Manchester United have been watching Antonio Valencia for a long time now. With the departure of Steve Bruce from the JJB and the arrival of Swansea manager Roberto Martinez, Valencia has decided it is time to move on. Especially with all this upheavel.
Manchester United are in pole position to beat Real Madrid to the signing of Antonio Valencia. United are embroiled in a tug-of-war for his signature with Real Madrid although agent Diego Herrera says the Spanish giants have yet to make a move. The Ecuador winger has caught the eye of Sir Alex Ferguson this season and the United manager has reportedly made a £16million bid for him.
Madrid were said to have made a bid themselves but Herrera has heard nothing - paving the way for United to pounce. Florentino Perez sanctioned the world record breaking transfer of Kaka from AC Milan but as far as Valencia is concerned, he's kept quiet.
"The only official offer from Real Madrid for Antonio was last January. The offer came from the previous president but Florentino is over there now so I don't know if they are going to go for him again.
"It is the right time for him to leave, now that the manager has left, he feels it is time to move on."
"And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.
But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13
Cristina Corduneanu is one of those people you will only ever come across once in a lifetime. She is a young girl who has so far dedicated her life to helping the orphans and poorer people in my region of Romania. She works for the FAST (Fundatia Pentru Asistenta Sociala si Tineret) Charity in Romania.
Her work has involved raising cash and working tirelessly herself in order to make the lives of literally thousands of people much better. She has given many 100s of children a meaning to their lives and hope for their future in my village of Zizin as well as Sacele and Tarlungeni in the Brasov area of Transylvania in Romania.
Cristina Corduneanu has been stricken with Leukemia last year, and recently the disease has become so aggressive, her life is now in danger.
Below you will see the email sent out from the FAST Charity with an update to what is happening to Cristina. If you visit Cristina Corduneanu's Website you can read more about her yourself.
Dear Friends
Thankyou to all those who have given generously so far.
Things are moving very quickly, and Cristina's situation is becoming increasing desperate.
Since the last email you received Cristina has traveled to Belgium for medical tests. Her doctor advised that, due to the advanced nature of her Leukemia, there would be no point conducting any further chemotherapy. He advised that the stem cell transplant needed to take place by the 8th of June. Left longer, the disease will become more aggressive and Cristina's chances of survival diminish.
The cost of treatment has been revised down from 80,000 euro to 50,000 euro, however the clinic cannot commence the treatment until they have either an official commitment from the Romanian health department, or the 50,000 euro up front. Her family has made numerous approaches to the Romanian health department but they are refusing to help. Cristina has raised nearly 32,000 euro so far, this leaves her with the daunting task of raising 18,000 euro in one week.
We again ask all those who can to give generously. If everyone on this mailing list took it upon themselves to raise just 25 euro each, Cristina could have her treatment.
Thank again for all your support.
Regards
Everyone at FAST
Here you can read a message from Cristina Corduneanu herself. She doesn't beg for money or feel sorry for herself. She humbly asks for some help in this her darkest hour of need. Read Cristina Corduneanu's message.
As you can see, the amount needed for Cristina Corduneanu to receive her treatment was 18,000 Euros which had to be raised in 7 days. They now need 7,924 Euros in 4 days.
The sad thing is, if EVERYONE on my Twitter account gave just $2 or £1.50, that would take them to the target they need. So if you can find it in yourself to help with ANY amount, no matter how small or insignificant you might feel it is then please, please do. ANY AMOUNT WILL GO TOWARDS GIVING CRISTINA CORDUNEANU HOPE.
The Human Race has enough bad people at large, we need to grasp people like Cristina Corduneanu and keep a hold of them. She does so much good work and asks for very little in return. Now in her hour of need the world MUST give her something back.
Maybe the Romanian government might step in with the cash, maybe the Belgian government might help but we can't rely on this, we MUST make sure this cash is available to her in case no one helps.
Below you can see a video of Cristina Corduneanu's work with children and poor people. Take a look and find it in your heart to save this young girl's life so she can carry on her great work.
Please don't ask to send cash to me. I am not authorised to collect cash for any charities at all. The places to go for donations are Cristina Corduneanu Website or to the FAST Charity Website
You can go to either of these websites and have them checked out. FAST are registered under a British Charity too. This can be found here at Cleaford Christian Trust.
