Real Madrid want to sell Gareth Bale in the summer as according to Guillem Balague

Pictured in the shadows is Real Madrid’s most expensive player who is of Welsh origins. Gareth Bale joined Madrid from Tottenham in a deal worth £85.3m. He made an instant impact in his first season by helping Real Madrid win the La Decima (10th UEFA Champions League) in 2014. He has since been plagued by injuries including his calf which has recurred for many years. This season he has been a bit part player and has often been called off the bench to see through matches with his direct runs. Bale has basically been replaced by Spanish wonderkid Asensio, Isco and Vazquez have been preferred ahead of him. Questions are raised towards his future because his lightning pace does not seem as that much of an asset the club needed when they brought him in.

In all fairness, Bale is a threat when he is fully fit but the problem with him is that he has become injury prone. His fitness concerns do not add value to a big club like Madrid who invested a lot in him which has led to their decision to sell him in the summer as according to Guillem Balague. The Spanish football expert says that the winger is edging closer to a Premier League return after falling down in the pecking order in Zidane’s team. English teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, and Manchester City have the finances to carry out this deal and will be on alert. Some rumors of a move to Bayern have also surfaced and this could be a more sensible move for the Welshman as he will be a long-term replacement for the aging Arjen Robben on the right. However, it is a doubt that Bayern would fork out hundreds of millions of pounds on a player like him. We just have to wait and see what the summer brings. How do you see Bale fitting in your team of choice? We want to know where he will be playing and who he will be replacing in the Starting XI.

Zimbabwe: Outspoken Chiyangwa could leave office soon

There is a possibility that the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) president, Philip Chiyangwa, would be forced to vacate office after the immediate resignation of two federation’s board members, Piraishe Mabhena and Felton Kamambo. The resignation has left ZIFA with only three executive leaving them short of the five man quorum required to run the body. The board was already operating with three vacant positions after the passing on of Zimbabwe’s footballing legend, Edzai Kasinauyo and the delayed appointments of the PSL and women’s football seats.

Given the current situation, constitutionally, the secretary general would dissolve the whole body and assume the top position for a two month period awaiting general elections.

However, Philip “Big Phidza” Chiyangwa seems to be having none of that as they are reports citing that he was working on a plan to appoint two people to occupy the vacant positions. The ZIFA boss is also the president of the Southern African body of football, COSAFA which he assumed only a few months after winning the ZIFA top job. Millionaire, Chiyangwa, is your typical outspoken President Donald Trump kind of guy who was also influential in pushing for the replacement of the long serving AFCON former president, Issa Hayatou.

Do you think Chiyangwa has been backed into a corner this time?

EPL returns: Iheanacho could play for Leicester with broken hand

Super Eagles and Leicester forward, Kelechi Iheanacho suffered a broken hand whilst on international duty for his country in the midweek friendlies. The 21-year-old featured in Nigeria’s 1-0 victory over Poland when he sustained the injury but couldn’t take part in their 2-0 humbling by Mitrovic’s Serbia.

Kelechi returned to England on Thursday and the Leicester boss, Claude Puel confirmed the injury pointing out that its gravity would need to be assessed before their Saturday match against Brighton.

"I think he fell. It's not an important injury. We will see if this injury prevents him from playing in this game. Perhaps it might be strange for him to play with a cast." - Claude Puel, Leicester City Manager

Iheanacho joined the Foxes in the summer from Manchester City in a 20 million pound deal but has struggled to get regular game time, starting only 3 times in his 12 appearances for the club in the EPL scoring once. He has thrived in cup competitions where he played six times scoring four goals.

Russia 2018: FIFA chooses six African referees

Amongst the 99 officials at this year’s FIFA World Cup finals in Russia, 19 are from Africa. Of the nineteen, six are referees while the rest are assistants. FIFA has also confirmed that Video Assistant Refereeing will be used in the June tournament with the VAR officials due to be chosen from the pool of the 99 selected officials. The chosen officials representing 46 nations of the world will attend a two-week seminar in Italian Football Association’s base in Coverciano this April.

