Valencia midfielder Juan Mata s chances of moving to Arsenal have hit a snag, after reports his 18 million-pound buyout clause expired.
Spain international Mata, 23, had been linked with a move to the English Premier League outfit, with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said to be keen on signing him as a replacement for Cesc Fabregas if he departs to Barcelona.
A release clause was in place stating that La Liga outfit Valencia must accept offers of 18 million pounds before Monday, which saw Arsenal s North London rivals, Tottenham, table a last-minute bid on Saturday.
Mata was not keen on a switch to Tottenham due to club not featuring in the Champions League, but was said to be interested in moving to the Gunners.
The clause has now reportedly gone up to a wh…
Aston Villa s unbeaten start to the English Premier League season will be put to the test when they travel to Queens Park Rangers on Sunday.
Villa have not lost in the league under Alex McLeish this season, with one win and four draws from their opening five matches.
However, despite their unbeaten status, Villa s start could have been much better had they not let leads slip in their past two matches a 2-2 draw at Everton and a 1-1 result at home against Newcastle.
They also failed to produce in their Carling Cup clash against Bolton on Tuesday, going down 2-0 at Villa Park, a result which midfielder Barry Bannan said they need to respond to quickly.
We have to take that and try and bounce back and show them we are good enough and we want that to start …
The disappointment of the 2010 FIFA World Cup will likely be on Switzerland s minds when they bid to reach the last 16 by beating Honduras.
Ottmar Hitzfeld s men were hammered 5-2 by Group E leaders France in their previous encounter last Friday, a result that leaves them behind Ecuador 2-1 winners over Honduras in the fight for second place on goal difference.
But, with Ecuador facing a France side that has looked imperious so far in the competition, the odds of progression should be firmly in Switzerland s favour.
Switzerland will go through if they better Ecuador s result on Wednesday, but a last-16 spot is still a possibility even with a defeat, providing Reinaldo Rueda s side suffer a sufficiently heavy loss to France.
The equation is much more compl…
Carlo Ancelotti was pleased to see Real Madrid get the job done, despite not being at their best in a club record-equalling win in Basel.
The prolific Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal of the game on Wednesday to ensure Real won UEFA Champions League Group B with a game to spare.
Ronaldo s 26th goal of what is proving to be another stellar season was enough to give the European champions a 15th consecutive win, matching the achievements of the Real teams in the 1960-61 and 2011-12 campaigns.
Gareth Bale struck the crossbar and Ronaldo spurned a golden opportunity to score his 72nd Champions League goal in the second half to ensure the Portugal forward is three goals adrift of new record holder Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo s first-half goal drew him leve…
Inter midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia scored what has been described as the best own goal in history during his side s International Champions Cup clash with Chelsea.
The France international contrived to lob goalkeeper Daniele Padelli from close to 45 yards out during the second half of the pre-season meeting in Singapore.
The Serie A side had been leading in comfortable fashion, with Stevan Jovetic and Ivan Perisic giving them a 2-0 lead inside the first hour.
That was until Kondogbia handed the Premier League champions a lifeline in truly bizarre fashion, his attempted back-pass soaring over the stranded Padelli and into the top-left corner of the net.
An attempted back pass from Kondogbia looped over his own goalie to halve our deficit.
— Che…
Trabzonspor have confirmed they have opened talks to sign midfielder Jose Sosa from AC Milan.
The 32-year-old has fallen down the pecking order under Vincenzo Montella following a heavy recruitment drive at San Siro during the Serie A transfer window.
Sosa is now in discussions over a return to the Super Lig, having won the title with Besiktas in 2015-16 before joining Milan in a €7.5million deal.
It is believed the former Bayern Munich man will join on a season-long loan.
Trabzonspor have had a mixed start to their top-flight campaign, taking four points from games against Konyaspor and Fenerbahce before a 3-2 defeat to Goztepe prior to the international break.
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Bayern Munich are interested in signing Jeremy Doku from Rennes in the summer transfer window, according to . It has been reported that the German and European giants have been impressed by Doku’s performances for Belgium at the Euro 2020 finals and are serious about talks with French side Rennes over a move this summer.
Doku is only 19, but he was one of the better players for Belgium at the European Championship. The youngster impressed everyone whenever he came on the pitch for Belgium with his skills, tricks and ability to take on his opposition defenders. The 19-year-old played twice for Belgium at Euro 2020.
The teenager scored two goals and gave three assists in seven Jupiler Pro League games for Anderlecht before making the move to Rennes last summer. The 19-…
Tomer Hemed again netted in a Premier League success for Brighton and Hove Albion as they ended Newcastle United s three-game winning run with a 1-0 triumph.
Rafael Benitez s men pipped Brighton to the Championship title on the final day of last season, but they came out second best on Sunday as Hemed a scorer against West Brom in the Seagulls previous home game hit the only goal.
Chris Hughton facing his former club sent out a side playing with pace and verve in the first half, but he had to wait until after the interval for his forward to make an impact, feeding on the scraps of a well-worked free-kick.
Joselu had earlier missed a golden opportunity for Newcastle, but they could muster no response to the Brighton goal, despite Jonjo Shelvey s corner striking t…
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has offered an update on the fitness of injured quartet Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Trent Alexander-Arnold with the latter a week from resuming full training.
Alexander-Arnold missed Euro 2020 after suffering a quad injury on the eve of the tournament and is facing a race against time to be fully fit for the start of the 2021-22 Premier League season.
Liverpool commences its Premier League campaign away to Norwich City on August 14.
“Trent was a serious enough injury but now not a major one, I would say, Klopp said. He is close but in the moment, probably the next five or six days he has a special programme: from time to time with the team, probably from time to time by himself. But then in five or six or seven days…
Gianfranco Zola believes there is little prospect of social media platforms becoming safe spaces for sports stars, warning: Bad people will always be there.
England footballers Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were subjected to racist abuse online after their penalty shoot-out misses in the Euro 2020 final.
Those failures from the spot helped Italy to land their second European Championship triumph.
There have been calls for the likes of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to police their platforms more effectively, with 19-year-old Saka urging the three tech giants to each step up their game.
Former Italy and Chelsea forward Zola told Stats Perform: Racial abuse is unjustifiable, unforgivable and unacceptable. I reckon that youngsters have to u…