Jozy Altidore has assured Paolo Di Canio: “I am the real deal.”
Dutch outfit AZ Alkmaar £6million for the former Hull flop in the next 48 hours.
And the USA international striker, branded a Premier League flop at Hull after notching just one goal in 28 outings while on loan with the Tigers three years ago, says he is worth every penny.
Altidore, 23, said: “I have come a long way and learned a helluva lot since my days at Hull.
“I am almost a completely different player now – and certainly a better and more experienced one.
Scott Heavey
“When I went to Hull, I had just turned 20 and hadn’t played my football anywhere but in the States. And the Premier League is a totally different style to the MLS.
“So I don’t think there is any resemblance now to the player I was at that time with Hull. I have played over 100 games since leaving Hull, for Villarreal in Spain, and in Holland with AZ.
“Playing in England’s top division at that age and being in the best league in the world, you can’t expect to hit the ground running.
“But it is a fantastic league, everybody knows that, and it would be a pleasure for me to go back and play there again.”
Altidore scored 31 goals in 41 games for AZ last season.
Jose Mourinho claims Chelsea were unknown to the rest of the world before he first arrived .
And,having put Chelsea on the map, Mourinho wants to help the club build aglobal reputation to rival Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
AsMourinho pointedly highlighted, Chelsea have made big strides since hefirst joined the club in 2004 – by winning 11 trophies to United’s nine.
at Cobham tomorrow, before flying out with his squad for their tour of Asiaon Thursday.
Chelseawill be mobbed in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, unlike when the club travelled to the United States after Mourinho had first arrived at Stamford Bridge.
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“Thefirst time I went to the States, in 2004 with Chelsea for pre-season, the training session was open-door and there were 10 kids,” said Mourinho.
“Nobody cared when we walked in the street. Maybe somebody said, ‘Oh, Frank Lampard’, but no more than that.
“Aftertwo years with the boom of the economic impact of the owner, buying the players, winning the Premier League and reaching the Champions League semi-finals, things changed.
“Wewent to the States again and had an open training session. This time, there were three or four thousand watching in Los Angeles.
“Chelseahave a different history to clubs like Barcelona, Real and Bayern. Thisclub had a history before Mr Abramovich arrived and has a history after2004.
“But the reality of that recent history of nearly 10 years is that Chelsea have won more trophies than Manchester United.
Action
“I hope I can now help the club to take another step in the right direction.”
Chelseawere Europe’s big spenders during Mourinho’s first reign, but he now faces rich competition from upwardly mobile overseas clubs and in England.
Mourinhohas to compete with Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco and Manchester City for football’s biggest stars, but the 50-year-old enjoys the challenge.
Andit seems Mourinho has been told he must give some of Chelsea’s youngsters a chance, rather than simply splashing the cash in a bid for instant success.
“Ithink it’s very motivational, it demands more from you,” said Mourinho. “You have to think more about every decision, every move. Every wrong move you make has an influence in the future.
“Youneed to work more closely with the board, you have to have a different perspective and different look at the players on loan and from the youth football.
“It’smore global. Instead of focusing yourself just on your team and your targets and ambitions, it’s an overall view. It’s a different profile of job. I’m happy and I’ll enjoy it.”
Five to tackle
Sunday Mirror chief football writer Matt Law identifies the five Ts that Mourinho must tackle as he starts work with his Chelsea squad.
Fernando Torres
Should he stay or should he go? Finding a buyer won’t be easy, but Mourinho needs to make a firm decision on Torres. He’s either in his team, or out the door.
John Terry
The Chelsea captain is entering the final year of his contract. The saga over Frank Lampard’s new deal rumbled on far too long, but Mourinho will need to weigh up what role Terry can play in his squad.
Total football
Roman Abramovich dreams of Chelsea emulating the Barcelona style and signed Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Oscar with that in mind. But Mourinho has previously been a win-at-all-costs manager. The two men will need to find a compromise.
Team spirit
Mourinho instilled an incredible winning mentality into his last Chelsea squad and will want this group of players to display a similar spirit. He cannot afford the type of dressing-room disharmony that led to his departure from Real Madrid.
