A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Mirallas expected to complete move today
Everton are close to signing Kevin Mirallas, a versatile 24-year-old Belgian forward who plays his club football with Olympiakos.
The fee is understood to be in the region of €7.5m due to a clause in his contract and would represent around half of the fee the Goodison club received from Manchester City for Jack Rodwell only last weekend.
Mirallas played last night for Belgium in a friendly against the Netherlands in Brussels and Mirallas is expected on Merseyside today for a medical and to complete the transfer.
The forward, who can operate on either wing as well as through the middle, has also played for Lille and St Etienne and was the top scorer in Greece with 20 league goals last season.
He has 27 caps with five goals and would link up again with his international team-mate Marouane Fellaini at Goodison.
Caen forward M’Baye Niang is another potential attacking arrival at Everton and the 17-year-old is understood to be beginning a three-day trial with the club. Arsenal and Spurs have also been linked with Niang, who is valued at €7 million.
Madrid closing in on deal for Modric
Real Madrid scent victory in their summer-long pursuit of Luka Modric and they not only expect to complete his signing in the coming days but intend to do so for rather less than Tottenham Hotspur’s €50 million asking price.
Jose Mourinho, the Madrid manager, has grown frustrated at his club’s inability to bring a swift conclusion to the affair, which would have allowed him to integrate Modric in his preparations for the new season.
But Madrid have finally made a breakthrough in the talks with Tottenham that had long since felt entrenched, despite the London club being willing to sell Modric this summer at the right price.
Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy has been holding out for as close to €50 million as possible with Madrid refusing to go much higher than €38 million. The indications from Spain yesterday were that the initial fee could be as low as €33 million, as Tottenham need the money to allow Villas-Boas to seek a replacement for Modric, with Porto’s Joao Moutinho and Yann M’Vila of Rennes in the frame.
Hughton wary of Scunthorpe threat
Norwich manager Chris Hughton insists there is no danger of his team taking Scunthorpe lightly after being given a warning of what to expect in their League Cup clash.
Norwich were one of nine Premier League clubs to land a home tie in the second round, having been drawn against the great escape artists from League One who toppled Derby on penalties on Tuesday night.
Scunthorpe survived the first round after battling back from 3-0 and then 5-3 down to force extra-time with two injury-time goals.
That achievement impressed Hughton. “If you need any reference as to what sort of opposition we will be up against you just have to look at their thrilling game against Derby County in the first round.”
Second round draw: Preston v Crystal Palace, Watford v Bradford, Swansea v Barnsley, Yeovil v West Brom, Coventry v Birmingham, West Ham v Crewe, Doncaster v Hull, Carlisle v Ipswich, Reading v Peterborough, Sheffield Wednesday v Fulham, Leicester v Burton, Burnley v Plymouth, QPR v Walsall, Stevenage v Southampton, Nottingham Forest v Wigan, Stoke v Swindon, Aston Villa v Tranmere, Crawley v Bolton, Gillingham v Middlesbrough, Northampton v Wolves, Everton v Orient, MK Dons v Blackburn, Leeds v Oxford, Sunderland v Morecambe, Norwich v Scunthorpe. The ties will be played during the week commencing August 27th.
Ajax's Anita on the verge of a move to St James' Park
Ajax’s Vurnon Anita was reported to be having a medical at Newcastle yesterday.
A fee of around €8.5 million is believed to have been agreed between the two clubs and the Magpies now look well-placed to tie up a deal for Anita in time for their opening Premier League game of the season at home against Tottenham on Saturday.
The 23-year-old has won three senior caps for Holland having played for them at various youth levels, but was not part of their squad for Euro 2012.
Able to play in midfield or defence, he came through the academy at Ajax and made his first-team debut in the 2005/06 season.
Newcastle have already signed Romain Amalfitano, Curtis Good and Gael Bigirimana this summer.
Muamba forced to concede defeat in bid to play again
After five hope-filled months, Fabrice Muamba yesterday conceded defeat in his admirable battle to play professional football again. Muamba stunned the football world on March 17th when he suddenly collapsed and lay face down on the turf during Bolton’s FA Cup quarter-final at Tottenham.
The former England Under-21 midfielder was given 15 electric shocks on the pitch as paramedics tried to revive him and doctors later revealed the 24-year-old’s heart had stopped beating for a staggering 78 minutes.
Yet despite the serious nature of his condition, the former Arsenal and Birmingham man left hospital a month later and was determined to play football again. Bolton wanted to make sure that Muamba would not endanger his health by returning to action and sent him to Belgium to see world-renowned cardiologist Dr Pedro Brugada.
Dr Brugada told Muamba that it was impossible for him to play again as his heart wall was not contracting properly, and the Bolton man therefore had no other option than to hang up his boots.
