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Football News: Review Of The Day 24th January 2018

Review Of The Day 24th January 2018
Image from: thespruce.com

Review of the Day

 

Wenger Backs Sanchez

Alexis Sanchez wrote a post on social media, after his move to Man Utd, stating that he always gave 100% to Arsenal prior to his move, after he had been criticised by former players and pundits for lacking commitment to the Gunners. Arsene Wenger has now come out in support of his former player by confirming that "he has always been committed." Wenger also called the Chilean a "great guy".

 

Morocco Enters Running To Host 2026 World Cup

The North African nation of Morocco is making yet another bid to host the World Cup finals, their 5th, pitting them against a proposed joint bid from Canada, Mexico and the USA. The hosting decision is set to be made on 13th June, just before the start of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

 

Transfer Round Up

Burnley have completed the signing of Everton winger Aaron Lennon for an undisclosed fee. The former England international said: "I am only 30 and I still want to play at the highest level. Burnley was the club I wanted to come to and I can't wait to get started. I'm looking forward to playing here. The club is moving forward and I want to hopefully play a part in that to keep it going in that direction."

 



Belgian defender Ritchie de Laet has left Aston Villa to join Royal Antwerp on loan.

Former Liverpool striker David Ngog has once again teamed up with Owen Coyle as the French forward has arrived on a free after being released by Panionios. Coyle, now in charge of Ross County, paid £4m to sign him for Bolton Wanderers back in 2011 while he was in charge of the Lancashire club. Ngog is still only 28 now, but his career has never lived up to expectations.

Another former big-name French star has arrived on a free transfer, this time to PSG, who have snapped up Lassana Diarra after he left Al Jazira in December. The 32 year old has battled long standing knee problems throughout his career, a career which took in Arsenal, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

Crystal Palace have moved to shore up their backline with the addition of Polish defender Jaroslaw Jach on an undisclosed fee from Zaglebie Lubin.

Brazilian wideman Kenedy has listened to the advice of his manager Antonio Conte and left Chelsea to join Newcastle United on loan for the rest of the season. Conte had earlier said that Kenedy should take the deal as it would be good for him to be playing regularly. Toon boss Rafael Benitez has admitted that they have been trying to get him since the summer. "The reason we are interested is that he can play in several positions," said Benitez. "He has a great left foot and good energy".

 

Spartak Moscow's Head Of Media Fined Over Racist Tweet

The Russian Football Union has fined Leonid Trakhtenberg 20,000 (about £250) for allowing Spartak defender Georgi Dzhikiya to post a tweet containing racist references to black players training in sunlight, with a message translating as "see how the chocolates melt in the sun". Dzhikiya himself, despite being the one who posted the actual tweet, was left off with a reprimand. Seems odd to me that just trusting someone else to post a tweet is now deemed as being more offensive than actually posting up a racist tweet!

 


Powell To Take Charge At Southend

Former Southend United player Chris Powell has taken charge of the League One club on a two and a half year contract. Phil Brown was sent on gardening leave on Wednesday with Southend in 20th and just one point above the drop zone.

 

MK Dons Appoint Former Academy Coach

Dan Micciche has been handed his first club managerial role at the age of 38 as the former England U-16 manager takes charge at MK Dons. Micciche had previously been in charge of MK's youth set-up and has experienced head Keith Millen as a number two to help guide him.

 

Wigan On Verge Of Takeover

The chief executive of Wigan Athletic has confirmed takeover talks are at an advanced stage with a party he left unnamed. Jonathan Jackson said: "We are at an advanced stage in a process. However is not yet complete." Wigan are currently 5 points clear at the top of League One and through to the 4th Round of the FA Cup.

 

Neville Takes Charge Of England

Phil Neville has been appointed head coach of England's women's team, despite only ever taking charge of one game before in his career, at Salford City, a team he co-owns. In living proof the women's game has no credibility, in large part due to the ineptitude shown during the Mark Sampson episode, the leading candidates all steered well clear of the job. In the end they were left with a guy who once tweeted: "Morning men, couple of hours cricket before work sets me up nicely for the day." When asked why he only addressed men he posted this: "When I said morning men I thought the women would of been busy preparing breakfast/getting kids ready/making beds-sorry morning women!" While I am assuming that was meant as humour, it did lead to Neville deleting his Twitter account due to the response.

