Football rumours: Manchester United begin hunt for Raphael Varane successor

Bologna have announced the double capture of Roberto Soriano and Nicola Sansone from Villarreal on permanent deals.

Soriano and Sansone spent the second half of the 2018-19 campaign on loan with the Serie A side, making 17 and 15 league appearances respectively.

Bologna have taken up the option to sign Sansone after meeting the conditions in his loan agreement and Soriano has followed his fellow Italy international in moving to the Stadio Renato Dall Ara.

Soriano initially struggled in the first half of last season during a spell with Torino, but he played a direct part in four goals for Sinisa Mihajlovic s side after swapping clubs midway through the campaign.

And Sansone also made the most of his opportunities as he scored twice and set up a further fo…

Romelu Lukaku denied he bears a grudge towards former employers Chelsea after signing permanently with Everton.

Lukaku spent last season on loan at Everton from Chelsea but made the move permanent on Wednesday, signing a five-year contract, with the Merseyside club paying a £28million transfer fee.

The transfer brought Lukaku s connection to Chelsea to an end, with the 21-year-old striker having played just 10 Premier League matches over three seasons at Stamford Bridge, although he spent the majority of the past two campaigns on loan at West Brom and Everton.

But the Belgian rebuffed suggestions he felt hurt by his lack of opportunity to play at Chelsea, although he made it clear he feels more comfortable at Goodison Park.

I need to be at a place where…

Real Madrid have confirmed the re-signing of Spain striker Alvaro Morata from Juventus.

Morata had been widely expected to return to the Santiago Bernabeu in this transfer window, with Madrid exercising a buy-back clause in the deal which took the striker to Turin in 2014.

The 23-year-old s future is far from clear, however.

It is thought that Madrid could cash in on the striker when he returns from international duty at Euro 2016, with Premier League duo Chelsea and Arsenal heavily linked with big-money moves.

A brief Madrid statement suggested that he will return to the first team at Madrid, however.

It read: Real Madrid C. F. have informed Juventus FC of their decision to salvage the federative rights on the player Alvaro Morata, who will join …

Fabio Capello has warned England s Chelsea stars that they cannot afford to allow the turmoil at Stamford Bridge to distract them from Wednesday night s clash with Euro 2008 champions Spain.

John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole were all with the England squad on Monday when Chelsea s decision to sack manager Luiz Felipe Scolari was announced.

The move has been swiftly followed by efforts to secure Guus Hiddink as Scolari s successor, leaving the Chelsea trio with a lot more on their minds than Wednesday s friendly in Sevilla s Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.

Terry revealed that head coach Capello had spoken to his players about the importance of maintaining their focus on a match he regards a crucial gauge of how far the squad has come under his leadership, …

Two FIFA agents and several current and former football players with Spanish clubs are under investigation as part of a probe into cocaine trafficking, Spanish media reported Wednesday.

The operation, carried out in Madrid and the Mediterranean port of Valencia, led to the seizure Wednesday of 600 kilos (1,320 pounds) of cocaine hidden in shipping containers, the online edition of sports daily AS said, citing sources close to the investigation.

The reports did not name which footballers were under investigation but AS said some were from first division side Atletico Madrid as well as from second division side Rayo Vallecano and Poli Ejido which is in the third division.

Spain, with its historical and linguistic ties to South America, is Europe s main entry point…

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Looking to make it back-to-back derby victories this weekend, Chelsea will make the trip to North London on Saturday evening when they face off against a struggling Arsenal.

Arsenal

Starting with the hosts, hit with a 4-1 drumming on home soil in midweek and watching Manchester City end their EFL Cup adventure in North London, Arsenal find themselves in the midst of a real crisis. With many around the Emirates feeling that Mikel Arteta is a man fighting for his job in the capital, the Gunners open Christmas Day sat way down in 15th and firmly looking over their shoulder at the drop zone. Coming under even more scrutiny for their performance earlier in the week, Pep Guardiola s former right-hand man has only seen his struggling squad …

Jose Mourinho is concerned by Tottenham s inability to see games out after they once again lost points in the latter stages of a Premier League match following their 1-1 draw with Wolves.

Spurs were 1-0 up at Wolves on Sunday inside the first minute thanks to Tanguy Ndombele, but they only managed to muster another two shots on target for the remainder of the match, the last one coming in the 21st minute.

Highlighting Spurs lack of attacking threat was the fact Son Heung-min and Harry Kane only managed one shot each against Wolves.

Wolves came on stronger in the second half and eventually levelled late on through Romain Saiss glancing header at a corner.

It meant Spurs have dropped nine points with goals conceded in the final 10 minutes of matches this te…

Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard has confirmed he has held positive talks regarding becoming the new manager of Rangers.

The Scottish Premiership club dismissed Graeme Murty on Tuesday after a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Celtic saw their rivals crowned champions for the seventh year in a row.

Murty had also overseen a 4-0 thumping to Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

Gerrard is reportedly a frontrunner for what would be his first senior managerial role and the former England captain says negotiations over his potential appointment are ongoing.

There s truth in the rumours, Gerrard said on BT Sport.

I ve held initial talks with Rangers and the plan is to pick them up in a couple of days time.

We ll see. I ve held positive talks …

Kenya coach Sebastien Migne started a war of words with Aliou Cisse by questioning Senegal s mental strength ahead of the sides Africa Cup of Nations clash.

The teams meet in Cairo on Monday to fight it out for qualification from Group C and are locked on three points each after two games played, with Senegal two goals better off.

Migne, whose side clinched a vital 3-2 win over Tanzania on Thursday, suggested the pressure of the third and final group game might affect Senegal, who lost for the first time in nine matches when they slipped to a 1-0 defeat to Algeria last time out.

We know that from time to time, the mentality of Senegalese players may have some weaknesses, Migne told reporters.

I hope that will be the case tomorrow, as they are under pre…

Swansea City are looking to make a move for want-away Leicester City strikier Leonardo Ulloa,.

The South Wales side are eyeing a potential replacement for Bafetimbi Gomis who himself looks set for a switch to Ligue 1 side Marseille.

Ulloa played twenty-nine times as the Foxes clinched the Premier League title last season, scoring six goals with two of those coming in a 4-0 win over Swansea back in April.

However, he only started seven times in the league with Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki ahead of him in the pecking order while new signing Ahmed Musa has put his place in Claudio Ranieri’s side further under threat.

In total the thirty year old has racked up seventy-three appearances for the East Midlands outfit in all competitions since signing fr…