Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

Earlier on Wednesday we brought you the news that Swedish legend Henrik Larsson was coming out of retirement for one night only, and now we have the pictures to prove that the awesome did in fact happen.

To recap, four years after he last played a professional football match, Swedish legend Henrik Larsson agreed to turn out for 4th tier outfit Högaborg: a team who have Henrik’s 15-year-old son Jordan Larsson on their books.

We can now update you that Högaborg beat Tenhult 4-2, and Henrik came off the bench for five minutes to play with his son.

A series of images of Henrik Larsson’s wonderful footballing return can be seen below.

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

On Wednesday evening Italian media company, Mediaset, were reporting Juventus are preparing a €10 million bid for wing back Aleksander Kolarov.

At Eastlands, Kolarov has often found himself playing second fiddle to fellow left back Gael Clichy.

Aged 27, the Serbian will likely be enthusiastic at the opportunity to reignite his career at another top European club.

Juve are also heavily linked to City’s enigmatic forward Carlos Tevez and negotiations could involve a deal for both of them.

A move back to Italy, the country where Kolarov made his name, seems a perfect fit for the out-of-favour wing back.

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

In recent days it has been confirmed that Liverpool are deep in negotiations with Porto regarding the transfer of 21 year old Ghanaian winger Christian Atsu.

With only 12 months on his contract Liverpool were hoping to bring in Atsu for approximately €3.5 million.

However, Portuguese newspaper O Jogo today reported that Liverpool had upped their bid to €5.8m following interest from another English club.

Porto are likely to accept this offer and Christian Atsu will join Iago Aspas and Kolo Toure as early Liverpool summer signings.

A montage of his best moments can be seen here:

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

On Tuesday Spain won the Under 21 European Championship following a thrilling 4-2 final win over Italy.

Barcelona’s 22 year old midfielder Thiago Alcantara netted a hat-trick. Thus, he was awarded the matchball and duly asked all his teammates to write a message for him.

With an £18 million release clause in his contract Thiago is being heavily linked with a move to Manchester United.

Good friend and International teammate David De Gea quite clearly wants the talented Barca man to join him at Old Trafford.

Thiago is below pictured with the message ‘Nos Vemos en Manchester’ translating to ‘See you in Manchester’.

We can only assume David De Gea wrote this and will only serve to heighten speculation regarding Thiago’s future.

A further close up is below the initial picture. (Via @CheGiaevara on Twitter)

Of course, as some have suggested. This message could have been written by Isco (if he joins Manchester City) or Joel Robles – who was in the Spain U21 squad and plays for Wigan.

As an aside, we met Thiago after the Euro 2013 final and missed this EXCLUSIVE, despite the evidence being right in front of our eyes! (See third picture below.)

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

If reports are correct, Liverpool are close to securing one of the signings of the summer in Armenian attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

For a fee of 23 million pounds, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is bagging a Champions League quality player, adept at late runs into the box as well as a fine finisher.

Quite why Shakhtar Donetsk put a relatively low release clause into his contract seems a little strange but Mkhitaryan has all the qualities to succeed in the Premier League.

The Liverpool bound midfielder will though be a big of a nightmare for commentators, so below is a handy guide to pronounce what reads like an unpronounceable name.

Finally, there is video evidence of Henrikh Mkhitaryan in action.

Related link: Liverpool bound Henrikh Mkhitaryan can also sing… [Video].

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

Andy Carroll has completed a transfer from Liverpool to West Ham United on Wednesday.

Carroll has joined the Irons for a reported £15.5 million plus £2 million of extras, and the 24-year-old striker is rumoured to have secured a six-year contract with the Hammers. Rumours that Carroll will receive £100,000 a week in wages remain unconfirmed.

Carroll was on loan at Upton Park last season, where the England international scored seven goals in 24 games.

Liverpool are taking a £20 million hit on Andy Carroll the deal after they signed the striker for £35 million back in 2011.

