£29m star who 'smells of goals'

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Like many Brazilian players, football has provided an escape from hardship for new Liverpool signing Roberto Firmino.

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London - Like many Brazilian players, football has provided an escape from hardship for Liverpool’s colourful £29million signing Roberto Firmino.

His home city of Maceio has beautiful beaches, but for the Firmino family survival was always the name of the game and Roberto grew up aware that his father was forced to sell bottles of water on the streets to make a living.

It is why he agreed to move on his own far from home at 16 years old to pursue a career as a footballer. When his big chance to play in Europe arrived three years later, his first reaction was to proclaim: ‘My family will never have to work again.’

Instead, they followed him to Germany and, one assumes, will now relocate to Merseyside, along with the player’s girlfriend Larissa and their seven-month-old baby daughter Valentina.

Firmino’s career has always been about providing and anyone in doubt about the closeness of his family ties just needs to study his tattoo-adorned body, from the motto ‘Family, unending love’ in German to his daughter’s name inked across his chest.

Brendan Rodgers will surely be encouraged that Firmino’s back-story suggests a player with hunger as well as talent. ‘To run more’ is his target at the start of each season and even by the non-stop standards of the Bundesliga, Firmino’s work-rate is impressive.

It is not headless-chicken stuff either, 38 goals in 133 games for Hoffenheim is a better strike ratio than Steven Gerrard. ‘He smells of goals,’ says Brazil coach Dunga and his tidy finish from Willian’s cross against Venezuela in the Copa America this week was his fourth goal in nine international matches.

At 16 Roberto signed for Tombense, hundreds of miles from home, and they sent him on loan a further 1,000 miles south to Figueirense.

‘It was hard at the beginning,’ conceded Firmino later. ‘I was completely on my own but I always had a clear goal in mind.’ Firmino helped Figueirense win promotion and Bundesliga side Hoffenheim had taken note, paying £3.5m or the untested 19-year-old - a gamble that has paid off handsomely.

Signed as a midfielder, Firmino has been pushed forward as his career has progressed and can play as a winger on either flank or at No 10. At Anfield, he will continue to wear the No 11 shirt which he wears for his country, with the club’s iconic No 7 going to James Milner, who wore that number at Manchester City.

Firmino’s move will encourage City to make a final, £40m offer to Liverpool for unsettled Raheem Sterling.

For his part, Rodgers must hope the new man can form an understanding with Daniel Sturridge and Danny Ings like that he shared at Hoffenheim with Gylfi Sigurdsson and young German Kevin Volland. ‘We only had to make eye contact and I knew where to make the pass,’ he said.

He has either scored or assisted in 45 goals in Hoffenheim’s last 66 matches - but of course there will be doubts. With no Europa or Champions League experience, he comes with a hefty price tag, one Manchester United wouldn’t pay.

Firmino will take time to learn English but insisted: ‘Don’t judge me on what I say. On the pitch I transform myself, I am another person and lose my shyness.’

Daily Mail



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United table £35m offer for Ramos

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Man United have made an opening bid of £35m for Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos, and he has asked his club to consider it.

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London - Manchester United have made an opening bid of around £35million for Sergio Ramos and the Real Madrid defender has asked his club to consider it.

The offer came as Ramos met Real officials and requested that they open negotiations with United. The bid is independent of David de Gea’s move in the opposite direction but it is clear United will use their interest in Ramos to come to an agreement over the sale of their goalkeeper.

Ramos yesterday askedReal to climb down from their stance of only allowing him to leave if a club pays his £180m buy-out clause.

Earlier Pedro Riesco, who works alongside the player’s brother and agent Rene, suggested Ramos’ departure was almost inevitable.

Riesco toldRadio Marca: ‘With everything that has happened it will be very difficult for Sergio

Ramos to stay at Madrid.’ Since the player admitted privately that he wanted out of Madrid, he has been subjected to a smear campaign by media that he believes is being directed by the club’s president.

Riesco added: ‘Sergio is a symbol of this club. He has nothing to prove. But so many things are being said about him. There is so much manipulation to discredit his name via spokesmen who behave like puppets saying he is not respecting the club and that he is just a money-grabber.’

Madrid are already looking at possible replacements, including two players United have targeted: Athletic Bilbao’s Aymeric Laporte and Nicolas Otamendi of Valencia. They are also interested in Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny, 29, who signed a new contract last summer.

