August 8th, 2008
Italian serie A club Juventus reported interest to sign John Utaka, the midfielder of English Premiership club Portsmouth. Juventus manager Claudio Ranieri would like to take the 27-year-old to Juventus during the summer window.
In light of that news Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp said that he has no intention of offloading the player form the club. “John is a player with such fantastic talent, I think this season we can see John Utaka become a fantastic player in the Premier League, so no reason for us to sell the player for now,” said the Pompey boss.
Utaka joined Portsmouth on a four-year deal in July 2007, for a fee of around £7,000,000 scoring his first goal on August 11, 2007 in a game against newly promoted Derby County. Some sources claim he became the club’s record signing.
More
August 8th, 2008
Daisuke Matsui, Japanese soccerstar who recently moved to French Ligue 1 club St Etienne, believed to become a successor of former Japanese soccerstar Hidetoshi Nakata in European football competition.
St Etienne chief executive Vincent Tong-Cuong also believe that Matsui to become one of Japanese football legend in europe. “Matsui is a beautiful player, with very good technique, speed and talent to beat his opponents, I want him to be a fans favourite in St Etienne” Tong-Cuong added. “I think Matsui can play well for us in the UEFA Cup.”
“Playing in european competition is one of my dreams. I’d like to develop my game by playing with various teams and various players in European competition,” Matsui told the press following his dream move to Saint Etienne in May. “I believe it is a joy for a player to be playing in front of St Etienne crowds and I’d like to be accepted by the supporters first”.
During the 2007-08 season Matsui appeared in 34 games for other French Ligue 1 club Le Mans and the team finished in 9th place. At the conclusion of the season, after having played for Le Mans for four consecutive years, Matsui announced his transfer to AS Saint-Étienne of Ligue 1 on a three year signing.
More
August 7th, 2008
Italian soccerstar Antonio Cassano reported in relationship with 17-year old Carolina Marcialis, who is playing water polo at Diavolina Nervi. Cassano said to the Italian magazine that he loves Marcialis so much.
“Carolina has changed my life. I love the girl, I’m happy. If I wouldn’t have stayed at Sampdoria, I think that I would have lost her, that’s why I was worried to return to Real Madrid at first. So I waited until I had the guarantee of finally staying here with my woman”.
More
July 30th, 2008
Aston Villa Midfielder Gareth Barry reported to join his partner in England team Steven Gerrard in Liverpool. Liverpool have agreed an £18million transfer fee to bring Barry to Anfield over the next 24 hours. Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez plans to pair Barry with Steven Gerrard in the centre of midfield - a partnership that has proved successful for England.
Liverpool manager Benitez already spend over £50m this season to bring Robbie Keane, Andrea Dossena, Diego Cavalieri, David Ngog and Philipp Degen. But it seems that Liverpool will release Midfielders Jermaine Pennant, Yossi Benayoun and Xabi Alonso to balance the club finance position.
More
