It was a night for the home teams as both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania strengthened their Euro 2012 qualification campaigns with wins.While France top the Group D table with 12 points, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania and Belarus all maintain hope of reaching the tournament’s finals in Poland and the Ukraine.
Albania has not qualified for a major tournament since 1964, but have given themselves a good chance of breaking the drought after edging Belarus 1-0 in Tirana.
Rapid Vienna striker Hamdi Salihi struck the match-winning goal in the 62nd minute after good build-up work from Altin Lala, with the victory keeping Albania in third and just goal difference from their second-placed opponents.
Bosnia-Herzegovina remain in touch with Belarus and Albania following a come-from-behind 2-1 victory against Romania that keeps them a point in arrears.
Stuttgart forward Ciprian Marica handed the visitors a 29th-minute lead in Zenica, but Vedad Ibisevic equalised 18 minutes after the break.
With the game edging towards a 1-1 draw, Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko struck in the 83rd minute to hand his side all three points.
The winners have the upper hand in the qualification race, having played one game less than fellow aspirants Albania and Belarus.
With his constant declarations of admiration for former manager Rafa Benitez and comments about his family’s unhappiness upon Merseyside, it seems pretty apparent that Javier Mascherano will exit Anfield at some point this summer. Having been an integral part of Liverpool’s starting line-up for the last three years, the loss of the Argentine captain will come as a blow to manager Roy Hodgson. With less than seven weeks to go until the start of the new Premier League season, Hodgson will surely be working on acquiring a replacement for the soon-to-be-departed anchorman. Whilst the Anfield side have been linked with a whole host of transfer targets, the following four midfielders look most likely to replace ‘El Jefe’.
Ever Banega
Linked with the club earlier this year, Valencia midfielder Ever Banega has recently re-emerged as a target for the Anfield club. The 22-year-old, who joined the Mestalla side from Boca Juniors in early 2008, has been described as the ‘Argentine Alonso’ and is thought to be the most likely candidate to replace compatriot Mascherano at Anfield.
Following a difficult first season in Spain, which included a loan spell with capital club Atletico Madrid, Banega excelled last season, with his impressive displays helping Los Che clinch third place in La Liga. Noted for his long-range passing and vision, Banega would help to provide some of the creativity that has been missing in the Anfield midfield since the departure of Spanish international Xabi Alonso. Although Banega originally cost Valencia €18m, their well-documented financial woes mean that he may be available for as little as €10m this summer.
Fernando Gago
Rumoured to have been offered as a makeweight in Real Madrid’s bid to sign Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, Fernando Gago has unsurprisingly been touted as a replacement for fellow Argentine Javier Mascherano. Like Banega, Gago moved to Spain from Boca Juniors, joining Real Madrid in late 2006. Capped 28 times for his country, Gago has featured 114 times for Real Madrid, and was a key member of their title-winning side of 2007/08.
Although Gago has been assured that he is part of Jose Mourinho’s plans for next season, a starting berth at the Bernabeu isn’t certain, and he may wish to depart in search of guaranteed first-team football. A move to Anfield would almost certainly provide this.
Paul Scharner
The least glamorous and distinguished player on this list, free agent Paul Scharner has emerged as a shock target for Liverpool over the last few days. The former Wigan Athletic man featured 156 times for the DW Stadium outfit and has proven experience of playing in the Premier League. Scharner is also versatile operator, having played in most outfield positions during his four and a half seasons at Wigan Athletic.
The former Wigan Athletic man’s agent, Valentin Hobel, has talked up the prospect of his client moving to Anfield, stating “Roy Hodgson and Paul Scharner – this is a special relationship. Hodgson thinks that Paul’s strengths in midfield are better than his attributes in central defence. Liverpool would be a dream, of course, but we are in contact with several clubs. Because he is a free transfer, he can choose.”
