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Monday Kickoff: Rooney could miss two months, Lucio sidelined, and more

Rooney

By BRYAN ROBISON

While Manchester United was able to enter the win column with a 3-2 win over Fulham after losing their season debut to Everton last weekend, it was not all good news for the Red Devils, as star Wayne Rooney went down with a leg injury. After attempting to deflect Fulham's Hugo Rodallega's shot, Rooney had his thigh cut open by Rodallega's cleat after he stepped on Rooney's leg.

After the blood started to show on his leg, stretchers immediately arrived to take Rooney off the field. Danny Wellbeck made it obvious just how serious of a cut it was, turning around in horror after witnessing the gash in Rooney's leg.

Sir Alex Ferguson announced after the match that Rooney would be out for a month, but reports are now stating that it is more likely he misses closer to two months following surgery to close the wound. In addition to missing time on the pitch for United in both Premier League and Champions League play, Rooney will also be absent from the lineup for England in their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine.

Lucio sidelined for Juventus following ankle injury

Manchester United was not the only team to suffer a debilitating injury over the weekend, as Juventus lost defender Lucio, after the Brazilian tore ligaments in his ankle on Friday. This comes just weeks after the former Inter Milan defender joined the squad.

With the injury, Lucio was expected to miss the next three to four months. However, reports out of Italy are now stating that he will be on the sidlelines for a much shorter time, possibly returning in six weeks.

Liverpool signs Nuri Sahin on season-long loan

On Saturday afternoon, Liverpool teased of a roster move to be posted on their website. While many rumors began to circulate, it was the official announcement of the signing of Real Madrid midfielder Nuri Sahin on a season-long loan that emerged as the actual move. Sahin joins the Reds after playing in eleven matches last season for Real Madrid.

Arsenal was expected to acquire the Turkish international, but with Liverpool offering to pay a larger portion of his contract, Sahin ended up signing there. Sahin signed a six-year deal with Real Madrid last year after departing his home club in Borussia Dortmund.

Dane Richards signs with Burnley FC for 2013 season

After being shipped to Vancouver in a mid-season trade from New York to the Whitecaps in July, Dane Richards will be heading overseas next season, as he will be heading to England to join Burnley FC for the 2013 Championship League season.

The departure will come at the end of the MLS season, the sixth of Richards' career. With his contract expiring, Vancouver knew it was likely that the Jamaican international would be headed elsewhere at the end of the year. Whitecaps coach Martin Rennie had this to say regarding the move:

"When we traded for Dane, we received allocation money, which is a valuable asset in our league," said Rennie. "Dane will continue to be an important part of our squad as we push for a playoff spot, and we look forward to his contributions throughout the rest of the season before he starts with his new club Burnley FC."

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Horrified by Rooney's injury like everyone else? What sort of impact will Sahin have for Liverpool? With Juventus' expected success, how do you see Lucio's injury affecting their chances of a repeat as champions?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. That gash on Rooney’s leg was nasty, and the cameraman wasted no time going for the close-up gore shot when he first went to ground. Someone at FIFA needs to have a look at those boots.

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  2. ha-ha. yeah. Nuri and Prince Poldi best buddies now. ha-ha. Do you have a link to a news story that tells of this supposed reconciliation?

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  3. Agree that Liverpool would be a more exciting move for Clint, but it could be that Martin “Darth Vader” Jol and Fulham management do not want their star player going to the hated Liverpool and simply will not allow it. Since the Sunderland rumors got hot today, I have been reading up on the team and the coach and their good signings the past week (and the great stadium) and have concluded that Sunderland would not be the end of the world. But there are also fresh rumors that Liverpool might make a last minute bid for Klaas Jan Huntelaar. Seems unlikely he would go, but if he does then Schalke would have to go for Dempsey.

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  4. After that incident podolski apologised and they didn’t have any further problems, the reason he moved to Liverpool and not arsenal is that first of all arsenal wanted a permanent option which real and sahin himself didn’t want, Liverpool also offered a higher fee for the loan deal, sahin preferred the move to arsenal due to the champions league football however alonso also told him of his experiences at Liverpool and once Liverpool were the only candidates it was obvious to sahin to leave and get game time

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  5. Sunderland has more upside then Liverpool ?

