Our lead is fake, says Mourinho

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Mar 2, 2014

Arsenal right-back Bacary Sagna has rocked his team-mates by telling them that he will be leaving the club in the Summer.

The Frenchman’s contract expires in the Summer, and after months of talks with the club, there has still been no breakthrough between the two parties and the defender looks set to end his long-term stay in North London.

Original contract talks started in December, but after Sagna was annoyed at only being offered a 12-month extension, it was clear that the talks may drag on.

Arsene Wenger and co. then offered the right-back a two-year deal worth £60k-a-week, but that was also turned down due to no pay-rise being offered.

The 31-year-old defender is thought to be wanting a three-year deal, which Arsenal aren’t willing to offer due to injury concerns in the past.

It is however believed that European sides are willing to give the Frenchman a long-term deal, with Galatasaray, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan all interested.

A move in the Summer will end a seven-year stay at Arsenal where he has made 272 appearances for the club.

Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles

Liverpool leading race to sign Tottenham star

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Mar 2, 2014

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is ready to sure up his defence by making a formal move for Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Jan Vertonghen in the Summer.

The Reds, who are currently second in the Premier League, have had defensive problems throughout the season with some high-profile errors being made by both Kolo Toure and Martin Skrtel during crucial matches, and many people are suggesting that if Rodgers had a solid back-four, they were be a shoo-in for the title.

With that in mind, Rodgers is keen to strengthen his backline ahead of next season, and with Toure and Skrtel both causing problems for the manager, it looks like Vertonghen could be coming in to take their place at the heart of the back-line.

Currently at Tottenham, the Belgium defender has admitted that if Spurs fail to get Champions League football this season, he could be forced to leave the club in order to play in Europe’s best competition, and that will be something Liverpool can offer, if they keep this form going until May.

It isn’t understood how much Liverpool are willing to pay for Vertonghen, but defensive reinforcements will be high on Rodgers’ wish-list for the Summer’s transfer period.

Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles

Ferguson will not come out of retirement.

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Ben Reardon

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Mar 2, 2014

Sir Alex Ferguson will have no plans to come out of retirement, with the pressure mounting on current manager, David Moyes.

Moyes has had a horror start to his early start to life at Manchester United, and persistant rumours continue to suggest that Ferguson may come in to save the day.

However, Ferguson has stated to close friends, and family, that he has no plans to come out of managerial retirement.

A United source said: “There is no chance that Sir Alex will return as manager.

“He remains fully behind David Moyes and is always there should the manager want to seek his advice.

“Sir Alex is enjoying his retirement.”

Ferguson retired on a high in the summer, winning his 13th Premier League title at the end of the 2012/13 Premiership season, after an incredible 27 years of manager of United.

Moyes has struggled at United, with his side in 6th position in the League, out of the FA Cup, and face being knocked out of the Champions League.

By Ben Reardon

@BenReardon1

Atletico Madrid to offer contract extension to Diego Costa.

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Ben Reardon

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Mar 2, 2014

Atletico Madrid will offer star striker Diego Costa a new lucrative deal, to try and tempt the in-form centre forward to stay at the club.

Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool have all joined the race to sign the striker in the summer.

Costa has a £41 million buyout clause to his name, something which may but off possible suitors.

The striker has been in some superb form for his side this season, with the Atletico striker netting an impressive 21 goals in the current season, one behind Cristiano Ronaldo, as Atleico look to win their first title for some years.

Costa’s deal runs out in 2018, and Atletico will be desperate to extend the striker’s contract for another year.

They also want a deal tied up before Costa heads off to Brazil to represent his adopted country Spain, at the World Cup.

By Ben Reardon

@BenReardon1

Steven Gerrard ready to battle for the title

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Mar 2, 2014

Luis Suarez, Raheem Sterling and captain Gerrard’s late penalty fired the Anfield outfit to a hard-fought success at St Mary’s.

Liverpool remain four points behind leaders Chelsea, who won away at Fulham, but have moved ahead of Arsenal following their defeat by Stoke, and Capital One Cup finalists Manchester City.

Gerrard echoed manager Brendan Rodgers’ mantra that the Merseyside club will take one game at a time, but believes their absence from European competition this season could count in their favour.

He told Sky Sports: “I see Theo Walcott’s in the studio – they (Arsenal) lost today and we’ve won.

“I’m sure there are plenty of people around the Premier League looking out for us because we’ve got no Europe and we’re fresh for every game.

“All we asked for at the beginning of the season was to be in it with 10 games to go, and we’re certainly in it.

“Chelsea and Man City are still the favourites, but we just have to keep going and try and win every game and with world-class players in the team like Suarez, you can beat anyone.

“It’s important to stay calm and take each game as it comes. We haven’t got the experience, but we have got a lot of good things going for us.

“The challenge now is can we go and put in a good performance away at Old Trafford and see where we are with four or five games to go. If we’re still in it, then why not?”

