Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Danny Welbeck will return to Manchester United at the end of the season.
The 20-year-old striker is currently on loan at Sunderland and is in fine form, having scored four goals in his last three games.
Steve Bruce has publicly expressed his hope that Welbeck would be allowed to stay at the Stadium of Light on a permanent basis but this has now been scotched by Ferguson.
Speaking in the People, the United manager said: "He's doing brilliantly and he comes back to us at the end of his loan."
Ferguson is delighted with the way Welbeck is progressing having had limited opportunities at Old Trafford. He is particularly pleased with the way his strength has improved with regular first team action.
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The announcement will be disappointing news to Black Cats boss Steve Bruce but he readily admitted that the chances of signing him permanently were slim.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Junior Hoilett has emerged as one of the Premier League’s hottest commodities at the moment following an impressive season with Blackburn Rovers.
He scored a hatful of goals and formed an effective partnership with Yakubu that at times caused panic in opposition defences. Nevertheless this potent front pairing could not save Rovers from the drop, their fate sealed with just one game left to play.
With this in mind, it seems inevitable that the Canadian will leave the Championship-bound Lancashire club this summer; although, whatever had been the outcome at Blackburn it seems Hoilett’s future still may have been away from Ewood Park.
He has accumulated many admirers including Arsene Wenger, and has now, according to the Metro, caught the attention of Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp. Spurs have provided some great performances this season (give or take a few months) but it is my belief that the young man’s development would be better served at the Emirates. And here’s why.
Whatever you may say or think about Mr Wenger, his ability to identify and nurture gifted young players is undeniable; Fabregas, Van Persie, Clichy, Wilshere, Walcott and most recently England Euro 2012 squad member, Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain – the list seems endless.
During his long tenure as a manager, Wenger has plucked an incredible number of youthful undeveloped talented players from relative obscurity; a good proportion of which have gone on to become international stars, and in some cases, world-class legends of the game namely one Thierry Henry, who had a bitterly disappointing single season at Serie A side Juventus as a winger before coming to Arsenal.
On the other hand, Harry Redknapp at Tottenham has a preference in the main for bringing in established players and does not have the reputation of a manager, like Arsene, for progressing youth players from within.
In Spurs’ first game of the 2011/2012 season, of the 16 man squad selected, only two, Andros Townsend and Jake Livermore had progressed through the ranks of the Tottenham youth academy. In stark contrast, Arsenal’s team included no less than 5 former youth players and this statistic excludes players such as Alex Song, Carl Jenkinson, Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott who were all brought to the club at a tender age but did not feautre in the Arsenal academy sides.
Although Hoilett isn’t a youth player he is still young, and at the age of 21 has a while to go before he reaches his prime and the peak of his footballing ability. With Wenger’s experience and preference in developing young players (maybe feeling he can mould and adapt the younger players to his footballing philosophy better than the more experienced footballer – you know what they say about teaching old dogs new tricks), Hoilett would have a better chance of achieving the status his potential suggests he could well reach in the not too distant future.
There will be no shortage of top class competition for this talented youngster, he has a plethora of pace and an abundance of skill, can play in a number of positions including through the middle or on either flank.
Furthermore if he continues to progress, his value will increase and since he is out of contract at the moment, any sell on fee would generate a tidy profit; although I am just speculating, this aspect might be the main attraction for Spurs more-so than Arsenal.
One more thing to take into consideration. At Arsenal, there is only really one striker certain of playing every week, that player of course is Dutch superstar Robin Van Persie. The opportunity would therefore exist for the Canadian to take that second available forward position, should Wenger decide to experiment with that formation of course; equally Hoilett has shown his ability to play out wide should Wenger choose to deploy him as one of a three man strike force (two wide players and one central striker).
