The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Spenders Spurs drawn with sellers Anzhi in Europa League Posted: 30 Aug 2013 07:10 AM PDT Tottenham Hotspur, who have splurged over 65 million pounds (about RM320 million) on new talent, were today drawn in the same Europa League group as Anzhi Makhachkala, the Russian club who have been selling off their players. Anzhi put their entire first team squad up for sale after their billionaire owner cut the club's budget, triggering an exodus of expensively acquired players. Group K opponents Spurs, who had been linked with Anzhi's Brazilian playmaker Willian before he joined Chelsea instead along with the Russian club's Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o, have brought in several new faces. Tottenham have already broken their transfer record twice with the signings of Spain striker Roberto Soldado and Brazil midfielder Paulinho amid media reports that their Wales forward Gareth Bale will join Real Madrid in a world record deal. The draw for the group stage of Europe's second-tier club competition also featured Cypriot side APOEL, who have replaced Fenerbahce, and Norway's Tromso, reinstated in place of Besiktas after the Turkish clubs lost appeals against match-fixing bans. APOEL feature in Group F with France's Bordeaux, Germany's Eintracht Frankfurt and Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv, while Tromso are in Tottenham's group along with Moldovan outfit Sheriff. Former European champions PSV Eindhoven were drawn in Group B alongside Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb, Ukraine's Chornomorets Odessa and Bulgaria's Ludogorets. Sevilla, who won back-to-back UEFA Cups - the predecessor to the Europa League - in 2006 and 2007 will face Germany's Freiburg, Portugal's Estoril and Czech side Liberec in Group H. Holders Chelsea and last season's runners-up Benfica are competing in the Champions League. There are 48 clubs across 12 groups. Group winners and runners-up advance to the knockout stage where they will be joined by eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage. The final will staged in Turin, Italy, in May. - August 30, 2013. |
| Transfer system is robbery, says Platini Posted: 30 Aug 2013 02:36 AM PDT Platini said there were too many people vying to take a slice of commission from players' transfers and also said players were to blame for not respecting contracts. His comments came amid the ongoing saga of Gareth Bale's possible move from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid for 100 million euros and at the end of a European transfer window which critics say has dragged on for too long. "I think transfers are robbery," the former France captain told a media conference. "Today, the player is more a product than a player and that irks me because there is a whole lot of people trying to make this player make money in order to earn commissions, we should think about that and try to find something more healthy. "Players are not free and they don't even belong to clubs, they belong to financial holdings, companies or people. "I don't think it is right. I believe this is important and this is new in the world of football," he added. "We are looking into that, working on it, I agree maybe this window is too big, too long." Platini said that UEFA were looking at a possible reform of the transfer system and were aware that FIFPro, the world player's union, wanted sweeping reforms. Platini pointed out that in his own playing days, players had gone on strike for the right to leave their clubs at the end of their contract. But nowadays, he said players failed to respect their contracts, often refusing to play or train to try and force a move elsewhere. "I belong to the generation who went on strike so players could leave at the end of the contract," he added. "Players went on strike to be free.... now I see they sign contracts, they don't play because they want to leave again... there is something unhealthy about that. "Robbery may be too tough a word, but when you sign a contract you should respect it and that's what I wanted to say... We need a re-think of the whole transfer system." He added that inflated transfer fees had always been a source of debate. "We have been asking ourselves the same question for 30 years as to the morality of the money involved in transfers," he said. "People asked these questions when Diego Maradona was transferred for 30 million, or Zinedine Zidane for 60 million." - Reuters, August 30, 2013. |
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