United will also join the chase for Morgan Schneiderlin after the France midfielder reached an agreement with Southampton to leave this summer. The Saints want £24m for the 25-year-old, who still has two years to run on his current deal. The fee may put off Arsenal and Tottenham, who would also be keen to sign him. Spurs made a move for Schneiderlin last summer.

Daily Mail



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Bad-tempered Uruguay exit Copa America

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Uruguay bowed out of the Copa America with a bitter taste in their mouths after two players were sent off.

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Santiago - Uruguay bowed out of the Copa America with a bitter taste in their mouths after having two men controversially sent off in their 1-0 quarter-final defeat by Chile, their coach Oscar Tabarez said.

Striker Edinson Cavani and defender Jorge Fucile were both dismissed in the second half of a bad-tempered encounter on Wednesday in Santiago.

Cavani's dismissal looked particularly harsh as he responded relatively mildly to provocation from Chile fullback Gonzala Jara.

After the dismissal of Fucile near the end of the game, the Uruguayan players lost their tempers, shoved the linesman and came close to blows with some of the Chilean players.

Tabarez joined in the protest and the game was held up for several minutes until order was restored.

“When things end in red cards for incidents that weren't even fouls it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth,” Tabarez said. “I would have liked to lose in a different way.”

The coach apologised for leaving his technical area to remonstrate with Brazilian referee Sandro Ricci but said the official was wrong to send off Fucile for a tackle on Alexis Sanchez.

“I said to the referee 'why have you sent off a player who didn't commit a foul?',” Tabarez said. “Fucile, it was so clear!

“And with the sending off of Cavani there is also photographic evidence that showed what happened and the provocation (from Jara).

“I submit to the TV images and photographs. That's where the truth lies.”

Chile enjoyed 80 percent of possession in a one-sided match but struggled to break down a characteristically stubborn Uruguayan defence until wingback Mauricio Isla scored with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Tabarez said Cavani's dismissal 20 minutes earlier was a turning point.

“When we were down to 10 men obviously it became more difficult because our opportunities for attack were reduced,” he said.

He denied Cavani's dismissal had anything to do with the player's state of mind after hearing on Tuesday that his father had been arrested in Uruguay for his role in a fatal car crash.

“I think today he (Cavani) was where he should have been,” Tabarez said. “His red card had nothing to do with what happened the day before.”

Reuters



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Soccer probe: Fifa grants examined

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Swiss authorities are focusing on development grants made by Fifa as part of their investigation of the soccer body.

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London - Swiss authorities are examining development grants made by Fifa around the world as part of their investigation into the sport's global governing body and its award of World Cup hosting rights for Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, a source familiar with the probe said.

In particular, the investigators are looking at how the money was spent and whether there is any falsification of documents, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The grants mainly go to national soccer associations and are often earmarked for new soccer pitches and related facilities, or for training programmes.

The Swiss investigation is running alongside and in co-operation with a US probe that led to the criminal indictment on May 27 of nine current and former Fifa officials and five executives in sports marketing and broadcasting on bribery, money laundering and wire fraud charges.

Information technology specialists from Switzerland's federal police agency, as well as prosecutors and financial experts, are poring over masses of evidence collected by the office of Switzerland's Attorney General, the source said.

The evidence includes voluminous internal records, most in digitised form, seized from the offices of Fifa's President Sepp Blatter, Secretary General Jerome Valcke and finance and administrative chief Markus Kattner. The source said “almost everything” in Valcke's office had been seized.

Blatter, who announced earlier this month that he was stepping down after 17 years as Fifa president, and Valcke have not been accused of wrongdoing by the Swiss and US authorities.

A Fifa spokeswoman said in an email response to questions from Reuters that it “is co-operating fully in the actions by the Swiss authorities”. It made no further comment.

Between 1999-2014, Fifa spent $2 billion on development grants and has committed to spend another $900 million between 2015-2018, with much of the money going to regional federations and national soccer groups around the world. Often tiny island territories in the Pacific and the Caribbean have received more money under some programs than the biggest soccer playing countries, such as Germany and England.

This has led to allegations from some soccer officials that Blatter had supported these soccer minnows so that they would be more likely to support him. Under Fifa's system for electing the president, a territory such as the Cook Islands, with a population of just over 10 000 has the same single vote as a soccer-mad nation like Brazil with more than 200 million people.

Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber announced in late May that his office was conducting an investigation into whether there was corruption in Fifa's awarding of the 2018 World Cup rights to Moscow and the 2022 competition to Qatar.

In particular, he is looking at whether there was money laundering and disloyal management, which under Swiss law is a criminal offence. It is based on whether a manager violates his or her duties or causes or permits damage to an entity's assets.