Having (unsuccessfully) tried to sign Scharner for Fulham on three separate occasions, Roy Hodgson is known to be a huge admirer of the Austrian international. Despite rumoured interest from Aston Villa and Sunderland, Scharner is thought to have his heart set on a move to Anfield this summer.
Gilberto Silva
The impending exit of Javier Mascherano may re-open the Premier League door for former Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva. The 33-year-old, who left the North London side during the summer of 2008, is thought to be high on Roy Hodgson’s summer wish-list. Currently contracted to Greek side Panathinaikos, the veteran midfielder appeared for Brazil during all five of their games at the World Cup and still appears to be capable of playing at the highest level. Silva also contributed to his club side’s recent domestic league and cup double.
Due to financial problems, Panathinaikos have made Silva available for transfer, and a clutch of Premier League, Serie A and Primera Liga clubs are thought to be interested in the Brazilian. Despite having expressed an earlier desire to return to former club Atletico Mineiro, Silva may fancy one last stab at English football and Liverpool could do much worse than secure the mild-mannered former Arsenal man’s services.
Which defensive midfielder should Roy Hodgson look to snap up this summer?
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Click on image below to see the SPANISH babes at the World Cup
Andre Villas-Boas will not change his attacking principles in light of Saturday’s defensive collapse: “Attacking football is part of the British culture, not my culture. It should be the pride of English football and I think it is. So we shouldn’t turn things around. Everyone is praising a strong, attacking team like Man City and we are exactly the same.” Whether it proves the right philosophy remains to be seen, but having lost 3 games out of the opening 10 the Chelsea boss needs to find the right balance and quick.
Elsewhere in the news an Indian consortium is looking into a possible Everton buyout; Roberto Martinez already feeling the pressure, while Newcastle United fans praised as a major factor in the Magpies excellent start.
News
Everton buyout explored by investors
Gerrard to find out extent of new injury
Newcastle United fans the reason for excellent start
Moyes makes move to bring Pienaar back to Goodison – People
Mario Goetze eyed by Arsenal as Wenger plots January bid – Metro
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Kolo considers quitting City over image rights row – Mirror
Man City misfit set for Baggies switch in January – Mirror
City ‘consider swapping Carlos Tevez for Ezequiel Lavezzi’ – Metro
This season’s been something of a mixed one to say the least, despite the fact the team we all love are sitting pretty in the three main competitions, it seems there’s been more than a few causes for concern.
Throwing away leads, poor away form, Wayne Rooney, central midfield and dropping my phone down the toilet on my birthday have all been reasons to be less than totally cheerful about how the last eight months.
Don’t get me wrong, this season could potentially be one of the most successful we’ve ever had and as someone who remembers the 5-1 at Maine Road -barely- it’s easy to forget just how lucky us United fans are sometimes.
Chicharito, Chris Smalling, the evolution of Nani, Wazza’s derby winner and Dimitar Berbatov adding goals to his game have all been big positives in a season, normal – or should that be less enlightened fans- would be more than happy with.
All the negatives and reasons for regret pale in comparison to the number of times United have made me thank the football gods my dad took me to Old Trafford as a child- mind you living in Manchester what team was I ever going to support? It’s not as though I’m from Stockport.
Any United fan worth his salt- whatever that means, does it mean the salt in your body or kitchen, I’ve never fathomed that expression and will endeavour to cease using it from now on- can’t have failed to notice as always there’s room for improvement in certain areas.
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Over the past few months on this site, I’ve tried to heap the praise more often than I have raised the questions, but there are times when one must ask “is this good enough?”
The question that’s been bugging me for several days, is one that was raised via the joyous social network site twitter- where Rio Ferdinand does most of his best work.
I was at a Legends tournament at the Soccerdome, where thanks to the poor pay that goes with freelance journalism, I still cover a few shifts at, watching Paul Simpson score a wonder goal against a Tesco team which contained Jason McAteer when I received the following tweet “@Gagz7: @jaymotty I tweeted the other day and asked can you tell me the last time United scored from a free a kick?……No answers so far!”
