Ambitious Russian outfit Zenit St Petersburg have made a £25 million bid for Manchester United winger Nani, according to The Daily Mail.
The Portugal international is out of favour with Sir Alex Ferguson, and his future is unclear as negotiations over a new contract have broken down with the Old Trafford club.
With added competition for places in the Red Devils’ squad Nani has been linked with a move elsewhere, with Juventus known admirers of the tricky wideman.
However, Zenit are eager to wrap-up a deal for the player before the close of the transfer window and have tested United’s resolve with a large bid.
The player’s representatives are said to have met with the eastern European powerhouses in Amsterdam on Monday, with a move now dependent on whether Sir Alex Ferguson wants to cash in on the star.
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Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has once again moved to dismiss talk of a Premier League title challenge by insisting that the club’s focus is on Champions League qualification.
The Reds put themselves firmly in the mix with a thumping 5-1 win against Arsenal, who had topped the table going into the sides’ Saturday clash.
With the result and the manner of the performance at Anfield, many pundits have been putting the Merseysiders alongside the Gunners, Manchester City and Chelsea as challengers for the league title.
But Rodgers – whose side are now three points clear of Tottenham in fifth and have a +33 goal difference – claims that the focus is on staying in the top four and bringing the highest level of European football back to the club and the city:
“I really only focus on the team and the football club, and make no mistake – I want to get into the Champions League for the people here at the club and the people of the city,” he told Sky Sports.
“I came here to try and inspire the city as much as the team. I know what Champions League football can bring to a city like Liverpool and everything it can generate.
“I keep the focus on improving the players, improving our performance levels, and you can see from the continuation of the development we’ve made over the last 18 months that we’re going to be a match.
“The momentum has been building and building, but I just think it would be unprecedented to go from being where we were last year in seventh position to first.
“We’ve got so many young players, who are still growing and developing and our squad is small. So I feel that we’ve still got work to do.
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“But when we play like that and perform like that (on Saturday), people are obviously going to ask the question (can you win the league?).
“We’re five points behind Arsenal, four behind Manchester City and six behind Chelsea and we still have them to play here at Anfield.
“But the main objective is just to finish as high as we possibly can and let’s see where that takes us.”
Manchester United have finally been told that Arturo Vidal is not available to them this summer, after chasing the Chilean for much of the transfer window.
It’s another disappointment for the club, who have felt the sting of rejection multiple times over the past year. The protracted, fruitless chase of Vidal should be seen as nothing other than further embarrassment to the club, who failed to realise that the midfielder was not going to leave Juventus at this late stage of the window.
But even after the signing of Angel Di Maria earlier in the week, United are still desperately short of quality, both in central midfield and at centre-back.
With Vidal now firmly out of the picture, here’s a look at five alternatives for Man United to consider…
[ffc-gallery]Click on Blind to start the gallery
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Daley Blind
Daley Blind may have made his name as a full-back, but the Dutch international is just as good in central midfield, where he often played for Ajax last season.
It was widely expected that Blind would be part of the new arrivals at Old Trafford this summer, but a move has yet to take place.
The Dutch international, who is known well by Louis van Gaal, would be a great buy and the perfect complement to Ander Herrera and Angel Di Maria in the midfield.
Sami Khedira
Real Madrid should be desperate to sell Sami Khedira in these final days of the transfer window, with the German international looking unlikely to extend his contract in the Spanish capital.
Manchester United have surprisingly not been linked with the midfielder, even though he’s exactly what they need. His all-action style would be an excellent fit in Louis van Gaal’s system, while his defensive work would allow Ander Herrera to thrive.
A former teammate of Angel Di Maria, Khedira would go a long way to helping United improve their fortunes on the pitch.
William Carvalho
Sporting are said to be willing to move on their initial price tag on William Carvalho, who has been attracting plenty of interest from English football.
The midfielder is one of Portugal’s most exciting talents and looks destined for a move to the Premier League in the near future. Considering United’s links with Portuguese football, it’s a surprise they have not made a serious offer for the Sporting midfielder.
There is a big price on Carvalho’s head, even with Sporting will to negotiate. But over time, he will prove to be the perfect addition to the midfield at Old Trafford.
Gokhan Inler
In recent years, the only major interest in Gokhan Inler to come out of England has been from Arsenal, who passed up the opportunity to sign the midfielder while he was at Udinese.
Now at Napoli and thriving, the Swiss international has been one of Europe’s most consistent holding midfielders over the past few seasons.
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He’s the no-nonsense, tough-tackling leader United are lacking in the middle of the pitch, and would represent a very good alternative to Arturo Vidal.
Alex Song
They don’t get much more underwhelming than Alex Song, especially when names like Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba have been mentioned in the past.
