7, December 2020
Football: Balotelli signs for Berlusconi’s ambitious Monza 0
Mario Balotelli has signed for Silvio Berlusconi’s team Monza on a deal until the end of the season, the Italian Serie B side announced on Monday.
In a statement, Monza said that striker Balotelli has signed a contract until the end of June, but did not disclose the Italy international’s wages.
The 30-year-old reunites with former Milan chiefs Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani, under whom he played over 2013 and 2014 and then on loan from Liverpool for the 2015-16 Serie A season.
He also rejoins former Milan teammate Kevin Prince Boateng, who signed for Monza in September.
Balotelli, who has scored 14 times in 36 appearances for his national team, played for his hometown team Brescia last season but couldn’t do anything to stop them from being relegated to second-tier Serie B.
Former Italian prime minister Berlusconi purchased Monza in September 2018 for around three million euros (today $3.6 million) having sold Milan for 740 million euros in April 2017.
The club from just outside Milan earned promotion from third-tier Serie C last season and are currently nine points off the automatic promotion places for the top flight.
Source: AFP
8, December 2020
Football: Pogba wants to leave Manchester United 0
Manchester United star Paul Pogba is “unhappy” at Manchester United and should leave in the next transfer window, his agent Mino Raiola said in an interview with Italian media.
The French midfielder of Guinean descent was at one point the world’s most expensive player.
Raiola said the World Cup-winning France midfielder, 27, needs a “change of scene” after struggling to establish himself under United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“Paul’s unhappy at Manchester United, he can’t express himself any more as he would like to and as we expect of him,” Raiola told Italian newspaper Tuttosport.
He has to change teams, he needs a change of scene. His contract is up in a year-and-a-half, in the summer of 2022, but I think the best solution for all sides is a transfer in the next window.”
Pogba returned from a spell at Juventus for a then world-record fee of $118 million in 2016.
“The club… knows it risks losing him for nothing, as at the moment the player has no intention of extending his contract,” Raiola said.
It is not known where he will go next but Pogba has also expressed his desire to play for Real Madrid one day, particularly if that means playing under the orders of Zinedine Zidane.
The midfielder’s superb strike in Saturday’s 3-1 win over West Ham was his first goal in eight Premier League appearances this season.
Source: Africa News