Being bored with watching middle aged players I barely respected in their prime I wandered off to ponder this question for some time resisting the urge to google.
My answer after almost half an hour of deep thought, interjected with being amazed at how small Georgie Thompson is in real life and how Quinton Fortune is a lot stockier than I remember, I admitted defeat. I couldn’t remember one successful United free kick all season.
In fact as I mused over this further one more thing occurred to me, even from penalties United haven’t been that great this season, with only Sir Ryan Giggs proving infallible from 12 yards. Then there was corners, this may sound like I’m drifting from the initial point but how many times have United scored from corners this season? Three? Four? Whatever the tally, there’s no denying that The Reds are far less lethal from corner kicks than they used to be and if I’m completely honest, many of the corners I’ve witnessed this season have been frustratingly bad.
When you’re a side that attacks as often as United does, you’re always liable to earn free kicks around the box, corners in abundance and more than your share of penalties. Yet unlike in the days of a certain Portuguese legend who went from completely useless to the best free kick taker the world had seen since Posh’s husband was in his prime, there is now no real dead ball specialist at Old Trafford.
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Nani has flattered to deceive a few times, Ryan Giggs has always been decent without ever raising his standard above that while Owen Hargreaves is about as likely to take a free kick for United this season as Norman Whiteside is.
United simply do not have a player who can place the ball on whatever spot the referee indicates and convert that into a goal at least some of the time. Don’t get me wrong I understand it’s grossly unfair to expect any players to reach Ronaldo like standards but some sort of excitement when we get a free kick 20 odd yards from goal wouldn’t go amiss.
Nor would someone who could beat the first man at a corner on a regular basis. It’s actually this way of thinking that’s making me believe Blackpool’s Charlie Adam may not be the bad shout I once thought it was. Adam’s corner taking is superb as he demonstrated not just against us but also against West Ham, where he scored directly from one.
Although Adam hasn’t scored from a free kick this season he has in the past least of all the Play-Off final and there’s no doubt he’d get a lot more opportunities to try his luck at United with them than he does at Blackpool.
Although it would be quite frankly crazy to buy a player just for his penalty taking expertise, five scored this season is not to be sniffed at and could be a useful asset if Rooney, or Giggs weren’t willing or available.
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I’ve grown to admire Adam this season for more than just his dead ball ability, his conduct towards the United youngsters in the recent reserve game was above and beyond. More than that though is Adam’s ability to spread the play around and willingness to look for a killer ball, a trait that only Paul Scholes seems capable of at United.
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There’s also the price tag, around £10 million is the most popular price being bandied about which if true could represent something of a bargain, after all, at a time when James Milner, David Luiz and Darren Bent all cost twice as much, I think it’s not the awe-inspiring price it fee it once was.
Adam’s lack of pace seems to be the main argument for his detractors- in fact you could say it’s his only failing but let me ask you: does Michael Carrick possess any real pace? No. That’s not needed if you have other attributes which Adam does.
Adam has the luxury of having players around him at Blackpool that are capable of doing the necessary running and that could be the case at United. I was disappointed Adam and Darren Fletcher didn’t get the chance to play together for Scotland in the recent win over Northern Ireland as it would be a chance to see how they work together- albeit against lesser opposition.
Adam may well not be the ‘marquee midfield signing’ everyone at United is hoping for, but if Sir Alex were to buy him, I’d actually be pretty chuffed.
A midfield trio of Fletcher Adam and Tom Cleverley for certain games doesn’t sound to bad to me.
Am I chatting rhubarb yet again or echoing your own thoughts? Feel free to comment below.
Read more of Justin’s articles at the excellent Red Flag Flying High
So Suarez punched out what would have been Ghana’s winner, Neuer pretended nothing was amiss when he picked up Lampard’s shot, and – before the World Cup even began in South Africa – Henry handled France into the finals. Inevitably the question of ethics in sport is heavily discussed for a few days…until the next incident. If we’re talking ethics then what all of the above have perpetrated is wrong. But this is football; and the only ethical imperative is ‘winning at all costs’.
