Football News: Review Of The Day 17th March 2021
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Review of the Day
Contracts
PSG have extended Spanish full-back Juan Bernat's contract until 2025.
Transfers
Major League Soccer side Austin FC have signed Zan Kolmanic on loan from NK Maribor of Slovenia's Prva Liga.
Veteran Japanese star Keisuke Honda has found a new club. The free agent midfielder has signed for Azerbaijan club Neftchi Baku.
MLS side New England Revolution have paid £409,000 to sign Icelandic winger Arnor Ingvi Trauslason from Malmo FF.
Empoli's president Fabrizio Corsi has revealed that Ismael Bennacer only joined AC Milan in 2019 as the choice was between them or playing in Serie B with Empoli. Corsi said: "Initially Fiorentina asked me, already during the course of the season. I would also have sold him to them, we put the club in contact with his agents. But Ismael did not want to go, he was not convinced of the destination. There was no way, he wanted at all costs to go to Lyon. They had had some contacts and he had decided to return to France. In the end he went to Milan even if initially they were not his first choice. I convinced him, telling him that otherwise I would have kept him in Empoli also in Serie B. The threat worked."
Chelsea central defender Antonio Rudiger has admitted that he was close to joining Paris Saint-Germain in the summer: "I was close. There were really like two teams - mainly one - that I was considering; that was PSG, to be honest. There was one also with Mourinho. This is something at the end of the day didn't happen, and with Tuchel also didn't happen, so I was a bit upset of course because I knew my situation: I would not play that often. But then I had the talk with the ex-coach, with (Frank) Lampard, and all of a sudden I was back in the team, on the bench and also had a couple of games and everything and worked my way back to it. The last games of his reign I was on the pitch and now obviously things are going very well for me, I'm very happy about it. To be honest, I always felt well in the club, they treated me nice. No one told me - especially upstairs form the board - told me I should leave, neither did Frank Lampard. At the end of the day the transfers didn't happen. The loans that I wanted didn't happen, but nobody has ever told me I should leave."
Injury Round-Up
Eden Hazard has suffered yet another injury for Real Madrid, after returning to action from a muscle injury on Saturday, with a 15-minute substitute appearance.
Everton's England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has been ruled out of action until after the forthcoming international break with an oblique abdominal muscle injury he picked up at the weekend.
Bordeaux's Nigerian international forward Samuel Kalu could miss out on the forthcoming AFCON qualifiers after suffering a recurrence of a thigh injury.
Austria face major problems assembling a national team for their World Cup qualifier against Scotland due to the current restrictions due to the ongoing pandemic. German teams are refusing to release players due to a travel ban in place on travel to the UK from Germany and the game could not be switched to Austria as flights from the UK are banned from landing there currently. A suggestion to switch to a neutral venue was rejected by Scotland. Their previous squad contained 16 players from the German Bundesliga, including star man David Alaba of Bayern Munich.
Managerial Changes
Portsmouth's run of one win in their last seven games has led to the dismissal of manager Kenny Jackett. Jackett took charge of Pompey in June 2017 and led them to 8th, 4th and 5th-place finishes. He leaves the Fratton Park club sat in 7th place currently, two points from the play-off places.
Lee Bowyer has quit as manager of Charlton Athletic. The 44 year old took charge of the Addicks in March 2018 on a caretaker basis, before the appointment was made permanent in September. Assistant manager Johnnie Jackson is to be the caretaker until a replacement is found. A day after quitting the Addicks, Lee Bowyer has replaced Aitor Karanka as manager of Birmingham City. Karanka lasted less than eight months in charge.
Zoran Mamic has quit as Dinamo Zagreb manager after failing to have his jail term for fraud overturned by Croatia's supreme court. The 49 year old, and his brother Zdravko, former vice-president of the Croatian Football Federation, were sentenced to jail in 2018 along with Dinamo's former director Damir Vrbanovic and Milan Pernar, a tax inspector. The four defendants were found guilty of embezzling £13m from Dinamo by siphoning off money from transfer fees and tax evasion of a further £1.38m. The case also involved former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Luka Modric, now at Real Madrid, who had been charged with perjury. Dinamo have appointed Damir Krznar to take over Mamic's dual roles of head coach and sports director.
Disciplinary Charges
Bournemouth and Watford have been fined £10,000 each by the Football Association for failing to control their players. A brawl happened between the two sets of players in the 96th minute of the Championship game between the two, which Bournemouth won 1-0.
Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was dropped for the North London derby for a "breach of pre-match protocol". Manager Mikel Arteta said: "He was going to start the game, we had a disciplinary issue, we have drawn the line and we move on. We have a process that we have to respect for every game and that's it. It was a decision made after evaluating everything and who Auba is and what he's done. We have other players who can play. Recently we have changed the team quite a lot and there are players who are willing to play and deserve a chance, so I'm comfortable with that."
Sheffield United's French forward Lys Mousset has been charged by the police after his Lamborghini crashed into "a number of parked cars" in January. South Yorkshire Police stated: "Lys Mousset has been charged with driving without due care and attention and failing to stop after an RTC (road traffic collision). An orange Lamborghini was involved in a collision with a number of parked cars. A second man who was arrested in connection with the crash has been issued with a penalty notice for wasting police time."
