Ziyech in turmoil, Ibra charged for his minibar, and Son Heung-min getting a year younger: that’s the football news for June 30th.
Son Heung-min (Tottenham) lost a year due to a change in age calculation in South Korea. South Korea has changed its method of calculating age, and it has consequences. A new law has been enacted to align with international standards. Previously, South Koreans included the gestation period in their age calculation, which meant they turned a year older on January 1st of each year, including those born in December. Tottenham forward Son Heung-min will now go from 31 to 30 years old without doing anything. Son Heung-min (born on July 8, 1992) and Kim Min-jae (born on November 15, 1996), the defender from Napoli, will both get younger.
According to Foot Mercato, Hakim Ziyech reportedly failed his medical examination at Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia due to a knee problem. Bad news for Hakim Ziyech and Chelsea. Al Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo’s club, is no longer interested in signing the Moroccan international due to issues discovered during the medical examination. A knee problem was detected. Ziyech still has two years left on his contract with Chelsea, and an annual salary between 12 and 13 million euros had been mentioned for him.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic shares a memorable anecdote from his time at Manchester United: the Glazers charged players for their hotel consumptions. Ibra was taken aback. The minibar at Manchester United was not complimentary. « One day, I was at the hotel with the team before a match. I was thirsty, so I opened the minibar and took a fruit juice. We played the match and returned home. Time passed, and my paycheck arrived. I realized they deducted a pound from my monthly salary. I called the manager, ‘Excuse me, why did they deduct a pound from my salary?’ He replied, ‘It was for the minibar fruit juice.’ ‘Are you kidding me, seriously?’ ‘No, I’m not joking. Here, if you order something, you have to pay for it.’ ‘It’s true, but I didn’t go to the hotel on my own. I wasn’t on vacation. It was my workplace. I was there for Manchester United. If I have to play and I’m thirsty, I have to drink. I can’t step onto the field dehydrated.’
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« Can you believe it? One pound? Something like that would never happen in Italy. It’s these details that make a difference and earn players’ respect. »
