Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood snapped his hamstring during his side’s 2-2 draw with Sunderland after kicking out at a water bottle in disgust at the referee denying a penalty.
“I’ve done my hamstring. I never did it as a player, I have now done it as a manager,” he said.
“I was going to kick bottles forward but there were too many people so I thought I’d be polite and backheel them and snapped my hamstring. It feels bad,” he added.
The incident was triggered when Spanish midfielder Carles Gil was booked for diving instead of being given the penalty.
Vermaelen praised after debut goal
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique was clearly delighted with Thomas Vermaelen‘s debut goal for the club on Saturday and said he was not surprised the Belgium defender was finally coming good after a long-term injury.
Vermaelen struck the winner 17 minutes from time in a 1-0 La Liga success against Malaga at the Nou Camp which maintained the champions’ perfect start to their title defence.
“I’m not surprised by his level of play,” Luis Enrique said.
“He is still not 100 per cent and has to keep accumulating minutes. He is a big asset at set pieces, he has a lot of character and is an expert player.”
Ibisevic makes switch to Hertha
Vedad Ibisevic has left Stuttgart to join Bundesliga rivals Hertha Berlin after two and a half years with the Swabians.
The two clubs have reached an agreement on an undisclosed fee for the Bosnian, who scored 33 goals in 86 outings for Stuttgart.
“I had some great years in Stuttgart, even if we unfortunately did not always get the results we had hoped for,” Ibisevic said to vfb.de.
“We agreed that a transfer was the best decision for both parties.
“I would like to wish Stuttgart and their fans all the best for a successful season.”
Hojbjerg preferred Leverkusen – Voeller
Bayer Leverkusen director of sport Rudi Voeller says Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg would have preferred to join his club over Schalke, but Bayern Munich vetoed the move.
The Danish midfielder has joined Schalke on loan until the end of the season after a move to Leverkusen fell through.
“We would have loved to have had him here, and he really wanted to come to us, but Bayern chose differently and we have got to accept that,” Voeller said.
The 20-year-old is still contracted to Bayern until 2018 and Voeller says the defending Bundesliga champions were concerned he would not play as frequently as they hope if he moved to Leverkusen.
Walcott confident goals will come
England striker Theo Walcott is convinced he will rediscover his touch in front of goal as he attempts to help Arsenal mount a bid for honours this season.
The 26-year-old made his first Premier League start of the season at Newcastle on Saturday, but saw chances go begging as the Gunners battled their way to a 1-0 victory.
He said: “I enjoy playing anywhere in the front line and the manager gave me the opportunity today. It’s a shame I couldn’t help him out there by getting those goals, but they’ll come.
“It was difficult after they went to 10 men, but you need to be able to adapt. But I have been very patient since the knee injury and I just want to play football, that’s all I want to do now, play football for this team because I fell like we can go places this year.”
Valencia sign defender Abdennour
Valencia have announced the signing of Tunisia defender Aymen Abdennour, a player who had been linked with Chelsea.
Abdennour, 26, has signed a five-year contract with Valencia, the club said, and joins from Monaco for an undisclosed fee.
“I chose Valencia CF out of all the offers I received, because it is a big club in Spain and Europe,” Abdennour said.
“I had no doubts. I am happy to be here and to be part of an ambitious and serious project, and I would like to thank the technical staff, Lay Hoon and Peter Lim.
“I will give my all to have a good season with my new team-mates.”
Liverpool’s Markovic joins Fenerbahce
Liverpool‘s Lazar Markovic has joined Turkish side Fenerbahce on a season-long loan having failed to secure regular first-team football at Anfield.
“The 21-year-old winger will spend 2015-16 with the Turkish club, who finished second in the Super Lig last term,” Liverpool said.
Markovic joined from Portuguese side Benfica in July 2014 for a fee reported to be around £20 million.
The highly-rated Serbian forward was one of a number of players brought in to offset the loss of talismanic forward Luis Suarez but he failed to live up to the lofty expectations, scoring three goals in 34 appearances.