Football News: Review Of The Day 11th June 2022

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Review of the Day

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Contracts

Crewe Alexandra academy graduate Connor O'Riordan has signed a professional terms with the club, landing himself a 3-year deal.

Doncaster Rovers have given veteran midfielder Tommy Rowe a 2-year contract.

Veteran former Chelsea defender Michael Mancienne has signed a 1-year deal with Burton Albion.

Oxford United forward Billy Bodin has signed on for 2 more years with the Us.

Asmir Begovic has extended his Everton contract to stay there for next season.

AFC Wimbledon have given captain Alex Woodyard a new 2-year deal.

Barcelona midfielder Sergi Roberto has signed a 1-year extension.

Real Zaragoza have given young midfielder Francho Serrano a new contract which will end in 2025.

Ashley Barnes has signed a 1-year contract with a club option for another year with Burnley.

Dylan Levitt has agreed a new 1-year deal with Manchester United.

VfL Bochum's Greek defender Vasilios Lampropoulos has agreed to stay for next season.

Transfers

Alexandre Lacazette has returned to Olympique Lyonnais on a free transfer from Arsenal, 5 years after going the other way for £46.5m.

Liverpool have released seven players, including cult hero Divock Origi. Loris Karius, Sheyi Ojo, Ben Woodburn, Elijah Dixon-Bonner, Luis Longstaff and Sean Wilson are also going.

Heart of Midlothian have signed Australian international defender Kye Rowles for an undisclosed fee from Central Coast Mariners. Hearts have also added Lewis Neilson to their squad on a free transfer from Dundee United.

Hibernian have signed Lewis Miller from Central Coast Mariners after they gazumped a pre-contract agreement with another A-League side Macarthur. Rocky Bushiri is set to return to Hibs on a permanent deal after a loan spell from Norwich City last season. Also coming in is Momodou Bojang on a season-long loan deal from Gambian club Rainbow FC.

Callum O'Dowda has signed for Cardiff City on a free transfer from Bristol City.

Stockport County have signed Kyle Wootton on a free transfer from Notts County.

Reece McAlear has joined Tranmere Rovers on a free transfer from Norwich City.

After leaving FC Halifax at the end of his contract, Billy Waters has signed for Barrow.

Tomas Holy, who was released by Ipswich Town this summer, has signed for Carlisle United.

Chelsea have released Andreas Christensen, Danny Drinkwater, Charly Musonda and Jake Clarke-Salter.

Everton have released Fabian Delph, Cenk Tosun and Gylfi Sigurdsson. Jonjoe Kenny is also expected to leave after rejecting a new contract offer.

Nottingham Forest have released Tobias Figueiredo, Gaetan Bong, Carl Jenkinson, Marcelo Valencia, Josh Barnes, Baba Fernandes, Sam Sanders, Morgan Thomas-Sadler and Joe Watkins ahead of their return to the top flight.

Celtic have completed a permanent deal for Cameron Carter-Vickers after the United States international defender spent last season on loan from Tottenham Hotspur. The Scottish champions paid an undisclosed fee for the centre-back's long-term return.

Burnley have released Ben Mee, Aaron Lennon, Phil Bardsley, Dale Stephens, Erik Pieters, James Tarkowski, Joel Mumbongo, Richard Nartey, Anthony Glennon, Ethen Vaughan, Sam Unwin, Anthony Gomez Mancini, Calen Gallagher-Allison and Harry Allen.

Bristol City have signed Kane Wilson on a free transfer from Forest Green Rovers.

Released by Cardiff City is Will Vaulks, Leandro Bacuna, Isaac Vassell, Ciaron Brown and Josh Murphy.

Following his release from Portsmouth, veteran midfielder Shaun Williams has signed for Gillingham.

Bradford City have paid an undisclosed fee to Walsall for midfielder Emmmanuel Osadebe.

Former Everton and Manchester City 'forward' Jo has been released by Corinthians.

Injury Round Up

Managerial Changes

Bizarrely Valencia, who sacked the overperforming Jose Bordalas on Friday, have appointed Gennaro Gattuso as manager, despite a track record which is, at best, unappealing in management. Gattuso never even made it to the start of the season when appointed Fiorentina manager before the start of last season!

