Inter stopper Marco Materazzi is taking legal action against three English newspapers over reports he insulted Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 World Cup Final. The Sun, the Daily Mail and the Daily Star all claimed that the Matrix was headbutted by Zidane as a result of provocation from the Azzzurri defender, but he claims this was not the case.
“I was tugging his shirt and he said to me that if I wanted it so much he’d give it to me afterwards, so I answered that I’d prefer his sister,” Materazzi explained. Zidane has previously stated that his mother was the subject of the Materazzi’s taunts, but has never clarified exactly what was said. The newspapers that reported alleged transcripts of Materazzi and Zidane’s spat are now facing libel charges as they have refused to print retractions. “He is left with no alternative as all three publications have failed to correct or apologise for their actions,” the player’s lawyer Steven Heffer stressed. “Marco has suffered enormous damage to his reputation as a result of Press reports."
Fabrizio Miccoli will appear for Palermo next season after signing a three-year contract with the Sicilian outfit. “Juventus announce that they have finalised the sale of striker Fabrizio Miccoli to Palermo on a permanent basis for £3m, to be paid over the next three years,” read a note on the Old Lady’s website.
Roma defender Christian Chivu has rejected Real Madrid - because they are not offering him enough cash. The clubs agreed an 18 million euro fee on Wednesday but 26-year-old Chivu - whose contract expires at the end of next season - was offered a greater wage by Roma’s Serie A rivals Internazionale, who withdrew from the bidding war for the Romania stopper because they were reluctant to stump up the full transfer fee. "We have reached an agreement with Roma," Real president Calderon told radio station Onda Madrid.
"But we now have to agree personal terms with the player and from what I’ve been told there are substantial differences over the salary. "We have to study it very carefully because the demands are in excess of our predictions." "Real Madrid’s wage offer was way below Inter’s proposal," Chivu’s agent Victor Becali confirmed. "Chivu will remain with Roma unless Real make a new offer."
Torino Fc have beaten Parma to the signing of Palermo striker David Di Michele, the club have confirmed. The 31-year-old seemed set to joining Parma, but failed to agree personal terms and President Maurizio Zamparini finally agreed a deal with Torino instead.
Torino chief Urbano Cairo had been following the player for some time and reportedly offered him a three-year contract worth £535,000 a year.
Meanwhile Livorno have completed the signings of five players including Vikash Dhorasoo and Francesco Tavano. 33-year-old Dhorasoo has penned a one-year deal with the Serie A outfit, while Tavano has arrived on loan from Valencia. Livorno have also confirmed the arrivals of Fausto Rossini, Massimo Loviso and Emanuele Filippini. Fillippini, who gets the chance to team up again with twin brother Antonio, arrives from Bologna along with Loviso - with Rossini signing from Catania.
West ham FC are interested in signing Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy but want to secure him for less than the Reds’ £10m valuation.
Though Sunderland could hijack that move, as they are willing to pay £6m for the striker.
Manchester City want to sign £9m-rated Toulouse striker Johan Elmmander but they face stiff competition from Lyon. They also want to sign Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz from Bayern Munich for £8m.
Liverpool are still after new faces with Roma’s Amartino Mancini, Porto’s Ricardo Quaresma and Manchester United’s Gabriel Heinze on their wanted list.
Ramon Calderon believes that Bernd Schuster will be named as the new coach of Real Madrid next week now that all the obstacles have been removed. The German trainer has been widely tipped to take over from Fabio Capello, but any deal was hindered by his contractual obligations to Getafe. After lengthy negotiations those have been resolved and the Madrid president is now confident that Schuster will be installed at the Bernabéu quickly. "It will be resolved next week," Calderòn told Onda Madrid radio.
Sevilla have said that talks with Chelsea about Daniel Alves could begin if the Blues made an opening bid of €30million (£20.2million), while Lyon’s hopes of snatching Jesus Navas have been dashed. The Andalucian club are ready to play tough in order to hang on to their prize assets and have set the bar high for the Blues, according to AS. Jose Mourinho is a big fan of Alves, but will have to increase an opening bid of €25million (£16.8million) to even make the Sevilla president, Jose Maria del Nido listen. "If we receive a bid of €30m then we could start to talk” he said.
Werder Bremen striker John Jairo Mosquera is recovering in hospital after his heart stopped during a pre-season training session on Wednesday.The 19-year-old collapsed after taking part in a run through the forest for Carl Zeiss Jena, where he is currently on trial.
Jena’s assistant coach Olaf Holetschek gave him first aid before being driven back to the hotel where the club were staying. Upon arrival at the hotel, his heart stopped beating and club doctor Heribert Ztzmann revived him before an ambulance arrived to take him into Gifhorn hospital. He was delivered to intensive care, but on Wednesday afternoon, he was out of danger and even called Jena coach Frank Neubarth to say he wanted to return to the hotel and recommence training. The Colombian had just passed a statutory electrocardiogram without any noticeable problems and the cause of the illness is still being investigated.
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