Hart completes West Ham loan move
LONDON: Manchester City’s England goalkeeper Joe Hart has completed his season-long loan move to Premier League rivals West Ham United, the club confirmed on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old spent last season on loan at Italian side Torino after Pep Guardiola took over as City boss last summer, and Hart was told once again that he was not in the Spaniard’s plans.
The Hammers are believed to be paying a loan fee of around £4.5 million ($5.9 million, 5.1 million euros) and the deal does not include a buy-back option at the end of the 201718 season.
City have agreed to contribute towards wages for Hart, who has been capped 71 times by his country.
“It’s important for me to play football and to get the opportunity to come here and play is absolutely awesome,” he said.
“To be playing in the Premier League for a big club like West Ham, I’m really looking forward to the season.”
“We’ve moved into London Stadium and we’ve got Slaven (Bilic) in charge who I’ve spoken to and I’ve always enjoyed as a manager. He obviously did a good job with Croatia and he’s doing a good job here, so to get the opportunity to come here, it wasn’t really a hard decision.”
The former Shrewsbury Town player, whose current City contract doesn’t expire until 2019, is now expected to join his new team-mates on the club’s pre-season tour of Austria. ROME: Former Italy international striker Antonio Cassano pulled a remarkable about-turn on Tuesday, backtracking on his decision to retire just hours after breaking the news to his Verona team-mates.
“This morning I had a moment of weakness, I had a meeting with (head coach) Fabio Pecchia and the others to say that I wanted to stop,” the 35-year-old Cassano told reporters.
“I was yearning for my family but the club’s management has asked them to come and they gave me the strength to carry on.
“My wife told me, ‘the kids and myself can’t not watch you play’. That will give me strength that I haven’t had in 18 years. I want to rise to the challenge and have a crazy season,” he added.
Cassano, who hasn’t played since his release from Sampdoria in January, joined Verona just last week after the club secured promotion back to Serie A.
He first came to prominence with Roma before spells with Real Madrid, AC Milan and Inter Milan, and scored 10 goals in 39 international appearances.
Cassano was diagnosed with an atrial septal defect in his heart and underwent an operation under local anaesthetic in November 2011 which allowed him to continue his career. DEVENTER, Netherlands: Eugenie Le Sommer converted a late penalty to lift France past diehard Iceland 1-0 while Nina Burger’s early goal gave Austria an equally slim win over 10-player Switzerland at the women’s Euro on Tuesday. In Tilburg, Le Sommer sent Iceland’s keeper Gudbjerg Gunnarsdottir the wrong way to score from the spot on 86 minutes after substitute striker Elin Metta Jensen had brought down Amandine Henry in the box. In the Group C opener in Deventer earlier on Tuesday, Austrian captain Burger scored 15 minutes in with a clinical right-foot finish after a pass from Sarah Zadrazil in a clash of Euro newcomers. Switzerland were reduced to 10 players after Rahel Kiwic was sent off for bringing down Burger just outside the box with half an hour to go. France had won seven of their previous nine encounters with Iceland, but they struggled against the diehard defence on Tuesday. French midfielder Clarisse Le Bihan sent her shot wide and Dagny Brynjarsdottir headed over the crossbar at the other end in the first half. In the second, France stepped up their pressure and Iceland’s defence had a hard time stopping a ball flicked by captain Wendie Renard from Camille Abily’s free kick. Moments later, Renard’s header hit the crossbar after a corner, but then the defence collapsed as Jensen, who had been on the pitch for just three minutes, brought down Henry. France coach Olivier Echouafni said: “We have the win, that’s the most important thing. “We have to be effective. I love these games because the girls were in difficulty, but they were patient. They have been rewarded. Everyone did well.” Austria had lost six of their previous eight encounters with Switzerland, but they were the more aggressive team in the first half. Solid throughout, the Austrian defence all but eliminated Switzerland star Ramona Bachmann of Chelsea. After the break, Kiwic saw her header cleared off the goal line by Sarah Puntigam. Puntigam then almost punished Kiwic for her foul on Burger, but her free-kick was kept out by Gaelle Thalmann in the Swiss goal. Austrian keeper Manuela Zinsberger then diverted a long-range shot by Swiss substitute Vanessa Bernauer to safety. Ten minutes from the end, Bachmann saw her shot deflected by the Austrian defence just over the crossbar as Austria hung on, although Thalmann prevented Viktoria Pinther from scoring a second. “Our first-ever Euro game and a victory, that makes us very proud,” said Austria coach Dominik Thalhammer. “It was a very good performance, tactically and physically too. We controlled the game most of the time.” “It’s definitely not what we wanted,” said Switzerland coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, blaming nerves and pass quality for the loss. Group C WOMEN’S EURO RESULTS Austria 1 (Burger 15) Switzerland 0 France 1 (Le Sommer 86-pen) Iceland 0