Football News: Review Of The Day 12th September 2019

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Review of the Day

Contracts

Leeds United duo Liam Cooper and Stuart Dallas have signed long-term deals with the Championship club. Cooper has signed on for 5 more years while Dallas is tied down for 4 years.

Injury Round-Up

The story of Vincent Kompany's life has followed him into his testimonial, which means he will miss it due to a hamstring injury. Kompany, now the player-manager of Anderlecht, was meant to play for a Manchester City legends team against a Premier League legends team but will now be spectating. Kompany said: "I won't be playing, unfortunately," he said. "It is typical of me. I have a slight hamstring injury. There are still plenty of awesome players to be watching and it's about the celebration and to say goodbye - I don't need to be on the pitch as such."

Longstaff Admits Red Devils Interest Distracted Him

Newcastle United midfielder Sean Longstaff had a breakthrough season last time out and it raised interest in his services from Manchester United, who spent the summer pursuing his signature. The youngster has admitted in an interview with the club's official TV channel that he found it a distraction saying: "I try to stay the same. The expectations come from people outside of the club, really. You speak to the manager and speak to the players on a daily basis and you know what they want. At the end of the day, as long as you're doing what they want and they're happy with you, that's how it's got to be. You can sometimes get distracted by the outside noise and, maybe for a little bit in the summer, I did. It's hard not to when you go anywhere and you see your face on the front of a newspaper or you turn the telly on and people are talking about you. It's not like they're talking about little things, they're talking about stuff that can change your life, really. But the expectation is half what I've done as well and it's probably a good thing. It just goes to show that I did impress people when I played last year."

Academy Manager Quits Under A Cloud

After just 3 months in the post of Newport County academy manager, Jorden Gibson has resigned after a club investigation into his conduct. A Newport statement said: "NCAFC can confirm that following an internal investigation, academy manager Jorden Gibson has resigned from his post and has left the club with immediate effect."

Macc Back In Court

For the sixth time in six months Macclesfield Town are in court over a winding-up petition regarding an unpaid tax bill. The court case has been adjourned until 23rd October as the judge gave the club more time to settle the debt with HMRC. This current winding-up petition has passed from HMRC to Egerton Youth Club to a group of unpaid players and then back to HMRC. It is reported to be a debt of around £73,000.

Kee Undergoing Depression Treatment

On the day former Reading striker Dave Kitson has warned of an epidemic of mental health issues in football, Accrington Stanley striker Billy Kee has revealed that he is undergoing specialist treatment for depression, anxiety and bulimia. Kee has yet to play this season, with the club just stating it is because of "personal reasons". A new statement from the club read: "Billy would like to thank everyone for their ongoing messages of support. Over the summer he has deteriorated and has been unable to return to play football for the Reds this season. He is currently under specialist treatment and the club is doing what it can to support Billy, who has been an integral part of the side both on and off the pitch for a number of years." Kitson had earlier revealed that he almost quit the game in 2007 while he was on a club pre-season tour of South Korea with Reading. He said: "On that tour I just completely fell apart. I absolutely lost the plot and had to confide in [Reading managers] Brian McDermott, then Steve Coppell, but we didn't know how to deal with these things. I should have stopped right there and then; I would have been a much happier person. I'd done everything for Reading that I wanted to do. I carried on for another year and then I told Steve and Brian that's enough. I'm 27, or 28, and I've properly had a gutful of this, for my own peace of mind I need to go and do something completely different. I sat down and had a proper breakdown, and Clare [his wife] said don't do it. You're clearly not happy, and I kicked my heels for a couple of weeks, then you get dragged in don't you, it's football."

Valencia Sack Marcelino

Valencia have bizarrely sacked Marcelino as they forget that they had finished in 12th the previous couple of seasons before they appointed him and he led them to 4th and then a Copa del Rey win, their first major trophy in 11 years. Despite doing so well for them, a few bad results at the start of this season have been enough to see him out and replaced with Albert Celades, a former assistant manager at Real Madrid.

