Tuesday News (includes West Ham)

[Alan]

BBC

The future of Erik ten Hag as Manchester United manager will be decided at a club meeting on Tuesday, with his assistant, Ruud van Nistelrooy favoured to take over as a caretaker if a change is made. (Guardian)

Manchester United are lining up German Thomas Tuchel as a potential replacement for Ten Hag. (Manchester Evening News)

Dutchman Ten Hag believes he retains the faith of Manchester United bosses heading into the international break. (ESPN)

Liverpool are interested in Eintracht Frankfurt and Egypt striker Omar Marmoush, 25. Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa wanted to sign him last summer. (Sky Germany - in German)

Manchester City are considering a January move for Real Sociedad's 25-year-old Spain midfielder Martin Zubimendi as cover for the injured Rodri. (Relevo - in Spanish)

West Ham will price their Ghana midfielder Mohammed Kudus, 24, out of a move away from the club next summer despite interest from Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea. (Football Insider)

Newcastle will push to sign Germany winger Leroy Sane, 28, next summer, when his contract expires at Bayern Munich. (Football Insider)

Bayern Munich are ready to make Germany playmaker Jamal Musiala their joint best-paid player, along with England striker Harry Kane, on about £400,000 a week. The 21-year-old is not thought to be in talks with Real Madrid or Manchester City. (Sky Germany - in German)

Wolves are maintaining their full support for head coach Gary O'Neil after sacking set-piece coach Jack Wilson. (Sky Sports)

Barcelona are tracking Lille and Canada striker Jonathan David, 24. (Todofichajes - in Spanish)






Sky Paper Talk

DAILY MIRROR

Angel Gomes admits he would never be able to rule out a return to Manchester United amid growing transfer interest in the midfielder.

Manchester United legend Edwin van der Sar was Ajax's CEO at the time they signed Antony and warned they had vastly overpaid for the winger.

Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed two qualities that a manager of Manchester United must have: a good personality and communication skills.

DAILY TELEGRAPH

Under-pressure Erik ten Hag believes he retains Manchester United's backing as the club's power brokers prepare to meet in London on Tuesday.

Michael Cheika, the Leicester head coach, felt as though he was "not really wanted" in the Premiership after being found guilty of disrespecting the independent matchday doctor in the Tigers' opening weekend victory at Exeter.

THE SUN

The best candidate for the Manchester United manager's job would be Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim, according to a data company.

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe was spotted heading into Old Trafford with chairman Joel Glazer on Monday amid speculation over the future of manager Erik ten Hag.

Mario Balotelli is set to be thrown a career lifeline by Torino, according to reports.

Chelsea legend Claude Makelele walked out as manager of Greek outfit Asteras Tripolis after just three games in charge.

 Jack Grealish has become a dad for the first time after partner Sasha Attwood gave birth to their baby.

Arsenal expect Kai Havertz to be fully fit and firing after the international break.

DAILY MAIL

Manchester United reportedly rejected signing Ollie Watkins, with Erik ten Hag instead demanding Rasmus Hojlund moved to Old Trafford.

Arsenal are among the clubs following Mali youth international midfielder Baye Coulibaly.

Manchester United are reportedly interested in replacing Erik ten Hag with former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel.

Paris Saint-Germain are reportedly targeting Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson to replace Gianluigi Donnarumma ahead of next summer's transfer window.





The Athletic

Should Lucas Paqueta and Luiz Henrique be playing for Brazil?

By Jack Lang and Guillermo Rai

After slipping down the news agenda for a couple of months, the Lucas Paqueta spot-fixing case was back in the headlines in Brazil ahead of the international break.

The English FA charged Paqueta in May with breaching its betting regulations. The case relates to four yellow cards picked up by Paqueta in West Ham matches between November 2022 and August 2023. The FA alleges that the midfielder “directly sought to influence (…) these matches by intentionally seeking to receive a card from the referee for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market in order for one or more persons to profit from betting”.

Paqueta has denied any wrongdoing. No date has been set for a final verdict.

The FA case relates to Paqueta alone. Another name was also flagged in Brazil when the suspect betting patterns were reported last year: Luiz Henrique, who currently plays for Botafogo in his homeland. An unusually high number of bets were placed on Paqueta and Luiz Henrique — then at Real Betis in Spain — to both be booked on two separate weekends early in 2023. Luiz Henrique also denies any wrongdoing and he is not facing any investigations.

The latest update came from the Brazilian website UOL, which reported that two relatives of Paqueta — his uncle, Bruno Tolentino, and his cousin, Yan Tolentino — made payments totalling 40million Brazilian Reias (around £6.4m or $7.8m at the time) to Luiz Henrique in January and February 2023.

According to UOL, the first payment went through on January 30, 2023. Two days earlier, Luiz Henrique had played for Betis against Getafe. He was booked in that match. UOL reported that the second payment occurred on February 6, 2023, two days after a match between Betis and Celta Vigo. Luiz Henrique played 11 minutes of that game and was shown a yellow card.

