Football News: Review Of The Day 14th November 2019

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Review of the Day

Contracts

Werder Bremen have given experienced right-back Theodor Gebre Selassie a new deal which runs until 2021.

Transfers

New York City FC have sold homegrown defender Joe Scally to Borussia Moenchengladbach for a fee of around $2m initially with a sell-on percentage clause. The 16 year old, who has yet to make his MLS debut, will not join the Bundesliga giants until January 2021.

Injury Round-Up

Huddersfielder Town defender Tommy Elphick is to have knee surgery to repair ligament damage he suffered in a defeat versus Preston North End.

Lyon forward Memphis Depay is a doubt for Netherlands Euro 2020 qualifier against Northern Ireland on Saturday.

Werder Bremen defender Omer Toprak is ruled out for the rest of the year with a calf muscle injury.

AS Roma defender Gianluca Mancini has pulled out of Italy's training cap with muscle fatigue.

Kamara Quits Internationals

Colorado Rapids striker Kei Kamara has retired from international football with immediate effect. The 35 year old Major League Soccer star, who previously played for Norwich City and Middlesbrough, has said he is unhappy with the direction that his country Sierra Leone is going. Kamara told the BBC: "I can confirm that I have retired from international football because I'm unhappy with the progress of national team. I've been with national team since 2008 and there has been no improvement, no plan for the direction the national teams should go from the youth level to senior level. Coach Tetteh is a good man and has good intentions. But he's an old man who I do not believe is able to really improve us and to move us forward. Buya Turay, Mustapha Bundu are playing in top leagues around the world and we're learning new things everyday when we are with our clubs but not with Sellas, with him it feels like we are going backwards. I put my ego aside and decided to come for the upcoming matches to work with Sellas because I want to see the growth of Sierra Leone football. We tried over and over to talk to him to work together with us the senior players in the team me and captain Umaru Bangura but he didn't listen to us, he's not doing the right things to help the players grow. The [home-based] players were not in camp, so they don't feed them, they just showed up in training every morning training for the Lesotho match without eating at home. I took the decision for every national team player who is not treated right. Players should be always happy when playing for the national team, they should get special treatment but there is none. It looks like punishment when you're with the national team. This has been the case even before the days of Mohamed Kallon in the team, it has been the same complaint all the time, we've gone through the same thing for over 20 years nothing has changed. It hits me too hard because we the players are sacrificing too much on the pitch."

Former International Found Guilty Of Match-Fixing

Dickson Etuhu, who played for the likes of Manchester City, Sunderland, Preston North End and Fulham during a lengthy period in English football, was found guilty, along with an unnamed former player, of trying to influence AIK Stockholm goalkeeper Kyriakos Stamatopoulos to fix a match in the Swedish top flight in 2017. Etuhu, now 37 years old, is a former Nigeria international and has said he intends to appeal the verdict. Etuhu had initially been acquitted but was now found guilty on appeal. Prosecutor Johan Lindmark said: "It was with satisfaction that I received the verdict today. I had appealed on the grounds that I thought the court of law would change and was not surprised when I saw the verdict."

Asprilla Claims He Stopped A Hitman

Former Colombian international Faustino Asprilla has told Colombian TV that he had to convince a hitman not to kill Paraguay's former goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert. Asprilla and Chilavert had both been sent off during a 1997 World Cup qualifying match, which Paraguy won 2-1, and then the hitman phoned Asprilla's room to tell him he as going to kill Chilavert. Asprilla recalled saying: "Are you crazy? You will destroy Colombian football. What happens on the pitch stays there." It was only 3 years after Colombia defender Andres Escobar was shot dead following an own goal he scored that led to the country's exit from the World Cup in the United States.

Villa To Retire

Spain's record goalscorer David Villa is to retire at the end of the J-League season next month. The 37 year old joined Vissel Kobe after four years in MLS football with New York City FC and scored 59 times for his country. Villa said: "I wanted to retire from football, not be forced to retire. Even though I will no longer be on the pitch, I will continue to be involved in football in other ways and will continue to contribute to the football world."

Wenger Takes FIFA Role

Arsene Wenger has returned to football after finally agreeing to take on the role of FIFA's new chief of global football development. Wenger had admitted he was considering the offer a number of months ago while working as a pundit. Wenger said of his new role: "I very much look forward to taking on this extremely important challenge." Wenger will also be a member of the technical panel of the International Football Association Board and chairman of FIFA's technical study group.

Silva Banned Over Tweet

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva has been banned for one game and fined £50,000 by an FA commission for his tweet comparing teammate Benjamin Mendy to a character on a sweet packet. The FA report explained: "Many persons would have taken offence to the content. The player did not himself intend the post to be insulting or in any way racist. It is clear that the tweet was intended to be no more than a joke between close friends. However, this was not a private communication between two friends. The post was on a social media platform exposed to the 600,000 followers of a high-profile and well-respected professional footballer. Many persons viewing the imagery depicted in the tweet would have taken offence to the content as being insulting by reference to race, colour and ethnic origin in a way that unquestionably brings the game of football into disrepute." Silva is also ordered to complete a face-to-face education.

Rose Set To Run Down Contract

Tottenham Hotspur defender Danny Rose has admitted the club wanted to offload him in the summer and have told him that he will not be offered a new deal with the club. Rose said: "It's pretty obvious what happened [in the summer]. People upstairs at Tottenham were trying to do what they were trying to do. I've said [to them] I've got 18 months left on my contract and I'm not going anywhere until my contract has finished. In January, you're probably going to hear something [about my future]. I'm telling you right now that I'm not going anywhere until my contract is finished. Daniel Levy told me in the summer there was no new contract for me at Tottenham, which is fine. I respect that. We move on. My contract is up in 18 months' time and I'll leave the football club then. People [in the media] can save their time ­trying to get stuff ready for January about me being sold. Because I can tell you now: it ain't happening. I know what people were trying to do in the summer. There were no bids - that was rubbish." He did get something wrong, though he was right about there being no bids but it was because he is rubbish, not that that was rubbish.

Man Utd Have Depay Option

Olympique Lyonnais' technical director Juninho has confirmed that Manchester United have first refusal on their former winger Memphis Depay. Lyon acquired the Dutchman from the Red Devils in 2017 and Juninho has confirmed that there is a clause in his contract saying: "But we have not yet received a bid. Manchester United has the first option when clubs sign up to buy Memphis. He's really happy at Lyon right now. We're going to talk about a contract extension by the end of the year." Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman believes Depay should leave Lyon and told a news conference: "He plays at Lyon and is even their captain sometimes. The fact that he doesn't play for the biggest team in the world clearly doesn't have consequences for his place in the national team. But if he plays at a bigger club, that will also be better for us. Still, Lyon is also a big club that always plays in the Champions League. Again, the fact that he plays in Lyon doesn't mean that he won't be selected for the national team. You always hope that every player plays for the biggest clubs that actually compete for the big prizes. I think he's the kind of player that should play at a club like that. If that's in the Premier League or at any other big club, that would be great for him. But you have to ask him about his plans."

Abraham Gets 7 Week Ban

The captain of Eintracht Frankfurt, David Abraham, has been given a seven week ban for charging Freiburg head coach Christian Streich and knocking him to the ground on the sidelines on Sunday. Abraham has also been fined 25,000 euros. Freiburg's Vincenzo Grifo was banned for 3 games for retaliating against Abraham. Both clubs are intending to appeal.

Written by Tris Burke November 13 2019 20:41:56