Newcastle have completed the signing of Davide Santon from Inter Milan on a five year contract, with the fee undisclosed by the Premier League club.
The Magpies have been in the market for a left back following the sale of Jose Enrique to Liverpool, and the 20-year-old is expected to slot straight into the St James’ Park first team.
The seven-times capped Italy international first broke through at the Giuseppe Meazza under Jose Mourinho, but has found opportunities in Serie A limited of late, and spent the second half of last season on loan at Cesena.
“We are delighted to bring to Davide to Newcastle. He is a quality left-back and an established international who also gives us flexibility in defence,” manager Alan Pardew told the side’s official website.
“Davide is a young lad and a great signing for us and I am sure he will adapt to the Premier League very quickly.”
The player was happy to sign for the Tyneside outfit also, and his agent revealed yesterday that he chose Pardew’s men over Roma.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
“I am really pleased to sign for Newcastle. The chance to play in the Premier League and in front of 50,000 fans at St. James’ Park was too good to turn down. This is an ambitious club who want to move forward and help them achieve,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Newcastle’s search for a new striker is set to go down to the wire, as they chase Manchester United’s Federico Macheda and Sochaux’s Modibo Maiga.
Real Madrid assistant coach Aitor Karanka has sung the praises of in-form striker Karim Benzema.
Benzema’s goal in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey first-leg clash with Sevilla handed his side a 1-0 lead to take into next week’s second leg at the Bernabeu.
After struggling to cement a place in the starting line-up for much of the season, the 23-year-old Frenchman is starting to have an impact for Jose Mourinho’s side, also scoring the winner in their last La Liga match – a 1-0 win over Mallorca.
“Karim looked good from the start, and when the manager has spoken about him it has spurred him on,” Karanka said.
“Karim scored and went over to the manager, so I think that shows the affection that we have for him. We’ve said a thousand times that he is an important player.”
“A first leg is always difficult. It’s a game that could have been 0-2 or 0-3 -or maybe 1-1 with the chance that they had at the end. It’s a good result, but not definitive by any means.”
“I think that the fans in the Bernabeu will be supportive next Wednesday. It’s a positive result, but it’s not over by any means.”
Sevilla boss Gregorio Manzano, meanwhile, thinks his side were unlucky to lose the tie and believes Luis Fabiano’s shot was over the line before it was cleared by Real defender Raul Albiol.
Although replays were inconclusive, Manzano is adamant Fabiano should have been credited with the goal.
“In my view, football-wise my team were unlucky to lose,” Manzano said.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
“I think that we made a great effort and had a great attitude, and we fought back well when we conceded a goal against a great team like Real Madrid.”
“However much it will be debated tonight and tomorrow, it was a goal. It’s a difficult move that was hard for the linesman to judge, but we had a similar situation at home against Almeria, and that was a goal. “
“There is still a second leg to play, and we have to think that we can play the same in Madrid as we did here.”
Liverpool have made a clear and deliberate attempt to plan for the future this summer with their transfer business so far, with both Fabio Borini and Joe Allen 22 years of age or younger, but the switch that saw the latter move to Anfield just a few days ago could have a knock-on effect on yet another young player at the club, Jordan Henderson, so just what does the future hold for the midfielder?
Joe Allen arrived from Swansea for £15m in a move that saw boss Brendan Rodgers go back on a supposed gentleman’s agreement between the two clubs – the price may be worth value for money in the long-term, but in the short-term at least, it looks a lot to pay for a player with just one season’s worth of top flight experience under his belt.
What the club’s pursuit does tell us, though, as they paid out Allen’s release clause in his contract, while reportedly tripling his wages and offering him a £2m signing on deal, is that Rodgers was extremely keen to get Allen into the club and on board. Of course, the young Welshman is less of risk when you approach it from the viewpoint that he is familiar with Rodgers ethos, style and what he wants from his players, so in that regard, he should take less time to settle than you would normally expect, and he looks set to secure a starting berth alongside Lucas Leiva in the heart of the midfield, with Steven Gerrard just ahead of them both in something of a free role.
Henderson, lest we forget, is still just 22 years of age himself and despite a rocky first season on Merseyside, where he failed to justify the £16m fee forked out for him from Sunderland, he is still undoubtedly a fine player in the making with huge potential and he’s shown good strength of character in being able to cope with all of the criticism that has come his way, which is wholly unfair when you consider his age.
Much in the same way that Theo Walcott is hampered by lofty expectations at Arsenal, Henderson isn’t a very typical English style of player – quietly effective, composed and with a tidy range of passing – there are no barnstorming forward runs, last-ditch tackles and headline-grabbing performances and the talk of him being the club’s long-term heir to captain Steven Gerrard upon first completing the move has given some people unrealistic expectations and the result is that some appear to have an extremely loose grasp, let alone appreciation, for what kind of player he actually is.
