With a bit of luck by the time the January transfer window closes Michael Mifsud will be a Premiership player in England.

As has been widely reported over the past few days, the hugely talented striker is being watch by a number of sides from England’s top division including Bolton, Watford and Manchester City.

But the thing that really gets my blood racing is that Sheffield United are now apparently favourites to land the player. Fantastic.

Earlier this year, my friend Justin Haber had a trial at Bramall Lane and came very, very close to earning himself a deserved contract. In fact, the only reason Justin is not a Blade right now is that Neil Warnock was concerned about Justin not having Premiership experience in this, their first season back in the top flight.

However, having spoken to Justin several times recently, I am extremely confident he will eventually end up playing in England – maybe as soon as January, or maybe a bit later. But he will. For sure.

In the meantime, if Michael Mifsud makes that step up now, then nobody will be happier than me. It would be good for Maltese football as a whole and good for Malta as a country.

Hopefully it will be with Sheffield United. Nothing would make me prouder. Well, nothing apart from Justin earning himself a place at Bramall Lane too.

Rafa Benitez

A few weeks ago I said that I thought it was time for Rafa Benitez to be replaced as manager of Liverpool. That observation came after their 2-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Since then, Liverpool went on a bit of a decent run, winning five games in a row in all competitions. That sort of took the wind out of my sails a bit and made me feel I might have been a little hasty in my condemnation of the Spaniard.

However, having watch Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Arsenal, I have decided to stick by my original conclusion: if Liverpool ever want to be genuine title contenders again, they need a new man at the helm.

Benitez continues to chop and change his team on an almost constant basis. He has taken rotation policy to new heights of dizziness-inducing confusion. No sooner have a couple of players got used to playing with each other than one or the other finds himself on the bench. Or even in the stands.

On top of that he continues to play Steve Gerrard out of position. On Sunday he started on the right and was only brought into the centre of midfield when the game was effectively over.

Arsenal outclassed Liverpool in just about every department despite Benitez now having had several years to rebuild the side in his own image. Progress is simply not being made.

There is a school of thought which suggests that because the manager has won them the Champions League, the club will never have the guts to get rid of him.

However, I don’t subscribe to that theory. Gerrard Houllier won a whole cabinet of trophies during his time at Anfield, but he was still moved on after failing to land that most prized of possessions – the league title.

And Benitez, love him or loathe him, is heading very much in the same direction…

Magnificent comeback

Watching Sheffield United’s magnificent comeback against Bolton on Saturday – and considering how bad we are, it was magnificent – I couldn’t help but agree with the commentator.

For those of you who didn’t watch the game, and I can’t imagine United vs Bolton was a big crowd puller, the away side were 2-0 up with 20 minutes to go and the Blades looked dead and buried.

But a couple of inspired substitutions later and thanks to two goals in two minutes, United managed to snatch a point from the gaping jaws of defeat.

The thing which got me nodding in agreement with the commentator, however, was United’s second goal. Scored by Colin Kazim Richards, it was a beautiful curler from 25 yards which flew into the back of the net in stunning style.

“If that goal had been scored at Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge, it would be the goal of the season,” the commentator said.

And how right he was. Smaller clubs like Sheffield United just don’t get the recognition they deserve in these areas. With Kazim Richards only costing 150,000 sterling, he is a small name player playing for a lesser team.

In fact, all the news reports over the weekend only described it as a ‘good’ goal. If Drogba or Rooney had scored it, it would have been described as the best goal ever in the history of football.

I am not saying credit should be given where it isn’t due. But just because we might not have the glamour of the big boys, doesn’t mean we don’t deserve a little bit of praise every now and then.

Maybe that will change when Michael Mifsud starts knocking them in…

Contact James on:

[email protected]