Football News: Review Of The Day 18th April 2019

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Review of the Day

Contracts

Atletico Madrid have extended the contract of goalkeeper Jan Oblak until 2023.

Iago Aspas has also agreed a new deal running until 2023 with his beloved Celta de Vigo.

In the Bundesliga German goalkeeper Thomas Kraft has also extended his deal, but this time by a year until 2020.

Transfers

Tom Carroll's loan spell with Aston Villa has been ended and the 26 year old has returned to Swansea City.

Motherwell agree a pre-contract deal with Inverness Caledonian Thistle midfielder Liam Polworth to join in the summer on a 2 year contract.

Swift Season Over

Reading's former Chelsea youngster John Swift is set to miss the rest of the season following surgery on a hip injury. The 23 year old has not played this month due to the injury.

QPR To Gift Stadium Naming Rights

Queens Park Rangers have announced a decision to gift naming rights to their Loftus Road stadium to a charity chosen by supporters. QPR chief executive Lee Hoos said: "There are so many worthwhile causes out there who do incredible things, so the next question was how we decide which charity to work with. Consultation with fans is something that I have always believed in, and so it makes absolute sense to let the supporters make that decision."

Brizzle Face FA Charges

Bristol City have been charged with failing to ensure the orderly conduct of their players in Saturday's defeat to Aston Villa in the Championship. Villa were awarded a penalty by referee Scott Duncan in the 53rd minute and the ref was surrounded by Bristol's players. Two players, Andreas Weimann (a former Villa player) and Max O'Leary were booked for their actions.

Bassini Claims He Has Saved Wanderers

Laurence Bassini claims he saved Bolton Wanderers from administration "at the 11th hour" by agreeing a deal to buy the club. Bassini told the BBC: "The priority was to save the club from going into administration. Now we have to look to restructure and move the club back up to where it belongs. We worked very, very hard to get the deal done. It was very close, to going to administration this morning. At the 11th hour, we did it, going through the night." The Trotters have until 8th May to pay a tax bill and the staff at the club have still not been paid March's wages.

SPFL Keep Winter Break In Place

The SPFL have decided to continue with a winter break in their season, with the season set to launch on 13th July with the Scottish League Cup, while the league programme itself will start on 3rd August. The winter shut-down will run from 30th December until 17th January.

Onyekuru Rejected PSG For Everton

Liverpool fans right now are all going to be saying something along the lines of "how embarrassing is that for Paris Saint-Germain when a player rejects them to join mid-table Everton instead?" However it was not as simple as it sounds when young Nigerian international striker Henry Onyekuru had a medical ahead of a move to the Parisian club, only to back out of the move as he feared that he would have no chance of first team football there. Onyekuru said: "I did a medical for Paris St-Germain on a Friday and we had to wait until Monday so they could make both signings [me and another player] official. Then I spoke to my friends because I have some good friends, and I asked if it was a good idea to play in Paris and they gave me their opinions. I also spoke to my mother and she said she just wants me to play because I'm young and still need to improve, and from there the right club will come. So I decided to go with my mother's advice so I just cut the deal off - just like that. I told my agent to call PSG that we are not going ahead with it. The conversation with my mum helped my decision-making, so it was to a club with better plans for my development. We had Everton before PSG and we all knew getting a UK work permit was going to be difficult. But their relationship with Anderlecht helped a lot in finalising things. I was going to be an Everton player then play on loan at Anderlecht who were competing in the Uefa Champions League. I wanted to get the exposure and experience of playing in the Champions League hence the decision to join Everton via Anderlecht."

Butt Given Bail

Former Manchester United and Newcastle United midfielder Nicky Butt, now working as head coach at Man Utd's youth academy, has been bailed pending further inquiries following his arrest on suspicion of assault on a woman.

Benali Takes On Ironmans

Former Southampton full-back Francis Benali, a man so hard he only realised he had a problem with his arm (which was broken) when he could not take a throw in properly, is set to take on seven Ironman triathlons in 7 days to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Benali, who is 50 now, ran to all 20 Premier League stadiums in 2014 and in 2016 ran and cycled to all the Premier League and Championship grounds in 2 weeks.

Young Racially Abused

Manchester United defender(?) Ashley Young has become the latest footballer to face racial abuse on social media as his club warn they "will take the strongest possible action". Young was targeted after a poor performance for United as they meekly surrendered to Barcelona in the Champions League, but, somehow, the colour of his skin has become an issue for some simple-minded social media users. Anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out stated: "Yet another black player, this time Ashley Young, is targeted with racist abuse on social media after tonight's Champions League game. Again, we're left asking Twitter the same question - when will you take serious action to tackle the rampant discrimination on your platform?" Twitter's reaction so far is to simply block those users who have posted racially abusive comments aimed at Young until the offending tweets are removed. Like that will stop them doing the same again in future!

Salah Uses Time Interview To Ask For More Respect For Women

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine and was picked as one of the 6 cover stars for the magazine's current issue. The Egyptian used his interview to ask for his fellow Muslims to show more respect to women in their culture saying: "We need to change the way we treat women in our culture. That has to be, it's not optional. I support the woman more than I did before, because I feel like she deserves more than what they give her now at the moment."

Written by Tris Burke April 18 2019 06:53:40