Tevez's Future Hangs In The Balance

Manchester United striker Carlos Tevez says he will only know what his future holds at the end of the season.

The barrel-chested Argentine is contracted to United until June, having initially arrived on a two year loan from West Ham.

The Red Devils are reportedly in agreement to pay around GBP 30 million for the player's services to a third party, but this has yet to be contractually sealed.

Tevez, however, hinted he would like to remain at Old Trafford. "I have the head start in Manchester and my idea is to stay here for a few more years," Tevez told Radio del Plata.

"It would be very difficult to have to leave one of the biggest clubs in the world.

"I spoke with the president of the club, but nothing is signed yet."

Source: soccer365.com

Nene keen on Arsenal move

Brazilian striker Nene has admitted he would be interested in joining Premiership side Arsenal in the summer.

The 25-year-old has been linked with a move to the Gunners in the press recently, but the Brazilian ace has admitted he has not been in contact with the club.

Nene has scored 14 goals in 17 games for Portuguese side Nacional this season.

Nene said: “I only know about the rumours in the press.

“I have spoken with my agent and we still have not received a concrete offer.

“I am focussed on helping Nacional to seucre success this season.

“My dream is to progress in football and it is normal that I desire a bright future.”

source: soccernews.com

Official: Hiddink Confirmed As Chelsea Coach

Chelsea have today appointed Guus Hiddink as their coach until the end of the season, as a statement on their official website confirms. The appointment had been expected over the last 48 hours, as the Dutchman, coach of the Russian national team and a close personal friend of Chelsea's oligarch Russian owner Roman Abramovich, emerged as the strong favourite to succeed Luiz Felipe Scolari.

The statement reads, "Chelsea Football Club is delighted to confirm Guus Hiddink will become temporary coach until the end of the season.

"He is due to meet the players later this week. The club would like to take this opportunity to thank the Russian Football Union for their understanding and co-operation."

Hiddink has managed the Russian national side since 2006, and England supporters will be well aware of how his team qualified for Euro 2008 at the expense of the Three Lions. His Russian side reached the semi-finals of the competition, and were applauded throughout for the skill and verve with which they played.

The Dutchman has combined the roles of coaching a national side and a club side previously. When, in 2002, he returned to coach PSV Eindhoven, whom he'd coached to a hat-trick of Eredivisie titles and a European Cup victory in the late 1980s, he combined the role with that of coaching Australia, whom he guided to their first World Cup finals since 1974, and still managed to win the Dutch league three times in four years.

His first test as Chelsea coach will be a trip to Premier League form side Aston Villa on February 21.

Bayern Munich - a blackhole for Germany´s rising stars?

Just like Germany stars Lukas Podolski, Jan Schlaudraff and Marcell Jansen before him, talented teenager Toni Kroos has become the latest star to opt out of Bayern Munich.

“For a young player, to play is most important and it is something which was only proposed to me on occasion at Bayern,” said Kroos, voted the best player at the Under-19 World Cup in 2007.

Kroos, 19, signed an 18-month loan deal with Bayer Leverkusen last week having made just seven league appearances for Bayern this season.

It remains to be see whether he ever returns to Bayern and he is not the only rising German star to leave the Bavarian giants in frustration at a lack of first-team chances.

Podolski, voted the best young player at the 2006 World Cup, also shone for the national team during Euro 2008, despite spending virtually all of last season amongst the reserves, but his torture will end.

Next season, he returns to Cologne - even if they are relegated - from where he broke into the Germany side before his ill-fated switch to Bayern in 2006.

Barred by more experienced and expensive players like Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni, who both command higher salaries, Kroos and Podolski are not the only examples of promising players who failed to make the grade at Bayern.

Having impressed with Aachen, Jan Schlaudraff played only eight matches in the Bayern shirt before joining Hanover last summer.

His time on the bench in Munich cost him his place in the Germany squad.

And Euro 2008 finalist, Marcell Jansen lasted only a season in Bayern before heading to Hamburg.

“Of course, it is extremely difficult for talented young players to exert themselves in the team,” Jansen told the Bild newspaper.

“Young players don’t have this unscrupulousness and if you don’t take your first chance you have a long wait for the second one - if it comes at all.”

When Bayern failed to qualify for the Champions League in 2007, they flexed their considerable financial muscle with a 70 million euro spending spree to recruit the likes of Klose, Toni and French midfielder Franck Ribery.

“Our philosophy rests on two pillars, one with the likes of foreign players like Ribery and Toni, which has guaranteed our success, the other with players who are home-grown,” said Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

And while the Bayern boss quotes the names of nurtured stars in Michael Rensing, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm, even glittering performances with Germany do not guarantee a place in Bayern’s first team.

But Bayern, with 21 German titles to their name, will always attract the country’s top young players, like Borussia Moenchengladbach’s Alexander Baumjohann, who has just signed a three-year contract.

“I believe I will be able to succeed in Munich, if not, I would not have accepted this offer,” said the 22-year-old midfielder echoing the sentiments of the likes of Podolski, Schlaudraff and Jansen before him.

Source: www.soccernews.com