Instead, he’s disciplined, tactically aware and as fit as a fiddle, with possessing the ability to play the ball on the deck and you suspect that he fits in rather neatly into Rodgers vision for the club going forward and his much-talked about footballing philosophy, but the signing of Allen does mean that his path into the starting eleven, when everybody is fit at least, is blocked off to an extent.
Here’s what Rodgers had to say on Henderson to the Liverpool Echo last month: “I look at the young kid Jordan Henderson who got a wee bit of stick last year but do you know what, this is a boy who was 21 years of age. I thought when I first saw him at Sunderland that this kid is going to be a really good player. He’s coming to a massive club and massive expectation. He moves away from home, he is on his own and he has to be a world beater straight away. It was never going to happen.
“This kid can play football. If he is in a certain system – in an environment which is going to help him and educate him in the game – you will see that. The biggest thing for me that I’ve heard about Jordan is his attitude. He has got an incredible attitude. If you have got a player like that who has got the ability and the thirst to learn – he can run all day, he is physically good, he is strong, he is quick – and you can remodel him.”
While obviously sounding a bit like the voice-over to the six billion dollar man: ‘Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man. Jordan Henderson will be that man. Better than he was before. Better…stronger…faster’, Rodgers does have a point regarding Henderson and the main problem for him last term was that he lacked a clearly defined role under previous boss Kenny Dalglish, often being shunted out wide into an unfamiliar position on the right – a top flight version of what every Sunday League club does when they stick the young lad up front even though he doesn’t play there, just because he might be quicker than everyone else.
Henderson flourished at Sunderland in a three-man midfield and it looks as if Rodgers is keen to replicate the system he used at Swansea during his time at Liverpool and with a European campaign in mind, Henderson will surely start upwards of 30 games over the course of the season. If anything, not being a guaranteed starter, but a relied upon squad member could be exactly what was needed to take the spotlight away from him and the near-constant talk about his hefty fee.
You only have to look at the competition in midfield to realise that Henderson, despite the Allen signing, will be seeing a lot of playing time. If the club manage to clinch the signing of Fulham’s Clint Dempsey, which everyone now assumes they will do now that their priority target of Allen has been secured, then that leaves five players into three positions.
Alberto Aquilani has already been moved on to Fiorentina this summer to create space in the squad and room to manoeuvre in the wage budget for the Allen switch, while Charlie Adam looks like he’s going to be moved on if the club receive a suitable offer for him with Fulham mooted as a potential destination after he struggled for consistency last term, and the Scot clearly lacks the necessary fitness and mobility to play in a Rodgers side.
There has been talk of youngster Jonjo Shelvey being moved out on loan again this season, but the new-found maturity he displayed during his composed display at the heart of the midfield alongside Lucas during the club’s 3-0 win over FC Gomel surely provided food for thought for the new boss. Jay Spearing looks set be kept around if for no other reason than he provides a decent understudy to Lucas should he get injured again.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Henderson may not be assured of a starting place in the same way that he was under Dalglish last season, but the same can be said for both Stewart Downing and Andy Carroll too as Rodgers looks set to rotate his squad a lot more, relying on past performances as opposed to the player in question’s transfer fee.
This competition for places should serve the side well, while Henderson’s versatility means he could also play a key part in a number of different roles and while he may not perhaps be as integral as before, with the inevitable injuries you’ll suffer from competing on four fronts over the course of a long season, his style means he has the potential to be Liverpool’s answer to Ramires should he find his feet in the new-look side and system.
Universidad Cesar Vallejo were not able to make home advantage count in the first round of the Copa Sudamericana.The Peruvian side had to settle for a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their tie against Colombia’s Santa Fe on Tuesday.
Cesar Vallejo controlled the early stages, with Uruguyan forward Mario Leguizamon giving them a fourth minute lead – an advantage they would hold until half time.
But Oscar Rodas salvaged a draw for the visitors with the equaliser on 52 minutes, giving them the advantage heading into the second leg in Bogota on August 28.
In Tuesday’s other first round tie, Uruguayan side Bella Vista could only muster a 1-1 draw at home against Universidad Catolica.
The hosts went ahead on 24 minutes through an Ignacio Nicolini penalty, but Pablo Calandria’s goal for the Universidad side 12 minutes later ensured the Chilean side have the upper hand ahead of the return leg in Santiago on August 17.
Liverpool will attempt to arrest their three-match winless slide on a trip to Wolverhampton on Saturday.
The Reds are yet to taste victory under new manager Kenny Dalglish, though they came from behind to snatch a point in last Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Everton.