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In contrast at Tottenham, there are already a number of forwards vying for a starting position and in Bale and Lennon, there is two stalwart wingers that Hoilett would certainly struggle to dislodge. Admittedly the futures of Adebayor and Louis Saha are uncertain but this still leaves Junior Hoilett’s chances of Premier League starts in the balance should he decide his future lies at White Hart Lane.
Guangzhou remain seven points clear in the Chinese Super League after beating Chengdu Blades 4-0 on Wednesday, while Beijing Guoan also won.First-half goals from Brazilians Muriqui and Cleo, together with one apiece in the second half from Jiang Ning and Zheng Zhi, secured all three points for hosts Guangzhou at the Tianhe Stadium.
Defeat leaves Chengdu 13th, just three points outside the relegation zone.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Beijing Guoan ran out 3-0 winners in their match at home to Shanghai Shenhua.
Australian forward Joel Griffiths and defender Lei Tenglong made it 2-0 to the hosts by the half-time break, with Wang Xiaolong’s penalty completing the scoring shortly before the hour mark.
Shanghai Shenhua are now down to sixth place, four points back from second-placed Beijing.
In other matches, goals from Yoo-Jin Kim and Yu Hanchao wrapped up a 2-0 win for Liaoning Hongyun in their match at home to Tianjin Teda.
Serbian Milos Bajalica was on target in Shaanxi Chanba’s 1-0 win at Qingdao Jonoon.
Jiangsu Shuntian also won 1-0 away from home, with Eleilson’s 24th-minute effort enough to overcome hosts Nanchang Bayi.
Hangzhou Lucheng came away from their visit to Dalian Shide with a point following a 1-1 draw – Uruguayan Paulo Pezzolano struck to equalise after Yang Boyu had put the hosts in front after just three minutes.
A brace from Brazilian striker Dori gave Changchun Yatai a 2-1 win away to Shenzhen Ruby, with the decisive goal coming just three minutes before the final whistle.
Finally, Henan Jianye were held 1-1 at home by Shandong Luneng.
The hosts led through Xu Yang’s 46th-minute goal, but were forced to settle for a draw after Han Peng levelled for Shandong with 30 minutes remaining.
Life doesn’t get any better for West Ham after being on the end of another comprehensive defeat this evening. Avram Grant is struggling to get any sort of performance from his players and the subsequent points to drag the Hammers off the bottom of the table. A gap is starting to appear and Grant needs to find the winning formula sooner rather than later.
This week at FFC we have seen a mixed bag of West Ham blogs which has included…Five potential replacements for Grant, is David Gold right to take this stance and whatever happened to Samassi Abou?
Plus we have taken a look at the best West Ham stories on the Web this week.
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Hola bebé – Carles’ lady puts Premiership WAGS in the shade
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Coaching role could prove just the tonic for Dean Ashton
Who’s between the sticks in West Ham’s Ultimate XI
A breath of fresh air, or an annoying addition to the Premiership?
Are football club’s history being demolished?
West Ham top TEN transfer faux pas
FIVE Potential Replacements to take the reins at Upton Park
Whatever Happened to Samassi Abou?
Is David Gold right to take such a stance?
VIDEO: Top TEN Audacious Penalties
The Top TEN club returns from hell
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Click on PAGE 2 to see the BEST WEST HAM ARTICLES around the Web this week
The Barracking of Luis Boa Morte – West Ham Till I Die
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Why we SHOULD have sold Parker in the summer. – The Game’s Gone Crazy
What the Olympic Stadium could look like if we move in [IMAGES] – The West Ham Process
Relegation to league one was confirmed on Saturday as we went down 2-0 to Doncaster Rovers in what was a truly awful game of football. Neither team were up for it and there seemed to be an acceptance among the players of the inevitable relegation which was a shame as it would have been nice to end the season showing that we still had fight left in us, but it wasn’t meant to be.
The discussion that has been going on among all Skyblue fans is who is at fault is is? There have been many who have openly criticised Andy Thorn and whilst I think he has made mistakes and I’m sure he would be the first to admit to them, relegation is not his fault.
