MAN UNITED AND CHELSEA IN FOR LASSANA DIARRA

KROOS: I’M GOING NOWHERE, SORRY
Seen Toni Kroos linked with a move away from Real Madrid, haven’t you? Seen his name linked with Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and a few other clubs besides? Well it’s all a pile of toot.

“If I started to comment on every rumor that appeared somewhere in the headlines last year, I’d never stop,” Kroos said yesterday when asked about transfer stories.
“I think a few days ago I was already back in Munich, as the reports stated. I’m playing in the Euro here and am still a player for Real Madrid for four more years.
“That should suffice to make a few fewer rumors come out.”

Look forward to the Daily Star and Metro interpreting that as ‘Kroos jokes about Real Madrid future.

MAN UNITED AND CHELSEA IN FOR LASSANA DIARRA
Now we don’t want to alarm anyone, but pretty sure that signing Lassana Diarra is cheating because he doesn’t actually age. Somehow Diarra only turned 31 in March, despite being around forever.
Diarra has also played for some clubs: Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Marseille Anzhi Makhachkala, Lokomotiv Moscow… erm… Portsmouth. Weirdly, he’s only ever managed more than 40 games for one of his clubs, and that was the 117 he played at Real Madrid.
Anyway, we digress. BeIN Sports, home of your friend and mine Richard Keys, claim that Manchester United and Chelsea both want to sign Diarra, seeing him as a cheap option to solve a problem. That’s probably a fair assessment. They also say that Inter and Spartak Moscow are keen, so watch this space.

AND THE REST
Manchester City are prepared to pay up to £50m to land John Stones and are confident of signing the defender in time for him to return from a post-Euro 2016 break for pre-season training with them… Liverpool have received a bid of £25m from Crystal Palace for Christian Benteke… Watford have been forced to turn down a £37.5m bid from Shanghai SIPG for Odion Ighalo – because the striker does not want to go to China.
Burnley will have to smash their transfer record to prise Tom Lees away from Sheffield Wednesday after the Owls slapped a £10m price tag on the defender… Fulham have told Sheffield Wednesday to stump up a club record £15m for striker Ross McCormack… Crystal Palace will press on with their summer spending spree by signing £10m defender James Tomkins… Atletico Madrid are ready to launch a cash-plus-player bid for Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain worth £42m… Italian defender Gabriele Angella has left Watford to rejoin Udinese on a four-year contract.
Burnley plan to reject any mega-money bid from Leicester for Michael Keane and offer him a new bumper contract… Fabricio Coloccini has brought his eight-year spell at Newcastle to an end and will rejoin San Lorenzo, a Primera Division club in his native Argentina… England are set to axe sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters as the fall-out from their Euro 2016 flop continues… German champions Bayern Munich are considering a move for Arsenal’s France defender Laurent Koscielny, 30, who has a contract with the Gunners until 2019… Everton have agreed to sign Belgium midfielder Axel Witsel, 27, from Zenit St Petersburg and will pay the player over £100,000-a-week

SANCHEZ SNUBBED JOSE FOR ANCELLOTI

Former Manchester United winger Nani has revealed Renato Sanches did turn down a move to Old Trafford in favour of a move to Bayern Munich.
Sanches has shown glimpses of his immense talent at Euro 2016 with Portugal, and his international team-mate has revealed that the wonderkid did have the opportunity to link up with Jose Mourinho this summer.

“Renato would have been a great signing for Man United. I have no doubts,” Nani said.
“But he had a choice – and the choice he made was Bayern Munich.
“I hope he has made a good choice and that he is happy in his career, but I think United will now know what a big player they have missed.”
He added: “Renato is a very confident player. He is very young, but he already has a great personality for the game. He isn’t scared to play in the big games and he isn’t scared to show his qualities against any opponent.
“It is good to see another young player want to be a star and to achieve his dreams. You must be like that. You can’t be afraid of anything – and he isn’t.”

MONDAY TRANSFER GOSSIP...

MATA OFF TO EVERTON?
Everton have emerged as contenders to sign Juan Mata from Manchester United as Jose Mourinho remains unconvinced about the attacking midfielder.
Mourinho sold Mata to United during his second spell as Chelsea boss, despite the Spaniard being the club’s reigning Player of the Year at the time. And the Portuguese’s belief that the 28-year-old is too slow has not wavered since taking over at Old Trafford.
The imminent arrival of Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Borussia Dortmund will push Mata further down the pecking order, and according to the Daily Telegraph, Ronald Koeman hopes he can persuade him to Goodison Park. It would be a hell of a coup.
Everton face competition for Mata – who played under Koeman during his first season as a Valencia player – and are understood to have tabled an offer of around £20m.

LIVERPOOL KEEN ON ILICIC
…but so is everyone else. That’s according to Football Italia, although we can’t help but feel that this is a rumour who has been doing the rounds for a while. Fiorentina playmaker Josip Ilicic is reportedly available for around £38m, and it feels like his agent is trying desperately to generate interest.
The clubs mentioned are Liverpool (most prominently), Leicester, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, West Brom and Watford. Are Watford or West Brom really going to spend £28m on him?
In truth, we’d be surprised if Liverpool made the move either. They are surely sorted in attack, with Sadio Mane, Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana, Roberto Firmino, Divock Origi, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Ings, Mario Balotelli, Jordon Ibe and Lazar Markovic all competing for a maximum of four positions.

