According to a recent report from Mundo Deportivo, a series of Barcelona directors are believed to have made it clear that they want the club to end their interest in Neymar, with the aim of turning their attention towards Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe. The French sensation, who scored during the 2018 FIFA World Cup final, will have just two years remaining on his contract at the end of the current campaign. It’s not exactly a secret that he’s been linked with a move away from the French capital, but more often than not, Real Madrid are the side that are being mentioned in the same breath as Mbappe as opposed to Barcelona.

The Neymar dilemma has been ongoing for quite some time now and many fans have questioned whether or not it’s just a waste of resources, espec…

(GSM) Juventus midfielder Diego has admitted that he doesn t expect to be part of Brazil s World Cup squad.

The former Werder Bremen playmaker has had a struggling first season in the Serie A and doesn t seem to be in Dunga s plans for South Africa.

When asked if Juventus poor season is to blame for his lack of opportunities on the international stage, Diego said: “All I can say is that I am prepared to play the World Cup.

“Even though I know that it will be hard to be there, I still have hopes. I played for two years under Carlos Alberto Parreira and also two and a half years for Dunga.

“He knows my value and my way to play. I am 100 per cent available if he decides he needs me.

“I have never had any problems with the national team manag…

(GSM) Tottenham Hotspur defender Ledley King has to go to the World Cup finals, according to his manager Harry Redknapp.

The coach thinks King is the ideal cover for John Terry and Rio Ferdinand.

You d take him to the World Cup all day long he s that good, the Spurs boss told BBC.

King was last called up to the England squad in March 2009. At that time, Redknapp wasn t pleased with that decision because he thought King could not play two games in a week because of his injury problems.

Now, Redknapp says King could play for England if he is rested properly between games.

He s special that s why when he s fit, I play him.

He s desperate to play for England. If you lose Terry or Rio, you know he s going to come in and do a job for you.<…

Rudi Garcia insists he has no intention of resigning from his job at Roma, despite an embarrassing Coppa Italia exit against Spezia continuing the club s miserable recent run of form.

After both sides failed to score in 120 minutes, the Serie B side upset their hosts at the Stadio Olimpico with a 4-2 penalty shootout win on Wednesday.

The result heaps further pressure on Garcia, who has now seen his team fail to find the net in their last three matches. Roma s last victory in all competitions came on November 8, when they recorded a 2-0 triumph over city rivals Lazio in Serie A.

However, the Frenchman who took up his position in the summer of 2013 remained defiant in his post-match media conference. 

I will not quit. I will stay on and fight to the deat…

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is under extreme pressure as his team prepare to face Stoke City at the Brtiannia Stadium on Saturday.

The visitors have fallen out of the top four in the Premier League as well as crashing out of the Champions League and League Cup in a run that has seen them win just three times in 13 games.

Without a victory in any of their last six matches in all competitions, it is United s worst winless run within a single season since December 1998  the campaign in which they went on to win an historic treble.

United s poor results have piled the pressure on Van Gaal and prompted speculation linking sacked Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola – who will leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season – with the job at Ol…

The New York Red Bulls let slip a lead to lose 2-1 to Sporting Kansas City on the opening weekend of the new Major League Soccer (MLS) season.

Caden Clark had put the Red Bulls up with a spectacular goal early in the second half but last season s Western Conference top spot finishers hit back.

Gadi Kinda netted a 59th minute penalty with Hungarian forward Daniel Salloi putting KC ahead barely 60 seconds later with a simple close-range finish.

New York City were also opening day losers, blowing a 1-0 lead to go down 2-1 at D.C. United.

City, who reached last season s play-offs, went ahead on the quarter hour from Valentin Castellanos.

But United responded by taking the lead before the interval with a sensational long-range drive from Brendan Hines-…

Prediction: Man United win

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The dust has settled on the European Super League debacle and now, we can all focus on the race to the finish this season as domestic football reaches a dramatic finale. The Premier League isn t going to be immune to all of that chaos with plenty of teams still having a whole lot left to fight for, and even though the stakes aren t as high as usual, we still think old enemies Leeds United and Manchester United will put on one hell of a show for us in Yorkshire this weekend.

Leeds

Marcelo Bielsa is a wizard of a man and after everyone doubted his team s ability to hang around in the top flight, he s clearly had a whole lot of fun proving them wrong. It s not as if they re immediately challenging for th…

Franz Beckenbauer on Sunday described Germany as the perfect team and said they will be favourites to defeat Spain in Wednesday s World Cup semi-final.

This team, it s the masterpiece of Joachim Loew. He has placed his mark on its make-up and created a perfect team, Beckenbauer, a World Cup winner as a player and a coach, told the German Football Federation s official website.

I have rarely seen such mastery of the game from a German team. Perhaps only in the 1970s and the World Cup winning team of 1990.

Beckenbauer was speaking the day after Germany had routed Argentina 4-0 in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, the third time in South Africa that the team had hit four goals in one game.

In the past, we would say that you had to leave the beautiful…

As Spain returned to Madrid Monday to a welcome befitting their status as freshly-crowned world champions FIFA president Sepp Blatter delivered a glowing appraisal to World Cup hosts South Africa.

Spain added the global crown to their European title thanks to Andres Iniesta s extra-time winner in the 1-0 win over Holland in Sunday s final at Soccer City which brought the curtain down on the first ever World Cup staged on the African continent.

The flight from Johannesburg carrying Iniesta and his teammates touched down in Madrid at 1300 GMT with the first to emerge from the plane team captain Iker Casillas clutching the World Cup trophy in his arms.

A welcoming committee of over one million Spaniards is expected to turn out to greet Vicente Del Bosque s side as …

Arsenal F.C. midfielder Jack Wilshere will undergo surgery on a hairline fracture in his left leg and is set to be sidelined for the next three months.

The England international, 23, has struggled with injury woes in recent times and missed five months of last year s campaign with ankle ligament damage.

Wilshere has not played since suffering the fracture in training ahead of the FA Community Shield win over reigning English Premier League champions Chelsea.

Considering the Wilshere s history of injuries, team doctors have decided to fix the problem with surgery, which will require a metal plate to be inserted in the 23-year-old s leg.

A statement on the club s official website read: Due to a slow healing response from a fracture suffered…