Manchester United have had a £30 million bid for James Rodriguez rejected by Porto according to The Daily Mail.
The Red Devils are looking to rebuild and strengthen after losing their Premier League title to cross-town rivals Manchester City last term, and have already added Shinji Kagawa and Nick Powell to their first-team squad.
One of the criticisms of the United side last season was a lack of penetration in midfield, and Sir Alex Ferguson is said to have upped his efforts to bring Colombia international Rodriguez to Old Trafford.
The Porto star has been a key man for the Portuguese club for a number of seasons, and has impressed in performances domestically and on the continent.
Rodriguez has the ability to play on either flank or up front, and this versatility has caught the eye of the legendary Scottish coach.
However, Porto are said to have knocked back a £30 million bid from the Premier League giants in a bid to keep the South American.
However, it is believed that Rodriguez has a release clause in his contract at around the £40 million mark, with United now having to consider upping their offer.
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Carlos Tevez’s hopes of signing for Corinthians appears to have fallen through after the Brazilians pulled out of a £40m move for the Manchester City striker. Rumours are suggesting that they are simply looking to play hard ball with City in order to drive down the asking price, given the transfer window in Brazil is set to shut within the next 48hrs.
Elsewhere Blackburn pulls out of their Indian tour; Luis Suarez hailed by Tabarez, while David Beckham is relishing the challenge against Manchester City – plus much more…
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Breaking FFC News
Corinthians fail to sign Tevez
Blackburn back out of Indian tour
Tabarez hails Suarez masterclass
Beckham relishing City challenge
Modric all class, says Terry
Arsenal conduct their transfer business in private
Sir Alex Ferguson conceding defeat in transfer pursuit
Oxlade-Chamberlain seeks Premier League move
Harry wants Ade on the cheap
Elsewhere in the Press
Ferguson: Berbatov may want to leave United – Daily Telegraph
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Scudamore says Premier League could have goal-line technology next year – Daily Mail
McLeish: I’m big enough and ugly enough to handle stick from Villa fans – Mirror
Balotelli: Utd so right to fear City – Sun
Guardiola joins Barcelona’s public chorus over Fabregas – Independent
Manchester United extended their lead at the top of the Premier League courtesy of a wonder goal by Nani that sealed a 2-1 win. Elsewhere Birmingham eased the pressure at the bottom of the table with a last gasp win; while Mark Hughes will be delighted to see Fulham record their biggest win of the season at Craven Cottage.
In the papers this morning there was a mixed bag of stories including Toure playing down Ade bust-up; Ancelotti concedes he is lucky to avoid the boot; while Sir Alex Ferguson warns the rest of the Premier League that United will only improve.
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Pires – Houllier feeling heat – Sky Sports
Arsene: I’m a fan of spending cap – Sun
Toure plays down Ade bust-up – Sky Sports
Manchester United target Inter Milan goalkeeper Julio Cesar – IMScouting
United will improve, warns Ferguson – Guardian
It ain’t scarf hot as Av wraps up – Sun
I won’t quit cash-strapped Everton – Moyes – Mirror
Spurs cool on Beckham loan move – Guardian
Don’t expect Tev or Cesc to stay – Sun
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France crashed to a 2-0 defeat to Sweden on Tuesday night, meaning they finish as runners-up in Euro 2012 Group D.
Goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sebastian Larsson sealed a pride-restoring victory for the Scandinavian side, and means that England leapfrog Les Bleus into first place in the pool.
Laurent Blanc was not happy with his side’s showing, and feels his men were second best.
“Sweden beat an average France team. They were better in all departments. If we analyse the game I think we struggled throughout,” Blanc told local reporters, translated to English by Sky Sports.
France midfielder Yann M’Vila has also admitted that the showing was not good enough, and knows that his side will have to improve in the quarter-finals against Spain.
“We came upon a team that was far stronger than us,” M’Vila stated.
“We are going to play Spain, the world and defending champions.
“It is up to us to show another side to our game and to prove that we can go far in this competition.”
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Juventus have signed Chile international Arturo Vidal from Bayer Leverkusen, allowing Felipe Melo to join Galatasaray on loan.Turin-based side Juventus, who finished seventh in Serie A last season, will reportedly pay an initial fee of 10.5 million euros for Vidal, rising to 12.5m with additional clauses.
