Sports

Having tried all summer to secure a move away from Napoli and failed, Victor Osimhen has been left out of the squad for the Serie A season, and according to various reports, the relationship between the Nigerian striker and the club hierarchy has been broken beyond repair.

Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea were the two clubs most frequently credited with interest in Osimhen, though Manchester United were mentioned as well. However, no deal materialized obviously, with reports suggesting the main reason for it was that he refused to have his salary reduced, and the situation has left the 25-year-old in a difficult position. His future is less certain than ever, and all parties are believed to be searching for a satisfactory solution to the problem.

Since joining the club i…

Watford captain Moussa Sissoko is on the verge of completing the transfer to Nantes, according to Adam Leventhal of . The medical ahead of the proposed move is scheduled for today (Thursday), with the Hornets set to receive a fee of around £1.7 million for the services of the 32-year-old.

Sissoko rose through the youth ranks at Toulouse and spent six years as their first-team player before moving to England to join Newcastle in 2013. Three years later, Tottenham Hotspur took him to North London as Mauricio Pochettino conducted the process of building a team that would eventually reach the Champions League final in 2019. Having made a total of 201 appearances for Spurs, the versatile midfielder left to join Watford last summer.

Watford have been relegated to the Champio…

Harry Kane and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg scored in the space of six second-half minutes as Tottenham fought back from 2-0 down to claim a draw against Brentford in the first Premier League game following the World Cup on Monday.

Spurs, boasting a line-up including a host of players who featured at Qatar 2022, were dismal in the opening hour in west London and deservedly found themselves two goals behind courtesy of efforts from Vitaly Janelt and Ivan Toney.

Kane, playing for the first time since his vital penalty miss in England s quarter-final defeat to France, pulled one back for Antonio Conte s side with 25 minutes remaining.

And the visitors claimed a share of the spoils soon after when Hojbjerg coolly slotted home his fourth league goal of the season.

Ba…

Liverpool took all three points from their trip to the London Stadium on Wednesday, where they took on West Ham in a rather exciting Premier League clash. The home side took the lead through Lucas Paqueta in the 12th minute, and Cody Gakpo equalized in the 18th. In the end, it was Joel Matip who settled the contest in the 67th.

The game

Both teams need as many points they can get between now and the end of the season, but Liverpool s need is arguably greater at this point as they fight to qualify at least for the Europa League, if they must miss out on the top four.

It was completely to be expected that the Reds take charge of the proceedings and take charge they did, ending the contest with the ball at their feet for 72% of the time and a total of 11 shots, four on ta…

Pep Guardiola is backing Xabi Alonso to make a success of his big break at Bayer Leverkusen.

Former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich midfielder Alonso was named head coach of the Bundesliga team on Wednesday.

It is the 40-year-old s most prominent role since retiring from playing in 2017, since when he has been building towards a top job, spending three years as coach of Real Sociedad B.

Like Guardiola, Alonso s playing career was spent largely as a deep-sitting central midfielder. Both men played for Spain, with Guardiola earning 47 caps and Alonso representing his country 114 times.

Alonso won a World Cup and two European Championships in Spain s golden era of success from 2008 to 2012, a period which coincided with Guardiola s reign as Barcelon…

Lionel Messi has now gone past Diego Maradona for World Cup appearances and goals – and the Argentina number 10 has pulled exactly level with his predecessor on two important statistics that showcase their creative brilliance.

Saturday s hard-fought 2-1 win over Australia carried Argentina into the quarter-finals, with Messi scoring the ninth World Cup goal of his career to put Lionel Scaloni s team 1-0 in front in the first half.

That nudged Messi ahead of Maradona s career haul of eight goals, while he has moved to 23 World Cup appearances during this tournament, two ahead of his late compatriot and fellow number 10 shirt wearer s previous national team record.

Messi is just one behind Gabriel Batistuta s record of 10 World Cup goals with Argentina, and he ma…

Leicester became just the second former Premier League champions to be relegated despite a 2-1 home victory over West Ham on the final day of the season.

The Foxes, who won the title seven years ago, needed to win and hope that Everton did not get three points in their clash at home to Bournemouth.

And for a large part of the afternoon that looked like playing out as they went ahead through Harvey Barnes and Wout Faes before the crushing news of Abdoulaye Doucoure’s goal for Everton came through.

Everton stay up on a dramatic final day, while Leicester City and Leeds United are relegated

— Premier League (@premierleague)

And with the Toffees hanging on at Goodison Park it condemned Leicester to the drop which represents a huge fall from gra…

Best Odds: 7/10

Bookmaker:

In what could prove to be an action-packed La Liga showdown on Thursday night, Girona will travel to Real Betis.

Real Betis

Starting with the hosts, dragging themselves to another European finish last season, Manuel Pellegrini’s men will be looking to carry on from where they left off back in May. With some around the Estadio Benito Villamarín dreaming of the chance to mount a genuine top-four charge this time around, the former Manchester City boss saw his squad lose just one of their final seven La Liga appearances last year. However, despite signing off the 2023/24 campaign with a gritty 0-0 stalemate away at history-makers Real Madrid on May 25th, Betis will know the importance of finding some crucial stability on home soil. In…

It is a major tournament held in England where the hosts are looking to end a long wait without silverware, but Germany stand in their way.

This feels awfully familiar.

Sarina Wiegman s Lionesses have captured the hearts of a nation, with fans flocking to watch them reach their first major tournament final since 2009 where they lost to *checks notes* Germany.

Meanwhile, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg s side have advanced to the final comparatively under the radar, with Die Nationalelf picking up impressive scalps of their own along the way.

It promises to be a fascinating contest at Wembley Stadium in front of what is expected to be a record crowd for any European Championship game  men s or women s  on Sunday.

A huge 90 minutes, maybe more, await…

Hugo Lloris made a grovelling apology to Tottenham fans after admitting sorry Spurs showed a lack of pride in their humiliating defeat at Newcastle United.

Tottenham were 5-0 behind after only 21 minutes at St James Park and at that point might have settled for a 6-1 defeat, which is how the game ended.

Hopeless defending and a lack of will from the visiting players saw them picked apart by hosts who moved third in the Premier League.

Tottenham s grip on fifth place is increasingly tenuous, with their season rapidly unravelling.

They were beaten at home by Bournemouth in their previous game and have tough assignments coming up against Manchester United on Thursday and Liverpool on Sunday.

At this rate of decline, they risk missing out on European …