 

O'Neill Extends Ireland Deal

No, not that Ireland or O'Neill, not the one getting the most out of his extremely limited resources, but Martin at the Republic who led his team to a crushing 5-1 aggregate defeat at the hands of Denmark. Despite that embarrassment, the Irish FA have seen fit to extend the contract of himself and his backroom team, including the so-fiercely patriotic Roy Keane, who, of course, once walked out on Ireland during a World Cup while a player. They now have contracts until 2020.

 

 

Henry Denies Telling Sanchez To Leave Arsenal

Gunners legend Thierry Henry has denied that he told Alexis Sanchez to leave the club, after the Chilean suggested a conversation between the two led to his decision to move on. "I remember today, a conversation I had with Henry, who changed club for the same reason and today is my turn," Sanchez wrote on Instagram. While Sanchez did not say, despite the headlines, that Henry told him to move, Henry was still suffering so much criticism that he was moved to respond: "At no time did I tell Alexis Sanchez to leave Arsenal."

 

Mash To Leave Barca

Argentinian international Javier Mascherano is set to leave Barcelona in the coming days. After finding his way into the team blocked this season, making just 12 appearances in all competitions, the fiery midfielder/defender is moving on and will be given an official farewell on Wednesday. He famously spent some time in England at West Ham United, after joining the Hammers along with Carlos Tevez, but never established himself there as then manager Alan Pardew clearly had no idea who he was and attempted to use him as a right winger! The 33 year old now looks set to move to Chinese Super League side Hebei China Fortune.

 

Toffees Boosted By Coleman Return

Struggling Everton have had some good news as their Republic of Ireland right back Seamus Coleman has made his return to playing with a 58 minute run out for the U23s. The full back suffered a horrible double leg break following a disgusting challenge by Wales left back Neil Taylor in a World Cup qualifier while on international duty on 24th March 2017.

 

Dyche To Carry On In Claret

Burnley manager Sean Dyche has signed a new contract with the Lancashire club. Dyche has been in charge at Turf Moor since 2012 and has led them into the Premier League twice in that time, also managing to keep them in the Prem last season. All this despite taking over a club in financial difficulties that necessitated the sale of key players early in his reign. Despite that he has built a platform for the club's future success, even rejecting the chance to spend the vast majority of the Premier League money on the team, instead opting to invest the money in the club's infrastructure. Despite his team's recent struggles, losing their last 4 games in a row, he is now tied to the club until 2022 as Burnley feared losing the man who has them sat handily in the top of the Premier League table.

 

UEFA Moot Cap On Agents' Fees

With recent transfers shocking the public due to the huge sums being paid to agents for their services, UEFA has now said it will consider introducing a cap on fees in order to "introduce more transparency". With reports claiming fees such as £23m in the Paul Pogba move to Man Utd, £15m in Alexis Sanchez's move to the same club and £7m in Ederson's arrival at Man City are being paid, these huge amounts of money leaving the game have caused concern. Now UEFA have released a statement confirming that its Professional Football Strategy Group will look at a way to "shape policy change... by potentially adding a cap on fees, introducing more transparency/accountability, and appropriate sanctions in case of infringement of the rules".

 

FIFA U-17 World Cup Not A Success Says Tournament Director

While India was delighted to host a major FIFA event and so the fans were just happy to get to see it, the tournament director, Javier Ceppi, has scathing words for the experience from both fans' and players' perspectives. "The World Cup was not a success for the fans. Nobody here cares about the fan, neither the players," said Ceppi at an event in New Delhi. "At the start of the tournament, I remember players changing in the dressing room while a couple of rats were present nearby," he said. Just to point out, he was not referring to agents, he did mean the furry animal when he talked about rats in the dressing rooms. The internal analysis done by FIFA could well mean it is a long, long time before India hosts another major event.

 

Written by Tris Burke January 24 2018 05:37:17