Month: September 2019

The Premier League champions will prioritise a deep-lying midfielder and a left-back this summer but have also got their eye on the Frankfurt striker

Manchester City are keeping tabs on Eintracht Frankfurt forward Luka Jovic, Goal understands.

The 21-year-old is the Bundesliga’s top scorer this season and has also attracted interest from Barcelona and Chelsea, with the Catalans understood to be at the front of the queue for his signature.

The striker is on a two-year loan from Benfica and Frankfurt are hopeful they can trigger a clause to sign him outright for €6 million (£5.3m/$6.8m) this summer, before selling him on for €60m (£52m/$68m).

Barcelona, for their part, hope to sign him for €40m (£34.3m) and that kind of price would appeal to City, who have prioritised other areas for reinforcement in the upcoming transfer window.

The Premier League champions will move for a holding midfielder and a left-back, but sources have told Goal that they have been monitoring Jovic closely in recent months.

It is not yet clear whether City are ready to make a concrete move, as the Premier League club have form when it comes to biding their time over transfer targets.

This time last year, for example, they were tracking Tanguy Ndombele before he made his loan move from Amiens to Lyon permanent. City prioritised a move for Jorginho instead but have now returned to Ndombele, who features heavily in their summer transfer plans.

Likewise, they held several meetings with Ajax centre-back Matthijs de Ligt’s representatives at the end of last season, but never held any hope of actually signing him in the summer of 2018. The Dutchman remains one of the club’s targets, however.

Jovic has scored 15 Bundesliga goals this season, two more than Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, who is second in the Bundesliga golden boot standings.

The Serbia international became Red Star Belgrade’s youngest goalscorer when he opened his account at just 16 years of age, and this season he became the youngest player in Bundesliga history to score five goals in a single game.

City are always on the look-out for new players from across the globe and it is no surprise Jovic is on their radar, although it is understood that the club’s interest in him goes beyond merely including him on a long list of talents.

It is possible that City would move to secure their priority summer transfer targets first – Leicester’s Ben Chilwell is an option for left-back – before assessing their situation regarding Jovic.

City regularly attempt to tie up their ‘A list’ signings as early as possible before assessing the state of the market later in the summer.

In 2018, for example, they monitored the situations of Eden Hazard and Kylian Mbappe, separately from their attempts to bring in top targets Jorginho and Riyad Mahrez.

Goal understands that, while Barcelona are keen on Jovic, they are also looking at Andre Silva and Maxi Gomez, and the Catalans’ movements in the market could also influence City’s plans.

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The World Cup winner has stepped up when needed most, but his boss deflected a question over whether he is the most talented player he has trained

Paris Saint-Germain head coach Thomas Tuchel has refused to rank Kylian Mbappe as the best player he has ever trained, instead opting to praise current and former charges such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ousmane Dembele.

Injuries have ravaged the French champions this season and Mbappe has often been called upon to deliver results during times when Neymar and Edinson Cavani have been sidelined, perhaps most notably in PSG’s 2-0 Champions League victory over Manchester United.

There can be no doubt that the World Cup-winning forward should be counted amongst the planet’s current greats, but Tuchel would not be drawn on whether he is the most talented player he has ever had the pleasure of coaching.

“That’s a dangerous question!” Tuchel laughed. “I’ve coached Aubameyang, Ousmane Dembele… Auba will always remain in my heart.

“Kylian is exceptional, but Neymar and Cavani are also up there. Incredible players. I don’t like phrases like ‘the best’ or ‘better than’. We’ve very happy with our players.

“Everyone in the locker room knows how reliable and super important Mbappe is, but I don’t rank players. He still has things he needs to improve, even if that’s hard to believe!

“Everyone pushes him to his limits and he is able to do that. He’s of massive importance this season.”

The German boss was also questioned by the press with regards to his ability to spot qualities in personnel that others may have missed, pointing to the likes of Marquinhos – who has been reborn as a No.6 this term – as well as improvements in Angel Di Maria and Thilo Kehrer.

