Arsenal have been handed a clear pathway to sign Lyon midfielder Maxime Gonalons in the summer, after the Ligue 1 club rejected a £14million bid from Napoli. . Rafa Benitez wanted to bring the France international to Stadio San Paolo, but has failed in his attempt to sign him during the January transfer window. . Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is a long-term admirer of Gonalons, and will now be hopeful of securing the player’s signature at the end of the season. . A mid-season transfer to the Emirates Stadium appears highly unlikely, particularly given Arsenal’s wealth of midfield options at…
Author: David Folami
Everton and England midfielder Ross Barkley could be ruled out for several weeks with a suspected broken toe. . Barkley, 20, has suceeded for the club this season, but missed Saturday’s 2-0 win over Norwich with the problem. . “We are going to assess him and it seems he is going to be out for a while, it could be broken,” said Everton manager Roberto Martinez. . If the injury is as bad as feared, Barkley will miss the Merseyside derby at Liverpool’s stadium on 28 January. . Everton defender Leighton Baines fractured his toe when Everton met Liverpool at…
Manchester United boss David Moyes hopes his side can build on their 2-0 home win over Swansea, which ended a three-game losing streak in 2014. . Antonio Valencia and Danny Welbeck scored second-half goals as United moved to within four points of fourth-placed Everton in the Premier League. . “I hope a long way better is to come. I would like to think it would improve an awful lot,” Moyes said. . “But you have to start somewhere and I think today was more like it.” . Victory came after a difficult week for Moyes in which his side lost…
Sunderland can beat the odds and stay up despite being bottom of the Premier League at Christmas, manager Gus Poyet said after an emphatic 4-1 win at fellow strugglers Fulham on Saturday. . Propping up the table on December 25 almost always leads to relegation, with only West Bromwich Albion making a great escape in 2005, but after Adam Johnson’s hat-trick on Saturday hoisted Sunderland off the bottom, Poyet said they are up for the fight. . “It was an outstanding performance,” the Uruguayan told the BBC. “If we can retain that level then we can stay up. We needed…
England striker Jermain Defoe began his long goodbye from Tottenham Hotspur with his first Premier League goal of the season as the home side recovered from a poor first half to beat Crystal Palace 2-0 on Saturday. . Defoe, Spurs’ fifth highest all-time scorer with 143 goals, will be joining MLS side Toronto FC in March in a £6 million deal and scored in the 72nd minute to guarantee all three points at White Hart Lane. . Tottenham are unbeaten in five league matches since Tim Sherwood became manager last month after the sacking of Andre-Villas Boas and the win…
Mali started their 2014 African Nations Championship campaign on a winning note when they defeated West African rivals Nigeria 2-1 in their Group A encounter at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night. . Abdoulaye Sissoko opened the scoring in the first half and Adama Traore added the second soon after the break, while substitute Gbolahan Salami scored the only goal for the Super Eagles. . It was the Eagles who threatened first in the 7th minute when Chigozia Agbim punched Sissoko’s corner straight into the path of Lassana Diarra, but his goalbound shot was cleared by Azubuike Egwuekwe. .…
Chelsea forward Eden Hazard has insisted that rumours he wants a summer switch to Paris Saint-Germain have no foundation, focusing on maintaining his fine start to the campaign and doing enough to remain a long-term feature of Jose Mourinho’s plans at Stamford Bridge. . Hazard was quoted by Le Parisien earlier this week as telling a team-mate he will “certainly be joining Paris next summer”, despite Mourinho’s insistence that the Belgian playmaker is going nowhere. . The wing wizard starred in Chelsea’s return to the top of the Premier League earlier today, breaking the deadlock in a 2-0 win at…
Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to raid his former club and take Brazilian flop Fabio to Cardiff City. . According to the Daily Mail, the new Cardiff boss is keen to bolster his full-back department and feels Fabio could help him keep the Bluebirds up this season. . The former Fluminense youngster, who joined Manchester United with his twin brother Rafael in 2008, looks set to leave Old Trafford without making any real impact in six years at the Premier League champions. . Solskjaer is famous for being Sir Alex Ferguson’s ‘Supersub’ for a number of years, most…
Former Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva has admitted that he would jump at the chance to re-sign for the club. . The Croatian international originally signed for the Gunners in 2007 following a prolific spell for Dinamo Zagreb. . Eduardo started his Arsenal career off in a positive manner and looked to be flourishing before he unfortunately suffered a horrific leg break at the feet of Martin Taylor. . Having never recovered his form, Eduardo was sold to Ukrainian outfit Shakhtar Donetsk in 2010. . But the striker has been very much a bit-part player for the club, starting just…
Having seen Chelsea’s consummate and confident performance against Hull City this afternoon, there will undoubtedly be some alarm bells ringing in Manchester and North London. . Chelsea dispatched Hulls with relative ease, putting on an efficient show of organised defending and lethal counter-attacking. Goals from the in form Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres secured a 2-0 win for the Blues and Mourinho praised their ‘solid’ performance. . This makes it five wins on the trot for the special one’s side and they now sit top the Premier League for the first time since September. . Admittedly, Manchester City and Arsenal…
