Sunderland manager David Moyes has backed Everton midfielder Ross Barkley to recover from the dip in form that led to him being omitted from the England squad.
Barkley did not feature at all at the European Championship, and new manager Sam Allardyce picked the likes of West Ham s Michail Antonio and Danny Drinkwater ahead of the 22-year-old in his squad for September s World Cup qualifier against Slovakia.
But Moyes, who introduced Barkley into the Everton team in August 2011, believes the Liverpool-born playmaker is still improving.
Ross is a really talented player, Moyes told the Mirror. We gave him his debut. We gave Wayne Rooney his debut at 16 and Jack Rodwell his debut at 16. We gave a lot of boys their debuts at Everton.
In Spain, they don’t …
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has heaped praise on midfielder Isco, saying he could become the next Clarence Seedorf.
The 21-year-old moved to the Bernabeu from Malaga at the start of the season, and has featured in the majority of Madrid s games as they continue to chase glory on three fronts.
The midfielder has nine goals from 34 appearances in all competitions this term, and Ancelotti believes he could go on to become as successful as Seedorf, who Ancelotti managed at Milan between 2002 and 2009.
He played very well against Schalke, Atletico Madrid, and very well with his national team, said the Italian of Isco.
I m confident he can perform this role in the past I had another player very similar to Isco, he had a lot of quality.
I m talking about See…
Luka Zahovic s late equaliser gave Maribor a 1-1 draw with Sporting on their return to the UEFA Champions League group stage after 15 years.
The 18-year-old Portugal-born forward and son of ex-Porto and Benfica attacking midfielder Zlatko Zahovic salvaged the Slovenians a point in dramatic circumstances at Stadion Ljudski vrt after Nani appeared to have given Sporting an opening Group G win.
Sporting had themselves not appeared in the group phase since 2008-09, although the Primeira Liga side looked far more settled from the start, with Andre Carrillo striking the crossbar in the 26th minute.
Maribor eventually came to life towards the end of the first period and Aleksander Rajcevic hit the post with a powerful header.
But it was in the final 10 minutes t…
Robin van Persie reached 300 career goals after scoring for Feyenoord to help his side reach the final of the KNVB Beker.
The former Arsenal and Manchester United forward returned to Feyenoord in the January transfer window, 14 years after he left to join the Gunners.
And the two-time Premier League Golden Boot winner scored his 300th career goal in Feyenoord s 3-0 defeat of Willem II in the KNVB Beker on Wednesday.
Van Persie hit 132 goals in 278 games for Arsenal before a move to rivals United helped the Netherlands international win the 2012-13 Premier League.
G o a l s !
— Feyenoord Rotterdam (@Feyenoord)
Van Persie, who scored 50 international goals, has scored once every 67 minutes for Feyenoord since re-joining the c…
Football has become increasingly commercialised / Image via sportbusinesscentre.com
Festive Football
Boxing Day, as the first segment of festive fixtures and holiday football, remains to this date a strongly-rooted tradition in United Kingdom and top-tier football leagues in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
And whereas Europe’s top football leagues such as La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga all go to shorter or longer winter sleep, which usually lasts until the first, second and it rare cases the third week of January, United Kingdom clubs would go on to play a couple of New Year rounds which bring special appeal to Europe’s most exciting and adored football competition.
Over the last few years however, there seems to be a firm split in public opinion in r…
West Ham are stepping up their efforts to sign French full-back Timothee Kolodziejczak from Nice, .
The Hammers have already reached an agreement over the transfer fee believed to be between €3m and €5m, but they have yet to agree personal terms with the player.
And with Southampton and QPR also showing interest, West Ham will have to act quickly if they want to get their man.
Having come through the youth ranks at Lens, the 22-year-old moved to Lyon in 2009, but he was unable to prove his worth at Stade Gerland, making just 12 first team appearances during four years at the club.
Nevertheless, a move to Nice helped kick start his career, with Kolodziejczak going on to make 71 Ligue 1 appearances for les Aiglons.
He seems to have done enough …
Wolves have reinforced their forward options with the loan signing of Real Sociedad striker Willian Jose.
The Brazilian moves to Molineux for the rest of the season with Wolves retaining the option to make the move permanent.
The deal remains subject to international clearance and Willian Jose obtaining a work permit, and Wolves said on their website they do not expect to have him available for Wednesday s clash against Chelsea.
Wolves have bolstered their numbers in attack with their main centre forward Raul Jimenez having suffered a fractured skull against Arsenal at the end of November.
Wolves new number br
— Wolves (@Wolves)
Patrick Cutrone was recalled from a loan spell at Fiorentina and head coach Nuno Espirito Santo now has an…
Stoke City are lining up a £5m January move for Birmingham City forward Che Adams, according to the Telegraph.
The Potters are looking to secure an immediate return to the Premier League after being relegated last May but have had an indifferent start to the campaign which sees them sitting in fourteenth place with seventeen games played.
Benik Afobe, Peter Crouch, Saido Berahino and Bojan have just seven league goals between them so far this term while Adams had managed the same amount in his last nine appearances, and eight overall.
Adams was plucked from non-league outfit Ilkeston by Sheffield United in November 2014 and went on to score fifteen goals in fifty-five outings in all competitions for the Blades.
Since signing for Birmingham in the s…
Manchester United have announced from Shakhtar Donetsk.
Fred completed a medical ahead of the move to Old Trafford on Monday, and his services are expected to cost the Red Devils in excess of £50million.
Jose Mourinho had been looking for a central midfielder according to reports that had been popping up for several months. Napoli s Jorginho who is expected to sign for Manchester City and Fabinho who has been snapped up by Liverpool were both linked with United before their efforts shifted to Fred. With Marouane Fellaini set to depart and Michael Carrick retired, Mourinho certainly needed to add some depth to the area to relieve the load off Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matić.
Fred spent a year and a half at Brazilian side Internacional before moving to Ukraine in…
Juventus and Napoli have been spending the past few years fighting for the Serie A title. It was Juve who were always coming out on top and retaining the trophy, but this time the two clubs could be in a competition of their own yet again. But that would not be for the famous Scudetto, but for a player.
According to Le10Sport, both Serie A outfits are prepared to fight for the services of Corentin Tolisso. Their report suggests Bayern Munich midfielder is being target by both clubs, as he has reportedly been set to be listed for transfer. The champions of Germany would like to raise some cash this summer, before they start signing players, and Tolisso could be the one to bring it to them.
Apparently, both Bianconerri and Partenopei are ready to bid as much as 35 million…