Football News: Review Of The Day 5th January 2023

Review of the Day

Contracts

After rejecting Jalel Kadri's resignation, Tunisia have extended his contract until 2024. The national coach led the North Africans to the World Cup but they were eliminated in the group stages.

Barnsley have given defender Liam Kitching a new contract which will expire in 2026, with a club option for another year.

Real Betis have signed winger Juanmi up to a new deal which will expire in 2026.

Borussia Moenchengladbach midfielder Christoph Kramer hs signed a new deal which ends in 2025.

2026 will now be when Ross Laidlaw's contract with Ross County will finish.

Sassuolo teenager Luca D'Andrea has extended his contract until 2027.

Silas has signed until 2026 with VfB Stuttgart.

Transfers

Jesse Marsch continues to try and recreate his Red Bull Salzburg team in Yorkshire as Leeds United pay an undisclosed fee of £12m to the Austrian club for Max Wober.

Despite soaring interest in his services after being a key cog in Argentina's World Cup win, Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Alexis Mac Allister has said that he is "really happy" there and in "no rush to leave".

Newcastle United have recalled goalkeeper Martin Dubravka from his season long loan spell with Manchester United. The Slovakian joined the Red Devils on loan with a view to a permanent move but was unable to break into the first team, making just two appearances in the Carabao Cup.

St Mirren have signed defender Richard Taylor from Waterford on a short term deal with an option to extend.

Cristiano Ronaldo has become the highest paid player in the history of the game after signing for Saudi side Al Nassr. The 37-year-old was a free agent after leaving Manchester United under a cloud and claims that he is joining Al Nassr for the challenge. Presumably the challenge of figuring out what to spend all the money on.

Middlesbrough youngster Jack Robinson has joined Carlisle United on loan for the rest of the season.

Forest Green Rovers have lost top scorer Connor Wickham after his short term deal expired. They have managed to keep hold of Myles Peart-Harris after his loan deal from Brentford was extended until the end of the season. Rovers have also signed Drogheda United goalkeeper Fiachra Pagel, but the 18-year-old will stay with the League of Ireland team on loan until July. Also added to the squad is Swansea City defender Brandon Cooper on loan until the end of the season.

Plymouth Argyle have spent an undisclosed fee on Norwich City left-back Saxon Earley, who was recalled from his loan spell with Stevenage to make the move.

Swindon Town have re-signed free agent striker Charlie Austin. Austin agreed a mutual contract termination with Brisbane Roar earlier in the month.

Stevenage have signed Jake Forster-Caskey from Charlton Athletic.

Leyton Orient have sent Connor Wood on loan to Colchester United. However Colchester have lost another loanee after Matty Longstaff suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury and returned to parent club Newcastle United.

Former Nottingham Forest forward Matt Derbyshire has signed for Bradford City. The veteran had been playing in the Indian Super League for NorthEast United.

An undisclosed fee has taken Elliott Newby back to hometown club Barrow from Stockport County.

Peterborough United winger David Ajiboye has signed for Sutton United on loan until the end of the season. Posh bought him from Sutton in June.

Stockport County have spent an undisclosed fee on Millwall striker Isaac Olaofe.

RB Leipzig have loaned youngster Hugo Novoa to Basel.

Bodo/Glimt have signed Fredrik Bjorkan on a free transfer from Hertha Berlin.

Former Rangers midfielder Emerson Hyndman has been released by Atlanta United of Major League Soccer.

Young Manchester City winger Morgan Rogers has joined Blackpool on loan.

Brentford have paid a £1m loan fee to sign Kevin Schade from SC Freiburg for the rest of the season.

Omonia Nikosia have signed Ismael Tajouri-Shradi from MLS side New England Revolution. Revs have brought in Latif Blessing from Los Angeles FC for a fee of £379,000.

OGC Nice have loaned Brazilian defender Robson Bambu to Vasco da Gama.

Flamengo have paid £15m to Olympique Marseille for Gerson.

Dennis Appiah has joined Saint-Etienne from Nantes.

AJ Auxerre have signed teenage defender Isaak Toure from Marseille on loan. They have also signed teenage forward Matthis Abline on loan from Stade Rennais.

Augsburg have paid £100,000 for Club NXT midfielder Arne Engels.

Lecce have taken Youssef Maleh on loan from Fiorentina.

Manchester City have sent Nahuel Bustos to CA Talleres on loan.

Watford have taken Matheus Martins on loan from Udinese. Udinese had just paid £6m to sign him from Fluminese.