The solitary point was not enough to keep Liverpool from slipping to 13th on the English Premier League table, however, and with the drop zone just four points away Dalglish will be keen for his side to inflict further pain on battered Wolverhampton.
Wolves found themselves back in the relegation zone following a 4-3 loss at Manchester City, though the visitors showed tremendous spirit to claw back from a 4-1 deficit with 24 minutes to play.
Mick McCarthy’s side have won three of their past four at home, including a 1-0 victory over reeling Chelsea earlier this month, and will go into Saturday’s match in a confident mood after thumping Doncaster Rovers 5-0 in Tuesday’s FA Cup replay.
Wolves also defeated Liverpool 1-0 when the two sides met at Anfield over the holiday period, prior to Roy Hodgson’s departure from the embattled club.
Liverpool will be without Steven Gerrard due to suspension, while defender Jamie Carragher is recovering from shoulder surgery and Joe Cole is still in doubt with an ongoing ankle injury.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
McCarthy will be unable to call on left-back George Elokobi due to a red card picked up in Wolves’ initial FA Cup draw at Doncaster.
Joey Craddock and Karl Henry got through 90 minutes against Doncaster and should line up at the Molineux on Saturday.
Everton boss David Moyes is considering making a move for former Wigan forward Hugo Rodallega according to The Daily Mail.
The cash-strapped Merseysiders are eager to push on by bolstering their squad this summer, but do not have an abundance of money to spend due to financial constraints.
The Colombia international’s contract with the Latics has expired, with the South American leaving the DW Stadium and now available on a free transfer.
Meanwhile, Toffees legend Trevor Steven ha stated that the side need to get off to a good start next season, and the fact that January signing Nikica Jelavic has settled in at Goodison Park should aid this.
“Every team changes their squad in some shape or fashion, whether players are coming out of contract, whether they choose to leave, or whether management wishes that they move on to get someone else in, because you need to freshen it,” he told the club’s official website.
“But the beauty of this season was being able to go into the transfer market last January and spend a considerable amount of money on Jelavic, which was a bargain – he was probably a good 40 per discount on what he might have been had the situation at Rangers not been what it was. So that was an intelligent purchase,” he admitted.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Emmanuel Adebayor, Tottenham Hotspur striker. Those very words may stick in some Spurs fans throat, but it is a possibility that may very well become fact over the next few weeks. Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has confirmed he is extremely interested in the former Arsenal frontman, who is currently looking for a new club. But should Spurs fans remain so angry towards Togo international, in light of his proposed move, and should many be against such a signing?
Adebayor was recently left out of Manchester City’s tour of America and has been forced to train with their youth team, after returning from his holidays. Suddenly unwanted in Manchester, he spent the second-half of last season on loan at Real Madrid after seemingly falling out with City boss Roberto Mancini, and has made no secret of his desire to make that loan move permanent, issuing several ‘come and get me’ pleas to the Spanish giants. Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho is said to be interested in making a deal happen, but Real are reluctant, having their cash tied up in chasing several other targets. This leaves Tottenham his most likely destination at this present moment, if Spurs chairman Daniel Levy can thrash out a suitable loan deal with City, which would leave some fans in an unhappy situation. But should they forget the players past and cross the divide?
Regardless of what many may think about Adebayor the man, Adebayor the player is a proven goalscorer in the Premier League, and a proven handful when he is on his game. With Peter Crouch out of favour, Adebayor is seen as his perfect replacement and an upgrade with a better all-around game. This is what manager Harry Redknapp no doubt sees and, as we all know, when it comes to crossing divides and leaving loyalties to one side, Redknapp is a man who’s been there, scene it and done it! He could prove one of the ‘buys’ of the season, if a cheaper loan deal can be worked out.
[ad_pod id=’unruly-2′ align=’right’]
Of course, Adebayor was a hate figure at Tottenham during his 4-year stint with bitter rivals Arsenal, scoring eight times in nine north London derbies. Although he moved on, two goals during a Champions League match against Spurs, whilst on loan at Madrid did nothing to suppress any lingering anger felt towards the former Gunner. But surprisingly, any anger from Spurs fans felt towards Adebayor may well be out-weighed when measured in comparison against what Arsenal fans feel. Once hailed at the Emirates, he is now firmly a villain in those parts, due to his acrimonious departure, seemingly in search of the new wealth which Manchester City had acquired. His goal against Arsenal during his first game against his old club, along with his now infamous celebration in taunting their fans, cemented his place as their new hate figure, possibly even surpassing any current Tottenham player. Various flashpoints and nasty incidents on the pitch, most notably against Robin van Persie, only served to enhance the hatred. Can you imagine the scenes of delirium, and equal anguish, if Adebayor was to perform his goalscoring antics against Arsenal, in a Tottenham jersey?
