Filed under: bundesliga, la liga | Tags: arjen robben, bayern munich, franck ribery, real madrid
One of next year’s transfer sagas is expected to revolve around Franck Ribery’s move from Bayern Munich to Real Madrid, a path that Arjen Robben trod in the opposite direction this summer.
The duo were on the last cover of German magazine Kicker under the headline ‘Robbery’ as a tribute to the effect that the two wingers were having for Louis Van Gaal’s side this season.
Two star-crossed lovers.
After Bayern’s 2-1 victory at the weekend against Nurnberg, Ribery apparently repeatedly refused to answer questions to the press as he left the ground, but Robben was more forthcoming.
“I wouldn’t advise him to go to Real Madrid because I want to play with him!” he joked in an interview with Noticias Cuatro.
With their debt of €327 million, it remains to be seen whether Ribery’s move would come about if los Blancos fail to win any trophies this season.
The Frenchman has also suggested that he may sign a new deal with the German side; his current contract expires in 2011.
New Portsmouth owner Sulaiman Al-Fahim has revealed he will not be splashing out on new players until next summer.
Pompey signed a number of players during the transfer window but were forced to let their prized assets go, and the South Coast club are looking to rebuild before spending lots of money.
Al-fahim, the sultry new owner of Pompey, refuses to dish out money until next summer...which could see them in the Championship
“You have to do things at their own speed and at the moment the priority for Portsmouth is to create a good infrastructure so that the club can have a serious face in the future,” al-Fahim told Spanish newspaper Marca.
Paul Hart’s side have lost their opening six games in the Premier League, the worst start in the top-flight since Leicester City in 1983, but Al-Fahim denied he was interested in buying a Spanish club.
“I am not interested in investing in a Spanish club,” he added.
“Now my main pre-occupation is with Pompey and to improve the level of the squad for the Premier League.”
Filed under: Transfer | Tags: notts county, sol campbell, sven-goran eriksson
Sol Campbell could be left in limbo until the January transfer window after walking out on Notts County on Wednesday.
Former England defender Campbell has quit County after just one game, with the League Two club confirming he had left “by mutual consent” after asking to cancel his contract.
However, it’s understood that under FIFA rules, Campbell is highly unlikely to be allowed to join another club having severed his ties with County. As an unattached player, a loan deal would obviously be out of the question.
According to the Premier League, only if the veteran can prove he has a just cause for quitting Meadow Lane – a change of heart or minor disagreement, for example, would not qualify – would he be able to sign for a top-flight team while the window is closed.
Sol can read good.
Campbell, 35, left Portsmouth in the summer and signed a lucrative five-year deal reportedly worth £40,000 a week at Meadow Lane just a month ago, making his first and only appearance in the defeat by Morecambe last weekend.
Reports on Wednesday morning claimed the centre-half had quickly become disillusioned with the club’s rate of progression in that short period.
County chief executive Peter Trembling told the club’s website: “While we are disappointed that Sol felt that he could not adjust to the long-term nature of the project under way at Notts County, we obviously wish him the best with the remainder of his career and hope that he is able to obtain a place where he can play at international level ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
“The investment project is on track; we have brought in a lot of new players and resources into the club, but obviously this is a five-year project, not a five-week one.”
The former England defender was the most high-profile recruit to the playing staff this summer following County’s takeover by Munto Finance and Sven-Goran Eriksson’s arrival as director of football.
The takeover deal is now being investigated by the Football League and, after making his debut in last Saturday’s shock 2-1 defeat at Morecambe, Campbell appears to have had a change of heart.
“For any fan that bought a new Notts shirt and had ‘Campbell’ printed on the back, I am pleased to offer a voucher for the club shop for a replacement shirt,” Trembling added.
He told Sky Sports News: “We’re disappointed Sol has decided, from yesterday, he wants to end his contract.
“It’s one of those things, he joined five weeks ago on a five-year contract as part of the long-term project, but ultimately he’s come to the point, having been here five weeks, where he has decided it’s not for him.
“Sometimes decisions are made, people make wrong decisions and Sol has decided this is not where he wants to be now.
“We’re not going to kick up a fuss about it. If he wants to go, he needs to go and we genuinely wish him all the best.”
Asked about the reasons Campbell gave, Trembling added: “Not an awful lot, just that this was not working out for him.
