Football News: Review Of The Day 8th September 2020

Image from: freelargeimages.com

Review of the Day

Contracts

Rennes full-back Hamari Traore has extended his contract until 2023.

Former Norwich City frontman Ricky van Wolfswinkel has a new 2 year contract with FC Basel.

Transfers

Newcastle United have signed Callum Wilson from Bournemouth after Aston Villa withdrew their higher offer for the striker who preferred to sign for the Magpies. The Toon have also signed Ryan Fraser on a free from Bournemouth.

Former Chelsea forward Stipe Perica has signed for Watford from their sister side Udinese on a permanent deal.

Northampton Town have made their 9th signing of the window with the arrival of Wolverhampton Wanderers youngster Benny Ashley-Seal for an undisclosed fee.

Portsmouth have spent an undisclosed fee on Callum Johnson from Accrington Stanley. Incoming to Stanley is Chelsea midfielder Tariq Uwakwe on a season-long loan deal.

Tom Nichols has joined Crawley Town on a free transfer from Bristol Rovers.

Wales U21 international Brandon Cooper has joined Newport County on a season long loan from Swansea City.

Turkish winger Gokhan Tore has been released by Yeni Malatyaspor.

Cardiff City have taken Sheyi Ojo on loan from Liverpool.

Villareal midfielder Manu Morlanes has signed for UD Almeria on loan. Ager Aketxe has also signed for Almeria, on a free transfer from Deportivo La Coruna.

Anuar has joined APOEL Nicosia from Real Valladolid on loan.

Hull City's former Nottingham Forest defender Eric Lichaj has moved to Turkish side Karagumruk on a free transfer.

Everton have completed the £20m signing of Colombian attacking midfielder James Rodriguez from Real Madrid.

Chelsea youngster Ethan Ampadu has joined Sheffield United on loan for the season. Also joining the Blades are Derby County duo Jayden Bogle and Max Lowe.

Egyptian winger Ramadan Sobhi has returned to his home country to join Pyramids FC from Huddersfield Town.

Mattia Destro has made a free transfer move to Genoa from Bologna.

Northern Ireland midfielder Chris Brunt has signed for Bristol City on a free transfer from West Bromwich Albion.

Injury Round-Up

Manchester City duo Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte have both tested positive for Covid-19. The pair will now need to self-isolate for 10 days before they can return to training with their teammates.

VfB Stuttgart's Argentine international Nicolas Gonzalez has torn a muscle in his hip which is expected to keep him out of action for at least a month.

French international superstar Kylian Mbappe has been ruled out of their match against Croatia after testing positive for coronavirus. The Paris Saint-Germain forward has returned home to self isolate and is now a doubt for PSG's season opener against Lens.

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Spanish winger Adama Traore has also tested positive for Covid-19 while on international duty, forcing him to miss the chance to make his debut for his country against Germany.

Managerial Changes

Disciplinary Charges

England have sent Manchester duo Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood home after the pair broke coronavirus 'bubble' guidelines. Manchester City's Foden and Manchester United's Mason Greenwood met with two women in their hotel room in Iceland, not long after they had both made their duo in a 1-0 win over Iceland. England's head coach Gareth Southgate said: "Two of the boys have broken the Covid-19 guidelines, in terms of our secure bubble. We had to decide very quickly that they couldn't have any interaction with the rest of the team and wouldn't be able to train. Obviously they have been naive. We have dealt with it appropriately. I recognise their age but the whole world is dealing with this pandemic. Now they will have to travel back to England separately. Nothing has happened in the areas we occupy in the hotel." Their clubs have both registered their disappointment with the players' actions. The two of them were also both fined around £1300 by Iceland police. Foden apologised over his actions on social media: "Following the story which has emerged today regarding my actions in Iceland, I want to make a fully apology. I apologise to Gareth Southgate, to my England team mates, to the staff, supporters, and also to my Club and my family...I am a young player with a lot to learn, but I am aware of the huge responsibility I have in representing Manchester City and England at this level. On this occasion I made a poor decision and my behaviour didn't meet the standards expected of me. I breached COVID-19 protocols put in place to protect myself and my England colleagues. As a consequence I will now miss the opportunity to travel to Denmark with the squad, and that hurts. I will learn a valuable lesson from this error in judgement and I wish Gareth and the team good luck this week."

Messi Back In Training

Lionel Messi has returned to training with Barcelona following a failed attempt to force a move away from the Catalan club. Messi, now 33 years old, had submitted a transfer request a week ago and had not been training with the team since then. Following the club's decision to insist that they would want the Argentine's release clause of 700m euros paid in full to let him go, Messi withdrew his request to leave, admitting that no team could pay that much money.

Cambridge Gains Investors

League Two side Cambridge United has been boosted by a "significant new investment" into the club by two American businessmen. Current owner Paul Barry is keeping overall control but Adam Webb and Mark Green have taken a 10% stake in the club each. Barry, who is based in the States, said: "I should make clear that this new funding is timely but not transformative. They agreed that, as a condition of their investment, they would be prepared to make an ongoing financial contribution every year to underline their long term commitment to the football club."

One More Pointless List

The latest list from Transfermarkt is of the most valuable national teams in Europe according to their valuations of the players:
1. England 1bn euros
2. France 882.9m euros
3. Italy 847m euros
4. Spain 758.2m euros
5. Portugal 736.5m euros
6. Germany 729.5m euros
7. Belgium 697.2m euros
8. Netherlands 561.8m euros
9. Croatia 349.2m euros
10. Serbia 349.1m euros
11. Denmark 291.2m euros
12. Turkey 285.4m euros
13. Poland 238.4m euros
14. Norway 231.9m euros
15. Scotland 199.7m euros
16. Austria 186m euros
17. Wales 172.2m euros
18. Switzerland 162.3m euros
19. Ukraine 151.2m euros
20. Russia 146m euros
21. Slovakia 134.7m euros
22. Republic of Ireland 114.7m euros
23. Slovenia 110.9m euros
24. Czech Republic 110.5m
25. Albania 101.8m euros
26. Bosnia and Herzegovina 72.4m euros
27. Greece 70.4m euros
28. Kosovo 69.1m euros
29. Hungary 69m euros
30. North Macedonia 59.2m euros
31. Romania 53m euros
32. Northern Ireland 45.3m euros
33. Georgia 42.1m euros
34. Israel 42m euros
35. Finland 34.9m euros
36. Montenegro 25.7m euros
37. Kazakhstan 23.8m euros
38. Iceland 23.5m euros
39. Sweden 23.4m euros
40. Bulgaria 23.1m euros

Simon Says Drink Water

Nigerian international forward Moses Simon has come to the aid of people in the area of Obagaji Agatu, where his father is from. The Nantes winger has paid for 3 boreholes to be drilled in order to provide drinking water for a region that previously had to rely upon stream and rainwater. The chief of the community, James Ocheche told Punch: "Early this year, a brother of Simon said he [Simon] is concerned about the source of our drinking water and other social amenities in the community. He was sympathetic enough to sink three boreholes as an individual. You can see that he is a boy who wants the development of his community. May God lift him up."

Written by Tris Burke September 07 2020 21:25:21