Football News: Daily News Round Up 19th January 2018

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Review of the Day

Scotland Open Talks With O'Neill

With a compensation package agreed between themselves and the Northern Ireland FA, Scotland's FA are to speak with Michael O'Neill in an attempt to tempt him to switch countries. O'Neill has the offer of a 4 year extension to his current 2 year deal with the Norn Iron on the table if he decides to stay. Will he choose the uncertainty of underperforming Scotland or stay put in the safety of the overperforming Northern Ireland job?

Ins & Outs

Paul Lambert has made his first signing since taking charge at Stoke City with the loan of Greece international Kostas Stafylidis from FC Augsburg until the end of the season.

Liverpool youngster Marko Grujic has joined Neil Warnock's Cardiff City on loan for the rest of the season. It is hard to think of a more different manager than Jurgen Klopp for him to work under!

Leeds United have spent £4.5m to bring in Middlesbrough's Adam Forshaw, in a change from recruiting youngsters for the long term future.

One time Premier League big boys target George Cooper has finally left Crewe Alexandra to join Peterborough United for an undisclosed fee. They will be hoping he can rediscover the form he showed when he first appeared on the scene at 17 years old, when he attracted the attention of half the Premier League.

QPR right back Michael Petrasso has returned to Canada to sign for MLS side Montreal Impact after 6 years with the London team. The Canadian international was a product of Toronto FC's academy.

Mr Shakira Agrees New Deal

Spanish international defender (though for how long with the abuse he is taking over the Catalan independence vote) Gerard Pique has agreed a contract extension with FC Barcelona. The 30 year old is now tied to Barca until 2022 and the contract has a 500m euro buyout clause, as the Catalan club show they have learnt a lesson from Neymar's move to PSG.

Dortmund Hit Out At Disrespectful Wenger

Borussia Dortmund's sporting director Michael Zorc has called Arsene Wenger disrespectful after the Arsenal manager talked publicly about how Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would 'fit in' at the Gunners. "We regard it as disrespectful that Arsene Wenger expresses himself about players of other clubs," said Zorc. "There is no contact on our part with Arsenal. Arsene Wenger certainly has enough currently to deal with the performance of his own players."

Leeds Shows Charitable Side

Championship side Leeds United have come together to raise £200,000 for the lifesaving cancer treatment of young Leeds fan Toby Nye. The youngster is fighting stage 4 Neuroblastoma and the treatment is not currently available on the NHS, so Leeds raised the money to pay for the treatment. All the staff and players donated one day's salary, including Andrea Radrizzani, and donations from fans took the total to £175,000. That is why Spanish playmaker Samuel Saiz stepped in to donate the final £25,000 needed to reach the target.

Carroll Hit By Injury Blow ..... Again

With rumours circulating of interest from Chelsea, Andy Carroll's latest injury has come at a bad time for the West Ham United striker. After a series of injuries have adversely affected the Geordie's career time and time again, this is hardly a surprise to find that he has suffered a hairline fracture just a few weeks after returning from his last injury. It is more of a surprise when he is not injured these days.

Chelsea Make Bid For Emerson

The agent of Roma right back Emerson Palmieri, Fernando Garcia, has confirmed stories that Chelsea have made a bid for his client. "Emerson's Chelsea move is not a done deal yet, we are in talks with the club", Fernando Garcia told Daniele Longo of calciomercato. "The two clubs are in talks and we hope to finalize the deal soon. A transfer is very likely at this stage. I have not planned a trip to Italy anytime soon, we are waiting for news. Emerson would love to play in the Premier League and would love to work with Conte, he is a top manager, one of the best in the World." It does make you wonder what that means for Victor Moses and summer signing Davide Zappacosta.

Keown Hits Out At Mercenary Sanchez

Despite the fact that Arsenal's (for now) forward Alexis Sanchez would stand to make much more money if he waited until the summer to move on a free, Martin Keown has said: "Sanchez has got to be the biggest mercenary in football.... But for Sanchez, this is clearly not about going to the best team, working with Guardiola and taking his game to another level. He has probably thought that he will not get a better offer if he waits until the summer, so he might as well take the best deal on offer now. It has been all about the money." Keown is following on from Theo Walcott in reinforcing the stereotype about footballers and lack of intelligence! Or perhaps he just does not want to admit the reality that Sanchez is so desperate to escape Keown's beloved Arsenal he is willing to miss out on the extra millions he would make by hanging on until the summer.

Dyche Laughs Off Earthworm Story

After a former teammate, Soren Andersen, had told a Danish football podcast that Burnley manager Sean Dyche ate earthworms and that could be the source of his gravelly voice, Dyche laughed it off. "Maybe the voice comes from eating rainworms, because every time we trained, he used to eat rainworms," Anderson said. "Yes, he did. It was horrible, I've never experienced anything like it. It was like: 'whoops, there's a rainworm' and then he ate it." Dyche admitted he had just pranked the Dane: "Yeah, I also smoke exhaust pipes. I have gravel for breakfast. Those three combined often are the things that keep this voice sounding how it is. It's fair to say I didn't actually eat the worms," Dyche said. "It was a bit of banter I used to have. I've done it here and Watford too - that you get a nice, big juicy worm hanging out of your mouth. Look as if you're chewing it and then spit it out, wash your mouth with water. It was a bit of banter and Soren has probably taken it a bit too far, he was probably turning away at that moment. He's a good lad," added Dyche. "For the record I definitely don't eat worms and I never did." He does sound like someone who smokes exhaust pipes and has gravel for breakfast though!

