Brazil midfielder Fred said he is fully focused on the World Cup despite admitting talks over a summer move to Manchester United are at “an advanced stage.” Fred has revealed his representatives, including former Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva, have been in contact with the deal-makers at Old Trafford. “Talks have been at an advanced stage since January, if I am not mistaken,” he said. “There was a possible transfer to City. Shortly after, both clubs, City and United talked with Shakhtar and with my agents about a possible transfer. “And if I am not mistaken, there was news of a…
Author: David Folami
Ivan Gazidis has promised to back new head coach Unai Emery with “all the resources of the club” in the transfer market, and said the Spaniard earned the job with the help of an “extremely impressive” interview and “a chemistry between us.” “All the money has always been available for our manager. And that will continue to be,” said Gazidis, who presented Emery to the media on Wednesday after leading the effort to find Wenger’s successor. “All of the resources of the club will be available for Unai to develop the team.” The Arsenal CEO outlined the search by saying…
Arsenal’s three-man committee used a silent ballot to pick Unai Emery as their top choice for the head coach job, chief executive Ivan Gazidis has revealed. Gazidis said the meeting between himself, recruitment head Sven Mislintat and director of football relations Raul Sanllehi ended with them ranking their preferred candidates on a piece of of paper — and all three picked Emery as No. 1. “All the way going through the process, Raul and I and Sven spoke to each other as little as possible, because we didn’t want to pollute each other’s viewpoints from the discussions we had,” Gazidis…
Roberto Firmino has said he is targeting more despite being Liverpool’s joint-top scorer in the Champions League and recording his best season ever as a professional. Firmino, along with Mohamed Salah, has scored 10 times on the road to the Champions League final, with no Liverpool player having ever scored more in a single campaign in the competition. “However, you cannot beat yourself up about these things all the time and you must always keep moving forward. “It is my first season in the Champions League and I am one of the leading scorers, alongside Cristiano [Ronaldo] and Salah. This…
Nasser Al-Khelaifi has taken a swipe at anybody who feels that they are bigger than the club, following a 0-0 draw against Caen to end the Ligue 1 season. Al-Khelaifi told L’Equipe: “Nothing and no single person is bigger than the club — that goes for coach and players. The club comes and always will come first.” “I am very satisfied with these four titles,” the 44-year-old said. “We performed incredibly well and did a great job to complete a third domestic clean sweep in four years. Aside from the Champions League, obviously, we are very satisfied. “It takes time…
After sources said that Spurs defender Toby Alderweireld could be on his way to Manchester United, fresh reports says United “are now confident they will win the race” for him. It reports that the Old Trafford club “are ready to spend in excess of £40 million” on Alderweireld, with Tottenham poised to bring in Ajax’s Matthijs de Ligt as a replacement. Spurs have been unable to agree to a new contract with the Belgium international, whose deal expires in two years, and Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona have been suggested as other potential destinations. But reports elsewhere says United are…
Paris Saint-Germain have offered a contract to Gianluigi Buffon, a source close to the French club has said. Buffon has announced that he will leave Juventus at the end of the season but not retire, and will play his final match for the club against Hellas Verona on Saturday evening. According to the source, PSG have put a two-year contract on the table and the 40-year-old is believed to be tempted to continue his playing career, therefore doing a U-turn on his original retirement plans. The French champions already have goalkeepers Alphonse Areola and Kevin Trapp on the books but…
Manchester United supporters have voted Cristiano Ronaldo as their greatest Premier League player. Ronaldo topped a fans’ poll of players from the Premier League era, beating Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. The vote was organised to mark United’s 1,000th game in the Premier League — the 1-0 win over Watford last weekend. Ronaldo moved to Old Trafford from Sporting Lisbon in 2003. He left for Real Madrid in 2009 after scoring 118 goals in 292 games. He won eight major trophies, including three Premier League titles and the Champions League in 2008. Wayne Rooney’s overhead kick against Manchester City during…
Massimiliano Allegri has paid tribute to departing goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon following the 40-year-old’s emotional final game for the club. “Today it was right that Gigi Buffon was honoured for all he did, there was no better way to finish this year,” Allegri said in quotes reported on www.gazzetta.it. “I was moved by him — in these four years [that Allegri has been Juve boss] I saw him doing impressive things and he deserved a goodbye like that. There was a wonderful atmosphere.” Allegri sad: “The team had an extraordinary season and it’s always wonderful to win. “We fought with Napoli…
Antonio Conte has insisted that he cannot change and warned that Chelsea will be losing a “serial winner” if they decide to let him go after winning the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory over Manchester United. “I think after two years the club knows me very well,” he said when asked what he hopes to hear when he and Chelsea discuss his future. “If they want to continue to work with me, they know me. I can’t change. I can’t change. My way is always the same. Hard work and to build a strong mentality with my players. I…
