Falcao set to stay put, PSG to chase Cabaye: January transfer plans of Ligue 1’s big clubs

France's top teams switch their attention to the transfer window following the start of the winter break on Sunday and Goal takes a look at their plans

SPECIAL REPORT
By Robin Bairner

Spending has become fashionable at the summit of Ligue 1, with Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco both earning a reputation for being amongst the most lavish clubs in the world over the last couple of years.

But in January, though, shrewdness is vital to tinker squads as the climax of the season approaches, and the two giants will attempt to bolster their units to secure the top two spots in Le Championnat, with Lille snapping at their heels. Meanwhile, former giants such as Olympique de Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais battle just to be credible.

With that in mind, Goal is here to give you the low-down on what each of France's big guns can be expected to do in the winter transfer window.

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN

The summer saw fewer recruits arrive in Paris than in recent years, yet there was no stop to the flow of spending as PSG splashed out on high-quality recruits Edinson Cavani, Lucas Digne and Marquinhos. 

January may see the Parc des Princes outfit add further class to their ranks as they are set to chase Juan Mata from Chelsea. Having narrowly missed out on the playmaker towards the end of the summer window, when they had a bid rejected from the London club, they are to approach Jose Mourinho’s outfit again. Their chances of success seem to have been increased with the Spain star’s lack of game time ahead of the upcoming World Cup but they have been unable to make much headway with the London club.

Another long-term target for Laurent Blanc’s club is Newcastle midfielder Yohan Cabaye, who would be added to the midfield rotation. The ex-Lille man would be eligible to play in the Champions League and is therefore a genuine target, yet the stumbling block could be that the move may disrupt his World Cup chances.

Meanwhile, departures are probable. Jeremy Menez’s inability to gain a regular spot under Blanc is likely to see him leave the club, with Juventus favourites to take the winger ahead of Monaco. Javier Pastore is another who could be shipped out, with a move back to Serie A favoured.

Lucas Moura had been linked with a loan move back to Brazil, yet his positive form of late means he will remain in Paris.

MONACO

No one spent bigger than Monaco during the summer, and while it is practically impossible for the principality club to match the coups of Radamel Falcao, Joao Moutinho and James Rodriguez in January, they will spend to ensure they finish in the Champions League spots.

Lacina Traore, who is currently with Anzhi Makhachkala, appears the player likeliest to join the revolution on the Mediterranean. He is in advanced contact with the club, yet Juventus and Borussia Dortmund are also reportedly interested in the Cote d’Ivoire international.

Angel Di Maria, meanwhile, has been linked to the Ligue 1 outfit since the summer, yet the chances of Claudio Ranieri getting his hands on the left winger appear increasingly remote. At one stage this transfer was hot, yet Real Madrid are refusing to cede the former Benfica man, with Carlo Ancelotti professing his admiration for the Argentina international.

At the back, summer signings Nicolas Isimat and Borja Lopes have failed to make an impact and could be loaned out, while room would be made for Nicolas Otamendi of Porto. The Argentine centre-back is another of Jorge Mendes’ clients, with the agent stockpiling players at the club. A right-back may also be courted.

Such are Mendes’ interests at the club, it seems unlikely that Falcao will instantly be sold on to either Chelsea or Real Madrid, who both hold an interest in the Colombian. The striker is the crown jewel of Monaco’s resurgence, and they will not wish to see him depart after less than six months.

A number of fringe players are likely to leave, as the squad is bloated and is far larger than is required or practical.

Monaco are targeting a goalkeeper in the long term, with Barcelona’s Victor Valdes expected to move to the club in the summer, although he is keeping his cards close to his chest with regards his future destination.

BEST OF THE REST

Olympique de Marseille spent big in the summer and are unlikely to make any significant reinforcements in January. Paul-Georges Ntep is a target for OM - just as he is for Olympique Lyonnais and Lille - yet the €7 million price tag put on his head by Ligue 2 Auxerre is likely to be too great for the Provence side, who will no go above €3m. Right-back Sebastien Corchia, meanwhile, is a fresh target, with France international Rod Fanni a possible departure.

Another side struggling to make much headway are Lyon, whose biggest move in January will be keeping hold of Bafetimbi Gomis and Yoann Gourcuff until their contracts expire in the summer. 

The other major moves already slated for January will see Bastia and Montpellier sign Djibril Cisse and Mbaye Niang (on loan) respectively from Kuban Krasnodar and AC Milan.

Benazir’s 6th death anniversary: All roads lead to Garhi Khuda Bux today

Strict security measures in place as jiyalas and party leaders arrive to pay respects. PHOTO: FILE

SUKKUR: 

Arrangements have been finalised to commemorate the sixth death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto at Garhi Khuda Bux where ‘jiyalas’ from different parts of the country have started converging to pay homage to the martyred leader. 

