Latest Transfer Update at 28-03-2012

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Manuel Pascali: Confident of agreeing a new contract

PASCALI KEEN TO AGREE KILLIE DEAL

Kilmarnock captain Manuel Pascali is confident he will be able to agree a new long-term contract before returning to his native Italy.
Pascali has made over 130 appearances for Killie since joining the SPL club in 2008, but is currently sidelined after suffering a broken fibula in training in February.
The injury robbed the 30-year-old of the chance to play in the recent Scottish Communities League Cup win over Celtic, but talks have started regarding a new contract.


He has been buoyed by Killie's surprise cup success and he is keen to spend a few more seasons at Rugby Park before heading home.
"My plan is to make this contract my last away from my country and then return to Italy and play for another four or five years before focusing on coaching kids," said Pascali in the Daily Record.


"The success we enjoyed recently against Celtic made me think even more about committing my future here.
"The League Cup was the first trophy of my career, even if I didn't play, and I've felt such love from the Kilmarnock fans.
"There is a desire for me to stay and a desire for the club to keep me, so I'm pretty sure we'll find a deal."

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Didier Deschamps: In charge since 2009

TAPIE HAS DOUBTS OVER DESCHAMPS

Former Marseille president Bernard Tapie has questioned whether Didier Deschamps is the right man to lead the club.
Despite reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League, Marseille are experiencing a miserable run of domestic form.
A draw at Nice at the weekend followed five straight defeats and they were also dumped out of the Coupe de France by Championnat side US Quevilly.
Former France international Deschamps has been OM manager since summer 2009 but he is under pressure with the club languishing in ninth, 10 points off a guaranteed Europa League spot.


Tapie, club president from 1986 to 1994, told L'Equipe: "From the outside, I do not think the club is like him.
"There is an identification problem. Something is wrong. It is hard to coach players that he has not chosen. On the other hand, with the ones he did (choose) it has not been successful."
Tapie, though, does not lay all the blame for Marseille's current predicament at Deschamps' door, singling out Steve Mandanda, Andre Ayew and Loic Remy as the only international class players.


He added: "OM are not a great team, they deserve no better than ninth place.
"I do not think the coach is the problem."
Of current president Vincent Labrune, Tapie said: "We must stop installing puppet presidents. He is a lovely guy. He has charisma but he does not fit the profile. It's too bad for him."

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Steve McClaren: No interest in FA post

McCLAREN - FA JOB NOT FOR ME

Former England manager Steve McClaren has no intention of becoming the Football Association's new technical director.
The FA confirmed on Tuesday that they are to appoint a technical director for the first time in 10 years to head up operations at the new national football centre at St George's Park, near Burton.
McClaren, 50, has already been strongly linked, following a coaching career that has seen him manage in England and on the continent, but he has now revealed the position did not interest him.
McClaren, who returned to manage Dutch side FC Twente earlier this year, told De Telegraaf: "Absolute nonsense, I don't have the ambition to fulfil an office job. Maybe in 10 years, but certainly not now".


McClaren won the Eredivisie title with FC Twente two seasons ago to help repair some of his reputation following the damage of England's unsuccessful Euro 2008 qualification campaign.
The former Middlesbrough boss subsequently endured brief and unsuccessful stints at German side Wolfsburg before lasting only a few months at npower Championship side Nottingham Forest at the start of this season.
His return to Twente has, however, helped inspire another title challenge in Holland.
The new technical director will work alongside Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA's director of football development, and lead the drive to make St George's Park a centre of excellence for coaches.


Alex Horne, the FA's general secretary, said yesterday: "The role of technical director will be crucial as we continue to strive towards improving the technical ability and knowledge of our players and coaches both now and in the future."
The new technical director will have to have a UEFA Pro Licence or the equivalent and is part of the FA's drive to raise the standards of football at both elite and grassroots level.
St George's Park will also have the latest sports science and medical facilities and the new position will work with maximising the influence of cutting-edge developments in the game.
The successful candidate will also work with Premier League and Football League representatives on the new Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP). The EPPP is aimed at boosting the chance of domestic talent breaking through into first-team football and will rank club academies to determine their funding levels.
There has been opposition to the EPPP from some Football League clubs who believe they will get less compensation for talented young players who come through their ranks.

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Gervinho: Hails Robin van Persie

GERVINHO: WE CAN STILL WIN TROPHIES

Gervinho is convinced Arsenal's long wait for a trophy can come to an end next season, but admits the club will be in a much weaker position to do so if they lose captain Robin van Persie.
Arsenal have undergone the most up and down season since Arsene Wenger took charge of the club 16 years ago.
The Londoners, who have not lifted a trophy since 2005, started horribly, winning just once in their opening five games at the start of the season - a sequence that included a humiliating 8-2 thrashing at Manchester United in August.


An inconsistent spell at the turn of the year gave more fuel to the argument the Gunners were a spent force, but seven straight Barclays Premier League wins have quashed that theory and Wenger's team now sit three points ahead of fourth-placed Tottenham with eight games remaining.
Gervinho, a £10.5million summer signing from Lille, admits he found it tough to adapt to the team following the damaging departures of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, but is now settled within the Arsenal squad and is brimming with confidence about the Gunners' chances of winning a trophy next year.
He told Arsenal Player: "We can still win lots of trophies and we can do great things in the future. We have a bright future because this is a good club.
"We are all still young, we have got some good players here, a good group.
"We have been through a lot of difficult times this season, lots of people have wavered in their belief of us.


