Guardiola Repeats Call For Player Protection as City Forges Ahead

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola urged officials to better protect his star players after a 3-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday.
The result left his side with a commanding 15-point lead at the top of the Premier League but Guardiola was unhappy with a series of challenges, the worst of which saw Matt Phillips booked for a high-flying lunge at young City substitute Brahim Diaz.
The incident followed City's FA Cup victory at Cardiff on Sunday were Leroy Sane sufferes an ankle ligament injury which will sideline him for up to seven weeks - prompting Guardiola's call for his players' protection.
However, he was in a more conciliatory mood on Wednesday, although he did have an animated discussion with fourth official Kevin Friend on the final whistle.
"I've said what I said so we spoke with Kevin, the fourth official," Guardiola told reporters. "They have an opinion, I have another one, they're the bosses, I accept that. I have to accept it."
The Spaniard added: "Today we were lucky, three or four days ago we were unlucky with Leroy.
"The image speaks for itself. I could repeat what I said after the last game but it's not necessary. That chat was good, that's all."
Guardiola was also unhappy with a late lunge by James Mc-Clean on Kevin De Bruyne, which earned the West Brom man a yellow card, and an Allan Nyom foul on Kyle Walker.
But Albion manager Alan Pardew believed Guardiola's weekend comments had provoked City supporters into trying to put pressure on referee Bobby Madley in a bid to get him to hand out harsher treatment to the visitors than might otherwise have been the case.
Pardew also pointed out that City were not faultless, highlighting an early incident in which home midfielder Fernandinho appeared to stamp on Grzegorz Krychowiak, who had to be replaced later in the first half.
"He's a winger and in desperate situations wingers can make poor challenges. It was a poor challenge, make no mistake about that," said Pardew of Phillips's challenge.
"But I think Fernandinho made a similiar one in the middle of the pitch. I'm not sure if the referee saw it.
"I thought Pep's comments at the weekend affected the crowd. Every challenge, they were saying 'you're not protecting our players, referee!'.
"There were a few songs sung about him but I actually thought he (Madley) had a decent game."
Officiating aside, it was a routine victory for Guardiola's team, with goals from Fernandinho, De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero sealing victory.
Their efforts also took City's goal tally for the season to 101, an astonishing mark before the end of January, although Guardiola was conscius that his team missed a host of chances - Raheem Sterling in particular - and the manager warned they were chances which better teams would have pumished his side for wasting.
"When you ask me what he (Sterling) can improve - that (finishing)!" said Guardiola, whose side remains in the hunt for an unprecedented quadruple of Premier League, FA Cup,
League Cup and Champions League titles in the one season.
"When he is able to improve that he will be a top-class player, so I'm happy because today what I feel is this is one of the best performances we played this season."

Ian Whittel
Agence France-Presse/Manchester

EPL Splashes Cash as Arsenal Sign Aubameyang and Giroud Makes Chelsea Switch

England's Premier League clubs have spent more money than ever in a January transfer window, with initial estimates suggesting they had reached the £450 million (US$639 million) mark come deadline day.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund for a club-record fee of around £56 million on Wednesday's concluding day of business, with Oliver Giroud moving to Chelsea as part of a complicated transfer jigsaw.
The previous EPL record for a January window was £225 million in 2011.
Prior to Wednesday's 2300 GMT deadline in England, Tottenham Hotspur announced the signing of Lucas Moura from Paris Saint-Germain but Manchester City pulled out of signing Leicester's Riyad Mahrez.
Top Premier League clubs have splashed the cash in the January transfer window, desperate to qualify for the top four, which guarantees entry into the lucrative Champions League.
Aubameyang, 28, signed a contract with the Gunners until 2021, becoming Arsenal's second big-name signing of the January transfer window after Henrikh Mkhitaryan joined from Manchester United.
His arrival will boost Arsene Wenger's forward options after the departure of Alexis Sanchez to United in a swap deal with Mkhitaryan but raises questions about Alexandre Lacazette's futurw with the Gunners.
The prolific Aubameyang compared himself to club legend Thierry Henry, telling Arsenal Player he was attracted by the "big history" of the club, who lost ground in the Premier League with a 3-1 defeat by Swansea on Tuesday.
The Gabon international will be reunited at the Emirates Stadium with former Dortmund team-mate Mkhitaryan - a tweet on Arsenal's Twitter account pictured the two players together with the message "Friends reunited."
Aubameyang posted a message on Instagram apologizing for the circumstances surrounding his departure from Germany but describing himself as "crazy."
"Perhaps it was not the best way for me to have decided, but everyone knows that Auba is crazy," Aubameyang said.
"I never had any bad intentions. I will never forger these four-and-a-half years at Borussia Dortmund."
Chelsea later announced the arrival of Arsenal striker Giroud on an 18-month contract for around £18 million and Michy Batshuayi's departure for Borussia Dortmund in a loan deal until the end of the season.
Frenchman Giroud, 31, who has struggled to hold down a regular starting spot since joining Arsenal in 2012, said he was delighted to be joining their London rivals.
Belgian forward Batshuayi, 24, arrives in Dortmund as a direct replacement for Aubameyang, to complete the three-way puzzle.
Brazil winger Lucas challenged his new Spurs team-mates to win the Champions Laegue after arriving from PSG for a reported £25 million.
Manchester City may have got nowhere with their interest in Mahrez, but the Premier League leaders paid a club-record fee of £57 million for young French centre-back Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao, in a deal confirmed on Tuesday.

