Antonio Conte has moved to deny suggestions that Diego Costa will leave Chelsea to return to Atletico Madrid.
Costa departed the Spanish capital for Stamford Bridge in a reported £32million deal ahead of the 2014-15 season and scored 20 goals as Chelsea claimed a Premier League and League Cup double.
However, the Spain striker was blighted by injury last term as Chelsea s title defence fell apart and the Blues limped to a 10th-placed finish.
Costa s indifferent season meant he was overlooked by Spain for Euro 2016 and Atleti president Enrique Cerezo claimed that talks had begun about bringing Costa back to the Vicente Calderon to reignite his career.
However, new Chelsea head coach Conte has no plans to let the striker return to LaLiga.
Diego i…
Sam Allardyce feels Stewart Downing has the quality to regain a place in the England squad after impressing in his new role for West Ham.
The former Liverpool man was relatively impressive on the wing during his debut campaign at Upton Park, but has flourished at the tip of West Ham s midfield this term.
With one goal from his six league appearances, Downing has also provided some much-needed creativity in a midfield diamond during the absence of captain Kevin Nolan.
Downing has not featured for his national side since Euro 2012 qualifying, but Allardyce feels the 30-year-old is only being denied a place because of the set-up used by Roy Hodgson.
Stewart s playing in a slightly different role here, I don t think Roy [Hodgson] plays with a man in the hol…
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti expects Cristiano Ronaldo to extend his stay at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The prolific Portuguese forward has recently been linked with a move away from the Spanish club, with his public declarations of unhappiness last season leading to suggestions that former club Manchester United could make a bid.
However, Ancelotti, who was appointed as Jose Mourinho s successor at Real earlier this month, is looking forward to working with the 28-year-old, who has scored 201 goals in 199 outings for the club.
Everyone knows that he is a superstar and a great player, he said.
The most important thing for the club is that a player of his quality shows the utmost professionalism. That is good, especially for the young players who can see a world-c…
Sivasspor s start of the season didn t have the result they would have hoped for, as last year s runners-up lost 1-2 to Trabzonspor.
Trabzonspor, who finished third 2008-09 season, took the lead through Selcuk Inan in the 10th minute but his goal was cancelled out by Yanick Kamanan in the 48th.
The winning goal came with 12 minutes left to go in Sivas, as Ceyhun Gülselam s effort gave the victory to the away side.
Defending champions Besiktas were held to a 1-1 draw by Istanbul BB on Friday, while traditional giants Galatasaray and Fenerbahce start their season on Sunday.
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Wigan Athletic have completed the signing of James McClean from Sunderland,.
The 24 year old was brought to England by Steve Bruce in 2011, but didn’t break into the Black Cats first team until Martin O’Neill was appointed manager at the Stadium of Light.
He made forty-one appearances last season – scoring five goals but has been allowed to move on following the large influx of new blood on Wearside this summer.
The former Derry City man becomes Owen Coyle’s tenth signing since talking charge of the Latics, and could make his debut at Wembley on Sunday, when the Championship club face Premier League champions Manchester United in the Community Shield.
He has been capped fourteen times for the Republic of Ireland and has, along with new team…
Monaco have won their appeal against a two-point penalty imposed following crowd trouble at the end of last season.
The newly-promoted Ligue 1 club were handed the punishment by the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) in June following the ugly scenes that marred the end of their final home game of the Ligue 2 season against Le Mans on May 17, which confirmed their return to the top flight.
Fans invaded the pitch at the end of the 2-1 win, with the match referee attacked in the midst of the celebrations.
The principality outfit have spent large sums in the close-season as they aim to challenge champions Paris Saint-Germain for the Ligue 1 title, but despite the signings of Radamel Falcao, Joao Moutinho, James Rodriguez and Eric Abidal their star-studded side faced st…
Renato Sanches is content to adhere to Niko Kovac s instruction by remaining at Bayern Munich, so long as he gets opportunities to play.
Restricted to four Bundesliga starts last season, midfielder Sanches boosted his case for first-team opportunities with a strong showing in the 3-1 victory over Real Madrid in the International Champions Cup (ICC).
The Portugal international helped Bayern established superiority during the opening 45 minutes and could take on a more prominent role following the end of James Rodriguez s two-season loan deal.
Speaking ahead of the Madrid match, Kovac confirmed the club had told Sanches to forget about finding new employers, advice that has been heeded by the player.
I m ready to stay, Sanches told Bild.
I had …
Andres Iniesta is anticipating a special game between Vissel Kobe and his former club Barcelona, and feels privileged to be involved.
Iniesta left Barca in 2018 after 16 years in the first team at Camp Nou, joining the J1 League club.
The former Spain international will go up against his former team for the first time in Saturday s friendly.
And the 35-year-old is expecting the match to be a momentous occasion not just personally, but also for Vissel Kobe s players and fans.
For us it is a privilege to play Barcelona. It will be a very special game, he told a news conference.
Personally, it will be special to play against some former colleagues. We will try to compete at our best, also in order to get prepared for our next [J1 League] game, …
Portsmouth manager Paul Hart called on everyone connected with the struggling Premier League side to unite after it emerged chief executive Peter Storrie was facing tax evasion charges.
The charge relates back to the transfer of midfielder Amdy Faye from French club Auxerre to Portsmouth for 1.5 million pounds (2.49 million dollars) in August 2003.
Storrie has been on bail since being arrested in November 2007, while continuing to work at Fratton Park on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.
It has been alleged Faye was paid a 250,000 pounds (415,000 dollars) signing-on fee on which tax was not paid a charge Storrie denies absolutely.
Storrie s run in with HM Revenue and Customs is the latest off-field problem to hit Premier League bas…
Flamengo qualified for the Copa Libertadores final for the third time in four years with a 2-1 win over Velez Sarsfield on Wednesday rounding out a comfortable 6-1 aggregate semi-final victory.
The Brazilian giants had won the first leg in Buenos Aires 4-0 to have complete control of the tie coming in, but Lucas Pratto created some doubt with the opener in the 21st minute at Estadio do Maracana.
Pedro, who netted a hat-trick in the first leg, settled any nerves with an expert header from Everton Ribeiro s cross shortly prior to half-time to square the match up.
As the game opened up, Marinho thumped in a left-foot winner in the 68th minute, with Pedro s skill setting up the opportunity.
The Brazilians were denied a third goal in stoppage time after a VAR …