Last week we mentioned the allegation from Rayo Vallecano president Martin Presa that he was headbutted by the agent of Espanyol striker Raúl de Tomás during transfer negotiations, an incident that, you’d imagine, might have resulted in no deal being struck.
Hold yer horses. On Tuesday, de Tomás signed a five-year contract with... Vallecano. Although, we’re guessing here that Presa and the agent didn’t shake hands on the deal.
The player was so desperate to leave Espanyol, with whom he had spectacularly fallen out, he left outside the transfer window, meaning he can’t play for his new club until January. That, you’d assume, will banjax his hopes of making Spain’s World Cup squad, having made his debut last year, winning three more caps since. He’d have had a fair chance too – only Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema and Celta de Vigo’s Iago Aspas scored more La Liga goals last season.
Espanyol’s response to the saga? They had a dig at him on Twitter (to which he replied: “I only see cowardliness, a lack of ethics and mediocrity”) and they “are scrubbing all references of Raul de Tomas from the club,” Marca reported.
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“Supporters can go to any of the club’s stores to have his name erased, and not only that, they will be given a new shirt free of charge.”
Vallecano next play Espanyol in May. It should be a lively game.
Word of Mouth
“If he pitched up at Kevin de Bruyne and Mo Salah’s houses, they’d open the curtains and stick two fingers up at him. ‘Sod off, got enough games. Go back to London.’”
Craig Burley expressing some doubts about how warmly received Chelsea owner Todd Boehly’s proposal for an All-Star Premier League North vs South game would be by those required to play in it.
“What can I say? Does he want to bring the Harlem Globetrotters as well and let them play against a football team?”
Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, isn’t overly keen on this All-Star game either.
“We have one of the best academies in the world. If you look at what it has developed... Mo Salah, Kevin De Bruyne... .”
Boehly, who really didn’t have a good week, bigging up Chelsea’s youth system for producing two players it, well, didn’t actually produce.
Don’t mess with Dusan
It was back in July that Ajax captain Dusan Tadic had a decidedly unpleasant experience when he was targeted by two armed men near his Amsterdam home, the presumption being that they were trying to steal his watch. How did he get away with only a few cuts to his hands?
“I handed out a few punches,” he told Dutch paper De Telegraaf last week. “I separated the two which allowed me give a couple punches to their leader. The other guy then grabbed my throat from behind but he received an elbow from me. After that I sprinted away. Even if they carried three guns with them, I would never give up my pride. I was born in Serbia.”
The moral of the story? Don’t mess with Dusan.
In words
“Nine times out of 10 if you give him chances like that, the likelihood is he will score two.” – Shaun Wright-Phillips leaving us mathematically confused while hailing Erling Haaland.
In numbers: 2009
Seems like last week, but that was the year Christopher Atherton was born, the 13-year-old who made his debut for Glenavon last week. Cripes.
The ‘Rose West’ stand
Visitors to Southend United’s Roots Hall stadium in recent weeks might have noticed that the ground has stands named north, south and east, but not west. There is, though, a perfectly reasonable explanation for this, the club having found a solution for an awkward issue that arose during the summer.
After emblazoning the name of their new sponsors, local estate agents, over the stand in August, it read: “Gilbert & Rose West Stand”. Alas, no one at the club spotted that in the middle of that sign was the name of an actual serial killer.
The sign was, then, hastily removed, and while the stand is now officially “The West Stand sponsored by Gilbert and Rose”, the club simply refer to it as “Gilbert & Rose Stand”. You fear, however, that it will forever be known as the “Rose West”.
