Galatasaray complete Melo signing

Real Madrid s French midfielder Lassana Diarra has claimed to have learnt nothing from Arsene Wenger during his short-lived time at Arsenal.

In an interview with El Pais newspaper, Diarra said: I have the impression that I never played at Arsenal. If you hadn t reminded me of it, I would have forgotten about it. It is something erased from my head.

Asked about any influence Wenger had on him, Diarra said: Me? Nothing. With Wenger I learnt nothing. Well, he only taught me how to doubt everything.

I played 15 matches. The relationship I had with him was not good.

Wenger never spoke to me until I told him I was leaving. He spoke with the others but not me.

Diarra signed for Arsenal from Chelsea in September 2007 but transferred to Portsmouth in …

Virgil van Dijk will start for Liverpool in the Club World Cup final against Flamengo in Doha on Saturday.

The Netherlands star sat out the 2-1 semi-final win over Monterrey after falling ill, meaning Jordan Henderson started at centre-back alongside Joe Gomez.

Van Dijk returns for the match at Khalifa International Stadium, though, while Trent Alexander-Arnold also comes back into the starting line-up at right-back in place of James Milner.

Henderson moves into midfield, with Adam Lallana dropping to the bench, while Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane come in for Divock Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri.

This will be the second competitive meeting between Liverpool and Flamengo, the Brazilians having won 3-0 in the previous meeting in the Inter-Continental Cup fin…

Bookmaker: bet365

The 2021 Gold Cup is in full flow right now with the nations being dwindled down to just four for the semi-finals. All of the remaining sides will feel as if they re all in with a good chance of actually winning the trophy, but as we all know, international football is often as unpredictable as it gets. Today, we re going to be taking a look at what should be an unpredictable battle between Qatar and United States.

Qatar

The 2022 World Cup hosts may have to deal with quite a bit of controversy next year, but in the present day, they re a nation on the rise. They just seem to be thriving under the spotlight whenever they re given the chance to do so and it really is quite fascinating to watch. They re the reigning Asian Cup champions, they re scoring g…

Slowly but surely, Neymar s return to Barcelona appears to be getting closer.

The Paris Saint-Germain star, who is sidelined with an ankle injury, is heavily linked with a return to Camp Nou, two years after his world-record €222million switch to the Ligue 1 giants.

Amid reports of talks between Barca and PSG, steps continue to be taken for a possible return for Neymar.

TOP STORY – NEYMAR S FATHER MEETING WITH BARCA

Neymar s father and his lawyer are set to meet Barcelona representative Andre Cury on Tuesday, according to Esporte Interativo.

The report says Cury, who was involved in Neymar s sale, will put forward Barca s point of view.

If those talks go smoothly, Barcelona would only need to seal negotiations with PSG for a…

Chelsea have the appointment of Frank Lampard as their new manager.

The London Blues parted ways with Maurizio Sarri at the end of the 2018/19 season and reports immediately appeared about the possibility of Lampard returning to the club where he spent the best part of his career.

I am immensely proud to be returning to Chelsea as head coach. Everyone knows my love for this club and the history we have shared, however, my sole focus is on the job in hand and preparing for the season ahead. I am here to work hard, bring further success to the club and I cannot wait to get started,  the 41-year-old told the club s official website.

As a player, Lampard joined Chelsea from West Ham back in 2001 and spent 13 illustrious years at Stamford Bridge, winning three Pre…

Inter have announced the departure of head coach Roberto Mancini by mutual agreement amid reports of a fallout with the club hierarchy.

The 51-year-old returned for a second spell as manager at San Siro in November 2014, but has been unable to steer the club back to the Champions League.

The only full season of Mancini s latest spell ended with Inter finishing fourth in Serie A, even though they had sat top as late as January.

The club released a statement on Monday that read: F.C. Internazionale Milano confirms that it has parted company with head coach Roberto Mancini by mutual agreement.

Inter would like to place on record its thanks to Roberto for the work carried out with the team since joining in November 2014.

Last season the club led Ser…

Serie A heavyweights AC Milan have all but confirmed interest in Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini.

Rossoneri sporting director Massimiliano Mirabelli opened up on the Belgian following AC Milan’s win over Fiorentina, claiming that ‘Fellaini could become an important player for us’.

“We know he is not going to renew with United, but it’s difficult to say that we have closed the deal. He has important attributes. We will do something in that role but we are keeping everything in reserve. First we have to secure our signings, then announce them.”, he said.

AC Milan finished the 2017/18 season in sixth place in the standings and will compete in the Europa League next season.

Rossoneri have invested a great deal in squad rebuilding l…

Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo denied James Rodriguez is poised to join the LaLiga side, adding there have not been negotiations for the Real Madrid midfielder.

Tipped to move to Napoli throughout the off-season, Atletico have reportedly emerged as the favourites to sign James as the Italian outfit and Madrid struggle to reach an agreement.

James is set to leave Madrid following a two-year loan spell at Bayern Munich, who opted not to make the deal permanent at the end of 2018-19.

Asked about Colombia star James, Cerezo told reporters: Atletico are interested in great players and James is a great player, but from that to he s going to come, there s some distance.

Negotiations? Not that I know of, no.

 Time for our traditional pre-s…

Former Marseille coach Rolland Courbis, who has lost appeals against a two-year jail term for accepting transfer bungs between 1997 and 1999, has been taken into custody by police, according to a judicial source.

Courbis, 56, was taken into custody after watching a match at the Velodrome between Marseille and Montpellier, the team that he coached last year.

He was being sought, it s not surprising, said the official, who asked not to be named.

The former Marseille boss was in 2006 handed a three-year jail term, fined 375,000 euros (550,000 dollars) and banned from holding any function related to football for five years over the transfers of 15 players, including that of former France international Christophe Dugarry and former Italy forward Fabrizio Ravanelli.<…

English Premiership club Newcastle United is no longer for sale, owner Mike Ashley said Sunday after failing to find a buyer.

The billionaire sportswear magnate has decided to push ahead with his own plans for the club following a fruitless three-month campaign to find an interested party.

Ashley engaged the services of investment bank Seymour Pierce after deciding to call it a day at St James Park in September following mass protests against his regime in the wake of Kevin Keegan s departure as manager.

Ashley said in a statement on the club s official website: I am happy to end the uncertainty the fans may have had about the future direction of Newcastle United.

I know just how important that is to you.

I have withdrawn Newcastle United fr…