It’s telling that so few clubs have registered any interest in the Barcelona midfielder. Evidently his ties to the Catalan club and his history at Arsenal have done nothing to convince potential suitors.
But what it all comes down to is that Song is a player who performs the defensive midfield role; how well he does that is another matter. He’s available and willing to move back to English football.
Try and look at it from this point of view: Song would be better than nothing.
Ireland will hope to gain greater global recognition when they take on England and Scotland in September for a handful of one-dayers
Andrew McGlashan30-Aug-2013
The shoe on the other foot: Boyd Rankin will feature for England this time around•International Cricket Council
Ireland’s push for greater global recognition reaches another important landmark next week when they host England in front of what will be a record crowd at the new stadium at Malahide. The ODI is on course to be a 10,000 sell-out and, while the available seating at the new venue is one reason for the record figure, there is also a feeling that cricket in Ireland has hit a new peak this year.The national side came very close to beating Pakistan in a two-match ODI series, while they continue to qualify for all the global tournaments put in front of them. The Inter Provincial three-day tournament has also been launched and Cricket Ireland’s aim is to earn first-class status for that competition by 2015 in their pursuit of being a Test nation by 2020.However, opportunities against Full Member teams remain rare and have to be fought for around the politicking tables of world cricket, but Cricket Ireland are determined to make the game so successful in the country that it becomes “embarrassing” for other nations not to play them more often.”The perception of Ireland cricket continues to be one that is fairly low within the Full Member world due to the opportunities spurned by others to play us,” Warren Deutrom, the Cricket Ireland CEO, told ESPNcricinfo. “But that doesn’t stop us doing what we can; investing in our senior squads, investing in our facilities, getting public and private funding, and growing the sport where we can attract these big matches.”Basically, it’s about building the argument until it’s one that is too embarrassing to ignore regarding how good we are becoming. We have few and far opportunities against Full Members, but look at what we do when they come along. People may still say we don’t expect Ireland to win these games, we expect them to be competitive. Well, I’d say we are extremely competitive when we get the chance.”Phil Simmons, Ireland’s coach, said that there is now a very different mindset within the team compared to a few years ago. “The way that we played against Pakistan showed we are learning every time we go out. We should have won the second match. We are learning how to win games. Since the 2011 World Cup, we’ve had that mentality. We go in to win the game and not just compete.”Deutrom was keen to stress that the England fixture on September 3 was not the “be-all and end-all” for Irish cricket. He is well aware that pinning all ambitions on one fixture every two years does not do Ireland any favours, and also the weather does not have a record of being especially fair to this fixture, but acknowledges that it does carry extra weight given England’s recent Ashes success and the fact it will be covered by Sky TV.”Above everything else it’s about the perception of Irish cricket,” he said. “Having 10,000 in an Irish cricket ground against England, in front of TV cameras, with the President of Ireland and chief executive of ICC, says everything that we in Cricket Ireland have been trying to drive home.”Neither is Deutrom going to be drawn into a debate over the strength of the England side that is coming over. A number of key figures – Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson and Kevin Pietersen – will not be making the trip to Dublin. So, as in 2011, it will be an experimental England side that is captained by Eoin Morgan, who was also the captain for the 2011 one-off encounter. This time there is also the presence of Boyd Rankin, the former Ireland quick who played against England in the 2011 fixture, to stir the emotions of the locals.”The under-strength team still won last time,” Deutrom said, referring to England’s narrow 11-run success in a rain-curtailed match. “It’s not as though we are hammering whoever they send over. It’s a full England team that is being sent. It is at the ECB’s risk that the team does not win, then they have to face the potential fall-out of that.”If I was the ECB, I’d say whichever team we have sent over since 2006 has won. Ironically, the game we did beat them in, at the World Cup, was when they played most of their big names. We need to beat whatever they send over to justify.”
West Bromwich Albion will be looking to keep their name at the top of the Championship table this weekend as the season reaches the halfway point.
The Baggies host Brentford at the Hawthorns knowing they currently hold a two-point cushion over their nearest challengers Leeds United while the team has also opened up a 12-point gap to those outside of the automatic promotion places.
However, manager Slaven Bilic faces one of his biggest dilemmas since taking over in the summer – just who starts in the attack?
On the Chalkboard
It’s quite a nice, and maybe surprising, headache to have as both of his current options have been fit and firing for several games now.
The visitors pose quite a tough challenge as they sit in fourth place and can be considered worthy playoff hopefuls.
Brentford have the second-best defensive record in the division so it could prove to be a tough afternoon unless Bilic makes the right call over who takes the sole striker role.