Gerrard believes Rodgers’ tactical switch to a 4-4-2 formation with a midfield diamond to counteract Southampton’s pressing game was a key aspect of their victory.

He added: “We dropped points here last year and we learned our lessons. I think the credit has got to go to the manager. He keeps giving us the credit but he had his tactics spot on.

“Our idea was to play a bit longer, try and beat their press and leave two up top. If teams want to play two v two against Sturridge and Suarez – all the best.

“We got it wrong here last year and we maybe got it wrong at the beginning of the season when they beat us at Anfield.

“The sign of a good side is when you learn from your mistakes. The manager changes and tweaks things and we went with a diamond today.

“I thought we were solid defensively and always a threat on the counter.”

Written by Steve Milne

Brendan Rodgers is just taking one game at a time

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Mar 2, 2014

Luis Suarez, Raheem Sterling and Steven Gerrard’s late penalty fired the Anfield outfit to a hard-fought 3-0 victory away to Southampton at St Mary’s.

With Arsenal going down 1-0 at Stoke and Manchester City distracted by the Capital One Cup final, Liverpool are now the closest challengers to leaders Chelsea, who hold a four-point lead.

With just 10 fixtures of an enthralling title race remaining, Rodgers would not be drawn on how many matches he wants his side to win, but again claimed that they are outsiders in the race.

He told Sky Sports: “We just want to keep winning games. There are 10 games to go now and we’ll just see where it takes us.

“We only want to win the next game, that’s our next focus. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.

“We’re enjoying our football, we’re working very, very hard. Our idea now is to win the next game, and that’s our only focus. I think for us we’re just keeping going with what we’re doing.

“Everyone speaks about Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal, and rightly so. They’re the three teams that have been up there for a number of years.

“We’re only concentrating on ourselves. I take great pride in working with the players and great pride in watching them and how they’ve developed over the 18 months.

“We just want to keep improving. Mentally, we are getting stronger all the time. Tactically, there is a number of formations that we’ve played this year.

“Our style will always try to be the same, but it’s good to have that flexibility in the team.”

Rodgers was delighted with the efforts of his players at Southampton, as they adapted to a new formation and kept a clean sheet after significant focus on their recent defensive deficiencies.

He added: “I thought tactically the players were brilliant. We played a 4-4-2 diamond to try and give us the numbers in the middle of the field.

“Defensively we were outstanding – blocked lines, blocked spaces, we pressed the ball. We got three goals and could have had five or six again.

“I think the performance in terms of defensively is up there with the Arsenal game. This is a really difficult place to come, Southampton are an excellent side and press the ball really well.

“It was an all-round outstanding team performance both with and without the ball.”

Written by Steve Milne

Frank Lampard admits he was close to leaving last Summer

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Mar 2, 2014

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has admitted that he was close to leaving the club last Summer, but only in favour for a move abroad.

The England international’s future was up in doubt nearing the end of last season, despite some impressive performances including several goals, and although he was scoring frequently, club owner Roman Abramovich was still not ready to offer the 35-year-old a new deal.

However, that all changed when Jose Mourinho came back to Stamford Bridge, and after his return, a 12-month extension was offered to Lampard and he remained a Chelsea player, but he has revealed that a move abroad was on the cards at one point.

‘Yes, there was [a genuine possibility of leaving] because at one stage I was out of contract and I wasn’t going to get a new one,’ he told FourFourTwo.

‘It was the first time I had been in that situation, so I had to open my eyes to going elsewhere. But I didn’t want to leave because I still have a lot to offer.

‘If I had left I would have gone abroad, I just can’t imagine myself playing for another Premier League team after such a long career at Chelsea.’

Lampard and his fellow team-mates John Terry and Ashley Cole will be in the same position this year due to only being offered 12-month extensions due to their age.

Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles

Toni Kroos is considering Manchester United move

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Mar 2, 2014

Bayern Munich midfielder Toni Kroos is seriously considering making the move from the Bundesliga to the Premier League, with Manchester United likely to sign the German, according to his brother.

Kroos, who has been in fine form this season for Munich, has been a long-term target of David Moyes and United, and with reports suggesting that the Premier League giants could offer him up to £250k-a-week, a move could be on the cards in the Summer.

The German’s current deal at Bayern ends in 2015, and with consistant reports linking him to England, no new deal has been put on the table due to the uncertainty of his future, but his brother has now sparked more rumours by suggesting that the two have discussed the move.

‘We have already talked about it [moving to Old Trafford],’ he told Sky Germany.

‘Manchester [United] has been the team of my dreams since I was a child. However, I don’t give him [Toni] any advice.

‘He will take a good decision for himself. There are worse situations than having to decide something like that.’

Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles

We’re still in the race, says Wilshere

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Mar 2, 2014

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere believes they are still in the title-race despite their slip-up at Stoke City yesterday afternoon.

