Getafe midfielder Abdelaziz Barrada has admitted to seeing clubs linked with him in the papers but he is just trying to keep head in the game after an impressive start to the season according to talkSPORT.
Barrada has been linked with Manchester City along with Barcelona, Real Madrid and his former club PSG, but despite already scoring three goals this season and featuring for Morocco at the Olympics, Barrada wants to focus on Getafe.
“I know the news from the newspaper, but now I prefer to just focus on my work on the pitch,” he is quoted as saying in French magazine France Football.
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“It would be tempting (to rejoin PSG) because I’ve worked there for a small period of time and I have kept good contact with the people of the reserves I met in my time there. PSG’s project is fine but I have not spoken to anyone about my possible return.”
It has been ten years since Wayne Rooney scored his unforgettable goal against Arsenal for Everton at aged just 16. The sensational strike revealed that the youngster was a future star in the making. However, the England international is still as hungry as ever to impress and has announced that he wants to play in England’s friendly next month against Sweden.
Rooney’s international performances have been criticised, and the 26-year-old failed to make an impact against Poland on Wednesday, despite getting on the scoresheet with a fortunate goal from a Steven Gerrard corner kick. The Manchester United forward has often been injured in the build-up to international tournaments which hasn’t helped his cause.
Roy Hodgson will undoubtedly be under pressure to rest his first team and give less experienced Premier League players a run-out. However, Rooney has insisted, “of course I want to play.
“I want to play all the games, if that’s possible. Hopefully I can stay in good form and the manager will pick me.”
Hodgson is expected to field younger players, such as Arsenal’s Carl Jenkinson and Liverpool’s Jonjo Shelvey, however the England manager has stated he will keep some key players.
“We have to be careful. I don’t intend to go to Stockholm with a weak team. It is a massive occasion for Sweden — and they like me over there, or they used to!
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“I’m also conscious that a lot of players will be in the middle of European football as well, and I don’t know how much I can bash them,” added Hodgson.
Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas has lamented his side’s performance on Saturday as they crashed to an embarrassing defeat to Wigan at White Hart Lane yesterday, reports talkSPORT.
Spurs went into the match on the back of a rich vein of form having won five of their previous six Premier League matches, but a disappointing display meant Wigan left North London as deserved victors.
The Portuguese boss faced anger from home fans after he substituted Jermaine Defoe and he was the first to admit that the performance was way below the level he expects from his side.
‘We didn’t manage to keep the ball or pass well. We couldn’t recognise ourselves today.
‘Wigan were superior. Our chances weren’t clear cut. There are various reasons why we played like this.
‘The opponents were sharp and aggressive. We kept making mistakes. We played more with the heart rather than the head.”
Wigan’s Ben Watson punished Spurs day off driving home from close range after Brad Friedel had flapped at a Shaun Maloney corner. The home support was further incensed just after the goal when AVB took off leading scorer Defoe to bring on Emmanuel Adebayor.
However he explained the decision to the striker and insisted that he understand the fans complaints.
“We understand that they can show their frustrations, “the 35-year-old said.
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“We don’t do things to punish them or for the fans to show revolt. We do things for the benefit of the team.
“They want the win, but we want the win as much as them. We respect them.”
Alan Pardew believes Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is able to handle the heat at Liverpool ahead of their Premier League clash this Sunday.
Former Swansea manager Rodgers has seen his side struggle since he took the helm, with the Merseyside club just managing two wins from nine games in the Premier League so far.
However, the Newcastle boss thinks Rodgers can manage this pressure, and that he is having difficulty creating his vision because of a lack of “tools”.
He said to BBC Newcastle: “I think Brendan can deal with it. He didn’t get the tools he needed and if you’re going to create the vision he wants, you’ve got to have the tools. As I understand it, he’s a striker short. If he didn’t want the big fella (Carroll), which we know because we were involved, then he should have had a replacement.”
Liverpool have had many issues with strikers this season, with Fabio Borini injured, whilst sending Andy Carroll off on loan to West Ham.