“It’s a combination of things,” Tuchel told reporters. “You have to push, push, push – and protect them too. Marquinhos has the qualities to become one of the best players in the world.

“I can’t always take credit. It’s a good time, which we savour, but it’s the hard work that allows us to do that. The mentality of the players allows us to do that too.

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“Those things are necessary for us to achieve great things – that’s down to the merits of the players. We get a little bit of luck here and there but we have quality. Not just technical and tactical, but in character and mentality.

“I’m just doing my best.”

The ARU has plans to establish a national coaching panel, in a bid to improve coaching at all levels, after a meeting of some of the most influential coaches in rugby on Thursday.

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, national skills coach Mick Byrne, World Cup-winning Wallabies mentor Bob Dwyer, coaching director Dick Marks, ARU high performance manager Ben Whitaker and former Wallaby Rob Kafer were all part of a meeting on Thursday, aimed at addressing national coaching concerns.

Cheika, speaking to media on Thursday, said the key takeaway from the meeting was the introduction of this panel, to provide support and education to coaches from grassroots to Super Rugby.

“We’re committed to setting up a national coaching panel,” he said.

“That’s a coaching panel that’s going to help support the development of coaches throughout the whole game from the elite level down to the very junior level.

“I want the guy who is coaching our under-6s to feel like he is part of an Australian coaching fraternity that has certain fundamentals that we’re proud of.”

Cheika stressed the details were still to be finalised with plans for its rollout to be sent to Super Rugby clubs for feedback, but hoped some form of the program could be started in the next four months.

“I’ve been dying to say 100 days because that’s what every American president says,” he said, somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

“Whatever that time is, three and a bit months, we could actually have something set up.”

The personnel who might sit on such a panel are not clear, though Dwyer has reportedly thrown himself into the mix, while the return of former Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher to Australia would also be unlikely to have gone unnoticed.

“We have set some sort of time frames around establishment of the panel,” Cheika said.

“We’ll draw up what we did today, send it around to some people – all the state unions and super rugby coaches – just to get some feedback.

“There was a lot of consensus around what we would like to do to help.”

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The group is likely to meet again after the Wallabies June Series to continue working on ideas to address the concerns of coaching in Australia, in a bid to create some positivity around rugby.

“There’s been a lot of negativity about the game. We can’t escape that and we can’t do much about those other things as coaches,” he said.

“But we can make a difference by getting something going for the game.”

Though this first meeting came amid a season of poor Australian Super Rugby performance, Cheika said that wasn’t the trigger.

“I know that we’re seeing poor results and as a coach I’ve been in situations where my team has gone through struggles before so you can’t hide from it.

“I believe that all the answers to those issues are inside all the teams, they just need to discover them.”

Waratahs winger Cam Clark is hoping for a better start to 2018, after an injury-interrupted return to XVs.

Clark had a delayed start to 2017 with an ankle problem, missing the entire preseason and making his Waratahs debut against the Sharks in round three.

Though he showed promise in the back three, his season finished as it began, with a shoulder reconstruction putting him in the rehab group in the off-season.

He was on hand as the Waratahs announced their 2018 preseason fixtures, dates he is desperate to be available for, particularly a February 15 outing at Brookvale Oval.

“Unfortunately I missed out last year so hopefully get the opportunity this year to chuck the boots on and play here in front of a local northern beaches crowd,” he said.

“I had a shoulder reco at the end of our Shute Shield season (for Norths), so it’s all going pretty well and on track and hopefully I’ll be ready and raring to go come trial time.”

Though last month’s announcement of a $2 billion Allianz Stadium development has been controversial, the proposed renovations could spell more suburban matches for the Waratahs in 2019, and it’s something Clark would welcome.

“We’re a NSW team, so any field we get the chance to play in NSW, it’s our home ground and we’re excited to play wherever,” he said.

“(For the) 2018 season still Allianz is our home stadium so we can’t wait to get going again in the next Super Rugby season.

“We’ve had a lot of changes, changes we needed to make within the group after our performance last year so definitely heading in the right direction.