ENGLAND RETURN FOR VAN PERSIE
Robin van Persie’s first season in Turkey went pretty well, the striker scoring 16 goals in 31 league games. That’s given the Dutch striker hope that he can succeed again in the Premier League.
There have been reports of Premier League interest in Van Persie for the last couple of weeks, but we are now told that both West Ham and Crystal Palace hold serious interest in the former Manchester United striker.
Having cost Fenerbahce only £4m, Van Persie is likely to be a gamble worth taking for any non-elite club that can afford his wages.

AND THE REST
Everton are preparing for showdown talks with Romelu Lukaku and insist the striker will not be allowed to leave the club this summer…However the Toffees will allow John Stones to join Manchester City for a fee of £50million…Former Chelsea interim boss Guus Hiddink is interested in the England job and wants to hold talks with the FA…Pep Guardiola has ruled out the prospect of Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi signing for Manchester City…New Southampton manager Claude Puel is eyeing a £12.5million move for Lille defender Djibril Sidibe.

West Ham chief admits Payet could join Real or Barca

West Ham’s co-chairman David Gold has admitted that star man Dimitri Payet may leave London this summer for a move to La Liga.
The attacking midfielder is a serious candidate for player of the tournament at Euro 2016, after a string of good performances for his country France.
It is understandable that Payet has begun to attract interest from big clubs, as he managed to amass 12 goals in 38 appearances in all competitions this season for the Irons.
He joined from Marseille for a fee believed to be under £11million, and while the 29-year-old has four years left on his contract, it may be feasible that Payet will use the opportunity to play at the highest level while he has time on his side.
David Gold also admitted that this is a distinct possibility.
“We’ll fight tooth and nail to make sure Dimitri pulls on a claret and blue shirt next season,” Gold told The Sun.
“We want to improve our squad and Dimitri is an integral part of what we’re trying to do. But we also must be realistic. If Barcelona or Real Madrid made a bid and he wanted to move there, it would be difficult to keep him.”
France and Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane spoke of his admiration for the player last month, perhaps also dropping a hint that he is interested in bringing him to the Bernabeu.
“It is a great story – he (Payet) has always always had talent, but now at 29 he is getting the respect he deserves.
“There is so much pressure on young players to perform on the biggest stage, Dimitri has shown things don’t always have to happen early.
“From a coaches perspective he is everything you look for in an attacking midfield player.
“He can score goals, he can create goals, he has real quality from set pieces. Any club would want him, he is improving all the time.”

Family member say they will carry out an autopsy on Stephen Keshi, says he did not die of heart attack

Family member say they will carry out an autopsy on Stephen Keshi, says he did not die of heart attack

Rickey Aburime, a member of Stephen Keshi family, say they will carry out an autopsy on the remains of the former Super Eagles Coach who died today June 8th. Rickey debunked media reports of Keshi dying from an heart attack. He stated that Keshi was meeting some friends and family members at his Benin City resident when he suddenly fell sick. it took less than 15 minutes to rush him to the hospital after the crisis started but that he died just before he got to the hospital.

“All of a sudden, they that noticed his countenance changed and he was not okay. The person with him called Ebuka and they rushed him to the hospital. He was dead by the time they got to the hospital. A nurse that checked him said there was no pulse.

Doctors later confirmed him dead. After the confirmation, as he was not a patient of the hospital, they could not write any report or present any death certificate. They said we must bring the police report and the police came to inspect the body. I am about to take the corpse to Stella Obasanjo hospital pending the autopsy which the family want to do. Dr. Wilson Akhiwu will conduct the autopsy. There is no official statement as to the cause of death. There will be no embalming. It was sudden and we don’t want anybody to speculate. There was no sign of ill health and Keshi has not complained of anything recently.”

Nigeria U23s Pipped By South Korea At Suwon Tourney

The Samson Siasia tutored side lost at the Suwon World Cup Stadium thanks to Choi Kyubaek’s 86th minute winner.

The Nigerian team were looking to start the tournament on a good footing, by winning or grabbing a draw, but that was not to be as their hosts proved too strong for them.

Coach Siasia named a strong squad with Emmanuel Daniel and Usman Mohammed starting.

The likes of Saturday Erimuya and Erhun Obanor marshaled the defense line, and the belief was that the team was going to get something from the game.

The Dream Team started the game on a frantic note and were by far the better side in the opening 20 minutes of the game, but failed to convert their chances.

Choi Kyubaek broke their hearts with the late strike and the hosts managed to hold on until the final whistle.

Dream Team Starting XI vs South Korea: Daniel, Seth, Obanor, Saturday, Amuzie, Usman, Saviour, Azubuike, Dimgba, Ekpai, Awoniyi

Reserves: Yusuf, Emmanson, Ndifreke, Popoola, Tiongoli, Nath, Emiloju, Abdulrahman.

EAGLES GAIN IN FIFA RANKING....

 The Super Eagles of Nigeria have climbed six places, and now occupy the 61st position, while in the continental ranking the three-time African champions are 12th.

The national team made progress in the ranking following their wins against Mali and Luxembourg in international friendlies late last month.

Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal and Egypt are the top five teams in Africa in that order.

Argentina and Belgium are the top two countries in the world, followed by Colombia, Germany and Chile.

The next world ranking will be published by the official website of Fifa, fifa.com, on July 14,2016.

Top Ten African Teams

1) Algeria
2) Ivory Coast
3) Ghana
4) Senegal
5) Egypt
6) Tunisia
7) Cape Verde Islands
8) Congo DR
9) Guinea
10)Cameroon