Ex-Newcastle star Steven Taylor has retired from football and says he wants to return to the UK to see his family after missing out on “any type of normal life” because of rigid Covid restrictions in Australia.
Taylor captained top side Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand, where UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya took drastic action on Monday by vowing that he would never fight there again and promising to relocate to the US, with his City Kickboxing academy considering following him.
Phoenix general manager David Dome estimated that former England international Taylor has spent “three months alone in a hotel room” because of the restrictions put in place by Prime Minister Jacinda Arden and in neighboring Australia.
“The thought of having to relocate and hub again… I got caught in a lockdown at the end of last season and then again one day after I got out of managed isolation,” explained the 35-year-old, adding that “family is more important than football.”
Steven Taylor has called time on his playing career.
After he left Newcastle, the defender spent time in the US, India and New Zealand, ending his career with Wellington Phoenix.
“It feels like it’s followed me everywhere. I haven’t had any type of a normal life for some time.
“I’m excited for the next chapter and to see my family back home in the UK.”
Phoenix have been based north in Australia over the majority of the past two A-League seasons and Dome stressed how difficult their relocation has been.
“Covid has been tough on this club, its players and staff over the past two years and especially for Steven,” said Dome.
“[He’s had] six stints in quarantine – that’s three months alone in a hotel room – over the past two-odd years. That kind of thing takes a toll on a person.”
Taylor and Adesanya could soon be joined by the England cricket team, who are said to be considering pulling out of the sport’s biggest test competition, The Ashes, due to host team Australia’s covid regulations.
Nigerian-born brawler Adesanya, whose adopted homeland has seen just 27 deaths from covid but has constantly imposed strict protocol, blasted: “I’m done. All that money, they can get it from somewhere else. The rugby, the cricketers and all the others they’re f*cking giving exemptions to.
“But for me, you will never ever see me fight on these shores [again]. That was one of my dreams.”
Bolstered by the two most expensive players in the world in Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, Tuesday’s tantalising showdown between Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City is set to star the most expensive lineups of all time.
Not many clubs can boast greater spending power than reigning Premier League champions City, who were able to splurge $139 million on Aston Villa playmaker Jack Grealish in the summer after the midfielder caught the eye for England at Euro 2020.
Over the summer, the Abu Dhabi-backed City Football Group which owns the club was said to have raised a whopping $650 million in a loan underwritten by banks Barclays, HSBC, and KKR Capital, the Financial Times said – although that did not result in boss Pep Guardiola signing England captain Harry Kane after City were widely reported to have fallen short of Tottenham’s $203 million asking price.
PSG, meanwhile, are in a different league. Qatar Sports Investments were clearly likely to give the club colossal bargaining power when they took over the French giants in 2011, and perhaps the only real surprise of their most luxurious signing so far was that it took until 2017.
That was when Brazil enigma Neymar moved to the Parc des Princes from Barcelona for $259 million, with some accounts putting the total cost of the temperamental striker, who recently signed an extension until 2025, at closer to $571 million overall.
A year later, France prodigy Kylian Mbappe became the second-most expensive player of all time, joining for $210 million from Monaco in a move that would ultimately combine him with a figure few would ever have expected to see in Ligue 1.
Lionel Messi’s enforced move from Barca, leaving because of financial rules around spending in La Liga, was a symbol of quite how badly his boyhood club has been mismanaged in recent years.
Despite that astonishing windfall from the sale of Neymar, the five-time Champions League winners could not afford to keep Messi this summer, leading to a tearful farewell for the icon who once had a contract buyout clause worth $818 million.
Messi’s pay packet in Paris will provide some consolation to the figure many consider the best player of all time. The Argentina captain’s contract reportedly earns him around $121,500 every day, leading to inevitable conjecture – also regularly leveled at City – about Financial Fair Play rules.
Elsewhere among the handsomely-paid players, Belgium maestro Kevin de Bruyne cost City around $93 million when he joined from Wolfsburg, which some fans would consider fair value for the Premier League Player of the Season in 2020, when he also won the first of his two PFA Players’ Player of the Year awards.
