Manchester City are set to raid Serie B outfit Sassuolo for striker Domenico Berardi, according to talkSPORT.
The 18-year-old has attracted the attention of the Premier League champions after netting three goals in ten appearances so far this season.
Roberto Mancini is said to be a long-term admirer of the front-man and could attempt to beat the reported interest of city rivals United by making a winter bid.
As well as the Red Devils, Italian giants AS Roma are believed to monitoring the situation.
Despite playing in the second tier, the teenager is widely thought of as a genuine emerging talent by the many areas of the media in his home nation.
His performances have helped the team to top spot in their division, with 34 points from their opening fixtures.
Although he has a wealth of attacking options, Mancini feels that Berardi could add something to his squad in the not too distant future.
In the short-term he could be loaned back to his current team in order to continue his development.
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Since taking control of the Citizens, the Italian manager has made multiple transfer raids on clubs in his home nation.
The likes of Mario Balotelli, Patrick Vieira, Aleksandar, David Pizarro, Maicon and Matija Nastasic have all arrived from teams within Italy during Mancini’s tenure.
West Bromwich Albion should consider making a move for Newcastle United forward Aleksandar Mitrovic.
What’s the word?
Darren Moore could do with a fresh face in attack as he tries to steer the Baggies to Premier League promotion.
Salomon Rondon and Jay Rodriguez have been linked with moves away from The Hawthorns.
Mitrovic could be available this summer given that Newcastle allowed him to leave on loan to Fulham for the second half of last season.
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On Monday, TEAMtalk reported that the Magpies want £30m for the forward, who has informed the club that he wants to leave.
The publication claims that the hitman wants to join Fulham on a permanent basis, but the Cottagers are unwilling to exceed £20m.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”257603″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch West Brom’s opening fixtures for the 201819 Championship season”]
Why should West Brom get involved?
If Mitrovic is insistent on joining Fulham, then it may be difficult to prise him away from his desired choice.
However, it is worth the Baggies trying their luck considering how well the striker performed in the Championship last season.
The Serbian international, who is valued at £13.5m by Transfermarkt, scored 14 goals in 27 appearances in all competitions.
A major sticking point could be the price, though, if the Magpies are determined to pocket around £30m.
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To sweeten the deal, the Baggies could offer a player, such as Rondon, in a swap arrangement.
Arsenal have confirmed on their official website, that they’ve agreed to a five-year extension to their current sponsorship deal with the airline, Emirates.
In fact, the sponsorship deal is one of the longest-running deal in the Premier League; Emirates became the Gunners’ shirt sponsor in 2006.
The latest announcement ensures that Emirates’ deal with the North London club will extend to at least 18 years.
Additionally, the extension ensures that Arsenal will fly on Emirates’ planes during pre-season tours, and Emirates will continue to have the right to create campaigns and initiatives across the globe.
The Gunners’ stadium will continue to be named the Emirates Stadium until 2028, an agreement that occurred during the extension in 2012.
The club’s chief executive, Ivan Gazidis expressed his delight at the news and revealed that the significant increase in investment provided by Emirates would help the club compete for trophies.
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Despite the positive news, Arsenal fans were calling on the club to announce another deal through Twitter…
A year on from spending £27million on Marouane Fellaini, Manchester United and Louis van Gaal are reluctant to part with a similar ballpark figure to land Arturo Vidal from Juventus.
The Chilean international has been one of two midfielders heavily linked with a move to the club this summer; the other being Angel Di Maria. But Vidal would hold far more importance to United’s restructuring than the Real Madrid winger.
Di Maria has looked destined for the exit door at the Bernabeu for the last year. Ahead of the January window, it appeared that Monaco had stolen a march on their rivals for Di Maria’s signature. That move didn’t materialise, but Florentino Perez’s new-found fancy of James Rodriguez, and the involvement of Gareth Bale and rise of Jese Rodriguez, forces the need for a major sale, much like Mesut Ozil’s following Bale’s signing last summer.
Manchester United don’t need Di Maria in the way they need Vidal. The winger would be a great signing for the club. He’d be an upgrade in more than one position now that Carlo Ancelotti has converted the creative winger into a central midfielder. But United have an abundance of options in personnel, even if they all aren’t natural wide players, as well as a range of tactical options through van Gaal. It’s quite possible the former Netherlands coach will ditch the use of wide players altogether and go with something similar to what he produced with Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie as two centre-forwards.
Even if that isn’t the case, Vidal’s importance can’t be stressed enough – or at least a player fitting the Chilean’s description.
Ander Herrera has been purchased, but the club must be mindful of what made the former Athletic Bilbao midfielder such a success, especially last season. He isn’t a natural defensive player, and although he does have plenty of bite to his game, players like Ander Iturraspe at Bilbao are essential to getting the best out of United’s newest midfield addition.
