Football News: Bale And Zlatan To Face Off, Moravcik To Unearth Talents Not Good Enough For The Biggest Clubs For Celtic, Plus Crespo Is 'Almost Happy' Neville Is A Valencia Flop Plus More
Image from: standard.co.uk
1. Wales book Sweden clash
Real Madrid star Gareth Bale is set to face off against former Barcelona star Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the build up for Euro 2016 after Wales announced their final friendly ahead of the tournament will be against Sweden. Chris Coleman's Welsh team will travel to Stockholm on Sunday 5th June. They kick off their Euro Group B campaign against Slovakia six days later in Bordeaux.
2. Carvalho extends contract
Sporting Clube de Portugal starlet William Carvalho has extended his contract to keep him at the club until 2020. The 23 year old Portugese international has been the subject of sustained interest from Arsenal, with the midfielder admitting a liking for the Gunners in October. However, his extended contract, which includes a 45m Euros buyout clause, may have increased his price beyond one that Arsene Wenger would be willing to consider, now that Francis Coquelin has emerged. "I am very happy for the vote of confidence that Sporting CP have given me once more," Carvalho told the club's official website. "Sportinguistas, I say to you that I am very happy with the deal which I signed up to 2020 and that you will have total effort on my part to be champions."
3. Lubo Moravcik to help Celtic unearth European talent
Former Celtic player Lubo Moravcik has claimed he is going to help the Glaswegians unearth untapped talent from Europe. Moravcik works for a football agency in Slovakia and the 50 year old believes that there is a lot of talent just waiting for a big club to spot them. Moravcik said: "I have spoken to Peter Lawwell about maybe helping the club in the future. He knows I am always ready for Celtic. I have known him a long time and I can help get players. I work for a bigger agency in Slovakia now. There is more money to invest. But it is hard to find the very best players. With the money that Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich have, how can you compete and get these players at 16? Even in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, the best teenagers are already with the biggest clubs. But Celtic do have a chance of getting players between 18 and 21. They are not the biggest talents but there are good players who are ready for a step to Europe. They are not ready for the biggest clubs. They are not like Martin Odegaard going to Real Madrid. But they can do well at Celtic." Moravcik also confirmed that the Hoops are interested in Trencin's Slovakian starlet Matus Bero. He said "Matus is interesting clubs and Celtic are watching him. But maybe he will go to the Czech Republic because he has that choice and the language will be easier for him."
4. Transfer round up
Milad Mohammadi, Rah Ahan to Terek Grozny, £225,000
Adrian Bastia, Rafaela to CA Colon, free
Aleksandar Jevtic, BATE Borisov to Jagodina, free
Elliot Grandin, Al-Nahda to Shrewsbury Town, free
Weichao Ye, Guangzhou Evergrande to Zhejiang Yiteng, free
Georgi Zotov, Anzhi Makhachkala to Kuban Krasnodar, free
Andriy Kokhman, Skala Stryi to Bukovyna, free
Vasili Pavlov, Dacia to Torpedo Armavir, free
Mykola Zhovtyuk, Veres Rivne to Bukovyna, free
Nahuel Zarate, Boca Juniors to Union Santa Fe, free
Sal Jobarteh, Moss FK to Nykopings BIS, free
Robert Blakala, Wigry Suwalki to Nadwislan Gora, free
Jakob Andreasen, ? To Kolding IF, free
Branko Jovanovic, BSK Borca to Olimpic Sarajevo, free
Gustav Therkildsen, Lyngby BK to FC Helsingoer, free
David Lundgren, Atvidabergs FF to Linkoping City, free
Johan Brattberg, Falkenbergs to Eskilsminne IF, on loan
Sead Vrace, FK Igman Konjic to FK Klis, undisclosed fee
Diego Colotto, FC Pune City to CA Lanus, on loan
Yuriy Perin, FK Ingulets to Bukovyna, undisclosed fee
Fabian Stoller, FC Aarau to FC Biel-Bienne, on loan
Facundo Callejo, CA Colon to Patronato, on loan
Tomas Huk, Kosice to Dunajska Streda, undisclosed fee
David Karaev, Neftekhimik to Torpedo Armavir, undisclosed fee
Alija Ramic, FK Igman Konjic to FK Klis, undisclosed fee
Pawel Uliczny, Slask Wroclaw to Chelmianka Chelm, on loan
Ilya Sukhoruchenko, Spartak Moscow to Torpedo Armavir, undisclosed fee
Mads Ibenfeldt, unattached to Nykobing FC
Edward Ofere, unattached to Dundee United
Irakli Logua, unattached to Torpedo Armavir
Ilija Kovacic, released by FC Chiasso
Jonathan Lundback, released by IK Sirius
Miler Bolanos, CS Emelec to Gremio, £3.8m
Vitalijs Melnicenko, Ventspils to Fakel Voronezh, free
Nikita Naumov, Naftan to Vitebsk, free
Thomas Kula, Vaasan Palloseura to FF Jaro, free
Bogdan Sukhodub, Ilyichivets to PFK Sumy, free
Mark Szecsi, Debreceni VSC to Nyiregyhaza, free
Franco Otta, Pydna Kitrous to PS Kalamata, free
Lester Peltier, Slovan Bratislava to Irtysh, undisclosed fee
Adonis Ajeti, FC Basel to FC Wil, undisclosed fee
Sergey Putilin, unattached to SKA Rostov
Volodymyr Naiko, unattached to Bukovyna
Luka Majcen, unattached to NK Krka
Victor Wagner, unattached to Thisted FC
5. Crespo is glad Neville is flopping
Former Inter Milan and Chelsea striker, and now head coach of Serie B side Modena, Hernan Crespo has told FOX Sports that he is almost happy for Gary Neville's struggles with Valencia. Crespo believes it illustrates just how difficult and different it is being a coach rather than sitting behind a microphone in a TV studio talking about what a coach should do. "To watch a game from the TV, it's much different than from the bench," Crespo explained to FOX Sports. "I'm almost happy for Gary Neville's troubles at Valencia. I remember he was too harsh as a TV pundit!" Crespo also had a lot of praise for Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri, who was his manager while at Chelsea. "When he trained me, he had to change everything because so many new players had arrived at Chelsea that he had to integrate into the team," Crespo recalled. "He was unfortunate because we finished second in the league and were eliminated at the semi-final stage of the Champions League. Ranieri with Leicester is doing an incredible job on a mental level. The players are playing with maximum organisation, making the most of their movements."
