Bhoys fend off Spartak’s swoop for McGeady
The Russian club made a firm enquiry yesterday about the 24-year-old Ireland international but were met with a firm rejection from the Glasgow side who said McGeady is not for sale.
Spartak received the same answer Alex McLeish’s Birmingham were given in January, with Celtic determined to hold on to one of their most influential performers.
McGeady has been with Celtic since his schooldays, winning three league titles, and signed a five-year contract in the summer of 2008. McGeady, who was the SPFA Player and Young Player of the Year in 2008, made his first team debut four years earlier and has also tasted success in the Scottish Cup and League Cup, lifting each trophy twice.
It is believed officials from Spartak flew to Scotland last week in hopes of agreeing a deal for the winger with the Parkhead club to bring McGeady to the Luzhniki Stadium.
Meanwhile Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes France’s controversial World Cup qualification at the expense of the Republic of Ireland could have a psychological influence on Les Bleus this month.
“The way France got to the World Cup with the handball in the play-off against Ireland could have an effect at the finals,” he told the official Arsenal Magazine.
“Will it be in the minds of referees? It could be. I hope not though, because you don’t want that in football. History has no part to play in these games, you want the ref to judge each match as it comes. So I don’t think there will be much of an effect on the refereeing side, however it could have an effect on the team’s psychological side.
“If things aren’t going well they could start thinking ‘anyway, we don’t deserve to be here.’”
Meanwhile, despite Wenger’s concerns, Chelsea winger Florent Malouda, insists that the controversial route Les Bleus took to South Africa should in fact spur them on.
“I was ashamed by our friendly game against Spain in March, and by the two games against Ireland,” said Malouda. “Spain has an identity, like Barcelona, and in those games all our weaknesses were revealed. After those games, you know that you have to improve to get past the first round.”
Malouda also had a dig at team-mate Franck Ribery for demanding he plays in his favoured position on the left-wing and claimed that the criticism he received for his lacklustre displays at Euro 2008 was only because he was carrying out the coach’s orders.
Malouda looks set to start for France in their Group A opener against Uruguay on Friday on the left of midfield in a new-look 4-3-3 formation with winger Ribery ahead of him. During the qualifying campaign, Ribery played wide right and Malouda’s excellent form for Chelsea this season saw him take the wide-left spot. But now he has been pushed back into midfield.
“Players are not here to enjoy themselves, and say, ‘I want to play on the right, or in the middle,’” he said, referring to Ribery. “We have to stop looking for a player who will save the nation. It’s a team we need.”
And that’s why Malouda is content to play in midfield, even if he will have to stifle his natural attacking game. “With Les Bleus, I have played in several positions,” he told L’Equipe, in an interview published today. “I played more defensively at Euro 2008 and people got angry with me.
“An explanation was needed: I was attacked, criticised, while I was just doing what the coach asked me. Maybe I didn’t defend myself well enough, but I don’t care. My career will be judged on what I have accomplished, not on my politics.”
Malouda added that his fallout with Raymond Domenech was all in the past and that he is back in favour because the coach knows exactly what he can bring to the side.
“If we had a problem, it was a problem of personality or things I said,” he added. “I played a lot at the start [of his reign]. World Cup 2006 was extraordinary. The same goes for Euro 2008, until the third group game against Italy, in which I didn’t play.
“After that, I was never a regular starter again. I was put aside.
“My role changed. But today, I am trying to start games again. The coach knows me very well, as he gave me my chance. He knows how to use me,” he added.
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