Football News: Review Of The Day 27th August 2022

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Review of the Day

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Contracts

Espanyol midfielder Sergi Darder has signed a 4-year contract.

FC Cincinnati of Major League Soccer have given Brandon Vazquez a deal until the end of 2025 with a club option for a further year.

It seems to be the standard in MLS as Charlotte FC have given both Andre Shinyashiki and Brandt Bronico the same deals.

Transfers

Everton have paid an undisclosed fee of just over £15m to sign Neal Maupay from Brighton & Hove Albion.

Newcastle United have signed Swedish international striker Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad for £63m.

Dundee United have signed Sadat Anaku from Ugandan side Kampala Capital City Authority.

Hibernian have signed young goalkeeper Ryan Schofield on loan for the season from Huddersfield Town.

Teenage Aston Villa left-back Ben Chrisene has signed for Kilmarnock on a season-long loan deal.

Queens Park Rangers have signed Leon Balogun on a free transfer from Rangers.

Burnley have signed Denis Franchi from Paris Saint-Germain.

Cyrus Christie has signed for Hull City on a free transfer from Fulham.

Reading striker George Puscas has joined Genoa on a season-long loan.

Morecambe have taken Kieran Phillips on a season-long loan deal from Huddersfield.

Teenage West Ham United forward Mipo Odubeko has signed for Port Vale on loan for the season. Also leaving the Hammers on loan for the season is Dan Chesters. The young midfielder has joined Colchester United for the rest of the season.

Peterborough United have paid an undisclosed fee to Barnet for Ephron Mason-Clark.

Fleetwood Town have signed Michael Devlin on a short-term deal after he was released by Aberdeen.

Leeds United have loaned midfielder Jack Jenkins to Salford City.

Nottingham Forest have sent South Korean forward Ui-Jo Hwang to Olympiakos on loan just after paying £3.6m to sign him from Girondins Bordeaux.

Stade Brestois have signed Mahdi Camara on loan from Saint-Etienne.

At one time seen as a great prospect for Barcelona, the now 31-year-old Cristian Tello has moved to Major League Soccer to join Los Angeles FC on a free transfer from Real Betis. Leaving the MLS to go to La Liga is Mamadou Fall (Mbacke), who has joined Villareal on loan for a season but with a recall clause.

Everton have sent Jean-Philippe Gbamin on loan to Trabzonspor.

Leo Sena has joined Goias EC on a free transfer from Spezia.

Juventus have signed Tommaso Mancini from Vicenza.

Cadiz have signed Theo Bongonda from KRC Genk.

A loan fee of £1.35m has been bpaid by Fiorentina to take Antonin Barak from Hellas Verona on loan.

Reading have signed Naby Sarr on a free transfer from Huddersfield Town.

Marco John has joined Greuther Furth on loan from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

MSV Duisburg have picked up Jonas Michelbrink on a free transfer from Hertha Berlin.

Parma have sent Giuseppe Pezzella to Lecce on loan.

Hellas Verona have signed Yayah Kallon on loan from Genoa.

Toulouse midfielder Naatan Skytta has joined Viking FK on loan.

Former Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur defender Steven Caulker has been released by Fenerbahce.

Juventus are paying a loan fee of £810,000 for Arkadiusz Milik from Olympique Marseille.

Former Newcastle United full-back Antonio Barreca has signed for Cagliari on a free transfer from AS Monaco.

Troyes have signed Papa Ndiaga Yade on loan from Metz.

Valencia have paid a fee of £6.75m for Andre Almeida from Vitoria Guimaraes. Leaving Valencia on loan is Koba Koindredi, who has joined Real Oviedo.

Atletico Madrid have sent young winger German Valera to FC Andorra on loan.

1.FC Kaiserslautern have signed Philipp Klement on a free transfer from VfB Stuttgart.

Injury Round Up

Callum Wilson will be missing from the Newcastle United team for a "couple of weeks" with a hamstring injury Eddie Howe termed "not serious".

N'Golo Kante's hamstring injury is more serious as, according to Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel, his "key player" would be missing for at least a month.

