Football News: Review Of The Day 15th February 2023

Review of the Day

Contracts

Wigan Athletic defender Jack Whatmough has signed a new deal which runs until 2025.

Fellow defender Kyle McFadzean has extended his deal with Coventry City until 2024.

Veteran forward Jack Muldoon will stay with Harrogate Town until 2025 after agreeing a new contract.

Sebastian Driussi has signed an extension until 2025 with Austin of Major League Soccer with a club option for one more year.

Also in MLS Inter Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender has signed a similar deal.

Stade Reims defender Thomas Foket will stay with the French club until 2025.

Transfers

Free agent striker Connor Wickham has signed for Cardiff City for the rest of the season.

Free agent former Chelsea youngster George McEachran has signed for Swindon Town.

Fulham full-back Kevin Mbabu has joined Servette on loan.

The agent of Brazilian prodigy Vitor Roque, Andre Cury, has claimed that an unnamed trio of clubs, one English, one Spanish and one Italian, have had offers rejected for the 17 year old by his current club Atletico Paranaense. Cury told Globoesporte: "There was already a proposal, but it was rejected. There was an English club, I don't want to give names, a Spanish club that already made an offer, and an Italian one." The teenager was top scorer as Brazil won the South American U20 Championship at the weekend.

Former Inter Milan star Christian Vieiri has claimed that his former club's problems are due to the lack of a player to dribble past opponents. The former Italian striker, who also played for Lazio and Atletico Madrid, believes that is down to Inter's decision to pay former Arsenal, Barcelona and Manchester United winger Alexis Sanchez to leave in the summer, as well as passing up an opportunity to sign Paulo Dybala on a free transfer, instead opting for the return of Romelu Lukaku on loan from Chelsea.

Injury Round Up

Tottenham Hotspur will be without midfielder Rodrigo Betancur for the rest of the season after the 25-year-old Uruguay international "ruptured the cruciate ligament in his left knee". He joins club captain Hugo Lloris, also out with a knee injury, and Yves Bissouma, who has a stress fracture in his left ankle, on the sidelines. The injury problems have caused Antonio Conte to call four players up from academy football to make up the numbers in training with the first team.

Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski has been ruled out for at least a month following surgery on a knee problem.

Wycombe Wanderers defender Alfie Mawson has been forced to retire at the age of 29 due to serious knee problems that have hampered his recent career.

Hellas Verona striker Milan Djuric has undergone surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. The centre-forward is unlikely to play again this season.

Job Changes

Leeds United have confirmed that caretaker boss Michael Skubala will continue on in the role for "upcoming fixtures" as they struggle to replace Jesse Marsch.

Former Valencia midfielder Ruben Baraja has been appointed as their new manager, replacing Gennaro Gattuso. Baraja is the 10th permanent head coach in less than 9 years. Caretaker manager Voro Gonzalez (his 8th stint as caretaker) lost all 3 games he took charge of.

Controversial manager Neil Warnock has come out of retirement to return to the job of Huddersfield Town boss. The 74 year old led the Terriers to promotion to what is now the Championship via the play-offs in the 1994-95 season during his first spell in charge.

Everton have appoint Tom Kearney and Dan Copnall as Assistant Heads of Coaching in their academy. Kearney is a former Everton youth player who has coached at the academy for over a decade. He will be focusing on what is known as the Youth Development Phase (YDP), the 12 to 16 age group. Copnall arrives from the Professional Game Academy Audit Company (PGAAC) where he had been a coaching auditor, and will be focused on the Foundation Phase, the 9-12 age group.

Disciplinary Charges

Southampton have banned Grimsby Town fans from bringing inflatable fish mascots "Harry Haddock" to the FA Cup 5th Round tie between the two teams. Grimsby fans are known for taking hundreds of the inflatables to away games.

The EFL has revealed that the proposed takeover of Sheffield United by Nigerian billionaire Dozy Mmobuosi is on hold while they await responses to queries they made: "Whilst the League is in receipt of the share purchase agreement and owners and directors' test declaration, alongside some evidence of source and sufficiency of funding, it has previously raised a number of additional queries with the proposed purchaser and the club. The EFL has been awaiting a response on those queries for some time and until the League is satisfied that the requirements of its regulations have been met, it will not process a change of control at the club."

Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic have been fined £5,000 each by the Football Association over a mass confrontation between the two sets of players in their Championship match this month.