“I tried not to react to the referee and just concentrate on what was happening. I realised it was over the line and I think the way I carried on so quickly fooled the referee into thinking it was not over.”
These were Neuer’s words after Germany’s resounding 4-1 victory over England in the second round. But the German no. 1 escaped censure and, instead, vitriol was focused on the officials. No football fan expects Neuer to consult the referee and admit a goal had been scored – that would be ludicrous, right? And this is probably where the issue of ‘cheating’ becomes much less straight forward than enforcing new rules or retroactive punishment or television replays. The expectation of fair play, from the watching public, is reflected by the players’ actions and the difficulty stems from excessive partisanship; for Uruguay what Suarez did is hardly ill-advised but for Ghana there can be no more bitter a circumstance to accept. Oscar Tabarez defended his player amid intense media pressure (and we should wonder, for example, had Jermain Defoe punched out a last minute winner leading to England’s progress the circus surrounding it wouldn’t be so vociferous):
“I’m embarrassed by what is being asked by the British press. That is truly shameful. They have been speculating about an action that happens on a football pitch and is dealt with in the laws of the game. It happened [to Harry Kewell] in Australia’s game with Ghana. It happened in 1990 when Uruguay played Spain and a player on the goal-line blocked a shot with both hands. Don’t talk to me about a lack of humility…We’re proud of our performances and what we’ve contributed to this World Cup. Uruguay went through the three previous games with hardly a yellow card, so please don’t tell me we’re cheats.”
Tabarez makes a valid point; it was dealt with within the laws of the game. So do the laws of the game accommodate flagrant disregard to fair play? Yes and no; Ghana still had the penalty to win it and Suarez did sit out the semi final. But I think the point is more that we can understand why players feign injury, dive, or intentionally foul to break up a counter attack and this somehow leads to a less guilty judgment. Invariably, bad sportsmanship is encouraged; a foul in the opponent’s half is a ‘clever’ foul as opposed to a professional foul, diving in the penalty area is welcomed if it leads to an easier scoring opportunity, staying down to waste time is ‘experienced’ play, and – on the most basic level – every throw-in has both teams’ players raising their hands. Cheating, from the basic to the calculated, is very much a part of modern football. Why? Theo Walcott summed up the simplicity of the situation when Arshavin protested a penalty awarded to him in an away fixture at Portsmouth:
“I saw Andrei [protesting] and I ran over to him because if you’re 1-0 up away from home and the referee’s given a penalty you don’t want to tell him it’s not one. So I grabbed him and said not to worry about it – I know it’s not nice but if you want to win a game you need to take these things.”
And Walcott is completely justified, which is more what should concern any fan lamenting the absence of fair play in football. The ethical questions of fair play take a distant second to the need for victory. And in the extremely rare cases of players exhibiting sporting behaviour (everyone knows what Di Canio did but, less publicised, is a Carlsberg Cup match between Denmark and Iran in 2003 where Morten Wieghorst intentionally hit his penalty wide after an Iranian defender picked the ball up inside the box; he thought the referee had signalled for half time when really it was a member of the crowd immediately behind him who blew the whistle) they are reluctantly praised because fans would much rather see their team win in less than sporting circumstances than lose after passing up a glaring opportunity to win.
Though retroactive punishments and stringent new laws would certainly curb glaring mistakes by officials I would be dismayed if that becomes the only feasible method to cut out poor sportsmanship. Deceiving a referee is very much a part of every single professional match in football and there is no way to stamp it out with new rules (it would require reviewing every single tiny nudge and free kick incident, on and off the ball, in a sport that requires contact). A change in thinking and a greater onus on individual player responsibility is the only thing that can reduce gamesmanship. But that’s a cultural issue and there’s no sign of it changing in the current climate because we still sympathise with players who try gaining an unethical advantage, simultaneously absolving them of blame.