He lost the core of the team in the summer and was only allowed to bring in minimal replacements which left us with a threadbare squad and forced us into bringing the youngsters into the first team. Then January came and went with no new arrivals and our top scorer leaving without being replaced. No squad in any division can afford to lose their two best strikers and not replace them.
Some will argue we brought in Cody McDonald in the summer but he is clearly no replacement for either Marlon or Lukas. He lacked experience above league two level and was always going to take time to settle. Andy Thorn is not the man to blame as in my opinion he has done all he possibly could for this club.
Hardly any blame seems to have been attributed to the players though which surprises me a little. Whilst it is clearly hard to criticise youngsters who have been on a learning curve all season and in my opinion have done the club proud, it shouldn’t be so hard to criticise the more experienced players. The players I am referring to are Gary McSheffery, Sammy Clingan and David Bell the three players who should have been the core of our midfield.
McSheffery has disappointed throughout and at times you really wouldn’t know he was supposed to be a Coventry lad. Personally I am beginning to think his legs have gone, he doesn’t seem to be able to run anymore and on current viewing I give him two maybe three seasons max before he considers or is forced into retirement. As for Clingan, he has been poor all season and one of the mistakes I think Thorn made was making him captain. He is clearly not a captain as he lacks any sort of passion, doesn’t lead by example and isn’t vocal enough on the pitch. He is also far too negative in his play and should be called ‘sideways’ sammy, far too many times in a game he passes sideways or backwards, very rarely does he pass forward. In terms of Bell I don’t think I have to say anything other than disappointing. I used to defend Bell a lot saying he had quality but he hasn’t shown it in a long time and I am now sick of his lacklustre performances on the pitch. I personally expect and hope that all three will leave this summer.
We clearly didn’t have a good enough squad of players this season to survive and on that basis we did deserve to go down. The blame for that has to lie with the owners SISU. From the beginning SISU have been a massive burden to this football club. Administration was on the cards and SISU ‘saved us’, in hindsight administration probably would have been better for the club and I never thought I would say that. SISU have consistently thrown empty promises at us supporters, from the beginning they promised to invest in the squad to challenge for promotion and to buy the Ricoh Arena and as you guessed it they did neither.
We are now at a point when they are even refusing to pay the rent on the Ricoh Arena and rumours have surfaced about SISU’s intention to liquidate the club in order to strip it of its last remaining assets. They have over the past year clearly been asset stripping the club, the clubs best players sold and not replaced and the remortgaging of the training ground. SISU have and still are treating the club purely as a business and whilst the business part of every football club is vital that is not what a football club is all about. It is about the football itself, the supporters, the community and the city as a whole. SISU are either too stupid to realise this or more likely don’t care about it and that is what is most heartbreaking about the whole situation. I am sure that when SISU took over they had good intentions but they clearly have no idea how football clubs work and for that reason have failed and should of cut their losses along time ago.
We as supporters have made our feelings clear and now that relegation has been confirmed so have the manger and some of the playing squad. Comments have come out of the club from Tim Fisher who for me has been harshly criticised by some fans. He is not a member of SISU and I personally think he is trying to work with the clubs best interests at heart, although he probably is part of the problem to some extent. He has almost been a scapegoat for SISU, someone with a face for the fans to criticise.
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For me he is another person like Thorn who is working with his hands tied and I think he like all of us has been lied to by SISU. We as a club are in for a nervy few weeks, maybe months. They have ran the club into the ground and it now looks like they are going to try to put it out of existence altogether. Relegation whilst being heartbreaking is the least of our worries and as hard as that was to take, not having a club at all is not even worth thinking about.
Mexico get in their last warm-up before the CONCACAF Gold Cup when they host New Zealand in an international friendly on Wednesday.Mexico coach Jose Manuel ‘El Chepo’ de la Torre will look to the match as a final chance to tinker with his side’s make-up ahead of their Gold Cup opener against El Salvador on Sunday.
