Manchester United have been keeping close tabs on FC Twente’s young starlet Ola John, according to Itasportpress.
The 19 year-old Liberian-born Dutchman, who has come through the youth academy at FC Twente, broke into their first team last season and his performances looksto have caught the eye of Manchester United already, as they have been scouting the youngster.
John, brother of former Fulham, Leicester and Watford striker Collins John, is a Holland Under-19 international and has made 13 appearances for Twente so far, scoring one goal.
But John pledged his future to to Twente in December, after signing a new contract at the club through to 2014, on the advice of his older brother Collins.
John said: ”I speak to Collins everyday. He is proud of me and he told me to continue here.”
John also appeared to pour cold water on a potential move to England in the near future, saying: ”In any case it is too early to go to England and FC Twente is a good club so why would I want to leave?”
John is highly regarded in Holland and before last week’s Europa League encounter between Fulham and FC Twente, he revealed that not only were Manchester United interested in his services, but Arsenal too.
”Manchester United and Arsenal wanted me but I think I am still young and can learn a lot at Twente. If you are that good, the opportunity will come again when you are older. Playing in England is my dream of course.”
”You want to play as high as possible so that is my dream. Manchester is a beautiful club and Arsenal too.”
Sir Alex Ferguson has seemed to make it a priority for Manchester United to invest in young talent after signing David De Gea, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling in the past year. Ola John could potentially be the next young star to join the young revolution at Old Trafford.
Article courtesy of Tariq Saleh from the excellent Transfer Tavern
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Harry Redknapp has stated that he will listen to offers for Roman Pavlyuchenko in the January transfer window, as the Russia international looks set for a move away from White Hart Lane.
The attacker has found first-team opportunities this season limited, as the summer addition of Emmanuel Adebayor has seen the Eastern European largely on the bench.
With Pavlyuchenko keen to be playing regular football in order to ensure a place in Russia’s squad for Euro 2012, Redknapp has admitted a transfer could be in the offing.
“If he wanted to go and it was a good offer, then we would look at that, for sure,” the coach stated in a press conference.
“He’s not a player that I’m looking to move. I like him. He’s a good person, good player. I hope he can have a good season.
“He has to work hard every game. He has to be more consistent. He didn’t have a great pre-season. He hasn’t shown enough this year to be in the team.
“He can score goals, and maybe if he goes on a run, gets an opportunity and score some goals for us…..,” Redknapp concluded.
Pavlyuchenko is likely to feature for the London club against Rubin Kazan in the Europa League on Thursday night, as Redknapp has played fringe players in previous European fixtures this season.
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There have been and currently are many players who have been branded ‘cheats’ in the Premier League, some deservedly more than others. There are those cheats who seem to get away with it most of the time and those who are singled out and vilified by opposition fans.
So what constitutes cheating in football? In my opinion the title of ‘cheat’ should go to those players who dive, deliberately aim to get an opposing player sent off, deliberately set out to injure a fellow player or feign injury.
So bearing that in mind here and in no particular order are my Top 5 Premier League cheats, past and present:
Robert Pires (former Arsenal and Aston Villa midfielder) – The hugely talented Frenchman used to wow the crowd at the old Highbury with some wonderful skills and a countless number of goals. But Pires created a reputation for himself as a diver and there were many examples of this that he would not too proud to watch back today.
Cristiano Ronaldo (former Manchester United winger) – The Portuguese international was one of the greatest players to ever ply his trade in the Premier League. His last two seasons at Old Trafford were sensational and he won every possible trophy with the club. But in his early years at the club he also had a reputation that preceded him, as something of a diver. The winger would constantly throw himself to the ground at any opportunity in an attempt to con the referee into awarding him a free-kick or penalty. But to be fair to Ronaldo, this is something which he has largely eradicated from his game nowadays.
Lee Cattermole (Sunderland) – Lee Cattermole has never made headlines for his footballing ability, instead he seems to make headlines for the wrong reasons. A player who isn’t short of yellow and red cards in his career, Cattermole has created a reputation for himself as a bit of a dirty player. You cannot fault his commitment or passion, but some of the tackles he goes in for do not help brighten his reputation and when he recklessly lunges in for unnecessary tackles, it makes you wonder whether it crosses his mind to injure a fellow player.
Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United) – Many people will be surprised by this inclusion but I have seen Vidic get away with several acts of cheating over the years. Due to his lack of pace the Serbian defender tends to do a lot of shirt pulling, some of which he gets away with. He has been caught out by some referees but the majority of Premier League refs have been reluctant to punish him for it.
Luis Suarez (Liverpool) – The Uruguayan striker is beginning to create a name for himself in the Premier League as a fantastic striker, but also as a bit of a cheat. He has lit up the league with some wonderful goals and individual bits of skill, but he is now also making headlines for the wrong reasons. Controversy seems to follow Suarez around quite a bit, his famous handball on the line for Uruguay in their World Cup match with Ghana will never be forgotten, but let’s be fair, who wouldn’t have done that for their country?
This season he has been criticised for contributing to Jack Rodwell’s harsh sending off in the Merseyside derby and he has now been accused of racism by Patrice Evra. Something tells me we’ll be hearing a lot more about Suarez this season, the good, the bad and the ugly side of him.
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Pre this season, Arsenal’s brand of technical, fluid, possession-based football saw them win over many new fans around the globe, whilst others looked on in envy as they continued to play the game the right way, forever seeking perfection. Playing their beautiful style, many concluded that Arsenal were second in Europe only to Barcelona – and the media somewhat cruelly branded them ‘Barca-lite’ – as they failed to win honours whilst the Spanish ‘real thing’ swept all before them.
However if Arsenal and their style of football were Barca-lite, does that now make north-London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, (Real) Madrid-lite?
At present no team in England attacks with more devastating pace and velocity than Spurs do. Whether the speedy onslaught occurs through a period of possession, or a swift counter-attack, Spurs remain a constant threat for 90-minutes – and more opposition are falling victim to this white whirlwind as the team grows into itself this season.
In Europe I’d wager currently there’s only one team better at attacking with such devastating speed, blitzing their opposition into submission – Real Madrid.
Los Blancos have turned this style of play into something of an art-form over the last couple of seasons. Whilst Barcelona have had the world purring with tiki-taka football, winning everything in sight, Real Madrid have kept pace (no pun intended) almost every step of the way, schooling teams in lessons of powerful, counter-attacking football. Why these lessons have been so successful, has been down to the pace and attacking talent at their disposal, mixed with a steely grit – a perfect balance for this style.
Madrid had already begun employing the counter-attacking style under the likes of Capello, Schuster and even Pellegrini who took it to another level. But Jose Mourinho has perfected it – even tweaking it, making the team more powerful and determined. But speed still kills.
Cristiano Ronaldo in particular, has been a goalscoring phenomenon since setting foot on Spanish shores. His fleet of foot and directness (in other words, his willingness) to head straight towards goal from his starting left-wing position has been used to great effect. Look over to the other side of the pitch, and it’s another speed merchant in Di Maria.
Now look at the Spurs squad, particularly in the wide areas, and you see pace almost everywhere. Both left and right-hand sides of the pitch are balanced and blessed with speed, in both attacking and defensive positions.
Whilst Madrid have the best European player in the world working their left-flank, Spurs have the new Welsh-wizard, Gareth Bale. Thankfully, the Bale bandwagon has died down recently but there’s no smoke without fire – and Bale was ablaze for a period of time last season. An awesome sight at full speed, when on-song he is almost unplayable. On the other wing, Spurs can call upon lightning-fast Aaron Lennon who can be any full-backs nightmare. Kyle Walker, a recent England debutant, has impressed greatly this season and is yet another player at Spurs who wouldn’t look out of place in a 1oo metres sprint.
But it’s no good having pace in your side if you don’t have the technical ability to go alongside it. Although Madrid and Spurs have some of the quickest wide-men in Europe these players are all comfortable with the ball, particularly when running at the opposition. And the similarities don’t end on the wings.
Mixing speed with guile and steel this season is another reason for Spurs’ current likeness to the Spanish giants. Joining the attack and helping create, Madrid’s guile can be provided by Ozil and/or Kaka, whilst upfront the razor-sharp Higuin is now preferred to Benzema. In the same areas, Spurs have very similar players in Modric and van der Vaart, whilst Madrid-reject Adebayor is the preferred choice to Defoe.