Vidal, capped 34 times by Chile, joined Leverkusen from Colo-Colo in 2007, going on to score 15 times in 117 league appearances.
He helped Leverkusen to second place in the last Bundesliga campaign and will join Stephan Lichtsteiner, Reto Ziegler, Andrea Pirlo and Michele Pazienza as the fifth player to sign for Juventus in the off-season.
Vidal’s arrival coincided with the departure from Juventus of Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo, who joined Galatasary on a one-year loan deal.
The Turkish club have an option to sign Melo for 13 million euros at the end of the next season.
In other transfer news, former Manchester United and Real Madrid defender Gabriel Heinze has joined Roma from Marseille.
Argentine Heinze remained under contract at the Stade Velodrome until 2012, but is believed to have fallen out with Marseille officials last season.
No details of the transfer have been made public, but the 33-year-old has reportedly signed a one-year contract with the Serie A club.
Finally, Diego Capel has completed a switch from Spanish club Sevilla to Portuguese outfit Sporting Lisbon for 3.5 million euros.
Capel, 23, passed a medical on Friday and has signed a five-year contract with the Liga Sagres team.
He is the 12th player to join Sporting in the close-season as the squad undergoes a major overhaul.
After watching the limpest of limp performances from Gerard Houllier’s charges at Anfield this Monday, and with the challenges that lay ahead for the club’s new manager piling up by the fixture, it’s difficult to see anything but mid-table obscurity lying ahead for the second city club, after a revival of sorts under previous manager Martin O’Neill.
It may sound odd referring to Villa as a mid-table side, and to be honest, their league positions never really reflected this, but rather crudely, and don’t worry, I’m fully aware of the selectivity of the statistics that I’ve chosen here, prior to O’Neill’s arrival at the club in August 2006 in time for the start of the 2006/7 season and starting at the start of the Millennium, in the 7 proceeding seasons, Villa finished 6th, 8th, 8th, 16th, 6th, 10th and 16th respectively, which give out an average of 10th. In short, about as mid-table as you can get.
The obstacles in front of the club are numerous but not insurmountable, yet with the club’s chairman Randy Lerner withdrawing funds on a huge scale after the mixed results of the relatively free spending era of O’Neill; coupled with the fact that new manager Houllier has inherited a fairly inexperienced and youthful squad with a seeming lack of firepower and the signs are ominous for the immediate future at least.
Villa’s youngsters, Marc Albrighton, Ciaran Clark, Barry Bannan and Jonathan Hogg as well as Nathan Delfouneso do point to a promising future for the club if they all continue their current career ascents, but for the time being, youth provides the backbone of this Villa squad and for a side with ambitions of challenging for a European spot, that is a risky strategy to take.
With inexperience comes inconsistency, and this current Villa side, while not quite displaying the Jekyll and Hyde nature that made Wigan such a confusing side to pinpoint last season, the difference from one performance to the next is noticeable and was very much on display in their aforementioned defeat to Liverpool.
The club currently lie in 16th place, just 2 points above the relegation zone and while their season isn’t doomed just yet to one of an unexpected dogfight at the bottom, with the league unusually tight, a decent festive period could easily see them just outside the top 6 once more, yet it’s not hard to see where they have gone wrong this term.
Houllier stated yesterday that “At the back we need a bit of both – a change of fortune and of form. We’ve conceded 11 goals in four games. It’s not good enough for a team of our standard. We have to get into the games with the idea of keeping a clean sheet because when you keep a clean sheet you give yourself a chance to win.”
Last season Villa were built upon the foundations of a fantastic partnership between James Collins and Richard Dunne at centre half, ably supported by messrs Friedel, Warnock, Cueller and Luke Young. They conceded just 39 goals, the fourth fewest in the league, kept 15 clean sheets, the fourth best in the league and were generally a hard nut to crack all round. This season, however, they have kept just four clean sheets, and have conceded 27 goals already in just 16 league fixtures, fittingly it seems, the fourth worst in the league. It’s clear that the problems that are undermining their league campaign lie predominantly at the back.
This has manifested itself in some very poor away form, not quite of Fulhamesque proportions just yet, but enough for it to be an issue that needs addressing with the club now a soft touch away from Villa Park. They have accrued just four points on their travels in 8 games this season, and have a quite frankly shocking goal difference of -13, not helped by their 6-0 drubbing at the hands of an Andy Carroll inspired Newcastle side.