Pardew worked with Rodgers when they were youth coaches for Reading. He has said that he envisaged Rodgers coaching rather than going into management.
He said: “We were both confident in our own ways, but I genuinely thought he would be a coach rather than a manager. He has a natural association with the coaching ground, and those who watch Being Liverpool would sense that, he’s sort of evolved into a manager more so. I always felt I was the other type, and I actually did think of Brendan as a coach at a few of my other clubs but he’s found his own route and fair play to him.”
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Newcastle have had just one Anfield win in the Premier League since 1992.
The race is on! Who can tempt David Beckham to join them?
I’m guessing his next step won’t be all about the money, which might pave the way for an unlikely club to secure Beck’s signature. But who? Step forward West Ham United.
The Hammers have been regularly linked with Beckham in the past and there is no doubt they will be in the mix for him again this winter. But is it a match made in heaven?
Despite having played in the MLS – a league that has always been described as being at a similar standard as the Championship – for the past five years, it is believed the 37-year-old could still cut it in the Premier League.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid star has been a stand out performer in the MLS ever since his arrival in the States and also had two successful loan spells with AC Milan during close-seasons.
He has scored 20 goals in 116 appearances for Galaxy and is now being chased by some of Europes’s biggest clubs, suggesting there still must be something in him that can cut it at the highest level.
But how would he fit in at Upton Park? There are genuine cases for what he can offer West Ham both on and off the field.
Firstly, during West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Stoke City on Monday night, Sam Allardyce’s side lacked any real threat on the wings and only a handful of their 12 corners beat the near post. Obviously, with Matt Jarvis out injured and Matty Taylor only just returning from a set back, there are players already at the club who can come in a make a difference in those areas.
But with Beckham’s experience and fine set-piece delivery, he would have been the perfect man to make an impact on Monday night and provide an extra dimension on both flanks and in dead ball situations.
Furthermore, in what is West Ham’s first season back in the Premier League, they will need as much experience as they can get in order to continue their impressive start, which sees them occupy seventh after 12 games. Beckham, even when he isn’t playing, could have a significant impact on the club’s fortunes just by being present in the changing room and speaking to the other players, particularly the youngsters who are beginning to push their way through in to the first team.
Then there’s the famous Olympic Stadium bid. We all know how important Beckham was to London being awarded the 2012 Olympics and the role he played as the country began planning what ended up being labelled as the best Olympic Games ever.
That shows the amount of influence he has as a national figure, as well as one of the country’s most famous sporting greats. Oh how West Ham could do with someone like him behind them as they continue their fight for keys to the stadium.
Additionally, with the club playing in the Olympic Stadium and having David Beckham in the team, their revenue streams will increase tenfold. Just having the stadium would be great for the clubs finances and its future, but with Beckham involved as well, they would be selling shirts worldwide and filling the stadium week in, week out without even breaking a sweat. Every club’s dream, right?
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As West Ham continue their revival under the current owners and manager Sam Allardyce, the opportunity to sign a player like David Beckham would be too good to turn down.
His loyalty is clear to see, which the West Ham supporters will adore, and his experience and influence globally will only reap the club rewards both on and off the pitch.
Even if he never plays, he’d still make a huge impact on West Ham’s future. So a West Ham offer for Beckham, for me, is a no-brainer regardless of the players the club already has and how much they spent on Matt Jarvis in the summer. What’s more, Jarvis might even be able to learn a thing or two from good ol’ Golden Balls.
What do you think? Is David Beckham to West Ham a real possibility? Would a bid for him just be a marketing ploy for their Olympic Stadium bid? Let us know what you think by commenting below.
Manchester United defender Phil Jones has confessed that failing to advance from the group stage of last season’s Champions League was “tough” to deal with.
The Red Devils finished third behind Basel and Benfica last term, dropping into the Europa League.
Jones admitted that failing to get into the knockout phase was a real blow to the team:
“It was a bitter pill to swallow.” He said.
“For a club of Manchester United’s stature it was not an easy thing to deal with.
“This club is used to being in the semi-finals and finals of the Champions League and even winning it, so it was not a nice feeling to get knocked out the way we did.”