“I spoke to his representative this morning and he has just decided it’s not working out and he wants to move on. Perhaps things are not happening as quickly as he thought they might, but this is a five-year project, not a five-week project. We can’t just become a Premier League club overnight.
“That is how it is. If he doesn’t want to play here, we don’t want him here.”
Filed under: premier league | Tags: aston villa, martin o'neill, nigel reo-coker
Aston Villa midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker was sent home from training on Friday for disciplinary reasons, manager Martin O’Neill has revealed.
Reports indicated O’Neill and Reo-Coker had a disagreement in training and when Reo-Coker arrived for training on Friday morning, he was told to stay away until Monday.
O’Neill has demanded all the focus at Villa Park is on Saturday’s clash with struggling Portsmouth and not his bust-up with Nigel Reo-Coker.
Yes. This is Reo-Coker. Yes. This is real.
O’Neill said: “There was a confrontation between Nigel and myself. It usually happens between players really.
“There were no fisticuffs. There was no wrestling to the ground as reported in one newspaper. That was a figment of the onlookers’ imagination.
“There was enough for me to treat the incident seriously enough. Nigel will not play against Portsmouth and come Monday it will be forgotten about.
“I make the rules. I am the manager and custodian of the football club so my rules apply. Players have to get used to my rules. It’s as simple as that.”
Filed under: International, Transfer | Tags: andrew davies, arsenal, arsene wenger, birmingham, bolton, bryan robson, caleb folan, daniel cousin, danny shittu, diomansy kamara, emmanuel adebayor, everton, george burley, hull, james vaughan, julian dicks, jurgen macho, kevin blackwell, liverpool, manchester city, mark connolly, mark hughes, marlon harewood, middlesbrough, newcastle, olympiakos, plymouth, rafael benitez, roberto martinez, sheffield united, steve staunton, stoke, sunderland, tom hicks, west ham, wigan, wolverhampton
Transfer News – September 16th, 2009
DAILY MIRROR:
 The French-Senegalese hitman has been targeted by Newcastle DAILY STAR:  The EPL's youngest goal scorer could be on his way out of Everton. |
Filed under: premier league | Tags: arsenal, emmanuel adebayor, manchester city, robin van persie
Liverpool fan Michael Shields, who was jailed for 15 years for the attempted murder of a barman in Bulgaria, gave a thumbs up as he walked free from prison on Wednesday after being granted a pardon by Justice Secretary Jack Straw.
The 22-year-old was convicted after a disturbance following Liverpool’s Champions League victory in Turkey in 2005 but his case was identified as a potential miscarriage of justice by a High Court Judicial Review following a long campaign for his release.
He has been eligible for a pardon since December 2008, but the Justice Secretary requested more information before making his decision.
In a statement read out at a press conference on his behalf by the Bishop of Liverpool James Jones, Shields said: ”The last four years have been the hardest four years of my life. They have been a living hell.
”I am only sitting here today thanks to the love, support and tireless campaigning of a number of people, some of whom are here today.
”It’s a hard thing to be locked away for a crime you did not commit. I was just 18 when I was arrested. ‘m now 22 and face having to rebuild my life which was shattered by the failure of two legal systems, one here in the UK and one in Bulgaria.
”Today is a happy day for me but one of mixed emotions too. I am a free man, yes, but it should not have come to this. I now face a hard battle to adjust to normality. To find a job. To resume friendships. To build an ordinary life. My priority now is to spend time with my loved ones, to slowly begin to plan for a future as an innocent man.”
Shields was arrested in Varna on May 30, 2005 and was later transfered from a Bulgarian jail to Thorn Cross Prison.
Mr Straw met with Shields’ parents on August 28, when they presented new evidence which convinced him of Shields’s innocence. Following that meeting he recommended to the Queen that Shields be pardoned.
Shields’ solicitor John Wheate said: “At first Michael couldn’t believe it after all these years and knock backs. But now he is absolutely ecstatic and so are his family.”
Mr Straw said he was told by Shields’ parents about a meeting between members of the Shields family and another man accused of the attack on barman Martin Georgiev, who was struck on the head with a rock. Mr Straw was told the man, Graham Sankey, confessed to the attack on the second day of Shields’ trial in Bulgaria.
He said: “I was told in the course of the visit that the man made an oral confession in front of several other people. This episode, I was told, happened on 22 July 2005, a day after the start of Mr Shields’ trial in Bulgaria.
