Former Liverpool goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis is on the verge of joining A-League club Melbourne Victory.
Bouzanis, who has been with Liverpool since he was 16, was once described by then manager Rafael Benitez as the best keeper at his age anywhere in the world.
Victory have denied an agreement has been signed to lure Bouzanis to the club but they are hopeful of completing the deal in the next few days.
I can now confirm that I have agreed terms with Melbourne Victory FC. Looking forward to the new season with my new club. #cantwait, Bouzanis tweeted on Thursday.
But the club said a deal is not yet completed and there are still a couple more conditions in the contract which are yet to be agreed upon.
Coach Mehmet Durakovic and assistant Steve Mauto…
Norwich City manager Paul Lambert has come to the defence of Stoke City s physical approach ahead of their English Premier League clash.
The freshly promoted Canaries began their return to the top flight with a come-from-behind draw at Wigan last Saturday, and have their first home game of the 2011/12 campaign against Stoke on Sunday.
Tony Pulis Stoke have gone from a club in Norwich s position at the start of the 2008/09 season to a FA Cup finalist and a Europa League competitor, yet the Potters have also continually been criticised for an uncompromising approach to their football.
New Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas was the latest to question Stoke s physicality after last Sunday s 0-0 stalemate, but Lambert has leapt to the defence of Pulis and his men.
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Rob Page has been installed as full-time Port Vale boss after impressing the League One club s hierarchy during a spell as interim manager.
Former Wales international defender Page has been part of the Vale Park coaching staff since 2011 and took charge on a temporary basis at the end of September when Micky Adams resigned.
Vale chairman Norman Smurthwaite handed managerial rookie Page the chance to stake a claim for the job on a full-time basis and he has done precisely that by masterminding wins over Yeovil Town and Leyton Orient.
Page has agreed to continue in charge until at least the end of the season and Smurthwaite said: Having stepped up under difficult circumstances, I am pleased with the way in which Rob has implemented an attractive style of play and …
Luis Suarez has a self-inflicted period of reflection ahead of him and the Uruguay forward must use it wisely.
No stranger to controversy, the prodigiously talented Liverpool star sent shockwaves around the football world on Tuesday the television images of him sinking his teeth into Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini during the closing stages of a qualification-clinching FIFA World Cup Group D win are already grimly infamous.
A four-month ban from all football activity will hit his club side particularly hard and Liverpool might be forgiven for thinking they are back to square one following a sensational year on the field from Suarez.
The 27-year-old was absent at the start of last season as he completed a 10-match suspension for biting Chelsea s Branislav Ivanovi…
Romelu Lukaku is no Lionel Messi, but Kevin De Bruyne believes the awesome Belgian striker will be a massive success at Manchester United.
Lukaku swapped Everton for Premier League giants United in a £75million deal, and he has already scored two goals in as many matches.
The 24-year-old was on target in United s 2-0 win over De Bruyne s Manchester City at the International Champions Cup on Thursday.
And City star De Bruyne said his countryman is one of the best players in the world.
He will do very well. Everyone knows what his qualities are and he will do what he has to do, De Bruyne said.
Obviously he has his way of playing. Don t compare him to a Messi. He s a big physical guy and can be awesome.
Lukaku scored 25 Premier League goa…
Philippe Coutinho is excited by Liverpool s newest recruits Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum, and believes the former is too fast .
Mane and Wijnaldum both signed long-term deals at Anfield, becoming Jurgen Klopp s latest additions to his squad ahead of the 2016-17 Premier League season.
Coutinho is excited by what both players bring to the team, especially their injection of pace.
I am looking forward to playing with them. They’re both very good players and fast players, so maybe you can pass a long ball and they ll arrive to it, the Brazil international told Liverpool s official website.
But it s not only them, the squad is very good and there are a lot of good players. I hope we can all do a good job together this year.
There are a…
Italy coach Roberto Mancini is expecting a tough test from an extraordinary Spain side in the quarter-finals of Euro 2020.
The two teams go head to head at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday hoping to earn a place in the showpiece fixture of the tournament.
Spain have won just one of their five games en route to the last four in normal time – a group-stage victory over Slovakia that staved off the threat of an early exit.
But Italy have been altogether more convincing in winning each of their five outings without the need for extra time or penalties.
When it was put to him that many Italians believe their team is already in the final as a result of this strong form, Mancini replied: I hope you get it right for once.
It won t be easy. We need to put in …
Arsene Wenger revealed he tried to lure Jadon Sancho to Arsenal during his time in charge of the Premier League side.
Sancho left Manchester City for Bundesliga outfit Borussia Dortmund in 2017 and the 18-year-old has flourished in Germany, where he has since become an England international.
He showed flashes of his quality in Dortmund s 3-0 first-leg loss to Tottenham in the Champions League last 16 at Wembley on Wednesday.
And former Arsenal manager Wenger said he attempted to sign Sancho before the teenager opted for Dortmund.
I wanted to take him from Man City when he didn t get the games, Wenger told beIN SPORTS.
I tried to lure him because he s from London. I tried to get him to Arsenal. He s one of the best players of his generation. He c…
South American football confederation CONMEBOL has backed FIFA and called for participating nations to leave controversies behind ahead of the World Cup in Qatar.
The decision to stage the World Cup in Qatar has attracted renewed criticism on the eve of the tournament, with critics focusing on the host country s criminalisation of same-sex relationships and the conditions faced by migrant workers.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino and secretary general Fatma Samoura recently wrote to all 32 nations participating in Qatar, requesting they focus on the football .
That letter led Amnesty International to accuse organisers of brushing human rights concerns under the carpet , while a UEFA working group of 10 European nations responded by stressing the need to support hu…
Gareth Southgate joked he would have come under pressure from Wayne Rooney s family if he left Harry Kane on to add to his England tally in the 10-0 thrashing of San Marino.
Kane scored four first-half goals in San Marino on Monday, making him the first England player to achieve that since Ian Wright in 1993 and setting a Three Lions record with 16 goals in a single calendar year.
The Tottenham striker had equalled the previous benchmark of 12 with a hat-trick against Albania last week, with his efforts at Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle making him just the fourth Three Lions player to register trebles in consecutive games.
Kane drew level with Gary Lineker in third on England s all-time scoring list with 48 goals, just five shy of Rooney s record,…