Today's other soccer stories in brief|
Decision time for Ribery
BAYERN Munich winger Franck Ribery plans to make a decision on his future within the next 10 days.
The 27-year-old’s Bayern deal expires in 2011 but, if he does not commit himself to the club, there is little chance of them holding on to him for the final 12 months of his contract and then allowing him to go for free.
The Frenchman hinted last month he would favour a move to Spain, but insisted no decision had been taken yet.
Torres injury to get assessed
LIVERPOOL striker Fernando Torres returns to the club’s Melwood training ground today where his injured right knee will continue to be assessed.
The Spanish international travelled to Barcelona at the weekend to see specialist Dr Ramon Cugat, the surgeon who in January performed the operation on the torn meniscus which kept him out for a month.
With Cugat having said that rest should allow Torres to feature next week, manager Rafael Benitez and his medical staff will have to decide whether their star striker will be fit enough to face West Ham on Monday.
Torres is desperate to face former club Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final in the Spanish capital on Thursday and so he – and Benitez – may consider the West Ham game too much of a risk.
Aurelio set for move to Olympiakos
LIVERPOOL defender Fabio Aurelio could be set for a summer departure from Anfield after Greek side Olympiakos expressed an interest in signing the Brazilian.
The 30-year-old left back is out of contract at the end of the season and his bad luck with injuries – he has made just 13 starts and 10 substitute appearances this season and is still sidelined by a thigh strain sustained at the end of February – could mean an end to his stay on Merseyside.
Manager Rafael Benitez has been frustrated by Aurelio’s problems as it has meant the less experienced Emiliano Insua has had to play the majority of matches with no other cover on the left side of defence.
Should Aurelio leave in the summer it would Benitez again looking for another left-back, having sold mis-fit Andrea Dossena in January after just 18 disappointing months at the club.
SPL chief not against changing system
SCOTTISH Premier League chief executive Neil Doncaster insists he would be open to changes to the league structure following criticism of the controversial split.
Rangers and Motherwell are among those who have expressed unhappiness with the final five fixtures of the Premier League campaign.
Doncaster, himself, admits he thought the idea of a league split was “odd” before taking up his post with the organisation. And he says he is willing to canvass clubs in a bid to find ways to improve upon the current system.
He said: “Certainly, when you are looking from the south up here to what it looks like, you raise an eyebrow and it does look a bit odd. But when you come up here, it makes more sense.
“No one is pretending it’s perfect.
“I’m certainly one of those that would very much like to look at the whole league structure, to look at better ways of doing things.”
Arsenal claim Barcelona not about to lure Fabregas
ARSENAL chairman Peter Hill-Wood has revealed Barcelona have assured the London club they will not table a bid for Cesc Fabregas this summer.
Speculation has long linked the Arsenal captain with a return to the Catalan club, where he spent several years as a youth player before moving to north London.
Barcelona playmaker Lionel Messi was yesterday reported as saying he believed it was just a matter of time before Fabregas returned to Camp Nou as he “has Barcelona in his blood”, but Hill-Wood is convinced a deal is not in the pipeline as the Spanish champions are happy with their current crop of players.
Hill-Wood revealed that high-level talks between the clubs ruled out the possibility of Fabregas joining up with Pep Guardiola’s side any time soon.
“There was a private conversation that took place in the boardroom and assurances have been made at the highest possible level,” Hill-Wood said. “Arsenal do not expect those to be broken.”
Red Knights lay out battle plans
THE Red Knights consortium met yesterday to finalise their plans to launch a takeover of Manchester United. The group of wealthy United fans have said they do not expect to make a bid for the club before the end of the season but they are now drawing up a detailed battle plan.
The talks were to confirm exactly where the money will come from to fund a bid and to determine the level of fan involvement in the proposed ownership structure.
A key discussion was also to focus on the €577 million bond taken out by the Glazer family who own United.
Investment bank Nomura have been advising both the Red Knights and the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST) who have been backing the takeover bid.
A source close to the talks said: “We are now developing the financial model before making a bid. This is very much getting into the details of funding and future ownership.”