The following is the list of the six African referees:

• Mehdi Abid Charef - Algeria

• Malang Diedhiou - Senegal

• Bakary Papa Gassama -The Gambia

• Gehad Grisha - Egypt

• Janny Sikazwe - Zambia

• Bamlak Tessema Weyesa - Ethiopia

Nigeria: Asisat Oshoala not in Nigeria’s squad for France friendly

The three-time women’s African footballer of the year, Asisat Oshoala has been left out of the Super Falcons’ squad to face France in Le Mans on 6 April. A Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) official highlighted that her Chinese club Dalian Quanjian refused to release her on the grounds that she had once missed pre-season training after returning late from international duty. Oshoala was originally in the 23 women’s squad together with other five high profile internationals who have also been omitted. The NFF official also added that some players had passport and visa issues hence the omission. The former Arsenal and Liverpool striker refused to acknowledge any alleged acts of indiscipline and insisted that she is missing the friendly to sort out her work permit.

Asisat Oshoala helped Nigeria to their record eighth Women’s African Nations title in Cameroon 2016. The friendly is part of Nigeria’s preparations to ace the qualifiers for the 2018 African Women Cup of Nations to be held in Ghana this November. Their performance in the tournament will also determine if they will secure a spot at the 2019 Women’s FIFA World Cup in France. The Super Falcons have appeared in the world cup since 1991 but have failed to reach the last four on any occasion.

Who should play for Arsenal in the remainder of games in the EPL?

March is usually the turning point period for the gunners in the fight for a place in the top four. This has not been the case this year as they are 13 points further from fourth and do not look like they will qualify through the league. This raises questions on who should be playing for the remainder of the games as they make no difference towards achieving their yearly objectives. Many see this as an opportunity for the youngsters to get some EPL caps under their belt and help bring some confidence to the inexperienced newcomers who have showed a lot of potential since the start of the campaign. The first being Reiss Nelson. The explosive winger has been deployed as defensive cover for Bellerin in the right-wing back position. However, his performances in the U23s as a right forward have yielded 8 goals in 10 games. This shows that the boy has the creative threat and is also not shy to dribble at defenders. Next up is Eddie Nketiah. The Arsenal fans remember this name because of his heroic efforts when he scored 2 goals as a late substitute in the Carabao Cup match against Norwich. Ever since, his minutes have been very limited for a promising introduction to a player. The Europa League was an opportunity for him to challenge for a spot against Welbeck in the absence of Lacazette but he came short. Maybe the manager will give him a run of games in these last matches to prepare him for next season. Maitland-Niles has already been introduced in many EPL games debutising for Monreal and Kolasinac when they were either injured or out of form. His natural position is central midfield but his speed makes him versatile and adaptable to any position he plays. FirstTouch Football appreciate your thoughts. Tell us whom you think should also be mentioned among these players that need to be given more opportunities by Wenger.

Conte backs Morata to be ready for the clash against Tottenham

At long last, the English Premier League resumes this weekend. The international break was welcomed by those teams that were not performing well but to those that were starting pick up form, it was unfavorable. Its time has passed and our focus goes back to the most competitive league in the world. A Super Sunday clash between Chelsea and Tottenham is on everyone’s lips and the managers have already started motivating their players. This time, it is Antonio Conte who talked about his big money signing Alvaro Morata on his fitness levels. The Italian backed the Spanish forward to be 100% ready for the clash which is as big as the North London derby. Alvaro Morata had been off form recently and the manager had been forced to deploy Hazard as a false 9 in his absence. Now he is expected to step out of the shadows and show that he can be the man that Conte bought back at Juventus and again at Chelsea last year. Do you see him being the man of the show on Sunday?

