Football News: Review Of The Day 12th June 2018

Image from: roadtovr.com

Review of the Day

Transfers

Lee Brown has left Bristol Rovers after seven years with the Pirates. The 27 year old, who graduated through the QPR youth academy before joining Rovers, has signed for fellow League One side Portsmouth.

Plymouth Argyle have signed forward Calum Dyson from Everton on a free transfer. The 21 year old left Goodison Park in the summer without making a single first team appearance.

Gary Rowett has made his first signing as manager of Stoke City. The Potters have paid over £6m to get Nigerian international midfielder Oghenekaro Etebo from Feirense in Portugal.

Hendon winger Ashley Nathaniel-George has made the step up to the EFL after being scouted at the Jamie Vardy Academy trials. The 23 year old has joined Crawley Town on a two year deal.

Veteran midfielder Michael Timlin has moved to Stevenage from Southend United.

Despite not having a manager in place yet, Scottish PFL side Livingston have signed Callum Crane from Hibernian.

Former Liverpool youngster Madger Gomes has left Leeds United and signed for Ligue 2 side Sochaux-Montbeliard.

Veteran Swedish international Seb Larsson has gone back home to join AIK Solna. The 33 year old midfielder had rejected a new deal offered to him by Hull City to return to Sweden.

Partick Thistle have picked up goalkeeper Cammy Bell on a free transfer from Hibs.

Barcelona winger Gerard Deulofeu has once more left the Catalan club to join an English Premier League side. Deulofeu was formerly with Everton before Barca invoked a buyback clause to bring the winger back, but he has made little impact and spent the second half of last season on loan at Watford, who he has now joined permanently.

Spanish midfielder Ruben Rochina has left Rubin Kazan for a return to his home country. The 27 year old has made a free transfer to Levante.

Strasbourg have released goalkeeper Alexandre Oukidja.

Napoli have splashed out over £20m to sign winger Simone Verdi from Bologna.

Sporting Gijon have released midfielder Alex Lopez.

Huesca have released winger Alvaro Vadillo and filled the gap in their squad with Moi Gomez, who they have signed from Sporting Gijon.

Japanese winger Genki Haraguchi has swapped Hertha Berlin for Hannover 96 in a deal which cost around £3.5m.

Hoffenheim have spent just under £5m to secure the services of winger Vincenzo Grifo from Borussia Moenchengladbach. Argentine forward Raul Bobadilla has also left Gladbach, this time for Argentinian side Argentinos for under £2m.

French Ligue 1 side St-Etienne have released Jonathan Bamba.

Hertha Berlin have recruited striker Pascal Kopke from second tier German side Erzgebirge Aue for a fee of just under £2m.

Derry Pele Returns To Derry

Former Celtic winger Paddy McCourt has agreed a deal to return to Derry, this time as head of Derry City's youth academy. The 34 year old will join from Finn Harps in mid-September. McCourt said: "I'm really happy to be coming back to Derry City and in particular to have the opportunity to oversee this new development programme. The club has identified an area where they feel more work is needed to secure the future of the younger players as they come through the ranks, and it is a challenge I am relishing. It looks like there will be plenty of work ahead, so I have notified Finn Harps that I will be retiring when my current contract is up to concentrate fully on this role." Derry City have said they will be looking to him to inspire future generations, but not sure how inspiring it is to have a player who wasted his talent by not putting any effort in. He spent more time saving his legs for later than he did using them during games. When the club is trying to educate the youngsters into looking after themselves properly, will his example not send out the wrong message? Or will he be hiding round the back for a crafty fag during that session anyway?

Swansea Look For Potter Magic

Championship side Swansea City have been the club to finally take a chance on the much-lauded-but-often-overlooked Graham Potter. The English manager had worked a minor miracle in the Swedish league with Ostersunds, taking the Swedes from the regional leagues to the top-flight Allsvenskan with 3 promotions and a Swedish Cup win. The 43 year old has been innovative and clever with his work at Ostersunds, but now he will have to start again and get a fresh set of players to buy into his techniques, which can often be quirky. His assistant Billy Reid and recruitment analyst Kyle Macaulay have followed him to South Wales. If he gets given the time and backing by the board, then Potter might just turn out to be a magical appointment. Most of all though, I am looking forward to seeing what kind of odd things he gets the players doing to bring them together as a team. Swan Lake performed by Swansea anyone?

EFL Cup Draw To Be Held In Far East Again

Despite the complete disasters of the last two attempts, in Thailand and China, with mix ups over home and away draws and teams getting pulled out of the pot twice, the draw for the first round of the Carabao Cup will be held in Vietnam. It really does not make any sense to continue down this route as it is hardly going to promote the competition internationally drawing a few balls out of the pot. Draws are not exactly spectator-friendly.

Atkinson Begins Ride To Russia

English referee Martin Atkinson, like all the English officials, is not going to be going to the World Cup to work at the games, but he is, instead, cycling the 1,700 miles to Russia in order to raise money for charity. Atkinson said: "It's going to be a huge challenge, but it's one I think we're all relishing. In 2016 we cycled to all 20 Premier League grounds, which totalled around 1,000 miles, so we're really upping the ante for this one. We've been saying it'll be 18 days of hurt, but it's all for some brilliant charities, so we're ready to go through that pain barrier!" Fellow referee Jon Moss is part of the group, which suggests they will be going slowly with lots of rest for him to catch his breath if his performance as a referee are anything to go by.

Pep Breaks Up With Partner After 11 years Together

Following Patrick Vieira's decision to leave New York City FC of MLS to take charge at Nice, Manchester City have announced that assistant manager Domenec Torrent will be replacing Vieira as NYCFC's head coach. Torrent has been Guardiola's assistant since his Barcelona days. What effect, if any, will that have on Guardiola's success in the future?

Kluivert To Have Roma Medical

Ajax's young winger Justin Kluivert is to have a medical with AS Roma today, ahead of a move to the club. The young Dutch forward is taking a similar career path to his father Patrick, who also moved to Italy after graduating from the Ajax academy.

Written by Tris Burke June 12 2018 06:34:19