The former Arsenal manager admitted being in a difficult spot when handing the playmaker a new deal but said it might be influencing his performance.

Photo by: Getty

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger speculated giving Mesut Ozil a new contract may have left the playmaker in a comfort zone and not at his best.

Ozil signed a new contract just over a year ago with just six months remaining on his previous deal with the Gunners.

Faced with the prospect of losing Ozil for nothing, the club elected to give him a three-and-half year contract through the end of the 2021 season.

While that happened with Wenger at the helm with the belief the German would be one of team’s stars going forward, Ozil’s place in the team has changed under new Arsenal manager Unai Emery.

The 30-year-old Ozil has found himself relegated to the fringes of the XI, with speculation over his future growing ever louder.

And Wenger, who was speaking after receiving a Lifetime Achievement honour at the Laureus World Sports Awards, conceded that the contract Ozil received was made with the hope, like all moves, that the club would receive the best from the player over the term of the deal.

However, the former Gunners boss said that does not always happen as a player can grow comfortable and not perform or practice at their best.

“I feel that the length of the contract has nothing to do normally with the selection of the team,” Wenger was quoted as saying by the Guardian. “But sometimes there are special cases.

“Most of the time now we think when we sign a player for five years we have a good player for five years.

“But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they practice, they play their best. Because they might be in their comfort zone.”

However, Wenger also noted the difficult situation the club was in, saying that they faced the choice of paying a large fee and contract for a replacement or simply re-signing a player already on their team.

“He has a contract but the problem is that if you want to buy a player like him you have to spend £100 million,” Wenger added. “And to maintain the value of the player, beyond the Özil case, it is more about the way football is structured.

“To buy players of top, top quality you need £100m. So the decision you have to make is whether you re-sign the player, who costs us nothing, or do we have the money to buy a new player?”

Source – Goal.com

Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund were held to a goalless draw by bottom club Nurnberg, inspired by new coach Boris Schommers and goalkeeper Christian Mathenia.

Tennis balls rain down on the pitch near Jadon Sancho in protest at the Monday night fixture

Dortmund, who were missing Chelsea-bound Christian Pulisic with a thigh injury suffered in last week’s Champions League defeat to Tottenham, ended the game three points ahead of rivals Bayern Munich at the summit.

Home skipper Hanno Behrens had a header brilliantly tipped over by Roman Burki and, from the resulting corner, sent an unmarked header over the bar from just outside the six-yard box after Dan-Axel Zagadou misjudged the cross.

Jadon Sancho was denied a penalty at the other end, while Mario Gotze was denied several times by Mathenia and Axel Witsel’s shot was deflected wide by Behrens.

Half-time arrived in controversial fashion as for the second time, home fans threw black tennis balls onto the pitch, protesting against the Monday night fixture, and with Dortmund waiting to take a corner, referee Harm Osmers blew the whistle and took the teams off.

Dortmund still could find no way past Mathenia in the second half, and had what would have been a late winner disallowed when Paco Alcacer was correctly flagged offside before squaring to Jacob Bruun Larsen for a tap-in.

Fulham’s Ben Davis has missed his mandatory national service in Singapore and could face time in prison, says the country’s Ministry of Defence.

Ben Davis is alleged to have committed offences under Singapore’s Enlistment Act

The 18-year-old signed for the Premier League club on a two-year deal in July but his government denied his application to defer his duties.

All men from Singapore over 18 must serve in the armed forces, police or civil defence force for two years.

If Davis evades service for two years he may face up to four months in jail.

The sentence rises in accordance with the length of time service is avoided, with a maximum of three years for those who evade duty for 17 to 23 years or more.

Davis could be fined $10,000 (£5,700) instead of or in addition to prison time.

“Mr Benjamin Davis is a national service defaulter,” a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said.

“He failed to report for national service as required. He is also staying overseas without a valid Exit Permit.”

Deferments for sportspeople are rarely granted by Singapore’s Ministry of Defence.

It said in July they are only given to “those who represent Singapore in international competitions like the Olympic Games and are potential medal winners for Singapore”.

The midfielder became the first player from Singapore to sign a professional contract at a Premier League club when he joined last summer.

He has featured for Fulham’s Under-18s 10 times and has been called up by the Singapore team but is yet to make an appearance.

Source – BBC News

Maurizio Sarri’s hopes of hanging on to his job are hanging by a thread after another dismal defeat, this time at home to Man United in the FA Cup.

Photo by: Getty

“Barcelona were predictable but they won” was Maurizio Sarri’s defence when recently quizzed on why he never makes changes to his starting line-up.

Unfortunately for him, though, Chelsea are no longer winning under the Italian coach, and are now out of the FA Cup following a 2-0 defeat at home to Manchester United, just over a week after dropping out of the Premier League‘s top four after a humiliating 6-0 loss at Manchester City.

Sarri needs time to implement his nuanced style of football, of course, but patience is now in short supply at Stamford Bridge, because, unlike fellow philosopher Pep Guardiola during a difficult first season at the Etihad, the former Napoli boss can’t point to past glories to reassure the sceptics.

Indeed, after boos at half-time, with Chelsea already two goals down, chants of “F*** Sarriball!” were ringing out from the Matthew Harding End before the full-time whistle had even blown.

The fans also demanded to see Callum Hudson-Odoi come on but Sarri stubbornly ignored them.

His substitutions were instead characteristically predictable as Willian and Ross Barkley came on for Pedro and Mateo Kovacic, respectively.

Neither man made an impact as Chelsea failed dismally to trouble a team that had arrived in west London on the back of a chastening Champions League loss at home to Paris Saint-Germain, and without two key players, in Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard.

