Manchester United and Newcastle monitor Elliot Anderson, Barcelona lead Mason Greenwood chase, Jobe Bellingham not interested in Manchester United.
Manchester United and Newcastle are closely monitoring England midfielder Elliot Anderson, with Nottingham Forest demanding a fee between £100m and £120m for the 22-year-old. (Florian Plettenberg), external
Barcelona lead the chase for Marseille’s England forward Mason Greenwood, though Tottenham and West Ham are also interested in the 24-year-old. (Teamtalk), external
Jobe Bellingham has no interest in joining Manchester United, who had been weighing up a potential loan deal for Borussia Dortmund’s 20-year-old English midfielder. (Mirror), external
Manchester United will block transfer requests from England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, 20, and Netherlands forward Joshua Zirkzee, 24, if they ask to leave in January. (Sun), external
Manchester United have given Napoli the green light to exercise their obligation to buy Denmark striker Rasmus Hojlund, 22, in January. (Mirror), external
West Ham have made Lille and Brazil defender Alexsandro their top priority for the January transfer window, with the 26-year-old valued at £26m. (ESPN Mexico – in Portuguese), external
Vinicius Jr, 25, is “seriously considering” the prospect of leaving Real Madrid after voicing his frustration towards manager Xabi Alonso, who substituted the Brazil forward late in Sunday’s El Clasico win. (AS – in Spanish), external
Juventus have initiated discussions with former Napoli and Italy boss Luciano Spalletti, 66, about becoming their head coach after sacking Igor Tudor. (Gianluca di Marzio – in Italian), external
Kevin Sinfield, who was awarded a CBE for his services to the motor neurone disease community after his friend Burrow’s diagnosis inspired him to raise more than £10m to fund research and awareness, sent Moody a message of support and made a fresh vow to tackle the disease.
“I’m obviously very saddened by the news,” said Sinfield, who is the skills and kicking coach for the England national team. “I’d like to wish Lewis, and all his family and friends, the very best.
“I’ll support in any way I can. We have to keep fighting MND [motor neurone disease] together.”
Andrea Pinchen, CEO at Leicester Tigers where Moody made 223 appearances, winning seven English titles and two European crowns over 14 years, also paid tribute to Moody as a person, as well as a player.
“The figures, trophies and awards tell you what an incredible player Lewis was, but that is only half the story,” said Pinchen.
“One minute he’s parading around with the World Cup trophy and the following Friday he’d be in the ticket office where I worked, answering the phone to supporters if we were really busy and helping sell tickets.
“As an individual, his commitment to his club along with his warmth and passion shone through, which endeared him to team-mates, staff and supporters alike.
“Always looking to help others, Lewis together with his wife Annie have worked tirelessly through the Lewis Moody Foundation, supporting research into brain tumours and helping affected families.
“He absolutely threw himself in. It was very much lead by example. He would never ask somebody to do something he wouldn’t do himself. He is utterly fearless.”
He obtained a Jamaican passport but has not completed the requisite change of association form as he was not ready to commit to the Caribbean nation.
That frustrated Jamaica coach Steve McClaren and Tuchel has now dismissed the idea of an England return.
“I have not spoken to him until now. I have not spoken to him or his camp,” the Three Lions boss told a news conference.
“My understanding was that he tries to play for Jamaica so we didn’t give it another thought. He was not in the mix at the moment and he is not in our thoughts for our team.”
McClaren wanted to include Greenwood in his squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Bermuda and Trinidad and Tobago, but then reported “he’s not going to commit at this time to anybody”.
On Greenwood’s international future, the former England boss added: “He [Greenwood] is taking his time over that, so it’s a little bit disappointing. We probably have to be more patient.
“But we will keep the contact, we will keep pursuing him because I know from my conversations with Mason and his family that he loves Jamaica, respects Jamaica.
“He wants to concentrate on club football and not commit to an international team at the present moment. We have to respect that, however much we’ve worked hard to get him here for these camps. So, who knows in the future.”
David Greenwood adored basketball so much in middle school that he would play for three different teams in three different parks on the same day, multiple times a week.
His brother, Al, would be in the car driving around with him between games while David traded in his sweaty uniform for a fresh one, repeating the process over and over.
“He was relentless,” Al said, “because he loved the game.”
At home, David would get tossed around in driveway games by the cement contractor father who was twice his size, only to keep getting back up for more contact. In practices, he shot blindfolded to perfect his form, his brother having to let him know when he was close to going out of bounds so that he could get his bearings.
UCLA’s David Greenwood (34) shoots a basketball during a game against San Francisco at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, on March 15, 1979
(Peter Read Miller / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Greenwood, the determined Compton kid who went from a star high school player at Verbum Dei to one of the top scorers in UCLA history to an NBA champion with the Detroit Pistons, died Sunday night at a Riverside hospital from cancer. He was 68.
True to the nature of someone who played through debilitating foot injuries throughout his career, Greenwood did not inform family of his illness until the end of his life.
