This week saw the closure of one of the dullest transfer windows in memory. It was not completely without incident though as messrs Eto'o, Ashley and Ben Arfa will vouch. Indeed we have quite a star studded Football Circus this week with the three aforementioned names all featuring, along with Arda Turan, Mauro Icardi and of course, Mario Balotelli. We begin this week though with the rather grim tale of a stabbing incident in Venezuela...
Football Circus Clown Quote of the Week
"The ball came off the left breast of Sebastien Bassong".
- Sam Matterface.
Player Stabbed in Abdomen after Match in Venezuela
Second division Venezuelan team Margarita faced off against Students Caracas last Sunday and the match had dire consequences for one of the Margarita players. Uruguayan midfielder Nicholas Massia was on the Margarita side that lost the game 2-0.
After the final whistle, as the players left the dressing room to return to their hotel, a number of them were hit with blocks, bricks and stones by disgruntled fans. Massia gave chase to the angry mob, only to be stabbed with a knife in the abdomen.
Fortunately Massia survived the stabbing and later told LaVinotinto.com:
"I had finished the game, we were in the dressing room ready to return to the hotel, when a group of fans or fans attacked us with stones which fortunately caused no injuries.
"The most important thing is that I'm well, thank God I can tell. I can not wait to recover and return soon".
While he was hospitalised by the incident, Massia is expected to make a full recovery.
Friends Wish Turan Happy Boot-Day
Arda Turan found himself in trouble last week having thrown his boot at a linesman in a fit of rage during Atletico Madrid's Cope del Rey clash with Barcelona. Turan managed to escape with just a booking and astonishingly, even avoided a retrospective ban or punishment.
His friends have this week seen the lighter side of the player's boot-throwing escapades. With the midfielder turning 28, he was presented with a birthday cake depicting the incident. Throwing the boot was one thing, but having a laugh about it...Well that's just the icing on the cake!
Eto'o to Leave Sampdoria Already?
Samuel Eto'o has barely been back in Italy a wet weekend and already there has been talk that the Cameroonian striker may be on his way out of the country. The former Inter Milan man only joined Sampdoria from Everton on the 27th of January and his debut came on Sunday as he appeared as 71st minute substitute in his side's 5-1 drubbing by Torino. The heavy defeat led to Samp manager Sinisa Mihajlovic ordering a double training session on Monday.
Eto'o however, felt he should not have been punished having only recently joined the team and not had much of part to play in the 5-1 defeat. He stormed out of the club's training complex after the morning training session and apparently drove to Milan to see his family.
Now rumours abound that the club may terminate the player's contract, so annoyed are they with his behaviour.
In an interview with Sport Mediaset, Mihajlovic said:
"In order to have a row, you need two people and quite frankly Eto’o did everything himself.
"He just left. He told the club and it is certainly a grave lack of respect towards me and the entire team.
"I don’t know what the club intends to do. That is the only truth of the matter".
Hatem Ben Awful
Hatem Ben Arfa's career has not quite gone as planned for the French winger as late. The former Newcastle man fell out of favour on Tyneside while Alan Pardew was in charge and was banished to the reserves. All was not lost though, as Steve Bruce came knocking in September 2014 and took Ben Arfa to Hull on loan, believing the player could still have an impact at Premier League level.
Come December however, Ben Arfa had gone AWOL and Bruce admitted he had no idea where the player was. Needless to say, his loan with Hull ended and on 4th of January this year, Newcastle cancelled his contract. The following day however, Ben Arfa signed for Ligue 1 side Nice and it seemed like a new beginning...
Unfortunately for Ben Arfa, FIFA intervened and ruled that the winger could not play his first season for Nice as he had already played for Newcastle and Hull this season. Ben Arfa argued that he had not played for Newcastle's first team, but the ruling outlined that even an appearance for the club's Under-21's would count as an appearance. With Ben Arfa unable to play this season, Nice cancelled his contract in its entirity.
A disheartened Ben Arfa told a press conference on Tuesday:
"Today I’m finished with Nice, but maybe that won’t be forever.
"I want to thank everyone here – it’s a real regret that I can’t continue, but sometimes you have to accept it and move on.
