I'm a 23 year old Newcastle United fan, who enjoys watching and playing football, listening to music, watching movies and reading. Actually, none of that's very exciting is it? Erm...I also ran across America, won the Congressional Medal of Honour, have been to the White House 3 times, taught Elvis to dance and helped John Lennon write Imagine. My motto is, 'Life is like a box of chocolates...' no, sorry that's Forrest Gump....
Alan Pardew and Arsene Wenger are set to battle it out for the signature of Saint Ettienne midfielder, Blaise Matudi, InsideFutbol.com reported today.
Both are desperate to recruit, and Matuidi could the ideal signing for both clubs.
Ibrahimovic is currently at the San Siro, on loan from Barcelona, and has managed 14 goals in 26 appearances for the Serie A side. But the news that he may not be there for much longer has put Premier League clubs, Manchester City and Chelsea on red-alert.
Wenger has been linked with a move for Bolton’s Gary Cahill already this season, but reports today suggest that he might decide to make a move for Evert0n centre-back Slyvain Distin. The 33 year old Frenchman could prove an attractive financial prospect for the Gunnners, especially given the fact that he only has 18 months remaining on his contract, and could find himself leaving Goodison on a cut-price deal.
Apparently, Stoke’s Jermaine Pennant has declared himself eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland and has virtually issued a ‘come and get me’ to the Irish FA. He told Stoke radio, ‘I’m 28. I’m not getting any younger and I’d like to play international football. If I’ve got the chance to play international football with Ireland I’m going to take it with both hands.’ Every player wants to play at international level, but sadly there’s only room for 22 on the plane so not everyone makes it. But for the lucky few with ‘dual nationality’ there’s always that 2nd chance.
Great Britain and France have had an uneasy relationship with the French for some time now. It all stems from when that chap Napoleon Bonaparte was roaming all over Europe with his army, making a right old mess. That was until we Brits took the cane out of the cupboard and gave him a good thrashing! But the French do produce extremely good footballers, a fact which has not gone unnoticed by Mike Ashley, who has £35 million burning a whole in his trouser pocket.
Italian website Firenzeviola are reporting that Udinese midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah is being linked with a move to Manchester City in the summer. The 22 year old Ghanaian is reportedly also a target for Juventus, Fiorentina and CSKA Moscow.
Yakubu has apparently announced his desire to join Leicester City if they achieve promotion to the Premiership. The striker has been on loan at the Foxes since Janaury and has scored 4 goals in 8 appearances. His goals have shot Leicester up the table, and manager Sven Goran Eriksson has claimed ‘I’m quite sure if we go up that Yakubu will stay. He wants to.’
What are the best Cantona quotes? There must be a whole load of them! I decided to write a piece on the Transfer Tavern about them, and see what reaction I got. Unfortunately, a quick search on the internet revealed about 200 million people have had the same idea! So I thought we’d play a little game. Here’s 5 quotes that sound as if they could have come from Cantona….but can you guess which is the real Cantona quote??
Liverpool’s Director of Football, Damien Comolli has highlighted Italian international Domenico Criscito as the answer to Kenny Dalglish’s left side problem. The 24 year old, currently playing for Genoa has been earmarked for a potential summer move by the Merseyside based club and it’s being reported that it could take up £12 million to get hold of him.
Aston Villa are interested in signing Ivory Coast striker Gervinho, from French Ligue 1 side Lille. With his exstensive knowledge of French football, Houllier has been tracking the player for a few months now and apparently made an enquiry during February.
So far, football has remained a very ‘straight’ world and to date the only footballer brave enough to admit to being homosexual is Justin Fashanu. Sadly, Fashanu ‘came out’ in a completely different era to Davis and Thomas and his sexuality was an issue which sadly ruined an extremely promising career.
When your average footballer comes to the end of his career he has 3 options. The first is, to retire to a life of luxury, plyaing golf and occasionally making after-dinner speeches. The second is to be a pundit. If you can string a sentence together and don’t embarrass yourself on camera then you can become a regular feature on Football Focus, Match of the Day or Goals on Sunday. The third option is perhaps the most stressful. Management.