    Sunderland league finish last 5 years…
    13-10-13-16-15

    Liverpool in what was widely regarded as their worst season in 20 years, finished 8th. Their first game was woeful but they outplayed the champions yesterday and would’ve won except for the 2 gift goals they gave City.

    I agree that Dalglish did them no favors, but Rodgers is already making the right moves and they look headed in the right direction. Joe Allen will probably be the player of the year for LFC based on his early performances.

    If Dempsey is going to move because he wants to play in Europe, specifically Champs League, why would he ever move to Sunderland ? Liverpool is probably 1-2 years out of the CL but has a much better shot of getting there.

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  6. Monday or Tuesday next week, after the weekend games? He has tended to publicly announce final rosters for games this year — as opposed to camps (which he does tend to give forewarning about) — almost on top of the games themselves.

    Since the roster itself can suggest the game plan and personnel types one needs to prepare for, it’s like intelligence to hand it out. I know we like to know who’s in and who’s out, but for competitive purposes he can quietly notify players and get team permissions (and finalize plane reservations etc.) without publicly telegraphing our intentions weeks ahead of time.

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  7. May be headed to Sunderland…latest rumor…and frankly a great coach in Martin O’Neill and more upside right now as a club then Liverpool…Daglish did them no favors…the fan base got what they wanted and look where left them…not to mention a 35M pound bust that they will be lucky to get 12M for…why they piad that for Carroll is the mystery of the soccer ages…

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  8. My reaction exactly – this injury could have been ordered up by Chicarito. Guess that’s why you keep guys like him around even with Rooney and van Persie in the lineup.

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  9. I’m not a big fan of the baseball-cleat derivative studs being pushed these days. IMO dry ground plus the baseball-cleat-style of the new-wave versions of Puma Kings helped blow out my knee. Cleat stuck on a side cut on dry ground, and did not give or slide, so my knee did instead.

    There have been a few of these cut-by-cleat incidents recently including Holden against ManU. I wonder what Evans was wearing?

    Maybe it’s that I come from the era of plain jane Copas and Kings with round studs, but I’m not sure the technology is an improvement, and I’m bothered that after years of showing cleats before games or when I subbed in, like I might be using something dangerous with standard Copas and Kings, they’re letting stuff on the field that seems genuinely dangerous. Perhaps while they’re busy dreaming of goal line tech and replays and other high falutin stuff they can make sure the game remains basically safe, even if that means pushing back on the shoemakers.

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  10. Looks like Chicharito will get some playing time this season after all. Even with an injured Rooney, Man U has a boat load of striking options.

    How about that Dane Richards?! Good for him.

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  11. Good point. I haven’t bought boots in about three years. I’m of the rounded-off, circular peg era. When did these baseball style, sharp edged cleats start showing up?

    I hope FIFA looks into the safety of this design!

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  12. I have seen several reasons mentioned in the British press why Nuri Sahin chose Liverpool over Arsenal, but I suspect that the main reason might be Germany international Lukas Podolski, who now plays for Arsenal. Sahin and Podolski had a huge spat in a game a couple of years ago when Sahin was still at Dortumund. The game came just a few weeks after the Germany national team with Podolski humiliated the Turkey team with Sahin 3-0 in a Euro 2012 qualifier in Istanbul.

    Here is link (down below) to a good video of the spat, which included Podolski fouling Sahin hard and then Podolski with sign language provoking Sahin by showing the three to zero score of the Germany-Turkey humiliation (this is shown in detail at the 3:02 mark). Podolski had scored the equalizer a minute earlier, but after the spat, Sahin scores the winning goal in stoppage time and then totally rubs it in Podolski’s face (shown in detail at 3:25). This is a great scene worth watching and I don’t think Sahin would ever play on the same team as Podolski. Just my opinion.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFna5AYVdis

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  13. That flesh injury didn’t even look real the first time I saw it. Really gruesome.

    While I hate United, I have nothing but respect for the professional Wayne Rooney is. Hope he isn’t out for too long.

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