The Spanish courts "are continuing to pursue" Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) President ÁNGEL MARÍA VILLAR and RFEF Economic VP JUAN PADRÓN. Spain's Anti-corruption District Attorney's Office is "looking at suspected favorable treatment the RFEF gave Recreativo de Huelva and Marino de Tenerife to allow those clubs to compete in the third tier in '14-15 and '12-13, respectively" (EL PAÍS, 12/14). ... French int'l MORGAN SCHNEIDERLIN's "miserable 18-month spell" at ManU is nearing an end with Everton "moving closer to signing" the France midfielder in a permanent deal. Everton is in talks about bringing Schneiderlin to Goodison Park with ManU "hopeful" of agreeing to a package that will see it recoup the £24M it paid Southampton for the 27-year-old in July last year (London TELEGRAPH, 12/14). ... Boxers AMIR KHAN and KELL BROOK have a "good chance" of staging a bout in May of next year, according to promoter EDDIE HEARN. A bout between the two rivals has "long been mooted, but Khan and Brook have never been able to agree terms for the all-British fight." However, Khan on Wednesday tweeted to say he would be the next fighter “to smash Kell Brook’s face.” In response, Brook said that he would send Khan “back to sleep” (LONDON TIMES, 12/14). ... Madrid newspaper La Razón leaked a "report from the Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court" regarding LIONEL MESSI and his father, JORGE. In the report, the Prosecutor's Office requests that the sentence of 21 months in jail for Leo and Jorge Messi "be confirmed for three tax offenses" for having defrauded €4.1M from the Treasury during the fiscal years '07, '08 and '09. In the report leaked to La Razón it is argued that "the accused Lionel Messi intervened directly in the contracts regarding the exploitation of his image rights and was the administrator and sole partner of the company that received the income" (SPORT, 12/14).
