De Jong focused on Ajax despite PSG rumours – Ten Hag

Gareth Bale will be in Cristiano Ronaldo s shadow until the Portuguese superstar retires but could ultimately be better than his Real Madrid team-mate, according to former England manager Kevin Keegan.

Having moved to the Santiago Bernabeu for a world-record fee from Tottenham in September 2013, Bale helped Real to a Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League double during his first season in the Spanish capital.

The Wales international endured a testing second campaign, though, and received criticism at times from fans and the media.

Keegan, who has also managed the likes of Newcastle United and Manchester City, believes Bale was unfairly targeted and says the forward can live up to his huge fee.

I think a lot of people have used him as the whipping boy, �…

Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling is close to agreeing terms on a new five-year contract with the Reds, ending speculation regarding his future heading into the January transfer window, .

Rodgers expects Sterling to make the deal official prior to the Reds match against Fulham at the weekend.

Hopefully it will be done in the next 24 hours. There was never any real issue, it was just a matter of time. We were always calm, insisted the Liverpool boss.

Sterling, 18, has been outstanding for Liverpool this term, relegating last year s £20 million signing Stewart Downing to the bench for both club and country.

The 18-year-old winger has featured in more games than any other Liverpool player this term, and has jumped through the ranks since joining …

Bayern Munich have entered the race to sign Marco Reus from Borussia Dortmund, .

The Bundesliga champions, who have taken Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski from their great rivals in recent years, are hoping to beat Liverpool and Arsenal to secure the services of the 2012 German Footballer of the Year.

Dortmund have ended talks over a new contract with the midfielder, who is thought to have a release clause of almost £20m, a clause that could be triggered when the transfer window reopens in January.

In just over two seasons with Jurgen Klopp’s side, Reus has made ninety-six appearances in all competitions, scoring forty-five goals and was part of the squad that won back to back German Super Cups in 2013 and 2014.

Internationally, he has twenty-t…

Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez responded to reports of a falling out with Cristiano Ronaldo by praising the striker s competitive spirit and insisted Sergio Ramos will not be leaving on Thursday.

A training ground incident in which Ronaldo responded angrily to Benitez disallowing one of his goals has been seized upon by the Spanish media and cited as an example of tension between the new head coach and the club s most important player during their pre-season tour of Australia.

Speaking at a media conference prior to the International Champions Cup match against Manchester City on Friday, the former Liverpool and Napoli boss did not dismiss the subject out of hand, choosing instead to hail the Portugal captain s will to win.

I have now had the opportunity to sp…

Fabrizio Romano has claimed on that Mario Mandzukic will sign a contract with AC Milan in the next few hours. The well-known and well-respected journalist, who works for The Guardian and SkySport, has reported that the striker has turned down bids from clubs in Turkey and will sign a new deal with Milan until the end of the season.

https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1350789543524495363

Mandzukic has been a free agent since the summer of 2020 when his contract with Al-Duhail was mutually terminated. The 34-year-old is a hugely experienced forward who has played for Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and Juventus among other clubs. The Croatian won the league title thrice with Dinamo Zagreb, the Bundesliga twice and the Champions League once with Bayern, and Serie A o…

Paulo Sousa has been appointed as the new Poland head coach.

Former Portugal midfielder Sousa replaces Jerzy Brzeczek, who was surprisingly relieved of his duties on Monday.

Brzeczek was sacked despite Poland s qualification for Euro 2020 as Group G winners, having won eight of their 10 qualifying matches.

Sousa has been out of work since leaving his role as Bordeaux boss last August and was linked with the Juventus job before Andrea Pirlo landed the role.

The 50-year-old s appointment on Thursday came less than five months before Poland s first game of the rescheduled European Championship, with Slovakia their opponents in a Group E contest on June 14.

Sousa said: I am honoured and proud to be the coach of the Polish national team. At the beginni…

Norwegians are the most respectful footballers in Europe. At least, according to UEFA s Respect Fair Play ranking. The country that tops this ranking at the end of the season will get three extra places in the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round.

The ranking is based on club and national team matches played between 1 May 2008 and 30 April 2009, considering a minimum of 25 matches.

The list is dominated by Europe s north as Norway are followed by Denmark, Scotland, the Netherlands, Wales and Sweden. Of the 46 countries includes, FYR Macedonia have showed the least respect for fair play.

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The chances of a return to Italy have increased for Andrea Dossena. The Liverpool full-back hopes to leave the club in January to secure his place in the Italy World Cup squad.

Dossena thinks Liverpool will let him go in January, considering he s only third choice for his position in defence.. The 28-year-old is aware of the interest of three clubs from his native country.

I know that three big Serie A clubs Napoli, Juventus and Milan are looking at me, he told the News of the World.

In August they just made other choices. I was very close to going to Juventus in the summer but they signed Fabio Grosso.

I am now worried I will miss the World Cup.

Since his arrival at Anfield in 2008, the left-back has featured sparingly for Liverpool. The fo…

Juventus stretched their lead at the top of Serie A to four points with a 3-1 win over Napoli at the San Paolo on Sunday.

With nearest challengers Roma held to a 2-2 draw by fierce rivals Lazio earlier on Sunday, Massimiliano Allegri s men took full advantage at a tricky venue historically.

Paul Pogba opened the scoring at the San Paolo, where Juve had not won since 2000, with a stunning volley in the 29th minute that marked his fifth goal of the campaign.

Napoli levelled in the 64th minute thanks to defender Miguel Britos, but any hope of the hosts completing the turnaround were dispelled by two further second-half goals from Juve.

Martin Caceres who had not featured for the Turin club since October due to a thigh injury restored Juve s lead in the 69th…

Mauricio Pochettino wants Tottenham to turn up the tempo against Leicester City in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino will demand greater purpose and pace from his team when they host Leicester City in their FA Cup fourth round on Saturday.

The Argentinian was disappointed with the way Tottenham went about creating chances in their 1-0 League Cup semi-final first-leg win against Sheffield United on Wednesday.

The manager refused to single out the performance of captain for the evening, Emmanuel Adebayor, as the eight-time FA Cup winners struggled to break down their League One opponents, before eventually finding a goal from the penalty spot.

It was Tottenham s 36th match of the season 12 more than Leicester have played b…