Football News: Review Of The Day 21st September 2022

Review of the Day

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Contracts

Bristol Rovers midfielder Sam Finley has signed a new 2-year deal.

Giorgi Mamardashvili has a new 5-year deal with Valencia.

Athletic Bilbao winger Jon Morcillo has agreed a 2-year contract.

Chicago Fire's teenage midfielder Brian Gutierrez has signed a 4-year deal with club option for a further year.

Transfers

Free agent striker Nathan Delfouneso, who left Bolton Wanderers at the end of last season, has signed a short-term contract with Accrington Stanley.

Dan-Axel Zagadou has chosen VfB Stuttgart as his next club. The French U21 international was a free agent after leaving Borussia Dortmund at the end of last season.

Injury Round Up

AFC Wimbledon striker Nathan Young-Coombes is out for a "number of weeks" with a knee injury.

Job Changes

Brighton & Hove Albion have got their first choice man to replace Graham Potter. Italian manager Roberto de Zerbi was out of work after leaving Shakhtar Donetsk following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

RB Salzburg's Sporting Director Christopher Freund has ruled out a move to Chelsea saying: "When a club like Chelsea is interested in you, it is a big honour not just for you, but also for the work of the club in general. But I've come to the conclusion that FC Red Bull Salzburg is the best place for me. We're in the middle of a very intense phase and have important tasks to do in the Bundesliga, cup and Champions League - that's what my whole focus and concentration are on."

Colchester United have sacked head coach Wayne Brown after the club had a poor start, losing 5 of their first 9 games. Technical director and former manager Steve Ball has been placed in interim control of the team. Ball's previous spell ended in February 2021 after 13 games without a win.

Hartlepool United have sacked Paul Hartley and put Keith Curle in interim control of the team.

Chelsea's newly appointed Commercial Director Damien Willoughby has been sacked following the revelation he sent numerous inappropriate texts to agent Catalina Kim last summer. Kim had contacted him to try and gain contact to Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano when Willoughby worked there. Willoughby had been with Chelsea just a month before Kim sent the texts, which included an explicit video, to Chelsea's new Director of Business Tom Glick. The incident took place last year while Willoughby was employed by City.

Disciplinary Charges

Ateltico Madrid have condemned their own fans for the "unacceptable" chants that they say a "minority" of them were singing before the derby game against Real Madrid. There were racist songs heard loudly emanating from Atleti fans as they entered the stadium and an Atletico statement read: "Our club has always been known for being an open and inclusive space for fans of different nationalities, cultures, races, and social classes, and a few cannot tarnish the image of thousands and thousands of Atleti fans who support their team with passion and respect for their opponents. We have zero tolerance for racism, our commitment to the fight against this social scourge is total, and we will not stop until we eliminate it. The pain felt by the red and white family for this event is enormous. We cannot allow anyone to link our fans with this behaviour and question our values because of a minority that does not represent us. These chants provoke enormous repulsion and indignation. We will not allow any individual to hide behind our colours to utter insults of a racist or xenophobic nature." Atletico have also asked for help to identify the culprits so that they can act on their "immediate expulsion" from the club. The chants follow on from comments made by a Spanish agent called Pedro Bravo who criticised Vinicius Junior's dacing celebration and told him to "stop playing the monkey".

Stockport County have also condemned fans after there were reports of "racist and sectarian" chants during their match with Harrogate Town. County have warned they will ban any fans identified as culprits from Edgeley Park.

In League One, Sheffield Wednesday have hit out at fans who threw missiles onto the pitch during their game against Ipswich Town, calling the actions "unacceptable".

UEFA have confirmed that Russia will be banned from Euro 2024 following the invasion of Ukraine. Russia's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport have been dismissed.

Keita Balde could be set to miss the World Cup after receiving a 90-day ban from football by the Italian federation for protocol transgressions. The Senegal winger tested negative for any banned substances.

Betway have been fined £400,000 after their brand was promoted on a children's section of West Ham United's website.

Juventus's former Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid winger Angel Di Maria has been handed a 2-match ban for elbowing Monza's Armando Izzo in the chest as Monza picked up their first-ever win in Serie A. Di Maria avoided a longer suspension as it was not deemed violent conduct due to Izzo not being hurt.

