| Claude Puel Starting To Silence The Doubters. | After a slow start to his Southampton career Claude Puel is starting to show his early critics that he has something … 27-09-2016 |
England manager Sam Allardyce is in hot water after being caught making unguarded comments in a sting by a national newspaper.
The most controversial comments made by Allardyce were about third-party ownership to undercover reporters from The Daily Telegraph.
Here, the Southern Daily Echo answers the key questions about the issue.
Third-party ownership is where a player’s economic rights are owned wholly or partly by private investors, often in partnership with the club he plays for. The investors hope to make a profit when the player is sold on to another club.
No. The practice was banned in England in 2008, with FIFA following suit in 2015 by instigating a worldwide ban.
Why is it controversial?
The practice has been compared to modern-day slavery and opens up ethical issues about potential influence of third parties over selection and transfers.
Does the Premier League have history.
Yes. When Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano moved to West Ham from Brazilian side Corinthians in 2006, it emerged that third-party investors were heavily involved with both players. Although the practice was not then banned, West Ham were fined £5.5million by the Premier League for irregularities in their contracts. After Tevez scored the goal that helped West Ham avoid relegation in 2007 at Sheffield United’s expense, the Blades launched legal proceedings against both the Premier League and West Ham. They settled with the Hammers out of court. The Premier League’s ban on third-party ownership was a legacy of the case.
What did Allardyce say?
Allardyce is filmed saying third-party ownership is “not a problem”, adding “you can still get around it”. He explains to the fake investors that they could employ a player’s agent and then take a percentage of the agent’s fee now third parties are no longer allowed to profit from transfer fees.
Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne has topped the Sky Sports Power Rankings for a second successive week, but Liverpool dominate the top 10.
The 25-year-old assisted Raheem Sterling (No 4, down one place) during City’s 3-1 win at Swansea on Saturday to retain his position at the chart summit by just 315 points.
Tottenham’s Son Heung-Min soared 11 places to No 2 after scoring a match-winning brace against Middlesbrough at the Riverside, having also bagged a brace against Stoke earlier this month.
Liverpool quartet Sadio Mane (No 6, up 14 places), Philippe Coutinho (No 7, up 48 places), James Milner (No 8, up 33 places) and Adam Lallana (No 9, up 24 places) stormed into the Power Rankings top 10, all finding the back of the net, with Milner scoring a second from the penalty spot, during the Reds’ 5-1 goal fest over Hull at Anfield.
Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez (No 3, up one place) netted his fourth league goal this season and assisted Mesut Ozil (No 15, up 39 places) during the Gunners’ 3-0 win over Chelsea, with Theo Walcott (No 10, up six places) also finding the net for the second successive game.
Crystal Palace midfielder James McArthur fired 37 places up the chart to No 5, scoring, assisting and covering a team-high 11.66km and 70 sprints to help the Eagles to overcome a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 at Sunderland.
Manchester United defeated champions Leicester 4-1, with Daley Blind (No 25, up 88 places) involved in three of United’s goals and Paul Pogba (No 45, up 99 places) scoring his first goal for the club since his £93.25m world-record transfer to Old Trafford - after the club failed to register one top-50 player last week.
Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero (No 36, up 69 places) was among the top performers from matchday six after returning from suspension and opening the scoring at the Liberty Stadium, before converting a penalty to double City’s lead in the second half.
The Power Rankings methodology reflects a player’s performance by awarding points to players for 32 different matchday stats.
Below, we present this week’s Power Rankings and your club’s top points scorer. The Sky Sports Power Rankings will be updated every Tuesday during the season, so be sure to keep an eye on the big movers…
Watch every minute of the Ryder Cup, plus Friday Night Football and the Malaysia Grand Prix, on NOW TV for £10.99. No contract.
AC Milan have joined Manchester United and Southampton in the race to land highly-rated Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko.
The 22-year-old, who is also thought to be attracting the interest of Juventus, is now reportedly worth £22m and a battle to land his signature is set to take place.
Bakayoko is a France Under-21 international and has made 36 appearances for Monaco since joining them from Rennes in 2014.
Calciomercato have revealed that while Manchester United and Southampton have declared an interest, AC Milan are considered front-runners to seal the deal and will send scouts to keep tabs on the midfielder.
However, it is unlikely any deal for Bakayoko will happen during the next transfer window.
| Saints scout Bakayoko ahead of possible move | According to TalkSport, Southampton are interested in signing AS Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko. The report says … 27-09-2016 |
Jose Fonte is still waiting on an improved contract offer from Southampton but says “there is nothing on the table”.
Manchester United were linked with a move in the transfer window for the defender, who helped Portugal win Euro 2016 over the summer.
The 32-year-old’s current deal expires in 2018 but the Saints captain says there has not been any further progress over his future, despite talks taking place in the past, and is instead focused on helping the team on the pitch.
“There’s nothing on the table, so I’m waiting,” Fonte told the Daily Echo. "I’ll see what happens. I’m just focusing on performing above all and we’ll see what happens. We haven’t agreed anything, so it’s just talks.
“There were some talks but there hasn’t been for a while. Like I said, I’m focusing on my job and we’ll see what happens in the future. But I’m not concerned about that, just concerned about performing and doing well for my club.”
Fonte said he may have needed some more time off in the summer to recover from Euro 2016 but denied that he had struggled to refocus his attention on his club duties after a successful tournament.
“No, never,” he said. "You read stuff in the press and you believe it if you want. Listen, I am focused on my job and performing on the pitch - it’s as simple as that. As for the rest, there’s nothing else to say.
“It was difficult because I had no rest. I only had two or three weeks holiday, so it was difficult to come to the team but now I’m feeling better and better and I just want to have a great season again.”
Watch every minute of the Ryder Cup, plus Friday Night Football and the Malaysia Grand Prix, on NOW TV for £10.99. No contract.
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