Mexico are the most successful nation at the biennial American tournament and the reigning champions, having defeated the United States 5-0 in the 2009 final.
But their lead-up to the 2011 edition has been muted at best, with El Tri managing only 1-1 draws against Venezuela and Ecuador in their past two friendly outings.
Last Saturday’s draw with Ecuador featured the 23-man squad that El Chepo will take into the Gold Cup, with the notable exception of Manchester United starlet Javier Hernandez, who will link up with the squad prior to the El Salvador match.
But New Zealand will still come up against a squad bristling with talent in Denver, including the likes of on-loan Tottenham midfielder Giovani dos Santos, New York Red Bulls stalwart Rafael Marquez and Deportivo La Coruna playmaker Andres Guardado.
That line-up produced plenty of chances against Ecuador but just the one goal, a discrepancy that Mexico will look to address against the All Whites.
Elsewhere, Argentina continues their preparation for hosting the Copa America in July when they take on Nigeria in Abuja.
Argentina coach Sergio Batista will field an under-strength squad against the Super Eagles without the likes of Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, Javier Mascherano, Diego Milito and Gonzalo Higuain.
Argentina defeated Nigeria 1-0 in the group stages of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Only two players from that squad – Nicolas Otamendi and Mario Bolatti – remain for the friendly.
Also on Wednesday, Japan open their Kirin Cup defence against Peru in Yokohama, their first match since defeating Australia to clinch the AFC Asian Cup in January.
The Blue Samurai are still to taste defeat under manager Alberto Zaccheroni, who took over from the popular Takeshi Okada following the World Cup.
In other friendlies, Canada have one final chance to impress ahead of the Gold Cup when they take on Ecuador, as do tournament rivals Guatemala, who take on Venezuela.
Finally, Ukraine and Uzbekistan square off at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, site of the final of the European Championship in 2012.
Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Mick McCarthy was delighted to see his side see off Premier League big boys Manchester City 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.
The Midlanders fell behind to Emmanuel Adebayor's penalty before Nenad Milijas and David Edwards efforts secured a valuable success for McCarthy's side at Molineux.
Despite producing sterling performances at Chelsea and Manchester United in the last week without reward, McCarthy was ecstatic that his Wolves team managed to pick up all three points to ease their relegation fears.
He also paid tribute to defender Richard Stearman after he fouled David Silva for the Citizens' penalty.
"We're all delighted that we've got three points and the fact that we've beaten Manchester City, one of the top-four teams, makes it all the better," McCarthy said.
"We've actually been playing okay but City started well and so they should with the players they've got on show, but the game could've gone any way.
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"We've played well at Chelsea and got nothing and we played well at Old Trafford and got nothing and went out of the Carling Cup. So, it's the points that matter.
"It's a penalty. It's a mistake by Stears but his reaction was brilliant – I thought he defended brilliantly thereafter."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
The Premier League is engulfed in an array of talent from nations spanning right across the globe. We’ve got petite playmakers, sublime strikers and domineering defenders but despite this, there are a select few players who perhaps enjoy unworthy praise.
You know the ones, the questionable fan’s hero, the managers’ favourite or the player who’s still trying to justify their enormous price tag. This carefully crafted XI therefore seeks to highlight thee individuals who, throughout this season at least, have failed to live up to expectations.
One things for sure, now that I’ve taken the time to topple these players off their pedestal, they’re bound to have a cracking game at the weekend. I’d get down the bookies if I were you.