Kaspar Dolberg has joined TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on loan from OGC Nice.

Sampdoria have signed Bram Nuytinck from Udinese.

Davie Selke has joined 1. FC Koln on a free transfer from Hertha Berlin.

Cremonese have taken Alex Ferrari on loan from Sampdoria. Going into Samp on loan is Empoli forward Sam Lammers.

Olympique Lyonnais's teenage midfielder Florent Sanchez has joined Volendam on loan. Joining Lyon for a £2m fee is former Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren from Zenit St-Petersburg.

Bochum have taken Keven Schlotterbeck on loan from SC Freiburg.

Werder Bremen have loaned Nicolai Rapp to 1.FC Kaiserslautern.

Empoli have signed Frencesco Caputo on loan from Sampdoria.

Toulouse have paid £600,000 for Warren Kamanzi from Tromso.

Salernitana have signed Guillermo Ochoa on a free transfer from Club America in the Mexican Liga MX.

Joao Moutinho has moved to Spezia on a free transfer from Orlando City.

Newcastle United released former Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius.

Deportivo La Coruna have paid £1m for veteran forward Lucas Perez from Cadiz.

Stade Rennais have sent Loic Bade to Sevilla on loan.

Mazatlan of the Mexican Liga MX have signed Ake Loba from Nashville SC of Major League Soccer.

CA Osasuna have released Roberto Torres.

Celtic have taken Tomoki Iwata on loan from Yokohama F. Marinos.

Lazio full-back Dimitrije Kamenovic has joined Sparta Prague on loan.

AC Ajaccio midfielder Qazim Laci has signed for Sparta Prague.

San Luis have taken Mateo Klimwicz on loan from VfB Stuttgart.

Atletico Madrid winger Marcos Paulo has joined Sao Paulo on loan.

Cadiz have loaned Awer Mabil to Sparta Prague.

Injury Round Up

Heart of Midlothian defender Craig Halkett will sit out the rest of the season after a scan revealed the centre-back had suffered cruciate ligament damage.

Accrington Stanley midfielder Joe Pritchard has torn his Achilles tendon. The former Tottenham Hotspur youngster has been ruled out of the rest of the season due to the injury.

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk is seeing a specialist to assess his hamstring injury.

Job Changes

After a run of nine games without a win saw them fall 9 points behind the play off places in League One, Portsmouth have sacked head coach Danny Cowley and his assistant (and brother) Nicky. They had failed to reach the play offs in either of their other two seasons at Pompey.

Scott Parker is the surprising choice to take charge of Club Bruges. Parker was sacked as Bournemouth boss in August after they lost 9-0 to Liverpool. The Belgian club sacked previous manager Carl Hoefkens after a Boxing Day draw with OH Leuven left them 12 points behind Jupiler Pro League leaders Genk.

After being forced to retire earlier this season at the age of just 24 due to an hereditary heart condition, former Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Enock Mwepu has returned to the club as an Under-9s academy coach.

Manchester United's head coach Erik Ten Hag has assumed full responsibility for their Under-21 side as well. Ten Hag told Voetbal International: "For me, co-operation between all the different departments is crucial to get the right culture in a club. Like at Ajax, when I entered Manchester United the reserve team was isolated. It was no longer really part of the Academy, but it wasn't part of the first team either. I changed that immediately - just as I did when I entered Amsterdam. At Ajax, the reserve team came under the responsibility of the manager. That was the only way I could have influence on the flow of young, talented players towards the first team. Of course I still give the coaches freedom to work, but I also give them direction, by saying for example, 'I want that player to start making minutes in that position.' So the final responsibility lies with me about how the second team performs and the flow of players that goes from the reserve team to the first team. This is totally new for the people at Manchester United, but I had already discussed it during the introductory talks with the club management. They were immediately open to it. They looked at Ajax with admiration because of how the club always manages to get youth players successfully through the system. There is a constant influx of talents at Ajax and I explained that's because the basis of everything at the club is the youth Academy. When I was going home from my work at Ajax in the evening, I would often see the Under-8s or Under-9s training and I would stay to watch. In the final phase of a player's Academy years and the step up to the first team, it is all about the structure between the Academy Director, the reserve-team coach and the manager. This is what I mean when I talk about co-operation. I talked to (Football Director) John Murtough about this at length before I came to Manchester and he set it up in such a way that I can work this way here too. In the Netherlands, I had made the step towards taking more of a managerial role at Ajax. If you don't have competent people around you, you can't delegate and you're going to do it all yourself anyway. But if you do have competent people, you have to bring them into your vision and then you can delegate tasks. An example is the training process with the senior team. I know this is in good hands with (coach) Mitchell van der Gaag. Because he is at the training sessions, I can often take an overview view. Then, as a manager, you see a lot more than if you are working on the training exercises yourself."

