Manchester United linked with Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz

Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City will continue to be perfect when he leaves the club.

The 51-year-old is in the final year of his current deal and has refused to be drawn on questions around his future beyond this season.

Guardiola has had a successful spell at City since arriving in 2016, winning four Premier League titles, four EFL Cups and an FA Cup.

Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of the derby against Manchester United on Sunday, the City boss said he is just focused on his immediate duties, but did say he has no concerns about the club s prospects even when he does finally depart.

I would say my future is lunchtime because I m starving. I didn t have breakfast, he initially joked.

When I started to be a manager I think next month, next w…

Derby County have completed and the signing of Jordon Ibe on a free transfer from AFC Bournemouth.

The winger took his first football steps with Wycombe and joined Liverpool s U-18 side in 2012. Having reached the first team, he was sent to learn the trade on loan first with Birmingham City, and then Derby where he spent a part of the 2014/15 season, making a total of 24 appearances for the Rams. He later returned to his parent club, but being unable to prove his worth to Jurgen Klopp, he joined Bournemouth on a permanent deal at the end of 2015/16.

It has now been a year since Ibe played his last competitive game, and he will now start working on rebuilding match fitness in order to prepare for the action in the Championship at Pride Park Stadium again.

Derby …

Arsenal forward Beth Mead hopes she did enough in her long-anticipated comeback to show Sarina Wiegman she is fit to play for England this month.

The Euro 2022 Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament winner, who ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) last November, was greeted with thunderous applause on her return in the 88th minute at the Emirates on Sunday, where two stoppage-time goals completed a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory against Aston Villa.

Mead looked sharp from the moment she stepped onto the pitch – observed by England boss Wiegman from the stands – and provided the assist to set up Alessia Russo’s winner, which came moments after Katie McCabe had cancelled out Maz Pacheco’s opener.

‘Meado! Meado! Meado!’

— Arsenal Wo…

Chelsea seem to have resigned themselves to making a major loss on Romelu Lukaku, who has only netted five times on loan at Inter this term.

According to a Football Insider report, the Blues are ready to move him on in at the end of the season, with Inter unlikely to try to extend his stay in Milan.

Chelsea spent £97.5milion to bring Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge in August 2021, but they are unlikely to get anywhere near that now.

TOP STORY – GERMAN CHAMPIONS LINE UP SHOCK LUKAKU MOVE

Bayern Munich are lining up a shock move for Chelsea s Romelu Lukaku to bolster their attacking options, claims Fichajes.

The report claims Bayern boss Julian Nagelsmann is an admirer of the Belgium striker, who he believes is one of the world s best forwards if…

Chelsea are leading the race for AC Milan forward Rafael Leao, according to . The report has claimed that Chelsea are ahead of other teams who are keen on securing the services of 23-year-ld in the summer of 2023.

Leao can operate as a forward or as a winger and is considered as one of the best young players in Europe. The Portugal international has been on the books of AC Milan since 2019 and has helped the Rossoneri become a major force in Italy again. The youngster played his role in Milan winning Serie A last season.

So far this season, Leao has scored four goals and provided four assists in seven Serie A matches for Milan. The 23-year-old has also played thrice in the UEFA Champions League so far this campaign. Leao scored 11 goals and gave eight assists in the lea…

We need to talk about Aaron Ramsey.

Out of contract at the end of the season, the midfielder s future shifted back into the spotlight with the start of a new year. There appears only one certainty when it comes to the Wales international – he will not be remaining at Arsenal beyond the 2018-19 campaign.

The Gunners seemed certain to hand the player an extension at one stage, only to then change their minds as talks collapsed.

We all know that the contract was taken away off the table. I m not sure exactly why because a few weeks before we sort of agreed and I was ready to sign, a confused Ramsey said in October. Now it is January 2019 and he is free to sign a pre-contract agreement with a team from outside of England.

Unsurprisingly, a number …

Under-fire Erik ten Hag is convinced he retains the backing of Manchester United’s players after the club were angered by reports he had lost some of the dressing room.

The Dutchman’s challenging second campaign in charge continued on Saturday night, when a lifeless display saw the Red Devils fall to a meek 1-0 defeat at Newcastle.

A 10th defeat of the season led to some reports that Ten Hag had lost the confidence of up to half of his players, with concerns over his style, tactics and signings mentioned.

Those reports led to the club banning four media outlets shortly before Tuesday’s press conference nominally set up to preview the midweek Premier League clash against Chelsea.

The boss continues: [We have] showed great character, great determinat…

Livingston manager David Martindale is delighted to have signed “ultimate professional” Andrew Shinnie to a new contract for next season as he attempts to deal with the impending loss of some key personnel from his squad this summer.

The 33-year-old former Inverness, Birmingham and Luton midfielder joined the Lions in 2021 and the West Lothian club announced on Wednesday that he had extended his deal until the end of next term.

Martindale is thrilled to have retained Shinnie as he prepares for his “toughest” rebuild yet, with the manager expecting Joel Nouble to be sold and Stephane Omeonga, Nicky Devlin and Jack Fitzwater to leave under freedom of contract.

“I’m going to lose a lot of quality from the squad this year and probably a bit of quantity at…

Liverpool produced yet another late show to beat Aston Villa 2-1 and maintain their six-point lead at the Premier League summit.

That margin could have been greater were it not for Manchester City s own fightback at home to Southampton, with Kyle Walker s goal four minutes from time sealing all three points for Pep Guardiola s side.

Manchester United reverted to type after a recent mini revival, slipping to an insipid 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth, while Chelsea were 2-1 winners over Watford at Vicarage Road.

Our Premier League Data Diary sheds some light on the detail behind the major stories from this weekend s big games.

LIVERPOOL LEAVE IT LATE AGAIN

Liverpool s stunning start to the season continued with a last-gasp win over Aston Vil…

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo has firmly denied an accusation of rape and says it is an abominable crime .

The Portugal star was accused by Kathryn Mayorga of sexually assaulting her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.

Ronaldo initially described the claims, first reported by German publication Der Spiegel last Friday, as fake news via an Instagram video.

The 33-year-old has now published a statement on social media in which he denies the allegations against him and hits out at a media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense .

I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media s…