The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Everton

  • Everton, West Ham in race for £20m-rated Iheanacho

    Everton, West Ham in race for £20m-rated Iheanacho

    Everton and West Ham United have both shown  interest in Manchester City youngster Kelechi Iheanacho, according to reports.

    The Nigeria international has seen his playing time limited since the arrival of manager Pep Guardiola last summer, starting just five games in the Premier League – one of those coming in 2017.

    Despite his lack of impact this term, The Sun claims that Everton are preparing a shock £20m move for the 20-year-old, who they see as a potential replacement for Chelsea-linked striker Romelu Lukaku.

    A City insider is quoted by the publication as saying: “Everton have shown an interest in Kelechi, who has been frustrated with a lack of game time this season.

    “He is highly-rated here, but has not started a match since January 2 whereas I’m sure he would get lots of first-team action elsewhere.

    “Pep is looking to bolster his ranks and spend a fair chunk of cash this coming transfer window and the club could be persuaded to sell should the right offer come in.”

  • Barkley shows black eye after attack in Liverpool

    Barkley shows black eye after attack in Liverpool

     

    Ross Barkley was pictured for the first time since he was the victim of an ‘unprovoked attack’ in a Liverpool bar on Sunday night, with the Everton midfielder showing bruising on his face as he left training at the club’s Finch Farm base.

    The 23-year-old’s face looked battered and bruised as he was seen leaving Everton’s training ground after arriving at the facility a few hours earlier on Wednesday.

    Barkley was punched to the ground by a reveller as he visited Santa Chupitos cocktail bar in Liverpool, hours after helping his side beat Leicester City 4-2 at Goodison Park.

    CCTV footage showed the Everton and England midfielder talking to another man near the bar before three punches were thrown in his direction, and Barkley’s lawyers confirmed the attack in a statement on Monday.

    The Wavertree-born Liverpudlian was wearing shades, a black sports hoodie and baseball cap as he drove his black Range Rover Overfinch worth £189,990 early on Wednesday morning into the training ground.

    But he removed the accessories as he left the training ground, showing off what looked to be a particularly painful looking black eye.

    It is the first time the player has been spotted since becoming embroiled in a fight on Slater Street in Ropewalks, Liverpool’s bohemian heartland, not long after he had played the full 90 minutes in the win over the Premier League champions.

    Santa Chupitos has since confirmed it has sacked the person responsible for leaking footage of the attack onto the internet, released by Twitter user That Heavy Kid.

    A statement from Barkley’s lawyer said on Monday: ‘We can confirm that Ross was the victim of an unprovoked attack by a stranger who approached him on Sunday evening.’

    According to the club, Barkley did not suffer any concussion from the incident after being checked out by club medical staff, and he will not be disciplined as club sources say he was not in breach of any rules and was under no curfew.

    Merseyside Police are looking into the incident, and Barkley will want to move on from the skirmish as quickly as possible by continuing his good form on the pitch when Everton host Sean Dyche’s side at Goodison Park on Saturday.

    The midfielder, who is earning £60,000-a-week at Everton, has been playing some of his most enterprising football since the New Year.

    Ronald Koeman’s side are chase a top six finish in the Premier League with six games remaining, but Barkley’s Everton future is far from certain with the midfielder having just one more year left to run on his contract.

     

     

     

  • Yakubu begins search for new club after Coventry exit

    Yakubu begins search for new club after Coventry exit

     

    Nigerian international Yakubu Aiyegbeni is back in search of the new club after his romance with English League one side hit the rocks with a bang. Although the club announced on its official website that the parting was on mutual agreement, but the ‘please lets go our separate ways’ statement  is not unconnected with inability of the 34 year former Portsmouth and Everton ace to lift the embattled club that desperately needed a game changer when they engaged the Yak.

    “The club can announce that former Everton striker Yakubu has had his contract mutually terminated, with immediate effect.

    Yakubu made three appearances for the Sky Blues, before suffering a hamstring injury against Swindon Town.

    The club would like to wish Yakubu all the best for the future,” the statement added on Wednesday

    Coventry won the EFL Trophy on Sunday, but looks certain to move down to league two after sitting permanently in the bottom of the league one table.

    The Yak who played for Chinese Super league side Guangzhou R&F between 2012 and 2013 scoring 24 goals in 43 appearances also played for Al Rayyan, Reading and Kayserispor before the temporary romance with Coventry.

    The former Maccabi Haifa ace made 57 appearances for super Eagles scoring 21 goals in the bargain and was part of the world Cup in South Africa.

