Middlesbrough sacked manager Aitor Karanka yesterday and handed the Spaniard’s assistant Steve Agnew the pressing task of trying to keep the club in the Premier League.
“Both parties have agreed that it is in the best interests of the club to make this change,” Middlesbrough, three points from safety and without a win in 10 matches, said in a statement.
The club, promoted last season after a seven-year absence from the top flight, thanked Karanka for his work over the past three-and-a-half years.
Martins Indi eyes permanent move
Defender Bruno Martins Indi wants to make his loan deal at Stoke City from Porto permanent at the end of the season as the Dutch defender looks to repay the faith shown in him by manager Mark Hughes.
“We are talking to each other, the club and me. I have the intention to stay. We want to see what is going to happen,” the 25-year-old told Sky Sports.
“I was following Stoke before I was here and I knew the way the manager wants to play. “He gave me a lot of confidence to come here and he trusted me, I’m happy that I could give him that back.”
Snodgrass pleased with Scots shake-up
Scotland midfielder Robert Snodgrass has backed manager Gordon Strachan’s decision to shake up the squad ahead of their 2018 World Cup qualifier against Slovenia on March 26.
Strachan has called up Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser, Fulham’s Tom Cairney and Celtic’s Stuart Armstrong for the first time, as well as recalling West Brom’s Matt Phillips.
“The players that he’s brought into the squad, lads are playing at a good level, lads are scoring goals in the Premier League, lads are scoring goals in the Championship, the (Scottish Premiership),” Snodgrass said.
Sevilla’s Nasri brands Vardy ‘a cheat’
Sevilla midfielder Samir Nasri has accused Jamie Vardy of cheating after the Frenchman was sent off for squaring up to the Leicester forward and bumping foreheads in their match on Tuesday.
Leicester, down 2-1 from the first leg in Spain, turned the tie around with a superb 2-0 victory at King Power Stadium to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
Nasri was shown a second yellow card by Italian referee Daniele Orsato for violent conduct after squaring up to Vardy.
“For me he’s a cheat because if he was a foreign player you, the English press, would be saying he’s a cheat. For me he is a cheat,” Nasri told reporters.
“They were winning 2-0, play the game like a man. You are not better than us but you are winning 2-0 and will qualify, just play the game.”
Lukaku questions Everton’s ambition
Everton striker Romelu Lukaku has questioned whether the Premier League club shares his ambition to challenge for major honours and says he wants to be “remembered by winning trophies”, not just for scoring goals.
Lukaku added that despite the club’s progress under the major shareholder Farhad Moshiri and manager Ronald Koeman, Everton had failed in their pursuit of several transfer targets.
“Obviously, stuff is changing and stuff is happening but there were some players that we could have got, that I knew the club could have got, and they didn’t get,” the 23-year-old said.
“No matter where you play you want to be remembered. You cannot only be remembered by scoring goals, you want to be remembered by winning trophies.”
Benatia drops out of Morocco team
Morocco captain Medhi Benatia has dropped himself from the team due to a lack of form and match action with Juventus.
The 29-year-old said he did not deserve special treatment and would not be available for his country again until he was playing regularly in Serie A.
“I have to face the facts, I’m not in the first team at my club and that means I am not as competitive as I need to be for the national team,” the centre back said.
“Despite my lack of playing time, they continued to trust me by selecting me. But I think it’s unfair to come and play for the national team when I lack competitive football and take the place of someone who is in a better position.”
Neymar’s tax fine halved by court
Neymar’s €56.7m fine for tax fraud was halved yesterday when a Brazilian tax appeals court ruled in his favour.
The Barcelona forward had been hit with the punishment last year for failing to report earnings from his contracts with Brazilian club Santos, Barcelona, Nike and other sponsors between 2011 and 2014.
But after appealing the fine – which included back-taxes and interest–a judge found in Neymar’s favour and decided to reduce it.
Neymar will also be permitted to cede his image rights to family businesses after the judge also dismissed charges by federal auditors that they were front companies set up to dodge taxes.