Inter Milan playmaker Wesley Sneijder has admitted that he spoke with Manchester United over a potential transfer, and although a move would have been of interest, he is happy to have remained in Italy.
The Premier League champions were thought to be in the market for an attacking midfielder following the retirement of Paul Scholes at the end of last season, and the Netherlands international was linked with a move to Old Trafford in a protracted summer transfer saga.
In the end the 29-year-old has stayed at the Giuseppe Meazza, but has stated that he spoke with the English side.
“I felt that it was close, yes. We had several talks, the situation was such that Inter had to sell a player, Eto’o or me, and indeed there was interest. They are one of the biggest clubs in the world, so it did not seem like a bad thing – but at the same time I do not want to leave Inter,” the former Real Madrid man told AD.
Reports had indicated that the move did not happen due to the Dutchman’s wage demands, but Sneijder does not agree with this.
“Italy is great for me, and I cannot exclude that United got that feeling, for me a move was not an absolute must and there were a few things which meant it did not happen.”
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“For me it was not so much a financial issue, my feeling was that I was simply feeling very good at Inter, I love the club but also the Italian culture and the people, it fits me,” he concluded.
Rising Socceroo Matt McKay cannot guarantee he will remain at Brisbane beyond this season as he looks to cash in on his breakthrough Asian Cup campaign.
The attacking midfielder is suddenly a player in demand after emerging as a surprise star of Australia’s run to the Asian Cup final.
The 28-year-old kept Socceroos mainstay Brett Emerton out of the starting line-up for the decider, won 1-0 by Japan in extra-time, after winning over coach Holger Osieck with a man-of-the-match display in the 6-0 semi-final demolition of Uzbekistan.
McKay is sure to be on the radar of clubs both at home and abroad following his exploits in Qatar.
Brisbane Roar, the runaway A-League leaders, recently signed their captain to a long-term contract but coach Ange Postecoglou has all but conceded McKay will be poached in the near future.
McKay was tight-lipped about his future when he arrived in Brisbane on Tuesday morning but hinted his Roar days could be numbered if the right offer was tabled.
“(I’m) definitely (staying with Brisbane) this season. I’ve signed a new three-year deal and it’s a very good deal,” he said.
“The Roar are going places and I want to be a part of that, but if the offers were to come in then that is out of my hands.”
“The club will deal with it there and then. But I am really excited about the rest of the season.”
“I want to concentrate on this title (so) I can promise you I will be here for the rest of this season.”
Osieck regarded McKay as a handy back-up player before the Asian Cup but was forced to drastically change his thinking as the tournament progressed.
One of the few A-League players in the squad, the Roar skipper went from bench player to an integral member of the side in just four games.
“I said I didn’t want to go there to make up the numbers and I probably surpassed that,” McKay said.
“He (Osieck) said he wasn’t sure of me at first but told me that I’d proved myself and he was very happy with my performances.”
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“Being in that team with the calibre of player was a great feeling and I learnt so much. It made me a better player.”
“I am very happy with the way I went – just disappointed with the final result – (and I think it) showed the A-League’s a good breeding ground for players.”
With McKay set to return, Brisbane can secure the minor premiership with victory over North Queensland in Townsville on Saturday night.
The Roar have gone 23 games without defeat, setting a new record for the longest unbeaten streak in Australian football history.
Manchester City defender Kolo Toure could be subject to a £6 million bid from Turkish club Bursaspor, reports Mirror Football.
The 31 year old has fallen out of favour at the Etihad Stadium since returning from his six months on the sideline for failing a drugs test. Having joined from Arsenal in 2009 for £16 million, he initially enjoyed a rich vein of form in the first team and as club captain.
‘We have been in talks with Kolo Toure over the past two days’ announced Busaspor boss Ertugrul Saglam, who is aware of the Ivorian’s wish for regular first team football.
The move would leave City with Stefan Savic and Micah Richards as cover for the centre back positions, behind the highly praised pairing of Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott.
Toure’s transfer to Turkey would see him join former England goalkeeper Scott Carson at Bursaspor, as well as former club mate and good personal friend Emmanuel Eboue, who plys his trade at Galatasary.
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City appear to be clearing out personnel who are not first team regulars, with Eden Dzeko, Aleksander Kolarov and Emmanuel Adebayor all potentially leaving Manchester, now Kolo Toure is the latest addition to the list.
Harry Redknapp believes that the potential sale of Luka Modric could in fact help Spurs in the long run. The Tottenham manager doesn’t want to lose the Croatian but feels his exit will enable the club financially to bring in three or four players that will strengthen the team as a whole.
