Michael Carrick keen to get new deal at Manchester United

Michael Carrick has told Sky Sports that he wants to sign a new contract at Manchester United.

The midfielder's current deal expires at the end of the season, but he wants to extend his stay beyond his current spell which began when he arrived from Tottenham in 2006.
"I'd love to carry on playing as long as possible at this club. It's a fantastic club, I've had great times here," he told Sky Sports News.
"I feel good at the moment, I've just turned 32 so I've got a bit of time yet."
Carrick has been an increasingly influential figure at Old Trafford since he made his debut. He has played 328 times for the champions, and during his time has claimed five titles.

Form

Meanwhile, Carrick insists that United will respond to their disappointing start to the season.
While Wednesday's draw with Shakhtar Donetsk has left the Red Devils in a decent position in the Champions League, their Premier League status leaves a great deal to be desired.
United head to Sunderland on Saturday on the back of their worst start to a domestic campaign since 1989.
They are in the bottom half of the table and should they get beaten at the Stadium of Light, it will be the first time they have lost three successive league games since 2001.
"You have periods, whether it is through seasons or through years when things don't quite go right," he said.

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"You just have to face it and find a way to get through it.
"You can't hide and go under. You have to respond. That is what we will do."
Carrick admits it has been difficult for United to diagnose the issues regarding their form.
"Sometimes it is hard to put your finger on things," he said.
"There are probably a number of reasons. If you don't do enough things well in a game, then you lose it.
"I think we just get back to doing the right things, doing what we believe in. If we do that, in time we will be fine."

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Defending champion Heat open camp in the Bahamas

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- If Miami guard Dwyane Wade does anything other than basketball-related work during this Heat training camp trip to the Bahamas, it'll likely be a little bit of card-playing.
After all, that doesn't take any physical exertion.
Insisting that this is no vacation - even though a steel band met them at the airport and shimmering blue ocean water is beckoning a stone's throw from their hotel rooms - the two-time defending NBA champions got to work Tuesday. Miami held its first practice of camp for about two hours inside a cavernous ballroom that had temporary lights strung from the ceiling and two newly installed courts side-by-side.

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"It was good," Wade said. "This is our element, right here. This is where all our guys are really comfortable and we can get into gear, be around each other. First practice of the first day is good."
The Heat held a team meeting Monday night, where coach Erik Spoelstra laid out the short-term plans for the week and the long-term plans for the season. He didn't reveal much in the way of details about that meeting, and didn't have to, either.
The short-term plan, work hard this week.
The long-term plan, win another NBA title. And Spoelstra is sure that being in the Bahamas for a few days won't distract his group.
"We've been planning this for a while," Spoelstra said. "And so we think it's a good environment for us to get to work, get away and get back to building some habits that we'll need. It was a good first practice."

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When the practice was over, LeBron James was loudly announcing that he wanted to do more work and pleaded for someone to throw him a basketball so he could shoot free throws while tired. Ray Allen, as always, stayed late to get up tons of additional jumpers. Shane Battier and Udonis Haslem took seats as a couple icebags awaited them, and Greg Oden - who practiced for about 30 minutes as the Heat work him in slowly - iced both his knees as well.
"They had to pull me off today. I wanted to go out there and do it, but you know, I've got to take steps," said Oden, the former No. 1 overall pick who has appeared in only 82 regular-season games because of continual knee problems.
Despite the vista that surrounds the resort they'll call home until Friday, there was no talk of beach time. Forward Chris Andersen, pumping the pedals on an exercise bike 15 minutes after Spoelstra declared practice complete, asked no one in particular what time the team's second workout of the day would be taking place.
"We're a veteran ballclub," James said. "We don't need to be told what to do. We show up to work. When we're not working, we enjoy ourselves. We don't need to police ourselves. We don't need to look after each other. Guys know what to do, no matter where we are."
Predictably, the first Heat practice of the year was lacking one thing - offense.
Everything in the Heat system, from the day Pat Riley arrived nearly two decades ago, has been built around defense, and this camp will be no exception. Spoelstra said he wouldn't even think about installing a single offensive set until the afternoon practice, with the first one entirely about defensive drills and schemes.
Players knew it was coming, too.
"I could run the practice," Wade said. "I kind of know what to expect."
Added Heat forward Chris Bosh: "We know it's always going to be the same. Defensive-first philosophy around here. ... If you can't stop anybody, you can't win a championship."
Wade got his vacationing fill of the tropics this summer, taking a little time in Turks and Caicos. He swam and relaxed and lounged around on that trip, something that regular people are spending upward of $500 a night to do this week in the Bahamas.
Wade knows there's probably some people who think the Heat are making a mistake by coming to paradise. He simply disagrees.
"We're coming from Miami, not too far," Wade said. "We're just getting away from everything a little bit, being around each other as a group and just kind of having `us time' because we don't have that as much as we would like. So this is great, from the standpoint of just coming down here for a few days and getting back to the basics a little bit before we go back to the real world."

Yuvraj back in limited-overs squad

Yuvraj Singh was in red-hot form against West Indies A earlier this month

Yuvraj Singh has made a comeback to India's limited-overs squad for the Twenty20 and first three ODIs of the home series against Australia. There were four changes made to India's last first-choice ODI squad, the one that won the Champions Trophy in England. Yuvraj replaced opener M Vijay, Dinesh Karthik lost out to his Mumbai Indians team-mate Ambati Rayudu, the injured Irfan Pathan made way for Mohammed Shami, and Jaydev Unadkat's left-arm seam was preferred to Umesh Yadav's erratic-at-times pace.

