Barcelona head coach Ernesto Valverde opened the door for Arturo Vidal s departure in January, acknowledging the LaLiga champions have a lot of midfielders.
Vidal has been linked with a move to Serie A outfit Inter as the Barcelona midfielder struggles for regular game time at Camp Nou.
The 32-year-old Chilean has made 14 appearances across all competitions this season, though only four have been starts.
Speaking ahead of Saturday s match against Real Mallorca, Valverde told reporters: Vidal is our player. We are happy with him. There are so many rumours. We will see tomorrow if he plays or not.
And when the January transfer window arrives, we will see what happens.
Ernesto Valverde on
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)
There s …
Newcastle United have not approached Derby County about manager Steve McClaren replacing Alan Pardew, according to the Championship club.
Derby sit third in the second-tier Championship after 24 rounds, three points behind leaders Bournemouth and two adrift of second-placed Ipswich Town, with McClaren having led the East Midlands outfit to 42 wins from 70 games since joining the club in September 2013.
McClaren s side have led the Championship at the end of six rounds this season.
That form, which could see Derby return to the Premier League for the first time since 2007-08, has prompted speculation McClaren might be snapped up by higher-profile clubs, with Newcastle looking for a new manager after Pardew moved to Crystal Palace on Friday.
But Derby chief…
Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has been awarded his third Ballon d Or after a stunning 2014 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Portugal captain Ronaldo has been honoured following a year in which he broke the record for UEFA Champions League goals in a single season, scoring 17 in the 2013-14 edition as Real finally captured La Decima.
The former Manchester United man also shared the European Golden Shoe with Luis Suarez for his 31 La Liga goals last term despite being often hampered by injuries.
Although Ronaldo could not help Portugal beyond the group stage of the World Cup, his 61 goals for club and country in 2014 served as a clear demonstration of why he is worthy of football s biggest individual prize for a second successive year.
He said when accepti…
Real Madrid have reportedly identified Napoli s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Borussia Dortmund s Jude Bellingham and Manchester City s Joao Cancelo as their three primary targets in a €300million plan.
The Spanish giants have been pursuing 19-year-old Bellingham for months, while 22-year-old Kvaratskhelia has emerged as one of world football s breakout prospects during his first Serie A season.
Cancelo s future with City is also up in the air after Pep Guardiola allowed him to be loaned to Bayern Munich, with the German club hesitant to make the move permanent.
They could be three of the biggest names to move in the upcoming transfer window, and Madrid are said to want to bring them all to LaLiga instead of resuming the chase for Paris Saint-Germain s Kylian Mbappe.<…
Paris Saint-Germain head coach Christophe Galtier confirmed Kylian Mbappe s absence from their Ligue 1 opener was precautionary, with the star striker set to return next week.
The France international sat out the first game of PSG s title defence just under a week on from missing their Trophee des Champions triumph over Nantes.
Mbappe s absence was not particularly felt on Saturday, as a Lionel Messi double and a superb four-goal-involvement performance from Neymar helped PSG to a 5-0 rout of Clermont Foot.
But speaking to Canal+ afterwards, Galtier has assuaged fears the 23-year-old could be a long-term absentee, acknowledging he could have risked him had it been a high-stakes game.
Asked if Mbappe could be back next weekend, Galtier said: Yes, I think s…
Competition: Champions League
Market: Chelsea to beat Barcelona
Odds:
The Champions League is back this week for yet another massive round of games that will surely only bring more exciting actions as Europe s top teams lock horns once again. With this in mind, there is a heavyweight clash on Tuesday as Premier League side Chelsea host La Liga s Barcelona.
Chelsea were fairly good in the campaign in the group-stages but their inability to win their final game saw the London side finish in second-place. After six games they won three, drew two and lost once, scoring 16 and conceding eight. In their last five they won twice, drew twice and lost once which saw them onto 11 points. Roma were able to pip Chelsea to first as they were unable to defea…
Leicester City midfielder Danny Drinkwater is yet to be offered a new deal, but has no intentions of leaving the club.
Leicester City have already seen bids come in for Jamie Vardy and N’Kolo Kante this summer, but one player seemingly escaping clubs’ radar is midfielder Danny Drinkwater.
The 26-year-old was outstanding in leading the Foxes to the Premier League title in 2015/16, so why aren’t clubs enquiring about his availability?
Rarely highlighted for his contributions
Danny Drinkwater was often overlooked for praise given how his midfield partner Kante stood out for marauding around the pitch intercepting and making tackles on the opposition. However, the 26-year-old brought a lot to the Leicester side that play a big part in their success.
Andy Carroll is open to a permanent move to West Ham from Liverpool but remains unsure of where he will play next season.
Reports indicate West Ham have the option of signing the former Newcastle striker on a permanent basis before his loan from Liverpool expires, though no deal has yet been agreed.
The 24-year-old, who signed for the Reds for 35 million pounds in 2011 and struggled to make an impact at Anfield, has also been linked with a return to St James Park but admits his future is still undecided.
I don t know what is happening so we will just have to wait and see what happens at the end of the season, Carroll told reporters after his side s 1-1 draw with Southampton on Saturday.
It has been great here and every minute has been fantastic. The lad…
Naldo s transfer from Werder Bremen to Wolfsburg has hit a roadblock after the 29-year-old reportedly failed his medical.
The versatile defender missed the entire 2010-11 season due to a bone edema, but recovered sufficiently to make 18 league appearances for Thomas Schaaf s side in the last campaign.
Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath remains undeterred in his efforts to sign Naldo, and is set to put the defender through another series of tests at the Volkswagen Arena to ascertain if the move can go through, according to Sky Germany.
Naldo s arrival could pave the way for Simon Kjaer s exit from the club, given the Denmark international has cited a bad relationship with Magath in publicly pushing for a transfer back to Serie A, where he spent 2011-12 on loan at Roma.…
Harry Kane has challenged his England team-mates to learn from another semi-final loss that compounded a week of personal heartache for the Tottenham striker.
Kane made his first appearance in almost two months following his latest ankle setback when Spurs went down 2-0 to Liverpool in last Saturday s Champions League final.
Gareth Southgate opted not to start his captain against Netherlands in Guimaraes but he came on at half-time for Marcus Rashford, who was injured in a challenge with Denzel Dumfries after winning and converting a penalty that opened the scoring.
But Kane was left once again frustrated and feeding off scraps against a defence marshalled by Virgil van Dijk, with the Three Lions subsiding to a 3-1 extra-time loss – errors from John Stones and …