Not only that, but United are lacking leadership in the middle of the park. Herrera can go some way to offering the imagination now lost through Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs’ retirement, but he isn’t yet the player who can replace their leadership qualities. Vidal, on the other hand, won’t just lead through his vocal capacity, but also in his all-action style.
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Here’s the stumbling block: Vidal does have a recent history of knee problems. The Juventus man went in for surgery in May, with concerns that he wouldn’t be ready for the World Cup. It can be the only problem preventing United making a move for the player, who, at 27 and with a wealth of experience, can’t be considered overpriced at £34 million.
There’s a strong argument to make that Vidal is currently the world’s premier midfielder, able to offer everything from his central position. Those qualities haven’t been lost on clubs like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. If the Chilean does want to leave Turin – and there is never any smoke without fire – it would be negligent for Manchester United to overlook him on the basis of a few million.
Di Maria would have helped to accelerate United’s progression back to the top of the Premier League. After his best season in European football, now is the time to secure the Argentine. But United have a more than capable Juan Mata and an exciting prospect in Adnan Januzaj. Even if the club do need to boost their midfield ranks with a natural winger, there are cheaper options over the fee Real Madrid are demanding, said to be €60 million.
But they don’t come much better than Vidal, and they don’t come as important to United as a player like the 27-year-old. After missing out on Kevin Strootman last summer – not as good as Vidal, but a very good player anyway; and not to suggest Strootman is absolutely out of the question – the club can’t afford another slipup, especially not of this magnitude.
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United must also take into account Antonio Conte’s recent resignation as Juventus manager, possibly forced through the impending sale of either Vidal or Paul Pogba.
United have the funds, now is the time to capitalise and push on from the numerous disasters of last season.
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas has stated that the club have no desire to sell Emmanuel Adebayor.
The Togolese striker has struggled to establish himself in the first-team set-up following his permanent arrival from Manchester City during the summer.
This has led to reports that the 28-year-old may leave the London club in January, but Villas-Boas insists that he will be staying and that he is also a key part of the squad:
“Certainly there is no interest in selling or loaning Adebayor.” He told SkySports.
“We brought him in this season, unfortunately for him it hasn’t been working out in terms of injuries.
“We have full belief in Adebayor, he is one of the greatest strikers in the world.
“Sooner or later he is going to be back in the squad.”
Adebayor spent last season on loan at White Hart Lane and was impressive.
However, this term he has been overlooked on multiple occasions in favour of Jermain Defoe, who has enjoyed a fine start to the campaign.
The North Londoners take on FC Maribor in the Europa League this evening in a game that the Portuguese manager insists they must win:
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“Even though a defeat against Maribor doesn’t mathematically disqualify us, it is a game we have to win. We are in this competition to win it.”
Adebayor is rumoured to be in line to start the game, as are midfield duo Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup features plenty of strong teams with a chance to take home the golden trophy from Russia, but if the first week of games have revealed anything, it’s that there’s no clear favourite.
Germany lost their opener 1-0 to Mexico, and Brazil drew with Switzerland 1-1 after a frustrating performance from Neymar. Only so much can be drawn from the first batch of games, but countries like Russia and Belgium have put themselves in prime position to advance with high goal differentials.
With that, Football FanCast was lucky enough to be joined by former England and Liverpool left winger John Barnes to discuss his thoughts on the summer of football on behalf of Just Eat. Barnes shared on his expectations on whom he expects to have a fruitful few weeks in Russia…
FootballFanCast.com: What country do you have confidence in to make its way to the final?
John Barnes: “I think Brazil will. But they didn’t play particularly well against Switzerland as they had issues with Neymar. I think Neymar was trying too hard and trying to do too much. He wants to be the star.
“Spain will be strong once again even though they lost their manager. But they’ve got lots of experienced players who are able to cope with that. And France – I think France are a very strong team with plenty of attacking players.
“An outside guess for me is Belgium because, player-for-player, they probably have the strongest team in the World Cup. They haven’t played as a team, but if you look at the individual players they have, if they can get some kind of team spirit and team passion rather than just being individuals, they could be a surprise.”
FFC: Do you think a few of the results of these early games might have potential consequences on who makes it to the knockout stage? Is there an actual chance that Germany or Brazil don’t make it?
JB: “I believe so, yes. Brazil drew the first game, but Germany losing their first game could have consequence. But they’re experienced. They can come through in the next two matches.
“What you will find is that you may have one or two upsets, but generally speaking because of the way the seeding is done, the top two seeds will normally go through to the last 16 and to the quarter-finals. And I think when the quarter-finals come, you’ll see seven of the top teams there.”
FFC: If you had to pick a lower tier nation to surprise everybody and go far into the knockout stage, who would you pick?