According to Transfermarkt, there are five other City players – Riyad Mahrez, Joao Cancelo, Aymeric Laporte and last season’s Premier League Player of the Season, Ruben Dias – who each cost more than the next-most expensive Paris signing remaining at the club, $60 million Angel Di Maria.
The site estimates the value of the squads combined at around $2.04 billion, rating De Bruyne ($122 million), England striker Sterling ($110 million) and academy sensation Phil Foden ($97.5 million) as City’s most valuable assets.
For Paris, the three top trumps are as predictable as they are potent: Mbappe is valued at $195 million – a figure that persistent suitors Real Madrid will be keenly aware of – with Neymar priced around $100 million less than the transfer fee he originally commanded, and 34-year-old Messi worth $97.5 million.
Ex-PSG and Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka has warned his former club that it will be “very difficult to recover” from substituting Lionel Messi on his home debut, accusing the French giants of “playing with his head a lot.”
PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino hooked Messi on his home debut for the club against Lyon, appearing to receive an upset response from the Argentina captain on the touchline after replacing him after 76 minutes.
The Ligue 1 leaders scored the winner in a 2-1 victory after Messi made way, and the former Arsenal and France forward, who was once dubbed ‘Le Sulk’, claims the most high-profile signing in their history will not forget the incident.
“You don’t take off a six-time Ballon d’Or winner at the 65th minute [sic], when he hasn’t scored for his team. That plays with his head a lot,” said Anelka, who won the Premier League with the Blues and Arsenal and the Champions League with Real Madrid.
“A forward needs his coach to show him confidence, and that right there won’t do it.
“I’m getting ahead of myself but Messi will not forget what Pochettino has done. It will stay with him.
“He’s the star of the team and it was his first game at the Parc des Princes. It’s going to be very difficult to recover from that as a situation.
Some speculation Messi was injured on international duty and he’s been playing through it since
Consequently, hard to put a timeline. I want to say it should be quick but if he still has pain + repeat scan in 48hrs shows bone edema still present then he won’t play this weekend https://t.co/1m9zlku7qE
“Messi didn’t play [in PSG’s subsequent away game] against Metz and, for me, that’s already a response.
“You can’t manage Messi like that. The coach wanted to send out a strong message, which is good – but this is Messi.”
Pochettino denied there had been a dispute with Messi despite cameras appearing to catch the former Barcelona talisman looking mystified by the move as he came off.
Many have pointed to Messi’s subsequent absence from PSG’s last two matchday squads – beating Metz and Montpellier without his influence – as proof that he was carrying a knock which could have occurred while he was on international duty with Argentina.
Vigilant Pochettino may have been acting as a precaution to prevent further damage to arguably the most important player in his star-studded squad, with Mauro Icardi’s 93rd-minute winner meaning no harm was done on the night.
Anelka wasn’t done there with his hot takes. While France wonderkid Kylian Mbappe is clearly on edge after being caught on camera at the weekend appearing to call Neymar a “vagabond” and accusing the Brazilian of not passing enough, Anelka insists that Messi, who is being tipped for a return to action when PSG host Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday, must supply the World Cup winner in their vaunted strikeforce.
“Mbappe has to lead the attack because he’s No.1,” Anelka said. “Messi was at Barcelona but now he has to serve Mbappe. He’s been at the club for five years and Messi has to respect him.”
Now working as a pundit in his homeland, Anelka revealed that he plans to move into coaching and would prefer to live in Asia or the Gulf.
“I’ll take after my former coaches,” he ambitiously predicted. “Carlo Ancelotti for his man-management, Antonio Conte for his tactics and repeating moves, Arsene Wenger for his counter-attacking and, most of all, Sam Allardyce for his ability to get the best out of each player.”
Following a positive case for star midfielder N’Golo Kante, who will not play against Juventus in the Champions League, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has stressed he will not cajole his team into getting their Covid vaccines.
World Cup winner Kante, who was Man of the Match in the Blues’ Champions League final victory against Manchester City last season, will also miss a vital clash against Southampton in the Premier League at the weekend after contracting the disease.
