Premier League
WHY ABRAMOVICH SACKED LAMPARD
Daily Mail of Britain has revealed that Frank Lampard reportedly clashed with Chelsea transfer chief, Marina Granovskaia over Kepa Arrizabalaga’s treatment and his insistence on signing Declan Rice before he was sacked by the club.
The 42-year-old was axed on Monday afternoon following a woeful run of results which has seen Chelsea slip down to ninth in the Premier League table.
According to The Athletic, one of the reasons for Lampard’s dismissal was due to his relationship with influential director Granovskaia becoming fractured after several disagreements.
Tensions behind the scenes first emerged 12 months ago when Lampard publicly implied criticism of the hierarchy for their reluctance to recruit in the January window.
However, the same report claims the real bone of contention was when the manager began to drop the club’s £72million record-signing Kepa towards the backend of last season after he had made a number of high-profile errors.
At the end of the last campaign, Lampard requested funds to sign a new keeper despite Chelsea chiefs reportedly telling him he should put his arm around Kepa and try to rebuild his confidence.
Kepa was unhappy with how Lampard dealt with the situation and is said to have felt that he did not provide sufficient support – and the Chelsea boss eventually got his way, replacing him as the club’s No 1 by signing Edouard Mendy from Rennes.
Last summer’s transfer window threw up more issues as Lampard tried to offload defender Antonio Rudiger despite the player being highly regarded by the Chelsea hierarchy.
Matters deteriorated further when Lampard continued to push to sign Declan Rice from West Ham at the annoyance of his bosses. A number of key figures at the club had reservations about the England international while the same report claim the club were ‘wary’ of the potential embarrassment of buying back a player who they had released as a teenager in a deal worth in excess of £70million.
Lampard was determined to acquire Rice and also Burnley’s James Tarkowski and continually tried to persuade the club to broker a deal, but Granovskaia was not keen on either player and in the end neither joined.
In the dressing room, there was also a growing discontent at Lampard’s handling of Chelsea’s recent run of poor results with players said to be ‘hurt’ by some of his public criticism.
The final nail in the coffin for Lampard came last week when Chelsea were beaten 2-0 at Leicester.
Lampard led Chelsea to a 3-1 win over Luton Town in the FA Cup on Sunday but it was too little, too late.
The club are looking to replace Lampard as quickly as possible and have already opened up talks with former Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel about taking the position.
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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