Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea has dismissed rumours that he is set to return to Spain in the January transfer window, as reported by The Sun.
De Gea is happy at United, despite Sir Alex Ferguson regularly chopping and changing his goalkeepers, leaving nobody 100% sure who his current number one is.
De Gea arrived at Old Trafford from Atletico Madrid last year and it is rumoured that the other big club from the Spanish capital are interested in him becoming the long term successor of legend Iker Casillas.
However, the United stopper has put to bed those rumours and is keen to rise to the challenge that Sir Alex has laid down for him.
“I am happy at United and not thinking about a return to Spain,
“I’ve accepted the challenge to learn and improve as a professional.
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“And fighting for my place gives me a bigger incentive to play well.”
It is only Manchester United’s stuttering form that prevented them securing second place in the Premier League prior to their 0-0 bore draw against West Ham.
The Red Devils would have had the luxury of resting players with even more time to spare before the FA Cup final had they not contrived to lose against Brighton and West Brom in recent weeks but after their stalemate against the Hammers means that the runners-up spot is finally theirs.
That means that Mourinho can – like he did last season before the Europa League final – use the campaign’s last Premier League engagement to showcase some of the club’s best young talent.
On that occasion, United ran out 2-0 winners against Crystal Palace with youngster Josh Harrop – who is now at Preston – getting the opening goal and Reds fans want to see something similar against Watford this weekend.
They are calling on Mourinho to ring the changes again and one or two names in particular keep cropping up…
Southampton continue to be linked with a move for Barcelona striker Paco Alcacer, and the Premier League club’s fans have been reacting to the latest speculation.
Southampton could spend close to £18m on Alcacer this summer – as covered by Mundo Deportivo – and it is certainly one to watch.
The Spain international joined Barcelona from Valencia in the summer of 2016, and the centre-forward has made 50 appearances for the Catalan outfit in all competitions.
Alcacer has only managed 15 goals during his time at Barcelona, however, with the presence of Luis Suarez in the final third of the field making it difficult for him to secure a regular spot.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”258359″ player=”12034″ title=”The World Cup Twitter Report”]
Southampton have been linked with the 24-year-old over the last month or so, with the English club’s head coach Mark Hughes said to be a huge admirer of the Spaniard.
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The Saints fans have been reacting to the transfer speculation on social media, and it would be fair to say that they are struggling to agree whether it would be a good deal.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
Marco Reus has often been linked with Premier League clubs but his anticipated move to the English top flight could finally materialise this summer, following reports that the Borussia Dortmund star has stalled contract talks at Westfalen.
News of the German international’s apparent £20million release clause, set to come into effect in summer 2015, was brought to light during the off-season by none other than Bayern Munich chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. It was assumed however, Reus’s loyalty, despite his availability, remained firmly with Jurgen Klopp’s side.
But with discussions over a new deal – that would eradicate his remarkably cheap buy-out fee -reportedly hitting a sour note, potential suitors will feel their chances of signing Reus have dramatically improved. And according to the tabloids, Arsenal and Liverpool have emerged as the most interested parties.
It won’t be the clear-cut choice the British press are currently making out. After all, Reus is regarded as one of the most exciting attacking talents in European football, and at just 25 years of age, virtually every major club on the continent will look to capitalise upon the opportunity to sign the forward for his best years.
But in the interests of debate, the question must be asked; who should Marco Reus choose – the Mersey outfit or the Gunners?
Liverpool need a new hero after losing Luis Suarez to Barcelona this summer and Reus is more than capable of filling that void with a paralleled talismanic tone.
It may not be an achievement of recognised value like trophies or titles, but maintaining the tradition of world-class attacking talent at Anfield is an honour in its own right. Reus possesses the quality to rival the likes of Michael Owen, Luis Suarez, Robbie Fowler, Fernando Torres and Kenny Dalglish in Liverpool’s history books, and one can already envisage him in the famous No.7 jersey.
That nostalgic prestige won’t be enough on its own however, and at this moment in time, it remains to be seen just where Brendan Rodgers can take the club in terms of silverware. Following their subdued start to the season, even Liverpool’s Champions League status is currently under threat.
History tells us too that Anfield is more of a stepping stone than a final destination. Many of the aforementioned names left for huge money to the world’s top clubs. Having already more than proved his worth at Borussia Dortmund, it’s not as if Reus needs the platform Liverpool would provide to attract attention from Real Madrid or Barcelona.
Philosophically however, Liverpool’s style of play suits the Germany star well. The Anfield outfit share many characteristics with the Black-Yellows; particularly, their industriousness, desire to defend from the front and the ability to move the ball at breakneck pace going forward. In theory, Reus would transition to life on Merseyside with few teething pains.
