Wass swaps Celta for Valencia

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez lauded his club s impending capture of right-back Glen Johnson from Portsmouth on Tuesday, even if he had to shell out a top-dollar fee of a reported 17 million pounds (25 million dollars).

Sometimes you have to spend a little bit more, said Benitez.

You can t compete in the top four of the Premier League unless you spend some money.

We were looking for a player of quality and also somebody who is British because of the new Champions League rules.

Glen Johnson fits both categories, Benitez insisted after landing the player who had also interested former club Chelsea.

Liverpool are formally due to complete the deal later this week.

Some of the fee will be written off with Portsmouth still owing money on…

The 2009-2010 French season gets underway this weekend with champions Bordeaux out to avoid any unseemly slip-up against newly promoted Lens.

Bordeaux ended Lyon s title monopoly on the final day of last season, and the team that pushed them closest, Marseille, are regarded in many quarters as favourites to take the honours this time around.

It s been a turbulent summer down on the south coast, with Didier Deschamps replacing Eric Gerets as manager and Marseille s owner, Robert Louis-Dreyfus, losing his battle with leukemia and chairman Pape Diouf leaving.

But bolstered by new chief executive Jean-Claude Dassier s hefty war chest Deschamps has wasted no time in strengthening his squad to mount a viable challenge on a title Marseille haven t won since 1992.

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Is Mourinho a coward or a pragmatist? / Image via youtube.com

Anticipating crowd on the stadium and millions of people with their faces glued to TV screens were left rather disappointed with the uneventful and utterly underwhelming match between England’s biggest rivals, Liverpool and Manchester United.

It was a game of few chances at Anfield with the hosts largely subdued by United’s defensive approach.

Jose Mourinho resorted to his old, proven methods in order to achieve his goal of emerging unbeaten, causing a barrage of criticism for Manchester United’s apparent lack of willingness to play with desire, courage and bravery.

The Portuguese tactician was quick to defend his methods by putting the blame of Liverpool. His defensive approach is up fo…

A night to remember for the home supporters, one to forget for those who traveled from London. On Wednesday evening, at Anfield, Liverpool beat Chelsea by 4-1 to strengthen their hold on the top spot in the Premier League.

Diogo Jota broke the deadlock after forcing his way through the Chelsea defence in the 23rd minute, and Conor Bradley made a smart run to deliver a fine finish and score his first-ever goal for Liverpool in the 39th. The young right-back then delivered a superb cross which Dominik Szoboszlai headed into the net in the 65th, before Christopher Nkunku gave a tiny bit of hope to the visitors with an excellent goal of his own in the 71st. However, that hope soon failed as Luis Diaz set what eventually proved the final scoreline in the 79th.

The game

Live…

(GSM) Former West Ham boss Alan Curbishley has finalised his settlement with the Hammers over his case for abrupt dismissal.

Curbishley resigned from the club at the beginning of the 2008-09 season after the board agreed to sell Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney against his wishes.

He won his case against his former employers last November. New West Ham owners David Sullivan and David Gold have now settled his compensation which is reportedly between £1.25 and £3.25 million.

It has taken many months to conclude this case but I am proud of my record at West Ham, said Curbishley, who also thanked the Hammers new owners for concluding his settlement quickly.

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Swansea City manager Garry Monk says he will hold talks with Michu about his future at the end of the season.

The forward, currently on loan at Serie A side Napoli, made a huge impact after arriving in south Wales for a bargain £2million in 2012, scoring 18 goals in 35 Premier League matches in his debut season.

However, the Spain international s second campaign at the Liberty Stadium was dogged by ankle injuries and he was offloaded to Italy for 2014-15.

Further injuries hindered Michu s ability to settle in at Napoli, limiting him to just three league outings.

I ll assess it in the summer with him. I ll speak to him, said Monk.  I ve kept an eye on how he s doing and, as a club, it s our duty to make sure we understand exactly what s going on with…

Brazil coach Dunga believes his captain Neymar is the best player in the world at the moment.

Neymar has played a starring role at Barcelona over recent weeks in the ongoing injury absence of Lionel Messi.

The 23-year-old has scored 10 goals in his last seven games for Barca, and crowned last Sunday s 3-0 win over Villarreal by completing a brace with a stunning individual strike.

Dunga hopes Neymar can recreate this form on his return from international suspension when Brazil take on bitter rivals Argentina in Thursday s World Cup qualifier

And, with Messi sidelined and the Argentine superstar s long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo short of his best form at Real Madrid, the coach feels his main man is leading the way.

On the numbers and statisti…

Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes will take the Premier League by storm when he settles, according to team-mate Odion Ighalo.

Fernandes had made an impressive start to his United career by scoring twice and providing three assists in five Premier League games before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Signed for a deal worth up to £67.6million (€80m) from Sporting CP in January, Fernandes can still go to another level, according to Ighalo.

He is intelligent, he has foresight, he has vision. He sees what he wants to do with the ball before it comes to him, the forward told United Hangout on Sunday.

You can see the understanding between him and [Anthony] Martial, you can see the understanding between me and him, so he s…

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is doing an incredible job as Manchester United manager, according to former team-mate David Beckham.

In two and a half years since he initially took over on an interim basis at Old Trafford, Solskjaer has helped to restore a positive atmosphere and style of play at United since the damaging final few weeks of Jose Mourinho s time in charge.

United finished third in the Premier League last season and are on course to improve to second in 2020-21, although Manchester City appear set to be crowned champions.

However, silverware has eluded the former Norway striker. United were beaten in three semi-finals last season, lost to Manchester City in the last four of the EFL Cup in December and were knocked out of the FA Cup at the quarter-final stage…

CSKA Sofia sacked Lyuboslav Penev as their coach, the team announced on its website on Wednesday.

Lyuboslav Penev will no longer coach CSKA Sofia after a joint session of CSKA s supervisory and management boards jointly decided to accept his resignation and release him and his whole coaching team from their jobs, the team announced.

Penev, who took over as CSKA coach in March 2009, has had a series of squabbles with management over his players poor discipline and performance in recent months.

The 43-year-old capped over 60 times and an integral member of the Atletico Madrid side that did the domestic double in the 1995/96 season offered to resign in November, but subsequently decided to stay.

Last month, a court banned him from accompanying the team to …