Elsewhere in the papers this morning Fernandes is on the verge of QPR takeover; Reina warns Liverpool that they must break Champions League cartel, while Jack Wilshere’s injury adds to Arsenal’s woes.
*
Modric sale may strengthen Tottenham, says Redknapp – Guardian
Chelsea set new pace in chase for Mata – Guardian
Fernandes on verge of QPR takeover – Guardian
In-demand Beckford wants to stick with Toffees – Mirror
Wenger faces further punishment – Daily Telegraph
Liverpool must break into Champions League cartel this season, warns Reina – Daily Mail
Redknapp believes Adebayor’s baggage ‘is perfect for Spurs’ – Daily Mail
Wilshere injury news adds to Arsenal’s woes – Mirror
Pulis insists that Shawcross is ‘not for sale’ as Liverpool show interest – Daily Mail
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City to sign Nasri inside 24 hours – Sun
Chicharito: De Gea will be fine once he masters English – Mirror
With the increased speculation that David Beckham may be ending his 8 year hiatus from English football with a loan move to Tottenham Hotspur, I was left asking myself; what can Beckham offer the White Hart Lane club?
There is the obvious increase in revenue, as Beckham is still the football marketing equivalent of the Philosopher’s Stone, but is that enough to warrant a loan move to a side who perhaps should be looking to secure players who will guarantee them an extended run in this year’s Champions League, and a spot in the competition for next season?
One thing Beckham does offer is that he isn’t cup-tied, which many of the better players will be. But I still don’t believe that the 35 year-old can really offer Spurs anything too substantial on the pitch. Perhaps a few inspired substitute appearances, and some inch-perfect balls for Defoe and Crouch to latch on to will vindicate his presence in the side. I believe, however, that his presence will be most felt off the pitch rather than on it.
Although Beckham’s off the field appearance at England’s World Cup campaign in South Africa during the summer can’t be seen as an overriding success, that is not to say that his experience is not welcome/cannot be utilised by teams. Especially teams in Spurs’ position. What I believe Spurs need, to keep them pushing into the unknown in terms of European endeavour, is experience. Tottenham are a principally youthful side, and what the signings of both Rafael van der Vaart, and William Gallas have done, aside from bolster the ranks, is to give the side a balance of youth and experience, and not just any experience, experience at the highest level. This is also what Beckham can bring.
By helping the likes of Aaron Lennon, Beckham can earn his money, not just on the pitch, but off it. The emergence of Gareth Bale as a winger this season has, for me, only served to highlight Lennon’s fatal flaw; his lack of a final product. Both Bale and Lennon can strike fear into full-backs the world over, but what Bale has, once he has beaten the full-back, is the ability to deliver, more often than not. If Beckham can work with the likes of Lennon, and get both of Spurs’ flanks operating to the level that Bale has the left working to, then Beckham could be worth every penny, without even setting foot on to the White Hart Lane pitch.
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Lille coach Rudi Garcia has confirmed that Newcastle have made a £4 million bid for right-back Mathieu Debuchy, but that the offer has been rejected.
The enterprising full-back has impressed for France so far in Euro 2012, and as such has been linked with a move away from the Ligue 1 club.
However, the Tyneside outfit will need to increase their offer if they want to capture the defender.
“He is torn between staying with us and playing in the Champions League in our new stadium or going elsewhere,” Garcia told the French press, translated to English by Sky Sports.
“If he does go and it is a sporting progression, then we will be happy to see him evolve – but we have not planned to replace him.
“But I do believe that Newcastle have faxed an offer of £4million – but they must have the wrong player.
“His performances for France have not surprised me, as he plays with France as he does with us, he plays high and attacks but defensively is also very rigorous and he exudes confidence.
“Without insulting Reveillere and Sagna, he is trying to show he should always be right-back for France,” he concluded.
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Newcastle have strong links with Lille after buying Yohan Cabaye from them last summer.
Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis has admitted that Arsene Wenger has a ‘substantial’ transfer budget at his disposal reports the Guardian.
Gazidis says the Frenchman has more than enough to buy one ‘world-class’ player but concedes that they must consider the ‘efficiency of spend’ as they don’t have the resources of the big spenders in the Premier League.
Gazidis said: “”They’re not there to compete with the Manchester Citys of this world and, frankly, if they were, Manchester City would just increase their bids again.
“You’re just never going to be able to compete with limitless amounts of money but we’ve got a substantial amount of money that we can invest.”
