I mentioned in my blog ‘Africans at the Palace’ a few weeks ago that Palace striker Kwesi Appiah had signed up to play in the inaugural iPAY2PLAY charity football tournament.

The brainchild of former Ghana U21 International Papa Agyemang and Peterborough United‘s Gabriel Zakuani, iPAY2PLAY aims to raise money for HIV awareness projects in developing areas of Africa through sponsorship, particularly by means of professional footballer and celebrity endorsement.

The first ever tournament is scheduled to kick off Monday 21^st May at 1pm at Lucozade Powerleague, Wembley Stadium.

Each participant will pay towards their place and also raise money.

TeamIMANI alongside Tackle Africa (www.tackleafrica.org )will provide a platform for participants to raise funds to help bring change to the lives that really need it.

TackleAfrica deliver HIV education through football coaching in six African countries, helping save lives through the beautiful game. Peterborough and Congo player Gabi Zakuani and TeamIMANI will be visiting Ghana with TackleAfrica in June.

I’ve actually had the huge privilege to visit Uganda, Zambia and Kenya to help deliver TackleAfrica projects in those countries, alongside a team of other UK-based, TackleAfrica trained volunteers.  TA have developed an amazingly innovative training mannual which combines basic football drills such as passing or shooting, with HIV education messages, and I’ve seen first hand how well this works. It provides behaviour changing education in some of the communities in sub-Saharan Africa worse hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.  The overwhelming love for football, and the English game in particular means that TackleAfrica have a fantastic platform for delivering these projects to an audience that laps it up.

The iPAY2PLAY tournament has managed to land some major players from the Premier League and international areas, and in addition to our Kwesi, the long list of players and celebrities is below. Click on their names to donate to their fundraising pages.

iPAY2PLAY will consist of four 5-a-side teams; three of which are comprised of professional players & celebrities and one of a corporate sponsors. Teams will play each other once, after which there will be a further two matches between the first and second-placed teams and third and fourth-placed teams to determine the Champions and third and fourth places respectively.

iPAY2PLAY will be covered by Sky Sports, BBC Sport, VOX Africa TV, The Voice Newspaper and many more.

Partners include: TeamIMANI, The Sports Clinic, Tackle Africa, Lucozade Powerleague and Everyday I’m Tackling.

If anyone wants to get involved, there are opportunities for much needed corporate sponsorship.

If your company are interested in entering a team to play against professional footballers, contact tom@tackleafrica.org

To donate £20 or more, text ‘IPAY12’ and your amount to 70070 or visit www.justgiving.com/ipay2play

TeamIMANI® (Swahili: Faith) is a London-based sports and lifestyle apparel brand which aims to transcend religious and political divisions, instead promoting the idea of unity, inspiration through faith alone.

www.teamimani.com

https://twitter.com/TeamIMANI

http://www.facebook.com/TeamIMANI

http://tackleafrica.org/

The forward who is currently on loan at Serie A strugglers Lecce has won plaudits for his eye-catching displays and striking seven goals in 24 appearances, which has even got his parent club keeping an even closer eye.

Talksport reported that the players’ agent, Mauro Cesarini told La Gazzetta dello Sport

‘I think he needs to mature a year and his immediate future should be the Udinese although the club will have the last word’

Both Arsenal and Manchester United have looked to youthful talent from the America’s before in the cases of Carlos Vela and Javier Hernandez and scouts were purring at the potential luring of another in Muriel.

Nevertheless, eyes of the English persuasion now seem resigned that the striker will continue to learn his trade in Italy following a spell in Spain with Granada and before that a breakthrough in his homeland with Deportivo Cali. Muriel is yet to represent Colombia at full international level but has made a number of appearances for their Under-20 side.

Some are universally disliked and run the gauntlet of hate every time they set foot on the pitch and this list is a celebration of those footballers who we all love to hate.

Click on Sol Campbell below to unveil the top 10

Once again this summer there was a noticeable trend whereby certain players were content to move clubs to gain astronomical wages, despite the fact that they may have little impact or fail to improve their career in any way. Whether it’s Cesc Fabregas leaving Arsenal for Barcelona, Asamoah Gyan leaving Sunderland or Samuel Eto’o going east to Anzhi Makhachkala, it is becoming more and more obvious that players are driven less by ambition and more by greed.

