Football News: Review Of The Day 7th November 2019

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Review of the Day

Contracts

Udinese defender William Troost-Ekong has extended his contract with them until 2023.

Veteran French midfielder Anthony Losilla has signed a new deal with VfL Bochum which runs until 2021.

Celtic midfielder Callum McGregor has signed a five year deal.

Transfers

Former Liverpool defender Gabriel Paletta has signed for Monza in Serie C-A.

Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem have signed Japanese forward Keisuke Honda.

Russell Martin has retired from playing to concentrate on his new role as MK Dons manager. Martin said: "I'm all in on this, the management and the coaching stuff, to do both would be too difficult. I'm comfortable with that, it might hit me at some point - I went to kick a ball today and it felt like I hadn't done it in six months, it's amazing how quickly you lose it. I'm excited about it, it'll look back on my career with real pride and real gratitude, I'm really grateful for the career I've had. I love the fact that I've got a real good relationship with all the players in there, I see that as a strength and I want to keep that warmth and care for the players the whole time and I want to improve them and improve us together. But there will be a period of transition where they're getting used to me and I'm getting used to it, but I've spoken to every one individually this week and I've told all of them they'll get honesty from me at all times and consistency in how I behave towards them."

French striker Jeremie Bela has signed for Birmingham City on a free transfer after his contract with Spanish side Albacete was voided.

Left-back Aaron Taylor-Sinclair has signed for Livingston on a short term deal.

Injury Round-Up

Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount is now doubtful for the internationals next week after being taken off in the Blues 4-4 Champions League draw with Ajax suffering from an ankle injury.

Borussia Dortmund's England winger Jadon Sancho is a doubt for the weekend's match away to Bayern Munich after picking up a thigh strain in the Champions League win over Inter Milan.

Arsenal midfielder Dani Ceballos has picked up a "small" hamstring injury during Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Vitoria Guimaraes.

Barcelona left-back Jordi Alba has suffered another injury in a stop-start season. The full-back picked up a thigh injury in the 0-0 draw with Slavia Prague which will rule him out for a number of weeks.

Auba New Gunner Skipper

Unai Emary has stripped Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka of the captaincy of Arsenal following his outburst at supporters of the club following his substitution in a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace. Xhaka had reacted angrily as Gooners jeered him, later revealing in a non-apology that he had been abused on social media with threats aimed at his family, leading him to react. Emery said of Xhaka: "He is not today here, but also I think we need time with him and first protect him also to be calm and training with us every day. But I was speaking with him this morning and also I decided he is not one of the captains in our group. I decided that and I told him this morning." Instead Emery confirmed that the armband will be worn by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Barton To Face Trial

This is a headline that seems to recur on a regular basis as Joey Barton, now managing Fleetwood Town, is to go on trial accused of assaulting former Barnsley boss Daniel Stendel. Barton has pleaded not guilty but the case is set to go to trial next year.

Championship Clubs Fined

Bristol City and Charlton Athletic have both been fined by the Football Association after admitting a failure to control their players in a match between the two at Bristol's Ashton Gate home last month. A melee involving 15 players followed a sending off for Robins striker Famara Diedhiou after he kicked Addicks' Jason Pearce. Brizzle were fined £10,000 and Charlton £12,500 for their parts in the clash.

Two Clubs Charged By FA

Cardiff City and Birmingham City have been charged by the FA with failing to ensure their players conduct themselves in an orderly fashion. Similar to the Bristol City/Charlton charges, a red card to one player led to a brawl between a number of players. Harlee Dean was the player who was shown a red and Birmingham's appeal against the card has been rejected.

PFA Back Keogh Appeal

Richard Keogh is set to appeal against his sacking by Derby County and has been given the backing of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) A PFA spokesperson said: "We will robustly defend our member because we feel he has been unfairly treated." Keogh was sacked after a club bonding meal turned into a drunken binge and two cars driven by inebriated players collided while he was passed out in the back of one. Keogh suffered a long term knee injury which could threaten his career with the defender being 33 years of age. The two players who were driving, Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett, were fined by the club and immediately restored to the team, despite having ran away from the scene of the accident leaving Keogh in the car alone.

Onana Keen On Prem Move

Ajax's Cameroon international goalkeeper Andre Onana has revealed that he would be interested in joining an English Premier League club. The 23 year old told the BBC: "I am happy to play for Ajax. I am happy to play for a big club but we will see what will happen at the end of the season. It's always important for me to move on. I am not going to stay here forever but now I am focused, so let's keep it this way. There's good competition and everyone wants to play here but to play you need to get a chance. The Premier League is not for everybody so we will see. Now, I am with Ajax and I am happy to be the first-choice goalkeeper."