Despite supporters becoming restless at the lack of in-comings Gazidis insists there is no practical or ideological barrier that is holding Wenger back from spending the money.
He made it clear that the Arsenal manager has identified the squad’s weaknesses and will be supported financially to fix the problems.
Wenger has already brought in striker Gervinho and young right-back Carl Jenkinson for a combined £11.6 million and Gazidis claimed that Wenger isn’t opposed to spending big on a player.
“We still will be active in this window,” Gazidis told the Guardian. “We haven’t finished our business at all. We’re just not conducting it publicly. We’re working hard privately. We understand where the weaknesses have been.
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“If we found an established, world-class player and we thought the economics made sense and he would add to what we could do on the pitch, then there’s no philosophical objection to that,”
In the last couple of years Glasgow Rangers have really carried Scottish football at home and abroad. Domestically they have been unrivalled and in 2008 they reached the final of the UEFA Cup losing 2-0 to Zenit St.Petersburg. With the current state of Scottish football and Rangers recent successes are they punching above their weight?
In light of their 3rd place finish the Champions League group stages it must be said that they have done extremely well, in that they have had quite significantly limited funds in recent times. However, many would argue that this has proved beneficial as the squad has been galvanised by the limited changes and consequently improved team spirit.
It must be said that there is a considerable step up in pace and technique when Rangers are enjoying Champions League campaigns or even the said lesser Europa League. If you look at the so-called bigger leagues, with the clubs’ financial investments and the millions they are spending on players, then that can make a difference at European level. It is always going to be harder for Rangers to compete financially with that. To an extent Rangers have held their own and have not embarrassed themselves at all whilst competing with the so-called bigger teams.
Having said that, if you look at the games Rangers have played so far this season in Europe, I think the Scottish Champions have shown that they are still able to compete at that level, you only need to look at their draws with Valencia and impressively away to European heavyweights Manchester United.
It can be said that the achievements in the Europa League in 2008 were nothing to do with luck, with Rangers finding themselves in the latter stages of the competition once again it will be their skill and ability that will prove whether Rangers have or have not been punching above their weight in recent times. However, with the club consecutively playing in Europe each season it must be acknowledged that Rangers are not punching above their weight and they deserve their place in either European Cup competitions.
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As we reflect upon the Premier League’s twentieth season, FootballFanCast caught up with Yorkshire’s perennial nomad of the Football Leagues, and everyone’s favourite TV pundit, Chris Kamara, to hear his views on a extraordinary season and the challenges that face England over the next month and a half.
The last twelve months of Premier League football have been widely touted as the ‘best’ ever. Defining a season as the ‘best’ raises various problems, whose subjective view of ‘best’ are we talking about? What constitutes a brilliant season? “Entertainment and controversy” says Kamara animatedly. And, for the record, Chris is of the opinion that we have witnessed the most entertaining and controversial season for the last twenty years.
“Personally I don’t think there has been a better one. For a start I’ve never seen three teams come up and play as well as Queens Park Rangers, Norwich and Swansea have, not in a million years.”
“Promoted teams are normally frightened of the Premier League and even when they have managed to play reasonably well they’ve usually struggled in the second half of the season and end up either going straight back down or down the year after. You can’t tell me that it’s a given the QPR, Norwich and Swansea were gonna go back down given the manner that they play, so that was fantastic.”
“Then you’ve had the battle between Manchester City and Manchester United, which towards the end was just so intense. It was Hollywood, you couldn’t write the end. If someone was to write a decent movie about football it would end like that – with United thinking they’d won the title but City winning it in injury time. You think: ‘that’ll never happen in real life’ and it did! It was just amazing to watch; you’ll never see the likes of that again.”
As well justifying its tag as the most dramatic league in world football, this season’s events have, Kamara says, also provided lessons for next year.
“I think there’ve been more refereeing mistakes than ever before, more controversial goals and more confusion, which has certainly enhanced the debate for goal line technology.” Something that Premier League chief Richard Scudamore has also been keen to highlight in recent weeks.
In many ways, the managers and players who have drawn the highest acclaim this season have been those who were written off in August (Norwich, Swansea, Newcastle) and Kamara says that he can’t speak highly enough of the Barclays manager of the season Alan Pardew.
“Alan Pardew has been the really impressive. When he walked in to Newcastle he wasn’t taken on board by the fans because of the fact that Chris Hughton had done such a good job and wasn’t treated very fairly but you know in football you’ll always have managers looking at other managers’ jobs regardless of whether the fans do or don’t want you.”