“Preseason started this week so all the boys were in and raring to go and really excited about what lies ahead.”

The Waratahs open their 2018 Super Rugby season on Saturday February 24, against the Stormers at Allianz Stadium, kicking off at 7:45pm AEDT.

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Rebels stand-in skipper Reece Hodge says the side isn’t blaming a mountainous injury toll for its 2017 woes, after a 47-10 loss to the Lions.

Stand-in skipper Hodge is the fourth the team has had this season, with Sean McMahon the official captain still yet to play a game, Nic Stirzaker injured and Colby Faingaa a late withdrawal on Saturday.

While Faingaa is expected to be fit for their clash with the Reds next weekend, the flanker’s absence took their unavailable list to 17, with 16 injuries and Lopeti Timani with one more week of suspension yet to serve.

That mounting toll would be no excuse, Hodge said, despite the lack of experience clearly taking its toll on the team.

“We’ve got full faith in the guys that do come in,” he said.

“They’re in this squad for a reason, they’re at Super a Rugby level for a reason, so everyone deserves to make it to this point.

“If I look beside me, all the 14 guys beside me on the field, I’ve got full confidence in every one of them. I don’t think we can read too much into injuries, it’s just we need to be better individually and as a team.”

The probable return of McMahon and Faingaa next week will bring some timely relief for Amanaki Mafi, the only Rebels backrower to take the field regularly this season, though even he has missed a game with injury.

Coach Tony McGahan said the ‘one-man band’ of Mafi would need some back-up, though the performances of ring-ins Hugh Sinclair and Will Miller from the Shute Shield have been impressive.

“If you had said to us at the start of the season that we’d have no Sean McMahon, no Colby, no Jordy (Reid),  no Lopeti out here, he’s probably been a one man band.

“He’s been really carrying the back row, he’s been fantastic.

“We’re really looking forward to getting some of those others back to give him some support in the breakdown and defence because he’s been a bit of a one man band there.”

McGahan praised his side’s effort in the loss but was blunt about the gap between them and the top South African side.

“We tried really hard, just not good enough. It’s pretty simple,” he said.

“There were three things we spoke about – we just really wanted to have a really high pressure game and just really compete in everything, we needed to make sure we were physical and the last one was really enjoy what we were doing and enjoy working.

“I think those three things we displayed, it was the skill element (where) we just weren’t good enough tonight across pretty much every area.”

The Rebels take on the Reds in Melbourne next Saturday night, LIVE on FOX SPORTS and via radio on RUGBY.com.au.

The United Kingdom’s lawmakers returned to the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday following Tuesday’s ruling from the highest court in the land that Boris Johnson’s attempt to halt parliamentary business for five weeks was unlawful.

The prime minister had wanted to close Parliament for a so-called prorogation, from Sept 9 to Oct 14, ostensibly to draw a line under the premiership of his predecessor, Theresa May, and launch his own raft of parliamentary business.

But the UK’s 11 most-senior judges, sitting in the Supreme Court, ruled that closing Parliament for such a lengthy spell, instead of the usual four to six days, was excessive and curtailed parliamentary scrutiny, which was especially important in the weeks leading up to the UK’s exit from the European Union, slated for Oct 31.

Johnson, who had been in New York for a United Nations summit when the ruling came down, said before hurriedly flying home on Tuesday night that he “profoundly disagreed” with the judges but would respect their decision.

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said on BBC Radio 4’s Today program that Johnson should resign, but confirmed he would not trigger a vote of no confidence in him because such a move would launch a general election and force the closure of Parliament at a crucial time.

“I am very happy to have a general election when we have taken no-deal (Brexit) off the table and the European Union has agreed that extension,” Corbyn said. “He should apologize … to the British people for trying to shut down our democracy in a crucial time when people are very worried about what will happen on 31 October.”

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, also called on Johnson to resign, as did Mark Drakeford, the first minister of Wales, and Michelle O’Neill, the vice-president of Sinn Fein.