Both Russia and Qatar have vehemently denied there was anything irregular in their selection in the face of competition from rival bidders such as England and the United States.

Swiss investigators have multiple lines of inquiry to pursue in connection with the Qatar 2022 award. However, evidence related to the 2018 Moscow World Cup award is proving difficult to find, the source said.

Fifa disclosed in November that the Russian computers used in the nation's successful bid had been destroyed and it was therefore very difficult to track down documents.

In the indictment of the 14 officials and executives, US federal prosecutors highlighted an allegedly questionable $10 million payment by Fifa, at the request of South African soccer officials, to a Caribbean soccer body in Trinidad and Tobago led by former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner. US prosecutors asserted that Warner had solicited the money as bribes.

South African officials are not co-operating with Swiss investigators, the source said.

The South African Football Association did not respond to a request for comment.

Swiss authorities did not officially open their investigation into how Fifa awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups until March.

At that point, Swiss banks were asked to comb their records and notify the authorities of potentially suspicious transactions which might be related to Fifa.

After the banks submitted reports, Swiss investigators froze some bank accounts, found that others had been emptied, and secretly monitored some accounts for several weeks to see what kind of transactions were done.

At a press conference in Berne last week, Lauber said that his office was examining 104 banking relationships, some involving multiple accounts, as well as 53 suspicious transactions which Swiss banks had flagged.

Reuters



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Slip still haunts Stevie G

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Steven Gerrard says he is still haunted by the agonising slip that cost him the chance to win the Premier League with Liverpool.

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Steven Gerrard heads for California to begin the next chapter of his career next month still haunted by the agonising slip that cost him the chance to win the Premier League with Liverpool.

Gerrard’s blunder at Anfield in April last year let in Demba Ba to score for Chelsea as Liverpool’s title challenge fell apart dramatically with three games of the season to go.

A Premier League winner’s medal remains the glaring omission from a glittering 17-year career at the club, and the former England captain admits he has struggled to put the incident behind him while being mercilessly taunted by rival fans.

‘The slip happened at a bad time, it was cruel for me personally,’ said Gerrard, who has signed for LA Galaxy. ‘There’s not a day goes by that I don’t think about what if that didn’t happen. Would things have been different? Would it have turned out different? Maybe it might.

‘I’m not scared of any criticism or any cruelty. I understand the moment and impact it had — it kills me and will do for a long time. I think, “If I’d have got that league, it would have been the icing on the cake”.

‘I’ve got good memories that will live with me for ever. But that one moment will always hurt me until the day I go, and it’s because if I’d have got that moment, I’d have achieved every dream with Liverpool. And as a man it hurts.’

Gerrard revealed that being left on the bench by manager Brendan Rodgers for the Champions League group game at Real Madrid in November contributed to his decision to call time on his Liverpool career.

He added: ‘The situation was a bit unique because it was Real Madrid. I sat on that bench devastated because I wanted to play, so it is one of those situations. It sort of pushed me towards making a decision to move on and try something different.’

And the 35-year-old admitted that he will always regret not playing for Jose Mourinho, who tried to sign him as coach of Chelsea, Inter Milan and Madrid.

‘Listen, I love the manager, I love the man,’ said Gerrard. ‘I have regrets not playing for the man and the coach because I know he would have made me a better player. But looking back now I have no regrets not signing for Chelsea.’

In a lighter moment during an interview with Rio Ferdinand for BT Sport, Gerrard said he used to kiss a television camera after scoring against arch rivals Manchester United just to irritate Ferdinand and his Old Trafford team-mates.

‘I bet all those Man United players are dying to give me a belt for doing that!’ he said.

‘But it’s like a tongue-in-cheek thing. “How can I wind you up on the pitch?” because, you know, at times you’ve frustrated us when you’ve beaten us 3-0 and we can hear your dressing room music pumping and you’re walking past our dressing room and shouting “Yes!” You gave Daniel Agger a clip on the way in, but rivalries happen.’ – Daily Mail



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Chiefs recruitment goes into overdrive

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Kaizer Chiefs unveiled eight new signings at the club’s headquarters in Naturena.

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The departure of key players at Kaizer Chiefs may very well soon be forgotten after the team unveiled eight new signings, with two of the players coming from the team’s development structures, at the club’s headquarters in Naturena yesterday.

