Sunderland are closing in on a deal for Chelsea full-back Patrick van Aanholt, .
The 23 year old has made only a handful of appearances for the Blues since turning professional, spending most of his time away from the club out on loan.
He spent the first half of the 2009/10 campaign with Coventry City before moving to Newcastle United later in the campaign, while the following two campaigns saw him have brief spells with Leicester City and Wigan Athletic respectively.
More recently, he has been in his native Netherlands with Vitesse Arnhem, turning out for them eighty-three times since joining them in January 2012.
He is now keen to secure a permanent move away from Stamford Bridge having accepted that he has no future at the club.
Sunderla…
FIFA has expelled Zimbabwe from the preliminary rounds of the 2018 World Cup for failing to settle payments owed to former coach Jose Claudinei Georgini.
The Zimbabwe Football Federation (ZIFA) employed the Brazilian coach between January and November 2008.
Georgini subsequently took the issue over non payments to FIFA, who passed a ruling stating that ZIFA must pay up the debt and warned they would face a ban if they refused.
However, FIFA stated that the payments were not made despite a grace period and subsequently football s governing body has decided to kick Zimbabwe out of the preliminary qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup.
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Sao Paolo coach Muricy Ramalho remains in intensive care after suffering heart problems in a training session on Thursday.
The 58-year-old was admitted to Hospital Sao Luiz Morumbi and is undergoing tests following a tachycardia a heart rate that exceeds the normal range but is expected to be discharged on Friday.
Ramalho has endured health issues in the past, having been hospitalised after suffering with kidney stones in 2009 and also had a hernia two years ago.
The vastly experienced Ramalho has also coached the likes of Santos, Palmeiras, Fluminense and Botafago in his 20-year coaching career.
Sao Paolo face Fluminense in the Brazilian Serie A on Sunday.
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Vinicius Junior acknowledged that he and his team-mates must improve following their goalless draw with Costa Rica in their opening game of the Copa America.
The nine-time champions were frustrated by their opponents at the SoFi Stadium, with Los Ticos becoming only the third CONCACAF side to keep a clean sheet against the Selecao Canarinho at the tournament after Mexico (2001 and 2007) and Honduras (2001).
Brazil registered 19 attempts at Patrick Sequeira s goal, but only three were on target, with Rodrygo (6) and Lucas Paqueta (5) having the majority of those chances.
Vinicius failed to make an impact on proceedings in Los Angeles and was replaced by future Real Madrid team-mate Endrick for the final 20 minutes.
The 23-year-old has now been substitut…
Manuel Neuer is determined to bag the full three points when Bayern Munich take on Werder Bremen on Saturday as the Bavarians look to extend their record start.
Pep Guardiola s men have been in sublime form in the opening months of the 2015-16 campaign and headed into the international break with a 100 per cent record after eight games.
Their fine run of form is a new Bundesliga record after eight matches of a season, beating their previous best of 2012-13.
Bayern will be looking to make it nine wins from as many games as the Bundesliga returns this weekend and Neuer is hopeful they can build on the fine results they have recorded at Werder in the past.
We re glad to be back, Neuer told the official Bayern website. We want to carry on where we left off b…
Erik ten Hag admitted Manchester United’s first-half performance in their 2-1 win at Sheffield United was not a fitting way to remember Sir Bobby Charlton.
United are mourning one of their greatest ever players following Charlton’s death aged 86 on Saturday morning and goals from Scott McTominay and Diogo Dalot ensured they remembered him with victory.
But Ten Hag’s side could not be much further away from the one that Charlton famously led to European Cup glory in 1968 as they were lacklustre against a team who have picked up just one point this season.
That meant everything ||
— Manchester United (@ManUtd)
Defender Dalot was the unlikely hero as he saved their blushes with a 20-yard curler 13 minutes from time after Oli McBurnie’s …
Verdict: Barcelona to win to nil
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League leaders Barcelona are facing one of their biggest tests of the La Liga season so far as they welcome Sevilla to the Nou Camp on Saturday evening. Currently four points clear at the top of the table, Ernesto Valverde’s men will hope to extend their lead at the weekend.
Sevilla meanwhile will be aiming to notch their fourth win in succession in all competitions.
Barcelona
Despite all of their critics during pre-season, Barcelona have kicked-off the 2017/18 season in eye-catching form. Currently leading the standings in Spain, the Blaugrana have won nine out of their last ten games, collecting 28 points out of a possible thirty. Their scoring rate has also been extremely impressive too. The team have net…
The agent of Karim Benzema has moved to quell speculation over the France striker s future, insisting he is 1,000 per cent sure to remain at Real Madrid.
Benzema has been linked with the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United, but his representative, Karim Djaziri, ruled out a move for the 27-year-old on Thursday.
Djaziri told Sky Sports News: Karim is very happy at Real Madrid and he will be a Real Madrid player by the end of this transfer window, 1,000 per cent.
Karim is not looking to move anywhere this summer.
Benzema joined Real from Lyon in 2009 and has been a regular feature in the first team under a succession of coaches at the Santiago Bernabeu.
He boasts more than 100 goals for Real in all competitions and scored 21 times last term…
Emmanuel Petit believes Middle East investment in Paris-Saint Germain has killed the competitive element of Ligue 1.
The French top flight was regarded as one of the less predictable in European football with Bordeaux (2009), Marseille (2010), Lille (2011) and Montpellier (2012) all winning the league prior to Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) completing their buy out of the capital club.
Since then PSG have claimed the title in each of the past three years and are odds-on favourites to retain it again having established a five-point lead at the top of the table after nine games.
QSI s vast investment has seen the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Angel Di Maria, Javier Pastore and Thiago Silva all join the Parc des Princes club and Petit believes it is harming the Fren…
It was a breathless game at Stamford Bridge on Sunday as Chelsea and Liverpool played out an entertaining 2-2 draw that saw Manchester City emerge as the biggest winners.
An exciting encounter that many will say was a great advert for the Premier League was in reality more an example of why there is unlikely to be any excitement in this year s title race.
Both teams showed immense quality at times, especially in scoring their goals, but also evidenced numerous weaknesses that simply do not exist at City, or at least not to the same extent, though it must be said that both were missing key players through suspension, injury and/or COVID-19 – or were just dropped for talking too much.
The headlines were already being written as the visitors took a 2-0 lead in the…