Football News: Review Of The Day 7th April 2021

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Review of the Day

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Contracts

Rangers captain James Tavernier has extended his contract by two years to 2024.

Transfers

Former Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou has been released by Botafogo.

America-MG have taken Brazilian midfielder Bruno Nazario on loan from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

Injury Round-Up

Manchester United believe Anthony Martial's season is over due to the knee injury he picked up on international duty.

International duty has also cost West Ham United the services of Declan Rice with a knee injury. The England midfielder is expected to be out for a month.

Chelsea have received good news as the injury to American winger Christian Pulisic is not as bad as first feared and he is fit to face Sevilla in the Champions League.

Managerial Changes

Disciplinary Charges

Slavia Prague's defender Ondrej Kudela has been provisionally suspended for one match. The 34 year old is accused of racially abusing Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara during a Europa League match. Kudela denies racism but has been suspended for insulting an opponent while UEFA investigate the allegations. UEFA are also investigating allegations that Kamara assaulted Kudela after the match in the tunnel as the players left the pitch.

Racial Abuse Goes On

Tottenham Hotspur's defender Davinson Sanchez and West Bromwich Albion striker Callum Robinson have become the latest footballers to suffer racial abuse on social media. Spurs have asked social media platforms to take action, but are clearly not going to bother to take any action themselves. West Brom have contacted police over the abuse suffered by Robinson. Worse happened in Spain after Valencia midfielder Mouctar Diakhaby was alleged to have "received a racial insult" on the pitch from a Cadiz player. The Valencia team left the pitch in protest after Diakhaby reacted furiously to the alleged insult and clashed with Juan Cala, then spoke to the referee to explain what had happened. Valencia were then told by the referee that if they refused to go back out and complete the game, it would be awarded to Cadiz. According to Valencia president Anil Murthy: "The rules are very clear, if you don't play you lose the game plus you have abandon the game and lose another three points. Diakhaby, when he realised or was told the consequences of not going out, he said 'look guys, let's go out and fight. I can't do it any more, but you guys go out and fight. We are not exactly top of the table and these points are important'." We were then left with the bizarre scene of Diakhaby sat alone in the stands, the alleged victim, while the game was played. Cala denies racially abusing Diakhaby and claims to have been caught up in a "media circus". Cala claims that he told the French defender to "leave me in peace".

Coventry Hit Out At Embargo

Coventry City's chief executive Dave Boddy has criticised the English Football League after they placed transfer embargoes on clubs that have followed government guidelines on the pandemic. Three other clubs, Luton Town, Cardiff City and Derby County, like Coventry, used an option of a three-month extension to file company accounts. That move by the quartet has seen the EFL implement transfer embargoes on them because they were not filed by the end of February. Boddy said: "It's disappointing that the EFL have chosen to do this. The government has allowed companies to extend the deadline to file accounts and we chose to do this, extending from the end of February to the end of May. It's ridiculous that the EFL's regulations on this do not replicate this approach that the government has taken, especially when they have amended other rules of theirs during the pandemic. The EFL's imposition of this does not have any effect on us, but it is disappointing nonetheless that they have taken this approach to take action against clubs who are simply doing what the government is allowing us to do." It is believed as many as ten clubs in the Championship have been put under embargo due to late filing of accounts.

City Post Big Losses

The pandemic has even hit the moneybags of Manchester City hard in the pocket as the Premier League leaders have announced a loss of £126m for the 2019/20 season. Revenue dropped by 11% to £478.4m, though this does not include some delayed income from players sales such as Leroy Sane's transfer to Bayern Munich. Chief executive Ferran Soriano said: "Clearly, the 2019-20 accounts in isolation are not the best representation of the reality of the season with delayed player trading and numerous games being played after 30 June 2020, the revenues from which will be accounted in the 2020-21 period. A better financial picture of the Covid years will be provided at the end of the 2020-21 season, when the two seasons are combined and normalised."

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Written by Tris Burke April 07 2021 04:47:48