Giovanni Trapattoni refuses to believe that the Republic of Ireland cannot get out of the group stages at Euro 2012.
The Italian was speaking ahead of this evening’s opening group game against Croatia and says that you only have to see the success that Chelsea had in the Champions League to see that anything is possible within football:
“I say ‘never say never’, ninety per cent of German people thought that Bayern Munich would beat Chelsea but they did not. We believe in the result. We come here because we are determined to get out of the group.”
Captain Robbie Keane was equally buoyant about the Republic’s chances and wants to repay the reported 20,000 fans that have travelled to the Euros and give them as much joy as possible:
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“These finals have been a long time coming and it’s great to see the atmosphere of the nation. The country has been on its knees for a few years and our qualification has given it a lift. It’s up to us to give the people as much joy as possible.” (Guardian)
West Ham are keen to add another striker to their squad, with Yannick Sagbo the latest target, according the The Daily Mail.
Sam Allardyce is eager to bolster his attacking options despite having 6 recognisable strikers at the club. Sam Baldock, Nicky Maynard, Carlton Cole, Ricardo Vaz Te, Freddie Sears and Frederic Piquionne are all on the books at Upton Park. However, it is expected that a majority of these strikers will depart in order to accommodate incoming players.
In addition to the Hammers interest in Sagbo, an offer for Norwich skipper Grant Holt has also been made, whilst an enquiry has been readied for Inter Milan youngster Luc Castaignos in relation to a loan deal.
Sagbo, who plays for the tongue twisting Evian Thonon Gaillard in France, scored 12 goals last season despite his side stuttering at the wrong end of the table. The 24-year old has earned a cap for the Ivory Coast and is believed to be worth around £4 million. A pacey striker, Sagbo had a goalless spell at Monaco before moving to Evian.
West Ham have already been active in the transfer market, signing Finnish ‘keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen, midfield Mohamed Diame and stopper Stephen Henderson from cash strapped Portsmouth.
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Manchester United are locked in a transfer battle with Inter over the signature of Brazilian playmaker Lucas Moura, according to The Daily Mail.
The Sao Paulo attacking midfielder is one of the brightest prospects in world football, and at 19-years old has already confirmed himself as a key man for both club and country.
With Sir Alex Ferguson eager to add a creative midfielder to his squad this summer as a long-term replacement for Paul Scholes, the Red Devils recently sent a delegation to Brazil to meet with the player’s representatives and father.
However, it has emerged that Inter are also keen to sign the South American schemer, with the player confirming that his father had also met with the Italian giants.
“I cannot guarantee that I will stay until the end of my contract. Much has changed and the situation is not up to me any more.
“I know my father and my agent had a meeting with Inter but I don’t know what was said. Now I will go to the Olympics with my mind only on winning a gold medal,” he confirmed.
A bid in the region of £30 million and more will be needed to win the race for Moura’s signature, as Chelsea had a similar offer rejected by the Brasileiro club earlier this summer.
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For a club like Manchester United, love them or loathe them, they are certainly expected to be winning the big trophies and attracting the star names. Yet after a quite frankly dismal display in last season’s Champions League, and indeed the Europa League, and losing out on the league title to formerly noisy now successful (not to mention not short of a bob or two) neighbours Manchester City, United fans have begun to question what is going on, and why are the club not making bigger moves in the transfer market?
An age-old reflex when things are not going well at Old Trafford seems to be to blame the owners, the Glazers, yet United’s equivalent of God, Sir Alex Ferguson, has offered his unwavering support to the Americans, and shot down claims that they are using the club as a cash cow and ultimately bleeding them dry.
Fergie points to the trophies won since the Glazers have been at the helm, including titles and a European Cup – which judging by the display last season might be the only one for a while – and says they have been ‘great’ for the club. Fans, of course will point to the massive debt of £437 million the club are now in and the crippling debt-related fees which have currently cost an eye-watering £550 million, and the lack of big money supposedly not spent on players.
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Obviously this debate has been going on far longer and is far deeper than this article can go, and there will be no changing the opinion of certain fans or employees of the club, with the latest point of contention being the £150 million share plan now mooted by the owners. Yet one thing cannot be ignored – United are a huge club and were long before the Glazers decided to make a quick buck from the Red Devils.
