Aguero targets titles at Manchester City

(CNN) -- Sergio Aguero hopes to take Manchester City to another level, the Argentina striker revealed after completing his big-money move to the English club on Thursday.


Aguero, 23, has agreed a five-year contract after leaving Spanish club Atletico Madrid for an undisclosed fee. British media reported that the Premier League club had beaten the record paid by a British team of £32.5 million ($53 million) that City splashed out for Brazil forward Robinho in 2008.
Aguero, the son-in-law of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, will reportedly earn a weekly wage of £200,000 ($327,000).


He joins a club seeking to build on last season, when Roberto Mancini's team finished third to qualify for the European Champions League for the first time and also won the FA Cup to end a 35-year wait for a trophy.

"I think we are a team that in the future will be fighting every year to win major trophies, and let's hope that it's quite a few major trophies," Aguero told City's website.


Aguero, who played for Argentina at this month's Copa America in his homeland along with new clubmate Carlos Tevez, has missed City's pre-season tour of the United States.
"I don't think I'll have too many problems settling into the team," he said. "Once I'm out on the field I will get to know my way round, but I can't say that for sure because I have not even made my debut yet. But I'm sure everything will be fine. I'm going to be relaxed about it."
Nicknamed "Kun" after a Japanese cartoon character, he follows former Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure and Valencia winger David Silva in moving to the Manchester side from Spain in the past year.
"They are great players, and yes I have played against them in the past but now they are here, in a team which right now is one of the biggest teams in England," he said.


"My style has always been to fight to the death for every ball, and give 100% in every game: be concentrated to the maximum in everything I do; movement, running off the ball, winning the ball back and scoring goals. I'm not a player who can do everything, but I still have plenty to offer."


With club captain Tevez unable to secure his desired exit from the club after his former team Corinthians of Brazil pulled out of a planned deal, it leaves City with a surplus of strikers -- and a ballooning wage bill despite the imminent financial fair play rules for European clubs.


Togo international Emmanuel Adebayor and Welshman Craig Bellamy are expected to leave ahead of the August 31 transfer deadline, with both out of first-team contention after being loaned out last season.
City won all three matches in the U.S. and now head to Ireland for the Dublin Super Cup, playing an Irish XI on Saturday and Italian club Inter Milan on Sunday.


Mancini's men take on local rivals Manchester United in the Community Shield on August 7, the traditional season curtain-raiser before the club's opening Premier League match at home to promoted Swansea on August 15.


Meanwhile, Spanish club Malaga have continued to spend heavily ahead of the new season with a deal for Villarreal winger Santi Cazorla worth a reported €22 million ($31 million) .


The Spain international, 26, has agreed a five-year contract to join a big influx of players at La Rosaleda.

His fee eclipsed the previous club record of €10 million paid for France midfielder Jeremy Toulalan, while coach Manuel Pellegrini has also brought in veteran Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, Diego Buonanotte, Isco, Nacho Monreal, Joris Mathijsen, Sergio Sanchez and Joaquin.

The soccer school where the bottom line scores top marks

(CNN) -- Football is littered with tales of clubs going to the wall due to poor financial management, as owners chase an illusive dream of success with often dire consequences for the team and its fans.
Despite the cash flooding into the game, European governing body UEFA recently reported that more than half of its 655 top-flight clubs are in the red, despite generating collective revenues of €11.7 billion ($16.62b).
In response, the body is now implementing its "Financial Fair Play" rules in a bid to force clubs at the top of the sport not to spend more than they earn.
But today's fiscal reality means that savvy business judgment and management are crucial commodities in all tiers of the modern game; which is where the graduates of the world's first "football university" may come into their own.



The club behind the ground-breaking initiative are Burnley FC, an English second division side who spent the 2009-10 season back in the top flight after a 33-year absence.
They have set up a £3.2 million ($5m) College of Football Business (UCFB) at their Turf Moor ground, with a first intake of over 100 students set to begin their studies in September.
The courses will focus on the management of football clubs and what it takes to run a top side in leagues like La Liga, Serie A and the Premier League.
The syllabus will cover business and financial management, marketing and public relations, to equip graduates for the challenges ahead UCFB chief executive Philip Wilson told CNN .