Russia 2018: 80 year World Cup streak comes to an end

FIFA has chosen 36 officials for the World Cup tournament in Russia and none of them are from Great Britain. This is the first time that no referee is chosen from either England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland in 80 years. The most obvious omission is Mark Clattenburg who was part of the list last summer. He, however, left his job with the Premier League and forfeited his place. The Football Association did ask to replace Clattenburg with another official but this request has been rejected. It is also worth mentioning that there also no British officials among the 63 assistant referees selected. What a shame it is for a country that boast about having talent and skills in all aspects of their game. This comes as no surprise to a few with managers like Arsene Wenger criticizing the referees who seem not to be working enough. Some have been culpable of committing fundamental errors and these have resulted in their omission from the final list. On the other hand, six African referees have been chosen instead and they represent Algeria, Senegal, Gambia, Egypt, Zambia and Ethiopia. Be careful England, Africa is on the rise.

South Africa: PFA continues to use football to bring social cohesion and bridge socio-economic gap

English football’s Professional Football Association has recently made a visit to Cape Town for a grassroots social development programme.In partnership with PFA’s visits which have become regular since 2009 aim to equip impoverished communities with a platform to pursue their passions and possibly reap economic gains from such pursuits. In their most recent, partnering with Tackle Africa, PFA ran coaching clinics and most notably grilled a U14 Making Impact Through Sports (MITS) boys team which will attend a cultural tour in Germany. The PFA also visited the infamous Robben Island where former president, Nelson Mandela was imprisoned and capped off their visit by hosting a Homeless World Cup selection tournament in conjunction with an NGO called Oasis.

South African POTY Award: “Give it to Percy.”

The outspoken Mamelodi Sundowns coach, Pitso Mosimane, has openly declared whom he thinks should PSL ’s player of the year award. Mosimane has expressed disbelief over the “campaigning” he has observed on the media for such awards, saying that it’s not healthy for South African football. According to Mosimane, no one comes close to the 23-year-old Sundowns player when it comes to South African football matters this season.

““For me, you can’t compare Percy Tau with anybody, give it to him. He plays Champions League and he’s scoring. He is scoring for Bafana, he is scoring in the league, he is scoring in the Nedbank Cup. Who do you want to compare him to? No, let’s be honest, who do you want to compare him to? Okay you can have nominees, which is good, but give it to Percy.””

— Pitso Mosimane

Guinea: Football Federation ties down three exciting talents

Guinea Football Federation (Feguifoot) has announced that the midfield trio of Amadou Diawara, Abdoulaye Traore and Ibrahima Cisse have committed their international football careers to the National Elephants (Syli Nationale). The 20 year-old Diawara who plies his trade with Napoli had won the attention of Italy’s youth teams while Traore, 24, had played for French youth teams by virtue of being born in that country. Whether or not he would have made it into the star studded Les Blues squad is debatable but the West African nation is more than delighted to have the FC Nantes 2017/18 season’s breakout player in their ranks. The former Belgian youth international and Fulham’s Ibrahima Cisse, 24, has also joined the two most recent Guinea loyalties.

The trio will team up with Liverpool bound, Naby Keita and the Belgian gaffer, Paul Put as they eye to get a ticket to Africa’s biggest soccer showcase, AFCON 2019, in Cameroon.

Gun incident results in new anti-violence measures

The Greek league is set to resume this Saturday after a long break caused by the gun incident. To those who do not know the story, it is about PAOK President, Ivan Savvidis’ clash with the referee while a gun was strapped to his waist. This caused a scene in the stadium as the Greek-Russian business was accompanied by his bodyguards to confront the referee after he ruled off a goal against AEK Athens on March 12. FIFA intervened after the incident and threatened to expel Greek clubs from international competitions unless the authorities took strict action. This is what caused the league to be suspended. Ivan Savvidis has since apologized for his actions and new strict measures have been put in place by the authorities, for clubs involved in violence. Do you think guns should be allowed in the stadium?  

Man City Women win in 8 goal thriller

The long-awaited second leg to the clash between Manchester City Women and Linkoping finally came and did not disappoint in the number of goals that were scored between the two teams. 8 goals were scored on the night with Manchester City scoring 5 but also conceding three. Jane Ross scored a goal before Georgia Stanway’s brace. Jen Beattie scored the 4th which gave the away side a comfortable 4-0 advantage before the break. They saw a different Linkoping team right after the break as Marija Basunic was on target twice a few minutes after kickoff. Izzy Christiansen eventually scored the 5th and eased the pressure off the English team. This meant that Tove Almqvist's late third barely had any impact on the flow of the game. The English side is through to the semifinals of the Champions League with a 7-3 aggregate score. Who says Women’s football is not a thrill?