Lionel Messi will have to wait for his first start of 2014 after being named on the bench by Barcelona boss Gerardo Martino for Saturday’s crunch top of the table clash away to Atletico Madrid. . Brazilian forward Neymar is also surprisingly left out of the starting line-up as Martino keeps faith with Alexis Sanchez, Cesc Fabregas and Pedro Rodriguez in attack. . Messi made a sensational return to action after two months out with a hamstring tear on Wednesday as he scored twice as a second-half substitute in Barca’s 4-0 Copa del Rey last 16, first-leg win over Getafe.…
David Moyes is adamant he still retains the support of Manchester United’s players as the pressure mounts on the under-fire Old Trafford boss. . Moyes endured a miserable start to his United reign after succeeding Alex Ferguson in July and the new year has brought further troubles for the Premier League champions. . Having been beaten by Tottenham in the league and Sunderland in the League Cup, either side of last Sunday’s FA Cup defeat by Swansea, United have lost their first three games of the year for the first time since 1932. . The defeat by Spurs left Moyes’…
Arsenal look to be on the hunt for Roma’s Mattia Destro, according to reports in Italy. . With Arsenal currently having Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain almost ready to return to the squad, the return of Chamberlain and the addition of Destro would be a welcome sight for fans of the Gunners. . The Italian news programme that broke the news also went on to to add that they believe that contact had been made between the club and the players agent Claudio Vigorelli. . Unfortunately for Arsenal it is believed that Roma are not willing to negotiate a deal that would…
Manchester United are odds-on favourites to land Chelsea defender target Fabio Coentrao. . SkyBet are offering an incredibly short 8/13 on the Red Devils landing the Portuguese defender before February 1st, with the chasing pack well behind in the market. . David Moyes was reportedly close to bringing the player to Manchester United in the summer, but a loan move to Old Trafford fell apart in the final stages of the window. . Since then, the Premier League champions have struggled on the pitch, with the Red Devils languishing in mid-table – 11 points off the top spot .. However,…
Manchester United transfer target Ravel Morrison wants to leave West Ham this month, according to reports. . The Daily Mail claims the attacking midfielder does not see his long-term future in East London, and is eager to move in the January transfer window. . Morrison has been one of the Hammers’ top performers in a disappointing season for Sam Allardyce’s side thus far, and the manager has denied that the player will be made available to clubs, the report claims. . Manchester United know all about Morrison’s ability, having had the 20-year-old on their books as a junior. . Indeed,…
Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers admits he sometimes has to hold Luis Suarez back from playing. . The Uruguayan international has been a revelation this season for the Reds, scooping the Barclays Player of the Month in December for good measure. . But Rodgers admits he has to try and keep a lid on the forward, particularly in training, when he’s desperate to be on the field when he should be resting. . When asked if he holds him back, the Northern Irishman told the official Liverpool website: “Absolutely. When I first came in, I rested him in one or two…
Nigeria and Arsenal wonderkid Chuba Akpom gave Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger food for thought after smashing a hat-trick in Monday night’s 6-1 drubbing of Peterborough in the Fourth Round of the FA Youth Cup. . Following the news Theo Walcott will miss the rest of the season with a cruciate ligament injury, 18-year- old Akpom gave Gunners fans reason to cheer at London Road as he looks capable of taking over from the injured England international. . The Nigerian born striker who has made a handful of appearances for the Arsenal first team most notably. in the 2013 pre-season tour…
Arsenal have made Porto striker Jackson Martinez their top January transfer target, according to reports in Portugal. . Martinez has been linked with a move to both Arsenal and Chelsea over the past few months, but it looks as though the Gunners are stepping up their pursuit with boss Arsene Wenger in desperate need of a new centre-forward. . Olivier Giroud has been mostly holding the fort up front this season, following injuries to Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott, with Nicklas Bendtner playing a bit-part role. . But after Walcott was ruled out for the rest of the season earlier…
Arsenal forward Theo Walcott will not be punished by England’s Football Association for taunting Tottenham fans during his team’s 2-0 win in the FA Cup on Saturday. . As he was being taken off on a stretcher with a knee injury, Walcott signaled the 2-0 score with his fingers to the Tottenham supporters, who pelted the England international and the medics carrying him with coins and bottles. . The FA says in a statement released on Monday that it has contacted Walcott “and reminded him of his responsibilities regarding a ‘scoreline’ gesture he made,” but will not be taking any…
Leaders Barcelona have yet to decide if Lionel Messi will play from the start in Saturday’s top of the table La Liga clash at Atletico Madrid. . The brilliant Argentine forward made an instant impact when he came on for the last 30 minutes of the midweek King’s Cup tie against Getafe after being out for almost two months with a hamstring injury. . Messi grabbed two goals in the 4-0 win but coach Gerardo Martino is not sure if second-placed Atletico will represent too tough a 90-minute test. . “He looks fine and had a phenomenal 30 minutes in…