By DPA,
London : Manchester City began their summer spending by signing Brazil striker Jo from Russian side CSKA Moscow for $39.6 million, according to a report on the Guardian newspaper’s website. The 21-year-old has been hugely impressive since joining from Corinthians in 2006.
Jo scored 14 times in his first 18 games in Russia, was joint top scorer in the Russian league last season. Goal-scoring has been City’s great weakness this season. Jo’s arrival is a step towards alleviating that. The signing also perhaps suggests that manager Sven-Goran Eriksson’s position is not so perilous as it had seemed, although it is not clear whether he initiated the purchase.
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Middle East, US magnates vie to buy Roma
Milan: A Middle Eastern magnate has shown interest in buying Serie A side Roma and appears set on outbidding a US entrepreneur. La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Roma put on hold negotiations with George Soros, the Hungarian-born US magnate who reportedly has offered $380 million for the Rome club.
A bigger offer is rumoured to have come from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai. It appears that Roma managing director Rosella Sensi is this week to meet officials from Dubai International Capital, an investment group through which Al Maktoum operates, at Rome’s UAE embassy.
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Schalke won’t confirm Rutten as new coach
Gelsenkirchen (Germany): German club Schalke 04 has declined to confirm a report that it would be appointing Dutchman Fred Rutten as new coach from next season. Schalke spokesman Gerd Voss said that the club would not be confirming either now or in the next few days a report in the Bild newspaper that a deal was pending.
According to the report, Schalke have lined up Rutten, 45, presently with Dutch side Twente Enschede, to succeed Mirko Slomka, who was sacked last week. It said Schalke have offered Rutten a contract until 2010 and agreed to pay $793,000. Schalke, third in the Bundesliga, have put former players Mike Bueskens and Youri Mulder in charge of the team for the rest of the season.
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Villa death not due to violence: Police
London: Police has confirmed that the man knocked down by a car outside Villa Park following Sunday’s second-city derby was not killed by a rival fan. The 26-year-old Villa fan was struck on Aston Hall Road around an hour after the final whistle of the Premier League game, which Aston Villa won 5-1.
Another Villa fan is being questioned over the incident after being arrested on suspicion of murder. “Following some reports in the media, we would like to clarify that the 26-year-old man who died following the Villa match yesterday was a Villa fan,” said a spokesperson for West Midlands police. “His identity is not being released at this stage.”
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SV Hamburg defend search for coach
Hamburg: German club SV Hamburg has defended the time it has taken to find a successor to Huub Stevens as coach for next season. Stevens announced five months ago he would be leaving at the end of the season, but the Bundesliga side has still not announced a successor.
Club sports director Dietmar Beiersdorfer said he had spoken to several potential coaches but this was initially to get to know them better. The club had decided to go about the search for a coach in a “meticulous” way by sounding out several possible candidates. “We don’t claim that we have reinvented the process of looking for a coach. We have just approached it in a conscientious way,” he told the local Abendblatt daily.