Football News: Posh Chairman Tells Liverpool To Buy A Bentley, James Told To Be Patient At Real Madrid And More

1. Transfer round up
Jonathan Williams, Crystal Palace to MK Dons, on loan
Chris Burke, Nottingham Forest to Rotherham United, on loan
Oscar Ayala, Atletico San Luis to General Diaz de Luque, free
Konstantinos Triantafyllopoulos, Panathinaikos to Asteras Tripolis, free
Daniel Amartey, FC Copenhagen to Leicester City, £4.62m
Ivan Trickovski, Legia Warsaw to AEK Larnaca, on loan
Artur, Sao Caetano to Vitoria Conquista, free
Franco Torgnascioli, Danubio to Pachuca, undisclosed fee
Juan Cavallaro, San Lorenzo to Estudiantes, on loan
Alex Silva, Atletico Mineiro to Ferroviaria, on loan
Lukas Tesak, released by Arsenal Tula
Kyrylo Kovalchuk, Metalist Kharkiv to Karsiyaka, free
Habib Habibou, Rennes to Gazientepspor, undisclosed fee
Lokman Gor, Antalyaspor to Sanliurfaspor, on loan
Ignacio Canuto, unattached to CA Tucuman
Dario Gandin, unattached to Ben Hur
Matias Defederico, Eskisehirspor to San Marcos de Arica, free
Aras Ozbiliz, Spartak Moscow to Besiktas, £910,000
Cristian Tello, Barcelona to Fiorentina, on loan
Ryota Morioka, Vissel Kobe to Slask Wroclaw, free
Shane Ferguson, Millwall to Newcastle United, loan return
Ananias, released by Cruzeiro
Luis Leal, Belenenses to Cerro Porteno, undisclosed fee
Franco Torgnascioli, Pachuca to Mineros Zacatecas, on loan
Muhammet Demir, Gaziantepspor to Trabzonspor, £1.93m
Araz Ozbiliz, Besiktas to Rayo Vallecano, on loan

2. Pekerman tells James to bide his time
Colombia's head coach has told his superstar, James Rodriguez, to stay patient at Real Madrid and stay there to fight for his place. James was out of favour under Rafa Benitez, but has found his chances just as limited under new coach Zinedine Zidane. "He has to have patience," Pekerman told Marca. "We all want him to be starting and that translates to the national team. With whatever happens we need him to be positive. In this last stage we haven't spoken, since the end of the year. He had many expectations with a change of coach. He wanted the situation with Benitez to be resolved because he had memories of his last season. I was keeping him calm. I still think the change at Madrid will be positive. I still believe James is a great professional, and he knows what it means to represent your country, and he has the mentality to move forward," Pekerman continued. "It is a negative moment and it's an experience for a youngster who has grown really fast. Like the biggest figures, they have their drawbacks, but they never lose the hope to get it back."

 

3. Posh chairman tells Liverpool to buy a Bentley
Peterborough United's chairman, Darragh MacAnthony, has told Liverpool that they should move for Southend United goalkeeper Daniel Bentley, then loan him back to Posh's League One rivals. With Bentley attracting interest from the Championship, and Premier League teams beginning to take notice, MacAnthony is backing the keeper to play at a higher level:

If some had sense yes. Id like Liverpool to buy him then loan him back to Southend for good period of time. https://t.co/9LDFr45yH8

— Darragh MacAnthony (@DMAC102) January 21, 2016

4. Leeds United target
While on the subject of Peterborough United, I thought it would be a good time to put up a video they put together of their star man, Michael Maddison, who Leeds United are trying to sign in the January window:

 

5. Internet confirms Pato to Chelsea
Alexandre Pato has confirmed, sort of, that the rumoured move to Chelsea is about to happen. Yes, the Brazilian international, who is currently a Corinthians player, has followed Chelsea's official Instagram account. So that's that one done then. Maybe.

6. Ilori confirms he was fit while at Villa
Liverpool defender Tiago Ilori was part of Portugal's U21 European Championship team that came second in the summer and there were high hopes for him as he headed off to Aston Villa for a eason long loan. However the centre back was frozen out, rarely even making the 18 man matchday squad and was recalled this month. Now Ilori has confirmed that he was not injured, just not picked. Ilori told the Press Association (via Eurosport): "When I went there I wasn't injured. I didn't do pre-season but I'd had a tournament with the national team in the summer. I was, in my opinion, fit. I trained, played a few friendlies to try to get match fit again and waited for my opportunity. It has not been an easy season for Villa and things are complicated but I went there to play so it is not easy for me to be happy if I am not playing but at the end of the day the coach has to make a decision and he made the decision he thought was best so I can't really criticise."

 

7. Koeman says Old Trafford is no longer intimidating
Just ahead of Southampton's visit to Old Trafford, Saints' manager Ronald Koeman has said that the atmosphere at the stadium is not the same as it was when he played. If ever there is an incentive designed to get a crowd fired up, Koeman's words are just those, which could be dangerous as Southampton are set to face a Manchester United side seeking to avoid losing a second home match in a row to the South Coast side. "Old Trafford is not really intimidating, no," Koeman said. "I think the Man United fans are always behind the team and it's a fantastic place to play football. I had the feeling as a player to win at Old Trafford (was difficult) and the fear factor has changed because that impact came out of the kind of players they had and maybe intimidation was on a higher level than now. Now it's all friendly people, nice football players and they like to give the best for the team."

8. Suarez backs Neymar to become the best in the world
Neymar Jr has already been recognised as a great player, coming third in the Ballon d'Or voting in 2015, but Luis Suarez has backed his team-mate to become the best ever. Suarez is of the opinion that Neymar is already the second best player in the world, but will soon go on to become the best, though Lionel Messi is still the best he says. "Leo is the best in the world," Suarez told Barca TV. "On the pitch, what he inspires is admiration, but off it, it's incredible how quiet and shy he is. Today, Neymar is number two [in the world], he's behind Leo but he will keep learning from him, because he's a great reference," he said. "But with every game, Neymar is doing different things, every time more difficult to pull off. Anytime soon he will be number one in the world. It is admirable the happiness he has, and his humility."

 

9. Chicarito gets player of the year award
Javier Hernandez has won the 2015 CONCACAF Player of the Year award, despite being sold by Manchester United after being unable to get in their team. Last season saw him undergo a disappointing time on loan with Real Madrid, but this season he has been in outstanding form for Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, he also scored the first goal for Mexico in a win over the United States that won the Mexicans a place in 2017's FIFA Confederations Cup, as well as winning the CONCACAF Cup.

10. Celtic search for a striker
Celtic manager Ronny Deila has admitted to the Scottish Herald that he would like to sign a striker during the transfer window. Following Celtic's 8-1 thrashing of Hamilton Academical, the Norwegian boss is still keen on adding more firepower to his side, though he is backing Nadir Ciftci to come good. "It's about getting the right ones," said Deila. "If they are not then we won't bring in anyone else. We have three strikers at the club, but if we find someone who we think will make us better and there's a possibility to do it then we will look at doing it. It's tough when you have one scoring all of the time. Nadir (Ciftci) came in the summer and needs time to adapt, like all of the players coming in, it takes time. He has shown his potential in some games, like Hearts away, but there is a lot more to come from him," he added.

Written by Tris Burke January 23 2016 09:02:01