Do you think cheating is an ever present in football? Or is it something new legislation or a change in laws can really curb?
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Click on image below to see the Argentinean babes at the World Cup
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It’s clear that in such fiscally uncertain times as these, disposable income is at a premium. With Premier League clubs threatening to lose touch with the common man on the street and price hikes the de rigour, are fans starting to stray away from the terraces in favour of the cheaper comforts of home?
Sunderland remain the prime example, with former Chairman Niall Quinn’s vociferous opposition to fans choosing to watch the club’s games on TV as opposed to at the ground notable by it’s acerbic tone last February.
Quinn stated: “My belief is a significant number of these people are taking the easy option of spending their money in the pub watching their team as opposed to supporting their team and helping to create a better atmosphere at the stadium. Our attendances are down for a couple of reasons and the economic uncertainty right now is a factor.”
The ground capacity of the Stadium of Light is 49,000, yet the club’s average attendance this season is 37,890. This average was boosted somewhat by the crowd that gathered for the Tyne-Wear Derby against Newcastle on the second game of this season that saw 47, 751 turn out to see Newcastle’s 1-0 win.
Since then, Sunderland have had a further three Premier League home games against Chelsea (36,699), Stoke (32,296) and West Brom (34,815). With three out of the club’s four home games this season drawing crowds of 12,000 or more under capacity, it’s clear that there’s certainly something amiss.
Does Quinn’s assertion that economic uncertainty is a motivating factor hold up when you compare attendances across the rest of the Premier League?
Over at Aston Villa, the club boast a stadium capacity of 43,786 at Villa Park yet the average attendance this season has been just 32, 022. The clubs home games this season have seen Villa Park awash with empty seats after the Blackburn (32,319), Wolves (30,776) and Newcastle (34,248) games.
While economic uncertainty is certainly a factor in small attendances, there’s certainly a correlation between the two aforementioned clubs over the perceived underachievement of their team on the pitch and the fans displeasure at the management at the helm.
Alex McLeish is a deeply popular individual around Villa Park, and while, for now at least, they appear to be holding back, it’s clear that it’s a marriage doomed to divorce from the start. At Sunderland, Steve Bruce’s problems have been well documented as he begins to resemble a clueless manager clutching at straws in an attempt to halt a slide that runs right back to February last season.
Blackburn’s attendance under the tumultuous reign of beleaguered boss Steve Kean has seen attendances in freefall. Everton are coming up way shorter than usual and Wigan’s average attendance, as ever, struggles to maintain the interest normally associated with Premier League matches.
The spread of disaffection is not solely confined to the middle and the north of England, though, as newly promoted London-based outfit QPR are also struggling to sell-out their home ground Loftus Road.
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QPR’s former owner Bernie Ecclestone attempted to cash in on the club’s promotion to the Premier League be dealing a 40% hike on ticket prices to fans earlier in the summer. The most expensive season ticket rose £300 on last season to £999. The cheapest adult season ticket came in at £549, compared with £379 at nearby Fulham. It even prompted the resignation of Vic-Chairman Amit Bhatia after he stated his disapproval at increased ticket prices.
New owner Tony Fernandes, in an attempt to appease the club’s fan base, has promised to cut ticket prices by 25%, which when consider that they had already been raised in real terms by 57%, it is still a significant hike.
Loftus Road’s capacity is 19,148, yet they average an attendance of just 16,038. Since Fernandes’s takeover, while it is still early days, the attendance rose by just 496 people the home game against Aston Villa after he came to the helm from the previous home fixture against Newcastle.
The greatest example of the fans displeasure at the astronomical nature of ticket prices at the club came when just 4,755 turned out for QPR’s lacklustre 2-0 home defeat to Rochdale in the Carling Cup second round last month.
It’s worth noting, though, that the slump has not affected some of the larger clubs in the league – the likes of Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs, as you would expect, are all still doing well with concerns to attendance figures as they buck the trend.
