Tag Futebol

You can be forgiven for thinking all is rosy on the blue side of Manchester. At the top end of the Premier League table, through to the Champions League knockouts for the first time and a place booked in the League cup final to boot, all is well at Manchester City surely?

The club  have today though been rocked by the news that their star midfielder Yaya Toure has openly admitted considering a move across the pond to PSG. Asked about a move to Paris by French radio station RMC, he said:

“Why not? Everything’s going well with City at the moment, but you never know. When you have big teams like that, who already have big players, it’s obviously attractive. Being part of an adventure like that, a squad like that is exceptional.” 

“My objective is always to work with big players. It helps you to get better and to learn many things. You never stop learning in football. For me PSG are a big club. They’re a big team, full of history, with all the great players they have at the moment.”

The question for City fans is whether this is simply a statement of his admiration for a club like PSG, or a genuine flirtation with a potential move? It does seem a little bizarre that a man playing for one of the best footballing sides in the world at the moment would even for a moment consider a move elsewhere.

City do though have a reason to be concerned, Toure is possibly the best midfielder in the league and a player central to their attacking menace. Whilst the club has the financial power to replace anyone, there just aren’t that many players comparable to the Ivorian in world football. Toure’s importance this term is underlined by his return of 14 goals so far, and he looks still to have been a relative bargain. A midfielder who is rare in his all round completeness, he has the physical presence to break up play and the swiftness of mind to engineer incisive attacks for his club.

The sense from Toure’s comments are that he really buys into the project at PSG and that isn’t at all surprising given the ambition being shown, but in my opinion he has unfinished business. Manchester City may be playing the best football in the league, but they are yet to dominate the country domestically on a regular basis, add to that failure in Europe and you can see a way to go before Toure’s work in England is done.

I personally don’t see a move away as being at all imminent, he has just signed a lucrative new £11m a year deal until 2017 and the club don’t appear to have any urge to sell. At the age of 30 Toure has one big move left in him, and it isn’t surprising that he has eyes to the future. However, given what he has left to achieve and contribute to his current employers I’d suggest his overtures are a little bit premature.

If this was any other club the Parisians would blow them out of the water, but City’s backers are unlikely to flinch regardless of how high PSG want to bid.

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PSG may be a pre-retirement dream for Toure, but don’t expect it to be realised any time soon.

Click below to see Arsenal, Fulham and Everton in action this weekend!

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.”

Rangers supporters would love to see John Terry at Ibrox next season after he parted company with Aston Villa on Wednesday afternoon.

The player spent a season at Villa Park and was an integral part of their promotion bid, which ultimately ended at Wembley with defeat to Fulham in the play-off final.

Now 37 years of age, he doesn’t exactly have a long-term upside for the Light Blues, but could be the short-term problem solver they are after as Steven Gerrard looks to rebuild what was a terrible defence in 2017/18.

Rangers conceded more goals than any other team in the Scottish Premiership top six, which is something that needs fixed if they are to compete for silverware next season.

Do they have a chance of signing Terry? Perhaps, if they can work out the financial details of his wages, which will likely be expensive by Rangers’ standards.

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After he announced his Villa departure, Rangers fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts on a potential move to Scotland…

Ramiro Funes Mori has become somewhat of a forgotten man at Everton due to his injury troubles.

The defender has not played for the club since March last year because of a serious knee problem.

The Argentine is edging closer to fitness, but he will have the big task of trying to break into Sam Allardyce’s team.

Phil Jagielka, Ashley Williams, Mason Holgate and Michael Keane are among the centre-backs vying for places.

Funes Mori, who can also operate at left-back, has outlined his plan for a comeback and has admitted that he has one eye on the World Cup.

In order to be selected by Argentina for the trip to Russia, the defender will need to be fit and on top form.

With less than five months until the season comes to an end, the 26-year-old will need to ramp up his recovery.

After hearing from the defender for the first time in a while, Everton fans tweeted their thoughts on his comments.

As an Ipswich fan there have been many results that have been hard to take and Ipswich’s 4-4 draw against Derby will be put right up there with the worst of them.

Seeing the Tractor Boys go 4-1 up was a great feeling, two goals for Daryl Murphy to boost his confidence, three assists and a goal for the club’s biggest asset Aaron Cresswell too.