“If you just look at the way that Alan’s transformed that football club, the players that he’s brought in. Demba Ba, who had injury problems, went up there and proved himself to be a fantastic centre forward, even better than he was at West Ham.”
“Then after the African Cup of Nations he [Pardew] went and bought his strike partner [Papiss Demba] Cisse who has got the best portfolio of goals I think I’ve ever seen from a striker in their first season. He’s looked at what people thought were average players and seen really great players so I think he deserves real credit.”
However, not every team will be quite so enthused about their manager’s performances and Chris was quick to highlight there are tough times ahead for the relegated clubs.
“It’s looking bleak for one or two of them. At this moment in time, you’d have to say that Blackburn, as a football club, is going downhill a little bit. To arrest that slide they’ll need to have a complete makeover, will they get it? It’s hard to tell.”
“Wolves have taken a complete gamble with somebody who is a relative unknown [new manager Stale Solbakken] and it’s always going to be difficult for a manager coming to a new country, especially to a club that’s in Wolves’ situation. Then again, obviously everybody deserves an opportunity and I hope he can prove me wrong.”
Two years ago we saw Newcastle win promotion at their first attempt, this year either Blackpool or West Ham are guaranteed to match that feat and Kammy thinks the Owen Coyle’s Lancashire club have a reasonable chance of doing the same.
“Owen Coyle’s had success winning promotion with Burnley. It happens though [relegation]. We’ve all got black marks on our CV but thankfully Owen’s being given the chance to put things right at Bolton and I think they could be alright next year.”
Kamara’s time working on television has endeared him to fans in a way not often seen. His work mate, Gary Neville, might not have the same common touch but his approach to football has earned him a place in Roy Hodgson’s England set-up. So, what does Chris think the former England international will bring to the table?
“He brings a bit of everything. I think the first reason Roy Hodgson has brought him in is that the players can identify with him as he’s only just finished playing. He retired himself because he was no longer able to play at the level he was used to; a lot of players would have gone down a division. Gary could have played in the Championship or even in the Premier League and he’ll be able to use his experience.”
“The second thing that he brings is that he won’t be afraid to tell the players when they’re not performing well enough and I think that’s something that Roy Hodgson needed.”
“Gary can close the gap between Roy and the players. Gary can tell the players if they’re not performing to an international level and I think the players will respond to that.”
“He’s also got an incredible knowledge of the game. Obviously he was quite shy when he started with Sky, as everyone is when they’re put in front of the cameras, but I think he’s come through that and proved to everyone that he knows exactly what he’s talking about. I think he brings a hell of a lot.”
In many ways it is a similar appointment to Bryan Robson’s for Euro ’96. Terry Venables brought Robson in to act as a link between himself and the players and he proved to be invaluable. For many, when England were knocked out at the semi finals in 1996 it was an unmitigated disaster, fans considered that tournament to be ours for the taking. How times have changed. What, I wonder, would fans consider a successful tournament in light of the unusual build up to this year’s tournament?
“We have to at least get through the group stages,” says Kamara. “I think if we don’t make through the group stages, whether the FA have given him [Roy Hodgson] a four year contract or not, he will be under a lot of pressure almost immediately.”
“Having said that I think we will, and I believe we have an excellent chance of winning it. We haven’t done that well in recent times and as a result there’s less pressure on the team coming in to the tournament.”
“A lot of people have lost a bit of belief in us and I’ll admit that I was behind Redknapp before the end of the season but the decision has been made and it’s important we all get behind Roy.”
“One thing we know that Roy Hodgson will do is organise the players, he’ll make England very difficult to beat and if he does do that then we have the players capable to win us big matches.”
Kamara’s optimism is refreshing, yet whether you regard us underdogs or potential champions the fact England will be without Rooney against both France and Sweden is something we must all take into consideration. So, who exactly are England’s goal scoring hopes going to fall upon for the group stages?
“That’s a difficult one really, we started off with Sturridge playing really well for Chelsea, Welbeck too started really well for United but as the season went on they both lost a little bit of form.”
“Towards the end of the season you’re looking at Andy Carroll. I know he only played well over the last few games but if he were able to produce that during the tournament it would be fantastic.”
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“In terms of a natural goal scorer obviously Darren Bent springs to mind but Fabio Capello was never really that big a fan of him. We are waiting for someone to emerge and prove that they’re good enough. Personally I think Steven Gerrard playing in behind Andy Carroll could be a good move for us.”
