United On The Verge
Of Securing Pedro Deal
Luis Enrique has admitted Pedro’s move to Manchester United
will be resolved ‘soon’.The Barcelona winger has been linked with a
£22million switch to Old Trafford, although the deal was thought to have hit a
snag. Reports in Spain suggested the La Liga champions were dragging their
heels due to Neymar being ruled out of the start of the season with Mumps.
However, the 28-year-old is now understood to have completed a medical with the
Red Devils and is close to finalising a deal. And now Barca manager Enrique has
confirmed the saga will be cleared up with a ‘solution’ on its way. Asked ahead
of the game against Sevilla about the possibility of Pedro playing, he said:
“I have never decided to pick a player or leave him out because of the
transfer window. I would like to keep all my players through the whole season.
But we have talked enough about Pedro. The solution will arrive soon.”
Former Barcelona star
Hristo Stoitchkov has once again hit out at Louis van Gaal, saying the Dutchman
is destroying Manchester United. Stoitchkov, who blames Van Gaal for his
Barca exit 17 years ago, has criticised Van Gaal for his attempts to sign Pedro
from the Catalans. Pedro is being lined up with a move to United as he goes in
search of regular game-time. However, Stoitchkov says the striker should think
twice about the switch given the way Victor Valdes has been ostracised at Old
Trafford. “I would never be under the orders of Van Gaal,” the
49-year-old told Spanish radio Onda Cero. “He’s mediocre. He destroyed
Barca and is destroying Manchester United. With what he has done to Valdes he
has shown he is a bad person. Hopefully Pedro listens to me and doesn’t
leave.” The ex-Mamelodi Sundowns coach added: “I have no respect for
him. One day, when I was injured, I was with my wife at Camp Nou and Van Gaal
went up to her. He asked her how it was possible that she married someone like
me. She responded that I was a Ballon d’Or winner. My departure in 1998 was the
fault of Van Gaal, for sure.” Stoitchkov, a Bulgarian icon, won five La
Liga titles and the European Cup during his time at the Nou Camp.
Chelsea’s pursuit of defensive reinforcements looks like
finally making some progress after they agreed a deal with Augsburg for Baba
Rahman. The Ghana left-back, 21, has been earmarked as a replacement
for Filipe Luis, who was sold back to Atletico Madrid after only a season at
Stamford Bridge. Negotiations have been continuing for weeks, with the Premier
League champions having a bid of £17.2m (€25m) rejected over the weekend.
Augsburg had been holding out for a fee closer to €30m but with Rahman having
already agreed personal terms for his move to Stamford Bridge, the Bundesliga
side have now reached a settlement over the structure of payments. Chelsea are
expected to pay around £14m up front, with several significant bonus payments
up to £6m due should he play more than 100 matches. The player and his agent
have already travelled to London and a medical is planned for this week. Augsburg,
who recorded their highest finish of fifth in the Bundesliga last season,
completed the purchase of a replacement for Rahman last week in the form of
Philipp Max from Karlsruhe. Rahman, who only signed from Greuther Fürth last
summer, made what appears to be his last appearance for Augsburg on Friday in
the cup victory over fourth-division Elversberg. He performed a lap of honour
afterwards to say goodbye to supporters. “I would like to continue working with
all players, but when you sign someone like Baba from the second division and
he’s on Chelsea’s radar 12 months later, it does make the coaching staff
proud,” said the Augsburg coach, Markus Weinzierl. Chelsea were alerted to
Rahman’s promise by their former manager Avram Grant, who coaches Ghana. Rahman
was a member of the squad who reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in
February.
Liverpool winger
Jordon Ibe will wait until next year before making a decision on his
international future. The 20-year-old qualifies for both England – for who
he has played at junior level – and Nigeria, where his father David is from. New
Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh is desperate to add Ibe to his team, with the
young winger having come on in leaps and bounds at Anfield in the last six
months. A source has said that a decision will be made next year. “He has
consulted with his family and now wants to wait a little longer till when he’s
21 and that will be in 2016 before he decides on the direction of his
international career.” Ibe started for Liverpool in Sunday’s season-opening win
at Stoke City.
Chelsea are believed to be preparing a
final ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ offer for Everton defender John Stones. The Blues have had two offers rejected for the
21-year-old, who they see as the perfect long-term replacement for captain John
Terry. It is widely reported that Chelsea will now make a final £30-million
bid, with Stones having reportedly expressed a desire to move to Stamford
Bridge. He joined Everton from Barnsley for £3-million two years ago.