Pirate Irwin
Agence France-Presse/London

Benfica Director Charged In Graft Probe

A second Benfica director has been charged in a corruption investigation involving Portugal's biggest club, authorities confirmed on Wednesday. Portugal's public prosecutor, the PGR, told AFP that Benfica vice-president Fernando Tavares had been charged, after club president Luis Felipe Vieira was charged in Tuesday.
A source close to the investigation had said on Tuesday that Vieira had been charged with "influence peddling".
The PGR said that the "Operation Lex" investigation by the anti-corruption unit of Portugal's national police had so far led to 12 people being charged in total, including two Court of Appeal judges and a sporting director. Some 30 raids have been carried out in the investigation into "corruption, obtaining undue advantage, laundering of capital, influence peddling and aggravated tax fraud".

AFP/Lisbon

Nagatomo Joins Galatasaray

Japanese international Yuto Nagatomo has joined Turkish giants Galatasaray on loan from Inter Milan until June, the Serie A club confirmed. The 31-year-old full-back completed his medical in Istanbul on Wednesday.
No details were given of the deal but according to Italian press reports the Turkish club have an option to buy Nagatomo for €7 million (US$8.6 million). Nagatomo, who joined Inter in January 2011 and has made 210 appearances scoring 11 goals, is hoping for more playing time ahead of the World Cup in Russia.
The former FC Tokyo player - capped 101 times by Japan - has played in just one of Inter's last 10 league games. He was also part of the side which won the Italian Cup in the 2010-2011 season.

AFP/Milan

English Clubs The Big Spenders In The Year: FIFA Report

Soccer clubs across the world splashed out a record US$6.37 billion on players during 2017 with English teams again the biggest spenders, FIFA's Global Transfer Market Report said.
The total paid out was about 33 percent more than in 2016 as English clubs led the way with a net spend of $988 million on squad improvement.
Deals such as Romelo Lukaku's £75 million ($) move from Everton to Manchester United and Alvaro Morata's £60 million switch from Real Madrid to Chelsea put English teams at the top of the list.
But those individual deals were eclipsed by Brazilian forward Neymar's move from Barcelona to Paris St Germain in a world-record transfer worth €222 million ($263 million).
The fee was over double the previous record which took France midfielder Paul Pogba to Manchester United from Juventus for $126 million.
"Spending growth is driven by a relativelg small group of clubs," the report said, wirh over two-thirds of the total amount spent by 50 clubs in 13 different countries.
The average transfer fee for a player in the top 50 most expensive moves was $48.4 million, up from $35.2 million in 2016. The report shows that only 15.8 percent of transfers involved fees being paid from one club to another.
Free paid to agents also increased significantly. English clubs forked out a reported out a reported $125.7 million on intermediary payments and $447 million was handed over worldwide - up from $387 million in 2016.
Brazil was the country most involved in international transfers with 1,775 of its players switching teams in 2017.
Two hundred and fifty four Brazilian clubs conducted international transfer deals with Germany (143), England (132), Argentina (11) and Spain (98) making up the top five.
Spanish clubs received the most money in transfer fees ($840.4 million), but Portuguese ones posted the highest net receipts of $707.5 million.

