Roberto Mancini has admitted that Arsenal striker Robin van Persie will not be moving to Manchester City.
The Netherlands international has confessed that he will not be signing a new contract at the Emirates Stadium, and with one year left on his current deal Arsene Wenger is considering selling the Dutch maestro.
City, along with Manchester United and Juventus, have been linked with a summer move for Van Persie but the Italian trainer has now revealed that it is unlikely that the forward will be moving to the Etihad Stadium.
“Van Persie? No, I don’t think he will come here,” The Sun report Mancini as saying.
Meanwhile, Mirror Football state that Arsene Wenger has gained new hope in keeping his captain at the club, after the PFA Player of the Year was impressed with Arsenal’s ambition in the transfer market this summer.
Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud have already been added to the Gunners’ squad, with a deal for Santi Cazorla also close to completion.
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Every team needs a goalscorer. It’s a simple but not always achievable rule of Premier League football. But teams can really benefit when they have not only one but two strikers who form a deadly strike partnership.
The Premier League has been blessed with many partnerships of note when two different types of players either by luck or skill work very well together. But in a title race or the fight against relegation, a clinical strike partnership can be crucial to success. The most notable partnership is the combination of a big man and little man, working perfectly off each other in leading the line. Some strikers may say they like to be a lone striker with all the responsibility but most will enjoy playing a lot more when they have another striker next to them.
There are plenty of strike partnerships that have the promise to be great this season, from Javier Hernandez and Wayne Rooney at Manchester United to Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez at Liverpool. But what are the top ten strike partnerships in the history of the Premier League?
Click on Henry and Bergkamp below to see the Top TEN
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Who do you think was the best strike partnership in Premier League history? If you want to read more of my bite size, 140 character views and thoughts follow me on Twitter @jennyk5
David Villa insists Barcelona’s 8-0 demolition of Almeria will count for little when the teams meet in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey.
The Spanish champions blew Almeria away in their La Liga meeting at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterraneos in November, exacting a humiliating home defeat that cost coach Juan Manuel Lillo his job.
Now under Jose Luis Oltra, the team are still struggling in the relegation zone despite their vital 3-2 league win over Osasuna on Sunday.
Despite having an easy time of it when the two sides last met, Villa said he believed Almeria would be a different proposition in the last four of the cup competition.
“We aren’t thinking about the previous match with Almeria, which was very much in our favour,” Villa said.
“They are a team with a different manager, and every game is different. We don’t think that because we beat them 8-0 that this time it will be the same. On the contrary, they have a lot of desire, just like me, and they have never got so far in this competition. We are both 180 minutes away from the final, so it will be a tough tie.”
Almeria beat Deportivo La Coruna home and away to reach the semi-finals, while Barca needed to rely on their 5-0 first-leg win over Real Betis to progress after losing 3-1 in the return fixture.
A meeting with La Liga title rivals Real Madrid or trophy holders Sevilla awaits in the final, but Villa is reluctant to look beyond the task at hand.
“First of all, we have to respect Almeria,” Villa said.
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“We are going to have to fight in order to go through. I hope that we can get to the final, and getting there is enough for us. Choosing our opponents is a bit too much to ask.”
“Madrid have their history and haven’t reached a cup final in a while, and they are a great team. Sevilla have been the team who have had most success in the cup over the past few years. That makes them a hard opponent too in this competition.”
Liverpool attacker Craig Bellamy is a summer transfer target for former club Cardiff City, as the Welsh side look to reap the benefits of a new owner, according to The Daily Mail.
The Welsh side were recently purchased by a wealthy Malaysian owner, who has announced an ambitious £100 million investment plan to get the side up to the Premier League.
Bellamy’s future at Anfield is currently up in the air after Brendan Rodgers replaced Kenny Dalglish as the Merseyside club’s head coach, with the Northern Irishman keen to sign his own players this summer.
The Wales international was born in Cardiff and played the 2010-11 season with the side on loan, bagging 11 goals in 35 appearances.
The move would be a massively popular one with the Bluebirds fans should it happen, and would show real intent to make it to the top-flight by Cardiff after a number of close misses.
Bellamy looks set for inclusion in Stuart Pearce’s Team GB squad that will compete in the London Olympics this summer.
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Europe’s top clubs have threatened to break away from UEFA and FIFA over concerns with International fixtures and financial commitments. It is thought that clubs will be able to govern themselves and set up their own super league – a move that could threaten to destabilise the very fabric of the domestic game.
