Football News: Review Of The Day 6th January 2023

Review of the Day

Contracts

Middlesbrough have activated their 1-year contract extension option in Chuba Akpom's deal, meaning the striker is now tied down until 2024.

Jack Lankester has agreed a new contract with Cambridge United which will run out in 2025.

Sean Scannell has extended his deal with Grimsby Town to run until the end of the season.

Teenage midfielder Ayman Kari has extended his contract with Paris Saint-Germain to expire in 2025.

New England Revolution of Major League Soccer have given their Spanish winger Nacho Gil a 2 year contract with club option for another year.

Also in MLS, Philadelphia Union's Hungarian midfielder Daniel Gazdag has signed a similar deal with his also extended at the end of 2025 but with a club option for 2026 as well.

Transfers

In a surprising move, veteran defender Daley Blind has signed for Bayern Munich. The 32-year-old former Manchester United player was available on a free transfer after being released early from his Ajax contract ahead of the transfer window, despite featuring regularly for the Amsterdam giants.

Chelsea have completed the signing of Benoit Badashile from AS Monaco for £35m. The Blues have also been heavily criticised by Benfica head coach Roger Schmidt for their actions as they attempt to sign Enzo Fernandez from the Portugese. Schmidt said: "What the club is doing who wants Enzo, it's disrespectful against all of us, against Benfica and I cannot accept what they are doing. To make the player crazy, and then to pretend they can pay the clause and later they want negotiate I think is not what I understand about a good relationship between clubs who maybe want to discuss about the player."

Birmingham City have signed Kevin Long on a free transfer from Burnley. The defender has agreed a short-term deal with Birmingham.

Aberdeen have re-signed their former captain Graeme Shinnie on a loan deal from Wigan Athletic for the rest of the season. Also joining the Dons is Patrik Myslovic on loan from MSK Zilina with an option to buy.

Josh Bowler has returned to Blackpool on loan until the end of the season. The winger signed for Nottingham Forest in the summer as part of the huge spending spree, but was loaned straight out to Forest owner Marinakis's other club Olympiakos.

Sean Morrison has been released by Cardiff City.

Millwall have released former Arsenal and Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Benik Afobe.

Manchester City have loaned young winger Morgan Rogers to Blackpool for the rest of the season.

Former Aston Villa full-back Matt Lowton has signed for Huddersfield Town on loan from Burnley.

Swansea City have recalled Morgan Whittaker early from his season-long loan spell with Plymouth Argyle after the 21 year old impressed.

Southampton have recalled Dynel Simeu from a loan spell with Tranmere Rovers and sent the defender to Morecambe on loan instead.

Max Watters has joined Barnsley on loan from Cardiff City for the remainder of the season.

Bolton Wanderers have spent an undisclosed fee on Hull City winger Randell Williams.

Another undisclosed fee has been paid by Fleetwood Town for Cork City keeper David Harrington.

Yet another undisclosed fee has seen Jordon Garrick recalled from a loan spell at Lincoln City to join Forest Green Rovers on a permanent transfer from Swansea City.

Plymouth Argyle have also paid an undisclosed fee in order to sign Callum Wright from Blackpool.

Aaron Pressley has joined Accrington Stanley on loan from Brentford until the end of the season.

Harrogate Town have completed the signed of free agent defender Toby Sims on a short-term deal.

Newport County midfielder Robbie Willmott has joined Walsall on loan for the rest of the season.

Wycombe Wanderers have sent midfielder Daryl Horgan to Stevenage on loan.

Matty Dolan has joined Hartlepool United on loan until the end of the season when the deal will be made permanent from Newport County.

Barrow have signed Rory Feely from Bohemians.

Crewe Alexandra have extended the loan of Lachlan Brook from Brentford until the end of the season.

Bradford City have sold former Celtic youngster Fiacre Kelleher to Colchester United for an undisclosed fee. Colchester United have also paid a "five-figure fee" to Stevenage, with a sell-on clause, for midfielder Arthur Read.

Alex Cairns has joined Salford City on loan from Fleetwood Town.

Bristol City defender Joe Low has moved to Walsall on loan.

Atlanta United's Argentine defender Alan Franco has been sold to Sao Paulo for £2.3m.

Los Angeles FC have sold Nick DePuy to fellow MLS team Nashville SC for £48,000.

Espanyol full-back Miguel Llambrich has moved to Cartagena on loan.

Ajax defender Lisandro Magallan has moved to Elche on a free transfer.

In a move between two Major League Soccer franchises, Nashville SC have sold Dave Romney to New England Revolution for £500,000.

Eibar have signed Juan Carlos Arana from Villareal.

Juventus youngster Hans Nicolussi Caviglia has moved to Salernitana on loan.

Red Bull Salzburg have signed Jerome Onguene from Eintracht Frankfurt on loan.

Los Angeles FC have signed Memo Rodriguez on a free transfer from Houston Dynamo and former Liverpool youngster Chris Mavinga on a free from Toronto.

Queens Park Rangers have released Macauley Bonne.

