Graziano Pellè leads Italy nearer Euro 2016 with winner against Malta

Italy needed 69 minutes to break down a stubborn, tenacious Malta before Graziano Pellè struck to give them a 1-0 win in their Euro 2016 qualifier.

Graziano Pellè celebrates after scoring in the Euro 2016 qualifier against Malta. Photograph: Giampiero Sposito/Reuters

Italy, without a win in their previous four matches, struggled to find a way through a massed Maltese defence in front of a sparse crowd at the Artemio Franchi stadium.

The win took them top of Group H, with 15 points from seven games, one more than Croatia, who drew 0-0 in Azerbaijan earlier and who were docked a point this summer, pending an appeal.

Pellè, who scored the only goal when Italy won by the same score in Malta earlier in the group, was in the thick of the action for Italy as he had a shot deflected over the crossbar and headed over from a corner early on.

Malta, bottom of the group with one point, nearly took a sensational lead just before the half-hour when Alfred Effiong curled a shot just wide of Gianluigi Buffon’s far post.

As Italy continued to press forward, Pellè headed wide from an Andrea Pirlo free-kick and then the Malta goalkeeper Andrew Hogg did well to parry away Andrea Bertolacci’s deflected shot. Eder had Italy’s best first-half effort when his low effort went just wide of the post after a run from midfield.

Malta continued to defend tenaciously after half-time and Italy struggled to create openings, despite their overwhelming dominance.

Manolo Gabbiadini was agonisingly close to the breakthrough when he curled a 20-yard effort against the crossbar in the 59th minute and Malta finally capitulated 10 minutes later. Antonio Candreva sent over a cross from the right, Hogg was distracted by Marco Parolo at the near post and Pellè forced the ball in from close range.

Even after the goal, Malta continued to defend doggedly and Hogg did well turn away an awkward shot by Parolo.

Manchester United make move to sign Sadio Mané from Southampton

Manchester United have made a surprise inquiry for Southampton’s Sadio Mané, with Louis van Gaal wanting the 23-year-old to strengthen his forward line.

United had proposed to buy Pedro from Barcelona but the deal broke down, with Van Gaal instructing Ed Woodward, the executive vice-chairman, to ask Saints about Mané. Pedro is now set to join Chelsea.

Sadio Mané, the subject of Manchester United interest. Photograph: James Marsh/BPI/Rex Shutterstock

The west London club came close to signing Pedro in January and continued to pursue the forward at the start of the summer window before it seemed Pedro had decided he preferred United.

While United insist that it was Van Gaal who decided against triggering Pedro’s £21.2m release clause, as reported by the Guardian last Friday, the 28-year-old had reservations regarding Van Gaal’s managerial style. Pedro is good friends with Víctor Valdés, with whom the Dutchman has fallen out.

Last season Mané caught the eye by scoring the fastest hat-trick in Premier League history, doing so in the 6-1 defeat of Aston Villa in May. The Senegalese scored 10 goals for Saints after arriving from Red Bull Salzburg on transfer deadline day last September.

Ronald Koeman, the Southampton coach, sanctioned an £11.8m fee for Mané so United can be expected to have made an intial bid in the region of £15m for him. Mané has 22 Senegal caps and played at the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea in January.

Manchester City hope £49m Raheem Sterling can sprinkle some stardust

Manchester City required a signing with the wow factor and £49m Raheem Sterling fits the bill. Photograph: Andrew Yates/Reuters

Does the name Rolando Bianchi ring any bells? Even distant ones? In all honesty the help of a search engine was required to jog this old brain about the kind of summer purchase that dominated the thoughts of Manchester City’s movers and shakers prior to the Abu Dhabi United Group takeover.

Rewind to 2007, the age of Sven-Göran Eriksson, Thaksin Shinawatra and a curious and half-baked first attempt at an internationally owned City revamp. The club blew about £40m on a range of players that summer, the most expensive of whom was Bianchi, a 6ft 2in striker who joined from Reggina for £8.8m. He scored on his debut as it happened but optimism soon fizzled out. By January he was so unsettled he was allowed to leave and he returned to Italy to pick up a modest career.

Recalling the tale of Bianchi brings context as City part with £49m to welcome their prime summer target, Raheem Sterling. The fact that their bartering with Liverpool scaled such expensive peaks reflects how remarkably difficult it is for any club – even one with huge financial backing – to recruit what could be defined as A-list talent.