In the papers this morning there have been a mixed bag of stories that include Darren bent claiming to be the best No.9 for England; Arsenal closing in on Juan Mata, while Roy Hodgson is set to make a double swoop on Birmingham City.
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FIFA: Goal-line technology possible next year – FFC
Europe’s top clubs threaten to break away from Fifa and Uefa – Guardian
Diouf suspended for five years by Senegal – Guardian
Foster and Ridgewell off to WBA – Daily Telegraph
Pulis hails ‘exciting times’ for continental Stoke – FFC
The day I’ll quit, by Lampard – Sun
England could face France in 2014 World Cup qualifying scrap – Daily Mail
The NEW hand of God: City land £40million Aguero – Mirror
Blues make official complaint over anti-Semitic abuse directed at Yossi – Daily Mail
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Bent: I’m still best No 9 for England – Sun
Arsenal closing in on Mata – Mirror
Tottenham keen to pip Arsenal to £15m signing of Blackburn defender Samba – Daily Mail
Every club has them. The players who promise so much when plying their trade in the youth team, but then, just when both the club and supporters alike are planning the selling and buying of merchandise adorned with the player’s name and image, it turns out he’s just not up to scratch.
For every superstar that club’s produce, there tenfold who fail to make it to the top. So here are my top ten whizzkids who failed to live up to their early promise.
Click on Freddie Adu below to unveil the list and feel free to add any glaring omissions in the comments below:
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Any glaring omissions? Please add in the comments below
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Holy Crap – it’s live fantasy football! Become part of West Ham v Everton and play Picklive for FREE Watch and bet live – spices up any game!
Portugal claimed a dramatic 3-2 victory over Denmark in Group B of Euro 2012 on Wednesday night.
The Iberian nation powered into a dominant lead when Pepe and Helder Postiga struck to give them a 2-0 advantage.
However, a Nicklas Bendtner header on the stroke of half-time gave the Scandinavians hope, and the Arsenal forward struck again in the second 45 to square things up.
Despite this, Portuguese substitute Silvestre Varela rifled home in the last ten minutes to give his side a crucial three points.
Paulo Bento was happy that his men won the match, but feels that the game should have been killed off earlier.
“We deserved the victory, but we suffered too much, considering what we did in the first half” Bento told reporters after the game.
“We defended well in the first half, showing some good organisation, and there was a period in which we could have scored twice more but Denmark ended up scoring with the only chance they had.
“In the second half, our plan was to make it 3-1 and not see it out at 2-1. A minute before Denmark’s equalised, we could have killed off the game.
“Then our players’ character and personality emerged. They have been working in an extraordinary way,” he concluded.
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Portugal take on Netherlands in their final Group B fixture.
With a mere seven weeks to go in the summer transfer window, things are beginning to hot up. The papers are full of potential and completed deals, managers’ targets, and failed bids. But all the while, the whole process has to be explained by Her Majesty’s press in a certain way. Teams don’t just enquire about players, bid for them and sign them. That would be far too boring. Instead, we get what were seemingly a random set of flowery descriptions to keep the reader awake. And there seems to be a common theme running throughout.
The one thing that happens most during a transfer window is that a lot of clubs are snubbed. Teams are always being snubbed. It’s just as well clubs have thick skins or they could really suffer a crisis of self-confidence. Often clubs are snubbed by a player they had never even enquired about, which seems like the cruellest of snubs. This has happened to “moneybags” Manchester City a lot recently. A rogue rumour is started up (by an agent) about their interest in someone (usually to get that player an improved contract), the player comes out to say he has no interest in joining Manchester City, and the press dutifully report it as “Player X Snubs Manchester City”, despite the fact Manchester City probably have no idea who he is.
Swooped. Football clubs on the look-out for players are for some reason compared to birds of prey. Clubs appear to sit on tree branches waiting for the right moment, before swooping in on their desired player, and carrying him away in their talons. What happened to the good old days of fax machines and a courtesy phone call?
All the while, the broadcasters are trying to keep up, and pretending they are the ones in the know. A lot of the time Sky Sports News understands, which basically means Sky Sports News has been surfing the internet or reading newspapers. The BBC do this a lot too – it seems a key component of sports broadcasters is the capacity to understand stuff. Empathy, basically. Only today the BBC has published an article on the Carlos Tevez situation in which they understand a whole swathe of things.
Occasionally a team has stolen a march, which sounds like a pretty horrible thing to do, personally (and a logistical nightmare). Manchester City last week stole a march on the race to sign Samir Nasri, but as Nasri has since jetted off on Arsenal’s pre-season tour, it seems the march escaped and is back where it belongs.
