BERLIN: Jadon Sancho rejoined Borussia Dortmund on loan for the rest of the season on Thursday, less than three years since Manchester United paid £73 million ($93 million, 85 million euros) for the England winger.
Sancho had been frozen out at United for most of the season after becoming involved in a public spat with manager Erik ten Hag.
The 23-year-old posted on social media in September that he had been made a “scapegoat” at the club for poor performances after being left out of the matchday squad for a 3-1 defeat at Arsenal.
Sancho has not played a minute for the Red Devils since and been forced to train away from the first team.
Even prior to the breakdown of his relationship with the former Ajax boss, Sancho never lived up to his price tag at Old Trafford.
He scored just 12 times in 82 appearances and struggled to hold down a regular first-team place under both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ten Hag.
But he will hope a return to the club where he made his name as one of Europe’s rising stars can rejuvenate his career.
“Jadon is an absolute difference maker and I’m looking forward to seeing him back in black and yellow soon,” said Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl.
“He knows this city, the stadium, our fans and our club. Even though he hasn’t played any competitive games in the past few months, we are sure that he will quickly settle back in with us, get into top form and use his qualities to help us achieve our goals for the season.”
German media reports the deal will cost Dortmund roughly four million euros and that Sancho has agreed to take a significant cut to his reported £300,000-a-week wages.
After joining from the Manchester City academy aged just 17, Sancho scored 50 goals and provided 64 assists in 137 appearances during his first spell at Dortmund, helping them to win the 2021 German Cup and 2019 German Super Cup.
“When I came into the dressing room today, it felt like ‘coming home’. I know the club inside out, I’ve always been very close with the fans here, and I there was no break in contact with those in charge,” said Sancho.
“I can’t wait to see my teammates again, go out on the pitch, play football with a smile on my face, assist goals, score goals and help achieve Champions League qualification.”
Dortmund are betting on Sancho rediscovering his form of old to help turn their season around.
They sit fifth in the Bundesliga, six points adrift of the Champions League places after a run of just one win in eight games prior to the German season shutting down for its winter break.
But Dortmund did win the toughest group in the Champions League, knocking out AC Milan and Newcastle to progress to the last 16, where they will face PSV Eindhoven.
United are also hoping that Sancho can show why they splashed out on him to attract a bidding war for his services come the summer.
Ten Hag has been criticized for his failure to reconcile their differences and get the best out of one of his star names as United have struggled during his second campaign in charge.
The English giants have lost 14 times in 29 games this season to crash out of European competition, the League Cup and slip to eighth in the Premier League table.
An upturn in fortunes could even revive Sancho’s chances of appearing for his country in Germany later this year at Euro 2024.
He was part of the England squad that reached the final of the last European Championship in 2021, missing one of the crucial spot-kicks in a penalty shootout defeat to Italy.
But the last of Sancho’s 23 international caps came in October 2021.
Sancho escapes Man Utd exile to rejoin Dortmund on loan
https://arab.news/9fdqe
Sancho escapes Man Utd exile to rejoin Dortmund on loan
- Sancho had been frozen out at United for most of the season after becoming involved in a public spat with manager Erik ten Hag
- The 23-year-old posted on social media in September that he had been made a “scapegoat”
Germany’s Kroos to retire from football after Euro 2024
- “My career as an active footballer will end this summer after the Euro championship,” Kroos said on Instagram
- Real said Kroos “will go down in Real Madrid history as one of our club and international football’s greatest legends”
MADRID: Real Madrid’s German international midfielder Toni Kroos announced on Tuesday he will retire from all football after Euro 2024.
“My career as an active footballer will end this summer after the Euro championship,” 34-year-old Kroos, who won the 2014 World Cup with Germany, said on Instagram.
Before the European Championship, Kroos has a chance to win the Champions League with Real for a fifth time when they face Borussia Dortmund at Wembley on June 1.
He also won the Champions League with Bayern Munich before joining the Spanish giants.
Kroos joined Real in 2014 and quickly formed a formidable midfield partnership with Luka Modric.
In a statement on their website, Real said Kroos “will go down in Real Madrid history as one of our club and international football’s greatest legends.”
Kroos has also won the Liga title four times and won the Bundesliga three times with Bayern.
He announced he was quitting international football in July 2021 but reversed his decision in February after talks with Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann, who persuaded him to play on till the Euro 2024 on home soil.
Kroos, who has racked up 108 caps and 17 goals for Germany, was one of the key players when they won the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and scored twice when they inflicted a 7-1 defeat on the host nation in the semifinals.
But four years later he was unable to prevent Germany from crashing out in the group stage in Russia.
He did not play in Germany’s second World Cup group-stage exit in a row at Qatar 2022 but, after making his international return at Nagelsmann’s request, will lead a new-look Germany side at Euro 2024.
