SPORT NEWS today!!! Liverpool are bracing themselves for a battle to keep Luis Suarez this summer. It is understood that Real Madrid and possibly Barcelona will make a move for the Uruguayan striker. That Suarez signed a new long-term deal with the Liverpool striker just four months ago does not affect his availability. As predicted by Football Grapevine, the new improved deal which saw Suarez’s wages move into the region of £200,000-a-week, meant that his sell-on fee clause of £40million was struck off. In demand: Real Madrid and possibly Barcelona are expected to move for Liverpools Luis Suarez this summer But it is understood there are clauses in the new deal that would trigger a sale in the vicinity of 100m euros (£82m). Real Madrid are favourites to move in but Barcelona could challenge. I understand though it is Suarez’s dream to play for Real. Luis Suarez scoops PFA Player of the Year award Poyet favourite to replace Allardyce at West Ham Gus Poyet has emerged as the favourite to become the next West Ham manager with Sam Allardyce facing the sack this week. The Hammers hierarchy remain torn about keeping Allardyce or undergoing a change of direction.But Football Grapevine sources have been told that Hammers supremo David Sullivan was less than impressed with Allardyce’s recent remarks that his ambition was bigger than that of the club. On the move: Sunderland boss Gus Poyet could leave the North-East to replace Sam Allardyce at West Ham There will be a summit meeting this week about the way forward and it is likely the club will part company with Allardyce. Sunderland boss Poyet is now a favoured replacement but Michael Laudrup, Malkay Mackay, Slaven Bilic, Glenn Hoddle and former boss Alan Pardew are names that are also being discussed. If Allardyce is sacked this week then his next point of destination could well be Aston Villa - or Sunderland. I am hearing Ashley Cole is the most in-demand free transfer this summer. Tottenham are the latest club in for Cole who I hear has proposals from Manchester City and Liverpool. Proposals: Chelseas Ashley Cole is expected to leave Chelsea and has offers from Liverpool and Man City I am also hearing West Ham will make a move to sign John Terry. And so will QPR if they get promoted. BTW There is fury among many Football League and non-League clubs about the Greg Dyke’s ridiculous B-team proposal. In a nutshell, it is likely a new division between the Conference and Football League will create a glass ceiling for aspirational non-League clubs who would see a road block for progression, as well as undermining struggling Football League clubs. Opposition: There has been widespread anger regarding FA Chairman Greg Dykes league reforms Plugs will be be pulled. Behind the spin the whole idea seems more about helping elite clubs get around Financial Fair Play regulations than developing young talent. Why trust yet another blueprint for the future devised by the FA or Premier League marketeers? So-called club academies have failed. So has the hugely expensive St George’s HQ. Both big ideas were ignited by big noise blueprints of previous new FA regimes. What the FA should be looking at is not cheap talk about helping grass roots football (nice soundbite) but actually really helping it. For instance, take the case of Cray Wanderers. Grassroots: The FA Commission - including Danny Mills - should go and experience football in the lower leagues This is the second oldest club in the country. It plays in the sixth tier. It also has a very good local community and youth policy. But the club is homeless and currently groundshares with Bromley FC. Owner Gary Hillman has good plans to build a new ground and facilities back in its original area in St Pauls Cray and St Mary Cray. Yet planning permission is blocked. But the FA offer no support and neither does the existing Conservative-led council but ahead of local elections UKIP does. Does the FA want be outdone by UKIP? Dyke and his cronies who get seduced by a new idea brochure should actually go down and see what’s happening at the grassroots of football in this country. It’s actually quite good. It just needs a bit more help to nurture the vast pool of talent that exists - and also to make sure that some of the kids who slip through the net bounce back. Lampards LA Galaxy deal, City in for Fabregas and Pardew safe for now Frank Lampard has been offered a two-year deal to move to LA Galaxy. But he wants a new one-year deal with Chelsea. Manchester City are ready to outbid Manchester United and lure Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona. Alan Pardew will not be sacked by Newcastle this summer. My source tells me he is still 100 per cent backed by owner Mike Ashley despite fan dissent. Finishing in the top 10 is what was required of Pardew by the Sports Direct owner. Behind Arsene Wenger, Pardew is the second-longest reigning manager in the Premier League after taking over in December 2010. Safe for now: Alan Pardew will not be sacked as Newcastle manager this summer as he has Mike Ashleys backing I-Say Mon: After seeing Luis Suarez crying at the end of Liverpool’s collapse at Crystal Palace, Stoke’s Robert Huth argues that crying on the pitch should warrant a three-match ban. A bit strong but I get his point. It’s becoming pathetic watching so many players blubbing. Tues: UEFA hit Manchester City with a £50million fine for apparently breaking FFP rules then Villareal are fined £10,000 for the banana -throwing incident involving Barcelona’s Daniel Alves. It shows you where their priorities are. Finances not principles. Perhaps Alves and his mates should buy 10,000rotting bananas and dump them on UEFA’s doorstep. Weds: Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho fails to make Brazil’s World Cup squad - as if we needed to know just how much talent they have their disposal. Shoulder to cry on: Philippe Coutinho (left) was not included in Brazils squad for the World Cup this summer Thurs: Louis van Gaal comes out and says he’d love to be Manchester United boss but says he is still talking to other clubs. Really? Surely the Dutchman is not playing games with United ? Fri: Malkay Mackay drops his £7.5m claim with Cardiff and makes an out of court settlement. It seems like he is clearing the way to get a new job at West Ham or Norwich, perhaps. Libero The accepted equation of a World Cup squad is three keepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and four strikers - 3-8-8-4 if you like. But as Jamie Redknapp pointed out in his Sportsmail column at the start of the week, often a couple of defenders end up being excess baggage. And in the knockout stages, it can only help if you have extra options upfront. After all, you only need one striker to get injured and one suspended and you start to worry where the goals will come from. Surely it makes sense to take five front men. But England don’t exactly have a plethora of options in the attacking department. It is why Danny Welbeck, who has been a regular under Roy Hodgson, and who can operate as wide man willing to work back, is likely to make the squad along with Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge; both of whom one would expect to start. So who else does Roy take?
Posted on: Sun, 11 May 2014 08:30:59 +0000
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