Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has rubbished reports of a bid for Sergio Aguero and predicted a quiet deadline day at White Hart Lane.
English Premier League outfit Spurs were linked with an audacious 38.5-million-pound transfer bid for Atletico Madrid striker Aguero on Sunday.
The club also reportedly made advances to forwards Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Giuseppe Rossi (Villareal) and Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla) in an attempt to shore up their front third before the transfer window slams shut at 2300GMT on Monday.
Reporters peppered Redknapp with questions as he arrived for Tottenham’s Monday training session, but the Spurs boss insisted he was not expecting any new faces at White Hart Lane.
“No, I don’t know anything about that one,” he said when asked of Aguero, who signed a new contract with Atletico on Monday.
“We’d have all of them, they’d improve us. But I can’t see any of them being here.”
“I would tell you, honestly. I should be going home after training today. I don’t intend to be sticking around here until 11 o’clock tonight, there’s nothing happening.”
“I would be very surprised if anything happened today. There is nothing very close.”
Meanwhile, Redknapp ruled out allowing centre-back Jonathan Woodgate and Croatian midfielder Niko Kranjcar to leave on loan.
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Woodgate has been cruelled by a groin injury since late 2009 but is nearing full fitness once more, while Kranjcar has struggled to break into a first team loaded with talent of the ilk of Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon and Rafael van der Vaart.
“No chance, we can’t weaken the squad anymore,” the Spurs boss said.
Following his hugely controversial outburst on the final day of the Premier League season, Joey Barton’s future is to be revealed soon, following an internal investigation at Loftus Road with the outcome expected shortly; reports The Daily Mail.
R’s boss Mark Hughes is expected to strip Barton of the club captaincy, as well as issuing him with a substantial fine in addition to the 12 match ban already inflicted by the Premier League.
The outcome of QPR’s investigation will be announced on Monday, and there is a possibility the 29 year old may even be omitted from their 25 man Premier League squad for the upcoming season.
Barton is no stranger to trouble, but his latest misdemeanour could see the worst punishment he has yet faced within the game. Should he be shown the door at Loftus Road, he may find it difficult to find another team as his signing would be a risky one given his proven temperament.
The deliberation will come to an end shortly, meaning Barton will know where he stands, and QPR may well have to find a replacement for the 29 year old. If speculation is anything to go by, Mark Hughes is eager to get rid of troublemaker Barton.
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LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham is looking forward to taking on Roberto Mancini’s big-spending Manchester City on Saturday.But Beckham – who made his name in the midfield of City’s bitter rivals Manchester United – wants his side to first focus on their MLS match against Columbus Crew on Wednesday.
“We’re concentrating on tomorrow’s game first. Once that game’s out of the way, then we’ll look forward to the game on Sunday at our own stadium with a world-class team with a lot of great players in it,” Beckham said.
“We’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be one of those games that fans are going to enjoy, I’m sure. (But) we’ll concentrate on tomorrow night first.”
The Galaxy were comprehensively beaten in another high-profile friendly against another of Beckham’s former clubs, Real Madrid, on Saturday.
Despite going down 4-1 and being outclassed, former England captain Beckham believes Galaxy’s players should improve by playing Real and City.
“I think it’s always great for any player to play against world-class opponents because it makes you a better player, it improves you, you learn from it,” he said.
“As difficult a game as it was, you learn and you watch these players. It’s what I used to do as a young kid and it’s what all the young kids on our team do. You watch the likes of Kaka, Ronaldo … these players that you can learn from.”
Before I start I should probably warn you that this could be classed as a rant, an interesting rant though I hope you’ll agree. It is a topic that has been discussed much before, but now I feel it has gone to a new level and as such English football is suffering dearly. Now in no way do I want to go back to the days when defenders used to give strikers a good kick for ninety minutes (although El Hadji Diouf could do with a bit of that) and I want creative players to be protected to some extent, but not to the detriment of football in such a way that players can no longer tackle without a fear of being sent off.
The tipping point for this argument in fact came in an FA Cup match, but similar examples can be taken from the Premier League every weekend. The player in question is Newcastle’s Cheik Tiote, a player who likes a tackle for sure, but can hardly be classed as a malicious player. Tiote was slightly foolish to jump into a challenge in the second half against Stevenage, but he didn’t go in with two feet, unlike Steven Gerrard against Manchester United on Sunday (for which I thought Stevie G deserved to go), and most importantly he won the ball, a fact that seems to be lost on many Premier League referees these days.
