Stoke City’s record signing Peter Crouch is ready to commit his long-term future to the club.
The 33-year-old England striker is now into the final 12 months of the four-year deal he agreed when Stoke signed him in the August 2011 transfer window.
Crouch told BBC Radio: “I would like to stay here for a long time. I enjoy playing for Stoke, I’m loving it here and long may that continue.”
The 6ft 7in forward has scored three times so far this season, to take his career tally to 174 goals.
Juventus show Mata interest
Italy champions Juventus are closing in on the transfer of Manchester United playmaker Juan Mata, reports in the UK media said yesterday.
The Spain international has become a bit-part player at Old Trafford after joining from Chelsea last January, failing to impress new boss Louis Van Gaal.
The Dutchman parted with Shinji Kagawa in summer and is now prepared to offload Mata as Juve prepare a £20m bid.
Juventus are in danger of losing midfield star Arturo Vidal so coach Massimo Allegri wants Mata to help Carlos Tevez in attack.
Mitrovic receives Freiburg support
Freiburg have shown support for their defender Stefan Mitrovic for his part in Serbia’s abandoned Euro 2016 qualifier against Albania on Tuesday evening.
The game was abandoned after 41 minutes when a flag bearing a political message was flown over the pitch.
Serbia’s Mitrovic pulled the flag down and he has received support from his club for removing the message.
“Stefan just did what every player would have done,” said Freiburg’s president Fritz Heller.
“Everybody is annoyed when football is interrupted by political things. We’re going to defend Stefan because we cannot imagine any reason not to.”
Hong Kong left to foot the bill
The Hong Kong FA were left red-faced after only managing to sell half the tickets for Tuesday’s glamour friendly against Argen-tina to mark their centenary.
Only 20,230 turned up at the 40,000 capacity Hong Kong Stadium to witness a two-goal, 30-minute cameo by Lionel Messi in a lop-sided 7-0 stroll for the World Cup runners-up.
The South China Morning Post had reported months ago that the HKFA needed a full house in order to break even after pricing the cost of staging the fixture at $3.87 million.
“It is a shame. The second-best team in the world is here and we have a half-empty stadium,” HKFA CEO Mark Sutcliffe said.
“We will have a debrief with the agent. We will try to find out the reasons.”
Krul boost for Newcastle
Newcastle expect Tim Krul to be fit for Saturday’s Premier League game against Leicester after the goalkeeper suffered an injury while training with Holland.
The 26-year-old sustained the problem on Saturday and re-turned to Tyneside before the Oranje’s shock 2-0 loss in Iceland.
Scans on Monday showed ligament damage, the club revealed before declaring yesterday that he should be in contention this weekend.
“Tim Krul has been further assessed today by the club’s medical staff and the club can confirm that he has nothing more than a very minor elbow injury,” a Newcastle statement read.
Bulgaria coach Penev under fire
Bulgaria coach Luboslav Penev faces an uncertain future following successive Euro 2016 qualifying defeats against Croatia and Norway, officials said yesterday.
“Lubo (Penev) made a lot of mistakes,” Bulgarian Football Union executive committee member Ventsislav Stefanov said.
“I want to thank him for his work and to tell him goodbye.”
Bulgaria were beaten 1-0 by Croatia on Friday and then suffered a 2-1 loss in Norway three days later that left them fourth in Group H.
Croatia and Italy are top on nine points from three matches, followed by Norway on six.
Bulgaria have three points after their 2-1 win at Azerbaijan in their opening fixture.
Hodgson labelled a ‘dinosaur’
Former Wales assistant coach Raymond Verheijen has labelled England manager Roy Hodgson as a ‘dinosaur’ who has made himself look stupid.
The outspoken Verheijen has ridiculed the national team boss after Hodgson questioned Liverpool’s fitness regime, which is based on a two-day recovery system.
“Roy Hodgson once again made himself look extremely stupid. He is the perfect example of a typical uneducated English coach,” Verheijen, who has also worked with Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester City and Holland, wrote on Twitter.
“Embarrassing to see dinosaur Hodgson questioning the fitness regime of the forward-thinking manager Brendan Rodgers.”