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Home , Justin Kluivert, Kasper Dolberg, Patrick Kluivert, Peter Bosz, Sandro Rosell

WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2017 SPORTS So long, Wayne? Cup final may be Rooney’s last United game

MANCHESTER: could finish his Manchester United career by hoisting a European trophy, surrounded by jubilant team- mates and with fireworks exploding around him. Still, it wouldn’t be quite the end he would have envisioned after 13 years at the English club. Rooney is set to be a substitute for United today in the Europa League final against Ajax in Stockholm, a role which the club’s captain and record scorer has become increasingly accus- tomed to this season. Depending on the situation in the match, he might not even come on. That’s how it’s been for most of this season, watching from afar at a club where he was once the main man. Talk about United’s key players ahead of a final that means so much to the English club, and many would say or or Henrikh : Ajax’s Danish forward (left) and Dutch defender Mkhitaryan. Few would say Rooney. Kenny Tete take part in a training session in Amsterdam ahead of the team’s Europa That’s the reason why this game might be his League final football match against Manchester United in Stockholm today. — AFP last for United despite having two years left on his contract, why he has been linked for much of the past few months with a return to former club Dolberg leads impressive Everton, a move to MLS in the United States, or a short spell in the Chinese league. United is mov- new Ajax generation ing on under Jose Mourinho and Rooney is being left behind. Speculation grows that James AMSTERDAM: Teenage striker Kasper United like Ibrahimovic has bullied defens- Rodriguez will be moving to Old Trafford from Dolberg has drawn comparisons with es all over Europe during his career, the Real Madrid, adding to the list of attackers who Zlatan Ibrahimovic and there are shades of young Dane will also be off-and United will be ahead of Rooney in the pecking order next the celebrated 1990s vintage in his youth- have been linked with him. season. There was a symbolic moment Sunday ful Ajax side that faces Manchester United Dolberg’s agent Jens Steffensen says the on the final day of the season. in today’s Europa League final. Ajax lifted phone never stops ringing from interested Rooney was one of the few senior players the Champions League in 1995 with a clubs. But Dolberg is under contract until picked for a virtually meaningless match against sophisticated brand of football played by 2021 and says he wants to stay in the Crystal Palace - Mourinho rested most of his the likes of young stars , Netherlands for another year to hone his Europa League starters - and he was replaced in , , and the game. An impressive showing though in the final minutes by 16-year-old attacking mid- De Boer brothers. Stockholm would change that. Dolberg, fielder Angel Gomes, who became the first player Nobody in the Dutch capital is saying Kluivert and the others in this young Ajax born this millennium to play in the Premier that Peter Bosz’s side of 2017 are up to that side might however reflect they owe their League. Rooney applauded all corners of Old level yet, but some are making compar- coach at least another season. Last year, Trafford and walked off with his head down. Was isons because his is such a young Ajax when Ajax sold Polish striker Arkadiusz he saying goodbye to the stadium he has played team. The coach recently named the Milik to Napoli, Bosz put his faith in at since 2004, when - at 18 - he made a spectacu- youngest XI in the history of the Dutch Dolberg to fill the void. And Dolberg repaid lar debut by scoring a hat trick in a Champions league at an average age of barely 21. There his manager, hitting 16 league goals this League game against Fenerbahce? has been plenty of hype surrounding the 18- season (22 in all competitions) and making Since then, he has racked up 253 goals for year-old winger , son of his debut for his country. United to surpass ’s longstanding Patrick, the forward who scored the only club record. He is also England’s record scorer goal in the 1995 Champions League final FIVE-SECOND RULE with 53 goals, again overtaking Charlton. He has against AC Milan. But the 19-year-old Bosz’s commitment to youth, allied to won the Premier League title five times, the FA Dolberg is getting plenty of notice too-and Ajax’s run in Europe, will also inevitably Cup once, the League Cup three times and the the Dane does not have a famous name to bring him temptations away from Champions League once. That last trophy came rely on. United forward Ibrahimovic, who is Amsterdam.The 53-year-old Dutchman is in 2008 when he was part of the famous frontline out of this week’s final in Stockholm with a almost the antithesis of United opposite containing and Carlos Tevez. serious knee injury, sprang to prominence as number Jose Mourinho, the arch pragma- Rooney is no longer the force of old, unable to a young predator at Ajax. Dolberg does not tist. Bosz was a gritty as a player, influence matches in the same way or tear have the Swede’s hugely imposing frame, in a career which included lifting the around the field harassing opponents. Games but he is no pushover either and is similarly title with in 1993 and can pass him by and there is the fear that, after fast making a name for himself in the Ajax saw him capped by his country. 