Football Dispatch

Summer Football
24 July 2007
Officials representing Manchester United, West Ham, the Premier League, and FIFA convened in Zurich, yesterday. At issue -- the ongoing transfer saga involving 23-year-old Argentine striker Carlos Tevez. And while both English clubs had been quite keen on having football's international governing body mediate their dispute, FIFA merely referred the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Tevez, meanwhile, has gone on holiday while his situation is sorted-out. Kia Joorabchian, the president of Media Sports International (MSI), has persisted in claiming Tevez' playing rights while West Ham, by the same token, are adamant that the player is registered to them. And although both Hammers and United stand either to gain or lose the player, it appears as though the Premier League has the most at stake in this instance. Should the Court of Arbitration for Sport rule in favor of Joorabchian and United, the Premier League will suffer the embarassment of not having deducted points from West Ham for fielding an ineligible player -- a circumstance which would likely result in a renewed appeal process from Sheffield United.

Manchester United, meanwhile, played the third match of their Far East tour, Monday. And it took only 12-minutes for the visitors to open the scoring in the Chinese port city of Shenzhen. After some fine interplay between Darren Fletcher and Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs converted for the first goal of the match. It proved to be just the opening of the floodgates. Giggs turned the provider just 7-minutes later -- creating a lovely Rooney chip for United's second goal. And before the first half had expired, newcomer Nani had added a third tally -- completing the fine work of Rooney and Giggs. In celebration, the Portuguese newcomer performed a series of carwheels and backflips -- demonstrating a full recovery from a recent ankle injury. United picked-up where they had left-off after the re-start. John O'Shea's goal on 55-minutes was followed just 2-minutes later by a Christiano Ronaldo strike. The best was still to come, however, as Christopher Eagles continued his fine pre-season with a superb volley from distance in the 64th-minute. United will conclude their Asian road-trip on Friday against Guangzhou.

Arsenal's primary share-holder has no intention of selling-out to Stan Kroenke and Bernie Ecclestone. Danny Fiszman, a 61-year-old diamond dealer, intends to retain his holding in the club for at least another calendar year. "I have no intention of selling my shares for the forseeable future," stated Fiszman, yesterday. His remarks came on the heels of a rumor that prospective buyer Stan Kroenke had joined ranks with Formula-1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone for a 650M-pound takover of the club. Kroenke purchased an initial 12% stake in the spring -- 4% of which belonged to Fiszman.

Sven-Goran Eriksson is poised to dip back into the Serie-A to bolster his Manchester City squad. The Eastlands boss is keen on Italy's U-21 captain and Juventus left-back, Girgio Chiellini. Liverpool have also expressed interest and tabled a 5M-pound bid earlier in the summer. Eriksson, however, will make a 7M-pound offer in the next few days. Chiellini has issued a "play-me-or-sell-me" ultimatum to Bianconeri boss Claudio Ranieri.

Eriksson is also on the cusp of signing Mexico international striker Nery Castillo. The 23-year-old's value has sky-rocketed since the recent Copa America and Olympiakos are likely to cash-in within the next few weeks. Castillo has played for the Greek giants since a move from Danubio in 2000. He has also scored 5-goals in 10-caps for his country. Should he arrive at Manchester City, Castillo would become the second half of a brand new striking partnership with former Reggina forward Rolando Bianchi.

Patrick Kluivert is set for a shock return to English football. Sheffield Wednesday manager Brian Laws appears to have persuaded the former Holland international to sign a 1-year contract at Hillsborough. The 31-year-old was released by PSV Eindhoven after just one season and 16-appearances for the club. His return to The Netherlands was preceded by disastrous spells at Valencia and Newcastle. Still, from 1998 to 2004, Kluivert was regarded as one of Europe's finest strikers. He scored 90-goals in 182-matches for the Catalans and fired an additional 40-goals in 79-caps for his country. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

Ricardo Oliveira is returning to La Liga. The AC Milan striker has been loaned to Real Zaragoza for the upcoming season after scoring just 3-goals in 26-apperances for the Rossoneri. At the conclusion of the loan spell, Zaragoza will retain the option of purchasing Oliveira outright on a 4-year contract. While at Real Betis from 2004-2006, the 27-year-old Brazilian scored 27-goals in 46-matches. Last August, he made a highly-publicized 18M-pound move to the San Siro.