"They have said this and they have said that, but we have returned to form and now we are going to try to finish the season well."
Wenger had to sell Nasri, a key figure in the club's last campaign, to Manchester City last summer after he made it clear he would not extend his contract beyond 2012.
Arsenal may face a similar predicament at the end of this season as City have declared their interest in Robin van Persie, whose deal expires next year.
The Dutchman has been in sensational form this year, scoring 34 goals to help drag the Gunners back from the abyss and Gervinho thinks the north London club need to hang on to the striker.
"The standout player for me this year has been Robin van Persie," Gervinho said.
"You can see his class with his finishing, how he leads the group, and with his experience.
"He is a player who has grown in to the role of captain and is the sort of player you need during the hard times."


A debut dismissal aside, Gervinho slotted in to the Arsenal team well following his transfer, but he has found starts hard to come by recently following the excellent form of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Nevertheless, the Ivory Coast forward thinks his game has improved while he has been at the Emirates Stadium thanks to the presence of the club's star players like Van Persie.
"I think I have come on a lot," he said.
"The English game is different in many ways to what I experienced before in the Ivory Coast and in France and Belgium.
"It's something I am really pleased with. So much has improved. Being here in England can only be good for my game and my career."
Meanwhile, midfielder Denilson wants to extend his loan at Sao Paulo beyond this summer, according to the Brazilian club's vice-president Joao Paulo de Jesus Lopes.
Lopes claims to have been in discussions with the Londoners about keeping the 24-year-old midfielder for another year.
"Our conversation was that we have every interest in things continuing the way they are," he was quoted as saying on Brazilian website Futnet.
"We want to renew at the end of the season and he said he wants to too. There is no hurry, though."

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Infantino: Admits some clubs might have an advantage

UEFA TO CONSIDER TAX RATES UNDER FFP

UEFA's general secretary Gianni Infantino admits the governing body will have to tackle the issue of clubs being given an advantage in the new financial fair play (FFP) rules because they pay less tax.
Some countries make clubs pay significantly less tax than in Britain - and are less diligent about enforcing payment. For example, a report last week revealed Spanish clubs owe 752million euros (£625m) in unpaid tax including 48m euro by Barcelona.
Gianni Infantino, UEFA's general secretary and one of the architects of the FFP rules, insisted that taxes had to be paid or clubs would be excluded from European competition. He conceded however, that tax regimes in different countries might give some clubs unfair FFP advantages.


Infantino said: "We cannot change national legislation but one of the points I have mentioned for future discussion with the European Commission is the tax situation for clubs in different countries.
"Some clubs are saying you pay less tax in different countries and that's something we will have to look at."
Asked about clubs in Spain having large tax debts, he added: "That's a good question but we know taxes have to paid by all the clubs and clubs that do not comply with the rules will not participate in the competition.
"We did it already in the past. A relatively big Spanish club was not able to participate in European competition which was Real Mallorca last year.


"If you don't fulfil the criteria we have bodies that look at our regulations and take a decision.
"It doesn't mean they are excluded automatically but if the conditions are there then we have no choice."
Infantino had that UEFA had no power over Barcelona and Real Madrid enjoying the benefits of selling TV rights on an individual basis instead of collectively, as happens in the Premier League.
Infantino added that the announcement by Real Madrid last week that they are to build a billion-dollar theme park on a United Arab Emirates man-made island would also be studied by UEFA to see whether that was judged part of FFP revenue.
He said: "The question in regard to financial fair play is that the football-related costs must not exceed the football-related revenues. Whether this new project is something that has to be brought into the FFP rules is something we will have to look at."
Infantino used the Soccerex conference in Manchester to give further details on UEFA's plans to spread international qualifying matches over five days instead of just Saturdays and then midweek.
The plan would see double headers split and played Thursdays and Sundays, Fridays and Mondays, and Saturdays and Tuesdays in order to "maximise exposure to national team football".
Infantino said: "For the clubs it will beneficial and they all agree with this calendar. The players who finish their second match on the Sunday or the Monday can go and return to their clubs even earlier.
"They will not have any more of these friendly matches when you have only 48 hours release midweek. It is positive and beneficial to everyone.


"We learned this from the leagues and particularly from the Premier League who don't just play at 2 o'clock but starts on Friday and plays Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Every day you have something to offer and we have something even more meaningful to offer."
It also emerged today that England are the only one of 53 European countries still to sign a final agreement with UEFA over broadcast rights.
UEFA have still not finalised an agreement with the Football Association over selling the rights on a pan-European basis - and the European body plan to go to tender in two weeks.
Infantino said: "The sticking points are minor rights details, radio rights and so on, and it is a matter of sitting around the table and discussing that.


"We have reached agreements with 52 out of the 53 countries so there is no reason why we should not reach it with England, we still have a couple of days and there are just a couple of minor points.
"It will have a seismic effect on the football landscape across Europe."
All countries including England have signed a mandate agreeing a guaranteed minimum income from UEFA for the TV rights.

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Clyne: No contact from United

FREEDMAN DENIES CLYNE REPORTS

Crystal Palace manager Dougie Freedman insists there has been no contact with Manchester United over talented youngster Nathaniel Clyne.
Right-back Clyne, 20, will be out of contract at the end of the season and reports surfaced last week again linking him with the Premier League champions.
But Palace have not yet given up hope of persuading last season's player of the year to sign a new deal, and Freedman hit out at the latest round of speculation.
"I can assure you no-one has called me about Nathaniel," he said. "That is what annoys me, someone puts something on Twitter and it ends up in the media, and suddenly it's being regarded as fact. No-one has ever called me about Nathaniel.


"We want him to stay and continue his improvement with us - not see him in the reserves somewhere of a big club, or at the bottom of the Premier League or another Championship side.
"He would be much better off being part of our improvement as we build on this season towards the next campaign. Of course I want to see him playing for a top club, but at the right time."