Football News: Review Of The Day 25th November 2020

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Review of the Day

Contracts

Middlesbrough's former Leeds United and Norwich City midfielder Jonny Howson has signed a deal with the Riverside club which runs until 2022.

Transfers

Free agent Croatian international midfielder Alen Halilovic has signed for Birmingham City. The 24 year old former Barcelona player was released by AC Milan in October and has signed a short-term deal with the Blues.

Chicago Fire have announced the signing of Ecuadorian right-back Jhon Espinoza from SD Aucas. The 21 year old will join the MLS club on 1st January 2021.

Injury Round-Up

Norwich City are facing the prospect of losing Jordan Hugill and Kenny McLean for a lengthy period as the pair look to be in need of operations. Hugill had to be taken off at half-time of Saturday's win over Middlesbrough after he damaged shoulder ligaments, while Scotland international McLean has torn a knee cartilage.

Crystal Palace talisman Wilfried Zaha has become the latest Premier League player to test positive for covid. The 28 year old is in self-isolation and missed the 1-0 defeat to Burnley on Monday.

Managerial Changes

Former England manager Steve McClaren has returned to Derby County, a club he had two spells managing, as technical director. The man with the greatest Dutch accent in history is to work as an advisor to the current board before continuing as technical director on a permanent basis when the currently underway takeover is completed.

French coach Francois Ciccolini has lasted just one game in charge of Algerian club USM Alger, a 2-1 defeat to CR Belouizdad in the Algerian Super Cup. The 58 year old refused to go into the stands to receive his runners-up medal from Algeria's Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad and the club announced his sacking for "disrespecting government officials".

Libya's national coach Ali El Margini has quit after just three matches in charge of the country. Margini was appointed in September and led the team to defeat in a friendly against Comoros and two Africa Cup of Nations qualifying defeats at the hand of Equatorial Guinea. Libya are sat bottom of Group J.

Alan Pardew has joined Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia as technical director. Pardew was previously head coach of ADO Den Haag in the Netherlands until he left in April when the season was cancelled with Den Haag seven points from safety.

Disciplinary Charges

Preston North End defender Darnell Fisher has been charged with improper conduct by the FA. Fisher was caught on camera twice grabbing Sheffield Wednesday's Callum Paterson genitals during Preston's win over the Owls on Saturday. Match officials missed the incident at the time.

Club Brugge have left star forward Emmanuel Dennis out of their squad to face Borussia Dortmund for disciplinary reasons. It is reported in Belgium that he stormed off the team bus after not being allowed to sit where he wanted to.

Harford's Dementia Fears

Former Wimbledon and Luton Town targetman Mick Harford admits he fears developing dementia due to the amount of times he headed the ball during his playing career. Harford, who is now assistant manager at Luton, was known for his ability in the air and admits he would practice heading "a hell of a lot" and suffered concussion "every Saturday". Harford told the BBC: "Every Saturday I was concussed - that's not a joke. You'd get bangs on the head and it wasn't just heading the ball - it was elbows, clashes of heads and getting a knee or boot to the head as you fell to the ground. You just got up and got on with it in the following game and never really gave any thought to the actual consequences. When you look at the percentages of old footballers who are getting dementia, I'm sure there's some kind of correlation to that. I wouldn't swap what I did, how I trained, or how I headed the ball because I've got to be honest - I thoroughly enjoyed the art of heading the ball. I know one thing, if you don't head a football it's not a proper football match really. My theory would be to still head the ball and teach younger kids but maybe use sponge or softer balls so there's no impact on them, but they can still get their technique right."

Rooney Guarantees Rams Turnaround

Derby County's Wayne Rooney, who is interrimming as their player-manager currently, has guaranteed that the club's form will improve, in much the same way he guaranteed Lisa Simpson he would drive her home safely. The Rams are bottom of the Championship table with just one win all season and Rooney said: "We'll get better. We will get out of the situation we're in and will start winning games. Obviously the first thing we need to do is score goals. That will come. We will win games and we will start climbing the table. I can guarantee that."

