Sunday 13 July 2014
James Rodriguez wins World Cup 2014 Golden Boot
The attacking midfielder was the breakout star in Brazil, inspiring his side to a first ever appearance in the quarter-final stage by netting six times in just five games.
| GOLDEN BOOT STANDINGS | |||
 | |||
| Player James Muller Neymar Messi Van Persie | Country Colombia Germany Brazil Argentina Netherlands | Goals6 5 4 4 4 | Assists 2 3 1 1 0 |
However, after doubling his overall World Cup goals tally with five strikes during Germany's triumphant campaign, the 24-year-old is now a very serious contender to break the all-time record held by team-mate Miroslav Klose (16).
Lionel Messi, meanwhile, had high hopes of claiming the Golden Boot after racking up four goals in his first three games but the Argentina captain failed to score in the knockout stage.
Consequently, the Barcelona No.10 finishes fourth, just ahead of Netherland striker Robin van Persie on account of the fact that the Dutchman did not register any assists.
Messi, though, was pipped to third place in the standings by Neymar as his club-mate - who also set up one goal - only played five games before his tournament was ended by a back injury sustained in Brazil's quarter-final win over Colombia.
James Rodriguez, of course, also ended that game in tears but at least the Monaco man's late penalty in Fortaleza has proven no mere consolation goal, as his successful spot-kick has ultimately earned him the Golden Boot - and a place in World Cup history.
Messi wins World Cup 2014 Golden Ball
The Barcelona attacker was on the losing side in Sunday's tournament decider, with the Albiceleste going down 1-0 to Germany after extra-time in Rio de Janeiro.
However, Messi has been rewarded for carrying his side to the final, with the 27-year-old having racked up four goals and one assist in seven appearances.
In claiming the prestigious prize, Messi emulates the achievement of the man with whom he is so often compared, compatriot Diego Maradona, who skippered the Albiceleste to success in Mexico in 1986.
Messi is the third Argentine to receive the Golden Ball, with Mario Kempes having become the inaugural winner in 1978 on the back of his sensational goalscoring exploits during the country's victorious campaign on home soil.
Meanwhile, Germany's sweeper-keeper Manuel Neuer beat off competition from fellow finalist Sergio Romero, of Argentina, and Costa Rica shot-stopper Keylor Navas for the Golden Glove.
Saturday 12 July 2014
Germany duo Sami Khedira and Lars Bender targeted by Arsenal following signing of Alexis Sanchez
Arsène Wenger is preparing to follow up the signing of Alexis Sanchez with a new holding midfielder and has made enquiries over this past week on Germany internationals Sami Khedira and Lars Bender.
Arsenal are also now finalising deals for two new right-backs, with Mathieu Debuchy’s £10 million move from Newcastle due to be confirmed in the next 48 hours and Atletico Madrid's Javi Manquillo also ready to arrive, probably on loan.
It is the possible addition of Khedira or Bender, however, that will most excite Arsenal fans and serve as further evidence, following the acquisitions of Sanchez and Mesut Ozil over the past year, that Wenger is again able to compete for the world’s best players.
Khedira has been one of the best midfielders at the World Cup and, although he has only got one year left on his contract at Real Madrid, the Champions League winners would still demand in excess of £20 million.
Madrid have also held talks with Khedira about a potential new contract and, while the 27-year-old would be interested in following Germany team-mates Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski to London, Arsenal would also face competition from across Europe.
After having a £19 million bid rejected last summer, Wenger is also still a big admirer of Bender, who is younger and likely to be cheaper than Khedira. Bender was in Joachim Low’s provisional 30-man Germany World Cup squad but was forced to withdraw following a thigh injury.
The arrivals of Manquillo and Debuchy will almost certainly mean that Carl Jenkinson will be loaned out this season, with Wenger keen for him to play regularly at this stage in his development. Newcastle and Stoke City are among the clubs who would be interested in recruiting Jenkinson. Arsenal and Atletico are still in talks over whether the Manquillo deal should be permanent or simply a one-year loan.
Having completed his medical on Thursday before being confirmed as Arsenal’s most expensive ever striker, Sanchez is now excited by the prospect of playing in the same team as Ozil. “With Ozil in the squad Arsenal were (close) to winning the league title,” said Sanchez. “The team not only plays really good football, but the squad is really good and we can win silverware. We can achieve big things.
"Playing regularly wasn't the only reason why I came here – I came here to win the league title, the Champions League.”
