The Former captain of Bulgaria and Aston Villa Stilian Petrov announced his decision to resume his career for The Villains. He was diagnosed with leukaemia and was forced to retire four years ago. However, Stan managed to recover from the insidious disease and is now keen to win back his place in professional football.

Although on 5 July will turn 37 years, Stan believes he can regain his best form. He has been training with the youth team of Aston Villa for several months. When Petrov just recovered from his illness, he was 120 kg. Now, he is 90 kg. – just 4 more than in 2012.

“People may have doubts in me. They might be asking a lot of questions. But I’ve always believed that if you work hard, you will find your best shape again. My present physical condition is close to this from the moment I gave up. We’ll see what is going to happen,” Stiliyan Petrov said.

Aston Villa have already lost their place in The Premier League and the club will play in The Championship for the next season. But, this is not important for the former Aston Villa’s captain Petrov, who loves Aston Villa and hopes he can help his favourite team. He was a centre midfielder and scored 12 goals in 218 appearances for The Lions in all competitions (2006 – 2012).

“I am very happy for Stiliyan. I wish him all the best. I don’t know if you know, but we know each other from the youth national team and we have kept in touch for 20 years. I’m really happy for him. After all, he has been through, it is very inspiring news. Cool! I wish him to return to the national team. You can be sure that the doors are wide open for him. I can only be happy with such news. I congratulate him and his family and wish him good luck with Aston Villa,” Ivaylo Petev, the head coach of Bulgaria, said in an interview.

The Aston Villa’s fans will organize a new initiative in support of the former Villains’ captain Stiliyan Petrov. The idea is that in the remaining matches in the Premier League until the end of the season the fans will cheer their favourite player. This will happen in the 19th minute of the games against Watford, Newcastle United and Arsenal.

“I’m shocked that no representative of the club hasn’t welcomed the news of Petrov. Stan do not even have to ask if he could play again for us. Come on, Villa, give a response to Petrov! We all want him back in the game! I’ll cry like a little baby if I see again Stiliyan wearing the Aston Villa’s shirt,” one of the fans said.

Marcus Rashford made a really great impact on Manchester United’s season. The youngster can’t stop scoring goals. He is very fast and has excellent placement on the pitch. It’s clear that he has a bright future in front of him.

18-year-old forward scored twice on his debut for The Red Devils against the Danish side Midtjylland, helping Manchester United eliminate The Wolves from The Europa League. Then, Rashford found the net on 2 occasions against Arsenal at old Trafford in The Premier League. He also scored against Manchester City and Aston Villa (both matches finished with a 1-0 victory for Man United). The youngster has also recorded one assist in The Premiership.

Rashford showed his goal-scoring abilities against West Ham United in the replay of the quarterfinal in The FA Cup. He scored the opening goal of the game in the 56th minute and helped his team reach the semi-finals.

Many people are comparing Rashford to Wayne Rooney. The English international forward made his debut for The Three Lions at the age of 18 and now he is the top goal-scorer in English national team’s history. But, is Rashford ready to take such responsibility and play for England, when there are players like Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Daniel Sturridge and Danny Welbeck in the squad? It will be extremely difficult for Rashford to find his place in England’s squad for the Euro 2016, but it’s not impossible…

“I think it would be a brave decision to take Rashford on the board. This would mean leaving someone off the squad. But who knows? It would be foolish to say that he is not ready and will not cope with the situation. I’m sure he can handle the pressure. If there were enough vacancies and if we could get 30 players in France, surely, we would have him in mind. But we can select only 23 players, which will cause me a headache – which offensive players to pick. However, I’m impressed with Rashford. He wouldn’t have kept his place in the team of Manchester United if Louis van Gaal did not believe that he deserves his place. But with the current players at my disposal and all the competition in attack, it seems unlikely Rashford to be called-up,” Roy Hodgson said in an interview.

So, Marcus Rashford will be very lucky if he sees his name in the English national team for the Euro 2016. But if he shows something extraordinary until the end of the season, the youngster can dream of being selected for The European Championship.

To be the manager of Barcelona is nothing more than watching team’s matches from the best position in the stadium and take crucial amount of money weekly! Yes, I think these are the exact actions of the latest Barcelona’s managers. It’s very easy when you have unlimited amount to spend on transfers and you have in your squad figures like Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez.