Another change at Man Utd is the arrival of former England Head Chef Omar Meziane, who has joined the club's backroom staff as Head Chef working with the football team.

Wales' assistant manager Kit Symons has been sacked following their poor performance at the Qatar World Cup. Wales managed just one point as they crashed out at the group stage in their first World Cup for 64 years.

Disciplinary Charges

Real Madrid's Brazilian winger Vinicius Jr has hit out at La Liga claiming that it "continues to do nothing" about "racists" attending matches after he was racially abused during the 2-0 win over Real Valladolid. Atletico Madrid condemned what they termed "unacceptable" chants by their supporters aimed at Vinicius in September, though no action has been taken after Spanish prosecutors said that it would not be possible to identify those involved. This is part of an ongoing problem, with racists insults also reported in October 2021, with Vinicius once again on the receiving end. La Liga stated: "We are investigating last night's match and, as always in these cases, will work with the clubs and appropriate authorities to identify and prosecute anyone guilty of hate speech. La Liga has detected videos uploaded to social networks of racist insults from a person, not from groups, and they will be charged as in previous cases." La Liga has also said that it filed charges with the "relevant judicial, administrative and sporting bodies".

The head coach of the USA Gregg Berhalter is being investigated by US Soccer after he admitted that he had kicked his wife during an argument before they were married. The incident, which happened back in 1991, became public after Berhalter released a statement, co-signed by his wife Rosalind, which Berhalter has said was precipitated by someone contacting him during the World Cup to tell him that they were going to 'take him down'. The statement reads: "We had been dating for four months when an incident happened between us that would shape the future of our relationship. One night, while out drinking at a local bar, Rosalind and I had a heated argument that continued outside. It became physical and I kicked her in the legs." The pair broke up due to the incident and only got back together 7 months later and celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary over the New Year weekend. US Soccer stated: "Upon learning of the allegation against US Men's National Team head coach Gregg Berhalter on Dec 11, 2022, US Soccer immediately hired Alston & Bird LLP to conduct an independent investigation into the matter. Through this process, US Soccer has learned about potential inappropriate behaviour towards multiple members of our staff by individuals outside of our organisation. We take such behaviour seriously and have expanded our investigation to include those allegations. We appreciate Gregg and Rosalind coming forward to speak openly about this incident. Consistent with our commitment to transparency, we will share the results of the investigation publicly when it is complete. US Soccer condemns violence of any kind and takes such allegations very seriously." Berhalter is currently out of contract and US Soccer has yet to confirm who is to take charge of the squad for the forthcoming January games.

Heart of Midlothian have launched an investigation after their goalkeeper Zander Clark suffered a cut on his head after being hit by an object thrown from the crowd during the Edinburgh derby. Clark was able to continue to play after treatment and helped his side beat local rivals Hibernian 3-0.

Oladapo Afolayan has received a three match suspension for violent conduct. The Bolton Wanderers forward was caught on camera in the match against Lincoln City.