While things may be going badly at the back, it’s far from a picnic going forward either. Houllier admits Villa also have to improve at the other end of the pitch in terms of converting chances stating: “I won’t tell you what I put our defensive problems down to. I think it is collective really. We need to be better. We obviously need to eradicate some stupid, schoolboy errors at the back which cost goals. But we also need to improve in the final third and we need to be more clinical. We are improving in terms of our passing, movement and preparation although there are some areas where we have to keep improving. We need more of a cutting edge and to be more clinical at times.”
It’s fair to say that Houllier doesn’t have the greatest of attacking options at his disposal. Agbonlahor has been injury prone so far this term, Emile Heskey, for all his strengths, is not a goalscorer and John Carew is agitating for a move away once more. Of course, Agbonlahor and Carew have combined to decent effect in the past and under O’Neill, Villa were hardly a free-flowing outfit but they always had the ability to excite on occasion and in Ashley Young, they truly have one of the league’s most dynamic players capable of winning a game on his own sometimes. 16 league games thus far have rendered just 17 goals, with just 5 coming away from home.
It’s clear that reinforcements are needed up top. At the back, as Houllier correctly states, it is simply down to individual errors and a lack of form, but the Villa back line is a good defence on the whole and they’ll come good eventually, whereas up top, the experience and goals just simply aren’t there. Of course, it doesn’t help that summer signing Stephen Ireland has failed to shine and has topped, rather prematurely if you ask me, flop of the season lists everywhere, but the rumours linking the club with a move for the likes of Robbie Keane and Michael Owen are understandable, they need a predatory type finisher. Pure and simple.
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Whether Houllier will be given the money to invest that he so evidently needs is another issue entirely though, and a main source of contention between chairman Lerner and previous manager O’Neill. O’Neill wasted an awful lot of money at Villa, but he did unearth the occasional bargain or value for money deal. Houllier had a similar record at Liverpool, for every Diouf there was a Hyypia, for every McAllister a Sean Dundee, but on the whole, he was fairly successful in the transfer market for Liverpool and while the football was dour, results were good and led to a treble of sorts in 2001.
The league this season is in a constant state of flux, but Villa’s recent form, with four defeats in their last five games, is a prime example of a club heading in the wrong direction and they need to arrest the slide. Following up on O’Neill’s three consecutive 6th place finishes was always going to be an unrealistic target this season given the lack of investment, but a top 8 finish should certainly be achievable with a few tweaks and a tightening up at the back.
As I conceded earlier, the league is ridiculously tight, so much so that Bolton are in a lofty 6th place despite only winning five league fixtures this term, and while anyone truly can beat anyone this season in the league, with poor away form, lack of firepower, a faltering defence and a chairman tightening the purse strings, these truly are testing times for Aston Villa as they try to avoid slipping back into a mid-table club after their seasons in the sun.
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Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna has accused Norwich’s Bradley Johnson of deliberately trying to break his leg, after the France international suffered his second long-term injury in the space of six months on Saturday.
The full-back suffered a broken leg in the clash with the Canaries, and as a result will now miss Euro 2012.
The Gunners man has stated that he feels that Johnson targeted him on purpose and that the break was similar to the first injury.
“I think he did it on purpose,” Sagna told French newspaper L’Equipe, translated to English by The Daily Mail.
“He stepped on my leg right where the plate was. I think the plate pressured (the bone). It’s a neat break, just above the plate.
“When I tried to control the ball, I felt a crack, just like the first time at Tottenham.
‘That’s how it is. It’s football. I came back once, I will come back a second time. Even stronger,” he conceded.
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Newcastle will be boosted ahead of the 2011/12 season by the news that French international winger Hatem Ben Arfa has returned to full fitness.
The 24-year-old had a promising start to his career at St James’ Park, scoring the winner against Everton on his full debut, but broke his leg in a challenge with Manchester City’s Nigel de Jong back in October. The bulk of the player’s rehabilitation has occurred in Clairefontaine in his homeland, but the ex-Marseille midfielder has revealed he is fit and available for selection.
“It was a very serious injury, of course, and took a long time to recover from, but I’m 100% fit now,” he told the club’s official website.
“A lot of my recovery was done at Clairefontaine, the French football centre, where I was under the control of the doctor who did the operation back in October. I also came back to Newcastle for various updates with the club’s medical staff here, then back to Clairefontaine to continue the recovery, and I managed to get a couple of breaks in as well because you need that to keep the morale going.