“My ambition was always to finish my career at the peak of my performance level,” Kroos said on Instagram.
“I am happy and proud that in my mind I found the right timing for my decision and that I could choose it on my own.”
Why Salah was Klopp’s greatest general on the field
- No player contributed to the legendary German coach’s success at Liverpool more than the talismanic Egyptian
LIVERPOOL: When Napoleon Bonaparte was briefed on the virtues of a new general, he would apparently retort with “but is he lucky?”
Expertise was one thing, but the French emperor also understood the importance of happenstance.
In his nine years at Liverpool, which came to an emotional end on Sunday at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp has been blessed with many lucky generals.
The German’s reign is bookmarked, time and again, by getting the right man at the right time, and all played their part in a historic era for the club.
In the summer of 2016, Klopp’s debut at Anfield, Sadio Mane became the first of his new generals. Not far behind was Gini Wijnaldum and Andrew Robertson. All would go on to become pillars of his great Liverpool team.
Virgil van Dijk, in the winter of 2018, transformed Liverpool’s previously porous defense into one of the best in Europe, and even the world.
The Brazilian duo of Alisson Becker and Fabinho, in the summer of 2018, became the final pieces of the jigsaw. Klopp’s iconic team was complete.
But the greatest general of them all had arrived a year earlier. It is often forgotten now, considering what has transpired since, that when Mohamed Salah joined Liverpool from Roma in the summer of 2017, he was not considered by many pundits to be a “world class” player, whatever that means.
But from the moment he walked into Anfield, his fortunes and Klopp’s would become inextricably entwined.
At full time on Sunday following Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Wolves, as Klopp gave Salah one of his trademark hugs, both must have realized how lucky they were to have found each other seven years earlier.
Salah, it is no exaggeration to say, was more instrumental in bringing success to Liverpool than any other player during Klopp’s time at Anfield.
And those who know best, knew that too.
Three players have been accorded the honorary title of “King” by the Kop: Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish and the boy from Nagrig.
Thousands of words have been written in recent weeks about Klopp’s reign, and since it would take a book to cover the records that Salah breaks, seemingly on a weekly basis, there is little point in reproducing the facts and figures of their time together.
Viscerally, it was all about the moments, many that flirted with footballing utopia, and a few that touched the depths of despair.
Salah scored on his debut in a 3-3 Premier League draw at Watford in the summer of 2017, and has not stopped since.
The “Egyptian King” quickly established a stunning forward partnership with Mane and Roberto Firmino — the “front three,” as they would become known.
There was the breathtaking “Road Runner” goal against Arsenal on Salah’s second Anfield start; the FIFA Puskas Award-winning curler against Everton in a December snowstorm; and an even better version of it against Tottenham in February.
In particular, Salah would develop a taste for torturing the preeminent team of the age, Pep Guardiola’s magnificent Manchester City.
In his first season alone, there was a memorable chipped goal in an era-launching 4-3 Premier League win at Anfield, and a tie-settling second at the Etihad as Liverpool beat City 2-1 (5-1 on aggregate) in the Champions League quarterfinals. He had scored in the first leg too.
One performance, however, continues to stand above all others.
On April 24, 2018, Salah delivered arguably his finest match for Liverpool in a 5-2 win against Roma at Anfield in the Champions League semifinal first leg.
Against future colleague Alisson in the opposition goal, Salah scored twice, assisted twice, and for 90 minutes tore the Italian team to shreds. He was simply unplayable. It was a display that Lionel Messi would have struggled to better.
The Champions League final a few weeks later would bring the lowest of Salah’s time at Liverpool as a shoulder injury saw him leave the pitch in tears after only 31 minutes. Without their talisman, Liverpool lost 3-1.
At the time, Klopp was turning a player that had a remarkable availability record — lucky one could say — and work ethic into one of the world’s best players, technically and tactically. Salah’s pressing of the opposition and positional sense when out of possession perfectly suited Klopp’s demands and complemented the forward’s unquenchable thirst for goals.
Salah’s second season saw player and team hit new highs as they accumulated a mind-boggling 97 points in the Premier League and, incredibly, still fell one short of Manchester City.
Salah still scored one of the great Anfield goals against Chelsea in a 2-0 win as they chased down the relentless leaders.
Even on the very rare occasion he missed a match, the world watched his every move. As Liverpool, almost incredulously, overturned a three-goal deficit against Barcelona to reach the 2019 Champions League final, the injured Salah sat on the bench in a T-shirt that said: “Never Give Up.” Sales skyrocketed.
A Champions League triumph in Madrid would prove more than a consolation for the Reds, Salah scoring the opener in a 2-0 win over Tottenham to give Liverpool their sixth title, a record for an English team, naturally.
Klopp had broken his duck at Liverpool and finally become a European champion after near misses with Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool in the previous six years.
Salah, meanwhile, was rewriting the record books with his goals, and the 2019/2020 season finally brought the Premier League that Liverpool fans craved.
