Latest Football Transfer Stories, Rumors And Titbits For The 4th of August 2015

Here are the top Transfer Stories as compiled by Our man Paul Ayorinde the 4th of August 2015

you can Follow Paul on twitter @El_pauleta and also follow @Newfanzonwe for instant follow back, you can also like our Newfanzone Facebook page

Lets keep the conversation going!

Done Deals:

– Fiorentina have completed the signing of Davide Astori from Cagliari on loan with an obligation to buy.

– Stoke have signed midfielder Sergio Molina from Real Madrid on a three-year contract.

– Bournemouth have signed forward Lee Tomlin from Middlesbrough on a three-year deal.

– 17-year old Chelsea forward Dominic Solanke has signed for Vitesse Arnhem on a season-long loan.

– Augsburg have confirmed the signing of left-back Philipp Max from Karlsruhe.

– Hull City have completed the signing of Chuba Akpom from Arsenal on a season-long loan.

– Bournemouth complete the signing of Ivory Coast winger Max Gradel from St Etienne on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

Chuba Akpom
photo credit Kieran Clarke
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode

Today’s reports and rumours:

– Napoli-owned Chile international Edu Vargas will “make a decision that satisfies everyone” after interest from Marseille, according to his agent

Luis Enrique, credit fcbarcelona.com

– Barcelona manager Luis Enrique insists he wants Pedro to stay at the club, despite interest from Manchester United for the Spain forward.

– Adriano Galliani said Milan “won’t raise our offer by €1” for Roma’s Alessio Romagnoli, while they are “in pole position” for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

– Angel Di Maria’s move from Manchester United to Paris St Germain moved a step closer as the Argentina winger underwent a medical in Doha.

– Ronny Deila has hinted Southampton will have to pay more than £7m for Virgil van Dijk if they want to sign him from Celtic.

– Barcelona winger Adama Traore is not on Liverpool’s list of transfer targets, according to reports.

– According to reports, Newcastle United midfielder Moussa Sissoko is the subject of a £17m war between Manchester City
and Liverpool.

– Emmanuel Adebayor held talks with Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood on Monday ahead of his proposed loan switch to the club.

Edin Dzeko
photo credit: Ulicar Streets
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode

– According to Sky Sports sources, Roma have agreed a £14million fee with Manchester City for striker Edin Dzeko.

– Genoa and Sampdoria are reportedly set to battle it out for the signature of Atalanta striker German Denis.

– Newcastle are ready to declare their interest in Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard, according to ESPN.

– West Ham are set to offer £12million to Manchester United for striker Javier Hernandez, according to reports.

– Fiorentina are considering signing Liverpool forward Fabio Borini, according to reports.

– Galatasaray President Dursun Ozbek admits Felipe Melo’s Inter situation is ‘not clear’ and wants Gary Medel in exchange.

– Napoli have reportedly raised their offer for Torino defender Nikola Maksimovic to €18m including bonuses.

– Axel Witsel’s Italian intermediary says Juventus and Milan are both still in the hunt for the Zenit St Petersburg midfielder.

– Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has made two £100m bids for Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale this summer.

– Napoli midfielder Gokhan Inler has reportedly rejected a move to Leicester City, opening the door for a Fiorentina switch.

– Cagliari confirm talks with Juventus and Chelsea for Godfred Donsah, but “he needs to grow up with us.”

– According to L’Équipe, Marseille remain in the race for Internacional’s Chilean midfielder Charles Aranguiz.

– Juventus have reportedly prepared a €24m bid for Schalke 04 midfielder Julian Draxler.

– Everton defender John Stones should join Manchester United instead of Chelsea, according to Rio Ferdinand.

– Chelsea have reportedly told Tottenham to name their price for left-back Danny Rose, with the Blues prepared to pay £15m for the 25-year-old.

– According to reports, Lazio have told Mario Balotelli’s agent they will take the 24-year-old Liverpool striker on loan this
season but only if they qualify for the group stages of the Champions League.

– According to L’Équipe, Lyon manager Hubert Fournier has told striker Alexandre Lacazette to leave the club if he is unhappy.

– According to reports in France, Ghanaian attacker Majeed Waris is set to join Rennes after an agreement between the French side and Trabzonspor was reached on Monday.