“And now I’m no longer under the doctor, so all the hard work has paid off. It was a very, very difficult few months and I’m really happy that now it’s all over and I can get cracking. I’m really eager to get back,” he continued.
The Tyneside club have had a busy summer in the transfer market thus far, and have signed two French players in the form of Yohan Cabaye and Sylvain Marveaux, which is great news for Ben Arfa.
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“It’s good for my morale that we have signed such good players from France, players that I know and that I have played against. It’s going to be really good. I spoke to Sylvain Marveaux before he came here and it was a very good conversation. I told him it was the right place for Sylvain to come and I’m very glad he took my advice,” the Clamart born man concluded.
Newcastle open their 2011/12 Premier League campaign with a home game against Arsenal on August 13.
This week, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer announced that he will be ending his 14 year association with Manchester United and returning to manage his former club Molde. Over the years Solskjaer has provided Manchester United with some amazing memories, none more so than his winner in the Champions League final in 1999. Solskjaer, as a player and coach is adored by the Manchester United fans and it will be sad to see the Norwegian leave. However, the striker has left Manchester United with some great memories, and below is a selection of them.
v Bayern Munich, Champions League final, Barcelona 26/05/99
What more needs to be said?
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Continue to PAGE TWO for more Magic Solskjaer Moments…
v Liverpool, FA Cup, 24/01/99
A goal that kept the treble dream alive. Manchester United were trailing to Liverpool before an equaliser, and up stepped Solskjaer with nerves of steel to win the game and send Manchester United through. He wrong footed David James and nestled a 12 yard strike inside the near post. If United had lost that day, the season could have looked a lot different for United and Solskjaer.
[youtube EYiO7PoCZyY]
Continue to PAGE THREE for more Magic Solskjaer Moments…
v Nottingham Forrest, Premiership, 06/02/99
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored four goals inside 10 minutes at the City Ground. United had raced into a 4-1 lead against a diabolical Nottingham Forest side. Both Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke had scored two each but it was Solskjaer, from the bench, who was to grab a hat trick. The definitive super sub had just super sized the accepted parameters of his trade, and no cause would ever be lost again.
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Continue to PAGE FOUR for more Magic Solskjaer Moments…
v Charlton, Premiership, 23/08/06
The Norwegian knew that his playing time at Old Trafford was coming to an end due to persistent injuries. This was his last goal for Manchester United, and who could deny that he deserved his wish of one more. He saluted the Manchester United support, and in kind they saluted him back. Through three years of injury misery, he was motivated by scoring another goal for Manchester United – a true Manchester United legend.
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Continue to PAGE FIVE for more Magic Solskjaer Moments…
v Newcastle, Premiership, 18/04/98
Manchester United had lost ground in the title race and were looking to be loosing their grip on the Premier League title. Manchester United threw everyone forward for a late corner, but Newcastle in the shape of Rob Lee broke and was clear on goal. In an act of pure selflessness, Solskjaer chased Lee down – despite being 10 yards behind him. He hacked the midfielder down, and was shown the red card but it showed in an age of rampant egotism there were selfless footballers who would do their all to prevent a defeat. Maybe not his finest moment, but this act – or Manchester United fans at least – showed his commitment to the cause.
There is a rhythmic, enchanting, impulsive song which reverberates around the dark pine forests of Köpenick, a borough nestled deep into the East of Berlin. It arises spontaneously and once started, will continue relentlessly. ‘FC Union, unsere liebe, unsere mannschaft, unsere stolz, unsere verein’ goes the chant, hardly Lennon and McCartney stuff but words which define a club at the very forefront of German fan culture – ‘our love, our team, our pride, our club’.
Tucked away in the former GDR during the Cold War years, 1.FC Union Berlin have forged a reputation for being a ‘Kult’ club, with fans often voicing dissent towards the Soviet satellite regime on the terraces of their Alten Forsterei ground. In more recent times, however, the club has attained a reputation for more innovative fan practices, cited as the epitome of the fan-ownership model.
When promotion to the Bundesliga II was compromised by ground regulations, the fans rallied round, volunteering their services in order to renovate the crumbling terraces as the stadium was transformed into the modern, sleek arena it is today. This summer, fans will do the same to renovate another stand, as the club aim to bring the last remaining remnant of the Soviet era into the modern realm and up to standards that meet the side’s Bundesliga ambitions. Only the roof installation was carried out by contractors; the fans being the literal foundations of the club.
