One of the down sides of major football tournaments is that a player isn’t allowed to have a good game without getting linked to at least five Premier League clubs.
Take Marek Hamšík, for example. Relatively quiet against Wales on Saturday, the Napoli midfielder ran the show against Russia. Before cracking their second goal in off a post, he’d already produced a sublime pass for Vladimír Weiss to grab the game’s opening goal.
As a result, we’ll almost certainly see Hamšík’s name in the transfer gossip column in the days ahead. It’s the way the world works. And a glimpse at Twitter in the moments after the game perhaps explains why. Supporters of numerous clubs were demanding to a move was made for the Slovakian.
Tottenham fans:
Can we sign Hamsik up please
— rob_spurs (@spurs_rob) June 15, 2016
Manchester United fans:
Get hamsik to united now
— RMA (@rma_lp) June 15, 2016
Manchester City fans:
Said from DAY1 city need to buy Hamsik !!! This is why…. 🔥🔥🔥
— Dominic McHale (@Mchale_dominic) June 15, 2016
Liverpool fans:
Should've used Skrtel to lure Hamsik to Liverpool in the past. Exactly the type of midfielder we need.
— LFC NEWS (@LFCTransferNRS) June 15, 2016
Chelsea fans:
Wouldn't mind Hamsik at Chelsea🔵
— mcmuln (@Stevenmcmilla15) June 15, 2016
But perhaps most noticeably, there were Arsenal fans. Lots and lots of Arsenal fans. Here is just a mere sample of what they were tweeting…
They called him a baller.
https://twitter.com/MadeManJama/status/743089272782258176
They called him a serious baller.
Nah Arsenal need to get Hamsik. Serious baller 😰⚽️
— jd🏄🏾♂️ (@joelJD_) June 15, 2016
They bemoaned the fact that their club were wasting their time pursuing other rubbish potential signings.
https://twitter.com/nicholls_zara/status/743084045354029057
They bemoaned the fact that their club had *already bought* other rubbish players instead of Hamsik.
Marek Hamsik is what Arsenal needs, not Xhaka, fam.
— wandy. (@Tshiwandy) June 15, 2016
And their was the highly predictable ‘Announce Hamsik’ gang…
https://twitter.com/ollyDnicholls/status/743078828940099585
Get ready for tomorrow’s Hamšík to Arsenal rumours.