They have British Charity Reg Numbers, VAT Registration and Inland Revenue Registration if anyone has any doubts about this.
Again, thanks for reading this and if you have a little space on the internet where you can provide a link back here, then please do, PLEASE.
Japan sets up Olympic Institute to celebrate centenary@inside the gamesMay 30 - The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) has marked the centenary of its country’s active involvement in the Olympic Movement by announcing the creation of the Kano Jigoro Memorial International Sport Institute. The Institute, inaugurated exactly 100 years after Jigoro Kano became the first International Olympic Committee
Sir Alex Ferguson will reshape his humiliated Manchester United squad after their Champions League debacle against Barcelona.
I think Shell-shocked Fergie has decided he will not take up the option to buy Carlos Tevez, even though David Gill will be meeting up with Kia Joorabchian tomorrow to try to come to some sort of arrangement. I think too much damage has been done to the relationship with Tevez now. After all his efforts and some timely goals for us too, he now feels terribly let down by Fergie. At the same time, Nani and Ji-Sung Park could also be high-profile victims of the Rome drubbing.
The United manager believes Lyon’s Karim Benzema represents better value for money than Tevez – and to meet Lyon’s £30million asking price there will be fall guys. Nani has failed to impress in his second season at United, while Park may be sacrificed so Fergie can bring in Wigan’s £15m-rated midfielder Antonio Valencia, a long-term target.
Goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak is on his way out this summer after failing to impress in three years, with Fergie keen to give England goalkeeper Ben Foster more first-team opportunities next season. United will not take up the option to buy Tevez unless the player’s advisers, led by Kia Joorabchian, lower their asking price by a third to around £18m. (Story continues below)
Tevez’s exit seemed all but decided with him again criticising Ferguson yesterday. He said: “I wanted to play in the starting line-up in Rome but that decision was down to the coach. “But with a strategy more attacking in the first minute then perhaps the result would have been different. It has not been a good time for me because I believe that I should have played more minutes. My future will now be decided. My agents are negotiating and I am waiting to hear some news.”
Tevez was the only senior member of the squad not to return to Manchester with the rest of the United party yesterday and wore a tracksuit to the subdued United post-match party, rather than the official club suits his team-mates adhered to.
One player staying put is Cristiano Ronaldo. New Real president Florentino Perez is targeting AC Milan’s Kaka instead, while former Real icon Zinedine Zidane, whom Perez wants as his sporting director, rates Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery above Ronaldo.
The latest edition of UK magazine 'Private Eye' features an interesting column about Thailand. I hear the writer of the column is a handsome, sophisticated and smart Englishman.
Early on Wednesday morning, as Fergie and his Manchester United looked forward to another Champions League Final he must have still thought he had a team that would place him among the top European managers from right across history.
By full-time he was back in one of those cold-sweat, pre-1993 moments, defeated by a football club, actually a football institution, who made his own look puny. Where does he go from here?
This has been far from being a bad season, don't get me wrong. First and foremost we should bear in mind that this season Manchester United have done everything asked of them except win the Champions League and the FA Cup. They made light of the demands of the Fifa Club World Cup, they saw off the best challenge in 19 years from a Liverpool team and all the emotion that entails. They came back in games against Stoke City, Aston Villa, Sunderland and Tottenham when it mattered.
They are hardly the dysfunctional, bickering side that could not make it out the Champions League group stages in the winter of 2005, Ferguson's lowest point in the recent past. They have won three consecutive Premier League titles and any analysis of how bitter their humiliation at the hands of Barcelona was on Wednesday night should be placed in the context of another astonishingly successful season.
But wednesday night, something was missing. The usual inertia on the United bench when Lionel Messi's goal went in on 70 minutes — Ferguson and his assistants sat slumped like moody teenagers at a bus stop — told you that on this night they had run out of ideas. No-one could argue that Ferguson should rip it up and start again but a new standard has been set by Barcelona and the old Scot would not be doing his job if he did not ask himself how he can reach and surpass it.