In his pre-match press conference ahead of playing Italian giants Juve in Turin, Tuchel was asked if he would recommend that his squad get vaccinated to prevent further absences.
“It’s easy to say yes and get approval from a lot of people. But do I have the right to say this? I’m not sure,” Tuchel confessed.
N'Golo Kante has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss Chelsea's upcoming UCL game against Juventus and their Premier League match with Southampton. pic.twitter.com/N0E3IsjQcz
“I can make a decision for myself, and everyone else has to think and decide whether they want to take risks. This is a serious question,” he pointed out.
“Vaccination seems like real protection to me. I got vaccinated. I made the decision myself. But I don’t think I have the right to make recommendations.”
“This may go too far,” Tuchel went on.
“I am a football coach, I am not at all an expert on the topic of coronavirus. I’d rather leave this to the professionals.”
Tuchel believes his players must make their own choices regarding a Covid-19 vaccination pic.twitter.com/cTEaJEbtoi
“Everyone here is adults living in a free country and society. People have the right to make their own decisions. We do something and then we are responsible for our actions.” Tuchel continued.
“We don’t want to lose players, but we don’t get mad at N’Golo. I care about his condition as well as the well-being of all injured Chelsea players.
“I don’t know what the percentage of those vaccinated at Chelsea is. I just do not know. We only reflect the situation in society. The players are adults and have the right to freely choose whether they want to be vaccinated. We have to accept this. This is more or less all I can say about it.
“I know the situation is far from over. I hope there will be as few infections as possible, but I definitely do not have a clear solution,” the German concluded.
The development comes amid reports of low vaccination rates among Premier League players and the top flight’s authorities struggling to get big stars to front campaigns that encourage fellow pros to get their jabs.
Last week, the Daily Mail reported that some clubs have as few as six players vaccinated against the virus, though some outfits including Wolves, Brentford and Leeds United have achieved vaccination rates ranging from 89-100%.
The fiancée of UFC icon Jon Jones was found with blood on her clothing and face before the star was arrested in Las Vegas last week, according to disturbing new details of a police report of the incident.
Former light-heavyweight champion Jones was arrested for misdemeanor domestic battery and felony tampering with a vehicle last Friday, just hours after being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
A police report seen by MMA Fighting states that officers had responded to a report of a domestic disturbance at Caesar’s Palace, after which they were told that Jones was no longer at the scene.
The MMA icon was soon located walking nearby and during his arrest “smashed his head into the front hood of the [Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department] patrol vehicle, leaving a medium size dent as well as chipping of some of the paint on the vehicle,” according to the report.
Jones, 34, is said to have been an “emotional rollercoaster” while in police custody, accusing law enforcement of “ruining the biggest night of his life” and at one point feigning that he would run off while joking that he would “like to take us [officers] all on and see what we could do.”
Jones’ fiancée Jessie Moses – who is the mother of his three children – is said to have told police that the MMA star had returned to their hotel room after earlier heading out for the night.
Moses was observed with blood on her clothing and lower lip, and when asked if Jones had been physical with her, Moses is quoted as replying “a little bit, yeah.”
“He touch[ed] the back of my head and pulled my hair a little bit but he did not hit me or anything,” Moses is said to have clarified when asked what she meant.
Moses reportedly declined to allow pictures to be taken of her injuries or to take a domestic violence card with information about a restraining order.
Moses was said to be reluctant to talk about Jones and “seemed very scared as to [his] release from jail.”
According to the report, the initial call to police came when a bloodied and tearful Moses approached the security desk at Caesar’s Palace asking for a key to her room, while one of her children asked: “Can you call the cops?”
Jones denied to police that he had pulled Moses’ hair or hit her, but admitted that the pair had been going through difficulties.
According to MMA Junkie, when Jones told Moses he was taking $10,000 to go to a strip club it started an argument in which he told her to “f*ck off.”
Jones was released from custody on Friday after posting bail and is due to appear in court next month.
The former longtime UFC light-heavyweight has thus far not commented publicly on the arrest, which came shortly after he had appeared at a glitzy ceremony to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame for his classic 2013 fight with Alexander Gustafsson.