Former Barcelona president Josep Maria Martomeu has been alleged to have paid journalists to defend him and attack rivals for the position. The allegations come via Mossos, Barcelona's city police. Bartomeu has denied the allegations: "Once again, I present a letter of allegations to the content of a new report by the Mossos d'Esquadra pointing out the existence of payments ordered by me to journalists in order to defend myself from public opinion and, at the same time, criticise other Barca people. The latest report presented by the Mossos before the Court number 13 of Instruction of Barcelona tries to conclude, falsely, that, in addition, money was allocated from FC Barcelona, under my presidency, to third party companies paying certain journalists for the same purpose of protecting my reputation. Both conclusions are not true but an erroneous and perverse interpretation of conversations between different people, journalists and executives, of which subsequent assumptions are delivered and not reliable evidence. I categorically deny that, by my order or with my consent, FC Barcelona was paid to journalists with the purpose, or exchange, of defending the management or myself."

Young Juventus midfielder Mohamed Ihatteren was arrested by Dutch police in Amsterdam on Sunday, his 21st birthday. Ihatteren was also detained in November due to violent threats, but this time the police said that he was arrested after "a conflict of relational nature". Former Holland midfield star Wesley Sneijder had attempted to act as a mentor for Ihattaren, to try and help him through a troubled spell, but walked away after a few months claiming that Ihatteren was unable to fully focus on football.

OGC Nice have complained to police after a pornographic film was made at their stadium. The footage was filmed in the stadium's toilets during the 1-0 win over Lille at the end of January. It is claimed that a porn actress approached a random supporter and propositioned him before taking him to the toilets to make the video. Nice are owned by INEOS, Jim Ratcliffe's company.

Sauds Host CWC

FIFA's Club World Cup will be hosted in Saudi Arabia in December, the first time the Middle East nation has been chosen to hold the tournament, which has been running since 2000. Saudi Arabia will be just the 6th nation to host it, but probably the most controversial with the announcement already facing a storm of accusations of 'sportswashing' with regard to the country. FIFA have also agreed to Visit Saudi as the official sponsors of the Women's World Cup.

FIFA have also confirmed that the three hosts of the 2026 World Cup, Canada, USA and Mexico, have all been given automatic berths to the tournament. A statement read: "The FIFA Council confirmed that, in line with the long-standing tradition of having all hosts competing at the FIFA World Cup, as well as sporting and operational considerations, the hosts of the FIFA World Cup 2026, namely Canada, Mexico and the USA, will qualify automatically for the final round of the competition, with their slots therefore being deducted from the overall allocation of six assigned to CONCACAF." The 2026 edition of the World Cup will be expanded to feature 48 nations, from the previous number of 32 teams competing.

Villa Buy Into Vitoria

Portugese league club Vitoria de Guimaraes have confirmed that the holding company which owns Aston Villa, V Sports, has acquired a 46% stake in Vitoria. A Vitoria statement explained: "The deal will yield an immediate cash inflow of 5.5 million euros. The club will remain the majority shareholder of the sports company. Vitória Sport Clube has the possibility of securing an economic partner of enormous importance. This is the V Sports fund, led by Nassef Sawiris and owner of Aston Villa FC, which has already reached an agreement with António Miguel Cardoso for the purchase of 46% of SAD shares for 5.5 million euros. This operation is pending the approval of the members in the General Assembly (to be scheduled soon), in accordance with the electoral commitment assumed by the President of the Club, without prejudice to the fact that, until the date of the Magna Meeting, clarification sessions will be held on the subject. The associative validation of this operation maintains Vitória SC as the majority shareholder of the sports company (only 3.16% of the share capital is dispersed among small shareholders), and the Board of Directors will now be composed of three administrators from Vitória Sport Clube, Futebol SAD and two affections in the background V Sports SCS. As a result of the established pre-agreement, the future partner of SAD will support the investment of two million euros in infrastructure, to be applied in two years, also making possible a credit line of up to 20 million euros, with interest rate under preferential conditions."

Tebas Launches Fresh Feud

La Liga president Javier Tebas seems to enjoy fighting with everyone possible, with his tenure seeming him pick fights with the entire Premier League, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona president Joan Laporta, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez among others. Now Tebas has turned his sights on the president of the Spanish FA (RFEF) Luis Rubiales after Rubiales called Tebas "the best ambassador for the European Super League", a clear dig at Tebas who has been one of the most vocal opponents of the ESL. Tebas responded via social media, like the grown up he is, posting: "The president of the RFEF lives in another world, and shows his ignorance in economic data, television and such. By the way, in UEFA, they do not think the same as he does in his statement. TV audiences go up, stadiums are filled, losses are controlled, but Rubiales' analysis is that LaLiga should follow the example of competitions ruined by the RFEF and a streamers event, in which they disguise themselves as clowns. I don't get that out of my amazement."

Written by Tris Burke February 15 2023 09:18:33