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2020 is now upon us, and while we’re already halfway through the current 2019-20 season, there’s still a ton of action to come; the knockout stages of the Champions League, the conclusions to Europe’s big domestic competitions like the Premier League, La Liga and the Bundesliga, not to mention the European Championship in the summer.
What might happen in this calendar year, then? 2020 could well end up being just as unpredictable as 2019 – who could’ve seen Tottenham making the final of the Champions League, for instance, and boss Mauricio Pochettino being fired just months later?
Here are 5 football predictions for the year 2020.
#1 Pep Guardiola will leave Manchester City
Could 2020 mark the end of an era at Manchester City? I think it could, as I predict that Pep Guardiola will no longer be boss at the Etihad going into the 2020-21 season. The Spaniard – who took over at City in the summer of 2016 – has seen massive success since arriving at the club, but there are plenty of clues to suggest his time there is coming to an end.
Firstly, Guardiola has only ever stayed at a club for a maximum of four seasons – and of course, 2019-20 is his fourth at City. He’s never had to perform the kind of squad rebuild that’s likely required at the Etihad; he’s already failed to replace Vincent Kompany when the Belgian departed at the end of 2018-19, and he’ll need to replace the outgoing David Silva this summer if he does stay.
Essentially, he’s the ultimate short-term boss, and we’re now reaching the end of that term.
Secondly, it looks like City are almost certainly going to fail to retain their Premier League crown for the third season in a row – they’re 14 points behind Liverpool and have played a game more – which means the only trophy Guardiola is really chasing is the Champions League – which isn’t exactly easy to win. If he fails, will he really want to try again? And if he succeeds, he has nothing left to prove in Manchester.
Add in the rumours of Raheem Sterling refusing to sign a new deal at the Etihad – just in case Guardiola departs – and there’s definitely a distinct possibility that the Spanish boss could be at another club, or even on a so-called sabbatical, by the start of 2020-21.
#2 England will not win Euro 2020
Gareth Southgate’s England have been installed as one of the favourites to win this summer’s European Championship tournament, and with good reason; the Three Lions waltzed through their qualifying group for the competition, scoring 37 goals along the way, they made it to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and the inaugural UEFA Nations League, and they’ve been given a favourable draw at the tournament, with a winnable group and most of their matches to be played at home at Wembley.
So can Southgate’s men actually win their first trophy since the 1966 World Cup? My prediction is no. England will almost certainly qualify for the knockout stages; Group D doesn’t sound too troubling as they beat the Czech Republic in qualifying and beat Croatia in the Nations League, and they shouldn’t be troubled by Scotland, Serbia, Norway or Israel.
Unfortunately, winning their group puts them in line to play the runner-up of the horrific-sounding Group F – which includes Portugal, France and Germany – and while it’s within the realm of possibility that the Three Lions could win that game, based on current evidence it’s just hard to see them defeating multiple top-level teams in this tournament.
If Southgate plays his cards right it’s possible, but sadly for England fans, he still needs to find a settled – and more robust – defence, and also needs to select the correct options in midfield in order to avoid the issues that plagued the Three Lions in their losses to Croatia and the Netherlands. It’s not impossible, but there’s every chance he fails to do both.
England have undoubtedly improved massively under Southgate, and arguably have the most dangerous attack in the world, but their fans may have to wait until the 2022 World Cup for that elusive trophy.
#3 Jose Mourinho will guide Tottenham Hotspur to a top 4 finish in the Premier League
Jose Mourinho has seen mixed results since taking over at Tottenham in November following the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino, but the North London side still sit in 6th place in the Premier League table despite a further three disappointing losses under the Portuguese boss. They’re within touching distance of a Champions League slot, but can they make it?
My prediction is that they can. Sure, they’ve lost Harry Kane to a torn hamstring; the England captain could be out for a long time with such an injury, but the last time they lost their talismanic striker, they were able to make it to the Champions League final. And it’s not like they’re short of firepower, with the likes of Son Heung Min, Lucas Moura and the resurgent Dele Alli amongst their ranks.
More to the point, in the form of Mourinho they have a serial winner at the helm, someone who knows exactly how to grind out results, and with more time in the hot-seat at Spurs, he should be able to get to grips with his squad and who exactly fits into his first XI, particularly if he can make some changes during the January transfer window.
To add to that, Spurs’ closest rivals are also flawed sides; Chelsea lack experience, have lost as many games as Tottenham and have an inexperienced boss in Frank Lampard, while Manchester United are massively inconsistent and there are still a lot of questions around their manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. If I had to bet on one of the three, I’d definitely go with Mourinho.
#4 Barcelona will win the Champions League
It’s almost impossible to accurately predict a winner in the Champions League; the tournament is probably the hardest in the world to win, the knockout stages are loaded with phenomenal teams, and as Tottenham proved last year, it’s not impossible for an underdog to go all the way. But if I had to pick a winner right now, my money would be on Barcelona.
Firstly, Ernesto Valverde’s side have been in great form for the majority of the season thus far; they’ve lost just three games and none of them were in European competition, and they currently sit at the top of La Liga too.
They also avoided the big guns in the Champions League’s Round of 16 – rather than facing Atletico Madrid or Tottenham, they’ve drawn Napoli, a dangerous team but not one to be feared.
Most notably of course, the great Lionel Messi seems to be in irrepressible form this season, scoring 15 goals and registering 9 assists in just 18 appearances. The Argentine wizard turns 33 this summer and won’t be around at the top for much longer; another Champions League victory would be an amazing feat for him – and with teammates like Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie De Jong and Gerard Pique alongside him, it’s a distinct possibility that it could happen.
If anyone can make it that way, it’s Messi.
#5 The world transfer record will be broken
The world transfer fee record hasn’t been broken since the summer of 2017, when Neymar moved from Barcelona to Paris St. Germain for an eye-watering fee of around £198m. It’s hardly surprising that such a huge fee hasn’t been surpassed yet, but could 2020 be the year that sees the record broken again? I’m predicting that it will be.
Every summer transfer window sees big names move from one giant club to another, but this year I suspect we’ll see even more money thrown around, mainly because a lot of Europe’s richest sides aren’t having things their own way in their domestic leagues.
Manchester City are lagging behind at the top of the Premier League, currently sitting in third place, Juventus are behind Inter Milan at the top of Serie A, Bayern Munich are in 3rd place in the Bundesliga, and while PSG are unsurprisingly running away with Ligue 1, if they fail – again – to win the Champions League, there’s every chance they could open their purse strings once again.
Most notably though, it’s been a while since Real Madrid really made a statement in the transfer market; they did sign Eden Hazard in the summer, but despite being a world-class player, the Belgian was never going to break the fee paid for Neymar.
Kylian Mbappe or Harry Kane on the other hand – if Real were to sign one of them – could well fetch a fee over the £200m mark. And if nothing else, Los Blancos love to flex their financial muscles when they’re not winning trophies, as is likely going to be the case in 2019-20.