JB: : “Croatia. I think Croatia are very good. They’re very experienced. They’ve got good players. They’ve got a good understanding and a good coach. So, yeah, that would be my dark horse.”
FFC: You’ve said before you believe Diego Maradona to be the best footballer ever. He was on that Argentina team that beat England on their way to winning the World Cup in 1986. Do you see Messi having a chance of pulling off a similar feat for this Argentina, even though they had a lacklustre performance in game one?
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JB: Absolutely. Argentina are a decent side. He’s a fantastic player and still the best player in the world for me. Of course, Argentina are a team who, when it comes to the World Cup finals in the past, haven’t won.
“But it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility for Argentina to win the World Cup. They’ve also got Sergio Aguero. They’ve got decent players, as much as they didn’t play particularly well in the first game. So, yeah, absolutely.
“But, Maradona for me is still is the best.”
Just Eat is offering hungry football fans who order on the Just Eat app between the 14th June and 15th July the chance to get their hands on limited edition 2018 Football Plates. There are four plates to collect and hundreds will be given away to celebrate the summer of football.
Things were looking a lot rosier for West Ham when they beat Huddersfield 4-1 at the John Smith’s Stadium early on in January, with fans expecting new signings to come through the door before the deadline day and with the club beginning to look up the Premier League table rather than over their shoulders towards the bottom three.
However, the rest of the month certainly didn’t go to plan for the east London outfit, as they lost in-form duo Manuel Lanzini and Marko Arnautovic to hamstring injuries in the 1-1 draw against Bournemouth at the London Stadium.
They were subsequently beaten 2-0 by League One outfit Wigan Athletic a week later and saw midfielder Pedro Obiang stretchered off with an injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season, while Arthur Masuaku was given a six-match ban after being sent off for spitting at a Latics player at the DW Stadium.
The addition of Joao Mario on loan from Inter Milan until the end of the season prior to the Wigan encounter gave fans hope that they would end January on a high, as the club continued to be linked with Anderlecht midfielder Leander Dendoncker – seen as one of the most highly-rated young defensive midfielders in European football.
The London Stadium faithful were also expecting a new striker through the door with Diafra Sakho joining Rennes and Andre Ayew returning to Swansea City, leaving Javier Hernandez and Toni Martinez as the only recognised strikers in the squad for the 1-1 draw at home to Crystal Palace on January 30.
One thing David Moyes didn’t need at that point – when he was already missing Arnautovic and Andy Carroll through injury – was Michail Antonio to turn up to a meeting late, but that is exactly what happened and he missed out on the 18 against the Eagles.
Deadline day started with hope, and then appeared to end in desperation for the club as they failed to sign the defensive or central midfielder they desperately looked to need, while they lost out to Newcastle United for the loan signing of Leicester City striker Islam Slimani because of comments made by Karren Brady, and instead brought in Jordan Hugill from Preston North End in a late £10m deal.
The West Ham fans aren’t very fond of their owners David Gold and David Sullivan, and they had every right to be angry and frustrated after a disappointing final 24 hours of the transfer window.
The club’s injury and suspension problems meant that Pablo Zabaleta lined up in an unfamiliar central midfield role for the trip to Brighton last weekend, with a poor display seeing Moyes’ men fall to a 3-1 defeat against their fellow strugglers to leave them just three points above the relegation zone.
The away supporters chanted for the board to leave and unveiled banners with a similar message, and you can’t help but feel it could have affected the players on a day where the defence in particular had an absolute nightmare – especially for Glenn Murray’s opener.
While West Ham fans are absolutely entitled to protest against the owners and the board considering what has happened to the club during their time at the helm, they also need to think about their players on the pitch and the situation the team currently finds itself in.
Those teams below them in the table – like Brighton – are beginning to pick up results and if the Irons continue to struggle to get wins on the board, they could quickly find themselves back in the dreaded relegation zone.
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They face a huge game against Watford at the London Stadium this weekend where they can reach the 30-point mark with a victory, and the crowd must leave their protestations against the owners to either before the start of the match or after the final whistle, and get behind their boys during the 90 minutes – boy do they need it right now.
West Ham supporters are understandably desperate for their owners to go, but being in the Premier League is vital too and with David Gold and David Sullivan unlikely to go anywhere before the end of the season and saying the protests “will achieve nothing”, now is the time to focus their attentions on the players and ensure that they aren’t distracted or affected by any animosity from the sidelines.
A penalty is awarded. Save it and the goalkeeper is a hero, applauded by his fans and mobbed by his teammates. Concede? Well, the odds were never in his favour anyway.
As Tottenham’s Brad Friedel has argued, the scenario really is “a no-lose” situation for the ‘keeper with all of the pressure upon the taker “who is supposed to score.”
