Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola says he has no plans to stop selecting midfielder Fernandinho in central defence, despite the availability of John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi.
The Premier League champions were thrown into a defensive crisis when Aymeric Laporte was ruled out for six months after damaging the lateral meniscus in his right knee in September.
Stones and Otamendi endured a torrid time in the first game following Laporte s injury against Norwich City, with the latter particularly at fault in a damaging 3-2 defeat.
Guardiola has selected Brazil international Fernandinho as one of his two central defenders for every Premier League game since then and insists he has no intention of stopping.
Emmanuel Adebayor setting us up for a big six …
Pep Guardiola is confident he and Jose Mourinho will cross paths again soon after his old foe was sacked by Manchester United.
Manchester City boss Guardiola and Mourinho established a generation-defining rivalry during their time in opposition as coaches of Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Barca memorably held the upper hand in their head-to-head battles in the 2010-11 campaign, with a 5-0 Clasico win at Camp Nou the highlight of a march to glory domestically, while a LaLiga and Champions League double was completed after a semi-final win over Madrid.
Los Blancos lifted the Copa del Rey in 2011, however, and prevailed in another gruelling title battle the following season, after which Guardiola left Camp Nou for a year on sabbatical.
Anticipation was high wh…
Roy Hodgson admitted that the occasion of his final home game in charge of Crystal Palace somewhat overshadowed the football as his side lost 3-1 to Arsenal.
Christian Benteke looked to have salvaged a proud point for Hodgson s men when his diving header cancelled out Nicolas Pepe s opener. But Gabriel Martinelli and Pepe netted in injury time to keep Arsenal s European qualification hopes alive with a win.
Hodgson, who was given a guard of honour before the game and gave an emotional speech to the Selhurst Park crowd afterwards, said that it was not easy to concentrate on the match as his managerial career neared its end.
It s been a very long journey, he told BT Sport.
It was an emotional night tonight. I think the players have done exceptionally wel…
The Swiss special prosecutor has opened criminal proceedings against FIFA president Gianni Infantino relating to dealings with the country s attorney general Michael Lauber.
Lauber offered to resign from his position last week after a court found he covered up an undisclosed meeting with the head of football s governing body and lied to supervisors while his office probed corruption relating to FIFA.
Stefan Keller was appointed as special prosecutor to review criminal complaints against Infantino, Lauber and other individuals.
A statement from the Swiss Federal Council said Keller had found indications of criminal conduct .
Proceedings have consequently commenced against Infantino and the chief public prosecutor of Upper Valais, Rinaldo Arnold.
Ke…
Branislav Ivanovic could join Everton this summer as a free agent, according to Serbian outlet .
The 36-year-old spent nine years as a Chelsea player, making a total of 377 appearances for the Londoners in all competitions and helping them win three Premier League titles, three FA Cups and three League Cups, as well as the Champions League in 2012 and the Europa League the following year. A 105-time capped Serbia international, he is the record holder for his country. He left Stamford Bridge in 2017 to join Zenit St Petersburg, winning the Russian Premier League title twice and this year s Russian Cup. His contract there expires at the end of the month and he has already left the club, who have completed the signing of Dejan Lovren from Liverpool for around €12 million.
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Jadon Sancho has finally joined Manchester United after they sealed a deal to bring in the England winger from Borussia Dortmund.
The long pursuit of Sancho has resulted in a deal that Stats Perform understands will see United pay £72.9million (€85m) for Sancho, with no add-ons included within the deal.
It makes the 21-year-old the fourth most expensive signing in United s history, behind Paul Pogba, Harry Maguire and Romelu Lukaku.
He has signed until 2026, with United having the option to extend that agreement for another year.
United were keen on Sancho last year but could not drive through a deal at the time, with Dortmund reluctant to sell one of their chief assets.
However, they have now been persuaded to part company with a player wh…
Jurgen Klopp has explained the decision to let Rhian Brewster leave Liverpool, saying the club want their young stars to thrive, even if it means a move elsewhere.
On Friday, Liverpool sold England youth international Brewster to Sheffield United in a deal that reportedly includes clauses relating to sell-on fees and buyback options.
The 20-year-old, who joined Liverpool from Chelsea in 2015, made just four first-team appearances under Klopp in domestic cup matches.
Brewster suffered a serious ankle injury in 2018 and spent the second half of last season on loan at Swansea City, where he led a Championship promotion push that ended in the play-off semi-finals.
Links to a host of clubs followed ahead of the new season and though Brewster re-joined Kl…
“We have shown what we can offer him and what part he could play in our team. It’s now up to him”.
According to Kicker, those are the words of RB Leipzig director of football Markus Krosche who has made it crystal clear that the club has put forward an offer to RB Salzburg for Erling Haaland. The young Norwegian has been pulled in a million and one different directions over the course of the last few weeks, mainly due to the fact that he’s been scoring goals for fun in the last few months.
The hope seems to be that Leipzig will be keeping him under the Red Bull banner, although it’s not yet certain as to what this actually means.
Alas, the talks may not wind up going all too well as a direct result of the fact that Haaland has demanded a fe…
Southampton have said they are disgusted and disappointed by racist abuse aimed at Kyle Walker-Peters following their goalless draw at Manchester United.
The right-back received a number of racist replies after posting on Instagram following Sunday s stalemate at Old Trafford.
Southampton issued a statement on Monday condemning the abuse, though Walker-Peters was not named directly, with the club confirming the messages had been forwarded to Hampshire Police.
The Premier League club also referenced a similar incident from two years ago in which now former player Alexandre Jankewitz was racially abused following a game against the same opposition.
In February 2021 the club made a statement about one of our young players receiving abhorrent racial abuse fo…
Argentina were never in any danger during their 3-0 friendly win against Jamaica on Tuesday, played at a neutral site in the United States Red Bull Arena.
Alvarez opened the scoring in the 13th minute thanks to some terrific work from Lautaro Martinez, who was able to snake his way into the box, beating multiple defenders to get to the touchline and drag one back along the edge of the six-yard box for a simple tap-in.
Argentina continued to create half-chances throughout the remainder of the first half, and it was more of the same to begin the second 45, with Martinez going close after a slick one-touch pass from Alexis Mac Allister gave him some space inside the box, but he pushed his shot wide of the far-post.
Lionel Messi was subbed on in the 56th minute, and …