What seems to be alarming is the fact that people now do not consider United as the front runners to sign the biggest and best players – the bid United tabled for RVP was met with raised eyebrows from many, and the club were not really considered serious candidates for the player.
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The bid itself clearly shows that Fergie does have money to spend this summer, but just how much is debatable? They could sorely use a player like Luka Modric, who looks set to leave Spurs, but for money few feel United could afford. Granted the club have signed Powell and Kagawa, but are these payers who will win a Champions League?
In the age of Oligarchs and Sheiks, Glazer supporters will say that United cannot look to compete with such ‘silly spending’. Yet for a club with such a turnover and fan base, not to mention designs on the biggest prizes of all – two seasons in a row without a trophy is something out of the question for Ferguson and his players, money much be spent and teams must be revitalised. Yet the question that now lingers is an uncomfortable one for those at Old Trafford – just how far is Fergie being allowed to do so, and more vitally, how much money is he really able to spend?
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has confessed that he would “love” to play in the Premier League.
The Gabon international has been linked with Newcastle in recent weeks following a string of impressive displays for Saint-Etienne.
Despite insisting he is happy in France, the attacker admitted that should the chance of a move come along he would find it hard to resist:
“I am fine at the moment at St Etienne and if there is interest in me then I can only thank God for that.” He told SkySports.
“I really love the Premier League and hope to one day play in England, but there are other leagues in the world too, with good quality.”
The 23-year-old is far from short of potential suitors with Liverpool, Aston Villa and Sunderland said to be monitoring the situation.
Capped 26 times at international level, the striker began his career with Serie A giants AC Milan.
After struggling to force his way into the first-team, Aubameyang was loaned out to Lille, Monaco and Dijon, before securing a permanent deal Saint-Etienne.
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Magpies boss Alan Pardew is said to be keen to strengthen his forward line following Papiss Cisse’s drop in form.
Aubameyang’s versatility is thought to be attractive to the club, who could deploy him as a central striker, on either flank or just behind the frontline.
If it wasn’t enough that Arsenal started the season with a 0-0 loss (yes, you read that correctly) then the departure of another big name at the club in Alex Song should definitely send the team spiralling out of control.
What has been significant about this short Alex Song transfer episode is the club’s relaxed nature about letting him go. Arsene Wenger was quick to stop the building of a saga similar to what we’ve seen in the recent past, and it was more to do with a need to rid the dressing room of a disruptive character.
A lot of Arsenal fans have greatly warmed to Alex Song over the past couple of seasons, with the player demonstrating remarkable progress in his development and cementing his place as a regular in the starting XI. However, many fans were almost turning a blind eye on his disappointing defensive game due to the number of assists he had. But really, Alex Song’s departure from Arsenal is no great loss. It’s certainly not on a level with the losses of Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie.
One criticism of Arsene Wenger, and a deserved one at that, is his desire to create a utopian atmosphere with regards to contracts at the club. He doesn’t want there to be incredible gulfs between the earnings of the top players and those who only have peripheral roles, rather insisting on creating equals throughout the dressing room. A little Marxist perhaps, but it’s certainly no way to run a big club with big names who are also running a tight ship financially.
Darren Dein’s mission to demolish the Arsenal squad continued when he decided to encourage Alex Song to seek greater wages. Due to Song’s importance at the club, I can fully understand his motivation for a new contract. However, implying that £55,000-a week is not suitable for a footballer is completely laughable. Please Alex, cry me a river. And while you’re in that river, please swim back to your post just in front of the back four.
But Alex Song reportedly became more of a nuisance beyond just demanding a new contract. His attitude has apparently been a poison in the dressing room, while his 14 assist last season have clearly helped in allowing him to feel he’s bigger than he really is.
However, with Song in the side, how close were Arsenal really to landing some silverware? This isn’t the hardworking, defensively responsible Alex Song that broke through a number of years ago. Instead, this is a player who believes himself to be a player and a figure that he really isn’t.
This idea that Wenger would encourage Song to advance forward because the club lacked any other creative spark is laughable. Is the manager really reckless enough to sacrifice the defensive game in favour of a player who hits 10 bad forward passes before landing a good one? And even so, Alex Song’s decision to wander off away from his post began well before last season. Cesc Fabregas was instructed to be Arsenal’s most advanced creative midfielder, while Song would at times be the team’s most advanced player – even well ahead of the strikers. Sometimes it really did seem like Arsenal were attacking with 11 players on the field but defending with 10 – that was the extent of Song’s laid back attitude to the defensive side of the game. Conceding 49 goals in the league starts with the opposition’s ability to get through the midfield and advance on goal.
