Football Dispatch

Summer Football
19 July 2007
John Terry has agreed a new 5-year contract with Chelsea. The England skipper is currently taking-part in the Blues' pre-season tour of America and the deal is set to be finalized upon his return to London. At 131,000-pounds per-week, Terry will become the highest-paid player in the Premiership and is set to earn 10,000-pounds per-week more than teammates Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko. The 26-year-old centre-half has will more than double his previous wage of 68,000-pounds per week. Chelsea's next match will be a friendly against David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy, Saturday, at the Home Depot Centre in Carson, California. Terry is doubtful for the fixture, however. He suffered a broken toe in a 1-0 win over Suwon Bluewings earlier in the week.

FIFA has been summoned to mediate the row between Manchester United, West Ham, and Kia Joorabchian concerning Carlos Tevez. The 23-year-old underwent a physical examination at Old Trafford, yesterday, and afterword, conversed freely with skipper Gary Neville. Despite looking every bit a United player, the Argentina striker is at the centre of a bitter tug-of-war for his rights and services. West Ham claim that Tevez is under contract through summer, 2010 -- based on a deal he signed at Upton Park upon his arrival from Corinthians last September. Joorabchian, meanwhile, has accused West Ham of providing misinformation regarding their rights to the player. The Iranian businesman owns Tevez' playing rights through his Media Sports International (MSI) company. Both Joorabchian and Tevez would like to see the United switch completed as soon as possible.

While the Tevez saga has been occupying much of his time, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has also been busy fending-off suitors for Gabriel Heinze. Liverpool have been interested for some time; and Rafael Benitez counts himself among Heinze's biggest admirers. This week, the Anfield boss tabled a 6M-pound offer for the Argentina left-back -- matching United's reported asking-price. Ferguson, however, rejected the bid outright, stating, "We can put that to bed right now." Should Heinze bolt Old Trafford, the Scot is adamant that he will not join United's arch-rivals to the south-east. Real Madrid and Juventus have also proclaimed their interests -- although Ferguson admitted, yesterday, that offers have been pouring-in for Heinze for more than a year-and-a-half.

Bolton Wanderers manager Sammy Lee is looking to be one of the first to raid the squad of freshly-relegated Nantes. In his sights is 27-year-old Sweden winger Christian Wilhelmsson. After a successful 3-year stint at RSC Anderlecht, Wilhelmsson moved to Nantes last summer before being loaned-out to AS Roma in January. He failed to score in 13-appearances for the Ligue-1 side and tallied just once in 19-matches for the Gillarossi. Valued at roughly 2M-pounds, Wilhelmsson is keen for a fresh start; and Lee is hopeful to sign the player to a long-term deal within the next few days.

Gabriel Milito has joined Barcelona from Real Zaragoza. The 26-year-old Argentina centre-back comes to the Nou Camp in exchange for 20.5M-euros and will compete with Carlos Puyol, Rafael Marquez, and Lilian Thuram for a place in Frank Rijkaard's 1st-team. Puyol's ongoing knee injury may offer a window of opportunity. His arrival, coupled with that of Eric Abidal from Lyon, is part of a backline-renaissance at the Catalan club. Milito moved to Europe after 6-seasons with Independiente in Argentina. He has been capped 27-times for his country.

Ludovic Giuly has finalized a much-anticipated move to AS Roma. The 31-year-old winger had fallen down the pecking-order at Barcelona and joined the Gillarossi, this week, for a cut-rate fee of 2.15M-pounds. As captain of AS Monaco, Giuly took the provincial side to the 2004 Champions' League Final in Gelsenkirchen. Unfortunately, a horrific leg-break in the match ruled him out of international duty for France at EURO 2004; and he joined Barcelona for 7M-euros later that summer. Giuly scored 23-goals in 117-appearances for Barcelona -- including the pivotal goal in the 2006 Champions' League semi-final tie with AC Milan.