Youngest Champions League Players

Today's Transfermarkt list is that of the youngest players in Champions League history:
1. Celestine Babayaro - RSC Anderlecht - 23 Nov 1994 - 16 years 2 months 25 days old
2. Rayan Cherki - Olympique Lyonnais - 27 Nov 2019 - 16 years 3 months 10 days old
3. Alen Halilovic - GNK Dinamo Zagreb - 24 Oct 2012 - 16 years 4 months 6 days old
4. Youri Tielemans - RSC Anderlecht - 2 Oct 2013 - 16 years 4 months 25 days old
5. Charalampos Mavrias - Panathinaikos - 20 Oct 2010 - 16 years 7 months 29 days old
6. Kenneth Zohore - FC Copenhagen - 20 Oct 2010 - 16 years 8 months 19 days old
7. Moise Kean - Juventus - 22 Nov 2016 - 16 years 8 months 25 days old
8. Bryan Cristante - AC Milan - 6 Dec 2011 - 16 years 9 months 11 days old
9. Aleksandr Pavlenko - Spartak Moscow - 31 Oct 2001 - 16 years 9 months 11 days
10. Roman Wallner - Sturm Graz - 9 Dec 1998 - 16 years 10 months 5 days

Youngest Scorers Too

As we have the youngster Champions League players, I thought I would finish today's news round up with the youngest scorers:
1. Ansu Fati - Barcelona - 17 years 1 month 9 days old
2. Peter Ofori-Quaye - Olympiacos Piraeus - 17 years 6 months 10 days old
3. Mateo Kovacic - Dinamo Zagreb - 17 years 7 months 1 day old
4. Cesc Fabregas - Arsenal - 17 years 7 months 3 days old
5. Bojan Krkic - Barcelona - 17 years 7 months 4 days old
6. Martin Klein - Sparta Prague - 17 years 7 months 25 days old
7. Breel Embolo - Basel - 17 years 8 months 21 days old
8. Aaron Ramsey - Arsenal - 17 years 9 months 25 days old
9. Pedri - Barcelona - 17 years 10 months 25 days old
10. Karim Benzema - Olympique Lyonnais - 17 years 11 months 17 days old
11. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - Arsenal - 18 years 1 month 13 days old
12. Mariyan Ognyanov - Levski Sofia - 18 years 1 month 28 days old
13. Samuel Kuffour - Bayern Munich - 18 years 1 month 30 days old
14. Kylian Mbappe - AS Monaco - 18 years 2 months 1 day old
15. Andriy Shevchenko - Dynamo Kiev - 18 years 2 months 8 days old
16. Roque Santa Cruz - Bayern Munich - 18 years 2 months 10 days old
17. Nigel de Jong - Ajax - 18 years 2 months 19 days old
18. Mario Balotelli - Inter Milan - 18 years 2 months 33 days old
19. Patrick Kluivert - Ajax - 18 years 2 months 28 days old
20. Per Ciljan Skjelbred - Rosenborg - 18 years 2 months 28 days old
21. Raul - Real Madrid - 18 years 3 months 21 days old
22. Lionel Messi - Barcelona - 18 years 4 months 9 days old
23. Obafemi Martins - Inter Milan - 18 years 4 months 19 days old
24. Christian Pulisic - Borussia Dortmund - 18 years 5 months 18 days old
25. Felix Passlack - Borussia Dortmund - 18 years 5 months 24 days old
26. Pascal Feindouno - Girondins Bordeaux - 18 years 6 months 25 days old
27. Jadon Sancho - Borussia Dortmund - 18 years 6 months 29 days old
28. Giovani dos Santos - Barcelona - 18 years 7 months 1 day old
29. Eliaquim Mangala - Standard Liege - 18 years 7 months 3 days old
30. Theo Walcott - Arsenal - 18 years 7 months 7 days old

Written by Tris Burke November 25 2020 04:08:07