Michael Gove, who as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is responsible for advising the prime minister on policy development and implementation, said on the Today program he too “disagreed with (the Supreme Court’s) position”.

“It is only fair to point out that there is a very respectable set of legal opinions that have pointed out, according to the understanding of the law — until now — what the government did was entirely lawful,” he said. “Now, of course, the Supreme Court has taken a different view.”

And, during parliamentary business on Wednesday, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, who advised Johnson on the prorogation, said he and the government had acted in good faith, believing the move was both lawful and constitutional.

“We were disappointed that, in the end, the Supreme Court took a different view,” he told MPs as many of them called for his resignation along with Johnson’s.

The Financial Times reported that Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the House of Commons, had told fellow members of the Cabinet during a conference call on Tuesday night that the judges’ decision amounted to a “constitutional coup” but Cox distanced himself from such a characterization, saying they were merely “making new law”.

The challenge against Johnson in the Supreme Court was led by former prime minister John Major, who once led the party Johnson now heads.

He said: “No prime minister must ever treat the monarch or Parliament in this way again.”

Johnson, who has only been prime minister for three months, has now suffered not only the humiliating defeat in the Supreme Court but the loss of his first six parliamentary votes, and the erosion of his ruling Conservative Party’s parliamentary majority. He has also expelled 21 of his own MPs, and seen his brother resign from the Cabinet.

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Members of Parliament began sitting at 11:30 am on Wednesday after House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said the first day back would not feature Prime Ministers’ Questions but would include urgent questions, ministerial statements, and emergency debates.

When Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest travel agency, enters bankruptcy this week, the future for its joint venture with Shanghai-based conglomerate Fosun International will likely remain positive, the JV said.

Thomas Cook China said it is fiscally stable and healthy at this time. The company is unaffected by the issues faced by Thomas Cook in the UK and is operating normally.

“Thomas Cook China will continue to benefit from the long-term commitment and support of the Fosun Tourism Group,” the announcement stated.

In March 2015, Fosun International, the parent company of Fosun Tourism Group, acquired a 5 percent stake in Thomas Cook.

Seven months later, the two parties formed a joint venture called Thomas Cook China, in which Fosun holds the majority 51 percent stake while the rest is held by the Thomas Cook Group. The brand name Thomas Cook China was officially launched in September 2016.

During a news conference for the half year fiscal report in Hong Kong in mid-August, Qian Jiannong, president of Fosun Tourism Group, admitted the traditional travel agency business is contracting and its outlook is not optimistic due to uncertainties in the global economy.

While not excluding then the possibility of participating in the restructuring of Thomas Cook, Qian said that they will stick to the ground rules to make sure that “there will be a positive influence on Fosun despite what the result will be in the future.”

Thomas Cook UK Plc and associated UK entities said in a statement on its official website they have entered compulsory liquidation on Monday and are now under the control of the Official Receiver in the country, sparking chaos for thousands of its customers around the world.

In an open letter released on Monday, Thomas Cook Chief Executive Officer Peter Fankhauser said that they “have worked exhaustively in the past few days to resolve the outstanding issues on an agreement to secure Thomas Cook’s future for its employees, customers and suppliers.”

“Although a deal had been largely agreed, an additional facility requested in the last few days of negotiations presented a challenge that ultimately proved insurmountable,” he wrote.

The agreement that Fankhauser mentioned refers to the restructuring negotiations initiated by Fosun Tourism Group, which offered 450 million pounds ($559.8 million) in investment to acquire a 75 percent stake in Thomas Cook’s travel business and a 25 percent stake in the UK travel giant’s airline business.

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But no consensus was reached regarding Fosun’s latest offer. In an announcement released on Monday, Thomas Cook China, in which Fosun Tourism Group holds a majority stake, said it has been informed that Thomas Cook Group has entered compulsory liquidation and it “feels sorry” for the bankruptcy.

