Middlesbrough will renew their attempts to capture James Harper from Reading after agreeing to sell Lee Cattermole to Wigan Athletic for £3.5 million.
Cattermole, the England Under-21 midfield player, has been given permission to discuss personal terms with Steve Bruce’s team and his departure would free up money for Gareth Southgate who has admitted that Boro need to sell players before they can buy.
Reading have been demanding £5 million for 27 year old Harper. His contract runs till the end of the 2009-10 season but the lure of playing in the Premier League seems to hard to resist for the midfielder
[Source: The Times]
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Eden Hazard looked to be back to his best as Chelsea dominated Burnley in a 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, but manager Antonio Conte feels there is still room for improvement.
After being named PFA Player of the Year as Chelsea won the Premier League title in 2014-15, Hazard s form significantly dipped during a woeful campaign for the club last term, failing to score a top-flight goal until April.
The Belgian netted from the penalty spot in the opening 2-1 win over West Ham and struck after just nine minutes against Burnley on Saturday, surging forward on the counter-attack and guiding home a fine finish from 20 yards.
Hazard had a shot cleared off the line by Ben Mee in the first half and goalkeeper Tom Heaton denied him twice after half-time, but Cont…
Eduardo Camavinga may have long been linked with a move to Real Madrid but the teenage midfielder wants to sign a contract extension at Rennes.
Madrid and Juventus are believed to be admirers of the 18-year-old midfielder, whose deal at Roazhon Park is due to expire at the end of next season.
Among midfielders currently aged 21 or younger to have played in at least 10 games in the top five European leagues this season, only Monaco s Aurelien Tchouameni (780) has made more successful passes than Camavinga (728). However, the Rennes talent has a superior passing accuracy of 89.9 per cent compared to his counterpart s 82.1.
His average of 3.9 tackles per 90 minutes is only bettered by Huesca s Sergio Gomez (4.4), though the Spaniard has played 345 minutes compared t…
The 2009 Dutch Cup final will be a battle between FC Twente and SC Heerenveen. The latter beat FC Volendam 0-2 to advance from the semi finals.
Heerenveen were never truly in trouble at Volendam with Viktor Elm scoring the opening goal after just ten minutes.
To make sure that there would not be any late surprises, Danijel Pranjic added a second to double the margin with six minutes to go.
FC Twente beat NAC 3-1 on Tuesday and will be facing Heerenveen in the final, traditionally played at Rotterdam s De Kuip stadium.
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Udinese owner Giampaolo Pozzi is adamant that Francesco Guidolin will not be leaving, insisting he wants him to build a legacy at the club.
57-year-old Guidolin has been in charge at Stadio Friuli since 2010 and has guided
them to two top-four finishes, while they are in pole position to finish fifth this
season.
If Udinese hold off the challenge of Lazio on the final day they will qualify for the UEFA Europa League, and Pozzi wants him to build a legacy similar to the one Alex Ferguson had at Manchester United.
With uncertainty over the future of Inter boss Andrea Stamaccioni and Napoli
manager Walter Mazzarri, Guidolin’s name had been mentioned as a possible
replacement at those clubs but, with two years remaining on his contract, Pozzi does not …
Market: Harry Kane to score anytime
Odds:
With a semi-final clash against either hosts Russia or Croatia on the line, Gareth Southgate s Three Lions will look to carry on their momentum when they face off against Sweden at the Samara Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Starting with Sweden, coming off the back of their dramatic 1-0 win over Switzerland last week, Janne Anderson s side have booked their spot in the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time since 1994. However, while The Yellows have won back-to-back World Cup matches for the first time since 1958, and keeping a clean sheet in three of their four outings this summer, we do believe that coming up against a high-flying England side will be a step to far.
As for Gareth Southgate s Three L…
Real Madrid suffered a 4-0 away defeat to Spanish lower league side Alcorcon. They were without Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka but the result was still very embarrassing.
It was a poor defeat considering Real still had international footballers in their ranks. Any Real Madrid side that visits a side so far down the footballing pyramid should easily have enough to win comfortably.
Under fire
Chilean boss Manuel Pellegrini has been heavily criticised and some of the Spanish press has even called for him to be dismissed. I don’t think the former Villarreal boss can win at Real. If he fails to win every game at Real he’s branded a failure and if he does win trophies at the club then it will be put down to the amount of money spent on the team.
Pell…
Jose Mourinho rubbished the notion that Anthony Martial is running out of chances to impress him at Manchester United.
France international forward Martial became the most expensive teenager in world football when he signed for United in September 2015.
He enjoyed an impressive debut campaign at Old Trafford, scoring 20 times across all competitions, but has struggled to recapture that form since Mourinho replaced Louis van Gaal at the helm.
Mourinho said earlier this week that Martial had not taken his chances to make a spot in United s highly competitive forward line his own this term and challenged the 21-year-old to play magnificently in Sunday s FA Cup round –four clash with Wigan Athletic if he wants to retain a place for the midweek Premier League match…
Boubacar Kamara s hopes of making France s World Cup squad have been severely dented after Aston Villa confirmed the versatile midfielder has suffered knee ligament damage.
Kamara limped off the field during the first half of last week s 1-0 loss to Southampton and was forced to withdraw from France s squad for their games with Austria and Denmark.
Villa provided an update on the injury on their official website on Friday, though they did not offer a timeline for his recovery.
According to French outlet L Equipe, Kamara – who joined Villa on a free transfer from Marseille in the recent window – is expected to face two months on the sidelines.
Should that be the case, the 22-year-old is almost certain to miss out on the France squad for the World Cup…
Jose Mourinho insists the pressure will be on Manchester City when Chelsea travel to the Etihad Stadium for an FA Cup showdown next month.
Mourinho has wasted little time in starting the mind games with City counterpart Manuel Pellegrini after the two sides were paired together in Sunday s fifth-round draw in what is a rematch of last season s semi-final.
City were victorious in that last-four clash back in April and Mourinho thinks the 2011 winners will be expected to see off Chelsea again following a 19-game unbeaten run and after breaking the 100-goal barrier this season.
And Mourinho believes there are clear comparisons to be made between the Chelsea side he presided over during his first spell in charge at Stamford Bridge and the current City team, given the vast …