The Warm-Up: De Gea wants to be United skipper, while beef piles atop beef
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Updated 23/07/2019 at 08:03 GMT
There was a time when David de Gea didn't even want to be at Manchester United, and now apparently he wants to lead them
David de Gea of Manchester United attends a Maui Jim event as part of their pre-season tour of Australia, Singapore and China on July 21, 2019 in Singapore.
Image credit: Getty Images
TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES
De Gea wants to be Manchester United captain
David de Gea’s time at Manchester United has been a wild old ride. When he arrived in England way back in 2011, he looked like a bandy-legged foal, all slightly uncoordinated limbs and terrified eyes. But a foal who was, somehow, brilliant at goalkeeping, as he displayed with some gusto in the following few years.
But once he got good, there was a constant sense that he would rather not be at United anymore, that a move to Madrid was much more preferable, entirely understandable for personal and professional reasons. That move nearly happened in 2015, when some errant paperwork prevented him from going to Real.
Since then the spectre of him leaving has still loomed, but never actually materialised. And now he’s part of the furniture at Old Trafford, he wants to be top dog, to lead the boys, to be United captain. He said, on their pre-season tour:
I’ve been captain for some games. Of course, it is amazing to be captain of a club like Manchester United and defend this badge. It’s amazing, so of course I’ll be really, really happy to captain.
What a strange old world football is sometimes.
Zidane piles beef upon beef
Monday’s Warm-Up detailed the significant cow meat that has developed between Zinedine Zidane and Gareth Bale in recent weeks, but apparently the Real Madrid head coach decided that there simply wasn’t enough beef between himself and the Welsh forward, and has slapped another patty on top of there.
“I have not disrespected anyone,” Zidane said before his side faced Arsenal in a pre-season friendly in Washington DC. “The club is dealing with his departure. Period."
“The other day [against Bayern], Gareth didn’t play because he didn’t want to. He said the club was trying to negotiate his departure, and he didn’t want to play because of that.”
We’ll just remind you at this stage that it was only at the weekend that Zidane claimed this whole thing with Bale wasn’t personal, strictly business, and instructed Fredo never to take sides against the family again. Or something like that.
Ronaldo won’t be charged with rape
Cristiano Ronaldo will not be charged with the rape of a woman in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009, Clark County police have confirmed.
It was alleged that Ronaldo assaulted Kathryn Mayorga, who came forward this year after an investigation by German publication Der Spiegel, a decade ago, but the case cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, prosecutors said on Monday.
Based upon a review of the information presented at this time, the allegations of sexual assault against Cristiano Ronaldo cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, no charges will be forthcoming.
There is still a civil case against Ronaldo outstanding.
IN OTHER NEWS
Oh mate.
HEROES AND ZEROS
Hero: Matthijs de Ligt
Money played no role at all in my choice for a new club. Everyone who knows me, knows that.
Absolutely fair play to Juventus’s new €460,000-a-week defender for managing to keep a straight face while saying that. Genuinely, you can’t teach that sort of thing.
Zeros: Newcastle United
Following Newcastle United’s announcement on 17 July 2019 of its appointment of former Sheffield Wednesday staff Steve Bruce, Steve Agnew and Stephen Clemence, the club confirms that it has today reported Newcastle United’s conduct to the Premier League. As the Premier League will now initiate and carry out investigations into the club’s allegations, the club will not be commenting further on this matter whilst such investigations are ongoing.
Fair play really: Newcastle have properly Newcastle’d this one, appointing a manager that nobody wanted, and doing so while potentially breaking the rules too, if the official complaint from Sheffield Wednesday holds up. Still, if you’re going to do this sort of thing, you might as well go the whole hog.
HAT TIP
Nothing about Wesley Moraes Ferreira da Silva’s story is straightforward. Aston Villa’s club-record signing lost his father when he was only nine and worked in a factory sorting screws before he became a multimillion-pound striker. In between times, the Brazilian had a son at the age of 15 and a daughter a year later. On top of all of that – and it really is hard to imagine how turbulent this 22-year-old’s life has been at times – Wesley fulfilled his dream of making it as a professional footballer despite having one leg that is almost three centimetres shorter than the other.
Villa new boy Wesley has quite a story. Who better than Stuart James to tell it.
RETRO CORNER
His boss might hate him, but at least he’s got this tasty compilation of Champions League thrikers. Chin up, Gaz.
COMING UP
Some Champions League qualifiers for you if you want ’em, and some of the big boys are starting to get involved: PSV against Basel, Viktoria Plzen against Olympiakos, that sort of thing.
Tomorrow’s Warm-Up will be brought to you by our own big boy, Ben Snowball.
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