Football News: Review Of the Day 30th August 2018

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Review of the Day

Transfers

Leeds United striker Caleb Ekuban has joined Turkish Super Lig side Trabzonspor for the season on loan.

Midfielder Aaron Tshibola has returned to Kilmarnock after teh 23 year old spent the second half of last season there on loan. The DR Congo international is on a season-long loan from Aston Villa.

As expected Dundee have agreed the signing of 38 year old former Rangers and Celtic forward Kenny 'Loose Lips' Miller. Miller will be taking his zimmer frame over to Dens Park after a shortlived spell as player-manager of Livingston.

League Two's Crewe Alexandra have completed the signing of Preston North End defender Kevin O'Connor on loan until January.

Stevenage defender Joe Martin has joined Bristol Rovers on loan until January.

Belgian youngster Julien Ngoy has been loaned to Swiss side Grasshopper Zurich by Stoke City.

Middlesbrough youngster Nathan McGinley has left the club on loan until January when he will sign a permanent deal with Forest Green Rovers.

Portsmouth have completed the loan signing of youngster Andre Green from Aston Villa on loan for the rest of the season.

Real Madrid have stepped in to re-sign striker Mariano from Lyon despite a deal having been previously agreed with Sevilla for the 25 year old forward. Madrid exercised a buy-back clause and will pay around 22m for 65% of his rights, as they still held 35%. Maybe it is just me, but third-party ownership was supposedly banned a number of years ago, so how on earth were they able to hold onto 35% of his rights??

Rio Mavuba has been released by Sparta Prague. The veteran midfielder has 13 caps for France, though he was born in international waters during the Angolan Civil War and so his birth certificate has no nationality on it, merely stating he was "born at sea" and he did not receive French nationality until he was 20.

Norwegian winger Rafik Zekhnini has been loaned to FC Twente by Fiorentina.

Nottingham Forest utility player Thomas Lam (probably better suited to bitter local rivals Derby County) has joined PEC Zwolle of the Eredivisie on loan.

Bannan Extends Owls Deal

Sheffield Wednesday's Scottish international midfielder Barry Bannan has signed a new three year contract with the Championship club. The 28 year old former Villa player would have been out of contract next summer without the new deal.

Welsh 'Icon' Retires From Internationals

Apparently a Wales icon, at least according to current manager Ryan Giggs, because he scored a goal against Belgium in the 2016 Euros, Hal Robson-Benchfiller-Kanu has retired from international duty. Not that he was picked for the latest squad anyway. But in case anyone thought that he was just not picked for being crap the West Bromwich Albion forward has announced his retirement to focus on his club career. Mind being crap is no obstacle to a role in the Welsh set-up as Giggs confirmed that Ashley Williams will remain as Wales captain and called him 'fantastic'. Though I am not sure if he meant it that way or the other meaning of the word fantastic as in the it was 'remote from reality'.

Copa Libertadores Game Abandoned After Conmebol Alter First Leg Result

Just 12 hours before Santos of Brazil were set to face Independiente of Argentina in the second leg of a Copa Libertadores tie, Conmebol, the South American equivalent of UEFA, decided to change the result of the scoreless first leg to award Independiente a 3-0 win. They had found that Santos fielded an ineligible player in Uruguay international Carlos Sanchez, who had not served his full ban for a red card received in the competition three years earlier. However Santos appealed and showed that Conmebol's own online systems designed to inform clubs of any bans had shown that the player was not banned. Despite this, the first leg was awarded to the Argentinian club by the standard 3 goals to nil scoreline used in these cases. The crowd of 45,000 clashed with police after they began throwing missiles at the Independiente bench towards the end of the game, with the score 0-0 again on the night. The perimeter fences were stormed and police, with the liberal use of batons and percussion grenades, literally beat the crowd back, but the match had to be abandoned, with Independiente set to qualify.

