Tottenham winger Giovani Dos Santos is being tracked by Bolton Wanderers according to the Mirror.
The Mexican winger, who came to prominence as a teenager at Barcelona, has fallen well short of his projected target since signing for Juande Ramos’ Spurs in 2008.
But with long-term injuries to a number of key players at Bolton, Owen Coyle has identified Dos Santos as a player to help his side climb up the league, and is willing to meet the £4 million asking price.
The Mexican – who continues to turn out for his national side – has always been on the fringes of Harry Redknapp’s side. A bid just short of the asking price from Sevilla failed to secure him a return to Spain in the summer, and now Owen Coyle will look to persuade Dos Santos that his immediate future lies at the Reebok Stadium.
Coyle has been an admirer of Dos Santos for a number of years and attempted to sign him while he was manager of Burnley.
With the proceeds from the sale of Gary Cahill to Chelsea, Coyle may finally get his man.
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In the words of Sir Elton John, sorry seems to be the hardest word. Yet, Manchester City’s surly striker Carlos Tevez has issued a belated apology to his club, following the much talked about incident in Munich.
The former captain delivered an official apology through City, stating his desire to get back into action and help his side, after three months away from the set-up:
“I wish to apologise sincerely and unreservedly to everybody I have let down and to whom my actions over the last few months have caused offence.
“My wish is to concentrate on playing football for Manchester City football club.”
The apology came after Tevez met with City’s football administrator Brian Marwood, and is believed to have been accepted by boss Roberto Mancini, despite no specific mention of him in the Argentine strikers statement.
The pair have yet to come face-to-face since the forward’s return, but there are rumours that Mancini may be willing to put the whole episode in the past, and welcome back his talented front-man.
This could, however, be a terrible decision on the part of the Italian coach for a series of reasons. Any backing down from Mancini would signal as a victory for Tevez, who would have undermined this manager’s leadership and been welcomed back into the fold. We live in a society that encourages forgiveness, second chances and rehabilitation, but after declaring that Tevez and City were ‘finished’ Mancini’s authority over a squad, possessing more than its fair share of big egos, could be called into question.
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With the dressing room at the Etihad believed to be a settled environment with on-field performances reflecting this, the re-entry of Tevez could serve to disrupt the harmony. The striker is definitely not one to hold back with his thoughts, and after letting down his teammates with his refusal to play, he could find himself side-lined by other squad members. This in turn could cause a rift, and the effects of cliques in dressing rooms have been well documented down the years.
The motives behind the apology must also be analysed, after Tevez was so adamant that he wanted no further part at the club. The forward and his representatives have been searching for a team willing to take on the talented yet temperamental striker for a few months now, and as of yet their quest has been unsuccessful. Tevez needs to get playing again to get himself back on the world football radar, and justify his wage demands to potential suitors, who were believed to all be unwilling to meet the suggested figures. As a result City would not have a player fully committed to their cause, instead somebody using the rest of the season as a stepping stone, to manoeuvre an exit to pastures new. One thing the club need during the close of the campaign are players willing to put themselves on the line to press home their points advantage, as rivals Manchester United have the benefit of experience in title run-ins.
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Tevez may be an extremely talented footballer, and one many clubs would be willing to welcome home. But, in the case of Manchester City there is just too much bat blood, and the Argentine could prove to be the catalyst for a complete meltdown at the Etihad.
What are your views on Carlos Tevez? Follow @Alex_Hams on Twitter and have your own say
Ask any hardened Bantam twelve months ago if they believed relegation beckoned again this season you’d have probably received a fairly standard Bradfordian response – ‘Playoffs again next year don’t worry, let’s just get through this season’. It’s a phrase we have grown accustomed to, the only trouble being players have never appeared to share those blind views of grandeur.
But this latest failure has potentially catastrophic consequences. Gone are the days of slight embarrassment and a few howls of laughter from our peers after a 17th place finish in Professional Football’s bottom tier. This is a club now facing the very real threat of oblivion. It’s difficult to feel anger when all you feel is deep anxiety.
The day began with the heart-wrenching news from BD6 that neighbours Bradford Bulls had to find the paltry sum of £1million pounds within the next four weeks in order to fulfil their fixtures for the season and more importantly survive. It seems the word ‘survival’ gets banded around quite a bit in this dark area of West Yorkshire. It’s almost surprising Bear Grylls hasn’t visited more often.
The Bantams then had an immediate opportunity to lift the growing gloom enveloping Bradford Sport and look to extend their gap on the trap door clubs of Macclesfield and Hereford to seven points.
The ever popular Steve Evans brought League Two’s answer to Manchester city up the M1 in a bid to cement their top three place. It’s a Crawley side that have attracted few in the way of admirers over the course of the season, with accusations of rough and tumble tackling and direct but effective football annoying admirers of the beautiful game. What any Bradford fan wouldn’t give to be much maligned but sitting atop of the League Two tree. Or even near the playoffs for that matter. There’s that ‘P’ word again.
