Al Shabab will be in the market for a striker this summer after deciding to end their three-year association with the lanky Brazilian, reports Ahmed Rizvi.
Bruno arrived at the Dubai club in July, 2012, on a one-year deal from Brazilian club Vitoria Guimaraes and scored 14 goals in his Arabian Gulf League debut season. It was the seventh-highest tally in the league for the 2012/13 season and good enough to get Bruno an extension. He scored 15 in Shabab’s next campaign.
Bruno was not as prolific in his third season, scoring eight goals in 25 league matches. He finished 23rd on the list of the AGL’s top scorers for the season, behind teammates Henrique Luvannor (11 goals) and Carlos Villanueva (11).
The Brazilian did not score in Shabab’s first seven league matches. In the middle part of the season, he scored just once – from the penalty spot – in six league matches. He missed a penalty in a shootout loss to Al Nasr in the President’s Cup semi-final, which may have sealed his fate.
Shabab will not be making any other changes to their foreign quartet as they have decided on retaining the services of the Chilean skipper Villanueva, Moldovan winger Luvannor and Uzbekistan midfielder Azizbek Haydarov.
The club, who finished third in the league, have also given their Emirati defender Mahmoud Qassim a two-year extension, but his brother, Hamdan, could move to Sharjah in the summer after spending the past season on loan from Shabab at Emirates.
Juventus
Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini said he has “no problem” with Barcelona forward Luis Suarez and will shake hands with him when they meet for the first time since a biting incident at the World Cup. Suarez was banned for four months last year for biting Chiellini on the shoulder during Uruguay’s final group match against Italy. But, ahead of Saturday’s Uefa Champions League final in Berlin, Chiellini said he would be focusing on Suarez’s talents as a player and “nothing more”. Juventus teammate Patrice Evra did not shake Suarez’s hand after he was racially abused by the Uruguayan when he was at Liverpool and Evra was at Manchester United. But Chiellini said: “Of course I will (shake hands). I’ll hug him happily, too, there’s no problem at all.”
Manchester City
Yaya Toure has cooled speculation surrounding his future at Manchester City, with the Ivorian midfielder saying he will “definitely stay” because he wants to win more trophies for the club. Toure’s agent Dimitri Seluk said last month his client was “90 per cent certain” to leave the Etihad Stadium but backtracked last week and suggested the player would remain in Manchester after meeting with the club. Toure, 32, joined City in 2010 and played a dominant role in two Premier League title wins in 2012 and 2014 but endured a frustrating season after losing form as City failed to claim any trophies. “My target this year is to try to do everything possible to make this team improve well. Fans need not worry,” Toure told the Manchester Evening News. “I am sure with my experience, and maybe I hope, with the players coming in a couple of weeks, a couple of months, definitely it is going to be a strong City next year.”
Baniyas
Ahmed Khamis will start the new season with Baniyas after signing a two-year deal with the Abu Dhabi club. Khamis, 29, has spent the past three seasons at Sharjah after moving to the relegated club from Al Ahli in 2012. Baniyas will also be looking for a foreign striker after deciding to part ways with Argentine Denis Stracqualursi and the club are reportedly looking at an “African striker, currently plying his trade in Europe”, as a replacement. Baniyas have sealed a deal for Australian midfielder Mark Milligan and, according to media reports, are close to signing Romania international and Steaua Bucuresti captain Cristian Tanase.
Al Wasl
Hugo Viana has signed a new one-year contract with Al Wasl, keeping him at the Zabeel Stadium for the 2015/16 season. The Portuguese playmaker’s deal expired at the end of the last campaign, in which he became a vital member of Gabriel Calderon’s side. Signed from Al Ahli in October, a mix-up at the FA delayed Viana’s debut until February 4, although he quickly helped guide Wasl to sixth in the Arabian Gulf League – their highest top-flight finish since 2010. Fujairah will also be hunting for a new striker after deciding against giving Boubacar Sanogo, 32, an extension.
Fifa
Concacaf general secretary Enrique Sanz has been provisionally suspended from all football-related activities by Fifa’s ethics committee. The ethics committee said in a statement that Sanz was suspended “on the basis of investigations carried out by the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee and the latest facts presented by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York”. In a separate announcement, the ethics committee said that Congolese federation vice-president Jean Guy Blaise Mayolas and the general secretary Badji Mombo Wantete had also been suspended pending further investigation. Concacaf, the governing body that represents North and Central America and the Caribbean, said on Thursday that it had placed Sanz, who had held the post since 2012, on a leave of absence “to begin immediately”. Concacaf president Jeffrey Webb was among seven football officials arrested in Zurich last week, two days before Fifa’s annual Congress and presidential election. The seven have been detained pending extradition to the United States on corruption charges.
U20 World Cup
Brazil were tested while Germany were rampant as the two marquee sides triumphed in their opening games at the Fifa Under 20 World Cup in New Zealand yesterday. Five-time winners Brazil recovered from 1-2 down to beat Africa’s champions Nigeria 4-2 while Germany cantered home 8-1 against Fiji. To complete the first-up matches for the 24 teams, Hungary finished too strong and beat North Korea 5-1 while Honduras held off Uzbekistan 4-3.
Borussia Dortmund
Departing Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp has ended speculation about his immediate future and said he would take a break. Klopp said that after “seven years of intense and emotional years of ‘real love’ I find it sensible to sort out the countless memories” before taking up a new coaching job “fresh and highly motivated”. The charismatic coach did not specify how long he planned to stay away, saying the break would be “until further notice”. In his last match in charge, Dortmund lost the German Cup final to Wolfsburg 3-1 on Saturday.
* with Agencies
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