A traumatized fan base had previously refused to sing about the elusive league title until one January evening at Anfield when Salah scored a goosebump-inducing stoppage time goal to seal a 2-0 over Manchester United at Anfield.
“We’re gonna win the league,” Anfield bellowed in celebration. After 30 years of disappointments and false dawns, they finally believed, and the Premier League would be secured in record time, though three matches after resumption of play following the COVID-19 lockdown.
The four years since have not brought a league or Champions League title, but other trophies (two League Cups and an FA Cup) followed, seemingly always at the expense of Chelsea.
On the pitch, as Klopp’s great team splintered, no one maintained their level of consistency and brilliance quite like Salah.
Goals of all types continued to flow including one solo effort, against Manchester City at Anfield, prompting many to call Salah the best player in the world during the 2021/2022 season.
While others suffered long-term injuries, lost form or left the club (especially Mane and Firmino), Salah remained as reliable as ever — always available, always scoring, always creating.
That he is a Liverpool all-time great is no longer up for debate.
This is why, when he had an uncharacteristic and public argument with Klopp on the touchline at West Ham recently, few fans took sides. The coach may be untouchable, but Salah had earned the right to be right up there with him. And that is the greatest compliment of all, for both men.
Ultimately, it all ended in hugs, smiles and a few tears on Sunday.
Klopp and Salah were lucky to have each other. And we were lucky to have them.
New Liverpool boss Slot admits he could not resist lure of club
LONDON: Arne Slot said the chance to work at one of the world’s biggest clubs was “difficult to ignore” after Liverpool confirmed on Monday that the Feyenoord coach would be their new manager.
Just 24 hours after Jurgen Klopp’s emotional farewell at Anfield, the Premier League club said in a statement that the Dutchman would take up the position of head coach on June 1, subject to a work permit.
The club did not specify the length of Slot’s contract but it was widely reported in the British press that he had signed a three-year deal.
The new manager’s arrival was an open secret, with Liverpool reportedly agreeing a compensation deal worth up to £9.4 million ($12 million) with Feyenoord.
Slot, 45, confirmed Anfield was his next destination at his final pre-match press conference at the Eredivisie club on Friday.
“It is certainly not an easy decision to close the door behind you at a club where you have experienced so many wonderful moments and worked successfully with so many wonderful people,” he told Feyenoord’s website on Monday.
“But as a sportsman, an opportunity to become a head coach in the Premier League, at one of the biggest clubs in the world, is difficult to ignore.”
Klopp, 56, announced in January that the 2023/24 season would be his last at Anfield, and took charge of his final game on Sunday, a 2-0 win against Wolves.
In his farewell speech to the crowd, the German urged fans to throw their full support behind his successor, leading them in a chant of “Arne Slot, na na na na na.”
“You welcome the new manager like you welcomed me,” he said. “You go all-in from the first day. And you keep believing and you push the team.”
Slot, linked with a move to Tottenham last year, became Feyenoord boss in 2021 after impressing in his first managerial role at AZ Alkmaar.
He led the Dutch giants to the inaugural Europa Conference League final at the end of his first season, which they lost 1-0 to Jose Mourinho’s Roma.
Slot then delivered just a second league title in 24 years to De Kuip last season before penning a new three-year deal.
Feyenoord have enjoyed a strong season, winning the Dutch Cup and coming second to an all-conquering PSV Eindhoven side in the league.
Under Slot, Feyenoord have delighted the fans at De Kuip with an attacking brand of football and Slot has won praise from Klopp himself.
“I like the way his team plays football. If he is the one, I like that he wants it,” Klopp said last month.
“It’s the best job in the world, best club in the world. Great job, great team, fantastic people. A really interesting job.”
Liverpool captain and fellow Dutchman Virgil van Dijk has hailed Slot’s attacking mindset, saying it would suit the philosophy at Anfield.
Speaking about the future under the new boss, Van Dijk said: “It is all about sticking together and giving him the chance of showing what he is capable of with the other guys who will come in.
“He probably knows already but everyone knows our expectations are always huge and it is about managing that in the right way and getting the maximum out of all of our players.”
Slot has huge shoes to fill at Anfield after Klopp restored Liverpool to the elite of English and European football during his nine-year reign.
Under his leadership Liverpool won a sixth Champions League crown and a 19th league title, as well as a clutch of other trophies.
Initially, Bayer Leverkusen boss and former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso was the favorite to succeed Klopp at Anfield.
However, Alonso committed to staying at Leverkusen as he led them to a first-ever Bundesliga title.
Liverpool finished third in the Premier League, qualifying for next season’s Champions League, and won the League Cup in Klopp’s final season.
