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Football News: Lescott Has A Truly Smart Phone, Origi Finds His Valentine In The Crowd, Henry Questions Man City's Togetherness, Aurier Abuses Blanc And More

Lescott Has A Truly Smart Phone, Origi Finds His Valentine In The Crowd, Henry Questions Man City's Togetherness, Aurier Abuses Blanc And More
Image from: zeenews.india.com

1. Transfer round up
Carlos Lizarazo, Cruz Azul to FC Dallas, on loan
Vedran Jurjevic, NK Zagreb to NK Sesvete, undisclosed fee
Cesar, Flamengo to Ponte Preta, on loan
Filip Mihaljevic, Dinamo Zagreb to NK Sesvete, on loan
Ante Hrkac, NK Lokomotiva Zagreb to NK Lucko, on loan
Srdja Kosovic, FK Sutjeska Niksic to Iskra Danilovgrad,undisclosed fee
Mateusz Arian, MKS Kluczbork to KKS Kalisz, on loan
Darijan Radelic Zarkov, NK Lokomotiva to NK Lucko, on loan
Bostjan Frelih, Zbrojovka Brno to Inter Zapresic, undisclosed fee
Irfan Sahman, Iskra Danilovgrad to Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje, undisclosed fee
Aron Sugurdason, Fjolnir to Tromso, undisclosed fee
Marcin Flis, GKS Belchatow to Piast Gliwice, undisclosed fee
Igor Kharatin, Dynamo Kiev to Metalist Kharkiv, on loan
Ivan Novoselec, NK Lokomotiva Zagreb to NK Lucko, on loan
Andjeo Drobnjak, Buducnost Podgorica to Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje, undisclosed fee
Denis Ceraj, NK Lokomotiva Zagreb to NK Lucko, on loan
Marko Kazic, FK Bratstvo to Mornar Bar, undisclosed fee
Flavio Silva, Benfica to San Antonio Scorpions, undisclosed fee
Sebastian Musiolik, Piast Gliwice to ROW Rybnik, on loan
Mateusz Mazalon, Zawisza to Stilon, undisclosed fee
Yiu-Fu Wong, released by Yuen Long
Shola Ameobi, unattached to Fleetwood Town
Stefan Maierhofer, unattached to AS Trencin
Francis Bossman, unattached to Mornar Bar
Nicolas Canales, KS Samara to Neftchi Baku, ?
Donovan Deekman, unattached to Telstar
Arlind Elshani, unattached to NK Ankaran
Jacopo Coletta, unattached to Lupa Castelli Romani
Andi Renja, unattached to Panegialios
Dasaev, unattached to Globo
Alessio Zummo, unattached to Selinunte
Anatolis Alexis Sundas, unattached to Zalaegerszeg
Evgeni Alferov, unattached to Zenit Penza
Donato Lenoci, unattached to Altamure
Willie Hunt, Tamba Bay Rowdies to Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Patrick Otte, Ventura County to Jacksonville Armada

2. Henry raises questions about City's togetherness
Former Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has questioned the team spirit within the Manchester City camp following the scenes after young Nigerian forward Kelechi Iheanacho's equaliser against Tottenham Hotspur. Henry was worried by the lack of a team celebration following the goal, despite the importance of the match to the league title. "I know you have to go and get the ball back [to ensure a quick restart with the score level at 1-1 at the time] but no one went to celebrate with Iheanacho," Henry told Sky Sports. "That's something that, I don't know... you scored a goal, go and celebrate with the guy. 'Let's go, get the ball back'. No one went to celebrate with him. He was in the corner there. I think Vincent Kompany went with him and someone else but that's it. Maybe I'm reading too much between the lines about that Man City team, but no one went to celebrate with him, that's a bit weird." Spurs ended up running out 2-1 winners, to keep the Citizens down in 4th.

 

3. Leeds deny legal action against Football League
Reports were circulating in Sunday newspapers in the UK that Leeds United were taking legal action against the Football League in an attempt to dismantle the collective sale of TV rights, so that they could sell the rights to televise their games separately. Leeds executive director Paul Bell has denied the story, along with the story running in conjunction that the Football League were forced to take out a legal injunction against Leeds to make them honour their Monday night clash with Middlesbrough. Bell said: "Last Thursday I attended a meeting organised by the Football League on behalf of all its member clubs. The meeting was organised, like all previous Football League club meetings, so that clubs could discuss matters together, privately and confidentially. It is therefore disappointing to read inaccurate press reports this morning quoting 'sources' from within the meeting. Given the nature of the article, I feel that it is important and necessary to set the record straight. I would like to make it clear that Leeds United is not seeking, or taken legal action, to dismantle the collective selling of TV rights as has been suggested. The club has, however, made it clear to both Sky and the League that it opposes the degree of control exercised by Sky over the league fixture list, and seeks transparency as to how these rights have been sold. Today's article seeks to position Leeds United as a lone, isolated voice. However, this is far from the truth and there is a growing number of clubs who now understand and share our desire for transparency."