The UK business of Thomas Cook ceased trading with immediate effect and all future flights and holidays were canceled, according to the statement. The 178-year-old travel agency has a fleet of more than 60 planes worldwide. It is estimated that at least 600,000 people around the world will be affected by the suspension of its operations. Thomas Cook has struggled from mounting financial pressure since last year. The company reported a loss of 163 million pounds by the end of 2018 and the flood of red ink further expanded to a loss of 1.5 billion pounds by June.

Zhou Mingqi, chief analyst at marketing consultancy Jingjian Thinktank, said that although Thomas Cook did not manage well over the past few years, the business value of the brand name is huge as it is well established worldwide, and more important, the pioneer of modern tourism.

“Based on its past business performance, there might be some problems with Thomas Cook’s management. If major adjustment can be made regarding business and management, Thomas Cook can seek expansion in China with the help of Fosun Tourism Group and even seek better investment return in the capital market,” he said.

 

A household name across the land, veteran actor Tang Guoqiang is returning to Chinese screens with another iconic portrayal of Mao Zedong, Xu Fan reports.

For more than 20 years, actor Tang Guoqiang has starred as Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People’s Republic of China, in over 40 films and television dramas.

And with New China’s 70th anniversary falling on Oct 1, the actor has become one of the most recognized faces on our screens today.

Following the TV series Diplomatic Situation, which has run on Beijing Satellite Channel, GRT Satellite TV in Guangdong province and the Youku, iQiyi and Tencent Video streaming platforms since Sept 19, the film Mao Zedong 1949 opened across domestic theaters on Friday.

In both productions, Tang plays his most familiar and perhaps best-known character-the great leader who led Chinese people to liberation.

“The first time that I played Chairman Mao was in the 1996 movie The Long March. Over the years since then, I have accumulated a comprehensive knowledge about Chairman Mao through playing him at the different stages of his life,” Tang says in an interview in Beijing.

He has read a lot of historical documents, and retraced almost all of the routes taken by the Red Army during their milestone trek, the Long March, between 1934 and 1936-interviewing elderly comrades along the way, including some who once served under Mao.

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Positive signals of easing trade tensions recently sent by both China and the United States will create better conditions and reduce confrontation ahead of the high-level trade talks in Washington next month, trade experts said on Wednesday.

They made the assessment after official sources announced that China supports companies to continue purchasing a certain amount of US agricultural products, including soybeans and pork, in line with World Trade Organization rules and market principles.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council will continue to exclude certain agricultural products from additional tariffs, according to a Xinhua News Agency report that quoted the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce late on Tuesday.

The US government had recently exempted three lists of Chinese goods from additional tariffs, covering over 400 categories of products.

Because the Chinese and US economies are highly interdependent and play important roles in the global market, exchanging goodwill gestures is an important precondition and can certainly mitigate confrontation during the upcoming round of high-level economic and trade consultations in October, said Chen Wenling, chief economist at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges in Beijing.

No one can afford to let the tit-for-tat tariffs go unchecked forever, Chen added.

Official Chinese sources also stressed that China has a huge market and the prospects for importing high-quality US agricultural farm products are broad, the Xinhua report said. China hopes the US will continue to meet China halfway and create favorable conditions for bilateral cooperation in agriculture and other sectors, according to the report.

Zhang Xiaoping, country director for China at the US Soybean Export Council, said that any amount of soybeans China buys from the US is not only good news for US soybean farmers, but also will benefit soybean processing plants and consumers in China.

“We hope that the mutually beneficial trade moves can help Beijing and Washington to end the trade dispute as soon as possible and put the bilateral soybean trade back on the right track,” Zhang said, adding that farm trade will benefit industries and people in both countries.

His views are shared by Tom Vilsack, CEO of the US Dairy Export Council, who believes that it is time for the two nations to rebuild trust and business ties.

“We have long, strengthening cooperation with the Chinese dairy industry. This kind of cooperation can be reflected in mutual support during the difficult times and constantly closer friendship,” he said.

Vilsack highlighted that the US dairy industry attaches great importance to cooperation with China and hopes to strengthen friendly business exchanges.