Manchester United
newcomer Memphis Depay has embraced the pressure that comes with wearing the
club’s iconic No. 7 shirt. Depay took over the number following Angel Di
Maria’s departure to Paris Saint-Germain, following in the footsteps of United
legends Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Eric Cantona and George Best. “Yes,
of course [I’m aware of the pressure] and the history,” Depay said. “I
appreciate the history, but I want to be my own man. It’s an honour to wear the
number seven and I will wear it with pride. Last year I played with seven on my
back [for PSV Eindhoven] and I scored a lot of goals so I am confident with
that number. Depay, who was the Eredivisie’s top scorer with 22 goals last
term, made his Red Devils debut in a 1-0 win over Tottenham on Saturday.
Manchester City have launched a £47m bid for Wolfsburg attacker
Kevin de Bruyne. City have been interested in signing the former
Chelsea player for some time but Wolfsburg have previously been insistent they
have not received any offers from the Manchester club. The 23-year-old, who
struggled to break into the Blues’ first-team under Jose Mourinho, has
previously said he has had “informal contact” with City and the
player’s agent, Patrick De Koster, admitted on Monday that they are waiting to
see if an agreement is made between the clubs. De Koster said: “I have read
a lot of nonsense in the media. Kevin remains a Wolfsburg player and is focused
on his job at the club. We are waiting to discover whether any agreement has
been reached between the clubs. That is for the clubs to decide, and not for
us. There is no medical planned at this stage, and he is happy at
Wolfsburg.” De Bruyne had a superb season in the Bundesliga last term,
scoring 16 goals in 49 appearances, having signed from Chelsea in the summer of
2014. The Belgium international began his career at Genk before joining Chelsea
in 2012 and being loaned straight back to his former club.
Juventus added
another trophy to their collection when they won the Italian Super Cup against
Lazio on Saturday. Massimiliano Allegri’s side won 2-0, with new signings
Mario Mandzukic and Paulo Dybala finding the back of the net. Mandzukic, who
arrived from Atletico Madrid, headed in the opener on 68 minutes from Stephan
Lichtsteiner’s cross. Dybala got the second just minutes later, firing home
from Paul Pogba’s lay-off. Seria A starts on August 22, with Lazio up against
Bologna, while Juve host Udinese the following day.
Mohamed Salah has completed his move
from Chelsea to AS Roma. The Egyptian
winger has been a peripheral figure at Stamford Bridge since joining from FC
Basel in 2014, and spent last season on loan at Fiorentina. The Italian club
have since threatened legal action, claiming they had an agreement for the loan
to be made permanent, but Salah is focusing on his new career in Rome. “I think
Roma are one of the biggest clubs in the world and I’m happy to be in this
team,” he told the club’s TV channel. “I think everybody here has
ambition and everybody wants to win the title. Everybody will give their best
to make the fans happy.”
Real Madrid star
Gareth Bale feels he is better suited to a central rather than wide position
for the La Liga club, and hopes to get more chances there in future. The
Welsh speedster has been deployed on the flanks for most of his time with Los
Blancos over the past two seasons, yet was given a chance in the traditional
number 10 position last Tuesday as Madrid beat his former employers Tottenham
Hotspur 2-0 – Bale himself finding the target to score his club’s second. The
26-year-old revealed after the match that he much prefers playing down the
middle, as he does when representing his national team. “It’s my best
position,” he said. “When I played for Tottenham, I felt I played my best
football there and when I play for Wales, I play there and play my best
football. For me, that’s my position and it’s where I want to play. I’m able to
go out to the left and the right, and it’s what I was doing at Tottenham and
what I do for Wales.” Bale has been at the receiving end of harsh treatment
from the Madrid faithful over the past season, but feels he has the
management’s backing as he looks forward to a successful 2015/16 campaign. It’s
great to have the support of the manager and the president [Florentino Perez]
and, hopefully, I can repay them with some goals and trophies,” he said.
Switzerland international winger Xherdan Shaqiri has
completed a medical and agreed personal terms with Stoke City ahead of a
proposed move from Inter Milan. The Midlands club agreed a £12m deal
for the former Bayern Munich man earlier this summer but boss Mark Hughes
subsequently admitted they were moving on after being made to wait for a
verdict from the player. But Shaqiri was spotted watching Stoke’s 1-0 defeat at
home to Liverpool on Sunday and Hughes told the media afterwards that he was
“hopeful” he would now sign for the club. It is believed the ongoing
deal is made complicated because Bayern, who sold Shaqiri to Inter in January,
included a number of sell-on clauses in the attacker’s contract. Stoke actually
attempted to sign Shaqiri from Bayern before the 23-year-old opted for Inter
instead, subsequently signing a four-year deal at the San Siro. But he
immediately struggled for form in Italy, making just eight Serie A starts for
Inter and scoring one goal. Shaqiri will become Hughes’ eighth signing of the
summer following the additions of Jakob Haugaard, Philipp Wollscheid, Joselu,
Marco van Ginkel, Shay Given, Glen Johnson and Ibrahim Afellay.
