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West Ham’s co-owner David Gold believes David Beckham could play a key role in the club’s bid to move into London’s Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games.
Gold hopes that the Leytonstone-born Beckham would be the ideal ambassador to help the club win the right to move into the new facility and he also suggested the 35-year-old could end his playing days with West Ham.
Gold says that the club have spoken to Beckham’s representatives in an attempt to secure his help. “We’ve had conversations with his people and made it clear we want him aboard,” said Gold.
West Ham would like to move into the Olympic stadium for the 2013-14 season and would share the ground with Essex county cricket club, who hope to stage Twenty20 games there.

Manchester City are on the verge of clinching the signing of Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli as the club’s summer spending rocketed towards the $150 million mark. City believe they have agreed a $37 million deal for the temperamental 19-year-old striker, who is set to be reunited with his former Inter coach Roberto Mancini at Eastlands. City hierarchy The club believe Mancini can tame Balotelli, who has attracted as many headlines in Italy for his behavior off the pitch as on it since Mancini left the San Siro two years ago.
Now 19, he has scored more goals than Roberto Baggio, Alessandro del Piero and Francesco Totti at the same age. He refers to his old boss as a ‘friend and a great coach’, but there are no guarantees Mancini will be able to tame a player whose career has veered worryingly off course.

Gunmen shot and killed Swedish soccer player Eddie Moussa as well as another man early Thursday in southern Sweden, according to police and the player’s club Assyriska.
The 26-year-old striker for the second-tier club was shot at a place used for card games in the Ronna area of Sodertalje, about 18 miles south of Stockholm. The other man had not yet been identified to the media. A third man was injured and is in stable condition.
Police are searching for two or three gunmen who escaped from the scene on a scooter, which later was found burning nearby. No suspects have yet been identified, police spokeswoman Bjorn Engstrom said.

On Sunday, replays of Argentina’s disputed first goal against Mexico triggered arguments on the pitch as Mexico’s players protested when Carlos Tevez was shown as being clearly offside.
FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot said replaying the incident was “a clear mistake.” He continued: “This will be corrected and we will have a closer look into that. We will work on this and be a bit more, I would say, tight on this for the games to be played.”
Maingot said FIFA had yet to receive feedback from match officials about the protests, or a fracas behind the dug-outs as the teams left the field at half-time.
Jermaine Craig of the South Africa Organising Committee said he had spoken to the broadcasting team about the incident.
“The goal was awarded and it happened relatively quickly,” he said. “In retrospect, maybe it shouldn’t have been shown. It was shown and unfortunately there is nothing we can do about that.”

France’s World Cup team refused to train Sunday in protest of striker Nicolas Anelka’s expulsion from the squad, prompted by a profanity-laced tirade against coach Raymond Domenech the day before.
The latest round of turbulence also led to the resignation of France team director Jean-Louis Valentin, who said he was fed up with the team.
“It’s a scandal for the French, for the young people here. It’s a scandal for the federation and the French team,” Valentin said. “They don’t want to train. It’s unacceptable.”
Tensions boiled over after the team arrived at training and got off the bus to greet about 200 fans who had gathered there. Domenech, whose tactics and management skills have been questioned, stayed on the bus to talk to France captain Patrice Evra.
Meanwhile, fitness coach Robert Duverne was on the field putting down training cones. After Domenech and Evra got off the bus, Evra and Duverne started to argue. Domenech tried to intervene, but Duverne then stormed off, throwing his accreditation down the field.
Christian Teinturier, vice president of the federation, was stunned by what happened. He had objected to Domenech remaining as coach after the European Championship two years ago, when France went out at the group stage.

Barcelona agreed to sign striker David Villa from Valencia on Wednesday in a transfer worth 40 million euros.Villa will undergo a medical scan Friday before signing a four-year contract with an option for a fifth, the Spanish champions said on their website.
The 28-year-old Villa scored 21 league goals for third-place Valencia last season and is Spain’s second all-time leading scorer. The Asturias native scored 28 goals in 45 games overall last season.
Villa’s arrival will put Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thierry Henry’s futures under scrutiny following sub-par seasons by both strikers.
Henry was mostly relegated to the substitutes bench over the second half of the season and finished with only four goals. The France striker has been linked with a move to Major League Soccer despite having one year left on his deal with Barcelona.

Chelsea are crowned champions of England for the third time after demolishing Wigan on May 9. The destruction extinguished any forlorn hopes harboured from Manchester United and their supporters for a miracle in the eleventh hour that would have seen them leapfrog their rivals at the top of the table. But with the blistering form of the Blues, it was hard to imagine just how a struggling Wigan side would extract anything worth mentioning from the Bridge in the first place.
No-one can deny that Chelsea deserved to win the title. Their goalscoring was remarkable, especially as Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard got 50% of them. They also “acquired” a new player in Florent Malouda. He went from never looking like being a player to being exceptional.
As for Chelsea, they will justifiably bask in their Premier League triumph, but I do not expect them to rest on their laurels for long.That means this summer should witness plenty of transfer dealings as England’s elite jostle for prime position ahead of next season.

Manchester United are in the hunt for Schalke stopper Manuel Neuer, as manager Sir Alex Ferguson continues his search for Edwin van der Sar’s long-term replacement. Ferguson sent goalkeeping coach Eric Steele to watch Neuer play in a German Cup tie against Bayern Munich last week. The 24-year-old Neuer, will likely command a fee in the region of $15 million.
United were hoping Ben Foster would fill Van der Sar’s shoes, but he flopped and The Mirror are reporting that Neuer is now moving into pole position.Van der Sar is contracted to United until the end of next season.
He showed his worth to the club once again on Saturday, making two brilliant saves during United’s victory at Bolton.

In these days, where miscreant behavior among soccer stars continues to appear with sad regularity, Messi’s brilliant play and charming personality are portraying a fine image for the game he loves. While Ronaldo is never slow to come up with a reason or excuse for a defeat or lowered form, Messi’s understated attitude is one of refreshing simplicity.
Messi won’t join the all-time greats until he shows his best form at a World Cup, and the opportunity to do so is now just a few months away in South Africa. But there is a growing sense that this is something very special we are witnessing.

It is the Togolese star’s second suspension of the campaign, after he was banned for three matches in September for stamping on Robin van Persie during a controversial game against Arsenal at Eastlands.
Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been handed a four-game ban by the FA following his red card at Stoke City on Wednesday night.
City, according to The Manchester Evening News, did consider appealing against the card, awarded when the player swung his arm into the throat of Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross.
City will now be without Adebayor for five weeks, and he will miss Saturday’s crucial clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.