Strict security measures have been adopted in and around Garhi Khuda Bux and Naudero where more than 6,000 police officials, 200 police commandos, 350 Rangers personnel, 600 traffic police personnel and 300 lady police constables have been deployed to avert any untoward incident. Besides this, a 100-foot-long and 60-foot-wide stage has been prepared in the premises of the mausoleum.

As part of the preparations, three free medical camps have been established where people may also donate blood. There will be ample supply of food and water for the visitors. The programmes to commemorate the death anniversary will start tomorrow with Quran Khawani at the Mazar, followed by distribution of free food. The main function will start at about 2pm with Mehfil-e-Mushaira, which will feature renowned poets from across the country.

Former president and Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, chairperson, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other party leaders will address the public gathering. These activities will conclude with a minute of silence at 5:20pm, which was the time at which Benazir was assassinated in Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi.

All the gates of the mausoleum, except two or three, have been sealed by placing containers to block their entry. Transporters complained to reporters that the police had forcibly snatched more than 20 containers five days ago. They lamented that they were paid Rs1,000 to Rs1,500 as a daily allowance for their journey. The police, however was not even providing them with food, they claimed.

Meanwhile, former president Asif Ali Zardari, accompanied by his son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and daughter, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, reached Naudero House on Thursday. MNA Faryal Talpur is already staying at Naudero House, while other PPP leaders are expected to arrive there tonight or tomorrow morning.

If US troops leave Afghanistan, much civilian aid may go too

ISAF soldiers in Afghanistan PHOTO: AFP/FILE

WASHINGTON: For years, US officials have pointed to the improvements in the everyday lives of Afghans made possible by billions of dollars in aid from the United States and elsewhere.

In Afghanistan, people now live 20 years longer on average than under Taliban rule, they say; 7 million more children attend school and women are 80 percent less likely to die in childbirth.

The spectre of an abrupt departure of all US and Nato soldiers from Afghanistan at the end of next year now imperils these gains, they warn, and endangers progress on the massive development challenges that remain.

Unless the Obama administration can persuade Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sign a security pact that would permit a modest US force to remain beyond 2014, the United States is almost certain to drastically scale back aid to Afghanistan.

That would force aid groups to work under more precarious security conditions and compete for scantier aid dollars.

It would be “a complete catastrophe” to pull the entire US force from Afghanistan next year, said Andrew Wilder, who directs Afghanistan and Pakistan programs at the US Institute of Peace and spent years working in the region.

A deterioration in security conditions would hamper oversight of aid projects, possibly making a deeply sceptical Congress even more reluctant to fund Afghan aid.

A smaller staff at the US embassy in Kabul would also make it more difficult to sustain many US aid programs.

“My judgment is no troops, no aid, or almost no aid,” James Dobbins, the US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told Congress this month. “The political support for the aid comes from the military presence.”

Last year, the United States and other donors promised to provide Afghanistan $16 billion in aid through 2015, at least half of which must go through Afghan government coffers. Afghanistan’s government also promised to work toward benchmarks in governance, human rights and fighting corruption.

Since the Taliban government was ousted in 2001, the United States has already spent at least $88 billion on Afghan aid, not including the much larger bill for combat costs.

After arduous negotiations on the US-Afghan security agreement were completed last month, Washington expected Karzai to sign it, paving the way for a force of possibly around 8,000-12,000 US and Nato troops to remain after 2014. There are about 39,000 US soldiers in Afghanistan now.

Instead, Karzai has refused to do so, suggesting the pact should be signed following Afghan presidential elections in the spring. The Obama administration says that would not leave Washington and its allies enough time to plan for a possible post-2014 mission.

‘Incredibly challenging’

Even if US troops are permitted to stay, the aid effort will be shifted to focus on defending gains that have been made in recent years, rather than setting ambitious new goals, Larry Sampler, a senior US Agency for International Development official, told lawmakers during a hearing this month.

US and Nato nations are already planning to shut down all 28 Provincial Reconstruction Teams, the outposts that have delivered assistance in remote areas, by the end of 2014.

Assuming the US Congress continues to fund some level of Afghan aid, the United States does have the capability to continue delivering assistance. It would work through relief groups and multilateral organizations, or possibly even run the program from a neighbouring country, as it did during earlier Afghan conflicts.

Some UN agencies and private aid groups remained in Afghanistan during the chaos of the 1980s and 1990s, even when donor support dwindled after invading Soviet troops withdrew in 1989. The ensuing conflict between mujahedeen groups made work more difficult for aid workers, and later Taliban restrictions hindered their ability to assist women and girls.

