Former Italy midfielder Gennaro Gattuso has rejoined Serie B side Pisa as coach one month after resigning in protest at poor working conditions.
Pisa confirmed yesterday that the famously hot-tempered 38-year-old had agreed to return and would take charge of the team this weekend.
Gattuso led Pisa to promotion from the third tier last season after winning a two-leg play-off against Foggia and said it was as good as winning the Champions League with Milan.
Diego Costa hits out at Spanish media
Striker Diego Costa has said he is unfairly criticised by the Spanish media.
An injury to Alvaro Morata saw Costa come off the bench in the first half of Spain’s 2-0 win away at Belgium on Thursday, and shortly after coming on he provided the lay-off for David Silva’s opening goal.
Costa has scored just one goal in 11 appearances for Spain since switching nationalities from his native Brazil in 2014,.
“They criticise me a lot and if I played for Real or Barca and was a natural Spaniard they’d say I had a good game,” Costa said.
“I didn’t score but I can be useful to the team.”
Lampard winner
Frank Lampard’s second goal of the game secured a 3-2 stoppage-time victory for New York City in a topsy-turvy Major League Soccer clash with DC United.
Lloyd Sam had fired the visitors ahead before the game sparked into life with four goals in the closing stages.
David Villa capitalised on a poor back-pass and equalised 11 minutes from time, and former England midfielder Lampard then looked to have won it for the hosts when he lashed home his first goal of the night.
There was drama in added-on time, though, with Lamar Neagle pulling it back to 2-2 before Lampard had the final word with a fine winner on 93 minutes.
Chinese consortium to up ’Pool valuation
A Chinese-backed consortium interested in acquiring a stake in Liverpool is willing to raise its valuation of the club closer to £1 billion, Bloomberg reported.
The consortium is a partnership between PCP Capital Partners and Chinese state-owned financial conglomerate Everbright. They had earlier valued Liverpool at about £750 million.
However, in light of a surge in the Premier League’s broadcasting revenue and redevelopment work at Anfield increasing capacity to more than 54,000 seats, the investor group is now ready to raise its valuation.
Liverpool owners, the Fenway Sports Group, have said the club is not for sale, but indicated they are open to offers for a minority stake in the club.
Butland to undergo ankle surgery
Stoke City’s England goalkeeper Jack Butland is set to undergo ankle surgery after suffering a setback in his recovery from a fracture that has sidelined him since March.
Butland said yesterday he would go under the knife next week with British media reporting he was now unlikely to return until November, in a blow to club coach Mark Hughes as well as England boss Sam Allardyce.
Butland fractured the ankle during England’s 3-2 friendly victory against Germany in Berlin.
He is now likely to miss at least six Premier League games for Stoke City as well as England’s qualifiers against Malta and Slovenia next month.
Shaw buries hatchet with Mourinho
Luke Shaw has cleared the air with Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho over remarks the Portuguese made concerning the left-back’s high wage demands ahead of a prospective transfer to west London when he was in charge at Chelsea.
The 21-year-old rejected a chance to join Chelsea in favour of a switch to United in 2014 with Mourinho saying at the time that Shaw would have “killed” the stability of the team if he had paid “that much to a 19-year-old kid”.
“We spoke about it. He said it to me at first,” the full-back said.
“I was just going to leave it, but he had a joke about it. There are no hard feelings.”
Everton ‘protect’ midfielder McCarthy
Everton pulled out of a deal to sign Frenchman Moussa Sissoko to protect midfielder James McCarthy’s place in the team, the club’s majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri has said.
Sissoko had looked on the verge of moving to Goodison Park but instead joined Tottenham from Newcastle United.
McCarthy, 25, joined Everton in September 2013 and played more than 30 games in all competitions for the club last season, but Sissoko’s arrival could have put the Ireland international’s place in manager Ronald Koeman’s squad under threat.
“Sissoko is a great player. But when I bought into Everton, I made it clear I was proud to join a family. And we don’t turn our backs on our own,” Moshiri said.