The Bridge
Chelsea werenever beaten at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League during Mourinho’sfirst reign as manager. The club’s incredible home form was the foundation of their success and the Portuguese will want to make it similarly difficult for visiting opposition this time.
Arsenal have opened talks with manager Arsene Wenger about a new deal.
Negotiationsare still at the preliminary stage but have made it clear to Wenger they want him to stay. And the feedback from Wenger is positive.
Nothing will be decided in the next month as Arsenal prepare for the new season.
They leave this week on a lucrative tour to the Far East which takes in matches in Japan and Vietnam.
to improve his squad and make them capable of winning honours after an eight-year drought.
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and his scouting team have suggested a move for Everton’s Marouane Fellaini.
Higuainis set to arrive this week and Wenger may have to move sooner rather than later for Fellaini who could also be a target for Manchester United.
Butthe Arsenal board are most anxious to tie up the long-term future of Wenger at The Emirates and more intense talks will start at the end of this month.
Hehas just one year left on his present deal and Arsenal do not want to let the agreement expire, especially as Paris St Germain have wanted Wenger for some time.
Arsenaldo not want to be dealing with constant speculation about their manager in a season when they are determined to end the trophy famine.
And the indications are that Wenger will sign at least a three-year deal by September.
David Moyes does not expect to be given Fergie time as .
Sir Alex Ferguson had a rocky start to his United career, but famously stuck by him to their great benefit. But asked if he can hope for the same level of patience Ferguson received, Moyes said: “Probably not.
“I don’t think in this day and age you would get that. I don’t think you can ever ask for time now.
“All you can ask is to be judged on how it goes. I don’t think time is something managers tend to get. It is a tough start.”
Despiterecognising he must start well, Moyes is delighted with the faith United’s owners, the Glazer family, have invested in him.
“I’ve met them a couple of times,” said Moyes. “They’ve been brilliant. I met them in New York and here.
“Theyhave given me a lot of confidence. The message has been ‘get on with the job, there’s no panic here, take your time, do things the way you want, there’s no great expectations, get on and do the job’.
“They’re not owners that interfere, they are low-key and they have been great in my conversations with them.”
Moyes was invited to Ferguson’s house to find out he would be the 71-year-old’s successor, but feared he would get the famous hair-dryer treatment before he had even been appointed.
“Theday Sir Alex told me he was retiring and I would be the next United manager, I was out with my wife,” said Moyes. “I was 50 the week before,she had bought me a watch and I needed to get a link taken out.
“Thephone rang and it was Sir Alex, and I had my jeans on. He said ‘where are you?’ I said ‘I’m out with the wife’ and he asked ‘could you drop over to the house?’
“I said to the wife ‘he either wants me to take someone on loan or he’s coming to buy one of my players’.
Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror
“I had jeans and t-shirt on. I said I needed to drive home and get changed, but it was too tight.
“Ihad to drop my wife off at the Cheadle shopping centre. I was saying I would never, ever go to a meeting with Sir Alex with my jeans on.
“SoI went in, he took me up the stairs, made me a cup of tea and it was something I’ll never forget. I picked up my wife and she must have thought ‘what’s up with him?’
“I said ‘I’m the Manchester United manager’ and I can’t repeat what she said!
“I could only tell the kids when the news was beginning to break. They were made up, as was my dad who follows me everywhere. It was a big thing for the family.
“I heard so many people say ‘you don’t want to be the man to follow Sir Alex’. Lots of good managers said ‘you don’t want to follow Sir Alex. You don’t want to do that. Who’s going to take on that job?’ But I thinkeveryone would take this job because of what it is. Who wouldn’t want Sir Alex as a mentor?”
David’s new numbers game
David Moyes admits he will have to get used to keeping a big squad happy at Manchester United.
“It’s new for me because I’ve tended not to have such big squads,” said Moyes. “The amount of games you have to play seems to be the thing that keeps coming back to me. The players do get their games.