Then out of nowhere Derby come out in and play like a completely different team, with Ipswich suffering from overconfidence at the same time. All of the positives that should have been taken from the game were then replaced with disbelief and despair as Derby clawed their way back to 4-4 with just two minutes to go.

However, to properly analyse the match and its consequences we need to take emotion out of the equation, although I do appreciate this is hard for anyone to do especially right after the game.

The first positive thing that can be taken from the match and most others this season is that the Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor combination has got the team scoring enough goals for a promotion push. Connor’s influence cannot be underestimated as McCarthy has never taken credit for the teams offensive prowess and always tells reporters that his right hand man is working wonders with the teams forwards.

This isn’t just wild claim I am plucking out of the air after watching the team either, the statistics show an incredible improvement in goal scoring. Ipswich were the lowest scoring team last season but the Suffolk side have been up there with the high scorers throughout the early stages of this season and there are only three teams that have scored more than them right now.

It defies belief that people still complain about how McCarthy plays ‘boring football’ or is ‘too defensive’. If anything the Blues boss has proven the opposite and the team now need to work on finding the right balance between attack and defence.

Another surprise is that large groups of supporters still believe Ipswich need to be scoring more goals and are expecting to see attacking players joining the club soon. If the club were to spend any money I would much rather see them sign a solid defender like Richard Stearman rather than a forward. The statistics certainly don’t lie, but some people choose to ignore them.

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Going back to the Derby game in particular, we all need to remember  that the team is a work in progress and is currently not up there with the best sides in the division. Don’t get me wrong, I believe by the end of the season Ipswich could be one of the better sides, but they haven’t yet perfected their style and that is why we will get a lot of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ performances like on Tuesday night.

For now fans need to focus on the positives; taking a point away from home is a good result even though the way it happened was disappointing and additionally the team are playing entertaining football. McCarthy and Connor are taking the team in the right direction so just sit back, remain patient and eventually they will make Ipswich the finished product.

Reading captain Jobi McAnuff has stressed his opinion about players wages and that the money that is involved in football is getting out of hand, as reported by the Daily Mirror.

The former West Ham and Crystal Palace midfielder is enjoying Premier League life but is genuinely disheartened by the situation football has now found itself in.

“I can see why a Wayne Rooney should get a big bonus because of the amount of shirts he sells,” said McAnuff.

“But if you’re talking about £200,000-a-week, that’s ­ridiculous. Who needs that amount of money? Surely, someone will say ‘that’s enough’.

“We’re on the verge of ­getting out of control and we’re ­starting to lose a bit of reality.

“The most popular question I get from kids is ‘what car do you drive?’ What happened to them wanting to know what it was like to make your debut?

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“Football is getting too ­expensive for fans and fans make football. Tickets for our game at Chelsea were £50 each. I know lots of people who couldn’t afford that.”

Liverpool could make a surprise swoop for Barcelona star Luis Suarez this summer, according to Don Balon.

What’s the story?

Liverpool fans were heartbroken when Suarez left Anfield in the summer of 2014, but it was not a huge surprise.

Much like the January transfer of Philippe Coutinho, it became known early on that the Catalan giants were interested in swiping for the Reds’ star player.

Suarez’s two-and-a-half year stay on Merseyside did not pass by without its controversy as he was banned twice for biting and once for racial abuse.

With regards to his skill on the pitch, though, nothing came close as he scored 82 goals in 133 appearances.

Since moving to Barcelona, the Uruguayan has hit the back of the net 110 times in La Liga alone.

According to Don Balon, Barcelona are willing to sell Suarez in order to free up cash for Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann.

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The report adds that Liverpool are likely to be frontrunners for the 31-year-old’s signature, while Inter Milan are also interested.

How realistic is this deal?

There is no doubt that Suarez still holds a place in his heart for Liverpool, but he did have a fairly tumultuous relationship with the British press.

It is unclear whether the striker would be open to returning to Anfield, but if he did he would boost Jurgen Klopp’s already prolific attack even more.

Mohamed Salah is currently the star man at Liverpool and he surpassed Suarez’s best season of 31 goals by hitting 44 in all competitions.

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The Egyptian international can still add to his tally as he will compete in the Champions League final against Real Madrid on May 26 in Kiev.

Given how goal hungry the pair are, Liverpool would have a menacing attack, but Barcelona are not foolish and they will want a pretty penny for the hitman.