The game itself however was well fought, with the Bantams matching up to a clearly well organised, well disciplined side whom attacked with pace and power down the flanks, while defending with, just occasionally, the odd tasty tackle in and around the penalty box. It was a Crawley side who always seemed in control, unlike their desperate counterparts.
It wasn’t the ninety minutes however and the subsequent 2 – 1 defeat suffered that will determine the rest of the season. In fact, ask many a Bradford fan as that final whistle blew and you could sense contentment in the air and a belief that the side was at least equipped to beat the drop, the only thing left to achieve in yet another season to forget.
But this is of course Bradford city Football club, a drama containing more spice than a late night episode of Hollyoaks. Not even with the full time whistle blown could we call it a night, have a swift pint in the local and concentrate on Saturdays six-pointer at Plymouth. No. Things of course always seem to take a turn for the worst.
So enough of the match, it’s not really that important anyway.
Looking down at my feet and pondering our desperate predicament (which usually involves kicking a few empty cups of Bovril), a stir suddenly arose from the Main Stand. It escalated quickly to all four corners, but not half as quickly as the mass brawl that had enveloped beneath the Bradford End.
Andrew Davies, in my opinion the finest centre half the club has had in years, had completely lost it. A Rocky moment followed when he flattened veteran and namesake Claude Davis, who later saw red himself, clearly picking the wrong moment to speak out of turn.
So it began. Bradford and Crawley’s very own answer to Mel Gibson’s mob in Braveheart. The thoroughly professional John Mclaughlin, known for his mild persona was seen wind-milling through a crowd of white shirts, his water bottle acting as a makeshift knuckleduster. Add to that Luke Oliver, who like Mclaughlin also saw red for his involvement. After a few minutes of utter madness, with the crowd still perplexed by events, referee Mr. Williamson ushered the final few Green Street wannabees down the tunnel and the night was finished. So could be said for Bradford’s league status.
As it later transpired, Bradford had lost more than the football match, even if the boxing match had been won on points. Their best centre-half faces a minimum five games due to his third red of the season, their second best faces a three game ban and the same fate had been applied to John Mclaughlin, their number one Goalkeeper. The entire central defensive backbone of the team gone, with just seven games to play – all down to one petulant comment towards a frustrated centre-half.
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If the Plymouth game wasn’t already huge, it had now become Titanic in proportion. The Bantams also face a crucial game at home to Macclesfield before the season is out, as well as fronting up to the daunting prospect of facing four of League Two’s promotion hopefuls.
47 points, or somewhere near at least, appears to be the safety net which assures a Football League pardon. With just one point from five games, just a four point gap from safety and now a decimated side boiling with frustration; you could be forgiven for wondering how these seven points will be accumulated.
The ‘P’ word is very much yesterday’s word in Bradford. Not even the dreaded ‘R’ word can come close. For now, all across Bradford, ‘survival’ rules.
Manchester United chief executive David Gill has admitted that he expects a busy summer transfer window at Old Trafford, with a number of players coming to and leaving the club.
The Red Devils are on the verge of clinching the Premier League title, and the supremo has admitted that it is a tense time of the year and that he is starting to think about new players for next season.
“It’s been an amazing run and it’s going to be a tense end to the season. If we do it, it will be fantastic,” Gill told the club’s official website.
“This time of year’s not good. You do get tense but we’ve done very well and are in good shape now – five points ahead with four games to go. It’s going to be tight but it’s been wonderful.
“We’re looking at new players. The work goes on all year round but obviously intensifies as we come to the end of the season in terms of players.
“There’s various contracts we’ve got to do, we’ll look at some acquisitions and there will be some players who will leave. It’s an interesting time,” he concluded.
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In the end there was no final day drama, no slip ups, no excessive nail biting, with the exception of a nervy opening quarter of an hour, there really was nothing to worry about in the end.
I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t nervous before kick-off, but then most Saints fans probably were, the thought of slipping to third on the final day, after being in the top two all season was not a pleasant thought. This day had the potential to turn into a disaster had the unthinkable happened, yet there were early nerves from a group of players who knew that they were 90 minutes away from either fame or infamy.
There were no signs that this was going to be a comfortable home victory in the early exchanges as Coventry acquitted themselves well in the first 15 minutes or so. Then came the early breakthrough that we craved, as centre-back Jose Fonte’s surging Hansen-esque run from deep, helped to set up the opening goal that was cunningly deflected by Billy Sharp, from Lallana’s low shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Jose Fonte then got himself on the score sheet only minutes later with a diving header, and the nerves were all but gone now as the collective sighs of relief by the 32,000 Saints fans present, was probably strong enough to blow the planes passing low over St. Marys slightly off course!