Sunderland’s Gyan is the latest in a long list of players whose behaviour raises questions over the mindset of the modern day footballer. The Ghanaian’s lucrative move to the UAE is a loan one, but it seems to offer him little in the way of a challenge on the field and perhaps nothing more than an enormous pay packet. Gyan could play in any of the top four leagues in Europe and be a success, yet he is content to draw a huge amount of money by plying his trade in the UAE.

It could be argued that a player’s career is short, they are only in the limelight for a limited time period, and they need to do all they can to maximise their gains from this time in their career. Many would have found it hard to turn down the reported £200,000 a week offered to Gyan, and it is this sort of greed at the expense of ambition that now sadly characterises the game. Gyan has described the move as exciting. Well, in terms of his bank balance it may well be, but he can’t seriously be comparing the standard of football in the UAE to the Premier League?

It seems astonishing that greed has taken over in the absense of any sort of ambition from players. Surely at one point they simply played because they loved the game, and there was little they wanted to do other than play football professionally. Clearly when they are offered obscene amounts of cash, they tend to lose all sense of perspective.

Cesc Fabregas was another to move this summer. His move is slightly different in that he said he wanted to go back to his boyhood club, and was more likely to win trophy’s at Barcelona than Arsenal. Valid enough reasons, but if Andres Iniesta wasn’t injured, would he really be playing more than a bench-warming role at the club? Is that enough for the modern player? To content themselves with a minor role, watching on as their teammates bring them success and trophies?

Samuel Eto’o also moved on this summer. The experienced Cameroonian could play in any of the top leagues in Europe, and have a devastating effect both domestically and continentally – yet he has accepted the chance to become the highest paid footballer ever by moving to Russia in the twilight of his career. This is a place with a terrible record for racism and racist violence – but apparently that doesn’t matter so much when you are earning obscene amounts of money.

Increasingly nowadays players who turn down the money are rare; players also inevitably hold their clubs to financial ransom to ensure a better wage for themselves. Greed seems to engulf the modern day footballer, and surely football agents must take some of the blame for some of the excessive player demands and the negative influence on young players thoughts. Fame, money and glamour has clouded most players perspectives at the expense of their ambition within the game. The days of the likes of Scholes, Giggs and Carragher are becoming less and less likely, as players put themselves first before the people who have shown loyalty and faith in them. Players now seem to care little about the clubs they represent, as ridiculous salaries and decadent lifestyles have taken over that see them willing to sacrifice any sort of ambitions they originally held within the game as a result of greed.

Do you think the modern day player lacks ambition? Let me know your thoughts by commenting below or following me on Twitter @LaurenRutter

Barcelona have added a 100-million-euro release clause to the player’s contract and the former Udinese forward is eager to help the Catalan outfit win more trophies.

“I am very happy and I came to Barcelona to learn from the best in the world like Xavi and Lionel) Messi,” Sanchez said during a press conference on Monday.

“I want to leave an impression and I hope to help Barcelona win more titles. Barcelona are the best team in the world.”

Sanchez will get a taste of his first Clasico in August when Barcelona take on Real Madrid over two legs in the Spanish Supercopa.

Speaking of Real starlet Cristiano Ronaldo, Sanchez added: “I don’t like being compared with anyone, but Cristiano is a great player and I respect him.”

After an extended transfer saga that dragged out over the European summer, Sanchez claimed Barca manager Pep Guardiola was fundamental in his move to La Liga.

“He (Guardiola) called me and for me this was very important. It gave me confidence that he wanted me,” the player revealed.

Sanchez joins Barcelona after three years with Udinese, where his 12 goals in 31 games in Serie A helped the Italians secure a top-four finish last term.

The 22-year-old will undergo a medical and sign his new deal on Monday.

“FC Barcelona and Udinese have reached an agreement on the transfer of Alexis Sanchez. The deal is for five years,” read a statement on the club’s website.

Sanchez had been given permission to leave Chile’s preparations for the Copa America in anticipation of the transfer being finalised late in June, but the Catalan club failed to reach an agreement with Udinese and the move was put on hold.