Olympique de Marseille have confirmed Florian Thauvin's injury situation: "Florian Thauvin suffered an accidental ankle injury in a match about 4.5 months ago. This type of lesion, small in size, very localized, usually allows him to resume after appropriate care and rest. His current progress has allowed him to return to the group but the player still feels a discomfort. In order to be able to return to 100% of its capacity, Florian and Olympique de Marseille have decided to carry out a small operation (arthroscopy) in the coming days. His period of unavailability should last until the winter break."

Turan Handed Suspended Sentence

Barcelona midfielder Arda Turan, currently on loan with Basaksehir, has been handed a suspended jail sentence of 2 years and 8 months, plus a fine of around £350,000 from his club, for an incident involving Turkish pop star Berkay Sahin last year. The pair got into a fight which left the singer with a broken nose and then Turan turned up at the hospital he was being treated at with a gun, which he shot into the floor. He was sentenced for firing a gun to cause panic, illegal possession of weapons and intentional injury. Turan was acquitted of a charge of sexual harrassment towards the singer's wife.

Two Arrested Over The Transfer Of Mitrovic To Newcastle

An agent and associate have been arrested over an alleged fraud during the transfer of Alexsandar Mitrovic from Anderlecht to Newcastle United in 2015. The investigation in Belgium is not regarding Newcastle's part in the deal and Belgium prosecutors said: "The facts involve notably money-laundering operations and private corruption in the context of football player transfers." There has also been a separate inquiry ongoing into transfer from 2017-18 involving Belgian clubs over suspected fraud.

De Laurentiis Opens Up About Transfers

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has spoken to Il Corriere dello Sport about the summer transfer window and his attempts to sign Icardi and the signing of Llorente. De Laurentiis said: "Signing Llorente wasn't my idea but Ancelotti because he was saying we needed a fuoriclasse in the attacking unit that we could use for the last 30 minutes of the games we couldn't score in. An alternative to Milik, who, let's not forget, has scored 20 goals on his first year, without taking penalties. I don't understand why many fans always look what the other teams have, there are a lot of stars in our team. I've come to offer 60m plus bonuses and a €12m before taxes contract to Wanda's husband. The player's not stupid though and has chosen PSG to get back on track on the european level. I don't have regrets in my life, if I'd have taken Icardi then Llorente wouldn't have arrived and I'm convinced, like Ancelotti is, that he's a great striker. I would also have casted shadows over Milik's future while I consider him to be the real big offensive star of Napoli."

A New List For Those Who Love Them

This time it is a list of the salaries of managers in Serie A according to Gazzetta Dello Sport in millions of euros per year:
1. Conte Inter Milan 11m until 2022 (also paying Spalletti 4.5m until 2021)
2. Sarri Juventus 5.5m until 2022 (also paying Allegri 7.5m until 2020)
3. Ancelotti 5m Napoli until 2021
4= Mihajlovic 3m Bologna until 2022
4= Fonseca 3m Roma until 2021
6. Gasperini 2.5m Atalanta until 2020
7= Inzaghi 2m Lazio until 2021
7= Giampaolo 2m AC Milan until 2021
9= Di Francesco 1.8m Sampdoria until 2022
9= Mazzarri 1.8m Torino until 2020
11. Montella 1.5m Fiorentina until 2022
12= Maran 1m Cagliari until 2022
12= De Zerbi 1m Sassuolo until 2020
14. Liverani 0.9m Lecce until 2022
15. Semplici 0.8m SPAL until 2021
16. D'Aversa 0.75m Parma until 2022
17. Andreazzoli 0.7m Genoa until 2022
18= Corini 0.6m Brescia until 2020
18= Juric 0.6m Verona until 2020
20. Tudor 0.5m + bonus Udinese until ?

Written by Tris Burke September 12 2019 00:12:22