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 …

Sprint king and eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt said he will prove people wrong after the Central Coast Mariners trialist trained for the first time on Tuesday in his bid to earn a football contract.

Bolt dominated the athletics track and the Jamaican great is now trying to fulfil his dream of becoming a professional footballer having linked up with A-League outfit the Mariners for an indefinite trial.

The Australian public got their first glimpse of Bolt training in Gosford, where the 32-year-old who previously spent time with Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund, Mamelodi Sundowns and Stromsgodset after retiring from athletics in 2017 took part in a brief session.

After touching down in Australia on Saturday, Bolt wearing gloves and a jumper under the Ne…

Whenever a team under performs at a major tournament and crashes out the evaluation of what went wrong can be long and complicated but with Italy that will be far from the case.

Italy s deficiencies, or rather primary deficiency, has long been known, analysed, dissected and contemplated.

Before the team even arrived in South Africa, everyone back home knew exactly what their problem would be: scoring goals.

And so it proved following Thursday s shock 3-2 defeat to Slovakia that left the reigning champions in the unenvious position of joining France as recent holders who have suffered the ignominy of failing to reach the knock-out stages in the defence of their title.

Italy s attack was their major failing in their first two Group F games, both of which e…

Edinson Cavani will be out for revenge when Paris Saint-Germain meet Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

The Ligue 1 leaders are set to face Jose Mourinho s men in the first leg at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday, with the return tie to follow at Stamford Bridge next Tuesday.

And Cavani, who was part of the Napoli side that lost to Chelsea in the 2011-12 round of 16 after taking a 3-1 first-leg lead, has a personal incentive to knock out that season s champions.

To me I will be using the game looking for revenge, because I faced Chelsea with Napoli, he said. We didn t deserve to lose, although we didn t play well in London to get through but we showed a lot in Naples, where we were better than them (winning 3-1 having lost the first leg 4-1).

I…

Bayern Munich head coach Niko Kovac heaped praise on goalscorer Renato Sanches, describing his performance as special in the club s successful Champions League opener against Benfica.

Ex-Benfica midfielder Sanches returned to haunt his former club, the 21-year-old Portugal international on target as Bayern claimed a 2-0 victory away from home on Wednesday.

Sanches endured a forgettable loan spell at Swansea City last season but he was handed his first Bayern start since May 2017 and repaid the faith, converting James Rodriguez s cross nine minutes into the second half, having played a role in Robert Lewandowski s opener.

Benfica also applauded Sanches – who left the Portuguese giants in 2016 after emerging through the youth ranks – following his display in th…

RB Leipzig are in talks to sign Alexander Sorloth from Crystal Palace in the currently open transfer window, according to .

The 24-year-old Norwegian striker obviously has no place in the team under Roy Hodgson s command, with the likes of Jordan Ayew and Christian Benteke ahead of him in the pecking order, and he is currently halfway through a two-year loan at Trabzonspor.

The Turkish side have an option to make the deal permanent for a fee of £5.5 million, and that aspect of the situation will need to be resolved before his switch to the Bundesliga side can be agreed. Sorloth finished the 2019/20 season as the Super Lig s top scorer with 24 goals to his name.

Leipzig are currently preparing to face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semifinals on Tue…

Joe Hart believes he has the ability to finally end England s long search for a goalkeeper capable of earning headlines for heroics rather than howlers.

Ever since Arsenal keeper David Seaman retired from international football in 2002, England have struggled to find a top-class replacement as bad luck and bad form left a string of contenders flat on their backs.

Now Manchester City star Hart is being tipped to be his country s first choice for the next decade as he prepares for his competitive debut against Bulgaria on Friday after rising from third-choice during the World Cup to first-choice for the Euro 2012 qualifiers.

It is a big test for the 23-year-old because he knows so many others have tried and failed over the years.

Paul Robinson briefly look…

Rio Ferdinand believes Gary Neville s spell in charge of Valencia could serve as an audition for the top job at Manchester United.

Neville was named as head coach of the Spanish side on Wednesday, signing a contract until the end of the season.

Valencia s appointment of Neville who has served as assistant to England coach Roy Hodgson since 2012 represents the 40-year-old s first foray into management.

The ex-United right-back has been tipped to succeed by Alex Ferguson and former Ferdinand thinks the Old Trafford club will be watching his progress closely.

Ferdinand wrote in his column in The Sun: What you can be sure of is that the people at the top at Manchester United will be looking at what Gary does now and be interested to see how he gets on.

…