Barcelona had hoped to negotiate a player-plus-cash deal for Sanchez, but both Bojan Krkic and Jeffren Suarez rejected moves to the Serie A side.

With Chile’s Copa America coming to an end on Sunday, the deal was agreed upon on Wednesday and announced a day later.

“He is very young, he can play in three different attacking positions, he has a lot of defensive intensity, he can unbalance a match and is, for what I have been told, a very good boy,” Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola stated on the club’s website.

Sanchez became a target for Barca during the 2010/11 season, when his explosive performances helped lead Udinese to fourth place in Serie A, earning them a place in next season’s Champions League.

The Chilean, who finished international duty with his country in the 2011 Copa America on Sunday, is expected to join Barca’s pre-season training camp once the deal is rubber-stamped.

The 22-year-old forward has been strongly linked with the move for some time, with the deal reportedly costing the Spanish giants 27 million euros plus variables.

Sanchez played an important role in Udinese’s fourth-placed finish and subsequent qualification for the Champions League last season, scoring 12 goals in 27 Serie A appearances.

The Italian outfit have been in training ahead of the 2011/12 season, with the club’s administrators kept busy by several transfers both in and out of the club.

Defender Cristian Zapata has joined Villarreal and midfielder Gokhan Inler has signed for fellow Serie A side Napoli, but Udinese have landed centre-back Danilo from Palmeiras and Ivory Coast midfielder prospect Thierry Doubai from Young Boys Bern.

The Spanish outfit revealed the news on Tuesday with the former Deportivo Cali defender still on international duty at the Copa America.

“Zapata will join up with Villareal CF once the Copa America in Argentina has finished,” a club statement said.

Zapata had a contract with Udinese until mid-2012 but had made it clear he would not extend his stay with the club he joined in 2005.

He said in June he was close to joining English Premier League team Liverpool and that Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich had also declared their interest.

But he will instead head to the Estadio El Madrigal to try and help Juan Carlos Garrido and his side enjoy another successful campaign.

He joins veteran goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez as their second capture of the transfer window.

Barca will reportedly part with an upfront fee of 28 million euros, as much as five million euros in performance-based variables and Spain Under-21 international Jeffren Suarez in order to snare their man.

According to reports in Italy, Manchester City attempted to hijack the deal with a 40 million-euro bid for Sanchez’s services.

However, the Chile international is believed to be interested solely in joining the Camp Nou.

Pina, who is also the chairman of Granada, believes the deal with Barcelona will be complete soon.

“At the moment, Barcelona are on the verge of completing the final details of the move and we could say that it’s basically a done deal,” Pina told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope.

“The deal is 80 percent done and we’re working on the remaining 20 percent.”

“The transfer will be worth an amount in the region of 45 million (euro), a figure close to the initial valuation of the player. This fee included some variables and one player.”

Sanchez is on national duty with Chile ahead of the Copa America, which begins on July 1.

Chile coach Claudio Borghi said on Monday he would allow Sanchez to leave training camp before the tournament begins, lest the national team be held financially liable for any injuries incurred by the striker.

The 24-year old has been at Udinese since 2005 and played for the club 127 times but is attracting interest from several of Europe’s top clubs.

Arsenal, Manchester City and Bayern Munich are all rumoured to be tracking the £14 million-rated Colombian but Liverpool appear to be leading the race for the versatile defender.

Zapata is currently with Colombia, for whom he has won 17 caps, where he is preparing for the Copa America and any deal will have to wait until after the tournament.

The 6ft 2in defender would be the second big-money signing at Anfield after the arrival of Jordan Henderson from Sunderland with plenty more signings expected during the transfer window.

Manager Kenny Dalglish and Director of Football Damien Comolli have been given the financial backing of new owners Fenway Sports Group. The owners are keen on younger players with potential resale value and Zapata certainly fits the bill.

The club are also in need of cover at left-back with the futures of Fabio Aurelio and Emiliano Insua yet to be decided. Paul Konchesky’s days at Anfield appear to be numbered having failed to lived up to expectations and spent the second half of last season on loan at Championship club Nottingham Forest.