EUROPA League
ARSENAL SCOUT WHO DISCOVERED CESC FABREGAS TO BE FIRED!
UK newspaper, Mirror has dropped the hint that a certain Francis Cagigao is among the 35 staff to be fired.
He is reputed to have spotted former Gunners captain Fabregas as well as current stars Gabriel Martinelli and Hector Bellerin while playing a huge part in the club’s global recruitment for over a decade.
The Premier League giants are laying off people from their commercial department, administration and football operation, although it is unlikely to affect the first team set-up.
Most jobs are understood to be going from the commercial operation with Arsenal ’s scouting department – which has already made cut backs – also affected, particularly those on rolling contracts.
As well as the renowned Cagigao, recruitment specialist Brian McDermott and several youth scouts on 12 month contracts from their famed Hale End academy could all be affected.
But it comes despite Arsenal preparing to make big name signings with Chelsea’s Brazilian star Willian, who is 32 on Sunday, set to arrive on a three year contract worth £150,000-a-week.
They are also confident of tying down Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to a new deal worth £250,000-a-week and top earner Mesut Ozil has a year left of his £350,000-a-week contract.
It prompted a fierce backlash from fans on social media and the club knows it will face a difficult moral argument as to why they can make nearly ten per cent of its 590 staff redundant while still buying new players.
Tottenham and Liverpool both reversed decisions to furlough staff during the coronavirus lockdown after a public outcry and now Arsenal, who did not furlough staff, are facing the same angry response.
It is understood that head of football Raul Sanllehi and managing director Vinai Venkatesham addressed all of the club’s staff on Wednesday afternoon and those affected will now enter a 30-day consultation period.
Arsenal’s players were told shortly after the staff were addressed and just before the club made a public announcement. They hope to save huge sums and insist that it is still necessary to invest in the squad to ensure future success.
Billionaire owner Stan Kroenke has underwritten the club’s expenditure in the transfer market last summer and the crippling cost of the pandemic with Arsenal players taking a 12.5 per cent pay cut for a year, although 7.5 per cent of that is paid back after they got into the Europa League.
However, Arsenal have lost £2m in gate receipts for every game behind closed doors at the Emirates while the commercial costs and drop in TV revenue has hit even the biggest clubs hard. Some clubs have lost tens of millions.
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim defended under-fire goalkeeper Andre Onana following the Cameroonian’s costly mistakes in his side’s 2-2 draw at Olympique Lyonnais in their Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday.
Onana allowed Thiago Almada’s free kick to squirm past him in the Groupama Stadium and was also at fault for Rayan Cherki’s last-gasp equaliser that denied United victory.
Since the start of last season, no Premier League club’s goalkeeper has made more errors leading to goals being conceded in all competitions than Onana.
“It can happen, if you play football, you play a lot of games, you can make mistakes,” Amorim said. “If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and these last months.
“The other thing is we have one more game to change everything and that should be our focus.
“The best thing is to look at the goals, all the actions that Andre had in the game, this is the best way to help any player, it’s to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve.”
United nonetheless remain unbeaten in this season’s Europa League — the only side to do so this term — after goals from Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee put them on course for a potential victory.
The team, who are 13th in the English Premier League standings, still go into next week’s second leg in Manchester as favourites to book a spot in the last four.
“It was an entertaining game,” Amorim added. “We had some difficulty in the first half trying to press, because Lyon played in a different way. Then, in the middle of the first half and especially the second, we controlled the game.
“The second leg will be a different game. At home, our fans want us to press all the time.”
-Reuters
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Manchester United will be without defender Harry Maguire and midfielder Manuel Ugarte for Thursday’s Europa League last-16 clash with Real Sociedad, coach Ruben Amorim said, as he seeks to salvage an otherwise dire season.
The pair were left out of an already depleted squad after picking up injuries in last weekend’s penalty shootout defeat to Fulham that dumped them out of the FA Cup to compound the misery of lying 14th in the Premier League.
“We are being careful with them because at the moment we cannot afford to lose any more players for a long time,” Amorim told a press conference on Wednesday before the Europa League first leg game in Spain.
“We are taking care of them at Carrington (training ground) and they cannot play this game because it will be a greater risk.”
The coach, who joined United in November, stressed the importance of balancing youth development with the needs of the squad during a worsening injury crisis.
“I’m trying to cope with everything. When I do my squad, I’m trying to think about every aspect, of the formation of the (new) kids, of the squad and not if it will look really well with the fans and the media,” Amorim said.
Altay Bayindir, Tom Heaton, Jonny Evans, Kobbie Mainoo, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount remain on individual rehabilitation programmes.
Lisandro Martinez, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament, and Amad Diallo, who suffered an ankle ligament injury in training, are also sidelined.
-Reuters
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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes scored a last-gasp winner to secure a 2-1 victory over Rangers in the Europa League group stage on Thursday and Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min struck twice in his team’s 3-2 win at Hoffenheim.
United climbed to fourth in the standings on 15 points going into the last round of matches, in a strong position to reach the knockout phase along with Spurs who are sixth with 14 points.
The English side broke the deadlock early in the second half when Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland misjudged a Christian Eriksen corner, sending the ball into his own net.
Rangers fought back with an equaliser from substitute Cyril Dessers two minutes from time before Fernandes struck in added time to give United all three points.
In Germany, James Maddison opened the scoring for Spurs in the third minute and Son doubled the lead in a first half the visitors dominated.
Hoffenheim pulled one back in the 68th minute through Anton Stach’s counter-attack goal. Son restored Spurs’ two-goal lead in the 77th minute before the hosts’ David Mokwa scored to give his side late hope but the game ended in a narrow win for the English side.
Lazio stayed top of the standings with a commanding 3-1 home victory over Real Sociedad to become the first team to qualify for the round of 16.
Mario Gila struck after five minutes and when Sociedad’s Aihen Munoz was shown a second yellow card on the half-hour mark, Lazio immediately seized the advantage.
Mattia Zaccagni quickly doubled the lead and Taty Castellanos effectively ended the match with a third for the hosts. Ander Barrenetxea scored a late consolation goal for Sociedad.
Eintracht Frankfurt moved closer to securing a top-eight spot with a 2-0 home win over Hungarian side Ferencvaros thanks to second-half goals from Can Uzun and Hugo Ekitike. They are second in the standings with 16 points, three ahead of ninth-placed Galatasaray.
A late goal from Troy Parrott gave AZ Alkmaar a 1-0 home win over AS Roma and Olympiacos earned a 1-0 victory at Porto thanks to a late goal from Ayoub El Kaabi.
Dutch side Alkmaar can still reach the top eight with 11 points sitting in 14th place while Roma’s nine points place them 21st, close to the bottom of the playoff section.
Fenerbahce and Olympique Lyonnais played out an intense goalless draw in Istanbul, leaving the French side in a strong position to progress to fifth place in the group on 14 points.
-Reuters
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