Premier League
PEP GUARDIOLA DENIES BREAK CLAUSE IN CITY CONTRACT
Pep Guardiola has denied reports that he has a break clause in his Manchester City contract that would allow him to leave the Premier League champions at the end of the season.
The Catalan signed a deal last year keeping him at the Etihad Stadium until 2021, but reports had suggested that it included an option allowing Guardiola to depart 12 months early.
Guardiola repeated his position that he is keen to pledge his future to the club on Friday (Dec 13), after last month saying he was open to a longer stay.
Speculation about his future has surfaced with City trailing leaders Liverpool by 14 points.
“No,” It is not true,” Guardiola said at his press conference ahead of the weekend clash with Arsenal.
“I spoke about that a few weeks ago, about my intentions for the club.”
“I want to stay. I don’t have any reasons to move,” he added.
“I am incredibly satisfied to work with this club, with these players, and if the people think I am going to resign for these results… the people do not know me.
“I like to have this challenge, I love to be in this position. If the club wants (me) next season I want to be here 100 percent. I want to live in this city because I know lovely people here and I want to work and live with them and I want to be here.”
Guardiola’s curt denial aside, there is no doubt that City are negotiating their most difficult period in his three-and-a-half years in charge at the Etihad, to the extent that the manager and players cancelled their own Christmas party this week.
Having returned from a Champions League game in Zagreb in the early hours of Thursday, and facing a trip to Arsenal on Sunday, City personnel took a collective decision not to join the club staff’s Christmas festivities.
“We played Wednesday and we got back late to Manchester and, with regeneration, people were tired,” said the City manager.
“We had a game in two or three days. Myself and the payers preferred to be at home with the families.”
Guardiola insisted that teenage midfielder Phil Foden is still in his thoughts, saying he faced stiff competition from Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Bernardo Silva.
The local academy product has only started four games all season – none in the Premier League – and has just three league starts to his name in his career.
But Guardiola, not for the first time, said Foden had a bright future under his leadership.
“He has played 50 games and he’s 19 years old, in one of the top teams in Europe,” he said.
“I don’t know if there’s anyone of his age who’s played that many. We’re delighted with him and he’ll make incredible games in the future. So happy with the way he’s played, an incredible experience for him, help every training session.
“Every season he’s playing more minutes and one day he’ll be a player who will play every weekend, we’ll see when.”
Sergio Aguero and John Stones are unlikely to feature at the Emirates and David Silva is also a doubt.
-AFP
Thomas Partey, who formerly played for English Premier League soccer club Arsenal, has been charged with rape and sexual assault, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday.
Partey, a Ghana international, was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, with the charges relating to three women and the offences reported to have taken place between 2021 and 2022, the statement said.
Partey’s management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Aug. 5.
Partey, 32, was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59 million) in October 2020 and became a key member of Arsenal’s first team.
He was first arrested in July 2022, though he was not named at the time and continued to play for Arsenal while investigations were ongoing.
-Reuters
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Five players including England forward Marcus Rashford and Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho have informed Manchester United that they wish to explore a future away from the Premier League side, a club source said on Friday.
Brazilian midfielder Antony, Dutch defender Tyrell Malacia and England international Jadon Sancho are also looking to leave the club, the source added.
Rashford, who has made more than 400 senior appearances for United, has fallen out of favour with manager Ruben Amorim, played for Aston Villa on loan while United had their worst-ever Premier League campaign, finishing 15th in the standings.
Amorim had called Rashford’s work rate into question, saying he would rather put a goalkeeper coach on the bench than a player not giving their all.
Rashford said he was feeling fitter and better since joining Villa, where he scored two goals in 10 league appearances.
United also failed to qualify for the Champions League as they lost the Europa League final 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur. Garnacho, who was a late substitute in the final, voiced his displeasure on social media after the loss.
“Up until the final, I played every round helping the team, and today I play 20 minutes, I don’t know,” he wrote in a post . “The final will influence (my decision), but the whole season, the situation of the club.”
Sancho was on loan at Chelsea, where he made 31 league appearances last season. Antony, who joined United from Ajax Amsterdam in 2022 for a reported initial transfer fee of more than $100 million, scored five goals in 17 LaLiga appearances on loan at Real Betis.
Malacia joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven on loan in February.
-Reuters
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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes turned down the opportunity to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in order to keep playing “at the highest level”, he said on Tuesday.
The Portuguese midfielder admitted that he had considered the move, which media reports said was worth four times his current salary, after being contacted by Al-Hilal’s president.
“There was that possibility, the president of Al-Hilal called me a month ago to ask me about it,” Fernandes, who is preparing to face Germany with Portugal, told reporters on Tuesday.
“It was a big offer, very ambitious. There was a waiting period for me to think about the future.”
Fernandes ultimately decided to stay at United and said he was motivated by his desire to continue playing at the top level and encouraged by his family and the club’s coach Ruben Amorim.
“I would be willing to do it if Manchester United thought so,” Fernandes added. “I spoke to the coach Ruben Amorim who really tried to talk me out of it. The club said they would not be willing to sell me, only if I wanted to leave.
“I spoke to my wife and family, and she asked me what my personal goals were in my career.
“It would have been easy to move there but I want to keep myself at the highest level, playing in the big competitions and I feel capable of it. I am happy with my decision.”
The 30-year-old Fernandes scored 19 goals and provided 19 assists in 57 appearances across all competitions for United last season, winning the club’s Player of the Year award for the fourth time.
However, it was a season to forget for the team, as they finished 15th in the Premier League, their lowest league finish in half a century, and lost the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur.
-Reuters
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