If Song wasn’t such a problem and was not easily replaceable – which he is – why didn’t Wenger put up a greater fight for a player who still had three-years left on his contract? The reasoning is clear: It’s not about giving in to demands from players or clubs, but instead it’s acting quickly to move on players who evidently don’t want to be at Arsenal. Santi Cazorla expressed a desire as early as last summer to play for Arsenal. As did Lukas Podolski, Olivier Girioud and two other targets in Nuri Sahin and Yann M’Vila. But Song’s decision to use Barcelona as a device to raise his wages suggest that there is something else beyond just a better contract.
The signings at Arsenal this summer have allowed the club to move into a new phase with newer figures as the most central and important. By moving on van Persie and Alex Song, the club may have lost a good number of goals from last year, but they’ve also rid themselves of disruptive influences and potentially on-going sagas in the dressing room.
The club needed van Persie a lot more than they needed Song, while the transfer market will allow Wenger to replace the Cameroon international with a player who is far more disciplined at his craft – should he decided to. But the fact is, Alex Song wasn’t sending in assists for Marouane Chamakh, he was delivering passes to the most in-form striker in the Premier League. Imagine the numbers if Santi Cazorla was given a season to partner van Persie.
Song won’t be a vital figure for Barcelona, but the others around him are so good at winning the ball back that he can afford to be a little cavalier with his approach. At Arsenal, that attitude simply won’t work. But the view is almost as if the club can’t replace what Song brought to the team – that is how high he is regarded by many fans.
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Alex Song has chipped his way into the hearts of many Arsenal fans. And while that combination with van Persie looked spectacular at times, there was little desire from the player to follow a far more basic game when it was needed. He’s certainly not the rampaging powerhouse in the midfield, and he’s absolutely not the “new Yaya Toure,” as the Catalan press have labelled him.
But regardless of any void Song leaves behind at Arsenal, it was important to move on a player who could only bring negativity on a new and interesting group of players.
Manchester United winger Nani could well have made a move to Russian side Zenit St Peterburg this summer, but the player’s wage demands derailed a potential switch according to The Daily Mail.
The Portugal international has been linked with an Old Trafford exit after negotiations over a new contract for the wideman broke down, with Sir Alex Ferguson confident that he has enough quality on the flanks to cope should Nani leave.
Zenit splashed the cash to bring the likes of Axel Witsel and Hulk to eastern Europe this summer, with that duo reported signed in a deal worth €90 million.
However, a deal to bring Nani to Russia was also on the cards only for the switch to be scuppered due to the United man requesting £130,000 a week to seal a transfer.
Ferguson seems to prefer Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young on the wings, whilst new signing Shinji Kagawa can also start from wide if needs be.
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There are three certainties in life. One is death, the second is taxes and the third is that Tottenham will be the most active team on transfer deadline day. The bigwigs at White Hart Lane seem incapable of doing their business any earlier than the 31st of either August or January, and once again, it seems that this year will be no different to the rest.
They can’t be blamed though; indeed they certainly won’t be alone in enjoying a ridiculously busy day before the window slams shut as other sides look to tie up their business before the season swings fully into action. It’s certainly a question worth asking; why can’t the clubs lower down the league do their business earlier on in the summer like the big boys?
You can be certain that two of the sides who can sit back and put their feet up tomorrow will be Manchester United and Chelsea. Summer business for these respective outfits was completed weeks ago, with United bringing in Robin Van Persie, Shinji Kagawa, Alexander Buttner and Nick Powell, while Chelsea have splashed the cash on Eden Hazard and Oscar to name but a couple. There’s no doubting the fact that making your signings early on in the summer sets you up far better than if you leave it until the very last minute.
For starters, new individuals can settle into the club during pre-season and enjoy a few pressure-less games before they’re thrown into the heat of the battle in the Premier League. They can learn tactics, moves and their teammates’ habits in the peace and quiet of a tour to Norway for example, rather than the heated atmosphere of the North London derby. The top managers know this and therefore work to secure their targets before the start of the season.