You should only pray that no one gets injured and you will record victory after victory! The real work in the club is done by the coaches of the youth squads. They teach the youngsters how to pass the ball perfectly, how to stop it, how to move on the pitch and so on.

So, my question is: “Why the managers of the richest clubs take so much money?” I think Messi can also pick the starting line-up by himself! And this can save the team one huge salary…

Okay, you will say that the manager is the decision-maker. But with the best players in the world, who are experienced enough and had already won everything in football, do you think it’s necessary someone to tell them what to do? It’s the same like Mozart to tell Beethoven what to compose.

But football, at all, is an inflated balloon. It’s not realistic football players and managers to take more money than the doctors, for example. What are the football players doing, for God sake?! They are kicking the ball and running after it! And how would you explain Ibrahimovic’s desire to take €600K. per week? Is it normal? Why the professional players are so greedy?

To continue; most of the professional football players’ relations to their clubs are pretty similar to the behaviour of an easy woman. Man, you have earned millions, why you need to take €20K. more per week? You will say, because the bigger the better…

That’s why there are not so many players like Francesco Totti, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Steven Gerrard, for example. The difference between Totti and the new generation of football players is just one word – “loyalty”.

Oh, I almost forgot about Barcelona’s bonuses problem. How is that possible? If the team wins everything – the club is going to bankrupt. That’s the brightest example of this so called “inflated balloon”! But, now Barcelona have no problems after they lost several games in a row… That’s why I think they lost on purpose.

However, I digressed from the main topic… The real causers of the current situation are the rich bosses of the clubs, who artificially raise the price of the football players and their salaries. Because a regulation is needed not only in the transfer amount, but also in the salaries the football players receive. It’s not normal a football player to receive for a week the same amount normal person will have to work for it all his life! Even if the player is the best in the world! As regards to the managers of the richest clubs – the owners should do an experiment, picking a random man, who knows enough about football.

2005-2006

On 12th January 2006 Diaby signed for Arsenal for a sum of around 2 million pounds. This puts an end to speculation that he will move to Chelsea. He took number 2. Diaby was seen as a replacement of Patrick Vieira, who was the ‘heart’ of Arsenal’s midfield. Abou Diaby made his debut for Arsenal in the 1-0 defeat to Everton on 21st January 2006. 5 months later he scored his first goal for The Gunners in a match against Aston Villa, coming on as a substitute. Just a month later, Diaby sprained his ankle in the match against Sunderland. The injury made him be out of the pitch for eight months.

2006-2007

But this injury didn’t make Diaby give up and on 9th January 2007 he returned as a substitute in the quarterfinal match in the Carling Cup against Liverpool, which finished 3-6 in favour of Arsenal. In the final match in Cardiff Diaby injured John Terry by kicking him in the jaw. Chelsea captain went unconscious for several minutes.

2007-2008

He started the season among the starting eleven. Wenger put Diaby on the left flank in order to train his left foot. And the midfielder left a good impression in the match against Derby County, replacing the injured Tomas Rosicky. On 12th December 2007 Diaby scored his first goal in the Champions League in a match against Steaua, which finished with a 2-1 for The Gunners. On 29th March 2008, Diaby received his first red card for Arsenal in a match against Bolton after his late tackle on Gretar Steinsson.

2008-2009

After Mathieu Flamini left for Milan, Abou Diaby had to fight with Denilson and Alex Song for the starting position as a Fabregas’ partner in midfield, but the Frenchman received an injury and missed several games. He returned to the pitch against Everton and just 6 minutes after entering the field Diaby made an assist to Walcott, who scored for 3-1.

2009-2010

This season was the best for Diaby in Arsenal! He became a key player! Abou Diaby managed to score 7 goals in all competitions for The Gunners.

But then the midfielder started suffering from different injuries, which affected negatively his further career. From 2010 to 2015 Diaby managed to appear on only 32 occasions in The Premier League for Arsenal. The midfielder first had an ankle injury. Then he was suffering from a calf muscle strain. But his most crucial injury was in 2013 when he had an ACL knee ligament injury, which made him be out of the pitch for more than a year.

Now, Abou Diaby is in Marseille, but his old injuries are still following him. He took part in just 2 matches in The Ligue One this season.

