Burnley new boy Dean Marney is hoping to help the Clarets challenge for an immediate return to the Premier League next season.
The 26-year-old has signed a three-year contract at Turf Moor, having spent the last four seasons with the Tigers, scoring nine goals in 138 appearances.
Marney told the Lancashire evening Telegraph:"Everybody wants to play in the Premier League, it's regarded as the best league in the world.
"I definitely want to get back and definitely feel I can do it with Burnley.
"The Championship is a really tough league, everyone knows that, but with the quality of the squad I'm sure if we all play to the best of our ability we are as good as anyone and I'm sure we will do really well.
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"It's a strong squad. I'm looking forward to pre-season and getting to know the lads and I'm really looking forward to the challenge. I just can't wait to get going now."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Everton chairman Bill Kenwright has confirmed that he and manager David Moyes have held talks with Mikel Arteta to try and persuade the Spanish playmaker to stay with the Toffees.
The 28-year-old former Rangers and Real Sociedad schemer has been at Goodison Park since January 2005, making well over 150 appearances for Everton in all competitions.
However, rumours of a summer move, possibly back to Spain, continue to do the rounds, with Kenwright confirming that Arteta’s future is in some doubt.
He told the Liverpool Daily Post:“It is true that David and myself have spoken to Mikel on a couple of occasions this summer and tried to persuade him his future lies with us.
“We earnestly believe that is still the case.”
Arsenal and Manchester City are among the clubs who have been mentioned as possible bidders for the talented midfielder.
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The Netherlands might not have played anything resembling Total Football in their run to the World Cup final but, in attempting to negate Spain, Bert van Marwijk’s team employed an unexpectedly physical approach that disappointed millions of football fans across the globe. They had hoped that a side featuring Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder would look to take on Spain’s tiki-taka style in an open contest, but instead the Dutch resorted to spoiling tactics. They lost anyway.
The Dutch’s aggressive tackling saw them amass seven yellow cards, with Johnny Heitinga being dismissed for two further bookings of his own. Many people have lambasted the Netherlands for the negative way in which they contested the final but their harshest critic has been Johan Cruyff, the nation’s finest footballing export. He has railed against the way the Oranje played: “This ugly, vulgar, hard, hermetic, hardly eye-catching, hardly football style, yes it served the Dutch to unsettle Spain. If with this they got satisfaction, fine, but they ended up losing.
“They were playing anti-football.”
That Cruyff held Holland’s methods to be unedifying is his own opinion, but for him to label those methods as being in opposition to the very nature of the sport is especially interesting. “Anti-football” is an increasingly common term. Arsene Wenger used it at Old Trafford last August to criticise Manchester United’s approach against Arsenal. The Frenchman reserved special attention for what he saw as persistent fouling by Darren Fletcher when complaining that Sir Alex Ferguson’s team had been more concerned with stopping Arsenal than playing constructively themselves. On Sunday, the Netherlands attempted to break up possession whenever Spain had the ball. They tackled often and they tackled hard. If free kicks and yellow cards were the result then this was preferable to allowing the Spanish to dictate the game in open play, van Marwijk must have reasoned. Disrupting the rhythm of Vicente del Bosque’s team, Holland’s coach had decided, would offer them their best hope of victory.
Negative, yes. Destructive, yes. But anti-football? I think not. In fact, I disagree with the term fundamentally. If anti-football does exist in a tactical sense, then to define the system in such a reductive, pejorative way is unfair. Van Marwijk had every right to deploy the tactics that he did in order to try to win the game.
Anti-football is, loosely, a style of football in which the aim is to completely counteract the approach of your opponents at the expense of your own attacking endeavours. However, this does not mean that anti-football, or any defensively-minded way of playing for that matter, somehow operates outside the spirit of the game. It is negative but not malevolent. No, anti-football forms an integral part of the game; without it the sport would be lacking something. It remains an effective style of play because no team has ever perfected a way to circumvent it. At the same time, anti-football pushes coaches towards devising ever more creative ways of playing, enhancing the sport. We just need to call it something better than “anti-football”.
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Reported West Ham transfer target Aaron Mokoena has revealed he has been offered contracts by three unnamed Premier League clubs.
The South Africa defender is out of contract at Portsmouth following a last season which ended in relegation for the south coast club.