The gulf in class on the pitch has rendered the Premier League uncompetitive at times. This, of course, is a big turn-off for fans. There appear to be a lot of deeply average teams in the league this season and the relegation battle could comprise of up to as many as ten teams – hardly something to motivate a fan to continue paying top whack.
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The monetary factor coupled with the regression of certain sides to perform to their capabilities has meant that there is a real sense of apathy about the current campaign. For most sides, languishing in mid-table is nothing to get excited about. When it’s just as easy, as Niall Quinn testified to, to watch the game from the comfort of your own home at a fraction of the price. While this continues to be the case, Premier League grounds will continue to bear the mark of tough financial times.
The Premier League is often said to be the most entertaining league in the world, but with the price of survival far outweighing the strength of most club’s ambition at the moment, supporters are wisely preferring to save their pennies. Football is part of the entertainment business and if clubs continue to strangle and squeeze every last penny they can out of their fans, then attendances will continue to fall up and down the country.
Sporting Braga inflicted Kenny Dalglish’s first loss in Europe as Liverpool manager, winning 1-0 in their round-of-16 first leg on Thursday.The Portuguese club took the lead in the the Europa League encounter courtesy of an Alan penalty in the 18th minute, after Liverpool defender Sotiris Kyrgiakos conceded a spot kick for a mis-timed tackle on Marcio Mossoro.Dirk Kuyt started alone up front for Liverpool on the back of his hat-trick heroics against Manchester United in the English Premier League on Sunday, but the Reds were at their most dangerous when 35 million-pound signing Andy Carroll was substituted on after 57 minutes.Midfielder Joe Cole had a penalty appeal turned down soon after Carroll’s entrance, before a Kuyt volley drew a quality save from Braga’s goalkeeper Artur.Carroll, wearing number 39 on Thursday to help UEFA officials differentiate between the Geordie and former Liverpool number nine Fernando Torres, provided an aerial threat that looked to break open the Braga defence.But the consistent long balls from the visitors failed to create enough chances, with Carroll often finding no friends to lay the ball off to, allowing the home side to read the play with ease.Braga backed off later in the second half, seemingly content with their one-goal advantage, and Liverpool could not produce a vital away goal prior to their second leg next Thursday at Anfield.
Stoke City have emerged from the Championship under Tony Pulis and established themselves as a decent Premier League outfit. Their style is dependent on hold up play from the front men and an unusual specialist; throw in taker Rory Delap. Stoke’s no-frills approach has led to many detractors but their determination to bypass midfield passing play has been effective so is it worth condemning them or the teams who fail to beat them?
If styles make matches then the exemplar of the Premier League would be Arsenal VS Stoke City. Arsenal hinge their play on short passes whilst Stoke’s primary option is a long ball up to big target men. Even a cursory glance at the stats from February’s match shows the difference in prerogative from both teams: Stoke completed 116 passes whilst Arsenal completed 340, Stoke’s left winger on the day (Danny Pugh) completed just 5 passes (3 of which were backwards) whilst Arsenal’s left side (Samir Nasri) completed 37 passes, and finally Stoke’s holding midfielder (Abdoulaye Faye) completed just 5 passes whilst Alex Song completed 41. These stats only strengthen the obvious: one team places a greater emphasis on possession leading to chances whereas the other relies heavily on long balls from defence to attack, missing out central midfielders.
More interesting than these stats substantiating the obvious is the utilisation of Rory Delap. His inclusion and output elucidates a point of causation: Pulis has supplemented his tactical choice with a specialist. Looking at a five game stretch between mid May and April Delap completed 67 passes and took 86 throw ins. Some people may think this is a slightly misleading statistic in so far as Stoke’s style causes more balls to be knocked out of play and every single throw in from the halfway line or farther is taken by Delap. But this should not mask the fact that Delap is a throw in specialist before he is a midfielder. In terms of intention I believe it is an indictment on the club’s current style to have a player in midfield that passes less than he takes throws but its effectiveness cannot be discounted.
