Month: July 2021

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JACK GREALISH REPORTEDLY AGREES PERSONAL TERMS WITH MANCHESTER CITY

Aston Villa attacker Jack Grealish has reportedly agreed personal terms with Manchester City ahead of a potential move to the Etihad Stadium this summer.

The England international is believed to be a leading transfer target for Pep Guardiola’s side, who are also being linked with a move for Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane.

According to report, Grealish has been offered a lucrative contract by the Premier League champions, and the attacker has now reached an agreement over personal terms.

The report claims that the 25-year-old is not prepared to force a move away from Villa, but Man City are hopeful of agreeing a transfer fee in the region of £90m.

Dean Smith’s side could yet hand Grealish a new and improved deal at Villa Park, though, despite the fact that he only penned an extension with his current side last September.

The attacker, who is still on holiday following his involvement in this summer’s European Championship, scored seven times and registered 12 assists in 27 appearances for Villa during the 2020-21 campaign.

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LEEDS UNITED COMPLETE LEWIS BATE SIGNING FROM CHELSEA

Leeds United are pleased to announce the signing of Lewis Bate.

The midfielder joins the Whites from fellow Premier League side Chelsea for an undisclosed fee.

Bate, who attracted interest from a number of clubs, has penned a three-year-deal at Elland Road, running until the summer of 2024.

The 18-year-old has been part of the Chelsea youth setup for the last 10 years and captained the Blues in the 2020 FA Youth Cup final.

Last season he made the step up to Under-23s football, making 20 appearances as Chelsea finished runners-up in Premier League 2 Division 1.

He has also won caps at youth level for England at both Under-17 and Under-18 level.

Bate becomes Leeds’ fifth signing of the summer transfer window, following the arrivals of Junior Firpo, Jack Harrison, Sean McGurk and Amari Miller.

He will initially link up with Mark Jackson’s Under-23s for the forthcoming season.

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MANCHESTER UNITED ANNOUNCE THE SIGNING OF JODAN SANCHO

Manchester United is delighted to announce the signing of Jadon Sancho, subject to international clearance, keeping him at the club until June 2026, with an option of a further year.
Sancho, 21, scored 50 goals and registered 64 assists in four seasons with Borussia Dortmund. The England International was part of the squad that reached the final of Euro 2020.

Jadon Sancho said:

“I’ll always be grateful to Dortmund for giving me the opportunity to play first team football, although I always knew that I would return to England one day. The chance to join Manchester United is a dream come true and I just cannot wait to perform in the Premier League. This is a young and exciting squad and I know, together, we can develop into something special to bring the success that the fans deserve. I am looking forward to working with the Manager and his coaching team to further develop my game.”

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said:

“Jadon epitomises the type of player I want to bring to the club, he is a forward player in the best traditions of Manchester United. He will form an integral part of my squad for years to come and we look forward to seeing him blossom. His goals and assists records speak for themselves and he will also bring tremendous pace, flair and creativity to the team.

“Old Trafford will give him the platform he needs to release his untapped talent and perform at the highest level. For a player of his age, Jadon has already achieved a great deal and showed the courage to go and prove himself abroad. We all look forward to welcoming Jadon to the squad as we prepare for the new campaign.”

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EVERTON NEW SIGNING DEMARAI GRAY VOWS TO HELP THE TOFFEES GET BETTER

Demarai Gray has vowed to help Everton compete with the Premier League’s big boys after completing his move to Goodison Park.

The 25-year-old former Leicester winger has signed a three-year deal and has the option of a fourth with the Toffees as he leaves German side Bayer Leverkusen for an undisclosed fee after just six months in the Bundesliga.

He follows fellow wideman Andros Townsend and keeper Asmir Begovic to the blue half of Merseyside with new manager Rafael Benitez and director of football Marcel Brands wasting little time in re-shaping the squad for the season ahead.

Gray told the club’s official website: “I’m delighted to be back in the Premier League at such a big club and I’m excited to play with the team and get to work.

“Speaking to the manager and Marcel Brands, I had a really good feel for the club and I feel this is a place where I can continue to develop.

“The manager, with his ambition and what he has won in the past, is important and we’ll look to push forward and compete with the top clubs. I think a club of this magnitude has all the potential to be right up there.

“Collectively with what Marcel and the manager have said to me, everything fits, including the club’s ambitions and goals. Everton are a very big club and the main objective is to be pushing and competing back up there in the table.

“I want to work hard on the training pitch and work my hardest for the club on the pitch.”