Essentially, the club is a model of everything that is seductive about fan culture in German football – fans have direct involvement with the club’s decision making process, a democratic system seldom seen in England, and the football watching experience is far excelled from the sterilised environment found at the majority of Premiership grounds. You can stand and have a beer without the threat of ejection; a luxury English fans pine for yet are unlikely to ever enjoy again. As such, the German experience is proving too hard to resist for disillusioned Englishmen in search of an authentic recreation of the English game before the moneymen arrived.
One such fan is Mark Wilson, who swapped a Sunderland season ticket for one at Union Berlin for the coming season. Having joined a growing legion of expats in Berlin two years ago, Mark spoke to us about his experiences and why the Germans do it best.
On why this was such an attractive proposition, Mark said that “FC Union Berlin are a community club. Being a Sunderland fan I identified with this. Union fans take it to a whole new level though. Being a true supporter of a club has to be about more than simply the football and the results. I have made friends for life due to football and choosing Union rather than Hertha appealed to me due to my love of the underdog. The terraces were a big pull also.”
Terracing is a divisive issue in English football – yet in Germany, the introduction of safe standing is one which has been implemented with minimal fuss and minimal hazard. Mark tells us that “terracing is critical to atmosphere. The cost is affordable and this means that you get a good cross-section of German society attending matches. Subsequently, the atmosphere is better. It reminds me of standing on the terraces at Roker Park in the 90’s when the crowd was mainly working class.” However, Mark believes the prospects of standing areas being reintroduced to British grounds is wishful thinking: “I personally think
you’ll never stand at an English ground again. I support safe standing areas but I support drinking a pint whilst watching the game and both will never happen in the UK.”
For all the laudability of German fans, they have not been without controversy recently – pyrotechnics causing great concerns for the authorities, whilst unsavoury scenes in the relegation/promotion play-off between Fortuna Dusseldorf and Hertha Berlin raising the specter of more a sinister side to German fandom. Mark, however, believes this is not representative of the wider football supporting population. “The scenes in Dusseldorf were great for the media, a good opportunity to sell papers and I think the Hertha players response during the hearing last week was embarrassing. The two issues are pyrotechnics and crowd control. On the subject of the former I’d advocate safe areas where they can be used – they look awesome. The Hertha fans who threw missiles at 4-2 down on aggregate were guilty and have unfortunately given the authorities a stick to beat fans with. It’s a stick they’ll use as well.”
As a football fan on foreign shores, Mark has found a welcome home on the German terraces. “One fan described Union as a club who are “multi-kulti” and at another game I was given a Union pin-badge by the trumpet player. The official Union site posted my blog and loved the fact that an “Auslander” (foreigner) was following Union.”
Additionally, Mark highlighted the stinging disparity in tickets and treatment of supporters. The price of tickets in England are a disgrace. I lived in London for nearly 10 years and never once went to Stamford Bridge. It was almost fifty pounds for a ticket. Although football is run as a business true fans are different from consumers. How many businesses have customers that did not even choose to become customers? In Sunderland you are born a supporter of the club.” On the standard of the German leagues, Mark implies that “the crux for me is not the quality that is on offer but how competitive a league is. The Bundesliga is arguably more competitive and this is largely to do with the ownership rules.”
Evidently, English clubs are falling into a terminal process of alienating supporters: Many are being squeezed out the game by spiraling ticket prices whilst the fatal decline in atmosphere at games is severely compromising the soul of English fandom. The case of Union Berlin and other similar models in Germany provide the ultimate demonstration of fan ownership reaping beneficial rewards. Following a football club in England can often feel like a chore, a burden or an obligation as opposed to a joy. Unless this is reversed, the core ideological essence of the English game is at threat; a move towards the German model would be forthright step towards addressing this.
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Finally, given the choice between England and Germany, which would Mark choose? “England, but only because of Sunderland. However the match day experience here in Germany – standing on the terraces with your mates quaffing a pint – can’t be beaten.”
Have your say – are you disillusioned with English fandom or are things better nowadays? Tweet me @acherrie1
You can also follow Mark Wilson’s exploits following Union Berlin @UnionBerlinMan