Football News: Review Of The Day 26th September 2020

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Review of the Day

Contracts

Ashley Westwood has signed a new 3 year deal with Burnley.

Transfers

Gareth Evans has left Portsmouth by mutual consent and signed for Bradford City.

Leeds United midfielder Alfie McCalmont has moved to Oldham Athletic on a season-long loan.

Veteran striker Leon Clarke has signed for Shrewsbury Town on a free transfer from Sheffield United.

Fulham defender Jerome Opoku has signed for Plymouth Argyle on loan until January.

Lincoln City have signed Brennan Johnson on loan from Nottingham Forest for the season.

Swansea City forward Barrie McKay has joined Fleetwood Town on a season-long loan.

Swindon Town have signed Dion Donohue again following his release from Portsmouth.

Cypriot international defender and former Manchester United youth player Nicholas Ioannou has signed for Nottingham Forest from APOEL FC.

Former Liverpool forward Bobby Duncan has signed for Derby County from Fiorentina.

Turkish side Kasimpasa SK have paid an undisclosed fee for rapid full-back Florent Hadergjonaj from Huddersfield Town. The Kosovan spent the second half of last season on loan with the Turks.

Aston Villa striker Mbwana Samatta has signed for Fenerbahce on loan for the season with a permanent deal to be signed at the end of the loan spell.

Genoa's Spanish forward Raul Asencio has joined Pescara on loan.

Manchester City have loaned teenage Brazilian Yan Couto to sister club Girona.

FC Lorient have signed Andreaw Gravillon on loan from Inter Milan. Also going out on loan from Inter is Darian Males to Genoa.

Atalanta midfielder Nicolas Haas has joined Empoli on loan.

Hellas Verona have signed teenage striker Eddie Salcedo on loan from Inter Milan. Also leaving Inter on loan is experienced Italian Antonio Candreva who has joined Sampdoria.

Sassuolo have loaned Jeremie Broh to Palermo and Luca Mazzitelli to AC Pisa.

Polish full-back Arkadiusz Reca has joined Crotone on loan from Atalanta.

Napoli midfielder Luca Palmiero has joined Chievo Verona on loan.

SPAL have taken Sebastiano Esposito from Inter Milan, Caleb Okoli from Atalanta, Luca Ranieri from Fiorentina and Enrico Brignola from Sassuolo on loan.

Trabzonspor have paid £1.4m to buy Leicester City winger Fousseni Diabate.

Slovenian goalkeeper Vid Belec has joined Salernitana from Sampdoria. Also joining Salernitana on loan is Napoli winger Gennaro Tutino.

Udinese have paid a £900,000 loan fee to sign Kevin Bonifazi on loan from SPAL.

Monaco have paid a £1.35m loan fee for Benfica's midfielder Florentino on loan.

Olympique Marseille have spent £10.8m teenage Brazilian forward Luis Henrique from Tres Passos.

Injury Round-Up

Following a positive coronavirus test by a Grimsby Town player the League Two match against Cheltenham Town on Saturday has been called off. Mariners chairman Philip Day said: "The rest of the squad and staff, who fill in a questionnaire and have their temperature taken every morning, have not displayed any symptoms of the virus. Our initial aim was to get everyone tested, and they should be okay as they are not showing any symptoms. But the medical advice was that the incubation period is a minimum of five days, so those tests would be of no use whatsoever. We don't know if the players, having had contact with Jock on Monday and Tuesday, have the virus or are asymptomatic. We have put safety first and asked the EFL to call off the game."

Following the postponement of the Leyton Orient-Tottenham Hotspur Carabao Cup match, Spurs have been given a bye with Orient forfeiting the tie. The Os' League Two game with Walsall on Saturday has also been postponed.

Shrewsbury Town have lost striker Rekeil Pyke for up to 4 months with a thigh injury.

Blackburn Rovers midfielder Lewis Travis is awaiting an operation to fix the knee ligament injury he picked up against Newcastle United. Travis is expecting to be out for 3 months after the surgery.

Managerial Changes

West Ham United manager David Moyes will be managing the weekend's match against Wolverhampton Wanderers from home, where he is self-isolating. His assistant Alan Irvine will be in charge at the ground but said: "Everything we do will be run through him first of all and he will make the decisions on everything. He would make the decisions anyway but, like for this press conference, I am the messenger."

Disciplinary Charges

Grecians Consider Ground Move

Exeter City Council are to prepare a feasibility study exploring the possibility of Exeter City moving from the St James Park ground to a new stadium. A statement said: "In the interest of total transparency both club and trust boards wish to inform our fans that we have jointly agreed to conduct a feasibility study around the benefits and disadvantages of moving to another ground. We are aware of opportunities that might arise through the emerging Exeter City Council Local Plan and wish to ensure that, should it be desirable, we place ourselves in an advantageous and informed position. The supporter survey, conducted in 2018, informed us that moving to a new stadium is an option the majority of trust members and non-members would only consider as a last resort and we fully intend to honour that view. However, it is important to understand exactly what ground relocation would entail, in terms of cost, general benefit, but also how it protects the sustainability of our ethos and ownership model, which has kept us in such good shape these past 17 years."

Shrimpers Tax Debts To Be Settled

The chairman of Southend United, Ron Martin, has told the BBC that the club's £493,992 debt to HM Revenue and Customs will be paid by the time the next court hearing takes place. A winding-up petition against the side was delayed for the 4th time earlier this month. Martin said: "We will discharge the debt at the time the next hearing comes around. Certainly the club won't be able to discharge the debt so I will support it through this. HMRC have not been at all aggressive. We agreed to a six-week adjournment. I have a responsibility to all the staff and also the community, to make sure this succeeds. We are light years away from where Macclesfield were."