After sealing his move to the Eastenders, Andy Carroll spoke exclusively to West Ham TV where the striker called the move “fantastic.”

Watch Andy Carroll’s interview with West Ham TV below, along with all his goals for the Irons in 2012-13.

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

What is it with footballers promoting weed today?

After Standard Liege’s Frederic Bulot posted a picture onto Instagram with the tagline “Smoke weed everyday”, Arsenal’s Nicklas Bendtner continued the theme with his own picture uploaded to the popular image sharing social network.

Alongside rapper Snoop Dogg, Bendtner posted an image with the description:

So what we get drunk #so what we smoke weed #we are just having fun #thats how its supposed to be #living young and wild and free! Big snoop doog

The line, which more or less taken from the song “Young, Wild & Free”, was probably not the wisest statement Bendtner has ever made after the forward was arrested for drink-driving earlier this year.

Nicklas Bendtner is currently in Las Vegas as the Gunners try a get the Danish striker off their books. According to reports, five clubs are looking to sign the Arsenal striker this summer.

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

#FootballWithoutFansIsNothing. #AllTogetherNowJ19.

An amazing sight was witnessed in central London on Wednesday as fans of Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool all banded together to protest against the treatment of supporters in modern day football.

As explained on the website thunderclap.it:

For too long supporters have been exploited with their loyalty taken for granted. Ticket prices have risen far beyond inflation and this has already seen supporters priced out of their game.

With the ever increasing money in the modern English game, the benefits for supporters should be improving alongside the increase in wealth. But instead the football clubs and authorities rely on the rivalries of supporters to allow them to exploit those same supporters. 

In the FA’s 150th year we find that the ethos of the game in this country does not represent the same values with which the game was formed. Clubs tell us they need more money to be able to compete, that they need to charge more for tickets because other clubs do. The Premier League tell us that it is the clubs’ choice and that they are powerless in changing anything.

All parties hide behind excuses expecting supporters to just accept them and begrudgingly continue to pay the high ticket prices to pay high paid footballers further extortionate amounts. They expect us to want to pay more to be able to pay a footballer who wears our shirt for a brief time even more money in the hope that it allows the club to finish higher to get even more money to pay those footballers even more.

Supporters from different clubs are uniting to make a stand so that clubs cannot use the line they charge more so we have to, or that the Premier League cannot just say well attendances are good so everyone must be happy.

A series of images from the demonstration can be seen below.

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

It looks like Standard Liege’s Frederic Bulot made be chilling a little too much during the summer break.

A mini-scandal has broken out in Belgium in the past few days after Standard Liege’s 22-year-old midfielder posted a picture onto Instagram with a eye-catching tagline.

Bulot’s picture showed the French footballer with smoke pouring out of his mouth with the tagline “Smoke weed every day.”

The picture was quickly removed from social network, but not before a handful of Frederic Bulot’s followers screengrabbed the image for public consumption.

Was it just a joke?

Bulot later reposted the image onto Twitter with the statement: Just for Laughs #chicha #electric It’s not electric combustion or nicotine, it is a water vapor with a taste of fruit.

The now deleted Instagram photo can be seen below.

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

A great story has been broken by Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

Four years after he last played a professional football match, Swedish legend Henrik Larsson is set to play a league match for 4th tier outfit Högaborg on Wednesday night.

Henrik’s 15-year-old son Jordan Larsson is on the books of Högaborg, and the match against Tenhult will be the first time the father-son combo will appear on a pitch at the same time.

According to reports, whilst Jordan Larsson is set to start the match, Henrik is set to begin the game on the bench.

Henrik is stepping into the breach for Högaborg, who are experiencing a selection nightmare with several attackers currently unavailable through injury.

Henrik Larsson scored 325 goals in 573 games in club football having played for Helsingborgs, Feyenoord, Celtic, Barcelona and Manchester United, whilst the legendary’s Scandinavian striker also bagged 37 goals for Sweden in 106 international appearances.

A video compilation of Henrik Larsson can be seen below.