The thought of a child betraying the family allegiances to support the same clubs as his school chums is too much to bear for some parents. As a result, one Arsenal fan who found himself in this position went so far as to forge a letter from Arsene Wenger in a desperate bid to win back his son.
Javier Mascherano was given a suspended sentence of one year in prison and a fine of €815,000 after pleading guilty to tax evasion in Spain. According to the Telegraph, “prison sentences for under two years in Spain can be suspended in exchange for a fine, so long as the crime is non-violent and the perpetrator has no previous convictions, and the Argentine is not expected to serve any time in jail.”
The state attorney has yet to agree to this sentence, however, so while they await that decision, the two sides have met to discuss a deal to ensure Mascherano’s freedom. The following is a transcript of that conversation.
After a year in captivity with limited contact to the outside world, former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes appears to have been released from whatever dungeon Manchester United have kept him in.
Valdes posted a message on his Instagram account thanking his fans for supporting him through this dark period of his life. The 34-year-old goalkeeper was first lured to the club with the promise of a chance to rehab his injured knee. He was then signed to a contract and dumped into their U-21 squad. He was able to escape to the first team twice, but was caught and banished back to his cell both times.
Last July, Valdes went on the football version of a hunger strike by refusing to play in a reserve match. As punishment, he wasn’t given a squad number, effectively making him disappear, despite being named to Man United’s Premier League squad presumably so no one would ask questions as to his whereabouts. He was also not invited to the club’s UNICEF charity dinner in November, proving the extreme lengths to his inhume treatment.
Valdes is now expected to join Belgian club Standard Liege, where he will attempt to reacclimate himself to footballing society.
As a tie-in to National Hug Day, which is apparently a thing, Liverpool cut together a video of 22 Jurgen Klopp hugs from his first three months with the club.
We recently came to the realization that Klopp’s hugs are sucking the life force out of his players, so with that in mind, this video goes from sweetly adorable to deeply troubling.
The earnest question of whether Lionel Messi could do it on a cold, wet night in Stoke has persisted as a cliched joke for a few years now. So when Barcelona surprisingly sold Bojan, a 24-year-old once hyped as the next Messi, to Stoke City, the only explanation was that Messi personally asked him to go there on an expedition to see if the conditions in this mythical place are as challenging as the fables suggest. This is Bojan’s eighth letter back to his friend.
Ashley Cole’s brief spell at Roma has come to an end. With Arsenal, he won two Premier League titles and three FA Cups. With Chelsea, he won one Premier League title, four FA Cups, and a Champions League title. And with Roma, he was in that one picture where he stood an awkward distance from the rest of his teammates that became a meme.
But his time in Italy was so much more than that one image. Let’s take a fond look back on the end of an era…
Just six months after moving to Milan in an €8 million deal, Luiz Adriano was the subject of a €14 million agreement between Milan and Jiangsu Suning. With Chinese Super League clubs throwing around increasingly ridiculous sums of money for seemingly random players, this development wasn’t all that surprising, especially since Milan are developing a habit of quickly unloading strikers who don’t immediately meet expectations.
Jordan Morris is a 21-year-old striker who has played for the Seattle Sounder’s youth academy and Stanford University. He’s made seven appearances for the U.S. national team, scoring one goal against Mexico. U.S. fans and media have identified him as their next great hope and have become heavily invested in his career decisions as a result, benefitting no one.
Mario Balotelli is a man who is intimately familiar with crazy. Throw darts at youth team players? Done it. Letting friend set off fireworks in the bathroom of a rented mansion? Yep. Show up early to training and urinate on teammates’ boots? Of course.
So when Mario questions your sanity for getting his name and shirt number tattooed on your back, you know you’ve made a regrettable life choice. At least the rest of us know where to draw the line now, though.
The Dude Perfect team went to England to partake in a variety of football themed activities, including a game of bubble football against a team of Man City old boys.