For those lower down the league, life is a little more difficult. You never fully know how strong your squad is before you enter the battleground of the Premier League. Take Mark Hughes and QPR. The majority of pundits had predicted that the Welshman and his boys would go well this season having strengthened significantly this summer, bringing the likes of Park Ji-Sung and Robert Green to Loftus Road.
One 5-0 defeat to Swansea later and those best laid plans have been firmly put to the sword. Hughes and the owner Tony Fernandes have suddenly decided the squad isn’t good enough after all and have gone chasing bigger names with just hours remaining in the window. This tactic may well pay off though as players like Julio Cesar and Estaban Granero look set to move to England, undoubtedly improving the squad no end, making QPR the perfect example of when clubs lower down the league suddenly identify weaknesses that weren’t so obvious in pre-season.
Another significant factor in the failure of clubs further down the division struggling to complete their business earlier in the summer is the age-old problem for those teams struggling to keep up – money. It may take a manager months to persuade his Chairman that it’s worth splashing out x amount on a certain player, while limited funds means that bargains have to be struck with other clubs.
Take Steven Fletcher’s transfer to Sunderland. Martin O’Neill has been chasing the Scot all summer, but only completed the deal in the last couple of days because Wolves refused to drop their asking price. For a bigger team, the fee wouldn’t have been an issue and they would have just paid over the odds to secure the player’s signature immediately, but O’Neill is fully aware his budget is not unlimited unlike some of his Premier League colleagues. As the summer dragged on, Sunderland’s situation up front became desperate, forcing O’Neill to meet Wolves’s valuation of Fletcher. Compare this to say, Sir Alex Ferguson, who once he’d decided Robin Van Persie was the right man for Old Trafford, didn’t spent too long in persuading those in charge of the budget to part with £24 million.
There’s also an issue with panic buying. As the mid-table sides fight over the same players, they inevitably miss out on numerous targets over the summer and therefore they end up needing to make ends meet quickly before the transfer window shuts to ensure they have enough for the season ahead. This rule actually applies to the big boys as well, Arsene Wenger was forced to dip into the market last August after feeling the full force of negativity from the fans over his summer transfer activity, not to mention that 8-2 defeat to Manchester United.
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Manchester City also look set to buy on the final day this year, but merely because Roberto Mancini feels his squad is not adequate enough to deal with the ‘Group of Death’ they now face in the Champions League. Other Premier League managers might raise their eyebrows somewhat at that thought given what they work with in comparison, but they will also feel their squads simply aren’t strong enough to fend off their rivals.
As for Tottenham? Well, perhaps it’s just the unorganised nature of the club over the years. Or perhaps they can’t decide on their actual transfer targets. Either way, it wouldn’t be a final day without Spurs putting in a mad dash to sign players right on the stroke of midnight. The big boys will probably stay well away from the transfer market during the final day, although there can be exceptions to the rule (Mr Berbatov anyone?), while those competing below them will have a hectic 24 hours ahead. Maybe one day they’ll learn…just do your shopping earlier!
Former Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas has backed Arsene Wenger to lead the club to success this season.
The Barcelona star has hailed the experienced French manager and stated that he hopes the Gunners can win silverware in 2012-13.
“Arsene Wenger is amazing and I’m sure he will prove it again this season,” the Spain international stated in an interview with The Sun.
“He always finds the best young talent in Europe and has the courage to bring them in and give them their chance.
“That is his special talent, the way he works with a player to build their confidence and encourage them to play, to perform at their best.
“That’s why I’m confident that Arsenal will again be up there challenging. I hope so. I watch them every weekend because Arsenal still mean so much to me.
“It was a privilege for me to spend eight years at such a magnificent club.
“But now is a new chapter at Barcelona and I said when I signed here that it was going to be the most exciting and difficult challenge of my life.
“I knew I was coming to compete for a place against the best players in the world. But I like big challenges.
“If I didn’t I would have stayed at Arsenal where I was the captain, where I played every game and where I was treated so well.
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“I have a big heart, a strong character and I have the courage to carry on competing for my place,” he concluded.
Arsenal beat Southampton 6-1 at the weekend and take on Montpellier in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Chelsea defender Ashley Cole’s latest outburst, this time aimed at the crinkly suits that run the Football Association, was depressingly familiar, not only due to the player in question being involved, but in terms of the way the game has been heading for some time, which makes you wonder, what is it exactly about modern players that we dislike so much?
