Hansi Flick has urged Barcelona to sign players who can win games as they await their first signing at Camp Nou this transfer window.
The former Bayern Munich manager is preparing for his first season in charge of the Blaugrana but is currently set to go into their preseason tour of the United States without any new faces in the squad.
Barcelona have been heavily linked to Spain s Euro 2024 winners Nico Williams and Dani Olmo, with the former their primary target ahead of the new season.
Speaking in his first interview with the club s official media team, Flick vowed to take them to the next level , noting that transfers will play a big part in that process.
We have to bring in a player who can win games, but we also have young players who we have to hel…
Cole Palmer believes his impatience is paying off having flourished for Chelsea and earned a first England call-up since leaving all-conquering Manchester City in search of regular football.
Part of Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning squad before helping his country win the Under-21 European Championship, a more prominent role at club level looked on the cards this term.
Palmer scored in the Community Shield and another in the Super Cup, but made no secret about his desire for regular action after his man-of-the-match display against Sevilla in the European curtain-raiser.
It proved his final City appearance and a fortnight later the forward joined the glut of gems being collected by free-spending Chelsea in a deal worth up to £42.5million, signing a seven-year de…
Tottenham Hotspur were reportedly interested in signing Stefan de Vrij from Inter Milan in January, and as relayed by Sky Sports, the interest remains with a view of the upcoming summer transfer window.
As things stand, the 30-year-old would rather sign a new contract with the Nerazzurri and stay put, but he won t be too shy to leave in case he feels he might be losing his place in the team under Simone Inzaghi.
De Vrij joined Inter in 2018 from Lazio as a free agent, and his move caused some controversy back then as he conceded a penalty in the match against Inter on the final day of the season, thus (probably inadvertently, of course) helping his new team qualify for the Champions League at the expense of his old one.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte knows De Vrij wel…
Dusan Vlahovic said he was honoured to play alongside Angel Di Maria after the Argentina international claimed three assists in Juventus Champions League win over Maccabi Haifa.
Adrien Rabiot scored a brace either side of Vlahovic s cool second-half finish as Juventus triumphed 3-1 to boost their hopes of progressing from Group H on Wednesday, but Di Maria was the star of the show.
At 34 years and 233 days old, Di Maria became the oldest player to record a hat-trick of assists in the Champions League since data began in 2003-04, as well as the first player to do so for an Italian club.
Since Di Maria made his first Champions League appearance in the 2007-08 season, meanwhile, only Lionel Messi can match his tally of 35 assists in the competition.
Asked a…
In what was an all-Premier League showdown on Monday night, Manchester United managed to extend on their FA Cup adventure with a 1-0 win against Aston Villa at Old Trafford.
However, although the Reds might have booked a meeting against Championship outfit Middlesbrough for next month, it was another far from impressive display by Ralf Rangnick s squad.
In a contest between two sides who can boast a string of FA Cup achievements, United will know that they were lucky to have booked their spot in the fourth-round for the 11th time in the past 12 seasons.
With chances at both ends of the pitch on Monday night, we have taken a look at the main talking points from Old Trafford.
Victory doesn t cover all the Old Trafford cracks
Opening up the New Year with a…
Gareth Bale is very unlikely to join Manchester United and will not leave Real Madrid in a loan deal, according to his agent.
Bale joined Madrid in 2013 after emerging as one of the Premier League s best players at Tottenham, commanding what was then a world-record transfer fee of €100million.
His first three seasons were a success, as he scored 47 LaLiga goals in 81 appearances and helped Madrid to two Champions League titles.
However, from an individual perspective, the following three campaigns have been rather more difficult, as Bale has been troubled by fitness problems and struggled to hold down a place in the starting XI.
Madrid are reportedly willing to let him leave and United – who are said to have wanted him when he was at Southampton and …
Christophe Galtier admits Paris Saint-Germain are lacking balance and cannot rely on their superstar forwards to bail them out after scraping a 4-3 victory over Troyes.
The reigning Ligue 1 champions twice trailed to goals from Mama Balde, either side of Carlos Soler s leveller, in Saturday s clash at the Parc des Princes.
But Lionel Messi scored a superb equaliser and then played in Neymar to put PSG ahead for the first time, before Kylian Mbappe emphatically converted from the penalty spot.
There was still time for Ante Palaversa to pull one back, making Troyes the first side to score three or more goals at PSG in the league since Bordeaux in February 2020.
Rather than showing pride in PSG s ability to fight back and move five points clear at the summit…
Burak Yilmaz s late penalty miss proved costly as Turkey fell to a 3-1 loss to Portugal in their 2022 World Cup qualifying play-off semi-final on Thursday.
Otavio scored his second international goal in just his third cap to put Portugal in front, with Diogo Jota doubling their advantage before half-time.
Yilmaz pulled one back for Turkey after the hour mark and had a chance to take the game to extra time by making it 2-2 after referee Daniel Siebert awarded the visitors a penalty for Jose Fonte clipping Enes Unal.
However, Yilmaz s spot-kick clipped the crossbar on its way over and Matheus Nunes rubbed salt into the wound in stoppage time, ensuring it was Portugal who advanced to the final against North Macedonia, who earned a shock 1-0 triumph over …
Former Real Madrid and Bayern Munich midfielder Ze Roberto will play beyond his 43rd birthday after agreeing a one-year contract extension at Palmeiras.
Ze Roberto was part of a LaLiga and Champions League winning side at the Santiago Bernabeu, later adding four Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal titles with Bayern between 2002 and 2009.
The veteran added this year s Campeonato Brasileiro crown to the Copa do Brasil triumph of 2015 attained in a successful spell at Palmeiras and he has opted to continue his career for another year in hope of winning the Copa Libertadores title for the first time in his career.
My biggest motivation has always been the project. The goals have been achieved – winning the Copa do Brasil title last year and now the Brasileirao, Ze Roberto …
I ve been involved in quite a few of these things over the years with England and there is no right or wrong way, in the sense that I ve seen managers sweep it under the carpet and try to keep a low profile on these sorts of things, he told Sky Sports.
I ve also seen managers go public, as Gareth has. What I would say is that the decision that Gareth has made I feel like it s the right one without knowing the detail of what s gone on.
There s nothing worse than sweeping it under the carpet, and then all the players going back to their own rooms they all share together, and having that feeling that they re all talking about you being weak, and that you ve not dealt with it because he s a big player and that he s shied away from a big decision.
So I feel that …