"I am happy the selectors have reposed faith in me. Now, I have to deliver," Yuvraj told Mid-Day, after news of his selection broke. "My footwork and timing are alright. The bat swing is in order as well. That is why I got runs against the West Indies and New Zealand A teams. That gave me confidence. Now, I have to capitalise on the opportunity."

Yuvraj's last ODI was against England in Dharamsala in January 2013. He was dropped from the squad for the Champions Trophy and did not feature in the Zimbabwe series either, when India had rested several first-choice players. However, following a fitness programme in France, he has shown a return to top form in List A cricket. He was the leading run-getter for India A in the limited-overs series against the touring West Indies A, with 224 runs from three matches, including one hundred and a fifty at an average of 74.66. He also scored a half-century for India Blue in the Challenger Trophy, a domestic 50-overs tournament.

A fit Yuvraj is seen as a bigger asset than Karthik. Karthik had a decent run in England and in Zimbabwe, but he failed to reach 50 in the tri-series in the West Indies. In effect, Karthik has lost out to Rayudu, who scored 101 runs off 163 balls at an average of 50.5 against Zimbabwe.

Two other changes from the Champions Trophy squad mostly explain themselves. Vijay struggled in the West Indies, and Irfan is injured. Yadav, though, remains a curious case. He cannot have been considered unfit because he played the Challenger Trophy last week. He cannot have been rested because he is just coming out of a break. The selectors have either begun to look at him as a Test-only prospect or it was his performance in the Champions Trophy that has got him the axe: four wickets and an economy rate of 5.55 in a mostly low-scoring tournament. His economy rate in the West Indies tri-series hovered around the same mark. His career economy rate also stands at over six, and an average of 41.58 doesn't do him any favours.

The seam-bowling replacements, Shami and Unadkat, played all the five ODIs in Zimbabwe, and have been retained. Mohit, who played two of them and was Man of the Match in the first of them, was expected to replace Vinay Kumar, but the Karnataka quick has retained his place. Vinay went at 6.03 in the recently concluded Challenger Trophy, although he did pick up eight wickets in three matches.

Batsmen Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, seamer Mohit and spinner Parvez Rasool missed out from the team that played Zimbabwe

Lionel Messi’s humble image faces tax evasion test

MADRID — Idolized for his immense skill on the field, four-time World Footballer of the Year Lionel Messi’s squeaky-clean image off the pitch will come under scrutiny on Friday when he faces a judge accused of tax evasion.

The Argentine and his father Jorge Messi are due to appear in court on Friday morning in the coastal town of Gava near Barcelona, where the player resides, accused of evading tax on Messi’s image rights to the tune of 4.16 million euros ($5 million, £3.5 million) between 2006 and 2009.

Despite the looming court case, Messi’s form on the field has scarcely been affected with the Barcelona forward scoring 10 goals in just seven matches this season as the Spanish champions remain unbeaten.

“I am not worried, I’m always on the sidelines of all that, just like my dad. We have our lawyers and our advisors who handle these things. We trust in them and they will solve the issue,” he said back in July.

The case began in June when a prosecutor accused the Messis of evading tax by ceding the image rights of the player to “purely instrumental entities” in tax havens like Belize and Uruguay.

According to the prosecutor’s report, Messi “obtained significant income” from image rights between 2006 and 2009 on which he “should have paid tax in his subsequent declarations” to the authorities and never did.

A week later, a judge accepted the footballer and his father had a case to answer and ordered for them to appear before the court.

Although the offenses of which both men are accused are in principle punishable by a jail sentence, the Messis paid the tax authorities five million euros in August (the 4.16 million euros claimed by the taxman plus interest), which will significantly reduce any sentence should they be found guilty.

The news caused astonishment in Spain where Messi is looked upon as a more humble figure than other football stars, particularly his Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

“Messi is a very good player and he doesn’t have a conflicting image. Rather, he has a very professional image, of being focused on what he does and very close to the public,” says Carles Canto, a marketing expert for IMG Consulting.

However, despite the initial consternation, the player’s popularity doesn’t appear to have diminished at all due to the allegations.

“Messi’s image amongst Barcelona fans is so solid that it is very difficult for it to be clouded by this case,” adds Enric Baneres, a sports journalist for Catalan daily La Vanguardia.

“Tax evasion is something so common in Spain like the siesta or paella that the people are very permissive with it.

“A fan doesn’t want to criticize their idols, so they are used to excusing them or putting the blame on someone else.”

In this case the player’s defense seems set to try to exonerate him of any responsibility and point the finger at his former agent Rodolfo Schinocca.

According to a document sent by Messi’s father to the court, obtained by Catalan daily El Periodico, Schinocca was put in charge of organising the “structure and management” of the income from Messi’s image rights.

However, Schinocca told Spanish radio station Cope that he had nothing to do with the case at hand because he stopped working with the Messis in 2006, before the supposed offences took place and accused Jorge Messi of wanting an off-shore account to manage the income from the image rights.

Whilst Messi’s 323 goals in 387 games for Barca have made him irreplaceable on the field, his income from endorsements off it has also soared.

Between 2007 and 2009 he earned more than 10.17 million euros in image rights, whilst American magazine Forbes make him the 10th highest paid sportsman in the world with an annual income of $21 million from endorsements alone.

Despite the court case, Messi continues to lead advertising campaigns for brands like Adidas and video games maker EA Sports, whose latest version of the immensely popular FIFA franchise is released in Spain the day before Messi is due to appear in court with the Argentine on the front cover.

“Whilst the player is so good and his behavior is quite normal and proper, it will not affect him too much,” suggests Canto, adding that according to a study carried out by his firm in 2012, Messi has the best image of any foreign sportsman in Spain.