Italian giant’s Inter Milan are vying for the services of Liverpool’s Portuguese midfielder Raul Meireles in possible £14m swoop.
Merieles, 28, eventually enjoyed a successful first season in the premier league after a slow start. Helping Dalglish’s men gain a credible Premiership spot after a troubled spell under Roy Hodgson.
Despite only being at Anfield for a year, Meireles was voted PFA fans player of the year. The creative hub of Liverpool’s midfield play during Gerrard’s considerable lay off now faces stiff competition for his place. With the signing of England prospect Jordan Henderson and the potential transfer of Charlie Adam from Blackpool, the former FC Porto player’s starting place is by no mean assured.
Inter failed to replicate the scintillating form shown under Mourinho during their Treble winning campaign last time out. The faults which have haunted the side throughout the season were on show in the 5-2 capitulation at the hands of Schalke in the first leg of their Champions League quarter final.
The over reliance on Wesley Sneijder to dictate the play in the middle of the park has meant that the former European champions have become all too easy to stifle. The likes of Cambiasso and Motta can protect a back four as well as anyone but lack the imagination and ability to contribute in an attacking sense to the side’s play.
According to Talksport, Inter president, Massimo Moratti has welcomed any deal bringing the Portuguese ace to the san siro. As the once formidable Nerrazuri search out a creative spark to ease the burden on Sneijder’s shoulders.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Santos starlet Neymar wants to remain in Brazil for now but is refusing to rule out a move to Europe in the future.Neymar, 19, is reportedly being heavily courted by Real Madrid and Chelsea after an exceptional 2010 Brazilian Serie A season with his Brazilian club in which he scored 17 goals.
The flashy striker already has plenty on his mind given Santos will contest the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final against Penarol on Wednesday.
But pressed for a hint as to his whereabouts in August, Neymar said he is happy to put off the lure of Europe and the Champions League for the time being.
“At the moment my thoughts are only on winning the Copa Libertadores,” he told AS.
“My first thought is to stay here (with Santos) as well because happiness is everything, for the club, for my family, for the fans – the most important thing is to be happy.”
Asked if he wants to play in the Champions League, he said: “Of course it is (a dream), just like it is for all the players in the world.”
“To play in that competition is a privilege and I hope to do so one day. I want to play in World Cups and play in the best leagues.”
Neymar has formed a close relationship with his idol and international team-mate Robinho, who has imparted to him the joy of his spells at Real Madrid and Manchester City.
“He said very good things of his time in Europe, of playing in that country (Spain),” Neymar said.
“But I have a contract with Santos and I’m very happy here.”
“I believe my future belongs to God. (A move to Europe) could be tomorrow or in two or five years’ time – I don’t know. I would have to think about it with my father, with my mother – with everyone.”
Reading boss Brian McDermott has conceded that star striker Shane Long could be sold next month alerting both Newcastle and Everton.
The Republic of Ireland international hit 25 goals for the Royals last season catapulting them to within inches of promotion to the Premier League.
Despite the play-off final defeat against Swansea City condemning Reading to another season in the Championship the 24-year-old may get his chance in the top flight after all.
McDermott is eager to keep Long at the Madejski Stadium but a promise made in January has left him conceding defeat in the battle to hold onto his hitman.
“He’s the best striker in the Championship” McDermott told The Sun.
“I said to him in January that if we didn’t go up, I’d do my best to find him a Premier League club.”
Long won’t be short on interest from the top flight with Newcastle and Everton holding a vested interest in the player.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Both clubs are looking to bolster their striking department and it seems that an imminent battle for Long’s signature will ensue once Reading make the player available.
It would provide a boost to Newcastle in particular with manager Alan Pardew failing to secure any of his prime striking targets this summer.
Midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger said Bayern Munich are desperate to make it to the Champions League final at the Allianz Arena this season.The German giants made it to the same stage in 2010 when they were beaten 2-0 by Inter, while the Italians proved to be too strong in the round of 16 last term.
Nevertheless, Schweinsteiger is aware of the fact that they have to qualify for the group stage of Europe’s elite club tournament first and admitted that the road to the final at their home stadium is long.
