Football News: Review Of The Day 17th September 2020

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Review of the Day

Contracts

Japanese midfielder Daichi Kamada has extended his Eintracht Frankfurt contract until 2023.

Sassuolo have given Davide Frattesi a new 1 year deal.

Teenage French full-back Melvin Bard has been given a new 4 year contract by Olympique Lyonnais.

Transfers

Polish winger Kamil Jozwiak has joined Derby County for a £4m fee from Lech Poznan.

Villareal have paid £15m to sign Ecuadorian left-back Pervis Estupinan from Watford.

Free agent midfielder Stephen McGinn, who left St Mirren in the summer, has signed a 1 year deal with Hibernian, joining his brother Paul in the Hibs squad.

Brentford's Joel Valencia has signed for Legia Warsaw on a season-long loan deal.

Rotherham United have signed Leicester City youngster George Hirst on a season-long loan.

Arsenal have sold Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to Aston Villa for about £17m.

Liverpool youngster Tony Gallacher has joined Major League Soccer's Toronto FC on loan for the rest of the 2020 MLS season.

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has confirmed that his club have made an enquiry about signing Arsenal youngster Folarin Balogun.

Genoa have signed Swansea City forward Joel Asoro and Atalanta midfielder Filippo Melegoni on loan.

Louis Schaub has moved to FC Luzern on loan from 1. FC Cologne.

Serbian winger Nikola Cumic has joined Sporting Gijon on loan from Olympiacos.

Kevin Agudelo has joined Spezia on loan from Genoa. Also leaving Genoa on loan is Giacomo Calo to join Pordenone.

Leeds United have signed Crysencio Summerville from Feyenoord.

Celta Vigo have sent Jozabed Sanchez on loan to Malaga. Also joining Malaga on loan is Cadiz full-back Matos.

Former Arsenal youngster Ignasi Miquel has joined Leganes on loan from Getafe.

Slovakian midfielder Ondrej Duda has joined 1. FC Cologne for a fee of over £6m from Hertha Berlin.

Experienced Croatian midfielder Milan Badelj has joined Genoa from Lazio.

Inter Milan have spent just over £2m to sign teenage forward Darian Males from FC Luzern.

Former West Bromwich Albion midfielder Borja Valero has joined Fiorentina on a free transfer from Inter Milan.

Sassuolo midfielder Davide Frattesi has joined Monza on loan.

Newcastle United's Japanese striker Yoshinori Muto has joined Eibar on loan.

Birmingham City have paid an undisclosed fee to bitter rivals and neighbours Aston Villa to sign striker Scott Hogan on a permanent transfer.

Injury Round-Up

Rangers and Scotland midfielder Ryan Jack has picked up a calf injury which is likely to rule him out of the next "few weeks at least". He is expected to miss Scotland's Euro 2020 play-off against Israel on 8th October and is doubtful for the season's first Old Firm game which comes along just over a week later.

Managerial Changes

Disciplinary Charges

RB Leipzig are set to complain to FIFA about Leeds United's failure to pay the first instalment on Jean-Kevin Augustin's 21m euros transfer fee. Leeds are disputing the need to pay for the player. Leeds originally agreed to sign Augustin on loan in January, with a clause that would make the loan deal into a permanent one if the Whites achieved promotion to the Premier League. Because of the break for Covid-19, the season went beyond 30th June, when the loan deal was cancelled, but then Leeds won promotion which RBL believe means they now have to buy the player as agreed when they took him on loan. Augustin is currently left in limbo, unable to train with either Leeds or Leipzig and with no one paying his wages.

The brawl at the end of Paris Saint-Germain's home defeat to Olympique Marseille, which resulted in 5 red cards being shown, has been dealt with by Ligue 1's governing body the LFP, though they are still investigating Neymar's accusation of racial abuse by Alvaro Gonzalez. Neymar himself has received a 2 match ban for hitting Marseille defender Gonzalez on the back of the head. PSG teammate Leandro Paredes has also been banned for 2 games, while Layvin Kurzawa, also of PSG, has been hit with a 6 match suspension. Marseille's former Aston Villa full-back Jordan Amavi has been banned for 3 games, while the final player to receive a red card is Marseille's Dario Benedetto, who got just a one-match ban.

Clubs In Trouble

National League side Macclesfield Town have been wound up in the High Court over their debts of over £500,000 (or about one week of Gareth's Bale's after tax income). Southend United have been given more time to pay off their tax debts after a winding-up petition was adjourned for the fourth time. The Shrimpers, who are currently in League Two, have been given until 28th October to pay the £493,991 that they owe to HMRC. Southend chairman Ron Martin said: "The fact is we expected to discharge the HMRC debt before today's hearing. We have reduced the balance, to HMRC, by a third but cash flow over the past six months has been very limited and we have had the carry the club costs through this difficult Covid period, including paying off overpaid/underperforming players."

Africa Applies For FIFA's Covid Aid

Every country in Africa has applied for a grant from FIFA through their Covid-19 Relief Plan. The FIFA fund is making $1.5bn available to its 6 confederations and 211 member associations. FIFA revealed that there were a total of over 150 countries applying for the scheme, which will provide a grant of up to $1.5m, but at least a third of the money has to go towards women's football. Confederations can apply for up to $2m in funding, so far four of the six have done so.