Affected by rising tariffs, China’s total trade volume with the US fell 9 percent to 2.42 trillion yuan ($340 billion) in the first eight months of the year, compared with an 8.1 percent fall during the January-July period, the General Administration of Customs said.

China’s demand for various agricultural products will continue to surge because its economy has become more dynamic and resilient, fostered by supply-side structural reforms, said Ding Lixin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing.

James Zhou, global vice-president of Louis Dreyfus Co, one of the world’s major agricultural commodity traders, said: “We have seen major changes in the consumption sector with evolving patterns and steady expansion. For instance, over 400 million Chinese are middle-income earners.”

Zhou added that the French company will invest more in enhancing its coffee, cotton and sugar business in China.

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“Hutong and yidian’er,” Prapin Manomaivibool said, delightedly flexing her strong command of Mandarin with a pronounced northern accent.

Prapin, a demure Thai lady now in her seventies, holds a number of titles under her belt, which include the director of the Institute of Asian Studies and chair professor of the Chinese department at Chulalongkorn University. In addition, she has extensive research experience and publications in Chinese language, linguistics, and sinology.

“Now in Thailand, there are about 600,000 or 700,000 students learning Chinese,” Prapin told China Daily Website in a recent interview.

Prapin’s life is deeply rooted in ties with China, shaping the path for her dedication to Chinese language and education.

Born to parents from Chaozhou, South China’s Guangdong province, Prapin was naturally exposed to Chaozhou dialect and Chinese traditions and customs at home as she grew up.

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However, Prapin did not know anything about Mandarin, a far cry from the Chaozhou dialect she had been used to, until she started to learn Chinese in the United States back in 1967.

After securing her master’s degree from Chulalongkorn University, one of the most prestigious higher education institutes in Thailand, the university considered setting up a Chinese program.

However, no one was available able to speak Chinese. Given Prapin’s Chinese ancestry, she was sent to the United States to the University of Washington, learning Chinese from an array of eminent Chinese scholars like Li Fanggui.

Learning Mandarin from scratch, she found the tonal and the writing system in Chinese a challenge.

“I had to take the courses required for undergraduates, and I used the first two years to fulfill all these requirements; then in the fourth semester I got into the MA program in Chinese linguistics,” Prapin recalled.

In 1975, the Thai scholar acquired her PhD in Asian Languages and Literature from the University of Washington and returned to Thailand, beginning her decades-long distinguished career of Chinese language education at her alma mater.

In 1983, Prapin came to China for the first time as a visiting scholar on a six-month academic exchange program between Chulalongkorn University and Peking University.

“Life was so simple and everyone was riding a bicycle. There were no traffic jams, and we had to use waihuiquan (foreign exchange certificates) as foreigners,” the Thai scholar fondly recalled following her first visit to China.

As an expert in Chinese language and culture, Prapin has accompanied Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, a devoted China-Thailand cultural ambassador, on multiple visits to China, and said she has been to almost every Chinese city.

“Now everything is extremely different. Every year I went to China, there would be something different,” said Prapin, hugely impressed with China’s remarkable social progress.

Speaking of how Chinese culture is received by the general Thai public, Prapin shared that dumplings are popular in Thailand and Thai families enjoy celebrating traditional Chinese festivals such as the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

In addition, Prapin noted that many Thai people decorate their homes with Chinese furniture, Chinese ink paintings and calligraphy works.

In recent years, a number of Thai films such as A Little Thing We Called Love and Bad Genius have become big hits among young Chinese, while Chinese films and TV series are also popular among Thai youths.

“Students say they want to learn Chinese because they want to understand when they watch Chinese movies and TV series,” Prapin said.

Noting the great influence of pop culture on the young generation in both countries, the scholar mentioned some of her students at Chulalongkorn University have been translating Chinese novels and the subtitles of Chinese animations, TV dramas and films into Thai.

“Since the world is getting smaller and smaller, it’s much better if we all understand each other. If we know each other better, there will be less conflict,” Prapin added, noting the Sino-Thai youth exchange programs are a successful example of such mutual understanding.

Yang Xiaoyu contributed to this story.