“The hardest part of being a manager is telling players they are not in the team. But if you’ve got a good squad, then you can say ‘hey, get the jersey and if you’re playing well enough, then it’s easy enough for me to keep you in’.”
Darren Fletcher has undergone a final make or break operation that will determine whether he plays for Manchester United again, .
The 29-year-old former Scotland captain has and had the last of three operations a few days ago.
Fletchernow faces a period of rehabilitation and an anxious wait to discover whether he can resume his playing career .
Beforehis operation Fletcher told me: “It’s been a big battle but if I come through the last operation OK at the end of June then that will be the breakthrough I’ve been waiting for and I should be OK to resume playing again.
Laurence Griffiths
“It’s been a hard time the last couple of years dealing with something like this. As a professional footballer all you want to do is play, but that’s not been possible for me.
“But if the operation is a success I’ve been told there should be nothing to stop me being cleared to play again.”
NewUnited boss David Moyes is known to admire Fletcher’s work rate, skill and tenacity and made an abortive bid to sign his fellow Scot while in charge at Everton. It is believed Moyes has already spoken to Fletcher to wish him a successful recovery.
Newcastle director of football Joe Kinnear has gone abroad on holiday – less than a week after officially starting his job, .
The man who was sunning himself on a beach in Sardinia while the first-team squad returned for pre-season training yesterday.
And the players who flirted with relegation last season were ordered by manager Alan Pardew to shape up or ship out.
Pardew, who has not spoken publicly about the controversial appointment of Kinnear, told his players that the only man they have to please is him.
But Kinnear’s ill-judged jolly will enrage Toon fans, still waiting for the club to make a summer signing.
Kinnear’s only meaningful transfer activity has been to BLOCK a move to sign FC Twente centre-half Douglas on a free transfer – a deal that was all but done before Kinnear returned to the club.
The accusation that he is all talk and no action on the buying front has been reinforced by events at rivals Sunderland, where new football director Roberto de Fanti has signed SIX players – with another three deals said to be in the pipeline.
This week The Mag, an influential magazine on Tyneside, described the return of the unpopular Kinnear as “The single most stupid decision since Joe Kinnear arrived in 2008.”
After a summer of Kinnear ballyhoo, manager Pardew returned from his close-season break to crack the whip over his players.
A Toon insider told Sunday People Sport: “The boss took his players, his No.2 John Carver and coach Steve Stone and gave them the toughest team talk we have heard since he became manager.
“He laid down the law. He told them they had let everybody down last season and warned he would not stand a repeat this season.”
Wayne Rooney fears Manchester United fans will boo him when the Premier League season kicks off next month, .
The 27-year-old star is said to be upset and disappointed that last season that he asked for a transfer.
Rooney had hoped United would be clear on the fact he did not hand in a transfer request as he has always insisted.
And that has made his long-term United future look bleaker today, with hierarchy seeming unwilling to back their striker’s claims.
Rooney was hoping new chief executive Ed Woodward would have been at Moyes’ official unveiling as manager on Friday.
Matthew Peters
Instead, Woodward was absent – leaving Moyes to fend off questions about Rooney’s position at United on his own.
The club’s reluctance to admit Ferguson’s version of events is at odds with the player’s, and has stirred up anti-Rooney feeling on Twitter and websites.
That has left him fearing a fan backlash when the season starts, with supporters taking Ferguson’s side.
And until the position is clarified it is unlikely the club can build bridges to repair their relationship with Rooney.
The impasse has not harmed Rooney’s situation with Moyes – and the former Everton duo have a sound working relationship.
But if the fans turn on Rooney after a heated summer it will surely end any chance of him remaining at United.
Simon Mignolet claims competition for places with Pepe Reina and Brad Jones will bring out his best.
The Belgian goalkeeper joined from Sunderland for £10m this summer but refuses to believe he will be first choice at .
"That’s always what has happened when there’s competition," he told ESPN FC.
"I’ve had competition in Sunderland and in Belgium with the national team.