Sheffield United and Southampton have both been fined £20,000 for a mass confrontation between the two sets of players which followed John Fleck's foul on Che Adams during their Premier League clash.
FIFPro have reported that they have received claims for around £43m in unpaid wages from players around the world. Around 1,400 players have made the claims, which are paid from the FIFA Fund for Football, which was set up in February 2020. The fund had set aside £3.8m to cover unpaid wages between July 2015 and June 2020, with another £12.3m to be allocated over the next two years. The fund was set up to help those players who played for a club which went bankrupt after 50 closed down in 5 years. FIFPro have revealed that the problem is growing and believe football should be acting: "The confederations should be doing something similar to 'Fund for Football'. Typically, clubs go bust and then start up again, leaving players in the lurch."
Costa Rican internationals Keylor Navas, Bryan Ruiz and Celso Borges have been accused of deliberately losing matches to get then-head coach Jorge Luis Pinto sacked. It was alleged that the trio had found out about a clause in Pinto's contract which would see him fired if the team lost three matches in a row. The three players have launched a defamation case over the accusations at which former president of the Costa Rican Football Federation, Eduardo Li, told the court: "I remember that it was Keylor Navas who told me: We lose 3 games, there is a clause like this and like that. Such was this issue that I made the decision not to renew Pinto." It was former federation executive Adrian Gutierrez who had make the allegations, claiming in a radio interview that the three had threatened to lose games on purpose if the coach was not sacked, during a meeting with federation officials. However Gutierrez had not attended the meeting in question. Li, who was at the meeting and testified for the defence, has been banned for life from football by FIFA in 2017 in a bribery case.
Bayern Munich winger Kingsley Coman is facing a large fine after turning up to training in his Mercedes rather than the car given to him by club sponsors Audi. Coman has had to make a public apology in the past for arriving to training in his McLaren, rather than the Audi, but this time it looks likely the club will enforce the obligation to use the sponsor's car through a fine. It was reported that the reason Coman was parking on the street outside, rather than the team's car park, was due to security refusing to allow him through while in the 'wrong' car.
Another Youngster Lost To England Team
Following on the heels of Bayern Munich's teenage starlet Jamal Musiala choosing to pledge his international future to Germany over England, for England youth international captain Yunus Musah has chosen to pledge his international future to USA. The former Arsenal youth player, now at Valencia, had the choice of USA, where he was born, Italy, where he lived until he was nine, England and Ghana, where his parents are from. The 18 year old said: "It was pretty clear for me to decide to play for the US. First of all, I think it makes sense to represent the country I was born in. The moment I decided to play for the United States came one day when my heart told me that this was the best place for me."
Latics Takeover Agreed
Bahraini businessman Andulrahman Al-Jasmi is leading a consortium which has agreed to buy troubled League One side Wigan Atletic. Wigan have been in administration for almost a year now, after entering it last July, and their financial problems caused them to be relegated from the Championship last season. The takeover now awaits English Football League approval, something which evaded the previous takeover attempt by a Spanish consortium in January.
SPFL To Vote On B Teams
Teams in Scotland are to vote on a proposal to introduce B teams from the two Old Firm sides into League Two for next season. Celtic and Rangers' B sides, which would be under-21 teams, would join along with an extra two teams from the Highland and two from the Lowland Leagues to increase League Two to 16 clubs. The two B teams would not be allowed to be promoted above League One level.
Scotland Squad
England Uunder-20 international Che Adams has been called up by Scotland, who he qualifies for through his grandparents. Uncapped duo Kevin Nisbet and Jack Hendry have also been included.
Goalkeepers: Craig Gordon (Hearts), David Marshall (Derby), Jon McLaughlin (Rangers)
Defenders: Andrew Considine (Aberdeen), Declan Gallagher (Motherwell), Grant Hanley (Norwich City), Jack Hendry (KV Oostende), Scott McKenna (Nottingham Forest), Stephen O'Donnell (Motherwell), Liam Palmer (Sheffield Wednesday), Andy Robertson (Liverpool), Greg Taylor (Celtic), Kieran Tierney (Arsenal)
Midfielders: Stuart Armstrong (Southampton), Ryan Christie (Celtic), John Fleck (Sheffield United), Ryan Jack (Rangers), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Callum McGregor (Celtic), Kenny McLean (Norwich City), Scott McTominay (Manchester United)
Forwards: Che Adams (Southampton), Lyndon Dykes (Queens Park Rangers), Ryan Fraser (Newcastle), Oli McBurnie (Sheffield United), Kevin Nisbet (Hibernian)
Zlatan Gets Sweden Recall
Five years after retiring from international football, AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back in the Sweden squad at the age of 39. Zlatan quit after the team crashed out of Euro 2016 at the group stage with 62 goals in 116 matches for his country. In November last year he dropped hints that he was considering a return in a newspaper interview and Sweden coach Janne Andersson flew to Milan to discuss a recall with him.
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Written by Tris Burke March 17 2021 06:00:08
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