Its about anything & everything.
Borussia Dortmund forward Robert Lewandowski pledged his commitment to the Champions League finalists on Tuesday despite failing in his bid to move to treble winners Bayern Munich.
Lewandowski, whose contract at Dortmund runs to 2014, had refused to sign an extension late last season and had said he hoped to be joining his "club of choice" very soon.
After a months-long transfer saga and with Lewandowski set to become the second Dortmund player to be poached by rivals Bayern after Mario Goetze, Dortmund blocked the move which would have brought in millions of euros, reports Reuters.
"I will give everything I've got for Dortmund," Lewandowski told Bild newspaper. "It does not matter what happened. I am not interested about that on the pitch."
The Poland international enjoyed a sensational season, scoring 24 league goals and adding another 10 in the Champions League, including four in one game against Real Madrid.
Dortmund, who lost out to Bayern in all three competitions last season, will not receive a transfer fee if Lewandowski leaves as a free agent after his deal expires next year.
"When I am out on the pitch then Dortmund is all I think about. I want to give it all I got and be successful," he said.
Lewandowski has already bagged his first silverware of the season, Dortmund winning the German Super Cup title by beating Bayern 4-2 last week.
The 24-year-old showed no signs of disappointment over the failed transfer, setting up his team's first goal.
"I hope this was not the last title," he said.
Arsenal’s pursuit of Luis Suarez, has taken a fresh twist, as the unsettled striker has dropped his intentions to go to arbitration, which means the Gunners have to pay over £50million, to land their man.
Arsene Wenger was understood to have been waiting to see the outcome of the contract dispute, between the 26-year-old and Liverpool, after tabling a bid of around £40,000,001 which was supposed to trigger a release clause. However, in talks between the two parties earlier this week, Suarez has conceded he will not approach the Premier League to clarify it legally, as the contract states it that the Anfield club does not need to sell at any price.
Suarez is also contracted to Liverpool for the next three years, which means Arsenal has to raise their bid or the Uruguay international will submit a transfer request, to force his exit.
“We are 100 per cent confident – there is absolutely no obligation to sell and that is very clear,” a Liverpool source explained.
“We’ve all examined the clause in detail. All it obliges is good faith negotiations about Luis’s future.”
Lagos lawyer, Festus keyamo, has written a petition to the Comptroller General of Nigeria Prisons, over allegations of acts of sodomy taking place in Kuje Prison, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
In the petition dated Tuesday, Keyamo complained that his client, Mr Charles Okah, elder brother of jailed Henry Okah, was almost raped by some prison officials on the pretext that they wanted to confirm if he had stuffed some substance in his anus.
According to the petition, “On Wednesday, 3rd July, 2013, at about 6.30 am, some prison warders, specifically Mr. Isah Musa (the chief clerk), Mr. Tanko Gokuje, (the assistant yard master) and three (3) other prison warders (hereinafter referred to as the culprits) entered our client’s cell (No.1) and demanded to search his anus because they claimed they had information that he was hiding ‘incriminating’ materials therein. Before entering his cell, they made sure all other inmates were locked up in their cells.”
The lawyer maintained that although his client protested the so-called examination, the warders overwhelmed him in the cell, and when he eventually allowed the examination to be carried out, he saw Musa, the chief clerk, undressing, armed with a full and “sustained” erection of his organ, forcing him (Okah) to raise the alarm, calling for help.
According to the petition, Okah had heard of such acts of sodomy within the prison among other inmates. But until that fateful morning, he had not experienced it.
In his words: “Having heard from other inmates in the past that this is a known pattern used by warders to sodomise inmates, our client initially resisted the attempt, but was forced to succumb after much pressure and insistence by the culprits.
“However, having succumbed, to the utter shock and dismay of our client, he saw that Mr. Isah Musa pulled off his clothes and with the sustained erection attempted to carry out the acts of sodomy on him. To achieve this, our client was then held to the ground by Mr. Tanko Gokuje and three (3) other warders. Our client had to intensify his struggle and resistance to prevent the completion of the criminal act. Our client screamed for help and this was heard by other inmates.”
Keyamo said although the report of the incident was made, the prison authorities led by DCP Felix Lawrence, pleaded with Okah not to formalise the complaint and urged him to “kill the report”.
The lawyer noted that “this criminal act has been reported as a common and recurring phenomenon in the Nigerian prisons. It simply shows the despicable level of moral decadence of the officers who are paid to take charge of prison inmates.”
While urging the Comptroller General of Prisons to investigate the allegation, Keyamo called for the application of “appropriate sanctions” on those found wanton in the case.
REAL MADRID hope to seal a £95million deal for Gareth Bale before they return from their US tour on August 11.
President Florentino Perez travelled with the team for friendlies in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Washington and Miami and expects talks to continue this week.
A Madrid source said: “Bale is the chosen man.Efforts to sign him will continue. We are hopeful a deal can be done soon.”
And now Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is set to hold showdown talks with Bale early this week.
After their £81m bid was rejected, Real will offer £51m cash plus Angel Di Maria and Fabio Coentrao, to take the deal to £95m.
Meanwhile, Spurs were last night closing in on landing Valencia’s Spanish striker Roberto Soldado for £25.8m.
