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Mid-Day Ticker: Mancini signs new deal, Grella signs with Scunthorpe, & more

Roberto Mancini (Getty Images)

By FRANCO PANIZO

Roberto Mancini helped give Manchester City the ultimate reward in English soccer this past season by helping them lift the Premier League title.

Now, they are rewarding him.

Mancini signed a five-year deal worth an estimated $38.7 million with the wealthy club on Monday, meaning the Italian's contract runs through the 2016-2017 season. Negotiations between Mancini and Manchester City had been going on since the middle of May, but a deal was finally agreed upon in the midst of him being linked with the vacant Russia national team post.

Mancini's old deal ran through the end of this upcoming season. He joined the team in 2009.

Here are more stories from Monday:

GRELLA AGREES TO DEAL WITH SCUNTHORPE UNITED

Mike Grella is not leaving England just yet. The 25-year-old American forward signed a two-year deal with League One club Scunthorpe United on Monday, and the team will be the sixth one he plays for since turning professional in 2009. Grella most recently played for League One side Bury

JI-SUNG LEAVES MANCHESTER UNITED TO SIGN WITH QPR

Manchester United fans are saying goodbye to midfielder Park Ji-Sung, who joined Queens Park Rangers on a two-yea deal on Monday. Park joins a cast of players at QPR that includes former Manchester United defender and ex-teammate Fabio. The South Korean midfielder spent the past seven seasons at Old Trafford, where he won four league titles and the Champions League once.

TONI ON BRINK OF SIGNING WITH MALAGA

Italian striker Luca Toni may soon be playing soccer in Europe again, and it looks like Spanish side Malaga are the favorites to acquire his services. The 35-year-old Toni is coming off a season with United Arab Emirates outfit Al Nasr but it appears he is going to be jumping ship to Malaga once his contract is terminated, as is expected.

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What do you think of Mancini's new deal? Should Grella have come to MLS instead of playing for Scunthorpe United? How do you envision Park Ji-Sung doing with QPR?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Yea, there’s a whole section of “Americans Abroad” that I think barely qualify even being worthy of reported on.

    Oh well, we’re talking about him.

    Advantage Ives.

    Reply
  2. Really glad you pointed this out.

    I couldn’t even read the article and had no idea who that topic was about until you clarified.

    Man, thanks bro.

    /sarcasm

    Reply
  3. grella was a beast at duke and looked to be a rising american star when signing at a historical club like leeds. its been all downhill since then as far as clubs and playing time. my initial question is why the hell is grella still being reported on? i think back to the player we saw coming off the bench at leeds and in the pdl and i realize that hes 25 now, so this move could be his last

    Reply
  4. The average salary in League One was roughly 70,000 pounds last season. Which is less than the average MLS salary of $153,000 last season. Even with exchange rates (which aren’t really relevant since the cost of living is equivalent)

    Reply
  5. vince… sorry but you really do not know what you are talking about… The League Championship receives a rather substantial amount of money from TV and other sponsorships and FA funds… as for League One… some of its clubs would compete in MLS towards the middle to bottom middle…

    Grella is reportedly going to earn 3k GBP a week… that is not exactly a poor living and is way more than he would earn in MLS and he continues to be in the eye of bigger clubs just due to proximity…

    Reply
  6. league 1 is not even comparable to MLS let alone the Swedish league. Its the 3rd division in England bro. And I don’t think he is making 100k in 3rd division football… In the League Championship, they only receive about 1.5 million USD in television money so it has to be considerably less in League One… with no TV money, i don’t think they can pay their players that much. Grella should try his luck with MLS because he is not getting any better playing in the lower leagues.

    Reply
  7. how does Mike Grella keep moving to better and better clubs? He barely scores goals yet apparently teams want him. He probably makes like 100-200 K a season.Not bad for being in League 1

    Reply

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