Napout Jailed As FIFA Corruption Scandal Continues

Speaking of Conmebol, their former president, Paraguayan Juan Angel Napout, has been given a 9 year jail sentence for his part in the wide ranging FIFA bribery and corruption scandal. Napout was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and two wire fraud charges after he participated in schemes to accept millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for the media and marketing rights to various football tournaments. He will also have to forfeit around £2.6m and pay a 1million dollar fine.

Italian Suspended For Blasphemy

Udinese's former Juventus midfielder Rolando Mandragora has been handed a one-match ban in Serie A after being caught on TV shouting an insult to Mary and referring to god as a dog. Sampdoria goalkeeper Emil Eudero had just saved his shot when the 21 year old shouted out: "Porca Madonna, Vaffanculo, Dio Cane!" This is not the first time Serie A has taken action against players and coaches for blasphemy, with Gianluigi Buffon's case being the most well known after he was forced to apologise for uttering the word "Dio" (God). Though Buffon had claimed he actually said "Zio" (Uncle).

Dempsey Hangs Up His Boots

Former Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham forward Clint Dempsey has retired at the age of 35. The USA international holds the record for most Premier League goals scored by an American with 57 and also scored 57 times for the USA, a joint-record shared with Landon Donovan. Dempsey was also the first American to play in a major European final. I assumed he will now go into a quiet retirement with Makepeace....

United Open Contract Talks With Martial

Despite the French forward's agent saying that Anthony Martial wanted to leave Manchester United, he is now in talks with the club over a new contract. The 22 year old has one year left with a club option to extend by a year on his current deal, but Man Utd are looking to tie the youngster down to a long term contract.

Sane Gets Germany Recall

Manchester City's flying winger Leroy Sane is among three players who missed out on the World Cup to get a recall by Joachim Low, along with Jonathan Tah of Bayer Leverkusen and Nils Petersen of Freiburg.
Germany squad in full:
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona); Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Monchengladbach), Jonas Hector (Cologne), Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich), Thilo Kehrer (Paris Saint-Germain), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea), Nico Schulz (Hoffenheim), Niklas Sule (Bayern Munich), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen); Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Draxler (Paris Saint-Germain), Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich) , Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City), Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Leroy Sane (Manchester City), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Nils Petersen (Freiburg), Timo Werner (RB Leipzig)

Adriano Admits Drink Cost Him Inter Career

Former Inter Milan striker Adriano has admitted that he used to turn up for training in the mornings drunk following the death of his father. The Brazilian striker was once one of the most promising forwards around, with Javier Zanetti once commenting that his biggest defeat was being unable to help Adriano. Adriano was speaking on TV show R7 when he revealed: "Only I know how much I suffered. The death of my father left me with this huge void, I felt very lonely. After his death everything got worse, because I isolated myself. I was alone in Italy, sad and depressed, and then I started drinking. I only felt happy when I was drinking, I'd do it every night. I drank everything I could get my hands on: wine, whiskey, vodka, beer. Lots of beer. I didn't stop drinking and in the end I had to leave Inter. I didn't know how to hide it, I arrived drunk in the morning for training sessions. I always showed up, even if I was completely drunk and the medical staff had to take me to sleep in the infirmary. Inter told the Press I just had muscular problems. I later realised that the problem was the people around me, friends who did nothing but take me to parties with women and alcohol, without thinking about anything. By going back to Brazil I gave up millions, but I gained happiness."

Torreira's Agent Disappointed Player Signed For Arsenal

Summer signed Lucas Torreira's agent has probably echoed the sentiments of most of the agents of Arsenal's recent signings when he admitted he did not want his client to join the Gunners, instead he was hoping to see the Uruguayan join Napoli. Pablo Bentacur said: "It's a pity, I'm sorry Ancelotti wasn't there at the start of the negotiation. He'd have been a great help for Torreira, he has tremendous international experience. But then Lucas called me and he confirmed to me that negotiations with Arsenal were too advanced for any second thoughts. If Arsenal had collapsed then Napoli would have been perfect. In the end, the Gunners satisfied our demands and they even were willing to pay €5million more than his release clause."

Written by Tris Burke August 30 2018 06:34:24