Not that he’d be in any way alien to Arsenal’s brand of football. Reus is best famed for his electric pace but the forward’s technical qualities are equally astounding. And the level of talent on the display at the Emirates is arguably more alluring than Anfield- the prospect of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Reus operating in attacking tandem verges upon orgasmic. You could throw Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere into that equation too.
The recent plight of Mesut Ozil however should serve as a warning to Reus. Arsene Wenger spent around £80million to bring Ozil and Sanchez to the Emirates, but he’s yet to truly mould the team around either of them – something the Dortmund star would surely expect should he join the Arsenal ranks next summer.
Of course, Reus is an exceptionally versatile footballer but that same characteristic has served his countryman poorly, who now finds himself regularly lingering in an unaccommodating role on the right hand side. The core of the issue is Arsenal’s depth of quality in midfield; Wenger struggles to find room for all and, as is the case with Ozil, eventually settles on an uneasy compromise.
Comparatively, at Liverpool, Reus would be uncontested for his habitual role on the left hand side; currently, the Anfield roster is absent of established wide options. How he would fit into a strike-force that already contains two elite strikers in Mario Balotelli and Daniel Sturridge however, or how Rodgers would balance gametime between the German, Raheem Sterling, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana in the No.10 role, remain further conundrums.
Admittedly, the differences between the two clubs are rather minimal. Both will be competing for the same aims in the league this season, both will be challenging regularly for auxiliary silverware, and both employ a style of football that suits Reus’ natural strengths as a footballer.
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In terms of the starting Xi however, I feel that there would be a natural role for Reus at Liverpool, or at least, Brendan Rodgers will feel obliged to carve one for him. For Arsenal on the other hand, he’d only be exacerbating a situation that Arsene Wenger is already struggling to resolve.
That being said, a year in the world of Premier League football is a very, very long time.
[ffc-quiz ]
It could be worse Nando, you could be one of these guys…
Brisbane Heat and Trinidad & Tobago are faced with similar problems at the start of their CL T20 campaign: they have lost the nucleus of their squad to IPL franchises
Vishal Dikshit21-Sep-2013Match factsSeptember 22, 2013 Start time 1600 (1030GMT)Dan Christian will have to do a lot of work with both bat and ball in the absence of Brisbane Heat’s star players•Getty Images
Big PictureBrisbane Heat and Trinidad & Tobago, the T20 champions of Australia and West Indies, are faced with similar problems at the start of their CLT20 campaign: they have lost the nucleus of their squad to IPL franchises. Both teams have lost three players each. Heat are without Shane Watson (Rajasthan Royals), Mitchell Johnson (Mumbai Indians) and Thisara Perera (Sunrisers Hyderabad), while T&T have lost Kieron Pollard (Mumbai), Dwayne Bravo (Chennai Super Kings) and Kevon Cooper (Royals).The difference between the sides, however, lies in the other players Heat are missing. Luke Pomersbach is unavailable due to family reasons, and Daniel Vettori and Ryan Harris are out with injuries.T&T have been consistent over the years, qualifying for the CLT20 for the fourth time. They performed best in 2009, when they had Bravo and Pollard and made the final, but even without the pair T&T have six players who were part of the West Indies squad that won the 2012 World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.Without Watson and Pomersbach, however, Heat will face a strong T&T bowling attack, and they might struggle to counter the spin of Samuel Badree, Sunil Narine and Sherwin Ganga on Indian surfaces. Heat’s solitary specialist spinner is Nathan Hauritz, who had the backing of his captain James Hopes.”I am pretty sure that Hauritz can have a good impact in the four overs that he is going to bowl,” Hopes said. “He is an experienced bowler. We have more than one spinner.”T&T’s squad looks stronger too, with batsmen Darren Bravo, Lendl Simmons, the captain Denesh Ramdin and fast bowlers Ravi Rampaul, Shannon Gabriel and Rayad Emrit. Rampaul will mark his return to competitive cricket after spending three months recovering from an ankle injury.”We have experience of Rampaul, Narine and [Darren] Bravo and we can give a good account of ourselves,” Ramdin said. “Hopefully, we can have a good tournament.”Players to watchWith his international experience and sheer pace, Kemar Roach will need to give Heat the impetus with the new ball. He has the ability to dismantle batting line-ups with his speed, and his knowledge of bowling on Indian pitches could make him Heat’s trump card.Sunil Narine will be bowling to Australian batsmen on Indian pitches, where he has had tremendous success during the IPL. Not only did he take wickets but he also kept the scoring down. With a T20 economy rate of 5.42, Heat will need to find ways to score against Narine.
