Liverpool had a bid of £8 million rejected for Ipswich striker Connor Wickham, according to the Independent.
The 18-year old first shot to fame at last year’s under-17 European Championships and has often been compared to a young Alan Shearer. Despite growing up in Essex, the 6ft 3in striker is said to be a boyhood Liverpool fan.
The 2011 Football League Young Player of the Year has regularly been linked with moves to Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham but signed two contract extensions last season, first in January and then in April until 2014. However, the contract reportedly contains a £15 million release clause but whether Liverpool would meet it remains to be seen.
Since becoming the club’s youngest player in April 2009 Wickham has gone on to make 72 appearances for the club, scoring 15 goals. He also made his England Under-21 debut in November of last year.
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Liverpool looked at Wickham in January but instead spent over £50 million on the signings of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll, largely funded by the sale of Fernando Torres. New owners Fenway Sports Group have money to spend and are keen to invest in young talent.
Arsene Wenger has remained true to his policy of investing in youth, as two prospects from Europe are on the verge of joining the squad.
Kristoffer Olsson, a 16-year-old Swedish midfielder, is close to signing for the London club from IFK Norrkopings after impressing in two trial spells at the Emirates.
The news was confirmed by the teen’s current club, with sporting director Tony Martinsson happy for the starlet.
“I can confirm that the transfer is close to being sealed. I won’t comment on any sums, but of course we are happy with the deal,” he told Fotbolldirekt.se.
“We are pleased, but of course we would have preferred to have seen Kristoffer stay in Norrkoping and evolve to a first-team player. He wanted to take this chance and we will not stand in the way,” he concluded.
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Meanwhile, The Daily Mail stipulates that Wenger has offered a trial to Lokomotiv Plovdiv winger Nenad Lukic, who has starred for Serbia under-19’s. Manchester United and Chelsea have also been linked with a move for the 18-year-old.
One person was killed and 16 were injured after a section of FC Twente’s Grolsch Veste stadium collapsed during renovations on Thursday.Work was underway to upgrade the stadium in Enschede, the Netherlands, when the roof of one stand collapsed after two support beams buckled.
Rescue workers rushed to the scene to attempt to free the construction workers who were trapped in the collapse, with a local government spokeswoman for the city of Enschede confirming there had been on fatality.
”There are 14 people injured and unfortunately there is one fatal injury, in addition to the 14 injuries,” the spokesman said.
“Ten people were treated in hospital and two of those people were severely injured. The exact nature of the injuries I cannot tell you at the moment.”
”Everyone is out to our knowledge. People are still searching with dogs and specialist camera teams, but that is as an extra precaution, a double-check.”
It was later confirmed that two further people who were injured in the collapse had taken themselves to hospital suffering bone, taking the total known number of injured to 16.
The Grolsch Veste stadium, which currently holds 24,000 people, is being expanded to a capacity of 32,000.
Twente won the Eredivisie title in 2010 and finished second last season, beating champions Ajax to win the Dutch Cup.
American forward Abby Wambach has only one thing on her mind – winning the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup.The US have not won the coveted trophy since 1999 and are desperate for a record-breaking third triumph when they face Japan in the tournament finale in Frankfurt on Sunday.
Veteran Wambach has played a key role in getting her side to the final, most notably scoring a 122nd minute equaliser against Brazil in the quarter-finals to force penalties.
She also scored in the 3-1 semi-final win over France to make it three goals in as many games for the 31-year-old.
“In the end all I care about is winning,” Wambach said.
“Winning is the most important thing right now. And it’s 90 minutes. If we can win one 90-minute game, we’re world champs.”
But Japan will be no easy beats and, having eliminated reigning champions Germany in the quarter-finals, enter the final on the back of a 3-1 come-from-behind win against an impressive Swedish side.
US coach Pia Sundhage is well-aware of the threat Japan can pose.
“They (Japanese) have some good players,” Sundhage said.
“Regardless how tall or short they are. And they do it together. Everybody I think praised them for the way they attack. They keep possession and that’s a pretty good way to defend.”
“But if you study their defending as well, they are very organised and they get numbers behind the ball. So that’s the reason why they are here.”
“It’s a really good team and with the set pieces they are so much better today I think than a year ago.”
Stoke City manager Tony Pulis remains confident of strengthening his team before the English Premier League season begins.Experienced centre-back Jonathan Woodgate, who joined on a free transfer after three injury-ravaged years at Tottenham Hotpsur, has been Stoke’s only signing of the close season so far.
The Britannia Stadium outfit have been linked with moves for two more Spurs players – centre-forward Peter Crouch and midfielder Wilson Palacios – as well as Birmingham striker Cameron Jerome.
Already in Europa League qualifying action, Stoke begin their domestic season at home to Chelsea on Sunday.
But they have until August 31 before the transfer window closes, with Pulis preferring to conduct the majority of his recruitment closer to the deadline.
