Chelsea agree a record Nike deal
Wenger, Mou driven by hatred
LONDON, Oct 13, (Agencies): Chelsea announced on Thursday a long-term partnership with Nike from next year in a deal that media reports suggested could be worth 60 million pounds ($74.61 million) a season.
Without giving financial details, Chelsea said it represented the largest commercial deal in the Premier League club’s history.
“Nike will produce strips for the first team, academy and ladies teams, as well as a full range of clothing for Chelsea’s millions of supporters around the world,” the club said in a statement.
Chelsea’s current kit is produced by Adidas, which said in May it had reached a mutual agreement to end its deal on June 30, 2017, instead of in 2023 as originally agreed, allowing the club to enter a new agreement with another competitor.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho have often clashed off the field but Gunners goalkeeper Petr Cech believes the pair share a common trait — a hatred of defeat — as motivation for success.
Wenger and Mourinho have had a fierce rivalry since the Portuguese boss moved to England in 2004 and, in the latest exchange of blows between the managers, a book earlier this year claimed that Mourinho wanted to ‘break’ the Frenchman’s face.
“They are different but there is one thing they have in common and that is, they don’t like defeats,” the 34-year-old Cech said at a recent Guinness World Records promotional event.
Mourinho
West Ham United defenders Aaron Cresswell and Havard Nordtveit, and striker Jonathan Calleri have returned to full training but Turkish winger Gokhan Tore will be out for up to six weeks with a quadriceps injury, the club said on its website.
Cresswell suffered a serious knee injury in pre-season but is set to return earlier than was initially expected, while Nordtveit and Calleri are also on the mend.
“Aaron Cresswell, Havard Nordtveit and Jonathan Calleri have all returned to full training,” said Stijn Vandenbroucke, West Ham’s head of Medical and Sports Science.
Champions Leicester City are still the team to beat in the Premier League despite their sluggish start to the campaign but need to string together a series of wins to rebuild their confidence, defender Luis Hernandez said.
Leicester, who are 12th after losing three of their opening seven games, have yet to recapture the stunning form they displayed last season, which saw them romp to a first league title by a 10-point margin.
Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Mousa Dembele is a doubt for Saturday’s Premier League trip to West Bromwich Albion after aggravating an old foot injury, manager Mauricio Pochettino said on Thursday. The Belgium international, a key player for Pochettino last season, has featured in just two games for Tottenham in the current campaign.
He missed the first four games of the season due to suspension and injured his hamstring in his second game of the season, against Sunderland last month.
The prolific goalscorer Alfredo Di Stefano, who spearheaded Real Madrid’s five European titles in the 1950s, is to have a street named in his honour, municipal authorities in the Spanish capital said on Thursday.
The Argentinian born centre-forward known as the blonde arrow in his heyday died in 2014 aged 88 and was honorary president of Real, whom he also coached, albeit with little success.
FC Copenhagen director Anders Horsholt on Thursday told a Danish tabloid that the club was in talks with major teams from Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Scotland over forming a new multinational league.
“If we don’t act now we will see the biggest clubs grow larger and stronger while it will be increasingly difficult for clubs like us,” he told daily BT. The new project could eventually lead to the clubs involved having to leaved their national leagues, he said.
In addition to Denmark, clubs from the Netherlands (Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord), Belgium (Anderlecht, Club Brugge), Scotland (Celtic, Rangers), Sweden (Malmo FF) and Norway (Rosenborg) were involved in the talks, according to BT.