Posts Tagged ‘Team Mate’

Everton confirm Donovan bid

Zamora punishes Black Cats

Man Utd back out of deal for Ljajic

• 18-year-old Adem Ljajic deemed too expensive a gamble
• United used opt-out clause in £16.5m deal with Zoran Tosic

Manchester United’s American owners have terminated an agreement to sign Adem Ljajic, the Serbia Under-21 international, in the January transfer window, after deciding that he is too expensive a gamble, 11 months after publicly announcing that a deal had been put in place to sign the player dubbed the “little Kaká” in his own country.

Ljajic, 18, was part of the £16.5m deal that also saw his Partizan Belgrade team-mate Zoran Tosic move to Old Trafford last January. The teenager had been on trial at United the previous October and was regarded at the time as the more promising of the two players but United also decided that he should remain in Belgrade to get some more first-team experience before moving to England.

What was not revealed at the time was that the club also stipulated that a get-out clause was written into the contract to cover themselves before Ljajic moved to Manchester long term, and the club have now confirmed they have used that agreement to pull out of the arrangement.

The official reason is that Ljajic has failed to live up to the hype since he broke into the Partizan team at the start of the 2008-09 season and has not impressed United’s coaching staff on his regular trips to Manchester to train with the rest of Sir Alex Ferguson’s players. Tosic has also struggled to make a favourable impact, making only five substitute appearances despite being a regular in the Serbia national side.

A United spokesperson said: “We had an option to buy the player but, having closely monitored his development over the past 12 months, and taken into consideration the young players emerging through the ranks at the club, we have not chosen to pursue the transfer.”

The decision will, however, raise inevitable questions about whether the club’s owners, Malcolm Glazer and his family, have involved themselves in Ferguson’s planning for the future at a time when they are making substantial cuts at Old Trafford.

United have accrued debts in excess of £600m and Ferguson has been informed he will be operating under tight restraints in the January transfer window, regardless of the club receiving £80m in one single payment from Real Madrid for the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer.

The Glazers have implemented wide-ranging cuts and, though it has yet to be confirmed, there is a sense that in their current financial position they might have misgivings about paying such a substantial figure for a largely unproven teenager.

This turnaround, however, is extraordinary given that Manchester United’s official website described Ljajic as “Serbia’s brightest young talent” when the signing was announced, hailing him as an “attacking midfielder blessed with vision and intelligence”. The player, then 17, spoke of his excitement about moving to England, saying: “I first heard they were interested in me about a year and a half ago and spent a week at Carrington training with the first team, which I really enjoyed. I feel very happy to be a Manchester United player. Everyone at the club has made me feel very welcome and I’m looking forward to joining in January.”

Tosic has his own problems but has been encouraged by scoring four goals in the last four reserve fixtures, and the 22-year-old was a second-half substitute in the 2-0 Carling Cup defeat of Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday. “I’m still trying to get used to English football and adapt to the style of the game here,” he said. “It’s still new for me but I’m getting used to it.” Unfortunately for Ljajic, he will not get that chance.

Donovan wins MLS player of the year

• Donovan scored 12 goals for Galaxy in regular season
• Beckham reiterates commitment to football in the US

The LA Galaxy forward Landon Donovan has been named Major League Soccer’s most valuable player after helping to lead his side to the MLS championship final for the first time since 2005.

Donovan has often been talked about as the most talented player in the US but this is the first time he has won the top award.

He scored 12 times during the regular season, helping the Galaxy finish top of the Western conference, while in the play-offs, Donovan scored twice in the first-round series win over Californian rivals Chivas USA, and scored the vital penalty kick in extra-time against Houston Dynamo in their 2-0 conference final victory last week.

Donovan’s team-mate, David Beckham, said his side had done well to get to the final against Real Salt Lake at the 36,000 capacity Qwest Stadium in Seattle on Sunday.

“We deserve to be where we are, but we still haven’t won anything,” he said. “We might have won in our division, but it means nothing; you want to win everything. So that’s what we’re going for.”

Beckham, who will rejoin Serie A’s Milan on loan in January, was also keen to point out that he is still enthusiastic about playing football in the United States. “I always committed myself to the MLS and committed myself to Tim Leiweke and the whole franchise and I always said that I would see it through.

“There’s never a smooth road. There’s always a few bumps along the way and there has been. But that’s kind of been my career. There’s always been ups and downs, more ups than downs. But that’s the way it is. That’s life.”

Beckham says friction at LA Galaxy helped unity

• Beckham has mended relationship with Landon Donovan
• LA Galaxy prepare for MLS Cup final on Sunday

David Beckham believes friction with his Los Angeles Galaxy team-mate Landon Donovan this summer helped unify the Major League Soccer club.

Beckham and the Galaxy face Real Salt Lake in Seattle on Sunday in the MLS Cup final, which will determine the 2009 league champions.

The England midfielder had missed the start of the campaign after securing an extension to his loan deal with Milan until the end of the Serie A season in Italy and, while he was away, a book entitled The Beckham Experiment was published exposing rifts between him and the team captain Donovan, who questioned the Englishman’s commitment to the Galaxy.

As the controversy ensued, Beckham was booed by some Galaxy fans on his return to the Home Depot Center in July but since then the 34-year-old has mended his relationship with Donovan and helped turn his team from last-place finishers in 2008 to Western Conference champions.

Beckham, who will rejoin Milan on 28 December in a second loan deal that will not see him return to the Galaxy until after the World Cup finals next summer, refused to make an issue of his difficult start to the season with the Galaxy, instead saying the friction with Donovan had been beneficial.

“I don’t have to say anything about myself, I’ll leave that to other people to decide,” Beckham said. “But I love playing soccer, I work hard for my team and my team-mates and myself and my manager and the fans, and I hope that’s enough for people. But there’s nothing wrong with a bit of controversy in a club. It brings players and teams together and it’s done that.”

The former USA defender Alexi Lalas was the club’s managing director when Beckham arrived in Los Angeles in July 2007 and he has hailed the Galaxy for finally making Beckham’s move to MLS a success after the England midfielder spent his first half-season hampered by injury problems.

The Galaxy failed to improve in Beckham’s first full season at the club and, having fired two head coaches in Frank Yallop and Ruud Gullit, the team owners, AEG, also removed Lalas, bringing in the former USA manager Bruce Arena as coach and director of football.

Arena could not prevent the Galaxy finishing with the worst record in MLS in 2008 but the turnaround in 2009 has impressed Lalas. “You talk about the ‘Beckham Experiment’, well, when you do an experiment it’s trial and error and the Galaxy have got it right in terms of what they’ve done on and off the field this year,” Lalas said.

“They made wholesale changes at the end of last year, got rid of Ruud Gullit, made some other changes, got rid of yours truly and a lot of different things but ultimately the organisation is right back where it needs to be and that’s important for the Galaxy fans and they’re the most important in all of this.”