Sports

Lille star wants big club move

Lille defender Aurelien Chedjou has made it clear that he wants to leave les Dogues for greener pastures at the end of the current campaign.

Chedjou, 27, has been playing at a very high level for a couple of years now, and his rock-solid showings have not gone unnoticed.

Top European clubs are reportedly lining up for the defender’s services, and the player admits it is time for him to leave Lille.

“It seems that I am having a pretty good season. There are people who follow me,” Chedjou .

“My agents tell me about it, they are doing their job. And, most importantly, after six years here, the cycle is coming to an end.

”I feel ready to join top European clubs.”

Aurelien Chedjou arrived at L…

Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella may experiment with his side against Guatemala after a tough week of FIFA World Cup qualifying.

Sabella has seen his team complete a scoreless draw against Colombia and a 1-1 stalemate versus Ecuador in the past week and could consider Friday s friendly international with Guatemala as the perfect opportunity to test new combinations.

It may be time for Sabella to try some of the more inexperienced members of his squad before Argentina, who sit top of South America s World Cup qualifying standings, take on Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay in September and October.

Argentina have not won in three matches, having claimed three successive draws in CONMEBOL s World Cup qualifying group, and have generally struggled in front of goal in their…

Bayern Munich have denied that they must pay Benfica €5million when Renato Sanches next makes a competitive appearance.

A report in Portugal this week claimed the Bundesliga champions will owe the additional fee when the midfielder plays what would be his 25th game for the club.

Such a payment would see Sanches overall price reach €40m, matching the club record transfer of Javi Martinez from Athletic Bilbao in 2012.

However, Bayern insist the claims are false and have made it clear they will not release any details about Sanches contract.

On the media reports that FC Bayern Munich will have to pay an additional payment of €5million to his former club, Benfica, upon the next appearance of Renato Sanches, FC Bayern makes clear: this story is false,…

David De Gea has set his sights on Europa League glory after Manchester United s unsuccessful Champions League campaign.

Louis van Gaal s men crashed out of European club football s elite competition at the group stage, but De Gea is ready to move on and turn his focus to the Europa League.

The Europa League is an enjoyable competition to play in. Naturally I have great memories of when I won in the final [with Atletico Madrid in 2010], De Gea told United s official website.

But this is Manchester United and while we ve been knocked out of the Champions League, we are now in another competition and we will be trying to win it in just the same way.

It s a long competition and a bit different to what we are used to playing in, with the games on a Thursd…

are pondering a £30million bid for Valencia’s Joao Cancelo, according to .

Primarily a right-back, Cancelo is also capable of deputizing as a winger given his attacking qualities. In 2014, he joined Valencia from Benfica and made 91 appearances for them, scoring four goals in the process, before moving to Inter Milan on a year-long loan last summer.

Jose Mourinho has never had any faith in Matteo Darmian, and the Italian is now being heavily linked with a move away, most likely to Juvenus.  Instead, the converted winger Antonio Valencia, who turns 33 in August, has been playing in the right-back role for quite a while now.

The Portuguese manager is keen to find a long-term solution for the position. Should his 21-year-old compatriot prove worthy, that’s e…

Atletico Madrid and France star Antoine Griezmann confirmed he would announce his future in the coming days.

Griezmann, 27, continues to be linked with a move to LaLiga champions Barcelona after another fine season at Atletico.

The forward has been expected to confirm his future before the World Cup and said Saturday that was still the case.

It s good that you re taking an interest, Griezmann said after France s 1-1 friendly draw with the United States.

There s a week to go. I think we will find out this week.

Griezmann is contracted at Atletico – the club he joined in 2014 – until 2022, but Barcelona are reportedly prepared to trigger his €100million release clause.

Reports Saturday suggested France coach Didier Deschamps had t…

Anthony Martial will require a scan to check the severity of a hip injury he suffered in Manchester United s 1-1 Europa League last-16 draw with Milan on Thursday, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirmed. 

Martial was withdrawn at half-time on Thursday, with his replacement Amad Diallo putting United ahead five minutes later to become the Red Devils youngest non-British scorer in European competition, aged 18 years and 243 days. 

However, Simon Kjaer ended United s run of 503 minutes without conceding a goal across all competitions in stoppage time to give Milan a slight advantage ahead of next week s second leg at San Siro. 

It remains unclear whether Martial will be fit for the trip to Italy, but manager Solskjaer is hopeful Marcus Rashford – who missed the open…

Gerard Pique described Real Madrid s first-half performance as the worst he has faced in El Clasico encounters despite Barcelona suffering a 2-0 defeat at Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday.

Madrid leapfrogged Barcelona into top spot in LaLiga after claiming their first Clasico league victory in almost four years, with Vinicius Junior and Mariano Diaz on the scoresheet.

Pique got a touch on Vinicius opener but was unable to divert it away from his own net and he admitted his side s second-half display against their bitter rivals was not good enough.

But he also fired a broadside at Zinedine Zidane s men, saying Barcelona missed an opportunity to hurt them during a disjointed opening 45 minutes.

Madrid in the first half was the worst Madrid I ve faced at the Be…

Manchester United s Champions League campaign has been one of the finest of margins, to say the least.

A shock defeat at Wednesday s opponents Young Boys on matchday one was a dreadful start, and at numerous occasions in their following two matches they appeared to be in trouble again.

They needed late winners from Cristiano Ronaldo at home to both Villarreal and Atalanta, coming back from 2-0 down at half-time against the Italians.

Ronaldo then got a last-gasp equaliser away to Atalanta to salvage a 2-2 draw. Had he not delivered the goods on that occasion, United would have gone to Villarreal on matchday five knowing they could be eliminated there and then.

As it was, they ultimately left Spain with a 2-0 win thanks to a couple of goals in the final 12 …

Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane will miss the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final with Liverpool after testing positive for coronavirus hours before the match.

Varane had been rested as Madrid defeated Eibar 2-0 in LaLiga on Saturday, the France international an unused substitute for the fixture.

But Madrid will not have the centre-back to call upon as they take on Liverpool at home on Tuesday.

Real Madrid informs that our player Raphael Varane tested positive in the COVID-19 test he underwent this morning, the club confirmed in a statement on the day of the game.

Varane is a key figure for Madrid. The World Cup winner has started 27 of his team s 29 league games this season and all eight of their matches so far in the Champions League.