Further goals in the second-half by first, Jos Hooiveld, and then Adam Lallana sparked the biggest celebration the city has seen since at least the FA Cup semi-final win over Watford in 2003. As the players and officials ran for the sanctuary of the changing-rooms at the final whistle, the crowd ran on to the pitch to celebrate what most fans would have thought to have been unthinkable at the start of the season, back-to-back promotions.
Most of us and that includes myself, would have been happy, and were probably expecting, a season of consolidation and mid-table mediocrity after gaining promotion from League 1 the previous season. Yet like Norwich before them, the Saints got off to a fantastic start and despite the odd dip in form, they completed a remarkable journey from Premier League, to League 1, and back again, in 7 years.
After years of suffering at the hands of men who could not run a chimps tea party, let alone a football club the size of Southampton, the long suffering Saints fans have at last something to smile about. The dark clouds have blown away from St. Marys and now there is a bright new horizon in front of us, there is also going to be a lot of hard work to do over the close season, in order to establish the club as a permanent Premier League side once again.
The last thing we want is to be one of the many yo-yo clubs that are constantly up and down, clubs like Wolves, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, and Reading. We need to take our time and not make hasty decisions in the transfer market, as our new found status will inevitably bring us to the attention to every mercenary footballer and their agents, who are in search of one big last pay day.
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The team spirit we have at the club is fantastic and reminds me of the spirit that we had when fighting all those final day relegation battles in the nineties, something we lacked when dropping out of the Premier League in 2005.
Whatever happens over the coming summer months, it is in all likelihood going to be one of the most fascinating close seasons in the clubs history. From a fans perspective, it is also going to feel like one of the longest, Euro 2012 and the Olympics? Pah! We can’t wait for August!
A dour 1-0 defeat away at Bournemouth signalled the end to a very poor season for North End with the positives coming in short supply.
I’m sure the final whistle at Dean Court was music to Graham Westley’s ears as he is now able to begin to shape the squad into his own side ready for August.
The words of Mr Westley over the past few weeks have been constantly referring to a summer clear out with a rumoured 14 new faces with just as many leaving the club. The Lilywhites fans will all be offering their suggestions of signings and who they believe should go as the manager draws up his shortlist and hands it to his chairman.
In my opinion, there are only four players for certain of the current 44 professionals at the club that have truly earned the right to wear the proud Preston jersey next season. The first would have to be newly crowned player of the year, Thorsten Stuckmann. The big German has kept 10 clean sheets out of his 24 games with a poor back line attempting to protect him which cannot be scoffed at despite the words of his manager this week. Westley stating in an interview that he would be bringing in a new goalkeeper to provide competition which has been received both ways by north end fans. His words of discouragement towards Stuckmann’s player of the year of the award did also not go down too well with the former Stevenage boss stating that ‘winning player of the year in a mediocre team is not much of an achievement’. But personally he would be the first name on my team sheet but I would definitely bring in a new keeper to provide competition for Thorsten.
The second would have to be captain Paul Coutts who has stepped up to the plate this season following an anonymous season last season. The Scot has caused controversy by handing in a transfer request but after settling in to Graham Westley’s regime he has become a key figure in the North End side with some all action performances and some excellent link up play with Danny Mayor. However, Coutts has been the subject of interest from Darren Ferguson’s Peterborough which could see him leave the club should a suitable offer be placed for the midfielder.
Thirdly, despite injury harboring his campaign this year, Iain Hume would be as good as a new signing should he stay at the club. Hume’s all action displays and his deadly right foot have made him a fan’s favourite since he joined the club initially on loan in November 2010. Despite making just over 20 appearances throughout the season, Hume has clocked up 9 league goals leaving him the club’s top scorer and should he be retained in time for next season he would better that tally if he could stay injury free.
Winger Danny Mayor has also made his claim for a place in Graham Westley’s squad for next season with some mesmerising performances towards the end of the season. His undoubted skill and trickery have been apparent since he made his debut in Darren Ferguson’s first league game in charge in January 2010 but it has only been since Westley’s arrival that his good work have become noticed with him picking up a number of assists. Danny has also picked up goal of the season for his brilliant solo strike against Hartlepool back in February and I’m sure that he will certainly begin to carry on his excellent performances in to next season.
Winger cum-emergency left back Paul Parry and ex-Liverpool Striker Neil Mellor are expected to depart with full back David Gray with the three out of contract in the summer. The rest will be a mystery as Westley’s revolution will begin to take place in the coming weeks after the man himself stated that he wanted his squad ready for mid May.