4. Macdonald signs Cherries contract extension
Bournemouth midfielder Shaun MacDonald has signed a contract extension with his previous deal set to expire at the end of the present season. The 27 year old has agreed an extra year on his deal with the newly promoted Premier League side. MacDonald joined the Cherries from Swansea City in 2011, though he has found himself mainly on the fringes this season, making seven appearances. "It's come at the right time," MacDonald told Cherries Player. "The club is going in the right direction, in the Premier League and it's a great squad that we have got here. To have that extra year and stay in around this squad can only benefit me. The contract has been ongoing for a little while, so I have had time to think about it and it's definitely the right thing to do."

 

5. Poch and Spurs squad celebrate after victory
I think it is fair to say the Tottenham Hotspur team and manager, Mauricio Pochettino, are pleased with their 2-1 win over Manchester City. They stayed behind to celebrate with their away fans in an almost empty Etihad Stadium afterwards.




6. PSG suspend right back after homophobic abuse of head coach Blanc posted on Periscope
With Paris Saint-Germain flying away on top of the French league and about to face Chelsea in the last 16 of the Champions League, you would expect everyone to be pulling in the same direction right now. 23 year old Ivory Coast international right back Serge Aurier has chosen this moment to cause a storm with comments made on a video posted on social media app Periscope. Aurier has been told not to attend training on Sunday while the club decide what to do, after he posted up a video describing PSG head coach Laurent Blanc as a 'fiotte' which translates to mean 'faggot'. He also said that Blanc engages in giving oral sex to star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, saying "he takes everything". Aurier also described goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu as 'guez', a term meaning useless or finished. His main challenger for the right back berth, Dutch right back Gregory van der Wiel, is called 'wetter than water'. It is entirely possible that his career with the Parisian club is now at an end after this incident.

 

7. Villa staff apologise to fans following thrashing
Aston Villa fans have not had much to smile about in recent years, but yesterday's collapse in a 6-0 hammering at the hands of Liverpool was a particular low point for the long suffering fans. With Villa rooted to the bottom of the table, the least their fans should be able to expect is hard work and players fighting for the cause. Which is why it was even more galling that, after recent results had given them a glimmer of hope, the team folded without so much as a whimper on the pitch. Remi Garde was quick to apologise: "I feel humiliated. I am sorry for the fans who came to Villa Park. The first two goals were very difficult to digest and then my team did not play anymore. This is a bad feeling that we didn't fight enough." Joleon Lescott took to social media to apologize to the supporters, saying there was no excuse for a "lack of commitment for the 90 minutes. I'm not one for tweeting after games whether it's a good, bad or indifferent result but I would like to apologise for the performance today, personally and collectively. Liverpool are and were better than us today but that doesn't excuse mine and the teams lack of commitment for the 90 minutes. Again apologies to all the fans." The Lescott tweet especially seems like just talk considering the next story....

8. Lescott causes fury with tweet following Liverpool demolishing
Joleon Lescott was at the centre of an Aston Villa defence that were humiliated live on worldwide television, as they failed to stop Daniel Sturridge, James Milner, Emre Can, Divock Origi, Nathaniel Clyne and Kolo Toure scoring past them. In fact they failed to even make a meaningful challenge as Liverpool ran rampant all over, around, and through them. Probably not the best time to tweet something that is not just full of contrition then, I would think (well, unless you are Memphis Depay out celebrating your birthday after an embarrassing loss to Sunderland, when it is apparently ok to fill Instagram with pics of yourself celebrating like results do not matter to you). Lescott did not see it that way, and sent out this tweet:


Which predictably attracted the ire of Villa fans who had just spent their hard earned money to watch him fail miserably to break sweat for 90 minutes. Though, to be fair to them, they did get an extra six rest periods to recover during the game. His attempt to calm the fans just provoked incredulity:

It is good to know the club can rely on their captain to take the heat after a defeat, I suppose. They certainly can not rely on him on the pitch though.

 

9. Another star heads to China
This time it is former Newcastle United and Inter Milan striker Obafemi Martins who has headed to the Chinese Super League to rake in the cash. The Nigerian international has left Seattle Sounders of the MLS to join Shanghai Shenhua, after a January move to the English Premier League failed to materialise for him. It does leave his new club with a conundrum to solve, as they have now exceeded their foreign players quota following his arrival. Each club have a limit of five foreigners in their squad, one of which must be from Asia. Former Everton player Tim Cahill fills the Asian player quota, even though Australia is not actually in Asia, which leaves four spots to be split between Martins, former Chelsea and Newcastle striker Demba Ba, Colombian duo Fredy Guarin and Giovanni Moreno, and Greek defender Avraam Papadopoulos. They now have until 26th February to offload one of the foreign players.

10. Divock Origi finds his Valentine after scoring
I think it is a safe bet to say this is the last time he will ever run into the crowd after scoring for Liverpool:

Written by Tris Burke February 15 2016 05:49:19