Football News: Moves Galore As Leeds Legend Backs Signing And Former Villa Assistant Slams Their Fans Plus More News
Image from: thedaisycutter.co.uk
1. Spanish duo head to the US
Major League Soccer team Houston Dynamo have added a pair of Spanish veterans to their roster, in the shape of David Rocha and Agustin Garcia Iniguez, both 30 years old. Dynamo, whose head coach is Owen Coyle the former Burnley, Wigan Athletic and Bolton Wanderers manager, picked them up from the Spanish second division. Rocha is a central midfielder and was captain of Gimnastic last season, while Iniguez is a centre back who previously played for Real Madrid B.
2. Transfer round up
Simone Colombi, Cagliari to Carpi, on loan
Matheus Cassini, Palermo to Inter Zapresic, on loan
Richmond Boakye, Atalanta to Latina Calcio, on loan
Rafael, Hellas Verona to Cagliari, on loan
Alessio Cragno, Cagliari to Virtus Lanciano, on loan
Cheick Diarra, Aj Auxerre to Paris FC, free
Nemanja Tomic, released by Genclerbirligi
Juan Insaurralde, Chiapas to Boca Juniors, £644,000
Daniele Verde, AS Roma to Pescara, on loan
Mitchell Donald, Red Star Belgrade to Mordovia, loan return
Sanjar Tursunov, Vorskla Poltava to Umm-Salal, free
Aras Ozbiliz, Besiktas to Rayo Vallecano, on loan (£210,000 fee)
Filip Starzynski, KSC Lokeren to Zaglebie Lubin, on loan
Issa Cissokho, Genoa to Bari, on loan
Vidar Orn Kjartansson, Jiangsu Suning to Malmo FF, undisclosed fee
Michel, Guangzhou R&F to Real Oviedo, on loan
Michael Frey, LOSC Lille to FC Luzern
Bartholomew Ogbeche, SC Cambuur to Willem II, undisclosed fee
Tomane, Vitoria Guimaraes to MSV Duisburg, on loan
Diego Fabbrini, Watford to Birmingham City, £1.4m
Ramires, Chelsea to Jiangsu Suning, £18.9m
Alberto Grassi, Atalanta to SSC Napoli, £5.6m
Sebastian Coates, Sunderland AFC to Sporting, on loan
Hernan Bernadello, Cruz Azul to Alaves, free
Mike, Internacional to GO Audax, on loan
Fredy Guarin, Inter Milan to Shanghai Shenhua, £9.1m
Renato Tapia, FC Twente to Feyenoord, £1.75m
Charalampos Mavrias, Sunderland AFC to Fortuna Dusseldorf, on loan
Federico Dimarco, Inter Milan to Ascoli, on loan
Lee Tomlin, Bournemouth to Bristol City, on loan
3. Tomlin heads to Brizzle on loan
Struggling Championship side Bristol City have moved to sign Lee Tomlin on loan. Tomlin joined Premier League new boys Bournemouth for £3m from Middlesbrough in the summer, but has struggled to break into their team. With the January arrivals of Benik Afobe, from Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Lewis Grabban, from Norwich City, the writing was on the wall for him. Now he will see out the season with the Robins and attempt to help them retain their Championship status. Tomlin had got himself into trouble with Cherries boss Eddie Howe over a series of since-deleted tweets bemoaning his status at the club.
4. Toon sign Townsend
Newcastle United have moved to pick up unhappy England winger Andros Townsend from Tottenham Hotspur. The 24 year old winger had been largely on the fringes since Mauricio Pochettino took over at Spurs and had got more and more frustrated, leading to a clash with a member of the coaching staff which saw him exiled from the first team. Having been with the White Hart Lane club for 16 years, after joining at the age of 8, it is a big step for the pacey Townsend, who signed a 5 year deal with the Tyneside club.
5. Leeds legend backs new signing
Gary McAllister was an integral part of the last Leeds United side to win the league trophy, the midfielder making 250 appearances in total for the Whites during his 6 years there. McAllister has backed new signing Toumani Diagouraga to help Leeds back into the Premier League. The 28 year old Diagouraga is a combative central midfielder bought from Brentford on an 18 month contract. In an interview with the Daily Record, McAllister said: "He's a talented player and Leeds have been re-energised with some new investment. I live in Leeds so I want the club to improve. I was happy to see them get Diagouraga as he's a top player. Leeds are a big club and have the same ambitions to get back to their top division. Diagouraga is exactly the type of player they need."
6. Former Villa assistant manager hits out at the fans
Peter Grant, who was an assistant to Alex McLeish at Aston Villa, has clearly got no interest in working there again after hitting out at the clubs' fans. He called Villans delusional about their club and that they need to be more realistic. "It is still a massive club with the fan base it has, but I thought they [the fans] were a little bit delusional," the Mirror quoted him as saying. "If there's a realism, you'd realise you haven't got the best players and sometimes you have to accept it. We lost so many senior players, and the changes were too much. It was on a downward spiral. Paul goes in with a young group and then Tim finds himself with different players to deal with and now Remi has got a group who have not played much together," he said. "They've never got a structure with all the changes, because every manager has different views on different personnel. You can't keep making changes."
7. Felipe Pardo volley
8. Iwobi admits Uncle Jay-Jay inspires him
Arsenal teenager Alex Iwobi has been earmarked as a future superstar, but he is probably best know, at the moment anyway, as the nephew of former Nigeria legend Jay-Jay Okocha. Iwobi has admitted that the constant comparison drives him on to be better than his uncle. Iwobi recently signed a long term deal and has made two starts for Arsenal now, scoring against Sunderland this month in his home debut.
My Nephew Alex Iwobi marked his Emirate's debut with a goal.. Great stuff Alex.. Wenger is really doing a great job with the young star..
— Jay-Jay Okocha (@IAmOkocha) July 25, 2015
"I see it as help, I see it as guidance for my football, what I need to work on and what I need advice on so it has helped me over the years," Iwobi told the club's official website. "I don't see it as pressure, I just see it as someone I look up to as motivation as I try to be better than him. I grew up in a footballing environment. My dad, my uncle and my whole family loves football. I played with a local team with [fellow academy member] Chuba Akpom so I grew up with a footballing life."
9. Napoli swoop for talented youngster
Serie A league leaders SSC Napoli have nipped in to pick up talented 20 year old midfielder Alberto Grassi from Atalanta. Grassi has made a total of 16 Serie A appearances so far in his career, but he did enough to impress the Neapolitan club to pay £5.6m for his services. Grassi has signed a contract extension with Atalanta in October, but that did not stop him selling him. Napoli stated on their official website: "Napoli have formalised the outright purchase of Alberto Grassi from Atalanta."
10. Poch laughs off Rodgers's claim
Following on from the Brendan Rodgers 'it was everyone else's fault but mine' roadshow on Sky Sports in recent days, there has been a lot of talk about how Liverpool just missed out on Dele Ali before Tottenham Hotspur signed him. Spurs' manager Mauricio Pochettino has shrugged off the comments, saying it does not matter who was close to signing, just who actually did sign, and putting forward a little near miss tale of his own to back that up. "You know how many players were close to signing for a club? It's just what one manager said. Dele Alli is here now," Pochettino told Catalan paper Sport. "When I was at Espanyol, we were very close to signing Leo Messi. We were a hair's breadth away from signing him. Incredible but true. He was 17 years old and played with the youth team and came close to signing for Espanyol. Very close, but it didn't happen. In football it's always like this, 'yes, yes' yes', but the reality of football is what happens, not what nearly happened."
Written by Tris Burke January 28 2016 05:34:57