Rumour Has It: Zidane not interested in Man Utd job

Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly is pleased to be attracting interest from elsewhere, but he is happy at the Serie A club.

Koulibaly, 27, is consistently linked with a move away from Napoli, where he arrived from Genk in 2014.

The Senegal centre-back said he appreciated the interest from other clubs, but his motivation at Napoli is still high.

My future? I don t know if I m one of the strongest defenders. I always try to give my best, Koulibaly told Rai Sport on Friday.

Since I m here, I always try to grow with Napoli. I have a lot of motivation to go on and I want to keep doing this.

I am pleased that many teams follow me, but I want to demonstrate on the field that I am at the level of the greatest and I want to show it in the future.

…

Paris Saint-Germain are interested in signing Julian Alvarez from Manchester City in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that the Argentina international striker is not happy with his current playing time at the defending Premier League champions, and that last season’s Ligue 1 champions PSG want to bring him to Parc des Princes.

City have offered Alvarez a new five-year contract with a better salary, but it is not clear if the 23-year-old will sign him. The young striker linked up with City in the summer of 2022 after spending the second half of last season on loan at River Plate. Alvarez won the 2022 Qatar World Cup with Argentina, but he is playing second fiddle to Norway international striker Erling Haaland at City.

Alvarez has made …

EXCLUSIVE: Rodrygo, set to sign new long term deal at Real Madrid on Thursday, agreement confirmed.

Understand it will be valid until June 2028 as key, top player for present future plans at Real Madrid.

New release clause: €1B.

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano)

Players to watch

Jhon Arias: Wolverhampton, West Ham and Leeds are all interested in signing Fluminense’s 26-year-old Colombian winger, Teamtalk reports.

Trevoh Chalobah: Teamtalk says the 24-year-old is in Manchester United’s sights after Chelsea told the Englishman he is not part of their future plans.

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Marco Verratti says Roberto Mancini has brought enthusiasm back to the Italy squad and urged the team to continue a beautiful journey .

The Azzurri hit rock bottom in 2017 when a play-off defeat to Sweden saw them miss out on a World Cup for the first time since 1956.

Mancini consequently took the reins and a 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia in his first game in charge was followed by just a single victory in the following seven games.

But since then Italy have triumphed in 13 out of 14 matches, including winning all of their qualifiers for the postponed Euro 2020.

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Verratti says former Manchester City boss Mancini has breathed new life into Italy.

After the match against Sweden, thanks to the coach, enthusiasm has returned…

Goals from Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo helped a below-par Real Madrid see off Eibar 2-0 in Sunday s La Liga encounter at the Ipurua.

After taking a Clasico beating last weekend and conceding three to Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek, Madrid were in need of a response, but laboured to victory against the Basque side with Ronaldo struggling badly in front of goal before he netted a late penalty.

The Portugal star was indecisive when one-on-one with Asier Riesgo in the first half, but Bale gave Madrid the advantage before the break when he headed home a corner from Luka Modric.

Ronaldo wasted another chance when clear on goal after the break, somehow blasting wide, but finally got his name on the scoresheet with eight minutes to play, securing a win that will do li…

Liverpool midfielder Marko Grujic has joined Porto on a permanent deal.

The 25-year-old spent 2020-21 on loan with the Primeira Liga club, making 39 appearances in all competitions.

That was Grujic s latest spell away from Liverpool, whom he joined from Red Star Belgrade in 2016, having also previously spent half a season with Cardiff City and two years at Hertha Berlin.

He was the first signing of ​the Jurgen Klopp era at Anfield but featured just 16 times for the Reds in all competitions.

Serbia international Grujic linked up with the Liverpool squad for this month s pre-season training camp in Austria, but the Merseyside outfit confirmed on Tuesday that he has officially ended his five-year association with the club.

Everyone at Liverpool F…

After the very wholesome and, well, very Arsenal scenes at the Brentford Community Stadium on Friday, a little bit of the other side of football with fans landed in Manchester for the resumption of a simmering and bitter rivalry.

Running scraps between Manchester United and Leeds United supporters in the city centre, including one clobbering another with a bin. The Leeds contingent not so politely enquiring over the identity of new signing Raphael Varane as he was paraded to the Old Trafford faithful, who then burst into a hearty rendition of, We all hate Leeds scum! inside 20 seconds.

Nature is healing.

Of course, novelty becoming normality with all its warts is something everyone can broadly get behind after the past 18 months. Ideally without WWE re-enactments…

Prediction: Eden Hazard first goalscorer

Odds:

Bookmaker:

Liverpool will be given a severe test of their title credentials on Sunday evening as they take on Chelsea at Anfield.

The Reds come into the game on Merseyside two points clear at the top of the Premier League table, albeit having played a game more than closest challengers Manchester City. Elsewhere, Chelsea are sitting in fourth and are battling to gain a UEFA Champions League place ahead of next season so a win against Jurgen Klopp s troops would be a huge boost.

Liverpool

The Reds come into the clash on the back of a stunning run of form. They have won their last six games in succession including the mid-week Champions League stroll against FC Porto. That win against the Portuguese…

Barcelona are still adjusting to life without Lionel Messi, so says Frenkie de Jong, who has no intention of leaving the Blaugrana any time soon.

De Jong joined Barca from Ajax in 2019, arriving with high expectations as the Catalan giants planned to push on following their LaLiga success under Ernesto Valverde.

Yet over the subsequent two-and-a-half years, the club have suffered a significant dip in fortunes, with a lone Copa del Rey title and Messi s exit among the highs and lows since.

De Jong has played under Valverde, Quique Setien and Ronald Koeman before working under current coach and Barca legend Xavi.

He has been linked with a move away from Barca over the last season, but he remains thrilled to be at the club he wanted to play for as a boy, e…

Neymar is welcome to reunite with Lionel Messi but first he must ask for forgiveness following his acrimonious Camp Nou exit three years ago, Barcelona presidential candidate Jordi Farre has insisted.

The Brazil international spent four trophy-laden seasons in Catalonia, forming a formidable partnership alongside Messi and Luiz Suarez, before joining Paris Saint-Germain for a record €222million in 2017 after his release clause was triggered.

Neymar has scored 50 times in 59 Ligue 1 outings since arriving at PSG and assisted a further 29 only team-mate Kylian Mbappe (99) has been directly involved in more goals in the competition in that time.

During his time with Barca, meanwhile, he was directly involved in 164 goals in 186 appearances, helping the club to eig…