Liverpool Given Injury Boost

Liverpool pair Jordan Henderson and Virgil van Dijk have returned to training ahead of the Monday night game against Swansea City. Club captain Henderson has been missing for a month with his hamstring problem, while van Dijk mised out on Sunday's 4-3 win over Man City due to his.

Man Utd Unveil Official Tractor

Yes, you really did read that right. This is not some elaborate prank, no it is not April Fool's Day. Manchester United have honestly unveiled an official tractor with their official tractor partner Yanmar. If this is not official confirmation that football has truly gone mad, just take a look at the list of other official partners the Mancunian side have. A noodle partner, really?

Adebayor Hits Out At 'Fake' Wenger

Former Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor has revealed that he hates Arsene Wenger but loves Jose Mourinho, due to the differences in their honesty in dealing with him. "As an example, I had a meeting with Arsene Wenger in his office when he told me I had to leave because he doesn't see my future any more in Arsenal. I have to move on in my life. I was like 'I'm going to stay.' He was like 'no there is not even a fight organised. We are not going to organise any fight for you. You move out or you stay here and don't play any games.' So I didn't have any other choice than joining Man City which I was very happy to join. And the next day when I joined Manchester City I saw him doing a press conference in London saying that I wanted to leave because the money was big and everything and since that day that is where the hate for Arsenal came from..... Mourinho is a manager that wants to win a trophy no matter what it takes, even if he has to park the bus, the train or a plane he just wants to win and will do everything it takes to win. He will not sleep. He will work 24 hours to win one game and Arsene just loves to bring kids in and make them become big players. He is like a teacher."

Staveley Confirms Newcastle Interest Still There

Despite Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley claiming that he never received a genuine offer for his stake in the North-East club, Amanda Staveley has said the offer from the group she represents, PCP Capital Partners, is still on the table. Staveley told The Times: "Our bid remains on the table. This is an investment, but it has to be a long-term investment. Newcastle would be run as a business, but we want it to be a successful, thriving business that is an absolutely integral part of the city."

Pardew Admits Baggies Were After Walcott

So there we have it, some news to cheer up Everton fans after their bad run of games recently, their new signing Theo Walcott was also a target of West Bromwich Albion, but they were priced out of any deal. With quality teams like West Brom after Walcott, he must have quality, as we know they do not buy any old rubbish. You only have to look at the quality they have in attack to see that....

Palace Hit By Loftus-Cheek Injury

After playing such a huge part in Crystal Palace's revival, Ruben Loftus-Cheek's season has been derailed following scans showing his ankle injury is more serious than expected and could require surgery. "He may require surgery. The injury is more severe than we originally thought, or perhaps hoped. It hasn't responded to conservative treatment, rest and massage," said Roy Hodgson. "In a few weeks we will have to assess it again and will have to ask is there a need for stronger intervention. His treatment is being handled by our doctor and the Chelsea doctor, they are making the decisions. We misled you initially by saying all he needed was to miss a couple of games and rest. It hasn't turned out to be the case. We don't know how long it would take after the surgery to get him fit again. I would be very disappointed, surgery or not, if he's not playing before the end of the season."

Chelsea Face FIFA Investigation

After it was revealed by The Guardian that FIFA are investigating 25 cases involving Chelsea's recruitment of players under the age of 18 Chelsea have denied any wrongdoing. If found guilty they could possibly face a transfer ban, though that would only be altered to suit their recruitment plans if the past examples of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are followed.

Dundalk In US Takeover

League of Ireland club Dundalk has been bought by a group of American businessmen and an investment company, Peak6. The previous owners, Paul Brown and Andy Connolly, cleared debts of 192,000 euros with their own money and also spent their own money on improving their first-team squad after they bought the club in 2012. Peak6 also have 25% of Bournemouth and a substantial stake in AS Roma. One of the American co-owners, Jordan Gardner, also has a small stake in Swansea City.

Walters Injured Again

Since signing for Burnley in the summer, former Stoke City striker Jon Walters has been hit by a series of injuries. The 34 year old has now suffered another that will require keyhole surgery and rule him out for up to 2 months and pretty much ending the chance of him leaving in this transfer window. Dyche said: "Jon Walters has had a minor tidy-up in his knee, there's a very small split in his cartilage that was annoying him so the decision was made to get it tidied up. He [Walters] has had surgery. At his age he knows when it's right or wrong so we decided it was best to do it. The guidelines approximately six to eight weeks."

No Transfers At Leicester

Leicester City manager Claude Puel has said that there is nothing happening with regards to ins and outs at the Foxes. Despite the rumour mill linking the club with a number of players, particularly right backs, Puel has denied there is anything in the stories. Puak said: "We are not close at the moment to sign any player. I think we work normally in this window. If we can improve the squad we will sign a player but at the moment we are not close."

Written by Tris Burke January 19 2018 05:03:26