So, Spurs fans, who was it who said ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’?
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
If you want to read more from myself including news, thoughts and views you can follow me on Twitter @fantasista1077 thanks!
August 1989. The Eastern Bloc was crumbling, the Voyager space craft had just passed Neptune, the second attempt to stage another Woodstock was rubbish, the Sega Genesis has just been released in North American and the 1989/90 football league season was about to kick off and usher in a new decade in football. The 90s. Chelsea had just been promoted and Arsenal were Champions, beginning the new campaign away at Manchester United, which – rather fittingly – is where we lay our scene.
This short shorted, dodgy haired retro-tastic video goes behind the scenes at United during the opening few games of 89/90, a seminal time for not just the club but English football as a whole. The last season of the 80s was also the last Liverpool would enjoy as the dominant force, whilst the horrors of the Hillsborough tragedy four months earlier were about to change English Stadia forever. The BBC had lost the rights to screen live games to iTV due in part to a substantial rise in value which had threatened to force a breakaway, which in turn would buoy Greg Dyke – then of ITN – to hold a meeting between the “Big Five” to propose this new – Premier – league, at the end of the season. Unfortunately for Dyke, one of the five was about to be bought by an as yet untitled and apprenticeless Alan Sugar, who was busy hawking dishes to a certain fledgling Satellite channel.
At United, plain old Mr. Alex Ferguson had yet to win a sausage and would face very real concern over his job, finally earning himself a reprieve through a successful FA Cup run and his first trophy for the club.
And it all started here, in 1989, before prawn sandwiches, before all-seaters, before Sir Alex, before Murdoch, before Sky, before the Carling Cup, before the Worthington Cup, before the Coca Cola Cup, before the FA Cup sponsored by E.ON, before anything was sponsored by E.ON, before E.ON, before Pop Star wives, before texting, before ringtones, before the crazy frog, before Cantona, before Henry, before Twitter, before Blatter, before Soccer Am, before Fantasy Football, before Andy Gray had any final thoughts, before Richard Keys had shaved his hairy hands, before we knew Richard Keys had hairy hands, before everything. This was football, but not as you know it.
Things to look out for.
-Terrible Music.
-Painfully staged conversations.
-Brian Kidd’s “kiddies”
-Miss Manchester United
-Awful, awful music.
-Shaun Goater championing G&G
-Bobby Charlton when he still had hair to comb over.
-Fergie’s Floplings
-Mike Phelan with hair. Just not on his head.
-Clayton Blackmore’s state of the art games console.
-Appalling music.
Part One
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse has admitted that he is happy at the club and has no intention of leaving this summer.
The Senegal international caused quite a stir in the second half of the season after moving to Tyneside in the January transfer window, and scored 13 goals in 14 games for Alan Pardew’s men.
Due to exceptional form in front of goal Cisse has been linked with an instant move to a bigger club, with the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Real Madrid all thought to be keen to sign the African marksman.
However, Cisse has revealed that he has no intention of leaving the Sports Direct Arena, and will look to fire Newcastle into a Champions League qualifying berth next term.
“I am very happy in Newcastle and I want to stay there for many years. I am looking forward to next season,” he told The Sun.
“We were close to a Champions League position so next season hopefully we will qualify for that and everyone will taste the Champions League.”
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has conceded that last season was the toughest of his career.Wenger’s side had once again looked to challenge for honours for a significant part of last term, only to lose in the Carling Cup final, which in turn became a catalyst for a poor end to the season, resulting in the club’s sixth trophy-less campaign.
The north Londoners were eliminated from the Champions League and FA Cup by Barcelona and Manchester United respectively following the 2-1 defeat to Birmingham City at Wembley.
Speaking ahead of his side’s friendly with Hangzhou Greentown, the 61-year-old said: “The last part of it [the season] was certainly the toughest [of his career] because emotionally it was very difficult because we were on a low. You could see that the last three or four weeks were very difficult.”
“It was because I took full responsibility for what happened.”
“I knew at some stage that it was lost and I had so much hope for the team, because through November and December, you could feel that the team had really taken off and could win everything. And it was so close.”
However, the Frenchman believes that a further year of maturation for his side’s young players, and also a return from injury from a number of key figures, will pay dividends when the new campaign gets underway next month.
“I believe we are perfectly good enough. What we did last year, considering the age of the squad and the problems we had with injuries, was a credit to the team and we have a good opportunity now to show that we have the quality,” Wenger said.
“If you are a winner, you say: ‘We were very close last year, let’s do it this year’. You come back.”
“I believe that the real destiny of this team is now there. They know as well as I know that we were very, very close last season.”
“We intend to show everybody that we can do it. We are a young team and we can only be better. It demands the strength of character that the champions have. That’s what we want to show.”