Today's other stories in brief
Hughes confirms Tevez interest
MARK HUGHES has confirmed Manchester City are ready to move for Carlos Tevez should Manchester United fail to agree a permanent €29.35m deal for the Argentina striker, with the world’s wealthiest club also keen to exploit uncertainty surrounding Samuel Eto’o’s future at Barcelona.
Kia Joorabchian, the head of the consortium that owns Tevez’s economic rights, held a two-hour meeting yesterday with the United chief executive, David Gill, aware that City are waiting in the wings should he decide to invite rival offers for the 25-year-old. The talks were described as “cordial” and ended with Joorabchian returning to London to consider United’s long-awaited offer.
Republic unchanged in rankings
THE REPUBLIC of Ireland team remains unchanged at 34th in the new FIFA world rankings while there are mixed fortunes for the other sides in World Cup qualifying Group Eight. This weekend’s opponents, Bulgaria, are down three places to 23rd while Italy have edged past Brazil to take fourth place overall.
Cyprus have slipped from 75th to 79th place while Georgia and Montenegro are both fractionally up to 105th and 110th respectively.
At the top of the table, Spain complete a year at the number one spot ahead of the Dutch who have overtaken arch rivals Germany.
England leapfrog Argentina to take sixth position while Scotland climb to 22nd and Northern Ireland now lie 27th.
Paraguay, top of the South American World Cup qualifying zone, were the biggest movers among leading nations, jumping up from 17th to 13th.
Drogba to get three-year deal
STRIKER DIDIER Drogba will be offered a new three-year contract by Chelsea.
Contrary to media speculation that the club was not prepared to hand him a fresh long-term deal, one will be put before the Ivory Coast international within the next week. The club are convinced he can play a major part in their search for silverware under new manager Carlo Ancelotti.
Fenlon makes case for Murphy
BOHEMIANS MANAGER Pat Fenlon has cited a lack of interest in the league here on the part of Giovanni Trapattoni and his staff as the basis for Brian Murphy having been overlooked in the wake of last week’s goalkeeping crisis within the senior international squad.
Trapattoni was forced to track down players and ask them to cancel holidays at short notice after Dean Kiely’s decision to leave the squad compounded the difficulty caused by the timing of Keiren Westwood’s wedding this weekend.
“Brian has been immense over a period of maybe two years and still you see people running all over Europe trying to get goalkeepers in while we’ve got one of the best ones here,” said Fenlon. “I could lambast everybody but I don’t think it does any good. They obviously don’t have an interest in League of Ireland football – the people who run the international team – and there is not a lot we can do about that.”
Bruce confirmed as new Sunderland manager
STEVE BRUCE does not expect his Geordie roots to be held against him by Sunderland fans.
The former Birmingham manager was unveiled as the new manager of the Sunderland yesterday on a three-year contract after a compensation package was finally agreed with former club Wigan.
Bruce has made no secret of the fact he was a boyhood fan of Newcastle, Sunderland’s neighbours and fiercest rivals, but he does not expect that to be a problem.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I think they like one of their own from the north east. It’s results on the pitch that matter. I hope I can win over the few doubters I have. The vast majority of what I’ve seen is positive.”
Bruce will be joined on Wearside by coaches Eric Black, Nigel Spink and Keith Bertschin.
MANCHESTER UNITED have confirmed they will team up with Aon from the start of the 2010-11 season.
The giant American company’s brand name will feature on the club shirt for four years.
No terms of the sponsorship deal have been announced but the deal is thought to be worth about €92 million.
United chief executive David Gill said: “We are delighted to be entering such an important relationship with a company of the stature of Aon and to have its logo adorn our shirts from the start of the 2010-11 season.”
United’s current €16 million a year deal with US insurance giant American International Group runs out in June 2010.
