Football News: Review Of The Day 22nd January 2019

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Review of the Day

Transfers

Newcastle United's teenage striker Elias Sorensen has joined Blackpool on loan for the rest of the season.

Barnsley have spent an undisclosed fee to sign Portugese winger Elliot Simoes from FC United of Manchester. Free agent striker Mateo Aramburu has also joined Barnsley on a deal until the end of the season.

West Ham United midfielder Joe Powell has dropped down to League Two Northampton Town on loan for the rest of the season.

Arthur Gnahoua has agreed a deal with Carlisle United until the end of the season. The 25 year old was released by Shrewsbury Town to allow him to become new manager Steven Pressley's first signing for the Cumbrians.

Burton Albion boss Nigel Clough has moved to shore up the left side of his team by signing Colin Daniel from Peterborough United.

Birmingham City have received an undisclosed fee from Walsall for defender Dan Scarr.

Everton winger Yannick Bolasie has returned to Goodison Park after cutting short his loan spell with Aston Villa. The 29 year chose to exercise an option in his loan contract after struggling to break into Villa's team.

Derby County boss Frank Lampard has got his wish and signed his old (literally for a footballer at 38) mate Ashley Cole. The former England left back has spent the last few years in the USA playing Major League Soccer with LA Galaxy.

Bizarrely, Barcelona have taken Kevin-Prince Boateng on loan for the rest of the season from Sassuolo with an option to buy him in the summer for around £7m. Barca have paid a loan fee of nearly £2m.

Winger Sulley Kaikai has left Crystal Palace on a free transfer to join NAC Breda.

Genoa midfielder Stephane Omeonga has joined Hibernian on loan.

Mexican defender Carlos Salcedo has returned home after Tigres UANL of the Mexican Liga MX have paid nearly £8m to sign him from Eintracht Frankfurt.

Contracts

Racing Strasbourg right back Kenny Lala has agreed a new deal. The 27 year old has extended his deal to 2021.

Young academy graduate midfielder Scott McTominay has signed a new contract with Manchester United which runs until 2023, with a club option for a further year.

Gambian winger Bakery Jatta is now contracted until 2024 with Hamburg after signing a new deal yesterday.

Johnson Announces Retirement

Glen Johnson, who somehow managed to get 54 England caps in his career, has announced his retirement. The 34 year old won the Premier League and League Cup with Chelsea and the FA Cup with Portsmouth, to prove that a team can carry one player through a season and still win trophies. He also won the League Cup a second time, after joining Liverpool for the frankly ridiculous sum of £18m. The right back, who also played at centre back a few times, but was even worse there, began his professional career at West Ham United and ended with Stoke City, after taking in Chelsea, Portsmouth and Liverpool in between.

Former Ipswich Player Burgled

Mick Lambert, a former Ipswich Town player, has returned home from a night out (well I say night, he and his wife returned home before 8pm) to find his home burgled and his FA Cup winner's medal stolen. The 68 year old was a substitute in the 1978 FA Cup winning team, calling that day "the greatest day of his life". Lambert, who suffers heart problems, returned home to find the back door had been smashed open and a number of items, including jewellery, a TV and his car, had all been stolen.

Trotters Fans Protest

A significant number of Bolton Wanderers fans protested outside their home stadium before the game against West Bromwich Albion. It is believed that there may have been as many as 4,000 supporters complaining about chairman Ken Anderson's handling of the club and the unrest continued inside the ground as well with tennis balls thrown onto the pitch before kick-off. The protests also supported John McGinlay, who is banned from the club after criticising Anderson on BBC radio last week. All of the drama overshadowed yet another defeat for Bolton, who sit 23rd in the Chmapionship table with the 2-0 defeat leaving them as the lowest scoring team in the English Football League with just 18 goals and just 1 win in their last 18 league games.

Celtic's New Pitch Diseased

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has revealed that their brand new £1.5m hybrid pitch has a disease, which explains why the pitch is showing signs of wear and tear already. Rodgers said: "It's just something unfortunate for the ground staff. Nothing that they could have done. It has a slight disease in the surface, which has just been unfortunate really. We obviously had a new pitch laid over the course of the last year, which has really helped our game. The guys are working really hard to make that right. It's difficult when you have a spell of games on it. But I'm sure it will get back to the level we would hope it would be at. These are natural things that just take a little bit of time."

Former Nigerian Internationals Stole From Own Charity

A trio of former professional sportsmen from the Sodje family have been found guilty of siphoning off cash from their Sodje Sports Foundation charity to their own bank accounts. Former Reading footballer Sam Sodje was cleared of money laundering, while Efe, Stephen and Bright Sodje have all been found guilty and jailed for fraud. The charity was set up in 2009, supposedly to provide facilities for children in Nigeria, but the money was going straight into the personal accounts of the guilty trio. Stephen Sodje was sentended to 2 years and 6 months in prison for receiving £30,000 from the charity. Efe Sodje, who was described as the face of the charity and was well known for his headgear as a player, was given 18 months for receiving at least £7,500. He was also cleared of money laundering charges. Former rugby player Bright Sodje was given 21 months for his part in the scam. A fourth brother, Akpo Sodje, fled to Dubai and refused to return to the UK for questioning. Two other men, Emmanuel Ehikhamen and Andrew Oruma, were convicted of money laundering in connection with the Sodje Sports Foundation.

Giroud Facing Driving Ban

Chelsea forward Olivier Giroud, who is not exactly known for being a speedster on the pitch, is facing a possible driving ban after admitting his 4th speeding offence in 2018. Giroud, who already has 9 points on his license, will now face magistrates on 19th February who are likely to give the French World Cup winner 3 more points.

Gunners Confirm Sven Is Going

After just over a year as Arsenal's head of recruitment, Sven Mislintat is set to leave the Gunners in February. The 46 year old was brought in from Borussia Dortmund as part of the restructure of the club as it looked to move on from Arsene Wenger. Despite stating that Mislintat has done a "truly outstanding job", Arsenal are still happy to allow him to leave just after the transfer window closes. Arsenal will also have to make do without right back Hector Bellerin for the rest of the season, after the 23 year old was found to have ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in the 2-0 win over Chelsea.

Terriers Appoint New Manager

Huddersfield Town have replaced former Borussia Dortmund reserve team manager David Wagner with Borussia Dortmund reserve team manager Jan Siewert. The 36 year old has joined on a deal until 2021. Huddersfield chairman Dean Hoyle said: "We enjoyed tremendous success under our previous head coach, David Wagner, and we've subsequently appointed a new head coach that bears many similarities to him; a young, aspirational German from Borussia Dortmund II. However, that does a disservice to Jan, who is his own man. There is much more to this appointment than that. Given David's success at Huddersfield Town, we knew that it was prudent to look to the future in case an offer came in that he couldn't refuse. David was fully aware that we were undertaking this work - you must prepare for the future. Jan's name came to our attention in his previous role as assistant manager and Under-19 coach at VfL Bochum. We first spoke with him over two years ago and we've kept in communication since. His reputation in the game is very good. He's known as a coach who is ambitious, has many qualities and who has strong philosophies. As such, it came as no surprise to us when he moved to one of the world's biggest clubs, Borussia Dortmund."

Written by Tris Burke January 22 2019 06:32:04