City and PSG battle for Digne
According to reports from France, Manchester City are set to challenge Paris Saint-Germain for Lille full-back Lucas Digne.
Having failed to qualify for the Champions League, les Dogues need to raise some cash in order to balance the books and the only way they can do this is by selling their star players.
, Paris Saint-Germain have already opened talks with Lille officials over the purchase of Lucas Digne.
While les Dogues are holding out for €18 million, the Saints are reportedly ready to offer up to €15 million for the highly rated defender.
Meanwhile, L Equipe reports that Manchester City are seriously considering making a move for Digne in the summer.
The Citizens look set to stay without Aleksandar …
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini dismissed the notion Pep Guardiola s forthcoming arrival as his replacement had any impact on Saturday s 3-1 home defeat to Premier League title rivals Leicester City.
On Monday, Pellegrini confirmed he would step down from his post at the Etihad Stadium at the end of this season, with the club following up by announcing Bayern Munich boss Guardiola would be in situ for the 2016-17 campaign.
The prospect of the acclaimed former Barcelona coach taking the reins at City appears to have done little to focus the minds of a playing staff enduring a patchy seaon, despite their hunt for honours across four competitions.
Following Tuesday s attritional 1-0 win at struggling Sunderland, the hosts were caught cold by Robert Huth …
Jordi Cruyff has taken over as Maccabi Tel Aviv s new head coach, moving from his role as sports director at the club.
Cruyff was appointed to the directorial role at Maccabi in 2012 and the club have since won three league titles.
The 43-year-old son of the late football icon Johan Cruyff had a brief spell in charge earlier in the year following the departure of Shota Arveladze, presiding over a run of eight wins and one draw before the arrival of Lito Vidigal.
Cruyff will now take over permanently, though, relinquishing his responsibilities as sports director to move into the dugout.
I am happy and excited to be appointed coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Cruyff said. Entering my sixth year at the club I am very aware of the owner s and fans expectations.…
Cedric Bakambu says Villarreal have done the important bit in their bid to reach the Europa League semi-finals at Sparta Prague s expense.
Villarreal claimed a 2-1 victory in the home leg of their quarter-final last week, with Bakambu netting either side of a Jakub Brabec header to put his side in the box seat.
But Bakambu is quick to stress he is not carrying his team-mates and says it will take a collective effort to push the Liga outfit into the last four.
The whole team does a good job, he said. Without my colleagues I could not play as well. We are a united team.
We are lucky because our coach [Marcelino] is very good and knows we bring out the best in each other to improve everything.
Villarreal sit fourth in the Spanish top flight, eig…
Lazio midfielder Luis Alberto hopes Serie A can resume in early June for his side to continue their title bid.
Serie A was suspended last month due to the coronavirus pandemic, with Lazio sitting sitting second and just a point behind Juventus.
It remains uncertain when, and if, the season will resume, but Luis Alberto hopes it can get back underway in June.
Now we believe in the Scudetto. We are there and we cannot deny being in the running to win it, he told Onda Cero via Instagram.
I think we can start playing in early June, but it is difficult to give an exact date. It depends on the evolution of the virus.
Hopefully everything will be done as soon as possible. I want to finish the championship. It would be right both for us who are at the …
Luka Modric has been named as Real Madrid s number 10 following James Rodriguez s two-year loan move to Bayern Munich.
The club s decision to give Modric the shirt traditionally worn by Madrid s most creative player suggests that coach Zinedine Zidane sees no way back for James, while further boosting the Croatian playmaker s profile as one of the team s most influential stars.
The shirt famously worn by Bernabeu luminaries including Ferenc Puskas, Michael Laudrup, Clarence Seedorf and Luis Figo has been referred to as cursed by the club s supporters in recent seasons, following the failure of successive number 10s to live up to expectations.
Robinho, Wesley Sneijder, Mesut Ozil and James all arrived as marquee signings but left after disappointing spells, with t…
Benjamin Mendy is back in the Manchester City starting XI for Saturday s Premier League match at home to Watford.
It is the France international s first start in the top flight since April and Pep Guardiola will hope it marks the end of an injury nightmare for the left-back he bought from Monaco for £52million in July 2017.
Mendy has only made 17 appearances across City s back-to-back title triumphs, twice undergoing knee surgery.
He lines up in a defence that again features Fernandinho at centre-back alongside Nicolas Otamendi, in the continued injury absence of Aymeric Laporte and John Stones.
Your City line-up to take on Watford!
XI | Ederson, Walker, Fernandinho, Otamendi, Mendy, Rodrigo, Silva (C), Mahrez, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Aguero
Gareth Southgate believes Germany s shock exit from the World Cup proves that there is no room for complacency in international football.
Joachim Low s side bowed out in the first round for the first time since 1938 and finished bottom of Group F following a shock 2-0 loss to South Korea in Kazan on Wednesday.
Southgate, whose England side have already qualified from Group G ahead of their third game against Belgium on Thursday, has long been an admirer of the 2014 world champions.
And while admitting that he has modelled elements of his England side on Germany, Southgate says their early departure is evidence that failure to evolve will ultimately end in disappointment.
The margins are so fine within the matches, he said.
I just think you can t…
Manchester United secured a place in the Europa League final with an 8-5 aggregate victory over Roma coming after a 3-2 defeat in Thursday s second leg.
Despite United s commanding lead from the first leg, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer fielded a strong side in the Italian capital and was rewarded when Edinson Cavani opened the scoring in the first half.
Edin Dzeko, who also scored at Old Trafford, nodded in an equaliser and Bryan Cristante struck soon after to give Roma some slender hope of a famous turnaround, with David de Gea making 10 saves in total to keep the scoreline down.
Cavani headed in a second midway through the second half to ease some of the nerves for United, who will face Villarreal in what will be their first cup final since Solskjaer took over f…
Edin Dzeko continued his fine run of form in the Champions League by scoring twice and setting up another to lead Roma to a 3-0 victory over CSKA Moscow in Group G.
Following a hat-trick in Roma s last Champions League outing against Viktoria Plzen, Dzeko was at his best again on Tuesday, taking the game away from CSKA – who beat defending champions Real Madrid in their previous outing – in the space of 13 first-half minutes.
Having rounded off a superb passing move for Roma s opener, the Bosnia-Herzegovina striker doubled the hosts tally with a typically composed finish in the 43rd minute.
Dzeko was not done there, though, claiming an assist five minutes into the second half when Cengiz Under hammered home to wrap up the points and move Roma up to secon…