Today's other stories in brief
Portsmouth release Finnan
FORMER REPUBLIC of Ireland defender Steve Finnan was among a number of players released by Portsmouth yesterday.
Finnan signed a one-year contract last summer after a spell at Espanyol.
The club confirmed new contracts have been offered to England goalkeeper David James, defenders Hermann Hreidarsson and Ricardo Rocha as well as veteran forward Kanu.
Promising youngsters Lenny Sowah, Joel Ward and Marlon Pack will also be retained.
However, many of the on-loan players – like Jamie O’Hara and Aruna Dindane, a target for Bolton – will return to their parent clubs.
Anthony Vanden Borre, though, could come back if a deal can be agreed with Genoa.
The Fratton Park club – €160 million in debt – are preparing for life in the Championship.
Juventus appoint Del Neri as coach
JUVENTUS HAVE named Luigi Del Neri as their new coach.
The 59-year-old has signed a two-year contract with the Turin club.
Del Neri left his role at Sampdoria earlier this week after leading the club to Champions League qualification.
Juventus have installed Del Neri as successor to Alberto Zaccheroni, whose contract with the Turin club had expired.
Del Neri, who is Juve’s fourth coach in three years, will be unveiled today.
Under Zaccheroni, who replaced sacked Ciro Ferrara earlier this year, the Turin giants endured a dismal run.
They lost four of their last seven games to finish a disappointing seventh in the Serie A standings and miss out on Europe’s elite club competition.
Del Neri had not been considered a top contender for the Juventus job until last week.
City table €23m bid for Aston Villa's Milner
MANCHESTER CITY were reported last night to have made a €23 million bid for Aston Villa and England midfielder James Milner.
Milner has just enjoyed a successful season in a central midfield role and was recently crowned the PFA Young Player of the Year.
The 24-year-old is currently halfway through the four-year contract he signed when joining Villa for €14 million from Newcastle in 2008.
Manchester United and Chelsea have also been linked with the player who first burst to prominence as a 16-year-old with Leeds.
His big upturn in fortunes coincided with Martin O’Neill deciding to switch Milner from a wide role into the middle of the park midway through last season.
It was an inspired move with Milner helping Villa reach the final of theLeague Cup, the semi-finals of the FA Cup and the top six of the Premier League.
Foster completes Birmingham move
BIRMINGHAM MANAGER Alex McLeish hopes Ben Foster (27) can resurrect his career with a fresh start at St Andrew’s after signing the goalkeeper from Manchester United.
The England international has agreed a three-year contract after moving for an undisclosed fee, reported to be €7 million.
“The goalkeeper is a massive position and we’ve now signed another young hungry goalkeeper who wants to prove himself and live up to his potential,”said McLeish.
Foster has been brought in to replace Joe Hart, who excelled in a season-long loan spell from Manchester City.
Foster found opportunities at Old Trafford limited and fell down the pecking order behind Edwin van der Sar and Tomasz Kuszczak.
Boateng hits back at Ballack
PORTSMOUTH MIDFIELDER Kevin-Prince Boateng has hit back at accusations that he intentionally injured Michael Ballack in last Saturday’s FA Cup final, saying the Germany captain was the chief offender for an earlier slap.
A dangerous tackle by Boateng saw Ballack’s dreams of lifting the World Cup as Germany captain shattered, something for which the Ghana international later apologised.
But Boateng believes his tackle was nowhere near as bad as the slap he received from Ballack earlier in the game.
"There is my foul on the one hand and his slap on the other, and I think that violent conduct is far worse than a foul," he told Germany's Sport Bildmagazine.
“Ballack really does surprise me. He complains for weeks when (Lukas) Podolski slaps him and yet he does it himself. He is no better than Podolski. What kind of behaviour is that?”
Ghana are due to play Germany in their final group game on June 23rd.
Inter deny bid for Benitez
INTER MILAN have denied reports they have approached Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez about the possibility of replacing Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho has been linked with a summer move to Real Madrid.
Inter sporting director Marco Branca said to Sky Italia: “We absolutely have had no contact with Benitez. Our coach is Jose Mourinho.”
Benitez had previously been linked with the Juventus hot seat in recent months.
