A Football Report

No, his career will never be over. In fact, Sol Campbell was quite the hot item this summer, and Newcastle United have made the most attractive offer to the 35-year-old defender, beating out Sunderland and Celtic. So what was the deal? Well, a reported £35,000-a-week. But the big question that remains is whether Sol will be fit come mid-August. Campbell turns 36 in September and has missed much of pre-season training having returned from his honeymoon only at the weekend.

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CSKA Moscow goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev seems set to move to a top English club after spending seven years in the Russian capital. Since finishing third in Euro 2008, Akinfeev has been at the top of many clubs’ lists across Europe but only after his great performances in last season’s Champion’s League have clubs begun to seriously pursue the 24-year-old. Manchester United, a side looking to line up a replacement for the aging Edwin van der Sar after offloading Ben Foster to Birmingham city, and Arsenal, who need to sort out their goalkeeping situation after several seasons with a lack of confidence between the sticks, are the front runners in race to sign the Russian international who is valued at £8 million.

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By Ulysse Pasquier, writing from Montreal

    Laurent Blanc and the French Football Federation have announced none of the 23 players that went to South Africa would be part of the squad facing Norway, Blanc’s first friendly in charge of Les Bleus. This rather shocking news could be the first of many sanctions that await the “mutineers of Knysa” who refused to train following the Nicolas Anelka incident during the World Cup group stages. 

This is the first important move Laurent Blanc has made as coach of the French team and it could set the tone for what we can expect in the future. This shows Blanc is trying to differentiate himself and the team from the World Cup fiasco. I believe he has understood that French Football is suffering from deep-rooted issues and I don’t think many people will criticize him for the steps he takes, as drastic as they may appear to be. 

The match, which will take place in Oslo on August 11th, is of course only a friendly but it will be interesting to see some new faces as well as a different dynamic. The French team needs a new identity after what happened in South Africa and we can expect Blanc to mix players from the 23 and the ones who will play against Norway to create a solid team for the 2012 Euro. 

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By Elizabeth Hanchett, writing from New York. Elizabeth is an FC Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Spain NT supporter from the United States, although she has spent most of her life in Spain. She has been following La Liga off-and-on since 1997 (on since around 2007).

After a press conference held yesterday in Madrid announcing that Real Madrid’s Guti was leaving the team, it was announced that there would also be a press conference with Madrid and Spanish legend Raúl to discuss his future as well.

And today, Real Madrid bade him farewell, and Raúl said good-bye to the fans.  It was the final moment of a career which began in 1994, of a player who made his first cap for Spain in 1996, and since then has scored 323 goals on the club level in all competitions, and who is currently the leading goalscorer for the Spanish national team, with 44 goals.

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Roy Hodgson has really done well since he has taken charge of Liverpool, and he seems to have pulled another coup by signing Real Madrid’s pacy Dutch defender and winger Royston Drenthe. Though Liverpool have not yet announced the terms of the transfer, Drenthe announced “I will soon be joining Liverpool FC. Hope I will have a good season there :)” on his official Facebook page.

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Given that World Cup winner Rivaldo was playing for Olympiacos not that long ago, it was a strange sight to see such celebration over the signing of a player as low-profile as Albert Riera. Imagine what they’d be like if they ever managed to sign Messi.

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Benfica’s midfielder Ramires is wanted by Europe’s top clubs with Chelsea and Manchester City leading the race for his signature. After a strong season for the Portuguese champions and Brazil, his departure is highly likely. However, many clubs aren’t prepared to pay the €30m release for clause. For City, money is not a problem, but Chelsea offer Champions League football which has put them in pole position, a move could be announced by the end of the week.

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Liverpool have beat out the likes of Tottenham and Arsenal by offering £90,000-a-week wages to former Chelsea man Joe Cole. Cole, who was a free agent after his contract with Chelsea ran out in May, so he was of particular interest to clubs because there was no transfer fee involved. The flamboyant midfielder has a deft touch that is rare to find in an English footballer, and he has something to prove as his injury spell last season limited his time at Stamford Bridge and also his time in South Africa with England. Cole has signed a four-year deal with the club.

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João Moutinho’s transfer from Sporting to FC Porto was completed 3 weeks ago and the move will never be forgotten in Portuguese football. It is extremely rare that a player moves from Sporting to Porto or vice versa, especially the team’s captain! Moutinho wanted to leave Sporting who he had represented since the age of 14 and Porto offered the best deal. Everton had been tracking the midfielder for 2 years but never made a tempting offer for the Lisbon based side.

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Former Tottenham and Hamburg manager Martin Jol has reportedly agreed to terms with Fulham to become the new manager of the Premier League club. Fulham’s former manager Roy Hodgson went to Liverpool this summer, leaving a huge hole in the organisation at Craven Cottage, however, Martin Jol may just be the right man for the job. Jol will be leaving his post at Ajax, and the Dutchman has agreed to a deal worth around £1.5 million a year to swap Amsterdam for London.

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For weeks speculation has been growing surrounding the future of Uruguayan forward Edinson Cavani. Since the end of the World Cup, Napoli have emerged ahead of several Premier League suitors as the front-runner in the race to snap up the 23-year-old. Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis recently announced that his side have finally secured Cavani’s services. De Laurentiis told Radio Marte, “We have been after Cavani for over a month. I was always in talks with (Palermo president Maurizio) Zamparini and I can say that it wasn’t an easy deal because behind Cavani there were other prestigious clubs who wanted to sign him.”

Napoli had to shell out €17 million for Palermo’s front man who scored 13 goals for the Rosanero last season and helped lead his country to a forth-place finish in last month’s World Cup. Cavani will meet up with his new team-mates, which include compatriot Walter Gargano, on August 2nd. With Napoli, Cavani will have the opportunity to play European football and will earn himself a improved salary of €1.35 million plus bonuses per year.

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Mario Balotelli is a talented player. Maybe the most talented one Italian football has produced since Totti, or Cassano. The truth is that it seems there is no more room for him in Serie A. The young Inter striker is now facing a crucial point of his career. At the age of 19, he already won 3 Italian titles, 1 Italian Supercup, 1 Italian Cup, and, last but not least, 1 Champions League. Impressive, even more if you consider he had an important role in most of the victories (the most important one in sealing his first Scudetto during Mancini’s last campaing at Inter). Last season he had some tough problems tough with the team by showing a lack of respect for his teammates. When AC Milan came closer to Inter in the table in April, he sang Milan’s song in the dressing room. With the manager, he almost began physcially fighting on the training pitch with José Mourinho. And with the fans, he put on an AC Milan shirt in a TV interview and then threw Inter’s shirt on the ground at the final whistle in the San Siro match against Barcelona. All of this led up to the point in which we now are looking at.

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