Done Deals, Hazard Makes Arsenal Admission, Chelsea Make Decision On Alaba

OFFICIAL: DIDIER DROGBA’S SON JOINS ITALIAN FOURTH DIVISION SIDE

Isaac Drogba, the son of former Chelsea and Ivory Coast striker Didier, has signed a deal with Italian fourth division side Folgore Caratese, the club have announced.

The 20-year-old, an attacker like his father, has joined the club after spells in the Chelsea youth system and with the Under-19 and B teams of French side Guingamp.

Didier began his career in the French second tier at Le Mans and went on to win four Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League at Chelsea, a Turkish title with Galatasaray, and become the Ivory Coast’s all-time top scorer before retiring in 2018.

Source: Sky Italia

Chesterfield striker Jack McKay joins Scottish League One club on loan

Chesterfield striker Jack McKay has joined Scottish League One side Airdrieonians on loan until the end of the season.

The 24-year-old has not featured this campaign under manager James Rowe and was sent on loan to National League North club Blyth Spartans for a month in January.

McKay, who will stay out on loan until June 12, returns to the Diamonds for a second spell having played for the club in 2017.

He links up again with his twin brother Paul. They have previously played together at Doncaster Rovers, Leeds and Cardiff City.

Source: BBC

Barcelona’s Koeman on Messi-PSG link: Let them keep talking

Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman has said Paris Saint-Germain can keep talking about Lionel Messi if they want as the tension grows ahead of next week’s Champions League game between the two sides.

PSG’s pursuit of Messi, who is out of contract in June, has spilled into the media in recent months. Sporting director Leonardo, Neymar and Angel Di Maria have all spoken about the French club’s desire to sign the Barca captain.

Speaking last week, Di Maria said there was a “big chance” of Messi moving to Paris, prompting Koeman to brand PSG “disrespectful” and accuse them of stirring the pot ahead of the first leg of their round-of-16 tie at Camp Nou on Feb. 16.

“I don’t know why [PSG] do it,” Koeman said in a news conference on Tuesday when asked about another week of speculation surrounding Messi’s future. “If they want to speak about Leo, let them do it.”

Lyon manager Rudi Garcia even became embroiled in the transfer saga this week, accusing Koeman of hypocrisy for condemning PSG’s actions at the same time as publicly courting Lyon forward Memphis Depay.

“And now the Lyon coach gets involved,” Koeman added. “It seems he likes to have prominence in the press. For me, it’s not important.

Source: ESPN

Real Madrid superstar makes shock Arsenal admission

Real Madrid superstar and former Chelsea great Eden Hazard has revealed how highly he thought of Arsenal whilst he was growing up.

The Belgian attacker’s time at Stamford Bridge saw him become a club great and was widely regarded as one of the Premier League’s best players.

After featuring in 352 matches in all competitions for the Blues, Hazard racked up an impressive 202 direct goal contributions.

Hazard’s time in the country’s capital came to an end during the summer of 2019 after the Belgian international made a famous switch to Real Madrid in a deal worth an eye-watering £103.5m, as per Transfermarkt.

Despite arriving at the Santiago Bernabeu hotly tipped to become the long-term successor to legend Cristiano Ronaldo, Hazard’s time in Spain has failed to really take-off.

A spate of injuries and poor performances have seen the wide attacker fall out-of-favour with manager Zinedine Zidane with increasing rumours that the 30-year-old could be moved on again.

However, with his future still uncertain, shockingly, during a recent interview with On The Front Foot (as quoted by Football London), Hazard has revealed how one of his first loves was actually Chelsea’s arch-rivals Arsenal.

“When I was little the team I watched the most was the French national team,” Hazard said. “For me, the players I looked up to were Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry.

“It’s difficult for me to admit because of my relationship with Chelsea, but I really liked the Arsenal team at the time.

“They had players like Robert Pires, [Sylvain] Wiltord and [Patrick] Vieira, so it was mainly French players that I followed growing up.”

Source: Caughtoffside

Chelsea make decision on signing Bayern Munich star David Alaba

Chelsea have declined the chance to sign Bayern Munich defender David Alaba after the Austrian demanded to become the highest paid player in the Blues’ history.

The 28-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and he has intimated that he will leave the Allianz Arena after 12 years at the club.

Bayern offered Alaba wages of around £250,000-a-week but the defender feels he can earn more elsewhere and he’s also keen to challenge himself in a new league.

Alaba’s representatives have spoken to a host of top European clubs and they informed Chelsea that the defender wants to be paid around £20m-a-year, particularly given he will be signing on a free transfer.

Thomas Tuchel is keen to sign an established centre-back this summer as the likes of Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen have failed to cement a place in the club’s defence.

The German will be given significant funds to do so but ESPN claim Chelsea are not willing to smash their wage structure in order to sign Alaba.

N’Golo Kante is Chelsea’s current top earner on around £295,000-a-week but Alaba stands to earn around 25% more than the Frenchman should Chelsea meet his wage demands.

Source: Metro UK