Sandgaard Claims Addicks Takeover

Despite Paul Elliott's injunction blocking the sale of Charlton Athletic's holding company East Street Investments, Thomas Sandgaard has claimed to have completed his takeover. An EFL statement read: "The League is not party to the ongoing court proceedings taking place. Therefore it remains a matter for the respective parties to resolve and as a result we are not in a position to comment." Sandgaard said on the club site: "While there was an injunction in place to prevent the acquisition of ESI, it did not prevent the acquisition of the club itself. The club will be working quickly post-completion to recover any losses suffered as a result of the actions of the previous owners to the extent possible."

Taylor Boarded Up

The statue of former Watford manager Graham Taylor near the Vicarage Road stadium has been hidden behind protective boards ahead of the local derby match between the Hornets and Luton Town, despite the lack of fans going to the game. The local police are also bringing in extra officers for the match.

Klopp And Wilder Back Plan To Help Lower Leagues

Both Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp have backed the idea of Premier League clubs helping the Football League teams out as they struggle without fans in stadiums. Wilder said: "It will be decided by the Premier League clubs. If anything can be done by the Premier League and they make a decision collectively, if they make a decision to help then we would. I do sympathise with the clubs outside the Premier League because they rely on supporters coming through the door. From a business point of view they've taken huge hits and hopefully everybody will come through it, but there has to be a concern about what's going off at the moment. Nobody wants any club to go by the wayside." Klopp added: "Football should try to help themselves, ourselves. In general I think that people in a better position should help people in a less good position. But the position for all clubs is at this moment not really easy, we all know."

Ancelotti Backs Pickford

Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti has given his backing to the man with the shortest arms in football, Jordan Pickford. England international goalkeeper Pickford has made numerous mistakes in recent weeks, including two leading to Fleetwood Town's goals against Everton in the Toffees 5-2 win in the Carabao Cup. Ancelotti said: "I am not really focused on him, like you. He started really well and did a fantastic match against Tottenham. He is a great goalkeeper. He has my total confidence." Ancelotti also denied interest in Manchester United keeper Sergio Romero.

Promoted Club Spending

Today's list on Transfermarkt is of the highest spending promoted clubs in history, amount is in euros:
1. AS Monaco 2013 160.7m
2. Aston Villa 2019 159.1m
3. Fulham 2018 116.5m
4. Wolverhampton Wanderers 2018 112.2m
5. Leeds United 2020 88.2m
6. Watford 2015 83.5m
7. RB Leipzig 2016 78.5m
8. Hebei China Fortune 2015 77.8m
9. Tianjin Tianhai 2016 75m
10. Sheffield United 2019 71.5m
11. Juventus 2007 69.5m
12. Brighton & Hove Albion 2017 67m
13. Sunderland 2007 64.3m
14. Huddersfield Town 2017 56.8m
15. Bournemouth 2015 55.1m
16. Cardiff City 2018 51.2m
17. Fulham 2001 50.6m
18. Middlesbrough 2016 48m
19. Fiorentina 2004 47m
20. Newcastle United 2017 46.5m
21. Sassuolo 2013 46.5m
22. Cardiff City 2013 45.8m
23. Burnley 2016 45.6m
24. Manchester City 2002 44.5m
25. Napoli 2007 44m
26. Norwich City 2015 43.9m
27. Queens Park Rangers 2014 43.5m
28. Southampton 2012 41.5m
29. Hull City 2016 40m
30. Stoke City 2008 34m

One Season Spending

Following on from the promoted clubs spending, they also produced a list of the highest transfer spending in a single season, amount is in euros:
1. Real Madrid 2019 397.5m on 8 players
2. Barcelona 2017 387.5m on 7 players
3. Manchester City 2017 317.5m on 10 players
4. Barcelona 2019 273m on 7 players
5. Chelsea 2017 260.5m on 9 players
6. Juventus 2018 259.7m on 8 players
7. Real Madrid 2009 258.5m on 8 players
8. Chelsea 2020 248.2m on 5 players
9. Atletico Madrid 2019 243.5m on 7 players
10. Paris Saint-Germain 2017 238m on 2 players
11. Paris Saint-Germain 2018 227m on 4 players
12. Juventus 2019 223.5m on 6 players
13. Manchester City 2016 215m on 10 players
14. Manchester United 2019 214m on 4 players
15. Chelsea 2018 208.8m on 4 players
16. Manchester City 2015 208.2m on 9 players
17. Everton 2017 203.2m on 9 players
18. AS Monaco 2019 200m on 14 players
19. Manchester United 2017 198.4m on 4 players
20. Napoli 2019 196.5m on 14 players
21. Juventus 2016 195.8m on 9 players
22. Manchester United 2014 195.4m on 7 players
23. AC Milan 2017 194.5m on 11 players
24. Inter Milan 2019 190.3m on 12 players
25. AC Milan 2018 187.8m on 9 players
26. Manchester United 2016 185m on 3 players
27. Manchester City 2010 183.6m on 7 players
28. Liverpool 2018 182.2m on 4 players
29. Juventus 2001 180m on 6 players
30. Sevilla 2019 177.8m on 13 players
31. Real Madrid 2013 175.5m on 5 players
32. Liverpool 2017 173.9m on 5 players
33. Chelsea 2003 169.7m on 11 players
34. Manchester City 2019 166.8m on 6 players
35. Barcelona 2014 166.7m on 7 players
36. Chelsea 2004 166.4m on 10 players
37. Juventus 2017 164.4m on 13 players
38. AS Roma 2018 164.1m on 12 players
39. Real Madrid 2018 162.8m on 8 players
40. AS Monaco 2013 160.7m on 10 players

Written by Tris Burke September 25 2020 22:00:14