EFL To Trial Fan Return

Nine matches in the English Football League will have up to 1,000 fans attending each of them this weekend. Ten games had been planned for the trial, but Luton Town withdrew citing lack of time to prepare. Fans have been unable to attend EFL matches since March due to Covid-19 restrictions. The games are:
Middlesbrough v Bournemouth (Championship)
Norwich City v Preston North End (Championship)
Blackpool v Swindon Town (League One)
Charlton Athletic v Doncaster Rovers (League One)
Hull City v Crewe Alexandra (League One)
Shrewsbury Town v Northampton Town (League One)
Carlisle United v Southend United (League Two)
Forest Green Rovers v Bradford City (League Two)
Morecambe v Cambridge United (League Two)

Play-Off Semi Moved

The Euro 2020 play-off semi-final between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Northern Ireland is to take place in Sarajevo instead of Zenica. Bosnia-Herzegovina requested the change due to the poor condition of the playing surface at Zenica.

Dier Hits Out At Spurs' Schedule

Tottenham Hotspur defender Eric Dier has called their packed schedule a danger to player welfare. Spurs could potentially face 9 matches in 21 days if they progress in the Europa League and Carabao Cup. Dier said: "I think there's fantastic depth and fantastic quality throughout the squad and the manager has emphasised that if we want to be successful and win games and go far, it's all about the squad and that squad performing. But it's common sense really. It doesn't seem like there is any care for players' welfare in that situation. If you look at that schedule, it isn't showing any care for players' physical welfare."

Werner Wants Trophies

Chelsea summer signing Timo Werner has said that he was persuaded to join Chelsea by Frank Lampard in order to win trophies. The 24 year old German international said: "When I decided to leave Leipzig, I talked to different clubs [as well as] Chelsea. Of course there are some other clubs like Liverpool - they have great team - and also maybe I would fit other teams. But I decided Chelsea because it's the best decision I could take - not only the style of football, but because of what they showed to me. It was a hard decision in the end, but I'm very excited, proud and happy that I decided like this. I've been here almost two months and it feels right. I came here to win titles. It's a big club and it's a club who always want to win, and I want to win every game. The last years we didn't win so many titles, but now we have a strong and young team that can develop."

Golden Boy Nominees Named

The 40 nominees for the 2020 Golden Boy Award have been named and last year's runner up, Jadon Sancho, is in there again with the chance to go one better. The award is for players born after 1st January 2000. Nominees:
Marley Ake (France) Olympique Marseille 19 years old
Marcos Antonio (Brazil) Shakhtar Donetsk 20 years old
Adil Aouchiche (France) Saint-Etienne 18 years old
Benoit Badiashile (France) AS Monaco 19 years old
Mitchel Bakker (Netherlands) Paris Saint-Germain 20 years old
Myron Boadu (Netherlands) AZ Alkmaar 19 years old
Dennis Borkowski (Germany) RB Leipzig 18 years old
Eduardo Camavinga (France) Rennes 17 years old
Marco Carnesecchi (Italy) Atalanta 20 years old
Rayan Cherki (France) Olympique Lyonnais 17 years old
Jonathan David (Canada) LOSC Lille 20 years old
Alphonso Davies (Canada) Bayern Munich 19 years old
Sergino Dest (USA) Ajax 19 years old
Sebastiano Esposito (Italy) Inter Milan 18 years old
Fabio Silva (Portugal) Wolverhampton Wanderers 18 years old
Ansu Fati (Spain) Barcelona 17 years old
Phil Foden (England) Manchester City 20 years old
Amine Gouiri (France) OGC Nice 20 years old
Ryan Gravenbergh (Netherlands) Ajax 18 years old
Mason Greenwood (England) Manchester United 18 years old
Erling Haaland (Norway) Borussia Dortmund 20 years old
Callum Hudson-Odoi (England) Chelsea 19 years old
Mohammed Ihattaren (Netherlands) PSV Eindhoven 18 years old
Ozan Kabak (Turkey) Schalke 04 20 years old
Michal Karbownik (Poland) Legia Warsaw 19 years old
Dejan Kulusevski (Sweden) Juventus 20 years old
Tanguy Nianzou (France) Bayern Munich 18 years old
Rafael Camacho (Portugal) Sporting CP 20 years old
Rodrygo (Brazil) Real Madrid 19 years old
Bukayo Saka (England) Arsenal 19 years old
Jadon Sancho (England) Borussia Dortmund 20 years old
Vladyslav Supryaga (Ukraine) Dynamo Kiev 20 years old
Dominik Szoboszlai (Hungary) RB Salzburg 19 years old
Tomas Esteves (Portugal) Porto 18 years old
Tomas Tavares (Portugal) Benfica 19 years old
Sandro Tonali (Italy) AC Milan 20 years old
Ferran Torres (Spain) Manchester City 20 years old
Christos Tzolis (Greece) Aris Salonika 18 years old
Vinicius Junior (Brazil) Real Madrid 20 years old
Neco Williams (Wales) Liverpool 19 years old

List Of The Day

As we have this year's Golden Boy nominees, I thought it would be a good time to list the previous winners going back to 2003:
2003. Rafael van der Vaart (Netherlands) Ajax
2004. Wayne Rooney (England) Everton/Manchester United
2005. Lionel Messi (Argentina) Barcelona
2006. Cesc Fabregas (Spain) Arsenal
2007. Sergio Aguero (Argentina) Atletico Madrid
2008. Anderson (Brazil) Manchester United
2009. Alexandre Pato (Brazil) AC Milan
2010. Mario Balotelli (Italy) Inter Milan/Manchester City
2011. Mario Gotze (Germany) Borussia Dortmund
2012. Isco (Spain) Malaga
2013. Paul Pogba (France) Juventus
2014. Raheem Sterling (England) Liverpool
2015. Anthony Martial (France) Manchester United
2016. Renato Sanches (Portugal) Benfica/Bayern Munich
2017. Kylian Mbappe (France) AS Monaco/Paris Saint-Germain
2018. Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands) Ajax
2019. Joao Felix (Portugal) Atletico Madrid/Benfica

Written by Tris Burke September 16 2020 22:45:24