Football Dispatch

Summer Football
20 July 2007
Emerson looks poised for a return to the Serie-A. After making 16-appearances for Real Madrid last season, the 31-year-old Brazilian international is considering an overture from Inter Milan. Injury and poor form limited his effectiveness in Fabio Capello's squad, last term; and the emergence of Mahmouda Diarra as the club's foremost defensive midfielder has only served to hasten his quick exit from the Bernabeu. Emerson arrived at Madrid last summer along with Fabio Cannavaro as part of the Juventus fire-sale in the wake of the Italian match-fixing scandal. He has also enjoyed stints in Europe with both AS Roma and Bayer Leverkusen after crossing the Atlantic from Gremio in 1997.

Liverpool are considering their legal options regarding the stalled acquisition of Gabriel Heinze. Manager Rafael Benitez has long coveted the Argentina left-back and tabled a 6M-pound offer for his signature last week. Sir Alex Ferguson and the brass at Manchester United, however, scuttled the transaction -- insisting that the player would not be sold to arch-rivals Liverpool. The deal looked to have been put to bed over the weekend before taking a rather bizarre twist. As it happens, the 29-year-old had previously signed a letter of agreement at United that released him of his responsibility to the club should an offer be proposed in excess of 6M-pounds. Benitez' bid met the criteria; and Liverpool's lawyers are prepared to force United into meeting their legal obligations.

Freddie Ljungberg has been unveiled at West Ham. Manager Alan Curbishley's newest addition to the club bolted Arsenal after learning that he was not in Arsene Wenger's long-term plans. The player, for his part, claimed that his departure from the Emirates had more to do with the exit of Thierry Henry than anything else. He also insinuated that Arsenal's lack of ambition was at least somewhat behind his move to Upton Park. After arriving at Hammers for 3.5M-pounds, Ljungberg penned his name to a new contract worth approximately 60,000-pounds per-week.

Roy Keane is looking to add Leighton Baines to his already refurbished Sunderland squad. The 22-year-old left-back starred for England at the recent Under-21 European Championship alongside fellow Black Cat Kieron Richardson. Baines is hoping to crack into Steve McClaren's senior England side and believes that a move to the northeast will help him in realizing those ambitions. Keane has already spent in excess of 15M-pounds on new talent and would have to pay upwards of 6M-pounds to bring Baines to the Stadium of Light.

Formula-1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone has hinted that he may be interested in a takeover of Arsenal. The 76-year-old president of Formula-1 Management stated, yesterday, that he would be intruiged if approached by the Arsenal board of directors. He has already been rumored to be combining forces with
American billionaire Stan Kroenke. Under the deal, Kroenke, having purchased 10% of Arsenal Football Club this past spring, would join forces with Ecclestone in exchange for his support in bringing F-1 racing back to Denver, Colorado. Kroenke is the owner of the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association and Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League. After the recent departures of Thierry Henry and Freddie Ljungberg, it has become apparent that an influx of cash is required in order to allow Arsenal to compete at the highest level.

Everton lost 2-0 to Real Salt Lake, yesterday. The victory is just the latest positive result for an MLS side against European opposition. Last week, the Major League Soccer All-Stars defeated Celtic 2-0 in Denver and Chicago Fire drew Hoops 1-1 at the weekend. And David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy dropped a narrow 1-0 decision to Chelsea on Saturday night. Everton manager David Moyes approached the defeat as a "wake-up call," stating that "we are all about hard work and committment and there wasn't enough of that."

Beckham's debut for Galaxy, meanwhile, drew a capacity crowd of 27,000-spectators to Home Depot Centre in Carson, California on Saturday evening. John Terry's opener in the 49th-minute was the only goal of the match and Landon Donovan missed several clear-cut opportunities for the hosts. Having been sidelined throughout the week with a lingering ankle injury, Beckham finally got a run-out for the final quarter-hour. And while he had at least 10-touches of the ball, his collision with Steve Sidwell was his most memorable contribution to the match. After lying on the ground for a moment, the 32-year-old former England captain regained his feet and played-out the string. Unfortunately for Galaxy, Beckham's MLS debut against Toronto FC is now in jeopardy. The Sidwell tackle may leave the midfielder sidelined for an additional two-weeks.