SOCCER NEWS ROUND-UP:ASTON VILLA have confirmed their desire to interview Alex McLeish for the club's managerial vacancy, and have effectively ignored Birmingham City's threat of taking legal action against them should they appoint the Scot without paying the required compensation by insisting he is a "free agent".
Villa were linked with McLeish as soon as he resigned as Birmingham manager on Sunday via an email sent to the club’s acting chairman Peter Pannu, who immediately expressed his anger at McLeish’s decision to quit St Andrew’s and claimed the 52-year-old would not be allowed to join Birmingham’s local rivals without them first receiving €6.1 million in compensation. If that demand was not met, Pannu had also threatened to take out an injunction stopping Villa from hiring McLeish.
But Villa last night said they planned to speak with the former Scotland manager “imminently”, with reports suggesting talks could take place between both parties in the next 24 hours.
“The club understands that Alex McLeish is a free agent. We therefore intend to interview him imminently in order to make a decision regarding his candidacy to become Villa manager,” read a club statement. “We would like to emphasise that in deciding to interview Alex McLeish, the board has taken his tenure at our local rivals very seriously. We are determined, still, not to allow that three-and-a-half year post to disqualify him should he be the best candidate for the role.”
The League Managers Association yesterday said McLeish quit Birmingham because the board made his position untenable, with the LMA’s chief executive, Richard Bevan, pointing to last month’s sacking of the chief scout, Paul Montgomery, and alleging McLeish was not consulted properly over transfers.
Elsewhere, Chelsea could be outbid by Real Madrid for Neymar unless they pay €45 million to Santos, according to a source involved in negotiations for the striker. After reports in Spain yesterday stated a deal to take Neymar to Madrid was near completion, the insider said: “If Chelsea will not pay €45 million he will go to Real.”
Neymar is Chelsea’s prime target, so to miss out would cause severe frustration for the owner, Roman Abramovich. Whether the billionaire would be prepared to pay nearly €45 million for a player who only made his first-team debut in 2009 is questionable. Asked if there was sense the Russian would be prepared to finance the deal, the source said: “No. €45 million is a lot for a boy of 19.”
Manchester City have told Udinese they do not want to go any higher than €28 million in their pursuit of Alexis Sanchez, as the club set about bringing restraint into their transfer business.
* Guardian Service
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