15 years in the spotlight of the soccer world, he is red and white. It has been a swift ascent for But as a coach he says winning is not simply burnt out. Dolberg, who was hardly known 12 months enough, he wants his team to excite the In his last appearance at a news conference, ago and only really made headlines in fans too. He made his name as boss at prior to the second leg of the Europa League Europe with his two goals in the Europa Vitesse Arnhem in 2013-2015 and has a fan semifinals against Celta Vigo, Rooney said his League semi-final tie against Lyon. “There in Mourinho. But while Mourinho wants to priority at this stage of his career was to “play MANCHESTER: Manchester United’s English striker Wayne Rooney walks on the pitch carrying are similarities with Zlatan,” said Bosz. win at all costs, Bosz has embraced the Ajax football.” When asked if that meant at United, his son Kit to applaud the fans at the end of the English Premier League football match at Old “Technically, and with his physical presence, way of nurturing young talent to be confi- he added: “Of course.” He will end this season Trafford in Manchester on May 21, 2017. — AFP and his ability to play with his back to goal. dent and comfortable on the ball, some- likely having started 25 of United’s 64 games. There is indeed some Zlatan in him.” thing akin to the Dutch “total football” phi- Often, he was an unused substitute. Mourinho wishes, so it is for the player to decide if today Whether he actually makes it onto the field losophy. Bosz, who has a reputation as said he would not sell Rooney against his is the last time he dons a United jersey. remains to be seen.— AP Big-money move? fiercely passionate and demanding, took The senior Kluivert and the rest from over from in 2016 and places 1995 inevitably ended up leaving Ajax for great emphasis on recovering the ball as bigger clubs around Europe. The Dutch fast as possible-preferably within five sec- Ex-Barca president arrested side, for so long famed for their conveyor onds. “My players are very young and have eye belt of young talent, know that their best the physical abilities to exert such pressure,” in money laundering probe players will be picked off. If Dolberg bullies he says.—AFP silverware : Former Barcelona president after being charged over alleged tax fraud LIVERPOOL: Liverpool need to experience the Sandro Rosell was arrested yesterday in a relating to the club’s signing of Brazil strik- feeling of winning trophies again to take the next money laundering investigation related to er from Santos. He was later step and compete with Europe’s best, defender image rights in the Brazilian national foot- cleared of all charges in connection with James Milner has said. Liverpool, who secured ball team, a police spokesman said. The the case following an agreement with fourth spot in the Premier League with a 3-0 win police operation was mainly carried out in prosecutors. Rosell will nevertheless be over Middlesbrough on Sunday, have not won a the northeastern region of and tried for fraud and corruption relating to a major trophy since their League Cup triumph five for the moment “there are four or five parallel complaint filed by Brazilian invest- detainees, including the former president ment company DIS, which owned 40 per- years ago. of Barca, Sandro Rosell, and his wife,” the cent of Neymar’s sporting rights at the Liverpool lost out in last year’s League Cup and police spokesman said. time of his transfer. Europa League finals and Milner, who won the FA The investigation focuses on “money DIS claim it was cheated out of its real Cup with Manchester City in 2011 before their run laundering in companies linked to the share because part of the transfer fee was of two league titles in three years, said winning image rights of the Brazilian football team,” concealed by Barcelona, Santos and the one trophy is a catalyst for more. “Personally the police added. Officers were searching the Neymar family. A Spanish court earlier this biggest thing for us at City was winning the FA homes of those arrested as part of the month ordered Neymar and his parents to Cup: getting that first trophy under our belt, win- operation as well as at several company stand trial for alleged “business corruption” ning something, giving you that belief,” Milner headquarters in Barcelona, Girona and over the affair, making him the latest star said. “Champions League was a step along the Lleida in Catalonia and in Andorra, a tiny from the Catalan club to have to take the way. Last year