“I will not set out in this statement all the evidence that has come to light over the last two weeks but suffice it to say that there is very good reason to believe I was being told the truth. This, in my view, profoundly changed the credibility of the various accounts of what actually happened in this case.
“I have concluded, having looked carefully at all the evidence now available, that Michael Shields is telling the truth when he says he is innocent of the attempted murder of which he was convicted in Bulgaria. That being so I have recommended to Her Majesty the Queen that he should be granted a free pardon.
“Mr Shields is being released from prison today and will return home to his family a free man.”
After he was told of the confession, Mr Straw asked Merseyside Police to make further inquiries. Details of the evidence, and of what the police uncovered, has been passed to the Bulgarian authorities.
The alleged confession by Mr Sankey, an electrician from Liverpool, had been ruled inadmissible at Shields’ trial. Mr Sankey’s solicitor later suggested it may have been an entirely different fight in which his client took part.
A Downing Street spokesman said Prime Minister Gordon Brown was “very supportive” of the decision to pardon Shields.
Chelsea have been banned from registering any new players for the next two transfer windows after FIFA found them guilty of inducing a French teenager to breach his contract with another club.
Gael Kakuta, 18, joined Chelsea from Lens two years ago but the French club lodged a complaint with the sport’s world governing body.
Now FIFA’s dispute resolution chamber (DRC) has ruled that Kakuta breached his contract with Lens and that Chelsea induced him to do so.
FIFA said in a statement: “The French club had lodged a claim with FIFA seeking compensation for breach of contract from the player and requesting also sporting sanctions to be imposed on the player and the English club for breach of contract and inducement to breach of contract respectively.
The Blues squad won't see any additions until January 2011.
“The DRC found that the player had indeed breached a contract signed with the French club. Equally, the DRC deemed it to be established that the English club induced the player to such breach.
“As a result the player was condemned to pay compensation in the amount of 780,000 euros (£680,995), for which the club, Chelsea, is jointly and severally liable, and sporting sanctions were imposed on both the player and Chelsea in accordance with art. 17 par. 3 and 4 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players.
“A restriction of four months on his eligibility to play in official matches is imposed on the player Gael Kakuta while the club Chelsea is banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the two next entire and consecutive registration periods following the notification of the present decision.
“Furthermore, Chelsea, has to pay RC Lens training compensation in the amount of 130,000 euros (£113,498).”
Chelsea have the right to appeal against the decision and take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
It is almost certain that Chelsea will exercise that right and the club are expected to release a response to the guilty verdict later today.
Kakuta, a skilful left winger, is viewed as Chelsea’s most promising young player. He ended his first season as top scorer in the youth side and was voted the academy’s player of the year.
His second season was brought to an end in February by a double fracture of his ankle.
Chelsea have at least signed a number of their key existing players up on to long-term contracts, with Ashley Cole, John Terry and Didier Drogba all agreeing new deals recently.
Chief executive Peter Kenyon says the new deals were a key part of Chelsea’s summer activity and hinted that England midfielder Joe Cole would be next to sign a contract extension.
“We’ve concentrated very hard this summer in retaining the players we have. Inevitably in a transfer window it is all about who you bring in but we shouldn’t overlook who we have got,” said Kenyon.
“If you look at Drogba, Terry or Cole, they are world-class players that could walk into any other team in Europe and I am delighted that we have retained them.”
Kenyon is confident Joe Cole will be next. He has been out of action since January following knee ligament damage and his current contract expires next June.
“Joe is just back in training and we are all delighted to see that. We want – and he wants – to remain at Chelsea,” Kenyon added.
Chelsea are not the first club to have been punished in such a way.
Roma were also given a ban for two transfer windows following defender Philippe Mexes’ move from Auxerre in 2004.
Roma appealed to the CAS and had the ban cut to one transfer window.
If the same situation was repeated it would mean Chelsea being unable to sign players until next summer.
Analysis: This is a fairly shocking decision from FIFA. It looks like Chelsea are one of the first to receive the repercussions of the new ‘get tough on football’ approach that the organization is taking. This could be detrimental to Chelsea’s morale and possibly results on the field. Fortunately, it’s hard to look at their lineup and say they need improvements in a lot of places. Still, though, next summer is going to be a hard one for the Chelsea and it could be like Prom for the Blues. As they sit in the corner and sulk with no date, the rest of the world will be dancing in the transfer window.