“It is our goal to qualify for the Champions League final in Munich,” Schweinsteiger said. “However, we know that it won’t be easy. We have to qualify first.”
“We don’t have any influence on who will be our opponents in the play-offs. Nevertheless, I think that our upcoming opponents have more reasons to be disappointed than we with the draw.”
“I think that we can go a long way once we’ve managed to progress to the group stage. We don’t feel any pressure to go all the way though.”
“We dream of making it to the final and it’s our objective, but we realise that it’s still a long way to go.”
The midfielder then went on to discuss his side’s domestic ambitions and made it clear that Bayern want to regain their Bundesliga trophy after a disappointing campaign last season.
“The domestic trophies are very important for us,” he said. “Everybody expects us to win the Bundesliga again this year.”
“That won’t be easy though and we have to take it one game at a time.”
Bayern will learn their Champions League play-off opponent after the draw on August 5, with their Bundesliga campaign kicking off two days later with a home match against Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Sir Alex Ferguson has offered a glimpse into how he intends to deploy his latest Manchester United signings.Ashley Young, Phil Jones and David de Gea have all moved to Old Trafford since the club’s 3-1 defeat at the hands of Barcelona in the 2011 Champions League final.
Young, 25, arrived from Aston Villa in June for an undisclosed fee, and Ferguson is pleased with the options the versatile England international can give him.
“Ashley can play in more than one position,” Sir Alex told Inside United.
“He can play wide right, left, even behind the striker, so we have options there. But, initially, we’ll start him as a wide left player.”
The United boss also managed to beat rivals Liverpool to the signature of 19-year-old defender Jones from Blackburn Rovers.
The England Under-21 representative can play at centre-back or defensive midfield. Ferguson believes that – despite being primarily a player for the future – Jones has the talent to break into the first-team immediately.
He said: “We first identified Jones when he played for Blackburn’s youth team against us a couple of years ago when they beat us 3-0. He was absolutely magnificent.”
“You might think he might not play, but the ability he’s got and the determination he’s got, he could quite easily play. He’s the future obviously, but he could certainly come in right away.”
De Gea will compete to be first-choice goalkeeper with Anders Lindegaard, who performed impressively during the club’s pre-season tour of America.
The 20-year-old Spaniard will likely be regarded the first choice to replace retired shot-stopper Edwin van der Sar, however, and Ferguson is up front with his admiration of the young goalkeeper.
“We worked hard to get the deal done because it wasn’t easy,” the 69-year-old added.
“Atletico Madrid obviously regarded him very highly. But we managed to get it done and we’re delighted he joined us.
“The past is the past and Edwin (van der Sar) is part of the past. He had an incredible career with us, he was an incredible goalkeeper. But, hopefully, the future belongs to David De Gea.”
Yet another transfer window carried out in the dark by Newcastle United leaving their fans wondering infuriated and at boiling point with the clubs lack of communication as to their policy on signing players. Toon fans were hoping that by Wednesday’s deadline they’d be welcoming a new striker to St James’ Park and waiting patiently in a queue stretching out of the club shop clutching a black and white shirt ready to have their new number nine’s name emblazoned on the back.
Yet in a style that most fans have now become accustomed there was no striker despite attempts over the summer and on deadline day to land one. Another regular occurrence that comes with Newcastle United’s summer transfer window is a statement from Managing Director Derek Llambias with this particular one giving a brief outline of the boards policy and why they failed to land their targets before the window snapped shut. As expected the statement was met with great disdain by a majority of the Geordie population. The question begged is whether Llambias is right to release another statement, angering fans and risk putting Newcastle back into the headlines.
To be perfectly honest as a fan myself I’ve lost all hope that Llambias and owner Mike Ashley will ever speak publicly to the press and give fans the face-to-face communication that they crave. But on the flip side the duo know they need to broadcast information from the boardroom to their customers and have chosen to release statements as a medium. The old adage ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ springs to mind when this subject inevitably crops up at the end of every transfer window. It’s a well-known fact that Ashley doesn’t talk to many people outside his circle of friends and confidants, while Llambias is equally uneasy in speaking to television cameras and into a reporters Dictaphone.