Niko Kovac has said “football writes the best stories” after his Eintracht Frankfurt side beat future employer Bayern Munich 3-1 in a dramatic DFB Pokal final. “Football writes the best stories and that’s what make this sport so interesting. I’m really pleased for the club, for the brilliant fans and for my excellent team,” Kovac told German broadcaster ARD. “This team has always worked so hard for me over the two and a half years I’ve been here. This year we’ve crowned our hard work with success and in the end, I don’t think it was undeserved. “Obviously, I’m very…
Frank Lampard has said he doesn’t know what kind of player Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba can be because he focuses too much on his flair rather than being tactically sound. “I don’t know what Paul Pogba quite is,” Lampard said at a sponsor’s event ahead of the teams’ meeting in the FA Cup final on Saturday. “He makes bad decisions as a midfield player — bad basic decisions — and then he does something really fantastic, and I can imagine that wrecking Jose Mourinho’s head, because he’s going, ‘Well, I want you in my team for that fantastic stuff,…
Real Madrid blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Villarreal in their final La Liga match ahead of the Champions League final against Liverpool. Real coach Zinedine Zidane handed a debut to his 20-year-old son Luca as first-choice goalkeeper Keylor Navas was rested ahead of the European clash in Kiev on May 26, but otherwise named a strong side. Gareth Bale, deployed in a more central role, broke the deadlock after 11 minutes to score for the fourth La Liga match in a row, with Cristiano Ronaldo adding a second just after the half-hour to put the visitors in…
Embattled Kogi lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye has accused the Police of owing him N10 million as damages awarded him by an unnamed court. Melaye who was granted bail by the Court on Wednesday, made the disclosure via Instagram on Friday, May 18, 2018. The lawmaker accused the Police of illegally arresting and harassing Nigerians for a long time. “Police illegal arrest and harassment did not start now,” Melaye said. “This was four years ago. Where Court awarded 10-million -damage to me that Police is yet to pay. Fear not him that can destroy or damage the body, fear only Him…
Yakubu Dogara has said Nigeria cannot compete favourably with other countries without an advancement in science and technology. “Our nation cannot compete favourably without innovation,” Dogara said. “We have also seen that it is innovation in the area of science that drives communities, even nations to thrive. They are exporting their intellect; we have seen that. “That is why the ten most advanced nations, or richest nations on the earth, some of them do not have the kind of resources that we have. It is in this area: advancement in science and technology that the true potential of this nation…
Yemi Osinbajo says the N-Power Graduate Skills Acquisition Programme will be expanded and made better to benefit more Nigerian youths. Addressing the trainees, the vice president said the N-Power programme was very important to the Federal Government because of its focus on empowering the youths through capacity building. “The programme will be expanded, enriched, made bigger and better and we will improve the welfare of those in the programme. “The Federal Government wants to demonstrate through you that Nigerian young people are not only competent, but can with the best training become the best available anywhere in the world. “You…
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has alleged that some government officials divert public funds to sponsor elections. She said this while speaking about her new book – Fighting Corruption. She also said “People are happy to see the symptoms being taken care of, punitive measure, you know it makes big headlines when people are hauled off to jail and the media blasts the story, which is good, there ought to be consequences and punitive actions but it’s not enough. “If you don’t fix some of the root causes, the next set of people will come in, and with those opportunities, they might do…
It has been revealed that the Kano state police command told journalists not to make public, the video showing the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris making blunders. According to Punch, a source said that the IGP’s blunders brought an abrupt end to the event which held in Kano state. The source said that Idris’ handlers had to whisk him away following the embarrassment which his inability to properly read the speech caused. On Wednesday, May 16, 2018, Voice of Liberty published a video of the police boss struggling to read. The incident took place in Kano state on Monday, May…
Babatunde Fashola has ordered the contractor handling the Zik Mausoleum, Bouygues Construction Limited to complete and deliver the project before the end of October. Fashola gave the order on Saturday in Onitsha during an inspection of the project. He expressed dissatisfaction over the slow pace of work and threatened to revoke the contract if the contractor fails to deliver as ordered. Fashola also threatened to report the Project Manager, John Ameh to his professional body, the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) if he fails to deliver. The minister said the Federal Government was not indebted to the contractor adding that,…
Alhaji Kawuwa Damuna (APC) on Saturday in Bauchi, declared that members who dragged the All Progressives Congress (APC), to court are enemies of the party. “Any member of the party that takes the party to court is an enemy of the party, because there is a lot of avenue for reconciliation. “Six people cannot hold us to ransom. The state congress will hold and it will be hitch-free. “We have not been served with the court injunction and that is why we are going on with the congress,” he said. Also commenting on the congress, the State Chairman of the…