Atsu: West Ham are interested in taking Chelsea winger Christian Atsu on loan. Atsu, who featured for Ghana at the World Cup, joined the Blues last September from Porto but was immediately loaned to Dutch side Vitesse. Aston Villa, Hamburg and Espanyol are also understood to be keen on the 22-year-old, whose pace and trickery troubled Juergen Klinsmann’s USA before they ran out 2-1 winners in that Group G contest.
No show: Leeds United’s pre-season preparations descended into farce yesterday after their scheduled friendly opponents failed to turn up. The Whites had been due to play Romanian side Vitorul Constanta in Santa Cristina, Italy. But after the no-show boss Dave Hockaday was forced to pit two Leeds XIs against each other.
Alessandrini: Fabio Alessandrini, the former Roma striker, is in trouble with police after being caught in possession of cocaine. Alessandrini had shown great talent during his early days at Roma but a serious knee injury halted his stride in 2007. He failed to recover fully and Roma did not renew his contract. Reports said police raided Alessandrini’s home during the weekend and recovered several doses of the drug.
Noone: Cardiff manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed Craig Noone is likely to undergo further tests on a long-standing groin injury. The 26-year-old winger missed Cardiff’s friendly with Bath City on Saturday(1-1). Noone missed the tail-end of the 2013-14 season with the injury, and Solskjaer fears he has not recovered. “It might be something we’ll have to do something with at some point,” said the Norwegian.
Crespo: Former Argentina great Hernan Crespo, 39, will be starting his career as a coach at the helm of the Parma youth squad. Crespo was recently voted as Parma’s best player ever. The poll was part of the programme marking Parma’s 100th year celebrations. Crespo had two stints as a Parma player between 1996-2000 and 2010-12, scoring 72 goals in the process.
Defoe: Jermain Defoe scored twice as Toronto FC beat Houston Dynamo 4-2 in the MLS last weekend. The English striker grabbed two second-half goals which were the winning ones, capping a comeback from 2-0 down. Brad Davis scored twice in 17 minutes to put Houston ahead, only for Jonathan Osorio and Domenic Oduro to level by the break. Defoe then took over (63 and 89) to seal the win.