– Oscar’s agent insists negotiations with Juventus “were only in the media” and Chelsea have no intention of selling.

– According to reports, Georgios Samaras has failed a medical with Sampdoria.

– Augsburg defender Baba Rahman is ready to join Chelsea, says his agent, with just a fee left to be agreed between the two clubs.

– Luca Toni will “evaluate my future with Verona” next summer

– According to reports, Manchester United have told Anders Lindegaard that he can leave on a free transfer.

– According to reports, Arsenal have joined the hunt for Real Madrid’s Russia international winger Denis Cheryshev.

– Manchester City are eyeing a move for Real Madrid playmaker Isco, according to reports.

– Torino deny reports Roma are close to signing Bruno Peres. “We heard from Porto a while back, but there’s no Giallorossi offer.”

– According to reports, Alessandro Diamanti is considering his next move, including Watford, Aston Villa and a return to Bologna.

Football tit bits:

– A non-league Russian football match ended in chaos on Sunday, with the referee in hospital and players from both
sides questioned by police.

– The Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema risks missing the start of the season after being diagnosed with a thigh injury.

– Legia Warsaw have been declared 3-0 winners over Kukesi after last week’s Europa League qualifier in Albania was
abandoned early in the second half following crowd trouble. The second leg will be played in Warsaw on Thursday.

– Uefa has dismissed Fenerbahce’s protest against Shakhtar Donetsk fielding a player in a Champions League qualifying match who previously tested positive for doping at the Copa América.

– Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss Paris Saint-Germain’s season opener at Lille on Friday because of a knee injury.

Jose Mourinho photo credit uefa.com

– Jose Mourinho has told Sky Sports News he is happy with his professional relationship with club owner Roman Abramovich.

Wenger Pledges Co-operation With NFF…As Pinnick Parleys With Nigerian Players In Diaspora

NFF President Amaju Pinnick held what was generally described as an “extremely positive and encouraging” meeting with the Manager of English Premiership side, Arsenal FC, Mr. Arsene Wenger on Tuesday.

The legendary manager met with the NFF supremo in his office at Arsenal FC’s training ground where a wide range of issues were discussed, including the rising stock of Nigerian-born players at the club – players like Chuba Akpom and Semi Ajayi.

NFF President Amaju Pinnick with Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger

After the meeting, the NFF President, who was accompanied by the new Special Envoy for the Federation on International Affairs, Tunde Adelakun, said: “As we had always known, Arsene is very knowledgeable; vast in his knowledge and appreciation of Nigeria as a footballing country, and widely philosophical in his general approach, ” he said, assuring that, contrary to what is reported about some clubs in Europe trying to steer their players to play for the countries where they live, Wenger was emphatic on what should be.

“He told me that he has never stopped any player from opting for whichever national team he wants. He said to me that he always tells his players to follow their hearts and not allow people to push them. He further assured that if Nigeria extended a call-up to either or both of his players, he will have no objection if the players say they want to go”.

Pinnick had led the charge to Arsenal to enlist Wenger’s support in “the process of rebuilding the country’s football” and he was not disappointed.

“Arsene told us that he will gladly do what he can to assist where we want, and has already started giving encouraging signs towards the capacity building exercises for our coaches at all levels”.

Pinnick Parleys With Nigerian Players In Diaspora

The President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Melvin Pinnick has held a meeting with parents of Nigerian footballers based in the United Kingdom, assuring them of their sons’ safety and progress should they choose to wear the colours of Nigeria.

There is a huge number of Nigerian footballers, many born and raised in the United Kingdom, but who have expressed a desire to open their hearts to the possibility of playing for the Super Eagles; and Pinnick was quick to appreciate that.

“Most of your sons have the option to wait for their chance and play for England, Wales or Scotland”, he said, “and the fact that you are steering them in the direction of playing for their country of origin is laudable and I really appreciate it”.

The NFF President stated that he would like to see youngsters who, in his words, “have been exposed to the scientific methods of football in terms of coaching style, amenities and equipment as well as discipline in areas of fitness and nutrition” to build a new-look Super Eagles team that would conquer the world.

He promised that players will be selected on merit, and that the days of favouritism are forgotten in the new administration led by him.

