England want Southgate’s services beyond Euro 2020
LONDON: England’s Football Association wants Gareth Southgate to stay on as manager beyond Euro 2020 but knows it cannot compete on wages if a Premier League club makes an approach.
Southgate took England to the World Cup semi-finals in Russia, boosting his stock within the game and ending a run of miserable failures at major tournaments for the national side.
“Gareth has been excellent -we’d like him to stay beyond 2020,” FA chief executive Martin Glenn said. “I think we’d both like that but if we talked about it at any length it would then be a contract conversation and he’s on holiday now, so we’ll talk when he comes back.”
Southgate’s current salary is understood to be £1.8 million ($2.4 million) a year, with bonuses taking it closer to the £2.5 million his predecessors Sam Allardyce and Roy Hodgson are believed to have earned.
The figures are still much less than the £4 million Fabio Capello received when at the helm and a fraction of the salaries of around £15 million earned by the likes of Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola in the Premier League.
NEYMAR REJOINS PSG
SHENZHEN, CHINA: Dozens of screaming fans welcomed Brazil star Neymar on Thursday as he flew in to China to rejoin Paris Saint-Germain after his disappointing World Cup.
The world’s most expensive player, wearing a canary-yellow hoodie, posed for pictures with airport staff before his noisy welcome in the arrivals hall.
Footage on Neymar’s Twitter account showed him signing Barcelona, Brazil and PSG shirts before being guided through the crowd by minders and security staff. Neymar’s arrival, ahead of Saturday’s French Super Cup game against Monaco in Shenzhen, comes more than five months after his last appearance for PSG following a foot injury in late February.
NASRI BAN INCREASES
NYON ,SWITZERLAND: Former Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri has had his doping ban increased to 18 months following an appeal against the original six-month sanction, UEFA has said. The Frenchman was handed the original suspension in February after UEFA found the 31-year-old “guilty of using a prohibited method in accordance with the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) prohibited list”.