Football News: Review Of The Day 19th August 2018

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Review of the Day

Transfers

Veteran Australian midfielder Mark Milligan has signed for Hibernian, subject to a work permit, from Saudi Pro League side Al Ahli.

Grimsby Town have taken Shrewsbury Town defender Luke Hendrie on loan until January.

Italian centre forward Guido Marilungo has been released by Atalanta.

Parma have taken Italian midfielder Alessandro Deiola on loan from Cagliari.

Atalanta winger Marco D'Alessandro has joined Udinese on loan.

World Cup Finalist Takes Break With Heart Problem

AC Milan's new left back signing Ivan Strinic, who was a key figure in Croatia's run to the World Cup final, will not be available to play for the Italian giants for a while after a routine health check revealed a heart problem. Milan said that Strinic must "suspend temporarily all competitive sporting activity" while further tests are carried out. The 31 year old only joined Milan in July from Sampdoria and has yet to feature for his new club.

La Liga Chief Upsets Serie A With Bizarre Rant

After years of the Spanish state propping up an ailing Real Madrid, La Liga President Javier Tebas has now started complaining about state-owned clubs inflating the transfer market. Which sounds a lot like he is talking about Madrid, until you realise that he means it is only ok when his own country does it, but not when anyone else is doing the same. Tebas said: "You'll need to ask why state-owned clubs exist as they are inflating the market when they buy players. Regarding Inter, the offer made for Modric is trickery. The affair of PSG for Neymar is cheating." Tebas also demanded to know how Juventus could afford to pay for Cristiano Ronaldo, who they signed from Madrid. The words bitter and tool seem to come to mind right now. Little wonder that Serie A has hit out at Tebas and an Inter Milan statement read: "Inter Milan announces that it will take legal action against Mr Javier Tebas in relation to statements made today to the press." It will be interesting to see the reaction of clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City, who were clearly the state-owned clubs he was referring to. Funny how inflating the market is only a problem when it is clubs from outside of Spain doing it.

Tite Joins In The New Bizarre Rants Trend

Brazil coach Tite has jumped to the defence of Neymar Jr, whose embarrassing, and quite frankly pathetic, diving and playacting hindered Brazil's World Cup challenge in the summer. However Tite claims that we should be lauding and applauding the whining little git for his behaviour! In a frankly ridiculous rant, Tite said Neymar was an example to all and is in the top three, though he never quite explained what top three he meant. Perhaps he means top three divers? Or cheats? Or top three for moaning about how much it hurts getting kicked? He certainly cannot mean top 3 players, he would struggle to make a list of the top 3 Brazilian players right now. Unless he means top 3 Brazilian players playing for PSG? That he might just edge into third place on....

Mbappe Also Joins In the Neymar Arsekissing

Despite overshadowing Neymar in the World Cup and in PSG's 3-1 win over Guingamp on Saturday, French teenager Kylian Mbappe has called Neymar a bigger superstar than he is. Mbappe told Canal+: "Neymar is a superstar, more than me. He worked a lot in Barcelona for that. With a goal and an assist, it is not bad either. I try to bring what I can and help the team win. We won, we celebrated but football continues, my career begins, I have very high goals with Paris, with the team of France and at the individual level. We don't have time to sit around."

Kramaric Signs New Hoffenheim Deal

Croatia forward Andrej Kramaric has a new extended deal which runs until the end of the 2021/22 season. His previous contract had two years left on it. With Hoffenheim set to lose head coach Julian Nagelsmann to RB Leipzig at the end of this season, holding on to their star forward is a big boost.

Weghorst Dreaming Of Liverpool Move

VfL Wolfsburg striker Wout Weghorst, who joined the Bundesliga club from AZ Alkmaar in the summer, is hoping that his next step will be Liverpool. The 26 year old Netherlands international told De Telegraaf: "I've dreamt of [playing for Liverpool] since childhood. If I continue to train with full commitment, I think that opportunity will come. Of course, something like that depends on several factors. You have to stay fit and a coach and club must see it in you, but apart from that you can create many things in life for yourself. I've always been surprised by the fact that people apparently don't get everything out of it. Sometimes I think it really is a pity that I don't have that exceptional talent. If I had, I would probably have been able to reach the absolute top. I'm now going for my own personal limit, but because I don't have that exceptional talent, I don't know how high it will be. Ultimately, everyone wants to be talked about in a positive way, but my urge to reach my personal best exceeds everything. If all the people who criticise me knew my whole path and how I hurt myself again every day to become the best version of myself, they would probably better understand that a lot comes loose when I score. Do not get me wrong, by the way, I'm not pathetic and I don't want pity. I choose this for myself and accept the consequences. Just look at Cristiano Ronaldo. How do you think he often feels? He plays for the biggest clubs in the world, but still gets a lot of criticism. I would love to talk to him about that kind of thing. I'm already aware that I will experience that at Wolfsburg."

De Gea Set To Sign New United Contract

At least according to Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho that is. With long time suitors Real Madrid bringing in Thibaut Courtois in the summer, it seems David De Gea has decided his long term future is with the Red Devils. Mourinho told reporters: "His [De Gea's] valuation is zero, because he is a Manchester United player who, as soon as possible, will sign a new contract. He likes it here, we love him, we want him to stay, he wants to stay, so when a player is not in the market the value is zero. A goalkeeper is a player and sometimes people forget that. A goalkeeper wins points and wins titles, so he is as important as another player. The old story of 'I'd pay that for a striker, but I wouldn't pay it for a goalkeeper' is old fashioned. The market now understands that and I am happy for the keepers. But with David, it is a collective situation involving the player, his agent [Jorge Mendes] and Manchester United. The agent didn't create a war to try to achieve his objectives. He respected the club, he respected the player, the player was always keen to stay and happy to do so and the club understood how important he was. So we have always tried to give him the conditions to make him happy, so credit to all three parties. I don't want to be disrespectful or arrogant about other keepers and say Courtois is not good or Manuel Neuer is not good - there are so many. What I am saying is that I wouldn't swap De Gea for anyone."

Written by Tris Burke August 19 2018 06:01:32