Victor Moses.CFC photo credit uefa.com

Pinnick, in the company of his newly appointed Special Envoy on International Affairs, Tunde Adelakun, called the attention of the parents to the choice made by Victor Moses who, despite having featured for England Under-21s, opted to play for Nigeria and was rewarded with being a part of the Super Eagles team that won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

“That will remain in his books for the rest of his life – a winner’s medal at the AFCON, and I am sure he will not regret playing for Nigeria” he said.

He drew comparison against some of the players eligible to play for Nigeria but who opted for England, were capped only a couple of times and were dropped, and asked the parents to use this as example to their wards.

He was quick to extol, though, the goodness in the Nigerian league system, saying his move was not an act of disrespect to the home-grown talent that abound in the country.

“We all know that the Nigerian leagues produce many players and I know that. However, I also know that we have many talented players in Diaspora and we want to tap into them all, so we can identify and select the very best across the board,” he explained.

The Delta-born administrator gave assurances that the parley will be a continuous process, and that the new Technical Study Group of the NFF led by former international Jay Jay Okocha will visit the players in the coming weeks and establish close links with them with a view to being selected for the national teams.

FIFA Clears Ukoh To Play For Nigeria As Semi Ajayi, Chuba Akpom Are Keen For Abu Dhabi Action

World football–governing body, FIFA, has cleared former Swiss U-20 international Steven Archibong Effiong Ukoh to represent Nigeria at senior level.

The versatile midfielder, born on 19th June, 1991 to Nigerian parents in Berne, Switzerland, currently plays for Biel-Bienne FC in the European country.

Ukoh represented Switzerland at U-16, U-17, U-18, U-19 and U-20 levels between 2006 and 2010, but had a change of mind thereafter and opted to wear the green-white-green at senior international level.

His father, Archibong Effiong Ukoh and mother, Helene hail from Itu local government area of Akwa Ibom State.

Steven Ukoh FC Biel, photo credit: (UrsLindt/freshfocus)

By the decision of a single judge of the FIFA Players’ Status Committee on 4th December, 2014, Steven Ukoh was cleared to switch his nationality from Switzerland to Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Arsenal FC of England’s youngsters Chuba Akpom and Semi Ajayi have expressed interest in being part of the Super Eagles’ international friendlies against Cote d’Ivoire and Mali in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates next month.

The three–time African champions play Cup of Nations-bound Elephants on January 9 before facing Mali’s Les Aiglons, also heading to Equatorial Guinea, on January 13.

Highly–rated duo Ajayi and Akpom could be called up by Coach Daniel Amokachi for the trip, alongside Steven Ukoh.

FIFA referees test physical fitness in Abuja

Nigeria’s FIFA–graded referees take their turn at the main bowl of the National Stadium, Abuja on Friday as the curtain falls on this year’s physical fitness exercise for the country’s arbiters.

The exercise, which started on Monday, has seen about 500 referees test their physical fitness in different ways as designed by world football –governing body, FIFA.

The FIFA–graded referees, including the likes of Opeyemi Amao, Ferdinand Udoh, Abubakar Ago, Abdullahi Shuaibu, Benjamin Odey and Henry Ogunyamodi (referees), and Peter Edibi, Abel Baba, Isah Usman, Tope Orowole, Efosa Igudia and Samuel Pwadutakam (assistant referees), will be doing the final quarter exercise for the year.

It would be recalled that Udoh, Shuaibu, Usman, Orowole, Igudia and Pwadutakam were in the delegation of Nigeria referees that traveled to the United Kingdom for a two –week capacity enhancing programme recently.

Sani Zubairu, Secretary of the NFF Referees Committee, said: “The exercise has been very successful, and we are grateful to God that there has been no casualty. We are concluding the programme on Friday with the final quarter exercise of the FIFA –graded referees.”

NFF’s Consultants on Refereeing, Linus Mba (also FIFA Referee Advisor) and Daniel Olojor, former FIFA –graded referees Bolaji Okubule, Olufunmi Olaniyan and Professor Babatunde Asagba, President of Nigeria Referees Association Alhaji Ahmed Maude and Chairman of NFF Referees Committee Alhaji Yusuf Ahmed Fresh have been supervising the exercise with a view to ensuring global best practices.