Click on Hugo Rodallega to unveil the overrated XI
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Is there anyone I’ve overlooked? Perhaps you feel the need to stick up for your particular player. Send me your views via Twitter @theunusedsub
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Manchester United have just clinched their record nineteenth Premiership title and are preparing to face Barcelona in the Champions League final. The Red Devils will go into the Wembley showpiece full of confidence and looking to complete a memorable double. However, some sections of the media have still raised question marks about the quality of the current United side. The current team’s quality has been criticised when compared to some of Sir Alex Ferguson’s previous squads, which may have an element of truth to it, but I feel it’s irrelevant when you see what they have achieved this season. Sir Alex would also be quick to discard such suggestions, however he will no doubt have an injection of new players next season. It is likely Manchester United’s legendary manager will be put his faith in some of United’s young players next season, after successful loan spells away this year. Obviously, they aren’t going to come back and walk straight into the first team, but do Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck ,in particular, have the potential to make their emergence into the first team squad?
Tom Cleverley has been an integral part of the Wigan’s relegation battle this season and the United youngster has weighed in with four goals for the cause. He had an impressive spell at Watford last season where he scored eleven goals and was voted their player of the season. Now that he has had his first taste of Premier League action with Wigan, next season could be his chance to break into the first team set up at Old Trafford. Cleverley has the ability to replicate a similar rise to prominence to that of Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere, who after his loan spellwith Bolton has become a first team regular with the Gunners.
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With Paul Scholes in the twilight of his career, Cleverley could eventually materialise as an ideal long term replacement for Scholes. At this present moment in time Cleverley still has a lot of work to do to step into Scholes’ boots and convincing the Old Trafford crowd he is good enough to stake his claim will take some time, as Darron Gibson will vouch for. Gibson has been heavily criticised for his performances by many United fans and after opening a twitter account recently he closed it within two hours due to the amount of abuse he received from his own supporters.
Danny Welbeck is another player who has made sufficient progress in his career as a result of a loan spell with Sunderland. He even did enough to catch the eye of England manager Fabio Capello who rewarded his good form with his first England cap. Welbeck is a player who will no doubt divide opinion among United fans asto whether he is capable enough to break into the first team. Sir Alex Ferguson will ultimately decide on the future of his young players and from what he told Manchester United’s official website with regards to their future, it looks promising , “They will come back into the first-team squad and they will get plenty of games next season.” Ferguson was full of praise for the two players and clearly feels they have the potential to make it at the club, “Cleverley has done very well, particularly in his spell at Watford and then at Wigan. He has improved in each case and he is going to be a top player. Welbeck has been fantastic too, it’s just unfortunate that he picked up a bad injury. But they will all be ready for next year.”
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With Federico Macheda and Mame Diouf also set to return from loan spells next year and with no sign of a new contract for Michael Owen there is likely to be one forward position for Welbeck, Macheda and Diouf to fight for. The young players are likely to be given opportunities next season and it will be interesting to see if they can break into the team in the same way as Beckham, Scholes, Butt and the Neville’s did in the early nineties. So is it still too early for these players to be considered as potential first teamers at Man United, or are they now equipped to play for one of the biggest clubs in world football?
Sir Alex Ferguson hailed the brilliance of Javier Hernandez after the Mexican starlet fired Manchester United into the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup.
Hernandez's sixth goal since arriving at Old Trafford for £7million before the World Cup earned United a 3-2 victory over Wolves.
The 22-year-old had scored both goals during Sunday's 2-1 Premier League victory at Stoke City in the absence of Wayne Rooney.
"He was absolutely brilliant – it was a magnificent goal," said Ferguson."He's shaped to shoot, dummied the defender and finished really well.
"They tend to build heroes quickly here but he's justifying the praise at the moment.
"He's very professional, the first out on the training ground and the last one back in every day and he's rightly getting a lot of praise for his goalscoring.
"When he gets a chance you know he's going to take it. His touch, control of the ball and vision are improving and that's because the training is intense.
"We care about it and making sure the players do improve."
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Hernandez came on in the 81st minute after goals from Bebe and Ji-Sung Park had been cancelled out by George Elokobi and Kevin Foley.
"It was a very open game in the second half, Wolves played very well and it was a really good cup tie," added Ferguson.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email