Bruno Tolentino confirmed to UOL that the payments were made, claiming they were related to a personal loan. Luiz Henrique’s agent, Junior Mendonza, denied any wrongdoing on the part of the player.

The story rippled through Brazilian football. John Textor, the American owner of Botafogo, expressed anger at the timing of it, claiming it was an attempt to destabilise his team two days before a big Copa Libertadores game. The real reaction, though, came three days later when Brazil coach Dorival Junior named his squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Peru.

It included both Paqueta and Luiz Henrique.

On one level, this was no great surprise. After initially being left out of the Brazil setup — Paqueta from the senior side, Luiz Henrique from the under-23s — when the allegations first came to light last year, both players had since been reintegrated. Paqueta played at the Copa America. Luiz Henrique made his senior Brazil debut against Ecuador in September.

The position of Brazil’s football federation, the CBF, has always been that the players are innocent until proven guilty. The federation’s president, Ednaldo Rodrigues, released a lengthy statement defending Paqueta’s selection for the Copa America in May. He said he had quizzed the English FA about the case and did not view a suspension — formal or informal — as fair.

“Paqueta (…) has not yet been punished by the body responsible for prosecuting and sanctioning him,” the statement read. “No one can be considered guilty until a final judgement has been passed (and thus) the CBF cannot (…) penalise the player and ban him from playing for the national team.”

Rodrigues echoed those lines recently, but the selection of both players in the squad so soon after UOL’s story created a newfound feeling of unease — one not assuaged by Dorival ducking a question about it at his press conference.

Even on the most generous reading of the situation, even accepting that neither player has yet been found guilty of anything, with Luiz Henrique not even under investigation, you would have to say the optics are far from ideal. The CBF’s position, though, does chime with a broader sense of inertia surrounding the case outside the UK.

In Spain, for instance, extremely little has been made of Luiz Henrique’s alleged involvement, despite the fact he played in La Liga at the time. The local federation, the RFEF, says it is awaiting a briefing from its own disciplinary committee. There is no investigation open and relatively little interest from the Spanish media.

This wait-and-see approach has the benefit of not requiring any legwork. Perhaps the English FA’s final verdict will spur its Spanish counterpart into life. But for now, it looks a lot like sheer inaction.

The CBF could reasonably argue that its responsibilities are different. None of the alleged breaches took place in matches under its jurisdiction, after all. If the FA finds Paqueta guilty, it is likely that any punishment would be taken up by FIFA and applied globally.

But these are Brazilian players and this was Brazilian money. While Paqueta’s club, West Ham United, might be entering into a legal minefield if they suspended him preemptively, a national team is not bound by the same employment rights. It is representative football.

Unlike in Spain, this has been a big story in Brazil. Journalists are following it with interest, as are politicians: both Paqueta and Luiz Henrique were invited to speak at a parliamentary committee last year as part of a wider inquiry into sports betting and possible manipulation. Neither appeared; the expectation is that Paqueta will be called again.

Watch the Brazilian national team, however, and you’d be forgiven for thinking there was no case to answer. Paqueta will almost certainly be in the starting XI when the Selecao play Chile in Santiago this week. Within the Brazil setup, the only real debate over his presence in the side centres on his shaky recent form. A similar logic applies to Luiz Henrique.

Until it is resolved, this case is one giant grey area. No one should be prosecuted before the fact. The existence of so much doubt, though, should provoke action rather than its opposite. Spain should be looking at the allegations regarding Luiz Henrique much more closely. Brazil, meanwhile, should err on the side of caution and leave both players out until the matter is properly resolved.

“Paqueta being in the national team is a grave error,” the president of the parliamentary betting inquiry, Senator Jorge Kajuru, said in June. It is hard to argue with that assessment.


 

[Jasnik]

All this red  font/ black font .. pushed Alan over the edge now we have no Wednesday news!!!

[Mex Martillo]

Black bold is good and a bit easier to read. Red was also OK.
I read regularly. The articles from Athletic are usually good. But I do not understand why Athletic conclud that Brazil shouldn't select Paqueta, when he is not proven guilty and is playing for us?
Thanks Alan

 

[Texas Iron]

Cheers…

[matchless]

A must read for me every day - thank you.
I find the black font easier for me to read.
Chris

[cjpl2003]

Better

[Mike Oxsaw]

OK, I've emboldened the West Ham part in black. Better or worse?
 

Thanks! Much better on my old mincers.

And thanks for the thread, too

[SAS15]

Only thing i read on here,  enjoy catching up on my lunch break. 
Thanks Alan

[Jasnik]

That Athletic story says they should not be penalised. Then the last two paragraph feels like it was written by someone else saying they should not be picked. Load of old tosh.

[CanningTownWA]

It’s always the first thing I read on the Forums.
Thanks Alan

[147man]

I certainly do

and BTW Thanks Alan

[Mad Ferret]

Genuine question: Do people actually bother reading these threads?

[,]

Thanks Alan, not too bothered about font colour etc.

I have a different request and it is could you consider putting the West Ham related content first ahead of the other stuff.

[Alan]

OK, I've emboldened the West Ham part in black. Better or worse?