“We’ll do our business with the clubs and people might be surprised who we do eventually end up with,” Pulis said.
“We will improve the squad before the window closes. But we’ve always done our business later in the transfer window rather than earlier.”
“We have to make sure that we do our business at the right price – that is something that we have always maintained and something that we will always try to do.”
“I think the closer you get to deadline day, there are better deals to be done with certain players. That has been the way we have worked ever since we were promoted to the Premier League.”
Another team slow off the mark in the transfer market are promoted Queens Park Rangers, who have only acquired striker Jay Bothroyd, midfielder Kieron Dyer and defender Danny Gabbidon, all on free transfers.
Like Pulis, QPR boss Neil Warnock has preached caution, rather than risk breaking the bank in a desperate attempt to strengthen.
“Well, we’re talking to a number of players,” Warnock said.
“We’re hoping to bring in two or maybe three players in the next week before the start of the season.”
“We’ve gone slowly about our job but I think we’ve got some good players in and we’re looking to bring two or three other good players in.”
“We haven’t gone silly and signed them straight away but we’ve been working hard behind the scenes.”
First things first, is it Goetze or Gotze? There seems to be no real answer online, but one thing that is certain is that Borussia Dortmund midfielder Mario Goetze is the real deal and looks like a real top talent. The 19 year old German has been tipped by many to be a real star and with that tag is many propertied moves to some of the biggest clubs in Europe and in this case it is no different.
The creative midfielder is held in high regard because of his pace, supreme technical ability and his creative flair, the German football system is really cranking out some fantastic talents of late. He made his debut during the 2009-2010 campaign but it wasn’t until last year that he became a mainstay of the team and the lynchpin of the side. He helped the side to the Bundesliga title last season and managed an impressive return of 8 goals and 15 assists. It was widely rumoured that he would move on this Summer with Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger paying particular interest, it was even reported that Arsenal made an offer for the player towards the end of the most recent transfer window amounting to £35million however it was rejected out of hand.
The player and his agent have moved to deny any possibility of a move in the near future, talking to Goal.com he said:
“Mario will stay at Dortmund, for sure, the next two years….There is no chance of him going to another club this window….This is because he is so young and it is too early in his career for him. The club, the player and his family, we are all of one mind that it is better for him to stay there because he is happy at Dortmund.”.
It is pretty understandable that the player would want to stay for this season at least, the opportunity to represent the club he joined when he was 8 in the Champions League will be a highly attractive proposition. Whether however he will remain for 2 years as his agent predicts remains to be seen I would imagine there be lots of intense speculation over his future next summer. With Bayern Munich also supposedly really interested in his future there could be a three way tussle ready to unfold.
It really isn’t overly surprising either, Goetze is a quality player and for my mind a better player than his compatriot Mesut Ozil who is also a supremely talented footballer. The German FA’s technical director and former legend in his own right Matthias Sammer has claimed that the youngster is one of the best talents the country has ever had. The plaudits don’t stop there Franz Beckenbauer has compared the German with a certain Argentine winger:
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“It is not possible to stop Mario Goetze….He has the same assets as Messi…There is no one playing better than him….He runs through opponents as though they aren’t there….He is an instinctive footballer, just like Messi.”.
Clearly with such high praise comes a high price tag, when you consider that Ozil cost Real Madrid €15million it seems highly likely that any deal for Goetze will cost an awful lot more with a particularly intense transfer battle to go with it. Clearly he is just the sort of player that both sides would find extremely useful, Arsenal may have splashed the cash on Mikel Arteta and wrapped up a loan deal for Yossi Benayoun, but long term they need to replace Nasri and Fabregas and Goetze would go a long way to sorting out those problems.
United too have made no secret this Summer of their quest to sign some creative midfield talent, they have looked to sign Samir Nasri, there were murmurings that they were interested in Luka Modric but their primary target was clearly Wesley Sneijder and now that any move for the Dutchman appears to be dead in the water it is very conceivable that they might switch their attention to the German that they supposedly offered £1.5million to Dortmund just to have first refusal on the player.
Personally I would love to see the midfielder in the Premier League, he is a tremendous talent and the more we have in this country the better, he is destined to be a star not only at domestic level, but also on the world stage, he may have remained put so far, but next summer could be a different story.
Article courtesy of Joe T from This is Futbol
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Two own goals in the second half from Arsenal saw Blackburn pick up their first win of the new season to lift the pressure off boss Steve Kean.
The Gunners actually led 2-1 at half time with goals from Gervinho and Mikel Arteta sandwiched between a debut strike from Yakubu.
All seemed lost for Rovers until Alex Song bundled the ball into his own net before Yakubu grabbed his second of the day and Laurent Koscielny scored another own goal.
Substitute Marouane Chamakh scored a late third for the visitors but it was in vain as the Gunners continued their stuttering start to the new campaign.