"It’s not only Pepe – there’s a lot of good goalies at Liverpool, like Brad Jones for example – and it’s not only the position of the goalie where there is competition. It’s every single position on the field.
"There are only 11 players who can play and it is something that is normal with being a football player. You have to deal with that. Competition can only make you as an individual better and let you perform better, it can only be a positive thing."
Mignolet became Brendan Rodgers’ fourth signing of a busy summer, and the keeper is confident his new side can compete for honours this campaign.
"From the talks I had with the manager and the goalkeeping coach I felt they were very ambitious and the club wants to get forward," Mignolet added.
"The signings they’d already done before July showed they really wanted to get going. They want to push on again in the Premier League. It was obvious that they are an ambitious club and a big club.
"I know how big a club this is but I think I’m only going to feel it once the games get going. The first few training sessions went okay. I’m very happy to be here and train."
Alan Pardew has warned Joe Kinnear there "is a certain respect needed" in his new role as Director of Football.
has insisted he is "open minded" about Kinnear’s arrival – and told him to focus on .
But Pardew has hinted that Kinnear should apologise for getting the names of players wrong on his first day of the job when Yohan Cabaye was called Yohan "Kebab", talked of Hatem Ben Afri instead of Arfa, he failed to pronounce Ameobi correctly.
Pardew broke his silence on the turmoil caused by Kinnear’s arrival yesterday and stopped short of a glowing welcome for Kinnear.
But he did say that if Kinnear can get owner Mike Ashley to release funds to build his small squad up, than he will be happy.
Pardew told Radio Newcastle this morning: "I’m very open minded to Joe’s position. I will take it as I see it. People who work with me will know that I am my own man. I will manage this football club and manage this team to the best of my ability.
"On the back of last year I am even more motivated to do well this year. I’ve had good experiences and bad experiences of (Directors of Football).
"Some of the things Joe said he has apologised for. Especially getting the names wrong of our players. That needs to be corrected. Because there is a certain respect needed there.
"I spoke to one or two players and my staff here and made it them very aware of where the position lies.
"It is very simple for me. If Joe can persuade Mike to invest in the right manner. Then that will be the best outcome for us.
"As well as we’ve done in the transfer market there is always room for improvement. I have spoken to Joe and had a couple of meetings with him. I have told him what I think the weaknesses in the squad are.
Laurence Griffiths
"Let’s be fair it’s a squad not a side. I have told him I need to strengthen and I have a couple of ideas."
Newcastle’s big guns are back in pre-season training this week, with Fabricio Coloccini, Papiss Cisse and Cheick Tiote all returning after a week after the rest of the squad because of their international commitments in June.
But Pardew wants more top players signed soon, but Kinnear is on holiday in Italy, booked before he got the job.
Pardew explained how targets will be pursued with Kinnear in charge.
He added: "It is no different to what we had before. Graham (Carr, chief scout) comes up with one or two suggestions, I come up with one or two suggestions and we probably have a list of four that will take the team forward.
"We present that to Joe. Joe presents that to the owner. Joe has to dress that up to the owner in terms of finance and how is it going to work.
"Then Lee Charnley (club secretary) comes in and hopefully we get the player over the line. I think that is no different to what we had before. Joe’s experience of what he’s had as a manager, Mike feels that he probably knows the scene slightly better than Derek (Llambias, former MD) in Mike’s opinion.
"As far as I am concerned the most important factor for Joe is transfers."
Steven Gerrard claims Liverpool places next season, despite the fact that the Reds have not made the top four since 2009 and could only manage seventh last term.
Gerrard was encouraged by their finish under Brendan Rodgers as they lost just one of their final 12 league games. The Liverpool skipper believes they could make the Champions League if they could produce this form over the whole of next season.
"The final five or six months of the season were fantastic – I think it was top-four form," he told the club’s official website.
"We certainly finished the season really strongly, but we were very inconsistent from August to Christmas. That’s the reason we never managed to achieve what we set out to do, which was a top-four finish.
"But I felt at times in the season we . If we can find that level on a consistent basis, I’ve got confidence we can break into the top four."
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