Nicolas Pepe, Arsenal's record signing, has joined OGC Nice on loan for the season.

Job Changes

Stoke City are holding talks with Sunderland manager Alex Neil after the Potters sacked Michael O'Neill. The Mackems revealed that they are "contractually obliged" to allow Neil to talk to other clubs that approach them about him. O'Neill was sacked 5 games into the season with Stoke having won just once, becoming the first managerial casualty of the Championship season. Dean Holden, who was O'Neill's assistant, will take interim charge of the team.

The chairman of Stirling Albion has quit after messages on a football forum where he made fun of violence against women, as the club is forced to delay the launch of their women's team. Stuart Brown had suggested that another chat board user should get married on Boxing Day so that on anniversaries "it's easy to remember to give her a smack in the mouth for messing up your life". He told another poster, who said he had been given beer for his birthday but complained about a female employee being late bringing his lunch: "Drink the lager and boot the bint...You'll feel so much better." He also referred to some women as "fat munters" and referred to a female Coronation Street character as a "turtle-faced bitch" and said he would like to see her strangled.

Disciplinary Charges

FIFA's suspension on the Indian Football Association has been lifted. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) had been disbanded by India's highest court and a three-member committee appointed to run the sport in the Asian country. FIFA do not allow governmental interference and so suspended India. A FIFA statement read: "The decision [to lift the ban] was taken after Fifa received confirmation that the mandate of the Committee of Administrators that was set up to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee had been terminated. Fifa and the AFC [Asian Football Confederation] will continue to monitor the situation and will support the AIFF in organising its elections in a timely manner." It means that the Women's Under-17 World Cup, planned to begin in October in India, will now go ahead.

Cardiff City have lost their appeal against a FIFA ruling that they had to pay the first instalment of the transfer fee for Emiliano Sala to Nantes. The Bluebirds have been trying to weasel out of paying for the player due to his sad death in a plane crash on his way to join Cardiff. CAS stated: "After taking into due consideration all the evidence produced and all the arguments put forward by both clubs, the Cas panel found the player's transfer from FC Nantes to Cardiff City FC to have been completed. And because the conditions set out in the transfer agreement were fulfilled prior to the player's death, FC Nantes' claim for the first instalment of the transfer fee in the amount of 6m euros was upheld." Despite the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling, Cardiff still state that they still will not be paying what they owe: "Cardiff City is disappointed by the decision of the Court of Arbitration in Sport. The award fails to decide the crucial question of FC Nantes' (and its agents') liability for the crash, which will therefore have to be decided in another forum. Once the club's lawyers have digested the reasons for the decision we expect to appeal and will not be making any payments to FC Nantes in the meanwhile. If those appeals are unsuccessful and the club is liable to pay the transfer fee, the club will take legal action against those responsible for the crash for damages to recover its losses. This will include FC Nantes, and its agents. All our thoughts must continue to be with Emiliano's family, who are now supported financially by the trust the club put in place for them." Nantes seem optimistic with their statement after reading Cardiff's: "FC Nantes welcomes the decision rendered today on appeal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The Cas has completely rejected the appeal lodged by Cardiff City and has confirmed the decision rendered by Fifa on 25 September 2019 concerning the transfer of player Emiliano Sala. The court therefore ruled, as FC Nantes [FCN] had argued since the start of the proceedings, that the player's transfer to Cardiff City was over when he died tragically in an aviation accident. Consequently, the Cas ordered Cardiff City to pay the transfer fee to FC Nantes and sentenced Cardiff to a historically high sum, in respect of procedural costs and arbitration costs. FC Nantes is delighted that this procedure - initiated by Cardiff City then delayed on numerous occasions by Cardiff City - which has been difficult for all those close to Emiliano, is finally over. The club hopes that this will mark the end of the public misinformation campaign, which the FCN has never reacted to, out of respect for the player's family."

Both Bristol City and Luton Town have been fined £8,500 over a melee between their players during their Championship match on 16th August. The incident was sparked by a two-footed tackle by Bristol midfielder Mark Sykes which saw him receive a red card.