“Everything happened so quickly,” said Bronson Greenwood, David’s nephew. “It was kind of a shock.”
One of the all-time great high school players in Southern California, Greenwood and teammate Roy Hamilton were among the final players recruited by legendary UCLA coach John Wooden. They were shocked when Wooden retired shortly after their senior season of high school and was replaced by Gene Bartow.
But they decided to stick with their commitments, lured in part by the pitch of a coach they would never play for in college.
“He told me if I went to USC or UNLV or Notre Dame, I’d be an All-American,” Greenwood once told The Times of Wooden’s proposal. “But if I went to UCLA, I’d be able to test myself against 12 other high school All-Americans every single day. … It was kind of like, ‘Come here and test your mettle.’ ”
Greenwood’s work ethic continued to push him as a Bruin. His practices with the team were followed by an hour in another gym, his brother feeding him passes. Along the way, he never shortchanged himself or teammates.
College athletes selected in the NBA draft pose with NBA commissioner Larry O’Brien, center, at New York’s Plaza Hotel on June 25, 1979. The players are, from left: Calvin Natt, Northeast Louisiana, drafted by New Jersey; Sidney Moncrief, Arkansas, drafted by Milwaukee; Bill Garthright, San Francisco, drafted by New York; O’Brien; Earvin Johnson, Michigan State, drafted by Los Angeles; Greg Kelser, Michigan State, drafted by Detroit; and David Greenwood, UCLA, drafted by Chicago.
(Associated Press)
“If he said he was going to shoot 100 free throws,” Al said, “it wasn’t 50, it wasn’t 65, it was 100 — and he didn’t stop until he got to 100.”
Having been dubbed “Batman and Robin” in high school, Greenwood and Hamilton remained close at UCLA, rooming together and biking to campus from where they lived in the Fairfax District. Hamilton remembered Greenwood as a remarkable rebounder who whipped outlet passes to him to get fast breaks started.
“We would always know how to motivate each other,” Hamilton said, “and connect with each other on the floor.”
Becoming a star by his sophomore season, Greenwood averaged a double-double in points and rebounds as a junior and a senior, finishing each season as an All-American. The 6-foot-9 forward’s go-to move was starting with his back about 10 to 12 feet from the basket before faking one way and unleashing a spin-around jumper.
One of his favorite memories as a Bruin, according to his brother, was a comeback against Washington State toward the end of his career in which the Bruins wiped out a late double-digit deficit, winning on Greenwood’s putback dunk only seconds before the buzzer.
The Bulls’ David Greenwood shoots over the Bullets’ Elvin Hayes during a game in 1981 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. Greenwood played for the Bulls from 1979-85.
(Focus On Sport / Getty Images)
UCLA never recaptured the Wooden glory during Greenwood’s four seasons, reaching the Final Four his freshman year and a regional final his senior year. But Greenwood remains No. 15 on the school’s all-time scoring list, having tallied 1,721 points.
After the Lakers selected Magic Johnson with the first pick of the 1979 NBA draft, the Chicago Bulls took Greenwood second as part of their massive rebuilding efforts. (Hamilton was also a lottery pick, going 10th to the Pistons.)
“He wasn’t exciting, he was steady,” Al Greenwood said of his brother. “You knew you were going to get a double-double every night out of him regardless of what the score was.”
Greenwood started every game in his first NBA season, averaging 16.3 points and 9.4 rebounds while making the all-rookie team. The Bulls went 30-52, their loss total more than triple the 17 losses that Greenwood’s teams had absorbed in four seasons as a Bruin.
But he persevered through the losing and a series of foot injuries caused by a running style in which his heels would hit the ground before his toes. Al remembered his brother coming back to Los Angeles to play the Lakers and taking his shoes off at home, saying it felt as if they were full of broken glass.
“That was how his feet felt a lot of the time, but he just played even when he shouldn’t have,” Al said. “I always called him The Thoroughbred.”
Former UCLA standout David Greenwood talks about his career during a National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame induction event on Nov. 21, 2021, in Kansas City, Mo.
(Colin E. Braley / Associated Press)
Greenwood would undergo one Achilles’ surgery on one foot and two on the other, never missing a full season in the process.
In October 1985, before the widespread use of cell phones, Greenwood learned he had been traded to San Antonio for future Hall of Famer George Gervin while listening to the radio. Late in his 12-year NBA career, he was a surprise playoff contributor for the Detroit Pistons when they won the 1990 NBA championship. Hamilton worked for CBS Sports as part of the production team broadcasting the Finals that year.
“Having my best friend in the world on the team and winning a title,” Hamilton said, “that was a joy for me.”
Greenwood went on to own several Blockbuster video stores and coached at his alma mater, guiding Verbum Dei to state championships in 1998 and 1999. His nephew recalled a soft side, his uncle picking him up and giving him a good tickle.
Greenwood is survived by his brother, Al; sister, Laverne; son, Jemil; and daughter, Tiffany, along with his former wife, Joyce. Services are pending.