Madrid set-up using two holding midfielders but Xabi Alonso is the unique exception to his position, as very few, if any other players could fulfil his role. The steel therefore comes in the form of Khedira, Coentrao (primarily a wide-man) and (defender) Pepe, who’s been specifically used in midfield for certain matches, as a destroyer. Spurs have the impressive and tireless Scott Parker, and can choose from Sandro and Huddlestone to keep things tighter if tactics dictate.
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As Real Madrid continue their near-impossible quest to try and peg back what is possibly the greatest club side of all-time, Spurs could well end up challenging for what is a wide-open Premiership title. Playing a similar style to Madrid, all’s that’s missing is a more consistent domination of matches and a winning mentality to beat the other champions elect.
Who knows, maybe soon we’ll refer to Madrid as Spurs-lite, after all, they both wear white.
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Wigan boss Roberto Martinez has confirmed that referees chief Mike Riley phoned him to apologises for the mistake that cost them three points in the recent Premier League game with Blackburn.
Official Andre Marriner allowed Morten Gamst Pedersen to take a short corner to himself in injury time in the 3-3 draw, that saw Rovers grab a late equaliser.
The Spanish coach was livid with the decision, and has admitted that he received a call from Riley.
“Mike Riley rang and explained his view. He was very supportive and that shows we have the right man in charge,” Martinez told Mirror Football.
“His view was that the referee got it wrong.
“The decision has a big influence on us. Dropping two points for us at the moment is a matter of live or death in the Premier League,” he stated.
Marriner has not been assigned a game to officiate this weekend in a move that looks like a disciplinary measure against the under-fire referee, but Martinez does not want him to be overly punished for the mistake.
“I would rather Andre refereed and try to get himself sharper. It will not get us the points back. To see him not referee is not giving us any comfort,” he concluded.
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Wigan face Sunderland on Saturday, and will look to get points to get them off the bottom of the Premier League.
Blackburn manager Steve Kean was disappointed with his side’s 2-1 defeat to Stoke on Monday, and feels his team have missed an opportunity to get out of the relegation zone.
A Peter Crouch double gave The Potters a 2-0 advantage, before David Goodwillie pulled one back for the hosts, but the game ended in defeat for Rovers at Ewood Park.
Kean has praised his players for their attitude, and feels that a poor refereeing decision may well have cost them a point.
“I felt the commitment was there,” the Scottish coach told Sky Sports.
“I felt the second goal was a bit of a killer because we were pushing for the equaliser. We didn’t deal with the counter attack. The ball has come in too easily.
“Peter Crouch, if he can get that type of service, then it’s going to be tough. Having said that, we tried to get the line higher in the second half and pressurise their full-backs.
“As a result of that we dictated the second half, I expected when we got the first to get another and maybe even nick it at the end.
“We’re disappointed with the goal that’s been disallowed from Chris (Samba). The ref has said he’s given it against Yakubu which was surprising because I’ve seen it again and he’s stood there minding his own business. I thought it was a perfectly good goal.
“To get that wrong and then you’ve got Chris hitting the bar as well, we feel as though it’s a missed opportunity today. We could have found ourselves out of the bottom three with a positive result.
“If we can keep performing we can soon find ourselves in a better position. I’m disappointed we’ve not at least got a draw,” he concluded.
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Blackburn stay in 19th place, whilst Stoke are up in 8th place after the victory.
You can say what you want about the transfer windows and while most football managers tend to be disparaging about them, most supporters will be lying if they didn’t admit that they get bought into the daily gossip and rumours that sweep the newspapers, forums and various blog sites. Much of the stuff that gets written never prevails, but it doesn’t stop us all getting excited while the speculation mounts up. The January window so far has been a little quiet as we approach the half way through point; however you do get a sense that in this period we are witnessing the calm before the eventual transfer storm in the Premier League.
The lack of spending at the top of the Premier League has surprised many, especially given the open nature of this title race; the fight for a top four finish, not to mention the open fight to stay in the Premier League. It appears that clubs are biding their time and we all sit and wait for that breakthrough transfer that generally kick-starts everyone into action. Whether we will witness the type of money that was squandered last January remains to be seen, but I would be incredibly shocked if the window passed without at least one big money move.