Manchester City manager Manuel
Pellegrini has signed a new contract that will keep him at the club until 2017. The news ends speculation linking the Chilean’s
job with Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola. “I am proud to manage
Manchester City and am therefore very pleased to have agreed this
contract,” said Pellegrini, who had a year left on his previous deal. “I
have a very good quality group of players and a great team of people to work
with on and off the field and at all levels of the club. I am focused on the
coming season and confident that my team and I will respond to the constant
support shown to us by everyone including of course our fantastic fans.” Pellegrini
joined City from Malaga in 2013, and steered the club to Premier League and
League Cup honours before their second-placed finish behind Chelsea last term.
Ashley Young has
signed a new three-year contract with Manchester United that will expire in
2018. Young’s deal also has the option to extend for another year. “I
am delighted to have signed a new contract. The spirit and motivation amongst
this team is very high and we are all determined to make this a season to
remember,” he told United’s official website. “All I have ever wanted
to do is play football and to be able to continue to do that at the biggest
club in the world means everything to me and my family.” The news came
less than 24 hours after fellow winger Angel Di Maria completed his move to
French champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal has explained why he
left out David De Gea in favour of Sergio Romero in their Premier League opener
against Tottenham. United were fortuitous in their 2015/16 season
opener as they beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0, thanks to a Kyle Walker own-goal in
the first half. A major talking point though, was Van Gaal’s decision to hand
new goalkeeper Romero his debut ahead of De Gea, amid rumours linking him to
Real Madrid. Despite De Gea watching on from the stands at Old Trafford on
Saturday, The Dutch tactician assures that the Spaniard still has a place at
The Red Devils once the transfer window is shut on 1 September. “Of course he could
[play],” said Van Gaal. “If he is still here on 1 September we will look again,
but he cannot play before that because as a goalkeeper you need the highest
concentration, and it is difficult when you are in a position like David. We
saw in pre-season his focus was not quite there and we made the decision on
Wednesday not to play him.” The former Bayern Munich boss, who turned 64 on
Saturday, was happy with Romero’s performance after the Argentine had just two
training sessions since arriving from Monaco. “Sergio saved us twice, and Spurs
had the first clear chance, they could have scored right at the start, so we
were lucky,” he added.
Angel Di Maria says
his family’s safety was one of the reasons he opted to leave Manchester United
for Paris Saint-Germain. The Argentine winger moved to France after just
one season with the Red Devils, whom he joined in a British record
£59.7-million in August 2014. Di Maria had a strained relationship with manager
Louis van Gaal, but says an attempted break-in at their Cheshire home played a
big part. “I’m happy because I know my wife and child will be happy in
Paris,” he said upon his unveiling at PSG. But Di Maria insists he did not
force his way out the club, saying United still had to agree to the transfer. “It
wasn’t just my decision to leave,” he added. “If I left it was also because
they decided to sell me. The three parties agreed. Me, Manchester United and
PSG agreed the deal.”
Manchester United have been drawn to
face Belgian side Club Brugge in the play-offs for the UEFA Champions League. The teams will battle each other on August 18/19
and 25/26 for a spot in the group stages of the competition.
Play-off ties:
Manchester United vs Club Brugge
Lazio vs Leverkusen
Rapid Vienna vs Shakhtar
Sporting vs CSKA Moscow
Valencia vs Monaco
Astana v APOEL
Skenderbeu v Dinamo Zagreb
Basel v Maccabi Tel Aviv
Celtic v Malmo
BATE v Partizan
Thulani Serero’s Ajax
Amsterdam will battle Czech side Jablonec in the play-offs for the Europa
League, while Lebohang Phiri’s Brondby have been drawn to face Greece’s PAOK. The
games will take place on August 20 and 27, with the group draw set for August
28.
Atromitos vs. Fenerbahce
Thun vs. Sparta Prague
Liberec vs. Hadjuk Split
Krasnodar vs. HJK
Rabotnicki vs. Rubin
Odd vs. Dortmund
Dinamo Minsk vs. Salzburg
Astra vs. AZ
Southampton vs. Midtjjlland
Lech vs. Videoton
Bordeaux vs. Kairat
Panathinaikos vs. Qabala
PAOK vs. Brondby
Plzen vs. Vojvodina
Young Boys vs. Qarabag
Molde vs. Standard Liege
Zilina vs. Athletic Bilbao
Zorya vs. Legia
Jablonec vs. Ajax
Steaua vs. Rosenborg
Altach vs. Belenenses
Milsami vs. St. Etienne