Sterling may turn out to be worth every single one of the many pennies required for Liverpool to release the 20-year-old, and, equally, supposedly surer things than he have turned out to be very costly failed experiments. But it does feel as if part of the package was that City required a signing with wow factor this summer – something to turn heads, create new energy, attract a spotlight.

Considering how City are obviously regarded as major players in the transfer game, having spent about £500m on fees during the years the club has been bankrolled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, they have not bought too many players classified as established A-listers at the time of purchase.

The best examples of players in that bracket – coveted across Europe’s elite, the kind of name which adds stature to a club and is a barometer for excellence and ambition – are Yaya Touré and Carlos Tevez in 2009, and Sergio Agüero in 2011. Robinho, Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Mario Balotelli were all signings who also caught the imagination on a grand scale in the early years of the City renaissance, even if not all of them worked out.

These were players who enabled the City reinvention to gain an injection of high-calibre credibility. But interestingly, none of the signings since Agüero arrived four years ago have had A-list impact.

Last season’s major purchases, Fernando, Eliaquim Mangala and, as of last January, Wilfried Bony have not yet pulled up trees. Two or three seasons ago Stevan Jovetic, Javi García, Matija Nastasic and Jack Rodwell arrived with optimism but found it difficult to blossom at the Etihad. Álvaro Negredo came, had a stunning spell, dipped and went. Jesús Navas is wonderful only in gossamer flashes and has not lived up to the billing that he could become one of the great wingers of his time.

While the financial fair play sanctions City received last summer had an effect, it is still curious that the club’s ability to attract major talent, a touch of galáctico gloss, in the first half of the Sheikh Mansour era has not been matched in the second half.

Buying top-echelon players, even for rich clubs, is just not that easy and one of the reasons for that – not that the game would care to admit it – is that the pool of outstanding talent looks worryingly parched around the edges. Consider how the other most jaw dropping of transfers so far to improve the Premier League’s top four teams are Bastian Schweinsteiger (almost 31 years old) and Petr Cech (33), with the intrigue of what Sterling and Memphis Depay can do offering the hope of youthful dazzle.

One can debate until deadline day whether the heavyweight bucks are appropriate for a player in Sterling’s developmental stage – part of his attraction is the feeling that there could be so much more to come – but there is not much arguing with market forces.

Marquee signings, of course, are not always what they are cracked up to be. When Manchester United spent nearly £60m on Ángel Di María a year ago, they were obviously hoping for more than a fitful season where delightful moments were mixed with underwhelming drifting. Even if it turns out to be a season of adjustment, it was not easy for club or player to confront difficulties when that kind of price tag turns a dark cloud into a thunderstorm.

With transfer figures as volatile as they are, football is full of such awkwardness. Arsenal’s first year with Mesut Özil was tricky. The experience of the former Chelsea striker Fernando Torres seldom shook off that perplexing air. It seems incomprehensible that Tottenham spent £26m on Roberto Soldado. These, remember, all arrived in their mid-20s with a bit of life experience behind them.

For City Sterling may not be the finished article but they are gambling that, if and when he is, he will possess that aura, that sprinkling of stardust, that hovers around the very best.

Sergio Ramos tells Real Madrid he wants to leave for Manchester United

Sergio Ramos would like to leave the Bernabéu for Old Trafford, despite being under contract at the La Liga club for another two years. Photograph: BPI/Rex Shutterstock

Sergio Ramos is determined to leave Real Madrid and join Manchester United this summer, according to sources close to the player.

Ramos has been informed by Real Madrid that they received a formal bid from United valued at £28.5m (€40m) and that he has told the club he wants to leave this summer. The 29-year-old also informed Real that he is only interested in joining United, despite interest from Manchester City, according to Sky Sports.

United are determined to sign Ramos and made a bid prior to the player meeting the Madrid chief executive, José Ángel Sánchez, last week. The Spanish club continued to say they had not yet any offers. There has been no follow up bid thus far.

During the meeting, held at the club’s Valdebebas headquarters, Ramos confirmed to Madrid that he intended to leave and asked them to listen to offers.

A conversation with the club’s president, Florentino Pérez, followed but there has been no reconciliation. Neither the player nor the club have made any public statement.