    While some soccer followers who reacted on the development expressed surprise that the Coventry deal ended in  a jiffy, some others said it wasn’t surprising as the yak is no longer in his super form. When of those who reacted to the development on twitter however chose to hang the development on age, saying via his twitter handle

    @UgoTalksAlot”There’s no way in hell I will believe Yakubu Aiyegbeni is 34. He’s probably closer to 40″

    Aiyegbeni played for a total of 12 clubs in the course of his career scoring 172 goals excluding the goals scored for the National team.

  • Liverpool beat Everton to boost top-4 chances

    Liverpool beat Everton to boost top-4 chances

    Liverpool enhanced their prospects of a top-four place by beating derby rivals Everton 3-1 on Saturday at Anfield.

    It was however a defeat which severely damaged Everton’s hopes of breaking into the battle for a UEFA Champions League qualification spot.

    Sadio Mane gave the hosts an early lead when he played a one-two with Roberto Firmino and finished off an angled run with a shot into the far corner.

    A Philippe Coutinho shot was palmed up by Toffees keeper Joel Robles and headed off the line by Phil Jagielka before the visitors equalised.

    Jagielka flicked on a corner kick at the near post and, after Ashley Williams got a touch, Matthew Pennington arrived to slot in.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that it was his first Everton goal on his first appearance of the season.

    However, the situation lasted just two minutes and 57 seconds before Coutinho beat two players and curled a shot into the top corner.

    He then set up substitute Divock Origi — on for the injured Mane — to power in Liverpool’s third.

    The result put the Reds seven points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United —- who have three games in hand, including at home against West Brom later on Saturday.

    Everton are seven points off the top four having played more matches than their rivals.

  • Lukaku named Premier League Player of the Month

    Lukaku named Premier League Player of the Month

     

    Everton striker Romelu Lukaku has been crowned Premier League Player of the Month for March.

    Belgium international Lukaku was in prime form for Ronald Koeman’s side, scoring four times – including a double in the 4-0 demolition of Hull City.

    Lukaku is the top scorer in the Premier League, with 21 goals, and also provided a pair of assists over recent weeks as Everton moved into contention for a European place.

    “I’m really happy, [winning the award] gives me another boost,” the 23-year-old told Everton’s official website, ahead of Saturday’s crunch trip to Liverpool.

    “I think we’re preparing differently this year [for the derby] because, obviously, we’ve had the games with the national team but we’re not really talking about the game.

    “We are in a good flow at the minute, we know that we have to be focused and keep our emotions under control, even though it’s a derby.

    “At the end of the day you want to win, you need to keep your focus and make sure that you get the three points at the end.”

    Bournemouth duo Artur Boruc and Josh King were among the players Lukaku edged out for the award, although their boss Eddie Howe collected the managers’ gong following a return of seven points from matches with Manchester United, West Ham and Swansea City.

  • Lukaku hits training in £350,000 Rolls-Royce

    Lukaku hits training in £350,000 Rolls-Royce

     

     

     

    Romelu Lukaku arrived for training at Everton on Wednesday, a day after telling the club that he was not going to sign a new contract at Goodison Park.

    It had seemed a formality that Lukaku would become the first player in the club’s history to sign a deal worth more than £100,000 a week, with negotiations going on since last summer.

    Everton were prepared to pay the 23-year-old a wage in the region of £130,000 per week, which would have dramatically altered their pay structure. But after training at the club’s Finch Farm base, Lukaku dropped the bombshell on Tuesday afternoon. But the striker arrived for training as normal on Wednesday in his Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe worth £350,000 ahead of Saturday’s game against Hull at Goodison Park.

    The club hierarchy were taken aback, not least because Lukaku’s agent Mino Raiola had recently gone on record to say it was ‘99.99 per cent’ likely he would stay. No talks are planned but the club stance is that they will do their best to persuade him to change his mind.

    Significantly, the Belgium international has never said that he saw the peak years of his career at Goodison Park. When he scored against Sunderland on February 25, he refused to discuss his future.

    His decision to pull out of any further talks has nothing to do with money — it is all to do with him not wanting to appear disingenuous.

    Lukaku has been open about his ambitions to play in the Champions League and compete for the top prizes, and this stunning twist is likely to lead to a stampede for his signature.

    But majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri moved to assuage fans’ fears over their star striker’s future on Wednesday.

    He told talkSPORT: ‘It’s not an issue. The club is confident with the strong relationship it has with the player and the agent.

    ‘He has over two years left on his contract and the new, improved contract is recognition of what he’s done for the club. No one should worry, he is our player.’

  • Lukaku ‘not eager to sign Everton deal’

    Lukaku ‘not eager to sign Everton deal’

     

     

     

    Everton striker Romelu Lukaku has reportedly said that he is not ready to sign a new contract at the club.

