Soccer Digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

United defender turns back on Ireland

RISING Manchester United star Michael Keane last night confirmed his intention to turn his back on the Republic of Ireland for a switch to his homeland of England.

The 19-year-old defender, handed his first-team debut by Alex Ferguson in the League Cup earlier this season, earned caps for Ireland at under-17 and under-19 level.

Although his father is from Dublin, Keane has opted to jump ship from the Irish camp at this stage.

Michael’s twin brother, Will, has also played for United’s first team in the Premier League this term and won promotion to England’s under-21s.

“I’ve just made a change,” Michael said yesterday. “Hopefully I’ll be playing for England in February. The under-19s have got a friendly against Czech Republic and I’ve been told that, hopefully, I’ll be involved in that.”

Wolves owner still backs McCarthy

CLUB owner Steve Morgan has branded Wolves’ lowly position in the Premier League as “unacceptable” but is still backing manager Mick McCarthy. Wolves will go into tomorrow’s clash at in-form Tottenham lying in 16th spot. Morgan still has faith in McCarthy but is demanding an improvement in results during the second half of the campaign.

Morgan said: “There is no point hiding. Like my old school report used to say, we could do better. Our current league position is not acceptable. We didn’t want to be in this position again. It’s been disappointing. We expected to be better off than we currently are.”

Wolves fans were calling for McCarthy to be sacked earlier in the campaign but Morgan insisted: “We are not a hire-and-fire club. This club is about stability and approaching things in a very business-like sense. Of course, we want the team to do better than it is currently doing. But you don’t get long-term growth by chopping and changing all the time.”

Sheppard signs

SHAMROCK Rovers striker Karl Sheppard completed his move to Reading yesterday, with the Dubliner signing a two and a half year deal with the Championship outfit, where he will wear the number 21 shirt, writes Emmet Malone.

“It’s been a month since my last game so getting fitness is obviously something that I need to do,” he said after training with the club’s first-team squad for the first time yesterday, “but after that hopefully I can break into the team.”

Tevez still in limbo as talks between Milan and City end

THE future of Carlos Tevez has been thrown into more confusion yesterday afternoon after talks between AC Milan and Manchester City officials broke up without reaching agreement just hours after Inter Milan withdrew from the race to sign the South American.

Tevez is still in Argentina, having effectively concluded he has no future at City since the furore over his non-appearance during the Champions League game against Bayern Munich in September.

Earlier, when asked if Tevez will join AC Milan, Inter president Massimo Moratti said: “I believe so. That’s football.” But within hours, the London talks had ended amid reports a deal between Milan and City was off. As City officials have countered, it was impossible for a deal to be off because there was never one in place. With no loan move being entertained, the club will talk to any suitor willing to offer what they view as a fair market value for Tevez.

Meanwhile, Inter Milan midfielder Wesley Sneijder will be fit for Sunday’s derby against Serie A leader AC Milan.

Chelsea confident of Cahill signing

CHELSEA were yesterday confident of completing the signing of Gary Cahill in time for tomorrow’s Premier League game at Sunderland after almost a fortnight of haggling over personal terms.

Chelsea boss Andre-Villas insisted no deadline had been set for an agreement to be reached with the 26-year-old England defender, who would become his first January signing for a reported fee of €8.4 million.

Chelsea have also told QPR to forget about landing Alex on the cheap after their west London rivals launched a bid to make him new manager Mark Hughes’ first signing.

Villas-Boas confirmed yesterday an offer had been made for defender Alex, with Rangers understood to be the bidding club. Reports suggest QPR’s initial offer was €3.6 million but Chelsea are thought to be looking for more for the 29-year-old, who they say they had no intention of selling before he submitted a transfer request.

Bid for Johnson

BLACKBURN have made a bid for Fulham striker Andrew Johnson, but the Cottagers consider the offer is too low for the former England player. The 30-year-old’s contract expires at the end of the season and he has been linked with a move away from Craven Cottage during the January transfer window.

Fulham rejected an offer from QPR for Johnson last week, but Rovers are now apparently looking to add Johnson to their forward line as they bid to move up the table.

Everton to make approach for Gibson

EVERTON were reported to be in talks with Manchester United last night after making an approach for Republic of Ireland midfielder Darron Gibson, writes Emmet Malone.

The Derry-born player, who has slipped almost completely out of the first team picture at Old Trafford, has repeatedly been encouraged by Giovanni Trapattoni to move on in search of more regular competitive football and David Moyes seems eager to give him his chance.

The Everton boss is anxious to strengthen his squad on a very limited budget and the 24-year-old, who is out of contract in the summer, could be available for as little as €1 million.

Gibson was on the verge of moving to Sunderland last summer along with John O’Shea and Wes Brown but his transfer broke down over personal terms.

Gerrard signs long-term contract

LIVERPOOL captain Steven Gerrard confirmed yesterday he had signed a new long-term contract with the Premier League club which will almost certainly take him through to the end of his playing career. However, neither Liverpool nor Gerrard (31) said how long the contract was for.

The England midfielder, who made his debut for Liverpool as an 18-year-old in November 1998, has played 566 matches for the club and scored 144 goals, including the penalty in Wednesday night’s 1-0 win over Manchester City in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final. He has also played 89 times for England, scoring 19 goals.

“It’s a very proud day for myself and my family,” he told the club’s website (www.liverpoolfc.tv). “It comes on the back of a fantastic team performance last night when we got the result we were looking for. The contract extension coming the day after has been the icing on the cake.”