This season has been a different story, with the Old Trafford club already having secured top spot with one game to play.
Ahead of their sixth European tie of the season the centre-back hinted that last year’s failure has forced a reaction from the squad:
“We’ve bounced back incredibly well this season.
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“The lads have played some terrific stuff and hopefully we can kick on and go as far as we can.”
The Premier League leaders take on CFR Cluj on Wednesday and are likely to rest a number of big name stars ahead of this weekend’s Manchester derby.
manager Sam Allardyce feels that festive fatigue could explain why Premier League referees are prone to mistakes during the Christmas period, reports Sky Sports.
Big Sam’s comments come after the FA overturned the red cards issued to Everton’s Darron Gibson and West Ham’s Carlton Cole by referee Andrew Taylor at Upton Park last weekend.
“This is a difficult period for referees. Why do they always seem to make more wrong decisions now,” said Allardyce.
“It’s probably because they are overworked and they are fatigued and the system has to be looked at.
“Referees are traveling all over the country and out in Europe and have been since the start of the season.”
Allardyce believes that a bigger group of referees should be ready to share the festive work-load to help ease fatigue, hoping that fresher referees will be able to hold their concentration to make the right decisions on the pitch.
“There’s not enough of them. They try their very best to get things consistently right. But it happens every year around this time of year,” he said.
“We had a couple [of bad calls] in our last game and there have been many throughout football over the Christmas period.
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“Fatigue is everything in terms of decision making. Once it kicks in you lose the ability to make those decisions correctly.
“They need to ease the load on the referees we have. The game needs to move on and look at recruiting better refs from all avenues.”
West Ham supremo David Sullivan says a deal has been struck with Liverpool to sign Andy Carroll permanently in the summer, Sky Sports are reporting.
Injuries have restricted the 24-year-old striker to just nine Premier League starts and two substitute appearances for Sam Allardyce’s side since arriving from Anfield on a season-long loan deal in the summer.
Despite that Hammers co-owner Sullivan revealed an agreement is in place for Carroll, who joined the Reds for a record £35 million from Newcastle two years ago, to remain at Upton Park beyond the current season, although the player has yet to agree terms on the switch.
“I am often asked about Andy Carroll’s deal,” he said. “It is a season-long loan. Liverpool
had an option to take him back in January, but he has been injured.
“West Ham have an agreement with Liverpool to sign him at the end of the season, but we have no agreement with the player.
“It was his desire to come to West Ham to prove himself to Liverpool and that hasn’t changed,” Sullivan added.
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“He has had injuries since he came, but he is back to fitness now and we have 15 games left… we need some goals and some points, so let’s see.”
Tottenham will revive their bid to sign Leandro Damiao in the summer after failing to land the Internacional striker on Deadline Day, the Daily Mail understand.
Spurs have made a habit of leaving it late to conduct deals during the transfer window’s final furlong but weren’t even close to getting the Brazil international. over the line before the 11pm cut-off point.
Chairman Daniel Levy decided that manager Andre Villas-Boas needed a forward to strengthen the clubs challenge for Champions League qualification in the second half of the season and lodged an £18 million offer for Damiao.
But with 30 per cent of the player’s economic rights being held by third-party investments, the complicated nature of the transfer was enough to convince Levy, who has chased the player for over two-years, to put his plans on ice until the summer.
Internacional director Marcelo Medeiros also claims that the North London club didn’t offer enough money with the Brazilian club demanding £20 million to release the 23-year-old.
“Leandro Damiao won’t leave, the offer was below what we wanted,” he told Globo Esporte.
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That now leaves Jermain Defoe as the only fit senior striker at White Hart Lane, with Emmanuel Adebayor at the Africa Cup of Nations, and Villas-Boas will now have to wait until the summer before freshening up his attack.
There aren’t many sub-plots left to wrap up in the extraordinary tale of Cristiano Ronaldo, but with a date against the club who set him on his path to greatness awaiting tomorrow evening, the Champions League ties between Real Madrid and Manchester United will prove to be seminal moments in an already illustrious career.
