Jose Mourinho has handed Henrikh Mkhitaryan his first Premier League start for Manchester United since Sept. 10 for the trip to Everton on Sunday. Mkhitaryan last started in a league game during United’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester City nearly three months ago — a game in which he was substituted off at half-time. After falling down the pecking order under Mourinho, Mkhitaryan has since returned to the first-team squad in recent weeks and impressed when starting in the 4-0 Europa League win over Feyenoord and 4-1 EFL Cup victory against West Ham. Matteo Darmian and Paul Pogba are the two…
Author: David Folami
Government officials in England and Spain have called for Jose Mourinho’s tax bill to be examined after reports that say the Manchester United coach’s advisers hid more than £10 million. The Sunday Times anaylsed the millions of leaked documents detailing the tax arrangements made by several top football players and coaches, including Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo and Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil. The newspaper said it found evidence that Mourinho’s advisers misled investigators while hiding money in a Caribbean tax haven. Julian Lopez Milla, a member of the Spanish parliament’s tax committee, told the Times that he would “call on…
Adam Lallana has told Sky Sports that he is confident Jurgen Klopp will bring long-term success to Liverpool. The Reds have made a push for the Premier League title this season and sat on top of the table for large periods of November. The lack of European football at Anfield this campaign has given Klopp more of an opportunity to work with his players on the training pitch during his first full season in charge and Lallana believes the team are reaping the rewards. “We have our own Champions League and the manager has quoted that,” Lallana, who has been…
Jurgen Klopp has said Liverpool are prepared to make additions in the January transfer market, but added that he does not know if it will be necessary. Injuries in attacking positions are starting to build up for the Reds, with Philippe Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge, Roberto Firmino and Danny Ings currently on the sidelines, while Sadio Mane will be on international duty with Senegal at the African Nations Cup in January. Sources told ESPN FC last month that Liverpool are interested in FC Rostov striker Sardar Azmoun, but Klopp insists he is happy with his squad, while he is unsure whether…
Manchester United have only just made Anthony Martial the most expensive teenager in history, but the Sun believes Real Madrid and Barcelona would be ready to offer the Red Devils a profit on their investment. The France international cost an initial £36 million, but with a further £8m arriving once he reaches 25 goals for Jose Mourinho’s side and that same amount once he earns 25 caps for Les Bleus, United’s outlay is likely to be at least £52m before the end of next season. The report suggests the Spanish clubs would offer £60m, though United would surely be uninterested…
Paul Pogba’s claim that he was “on holiday” from Manchester United, when he played at Juventus, has been laughed off by the Italian club’s director Beppe Marotta. Pogba said that, when he left United in 2012, he always knew that he would come back. The Frenchman duly did over the summer, when he rejoined the Old Trafford club from Juventus. “It’s like I went on holiday and just came back,” Pogba said. “Seriously. Nothing really changed. I’m the same person.” Marotta told Mediaset Premium: “We want to be good-hearted in interpreting what one says. I hope his vacation with us…
Gerard Pique says Barcelona can return to being an “unstoppable” force despite a poor run of form that has seen them slip six points adrift in the La Liga title race. Barca were denied the chance to reduce Real Madrid’s lead at the top of the table to three points at the Camp Nou on Saturday after Sergio Ramos’s last-minute equaliser secured a 1-1 draw for the visitors. The Catalan club have now gone three games without a win in all competitions, while they have drawn their last three in the league, but Pique is confident his side can turn…
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has a good problem. Following Wednesday’s 4-1 win over West Ham in the EFL Cup, with Anthony Martial one of the stars, Mourinho can now conclusively say that each of his main attacking players has produced a superb performance this season. As a result, there is the question as to who he should exclude at Everton this Sunday. Wayne Rooney, in very fine form of late, will be absent through suspension, but Paul Pogba is again available and Juan Mata has a strong claim to re-enter the starting lineup. If there is anything that we…
Arsene Wenger heaped praise on Alexis Sanchez after his hat trick in Arsenal’s 5-1 win over West Ham on Saturday, saying he has “all the ingredients” to be a top-class striker. Sanchez had one of his best performances in an Arsenal shirt, setting up the first goal for Mesut Ozil before netting three times himself at the London Stadium. And he showed off his full range of skills, using a quick turn to get away from a defender before scoring his first goal from a tight angle, then netting his second from outside the box. He saved the best for…
So it is not just Jose Mourinho who is losing his head in Manchester this season. Pep Guardiola was supposed to bring a more measured approach to Manchester City — calmness rather than chaos, focus rather fury — but as his team left the field at the end of a 3-1 defeat against Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium, they did so with nine men, after the late dismissals of Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho. The two red cards, one for a wild challenge by Aguero on David Luiz, the second for Fernandinho after he twice grabbed Cesc Fabregas by the throat…
Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina has said that the president is still popular with the people. Adesina also said that those claiming that the president’s popularity had decreased did not have scientific evidence to back up their claim. The presidential aide made the comments during an interview with Vanguard. Excerpts below: What was the magic wand the President applied that gave the APC victory in Ondo? As a political watcher, because I am a political watcher, it could be that the people knew that APC was still the way to go. That shows…
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday in Abuja met briefly with King Mohammed VI of Morocco, who arrived Abuja on Thursday, for a 3-day official visit to Nigeria. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the king, on arrival at the Presidential Villa at about 1.20p.m., inspected a guard of honour mounted by men of the Guards Brigade. The Guards Brigade also honoured the visiting King with 21-gun salute. NAN reports that shortly after the inspection of the guard of honour, Buhari and Mohammed met behind closed doors, before leaving the Presidential Villa for National Mosque to perform the 2-raka’at…
The Inspector-General of Police (I-G), Mr Ibrahim Idris, has set up a special panel to investigate issues surrounding the payment of entitlements of personnel engaged in adhoc duties. Force Public Relations Officer, Mr Don Awunah, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Friday. Awunah said the move followed the delay, omission and discrepancies in payment of allowances to officers’’ who participated in the just-concluded gubernatorial election in Ondo State. He said the panel would also look into “complaints of irregularities from certain quarters and discoveries of possible anomalies and plausible foul play’’, which were of deep concern to…
The top four finalists A’rese, ChiKe, Cornel and Brenda from the recently concluded The Voice Nigeria Season 1 release their individual debut singles to the world. As the weeks progressed the competition heated up and A’rese, ChiKe, Cornel and Brenda came out the shining stars, wowing TV audiences with their unique performance styles, personalities and powerful voices during the weeks of competition that saw A’rese come out on top as the winner. A’rese’, the crowned winner of The Voice Nigeria, makes her debut with the soulful and sultry, Uwe no’, produced by Johnny Drille and recorded in Lagos as an…
Mercy Johnson has released a new video as part of the “Mercy, Marriage, Cooking and Kids” show. The video follows the actress’ day as an actress, wife and mother. It kicks off with the actress preparing breakfast, then heading to location, and then returning to her home and kids. The video also features Nollywood veteran Rachel Oniga and Ghanaian actor, Majid Michel as they shared their experiences with the talented Mercy Johnson. “Mercy, Marriage, Cooking and Kids” is a show created by Mercy Johnson Okojie for young marriages, singles and teenagers. The actress announced the show with a two-part autobiography…
British Nigerian actor, Chike Okonkwo, was recently a guest at Pulse Nigeria. During an exclusive interview, the actor who is a UK-born Nigerian but resides in United States of America, spoke about the movie “Birth of a Nation,” how he got his role, his experience working with Nate Parker, his favourite character and how the movie changed his perceptive. On how he got his role as Will in the movie, the actor said, “I didn’t audition for the scripts. This one was all about Nate Parker. Nate wrote it, directed, produced and starred in the movie as Nat Turner, and…
Antonio Conte praised his Chelsea players for managing to “keep calm” during the mass brawl that marred the final minutes of their 3-1 victory over Manchester City, and says he hopes that David Luiz did not pick up an injury as a result of Sergio Aguero’s tackle. Tempers flared in the closing stages of Saturday’s match when Aguero caught Luiz high and late with a challenge, and Nathaniel Chalobah’s push on the Argentina striker prompted more players from both teams, as well as members of both benches, to get involved in pushing and shoving. Aguero was shown a straight red…
Luis Enrique was left frustrated as Barcelona conceded a last-minute goal against Real Madrid to draw a game that he felt they deserved to win. Luis Suarez’s fourth goal in five Clasicos was cancelled out in the 90th minute at Camp Nou by Sergio Ramos, who headed past Marc-Andre ter Stegen from Luka Modric’s free kick. Substitute Arda Turan was guilty of committing the foul in the lead-up to the goal — which allowed Madrid to maintain their six-point lead over Barca at the top of La Liga — and it was a moment which disappointed Luis Enrique. “The instructions…
Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has been charged with drink driving. Police said that the 33-year-old Ivory Coast international was stopped in Dagenham on Monday night and charged the following day. Toure was bailed and is due to appear at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on Dec. 13. In a statement, the Metropolitan Police Service said: “Yaya Toure, 33, of Macclesfield, Cheshire, was charged on Tuesday November 29 with a driving offence, namely driving a motor vehicle when alcohol level above the legal limit. “He will appear on bail at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, December 13. The charge follows a stop…
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has identified the importance of merit in giving reward and said that quota system was detrimental to the progress of any society. He said this in Abuja at the conferment of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) on two professors, Omowunmi Sadiq, an environmental scientist, and Tanure Ojaide, a poet and literary critic. According to him the nation had placed quota before merit which “we know does not work’’ and called on leaders to make sacrifices and commit to a country run on merit, integrity, hard work justice and patriotism. He said “To build a…