Birmingham-born Gray, who will wear the number 11 shirt, began his career with his hometown club before making a £3.5million switch to the Foxes in January 2016, and was a Premier League winner at the age of 19.

He has been capped by England up to Under-21 level and is confident he can renew his acquaintance with striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, whose 21 goals last season helped Everton finish 10th, to good effect.

He said: “I’ve played with a few of the boys for England Under-21s, so it’s always nice to see a few familiar faces.

“Dom’s kicked on massively with his goals and, for me, as a winger, that’s the type of player you want in the box. My job is to feed him for him to put the ball in the net.

“We’ve got top international players in the squad and I think we have a good balance. It’s an exciting time.”

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CLUBS MUST EDUCATE FANS ON RACISM – EVRA

Football clubs should interact with fans to educate them about racism, former France and Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has said, after Black players in the England team were subjected to online racist abuse after their Euro 2020 final loss.

Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were the targets of the abuse after they missed spot-kicks in England’s 3-2 shootout loss to Italy after the game ended 1-1 following extra time.

The abuse drew wide condemnation from England’s captain, manager, royalty, religious leaders and politicians, with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging social media companies to do more to tackle online abuse that “emerged from the dark spaces of the internet.”

“If we don’t do something racism will always be there because it’s been there for so many years. You know we need to change and that’s why education is really important,” Evra told Sky Sports.

“I want those clubs to invest in education, to meet the fans, for the players to speak to the fans, maybe a group of fans and tell what they feel when they get abused because of their colour.

“Don’t tell me the football clubs can’t do that, or FIFA or UEFA, more meetings with the fans so they understand when they make a monkey noise when a Black player gets the ball, the way it affects them. That’s really important.”

Online abuse of players led to British football authorities briefly boycotting social media platforms before the Euros, while Britain is planning legislation to force tech firms to do more.

A Twitter spokesperson last week said they had removed more than 1,000 posts and permanently suspended a number of accounts, while Facebook said it too had quickly removed abusive comments.

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TOKYO OLYMPICS: MEXICO EASES PAST FRANCE IN OPENING GAME

Gold medal favourites Mexico beat France to win their first Olympic group game 4-1 on Thursday.

Alexis Vega and Francisco Cordova gave Mexico a 2-0 lead in the second half before Andre-Pierre Gignac converted a penalty to give France a foothold in the game again.

Uriel Antuna got a third in the final 10 minutes before Eduardo Aguirre scored in added time to wrap up the game for Jaime Lozano’s side.

It was a relatively depleted side which lined up against Mexico on Thursday with Kylian Mbappe, Eduardo Camavinga, Houssem Aouar and Amine Gouiri not given permission by their clubs to travel to the tournament.

Mexico took advantage of their opponent’s lack of star power and took the lead on 47 minutes when Diego Lainez floated a ball into the box and Vega headed it into the net.

The lead was doubled on 54 minutes by Cordova who hit a low shot into the bottom left corner of the net.

A clumsy foul by César Montes on Randal Kolo Muani in the box drew a penalty for France which Gignac confidently dispatched past Guillermo Ochoa.

Vega assisted Lozano on 80 minutes as he struck a shot into the bottom left of the goal.

Aguirre’s goal on 91 minutes was the most impressive of the day. He dinked around the France defence to power a shot into the upper right hand corner of the net.

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TOKYO OLYMPICS: RICHARLISON HITS HATRICK AS BRAZIL BEAT GERMANY 4-2

Richarlison scored a first-half hat trick as defending Olympic champions Brazil kicked off their Tokyo 2020 campaign with a 4-2 win over 10-man Germany at the International Stadium in Yokohama on Thursday.

The Everton striker, who was one of several notable names in the Selecao’s squad alongside Dani Alves, Douglas Luiz and Malcom, opened the scoring on seven minutes, scoring from a rebound after his initial shot was saved by Florian Muller.

On 22 minutes, Richarlison doubled Brazil’s advantage with a header following Bruno’s cross from the left before completing his treble on 30 minutes, again after good work from Bruno, with a curling effort into the far corner of the goal.

Brazil could have made it four just before half-time when Benjamin Henrichs handled in the penalty area, but Matheus Cunha saw his spot-kick saved.

Germany threatened to fight back when Nadiem Amiri’s strike from the edge of the box fortuitously beat Santos in the Brazil goal on 57 minutes.

Maximilian Arnold’s dismissal six minutes later looked to have effectively ended Germany’s hopes of recovering a point but Ragnar Ache’s unlikely header in the 84th minute moved them within touching distance until Paulinho added a fourth goal for Brazil in stoppage time, firing into the top corner following a counter-attack as Germany chased an equaliser.

