Football: Bari coach calls for Platt ban as Henry joins Juve

AROUND THE WORLD

Italy

EUGENIO FASCETTI, the Bari coach, has urged his fellow Serie A coaches to help him to force David Platt out of Italian football.

Bari beat Sampdoria 3-1 on Sunday, which was another poor result for the former England international. Afterwards Fascetti insisted that he had nothing personal against Platt, but he maintained that Platt is not entitled to coach in .

Sampdoria officials are reportedly seeking legal advice in their quest to have Platt fully installed as team coach. The former Aston Villa, Arsenal and Juventus player does not have the qualifications to be a Serie A coach, and is therefore having to work behind the scenes as a "supervisor" alongside the team's official coach, Giorgio Veneri.

"Before becoming a professional coach, I had to take a lot of exams to get my first qualifications," Fascetti said. "I do not share the opinion of those who want to open the doors to Platt."

"I think this position ought to be supported by the Italian football federation's institutions, in defence of our profession," he added. "Platt cannot coach in . The federation has to make a move."

Elsewhere in , Platt's former club, Juventus, yesterday signed the French World Cup winger Thierry Henry from Monaco.

Henry, 21, has signed a four-and-a-half year contract with the Turin club, for a fee of over pounds 11m. He is the second foreign striker signed by Juventus in five days, following the purchase of the 25-year-old Argentinian, Juan Esnaider, from the Spanish club Espanyol for pounds 4.5m last week.

Juventus have had to find a replacement for their top striker Alessandro Del Piero, who will be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Germany

THE FORMER German captain, Jurgen Klinsmann, has decided not to resume his career in the United States and has retired from playing.

"I toyed with the idea and I collected information about Major League Soccer. But I've decided to retire for good," Klinsmann said on Sunday from his Los Angeles home.

Klinsmann, 34, retired from the national team after their defeat by Croatia in the World Cup quarter-finals in France last summer. His wife is American and the couple and their son have settled in California.

Klinsmann has been without a club contract since leaving Tottenham Hotspur at the end of last season. He said he wanted to hold a charity match in Germany that would serve as his official farewell.

"I really wanted to say goodbye to my fans in Germany," Klinsmann said, "but the German Football Federation [DFB] refused to do it. I am very sad and bitterly disappointed." The DFB has recently stopped staging testimonial matches for its long-serving players as a matter of principle.

Spain

BARCELONA'S PRESIDENT, Josep Lluis Nunez, yesterday unveiled the twins Frank and Ronald de Boer, and defended the controversial recruitment policy of the club's Dutch coach, Louis Van Gaal.

The De Boers have arrived for pounds 14m from Ajax, taking the Dutch contingent on the Nou Camp playing staff to eight. However, Nunez said: "Dressing- room unity is better with eight Dutchmen than with one Bulgarian, two Romanians, two Czechs, four Argentinians and a Brazilian."