Birmingham City striker Lukas Jutkiewicz has been handed a 2-match ban for a "clear act of simulation" which resulted in Wigan Athletic's Joe Bennett being sent off.

Leeds United have been charged with failing to conduct themselves in an orderly fashion following an altercation against Barnsley in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday. Barnsley have also been charged with the same offence over the incident.

Heart of Midlothian goalkeeper Craig Gordon has called on UEFA to act after he was struck on the head by an object thrown from the crowd while playing in a Europa League play-off against Zurich. Gordon said: "I was hit on the back of the head by something, I don't know exactly what it was. There was a few coins lying about. It might have been one of them, it might have been something else, I don't know. Yeah, I felt whatever it was hit the back of my head and it was sore for a bit. That's not something you should have to face at a football match. There is no reason for it, absolutely no excuse for chucking stuff at the players. It was a good game with both teams giving absolutely everything to try and get to the next round of the competition. There is absolutely no excuse for chucking stuff at the players, no need. It's not as unusual as you might think. It's unusual to get hit, they normally miss. It was a direct hit last night. That hasn't happened too often. Sometimes it can be a food item or a drink, but they aren't as sore as whatever hit me last night, that was quite hard. It is something that I have had before, but last night was a bit different. A hit to the head was not something that you expect. But it is not something I can do in that instant other than get on with the game and hope everybody else can sort that out. But it's difficult. How do you stop somebody that has decided to do that. We don't want to have big fences and glass partitions around the stadium, we don't want to see that. We want to see fans close to the pitch and enjoying the action. But with that comes a bit of responsibility and if the fans don't take that on the board then maybe the authorities have to have a look at what they can do. But I don't have any suggestions for how to improve that in the short-term."

Champions League Draw

Group A: Ajax, Liverpool, Napoli, Rangers
Group B: Porto, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Club Bruges
Group C: Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Viktoria Plzen
Group D: Eintracht Frankfurt, Tottenham, Sporting Lisbon, Marseille
Group E: AC Milan, Chelsea, RB Salzburg, Dinamo Zagreb
Group F: Real Madrid, RB Leipzig, Shakhtar Donetsk, Celtic
Group G: Manchester City, Sevilla, Borussia Dortmund, FC Copenhagen
Group H: Paris St-Germain, Juventus, Benfica, Maccabi Haifa

Matches will take place between 6 September and 2 November.

This season's Champions League final will take place at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, on 10 June 2023.

Liberia Helps Sierra Leone Out

While Sierra Leone's only stadium allowed to host continental matches is being renovated, Liberia's president, legendary former striker George Weah, has allowed the nation to host its international games at their Samuel Kanyon Doe (SKD) sports complex for no charge. Sierra Leone, whose club sides will also be able to avail of the generous gesture to play their continental matches there, are not expected to have their home stadium available to them until 2024. Liberia have only recently been able to host games themselves after a £1.69m renovation to SKD allowed them to host its first international match since 2019 last month. Sierra Leone will only have to pay match-related expenses to host games there. Ghana were asking for $15,000 per game to host Sierra Leone sides.

Rochdale Now Fan-Owned And Led

A failed claim in the High Court has forced Morton House MGT to hand over their shares in Rochdale to its board for an undisclosed amount. Morton House were alleged to have tried to take over the club without consent from the English Football League last year. The Rochdale board now own 43.3% of the club, with Dale Supporters Trust holding another 13.9%, and the rest is split between over 500 individual supporters of the club. That has led to the following statement from the club's chairman Simon Gauge: "Whilst an unwanted public hostile takeover attempt was unprecedented in the history of our club, the consortium of serving directors have stepped in and prevented a hostile takeover and then delivered a truly fan owned and fan-led club. Operating on a national platform and as a local employer of over 130 people, whilst owning the largest sporting venue within the Rochdale Borough which hosts community events every single day of the year, the hard work now really begins to get this club back up the football league."

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Written by Tris Burke August 27 2022 10:45:34