Siyanda Xulu from FC Rostov in Russia, Daniel Cardoso from Free State Stars, Keegan Ritchie from Bloemfontein Celtic, Bongani Ndulula from AmaZulu, Camaldine Abraw from Free State Stars, Lucky Baloyi from Moroka Swallows as well as Sibongiseni Nqcobo and Andisiwe Ntsila from the Chiefs youth academy will all be part of the newly appointed coach Steve Komphela’s plans ahead of the 2015/2016 season, as the club looks to defend their Premiership championship title.

The most notable signing is that of Xulu, who had a spell with the Amakhosi youth teams, before moving to Mamelodi Sundowns in 2008/2009, then Russia.

Xulu says Chiefs were the only team that showed interest in signing him and that made his decision very easy to join the club.

“I was not really worried about who showed interest in me or not.

“Chiefs showed interest in me and I was happy with the offer. It was not really a big decision to make, it was always Chiefs for me,” said Xulu.

The central defender has not played competitive football for more than five months now, but says he is in good shape and willing to put in the extra hard work to fit into the team’s structure and gel with his teammates.

“It is my responsibility to work on my shape, to regain my confidence and everything. I will never make a mistake of undermining the league, but I have been here before and I know what is required from me. It can never be the same as Europe, where it is more tactical, and South African football is more about flair.

“I was training with the whole team, but come game time I was always on the bench, so I can never be satisfied with that,” said the central defender.

Chiefs football manager Bobby Motaung, on the other hand, announced the departure of Matthew Rusike, who will now ply his trade in Portugal for an undisclosed team.

Motaung revealed that the team was keen on offering Rusike a new deal, but the striker opted not to go into negotiations with his contract set to expire by the end of June.

“Matthew told us on Sunday that he is leaving for Portugal. We offered him a new deal but he wanted to leave. I don’t have a name of the team he is joining,” said Motaung.

He also added that the team might sign two or more players before the end of the transfer window. - The Star



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Chiefs recruitment goes into overdrive

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Kaizer Chiefs unveiled eight new signings at the club’s headquarters in Naturena.

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The departure of key players at Kaizer Chiefs may very well soon be forgotten after the team unveiled eight new signings, with two of the players coming from the team’s development structures, at the club’s headquarters in Naturena yesterday.

Siyanda Xulu from FC Rostov in Russia, Daniel Cardoso from Free State Stars, Keegan Ritchie from Bloemfontein Celtic, Bongani Ndulula from AmaZulu, Camaldine Abraw from Free State Stars, Lucky Baloyi from Moroka Swallows as well as Sibongiseni Nqcobo and Andisiwe Ntsila from the Chiefs youth academy will all be part of the newly appointed coach Steve Komphela’s plans ahead of the 2015/2016 season, as the club looks to defend their Premiership championship title.

The most notable signing is that of Xulu, who had a spell with the Amakhosi youth teams, before moving to Mamelodi Sundowns in 2008/2009, then Russia.

Xulu says Chiefs were the only team that showed interest in signing him and that made his decision very easy to join the club.

“I was not really worried about who showed interest in me or not.

“Chiefs showed interest in me and I was happy with the offer. It was not really a big decision to make, it was always Chiefs for me,” said Xulu.

The central defender has not played competitive football for more than five months now, but says he is in good shape and willing to put in the extra hard work to fit into the team’s structure and gel with his teammates.

“It is my responsibility to work on my shape, to regain my confidence and everything. I will never make a mistake of undermining the league, but I have been here before and I know what is required from me. It can never be the same as Europe, where it is more tactical, and South African football is more about flair.

“I was training with the whole team, but come game time I was always on the bench, so I can never be satisfied with that,” said the central defender.

Chiefs football manager Bobby Motaung, on the other hand, announced the departure of Matthew Rusike, who will now ply his trade in Portugal for an undisclosed team.

Motaung revealed that the team was keen on offering Rusike a new deal, but the striker opted not to go into negotiations with his contract set to expire by the end of June.

“Matthew told us on Sunday that he is leaving for Portugal. We offered him a new deal but he wanted to leave. I don’t have a name of the team he is joining,” said Motaung.

He also added that the team might sign two or more players before the end of the transfer window. - The Star



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Redknapp slams footballers getting drunk

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Images of 19-year-old Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish pictured apparently drunk on the street in Tenerife has angered Harry Redknapp.

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The knee's all right. Harry Redknapp is up and walking. “I can't jog or anything,” he says. “But I'm walking.”

It is more than can be said, for Jack Grealish, the 19-year-old Aston Villa midfielder recently pictured apparently drunk and prostrate on the street in Tenerife. It was a sight that has angered 68-year-old Redknapp far more than any of the rest of football's darker side that has emerged in the last few weeks.

