Bournemouth s on-loan Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere can re-establish himself as one of the best in the Premier League, according to long-time admirer Pep Guardiola.
England international Wilshere joined Bournemouth on a season-long loan after a prolonged injury nightmare left him down the pecking order at his boyhood club.
The 25-year-old s Arsenal contract is up at the end of next season and Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe is yet to consider a permanent switch, despite his admiration for the player
A spate of fitness problems and Granit Xhaka s four-match ban saw Arsene Wenger admit he could have done with Wilshere over recent weeks, although Arsenal s considerable midfield reserves add to the sense of a once promising talent left in limbo.
Guardiola take…
Diego Simeone s seamless transition into coaching comes as no surprise to former team-mate Dejan Stankovic, who says the Atletico Madrid boss always had the coach feeling as a player.
The makings of a future coach were clear when Simeone and Stankovic played together at Serie A side Lazio from 1999 until 2003.
In Rome, Simeone and Stankovic helped Lazio to the Scudetto, as well as Coppa Italia, UEFA Super Cup and Supercoppa Italiana glory.
The Atletico head coach has since added LaLiga, Europa League and Copa del Rey silverware to his collection, as well as becoming one of the most sought-after bosses in football.
And Stankovic says Simeone s management qualities have never been in doubt.
He was the leader then and he is the leader now, too, Stan…
As revealed by the club, have confirmed the signing of from Queens Park Rangers for an undisclosed fee. The move has been in the pipeline for quite some time now, with a series of Premier League clubs having their eye on the 28-year-old goalkeeper over the course of the last few months. Smithies professional career began with hometown club Huddersfield, who he joined at the youth level at the age of just eight.
He was with them all the way through until 2015 when he earned a big money move to London with QPR, where he has spent the last three years of his career. Now, with more than 350 professional appearances under his belt in English football, he s ready for the big time as he attempts to help the Bluebirds preserve their place in the top flight.
Smithies one piece…
Fatih Terim has urged a long-term approach to improving Turkey s fortunes ahead of Sunday s Euro 2016 qualifier against Kazakhstan.
Having responded well to their failure to reach the 2014 World Cup, winning seven out of eight friendlies, Turkey have taken a big backwards step in Group A.
A return of one point from three matches has left the 2008 European Championship semi-finalists bottom of the group, level with this weekend s visitors.
Wednesday s 4-0 loss to Brazil made it four games without a win for Turkey, but an under-pressure Terim believes his side can take positives from the experience though he wants the focus to shift away from short-term results.
We have a very important game on Sunday, but you learn a lot from playing the best sides, he sa…
Toronto FC have added former Marseille midfielder Benoit Cheyrou to their squad ahead of the 2015 MLS season.
Experienced Frenchman Benoit Cheyrou became the latest player to join the Toronto FC revolution after the Canadian-based outfit announced his arrival on Thursday.
Cheyrou, 33, had been without a club since his Marseille contract was terminated at a tribunal in October after seven seasons with the Ligue 1 side.
The former Lille and Auxerre man joins high-profile recruits and designated players Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore, as well as Poland international centre-back Damien Perquis in Toronto.
Benoit s vision and his ability to distribute the ball are two very distinct qualities that have made him such a successful player throughout his car…
United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann will be taking no chances in their World Cup 2018 qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday.
USA began their campaign with a resounding 6-1 victory against St Vincent and the Grenadines, despite an early scare when Oalex Anderson put the visitors ahead inside five minutes.
The victory was Klinsmann s 43rd as coach of the national team, though he trails Bruce Arena s record of 71 wins accumulated between 1998 and 2006.
Trinidad and Tobago reached the quarter-finals of the 2015 Gold Cup, suffering elimination at the hands of Panama, who went on to beat USA on penalties in the third-place play-off.
The German believes such form warrants due care from his side.
I think Trinidad and Tobago and probably Haiti…
Alvaro Morata has great potential but he needs to work on his mental strength, according to Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri.
Morata scored twice in Sunday s 3-1 Premier League win at home to Crystal Palace, sending the Blues up to second place in the table.
The 26-year-old has now scored four goals in four Premier League appearances having regained his confidence following a back injury and loss of form last term.
But Sarri feels there could still be a lot more to come from the striker, who lost his place in the Spain squad as a result of his 2017-18 struggles.
Alvaro improved [in] the last month, Sarri told a news conference. Improved for the confidence, improved for the personality, improved also from the technical point of view.
Now he…
Julian Draxler believes Paris Saint-Germain must prove that they are among Europe s elite clubs after spending heavily in the latest transfer window.
PSG have been no stranger to massive transfer fees since Qatar Sports Investments bought the club in 2011, with the Parisians engaging in spending sprees which were previously unheard of in Ligue 1.
But they went a step further before the current campaign, buying Neymar from Barcelona in a world-record €222million deal which rocked the football world.
PSG also completed the loan signing of teenage star Kylian Mbappe from Monaco, a deal which will likely be made permanent next year for an estimated €180m.
Draxler, who himself arrived for the not-insignificant fee of €42m in January, now feels that the c…
Real Madrid have won more trophies than they have lost LaLiga matches since Zinedine Zidane took charge. They are the only team to win the modern Champions League two seasons in a row and are just six months on from their first league and European double since Alfredo Di Stefano was the world s best forward.
And yet, regardless of the boss s insistence to the contrary, they head into Saturday s derby with Atletico Madrid in crisis mode.
Zidane started the season – only his second full campaign in charge of a senior football team – as Madrid s greatest modern head coach. His successes in just under two years at the helm at the Santiago Bernabeu have been astonishing. He took command of a dressing room on the brink of revolution under Rafa Benitez and turned them into …
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AS Roma will play host to Udinese on Sunday evening at the Stadio Olimpico, within round 30 of the 2022/23 Serie A roller coaster. The match is obviously important to both sides, but the points on offer would mean a lot more to one than the other.
AS Roma
Roma are currently battling fiercely on two fronts, having narrowly lost the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinals away to Feyenoord on Thursday. With captain Lorenzo Pellegrini wasting a penalty, several players leaving the game injured, and the only goal of the game conceded in a strange fashion, it could realistically be said they were unlucky. Be that as it may, they certainly stand a good chance to overturn the deficit next week in Rome.
Meanwhile, Roma have brok…