Pointless List Of The Day

Pointless List 1 is the players who played the most matches in 2022 from the European leagues:
1. Virgil van Dijk - Liverpool 54 - Netherlands 10 - Total: 64
2. Milan Borjan - Red Star Belgrade - Canada 13 - Total: 63
2. Bernardo Silva - Manchester City 49 - Portugal 14 - Total: 63
2. Enzo Fernandez - Benfica 25 - River Plate 28 - Argentina - 10 - Total: 63
5. Luka Modric - Real Madrid 46 - Croatia 16 - Total: 62
5. Alisson Becker - Liverpool 52 - Brazil 10 - Total: 62
5. Harry Kane - Tottenham Hotspur 49 - England 13 - Total: 62
8. Declan Rice - West Ham United 49 - England 12 - Total: 61
8. Julian Alvarez - Manchester City 21 - River Plate 26 - Argentina 14 - Total: 61
10. Mason Mount - Chelsea 51 - England 10 - Total: 60
10. Ivan Perisic - Tottenham Hotspur 22 - Inter Milan 26 - Croatia 12 - Total: 60
10. Mateo Kovacic - Chelsea 44 - Croatia 16 - Total: 60
10. James Tavernier - Rangers 60 - Total: 60
10. Mohamed Salah - Liverpool 50 - Egypt 10 - Total: 60
10. Sadio Mane - Bayern Munich 23 - Liverpool 26 - Senegal 11 - Total: 60
10. Vinicius Junior - Real Madrid 49 - Brazil 11 - Total: 60
17. Fabinho - Liverpool 52 - Brazil 7 - Total 59
17. Bruno Fernandes - Manchester United 46 - Portugal 13 - Total: 59
17. Youri Tielemans - Leicester City 48 - Belgium 11 - Total: 59
20. Casemiro - Manchester United 21 - Real Madrid 27 - Brazil 10 - Total: 58
20. Ilkay Gundogan - Manchester City 46 - Germany 12 - Total: 58
20. Jordan Henderson - Liverpool 52 - England 6 - Total: 58
20. Willi Orban - RB Leipzig 49 - Hungary 9 - Total: 58
20. Odysseas Vlachodimos - Benfica 50 - Greece 8 - Total: 58
20. Joao Cancelo - Manchester City 48 - Portugal 10 - Total: 58
20. Rodrigo de Paul - Atletico Madrid 43 - Argentina 15 - Total: 58
20. Cengiz Under - Olympique Marseille 49 - Turkey 9 - Total: 58
20. Ferran Torres - Barcelona 45 - Spain 13 - Total: 58
20. Lautaro Martinez - Inter Milan 47 - Argentina 11 - Total: 58
20. Rodrygo - Real Madrid 49 - Brazil 9 - Total: 58
20. Gavi - Barcelona 45 - Spain 13 - Total: 58
20. Christopher Nkunku - RB Leipzig 50 - France 8 - Total: 58

Pointless List 2 is the most assists in 2022:
1. Lionel Messi - Paris Saint Germain 24 in 37 - Argentina 6 in 14 - Total: 30 assists in 51 games
2. Kevin de Bruyne - Manchester City 27 in 46 - Belgium 1 in 9 - Total: 28 assists in 55 games
3. Dusan Tadic - Ajax 20 in 41 - Serbia 7 in 12 - Total: 27 assists in 53 games
4. Cody Gakpo - PSV Eindhoven 22 in 46 - Netherlands 1 in 10 - Total: 23 assists in 56 games
5. Neymar - Paris Saint Germain 18 in 35 - Brazil 3 in 8 - Total: 21 assists in 43 games
6. Ryan Kent - Rangers 20 in 52 - Total: 20 assists in 52 games
7. Ousmane Dembele - Barcelona 18 in 45 - France 2 in 8 - Total: 20 assists in 53 games
8. Rafael Leao - AC Milan 18 in 43 - Portugal 2 in 13 - Total: 20 assists in 56 games
9. Mehdi Taremi - Porto 18 in 46 - Iran 1 in 7 - Total: 19 assists in 53 games
10. Kylian Mbappe - Paris Saint Germain 16 in 43 - France 3 in 13 - Total: 19 assists in 56 games
11. Alassane Plea - Borussia Moenchengladbach 18 in 31 - Total: 18 assists in 31 games
12. Andrew Robertson - Liverpool 17 in 48 - Scotland 1 in 5 - Total: 18 assists in 52 games
13. Teddy Teuma - Royale Union Saint Gilloise 15 in 45 - Malta 3 in 9 - Total: 18 assists in 54 games
14. Dominik Szoboszlai - RB Leipzig 17 in 45 - Hungary 1 in 10 - Total: 18 assists in 55 games
15. Vinicius Junior - Real Madrid 16 in 49 - Brazil 2 in 11 - Total: 18 assists in 60 games
15. Ivan Perisic - Inter Milan 7 in 26 - Tottenham Hotspur 7 in 22 - Croatia 4 in 12 - Total: 18 assists in 60 games
17. Mason Mount - Chelsea 17 in 50 - England 0 in 10 - Total: 17 assists in 60 games
18. Carlo Holse - Rosenborg BK 16 in 31 - Total: 16 assists in 31 games
19. Mike Tresor - KRC Genk 16 in 32 - Total: 16 assists in 32 games
20. Benjamin Bourigeaud - Stade Rennais 16 in 43 - Total: 16 assists in 43 games
21. Mirko Ivanic - Red Star Belgrade 16 in 44 - Total: 16 assists in 44 games
22. Christian Kouame - RSC Anderlecht 9 in 19 - Fiorentina 7 in 20 - Cote d'Ivoire 0 in 6 - 16 assists in 45 games
23. Dejan Kulesevski - Tottenham Hotspur 13 in 33 - Sweden 3 in 7 - Juventus 0 in 6 - 16 assists in 46 games
24. Aleksandar Katai - Red Star Belgrade 16 in 49 - Total: 16 assists in 49 games
25. Randal Kolo Muani - Eintracht Frankfurt 11 in 23 - Nantes 4 in 22 - France 1 in 5 - Total: 16 assists in 50 games
26. Ulrik Saltnes - Bodo/Glimt 16 in 52 - Total: 16 assists in 52 games
27. Steven Berghuis - Ajax 13 in 43 - Netherlands 3 in 10 - Total: 16 assists in 53 games
28. Otavio - Porto 15 in 45 - Portugal 1 in 9 - Total: 16 assists in 54 games
29. Hugo Vetlesen - Bodo/Glimt 16 in 55 - Norway 0 in 1 - Total: 16 assists in 56 games
30. Christopher Nkunku - RB Leipzig 14 in 50 - France 2 in 8 - Total: 16 assists in 58 games