“He's had an excellent year, Grealish, an excellent second half of the season, plays in the Cup final and then goes and does that,” he says.

“Why do these English players have to go and get silly drunk, and lay in the street and fall over? It's all right for his mate who's doing it, who's cleaning windows, if that's the way he wants to live. But footballers, the amount of money they get, they get that money to be dedicated to their profession, to make sure that they set a good example to young kids who want to be footballers. I've got no time for players acting stupid and getting drunk, I can't have it. That stuff has every right to be in the newspapers. Young kids looking up at him, an up and coming footballer and then they see that. I can't have it.

“Not that long ago I was in the same hotel in Sardinia as [Cristiano] Ronaldo for 10 days, with my wife and family. I saw him every day. You can see he looks after himself. Has his dinner, possibly has a glass of wine, but he's not going out every night.”

Redknapp has been going out even less than usual of late. It's almost five months since he walked out on Queen's Park Rangers, leaving them two points off the bottom, citing the need for urgent knee surgery. The career-ending knee injury is football's great destroyer. Rarely does it threaten management.

“I had a micro-fracture. They had to drill through the bones, to circulate the blood around my knee and all that.” It's not the most medically precise of explanations, but in that brittle world of cruciates and meniscuses and medial collateral ligaments, it doesn't sound too serious, and he is keen to stress he has not retired.

“If something came up that was interesting I'd fancy it. Well I wouldn't mind working at a decent club somewhere, where you could help to build a club with some potential.”

It must evidently be for the sake of more than a few quid then, that here he is dressed up in his fully branded lawn bowls kit at a South London bowls club, fresh from filming a spoof ad in which he returns to management as the coach of the rather more genteel paced England Bowls Team. Has he ever played the game? “Bowls? You're joking aren't ya? Course not.”

Flexiseq, the sponsor in question are the makers of a drug-free gel that has, we are told, accelerated his possible return to the dugout, though we are not sure yet with whom that might be. “It couldn't just be anyone,” Redknapp said. You've got to work with the right people, the right chairman, someone with a bit of ambition.”

On wider matters, since Fifa's executives were dragged out of their beds in Zurich, Redknapp is not surprised that the most powerful voices in football have remained silent.

“What's gone on has been a complete scandal, it's disgusting, but it hasn't surprised anyone. It hasn't surprised me, any more than I was surprised that Jimmy Savile was a pervert, but I wouldn't say players are going to lose any sleep over it. They're not worried whether the World Cup's in Qatar or Russia or anywhere else. Even fans, they're more worried about their own clubs than they are England.”

That the English football viewing public has lost a degree of interest in the national side is hardly surprising, given the resolves of patience than have been so profoundly tested.

“I don't see many great teams in world football,” Redknapp said. “I see a lot countries with average players who wouldn't get anywhere near the England team.

“We've got to find a way of making them perform in tournaments and getting results, but man for man we're not that far behind. We underestimate the group that we've got, but they do underperform.

“There's a problem that's endemic. They don't work hard enough at their game some of these younger kids. They come into professional clubs, they think they've made it. They think, 'I've got a three or four year contract, I've made it.' They don't work hard enough.”– The Independent



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Cavani doubtful for Uruguay

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Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani could miss the Copa America quarter-final with Chile after his father was involved in a fatal car crash in Uruguay.

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Santiago - Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani could miss the Copa America quarter-final with Chile after his father was involved in a fatal car crash in Uruguay, national team coach Oscar Tabarez said on Tuesday.

Luis Cavani knocked down and killed a 19-year old motorcyclist on Monday night, judicial sources in Uruguay said.

Cavani, who was driving a truck owned by his son, was detained by police in the town of Salto, the officials said.

Although Tabarez said he and his squad have given the forward their full backing the coach would not confirm Cavani's place in the side to face the hosts on Wednesday.

“We have spoken with him to give him all our support but other very personal things can derive from that state he is in,” Tabarez told reporters at a news conference at the National Stadium in Santiago.

“He is affected by it, as anyone in a similar situation would be. We'll let time pass so he can adapt to the situation,” Tabarez added.

Cavani has not said whether he will remain with the squad or return home.

The Paris Saint-Germain striker was scheduled to train normally with his team mates on Tuesday and Tabarez said the forward's position would become clear later in the day.

“We are not playing the game today, we play tomorrow,” Tabarez said. “From our team's point of view he is a player with bags of experience and... we will keep talking with him.

“I am confident he will put the pieces in their place so he can focus on the game.”