This is symptomatic of Stoke’s general style of play; often the full back or central defender (or goalkeeper) gets the ball and hits it long towards the target man (either Sidibe or Kitson) who then plays it to Ricardo Fuller. A variation is that play goes out to the wings from the defence (either to Etherington, who beats his man and gets a cross in, or to Lawrence – when he plays – who looks to cross and provides some threat from distance shots). Either method (long ball or wing play) lessens the involvement of central midfielders, which generally means Delap plus one other are completely bypassed. This goes some way in mitigating the above stats; it is an intentional ploy probably more to do with current personnel than pre-thought ideals. At least I hope it’s not an ideal.
Any manager’s primary objective is victory, especially where newly promoted teams are concerned. Pulis has implemented a highly direct style that is proving a difficult task for many Premier League sides to overcome. What’s more reassuring from a tactical point of view is that Pulis is attempting to add some creativity to his central midfield (purchasing Uruguayan Diego Arismendi last year is a positive move) and is reportedly looking for one more player in the same position.
Click on image below to see the PORTUGUESE babes at the World Cup
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Everton have beaten off stiff competition from Tottenham and Bayern Munich to land 15-year-old midfielder George Green from Bradford in a £2 million deal according to BBC Sport.
The Toffees are believed to have held off their Premier League rivals and the European giants to sign the highly rated teenager from the League Two minnows.
Academy boss Alan Irvine is delighted that the club have managed to land Green and is looking forward to working with the youngster and helping him realise his potential in an Everton shirt.
He will become a full time part of their youth setup next summer and despite being touted as a future star Irvine insists he has a lot of hard work to do on the training ground.
He told the BBC: “He has got good potential but at the moment that’s all it is. He has got a lot of work to do.”
“George is a young player who was attracting interest from a number of clubs. We’re happy to have him and we’re looking forward to working with him here at the Academy.
Bradfords head of football development Archie Christie admits Green is destined for the top and could emulate former Goodison Park favourites Paul Gascoigne and Wayne Rooney.
He said: “This is one of the highest deals ever for a 15-year-old from a League Two club. But George is the best I’ve seen in his position at his age. He could become another Wayne Rooney or Paul Gascoigne.”
It’s been reported that the Premier League side will pay an initial £300,000 with the deal also including bonuses for appearances, new contracts, international appearances and a sell-on-clause.
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Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp believes Tuesday’s clash with Blackpool is just as important as Spurs’ Champions League tie with AC Milan.Redknapp takes his side to Bloomfield Road looking to claim a victory that would take them five points clear of Chelsea in the race for fourth place.That would be enough to ensure Champions League qualification for next season, which the former Portsmouth manager feels is as important as continued success in this season’s competition.And with Italian giants Milan due to visit White Hart Lane for the return leg of their last 16 tie next month, Redknapp has told his men not to get ahead of themselves by focusing on making the Champions League quarter-finals.”In a way Blackpool is more important,” said Redknapp. “We have had a good run, and now we have to go to Blackpool, and then Wolves next week.””People looked at the fixtures (in February), with four of our five games away from home, and people said this would be a defining point in our season.””So far we have won all four so we have to keep going now. Certainly we have a big chance of getting Champions League football again next year and that has to be a priority for us.””We have to come down (after last week’s victory against AC Milan). From the San Siro to Blackpool, that’s what football is about. It will be a tough game, we know that.”Redknapp also hailed Blackpool counterpart Ian Holloway and believes his fellow Englishman should be named Manager of the Year if he keeps his club in the Premier League.”They have been a breath of fresh air,” said Redknapp as he heads to face a Blackpool side that have not won in six games and are just two points above the relegation zone.”Everybody looked at them at the start of the year and said they would be lucky if they got 20 points, and they have passed that.””They have a big chance of staying in the Premier League, and if he keeps them up he should be Manager of the Year.”But Redknapp will have to do without midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, who has a calf strain, while there are problems in defence with Vedran Corluka and Alan Hutton both sidelined through injury.