A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Long not for sale – Clarke
West Brom manager Steve Clarke has insisted striker Shane Long is not for sale.
But Clarke admitted that Albion have rejected a bid – believed to be from Blackburn – for another Republic of Ireland international forward in Simon Cox.
Long has been the subject of speculation linking him with a move back to his former club Reading. But Clarke said: “There has been nothing regarding Shane. There have been no bids and he is not for sale.
“His future is with us 100 per cent.” Cox has struggled to win a first team place at The Hawthorns in the face of competition from the likes of Long, Peter Odemwingie and Marc-Antoine Fortune.
He was left out of the squad for yesterday’s friendly at Barnsley. Clarke said: “A club has put a bid in for him. It wasn’t accepted but Simon didn’t feel he was quite right to play.”
Wilshere out until October
Jack Wilshere will not return from injury until at least October, Arsène Wenger has said.
The Arsenal manager had been unwilling to set a comeback date for the England midfielder, who has already been out for a year with ankle and knee problems. But speaking ahead of Arsenals final match of their Asia tour in Hong Kong yesterday Wenger said: Hopefully, we will get Wilshere back playing for October. With Abou Diaby returning, it will be like signing two new players. This season, the squad will be strong and competitive.
Wilshere, who will reportedly resume light training next month, underwent a procedure on his knee in May having missed the whole of last season with an ankle problem.
Theo Walcott and Thomas Eisfeld were on target as Arsenal twice came from behind to salvage a 2-2 draw in their friendly with KitChee in Hong Kong.
Villas-Boas ire over Adams
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas has criticised Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam for a heavy challenge on Gareth Bale in their goalless pre-season friendly in the United States.
Spurs and Liverpool played out a 0-0 draw at the MT Bank Stadium and Villas-Boas was critical of Adam who has previous history with Bale.
In May 2011 the Scotland international injured Bale in a tackle. Bale was out for three months with ankle ligament damage after that incident and Villas-Boas was unhappy with Adam’s latest challenge.
He said: “I think it was a very nasty challenge from Charlie. The player had gone and he came in from behind on Gareth’s ankle. I did not know the previous history between the two. I do now.
“It is a difficult one to be fair. You do not want to end up in a game with Liverpool with 10 men. At half-time Charlie came to me and said something about the challenge. I can accept that but I think he should go to the player to say sorry.”
The incident left Villas-Boas waiting to hear on the seriousness of Bale’s injury.
Chelsea go down to Milan
Chelsea suffered a 1-0 defeat to Serie A side AC Milan as Urby Emanuelson got the only goal of their pre-season friendly fixture in Miami.
Emanuelson was on hand to tap home the rebound from close range after 67 minutes when a shot from Stephan El Shaarawy was saved by Petr Cech.
Chelseas best chance came early in the game but John Terry slipped just as he was about to shoot.
