Football News: Review Of The Day 24th February 2019
Image from: freelargeimages.com
Review of the Day
Transfers
Reading forward Sone Aluko has joined those players collecting cash in China. The 30 year old has joined Beijing Renhe of the Chinese Super League.
Philadelphia Union have received around £350,000 from Chicago Fire for the signing of C.J. Sapong.
Cardiff Make Loss Despite Promotion
Despite winning promotion, Cardiff City made a £34m loss in their latest accounts. Owner Vincent Tan did cut down on overall debt, sort of, by turning £79.095m worth of loans from him into equity and waived interest but, as well as Tan still being owed £72m by the club, additional loans have been taken "to help with working capital" as well as more shareholder loans being taken, since the accounting window, to fund transfers in the summer. Cardiff's losses were almost double but bonuses of £23.165m account for a large portion of them. Player wages have gone up 51% under Neil Warnock, while directors' wages have gone from £283,000 to nearly £1.5m.
Dani Alves Suffers Break-In
Paris Saint-Germain star Dani Alves has become the latest footballer to have his home broken into whole he was playing in a match for his club. Liverpool forward Sadio Mane recently returned from a game to find his house ransacked and previously Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Thiago Silva have been burgled while playing for PSG.
PSG Rule Out Wenger
The president of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, has quashed rumours that Arsene Wenger would become the club's sporting director. Wenger was said to have flown to Qatar to meet Al-Khelaifi last week for talks over the role, but he was actually there to work for BeIn Sports, where he works as a regular matchday pundit. Al-Khelaifi said: "I am tired for answering these type of questions. I have a very good relationship with Arsene. I am close to him, I have known him for a long time. He is a magnificent manager and coach. He has a very complete and exquisite knowledge of football. But we have a sporting director, Antero Henrique, who I believe in greatly. I am hearing non-stop in the media that Arsene will take his job. It is too much. Let us get on with our work please. Antero is doing a very good job. He will continue with us. He stays here."
Heidel To Step Down
Schalke 04's sporting director Christian Heidel is to step down at the end of the season. This season has been the club's worst Bundesliga campaign for 36 years. Schalke lost to Mainz 05 on Saturday, a team who had lost their previous 3 games. Heidel has been blamed for poor transfer dealings after the club slipped from second last season down to currently sitting 14th of 18 teams in the league currently.
Rafinha Hits Out At Kovac
Despite Bayern Munich's win over Hertha Berlin at the weekend, back up right back Rafinha has come out publicly and criticised manager Niko Kovac. Rafinha told Bild: "Recently the coach is not being respectful to me. I bring my performance in training. It's hard for me to motivate myself. I train well, but I don't play any part [in matches]. I always give 100 percent. I bring my performances, but he doesn't rely on me. I don't know what he thinks. With Heynckes, Ancelotti, Guardiola, I played. Maybe Ancelotti, Heynckes, and Guardiola have no clue about soccer, because I always played for them. With Niko, I played in the Hinrunde; now I'm not playing anymore. I don't know what's up. I'm really disappointed. I have no idea what the reason is. The coach knows that I'm leaving at the end of the season. Maybe that's the reason. I'm sad because I haven't been allowed to play in the fourth consecutive game. I'm a good player, but I'm not allowed to show it. When you don't get any minutes, it'll be hard to be there then [in the second leg vs Liverpool]. I hope that I get some minutes in the next two weeks. I simply want to play. If I was happy with my situation, something would be off..."
Ancelotti Criticises Bale
Carlo Ancelotti has criticised Gareth Bale for being selfish and also hinted that the Welshman was the reason for his dismissal from Real Madrid. Ancelotti said: "Not all players have it, of course, but selflessness is an important quality in a squad. If there is one thing that drives me crazy, it is selfishness on the pitch. When a player has to pass, but does not. I have also paid for it. At Madrid. the reason for the conversation with Florentino Perez was because I took off Bale in a match against Valencia (a game which Real Madrid ultimately lost 2-1). He had the chance to pass to Benzema, who would have had a simple tap-in, but Bale shot and missed, so I took him off and we had war." This is not the first time Ancelotti has alluded to problems with Bale, as he also spoke out about Bale's agent in the past. It is also something which caused problems with Zidane, as he would have preferred to sell the oft-injured forward, while Madrid president Florentino Perez expects Bale to start every game. Bale has been the subject of a number of jibes from his own team-mates in recent weeks, with Marcelo hitting out at him for barely being able to speak any Spanish after 6 years in Spain, to goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois calling him 'The Golfer' when asked for a description of his team-mates. He also complained that Bale has still not adjusted to the Spanish lifestyle which led to him (as well as German midfielder Toni Kroos) recently missing a team dinner.
Pele Claims He Is Much Better Than Messi
The day after Lionel Messi scores his 50th Barcelona hat-trick it has emerged that Brazilian legend Pele has criticised the Argentine and also said he is not as good as Maradona was. It is odd because not so long ago he was full of praise for Messi over Maradona. Now the legendary Brazil star has said: "How can you make a comparison between a guy who heads the ball well, shoots with the left, shoots with the right and another who only shoots with one leg, only has one skill and doesn't head the ball well? How can you compare? To compare with Pele, it has to be someone who shoots well with the left, shoots well with the right, and scores headers." To be fair, he does have a point. He could have also added that Messi plays on bowling green pitches, while Pele often played on pitches that were worse than freshly ploughed fields, as well as having to avoid defenders who were able to aim to injure him in every challenge (see 1966 World Cup for evidence of the kind of assaults he had to take in games).
Written by Tris Burke February 24 2019 05:24:52
Discuss rumours and transfers on our Liverpool rumours web page