Charlie Austin has really got going for the first time this season, he’s in rampant form scoring six times in his last five games. What is even more impressive is the fact that all of those goals have come from the bench – surely he’s in line to start soon?
And then there is Hal Robson-Kanu, who has been the preferred first-choice in recent times. The Welshman has bagged six goals in 11 appearances, so he’s more than worthy of playing too.
It’s a tough decision to make, but has the Croatian provided any clues this week?
No clues: Can you name all of these Premier League icons? Test your knowledge below…
He told the Express & Star that the pair would ‘share the workload’ but didn’t suggest which one would get the nod on Saturday.
It remains to be seen who he will hand the start to, but Bilic needs to ensure it’s the right call as they can’t afford to let Leeds back in with the festive run-in rapidly approaching.
Meanwhile, West Brom face Premier League competition in pursuit of defensive transfer target…
كشفت تقارير صحفية إسبانية، عن سعادة غامرة يشعر بها فيتور روكي، بعد أن تأكد انتقاله إلى برشلونة وتوقيعه على عقد لمدة 7 سنوات قادمة يمثل فيهم الفريق الكتالوني.
وانتشرت تكهنات في الفترة الأخيرة حول إمكانية حسم بطل الدوري الإسباني لتلك الصفقة، حيث ظهرت تقارير تفيد أن النادي البرازيلي سئم من طول المفاوضات مع برشلونة وقد ينظر في عروض الأندية الأخرى.
ولكن وكيل فيتور روكي أكد في تصريحات أمس الأحد أن اللاعب الشاب سينضم إلى النادي الكتالوني.
صحيفة “سبورت” الإسبانية، كشفت عن رد فعل اللاعب، الذي كان يشعر بابتهاج وسعادة غامرة خلال الساعات الماضية بعدما تأكد من حسم الصفقة لصالح برشلونة.
وترى عائلة روكي، أن الأسبوع الأخير كان أطوّل 7 أيام في حياتهم، وربما أفضلهم في الوقت ذاته بعد أن انتهت بحسم الصفقة وانتقال صاحب الـ18 عامًا إلى برشلونة.
الصفقة حسمت مقابل 30 مليون يورو بالإضافة لـ 31 من المتغيّرات لنادي أتلتيكو بارانينسي البرازيلي.
Liam Dawson and James Vince both hit unbeaten centuries as Hampshire took a stranglehold on their game against Leicestershire at Grace Road
ESPNcricinfo staff18-Sep-2013Hampshire 362 for 2 (Vince 145*, Dawson 136*) v Leicestershire ScorecardMatthew Hoggard had an early catch dropped and his day didn’t get any better•PA Photos
Liam Dawson and James Vince both hit unbeaten centuries as Hampshire took a stranglehold on their game against Leicestershire at Grace Road.Put into bat after the first day wash-out, Hampshire reached 362 for 2 with Vince making 145 not out and Dawson unbeaten on 136 at the close. The third-wicket pair shared a record partnership of 248 that put a big dent in Leicestershire’s hopes of securing their first Championship win in their final game.There looked to be plenty of grass on the wicket so it was no real surprise when acting captain, Niall O’Brien, decided to bowl first on winning the toss. It should have paid immediate dividends. Matthew Hoggard, given a guard of honour by his team-mates when he walked out to start the last match of his career having announced his retirement, saw a catch dropped in his first over.He found the edge of Jimmy Adams’ bat, only for Michael Thornely to put down a shoulder-high catch at slip. The day did not get any better for Hoggard or Leicestershire.Adams and Sean Terry rode their luck in the first hour or so as the ball moved around in the helpful conditions. Both of them played and missed on several occasions before Adams finally nicked one off Ben Raine to give O’Brien a routine catch behind the stumps with the score on 50.Terry continued to struggle at times, but was also quick to seize on anything off line as he and Dawson put together a useful second-wicket stand of 64. By the afternoon the batsmen were completely on top, and the runs began to flow at an ever increasing rate as the Leicestershire attack became more and more erratic.Terry reached his 50 off 112 balls with eight fours, before being trapped lbw by a good delivery from Shiv Thakor for 57 with the score at 114.That proved to be the home side’s last success, with the rest of the day dominated by Dawson and Vince. Dawson reached his 50 off 79 balls with eight fours, and it was an indication of how much the bowlers had strayed down the leg side that only four of his runs came on the off-side.Vince reached his 50 off 65 balls with 10 boundaries and at tea the third wicket pair had put on 110 runs in 24 overs, with Hampshire scoring 141 runs in the session.There was no respite for Leicestershire after the interval, with both batsmen moving on to their centuries. Dawson reached his off 164 balls with 13 fours and Vince followed in the next over having faced 119 balls and hit 16 fours plus a six off left arm spinner James Sykes.They were still together at the close having posted a record third wicket stand for Hampshire against Leicestershire. Vince was on 145 off 168 balls and Dawson on 136 off 228 balls.
