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Football News: Review Of The Day 20th June 2022

Review Of The Day 20th June 2022
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Review of the Day

 

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Contracts

Arsenal have given striker Eddie Nketiah a new 5-year deal.

 


Transfers

New Hibernian boss Lee Johnson has confirmed the club are interested in signed Aiden McGeady following his release from Sunderland.

Queens Park Rangers have added Dutch left-back Kenneth Paal to their squad from PEC Zwolle on a free transfer.

Swansea City have signed Harry Darling from MK Dons.

Middlesbrough goalkeeper Joe Lumley has signed for Reading on a season-long loan deal.

Farrend Rawson has signed for Morecambe on a free transfer from Mansfield Town.

Chelsea youngster Lucas Bergstrom has signed for Peterborough United on loan.

Dan Sweeney has joined Stevenage on a free transfer from Forest Green Rovers.

Former Brighton & Hove Albion forward Jurgen Locadia has been released by VfL Bochum.

Liverpool have signed Calvin Ramsay from Aberdeen for a fee of £4.4m.

Independiente have paid £1.71m for Ivan Marcone from Elche.

Celta de Vigo defender Jose Fontan has joined Go Ahead Eagles on loan.

Empoli have paid a fee of £7.65m for Italian goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario from Cagliari.

Former Tottenham Hotspur forward Vincent Janssen has joined Royal Antwerp from Monterrey.

Jean-Kevin Augustin, the man at the centre of a court case involving a defunct move to Leeds United, has joined FC Basel on a free transfer from Nantes.

Jean-Claude Ntenda has signed a 2-year deal with Juventus.

Former Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas has been released by AS Monaco. He was not the only former Gunner to be released by Monaco as he is joined by Vito Mannone in looking for a new club this summer.

Inter Milan's CEO Giuseppe Marotta has revealed that the club needs to make a profit this summer, suggesting that they are likely to sell defenders to fund transfer plans: "The business plan we are following indicates that we have to turn in a profit this summer. However, we wish to put together a strong and competitive squad. In my mind, it is tougher to replace a striker than a defender in this window. We are mulling over in which area we will have to intervene. We are weighing worthy alternatives in case somebody left. Many top teams could use Bremer, and we are tracking him very attentively."

Ruben Loftus-Cheek's agent Jonathan Barnett has hinted that his client would be keen on a move to play in Italy after he was linked with Lazio, where his former Chelsea coach Maurizio Sarri now manages. Barnett said: "Lazio have not spoken to Chelsea as far as I'm aware, but Maurizio Sarri is a fan of Ruben and he likes Serie A. Let's see what happens." Loftus-Cheek has previously called Sarri the most influential manager he had worked with.

Former Manchester City left-back Aleksandar Kolarov has announced his retirement from playing. The 36-year-old has just been released by Inter Milan.

Celta de Vigo have signed Williot Swedberg from Hammarby.

Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele was caught on video suggesting he would be staying at Barca and that he did not want to work with Thomas Tuchel despite rumoured interest from Chelsea.

West Ham United have paid £31.5m for Stade Rennais centre-back Nayef Aguerd.

 


Injury Round Up

Speculation in the media that Barcelona prodigy Ansu Fati had suffered a relapse after an injury-hit 18 months has been dismissed after the 19-year-old did not feature for Spain in the Nations League, despite being called into the squad by Luis Enrique. Enrique has said he just was there to be checked up on and that the Spanish boss did not want to rush him back too early.



Managerial Changes

Bruce Buck is to step down as Chelsea chairman on 30th June. Buck has been chairman since Roman Abramovich took charge in 2003. He will continue as a "senior advisor" to the new owners. Buck said: "Now is the right time to step down and let new ownership build on the strong foundations we have in place. The owners have a compelling vision for Chelsea's future, and I look forward to helping them achieve it in this new role alongside our incredible staff, players, coaches and supporters. I am proud to have helped Chelsea realise great success on the pitch and make a positive impact in the community."

Brazil head coach Tite has claimed that he rejected both Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid in the summer of 2018. PSG were looking for a replacement for Unai Emery and Madrid were looking for someone to take the place of Zinedine Zidane that summer, but Tite claims he refused to even talk with either club as he was focused on the World Cup with Brazil. Tite told The Guardian: "I received offers from Real Madrid, PSG and Sporting. But I didn't want that. I want to win the World Cup. After the World Cup, I will decide my future."

Speaking of Zidane and the former French star has revealed that he is ready to return to management, telling Telefoot: "Yes. I have a lot [left to give], or at least something. I want to continue along this path. I want to continue, I still have this flame, it's my passion, football. I'm [almost] 50 years old, fulfilled, I'm happy, that's the most important thing."

Former Germany international Miroslav Klose has been appointed as the head coach of Austrian Bundesliga team SCR Altach. His last job was as an assistant to Hansi Flick at Bayern Munich but this is his first stint as the head coach.