Kamara was also keen to talk about the FA’s official song for the European Championships. ‘Sing for England’, in which Kamara stars, is hoping to surpass the, somewhat mixed, success of previous football songs and, Kamara says, hopefully make it to number one in time for the Euros. Chris’ share of the money will all go to the Marie Curie Foundation.
“Since [The Lightning Seeds’] Three Lions I’ve seen people try [to make a good England song] and you need a song that people are going to sing on the terraces and from the first minute I listened to it I thought it had a catchy tune and thought straight away it would be popular with the fans.”
“From then on The FA have taken it on as the official song for the Euros. Hopefully people will buy it too because some of the proceeds from the song go to.”
Sing For England is available to download from iTunes.
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Chris Kamara was promoting Sportsdirect.com’s Euro 2012 clothing range. Buy your England gear at any Sportsdirect.com store or visit www.Sportsdirect.com.
Twitter is full of information, and some of it is quite useful. Last week I learnt that the £13.3m due to Porto to trigger the release clause for the new 33-year-old manager, Andrés Villas-Boas, took the amount spent on hiring and compensating managers and coaching staff alone at Stamford Bridge to an estimated £69m since Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 (or to put it another way, £1 for each time Villas-Boas has been compared to Jose Mourinho in a tabloid).
Shock, horror. All that wasted money, spent on people that don’t even contribute on the pitch, oodles of cash that could have been spent on another preening narcissistic galacticos or two.
Or is it a waste?
What does £13.3m get you nowadays? Not Phil Jones, not close to Jordan Henderson. Just over half a Joleon Lescott, a quarter of Fernando Torres, or ¾ of Ashley Young with a year left on his contract. A new roof on the main stand perhaps, maybe a whole new identikit stand, or you could build 1/70th of Wembley, or even better, purchase three chicken burger meals there. The alternative is you could get one of the most highly-rated young managers in the world. It’s a no-brainer really.
For a couple of million Wigan got a manager who kept the club in the Premiership on a shoestring. Bargain. Harry Redknapp cost £5m to buy-out, and got them in the Champions League. As Henry Winter wrote in the Telegraph over two years ago: “it is surely time that managers, a club’s most significant recruit, started moving for compensation more commensurate with their impact.”
When you think about it, that amount spent on managerial and staffing changes by Abramovich is not that severe for an 8-year period when the success of the club depends on the choices. It’s fair enough to criticise the choices he has made, by not giving managers a chance to succeed, but the spending on off-field staff is not that illogical. A bit more patience and he could have saved a lot of money. But let’s not forget that during that time he has pumped £739m into the club in total.
The fact is that the manager of a club, any manager, is always more important than any individual player at his club. His influence shapes results more than anything else. Why wouldn’t he command a fee? If a club wants a player contracted to another club, they must agree a fee to buy out that contract – it seems logical the same rules apply if trying to poach an in-work manager.
Another plus for managers is that their shelf life too is potentially better. Alex Ferguson has had 25 years at Manchester United alone now (and counting), longer than the whole of a footballer’s career. That shelf life may be about to increase too, as a trend is emerging for younger managers. Roberto Martinez and Boas are signs of this, though Boas has always intimated that he doesn’t see himself managing to a ripe old age, due to the pressures of the job.
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It is not quite that simple though. There is one big difference – when a club wants to get rid of a manager under contract, they have to pay him off – if they want to get rid of a player, they’ll get a transfer fee. Contracts for players are there to protect an asset, so that should they leave recompense is received. Managers on the other hand can resign from a contract, walk away and take another job. It is no wonder that Birmingham are furious at Alex McLeish joining Aston Villa, and want compensation. There seems little doubt he quit knowing he was a shoe-in for the job at Villa Park. But when a manager leaves a club to which he was still contracted for another club, he will be deemed to have terminated his contract early (a breach of the contract) meaning that the club will need to be compensated for this loss.
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For those reasons, it would be ludicrous to suggest that managers’ fees should be higher than players. Players are tied to contracts far more securely, and this partly explains the sort of fees being bandied about at the moment for their services. But it is perfectly sane to expect managers to cost clubs too. It is the single most important signing a club can make.
And thus, transfer fees for managers may soon become the norm. Perhaps Chelsea will themselves have put a release fee into Villas-Boas’s contract. Perhaps soon we’ll be discussing the market values for managers like we do with players – their age, loyalty, track-record, wages or injury record (less likely). If that does happen, it won’t be long before we’ll see the first £20m manager and soon they’ll be having strops at not earning as much as those they manage. I’ve even seen it suggested online that managers, like players, should have transfer windows, and they would not be permitted to move outside these periods. It seems football is about to get even more expensive.
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