Ranieri will find new job immediately: Guardiola
LONDON:CLAUDIO Ranieri will not have to wait long for another job following his sacking by Leicester, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said on Tuesday.
Leicester’s decision to sack Ranieri less than 300 days after he took them to the Premier League title reverberated around world football and surprised Guardiola.
“Yes of course (it was a surprise),” said the Spaniard, whose side face second-tier Huddersfield Town in an FA Cup fifth round replay on Wednesday.
“But I think Claudio has to be proud. He is going to find immediately a new job.”
Leicester rediscovered their form in their first match since Ranieri’s sacking last week, outplaying Liverpool 3-1.
“Yesterday I saw the game against Liverpool, it was his legacy. The way Leicester play was outstanding,” he said.
KOEMAN OPEN TO ROONEY RETURN
LONDON:EVERTON manager Ronald Koeman paved the way on Tuesday for Wayne Rooney’s return to the club of his youth by saying he would make the side “stronger”.
Last week Rooney said he was staying with Manchester United following persistent speculation he could make a lucrative move to the Chinese Super League.
“I believe that Wayne Rooney is still playing at a high level,” Koeman told Sky Sports. “I think he made a good choice to stay at Manchester United and in the Premier League because he has still two or three years in front of him to play on a high level,” the former Dutch international added. “What will happen at the end of the season? I don’t know but in my opinion he is one of the players who can make Everton more stronger.”
‘NO SHORT-TERM FIX FOR GOETZE’
BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund said Tuesday they do not expect Mario Goetze to return anytime soon as Germany’s World Cup winner battles with a unspecified metabolism disorder.
“This will not be a short-term issue,” said Dortmund’s CEO Hans-joachim Watzke.
Dortmund announced on Monday that medical tests to see why Goetze had been suffering from repeated injury and a lack of form had revealed ‘metabolic disturbances’.
Last July, Dortmund paid 22 million euros ($23m) to buy Goetze back from Bayern, having been forced to sell him in 2013 for 37 million euros after the Bavarians triggered a release clause.
CHINA TRANSFERS HIT NEW RECORD
BEIJING: Chinese clubs splashed a record €388 million (~2,746 crore) on footballers in the Januaryfebruary transfer window despite an official crackdown on spending, with Oscar’s heavyweight move to Shanghai SIPG leading the way.
In spite of moves to curb “irrational” expenditure, China’s top tier beat last year’s record of 345 million euros (~2440 crore)and outstripped the English Premier League’s winter spending (€259 m or ~1832 cr) for the second year in a row.