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OLYMPICS GAMES: NETHERLANDS CRUSH ZAMBIA

Vivianne Miedema scored four goals and Netherlands routed Zambia 10-3 to open the Olympic women’s football tournament on Wednesday — with Barbra Banda netting all three for the African side.

Miedema, the all-time leading scorer in the Women’s Super League, as well as the top career scorer for the Netherlands, scored goals in the ninth, 15th, 29th and 59th minutes.

Lieke Martens added two goals for the fourth-ranked Netherlands, who advanced to the World Cup final two years ago in France but fell to the United States.

Shanice van de Sanden, Jill Roord, Lineth Beerensteyn and Victoria Pelova netted the others for the Dutch. Zambia are the lowest ranked team in the tournament at No. 104.

The Tokyo Games are the Netherlands’ first Olympics and on the eve of the tournament, they received a rousing team talk from former men’s team manager Louis van Gaal.

Netherlands coach Sarina Wiegman is stepping down after the Olympics to lead England in the next World Cup cycle.

Wiegman will be replaced by Portland Thorns coach Mark Parsons at the conclusion of the National Women’s Soccer League season.

This is also Zambia’s first appearance in the Olympics. Known as the Copper Queens, Zambia had played just once this year, a friendly with South Africa. The team’s scheduled tune-up match with Britain ahead of Tokyo was called off because of COVID-19 restrictions.

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INTER JOIN ARSENAL TO WITHDRAW FROM FLORIDA CUP

Inter Milan are the latest club to pull out of the Florida Cup due to take place this pre-season after Arsenal withdrew on Tuesday.

Arsenal announced they would not be travelling to the U.S. for the tournament due to “a small number of positive COVID tests” at the club.

And, the following day, Inter released a statement confirming they, too, would be pulling out of the event.

“FC Internazionale Milano announce that they will not be travelling to the USA for the Florida Cup due to the current risks involved in international travel as a result of the spread of the pandemic, risks that have already caused Arsenal F.C. to withdraw from participation,” an Inter statement read.

Inter were due to face Arsenal on Sunday and then potentially face on July 28 the winner of Everton’s game against Millonarios.

Florida Cup organisers issued the following statement after Inter dropped out: “Though we regret Inter Milan’s decision to withdraw from the Florida Cup today, we welcomed Everton to Orlando this afternoon, with Millonarios set to arrive tomorrow. Those clubs will meet as planned on Sunday, July 25, with the match beginning at 6 p.m. ET.

“Additional updates to the tournament schedule will be announced shortly. Out of respect for the fans who purchased tickets to the original lineup, we will be automatically refunding all purchases through Ticketmaster. Additional information will be sent to ticket holders through their point of purchase.

“General admission tickets will be sold for contests on both original match dates, July 25 and 28.

Regarding Arsenal bowing out on Tuesday, the Florida Cup said: “We are disappointed that Arsenal have decided not to participate in the 2021 Florida Cup.

“We wish the members of the Arsenal traveling party who tested positive for COVID-19 a speedy recovery as we continue making final preparations for the event.

“We will be in communication with fans who purchased tickets to see Arsenal in Orlando regarding their options.”

Inter won Serie A for the first time since 2010 last term but financial issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic meant right-back Achraf Hakimi left for Paris Saint-Germain while manager Antonio Conte stepped down and was replaced by Simone Inzaghi.

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TOKYO 2020 OPENING CEREMONY DIRECTOR SACKED ONE DAY BEFORE EVENT

Friday’s opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has been plunged into further chaos following the dismissal of its show director.

Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto confirmed to media that Kantaro Kobayashi has been sacked on the eve of the event due to alleged anti-Semitic jokes he made during a comedy routine in 1998.

The show’s composer Keigo Oyamada was forced to resign earlier this week after footage emerged of interviews in which he admitted bullying disabled children during his schooldays.

And its executive creative director Hiroshi Sasaki stepped down in March following criticism of his suggestion that plus-size model Naomi Watanabe dress up as a pig during the ceremony.

No fans and fewer than 1,000 VIPs will be present in the 68,000 capacity Tokyo Olympic Stadium, with a string of heads of major corporations such as Toyota and Panasonic announcing publicly that they would withdraw, citing concerns over the public’s perception of the Games.

Japanese media have reported that Emperor Naruhito will be present at the ceremony, but will pointedly refrain from using the word “celebrate”.

Only around 30 of more than 200 Team GB athletes who are currently in Tokyo are expected to march at the ceremony, with many citing coronavirus concerns.