Eden Hazard just kicked a ball boy in the stomach. No, really.

By Jan 23, 2013, 5:08 PM EST
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Eden Hazard may be a two-time French league player of the year, but after this incident Wednesday night in Wales, the 22-year-old Belgian attacker will always be known as the guy who kicked a kid in the stomach to try and get a ball.

The gif:

I don’t know what that ball boy was doing, but short of trying to get a weapon from under his coat ahead of an assault of Hazard, there’s no justification for what he got: A kick in the ribs from a professional soccer player. Thankfully, he seems fine.

At the time, Chelsea was just over 10 minutes away from being eliminated from the League Cup, Swansea holding the 2-0 lead they earned at Stamford Bridge. So you can see how Hazard would be upset … if he were a petulant 12-year-old that had never received any guidance from an adult.

More: From new angles, re-Telling the Eden Hazard-ball boy incident.

source: What if the Swans ballboy was trying to waste time? That’s something you will hear a lot about, especially given the tweet (right) the ball boy sent out before the game. So we’re dealing with two idiots instead of one, but Hazard’s actions are still those of somebody who doesn’t gasp the limited significance of a single soccer game. And as we saw on Wednesday, that’s dangerous.

One guy’s a moron. The other assaulted a ball boy. These are two entirely different discussions.

(MORE: Hazard apologizes)

Hazard was red carded, leaving his team to play out the tie’s last moments with little chance of coming back. After seeing what their teammate did, Blues’ players could be forgiven for wanting to get out of Wales as soon as possible.

Now Swansea are on their way to Wembley to meet fourth-tier Bradford City in the League Cup final, but for the next couple of days, all anybody will want to talk about is one young man who lost his head. Expect Hazard to be suspended for a long time.

EDIT: Excuse me for linking directly to my Twitter account, but you’ll find the language of @ChelseaFC’s original tweet …

… that has since been deleted. An accompanying apology:

Tottenham Hotspur hires Celtic’s Ange Postecoglou as next manager

By Jun 6, 2023, 8:15 AM EDT
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Tottenham Hotspur finally has a new boss: Ange Postecoglou has left Celtic to become the next Spurs boss.

Celtic granted permission for Spurs to speak with their trophy-collecting boss, and things progressed quickly as the 57-year-old looks set to oversee the club’s big rebuild.

Postecoglou will take over the club on July 1, and Spurs boss Daniel Levy issued high praise for the veteran manager.

“Ange brings a positive mentality and a fast, attacking style of play. He has a strong track record of developing players and an understanding of the importance of the link from the academy – everything that is important to our Club. We are excited to have Ange join us as we prepare for the season ahead.”

[ MORE: Recalling Zlatan’s “unicorn” career ]

Spurs suffered through an inconsistent 2022-23 season with Antonio Conte at the helm, followed by Cristian Stellini and Ryan Mason in interim stints.

Tottenham will not have European football this season and is at risk of losing legendary center forward Harry Kane. The club has eight players including Kane going into the final year of their contracts, including Ivan Perisic, Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier, and Hugo Lloris.

Spurs finished eighth last season, 15 points off the top four despite spending much of the season inside of it. The club’s finished fourth just once in the past four seasons despite qualifying for the Champions League the previous four seasons.

Ironically, Celtic is being linked with pursuit of Brendan Rodgers and Jesse Marsch in the wake of Postecoglou’s departure

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Who is Ange Postecoglou?

Postecoglou, 57, was born in Greece and moved to Australia at a young age, starring for South Melbourne as a player and earning for caps for the Socceroos.

He is coming off a domestic treble with Celtic and won five of six trophies available to him in his two seasons with the Bhoys.

At Celtic, Postecoglou played with a 4-3-3 for much of the first half of his tenure but played a lot of this campaign in a 4-2-3-1.

Postecoglou won trophies as a manager with South Melbourne, Brisbane Roar, and Yokohama F. Marinos, claiming the Asian Cup during his stint as Australia national team coach.

He said he expects tricky early times wherever he goes.

“Wherever I’ve been, the initial part is always rocky, because my ideas are… well they’re not extreme to me but I can see how they can be seen as extreme from the outside. It takes a while. Usually it can take me six months, it can take me a year to really bed them in, depending on how many opportunities I have to change the playing squad and the staff and all those kinds of things.”

Brendan Rodgers, Jesse Marsch linked with Celtic job

By Jun 6, 2023, 8:12 AM EDT
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Ange Postecoglou is the next Tottenham Hotspur boss, and that’s opened up some juicy reports about who will replace the Greek-Australian manager at Celtic.

Postecoglou, 57, led Celtic to two dominant seasons, hauling five of six domestic trophies to the green side of Glasgow.

His mighty big shoes will take some filling, and two reported replacement options are very familiar to Premier League fans and ultimately to Leicester’s 2022-23 relegation campaign.

And one of those is very familiar to Celtic fans, as ex-Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers could return to the club he left in order to take the reins at the King Power Stadium.

[ MORE: Recalling Zlatan’s “unicorn” career ]

Rodgers, 50, won seven trophies in three seasons with Celtic and won the FA Cup with Leicester before parting ways with the club this Spring.