Fraudsters get the Italian club to pay them £1.75m

Italian club Lazio were involved in a hacking scam on Wednesday. It is believed that hackers with the knowledge of the deal between Lazio and Feyenoord tricked the Italian club into paying them £1.75m. This was supposed to be for the final instalment of Stephan De Vrij’s deal. It is believed that the club was tricked by an email from the scammers who pretended to be the Dutch champions asking for the money and the club duly sent the money. It became an issue when Feyenoord claimed to have no knowledge of the email and received the money. The prosecutor looking into the case has since tracked the money to a Dutch bank account that does not belong to Feyenoord. De Vrij joined Lazio in 2014 after a successful World Cup with Netherlands in a £6.8m deal but is yet to extend his contract which runs down at the end of the season. He surely will be a name on everyone’s lips as some of the top clubs look for defensive reinforcements in the summer.

The Spanish midfielder takes a jibe at Zidane

Spanish midfielder Isco bagged a hat-trick in Spain’s 6-1 demolition of a Messi-less Argentina. The headlines from that match came in the post-match interview when he opened up about his situation at Madrid. The ambitious 25-year old bluntly stated that he does not have the confidence that a player needs in Madrid. This comes after he has seen a limited number of minutes on the pitch due to the resurgence of the young Asensio, and also the tactical approach to matches by Zidane. Many have seen this as an attack on his coach Zinedine Zidane as the player went on to say that, “At the national team, I have the confidence of the coach.” This clearly shows that he feels more alive when he is with Spain. Who should blame a player for being honest? Isco has stated the truth that he does not feel well appreciated at club level than at national level. However, his truth could land him in hot soup for he is a good player, but is not irreplaceable especially when considering the fact that the club can afford to send quality players like James Rodriguez on loan. Do you think Isco should have been more careful with the diction he used?

Former England boss Fabio Capello parts ways with Jiangsu Suning

Former England boss Fabio Capello has left the Chinese club after a mutual agreement. The manager had overseen some poor results at the start of the league picking up just 3 points in their first three matches. The Italian leaves Jiangsu Suning in 12th position and will be replaced by Cosmin Olaroiu who signed a three-year contract. This brings an end to Capello’s short stint at the club after joining them in 2017. Rumor has it that his reasons behind the decision include the vacant Italy national team job which many believe that he is the right candidate to take over having had some experience at the highest level coaching the England national team. Could he be the one to bring back the grit and fight that this national team lacks? Your thoughts only are what matters to us. Drop those comments below.  

South Africa: Ajax Cape Town striker suspended pending FIFA’s resolution

Zimbabwean international, Tendai Ndoro is currently caught up in a case that has seen him being suspended from playing for Ajax. Orlando Pirates and Polokwane City lodged a protest to the South Africa’s PSL arguing that the Urban Warriors had violated FIFA rules by fielding the forward. Ndoro featured for Orlando Pirates before leaving for Saudi Arabian side, Al Faisaly before returning to the PSL in Ajax colors - ensuring he had played for three clubs in a single season which is prohibited by FIFA.

In the ruling on Wednesday, 28 March 2018, Arbitrator Cassim SC escalated the case to FIFA, arguing that the PSL’s Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) does not have jurisdiction over the matter because it involved an international club.

Internationals: Ethiopian coach makes history in Yemen

Abraham Mebratu’s name will go down in history as the first man to lead war-torn Yemen to the Asian Cup finals. Mebratu’s charges booked a place at next year’s finals in UAE by overcoming Nepal, 2-1 ensuring they finish top of their group with two wins and two draws in four matches. The Ethiopian and his Yemeni team has won a victory both for football and the country which still continues to toil in political unrest.

"We played all of our home games far from home but still we notched tremendous results that have made all Yemenis rejoice as one in these trying times." - Abraham Mebratu

This is the first time that an Ethiopian coach has led a foreign country to a major tournament.