It was another shambolic defensive performance and boss Arsene Wenger now has a real task on his hands to lift a back four which has conceded 12 goals in the last two away matches.
For Kean it will be sweet relief to finally get three points on the board and he’ll be hoping this result will silence his critics for this week at least.
He must have feared the worst after Gervinho opened the scoring on 10 minutes slamming the ball past Paul Robinson for his first goal in Arsenal colours.
Yakubu then got the first of his brace deftly turning the ball past Wojciech Szczesny to bring the game level mid-way through the half only for Arteta to restore the visitors lead turning in Aaron Ramsey’s intelligent cutback.
No one could have foreseen what would transpire in the second half as Arsenal capitulated and Rovers went full steam head in search of all three points.
Their cause was helped when Song turned Ruben Rochina’s free kick into his own net to bring the game level before Yakubu scored his second turning in Steven N’Zonzi’s cross.
Rovers were in dreamland and it got better with 20 minutes to go as Koscielny bundled the ball in Martin Olsson’s whipped delivery to make it 4-2 to the hosts.
Chamakh came off the bench to nod home Robin Van Persies cross with five minutes to go but it wasn’t enough to save Wenger’s side from another humiliating defeat. For Kean it could be the result to kick start his side’s season and his managerial career.
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The goals are flying in around the Football League today and it took no fewer than 10 minutes for the six Goaldash numbers to come flying in.
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Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has backed Arsene Wenger despite the club’s slow start to the season, and has stated that the French coach will be in charge at the Emirates for however long he wants to be.
With defeats against Liverpool, Manchester United and Blackburn in their first five games of the season, pressure has been mounting on Wenger, with some figures in the press suggesting it may be time for a change in North London.
However, the Premier League club’s owner has revealed his admiration and backing of his man in charge.
“You know something, Arsene is one of my favourite people I have met in the last 20 years. He is a great person and I love the way he handles himself,” the American told The Telegraph.
“I love his focus. He is a very intelligent guy. You can talk to him about anything and, when he starts talking to people, I really love to listen to him. He should hold seminars he is so good at it. I have tremendous confidence in him. He is one of the great managers in the world,” he continued.
Wenger will have been in charge at Arsenal for 15 years on Friday, and asked whether he could make 25 years like Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, Kroenke kept an open mind.
“With Arsene, it’s his decision and only he will know that. He still maintains himself in tremendous physical shape. You have to have stamina and energy. It’s an energy business. You are coaching, training, travelling and in stadiums packed with pressure.
“It’s almost like you are training like an athlete. Arsene has great energy and that will always be his decision,” he concluded.
With the North London derby at White Hart Lane on Sunday, Arsenal can ease the pressure with a win, but will be questioned as contenders if they are defeated.
Written By Gareth McKnight
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Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong has stated that his side have overtaken Manchester United as the number one side in the league going into Sunday’s derby fixture.
Roberto Mancini’s side have matched the Premier League champions’ quick start to the campaign, and are two points clear at the top of the division going into this weekend’s fixtures.
With the big spending Etihad Stadium outfit impressing so far, they will face their toughest test yet at Old Trafford on Sunday, but the Netherlands international is confident of a win.
“We’re going there [to Old Trafford] as No 1 and the aim is to stay No 1,” the midfield battler told Mirror Football.
“The pressure is still the same as it was last year, but what has changed is that we’re now No 1 going into this derby.
“That brings pressure, but the pressure is always there because of how this Manchester City team is growing.
“We proved last season that we could beat them, so we don’t have anything to prove. We’ve shown our quality throughout the season. We don’t need a game against United to show how good we are.
“We’re on top of the league, so going into this game we just have to be confident and play our game as well as we have been doing,” he concluded.
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Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted that he is weighing up a loan move for Chelsea star Josh McEachran, and that he will try to convince Andre Villas Boas to let his starlet come to Wales in January.
The promising midfielder has broken into the Stamford Bridge first-team squad, but with the strength The Blues have int he middle of the park, the England under-21 star fails to get regular football.
The Liberty Stadium side will be in the market for new players in the new year, and McEachran is one that Rodgers admires.
“I need to have a conversation at length (with Chelsea). Josh is not playing at the moment, he is on the bench, although he played against Everton,” he told Sky Sports.
“He is a wonderful talent and the positive thing is that clubs see Swansea as a club that can develop such talents.
“He has a big future, he played in the same team as my son right through the system at Chelsea and has kicked on since he turned 14.
“He has got great vision, he is a terrific footballer and he needs to play in a certain system.
“I think Andre (Villas-Boas) and (sporting director) Michael Emenalo understand he will need to get some games and when that moment comes he is certainly a player who would do terrific here,” he stated.
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Swansea need all the help they can get, as they have found the going tough in the top flight, and sit in 15th place ahead of this weekend’s fixtures.