Players meanwhile are keen to demand “assurances”. Their written contract is no longer sufficient. They want to know where the club is heading, who they are signing, and the weather for the next two years, otherwise they will have a strop and go on hunger strike until they have forced through a move to Real Madrid.
And most players seem to be described as an ACE. Or if young, they may be a STARLET (especially prevalent with young Belgian players it seems). Wigan lined to Cameroon ACE. Scunthorpe ACE joins Millwall on loan. Belgian STARLET linked with move to Chelsea. You get the idea.
Not everyone can be an ACE or a STARLET though. Some players are described as flops. Football is full of flops. Football players don’t fail, they flop. Flops are not attractive propositions in the transfer market, but flops can be resurrected, so a bargain could be had from buying a flop. Don’t write off flops.
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Back to the jungle, and teams are in the hunt for new players. Manchester United can sign Ashley Young, but only if they can find him. Armed with nothing more than a spear, some camouflage gear and a large net, the hunt begins….and as time passes, Sky Sports News will understand them to be closing in on their target. They make audacious moves (break-dancing?) for players they have been on the trail of, having tracked them for a while (with GPS, presumably).
Most of the news though is nothing more than speculation, normally wild (of course). Again, nature helps us out. Wild speculation is different to your common house-trained domestic speculation, as it is unpredictable, can be aggressive towards humans, and lives in a privet hedge on the outskirts of the Black Forest. Approach with caution.
Clubs eye other teams’ players (across a crowded dance floor?). They pursue players (across fields in little buggies). We hear of price tags, as if players are items of clothing. Can get 20% off with your loyalty card? Clubs are known to be lining up a player (sounds like a firing squad). Or weighing up a move. Negotiations break down (hope the club are with the AA). Teams are alerted by problems with players. Players are poised to sign (try and picture the Karate Kid when he had hurt his foot so fought on one leg). Moves are hijacked by other clubs – players are presumably held on isolated airport runways until the club gets what it wants. In fact, this isn’t far off what Alex Ferguson did when signing Dimitar Berbatov.
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Mostly though, players are approached. I imagine a dark alleyway, long coats, and a man smoking a cheroot (or a Gauloises if in France) sidling up to the designated player under a lamppost with a secret password. Then negotiations can begin.
Unsettled, want-away players are offered an escape route away from clubs, presumably via a secret underground tunnel. That’s after issuing come-and-get-me pleas of course. This leads to a battle for the player, who edges towards a move, before finally sealing a new club.
The rest knuckle down, travel the world and post pictures on Twitter of them planking. But soon, thankfully, it will all be over, for now. Deals will be finalised, players will slip through the grasp of clubs, some players will be captured and we can all get back to watching some football and moaning about Alan Shearer on Match Of The Day. Hallelujah.
The managerial circus at West Ham has been resolved today as the board have decided to keep faith with Avram Grant following their failure to secure a move for Martin O’Neill. It has been an absolute mess quite frankly and hasn’t shown the football club in a good light.
In the papers this morning there has been a mixed bag of stories including more on Darren Bent’s transfer request at Sunderland; Alan Pardew will battle for Joey Barton, while Tottenham and Liverpool chase Luis Suarez.
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O’Neill says no to Hammers – Sky Sports
Bent heads to Villa in shock £24m deal – Guardian
Referee fans flames after Rafael red card – Daily Telegraph
Pards to battle for Barton – Sun
Tottenham and Liverpool chase Suárez – Guardian
Mancini to rest shaky Hart – Daily Telegraph
You’ve not Had it just yet, Diouf – Sun
Szczesny: I want the Arsenal No.1 shirt for keeps – Mirror
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Arsenal have reportedly entered the race to sign Borussia Dortmund’s highly rated Japanese winger according to The Sun.
The Asian superstar has been a revelation at Signal Iduna Park over the last number of seasons, and has been a major player in Jurgen Klopp’s side that have won back-to-back Bundesliga titles.
Despite his importance to the German champions, Kagawa has rejected a new contract and has spoken of his desire to move to England this summer.
With only a year left on his current deal and the player refusing to extend, Dortmund have admitted that they may well have to part company with Kagawa when the transfer window reopens to avoid him leaving on a free transfer.
The Gunners are thought be have been impressed with Kagawa when they faced Dortmund in this season’s Champions League, and are preparing a cut-price £5 million bid due to the attacker’s fragile contract situation.
Despite this, Manchester United are thought to be keen to bring Kagawa to Old Trafford this summer, and the Premier League giants could be set for a transfer battle.
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