DR Congo have sacked Hector Cuper after losing their two opening qualifying matches for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

Paris Saint-Germain have appointed former Monaco and Lille sporting director Luis Campos as a football advisor. While the Portugese was at Lille, his transfer policy helped them to a Ligue 1 title win in 2020-21, though he did leave midseason. PSG recently moved their sporting director Leonardo out and are looking to replace head coach Mauricio Pochettino in the summer as they chase European glory.

Disciplinary Charges

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who delayed the start of his fraud trial by claiming he was too ill to testify, has now testified that his transfer of payments to Michel Platini were not fraudulent, but followed a "gentleman's agreement" between two men who very few would consider to be gentlemen. Blatter claims it was a fee for Platini acting as his advisor after he first took office in 1998: "It was an agreement between two sportsmen. I found nothing wrong with that."

The Premier League is introducing measures to try and combat the problem of mass pitch invasions which plagued the end of last season. The first step to be brought in is stewards to be provided by visiting clubs to help deal with their away fans, something many clubs did anyway. Not sure how that will affect the issue, which mostly stems from home fans invading the pitch en masse!

Michael Owen has been forced to delete a tweet about his non-fungible tokens after the Advertising Standards Agency decided it would mislead consumers. The former Liverpool and Manchester United striker had stated that "my NFTs will be the first ever that can't lose their initial value", but has been ordered to remove it by the ASA. Tammy Abraham and Ashley Cole have also had to delete endorsements of NFT schemes, while a collection launched by John Terry earlier this year dropped in value by 90% within a month of their launch.

Chile's claims that Ecuador fielded an ineligible player in qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup has been dismissed by FIFA. The Football Federation of Chile (FFC) had claimed that Byron Castillo, who played 8 times for Ecuador in the qualifying stages, was in fact Colombian and had also faked his age. Ecuador will now go to the World Cup, though Chile have a right of appeal to CAS, which they say they will take up.

Former Algerian international Rabah Madjer, who scored a European Cup final goal with a backheel in Porto's 1987 win over Bayern Munich, has been sentenced to 6 months in jail for "false declarations" regarding financial transactions.

Derby Look Elsewhere

The administrators for Derby County gave Chris 'Walter Mitty' Kirchner until 5pm BST on Friday to prove that he has the funds to buy Derby County after he failed to provide the monies agreed twice. This follows on from him failing to buy Preston North End, due to being unable to prove he had the funds in place to complete the purchase. It is probably more of a surprise that his bid even got this far and has to call into question the competence of the administrators Quantuma when there were plenty of people at PNE who pointed out that Kirchner was not genuine. They have now "taken the decision to engage with other interested parties as a contingency measure". Stable door anyone? And, as expected, Kirchner failed to complete his takeover, which could leave the door open for Mike Ashley to return as a football club owner, having previously shown interest but baulking at the fees Quantuma were demanding. The English Football League have hit out at the administrators as they begin to lose patience saying: "As previously communicated, the league is incredibly frustrated at the time it is taking to conclude this sale. With the league just two weeks away from announcing its 2022-23 fixture list, it urgently requires a clear understanding of how the club will be funded moving forwards, be that through the administrators or under new ownership."

Prem Retain Away Ticket Cap

The 20 Premier League clubs have unanimously agreed to maintain a £30 price cap on away tickets for the next 3 league seasons. The cap was first introduced for the 2016-17 season and will be reviewed again in 2025. The league is also set to introduce Fan Advisory Boards to improve the treatment of fans across the Premier League. The 6-year deal with Match TV, to broadcast games in Russia, has been suspended following the invasion of Ukraine.

Bale Complains About Greed

Welsh forward Gareth Bale, who has sat on the sidelines for years in order to keep his 600k a week salary intact, has complained about greed from football's governing bodies. The former Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur winger, who refused to stop playing golf even when it was causing him injury problems, has said that the governing bodies need to prioritise player welfare over money and cut back on the amount of football some players (obviously not him) have to play. Perhaps the message would have been better not coming from him and coming from a player who actually is professional in his outlook to the game and actually attempts to look after himself?

EFL Kit Rules Change

In order to help people who suffer from colour blindness, the English Football League have made changes to their rules on kit choices. Next season home teams will be able to wear any of their kits in order to avoid colour clashes, rather than only their home kit. Both teams will also be allowed to mix and match their kits, using whichever shirt, shorts and socks will best allow for identification between the two sides. In Italy Serie A last season banned teams from playing in green, unless they already had a green home kit, as TV companies had complained that the lack of contrast with pitches made it difficult for fans watching the game at home.

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Written by Tris Burke June 11 2022 02:59:10