Football News: Review Of The Day 18th December 2018

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Review of the Day

Transfers

Leeds United's Spanish playmaker Samu Saiz will join Getafe on loan from 1st January, when the transfer window opens in Europe. The 27 year old will be on loan until the end of the summer with Getafe having an option to make the deal permanent. Saiz will spend the time until joining the La Liga club with his family in Spain, after Leeds confirmed he had a "personal situation to solve".

Former Real Madrid central defender Pepe has been released by Turkish Super Lig side Besiktas. Pepe joined Besiktas from Madrid in the summer of 2017.

This is more of a non-transfer but I am just relieved that he will be staying in the obscure backwaters of MLS football as Zlatan Ibrahimovic has signed an improved contract with LA Galaxy to stay for the 2019 season.

Video Of Abused Fan To Be Treated As Hate Crime

After video footage emerged, on 'social' media, of a boy being abused in Nottingham city centre because he was wearing a Derby County shirt, police have said: "We are treating the incident as a hate crime. We're appealing for anyone who knows who made the video to get in contact with us. We'd also like to appeal directly to the person responsible for making the video to get in touch with us so they can explain their actions." Nottingham Forest said in a statement that they were "sickened" by the video and "condemns this conduct in absolute terms". They also said they are liasing with County in an attempt "to ensure that the young victim in the footage is identified" and the boy will be invited to attend the February match between County and Forest at Forest's City Ground as a guest of the two clubs.

Stoke Players Charged Over Penalty Argument

Stoke City have been charged by the Football Association for failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion. A number of the players confronted the referee after he awarded a penalty to Aston Villa in the weekend's draw between the two sides. Both Erik Pieters and Ryan Shawcross were booked at the time.

Celtic Looking To Buy In January

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is looking to bring in forwards in the January market, he admitted after his side lost to Hibs on Sunday. Rodgers said: "I think it is unfair on Odsonne, he's had to play in so many games. As a 20-year-old I would have loved to have taken him out but, because of necessity, he has had to play. It is unfortunate for him he hasn't had the support around him to absorb that but it is certainly something we need to look at in January. When we had Leigh and Odsonne we were definitely in the market for another one, because of the number of games we play."

Devlin Seeks Specialist Advice

Aberdeen centre back Michael Devlin is in London visiting a specialist to try and speed up his return from a foot injury suffered on Scotland duty. Dons manager Derek McInnes said: "Mikey is down in London getting a second opinion from a specialist. Not because we are overly-concerned about it. We maybe get some advice on how to push him on. I would say he is out for tomorrow and probably out for Saturday unless this specialist is really good and we get him back."

Man Utd Trigger Martial Option

With French forward Anthony Martial's contract set to expire in the summer, Manchester United have triggered an option in his current deal to extend it by a year. The club are still in talks with the player's representatives about a new contract, though his agent told RMC that he is "very pessimistic about a positive outcome of the discussions. They have already sent us offers that do not meet our expectations, starting at bases very far from our wishes. We are far from an agreement for the time being."

Champions League Draw Is Done

The Champions League round of 16 draw has thrown the Bundesliga head to head with the Premier League with three of the four Premier League sides facing the three Premier League sides.
Full draw
Schalke v Manchester City
Atletico Madrid v Juventus
Manchester United v Paris St-Germain
Tottenham v Borussia Dortmund
Lyon v Barcelona
Roma v Porto
Ajax v Real Madrid
Liverpool v Bayern Munich

Rabiot To Be Benched

Manchester United can take heart, ahead of their Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain, as midfielder Adrien Rabiot is set to be sidelined for the forseeable future. PSG sporting director Antero Henrique said, when asked if Rabiot would be signing a new contract: "At this point, no. It was a decision made by the club following a meeting I had with the player. The player informed me that he would not sign a contract and that he wanted to leave the club by being free at the end of the season. For the player, this will have a very clear consequence: he will remain on the bench for an indefinite period. Several months ago, we had positive exchanges with his representative in the perspective that he remains at the club and signs a new contract. We also accepted all the conditions of the player related to the sports field. We had discussed these conditions so that he would stay with us for years to come. But, unfortunately, from now on, the discussions have totally stopped. It seems that the player and his representative have misled us for several months. I must add that this situation is disrespectful for both the club and the fans. Especially from a player who has played under our colours from the academy to the first team and a player who has always received the full support of the club."

UEFA Fail To Act On Nazi Salutes

As usual, with no sponsors logos being hidden by socks being worn too low or some similar major problem that UEFA is quick to jump on, UEFA has failed to take any disciplinary action against Lazio over Nazi salutes performed by the fans in the Europa League defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt. UEFA said: "There are no proceedings opened for this. Nothing was mentioned in the match officials' reports, therefore no case has been opened." This is despite widely circulated pictures of the Lazio fans making the salutes, something that the club has a history of due to the club's fan base being in part based in right wing groups.

More Anti-Semitic Chanting By Chelsea Fans Reported

With Chelsea going so far as to have chairman Bruce Buck waiting outside the away entrance turnstiles at Brighton & Hove Albion's ground to ask for the travelling Chelsea fans to behave and warn them that any more racist or anti-semitic chanting would not be tolerated, they will be disappointed to find out that the fans never waited until arriving at the ground. British Transport Police (BTP) have confirmed that they spoke to 3 Chelsea fans after receiving reports of anti-semitic chanting on board a train en route to Brighton. BTP said: "Officers received reports of anti-Semitic chanting on board a train at around 4 pm yesterday afternoon. BTP attended and three men were spoken to by officers, but at this time no one has come forward to make a complaint." Without a complaint, bizarrely, the police are unable to act.

Written by Tris Burke December 18 2018 05:22:38