While Harry Redknapp has talked a lot about improving their squad, very little has actually happened in the way of transfers with Yago Falque the only addition to the squad so far. Tottenham have been known to leave their transfer business until the last knockings and I would be surprised if Daniel Levy didn’t pull a last minute out of that hat.
How do Tottenham fans feel about the lack of activity so far in the January window? Did the squad really need improving and have you heard any rumours about potential incomings or outgoings at White Hart Lane?
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Roberto Mancini has stated that bad luck, not bad form, has blighted the team’s season over the last month, with injuries and suspensions taking their toll.
The Etihad Stadium outfit were eliminated from the FA Cup by rivals Manchester United, and have dropped points to the likes of Sunderland and West Brom recently.
Despite this, Mancini feels the slump is not down to a drop in performances from his players.
“I think we were very unlucky in the last 40 days, very, very unlucky with some situations on the pitch,” the City manager told Mirror Football.
“We were disappointed because we wanted to go to the final of the Carling Cup and we wanted to go through in the FA Cup.
“But it was a difficult situation against United because we played nearly 90 minutes with 10 players. In the second game against Liverpool, we tried everything and scored two goals at Anfield.
“December and January have been difficult months with injuries, Yaya Toure being away and having players banned. Now I hope we can go on and win in the Premier League.
“Our motivation should be that we are on the top and we want to stay there. If we want to do this, then we have to work hard in the next two months,” he concluded.
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City are currently three points ahead of United at the Premier League summit.
Zenit St Petersburg have confirmed that they have made contact with Arsenal over potentially taking Andrey Arshavin on loan for the rest of the season.
The Russia international has been out-of-form this term by his own admittance, and is keen to recapture better performances before representing his country at Euro 2012 in the summer.
The Russian Premier League side are eager to have the attacker back at his former club on a temporary basis, with The Gunners now having a decision to make.
“Arshavin would interest us in terms of having him on loan,” Zenit general director Maxim Mitrofanov told local media on Wednesday, translated into English by Sky Sports.
Besides helping Zenit Andrey would also be well prepared for the upcoming Euro 2012 finals. The question is what Arsenal really want, would they want a loan deal?
“We had initial talks with them. Let’s see how they respond now.
“The fact is Andrey still wants to play in England. But he really wants to do well at Euro. [Zenit] would be a good solution for him in this case,” the executive concluded.
Arshavin has become something of a scapegoat at the Emirates Stadium, with the fans and media vocal in their criticism of the eastern European’s recent performances.
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Liverpool’s managing director Ian Ayre has revealed that the Merseyside club need more time in deciding their future plans for Anfield.
The Reds are exploring all options, including increasing the capacity of Anfield and moving to another stadium, but Ayre will not be rushed on the issue.
“We still don’t know if we are staying or if we are going,” he told Sky Sports.
“We have said for some time that we are trying to plough two parallel courses and in terms of a new stadium, a new stadium costs a lot of money.
“I think what is lost on some people is that if you move from a 46,000 seater Anfield, to a 60,000 plus stadium, you don’t get [the money from] 60,000 seats – you get the difference between them.
“That’s the new money that has to pay for a new stadium, because you are already generating revenue from Anfield, so it doesn’t count.
“So it’s trying to find the right economic model and while that sounds quite boring to all our fans it’s very important.
“We are moving it along, it’s a sales process – we are selling the naming rights to the stadium.
“What you don’t want to do is create a situation where you are trying to move that quickly that you lose on the price.
“Then on Anfield there are similar time issues, for those of you that have ever been to Anfield, it’s in the middle of a lot of housing, so extending and growing isn’t as simple as just knocking people’s houses down as an example.
“We have to consult with people and look at our options, again that just takes time but our fans can take some comfort in the fact that it’s not lost on us that we need that uplift in revenue, in seats, in more fans being at the game, just as they do.
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“We are going to dawdle on it but we are going to make the right decision and as I said at the outset it’s about making the right decision for Liverpool Football Club, its fans and its future,” the executive concluded.