Pointless List Of The Day

Today's list is the top spending in the summer, according to transfermarkt, after Greece finally closed its window with Olympiakos bringing in 15 players in the summer. They are owned by Evangelos Marinakis, who also owns Nottingham Forest, who signed 23 players in total in the summer. In total Marinakis's teams brought in 35 players, as some of the Olympiakos signings were just ones Forest bought and then loaned to them! How on earth has he managed to get so rich with such an attitude to spending? Amounts in Euros.
1. Chelsea - 282m
2. Manchester United - 238m
3. West Ham United - 182m
4. Tottenham Hotspur - 169.9m
5. Nottingham Forest - 162m
6. Barcelona - 153m
7. Paris Saint-Germain - 147.5m
8. Manchester City - 139.5m
9. Bayern Munich - 137.5m
10. Wolverhampton Wanderers - 136.6m
11. Newcastle United - 136m
12. Arsenal - 132.1m

Barca In Profit

Barcelona's sale of the family silver has managed to make them a profit of £86m for the last financial year, while they also say they expect the profit to be £240m next year. With a large portion of their future income sold off for the long term, it will be difficult for them to maintain that profit level over the next 25 years! Which does make you wonder how on earth they intend to pay off the 2bn euros they have racked up in debts and mortgages.

In Scotland, Celtic also posted a profit, though of £6m, which chairman Ian Bankier put down to return of fans into stadiums. The last financial year, 2020-21 when games were played in empty stadiums due to the pandemic, Celtic lost £11.5m.

Alaba Gives Toilets

Austrian international defender David Alaba, the son of a Nigerian father and Filipina mother, has been receiving praise after donating N13.3m (over £27,000) to build toilets in Nigeria through his David Alaba Foundation. The money was donated back in December but the toilets were unveiled on Friday as well as a gift of 3 autographed Real Madrid jerseys to winners of a draw through the foundation. The mobile toilets have been gifted to the Ogere Remo community in Ogun State.

International Captain To Wear Ukraine Armband

Poland captain Robert Lewandowski will wear an armband in the colours of Ukraine during the World Cup in Qatar. The move is to support Ukraine following its invasion at the hands of Russia and was gifted to him by Ukraine's legendary former striker Andriy Shevchenko, who led Ukraine as coach to the quarter-finals of Euro 2020.

Messi's Demands

Lionel Messi's demands that he made to Barcelona in 2020 which led to him leaving the club and signing for Paris Saint-Germain have been revealed:
1. 3-year extension. At 33-years-old it might have been too much to even consider for most players, but Messi was vital to Barca and that was one demand they were happy to meet.
2. A private box at the Camp Nou for his own family and that of Luis Suarez for use on match days. Again a demand the club was willing to meet.
3. 10m Euro renewal bonus. Barca were unable to meet this demand, they simply did not have the funds to do so, even if they had wished to do so.
4. 10,000 Euro release clause. Spanish football requires every player to have a release clause in their contract, that allows teams willing to meet it to speak to the player directly, even if the player's current club do not wish to sell. At the time, Messi had a 700m euro release clause in his contract but wanted, in essence, to be free to talk to any club that was interested in him, with 10,000 being merely symbolic. Barca refused to consider the clause.
5. Repayment of pandemic wages. The Barca squad all took pay cuts and deferred wages during the pandemic, Messi wanted all of the money back with interest of 3% on top! Unsurprisingly the Catalans refused the demand.
6. Private plane. Messi wanted the use of a private plane, provided and paid for by the club, during the Christmas break period.
7. Tax-linked wage rises. Another Messi demand was that his net salary would remain the same if the Spanish government were to raise taxes. He expected the club to increase his wages to make up any difference. The club were happy to meet that particular demand, even though Messi's salary was enormous.
8. Pepe Costa. Barca provided Messi with a personal assistant at their expense, as the highest paid player in the world could clearly not afford to pay for one himself! Due to cuts during the pandemic, the assistant, Pepe Costa, was at risk of losing his job, but Messi demanded he was kept on.
9. Commission to his brother. Messi demanded a large commission to his brother Rodrigo Messi. Rodrigo acted as his agent and was also representing Ansu Fati at the time, whose contract was also up for renewal, so Barca agreed to pay him a large commission to keep him sweet and make sure they kept hold of the young starlet.
With demands like that, it is little wonder Barcelona were unable to afford to keep him.

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Written by Tris Burke September 21 2022 12:03:26