting of all the groups in qualifying. There seems to be no clear favourite for the group and the four top seeds will all feel like they should qualify from the section.

Scotland opened their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 5-1 victory in Malta after the home side were reduced to just nine men. The Tartan Army’s hero was Hull City winger Robert Snodgrass, who struck a hat-trick in the victory. Chris Martin and Steven Fletcher were also on the scoresheet for Gordon Strachan’s team.

England managed to secure a 1-0 win over Slovakia on Sunday evening in their first World Cup. A goal deep into injury-time from Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana gave the Three Lions the victory in Trnava.

Brazilian defender David Luiz’s return to Chelsea from PSG for a reported fee of £30million on deadline day was certainly a surprise deal. The 29-year-old has re-joined the Blues just two seasons after moving to the French capital.

French international midfielder Moussa Sissoko joined Tottenham on transfer deadline day for a fee of around £30million from Championship Newcastle. The 27-year-old looked to be making a move to Everton, but Spurs nipped in at the last minute to seal the deal.

Italian international striker Mario Balotelli moved to French Ligue One club Nice on Wednesday from Liverpool on a free transfer. The fact that the Reds were prepared to let him go without a fee tells you a lot about his year on Merseyside.

Spanish champions have completed the £27.3million signing of striker Paco Alcacer from La Liga rivals Valencia. The Spanish international striker has signed a five-year deal with the Catalan giants having passed his medical on Tuesday. The deal comes on the striker’s 23rd birthday.

England number one Joe Hart is close to completing a season-long loan move to Serie A side Torino from Manchester City. The 29-year-old has fallen down the goalkeeping pecking order behind new signing Claudio Bravo and Argentinian Willy Caballero.

On Sunday evening England boss Sam Allardyce named his squad to face Slovakia on Sunday in a World Cup qualifier. The former-West Ham boss produced very few surprises with his 23-man squad, although there was a first call-up for West Ham winger-turned-full-back Michail Antonio.

Everton have made a solid start to life under new boss Ronald Koeman, picking up three points from a possible nine in the Premier League. On Saturday the Toffees recorded a 1-0 home in against Stoke City at Goodison Park.

Arsenal recorded their first Premier League victory of the season on Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 win at Watford.

West Ham heads to Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon with an injury crisis. The Hammers are reported to be close to sealing a £24million deal for Italian striker Simone Zaza from Juventus, but the Italian international will not be involved in this clash.

The draw for the Champions League group stages takes place at 5PM on Thursday. All four English teams will be looking for a good draw.

According to Sky Sports, West Ham are interested in bringing in strikers Simone Zaza of Juventus and Manchester City’s Wilfried Bony, as the Hammers seek to strengthen their forward line prior to the transfer deadline in a week’s time.

The Premier League’s Jekyll and Hyde were at it again at the weekend, as Liverpool suffered a 2-0 defeat at top-flight new boys Burnley. The defeat came on the back of an exciting 4-3 win at Arsenal on the opening day of the campaign.

Hull City started the Premier League campaign without a permanent boss, with just 13 available players and were favourites to be relegated back to the Championship. Yet somehow the Tigers find themselves third in the top-flight with six points from their first two games.

Holders Bayern Munich are the team to beat. They only lost twice in the league last season, finishing with 88 points - ten points clear of their closest challengers. They will be equally formidable this term under new boss Carlos Ancelotti. Ancelotti will bring a wealth of experience from managing at the very top level in several different countries.