The 29-year-old has spent the last two months in South Africa, where he made three World Cup appearances for the tournament hosts.
He is now back in England and keen to resolve his club future.
Mokoena captained Pompey last season when new Hammers boss Avram Grant was in charge at Fratton Park.
"I have to confess my heart is still there at Portsmouth and they are offering me a new contract if I remain with the club," he said.
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"I can confirm that there are a number of offers from several big clubs – three in the English Premiership, two in Qatar and one in Turkey.
"There are a number of things I am still assessing, though, and I will decide sometime next week."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
If your club is in the market for a forward, the chances are they’ve been linked with Hatem Ben Arfa. The Marseille and France winger has attracted the interest of the likes of Newcastle, Everton, Arsenal and Manchester United, as well as clubs in Germany and Spain. A product of the Clairefontaine academy, the 23-year-old has generated as much publicity for his football as he has for his feuding. And the prospect of signing the talented forward comes at a price.
Since his graduation from Clairefontaine, and move to Lyon in 2002, Ben Arfa has been brilliant. He has pace, supreme technique, good finishing and would add a huge amount of creativity to most teams. After being moved to the left side of a front three, although not prolific, he has chipped in with goals and racked up the assists. Constant press reports value him at anything between £5m and £10m, and for that sort of money he could be a steal. However he could also cost a club a lot more than that.
During his time at Lyon, Ben Arfa had training ground scuffles with both Karim Benzema and Sebastien Squillaci, and left the club in acrimonious circumstances when virtually forcing a move to Marseille, by refusing to report to training. Upon the completion of the €11m transfer – which needed the help of the French FA to secure the move – Ben Arfa told the Lyon newspaper, Le Progrés, that the team was never great and ‘lacked class’.
While Marseille have benefitted from fine performances from Ben Arfa, both at home and in Europe, they too have had to deal with the petulance that he is capable of. There was the bust-up between him and his teammate Modeste M’bami during the warm-up of a Ligue 1 fixture. He has missed various training sessions without reason. During Marseille’s 4-2 loss to Paris Saint Germain, when Ben Arfa was a substitute, he refused to warm-up when asked by his then coach Eric Gerets and remained in his seat, claiming he was injured. Even Gerets successor, Didier Deschamps, got into another altercation with Ben Arfa at the Marseille training ground. With the incidents involving both managers, Ben Arfa was forced to apologise to them personally, and the club in the media.
As is stands, the troublesome winger looks set for a move away from the French south coast, but his destination remains very much unclear. It all depends on how much of a liability managers consider him to be, and if any potential difficulties that might be had with the player are outweighed by what he can produce on the pitch. Even at Marseille, Ben Arfa has been in and out of the team; similarly to Joe Cole during his time at Chelsea, Ben Arfa rarely plays 90 minutes whether he is brought on or taken off. However, Marseille have performed much better when he has been playing than without. In his first 11 games for the club he managed six goals, and that sort of impact would suit any team in the Premiership. Whether Marseille would have clinched the Ligue 1 title last season without Ben Arfa’s contribution is up for debate, and yet his conflicts see them still willing to release him.
For Ben Arfa, a move to England could be the making of him; it is hard to imagine Sir Alex Ferguson putting up with that behaviour for too long, or David Moyes for that matter. But if he continued in the vein that he has done so far, he could simply be showcasing a poor attitude on a much bigger stage. Having a player that could potentially cause disruption in an already settled squad could be a massive gamble, and one that many managers would be reluctant to take. It will be interesting to see how Laurent Blanc deals with him as he starts afresh with the national team, and perhaps it will be best to keep an eye on him for another year, rather than gamble on him now.
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With the PL season nearly upon us, let’s see the WAGS that will be keeping the players on their toes. Click on image to VIEW gallery
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Gabriel Agbonlahor has provided Aston Villa with a timely boost after pledging his long-term future to the club.
Agbonlahor, 23, claims he is happy to stay at Villa Park for the remainder of his career.
The England striker came through the academy ranks at his hometown club and is now Villa’s longest serving first-team player.
He was substituted during Thursday’s Europa League exit at the hands of Rapid Vienna after picking up a calf problem.
But despite the European exit and the departure of manager Martin O’Neill on the eve of the season which appears to have destabilised the Midlands club, Agbonlahor has no plans to move on.