Rodgers left Leicester with the team in a downward spiral this season and one of the men who nearly took his seat at the KP is one of his rivals for the Celtic job.

That’s American manager Jesse Marsch, who was fired by Leeds this season and linked with Southampton and Leicester. Leeds, of course, was also relegated to the Championship.

Marsch had success with New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzburg but suffered through a short stint with RB Leipzig before his move to Leeds. He kept Leeds up last season but was in relegation danger this season.

He’s also been linked to the vacant Monaco and USMNT positions, with former Southampton leader and current USMNT director Matt Crocker said to be a long-term admirer.

Five players to watch in the Premier League’s summer transfer window

By Jun 5, 2023, 3:21 PM EDT
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There’s going to be turnover in the Premier League this offseason, and it seems likely the big boys will again be looking to the top young talents in other leagues to get in when the getting is good.

There will be big price tags attached to some players this summer, but in the case of the players below we may be talking about players just a window away from having unattainably high price tags for most clubs.

[ TRANSFER NEWS: Arsenal | Liverpool | Chelsea | Tottenham | Man City | Man United ] 

Most of these names have danced through ProSoccerTalk‘s transfer rumor mill at least once during the past season or two, and in one case have been on the radar for a half-decade or so.

Here’s a look at five players who may well find their way to the Premier League in the very near future, and could move somewhere this summer.

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Xavi Simons, PSV Eindhoven

At times the teen hype around Xavi Simons coming out of Barcelona’s academy was akin to the recruitment of Martin Odegaard out of Norway so many years ago. But Simons couldn’t break through at Barca and his move to Paris Saint-Germain didn’t take off as expected. So Simons, who just turned 20 in April, landed at PSV Eindhoven. All he did was lead the Eredivisie in goals. PSG has a buyback clause but Simons would have to want to go there… and there are plenty of rumored suitors for the playmaker. Simons chipped in eight assists and was Fotmob’s highest-rated Eredivisie player.

Possible fits: Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool

Jurrien Timber, Ajax

Still 21 for a couple more weeks, Timber got Mancunian tongues wagging when he attended the FA Cup Final between Manchester United and Manchester City. The star center back played under United boss Erik ten Hag at Ajax and now has 15 caps for the Netherlands senior team. He has a ridiculous passing and ball progression profile for his position, and has showed enough attacking acumen to get any team excited about him.

Possible fits: Manchester United, Manchester City

Randal Kolo Muani, Eintracht Frankfurt

The 24-year-old has acknowledged dreams of playing in the Premier League following a blockbuster first season at Eintracht, where he scored 23 goals with 17 assists amongst all competitions. Moving to a new country did not slow him at all after his time at Nantes, and he was linked with a number of PL sides even before he admitted his interest in the league.

Possible fits: Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United

Sepe Elye Wahi, Montpellier

The 20-year-old nearly scored as many goals as his age in his third season with Montpellier’s first team, and has attracted interest from Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, and Chelsea amongst others. Wahi is still very raw when it comes to passing the ball but part of his statistical deficiencies could have to do with his club’s relative struggles. A eager presser, his best traits are finishing and that’s the stat that drives the bus for him.

Possible fits: Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal

Gabriel Veiga, Celta Vigo

Here’s another playmaker linked with Arsenal, but you can see why he could fit in Mikel Arteta’s system. His 11 goals were 13th in La Liga this season and his four assists means he had a goal contribution on 15 of Celta’s 43 league goals. An eager dribbler, he delivered 80 shot creating actions this season and ranked in the 99th percentile for midfielders when it came to non-penalty goals.

Possible fits: Newcastle, Arsenal, Man CIty

How many times has a team won the treble? Man City goes for history

By Jun 5, 2023, 3:12 PM EDT
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There’s been a lot of treble talk these days, talk that’s found a new level of buzz since Manchester City moved within one win of joining the club.

It’s an elite club, by the way, of teams that have won their domestic league, top domestic cup, and the European Cup.

Nine times in history has a team won the treble, and only once has it been done by a Premier League club.

[ MORE: Recalling Zlatan’s “unicorn” career ]

That’s why Man City’s defeat of Manchester United earlier this month in the FA Cup Final rings so true for the Citizens; The blue side of Manchester would join the red side as treble supporters, as United won the treble in 1998-99.

Man City goes for the third jewel of its treble crown on Saturday versus Inter Milan in Istanbul when it kicks off the UEFA Champions League Final.

For more treble trivia, head below the jump.

Premier League news

Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur hires Celtic’s Ange Postecoglou as next manager
Jesse Marsch
Brendan Rodgers, Jesse Marsch linked with Celtic job
transfer rumors
Five players to watch in the Premier League’s summer transfer window

How many times has the treble been won?

Bayern Munich and Barcelona have each done it twice, with Bayern doing it in 2012-13 and 2019-20 and Barca pulling it off in 2008-09 and 2014-15.

Celtic was the first to win a treble, doing it in 1966-67, while Ajax was the next in 1971-72.

PSV Eindhoven then won it in 1987-88 before Man United made it happen 11 years later. Inter Milan is the only Italian team to pull it off, winning in 2009-10.

(UEFA.com)