France’s Kevin Gameiro celebrates scoring during his team’s friendly international soccer match against Ukraine in Donetsk June 6, 2011. REUTERS/Konstantin Chernichkin[/caption]Kevin Gameiro started his professional career in Strasbourg. At the end of the 2005/06 season, Strasbourg relegated to the Ligue 2. Gameiro scored just 1 goal in his first season, but in the next campaign the striker scored 3 goals in 16 matches, helping his team return to the top division of French football.

After these two seasons, Kevin Gameiro developed as a forward and found the net on 6 occasions in the 2007/08 season, but despite his good performance Strasbourg relegated again. The team took 19th place in the championship. However, Gameiro had already been too good for Le Racing.

Then, Lorient paid €3m. for the French striker. In his first season at Lorient, Gameiro scored 11 goals in The Ligue 1 and helped his new team achieve its best result at that time in its history – 10th place in the standings.

The next season was even more successful for Lorient, as they finished in 7th. Kevin Gameiro scored 17 goals and finished as the second best scorer in The Ligue 1, only 1 goal from behind Niang of Marseille. Gameiro scored a goal against Lyon in the Coupe de la Liga quarterfinals and helped his team knock out the Kids out of the competition. Another memorable moment of Gameiro’s career at Lorient was the 3-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes.

The next chapter of Gameiro’s career was exactly in Paris Saint-Germain. The Parisians paid about €11m. for the goal-scoring machine. Paris Saint-Germain finished in 2nd position in The Ligue 1 in Gameiro’s debut season in Paris. But, just a year later he lifted the most prestigious trophy in France.
To continue; the French attacker was sold to Sevilla, which was great for his development as a player. This is the third season for the forward at the club and he has already won The Europa League on two occasions. His team qualified again for the semi-finals of the competition. Kevin Gameiro has already scored over 60 goals for Sevilla in all competitions.

Gameiro’s great skills won him 8 caps for the French national team in the period between 2010 and 2012. He has also scored a goal for France in the friendly game against Ukraine in 2011. However, the forward is in very good shape and should be considered to be included in the squad for Euro 2016 by the manager Didier Deschamps.

To conclude; Kevin Gameiro has great finishing skills. His main quality is his speed and fast pace. He also has great positioning on the pitch and that’s why he is so effective.

French team Rennes has always been one of the clubs known as full of talented young players. Although in recent years the reputation of their football academy has lost some of its lustre.

This season the 18-year-old Ousmane Dembele has shown his real talent. Some of the biggest clubs in the world have shown great interest in the forward. After three goals against Nantes, he scored in the derby match against Olympique Marseille. In the last round he scored against Reims.

The young Frenchman resembles the style of Neymar in Barcelona. In this campaign Dembele has scored 12 goals and has made 5 assists in 20 games. Another important statistic shows one of the highest rates of successful dribbling per game in the French Ligue 1 – 4.5 per game on average.

Ousmane Dembele was born in 1997. The attacker made his debut in the Ligue 1 in November. He showed amazing confidence and faith in his own qualities.

“I always try to please the fans, but now must focus on my team work,” the forward said. “It’s amazing what I’ve done so far, but it is not enough to become a legendary player,” concluded the young man.

Dembele feels comfortable when dribbling. He has good pace and is very fast. The Frenchman is compared with the Brazilian Neymar.

“Give him space and he will punish you. The only way to stop is if Dembele is to give him no free spaces,” commented French specialists.

“He can win the Ballon d’Or. I saw Cristiano Ronaldo at the same age at Manchester United. Ousmane has similar characteristics, that reminds me of a young Ronaldo,” said the former Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre.

The youngster has recorded 2 appearances for French national team U21. He has scored 4 goals in 8 games for France U17.

After the great victory against Nantes (4-1), Rennes have recorded two consecutive victories over Marseille and Reims, and The Red and Blacks are now lying in the 4th place in the standings. Ousmane Dembele scored his first hat-trick exactly against Nantes and showed his great skills and pace.

In conclusion, the young forward is also very smart. “I mustn’t do redundant things on the pitch. I must be very effective. Because when I lose the ball, all the pressure is on my teammates. I hope I can improve my performance in the near future,” the forward said in an interview. For sure, the youngster can become one of the greatest players if he keeps developing his skills on the pitch.