6. Ozil confirms what we already knew about Norwich
Arsenal's German playmaker extraodinaire has said what we were all thinking about Norwich City's defence at half time of the clash between the Gunners and Canaries in November:
Mesut Özil: "Their defence is fucking shit" https://t.co/3zq4DpfSfv
— Mike Sanz (@mikesanz19) February 8, 2016
7. The hardest workers in the English Prem revealed
Surprisingly no Leicester City players make the top ten, the results of the top ten are not as you might expect:
Top Ten
1. Andrew Surman, Bournemouth, 303.85km
2. Gareth Barry, Everton, 297.64km
3. Craig Dawson, West Bromwich Albion, 278.57km
4. Etienne Capoue, Watford, 278.43km
5. Darren Fletcher, West Bromwich Albion, 271.46km
6. Mark Noble, West Ham United, 271.31km
7. Matt Ritchie, Bournemouth, 268.71km
8. Yann M'Vila, Sunderland, 268.59km
9. Dan Gosling, Bournemouth, 267.91km
10. Ross Barkley, Everton, 267.31km
It is hard to know what to make of such a limited dataset, especially with such unexpected players as the Baggies Dawson so high up. Dawson is usually a centre back, so should be expected to run limited distances, though he has often be used out of position as a full back, Tony Pulis tends to hold his fullbacks deeper than most, so the distance covered should be less. Maybe it is possible that West Brom turn the ball over and recover it more often than most within a game, leading to him getting forward and chasing back more often than most. Normally you would expect midfielders from sides with less possession to be the ones doing all the legwork, chasing around trying to recover the ball, but that makes both Gareth Barry and Ross Barkley's inclusion in the top 10 more surprising. What it does suggest, in Barry's case, is why Everton's defence has been struggling this season, as the inference is that he is getting further forward than he probably should, both because he is playing as the holding midfielder and because he does not have the pace to get back any more.
8. Remi Garde wants money to spend at Villa next season
Aston Villa manager Remi Garde has confirmed he wants reassurances that he will be backed in the transfer market if he is to stay next season. The Frenchman took over a Villa side rooted to the bottom of the table and received little backing in January, despite the obvious desperate need to make changes. "I'm prepared to stay in this club if there are the (financial) means to go up," he said. "As everyone knows Aston Villa's a big club and very prestigious in England. From the outside it remains prestigious - but when you're on the inside there's much, much work to be done. But if I'm given the means then obviously it's a project that could interest me." When asked what would happen if the Villans are relegated to the Championship, Garde said: "That would need to be discussed again. At the moment we'll really start preparing for next season at the end of this season, even a little bit before, when we'll have more certainty. There's in-depth work to be done at this club."
9. Toon freeze season ticket prices
Following on from Liverpool fans' walkout protest over rising ticket prices, and talk of a Premier League wide protest from fans, Newcastle United have moved to calm the situation within their own club by announcing a price freeze on adult season ticket prices. They have also decided to reduce the price for under 18s season tickets, as the Premier (Greed Is Good) League comes under scrutiny over the high prices it costs for fans to attend matches, despite it being the richest league in world football. Newcastle managing director Lee Charnley said: "While the debate around Premier League ticket prices continues, we want to ensure watching football at St James' Park remains affordable for as many people as possible. There is a clear risk that clubs could lose generations of supporters with the cost being a major factor and we have considered that when setting prices for 2016-17. We want to encourage more families to attend and ensure that the price of a ticket does not become a barrier for our youngest supporters."
10. Sunderland winger faces trial
Sunderland's former Manchester City and Middlesbrough winger Adam Johnson is facing trial on four charges related to child sex. The 28 year old England international is denying the three charges of sexual activity with a child and one count of grooming. The trial date was set back in August, with the judge, Judge Christopher Prince, setting the date for today, while ruling that details of the August hearing could not be reported. The incidents of sexual activity are alleged to have taken place in January 2015, while the grooming is alleged to have taken place between December 2015 and February 2015 with a 15 year old girl.
Written by Tris Burke February 10 2016 09:05:16