Madrid did not adopt the standard response, which is to insist that the player would only leave if United met the full value of his buy-out clause which stands at €180m, but they do value him prohibitively high, setting the price close to €100m. United are determined to use David de Gea as leverage and are prepared to prevent the Spanish goalkeeper from leaving this summer.

Ramos has two years remaining on his contract but negotiations for a renewal have reached a stalemate. He earns around €6m a year, but this is not just a tactic designed to draw a better offer from Madrid. The relationship between Madrid and the player’s camp is extremely tense and although it is impossible to predict how this will end, Ramos’s determination to leave is real.

Wayne Rooney’s character lauded by Roy Hodgson after England win

Roy Hodgson praised Wayne Rooney’s strength of character after his captain retained his composure following a series of missed chances, and his discipline having been elbowed, to conjure the winner which hauled him level with Gary Lineker as England’s joint second-leading scorer.
Rooney, floored by Bostjan Cesar’s flailing arm moments earlier, pounced on Bojan Jokic’s mistake four minutes from time to slide his 48th goal for his country beyond Samir Handanovic and maintain England’s perfect record in Group E. The 29-year-old is one shy of Sir Bobby Charlton’s record, with San Marino awaiting in September when qualification can effectively be secured. His eight goals in 10 internationals have contributed heavily to the side’s unbeaten record this season.
The Manchester United striker had missed a flurry of opportunities earlier in a frantic contest illuminated by Jack Wilshere’s first goals for the national side. “Wayne Rooney’s performance says a lot of things about him as a man,” said Hodgson. “Just before he took that chance he had taken a nasty blow from an elbow, which could have decked many a player and led to him losing his discipline. But it didn’t and he simply got up and played on.
“The fact one or two chances had gone begging earlier also didn’t worry him because, when the ball fell to him four minutes from the end, he still stuck it away with aplomb. We can rely on that man. I’d have liked him to get a hat-trick today so all the talk of the record would have been finished, but he has plenty of time on his side to achieve that still.”
Lineker was quick to congratulate Rooney, who now boasts 28 goals in qualification games for the World Cup or European Championships, on his achievement. “I’m pleased to be joined by Wayne Rooney on 48 goals,” he said. “It seemed, during a five-minute spell in the second half, it might not happen when he struck two over the bar, but Wayne’s been a consistently excellent player over the years.
“I’m sure he will go on and surpass the great Sir Bobby Charlton. He’s still only 29 and he’s a formidable talent and he has a fabulous goalscoring record, especially in qualifiers.”
Cesar was not cautioned for the elbow flung at the striker as the captains clashed inside the penalty area just after Slovenia’s equaliser, which had tied the game at 2-2. The pair had tangled once before, in a friendly at Wembley in 2009 when the England striker had won a penalty despite appearing to connect heavily with Cesar’s ankle. The Slovenian was booked and had subsequently spent a lengthy spell on the sidelines, describing the tackle as “stupid, stupid foul” at the time.“We thought it could have been a penalty,” said Hodgson of the incident in Ljubljana. “But the referee handled the game well. Slovenia are a strong, physical, aggressive team: Fabian Delph took an elbow to his jaw and Raheem Sterling a nasty kick at the end of the game as well. But the players showed their resilience. The team spirit is getting better all the time. They didn’t leave much on the field in terms of effort and determination.”

Jack Wilshere lets fly to score his second goal. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images

While there was frustration at the nature of the first-half goal which meant England trailed at the break, stemming as it did from a Phil Jones throw-in deep in Slovenia’s half, Hodgson was hugely encouraged by the recovery mounted courtesy of Wilshere’s eye-catching brace. “His whole performance was quality,” said the manager. “I’m very happy with the goals he’s scored but, in the second half in particular, he controlled that midfield. If we can keep him fit and he can get plenty of PL [Premier League] matches and international matches, at his young age we think we’ve got a good player going forward. “We know we have excellent technicians in midfield in Wilshere, Jordan Henderson and Delph, James Milner and Adam Lallana, and that they’ve all got goals in them. Now they have to prove it. We’ll need their goals. We can’t just rely on our front players.”
The win means England have now gone 11 games unbeaten since their elimination from the World Cup in Brazil last June, with this their first season without defeat since 1990-91.
“The team has made progress,” added Hodgson. “It’s a good achievement, completing a season of 10 games with eight wins and two draws. That’s not been done for over 20 years. The players deserve some credit for that, and get plenty of credit from me. Now we have to keep building on it. We want to keep that unbeaten run going.”