    The 23-year-old has been tipped to put pen to paper on a new five-year deal for a number of weeks now, with agent Mino Raiola claiming on more than one occasion that the agreement is 99% complete.

    However, the contract has not yet been signed, and the forward is reported to have told Belgian sports website Playsports that he is not ready to agree terms at the moment.

    Lukaku was questioned on his potential new deal following Everton’s 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday but, when asked if he is ready to sign, he is reported to have said: “No”.

    Lukaku is the joint top-scorer in the Premier League this season with 19 goals, becoming the first Everton player to reach that tally in the league for more than 30 years.

  • Everton boss Koeman wants Rooney back

    Everton boss Koeman wants Rooney back

     

    Everton manager Ronald Koeman has opened the door for Wayne Rooney to return to Goodison Park.

    Manchester United’s record goal scorer has been linked with a move back to his boyhood club, having struggled to hold down a regular place under Jose Mourinho.

    Rooney’s agent was in China this month, assessing the player’s options, but the 31-year-old last week issued a statement insisting he was staying at Old Trafford.

    However, his long-term future remains in doubt, and Koeman is ready to make a move in the summer to bring Rooney back to where it all began.

    “I believe that Wayne Rooney is still playing at a high level,” the Dutchman told Sky Sports. “I think he made a good choice to stay at Manchester United and in the Premier League because he has still two or three years in front of him to play on a high level.

    “What will happen at the end of the season? I don’t know but in my opinion he is one of the players who can make Everton stronger.

    “It’s all about what the player likes, what Manchester United needs to do, and we are not involved in that project.

    Wayne Rooney has scored two Premier League goals this season.

    “But every player that we at Everton think can make the team stronger is welcome to Everton.”

    Rooney progressed through the ranks in the Toffees’ academy, having joined at the age of nine, and his rise accelerated in his mid-teens as he moved from the youth side to become a first-team regular.

    He made his debut aged 16 on the opening day of the 2002-03 campaign against Tottenham and six weeks later became Everton’s youngest scorer with two goals against Wrexham in the League Cup. He scored his first Premier League goal a fortnight later,a last-minute winner against Arsenal five days before his 17th birthday.

    Everton were unable to hang on to Rooney when United came in the summer of 2004 but there is now a prospect of him making the move back to Merseyside.

  • Coventry City ready to take on Aiyegbeni

    Coventry City ready to take on Aiyegbeni

     

     

     

    League one side Coventry have opened talks with Nigerian international Yakubu Aiyegbeni.  The 34 year old is currently on trial with the side with club officials optimistic that the former Everton forward will eventually be part of the team and contribute to their desire to improve standing on the log.

    Aiyegbeni has been without a club since leaving Turkish side Kayserispor last year having failed to score a single goal during an unsuccessful spell with the team.

    Coventry currently sit rock-bottom in League One, eight points from safety and in desperate need of extra firepower having scored just 23 goals in their 29 outings so far this season.

    Sky Blues boss Russell Slade has reportedly earmarked Yakubu as a possible solution to his side’s goal scoring problems, with the Nigerian having netted 140 times in English football during stints with Everton, Middlesbrough, Portsmouth, Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers.

    The veteran most recently played in England for Reading in 2015, but managed just one goal in 11 appearances for the Royals.

    Aiyegbeni who also played for Chinese Super league side Guangzhou R&F, made 43 appearances with 24 goals to show for his effort.

    The Yak  who scored 21 goals for the Super Eagles in 57 appearances scored his highest number of goals in the league between 2003 and 2005 while playing for Portsmouth.  He scored 29 goals for the club in 65 appearances.

  • Young Nigerian wrecks Man City

    Young Nigerian wrecks Man City

     

     

    Ademola Lookman has scored his first goal for Everton as he made his debut for the English team today.  Lookman who was born in London, and is of Nigerian descent sealed a comprehensive victory for Everton over Man City as the match ended 4-0.

    After the match Lookman stated in a brief chat that  he played to instructions from the his Coach.

    He said: “The gaffer said I should play behind Romelu Lukaku and I was lucky to anticipate the ball.”

    Meanwhile, goals from Romelu Lukaku, Kevin Mirallas, and Tom Davies leaves  City ten points behind Premier  League leaders Chelsea, while Everton cut their own gap to the Citizens to just nine points.

    The new Everton winger, signed from Charlton for £11million last week, may have been starry eyed

    as he walked into the club’s Finch Park training base to see some of his idols.

    But Lookman is on a mission to play right at the top and it  was not  b a bad start today as

    boss Ronald Koeman  had revealed he will be involved against Manchester City.