Filed under: bundesliga, Champions League, International, la liga, ligue 1, premier league, serie a, Transfer | Tags: anton ferdinand, arsenal, aston villa, bolton, burnley, chelsea, david james, david nugent, dive, eduardo, emmanuel adebayor, franck ribery, gary megson, ivan klasnic, jamie carragher, johnny heitinga, liverpool, manchester city, manchester united, martin o'neill, mike ashley, newcastle, nicolas anelka, niko kranjcar, owen coyle, portsmouth, rafa benitez, real madrid, richard dunne, steve bruce, steve harper, sunderland, tottenham
DAILY MIRROR
* Daivd James fears for his World Cup place after being left stranded at crisis club Portsmouth.
* Burnley boss Owen Coyle hailed the sgining of striker David Nugent in a last-gasp loan deal from Portsmouth on deadline day.
* Gary Megson is backing Ivan Klasnic to solve Bolton’s chronic goalscoring problems after completing a loan deal for the Croatian striker.
DAILY STAR
* Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka is said to be angry and frustrated after discovering he will not be getting a new contract this season.
David James has been told to focus on Portsmouth and not showing pictures of himself to 8 year olds...no matter how much it boosts his esteem
* Arsenal are set to appeal against UEFA’s decision to hand Eduardo a two-match ban for diving.
* Martin O’Neill was forced to sweat it out as he took his Aston Villa summer spending spree past the £40m mark last night.
* Steve Bruce last night blocked a deadline bid by Spurs to sign Sunderland defender Anton Ferdinand.
* Fulham snapped up Swedish striker David Elm on a one-year deal for £1m from Kalmar FF.
* Dutch defender Johnny Heitinga became Everton’s top earner last night in a beat-the-clock move to Merseyside.
* Portsmouth lost another of their big stars yesterday with Niko Kranjcar joining Tottenham in a £2.75m move.
* FA Cup sponsors E.ON have pulled the plug on their £35m deal.
* Rafa Benitez has become the first top boss to face the wrath of the FA over their new rules for criticising referees.
* Steve Harper has told Newcastle owner Mike Ashley to pull his finger out if he wants promotion this season.
THE SUN
* David Nugent finally ended his Portsmouth hell by securing a six-month loan move to Burnley bang on deadline.
* Niko Kranjcar insists he has not joined Tottenham as a stand-in for crock Luka Modric.
* Michael Ballack says Chelsea have been boosted by Liverpool’s rocky start to the season.
* Jamie Carragher has told Liverpool’s critics not to write them off – because they are the No 1 comeback kings.
* Emmanuel Adebayor says it will be like a family at war when he lines up against Arsenal in 10 days’ time.
* Manchester United and Real Madrid target Franck Ribery has blasted Bayern Munich boss Luis van Gaal in an amazing deadline-day outburst.
DAILY MAIL
* Aston Villa were given dispensation to complete a £5million deal for Richard Dunne last night as negotiations over his departure from Manchester City rumbled on past the 5pm deadline.
* Newcastle pulled off a coup by signing Manchester United defender Craig Cathcart on a season-long loan.
* Aidy Boothroyd will return to football today as the new manager of Colchester United.
* Stoke were beaten by the clock in an ambitious bid to sign Bayern Munich right back Christian Lell.
* Claudio Ranieri, the former Chelsea manager, is the new coach of Roma after Luciano Spalletti resigned yesterday following defeats in the opening Serie A games.
Ranieri...Claudio Ranieri
DAILY EXPRESS
* Ashley Cole will complete a new £120,000-a-week, five-year deal with Chelsea when he returns from England World Cup duty.
* Birmingham have signed Sunderland midfielder Teemu Tanio on loan until the end of the season.
* Harry Redknapp’s reputation as the master wheeler-dealer took a major hit on transfer deadline day.
* The Premier League’s Big Four reined in their spending yesterday to leave Everton’s £6million deal for Holland international Johnny Heitinga the biggest transfer in a low-key deadline day.
DAILY RECORD
* Celtic boss Tony Mowbray last night admitted he was delighted to snap up Chinese international Zheng Zhi after chasing him for more than a year.
* Jerome Rothen revealed he slammed the door shut on a glamour Premier League move to sign a deal with Rangers.
* Darren O’Dea signed on at Reading and then insisted he’ll be back up the road in no time to nail down his place as a Celtic stalwart.
Football Station 