Ivory Coast Squad

Slavia Prague's Ibrahim Traore has got his first ever call-up at the age of 31.
Ivory Coast squad:
Goalkeepers: Gbohouo Sylvain (TP Mazembe, DR Congo), Badra Ali Sangare (Uthongathi FC, South Africa), Sayouba Mande (Odense BK, Denmark)
Defenders: Serge Aurier (Tottenham Hotspur, England), Britton Willie (FC Zurich, Switzerland), Ghislain Konan (Reims, France), Wonlo Coulibaly (TP Mazembe, DR Congo), Ismael Traore (Angers, France), Wilfried Kanon (Pyramids FC, Egypt), Cheick Comara (Wydad Casablanca, Morocco), Simon Deli (Club Brugge, Belgium)
Midfielders: Franck Kessie (AC Milan, Italy), Seko Fofana (Udinese, Italy), Habib Maiga (Metz, France), Christian Kouame Koffi (TP Mazembe, DR Congo), Ibrahim Traore (Slavia Prague, Czech Republic), Victorian Angban (Metz, France)
Forwards: Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace, England), Nicolas Pepe (Arsenal, England), Max Gradel (Toulouse, France), Roger Assale (Young Boys, Switzerland), Yohan Boli (Saint Truidense, Belgium), Maxwel Cornet (Lyon, France), Yakou Meiti (Reading, England)

Napoli Heading For Civil War

After Napoli dropped to 11 points behind Juventus at the weekend club president Aurelio De Laurentiis ordered the players to attend a week-long training camp, over the protests of manager Carlo Ancelotti. Following the 1-1 draw with RB Salzberg in the Champions League on Tuesday no one attended the training camp and a club statement hit out at Ancelotti: "The club announces that, with reference to the behaviour of the players on Tuesday, it will proceed to protect its rights on an economic, capital, image and disciplinary levels in every competent jurisdiction. It is also made clear that the responsibility to decide on ordering days in a training retreat lies with coach Carlo Ancelotti. A press silence has been ordered from now until a date yet to be decided." Brings to mind the shambles at Bayern Munich when Ancelotti managed there and the players would head to a local park after training to conduct their own training, as they felt they were not being pushed anything like hard enough under Ancelotti.

City Bans Frankfurt Fans

The Belgian city of Liege has banned Eintracht Frankfurt fans from entering ahead of their Europa League clash with Standard Liege. Frankfurt have been banned from selling tickets to its fans for the game by UEFA after crowd trouble in their victory over Vitoria Guimaraes last month. Liege mayor Willy Demeyer has banned fans from "the city territory", a move which Eintracht board member Alex Hellmann has disputed. Hellmann said: "The imposition of blanket and indefinite residence bans on entire cities for the mere reason of a football game without a specific threat is highly questionable in terms of law and completely incompatible with our view of a common understanding of European law. In the short term, there is no legal action against this measure, so in consultation with our Belgian legal experts, it remains only to advise all supporters to comply with the injunction. Anyone who visits the game or the city is in danger of being rejected and of having to go home."

Serie A Consider 5 Substitutions Per Game

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has requested permission to move to five substitutions per game from the current three in Serie A matches. Serie A already allows teams to name up to 12 substitutes on the bench and teams in the division want the ability to utilise more of the options available to them. Serie C already has five substitutes allowed and now the FIGC has requested permission from the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to do the same.

Supporters Battle To Save Club

Tunisia's Club Africain is in severe financial trouble, and have already been deducted 6 points and sanctioned financially (of course because it makes sense to fine a club in financial difficulties!) because of unpaid salaries to former players. The Tunisian Football Federation (FTF) set up a bank account for fans to donate money to help clear the debt. In a 24 hour campaign $450,000 was raised as children turned up with their piggy banks and one blind supporter gave up the money he had saved for treatment to help his beloved club. So far over $1m has been raised towards clearing a total debt which is placed around the $6m mark by the FTF.

Zidane Claims Mbappe Wants Madrid Move

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has begun the club's usual tapping-up-through-the-media process as Madrid aim to sign Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe. Zidane said: "It's the player who decides. At the moment he plays for Paris Saint-Germain, we'll see in the future if that changes. I know he always said his dream is to play for Real Madrid."

Tuchel Dismisses Bayern Talk

Paris Saint-Germain's former Borussia Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel has rejected talk of him taking over the vacant reins at Bayern Munich. Tuchel told a press conference: "I'm not interested because I'm the PSG coach. I have a contract for this season and the next season also. I can't think about other clubs."

Schalke Chairman Returns To Club After Racist Comments

Schalke 04 chairman Clemens Tonnies has returned to work at the club following a 3 month break he took after making racist comments. Tonnies was arguing against tax increases and said it was better to finance 20 power plants a year in Africa to combat climate change because: "Then the Africans would stop cutting down trees, and they would stop making babies when it gets dark." Despite the comments Tonnies was found by the German FA to not be a racist.

Conte Complains About Inter's Poor Planning

Inter Milan's head coach Antonio Conte has complained about his squad being too thin and told club directors to face the cameras to answer questions. Conte said after the defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League: "Some important mistakes have been made at the planning stage, we can't play both the Champions League and Serie A with such a small squad. I'm tired of saying the same things over and over again, perhaps they could come here over and say something. I hope that this will help them understand a few things."

Slavia Keeper Hits Out At Barca Stars

Slavia Prague goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar has hit out at some of the Barcelona players for snubbing them following the 0-0 Champions League draw at the Nou Camp. Kolar said: "He [Marc-Andre ter Stegen] was waiting for me inside the tunnel. He stopped me and said he hadn't seen such a good goalkeeping performance for a long time and that it was a pleasure to watch me play well with my feet. He waited for me after the match, which I take as the ultimate award. To hear such praise from such a good goalkeeper, I had goosebumps. It was an amazing experience, but some of the other players. Messi and the others just left - some of them didn't even shake our hands. It was sad. We were all looking forward to meeting these big players, we wanted to swap jerseys after the match, but they didn't behave very well."

Written by Tris Burke November 06 2019 20:52:13