The visitors simply copied the game plan that Tottenham, Everton, Leicester Cityand Arsenal have all implemented in recent matches against Chelsea. Juan Mata marked, and thus successfully stifled, Jorginho, just as Gylfi Sigurdsson, Dele Alli and Aaron Ramsey did before him.

Chelsea were targeted and subsequently exposed in the spaces between the centre-back and full-back positions. Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba were the beneficiaries as their runs into the area went untracked by the Blues midfield, allowing both to net before the break.

Man Utd were also repeatedly able to hurt Chelsea thanks to the pace and industry of Marcus Rashford, whose performance evoked memories of similarly effective displays against the Blues from the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Son Heung-min.

It was all just damningly familiar from the home side’s perspective.

Sarri has cast himself as a “dreamer”, an idealist trying to revolutionise Chelsea’s entire approach to the game, but many fans are beyond frustrated with what was supposed to be an exciting style of football but is instead proving slow, boring and, worst of all, unsuccessful.

The players can’t be faulted for effort. But, by the end, they looked bewildered, as the fans invested more energy in expressing their displeasure at what they were seeing – again – than trying to spark a comeback.

It’s hard to blame them either. They’ve seen this all before: the same tactics, the same defensive mistakes and the same lack of bite up front. The only difference was that this time it has cost them the FA Cup crown they claimed last season under Antonio Conte.

As the full-time whistle blew, Sarri looked as frustrated as everyone else around him. The sad reality now is that if he doesn’t make a change, his employers will.

Sunday’s League Cup final against City could well prove a nightmare end to Sarri’s Chelsea dream.

Source – Goal.com

Serie C crisis club Pro Piacenza were beaten 20-0 at Cuneo on Sunday after being able to field only seven players to start the match, the minimum number needed for a game.

Pro Piacenza were down 16-0 at half-time. Ian Walton/Getty Images

Six of Pro Piacenza’s players, including their captain and coach for the day, Nicola Cirigliano, were under 18, while the seventh player to take to the field — to ensure the game could go ahead — was their 39-year-old kitman, since one of the youth players had reportedly left his identity papers at home and could not start the game. He later came on as a substitute, once his documents had arrived, after which the kitman — who had played with a borrowed No. 11 shirt and the name on the back covered with tape — was forced to limp off due to cramp.

Pro Piacenza were down 16-0 at half-time in the Italian third-tier clash, before going on to lose 20-0.

Their regular playing and coaching staff had refused to travel to Cuneo because of their ongoing wait for overdue wages.

Local media outlet Sport Piacenza abandoned its reporting of the match, writing that readers would be informed of the final result once the “farce” was over.

Francesco Ghirelli, president of the Lega Pro, told Sky Sport Italia: “What happened is an insult to sport and its principles. It’s a black page for football. We can only apologise to everybody, above all the fans.

“We need to follow the regulations, but today the notion of sporting loyalty was violated, and it has gone too far. Football has its problems, but the parents also have responsibility — why put these young kids through such a disgrace? As a parent, I’m really upset about this.”

Pro Piacenza had already forfeited three games in Serie C this season and played on Sunday because to miss a fourth would have seen them expelled under league rules. But Lega Pro will check the eligibility of the players fielded by Pro Piacenza, who could be forced to forfeit the game and, consequently, their place in the division.

The club, suffering severe financial problems, was sold for a nominal €1 last summer.

Senior players had been on strike and then left over nonpayment of wages, while those on loan returned to their parent clubs.

Pro Piacenza, which have changed their general manager four times in six months, prop up the rest of the division with just eight points, and relegation is inevitable even if the club gets through the rest of the season.

Cueno, who before the game had scored 18 goals all season, went 17-0 up with 20 minutes remaining, scoring their 20th goal in the 90th minute.

Source – ESPN

Gianni Infantino is set to serve four more years as FIFA president, as the only candidate for election.

Gianni Infantino took over as FIFA president in 2016

FIFA says only Infantino had the required nomination letters from five of the 211 member federations when the deadline passed at midnight on Tuesday in Zurich.

Infantino must now pass eligibility and integrity checks for the election on June 5 in Paris.

The 48-year-old Swiss lawyer has been widely expected to win unopposed with support already pledged by most FIFA members.

Since being elected in February 2016, Infantino oversaw expanding the World Cup to 48 teams in 2026, and picking the United States, Canada and Mexico to host it.

He is completing the term of Sepp Blatter, who was banned from FIFA for financial irregularities with Michel Platini, Infantino’s former boss at UEFA.

Source – Sky Sports

Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s media minister has denied reports linking him with a £3.8bn takeover of Manchester United.

Reports linking Prince Mohammed Bin Salman initially surfaced in October

Rumours of his interest resurfaced over the weekend, although reports suggest the Glazers are not looking to sell.

United’s American owners bought the club for £790m in May 2005.

“Reports claiming that HRH the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman intends on buying Manchester United are completely false,” said Turki al-Shabanah.

“Manchester United held a meeting with PIF [​Public Investment Fund] Saudi to discuss a sponsorship opportunity. No deal has materialised.”

Prince bin Salman, 33, was appointed Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia in June 2017.

Saudi Arabia has been condemned for its human rights record and has faced scrutiny over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi embassy last year.

In October, Manchester United pulled out of an investment forum in Saudi Arabia amid the fallout from Khashoggi’s death.

The Old Trafford club posted a record revenue of £208.6m for the second quarter of 2018 and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of £104.3m.

However, reports suggest the Glazers’ takeover almost 14 years ago has come at a cost of more than £1billion to the club.

Source – BBC News