And pointless list number 3, again courtesy of Transfermarkt, is the top scorers in the 2022 calendar year:
1. Kylian Mbappe - Paris Saint Germain 44 in 43 - France 12 in 13 - Total: 56 goals in 56 games
2. Erling Haaland - Manchester City 27 in 11 - Borussia Dortmund 10 in 14 - Norway 9 in 8 - Total: 46 goals in 43 games
3. Robert Lewandowski - Bayern Munich 20 in 21 - Barcelona 18 in 20 - Poland 4 in 10 - Total: 42 goals in 51 games
4. Mehdi Taremi - Porto 34 in 46 - Iran 3 in 7 - Total: 37 goals in 53 games
5. Christopher Nkunku - RB Leipzig 37 in 50 - France 0 in 8 - Total: 37 goals in 58 games
6. Lionel Messi - Argentina 18 in 14 - Paris Saint Germain 17 in 37 - Total: 35 goals in 51 games
6. Ricardo Gomes - Partizan Belgrade 35 in 51 - Total: 35 goals in 51 games
8. Harry Kane - Tottenham Hotspur 30 in 49 - England 5 in 13 - Total: 35 goals in 62 games
9. Amahl Pellegrino - Bodo/Glimt 34 in 46 - Total: 34 goals in 46 games
10. Karim Benzema - Real Madrid 32 in 36 - France 1 in 3 - Total: 33 goals in 39 games
11. Sadio Mane - Liverpool 14 in 26 - Bayern Munich 11 in 23 - Senegal 8 in 11 - Total: 33 goals in 60 games
12. Neymar - Paris Saint Germain 25 in 35 - Brazil 7 in 8 - Total: 32 goals in 43 games
13. Wissam Ben Yedder - AS Monaco 29 in 45 - France 1 in 3 - Total: 30 goals in 48 games
14. Cody Gakpo - PSV Eindhoven 24 in 46 - Netherlands 5 in 10 - Total: 29 goals in 56 games
15. Mohamed Salah - Liverpool 25 in 50 - Egypt 4 in 10 - Total: 29 goals in 60 games
16. Darwin Nunez - Benfica 16 in 19 - Liverpool 9 in 21 - Uruguay 1 in 10 - Total: 26 goals in 50 games
17. Goncalo Ramos - Benfica 22 in 46 - Portugal 4 in 5 - Total: 26 goals in 51 games
18. Olivier Giroud - AC Milan 19 in 42 - France 7 in 10 - Total: 26 goals in 52 games
19. Lautaro Martinez - Inter Milan 22 in 47 - Argentina 4 in 11 - Total: 26 goals in 58 games
20. Aleksandar Katai - Red Star Belgrade 25 in 49 - Total: 25 goals in 49 games
21. Georgios Giakoumakis - Celtic 24 in 46 - Greece 1 in 5 - Total: 25 goals in 51 games
22. Victor Osimhen - Napoli 19 in 32 - Nigeria 5 in 2 - Total: 24 goals in 34 games
23. Vangelis Pavlidis - AZ Alkmaar 23 in 38 - Greece 1 in 6 - Total: 24 goals in 44 games
24. Michy Batshuayi - Fenerbahce 11 in 16 - Besiktas 8 in 21 - Belgium 5 in 11 - Total: 24 goals in 48 games
25. Enner Valencia - Fenerbahce 20 in 39 - Ecuador 4 in 10 - Total: 24 goals in 49 games
26. Heung-Min Son - Tottenham Hotspur 20 in 42 - South Korea 4 in 10 - Total: 24 goals in 52 games

Written by Tris Burke January 04 2023 17:56:18