Football News: Review Of The Day 21st July 2022

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Review of the Day

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Contracts

Luke Robinson has signed a new 2-year deal with Wigan Athletic.

West Bromwich Albion have given Dara O'Shea a deal which will expire in 2025.

Gerrit Holtmann has signed a 3-year deal with VfL Bochum.

Real Sociedad's French defender Robin Le Normand has signed up with the Basque team until 2026.

Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Etienne Capoue has signed a two-year contract with Villareal.

Filippo Ranocchia has agreed a 4-year contract with Juventus.

Transfers

Crystal Palace have agreed a fee with Bayern Munich for their US international defender Chris Richards.

AS Roma have completed the signing of Paulo Dybala from Juventus on a free transfer.

Rangers have sold Calvin Bassey for a club record fee of £20.7m to Ajax.

Heart of Midlothian have signed Lawrence Shankland from Beerschot for an undisclosed fee.

Ryan Nyambe has signed for Wigan Athletic on a free transfer from Blackburn Rovers.

Hull City have paid an undisclosed fee for Dogukan Sinik from Antalyaspor.

Following a pre-season trial, former Chelsea youngster Sam Hutchinson has signed for Reading after being released by Sheffield Wednesday at the end of last season.

Darmstadt have signed Christoph Zimmermann from Norwich City on a free transfer.

After being released by Swansea City this summer, Ben Hamer has signed for Watford.

Swansea City's Morgan Whittaker has joined Plymouth Argyle on a season-long loan deal.

An undisclosed fee has taken Eoin Toal to Bolton Wanderers from Derry City.

Lincoln City boss Mark Kennedy has revealed that veteran frontman Chris Maguire is surplus to requirements and is available for transfer on either loan or a permanent deal.

Major League Soccer side Philadelphia Union have received an undisclosed fee from Oxford United for former Celtic defender Stuart Findlay.

Max Wright has signed for Harrogate Town on a free transfer from Grimsby Town.

Livingston forward Jack Hamilton has signed a season-long loan deal with Hartlepool United, with the deal having an option to buy the 22-year-old.

Crawley Town have signed a trio of free transfers following trials with the club, that are marketing themselves as 'the internet club' due to their new ownership group. Former West Ham youngster Ben Wells has signed from Welling United, Jayden Davies has arrived from Millwall and Moe Shubbar was playing non-league football for Edgware Town.

Sutton United have gone one better than Creepy Crawley and signed four players after they had trials. Tobi Ogundega came from MK Dons, Matt Ridley from Whitby Town, Luke Gambin from Hamrun Spartans and Tope Fadahunsi was a free agent who was playing non-league football.

Ascoli have signed Lorenco Simic from Lecce.

Atletico Madrid forward Borja Garces has joined Tenerife on loan.

Olympique Marseille have signed Celta de Vigo goalkeeper Ruben Blanco on loan. They have also signed Santa's brother Jonathan Clauss for £6.75m from Racing Lens.

Juventus have paid £36.9m to sign Brazilian centre-back Bremer from cross-city rivals Torino.

Miguel Berry has moved between MLS teams Columbus Crew and DC United, after DC paid £266,000.

Arsenal have loaned teenage midfielder Marcelo Flores to Real Oviedo.

Cadiz winger Alvaro Jimenez has signed for Las Palmas on loan.

Indian Super League side Mumbai City, part of Manchester City's City Group of clubs, have signed Jorge Pereyra Diaz from Platense.

Orlando City have signed Nicholas Gioacchini on a free transfer from SM Caen.

Joel Obi has joined Reggina on a free transfer from Salernitana.

Udinese have loaned Cristo Gonzalez to Sporting Gijon.

Alessandro Lovisa has joined Triestina from Fiorentina.

Cadiz have released Nano Mesa.

AS Monaco have signed Thomas Didillon on loan from Cercle Brugge, with fellow goalkeeper Radoslaw Majecki going the other way, also on loan.

Olympique Marseille have paid £9m for Granada striker Luis Suarez.

Celta de Vigo have taken Unai Nunez on loan from Athletic Bilbao.

Former Liverpool winger Lazar Markovic has signed for Gaziantep FK on a free transfer from Partizan Belgrade.

Cartagena have signed Kiko Olivas on a free transfer from Real Valladolid.

Mirandes have signed Alex Martin on a free transfer from Celta de Vigo.

Clermont Foot midfielder Oriol Busquets has signed for Arouca on a free transfer.

Guingamp have picked up Vincent Manceau on a free transfer from Angers SCO.

Rangers striker Juan Alegria has signed for Falkirk on a season-long loan deal with an option to be recalled in January.

LOSC Lille president Olivier Letang has told a press conference that Renato Sanches is choosing between Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan: "Renato is going to leave, yes. To which club? I don't know... There are discussions but I won't reveal the nature of these discussions. He has 2 possibilities, two very good clubs in PSG and Milan. If he is still with us now then it's because we haven't found an agreement with either of the two clubs. We still need a little patience."

Southampton have agreed a deal with Girondins Bordeaux to sign Sekou Mara, as revealed by the French club's official social media accounts.

Injury Round Up

Motherwell have injury issues with last season's top scorer Kevin van Keen picking up a knock. They released 3 forwards in the summer. Paul McGinn is also struggling with a knock picked up in a pre-season win over Partick Thistle.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed that Cezar Azpilicueta missed the defeat to MLS side Charlotte FC due to "a big knock above his knee in his muscle" after colliding with a teammate in training, not because he is about to sign for Barcelona.

Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix has returned to full training after his muscle problem cleared up.

Werder Bremen forward Benjamin Goller has suffered an ankle ligament injury which will rule him out for several weeks.

Liverpool forward Diogo Jota is expected to miss the start of the Premier League season with a hamstring injury which has ruled him out of the rest of pre-season.



Job Changes

Juventus's former Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has said that he believes more should be done for player's mentality: "It is absurd that in 2022 professional clubs don't have mandatory mental training for players. Do an interview with any player and they'll tell you that 70% of the performance is in their head. And 100% of the mandatory training instead is physical. There are psychologists at clubs, and players can use their services if they want, but there is no mandatory mental training."

Disciplinary Charges

Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has finally sorted the visa issue that kept him from joining the team on their pre-season tour of the USA initially. The former midfielder had been with former club Al-Sadd in Iran a number of times, resulting in a requirement for extra documentation which had not been furnished until now. More signs of the shambles that is Barca, this tour was set up a long time ago yet no one from the club had checked if there would be any visa issues and started the process of gaining the required documentation in advance. It is something a club secretary should have seen to long before the team flew there.

Paris are replacing their chief of police Didier Lallement after his failings and attempts to cover them up with lies during and after the Champions League final at the Stade de France. Lallement later admitted he was responsible for Real Madrid and Liverpool fans being attacked and teargassed by police while merely queueing to enter the stadium. Police also allowed local gangs to terrorise and rob fans while making no attempt to intervene or protect them. Unsurprisingly, the same French Minister of the Interior who joined in the cover up and lies, Gerald Darmanin praised Lallement for his work, calling him a "credit to the Republic". You really couldn't make this stuff up!

The future of Inter Milan is up in the air after their majority owner Steven Zhang has been held accountable for debts of $255m held by Suning Xiaodian in Hong Kong's High Court. Zhang had claimed that his personal guarantees on loans were forged signatures, which the judge rejected as "contrary to inherent probabilities and common sense" after a handwriting expert brought in by Zhang confirmed that the signatures were written by him. China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation Ltd have started proceedings against Zhang and Inter Milan following the ruling, as they try to have the club's shareholders resolution waiving payment of Zhang's remuneration as president of Inter invalidated on the grounds that the money could have gone towards repayment of his debt.

FC Koln have written to UEFA to request that Belarussian teams also be excluded from European competition this season due to the nation's support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

CAF Award Nominees

Even after Sadio Mane left Liverpool to sign for Bayern Munich it seems his 'rivalry' with Mo Salah has not ended as the pair are competing for the men's player of the year in the Confederation of African football. Bizarrely they are up against Edouard Mendy for the award, despite him having a very average, to put it nicely, second half of the season.
Player of the Year: Sadio Mane (Senegal & Bayern Munich), Edouard Mendy (Senegal & Chelsea), Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool).
Interclub Player of the Year: Achraf Dari (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club), Aliou Dieng (Mali & Al Ahly), Mohamed El Shenawy (Egypt & Al Ahly).
Young Player of the Year: Karim Konate (Cote d'Ivoire & ASEC/RB Salzburg), Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal & Tottenham Hotspur), Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia & Manchester United).
Coach of the Year: Aliou Cisse (Senegal), Carlos Queiroz (Egypt), Walid Regragui (Wydad Athletic Club).
Club of the Year: Al Ahly (Egypt), RS Berkane (Morocco), Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco).
National Team of the Year (men): Cameroon, Egypt, Senegal.
Goal of the Year: Zouhair El Moutaraji (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club), Gabadinho Mhango (Malawi & Orlando Pirates), Pape Ousmane Sakho (Senegal & Simba).

Robins Buy Training Base

Cheltenham Town have completed the purchase of their training complex from insurance firm Zurich. The club had previously rented the 22-acre facility, which they had used for the last 20 years. Cheltenham chairman David Bloxham told the BBC: "We had the facilities there but only a limited amount of security. We could at any time effectively have been asked to end the lease at the end of the term and we then would have been looking for a new home. Acquiring the freehold to the training ground is something which offers so many benefits to the club. The training ground will give us great options going forward and I think it will allow us to build a stronger financial base which in turn will enable us to maintain a very good playing budget going forward."

Barca To Sell Second Lever

Barcelona's economic vice-president is in the city to complete the signing off of the club's second economic lever of the summer, as they look to splash even more cash on players by mortgaging the club's future income. The sale is expected to net them 310m euros which could be used to potentially pay off Frenkie De Jong and allow them to sign even more players, such as Bernardo Silva from Manchester City.

Bakayoko Hits Out At Milan Police

AC Milan midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko, on-loan from Chelsea, has criticised Milan police for their tactics when they conducted a gunpoint search on him. The 27-year-old was pulled over by armed police and ordered out of his car while police trained guns on him and his passenger. Bakayoko said: "Making an error is human. I don't have a problem admitting that. However, the methods they used pose a problem. It needs to be made known that in the video you don't see everything, perhaps just the most calm part. I found myself with a gun a metre away from me, and [so did] the passenger. They really put our lives in danger. The consequences could have been more serious if I had not remained calm and if I had not been recognised in time."

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Written by Tris Burke July 21 2022 13:46:02