Liverpool confirm Slot will replace Klopp as manager
- Liverpool said in a statement that the Dutchman, 45, would take up the position of head coach on June 1, subject to a work permit
- Slot’s arrival has been an open secret, with Liverpool reportedly agreeing a compensation deal worth up to $12 million
LONDON: Feyenoord coach Arne Slot was Monday confirmed as Jurgen Klopp’s successor at Liverpool by the Premier League club.
Liverpool said in a statement that the Dutchman, 45, would take up the position of head coach on June 1, subject to a work permit.
The club did not specify the length of his contract in their statement but Sky Sports said it understood Slot had signed a three-year deal.
Slot’s arrival has been an open secret, with Liverpool reportedly agreeing a compensation deal worth up to £9.4 million ($12 million).
He confirmed Anfield was his next destination at his final pre-match press conference at the Eredivisie club on Friday.
Klopp announced his departure in January and took charge of his final game on Sunday, a 2-0 win against Wolves.
In his final speech to the Anfield crowd, the German urged fans to throw their full support behind Slot.
“You welcome the new manager like you welcomed me,” he said. “You go all-in from the first day. And you keep believing and you push the team.”
Slot moved to Feyenoord in 2021 after impressing in his first managerial role at AZ Alkmaar.
He led the Dutch giants to the inaugural Europa Conference League final at the end of his first season. They narrowly lost 1-0 to Jose Mourinho’s Roma.
Slot then delivered just a second league title in 24 years to De Kuip last season before penning a new three-year deal.
“You can see people are genuinely sorry you are leaving,” he said on Friday.
“You can say that with words, but when you see it in people’s faces, it affects me quite a lot.”
Feyenoord have enjoyed a strong season, winning the Dutch Cup and coming second to an all-conquering PSV Eindhoven side.
Liverpool captain and fellow Dutchman Virgil van Dijk has hailed Slot’s attacking mindset, saying it would suit the philosophy at Anfield.
Initially, Bayer Leverkusen boss and former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso was the favorite to succeed Klopp at Anfield.
However, Alonso has committed to staying at Leverkusen after leading them to a first-ever Bundesliga title.
Liverpool won the League Cup in Klopp’s final season in charge and finished third in the Premier League, qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
Maradona’s 1986 World Cup Golden Ball up for auction, a reminder of Argentine’s genius
- FIFA award for devastating displays in Mexico will be up for auction on June 6 at the world famous Aguttes International Auction House in Paris
Diego Maradona played once in Saudi Arabia, incredibly wearing the shirt of Jeddah powerhouse Al-Ahli in 1987, for a friendly game against Brondby of Denmark.
Yet it was the year before when he really made football history.
Many think Maradona is the best to have ever played the game, but all would surely agree that he was the star of the 1986 World Cup, and dragged Argentina to the title in heroic fashion. FIFA certainly thought so, and awarded the legend the Adidas Golden Ball trophy after it all finished, the prize given to the tournament’s best player.
Now, a piece of World Cup history is up for grabs, as the award is set to go up for auction on June 6 at the world famous Aguttes International Auction House in Paris. Serious interest is expected.
“At that 1986 World Cup, Diego shone like never before or since in his career; it was his monument,” Jorge Burruchaga, Argentina teammate of Maradona and scorer of the winning goal in the 1986 World Cup final as the South Americans defeated West Germany 3-2, said. “We knew we had the best player in the world, there was no doubt about it, we knew it for a fact.”
As dramatic as that final was, it is the 2-1 quarterfinal win against England in Mexico City that everyone remembers. Maradona’s first goal was the “Hand of God” goal, when he punched the ball into the net. It remains one of the most famous goals ever scored, matched only, perhaps, by the second he scored that day. Maradona picked the ball up from inside his own half, ran past half the England team, and the rest is history.
“My favorite recollection of this World Cup is the second goal he scored against England, which remains the most beautiful in history for me, because you must consider the state of the pitch, the altitude, the context between the two countries, and what he managed to do,” said Burruchaga.
“He breezed past six players ... It was divine. On that day, he created a lasting legacy for all Argentinian sportsmen and women, not just footballers, showing just how much you have to fight to be worthy of wearing the Argentine jersey.”
That shirt was handed by the man himself to England midfielder Steve Hodge at the final whistle. In 2022, it was sold at auction by Hodge for a figure reported to be around $7 million.
The golden ball, which was fittingly awarded to Maradona in Paris 38 years ago, is another piece of football history according to Francois Thierry, sports expert for Aguttes Auction House.
“Used far too often wrongly, the word ‘legend’ fits Diego Maradona perfectly,” Thierry said. “He is to football what Muhammad Ali is to boxing or Michael Jordan to basketball — an icon who goes far beyond the boundaries of his sport. He is certainly one of the most human athletes we have ever known, with his strengths and weaknesses. The golden kid, ‘El Pibe de Oro,’ is a special case … The history of football with a capital H is closely linked to that of Maradona.”