Uruguay qualified as one of the best third-place teams in Group B behind Argentina and Paraguay.

Chile, meanwhile, were the outstanding team of the opening round, topping Group A with 10 goals, more than twice the total of any other team, after two wins and a draw.

The hosts are aiming to lift the Copa America for the first time having been runners-up on four occasions. – Reuters



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Liverpool agree deal for Firmino

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Liverpool have agreed to sign Brazil international Roberto Firmino pending a medical that will take place after his participation at the Copa America.

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Berlin - Liverpool have agreed to sign Brazil international Roberto Firmino pending a medical that will take place after his participation at the Copa America, the Premier League club confirmed on Wednesday.

The gifted 23-year-old attacking midfielder is moving to Anfield from Germany's Hoffenheim, where he played since 2010, scoring 47 goals in 151 appearances.

No details were given regarding the transfer fee or length of contract, although the deal was reported to cost Liverpool around 28 million pounds ($44.13 million).

Firmino has been outstanding at Hoffenheim, maturing from an exuberant teenager to team leader despite his young age and attracting the interest of several top European clubs in the process.

“The Reds have seen off serious competition from rivals in the Barclays Premier League and across Europe to make it Anfield where the goalscoring instincts and creative flair of Firmino can continue to blossom,” Liverpool said in a statement.

“Liverpool had been watching all along and acted fastest to put together a deal for Firmino, who will be exhibiting his mesmerising skills at Anfield from August.”

Versatile and skilled, Firmino can play a variety of roles in attack and midfield and his development in the past few seasons saw him earn a first Brazil cap last year.

He has also started Brazil's last two fixtures at the Copa America, scoring the winner against Venezuela as his country advanced to the last eight of the competition.

Following a disappointing campaign in which the club could only finish sixth in the league, Firmino is the latest player to join Liverpool in a hectic start to the summer transfer window after the departure of long-time captain Steven Gerrard.

Midfielder James Milner, striker Danny Ings and goalkeeper Adam Bogdan have all completed Bosman moves, while promising defender Joe Gomez joined the club from Charlton Athletic for 3.5 million pounds. – Reuters



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Reina joins Napoli from Bayern

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Napoli have signed Bayern Munich reserve goalkeeper Pepe Reina with the Spaniard returning for a second spell with the Serie A team.

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Milan - Napoli have signed Bayern Munich reserve goalkeeper Pepe Reina with the Spaniard returning for a second spell with the Serie A team, both clubs said in statements on Tuesday.

Former Liverpool stopper Reina, 32, was deputy to Manuel Neuer at Bayern where he made three league appearances and collected a Bundesliga winner's medal.

“Pepe Reina asked us to release him from his contract, because he has the chance of regular first-team football as first-choice Napoli goalkeeper,” Bayern's deputy chairman Jan-Christian Dreesen said on their website (www.fcbayern.de).

“As a player, but especially as a person, he fitted in outstandingly with our team, so we naturally agreed to his request,” he added of a player who was on loan at Stadio San Paolo in 2013-14 before joining Bayern.

Reina, who was born in Madrid, started out playing for Barcelona's youth team and spent five years in La Liga, two with Barca, where he made 30 appearances, and three with Villarreal, who he played for 109 times.

In 2005 he moved to Liverpool where he spent eight seasons and played 285 Premier League games while featuring twice at the 2006 World Cup in Germany for Spain who have given him 33 caps.

At Liverpool he won the European Super Cup in 2005, the FA Cup in 2006 and the League Cup in 2012.

With the Spanish national team he won the World Cup in 2010 and two European Championships in 2008 and 2012 plus third place in the 2009 Confederations Cup and second spot in 2013. – Reuters



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Ramos, Real stand-off could benefit United

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Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos has been hit by an angry backlash following the state of open warfare he has provoked with his club.

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Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos has been hit by an angry backlash following the state of open warfare he has provoked with his club, which could enhance Manchester United's attempts to sign him.

A source close to the top of the Spanish club yesterday indicated to The Independent that the long-serving defender's professed willingness to move to United seemed like a bluff designed to secure the player the £140,000-a-year contract he wants at the Bernabeu.

United are certainly wary of not being played by the 29-year-old, who they want as part of an exchange deal for goalkeeper David de Gea.

But Ramos risks pushing himself to a point of no return with Real, in the latest of what has been a series of choreographed rows with the club in recent years. Newspaper La Racon, which is close to the Real president, Florentino Perez, published a front-page image of Ramos on its sports pull-out yesterday with the words “Respetar la Insignia” (“Respect the badge”), and a strongly worded editorial declaring that he is failing to do so. The front page of AS declared “Ramos wants to leave now.”