Despite winning the ball, Tiote’s challenge was considered to be reckless – something that you could argue in regards to any sliding challenge, and Andre Marriner wasted no time in brandishing a red card. In my opinion Newcastle manager Alan Pardew was spot on in his assessment of the situation, saying that “he (Tiote) was aggressive in the challenge but in no way was he intending to hurt the player.” Newcastle of course appealed but to no avail, which is hardly surprising as the FA is keen to stick by referees, but this is just the latest example of tackling becoming a dying art in the English game.
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I can see some thinking behind the FA’s decision to clamp down on bad tackles as a means to try and minimise injuries, but of course it often isn’t the worst tackles that result in horrific injuries. I come back to Newcastle again and Nigel de Jong’s tackle on Hatem Ben Arfa. The Manchester City midfielder made what seemed to be a fair challenge; even after watching the replay from many angles it’s hard to tell whether there was any malice in the challenge. De Jong won the ball, didn’t show his studs, yet Ben Arfa suffered a leg break; unlucky on the part of the Frenchman, but part and parcel of football.
There have been some horrific tackles in recent years, with the one on Arsenal’s Eduardo at the forefront on many people’s minds, but tackles like that one seem to have been taken out of all context. Now it takes very little for a referee to show a red card; diving in with two feet off the floor, is now almost a guaranteed sending off. In fact in that respect it’s pretty irrelevant whether the tackler wins the ball or not, which cannot be right, can it?
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This weekend sees three of the great rivalries in English football: Liverpool v Everton, Sunderland v Newcastle and Birmingham v Aston Villa. Many football fans will be tuning in to watch some great play, but what marks these games out from the rest is the passion that is on show and in turn that commitment that is illustrated through tough tackles. Derbies would be lesser spectacles without tough tackling, just as the Premier League is, but I fear that we’re already at a place where great tackles are punished if they’re considered ‘dangerous’, whatever that means. By all means send people off for bad tackles, but please don’t brandish almost every sliding tackle ‘dangerous’, the game will certainly suffer for it. Rant over!
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Tottenham have reportedly opened talks with Ajax skipper Jan Vertonghen, and will battle north London rivals Arsenal for his signature, according to The Daily Mail.
Reports from Holland earlier in the week indicated that Arsene Wenger’s men were the frontrunners to land the Belgium international come the summer transfer window, but it is now believed that the White Hart Lane outfit are firmly in the race also.
With the impressive centre back’s contract expiring at the Amsterdam Arena in the summer of 2013, the Eredivisie champions are resigned to losing their key man this summer, with a reported fee of £7 million suffice to bring him to England.
The player’s agent has confirmed that he wants to move to the Premier League, but at this stage has not revealed which clubs are in the running to be his next employer.
“Jan has some dream clubs, which are special for him,” Vertonghen’s agent Mustapha Nakhli told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
“Playing football in the top of the Premier League is something he has always hoped for.”
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The Daily Mail are reporting that Arsene Wenger is considering a bid for Wigan star James McCarthy.
With the potential departures of captain Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, Wenger has again turned his attentions to the 20-year-old.
The Frenchman is preparing to lose his two key midfielders despite continually insisting they are going nowhere.
However the move for McCarthy clearly signifies that one or both of them will definitely be leaving the Emirates Stadium.
An enquiry was made earlier in the summer after the Republic of Ireland international’s impressive form last season at the DW Stadium.
Latics boss Roberto Martinez rebuffed that approach insisting the former Hamilton Academical midfielder was going nowhere.
He said: “The players are under contract.
“We’ve got a lot of good players and it is understandable people are looking at them.
“There’s been a lot of media speculation – that is part of being in the transfer window – but I am more focused on trying to reach the targets we set, get as fit as we can and enjoy every player we have in the squad.”
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Liverpool have also been linked with a move for the player although it seems that Wenger want’s to beat the Merseyside’s to his signature.
Wigan will want to hold onto him after selling Charles N’Zogbia to Aston Villa and it will take some serious money for them to even consider letting McCarthy leave.
Sir Alex Ferguson has become the longest-ever serving manager at Manchester United, and that is solely because he is a one-of-kind visionary.
Everyone knows that, “hindsight is always 20/20,” but the foresight that Ferguson possesses is uncanny to say the least, and that has enabled to carry on managing at the highest level for over 24 years.
The patience of the United board of directors, should be mentioned as well, because without it, Sir Alex would not have been able to bring his ideas from conception to reality, and re-lay the groundwork that Sir Matt Busby had done himself.
Like Sir Matt was able to do, the Ferguson has amazingly been able to adapt his way of thinking as the game has progressed over the last quarter of a century, and, of course, United and their supporters have reaped the benefits from his prophetic mindset.
