SHARE
COPY LINK

MILAN

Galatasaray confirms Elmander signing

Turkish club Galatasaray has confirmed the acquisition of Sweden striker Johan Elmander from English top-flight club Bolton.

Galatasaray confirms Elmander signing

The 29-year-old Elmander, who scored 10 goals for Bolton this season, will

receive an annual salary of €1.8 million (2.6 million).

Elmander moved to Bolton for a club record fee of £11 million ($18 million) in June 2008. While he hit a rich vein of form for a couple of months in the 2010-2011 season, it was insufficient for him to win a new contract at the Trotters.

Bolton finished the season in familiar fashion securing mid-stable stability while Elmander’s new club could finish only eighth in the Turkish league, missing out on a place in European competition next season.

Elmander could be the first of a slew of Swedish stars to move clubs during the summer, with Galatasaray also having been linked with midfielder Kim Källström, currently with French club Lyon.

The Local reported last week that Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s agent Mino Raiola had played down reports linking his client with a switch back to Spain’s La Liga.

Ibrahimovic only moved to AC Milan at the beginning of this season, following one year at Barcelona.

But reports have suggested his former Inter Milan coaches Jose Mourinho, now at Real, and Roberto Mancini, currently the Manchester City boss, are interested in renewing their professional association with the 29-year-old.

Raiola, though, says it’s possible Ibrahimovic will finish his career at Milan.

“I’m not ruling out the possibility that Milan will be Ibrahimovic’s last team,” he told Roman radio station Radio Radio.

But with a slew of top English clubs all announcing plans for major changes in personnel this summer, and Real Madrid keen to close the gap on Barcelona, speculation is set to remain rife that the tall Swede may find himself with a new home for next season.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

MILAN

Romanian billionaire and seven others die in Milan plane crash

A light aircraft piloted by Romanian billionaire Dan Petrescu crashed into an empty office building near Milan on Sunday, killing him, his wife and son, and all five others aboard.

Police and rescue teams outside the office building where a small plane crashed in the Milan suburb of San Donato.
Police and rescue teams outside the office building where a small plane crashed in the Milan suburb of San Donato on October 3rd. Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP

The single-engine Pilatus PC-12 had taken off from Milan’s Linate airport shortly after 1pm headed for Olbia in the north of the Italian island of Sardinia.

It crashed just a few minutes later into a building in San Donato Milanese, a town southeast of Milan, according to aviation agency ANSV, which has opened an investigation.

Witnesses said the plane was already in flames before it crashed into an office building undergoing renovations.

Petrescu’s 65-year-old wife, who also had French nationality, and their son Dan Stefano, 30, were killed.

Italian media identified the other passengers as entrepreneur Filippo Nascimbene, a 33-year-old from Lombardy, with his wife, young son and mother-in-law, who have French nationality.

Petrescu, 68, was one of Romania’s richest men. He headed a major construction firm and owned a string of hypermarkets and malls. He also held Germany nationality, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.

Flames engulfed the two-storey building, next to the yellow line subway terminus.

“The impact was devastating,” Carlo Cardinali, of the Milan fire brigade, told news agency Ansa.

Deputy prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano was quoted by Corriere as saying that the plane’s black box had been recovered.

SHOW COMMENTS