There is always a prospect that stand-offs such as this will end up with a new, improved deal being offered - as was the case with Barcelona's Dani Alves recently. But there is currently no sense from Real that they want to keep the player. From Perez's perspective, Valencia's Nicolas Otamendi could be a good replacement for Ramos at half the price. Ramos finds himself in a state of open dispute with the club from which there may be no going back.

Possible evidence that Real may be willing to sell came last Friday, when one of Barcelona's presidential candidates Jordi Majo said that he had been offered the chance to sign Ramos. Most Madrid supporters assumed that Ramos' brother and agent Rene had made the approach and there was some criticism in the Spanish media at Ramos trying to drum up interest in such a way. But Majo's subsequent indication that he had not spoken to the agent but to another intermediary suggests Real were more likely to have been doing the offering.

As of yesterday, United had received no formal bid for De Gea, though there has been contact from Real, during which a low offer in the region of £12m is thought to have been mentioned. Ramos has a €200m (£143m) buyout clause, though that is immaterial to Real's actual valuation of him, which is thought to be around €65m (£46.5m).

As United continue to push for Ramos, striker Robin van Persie is understood to believe that his career and settled family life in England are worth fighting for at the club. Manager Louis van Gaal has indicated to him that he has to be able to demonstrate greater intensity in training to make the starting XI on a regular basis

Van Gaal has the same concerns about Van Persie that he did with an ageing Mark van Bommel when managing Bayern Munich. He always sets huge store by players being able to deliver maximum effort in his intensive training sessions. Van Gaal told Van Bommel he should move to Italy where he could choose his moments of impact because the pace of the game was slower and the average age of players higher. But with few clubs likely to be able to match Van Persie's wages in any case, the forward seems to want to stay and fight. – The Independent



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Jele’s long journey to the elite

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It took two years playing in the SAB league for Happy Jele to finally realise his dream of becoming a professional footballer.

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It took two years playing in the SAB league for Happy Jele to finally realise his dream of becoming a professional footballer.

At the 2015 SAB League National Championship launch in Newtown yesterday, Jele spoke fondly of his journey towards becoming a professional footballer.

“All I wanted was to play football and nothing else,” Jele said. “That burning desire drove me to work harder than my peers because I wanted to turn pro so bad.

“But the experience had its own challenges. We would travel long distances to matches. I remember one time we travelled from Mpumalanga to Middleburg. It was a four-hour trip and we still had to play a match when we arrived at the venue.

“It was a demanding experience but looking back now, I can safely say that those kind of things prepared me to deal with the demands that come with playing in CAF competitions for Pirates,” he added.

“It’s a perfect place to start if you want to become a professional footballer,” he said, referring to the SAB League National Championship which kicks off on Sunday in Soshanguve. “Playing at that level teaches you a lot about how to carry yourself as a professional footballer, the kind of food you are going to have to eat and how to conduct yourself on and off the pitch.

“I’ve played along side players such as Mandla Masango and Reneilwe Letsholonyane. They used to dribble past me back then as a defender. Hey, it comes with the job, but I knew what I wanted.

“Looking back now I enjoyed every moment.”

Meanwhile, Pirates will face AC Leopards over the weekend in a CAF Confederations Cup first leg tie in Dolisie, Congo.

”It’s going to be a tiring trip,” Jele said. “We know the kind of treatment we are going to get there but we are ready for them. We are going to fight hard to come away with a good result.” - The Star



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Seven arrested for match-fixing

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Seven people have been arrested over suspected match-fixing involving Catania in Serie B, police said.

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Rome - Seven people have been arrested over suspected match-fixing involving Catania in Serie B, police said.

The seven were accused of “fraud in sporting competition... aimed at influencing the results and altering the outcome of (Serie B) matches in which Catania were involved, with the consequent victory for that team,” Catania police said in a statement.

Police did not give any further details of when the manipulation took place or which matches were involved, but said a news conference would take place at 11 a.m. (0900 GMT)

Catania, relegated from Serie A the previous season, finished 15th in Serie B, just three points above the relegation playoff places.

The Sicilian side were previously promoted from Serie B in 2005-06. – Reuters



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Ings shuns iconic shirt numbers

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New Liverpool striker Danny Ings is well aware that with elite football, you really do have to earn your stripes.

