Sky Sports reporter Michael Bridge revealed the five men on ManU's wish list to be its new director of football. The club will appoint a director of football for the first time in its 140-year history. Bridge said that there are five names on the shortlist: Dan Ashworth of the FA, RB Leipzig's Paul Mitchell, former ManU player Edwin van der Sar, Juventus' Fabio Paratici and AS Roma's Monchi (London EXPRESS, 8/19).
Real Madrid made an official complaint to FIFA over what the club considers an illegal approach by Inter Milan for Luka Modric. Real Madrid President Florentino Perez said earlier this month that the Croatia midfielder has a €750M ($858M) release clause in his contract, which still has two years left to run. However, a FIFA spokesperson confirmed Real Madrid reported Inter Milan over an alleged approach to the player without consent (ESPN.com, 8/17).
German FA (DFB) President Reinhard Grindel said on Sunday that he should have been more supportive of Mesut Ozil when the midfielder was the target of “racist attacks.” Ozil, 29, announced his int'l retirement last month after Germany "crashed out" of the World Cup. He said that he had faced “racism and disrespect” because of his Turkish roots. Grindel said that he should have "handled things differently" (REUTERS, 8/19).
League Championship side Stoke City said that it will ask police for an explanation after a video appearing to show their fans being pepper-sprayed by officers emerged on Saturday evening. A video circulated on Twitter "appears to show a number of police officers using pepper spray on Stoke fans" in the concourse of Preston's Deepdale stadium during its 2-2 draw on Saturday. Lancashire police confirmed it is "aware of an incident and will be launching a formal investigation" (London TELEGRAPH, 8/19).