we came close (to a trophy) but principality wedged between Spain and stand. Five-time World Player of the Year couldn’t get over the line. But playing in those sort France, police said. and his father were given 21- of occasions and in those big games is important. Businessman Rosell, 53, was manager of month suspended jail sentences in July “Hopefully now we can stick a few trophies in sporting goods giants Nike in Brazil and 2016 for tax fraud relating to the player’s the cabinet. That is the next step.” Midfielder Adam oversaw the contract for the national team image rights. Barca’s Argentine defender Lallana also expected Liverpool to be ready to to wear the US brand, before taking over also agreed a one-year CARRINGTON: Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho attends a training session compete for silverware next season. “It has been a as president of Barcelona in 2010. He suspended sentence with authorities for at the AON Training Complex in Carrington yesterday, ahead of the Europa League good season, not just myself but I think the team resigned as Barcelona president in 2014 tax fraud earlier this year.—AFP Final against Ajax today. —AP has come on leaps and bounds,” Lallana told the club’s website. (www.liverpoolfc.com) “There is still a lot of room for improvement and hopefully we Europa crucial for Mourinho can continue that in the Champions League next season. “We’ve got top four now... Hopefully we LONDON: Jose Mourinho’s first season at same group of players to march to the can add to this great squad and really compete for Manchester United will be deemed by Premier League title this term under his silverware next year.”—Reuters many as a failure unless they win today’s replacement Italian Antonio Conte. Europa League final against Ajax The move to United offered a chance to Amsterdam to secure Champions League restore Mourinho’s reputation as a winner - qualification. The Portuguese coach arrived but a season with just a League Cup tri- England’s own-goal gives at Old Trafford at the start of this campaign umph and no Champions League place charged with the task of restoring United would surely have his critics crowing again. Guinea 1-1 draw at WCup to, if not their old dominance, at least a Mourinho’s tactics have been criticized as place at the top table in the Premier overly cautious and others have taken aim SEOUL: An own-goal by England defender Fikayo Tomori League elite. But a sixth-place finish is low- at his habit of publicly naming and sham- handed Guinea a 1-1 draw yesterday at the Under-20 er than Mourinho’s predecessor Louis van ing individual players, such as full-back World Cup. Tomori, who is owned by Chelsea, put the Gaal managed in his two seasons, which Luke Shaw. On Monday, ex-France and ball in his own net in the 59th minute while attempting a concluded with fourth and fifth places. Arsenal striker turned Sky Sports TV pundit backpass to goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who was It is not the prestige of the Europa said United’s biggest signing standing outside the penalty area and tried to kick the League title that would change the per- - world record 89 million pounds ($115.62 ball clear as it passed him. Lewis Cook scored for England spective on the former Chelsea and Real million) purchase Paul Pogba - was under- in the 53rd with a low shot from about 25 yards. Madrid manager’s first year at United but performing due to Mourinho’s tactics. England’s players wore black armbands during the Group the place that triumph would secure in the “They don’t use Pogba where he should be A match in Jeonju following the attack at a concert in continent’s top club competition. For playing - he’s not a holding midfielder. He Manchester. United, a second straight season outside likes to play higher or off the left,” said The English have four points from two matches and the European elite would not only be a Henry. But a win over Ajax would allow a will next face South Korea on Friday. Guinea, which blow for the fans and the club’s status but greater hearing for a more generous evalu- earned its first point in the tournament, will face could also affect their ability to recruit the ation of Mourinho’s first 12 months at Argentina. In Group B, Venezuela became the first team very best talent from across the globe. For United. Last month’s 2-0 home victory over to advance to the second round by routing Vanuatu 7-0 Mourinho, there is also his own ‘brand’ to eventual English champions Chelsea, pro- in Daejeon. Sixteen of the 24 teams will progress to the consider. The 54-year-old left Chelsea last vided indications that next season United knockout stage, the top two teams from each of the six season after a shocking campaign of could be both more successful and more groups and the four best third-place finishers. The final under-achievement, only for largely the entertaining.— Reuters will take place in Suwon on June 11.— AP Barcelona’s football club former president Sandro Rosell