Former Nigeria skipper Sunday Oliseh will tomorrow in Abuja sign a contract with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as the country’s new coach. The contract signing will be done at a public presentation slated for the Abuja National Stadium Wednesday morning, officials have informed. Oliseh, 40, replaces Stephen Keshi, who was sacked for a breach of trust.
Manchester City have confirmed the signing of Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling on a five-year deal. Speaking about his new signing, Blues boss Manuel Pellegrini described Sterling as “one of the best attacking players in world football”. “I am very much looking forward to him joining our squad out in Australia later this week,” added the manager. “He is a young player with outstanding ability, and I am sure the Manchester City fans will be very excited about seeing him in action for the team.” Sterling will wear the number seven shirt.
Robin van Persie has officially completed his move from Manchester United to Fenerbahce for an undisclosed fee. The Netherlands striker, 31, was unveiled in front of about 10,000 supporters inside the club’s stadium. He said: “I promise you one thing – I will do everything in my power to help Fenerbahce win as many trophies to make you happy. Let’s do it together.” Van Persie spent three years at United, scoring 58 goals, after signing from Arsenal for £24m.
Swansea manager Garry Monk has confirmed that Spain international Michu will not play for the club again. Michu took the Premier League by storm in his first season in English football in 2012-13 when he scored 22 goals following his £2m move from Rayo Vallecano. But his second season was disrupted by injury and the same happened again when he was on loan at Napoli last term. “He won’t be with the squad this year,” Monk told the South Wales Evening Post. “I now think we have kind of moved on as a squad. We had a big transition last year.” Michu – who had a year remaining on his Swans contract – is now free return home to Spain, with reported interest from Granada and former club Rayo.
Coach Fabio Capello has left his role as Russia head coach after three years in the post. The 69-year-old signed a four-year contract extension in 2014 to keep him under contract until the 2018 World Cup, which will be staged in Russia. But the Italian’s deal has been ended after a run of poor results. Russia have eight points from six games in their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, and face the prospect of needing to win a play-off to reach the tournament. They were knocked out of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil in the group stage without winning a game. The Russian Football Union (RFU) said it had “reached an agreement to terminate his contract by mutual consent”. Reports in Russia suggest Capello has received 15m euros (£10.7m) in compensation from the RFU. Last month, a group of fans launched a fundraising campaign to buy the Italian out of his contract.
Bad news for Cheick Tiote – the Newcastle midfielder is training back on Tyneside after being refused a visa to join the rest of the squad in the United States. The Ivory Coast international was not among the party which jetted out to America and head coach Steve McClaren has since confirmed he did not travel because of an administrative issue. McClaren told the Chronicle: “He has had visa complications and trying to get him over the visa issue has been difficult, but it wasn’t successful. He is training back home.” Tiote was given a seven-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months and 180 hours community service in October 2013 after admitting possession of a fake driving licence – though it is not clear whether this had anything to do with the 29-year-old failing to get a visa.
Former Barcelona and Spain midfielder Xavi has hit out at Real Madrid for failing to give departing captain Iker Casillas a fitting send-off before his switch to Porto. A tearful Casillas appeared alone in the Bernabeu stadium press room on Sunday, though after much criticism from media and the fans the club responded by organising an official presentation yesterday. Xavi, who received a glittering farewell ceremony when he left Barcelona to join Qatari side Al Sadd last season, told Spanish paper La Vanguardia: “It cannot be that maturing Spanish athletes are not shown sufficient respect, that people neglect to value everything they have done for their sport and instead focus on their defects, sometimes with malicious intent.”
Former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri has been appointed Leicester City’s manager on a three-year contract. The 63-year-old Italian replaces Nigel Pearson, who was sacked on 30 June despite keeping the Foxes in the Premier League last season. Ranieri has not worked in England since leaving Stamford Bridge in 2004, and was sacked as Greece manager last year. “Since I left Chelsea I have dreamt of another chance to work in the best league in the world again,” he said. “I wish to thank the owner, his son and all the executives of the club for the opportunity they are giving me. Now I’ve only one way for returning their trust: squeeze all my energies to getting the best results for the team.” Ranieri left as manager of Atletico Madrid to join Chelsea in September 2000 and during his four-year spell, the Blues finished runners-up in the Premier League, reached the Champions League semi-final and were FA Cup finalists. Ranieri was replaced at Chelsea by Jose Mourinho and the Italian went on to manage Valencia, Parma, Juventus, Roma, Inter Milan and Monaco. He took over as Greece coach after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil but was sacked four months later after a home defeat by the Faroe Islands.
Henry Kasperczak has been appointed coach of Tunisia for a second stint, replacing Belgian Georges Leekens. Kasperczak, who signs a three-year deal, had been on the final three-man shortlist to coach Ivory Coast. The 69-year-old parted ways with Mali after this year’s Africa Cup of Nations. He coached Tunisia for four years from 1994, leading them to runners-up at the 1996 Nations Cup where they lost to hosts South Africa in the final. The former Poland international coached Ivory Coast to third place at the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations and has also had spells in charge of Morocco, Mali and Senegal. His latest job was a second spell with Mali that ended after the Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea, where they failed to progress beyond the group stages despite being unbeaten. The Eagles finished tied with Guinea in Group D but were eliminated after the drawing of lots to separate the teams. Leekens left his post last month by mutual consent saying his vision for the future differed from the football association’s.