"Today I’ll try to be positive and see what I can do. On Monday I was on the floor but coming in to training today has made me feel better.
"Now I just have to do the best I can for the future. The solution may be to go abroad.
"Would I go to Russia? I’m ready to go to the North Pole just to play football again. But for now I can’t really speculate – I just have to think.
"I won’t say I’m sick of French football, because there are good people here – I’m just disappointed and sad".
Hungry Hippo Ashley's Transfer Deadline Day
An eagle-eyed Newcastle United fan this week contributed the following piece to Football Circus, having noticed some funny goings-on between his beloved Magpies and a certain Mike Ashley-funded struggling Scottish side:
Mike Ashley's "other" football club have loaned Shane Ferguson, Remie Streete, Gael Bigirimana, Haris Vuckic and Kevin Mbabu for the rest of the season.
The quintet were pictured leaving by Sky cameras arriving at Ibrox.
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In the day’s other loan, Davide Santon’s missus tweeted the following:
"Just to put it out there, Davide declined Inter Milan's first offer but was pushed out by Newcastle United to leave.
"Disgusted with how Davide has been treated, fully fit for a while now with no chance to play- a club whose only intentions are to make £££.
"This is not just a loan, it’s a loan with obligation to buy. Newcastle as good as told him if he stayed he didn’t have a place in the team.
“They tried to deny it this morning, to keep it on the down low so other teams wouldn’t put in an offer for JUST a loan, because Davide would have preferred that, to stay in the Premier League, but Newcastle would have lost the guaranteed buy and money".
What's Mad Mario Upto this Week?
While it's been another non-eventful week for Balo on the pitch, his off the pitch antics have once again grabbed the headlines. Balo was photographed dining out with his baby-momma, Raffaella Fico.
Balo dated the 27 year oldl Italian showgirl between December 2011 and July 2012 and the pair subsequently embarked in a war of words over the paternity of Fico's daughter Pia, who was born on 5th of December 2012. In February 2014, Balo finally accepted that he was indeed Pia's father, tweeting:
"Finally the TRUTH :-)...PIA ... Sweet child of mine !!! your Dad".
On Monday, Balotelli and Fico, who was linked with Silvio Berlusconi's 'Bunga-Bunga' parties and was said to have dated Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009, were spotted at Manchester's San Carlo restaurant with Pia, sparking rumours that they may be attempting to patch things up.
Italian Football Story of the Week
- Inter's Icardi and Guarin Clash with Fans
Inter Milan have not had the best of seasons and it certainly hasn't gone unnoticed by their fans. A 3-1 defeat away to lowly Sassuolo at the weekend left them languishing in 13th place in the league. In spite of the loss, Inter players Mauro Icardi (the same Mauro Icardi who featured here) and Freddie Guarin found it appropriate to throw their jerseys into the away end, somehow believing the Inter fans would appreciate the gesture.
The Inter fans reacted furiously, threw the jerseys back at the players and hurled abuse at them. However Icardi and Guarin did not take not take kindly to the ungratefulness and unleashed a tirade of abuse of their own.
Icardi in particular was irked by the travelling support, exclaiming that they were "pieces of sh** … you are all pieces of sh**". Inter captain Andrea Ranocchia then rushed to the scene in attempt to reason with and restrain the young Argentine, however it was a while before Icardi's temper subsided.
Having returned to the dressing on Ranocchia's advice and having cooled down slightly, Icardi later reemerged to apologise to fans for his outburst and attempted to converse with them about Inter's woeful display.
Artist's Impression of the Week
- 'Stabby Stabby'; Not even when amongst an angry mob baying for blood is a player safe anymore.
Football Recommendation of the Week
- Calcio: A History of Italian Football (John Foot); "The first history of Italian football to be written in English, 'Calcio' is a mix of serious analysis and comic storytelling, with vivid descriptions of games, goals, dives, missed penalties, riots and scandals in the richest and toughest league in the world".
Non-Football Recommendation of the Week
- Grand Theft Seagull; Available on Android, iOS and Windows phone. "LOOK OUT! There’s a raging seagull on the loose, stealing food from the townsfolk while dodging traffic, construction sites, bridges and even massive wrecking balls hanging directly over moving traffic. It's a strange town!".
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