“I saw in the programme stats the other day that I’m the longest-serving player,” he said.
“I think I am one of the senior statesmen! I might bring that up with some of the lads.
“But I’m a local lad and you look at people like Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.
“They don’t want to leave their clubs and it’s the same with me. Being from the area, I’ve got no reason to ever leave.
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“I’m just enjoying my football here and hopefully it continues.”
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Wigan Athletic fear that striker Franco di Santo could be facing a lengthy spell out of action after suffering a nasty ankle injury in the goalless draw with Birmingham City.
The 21-year-old Argentinian was felled by a challenge which earned Craig Gardner a straight red card in the St Andrew’s stalemate, leaving Latics boss Roberto Martinez fearful for his summer signing.
He told the Evening Post:“The cut swelled up straight away and it could be a little bit of ligament damage in his ankle and that is the worry.
“Obviously it was a very strong challenge. From where I was, his leading foot was really high and then he gets the ball with his second foot.
“Nowadays if you go into a challenge like that and it’s a bit high, it’s a reckless challenge with excessive force and a red card.
“I just saw Franco’s leg and that’s my worry.
“I need to see the extent of that injury. Franco had to come off and obviously he’s got a couple of nasty cuts on his leg.
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“The referee had a clear view and he was really on top of the incident. My worry is the extent of the injury.”
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Kolo Toure believes Manchester City are on course to fulfil his own personal goals of winning the Premier League and Champions League.
Toure joined the ambitious Eastlands club in their first major wave of player recruitment in July 2008.
The Ivory Coast international arrived from Arsenal and has since seen the club spend over £150million on an array of fresh talent, including £20million on his own brother, Yaya, from Barcelona this summer.
City, who are backed by billions from their Abu Dhabi-based owners, are currently second in the Premier League table and Toure believes they are on the right track to major success.
"Now I am settled in Manchester, I know everyone at the club. I know how it all works and feel very happy and comfortable with the way things are going," he told the club's official website.
"We have to be pleased with what we have done so far. But we know we will get better as the season progresses, as we get to know one another and as the injured players begin to come back.
"I came here to win trophies and play Champions League football and that is what we are all working hard to achieve.
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"I have played in one great team and I want to be part of another one. I think I still have five or six years to play at the top level and I want to make the most of them.
"People who know me, know that I am as enthusiastic about the game as I have ever been. I look forward to coming into work every single day and seeing this City side keep improving."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
John O'Shea fully expects Manchester United to end their disappointing away form soon rather than later.
United have slipped five points off the pace set by Chelsea in the Premier League after failing to win any of their four games on the road so far this season.
Saturday's goalless draw with Sunderland followed similar stalemates against Fulham (2-2), Everton (3-3) and Bolton Wanderers (2-2).
The Old Trafford club find themselves behind local rivals Manchester City in the table, but O'Shea doesn't expect the away-day blues to continue much longer.
"The away form has been disappointing but I can see that turning around very soon because of the quality and experience we have," he said.
"We won't know whether these draws are a concern until the end of the season.
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"But at Manchester United, it has always been the case that if we draw two or three games it is a crisis, people say the empire is crumbling.
"We are used to that. It happens every season. It is about proving the critics wrong."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
West Ham United coach Avram Grant was proud of his battling players as they fell to a cruel 1-0 Premier League loss at Arsenal on Saturday.
Alex Song's late winner separated the two sides at the Emirates Stadium and, although they remain at the foot of the table, Grant was pleased with his team's efforts.
He paid particular praise to goalkeeper Robert Green after he kept them in the contest with a number of stunning saves as the Gunners stamped their mark on proceedings.
"I think we played well today," the former Chelsea and Portsmouth boss said.
"We played against a very good team and I think they only had two chances to score. We also did some things on the counter-attack and then they scored in the last moment.
"But I'm very proud of the players after what they did today. They showed a lot of good things, fighting spirit and tactical understanding.
"Unfortunately they scored in the last moment, it happens. He is a good keeper, he did a good job today. All the defence did a good job today.
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"They closed the spaces well. It is not easy to play against Arsenal and we did do well. I don't remember Arsenal not able to create so many chances in a long time, this is because of the whole team.
"We can take a lot of positive things from this game even though we lost."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email