Between 1985 and 1994, USAID officials in neighbouring Pakistan ran a cross-border aid program for Afghanistan.

USAID, which works largely through small non-governmental organizations and large development contractors, could still award aid projects if all troops withdraw, and Washington would maintain its support for the UN development agencies and other partners.

Still, Sampler said, “If there were no (security deal) and there were a decision to continue to program (civilian assistance), it would be incredibly challenging.”

Bangladesh, not Sweden

Wilder said he was a proponent of reducing US civilian assistance to Afghanistan, where USAID spending ballooned to an annual $3.5 billion in 2010 during President Barack Obama’s ‘civilian surge,’ to “more realistic and sustainable” levels.

“When you create an aid bubble and a war economy, the solution is not popping that bubble – you have to let the air out gradually,” he said. “The challenge is to not go from too much to too little too quickly.”

The assistance needs remain acute in Afghanistan, still one of the world’s poorest countries.

Only a quarter of Afghans have access to safe drinking water, and a weak central government remains unable to fund its own costs. A hoped-for boom in mining and hydrocarbons has not materialized, while the illegal poppy trade is thriving.

“Afghanistan is not in 10 years going to be a Sweden. We’re hoping for a Bangladesh,” Sampler said.

A full drawdown could also force the United States to dramatically scale back its diplomatic ambitions and presence.

In 2012, Washington abandoned plans to build a consulate in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif because the site was seen as vulnerable to militant attack. The same fate could meet plans for other diplomatic facilities elsewhere in Afghanistan.

Dobbins has warned that the United States could even be forced to close its embassy in Kabul, as it did in the 1990s.

That would drastically reduce the US ability to support Afghanistan’s weak central government and keep the influence of neighbouring Iran and Pakistan in check.

Seth Jones, an Afghanistan expert at the RAND Corp, said that certain US government elements would likely stay on in Afghanistan no matter what – diplomats, aid officials, in addition to intelligence and counter-terrorism elements — if arrangements can be made with future Afghan leaders.

“It’s technically possible, but the question also becomes whether the administration becomes so tired of this that it just moves on and pulls out, as it did in Iraq,” Jones said.

Violence in Iraq is at its highest level in at least five years. More than 8,000 people have been killed this year, according to the United Nations.

Abducted by al Qaeda in Pakistan, Warren Weinstein urges Obama for help

"Now when I need my government it seems that I have been totally abandoned and forgotten," said Weinstein. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: A US development worker kidnapped in Pakistan by al Qaeda two years ago appealed to President Barack Obama to intervene and help negotiate his release, in a video released on Thursday.

In a 13-minute clip issued by al Qaeda’s media wing and posted on several news websites, a 72 year-old and bearded Warren Weinstein looked gaunt and tired. Weinstein is wearing a gray tracksuit and black beanie hat against a dark background.

“I am not in good health. I have a heart condition. I suffer from acute asthma… Needless to say I’ve been suffering deep anxiety every part of every day,” he said.

“Mr President, for the majority of my adult life, for over 30 years I’ve served my country … Now when I need my government it seems that I have been totally abandoned and forgotten.”

The video, which was sent anonymously by email to several journalists who have reported from Afghanistan, is being verified by the US State Department.

The video was accompanied by a letter, purportedly handwritten by Weinstein but also not authenticated, that was dated October 3.

In the message, Weinstein urges President Barack Obama’s administration to negotiate with the al Qaeda militants who snatched him in Pakistan more than two years ago.

The 72 year-old development expert called on Obama to renew efforts for his release and consider freeing unspecified al Qaeda militants in US custody so that his captors could allow him to receive a family visit.

If confirmed, the video appeal would be the third by Weinstein since he was taken captive in August 2011.

Weinstein was abducted in 2011 in Lahore where he worked for a US consulting company.

He had been working as a consultant for the firm JE Austin Associates Inc, a contractor for the US Agency for International Development.

In his last video statement, released in September 2012, Weinstein appealed to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “as one Jew to another” to help secure his release.

The tribal areas on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan serve as safe havens for al Qaeda, the Taliban and other militant groups, and the Islamabad government has been under pressure from the United States to do more to eliminate the insurgency.

Friends in need

Prime Minister Erdogan’s visit has signalled his nation’s willingness to move forward with its close friendship with Pakistan. PHOTO: PID

While the visit by Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan badly clogged traffic in Lahore on December 23, this was a small price to pay for the benefits that the trip brought.Prime Minister Erdogan, who met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, as well as a host of businessmen, witnessed the signing of three memorandums on trade and industry, and also saw a promise by the Turkish delegation, which included members of that country’s business community, to extend the metro bus service currently running in Lahore to other cities.