Matthew Wade has been axed as Australia’s one-day wicketkeeper in favour of Brad Haddin and Fawad Ahmed has also been dropped for Xavier Doherty for the upcoming tour of India
Brydon Coverdale19-Sep-2013
Matthew Wade has been cut from Australia’s limited-overs squad•Associated Press
Matthew Wade has been axed as Australia’s one-day wicketkeeper in favour of Brad Haddin and Fawad Ahmed has also been dropped for Xavier Doherty for the upcoming tour of India. The 14-man squad will be led by Michael Clarke, if his back injury allows him to, and he will be one of three certainties for the first Test at the Gabba – along with Haddin and Shane Watson – on the near month-long trip in the lead-up to the Ashes.The selection of Clarke, Watson and Haddin means they will all miss the first round of Sheffield Shield matches, leaving them only two matches each to readjust to the longer format and the Australian conditions before the Brisbane Test. England’s cricketers, by comparison, will have three games to acclimatise and it is not a dissimilar scenario to the disastrous 2010-11 Ashes, when England’s players were better prepared than the Australians.However, it is still possible that Clarke will not take part in the Indian trip after he suffered a recurrence of his ongoing back problem at the end of the limited-overs series in England. In India in March, Clarke missed a Test due to his back injury for the first time in his career, and he was also troubled by his back in the lead-up to the Ashes in England.”After a long tour Michael Clarke’s back condition has flared up again and he has been selected subject to fitness,” John Inverarity, the national selector, said. “He has returned to Australia for further assessment and the national selection panel hopes that it will improve in time for the Indian tour.”The dumping of Wade caps off a difficult few months for him after Haddin reclaimed the Test wicketkeeping position for the Ashes in England. In the one-day series that followed, Wade made 0, 36 and 0 and collected three dismissals, and Haddin’s return could be a long-term option for the selectors after Haddin expressed his desire last month to play on in international cricket until the end of the 2015 World Cup.”Matthew Wade has been omitted due to lack of form and has been replaced by Brad Haddin, who captured an Ashes series record of dismissals in July and August,” Inverarity said. “Matthew is 25 years of age and has a great deal of natural ability both as a batsman and as a keeper. The NSP is confident that Matthew will regain form and press hard for selection in the not too distant future.”That Wade is no longer the incumbent in any format due to poor form – there is a T20 international in Rajkot before the seven-match ODI series – raises the question of whether he would remain next in line behind Haddin over the Australian summer. The Tasmania wicketkeeper Tim Paine could force himself ahead in the queue with a strong start to the domestic season, while Queensland’s Chris Hartley could also find himself in contention if a Test replacement is needed.The return of Doherty for the Indian trip was not unexpected but the omission of Ahmed was perhaps surprising, given he had been blooded on the England tour. Instead, he will have the chance to press for Ashes consideration in three Sheffield Shield outings, although Nathan Lyon is likely to remain the first-choice spinner for at least the beginning of the Ashes.”Fawad bowled well with his limited opportunities in the rain-affected series and better than his figures would suggest,” Inverarity said. “The NSP looks forward to Fawad getting plenty of bowling in the busy domestic schedule that begins at the end of this month.”Also gone from the ODI squad that toured England are Josh Hazlewood and the injured Shaun Marsh, while the allrounder Moises Henriques has been recalled. There will also be a significant change in the off-field staff for the Australians, with the fielding mentor Steve Rixon to lead the tour as head coach while Darren Lehmann spends time at home.”As with the successful tour of the UAE last year we will have Steve Rixon acting as head coach in India,” Pat Howard, Cricket Australia’s general manager of team performance, said. “Darren has been on the road and away from home for a considerable amount of time. This is a great opportunity for Darren to refresh, work with the states and provide others with opportunities.”Australia squad Shane Watson, Aaron Finch, Phillip Hughes, Michael Clarke (capt), George Bailey (vice-capt), Adam Voges, Brad Haddin (wk), Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Johnson, James Faulkner, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Clint McKay, Xavier Doherty.
