Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has made it clear that the Bundesliga champions will not allow attacking midfielder Shinji Kagawa to leave the club on the cheap this summer. The Japan international is keen to leave BVB ahead of the 2012-13 campaign, and has set his sights on a move to the Premier League
Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has dismissed rumours he is targeting a summer move to Spanish giants Real Madrid or Barcelona . The Reds lifted the League Cup and reached the FA Cup final this season but stuttered to a disappointing eighth-placed finish in the Premier League. Suarez was also embroiled in personal controversy after receiving an eight-game ban for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra during a game at Anfield in October
Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has described his team’s victory in the Champions League final as the best moment of his career, insisting that it was made all the sweeter after chasing the trophy for so long. The Blues defeated Bayern Munich in their own Allianz Arena in the competition’s final on Saturday, winning 4-3 on penalties, to seal Chelsea’s first ever European Cup and Lampard could not hide his delight at the triumph
Napoli claimed the Coppa Italia, their first silverware for 22 years, with a 2-0 win over Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday evening. An Edinson Cavani penalty put Napoli ahead after 63 minutes, with Marek Hamsik ensuring victory seven minutes from time at the Stadio Olimpico. Alessandro Del Piero, restored to the Juve starting XI for the final game in an illustrious career at the club, did not find a fairytale finish and his side’s disappointment was completed when Fabio Quagliarella was dismissed late on.
Dailymail : Manchester City have formally opened talks with Roberto Mancini over a new £15million contract. Speculation has been rife for the last six months that the manager of the Barclays Premier League champions would be offered a new deal at the Etihad Stadium this summer. But Sportsmail can reveal that City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak finally sat down with Mancini for talks in Abu Dhabi on Friday afternoon and those discussions continued throughout the weekend.
Dailymail : In front of tens of thousands of Chelsea fans, the new kings of Europe paraded the Champions League trophy through London’s New King’s Road on Sunday. Chelsea are the capital’s first European champions after beating Bayern Munich 4-3 in Saturday’s shootout in the competition’s 57th season.
Dailymail : Didier Drogba has almost certainly kicked his last ball for Chelsea, with the club expecting him to confirm his free transfer to Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua. It means Drogba’s last touch in a Chelsea shirt was to score the winning penalty in the shoot-out that defeated Bayern Munich. He will link up with former team-mate Nicolas Anelka in China in a contract worth around £250,000-a-week net
COMMENT By Ed Aarons It is not hard to understand why Chelsea defender Ashley Cole divides opinion so much. As he approaches a century of caps for his country, the 31-year-old left-back should be already assured of his place in the pantheon of the greatest players to ever wear the Three Lions’ shirt. And yet if an England fan saw Cole on the street or in their local pub, they would be just as likely to hurl abuse at him as ask for an autograph
COMMENT By Wayne Veysey in Munich The sunglasses were out in force in Marienplatz, Munich’s main market square, the morning after the quite epic night before. But they were not just used as instruments to shield eyes from the radiant sunshine.
Lille director Frederic Paquet has stated that the future of Eden Hazard remains undecided as there are four teams that are interested in buying the attacking midfielder. It was initially believed that the 21-year-old would join either Manchester City or United, but Hazard admitted on Sunday that Chelsea are still an option for him as well, while Paquet has now admitted that a fourth club has emerged as a potential suitor to sign the Belgium international. “I am not sure he knows himself where he will go, so for the moment, we don’t know,” he told Sky Sports