Sir Alex’s resume clearly speaks for itself as he has simply become the most successful manager in English football, and now some of his closest rivals are trying to mimic his vision.
However, these artificial emulators are now realizing just how good Ferguson, who is one of the greatest man managers the sport has ever seen, is at what he does and have been served a conscientious dose of the saying, “Often imitated, never duplicated.”
As everyone is cognizant of, Arsene Wenger has introduced an influx of young players into his Arsenal squad, and he has learned the hard way that there must be a proper balance of youth and experience – something that the Gaffer has done very well over the years.
However, it has been over five years since Arsenal won a trophy, and that is down to Wenger letting some of his prized assets, like Thierry Henry and Patrick Viera, go rather than using them to help flourish his poor man’s version of Ferguson’s Fledglings.
Wenger has resorted to conjuring up umpteen excuses, like blaming the pitch at Old Trafford, as to why his team has failed to live up to the expectations, and the Professor clearly does not offer the protection of his players that the Gaffer does, either.
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Now it is there for everyone to see that another one of their other title-chasing challengers has been trying to replicate the Ferguson mould, and completely abandoning their original ideas of bringing in just experienced, over-priced players.
After winning two titles during the middle of the last decade, Chelsea lost out to a youthful United team, and that conveyed dollars signs into the eyes of their owner, Roman Abramovich, which could very well be the reason why Jose Mourinho left his managerial by “mutual consent.”
Being the business man he is, as well as the encouragement of Peter Kenyon, the Russian billionaire saw this as a chance to develop a youth system and he brought in Frank Arnesen to build up the Chelsea academy.
Both of them have failed to live up to the Blues’ dictator’s expectations and Kenyon was fired last year, and it was just announced that Arnesen is out of his job at the end of the year.
Yes, Chelsea are reigning champions of the Barclays Premier League, but the lack of balance and youth in their squad right now show just how significant Sir Alex’s influence is on levels at Old Trafford.
Chelsea has parted with ways with some of the aging stars that helped them to those titles, and now their fans have to wait and see if their owner is patient enough to allow the likes of Josh McEachran, Jeffrey Bruma and Gaël Kakuta prosper into professionals.
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Sunderland may have fielded the youngest team this year in the Premier League, but that included just one of the many hungry United youngsters, who are about to be unleashed in the next seasons and set the English top-flight alight.
There has been a lot of commotion about Sir Alex offering long-term deals to this player, or that player, but that is only because he knows how important the nucleus of a team is, and to be successful in the near, or distant, one needs to do that.
As Manchester United’s Board of Directors did at the beginning of his tenure, the supporters now trust Sir Alex Ferguson to bestow even more success in the coming years, which has all been down to his vision.
Read more United blogs at the excellent The United Religion
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Well a week has passed since the end of the season and I must admit I am missing it already, as there is nothing like going to watch your team play on a Saturday afternoon.
The off-season brings with it anticipation on who your team are going to sign next season, what current players are going to stay with the club and thoughts already turn to where you are hoping to finish in the league next season.
As for Norhampton’s season it was a bit of a disappointment if I am honest as we were promised so much by then manager Gary Johnson. He had said that all the players he signed were winners and we were going to be up there challenging come May and as he is a man with a good CV so who were we to argue.
He made signings who just a few months later before his demise he transfer listed. Big names like Arron Davies, Paul Turnball, Jake Robinson were signed and have been nothing but a let down this season.
However despite this there were some players that stood out above the rest during the season and I am now going to choose the top three who deserve extra praise for their fines performances this year.
3rd Place: Adebayo Akinfenwa – Big Bayo as we know him has hit 18 goals this season and for struggling tea that is not a bad return. He is an icon to most Cobblers fans andis a big unit who can take a couple of defenders away with him leaving his strike partner in open space a lot of the time. Considering he has had a lot of different partners this season the one I felt he worked with best was Saido Berahino,they had a great chemistry together & he helped provide a lot of goals for Saido by making defenders deal with him. He spent a spell out of the team when Aidy Boothroyd took over as many of us thought that he was just not Aidy’s cup of tea, but as the season came to close we found out that the club had turned down a six figure sum from a fellow league 2 club believed to be Crawley Town. When Bayo finally got back into the team we had a fitter and more mobile Bayo after he had lost 3 stone to prove to the manager how much he wanted to play for this club. So thanks for the goals Bayo I just hope you are still here at the beginning of next season because with the right strike partner I believe you can lead the charge for the play-offs.