Andre Russell played some crucial knocks for Jamaica throughout the tournament.•Getty Images
Chris Gayle, the captain of the Jamaica Tallawahs, credited allrounder Andre Russell for being the pivotal factor in his side’s title win on Saturday. Jamaica beat Guyana Amazon Warriors by seven wickets to win the inaugural Caribbean Premier League.”Russell has been fantastic throughout,” Gayle said. “He has been working on his striking and he comes through for us almost every time. I really hope he’s in the next West Indies squad.”Gayle, who won the Man-of-the-Match award for his enterprising 47 not out off 48 balls, praised his team’s commitment en route to the seven-wicket win in the final. After the match, Gayle revealed that Guyana’s strength while chasing totals had prompted him to field after winning the toss.”We are happy to actually be the champions. The management has been great and the players played their parts well. We’re a professional unit and played some good cricket,” Gayle said. “Guyana likes to chase so I think we wanted to restrict them early after winning the toss. We wanted to put them under early pressure. They have quality bowlers but our bowlers and batting maintained a high standard throughout and into the final. Sangakkara was very crucial as well as Danza (Hyatt) when we needed them to be and it’s a great team effort.”Gayle also specified his plan of action in his innings: “I said I was going to bat all 20 overs. I rather stay there until the end. I did not plan to give it away today. I wanted that so badly and I had to stay there and guys rally around me and it was really, really good.” Gayle was also adamant about how the team dispelled false truths about being a composition of Test players. “A lot of talks have been around from the start of the tournament when we picked our team. A lot of people said it was Test team but (we showed that) a Test team can actually win T20 tournaments as well.There were rumours about Gayle’s performances of late being attributed to weaker vision, but Gayle put those to rest: “People said my eyesight was gone as well and that I was not seeing the ball so a lot of things have been going on from a personal point of view so I am really happy that it is over now. I am finished with cricket for another three months,” said Gayle.Gayle was also happy that the victory had helped him address his critics: “I am happy I batted through the innings, and as captain, because this was the most important CPL match we played. I did want to silence my critics and I believe I did!”Guyana skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan, said that changes to the batting line-up had not worked for the side in this game. Offspinner Sunil Narine was sent ahead of James Franklin and Sarwan with nearly five overs to go, and the move may have cost Guyana a few crucial runs towards the end.”I take full responsibility. The (batting) adjustments didn’t pay off. We couldn’t get momentum and my mistakes cost us the game,” Sarwan said. “I live by my decisions. We played well and I think we played the best cricket prior to this out of all the teams but while we worked really hard, we lost it at the end.”Sarwan praised seamer Krishmar Santokie for his performance during the tournament. Santokie finished the tournament with 16 wickets, the most for any bowler in the CPL and Curtly Ambrose, Guyana’s assistant coach, said te seamer was “a key player that West Indies should focus on having in their team”.
أعرب محمود البنا حكم مباراة القمة بين الأهلي والزمالك، عن سعادته بإدارة مباراة الفريقين اليوم، مُشددًا على أن الحكم المصري قادر على إدارة مواجهات القمة دائمًا.
وفاز الأهلي بنتيجة ثقيلة على الزمالك برباعية مُقابل هدف، في اللقاء الذي جمعهما على ملعب استاد القاهرة الدولي، في اللقاء المؤجل من الجولة 31 من عمر مسابقة الدوري المصري الممتاز.
طالع أيضًا | الشناوي وسمير عثمان يوضّحان مدى صحة ركلة جزاء الزمالك وأحقية الأهلي في أخري
وقال البنا في تصريحات عبر قناة “أون تايم سبورت”: “أشكر زملائي جميعًا، كان معي طاقم على أعلى مستوى وقدموا مباراة رائعة، أعتقد قدمنا أنفسنا كتحكيم مصري وإننا قادرون على إدارة مباراة القمة في كل الظروف”.
وتابع: “هذه ثاني مباراة قمة أديرها، التحكيم المصري يجب أن يتواجد في كل مباريات القمة، وأشكر لجنة التحكيم بصفة خاصة بيريرا رئيس لجنة الحكام، ومحمد فاروق وتوفيق السيد، لأنهم داعمين للتحكيم المصري”.
واختتم: “دائمًا مستعد لمثل هذه المباريات وفي أي وقت، وأشكر كل اللاعبين على ظهورهم بشكل احترافي داخل الملعب، والمساعدين وتقنية الفيديو كانوا ولا أروع في المباراة”.
Joseph Masi, of The Express & Star, has reported that West Bromwich Albion are looking to sign Cardiff City defender Lee Peltier.
The Baggies haven’t kept a clean sheet in any of their last 10 league games, so the 33-year-old someone who could help solve that issue.
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However, the club’s fanbase are split on whether signing the right-back would actually be a positive move or not.
Masi referred to the club wanting a “battle-hardened and experienced” player to come in and help solidify the defence, which Peltier certainly is.
Throughout his career, the veteran has played a total of 270 Championship matches for teams including Leeds United and Leicester City.
He hasn’t fallen away this season either, as he has made 24 league starts for Cardiff, averaging 1.4 tackles, 1.2 interceptions, 3.1 clearances and 0.6 blocks per game.
However, not everybody is happy about the prospect of Peltier making the move from Cardiff to the Hawthorns.
One fan has picked up on the fact that in all those Championship games this season he hasn’t recorded any goals or assists, while another suggests the club should send scouts to spot some talent at the “walking football centre” if they want experienced defenders.
Premier League experts will get full marks: The ultimate quiz on top flight transfer flops…
It seems as though some of the supporters were looking for more of a big and exciting name, rather than someone who can provide another functional option at the back.
Meanwhile, stay up to date with the Deadline Day action by looking at the FFC live blog.