As was the case with Ozil’s signing last summer, the personal touch of Wenger was critical in making the deal happen. It is understood that Sanchez also took the advice of Cesc Fabregas, his former Barcelona team-mate, before choosing Arsenal above both Liverpool and Juventus.
“I know this club has a manager that looks after his players and takes care of them as well,” said Sanchez. “I was told that he is a manager you can learn a lot with. He wants to achieve great things in football and that helped me make the decision to sign for Arsenal. Arsène Wenger's style of play is the sort of style the Chilean national team has, so therefore I am used to it.
“The manager has mentioned some certain positions, but I am not worried about it right now. The manager and I will talk about my role as soon as I start training.”
Neuer, Navas and Romero nominated for Golden Glove
Manuel Neuer, Keylor Navas and Sergio Romero have been nominated for the Fifa Golden Glove, awarded to the best goalkeeper at the World Cup.
Neuer has started every game for finalists Germany, keeping a clean sheet on three occasions and impressing with his 'sweeper keeper' performance against Algeria in the round of 16.
Levante's Navas kept two clean sheets in the group stages as Costa Rica topped Group D ahead of Uruguay, Italy and England, before saving a penalty in the last-16 shootout win over Greece and pulling off a number of saves in the quarter-final loss to Netherlands.
Romero managed four clean sheets during Argentina's run to the final and stopped Ron Vlaar and Wesley Sneidjer from the spot in the shootout victory over Netherlands in the semi-finals.
Guillermo Ochoa misses out despite consistently impressing during Mexico's run to the knockout stages, while Tim Howard is also overlooked despite a record-breaking 16 saves during USA's match against Belgium.
Fifa's Technical Study Group, comprised of selected coaches and football analysts, will determine the winner after Sunday's World Cup final.
Lionel Messi, Neymar and Arjen Robben are among the nominees for the Golden Ball award for best player at the World Cup, while Paul Pogba, Raphael Varane and Memphis Depay are shortlisted for the Best Young Player prize.
Diego completes Fenerbahce move
Former Atletico Madrid midfielder Diego has completed his move to Fenerbahce on a free transfer following the expiry of his Wolfsburg contract.
The 29-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan at Vicente Calderon after impressing in his first spell at the club in the Europa League-winning campaign in 2011-12.
However, following a lengthy spell of negotiations, the Brazilian has now signed a three-year deal with the Istanbul outfit at a reported salary of €3.5 million per year after neither Atletico nor Wolfsburg opted to extend his deal.
"I am very happy to be here. This dream finally came true," he told reporters.
"There had been contacts with Fenerbahce for several years.
"I came to a winning club and I will continue to win. I want to show my ability. I talked to my friends about Fenerbahce and I am aware of the greatness of this club."
Diego spent the latter half of the 2013-14 season on loan at Atletico, where he played a role in leading the club to a Liga title and a runners-up spot in the Champions League following his incredible long-range strike against Barcelona at Camp Nou.
Manchester City make breakthrough in Mangala pursuit
Manchester City's prolonged pursuit of Eliaquim Mangala is poised to come to a successful conclusion after the France international decided to sign for the Premier League champions.
City have agreed a €40 million deal with Porto, while the 23-year-old is scheduled to join pre-season training following a post-World Cup holiday.
City have prioritised the recruitment of an elite central defender to deploy alongside Vincent Kompany for over a year now. They came close to signing Mangala in January, with the investment trust that owns a percentage of the player's economic rights prepared to accept an offer below his valuation but Porto refusing it.
Delaying until the summer window opened up the possibility of other interested parties convincing Mangala to move elsewhere. Targeted by Jose Mourinho since before the manager's return to Chelsea, Mangala publicly expressed his preference for the west London club in May and refused to sign terms with any of his suitors until the end of France's World Cup campaign.
Aware that they might lose Mangala to a direct rival, City are understood to have set a deadline of Sunday for him to accept their approach. As an insurance policy, an outline deal had been put in place with Roma for Morocco international Mehdi Benatia.
The demand for physically robust defenders who are also capable ball players has seen centre-back become one of the hardest positions for Champions League clubs to fill, leading Paris Saint-Germain to spend €50m acquiring David Luiz from Chelsea at the beginning of this summer. While widely admired, Mangala does not come without an element of risk.