Reuters
Madrid

'Complicated' Aubameyang Deal Set To Go To The Wire

Arsene Wenger's transfer dealings will not for the first time dominate deadline day on Wednesday as the Arsenal manager tries to secure the signing of Borussia Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in a deal he admits is "complicated".
Wenger - who kept the football world on tenterhooks last August as he held out selling Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City because he failed to secure Thomas Lemar from Monaco - has persuaded the board to offer a club record £60 million (US$84 million) for the Gabonese marksman.
However, the 28-year-old's move likely depends on Dortmund securing a replacement, thought to be Belgian international Michy Batshuayi from champion's Chelsea, and the later getting French veteran Oliver Giroud from the Gunners.
Wenger would prefer not to let Giroud join a major rival having already seen Sanchez move to Manchester United earlier this month but the French striker is keen to stay in London as he seeks regular first team action to secure his place in France's World Cup squad.
"Every detail can make deals and the deals nowadays are so complicated that, so long as you have not finished it, you cannot be too confident - it doesn't help too much," said Wenger after his side lost 3-1 to Premier League strugglers Swansea on Tuesday.
Aubameyang would alleviate the pressure on French striker Alexandre Lacazette, whom Wenger shelled out a record £46.5 million in August, although he would be ineligible for the Europa League having already played in the Champions League this campaign.
Further complicating matters is that the German transfer deadline is at 1700GMT as opposed to England's at 2300 GMT.
Elsewhere runaway leaders Manchester City have lodged a surprise £60 million bid for 2016 champions Leicester City's Algerian star Riyad Mahrez, who ignored manager Claude Puel's pleas for him to stay by putting in a transfer request.
However, Leicester are unlikely to let the 26-year-old - who was a key player in their stunning title success in 2016 and who was returned to form this term after a dip last season - leave for less than £90 million.
City have lost influential Germany winger Leroy Sane for up to seven weeks with an ankle injury and with the club competing on four fronts Guardiola suggested he may require a replacement.
"Right now, it's the same as (Alexis) Sanchez, it's not the place to talk about it. It's so difficult," City manager Pep Guardiola said on Tuesday when asked about Mahrez.
"If things are not possible, then nothinv is going to happen. We don't have too much and we play every three days. We have to find solutions."
It's not just the top clubs involved in the frenetic last few hours of a January that apart from Sanchez becoming the highest-paid player in the league - on a reported pre-tax £500,000 a week - has seen City play a record fee of £57 million for young French centre-back Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao.
Tottenham too os getting close to signing Brazilian Lucas Moura, who has fallen out of favour at French giants Paris Saint Germain with the arrivals of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
PSG apparently wants the majority of the £26.5 million fee paid up front.
Those fighting to remain in the cash-rich upper echelon will also get in on the act with Swansea - whose win over Liverpool saw them move out of the bottom three - seeking to bring Ghanaian striker Andre Ayew back to Wales.
The Swans are hoping to sign the 28-year-old for around £18 million in 2016 - but the London side who have only Javier Hernandez as their one fit striker will want to bring in a replacement.
Watford's long-time servant Troy Deeney could fill the void and is valued at £16 million to leave the club he has been with since 2010.

Pirate Irwin
Agence France-Presse/London

Hotspur's Prodigy Son Has Father To Thank

If Son Heung-min helps overcome Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Juventus in coming weeks, then fans of the North London club should save more praise for the South Korean's father.
Son Woong-Jung has played a major role in developing a player who has become Asia's record scorer in the Premier League and, arguably, the best player the contingent has produced.
Son senior was a professional player of some repute in the K-League in the eighties and, in terms of style, there is a family resemblance. Until injury ended his career at 28, Son displayed the sort of speed and technical excellence that Spurs fans have come to love in his offspring.
After his playing days were over, Son took to coaching. "I don't think I was really satisfied as a player," he told a Korean documentary. "But coaching players was different. He is my son but I am proud to say that his technique and basic ball skills are among the best."
The 25-year-old was worked hard from an early age. "We raised him strictly."
The father took Son out of high school at the age of 16 to head to Germany and SV Hamburg, an unusual decision for young Korean ptospects who traditionally join a professional club after university.
"I wouldn't have become the player I have without my father," Son Said, after leaving Hamburg for Bayer Leverkusen in 2013.
While the two may have similarities on the pitch, it is a little different off it. Past coaches recall that the father was something of a loner in the team environment, and not one to mix with his fellow players.
But Son junior is a hugely popular figure at his club.
"On and off the pitch, he is very positive an optimistic and has been since the beginning," Park Yong-soo, head of administration at the Korea Football Association, told AFP.
The player's smile has become almost a famous in England as back in his homeland. "He always had it, even when he was hurt on the pitch, and that has made him especially popular with Korean girls."
Son left the Bundesliga in August 2015 to sign for Tottenham. After an up-and-down first season, when he showed only flashes of his ability, he came into his own in 2016-2017, scoring 14 Premier League goals and 21 in total.
He has continued to shine this season and has been one of the Premier League's most exciting forwarda, bagging eight goalsnso far this campaign to help Spurs lie fifth.
Son has already surpassed Park Ji-Sung's record to become the Premier League's most prolific Asian player. Last term, he beat Bundesliga great Cha Bum-Kun's Korean mark for goals in a European season.
There are plenty of opportunities to come this season: Spurs are still alive in the FA Cup, and they will play Juventus in the Champions League last 16 from February 13.
In a tough run of fixtures, they also entertain Manchester United on Wednesday and play Liverpool and Arsenal on February 5 and 10 respectively.
"His smile disappeared in Germany for a time," said Park. "But he has found it again in England. He is performing well and playing his best football."
Match-winnning displays in the Premier League and the Champions League have made Son Asia's most popular player. He was named as Asia's International Player of the Year by the Asian Football Comfederation in 2017.
"There is pride all over Asia in Son," Steve Kim, former head of competitions at the Asian Football Confederation. "He is playing at the highest level and shows all Asians that it can be done. Especially in countries where the Premier League is very popular, Son is held in very high regard."
When he returns to Korea in the close-season, Son often visits his father's other great project: the Son Football Academy, nestling in the hills of the family's native Gangwon province.
At the academy, Son Woong-Jung has created a top-of-the-range training facility dedicated to helping othet young players follow in his son's footsteps.

David Jones
Agence France-Presse/Seoul