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This certainly does spark excitement for fans with a significant amount of arrivals and departures taking place but it has to work for Westley as the time has come for the words to stop and the cheque book to open. Westley’s confidence in himself could prove to be the making of the club or his own downfall but one thing is for certain, there will be few if any survivors from yesterday’s poor performance at Bournemouth that will appear in the 16 man squad for the first game of next season.
Italy boss Cesare Prandelli has stated that his side can reach the latter stages of the Euro 2012 tournament, after watching his team beat Republic of Ireland 2-0 on Monday night.
A headed Antonio Cassano effort was followed by a Mario Balotelli volley to seal three points and a quarter-finals place for the Azzurri, who will now face Group D’s winners.
Prandelli feels his team played well and is looking forward to the next game.
“We wanted this victory so badly and I think we deserved to win and progress,” he told Rai Sport after the game, translated to English by Goal.com.
“The most important thing was that tonight we understood that we have to put a lot of determination into our game. We can achieve anything with this heart.
“In the quarter-finals we will have to show the same attitude. More important than the situations that we will come across will be showing the same commitment and spirit of sacrifice.
“We will always try to play good football, but we will try to be more clinical in attack,” he concluded.
Italy will face either England, France or Ukraine in the next stage.
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Swansea have announced that they have signed Villarreal attacker Jonathan De Guzman from Villarreal on a season-long loan deal.
The former Netherlands under-21 international worked with new Swans boss Michael Laudrup at Mallorca, and after Villarreal’s relegation from La Liga the Spanish club are keen to lower their wage bill.
De Guzman joins Jose Manuel Flores, who moved from Genoa, as the Liberty Stadium club’s new additions, and is eager to get started in the Premier League.
“Once the opportunity came along to join Swansea and Michael Laudrup it was a done deal. I didn’t have to think twice about it,” he confessed to the side’s official website.
“I watched Premier League football every week on the TV last season. I was aware that Swansea are a good footballing side, but they really caught my eye when they beat Manchester City. They had a great season and I am really looking forward to the challenge of playing on a new (stage) in the Premier League.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity and grateful that the manager has acknowledged me as a player,” he concluded.
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Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam has stated that he is motivated to show new boss Brendan Rodgers that he has a future at the club.
The Northern Irish manager replaced Kenny Dalglish in the Anfield hotseat this summer, with Andy Carroll already being stated as a player who can leave Merseyside.
With question marks over the heads of a number of other players, the Scotland international is out to prove his worth.
“Criticism is part of the game. That is what happens, but as a group of players it was not about the seven or eight who Kenny Dalglish signed but the 25 players who were there at the time,” Adam is quoted as saying by The Telegraph.
“You win or lose as a group. People get criticised but that’s how football is and you move on from that. If we learn from last season we’ll be a better side.
“When the manager who brings you in leaves the club it is tough. It’s difficult. That’s the way it goes. Kenny Dalglish is a living legend at this club who can walk back through the door at any time, so although it was disappointing, he was the right man at the right time to take the club forward.
“Now you’ve got to look to the future. We have a new manager in charge with different ideas of how to play and we want to go in a good direction. This is one of the biggest clubs in the world, so for Brendan to come here and get us playing in the style he wants is something to look forward to.
“When you bring in your own ideas there is a freshness and a buzz. It takes time and miracles don’t happen overnight, but we’ll look to put his ideas into practice. Hopefully the warm-up games will show we’ve taken on board what he has said in the first three weeks he has been here.
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“For me it’s about getting fit and being available for him and giving him the options. I don’t see my future away from Liverpool,” he concluded.
Dimitar Berbatov has rejected the chance to join Fiorentina by pulling out of a deal at the last moment.
The Bulgarian striker is surplus to requirements at Old Trafford and as such is on the market for around £5 million.
The Viola were frontrunners to sign the gifted attacker, but they have revealed that Berbatov has turned his back on a switch to Florence.
“ACF Fiorentina announce that the transfer for Dimitar Berbatov definitively collapsed after an agreement with Manchester United had been concluded (with shared exchange of contracts, the first instalment paid and the financial guarantees for the second instalment ratified) and after reaching a verbal agreement with the player over his contract,” read a club statement, translated to English by Sky Sports.
“During today the English club had allowed their player the written permission to come to Florence for a medical and to sign his contract.
“The player got on the flight with his agent and on tickets paid for by Fiorentina. He never arrived in Florence.
“This was down to outlandish and arrogant behaviour of other clubs, who have nothing to do with fair play and sporting ethics that go even beyond the confines of fairness.
“As for the player, apart from his characteristics and his value on the field, at this stage we are happy he didn’t come to Fiorentina. He did not deserve our city, to wear our jersey or the values that represent it,” it concluded.
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Fulham have now emerged as the favourites to sign Berbatov, as the player worked with Martin Jol whilst they were both at Tottenham.