Stunning Arsenal strike earns Hazard award

Juventus lead chase for Brazilian hotshot

Juventus are set to step up their interest in Cruzeiro midfielder Everton Ribeiro, .

Given that Andrea Pirlo is not getting any younger and Arturo Vidal is being linked with a summer exit, the Bianconeri are in the market for a central midfielder.

And it appears that Everton Ribeiro is one of the first names on their hit-list, with Juventus officials ready to make their interest concrete.

Having received glowing reports from their scouting team, the Bianconeri are ready to submit an official proposal, with the midfielder valued at €8 million.

Everton Ribeiro has largely impressed since joining Cruzeiro from Coritiba, scoring 17 goals in 83 league outings and he is on the verge of winning the Brazilian S…

Le Parisien is reporting that AC Milan are pondering a move for Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Mohamed Sissoko.

The Rossoneri entered the market hoping to sign a holding midfielder as a replacement for Nigel de Jong, who was ruled out for the season with an Achilles injury.

According to Le Parisien, PSG’s Momo Sissoko is on top of their list of potential replacements.

Sissoko already has a lot of Serie A experience, having spent three and a half years at Juventus.

The Malian midfielder left the Bianconeri in the summer of 2011 to join Paris Saint-Germain, but he has so far failed to make an impact at Parc des Princes.

Sissoko has made just three Ligue 1 appearances for the Saints this season and after being left out of the squad for the last th…

The Football Association’s ‘respect agenda’ is long overdue. The treatment of referees at every level of the game has been disgraceful for some time and is allegedly getting worse. Just take a second to read this excerpt from an article I read the other day:

“The referee was hooted and cursed every time he gave a decision, and one of the spectators went so far as to threaten to throw him into the pond. Immediately after the game he was snowballed, in addition to which mud was thrown at him and he had to seek protection from the violence of the spectators. He took refuge in the pavilion for some time, but when he went towards the public house where the teams dressed, he found that there was a large crowd waiting for …

RB Leipzig have put speculation to bed and declared they will not allow Naby Keita to join Liverpool in January.

The two clubs struck an initial deal in August regarding a future move to Anfield for Keita at the end of the 2017-18 season.

Back then, Liverpool reportedly triggered a £48million release clause which is due to become active on July 1, 2018, while they are also said to have paid an extra £7m in order to secure the transfer a year in advance and loan him back.

Following the sale of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona and with Liverpool reportedly eager for midfield reinforcements as they bid to qualify for the Champions League, an attempt to bring Keita to Anfield six months early had been speculated about.

OFFICIAL: Naby will remain an player u…

Former Germany international Torsten Frings has announced his retirement due to ongoing problems with a hip injury.

Former Germany international Torsten Frings has announced his retirement due to ongoing problems with a hip injury.

The 36-year-old, who signed for Toronto in June 2011, had a club career that spanned 18 seasons and included spells with Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

He also earned 79 caps with Germany and played in two World Cups, helping his country to a place in the final of the 2002 tournament.

The midfielder left Toronto s pre-season camp in Florida earlier this month due to the injury and now says he will not return to action.

During pre-season we discovered that my recovery would take longer than expe…

Chile claimed a place in the knockout stages of the Copa America despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Uruguay.

Eduardo Vargas opened the scoring in Cuiaba, but an Arturo Vidal own goal ensured it ended honours even, a result that means Chile can no longer finish bottom of Group A.

It also helped Uruguay get off the mark after defeat to Argentina in their opener, though Oscar Tabarez s side still have work to do reach the quarter-finals of the competition.

A lively start to proceedings saw Edinson Cavani force an outstanding save from Claudio Bravo with a close-range header, only for the Chilean goalkeeper to be denied the glory by a late offside flag.

The officials also waved away Chile claims for a penalty moments later for the same reason, though Ma…

Coming off his best goal return in a season, Bayer Leverkusen striker Javier Hernandez said former clubs Manchester United and Real Madrid did not give him the opportunity to be the star .

Hernandez won two Premier League titles and as many Community Shields in five years at United, while the Mexico international helped Madrid to Club World Cup glory in 2014 during his loan stint in the Spanish capital.

However, Hernandez was never a regular starter in Manchester or Madrid, utilised as an impact player off the bench.

And after scoring 17 Bundesliga goals in his debut season for Leverkusen 26 in all competitions the 28-year-old lamented the lack of faith shown in him by United and Madrid.

We all know the history of United and Real – European Cups, fight…

The ninety six journalists who vote in France Football Magazine for the European Footballer of the Year have a great deal of power in their hands. The trophy, the Ballon d’Or is one of the most prestigious and highly sought after.

Prestigious

To know just how prestigious the award is you just have to look back at some of the previous winners. Going back to the likes of Stanley Matthews and Alfredo Di Stefano, through to Eusebio, Bobby Charlton, and George Best, onto Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbaur and Michel Platini, Marco Van Basten and George Weak and more recently, Zidane, Figo, Ronaldinho and Kaka. It is a who’s who of European greatness.

Now to that list we can add the name of Manchester United’s Cristiano R…

Various media outlets have reported s interest in Ajax s Matthijs de Ligt in the past few months, but now that the interest has cooled down.

The Catalan club are on the lookout for a young, quality addition to their first-choice centre-back duo of Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti, and the Ajax defender has been perceived as a very good option. Only 18 years old but obviously very talented, de Ligt certainly fits the description of a player ready to sit on the fringes of a club like Barcelona and learn from the established, experienced players. An excellent choice for the future.

However, Ajax sporting director, former Arsenal player and Netherlands international Marc Overmars, reportedly informed that de Ligt would not be allowed to leave the club for anything less t…

Germany coach Joachim Low insisted his team deserved their win over Italy in the Euro 2016 quarter-finals on Saturday.

Jonas Hector netted the winning spot-kick, after Manuel Neuer made two saves, as Low s men claimed a 6-5 shoot-out victory after a 1-1 draw in Bordeaux.

They may have needed penalties, but Low felt Germany were unquestionably the better of the two teams.

It was a game on a very high tactical level from both sides, he said.

I think we were superior, the Italians strength was in the centre and we did well to contain them. I didn t think they would score but the penalty was unfortunate.

Of course it was lucky in the end but through the game we were superior, we had two or three more chances than them.

We could have won th…