It is a career that has of course seen the 28-year-old win just about everything there is to win within the pastures of European football. Sure, success on the international stage has perhaps proven a step too far even for his mercurial talents and he’s made no secret about his frustration at picking up just the one Ballon d’Or award.
But from his 2008 World Player of the Year award to the Uefa Champions League winners medal he picked up during the same season, there is very little indeed that the Madeira-born forward hasn’t achieved since he first arrived at Old Trafford in 2003.
Yet beneath the pomp, poignancy and sense of occasion that the sight of Ronaldo lining up against Manchester United will bring, the two-legged tie could also prove as something of a landmark occasion for all the wrong reasons should Madrid crash out at the hands of Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.
The prospect of facing Fergie, Wayne Rooney and the rest of the staff that Ronaldo achieved so much under during his time in Manchester creates a wonderful narrative, but make no mistake about it, the nostalgia of the occasion will make very little difference to just how desperately the Portuguese will want to go through.
Because should Jose Mourinho’s side fail to beat Manchester United over two legs, with La Liga already looking virtually unattainable and success in the Copa del Rey hanging on a second-leg semifinal tie against Barcelona, Ronaldo could find himself with a lot to contemplate at the end of his fourth season with Los Blancos.
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This isn’t to speculate that Ronaldo would consider leaving the Santiago Bernabeu nor is it to say that the ex-Sporting man is necessarily unhappy with the way things have gone since he switched the Premier League for La Liga. But while his résumé may well have overflowed with goalscoring records and personal accolades since he made his world-record switch in 2008, one thing that’s not sizeably increased is his medal count.
The looming spectre of Lionel Messi and Barcelona has certainly played its part in ensuring that Ronaldo has just the three honours to his name since joining Real Madrid for £80million. And after racking up 182 goals in 179 games, there’s hardly more Ronaldo could have physically done to try and change the course of recent history.
But although his name will forever sit in the pantheon of footballing greats, defeat to Manchester United in the last 16 of this season’s Uefa Champions League could perhaps leave a very small asterisk next to the side of Real Madrid career.
With Jose Mourinho widely tipped to leave the Bernabeu at the end of the season, this current Madrid side are facing something of a defining period. Despite success in the form of last season’s record-breaking La Liga triumph, the remit for both squad and manager has always been to end what is now over a decade’s long wait to end the club’s European Cup drought.
For Ronaldo, his individual performances might make it impossible to deem his time in Madrid as anything short of an astounding success. But a failure to add to his 2008 Champions League triumph with Manchester United during his spell with Real Madrid so far must leave a bitter taste in the mouth for a man so ruthless in his quest for perfection.
At still only 28-years of age, there is plenty of time for Ronaldo to rectify that statistic and surely it can’t be much longer before Madrid eventually win that record tenth European Cup. After all, as Pep Guardiola – the man who Ronaldo can attribute a fair proportion of the blame for his lack of medals to – once mused, all cycles must come to an end. Soon it will be Madrid’s turn to dominate Spain and Europe for a sustained period once more.
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But regardless of why Ronaldo hasn’t achieved more than the one league title, one domestic cup and one Supercopa de Espana, you can’t help but feel the Portuguese’s time in Madrid represents something of a frustrating paradox. It’s within the Santiago Bernabeu that Ronaldo has elevated his game into a gear that few in history have been able to attain; yet in three-and-a-half years there, he has relatively very little in terms of silverware to show for it.
There’s been bad luck, misfortune, penalty shoot-out misses and a certain Messi-shaped shadow that’s hindered him along the way. But perhaps in one of the greatest individuals to have played for the club in Ronaldo, we’re given the greatest reminder that success is built around a team, rather than a solitary presence.
And should Real Madrid fail to beat Manchester United over two legs, there’s every chance that Cristiano Ronaldo could finish his fourth season in Madrid with the status quo remaining on his medal count. There may well be more chapters to come in his Bernabeu tale and maybe history will be the truest judge of this final question, but what will rank higher for the Portuguese – record breaking personal dominance in white or collective trophy attaining glory in red?