 


Disciplinary Charges

Kylian Mbappe has called out the president of the French Football Federation Noel Le Graet over the lack of support he received in the wake of racist abuse he underwent following his penalty miss against Switzerland in Euro 2020. Mbappe was responding after Le Graet tried to claim that the Paris Saint-Germain forward threatened to quit the French national team because of criticism over the missed penalty and the lack of support the federation gave him. Mbappe said: "Yes finally I explained to him (Le Graet) above all that it was in relation to racism, and NOT to the penalty. But he considered that there had been no racism..." Le Graet has already been heavily criticised following the Euros when the Paris prosecutor's office announced an investigation into racist messages sent to certain French internationals after the Euros. Le Graet declared publicly, after that announcement, that racism in football "does not exist or hardly exists". It does make you wonder how a moron like that got into a position like he holds. As for Mbappe he went on to explain: "I have never taken a single euro to play for the French national team and I will always play for my national team for free. Above all, I never wanted to be a problem. But from the moment where I felt like that I was starting to become a problem and that people felt I was a problem... I received the message, that my ego was what made us lose, that I wanted to take up too much space, and that without me, therefore, we might have won. The most important thing is the French national team and if the French national team is happier without me, (then I will leave). I met with the president and we talked about it. What I went to complain to him about was that I was insulted and called a 'monkey' for missing a penalty. That is not the same thing. I will never complain about a penalty. The penalty, I was the one who missed it." A recent FIFA study has revealed that there has been an increase in the number of insults to footballers with over half the players at Euro 2020 and Afcon receiving abuse on social media, with 38% being racist in nature. Homophobic abuse made up a further 40% of the comments made, with over 50% of the players at those competitions receiving abusive social media posts.

Just to provide context for those wondering if Le Graet's comments about racism not existing were just taken out of context, here is the full quote from his interview with French TV channel BFM in 2020 when responding to the news that there was an investigation launched into racist abuse of French players: "Racism in France ... in a whole match there may be some discrepancies, but we have less than one percent of difficulties today. When a black guy, forgive me, scores a goal, the whole stadium is standing. So quite frankly, the phenomenon of racism in sport, and in football in particular, does not exist, or [it is] little."

Somehow Nasser Al-Khelaifi has managed to escape punishment from UEFA after his actions following Paris Saint-Germain's knocking out of the European Champions League by Real Madrid. Al-Khelaifi, a member of UEFA's executive committee, was seen storming in and out of both teams' dressing rooms after the game, only stopping to break things on his way between them. He was heard to hurl abuse at the PSG players before heading to the referee's changing room to complain, loudly. PSG was charged with "violating the basic rules of decent conduct" and "unsporting conduct" and the now-sacked sporting director Leonardo was banned for 1 game. Al-Khelaifi did not face any charges and was not even cited in the UEFA statement.

 


Man Utd CEO In Surprise Meet

After discovering a group of Manchester United fans were meeting up in his local pub before heading to his house to protest outside, the club's CEO Richard Arnold headed to the pub to speak to them. The discussion was, in part, secretly filmed by supporters and posted on social media. Arnold tells the fans that the money "is there" for new manager Erik ten Hag to get his targets. While also describing last season as "a nightmare", Arnold criticised the fan protests that marred many of the end of season matches at Old Trafford.

 


Perez In Dig At Poor Man Mbappe

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has shown what a magnanimous loser he is after Kylian Mbappe turned down a move to Madrid to stay with Paris Saint-Germain. After telling us all that Mbappe was not really all that good anyway and that he never really wanted him anyway, honest, Perez has had yet another dig. This time Perez was out and about meeting and greeting Madrid fans when he was caught on video saying to a fan, "poor man, he will already be sorry", after being told "do not sign Mbappe now". It is no wonder Spain is not famous for its wine, the grapes there might well be the most sour in the world!

 


Cicinho Admits Alcohol Struggles

Former Brazil international Cicinho has admitted that he had issues with alcoholism which affected his time at Real Madrid and AS Roma. The right-back was a highly sought after player when Madrid signed him from Sao Paulo, having been part of the team which won the Brazilian league, Copa Libertadores and Club World Cup and had already gained 15 caps for the national side. Cicinho had claimed in the past that his problems started after signing for Madrid as "it was easy. I didn't need money to get a drink, people happily gave it to me in restaurants." He admits he would often turn up to training drunk but would drink coffee and cover himself in perfume to hide the smell of alcohol from teammates and coaches. By the time he joined Roma in 2007, after 2 years at Madrid, he was also smoking 40 cigarettes a day, as well as the heavy drinking. Cicinho has now admitted that his drinking problem was already there ahead of his move to Europe: "When I was 13 years old, that's when I tried alcohol for the first time, and I never stopped. I lived in the countryside and that the weekends people would get together to go to the squares, club. There was a bar there and I would hide as I was young and would ask someone of age to buy for me and I would hide from my parents and the police while drinking. Alcohol surrounds you with people who like that lifestyle, and people who really love you are left out. I have a 15-year-old son and I am always apologising to him. At that time he was two years old and he did not even understand it well, but that is what I remember in my head." He did reveal that a second serious knee injury in Roma saw his problems worsen: "I would start drinking after training. I would do work with the physiotherapist, I'd go home for 2 p.m., 2.30 p.m. and would only stop drink at 4 a.m. Every time I turned up drunk at Roma, the directors lost more faith in me."

 

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Written by Tris Burke June 20 2022 13:59:46

 

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