You arrive from LA Galaxy, you go to Everton on loan, it is your first month at the club and you finish your first month as the club’s player of the month. Not bad is it? That is what Landon Donovan experienced in January when he arrived on loan from the States.
In Donovan’s short start at Everton so far he has made quite an impact on the fans and manager David Moyes …
The future of Nemanja Vidic has been of much debate over the past year and toady the Mirror reports that the Serbian will definitely leave Old Trafford this summer. The only issue they see remaining is whether he goes to La Liga or Serie A.
The imposing centre half has been tempted by the financial and lifestyle benefits of a move to a major Spanish or Italian club. The transfer …
Manchester City have been on the look out for a centre midfielder ever since Roberto Mancini took charge at Eastlands. After being turned away in a bid to lure Fernando Gago to City, the Italian tactician has turned his attention to Parma starlet McDonald Mariga; the midfielder has been a revelation in Italy and has attracted interest from a number of English clubs already in his career.
The Kenyan international …
A World Cup third place with Sweden in 1994, a vital part of Manchester United’s treble winning side of 1999, but whatever happened to Jesper Blomqvist?
Starting his youth career with hometown side Tavelsjö IK, he was very quickly snapped up by Umeå who were in the second tier of Swedish football. His performances for Umeå caught the eye of IFK Göteborg who signed Blomqvist on 11th September 1993. This was the big break that Blomqvist waited for and he grabbed it with both hands.
Scoring in a 3–1 win over Manchester United in the Champions League, knocking them out of the competition. This performance caught the eye of United manager Alex Ferguson. Winning four consecutive Allsvenskan (Swedish Championships) with IFK Göteborg, goal of the season for a goal against Helsingborgs, midfielder of year in Sweden and fans’ player of the year in 1996. He was then bought by AC Milan who were champions of Italy.
In his only season with Milan they finished 11th in Serie A and failed to qualify for Europe, during this season Blomqvist spent most his time on the bench, despite Manchester United trying to sign the player, Milan refused to sell but surprisingly he was later transferred to Parma. His reason for leaving was the search for first team football. After a relatively successful season with Parma Sir Alex Ferguson eventually snapped him up for £4.4 million.
Commenting on the signing, Sir Alex said, “Looking back I should have tried harder to bring cover for Ryan Giggs on the left side. I did try to buy Blomqvist from AC Milan but they wouldn’t sell him. They eventually let him go and perhaps I should have pushed them harder.”
Essentially at Manchester United for three years, he only played in his first; the magnificent 1999 treble winning season. He was bought as cover for Ryan Giggs on the left wing, and managed to play 25 games for the club scoring only one goal, against Everton in a 4-1 victory. He also started in the 1999 Champions League Final eventually making way for Teddy Sheringham who went on to score the equalizing goal. But this was his last game for the club as a serious knee injury prevented him making any more appearances.
Two years after this final United released him and Everton manager Walter Smith snapped him up on the recommendation of Sir Alex Ferguson. Only 15 games were managed as injuries ravaged his career and new Everton manager released him in June 2002 only to sign for Charlton Athletic with whom he managed four appearances.
A return to Sweden came when he signed for Djurgårdens IF; Blomqvist played a part as the side became Swedish champions that year. Injury problems, however, restricted him to only nine league appearances. As with Manchester Unied he stayed at the club for two years without kicking a ball, before eventually announcing his retirement in 2005.
Blomqvist joined Enköpings SK as a coach in 2008 and has since made a playing return in the Superettan, the second tier of Swedish football. Ironically, a shortage of players at the club due to injury forced Blomqvist’s playing return. He left Enköping after one season and later signed a contract with newly relegated Hammarby IF as assistant manager.
After officially retiring in 2005, he became a pundit for Swedish television station TV4. He also owns a nightclub in Stockholm.
West Ham have been hit by the news that Klaas Jan Huntelaar is not for sale. The Hammers’ owners had hoped to tempt the Dutchman with a large wage package but AC Milan have reiterated their desire to keep the hit man, The Sun reports.
Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton were also chasing Huntelaar, who has struggled for game time at the San Siro since his move there in the summer, but Milan’s …
Hernan Crespo has always been a very talented footballer but for one reason or another, his move to Chelsea did not work out. Crespo started out life in his native Argentina with River Plate. After excelling in his first season with the Bueno Aires club, scoring 13 goals mostly from substitute appearances, he became a regular in the side for the next two seasons helping the team to two Argentinean Apertura Championships and a Copa Libertadores, where he scored twice in the first leg at home in the final.
A move abroad was not long in coming and he arrived in Italian football with Parma in 1996. In 4 seasons at the club he scored 61 league goals and helped the side to runners up spot in his first season at the club, and helped the team to Italian Cup and a UEFA Cup success in 1999, where he scored a goal in the 3-0 victory over Marseille in the final. Such performances attracted interest from other Serie A clubs who saw the Argentinean striker as one of the top strikers in the league.
Big spending Lazio won Crespo’s signature in 2000 for a then world record of £35million. He rewarded the Rome club with 26 goals in his first season and was named top goalscorer in Serie A at the end of the 2000/2001 season. The club however began to have financial problems and Crespo was seen as a very saleable asset. He was sold to Inter Milan for €20million plus young striker Bernardo Corradi in 2002 but his time at Internazionale was short. Signed as a replacement for Ronaldo who had moved to Real Madrid, Crespo struggled to settle in at the San Siro. Despite scoring seven goals, he was limited to eighteen league appearances as he was injured for several months in early 2003.
Then came his move to Chelsea for £17million. With Roman Abramovich’s millions, Claudio Ranieri picked Crespo to lead his forward line but he only started 19 league games in his first season in England, scoring twelve goals in the process. The then 28 year old Argentinean striker found it hard to adjust to the English lifestyle and when new manager Jose Mourinho brought in Didier Drogba, the Portuguese coach loaned the player back to Italy with AC Milan.
He had a good spell in Milan scoring ten league goals and also contributed greatly to Carlo Ancelotti side’s run to the Champions League final, scoring two goals in the final as they lost to Liverpool on penalties in 2005. Crespo wished to stay in Milan but with Mourinho unable to find backup for Didier Drogba, Crespo spent the 2005/06 season with Chelsea. It was a rewarding season with the club as he won his first and only European league title, but he still wished to return to Italy. Inter Milan took him on a two year loan deal and he contributed a fair amount of goals during Roberto Mancini’s successful title defences in 2007 and 2008. He was released from Chelsea at the end of the 2007/2008 season for nothing and was signed up by Inter on a one year deal. Under Jose Mourinho once again though, he only started two Serie A games and was omitted from the Champions League squad. To have a chance of getting into the Argentina World Cup squad place this season, Crespo moved to Genoa after his contract expired with Inter to seek more first team football.
His relative failure at Chelsea was surprising considering his fantastic goalscoring record but it was clear, he was not happy during his time in England and his heart always lay playing in Serie A.
Italians eh? They are an excitable lot really. Especially when it comes to their football. Like us they have a programme a bit like Gilette Soccer Saturday, it’s called Direttastudio 7 gold and they have a pundit on it called Claudio Fiume who is a Milan fan, incase you are not quite sure from watching the video.
This video is the typically reserved, Italian reaction to footballing events. Particularly funny seeing the smile wiped off his face after his team take an …
The former Arsenal utility man has struggled somewhat to achieve a starting berth in the AC Milan side, whether it be Carlo Ancelotti or his predecessor Leonardo in charge, Flamini has never been the first name on the team sheet. So what does the French international have to do to become a first team player for the club?
After arriving at Milanello in the summer of 2008 on a free transfer …
Its never a dull week in the Premier League and on Football FanCast debates have been raging. Liverpool were knocked out the F.A Cup this week by lowly Reading, as a result the call for Rafa to be sacked grows. Their rivals Manchester United haven’t had a better time of it recently and it appears all is not right at Old Trafford, while Owen …
Standard Liege striker Milan Jovanovic has been the subject of prolonged speculation regarding his future in Belgium, with clubs such as AC Milan, Everton and Aston Villa all monitoring the striker’s form. He recently admitted that Liverpool are very much interested in his services.
Jovanovic confirmed, “News that I have already said yes to AC Milan are not correct,” Jovanovic said. “I am still waiting, I haven’t decided. Also …
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