You can't have what Barca have got ? The preoccupation now will be Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta, very much the men of the moment. How do United get their hands on two pocket-sized demon midfield passers? How much will it cost? Can they get a Messi too? But trying to replicate exactly another team's model for success, even trying to replicate the model of past United team's success, is dangerous.
Once the theory was that United would never prosper without a new Roy Keane in the middle of midfield. You don't hear that much now. Instead, Ferguson put his faith in equally dominant players, like Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, who are just as effective only in different ways, in different positions. Ferguson cannot conjure another Xavi or Iniesta, but United need more of those dominant midfield players.
Who can make this United team stronger?
As befits a team that looked so competitive until now, this summer Ferguson has been linked with precious few big-name players. The interest in Karim Benzema at Lyon is longstanding, so too that in Antonio Valencia at Wigan Athletic and Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery.
These are all dominant players, they are not comparable in style to Xavi and Iniesta but then who is? Those two are a real one-off, once-in-a-generation players and attempting to find clones of them would be foolish. Ferguson's policy has always been to buy the best players he can attract to United and trust they will flourish on the biggest stage.
Will Owen Hargreaves be the same player again?
It took a couple of takes to deduce the identity of the bloke on the touchline before the match with curly black hair in a United club suit. A third Da Silva brother perhaps? It was the long-lost, lesser-spotted, too-often injured Hargreaves. One of the stars of last year's final in Moscow, he has not kicked a ball for United since 21 December and last night, for the first time in a while, United were missing him.
The notion that Wednesday's result would have been radically different with Darren Fletcher in the United side is hopelessly optimistic at best. With Hargreaves rather than Luis Anderson you could see a case for United having more energy in central midfield. Hargreaves has been brilliant in patches for United but at £17m he owes Ferguson a big season in 2009-2010.
What do you do with Ronaldo?
On the occasion of one of his greatest disappointments, the behaviour of Ronaldo was encouragingly gracious. On more than one occasion he glanced up at the stadium's big screen for a glimpse of that face he loves more than any other. He swerved a handshake with Carles Puyol as the Barcelona team applauded United up the steps but that was understandable. He never gave up on a pretty wretched night.
A logical mind would say that joining Real Madrid now is an even greater folly, so lost in Barcelona's shadow are they. But if Ronaldo's reasons for staying at United were that they were Europe's premiere team, then Wednesday night has weakened that premise. Yet for all his histrionics, Ronaldo has never been less than professional. If he turns up at United next season there's no reason to doubt he will probably end up top scorer again.
How long can Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs last? With these two United giants now facing surely their last season at the club they handover to a new generation who have an unprecedented chance to establish themselves.
When do we get to see the £7m Zoran Tosic his fellow Serb Adem Ljajic who arrives next January, around £3m? For these young players as well as Darron Gibson, Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda the door is open. Adam Johnson of Middlesbrough is another Ferguson is understood to be interested in.
If they have to face Barcelona again next season then United will have to learn from Wednesday as they did with their semi-final defeat in 2007 to Milan, whom they subsequently eliminated the following season. The trouble with Barcelona is that they are better and younger than that Milan team and they could be around for a while yet.
Well, United lost the cL Final and every bloody sports page and sports blog has reported on what happened and I would imagine every United fan worth his/her salt watched it anyway. So I'm saying nothing about it. It's a bitter pill to have to swallow, being beten like that. But.....it does show there is always room for improvement, no matter how good people think you are.
From Nigeria comes a report of one United fan who seems to have lost the plot over this match.
After United's defeat a fan in Nigeria killed four people when he drove his minibus into a crowd of Barcelona supporters after his team lost the Champions League final, police said on Friday.
The crowd in the town of Ogbo were celebrating Barcelona's victory after Thursday's match when the bus drove into them.
A police spokeswoman said 10 people were injured and the driver was arrested.
"The driver had passed the crowd then made a U-turn and ran into them," she said.
Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0 in what was hailed as a "dream final" between two of Europe's best clubs.
Both teams have large fan bases in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation.
Manchester United have been watching Antonio Valencia for a long time now. With the departure of Steve Bruce from the JJB and the arrival of Swansea manager Roberto Martinez, Valencia has decided it is time to move on. Especially with all this upheavel.