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Having risen from a loan spell at Dorchester Town in the Conference South all the way to Liverpool in less than five years, Danny Ings is well aware that with elite football, you really do have to earn your stripes. When it came to selecting his squad number at his new club next season, he applied the same rationale.

Once Ings, 22, had signed his contract with Liverpool this month, all that was left to attend to were the details: what time to report for pre-season, what holiday fitness programme and, of course, the question of his squad number. At Liverpool it just so happens that Nos 7, 8 and 9 are all up for grabs - the latter with Rickie Lambert's impending departure - and all of them, of course, heavy with history and significance.

Nothing quite tops No 7, the number that Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish, Peter Beardsley, Steve McManaman and Luis Suarez all wore in their time. No 9 belonged to some of the club's greatest goalscorers: Ian St John, Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler and Fernando Torres. As for No 8, that one is all about one player - and, with due respect to Emile Heskey, who wore the number before Steven Gerrard took it on in 2004, there is no bigger shirt to fill than that of the former captain.

Ings has opted for No 28. His reasoning was that it takes time and goals to earn a shirt worn by the greats. A free transfer, he will not have the burden of a big fee at Liverpool, and without the famous number he will not invite immediate comparisons with his predecessors. He wants one of the historic shirts in time but for now Ings has the number that Gerrard originally wore as he made his way to being a first-team regular.

Other Liverpool No 28s include Nicky Rizzo, Bruno Cheyrou, Damien Plessis and Christian Poulsen. It would be fair to say that, Gerrard's brief tenure aside, this is not a shirt with quite the same place in Liverpool's history.

Speaking after England Under-21s' victory over Sweden in the Czech Republic on Sunday evening, Ings said that he had given his new squad number at Liverpool a good deal of thought. “I stayed away from the low numbers,” he said. “You have got to take that pressure off yourself as a young lad coming through. That is what I think.

“I would make sure I am established before taking any of those numbers [like 7 or 8]. It is such a huge club. That was the thinking behind it. I wouldn't want to go to Liverpool and chuck a shirt on my back like that, it is pressure you don't need. The expectation at clubs like that is huge. Obviously I am going to work my socks off to earn that kind of number one day. For now I will take a high number and work hard.”

Ings has also told his new club that he will not need the three-week break promised to him after the Under-21s European Championship finals. Sunday's win means that a victory over Italy tomorrow will guarantee a place in the semi-finals on Saturday. Even a draw would be good enough providing Sweden do not beat Portugal in the other final group game. If England reach the final, Ings will not be home until a week on Thursday.

Nevertheless, he is determined to be on the club flight to Thailand, for a four-game tour that takes in Thailand, Australia and Malaysia, with the first game on 14 July. “I think Liverpool were giving me three weeks from the last game of this tournament,” he said. “I will be raring to go so I will probably only have two and join up with them on tour because I don't want to be playing catch up. I would prefer to be around the squad and ready to go for the start of the season.”

Ings had a wide range of options as his contract at Burnley wound down last season. With 11 goals in a relegated Premier League side, there were inquiries from Manchester United and Chelsea. Tottenham tried their best to persuade him, right to the end. It was Liverpool, however, who were the club that he wanted to join from the start and their faith in him has been unwavering. No training compensation fee has been agreed and the case will go to tribunal.

“I have been playing in position for a few years as a main striker. I can play in a number of positions, on the left, as a No 10, or off the right. The strikers at Liverpool are fantastic and there will be competition. The way I looked at it, I will get a lot more game time playing in different positions learning my trade as a young professional and I think Brendan Rodgers is the right manager for that.

“He is good with young players and as soon as I knew he was interested it was a no-brainer that it was best for me to join Liverpool.”

As for the Under-21s, it has taken two games and two substitute appearances for Ings to make the case for starting impossible to ignore and it will be hard for the England manager Gareth Southgate to leave him out of the starting XI to face Italy. Six of Southgate's starters against Sweden had spent part or all of last season in the Championship. With John Stones coming back into the team, that number goes down but it is hard to ignore the threat that Ings brings.

“I respect the manager's decision, I will make sure I am ready when called upon,” Ings said. “I want to start every game but you have to respect the staff. Everyone came on and made an impact. That is what the manager needs. You cannot have players come on and not make the impact because the game will slowly slip away from you. It is important you are ready.”

Ings' belief is that he can play any of the three positions across the attacking trio for the Under-21s. He began the second half against Sweden as a No 10 with a brief to stretch the opposition and ended the game as a strike partner for Harry Kane. With 32 goals between them last season in the Premier League alone that looks ever more like the way that Southgate will have to go come tomorrow. – The Independent



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