Transfermarkt value Suarez at around £76.5m, but the Catalan giants will require more than that to prise Griezmann away from Atletico.

Liverpool returned to the top four of the Premier League on Boxing Day after thrashing bottom club Swansea City 3-0 at Anfield.

Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring in just the sixth minute with a sweet finish from outside of the area, and it was his strike that set the tone for the rest of the game as Jurgen Klopp’s men ran riot to hand Reds fans the perfect Christmas present.

The Brazilian has been absolutely sensational this season and is currently proving why Barcelona are reportedly lining up a move for him in January, which is being reported by Spanish media (via TheExpress). The midfielder is valued at £58.5m by transfermarkt.com.

On Boxing Day Coutinho showed exactly why he’s a wanted man and the Liverpool faithful be desperate to ensure he stays at Anfield until the end of the season at the very least, although there is a danger that he could leave in the January transfer window.

With that in mind, Liverpool fans are enjoying him while they can and here is how they saw his performance v Swansea on Twitter…

Liverpool fans have taken their anger out on Twitter after Luis Suarez’s recent comments turned the Uruguayan striker into a very negative trend.

The 26-year-old made it clear that he wants to leave Anfield and join a team that will be playing at the Champions League next season. According to the BBC, the Uruguayan international might even have to hand in a transfer request by the end of the week.

According to the Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, Suarez claims that Liverpool promised him that he could leave if the team did not qualify for the Champions League.

“Last year I had the opportunity to move to a big European club and I stayed on the understanding that if we failed to qualify for the Champions League the following season I’d be allowed to go,” said the striker.

The Reds’ fans though were not at all moved by his comments and took their frustrations on social media.

A displeased Liverpool fan wrote: “#Suarez is officially worse than Torres. He who betrays will always walk alone! #Judas #LFC.”

Meanwhile another fan included Suarez’s name with that of Fernando Torres and Michael Owen, who both moved to Chelsea and Manchester United respectively, and wrote that “no player is bigger than the club.”

According to The Telegraph, Chelsea defender Gary Cahill hopes that he can regain his place in England’s starting line-up against Moldova tomorrow night after missing Euro 2012 with a broken jaw.

The 26-year-old had to watch the Euro Championships in Poland and Ukraine at home after a freak collision with goalkeeper Joe Hart in England’s final training session before flying out to Eastern Europe.

As a consequence, Manchester City’s Joleon Lescott played alongside Cahill’s Chelsea team-mate John Terry at the back and but for a poor ten minutes in the second  half against Sweden, the pairing were impressive throughout the whole campaign.

Cahill admits that this will make his chances of breaking back into the England first team harder, “We did really well defensively which obviously makes my job now harder. I certainly feel that I am fighting to get myself back in. But I don’t think there is a time when I can rest on my laurels and think, ‘I am in the side now’.”

One factor that Cahill admits will significantly boost his chances of playing for England is the good chemistry he has playing alongside John Terry at Chelsea, which subsequently led to European success last season. The former Bolton man said he enjoys playing alongside the Chelsea captain, “He prefers left and I prefer right. The experience he has got rubbed off on me as well as his composure and positioning.”

Cahill was speaking to the media yesterday ahead of England’s first World Cup Qualification group game ahead of Moldova tomorrow night. One of the major talking points leading up to the game is the quality of the pitch in the recently built Zimbru stadium in Chisinau.

This is not the first occasion when the Football Association have had fears over a Moldovan pitch. England were also critical of the pitch when they played in the old Moldovan national stadium in a World Cup Qualifier in a 3-0 victory for the Three Lions in 1996.

Cahill admitted that the state of the pitch in Chisinau is not ideal for the players, “It is going to be difficult. The conditions over there are meant to be really bad. We are going over there to train on the pitch because it is not great, somebody was telling me. We have been aware that conditions probably won’t be what we are used to but we will see that first hand when we train there.”

England manager Roy Hodgson may use the Moldova game as a chance to rest some key players in the team in preparation for the Ukraine game on Tuesday night which should be a much tougher test for his side.

Moldova are currently ranked 141st in the FIFA rankings and have only beaten Finland and San Marino (on two occasions) in their last two major tournament qualification attempts. Cahill said, “By the time we get to the game, we will be aware of their strengths and weaknesses. We will be having individual meetings about their players and their shape. We will be well drilled for the game.”

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