Brought from Standard Liege for €7.5m in 2011, Mangala played less than a 100 first-team games over his three seasons at Porto and has yet to establish himself as a starter for his national team. His form deteriorated during a difficult campaign in which the Portuguese title was ceded to Benfica.
Arguably the most successful transfer-market operators in European football, Porto have entered discussions to bring Portugal centre back Bruno Alves back to the club. Fenerbahce are asking for a fee of €6m for the 32-year-old, who would be expected to make a large salary sacrifice to complete the deal.
Saturday 5 July 2014
Arsenal confident of beating Liverpool to Sanchez
Arsenal are becoming increasingly confident of signing Alexis Sanchez despite Liverpool's interest in the Barcelona forward.
The Telegraph claims Arsenal have already agreed a deal in principle with the player and, with reports the club have tabled a bid of £22 million, are now waiting to negotiate a price with the La Liga side.
Barcelona appear keen for Sanchez to move to Liverpool in a bid to ease negotiations and lower the outright cash fee, of between £70-80m, Liverpool want for Luis Suarez. The Mirror claims the Spanish giants have granted Sanchez permission to open talks with the Anfield club.
However, Sanchez's suggested preference for a move to London combined with Arsenal's heavy interest could prove to be a stumbling block in the Suarez deal, prolonging negotiations between the clubs over fee payment instalments.
Representatives from Barcelona and Liverpool met this week to discuss the transfer of Suarez and, while a deal is not yet in place, both clubs came away indicating talks had been "positive".
FIFA have also paved the way, confirming Suarez is free to join Barcelona despite the player serving a four-month ban from all football-related activity for biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini.
Liverpool have indicated they are not willing to budge on Suarez's price, which is thought to be based on a buyout clause in the Uruguayan's contract, and are confident of obtaining it.
They would likely accept a smaller fee should £30m-rated Sanchez be happy to move to Merseyside. The striker, currently on holiday following Chile's exit from the World Cup in Brazil, will have ultimately have the final say on where he wants to move.
Mathieu Debuchy set to join Arsenal from Newcastle United
Mathieu Debuchy says he is still in talks to join Arsenal despite earlier telling French television he was on his way to the Emirates this summer. In a possible deal understood to be worth around £8m – rising to £12m with add-ons – the France defender would provide a ready-made replacement for his national team-mate Bacary Sagna, who left to join Manchester City on a free transfer at the end of the season.
After France’s World Cup quarter-final defeat by Germany, he said to a pitch-side reporter, telling TF1: “Yes, I will be joining Arsenal for next season.”
There has been no confirmation of the transfer from Arsenal, but the move has been widely mooted for several weeks and now appears to be a formality pending a medical.
Advertisement
Newcastle signed Debuchy from Lille last January, for £5m, and he has since been an ever-present member of Alan Pardew’s side. His impressive form in the Premier League led to interest from Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain, and he made it clear last season that he wanted to pursue Champions League football for the coming campaign.
His potential arrival would be Arsenal’s first signing of the summer, but may not be the last. Arsène Wenger also wants to sign the Barcelona forward Alexis Sánchez and is hopeful of fending off interest from Liverpool for the Chilean.
Liverpool would like Sánchez included as a makeweight in Barcelona’s £70m offer for their Uruguay striker Luis Suárez and, according to reports, met his representatives on Thursday.
However, the 25-year-old Sánchez has given no indication that he wants to move to Anfield, despite Barça being eager for him to make up his mind to speed up negotiations over Suárez.
Wenger, who has been in Brazil as a World Cup pundit on French television, also met Sánchez’s agent earlier in the tournament, and it is understood the forward would prefer a move to London, having been told by Barça that he is no longer needed at the Camp Nou.
Real Madrid icon Di Stefano suffers cardiac arrest
The club's honorary president, who turned 88 this week, was reportedly taken ill after leaving a restaurant in Calle Juan Ramon Jimenez in the Spanish capital, and was rushed to the Gregorio Maranon hospital after being treated by paramedics.
It is understood the former striker suffered cardiac arrest and is now in intensive care.
A source from Madrid emergency services unit Samur told EFE: "A cardiac arrest was attended by Samur staff and they immediately transferred the patient to the Gregorio Maranon hospital."
Argentina-born Di Stefano won eight Primera Liga titles and five European Cups in a sensational decade at Santiago Bernabeu, in which time he scored over 300 goals in 396 appearances.
The former Spain international, who was made honorary president of the Spanish giants in 2000, suffered a minor heart attack in December 2005.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)