AS Monaco have loaned winger Anthony Musaba to NEC Nijmegen.

West Ham United have recalled Armstrong Oko-Flex from his loan spell at Swansea City. The youngster spent most of his time sat on the bench with 12 of his 13 appearances for the Swans during the loan coming as a substitute.

Manchester United have signed Crystal Palace goalkeeper Jack Butland on loan for the rest of the season.

Injury Round Up

Preston North End have referred striker Emil Riis to a specialist after the 24-year-old picked up a knee injury against Stoke City, amid fears of a serious injury.

Norwich City midfielder Isaac Hayden has undergone knee surgery after admitting the problem has been affecting his form all season. The 27-year-old is on loan at the Canaries for the season from Newcastle United. The Norwich staff had been trying to manage the situation by drawing fluid from his knee every three days but it has now been decided to operate.

Accrington Stanley will make do without defender Mitch Clark for the next 6 weeks due to a hamstring injury the 23-year-old picked up in their defeat to Derby County.

A hamstring problem has sidelined Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk "for more than a month".

Bayern Munich defender Noussair Mazraoui needs to take time off football due to an inflammation of his heart tissue after the Moroccan suffered Covid-19. He is expected to miss six to eight weeks.

Job Changes

Darren Ferguson has returned to Peterborough United for a fourth spell in charge. Posh sacked Grant McCann and his assistant Cliff Byrne on Wednesday after just one win in seven games and have turned to Ferguson once again. The appointment is only on a short-term deal until the end of the season according to Peterborough co-owner Jason Neale.

Gillingham have appointed Kenny Jackett as their Director of Football and Andy Hessenthaler has returned to the club as Head of Recruitment. Hessenthaler quit a job as manager of National League South club Dover Athletic to take up the role.

Chelsea have promoted Jim Fraser to Head of Youth Development and Recruitment from Assistant Head of Youth. Jack Francis has also received a promotion to Academy Manager for the Under 9s to 14s. Francis was Head of Player Care and Under 15s/16s programme lead.

Anthony Hudson is set to act as USA national team head coach for their forthcoming training camp in Los Angeles as question marks surround the future of Gregg Berhalter.

Disciplinary Charges

Racist chants by Lazio fans (again) have caused the FIGC to order part of their stadium to be closed for their next match. The Curva Nord of Stadio Olimpico will be shut when they face Empoli on Sunday following abhorrent chants aimed in the direction of Lecce's Samuel Umtiti and Lameck Banda on Wednesday. A Lazio statement read: "Lazio fans are not racist and cannot be associated with a few individuals who seriously harm the club's image. Lazio has always opposed all forms of racism and discrimination with all the means available. The club will, as always, offer the maximum collaboration to the authorities to identify those responsible." Which completely glosses over the fact that Lazio fans are known as neo-Nazis who are extremely vocal in their support to the far-right, including figures such as Benito Mussolini. Lecce fans certainly tried their best to drown out the abuse on Wednesday, chanting Umtiti's name and helping their team to beat Lazio 2-1. This is the second time in recent years that Lazio have been ordered to partially close their stadium due to racist abuse from their fans.

Shrewsbury Town have written to the Football Association to express their "concerns" after a third red card this season was successfully overturned. This one had been shown to former Everton defender Matthew Pennington in the New Year's Day defeat to Fleetwood Town. Earlier in the season sendings off for Tom Flanagan and Luke Leahy were also overruled on appeal. The Shrews said: "We are also firmly of the belief the dismissals have cost us a significant number of points which we won't be able to get back. The club will be writing to PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) and the Football Association with our concerns." All three matches ended in defeats for ten man Shrewsbury.

Pointless List Of The Day

Premier League's all-time lowest points total is today's (almost literally in Derby County's case) pointless list:
1. Derby County - 2007/08 - 20 goals - 11 points
2. Sunderland - 2005/06 - 26 goals - 15 points
3. Huddersfield Town - 2018/19 - 22 goals - 16 points
4. Aston Villa - 2016/16 - 27 goals - 17 points
5. Sunderland - 2002/03 - 21 goals - 19 points

Cameroon Struggle

Cameroon are facing an uphill battle to put together a national Under-17 team for upcoming African Cup of Nations qualifiers after MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) tests on their team revealed a large number of age cheats. Cameroon's FA, Fecafoot, instituted MRI-tests for players in age group teams at the behest of president Samuel Eto'o, but it is causing chaos as they root out those that are ineligible. Their initial squad of 30 called up for a training camp at Mbankomo saw 21 fail the tests. A second group of players called up as replacements were little better, with a further 11 failing the tests. Now the team's head coach, Jean Pierre Fiala, is having a tough time finding recruits of a decent quality to fill out his team. There has long been a problem with youth tournaments allegedly full of over-age players, which led to FIFA introducing MRI scans to the 2009 Under-17 World Cup. In 2017 Fecafoot removed 14 players from their grop for the Under-17 Afcon in Gabon for failing the tests.

Written by Tris Burke January 06 2023 15:23:25