Football News: Review Of The Day 14th April 2021

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Review of the Day

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Contracts

Celtic defender Stephen Welsh has signed a four year deal.

Transfers

Real Salt Lake have signed American forward Bobby Wood on a free transfer from Hamburg.

The 39-year-old former Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse has come out of retirement (again) to sign for Panathinaikos Chicago in the National Premier Soccer League.

With rumours of a move for Erling Haaland circulating, Borussia Dortmund have claimed that they have no need to sell players. Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke told the BBC: "When Covid-19 struck, we had no debt. Not one euro. Because of that, it is a comfortable situation. We do not have to sell a player. That is important. The rich clubs in the world, they must know when they want a player from Borussia Dortmund there are two possibilities. The first is that I tell them they have no chance. Other times, I will tell them 'this is the price'. Then they must know this is the price. It is not another price. We are very clear. We are very honest."

Injury Round-Up

Everton's Ivory Coast midfielder Jean-Philippe Gbamin has been ruled out for the rest of the season, just after returning from over 18 months on the sidelines through injury. The 25 year old picked up a knee injury in training at the weekend.

Aston Villa's Egyptian winger Trezeguet is to have surgery on his knee ligament injury and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

Managerial Changes

Bristol City's CEO Mark Ashton is to jump ship to take up the same position with Ipswich Town on 1st June. Ashton was previously CEO at both Watford and Oxford United.

Walsall have appointed Jamie Fullarton as their technical director. Fullarton has been working as a youth scout for Crystal Palace, after spells as manager of Notts County and Halifax Town.

Claude Le Roy has stepped down as head coach of the Togo national team.

Disciplinary Charges

Hamilton Academical head coach Brian Rice and Ross County's equivalent John Hughes have both been charged with criticising match officials.

VAR Fails Again

Yet another weekend of controversial (read that as wrong) decisions by the PGMOL's version of VAR has been followed up by the bizarre sight of them trying to draw lines through the wrong player to decide on an offside in the match between relegation-battling West Bromwich Albion and Southampton. West Brom striker Mbaye Diagne put the ball in the back of the net with no suggestion of offside in any of the footage, but the goal was still ruled out after a VAR review. The claim from the PGMOL is that the software was unable to pick up the right player and would have taken too long to resolve a decision, so they took the call of the linesman to rule it out. The Baggies went on to win 3-0 despite the clear and obvious error on behalf by VAR, but their head coach Sam Allardyce said: "The big disappointment was the first goal that looked like a goal and should have been a goal. I've seen all the lines and angles and I think they got that wrong. Gladly for us it hasn't had an impact on the result but it could have done. You hope that when it comes up next time the goal is given." He also admitted that VAR is becoming a laughing stock and needs to be reviewed at the end of the season.

Forbes Valuable Clubs List

Manchester United have dropped out of the top three of Forbes' list of the most valuable football clubs, as Barcelona move up to take top spot, despite being in major financial difficulties.
1. Barcelona $4.76bn
2. Real Madrid $4.75bn
3. Bayern Munich $4.22bn
4. Manchester United $4.2bn
5. Liverpool $4.1bn
6. Manchester City $4.0bn
7. Chelsea $3.2bn
8. Arsenal $2.8bn
9. Paris Saint-Germain $2.5bn
10. Tottenham Hotspur $2.3bn

Fans Back For Carabao Cup Final

Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City have been allotted 2,000 tickets each for the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on 25th April. No fans under 18 will be allowed to attend, nor those who are clinically extremely vulnerable or pregnant. They will also be required to take a test at a designated site in the 24 hours before the game and provide proof of a negative test.

Lyon Offering Shares Instead Of Salary

Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyonnais have come up with a plan to reduce costs during the pandemic - paying players in shares rather than money. Lyon have put forward a plan to offer the option to all players at the club to take up to 25% of their salary in OL Groupe shares, rather than cash in the bank. A Lyon statement explained: "Taking into account the uncertainty of sport and the discussions underway, the size of the programme could vary between a minimum of €0.7 million and a theoretical maximum of €6.5 million if the men's and women's professional teams achieve all of th optimum on-the-pitch results and the related bonuses are paid in shares." They also revealed that a number of their players have already committed to taking a portion of their salary in shares.

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Written by Tris Burke April 14 2021 06:48:03