Aston Villa have made a breakthrough in talks with Brentford over the signing of Ollie Watkins, according to . The Premier League club have told the Bees that they are ready to pay more than £20 million to sign the 24-year-old, who can play as a forward or as an attacking midfielder.
Watkins himself is keen on a move to Villa, having worked with the Villans’ manager Dean Smith at Brentford. Villa are willing to hand the 24-year-old a five-year contract and more than treble his current salary at the Bees.
The Englishman scored 26 goals and provided three assists in 49 Championship matches for Brentford last season, according to , as the Bees reached the playoff final. During the 2018-19 campaign, Watkins made 35 starts and six substitute appearances in the league for …
Joao Felix backed Portugal to go all the way at the World Cup after Fernando Santos welcomed a selection headache following a 4-0 friendly thrashing of Nigeria.
Bruno Fernandes first-half double, coupled with late strikes for Goncalo Ramos and Joao Mario, saw Santos side to a comfortable triumph on Thursday before setting off for Qatar.
Atletico Madrid attacker Joao Felix did not manage to get on the scoresheet but impressed in Lisbon, with Santos noting a credible performance from the 23-year-old.
He was one of the best, with some others. They were all better, nobody plays alone, the Portugal coach said.
Joao played a good game too, at the level of what the others did. I have 26 players knocking on the door. Every day they knock on my door in training.…
Former Italy coach Roberto Donadoni has backed Cesare Prandelli s side to pull off a shock victory against Spain at Euro 2012 on Sunday.
Vicente del Bosque s talent-laden world champions are widely expected to pick up an easy win over the crisis-hit Azzurri side, whose preparations have been affected by the controversies of the recent Scommessopoli match-fixing scandal.
However, Donadoni, whose reign in charge of his country was ended by a penalty shootout defeat to Spain in Euro 2008, believes the current crop of Italy players are more than capable of defying the odds by taking the game to the Spaniards.
We can beat Xavi, Iniestia and co. by attacking, Donadoni, told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Spain are as strong as they were four years ago, but they h…
Ecuador coach Gustavo Alfaro says the absent Byron Castillo will be with us in an emotional sense after a controversial nationality dispute led to the defender not going to the World Cup.
Castillo was the subject of a complaint made by Chile in May, with the Chilean Football Federation alleging he was born in Colombia rather than Ecuador.
The case initially put Ecuador s World Cup qualification in doubt until the FIFA investigation was closed in June, and FIFA s Appeal Committee confirmed no further action was being taken three months later.
Chile appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), who acknowledged Castillo s birthplace as being in Colombia, but the claim was dismissed on the basis of Ecuador legally recognising the player as Ecuadorian.
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Moussa Dembele scored a hat-trick and created another as Celtic secured bragging rights in the Old Firm derby with a 5-1 rout of Rangers on Saturday.
The former Fulham striker may not have even started the contest at Celtic Park had Leigh Griffiths not missed out with a calf injury.
Dembele proved Celtic s hero, though, opening his Scottish Premiership account for the club when afforded a free header at a corner before doubling the lead with a clever finish in the 42nd minute.
Joe Garner brought Rangers back into the game on the stroke of half-time, but Dembele played in Scott Sinclair to make it 3-1 on the hour before the visitors had debutant Philippe Senderos sent off for a second bookable offence.
Dembele then completed his dream afternoon with a dril…
Norwich City will be taking on one of the best sides in the world when they face Liverpool in their Premier League opener, according to Daniel Farke.
Last season s Championship winners travel to Anfield on Friday in their first game back in the top flight since suffering relegation in 2016.
Liverpool, in action at Anfield for the first time since winning the Champions League, start the season as second favourites for the title behind reigning champions Manchester City.
Yet despite the calibre of the opposition, Farke has promised to give Liverpool a run for their money.
DF: I can t speak highly enough of Jurgen Klopp. He s a world-class coach, and the job he s done at Liverpool is outstanding.
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC)
They…
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino insists Dele Alli is happy at White Hart Lane amid reports linking the England star to Bayern Munich.
Alli has been a driving force of Spurs Premier League title challenge this season, racking up 13 goals across 30 often-imposing and impressive displays in all competitions.
Such exploits are rumoured to have brought the attacking midfielder into focus for the Bundesliga champions, but Pochettino paid little mind to such talk three days on from the mid-season transfer window closing.
That [rumours] always happens when the players are good or when the coaching staff is good, when things are going well, he said ahead of Saturday s Premier League home match against Middlesbrough, where second-placed Spurs will aim to end a seque…
Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi combined to devastating effect as Barcelona thumped Granada 4-0 to claim their fourth consecutive away LaLiga win.
Ronald Koeman s team continued their recent revival as Messi scored twice for the second straight game, with Barca taking a three-goal lead into half-time.
Griezmann also netted a double and assisted one of Messi s strikes in one of his finest showings in a Barca shirt after what has been a difficult spell since joining from Atletico Madrid in 2019.
The victory moves Barca up to third and within four points of Atletico and two of rivals Real Madrid, who are at Osasuna later on Saturday.
10 s Lionel Messi has scored 11 goals in 2020/21 (two goals against Granada), the only player to score 10+ goals in 15 …
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Serbia will welcome Portugal to the Rajko Mitić stadium in Belgrade on Saturday evening, in what will be their fourth and Portugal s third game of the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign. Neither team will want to waste the opportunity of banking in a point or three, so it should be an interesting game for more than one reason.
Serbia
Though the Serbs have rarely achieved anything as a team, they have always had a few quality names in their ranks. Nonetheless, their main goal in these games is to qualify for the final tournament next year, and they won t be worrying about what happens there just yet.
They managed to appear at the 2018 World Cup and even win their opening game against Costa Rica, but the subsequent back-to-back defea…
Jamie Carragher was perplexed by Gareth Southgate s strange decision to leave special talent Phil Foden on the bench in England s goalless World Cup draw with the United States.
The Three Lions remain top of Group B and on the brink of qualifying for the round of 16 heading into a clash with Wales on Tuesday, but were fortunate to secure a point against USA at Al Bayt Stadium on Friday.
England were sluggish and were almost punished when Christian Pulisic rattled the crossbar in the first half after Weston McKennie wasted a good opportunity to open the scoring.
Southgate brought on Jordan Henderson, Jack Grealish and Marcus Rashford in the second half, but Manchester City attacking midfielder Foden was an unused substitute.
Former England defender Carragh…