The Gunners fell to a 1-0 defeat at the Britannia Stadium after a Jonathan Walters penalty late on in the second-half, and as they lost, both Chelsea and Liverpool picked up impressive away victories against Fulham and Southampton respectively.

The results from yesterday mean Arsenal are now third in the Premier League, behind both Liverpool and Chelsea, and are four points off Jose Mourinho’s men.

As well as that, Manchester City have two games in hand over Arsene Wenger’s men, and if they win both of those, they will leap-frog to the top of the table and leave Wenger and co. in fourth place.

However, despite the poor day yesterday, Wilshere is still confident that the side are in the title race.

“We have to be prepared for it,” Wilshere told Sky Sports afterwards. “We know what to expect when we come here, it’s going to be a tough game, we have to fight and win second balls and then we have to take the opportunities when they come.

“We didn’t do that today. We had a few chances in the first half and we didn’t take them, and you’re going to get punished here.

“We weren’t at our best. Sometimes in these type of games you don’t have to be.

“I think we did enough to win the game. We had a few chances in the first half where, if we put them away, we go in one up at half-time and it’s a different game. We can try and see the game out but instead we’re searching for a goal, they’re searching for a goal… it was an open game, and we’re disappointed.

“The good thing is, this month, we play them. We play all the teams at the top so that’s a good thing and if we win those games, we’re going to be up there.

“We have to keep going until the end. Anything can happen as you’ve seen today and in previous weeks.”

Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles

The FA are racist, blasts Sol Campbell

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Mar 2, 2014

Former-England centre-back Sol Campbell has claimed that the FA are racist and that if he was white, he would have been England captain for at least 10-years.

The recently-retired defender has made the astonishing claim in his new book, which will be released later this month.

During his career, Campbell made 73 appearances for his country, but was never captain as that role was given to striker Michael Owen, and the former-Arsenal, Tottenham and Portsmouth defender has put that down to the colour of his skin.

Campbell said: ‘I believe that if I was white I would have been England captain for 10 years.

‘I don’t think it [the situation] will change because they don’t want it. It’s all right to have a black or mixed race captain of the Under 18s or Under 21s but not for the full national side.

‘There is a ceiling and, although no one has ever said it, I believe it’s made of glass.

‘Michael Owen was made captain ahead of me and I thought, “What’s going on here?” I think the FA didn’t want me to have a voice.

‘Owen was a fantastic forward but nowhere near being a captain. I’ve asked myself many times why I wasn’t [named captain]. I keep coming up with the same answer. It was the colour of my skin.’

Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles

Hull City interested in Arsenal defender

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Mar 2, 2014

Hull City manager Steve Bruce is already planning on how to strengthen his team in the Summer, if they beat the drop from the Premier League this season, and it looks like Arsenal centre-back Johan Djourou is high on his list.

Bruce, who has had an impressive season so far with Hull, has been very successful in the transfer market so far during this campaign, signing Tom Huddlestone, Jake Livermore, Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic, and he is already planning on who to bring in in the Summer.

As for Djourou, he has been sent out on loan from Arsenal for the past two seasons, to Bundesliga sides Hannover, and now Hamburg, and Bruce will face serious competition in signing him from Hamburg, but the Hull boss is confident that a £2.6million offer will get the deal done with Arsene Wenger.

Djourou feels frozen out at the Emirates Stadium, and is desperate to leave the club permanently in the Summer.

Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles

Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel is set for a summer exit

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Mar 2, 2014

According to Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport,Mikel is being linked with a move to Inter Milan for a reported fee of around 15 million Euros.

Mikel is not assured of a regular starting place at Chelsea,and has seen his position come under threat following the acquisition of Nemanja Matic last month.

Even the Nigerian player has had to contend with David Luis for the anchor role in Chelsea’s midfield.

And when Marco Van Ginkel recovers from an injury,there would be stiffer competitions for places in midfield at Chelsea.

Last season Mikel was linked with a move to another Italian side,Napoli,which fell through.

The midfielder has a contract with Chelsea until the summer of 2017.

Written by Steve Milne

Follow me on twitter: @stevenmilnelive

Liverpool in the race to sign the new “Patrick Vieira”

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Mar 2, 2014

Liverpool have joined Manchester City in the race to sign 16-year-old Rodney Kongolo from Feyenoord this summer, according to reports.

Kongolo has been hailed as the “new Patrick Vieira” and it was thought that the midfielder was set to join the Blues, but claims around the media are that the player’s mother met Anfield officials last month to discuss a possible deal.

It means that the teenager is likely to chose between the two North West giants, although Feyenoord are said to be trying to hang on to their star talent.

The report suggests that Kongolo has already rejected three separate contact offers put forward by the Rotterdam club as he looks to secure a move elsewhere.

Written by Steve Milne

Follow me on Twitter @stevenmilnelive

Alan Pardew fined £100,000 by Newcastle United

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Mar 2, 2014