But this shouldn’t give goalkeepers a free pass to simply pick a direction to dive and hope for the best.
With the extensive level of statistics available in modern football, coaching staff can compile information on opposing penalty takers to provide to their ‘keepers in the event of a spot kick being awarded.
Famously at the 2006 World Cup, Jens Lehmann read the notes of his goalkeeping coach Andy Kopke in between kicks as Germany went on to defeat Argentina in the shoot out.
But even with this information, the days of goalkeepers diving before the ball is struck should be consigned to the past.
There is an infuriating number of penalties which are scored either straight down the middle or slightly off centre. By committing early as the result of coaching guidance or just guesswork, goalkeepers are guilty of allowing these weak efforts to score. And because of the scenario, they will never be subject to any criticism for it.
Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer demonstrated the approach that goalkeepers should take with his save from Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil in the recent Champions League encounter. Standing up tall, Neuer made his international colleague’s attempts to commit him to a dive look foolish and as a result, he was able to make the save from a poorly struck effort.
Premier League stars such as Eden Hazard and the recently departed Dimitar Berbatov regularly profit from the tactic which Ozil tried but failed to replicate. Displaying an impressive level of composure, they simply wait for the goalkeeper to commit to a side in the run up before simply slotting it home in the other direction.
By diving early, the goalkeepers are falsely assuming that the strike is always going to hit one of the corners. In reality, how many penalties are ever struck that perfectly?
And in the event that they are, is an early dive really going to make the save? When penalty takers such as Steven Gerrard hit the corners with such accuracy and power, there is nothing a goalkeeper can realistically do to prevent the goal.
In this event, the ‘keepers should concede that they are unlikely to make the stop. Rather than attempt to prevent the best, goalkeepers should stand tall and pick off the worst.
Of course, this tactic relies on anticipation and a good reaction speed.
But when so many penalties are struck slightly to either side or ‘dinked’ straight down the middle, goalkeepers should fancy their chances to save the weaker efforts more often than not.
As has already been mentioned, the pressure in this scenario is always upon the taker to deliver. Make him have to beat you rather than beating yourselves by committing too early.
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There are obviously other pointers that goalkeepers should observe to help them make the save. Factors such as the taker’s stance, his approach and his eyes can often reveal his intentions.
Tactics can also be employed to distract the penalty taker and affect the quality of his strike. In the 2008 Champions League Final, Manchester United’s Edwin Van Der Sar pointed to his left as Nicolas Anelka approached the area. The Frenchman subsequently went right and the penalty was saved, handing the Red Devils the trophy.
By standing tall and waiting for the kick, goalkeepers are sacrificing their already minimal chances of saving the best efforts. But in this trade off their chances of saving the weaker and less accurate strikes, of which there are more of, are enhanced massively.
The pressure in a penalty situation is never placed upon the goalkeeper. By reacting to the kick and not diving beforehand, the strain for the taker is even greater. They know that anything other than a confident strike into the corners should be saved.
Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger has indicated that he may use Theo Walcott in a central-striking position following his Capital One Cup heroics.
The England international netted a wonderful hat-trick as the Gunners came back from 4-0 down to beat Reading.
The 23-year-old grabbed the Londoners first goal, before adding the equaliser in the dying moments of normal time. He then went on to complete his triple in closing stages of extra time to help his side to their 7-5 victory.
As a result of his performance, Wenger has confessed that he may now play Walcott in his preferred central role:
“I always said he will be striker.” Wenger is quoted as saying by The Metro.
“He’s a good finisher now. He knows where to be on the rebounds.
“That is the quality of a striker you can’t give to someone, they either have it or they don’t.
Walcott’s immediate future appears to be in some doubt, with the player rumoured to be unwilling to renew his contract, which expires at the end of the season.
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After his heroics, Wenger admitted that he wants a speedy resolution to the attacker’s future:
“I want to keep him, and I think aside from the contract talks, you have to give him credit for the way he is committed to the team, and for the way he behaves.”
Queens Park Rangers almost sent their fans into meltdown earlier this week when they posted a picture of Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann on their official Twitter page.
Griezmann is being strongly linked with a move away from Atletico this summer, with Barcelona the favourites to sign the Frenchman.
And the attacker, who is valued at £90m by transfermarkt.co.uk, again revealed to disclose his future plans at a France press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”252976″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch 21 things that will definitely happen at the World Cup”]
Griezmann actually liked a tweet from QPR where the Championship club’s players discussed who could take home the World Cup Golden Boot this summer.
QPR pointed out what had occurred on their official Twitter page, and that led to a host of the club’s supporters commenting on the future of Griezmann.
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There is more chance of Panama winning the World Cup than Griezmann making the move to QPR this summer, but the R’s supporters can still dream of the impossible.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below: