Eto'o is out of contract at Stamford Bridge after a season-long stint
following his move from Anzhi Makhachkala and looks to have signalled
his departure with some disparaging remarks in recent weeks.
The 33-year-old was angered by Mourinho's comments earlier in the
season when he appeared to question his official age and described the
Portuguese as a 'puppet' after previously branding him a 'fool'.
"Contrary to what a puppet says about my age, I am still physically
fit," he told the Confederation of African Football's official website.
"At 33, I feel real good. I have proven that I could do better than youths."
Eto'o scored 12 times last season as Chelsea finished third in the
Premier League and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.
He is currently preparing for the upcoming World Cup and is confident he can still play for a top European team next season.
"I wish to also say that I am not going to the United States or to the Middle East," he said.
"I will continue at the top level. I will continue to play the Champions League.
"My romance with this competition is far from over. I will not tell
you where, but I will be at the top level. I am 33 and I have two World
Cups to play.
"Before me there are other players who went on until the age of 41. So I can continue."
With the selection for this summer's World Cup looming he doesn't need any extra pressure. But
Mario Balotelli will have a lot on his mind after attending an Italian
court where he is fighting a custody battle over his daughter. The
Italian striker is in negotiations with his ex-girlfriend Raffaella
Fico for the right to visit the child, called Pia, who is eighteen
months old. Ballotelli did not acknowledge he was Pia’s father until February this year after DNA tests proved his paternity. He
was allowed to hold her for the first time only a month ago in the
court house in Naples, after the judge granted special permission. Balotelli
and Miss Fico attended a private hearing at a court in Brescia, near
Milan, to discuss how often the footballer will be able to visit his
daughter. After a hearing
that lasted about an hour the Serie A star’s lawyers said that they were
confident he would have the chance to hold his daughter again before he
leaves for the World Cup in Brazil. Balotelli’s
lawyer Alessandra Capuano told Corriere della Sera: ‘We are well on
track to finding a way for both parents to fully collaborate.’ The
judge did not go into discussions on maintenance payments, which are
the subject of a separate legal process beginning in September. Balotelli,
who has a turbulent on-off relationship with Belgian model Fanny
Neguesha, shed his bad boy image for the court, dressed in muted tones,
loafers, a white vest and shirt and sunglasses. He left the hearing yesterday with his lawyers and security, signing autographs as he went.
Balotelli with Miss Fico at the Studio 11 Night Club in Milan in September 2011
Miss
Fico, a former model, wore skinny jeans, a tight white T-shirt and
leather jacket, and strode purposefully on towering heels. The pair have had an acrimonious
relationship since she fell pregnant in Manchester in 2012, with
Balotelli claiming she told the papers about the pregnancy before him. Miss
Fico then appeared to go to great lengths to persuade Balotelli to meet
his daughter, posting pictures of Pia on Twitter and speaking of his
'indifference'. But
Balotelli claims that he would not meet her until his paternity was
proven by a DNA test ‘because children must not be disappointed by
adults who disappear.’ ‘For a whole year I have tried to
reach an agreement with Fico over where, and how, to do this DNA test,'
Balotelli told La Gazzetta dello Sport earlier this year. ‘I
cannot turn up if I am not certain of being her father, because
children mustn’t be disappointed by adults who then disappear. I know
something about that.’ In
February he finally announced to the world that he had a daughter
writing on Twitter: ‘Finally the truth, PIA, sweet child of mine, your
dad.' In April he took the
day off training to hold the baby for the first time in a courtroom in
Naples, spending about 50 minutes with her. Balotelli
was born in Sicily to Ghanaian immigrant parents. He was placed in
foster care at the age of two and from then on raised by his adoptive
family in Brescia.
A Filipino maid has been left covered
in burns after her Saudi boss's mother allegedly threw boiling water at
her as punishment for not making coffee quick enough. The 23-year-old was not taken to hospital for hours, despite suffering scarring to her back and legs. Once there, she passed her cousin's phone number to hospital staff and urged them to call for help. When she returned for a check-up, her cousin arrived to take her home. She is now in the care of the Philippine Embassy. Outraged, her cousin has shared images of 'Fatma', which is not her real name, on Facebook. The posts also claim Fatma was beaten by her employer and deprived of food. According
to ABS-CBN News, she was scolded after her employer's mother in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia, became enraged at the time it was taking to brew coffee. A tussle ensued, which led to Fatma being covered in the freshly boiled water. The Facebook post read: 'This is my cousin, who works as domestic helper in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia.
'Her female Saudi employer poured boiling water on her. She has
only been in Riyadh for two months. 'She was beaten up within five days
of her arrival by her male employer and was sometimes deprived of food.' 'She was only taken to the hospital six hours after boiling water was
poured on her. 'She was then taken home to continue working despite her
extensive injuries,' she said.
The country's Department for Social Welfare and Development is providing Fatma with medical care and accommodation.
When Kurt Cobain committed suicide in a Seattle
suburb 20 years ago, the idea of the 27 Club entered the public
consciousness. "I told him not to join that stupid club," his mother said at the time of death, and the quote was subsequently picked up and distributed worldwide by the Associated Press.
Writers and music fans started drawing the link between Cobain and a
long line of equally talented artists and performers — ranging from
Brian Jones, to Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and more — who
died at the same age. In 2011, Amy Winehouse followed
in Cobain's wake. Her death immediately launched broad speculation
about whether 27 was actually a cursed age. It started to seem like
there was more to the club than mere coincidence. Now, two decades after
we started mythologizing "the club," science has shown that there's
more truth to the myth than anyone expected.
In 2011, British researchers surveyed
1,500 performers over a 40-year period. They compared the rock stars'
average lifespans to non-rock stars from the same periods. So, Elvis'
life span would be compared to the average lifespan of other men who
were 21 when he released "Hound Dog" in 1955. The researchers found,
"North American pop stars were 87.6% as likely to be alive as [non-rock
stars] of the same age and ethnicity — the lowest survival rate of any
group identified in the study." Although less likely to die prematurely
than their North American counterparts, Euro rockers were, on average,
more likely to die young than non-rocking Europeans. That, of course,
completely fails to explain Keith Richards.
Drug and alcohol overdoses were among the most common
causes of death, which comes as no surprise given that the average rock
star has access to an illicit pharmacy whenever he or she seeks it
out. Author Howard Sounes lists 50 "unofficial" members in his book The 27 Club, the
majority of whom had serious substance abuse problems. That culture,
coupled with the emotional lives that inspire many musicians to write
and perform, provide the perfect set of circumstances for an early
death. Additionally, Sounes pointed out that most members of the club
had "strikingly difficult childhoods," producing emotional wounds that
would inspire artists like Cobain and Hendrix to look to drugs, alcohol
and music as a means of self-medication.
There's a strange trend in the club members'
relationships, too. Pain attracts pain, and drug abusing musicians often
attract, either willfully or not, other drug users into their lives.
Most members of the 27 Club were romantically involved with other drug
users at the time of their death. Jim Morrison's girlfriend lied to police
when her boyfriend died as a means of covering up her own drug abuse,
adding to already-intense speculation surrounding the demise of the
Doors frontman.
But while it's clear that rock stars are more likely to
die young than, for example, their average fan of the same age, the 27
Club is really more "The 20's and 30's Club." There is a long list
of rockers who have died prematurely, both younger and older than 27.
But the members of the 27 Club get the most attention both because the
term is marketable and because the deaths of those involved have sparked
the most rumors. Plane crashes, for example, have killed a surprisingly
high number of talented artists (Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, etc.) but a
plane crash can't compete with the intrigue of a drug overdose. Reports
of Morrison's demise in a Paris bathtub have inspired four decades of
rumours. Speculation on Cobain's death is endlessly fascinating. Reports
of Redding's crash landing in a Wisconsin lake were equally tragic
(he'd just recorded "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay"), but not nearly
as mysterious. So, the club's mystique has only grown.
Whatever you want to call it, though, there is a
scientific basis for the 27 Club that goes well beyond mythology. While
rock n' roll might not "kill," per se, the rock n' roll lifestyle does,
and those most drawn to the rock lifestyle are most likely to push it
too far.
There is some good news in all of this, however: The authors of the 2011 study indicated
that today the rock lifestyle claims fewer casualties than it did in
the debauched days of the '60s and '70s. Mark Bellis, an expert on
substance abuse and one of the study's authors, speculates
that "professionalization" might be one reason. Increasingly, the music
business is perceived as exactly that — a business — and a "valid
career choice," as opposed to a means of escape for troubled young
people. But even when science seems to have explained it away and our
musicians begin living longer, the mystique of that number will remain.
Former Manchester United players David Beckham, Edwin Van der Sar and
Owen Hargreaves have backed Louis van Gaal to be a huge success as
manager of their former club and welcomed the appointment of his former
teammate Ryan Giggs as his new assistant.
Beckham admitted 'he was
emotional' at the sight of Giggs striding out at Old Trafford as interim
Manchester United manager last month. But he told Sky Sports that the vastly more experienced Van Gaal is the right choice to take the club forward in the long term.
"He has got a history of working with young players, bringing players
through academy systems at places like Ajax," said Beckham of Van Gaal.
"That can only be great for Manchester United.
"As a Manchester United fan and for Manchester United as a club, to
have someone like this with his pedigree is great. He has worked with
some of the biggest and best players in the world.
"I'm delighted Ryan [Giggs] is still involved as well. When you've
got someone like Giggsy, who all the players respect and all the fans
love, it makes a huge difference.
"His role now has totally changed and I'm sure he will find it an
easy transition because he takes things in his stride, he's not affected
by anything. He knows the club better than most people who are at
Manchester United now."
Beckham -- who was part of the United "Class of '92" along with
Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville -- called on Van Gaal
to retain some of his former teammates services at United as well.
Meanwhile, 33-year-old Hargreaves, whose four years at United from
2007-11 were ravaged by injury, told BT Sport: "If they can get the
players necessary I don't doubt that Van Gaal could even lead them to
the title. But they need to have a great summer.
"I doubt anything less than minimum Champions League (qualification)
and even potentially competing for the title would be sufficient for
him. I can't imagine him coming there to finish fourth. He has been so
successful everywhere he's been, so I don't think they could have had a
better option at this point."
Former United goalkeeper Van der Sar joined the chorus of praise for
Van Gaal's appointment, as he believes his former coach at Ajax has the
stature to succeed at Old Trafford.
"Van Gaal will spend the right money on the right player to ensure
that they are right for United," stated Van der Sar, in quotes appearing
in the Daily Mirror.
"He will know if they have the United DNA of the club inside of them.
If not he will let them go and let them go to other clubs. You have to
play and you have to fight for Manchester United. Not only come for the
money. What's more important? Money or the priviledge of playing for a
coach like Van Gaal?"
"It's a massive club and if you are able to participate in that and
to contribute to winning a title then you are settled for life because
you have the adoration of the club," added Van der Sar. "Van Gaal is
going to be very clear about what he wants and what he demands from his
players and while it's going to be a tricky period for him with the
World Cup deciding on what transfers he will need, if anyone can cope
with a situation like this it is Van Gaal.
"His credentials in Spain, in Germany, in Holland with the national
team speak for themselves. He has won the title in every country. He has
a history of winning trophies, of bringing young players through, of
working with big players.
"He is a very hard-working coach and he is a guy who makes players
better. He also sends out the right signals about the kind of football
he wants to play to the players."