The visit by the Turkish premier and the message sent out during it, is one that deserves great appreciation. In current times, Pakistan has faced a dearth of friends. In certain cases, it has been abandoned by even its most staunch allies. In such circumstances, Turkey’s consistent support is a huge bonus. It is also true that what Pakistan needs at this time, more than anything else, is investment — and Turkey’s endeavours to help bring this in are something to be whole-heartedly welcomed. There are few other countries which have put in similar efforts to our benefit over an extended period of time.

Pakistan can also take advantange from its close equation with Turkey, by picking up on the models of modernisation, liberalism and development that Turkey has been able to assemble within its own territory, as a pre-dominantly Muslim country which bridges the East and West. This, too, is something we can learn from as we wage our own battle against extremism and all the horrors it brings. Continuing the close bond of friendship with Turkey is crucial. Prime Minister Erdogan’s visit has signalled his nation’s willingness to move forward with this, and the confidence shown by Turkey in Pakistan, as a country with which business is possible, may also help build confidence in it among other nations, helping to rescue us from the now well-embedded sense of isolation we face within a world community that increasingly looks at our nation as a failed entity. Turkey’s refusal to go along with this idea gives us hope.

Sinking ship?

The pessimism that prevails is a key reason why so many choose to leave, legally and illegally, sometimes taking enormous risks to do so. DESIGN: JAMAL KHURSHID

It is clear that an increasingly large number of people in our country believe they would fare better if they left it for other shores. According to a report by the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, 2.7 million Pakistanis have left the country over the past five years, including some 31,000 from Balochistan. Given the conditions prevailing in that province, notably in terms of law and order, but also human development, their choice does not seem specially surprising. Certainly, we know that talk of leaving the country is the subject of more and more conversations and discussions held everywhere.

The impact on our country of this brain drain has been terrifying. According to a previous report by the same ministry, 5.8 million people have left the country since 1981, including over 41,000 professionals and technicians. In a country with desperately low levels of literacy and even less educational attainment at higher levels, with a drop-out rate of 50 per cent within the first five years of education, their expertise is not something we can afford to lose. We desperately need more doctors, engineers and computer scientists. We must, therefore, endeavour to stem this brain drain. This can happen only if we are to create conditions more conducive to work, and life, at home. Many factors are involved in this, but perhaps, the most critical is introducing to people some sense of hope and persuading them that opportunities do exist for them in their homeland. The pessimism that prevails is a key reason why so many choose to leave, legally and illegally, sometimes taking enormous risks to do so. Their desperation is a sad testament to the situation that prevails, and of course, this is made worse when people with ability quit it. More and more people are quite obviously doing so. We must hold them back and find a way to utilise their abilities and persuade them to stay on in a country which needs their help if it is to stay afloat upon a stormy sea.

Rocket science it is not

The transport infrastructure — flyovers and multilane roads — serve the needs of the personal vehicle and not the mass-transport needs of an expanding city. PHOTO MOHAMMAD SAQIB/EXPRESS/FILE

Anybody that lives in or visits Karachi can deduce after a few seconds of observation that it is a city in dire need of rapid mass transport systems, was in dire need 20 years ago, and it is rapidly being throttled by private vehicles. There are now around 20 million people in Karachi, many of them with an ambition to own a car even if they do not have one now. The transport infrastructure — flyovers and multilane roads — serve the needs of the personal vehicle and not the mass-transport needs of an expanding city. There is no modern infrastructure that enables mass commuting and commuters have to mainly rely on geriatric buses that should not be on the road, which have become a part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

A look at the numbers that underpins the transport nightmare is cause for concern. The growth in the number of registered vehicles in Karachi between 2002 and 2007 is a staggering 656 per cent, outstripping the growth of the number of people living in the city. By 2020, there will be an estimated seven million households in Karachi owning 4.3 million vehicles. With cars comes pollution, with pollution comes degradation of the environment and a decrease in the quality of public health. Our consumption of petroleum products is growing at an annual rate of six per cent, half of that going into the tanks of the transport sector. There have been stirrings in the debate about the perpetually discussed yet-to-be-revived Karachi Circular Railway. There is further talk of a rapid bus system such as that now running in Lahore to mixed reviews. Talk of removing the encroachments that currently block land either purchased or earmarked for the circular railway have come to nothing. The private car is toxic in Karachi and there is a vital need to stop talking, accept the findings of innumerable studies all of which point to the necessity of a mass-transit system for the city — and get on with building it. Rocket science it is not