The 31-year-old left-back is one of the finest full-backs that you’re ever likely to see, a truly world-class player on the pitch but an odious little squirt of questionable character and morals off it. Being found guilty by an independent panel of fudging his evidence to suit team-mate John Terry’s defence over the whole Anton Ferdinand racism case, his vitriolic, expletive-laden outburst via Twitter hardly came as a surprise.
Cole has been a player dogged by controversy ever since nearly losing control of his car on the motorway at being just offered the insulting sum of £55,000 per week by former club Arsenal in his new contract, his reported philandering while ‘national treasure’ Cheryl Cole waited at home and shooting a youth-team player at Chelsea with an airgun rifle.
While you may be able to respect him as a player on the pitch, for his is practically without peer throughout Europe in his position and has been consistently excellent for nearly a decade now, it is equally as reasonable to have little to no respect for him off it, but he is just the latest case in point of how detached the modern day player has become from the fans that they purport to represent on the pitch.
It’s not just the poor judgement of people like Cole, for it obviously takes nothing for him to issue a disingenuous apology through his solicitors the moment he realises that he’s gotten himself into hot water, it’s the sheer juvenility of it all which shocks the most. This is a grown man we’re talking about here and while we all know that footballers live in a bubble, cut-off from the real world and everyday problems, it’s the lack of thought for the consequences of their own actions which makes them so easy to dislike.
Of course, if you make footballers out to be role models from which your children can look to learn from, then you are seriously setting yourself up for disappointment. They are merely regular people, or they were once upon a time at least, who happen to be extremely talented. More often than not they lack intelligence because they’ve never had to rely on it, mollycoddled from a young age and handed everything to them on a plate.
However, a large degree of responsibility must be put down to the media, with this weekend’s action serving as a fine case in point. Luis Suarez was stamped upon by Robert Huth early on in the game, but this was overshadowed by a clear dive later on in the same fixture. The dive was given the full treatment, in terms of columns, coverage and faux outrage, with FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce referring to it as a ‘cancer within the game’, but little to no attention was given to the far more serious incident of foul play and aggressive, bordering on violent behaviour.
The reason for this is solely because Huth is not a pantomime villain and his lack of standing within the wider world means there’s little to no point wasting their time dissecting his stamp and the wider implications it could have had. Suarez, though, is a different story altogether – everyone will have heard of him, so we are force fed this one-sided version of events that regards a dive, albeit an act of cheating, as equal if not more scandalous than someone stamping on someone.
Football has merely become Loose Women but for men, ramping up issues out of nothing, making mountains out of molehills but only when it suits them and when there’s an easy target to hit. For instance, Craig Bellamy for years was derided as a terrible human being by the press simply because of his misdemeanors on the pitch, completely ignoring the huge amount of work he does for charity off the pitch and the same could be said for most players.
Far too often the media only feeds the negative, rather than focusing on the good simply because it sells more, so we are treated to these extreme caricatures and this never-ending soap opera when most of us just like watching 22 men kick a ball around every weekend. It’s gone beyond ridiculous now. While I was at Stamford Bridge the other week to see them take on Wolves in the Carling Cup, John Terry, fresh from learning about his four-game ban for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, was given a resounding cheer every single time he touched the ball – tribalism like that simply isn’t healthy for the game.
Another factor is obviously the wealth that comes with the game now which breeds a certain degree of arrogance amongst its own kind. While we’re in the midst of a double-dip recession, it seems to not have affected football at all, where even your average Premier League footballers is grossly overpaid for the job he does – breeding a level of contempt and jealousy that creates an even bigger divide between the stands and the pitch than it ever has before. The superstars you see before you on a Saturday don’t feel like normal people to you and it’s hard to really connect in a climate that increasingly treats you, the fan, like a customer.
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Footballers are not role models, they never have been, but the egos, money and disregard for the consequences of their own actions only serve to highlight how the wealth within the game is distorting the people which are a part of it from society. The media doesn’t help matters much, but if we continue to lap up the melodramas with such fervent consumption, can you really blame them?
The result has seen supporters lose touch with players, which in turn leads to both sides harbouring feelings of mistrust, which has led to footballers becoming widely disliked. I for one would just much rather focus on the game itself as opposed to all of the drama surrounding it.