Football is a fast-moving industry, but a lot of people in football have no formal qualifications to help them cope with that turbulence," Wilson said.
"I want our graduates to bring best practices and no little skill to the business of football."
The three-year degrees are fully accredited and have already attracted interest from all over the soccer world.


"Football is a truly international game and we expect at least 30% of our intake to come from overseas," .
He said the college had interest from students in Estonia, New Zealand, Singapore and Nigeria, and believes this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Wilson also wants more women involved in football management at executive level and is aiming for a high percentage of female students, doubtless boosted by the recent high-profile Women's World Cup in Germany.
The project has some powerful supporters with former English Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick and Alastair Campbell, the former press chief of Britain's ex-prime minister Tony Blair, on their advisory board.



Campbell, an avid Burnley fan, highlighted the lack of formal qualifications in the football industry, despite the vast sums of money involved.


"Sport is such a big part of our national life, yet there is very little academic activity around it," he told CNN.
"I think the new college will be good for the town (Burnley) and the club but also good for football."
The new students will certainly learn on the job, with their lecture rooms situated in the main stand at Turf Moor and overlooking the pitch.


The initiative was the brainchild of Burnley director Brendan Flood, who came up with the concept of a "university of football," but it has taken three years to come to fruition since his initial idea was written on a piece of paper.


Flood and others currently involved in football management will also get the chance to learn on the job as UCFB will run executive education courses and offer bespoke training and professional development programs.


Whether the initiative will eventually lead to a new era of robust football governance remains an open question, with the experience of Portsmouth -- the first English Premier League club to go into administration -- still fresh in the memory.


Premier League chairman David Richards is another big name to come to the assistance of UCFB -- Wilson said he will help in a private capacity to forge partnership arrangements with top overseas schools.

Richards will be hoping the lessons learnt by the future graduates at the first "school for soccer" rub off on some of the clubs under his wing.

Sabella named Argentina national coach

(CNN) -- Argentina have confirmed the appointment of Alejandro Sabella as their new national coach in succession to Sergio Batista.
Batista, who had replaced Diego Maradona, was sacked after just eight months in charge following Argentina's Copa America quarterfinal exit to Uruguay earlier this month.
That defeat heaped further pressure on Batista, who had been the subject of a media campaign to oust him following some controversial team selections.


The 56-year-old Sabella was Daniel Passarella's assistant coach with both the Argentina and Uruguay national teams.
He then followed Passarella as his number two with club sides Parma in Italy and Corinthians in Brazil.
In March 2009, Sabella took his first senior coaching job with Argentine side Estudiantes and just four months later he led them to their first Copa Libertadores title in 39 years.

Sabella, who won four caps for his country as a player that took in spells in England with both Leeds and Sheffield United, takes over the Argentina reins despite a previous agreement to coach UAE club side Al Jazira.

Klinsmann replaces Bradley as United States coach

(CNN) -- The United States have named former Germany captain Jurgen Klinsmann as their new national coach, just a day after sacking Bob Bradley.


Bradley, who took over as coach in January 2007, was relieved of his duties on Thursday, and U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati confirmed in a statement on Friday that his replacement has already been appointed.


"Jurgen is a highly accomplished player and coach with the experience and knowledge to advance the program," said Gulati.


Bradley sacked as United States national coach


"He has had success in many different areas of the game and we look forward to the leadership he will provide on and off the field."
The 46-year-old Klinsmann, who will be formally introduced to the media on Monday, expressed his delight at his appointment.



"I'm excited about the challenge ahead. I am looking forward to bringing the team together for our upcoming match against Mexico on August 10th and starting on the road towards qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup."


Klinsmann, who led Germany to third place in the 2006 World Cup finals, already lives in California and has been linked with the position for some time.
However, his reputation dipped slightly after taking over as Bayern Munich coach in 2008, losing his job after just a year in charge of the Bavarian giants.


During his playing career, Klinsmann was respected as one of the greatest strikers of his era.
He scored 232 goals in 516 games during a 17-year club career that took in spells with Bayern, Italian side Inter Milan and English club Tottenham Hotspur.

He was also a member of the West Germany side that won the 1990 World Cup and the 1996 European Championship -- scoring 47 goals in 108 matches for his country.