David Beckham lit up a subdued transfer deadline day in Europe by securing perhaps the final move of his globetrotting career, a surprise short-term deal with ambitious French club Paris Saint-Germain.
Mario Balotelli, a headline-grabber at the opposite end of his career, finalized his switch from Manchester City to AC Milan for 20 million euros (US$27 million). Otherwise, there was plenty of speculation, but precious little activity as another January window closed for business on Thursday.
With economic problems continuing to hit the continent hard, top clubs have also been forced to rein in their spending to ensure they adhere to UEFA’s strict financial fair play rules.
The English Premier League — usually the scene of last-gasp trolley dashes among clubs — was quiet by its standards, with Arsenal moving late to sign Spain international leftback Nacho Monreal from Malaga for a reported fee of £8.3 million (US$13.6 million). Inter were the busiest of Serie A’s major teams, but only to bring in four unheralded names.
Nothing, though, was ever going to upstage PSG’s signing of Beckham, who moves to the French capital on a five-month deal during which time he will donate his salary to a local children’s charity.
“I am 37 years old and I got offered a lot of offers, more offers now than I have probably had in my career,” said the former England captain, who revealed he rejected bids from Premier League teams. “I can still run around, I can still play as I did when I was 21 years old.”
Where Beckham fits in at PSG is another question entirely.
Once he regains his match fitness, he will likely have to settle for a bit-part role with the Ligue 1 leaders, who are close to becoming the modern-day “Galacticos,” with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva among the big names already at the club.
“I’m excited about the challenge,” Beckham said. “I love the challenge wherever I have played, whatever league or culture I have played in.”
Balotelli, who has been afforded hero status since his return to Italy on Wednesday, completed his move to Milan early on Thursday, ending a turbulent stint at City where he was rarely out of the headlines for his behavior on and off the pitch.
“Being at City was an important part of my life and career,” the 22-year-old Balotelli said. “I needed to grow up like a player and as a person, and it has been a very good experience for me.”
Elsewhere in Italy, SSC Napoli signed Porto defender Rolando on loan, Mohamed Sissoko joined ACF Fiorentina on loan from PSG and Inter’s signings were teenager Mateo Kovacic, Zdravko Kuzmanovic, Ezequiel Schelotto and Juan Pablo Carrizo.
In England, last-minute deals were mainly confined to the Premier League’s strugglers, with last-place Queens Park Rangers sealing the biggest signing by bringing in defender Christopher Samba from Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala for a reported club-record fee of £12 million.
In a bizarre twist late on deadline day, Nigerian striker Peter Odemwingie drove to London from central England in an attempt to force a move from West Bromwich Albion to QPR.
West Brom released a statement saying Odemwingie had been denied permission to talk to QPR and he was barred entrance to Loftus Road.
Bundesliga clubs in Germany also resisted the urge to splash out on deadline day, with relegation-threatened TSG 1899 Hoffenheim bringing in Tottenham Hotspur’s third-choice goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes on loan in the biggest move.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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