Football News: Review Of The Day 7th May 2019

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Review of the Day

Contracts

Former Manchester United full-back Rafael has signed a new deal with Olympique Lyon, keeping him there until 2021.

Young VfL Wolfsburg midfielder Elvis Rexhbecaj has extended his deal with the German club until 2023.

Veteran Brazilian centre back Dante has signed a one-year contract extension with OGC Nice to tie him down until 2021.

Transfers

Danny Welbeck is to leave Arsenal in the summer. The oft-injured former Manchester United striker is still just 28 and managed just 32 goals in his 126 appearances for the Gunners.

Spanish winger Markel Susaeta is to leave Atletico Bilbao in the summer on a free transfer.

Huddersfield Town's Danish keeper Jonas Lossl is leaving the recently relegated club in the summer.

Kylian Hazard is to leave Chelsea in the summer to join Cercle Brugge. Another Chelsea youngster is also set to leave in the summer after teenage keeper Marcin Bulka has signed a pre-contract agreement with Paris Saint-Germain according to reports.

Rangers Win Title With Reserves

Their first team may have fallen well short of Glasgow rivals Celtic in the SPFL, but Rangers fans at least have a trophy of sorts to celebrate after their reserves won the SPFL Reserve League, on goal difference over Celtic. 4 goals separated the two teams after the 17 matches were completed, with Hibernian close enough that they could also have taken the title on the final day if both Celtic and Rangers had lost instead of winning.

London Stadium Bosses Criticised Over Spending

After London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) published their accounts they have faced heavy criticism for the way they have chosen to spend the money allotted to them. The LLDC lost £20m last year, spending £4m on legal costs in a dispute with West Ham United alone, the tenants in the London Stadium that LLDC operates. £100,000 was spent on developing a communications strategy and more money was splashed on an award ceremony.

Hudson-Odoi Calls For An End To Evil Racism

Chelsea and England forward Callum Hudson-Odoi has called for the end to racism. Hudson-Odoi said in The Players' Tribune: "Just everybody stop the racial abuse. I just want to live my life. I just want to play football and make my family proud. To be hearing stuff from the crowd saying, 'You're a monkey' or, 'Ooh-ah-ah'. Stuff like that, for me it's why? Why do that evil? How can you even racially talk about someone else, or discriminate against them because they're a different colour to you? If anything, the chants backfired. When it happened during the game, it didn't put me off my game, but instead made me more motivated to beat them and make sure we won. I had so much respect for Raheem when he scored and did the celebration and the Instagram post after. But also, no player should ever go through the racism and discrimination Raheem has had to go through. It's not right."

Onana Believes Black Keepers Have To Work Harder

Ajax and Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana has said that black keepers are seen differently from white keepers. Onana said: "I don't see the difference between white and black goalkeepers. They're the same - they make mistakes. I make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes. Black keepers need to prepare well because it's not easy for us. We don't have a lot of black goalkeepers at the top and people already have in their mind that black goalkeepers are not confident or they make too many mistakes. It's something we have to change. It's not easy for us to arrive at that level especially when you are black but for me it really doesn't matter - black or white, in the end I am a goalkeeper. We talk more when I make mistakes because when you win, even if you make mistakes, no one is going to talk about that mistake. Nobody wants to lose but sometimes you have to lose to learn. When you are playing at a high level, I think the key is to be calm. It doesn't matter what happens because if you are calm you are going to absorb the pressure. Don't think too much about the game. Relax. Take your time. When you have the ball, you are the boss. You decide what you are going to do."

Norwich Promotion Bus Breaks Down

Norwich City's title celebrations were derailed as their specially decorated yellow promotion party bus broke down in the middle of their open-top tour of the city. Players attempted to push-start it before ending up swapping over to a standard red city sightseeing bus. The Canaries may be Premier League but they are still very Mike Bassett about it.

Casillas Out Of Hospital

Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas has been discharged from hospital after his heart attack. The 37 year old has admitted he does not know what the future now holds and praised the Porto medical staff for their actions. Casillas said: "I do not know what the future will be, but the most important thing is to be here, to be able to speak and transmit to everyone how I am and how I feel."

Another Pointless List

This time the list is of the most valuable players under the age of 20, though some are 20, so it makes it even more pointless.
The Top Ten:
1. Jadon Sancho £128m
2. Matteo Guendouzi £60m
3. Nicolo Zaniolo £57m
4. Kai Havertz £55m
5. Declan Rice £54m
6. Gianluigi Donnarumma £50m
7. Vinicius Junior £46m
8. Justin Kluivert £38m
9. Evan N'Dicka £37m
10. Ryan Sessegnon £37m

Gattuso To Have Bakayoko Meeting

After on loan Chelsea midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko told his manager, Gennaro Gattuso, at AC Milan to "f**k off" during the game against Bologna, Guttuso has said they will meet face-to-face to discuss what happened. Gattuso said: "Tomorrow I will meet Bakayoko face to face and we will talk about what happened. He seems to like to talk face to face and I enjoy it too so let's see."

Written by Tris Burke May 07 2019 06:16:22