[ad_pod id=’vip-2′ align=’center’]
Whatever Newcastle fans are expecting from the hierarchy they will never get it. The way I see it is that the fans were spoiled by former chairman Chris Mort who was openly vocal about everything Newcastle United and even went as far as appearing in guest talks and interacting individually with the Geordie faithful. Don’t get me wrong Mort was a fantastic chairman and he certainly built up a superb rapport with the fans. However since he left and Llambias was appointed things went downhill with the Kevin Keegan debacle, relegation, sacking Chris Hughton and now the supposed asset stripping all counting against him and Ashley.
I do feel for them and the mind-set that some fans have towards them is ridiculous. They aren’t trying to ruin the club and certain events that have coincided with their time at the club have seen their stock plummet in the eyes of Newcastle fans. But let me pose this question. If Mort stayed and decided that releasing statements instead of interacting with the fans was a better way to communicate would they be so hasty in their derision and criticism of him? I severely doubt it. In my opinion Llambias hasn’t done anything wrong in preparing a document that offers fans an explanation and keep them informed of what they are trying to do at the club. Fans still crave the days of Mort and the open discussions that would take place on a regular basis. What the current regime doesn’t understand is that Newcastle United is more than just a football club to the people who reside in the area. It’s a religion, a way of life and they want to know what is going on a their club. Whether they are entitled to that is a different matter but the feeling that their desires aren’t met is how it comes across.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Personally I don’t mind if Llambias and Ashley release a statement every so often giving me an insight into what’s happening at the club. It’s not exactly making the headlines for the wrong reasons and I honestly think fans are starting to make mountains out of molehills when it comes to things like this. The problem is that they want to here it straight from the horse’s mouth, which is something that will never transpire. What they have to realise is that they’ll never get anything more and just learn to accept it.
With the countdown of Football Manager 2012 just under a month away we will be running a series of articles looking back at what is simply a football institution and a mainstay in most supporters’ lives.
We all know how incredibly addictive the game is and it has even been cited as the reason behind 30 divorces since the game’s inception in the early 1980s. Football Manager gives supporters an entirely different outlook of what goes on behind the scenes in the running of a club and you find yourself immersed in what is needed to ensure your team eventually reaches the top. You experience all the highs and lows as you indulge yourself in this fantasy world.
In the first article we look back at the former heroes of the game and some of the players we were all so quick to snap up during our managerial stints.
[divider]
Click on the image below to see some of Championship Manager’s cult heroes
[divider]
[divider]
Compiled by Zarif Rasul
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
England confirmed their place in the 2012 Euro Championship with a 2-2 draw against Montenegro, in the Podgorica City Stadium.
Played in a hostile atmosphere, Fabio Capello’s men were seemingly cruising after racing into a 2-0 lead courtesy of goals from Darren Bent and Ashley Young. England looked in relative control but like so many times before under the Italian’s reign they were responsible for their own downfall that brought Montenegro back into the game on the stroke of half time.
The second half played out in much the same vein, with Scott Parker in particular impressing in midfield and just as England looked in control of the contest, a moment of madness from Wayne Rooney, 20 minutes from time, ensured a tense finish that eventually opened the door for Montenegro to score a late equaliser. Capello was absolutely furious at his No.10 and the sending off ensures that Rooney will be suspended for the Euro 2012 opener.
Despite Rooney’s actions, the final whistle meant it was job done for Fabio Capello who can now start preparing for the tournament in Poland and the Ukraine in the coming months.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
In this week’s episode of Eastenders, Phil angrily confronted Christian and their argument took a violent turn, leaving Roxy to plead with Ben to tell the truth whilst Jane chastised Ian for neglecting Bobby. Dramatic stuff indeed, yet a couple of miles away from the relative tranquility of Walford, an even more absurd soap opera is taking place concerning the nations Olympic Stadium.
On Tuesday a 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of fraud following complaints made by West Ham United and the Olympic Park Legacy Committee (OPLC) against Tottenham Hotspur. The arrest came about just hours after the OPLC Chair Baroness Ford accused Spurs of placing 14 of her board members ‘under surveillance’ as the spat over the future of the Olympic Stadium escalated.
