Football News: Review Of The Day 1st April 2021

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Review of the Day

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Contracts

Sunderland youngster Jack Diamond has signed a new "long-term" contract.

Transfers

MLS side FC Cincinnati have signed Isaac Atanga from Norsjaelland.

Also in Major League Soccer, Philadelphia Union have announced that they spend an undisclosed transfer fee on the signing of Leon Flach from St Pauli.

Injury Round-Up

Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski's knee injury is serious enough to rule him out of both legs of their quarter-final in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain. The 32 year old striker will be out for a month with sprained ligaments in his right knee.

Tranmere Rovers captain Scott Davies' season is over after the goalkeeper ruptured his Achilles on Saturday.

Stoke City's Wales midfielder Joe Allen has been ruled out for "a number of weeks". Allen managed just seven minutes of Wales' 3-2 defeat to Belgium in World Cup qualifying.

Paris Saint-Germain are anxiously awaiting the results of medical tests on a tri of their stars who picked up injuries during the international break. Marco Verratti, Alessandro Florenzi and Abdou Diallo all returned to Paris early for medical evaluations. They did get some good news on injuries as Pablo Sarabia returned to training after a thigh injury.

VfB Stuttgart's Argentine international Nicolas Gonzalez has suffered a thigh strain.

Managerial Changes

Hayden Mullins has been appointed as head coach of Colchester United until the end of the season. Mullins had been assisting the previous caretaker boss Wayne Brown but after one win in nine Brown was replaced.

South Africa have sacked their head coach Molefi Ntseki after they failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations.

Former Liverpool defender Daniel Agger has taken charge of second-tier Danish side HB Koge. Former Everton defender Lars Jacobsen is to be his first-team coach.

Disciplinary Charges

Middlesbrough have been fined £10,000 after their players "failed to conduct themselves in an orderly fashion" after a defeat to Swansea City. Manager Neil Warnock was already fined £7,000 for his post-match comments.

Five Rangers players have been banned for four games, with a further two suspended, for breaching CV regulations. Bongani Zungu, Nathan Patterson, Calvin Bassey, Dapo Mebude and Brian Kinnear were cited after their party was broken up by police last month.

EFL Appoint First Female Ref

Rebecca Welch will make history on Monday night when she is set to become the first woman ever to be appointed to referee a match in the English Football League. The 37 year old will take charge of the League Two game between Harrogate Town and Port Vale. Amy Fearn was the first to ever referee in the EFL when she took charge of the final 20 minutes of action between Coventry City and Nottingham Forest, following an injury to the match official.

EFL Take Out Loan

The English Football League has taken out a £117.5m loan from MetLife Investment Management to help Championship clubs who have lost gate receipt income due to the ongoing pandemic. Championship clubs have lost approximately £150m due to being unable to allow spectators in grounds.

Chelsea To Play In Seville

Chelsea's Champions League quarter-final against Porto is to see both legs played in Seville, at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium. Pandemic restrictions has forced the games to be moved.

Latics Takeover Finally Completed

The takeover of Wigan Athletic by a consortium led by Bahraini businessman Abdulrahman Al-Jasmi has received English Football League approval, which allowed it to be completed. The deal was agreed earlier this month after a previous takeover deal fell through in January.

Agent Spending Up In Prem

English Premier League clubs paid football agents more than £272m during 2020-21 season, up by £9m from the previous season. In Serie A, by contrast, the amount paid has dropped from 187.9m euros to 138m euros this season. Juventus being the biggest spender in both years but the latest figures show their spending on agent fees has halved. They spent 44.3m euros in 2019 but reduced the spend to 20.8m euros in 2020. Inter Milan also saved 20m euros as they reduced spending from 31.8m euros in 2019 down to 9.1m euros.
Arsenal £16,462,480
Aston Villa £8,928,343
Brighton & Hove Albion £7,496,038
Burnley £4,458,520
Chelsea £35,247,822
Crystal Palace £6,760,093
Everton £14,071,886
Fulham £9,347,927
Leeds United £7,034,943
Leicester City £12,518,018
Liverpool £21,652,589
Manchester City £30,174,615
Manchester United £29,801,555
Newcastle United £11,349,953
Sheffield United £7,081,018
Southampton £6,804,154
Tottenham Hotspur £16,520,177
West Bromwich Albion £4,222,059
West Ham United £9,689,567
Wolverhampton Wanderers £12,598,466

Euros To Have 5 Subs

This summer's European Championships is to allow five substitutions per game, instead of the usual three. FIFA introduced the use of five subs to protect players from overuse and injuries during the pandemic, as games have had to be squeezed into a smaller timeframe than a normal season. Only the English Premier League, of the top divisions in Europe, has not adopted the five subs rule, which probably goes some way to explaining the extraodinary amount of injuries the competition has seen this season.

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Written by Tris Burke April 01 2021 05:56:05