Marseille announced that Argentine playmaker Lucho Gonzalez will remain at the club this season, despite weeks of speculation linking him with a move away.
“The Olympique de Marseille board confirms that the club’s midfielder, Lucho Gonzalez, will indeed play the 2011-2012 season in the Marseille shirt,” read a statement.
Big-spending Spanish side Malaga reportedly made a six million euros bid for Lucho in June but the offer was judged insufficient by Marseille.
Lucho, 30, joined Marseille from Porto for €18m in the summer of 2009.
He won the Ligue 1 title and the French League Cup in his first season at the club but endured an underwhelming 2010-11 campaign.
Newcastle striker arrested over assault
Newcastle forward Nile Ranger was arrested last weekend after a man was assaulted outside a pub and left unconscious with a suspected broken jaw.
The 20-year-old was arrested in Newcastle city centre late Satur-day and the victim was taken to hospital.
Ranger joined Newcastle from Southampton in 2008 and played several games as the Magpies won the Championship and promotion to the Premier League in 2010.
He was spoken to by his club in May after a photograph of him posing with a replica handgun ap-peared in a national newspaper.
Juventus close in on Estigarribia
Juventus are on the verge of completing the loan signing of Paraguay international Marcelo Estigarribia from Le Mans. The 24-year-old already passed a medical and will become Juve’s eighth acquisition this summer.
Estigarribia – who can play in left midfield or on the wing – played on loan at Newell’s Old Boys last season and impressed at this summer’s Copa America.
Juve will have the option to make Estigarribia’s move permanent if they pay a reported five million euros at the end of the campaign.
Last week, Juve strengthened their attack by signing Emanuele Giaccherini from Cesena.
Oenning given Hamburg backing
Hamburg coach Michael Oenning must not fear for his job, according to the club’s chairman Carl-Edgar Jarchow.
A 4-3 defeat at home to Cologne on Saturday left the only club never to have been relegated from the top flight of German football rooted to the bottom of the table with just one point from the first four games of the season.
“Of course we have a bad record, however we still have faith in Mic-hael Oenning being able to get something out of this team,” he said.
“He knows that he needs points, but at the moment there is no reason to make any changes to the situation.”
Brighton deserve top spot says Poyet
Brighton manager Gus Poyet insisted his side deserved to be top of the Championship after the Seagulls’ deadly finishing secured a 2-0 win over Peterborough.
Clinical strikes in either half from winger Craig Noone and midfielder Ryan Harley were enough to take the points on Saturday against a team who had put seven past Ipswich Town last weekend.
“We are top of the table and deserve to be, although it’s very, very early,” said former Chelsea midfielder Poyet.
“It was a superb solo goal by Noone and Ryan Harley demonstrated with his free-kick that his delivery is first class.”
Chelsea sign young Mexican Davila
Chelsea have announced the signing of Mexico U-20 attacking midfielder Ulises Davila from Chivas Guadalajara.
The Blues have already recruited youngsters Oriol Romeu, Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois during this summer’s transfer window.
The diminutive Mexican has signed a five-year contract with the Stamford Bridge club.
Blues technical director Mic-hael Emenalo told the club’s web-site: “Chivas is a superb club with a strong reputation in player development and world football, and we are confident Ulises will be able to continue his fast deve-lopment to become an important Chelsea first-team player in future.”
Dalglish refuses to talk about Coates
Kenny Dalglish refused to discuss the imminent arrival of Sebastian Coates at Liverpool.
Uruguay international def-ender Coates was at Anfield on Saturday to witness an easy 3-1 win over Bolton which maintained the Merseyside club’s unbeaten start to the campaign.
The 20-year-old is set to complete a €7.9m move from Nacional before Wednesday’s transfer deadline, and his arrival will take Dalglish’s spending to £115 million since he returned to take charge of Liverpool last January.
Dalglish, however, was reluctant to talk about the transfer until it is completed.
“When we have something to say then we’ll tell everyone at the same time,” he said.