Football news

Alex McLeish has denied reports he has fallen out with the Birmingham board over the signing of defender Giovanny Espinoza.

McLeish said claims he was upset with co-owner David Sullivan for signing the Ecuador international without his consent were untrue.

"There are absolutely no problems with the board. I'm happy with all the signings and happy with the support I've had," McLeish said.

McLeish has already brought in six new signings this summer.

"The board has given me great backing so far so I'm dismayed by claims suggesting I am not happy with Espinoza," he said.

Gilberto tells Melo to join Arsenal

Gilberto Silva, the former Arsenal utility player, told Brazil team-mate Felipe Melo to leave Fiorentina and join Arsenal.

Midfielder Melo told reporters he is settled in Italy last week when asked about his chances of joining the Gunners next season.

Melo had an outstanding campaign at the 2009 Confederations Cup but Gilberto, now at Panathinaikos, has spoken with his compatriot and suggested he should sign for Arsenal.

"We heard rumours and he asked me. I said it's a fantastic club and if he's interested he should go without thinking," Gilberto said.

"If they got him it would be great because he is a player Arsenal need at the moment."

Mancini for Japan job - reports

Reports in the Italian media yesterday suggested that Roberto Mancini could be heading to Asia to take over as Japan coach.

Mancini, 44, has been out of work for more than a year now but is still tied to Inter for another two years even though he was fired by the Italy champions in 2008.

Japan have just qualified for the 2010 World Cup. However, the Japanese FA wants to change coach Takeshi Okada as many consider him inexperienced to lead the team for the World Cup.

Mancini has been linked with other big jobs this summer. Chelsea and Bayern Munich were rumoured to be after him, but their interest never turned into anything concrete.

Premier League show a flop

A plan to showcase two English Premier League football teams in Australia next month is threatening to be a flop due to a lack of early interest from Aussie fans.

Wolves and Fulham have been booked to play double-headers against Australian A-League clubs Perth and North Queensland.

But with less than two weeks to go before the first match, local officials said they had sold only about 9,000 tickets for the two double-headers.

"I am staggered actually - I thought that the games would have been sold out within a week or two," Perth owner Tony Sage told local radio.

"It's just disappointing to me that we haven't even gone half-way to selling out."

Second round of Totti talks

Francesco Totti and Roma officials will be holding a second round of talks on a new deal this week.

The Roma talisman's contract runs out at the end of next season. Totti, 32, will become a free agent and could sign for another club in six months' time if no agreement is reached.

Totti is insisting on a new five-year deal before the pre-season training camp which starts this week but he will have to wait as the Sensi family, the club owners, are still engaged in takeover negotiations.

Under the new deal, Totti is accepting a salary drop from £5m to £4.25m.

O'Leary ready for management return

David O'Leary is ready to get back into the game as club manager. The former Leeds and Aston Villa boss has been idle for the past two years after leaving Villa Park by mutual consent.

O'Leary, 51, has had offers to get back into the game and the former Arsenal defender has not ruled out dropping out of the Premier League to accept a Championship post.

"I've had requests to go back into football, some of them from abroad," he said.

"Ideally I'd love to get back into the day-to-day stuff. I'd take a Championship job definitely if it was the right one. Dave O'Leary needs to be working. Dave O'Leary doesn't want to be playing golf.

"Jose Mourinho recommended me for a really big job but I just felt I couldn't live where it was with the family really. That was about six or seven months ago."

Milan unfazed by €60m Pato bid

Milan made it clear to Chelsea that they will not part with Alexandre Pato despite persistent rumours that the Brazil striker could leave the San Siro giants.

Reports in the UK press claim Chelsea are preparing a bid of €60 million to lure Pato to Stamford Bridge.

However, Milan supremo Adriano Galliani believes the London club would be wasting their time as they recently turned down another lucrative offer made by an English club for Pato.

"We previously received a superior offer to this one (€60m) and we already said no to that, so the answer would be no," Galliani said.

Pato is under contract at Milan until June 2012.