O técnico Fábio Carille explicou a mudança que fez na lista do Corinthians para o mata-mata do Paulistão. Anunciado como reforço no dia 1º de março, Régis foi inscrito na vaga de Díaz na última sexta-feira.
Díaz havia sido o último inscrito do Corinthians na primeira fase, após ficar totalmente recuperado de dores no joelho direito. Carille chegou a dizer que havia errado ao não ter relacionado o paraguaio antes, mas agora retirou o jogador da lista para colocar Régis.
– São seis jogos (possíveis de mata-mata). Sentamos para analisar. O Régis é um meia parecido com o Rodriguinho. O Sornoza, Jadson, Díaz, Pedrinho e Vital são meias que não entram na área, gostam de trabalhar por trás. E o Régis é esse jogador que infiltra. Foi nossa discussão, são mais cinco jogos que o Díaz está fora, mas Copa do Brasil, Sul-Americana e Brasileiro ele está integrado normalmente, foi só para essa situação do Paulista – explicou Carille.
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Além da entrada de Régis, o Corinthians teve outra mudança na lista. O meia-atacante Marquinhos entrou na vaga do volante Gabriel, que passou por cirurgia na perna direita e só voltará a ficar à disposição em maio. Marquinhos é cria da base do Timão e só atuou no amistoso contra o Santos na pré-temporada.
O Corinthians iniciou o mata-mata do Paulistão com empate por 1 a 1 com a Ferroviária, e Régis não saiu do banco de reservas. A decisão da vaga será na quarta-feira, às 21h30, na Arena em Itaquera.
حدد نادي ليفربول سعر بيع، قائده، الإنجليزي جوردان هندرسون، إلى نادي الاتفاق السعودي، خلال الانتقالات الصيفية الحالية.
وما زال هندرسون متردد في قبول العرض السعودي، إلا أن ستيفن جيرارد، المدير الفني الجديد لنادي الاتفاق، يحاول إقناعه بالقدوم في المرحلة الأخيرة من مسيرته، إلا أن لاعب الوسط يفكر في العرض.
وكتب الصحفي فابريزيو رومانو عبر حسابه الشخصي بموقع “تويتر”: “طلب ليفربول دفع 10 ملايين جنيه إسترليني من نادي الاتفاق، من أجل الموافقة على بيع جوردان هندرسون”.
اقرأ أيضًا.. تقارير: بعد كانتي وبنزيما.. اتحاد جدة ينوي إبرام صفقة مدوية من ليفربول
وأضاف: “تستمر المفاوضات في انتظار القرار النهائي للاعب، كانت خطة الاتفاق هي الحصول على هندرسون من خلال انتقال مجاني لكن ليفربول يصر على رسوم 10 ملايين جنيه إسترليني”.
يذكر أن ليفربول تخلى عن عدد من اللاعبين بعد نهاية الموسم المنقضي، منهم روبرتو فيرمينو الذي رحل إلى أهلي جدة، وجيمس ميلنر ونابي كيتا وأليكس أوكسليد تشامبرلين.
Alexandre Pato não é mais jogador do Tianjian Quanjian. Na manhã deste sábado, o atacante rescindiu seu contrato com o clube chinês e agora está livre para assinar com qualquer clube. O jogador ex-São Paulo, Corinthians e Internacional foi especulado em alguns times brasileiros nesta janela de transferências.
Segundo a imprensa chinesa, que noticiou a rescisão do contrato do atacante, um dos motivos do término do vínculo com o Tianjin teria sido um desentendimento com os companheiros de clubes, além do desejo de voltar a atuar no futebol brasileiro.
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Conforme o site ‘Sina’ afirmou, Pato que decidiu arcar com os custos da rescisão do contrato, já que os dirigentes do clube chinês não estavam felizes com a ideia de perder o jogador de graça.
Entretanto, de acordo com a imprensa italiana, Pato pode não retornar para o Brasil e ter a Itália como seu destino. O atacante teria se oferecido para vestir novamente a camisa do Milan, onde jogou entre 2007 e 2012.
No Brasil, durante o início da atual temporada, pelo menos dois grandes clubes foram colocados como interessados no futebol do atacante: Santos e São Paulo. O Alvinegro precisa de um centroavante e Jorge Sampaoli vê com bons olhos a chegada de Pato, já o Tricolor é o clube onde o atacante mais se identificou atuando no Brasil, já que vestiu a camisa do clube entre 2014 e 2015.