English Premier League clubs have agreed to spend £12m in order to try to boost dwindling away attendances in the top flight.
Last year Premier League clubs sold 477,000 season tickets, but fewer and fewer fans are starting to attend away matches.
The league has seen a five per cent drop in away attendance over the last five years as fans struggle to afford high ticket prices and travel costs.
The Premier League have sought to remedy the problem by persuading the clubs to agree to spend £4m between them over the next three years on away attendance initiatives.
Luiz Gustavo staying grounded
Luiz Gustavo is not getting carried away despite helping new club Wolfsburg to an impressive 4-0 victory over Schalke in his first appearance for the Wolves.
The Brazilian took the field just 24 hours after his transfer from Bayern Munich went through and played the full 90 minutes.
Gustavo, however, feels it is far too early to be talking about possibly challenging the likes of Bayern and Borussia Dortmund for the title.
“There are Bayern and Dortmund so it’s not going to be easy,” he said.
“I’ve only just got here. But I’m a simple kind of guy and I know what I can do. My team-mates made it easy for me and Wolfsburg are a top club.”
Huntelaar out with knee injury
Schalke 04 forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will be out of action for several weeks after suffering a knee injury in Saturday’s 4-0 Bundesliga defeat by Wolfsburg.
Schalke said the 30-year-old had suffered a partial tear of a ligament in his right knee after colliding with Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.
“The team doctors think he is looking at a break of several weeks,” Schalke said.
Huntelaar, the Bundesliga’s top scorer two seasons ago with 29 goals, scored twice in Schalke’s opening match, a 3-3 draw with Hamburg, a week ago.
Osvaldo a Saint
Southampton have signed Italian international Pablo Osvaldo from Serie A side Roma, the Premier League club said last night.
The 27-year-old attacker penned a four-year deal with the Saints in what is being reported by English media as a club record transfer of £15 million.
Osvaldo, who was born in Argentina, has been capped nine times for Italy and played under Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino while at Espanyol.
Southampton began the new season with a 1-0 win away at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday courtesy of new En-gland international Rickie Lam-bert’s late penalty.
Inter relaunch bid for Taider
Inter have re-opened talks with Bologna for the transfer move of young midfielder Saphir Taider.
The two Serie A clubs had already tried to negotiate the ownership of the 21-year-old Frenchman last month but no agreement was reached as Bologna pulled out in the last minute.
Reports yesterday said Inter are now willing to lift their offer to €6 million even though Bologna, who signed Diego Perez last week, are asking for two million more for Taider.
Inter have already agreed terms with the player who will be signing a four-year contract if the deal goes through.
Japan guest team in Copa America
Asian champions Japan will take part in the Copa America tournament in Chile in 2015.
“This is a very satisfying announcement for our continent’s football and more proof of the excellent relations we have had with the Japanese FA for a long time,” said CONMEBOL president Eugenio Figueredo.
It will be Japan’s second involvement in South America’s top international competition, which is played every four years, after they took part in the 1999 tournament.
Mexico, in the last eight editions, Costa Rica, United States and Honduras have also taken part as guest teams.
Eintracht swoop for Kadlec
Eintracht Frankfurt have responded to their lack of goals so far this season by signing Vaclav Kadlec from Czech club Sparta Prague for an undisclosed fee.
The 21-year-old has penned a four-year contract with the Eagles, who lost 1-0 at home to Bayern Munich on Saturday to remain glued to the foot of the Bundesliga after losing their opening league fixture 6-1 at Hertha Berlin.
Kadlec played a total of 146 games for Sparta, scoring 39 goals, while he also has experience of playing in the Europa League.
He has two caps for the Czech Republic and scored one goal for his national team. He scored his first pro goal in the Czech top flight at the age of 16.