The tit-for-tat row between the OPLC, Newham Council, West Ham, Tottenham and Leyton Orient shows no signs of receding after a decision to grant tendership of the stadium to the Hammers was rescinded last month under the threat of numerous legal challenges.
West Ham were the OPLC’s choice from the off due to their acceptance to leave the running track around the Olympic athletics venue and given the purported conduct of Spurs throughout the whole process, it is difficult to see how they have any chance of claiming ownership of the site when it is re-tendered next month.
So, for the sake of protocol the whole thing needs going over again which remains in keeping with the confused and conflicting opinions of what is best for the venue which will be the showpiece of next summers London Olympic Games.
With location, east-end identity and the maintenance of the running track in their favour, West Ham remain favourites to be allowed to take up residence but inevitably another twist to the plot has further made the whole thing look even more shambolic, dysfunctional and disrespectful to what should be an iconic national image.
After being the front-runners for occupancy since day one, West Ham co-Chairman David Gold has now admitted that the club might not be all that interested in taking up the offer after all.
Speaking to talksport, Gold confessed he had ‘mixed feelings’ over moving away from Upton Park and into the Olympic Stadium and expressed ‘doubts’ about ‘unresolved issues’. All of which sounds fairly ominous as the legacy of the stadium hangs in the balance.
Central to Gold’s ‘doubts’ maybe that, under the terms of the new tender proposed as London bids for the 2017 World Athletics Championships, track and field events take precedence over all other sports – a notion which would considerably weaken West Ham’s previously exhalted position and lessen any designs they had on being overtly in control of the venue.
What’s difficult to ascertain is just where this leaves the club, and what the genuine intentions of the board are. The realigned conditions may mean Gold, Sullivan and Brady are genuinely considering an alternative option to the Olympic Stadium, or it could just be innuendo to scare the OPLC into loosening the noose to allow the Hammers more autonomy.
[ad_pod id=’unruly-2′ align=’left’]
For a start, the move to the Olympic Stadium was not a universally popular decision amongst the club’s following who were largely underwhelmed at the prospect of having to watch games from beyond the boundaries of a running track. Ideally, all concerned with West Ham would want to own their own ground and be the masters of their own fortune, but financial constraints means thats wishful thinking too.
All of which leaves the Irons supposedly stuck between a rock and a hard place which is where savvy business folk like Gold and Sullivan won’t feel comfortable, but where they are also wise enough to try to navigate from.
So, it does make you wonder whether their perceived poker face about declining a move to the Olympic Stadium is nothing more than a tactile gesture to call the bluff of the OPLC and the relevant authorities into climbing back into bed with West Ham.
What the OPLC will be privately fearing but would never admit too, is that if West Ham do pull out and Tottenham refuse to accept the maintenance of the running track, they could be faced with the very embarrassing proposition of having a multi-million pound state of the art stadium with huge national significance being lay dormant for huge swathes of the year and for the foreseeable future.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Of course, Leyton Orient would still maintain their interest and even argue they should be granted the stadium on purely geographical grounds anyway, but again, could the OPLC really justify using a stadium built on massive tax expenditure to house a few thousand fans to watch League One football?
On the exterior it may look like West Ham are wobbling but don’t be surprised if their position is further strengthened by showing their hand first.
Juventus’ Milos Krasic may yet be set for the Premier League, according to comments by his agent Dejan Joksimovic. (MirrorFootball)
The 27 year old shone for Juve last season and has previously been targeted by Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund, however he has made just six appearances this season as ‘The Old Lady’ have reached the summit of Serie A.
Just last month, Krasic seemed to rule out a move away from Juventus, stating that despite interest from Dortmund and United, ‘all my plans are connected to Juventus.’
However, Krasic’s agent has opened the door to a potential move after admitting the Serb required regular football if he was to stay at Juve.
Joksimovic stated, ‘His future depends on what happens at Juventus in the next months. If he starts playing regularly then he could stay in Italy otherwise he will have to go.’
‘He would certainly move to a top division like the Bundesliga or the Premier League.’
According to his agent, two offers for Krasic have already been rejected, with Juve keen to keep hold of the winger.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
However, if the former CSKA Moscow man continues to be deprived of first team football is may only be a matter of time before United and Dortmund renew their interest.