Yakubu appeals to Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough expect to have their application for a work permit for Yakubu Ayegbeni rejected, but will go ahead with the signing of the Nigeria forward from Portsmouth for £7.5 million confident that they will succeed on appeal.
Home Office regulations require a player to have appeared in 75 per cent of his country’s competitive matches over the past two years. Yakubu, whose transfer is due to be completed tomorrow, has played only about half, having refused to represent his country after an accusation that he broke a curfew during last year’s African Nations Cup in Tunisia.
Parting shots
Mateja Kezman completed his £5 million transfer from Chelsea to Atlético Madrid yesterday with a parting shot at his former club. “I was sad that I didn’t play more but (José) Mourinho and Chelsea are now in the past,” the striker said. “I don’t want to talk about them any more.”
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Stoke go Dutch
Johan Boskamp, a member of the Holland squad that reached the 1978 World Cup final, has been appointed the new manager of Stoke City. He takes over from Tony Pulis, sacked on Tuesday after a row with Gunnar Por Gislason, the chairman, over a lack of signings from overseas.
World Cup rights
ITV and BBC said yesterday that they have signed a deal with Fifa to broadcast the World Cup finals in 2010 and 2014. Agreement has been reached for the rights to all matches at the tournaments, in South Africa in five years’ time and in 2014, the venue for which is unconfirmed.
Zola bows out
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Gianfranco Zola, the former Chelsea and Italy forward, has retired a week before his 39th birthday. Zola had a good season with Cagliari in Serie A, leading to speculation that he might play on, but he said: “I felt an ever stronger desire to do things I have neglected over these years.”