2nd Place: Clarke Carlisle – Clarke joined the club on loan from Burnley in January after Graham Westley had taken over at Preston and terminated Clarke’s season long loan there. Since Clarke has joined the club he has helped to shore up a leaky defence and put his body on the line to block goalbound shots. Clarke was made capatin by Boothroyd as soon as he signed,taking over from John Johnson and to be honest I think this was one of the best moves Aidy could have made as I believe Clarke is a born leader. He says he has found his love for the game again after his loan spell here and that he would love to move to the club on a permanent deal. I just hope we have enough in the budget to afford his wages as I think our defence will be a worse place without him.
1st Place: Michael Jacobs – Michael recently made his 100th appearance for the club in the final game of the season at Rotherham and many of us believe it will be his last. He is being scouted by many championship clubs and the managers of Derby, Peterborough and Bristol City have declared their interest in our 20 year old midfielder. He has had a great season for the club in a midfield that wasn’t really settled until the last day of the transfer window. He is quick and clever on the ball and he can also pick out that killer ball for the strikers to attack. He also showed plenty of passion whilst wearing the claret and white,and whoever he ends up with next season is going to have a player who gives 100% to the team he is playing for. He had a fair few man of the match awards during the season,and he also picked up the clubs player of the year award for the 2nd year in a row. Good luck for the future Crackers,we can dream that you will start the season with us but somehow I think you are on your way to prove your worth at a higher level.
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You can forgive most Arsenal fans for being somewhat underwhelmed with their activity in the transfer market thus far. Their sole signing thus far has been Charlton defender and Finland Under-21 star Carl Jenkinson who they plucked up on the cheap. Whilst they’ve been heavily linked with Velez’s Ricky Alvarez, they’ve yet to take action and even if they did, it’s unlikely that his signing would do too much to placate fans.
The constant linking to players such as Gary Cahill and Christopher Samba , as well as the likes of Charles N’Zogbia and Jose Enrique will do little to excite fans.
To that extent, I’m sure it’s something of a relief to be linked to a player of real, unquestionable quality; a player who can rouse a real sense of enthusiasm and optimism for the future. Reports in the Daily Mail claim that Arsenal are preparing to make an £18m bid for Valencia ’s Juan Mata .
As with all these stories it’s important not to get carried away and to treat them with a degree of scepticism, but it’s still difficult not to get excited about the prospect of seeing Mata in an Arsenal shirt.
Whilst it’s fair to say that Arsenal have bigger priorities in the transfer marker (finding a decent centre-back to partner Thomas Vermaelen next year, for example) a quality player always makes for a good signing, even if it is in an area of the park where the Gunners are already strong. Mata would face competition on the wings from Andrey Arshavin, Samir Nasri (if he stays), Theo Walcott, Thomas Rosicky and Carlos Vela.
There’s no doubting however, that he has the quality and ability to make his mark in the Arsenal first team in his first season at the club.
With Nasri an unknown quantity, Andrey Arshavin growing in years (and dare I say pounds?), Thomas Rosicky much too goal shy and Carlos Vela too inexperienced, perhaps it’s an area of the pitch that Arsenal need to bolster more than fans might initially think. If Arsene Wenger has made him a transfer target, he’ll have done so with good reason.
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If Arsenal are to seriously pursue Mata, they’ll face tough competition from both Liverpool and Manchester City, who have been linked to him in the recent past. Manchester City in particular have the financial power to price the Gunners out of the market. So it’ll be Wenger’s job to prove to Mata that despite not winning any silverware in six years, Arsenal are a club that’s going places.
Finally, I’ll leave you with this evidence that Mata is something of a tricky and talented individual.
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Veteran Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted that he has had to change his methods to cope with modern footballers' 'fragile' personalities.
Ferguson is famed for his so-called 'hairdryer' technique of drawing the best out of his United charges, but accepts that that is no longer the right approach at all times.
He told a conference in Doha:"I've mellowed a great deal. The world has changed and so have players' attitudes.
"I'm dealing with more fragile human beings than I used to be. They are cocooned by modern parents, agents, even their own image at times.
"They need to be seen with their tattoos and earrings. It's a different world for me, so I have had to adapt.
"There is nothing wrong with losing your temper if it's for the right reasons, but I never leave it until the next day. I don't believe in that."
Ferguson also spoke up for Wayne Rooney, who recently signed a new contract at Old Trafford after earlier having stated that he wanted to move on.
"You don't necessarily have to heed advice after listening to it," Ferguson added."Some young people take bad advice.
"He has an agent who is not the most popular man in the world and he obviously sold it to Wayne to ask away. The boy rushed in.
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"But the minute he heard the response of the public and our supporters, he changed his mind, he knew he'd made a mistake.
"There's nothing wrong with that as long as you recognise it. He immediately apologised and agreed a new contract within a couple of hours."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email