Gareth Southgate described the England manager job as the greatest privilege of his life and said he wanted to make sure he was fresh and hungry before committing to remain in the role after the Three Lions World Cup exit.
A year-and-a-half on from reaching the Euro 2020 final on home turf, England were edged out 2-1 in the quarter-finals of Qatar 2022 by France.
The tournament nevertheless marked a turnaround in form for the Three Lions after a dismal Nations League campaign, underlining Southgate s record in his role.
But the former Middlesbrough boss acknowledged he needed time to ensure he made the right call in choosing to remain on board.
I never want to be in a position where my presence is affecting the team in a negative way, he told BBC Sport.<…
Gylfi Sigurdsson s long-awaited move from Swansea City to Everton for a reported £45million ranks as one of the biggest deals in history between two Premier League clubs.
As teams in England s top flight, awash with vast riches from television money, increasingly operate in a different financial sphere to the most of Europe, such blockbusting switches domestic have become more common.
But where does Sigurdsson rank alongside the other occasions when Premier League sides have kept their ample wealth within the division?
ROMELU LUKAKU – Everton to Manchester United £75m
The man whose transfer provided at least some of the funds to lure Sigurdsson from south Wales, Lukaku set a new Premier League record with his move from Everton to Manchest…
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Chelsea and Sheffield United will lock horns with each other in the Premier League this coming weekend. The match between Mauricio Pochettino’s side and Chris Wilder’s team will be held at Stamford Bridge in London and is scheduled to kick off at 3 pm UK time on Saturday.
Chelsea
Chelsea have a terrible campaign last season, and this term things were supposed to be different. Former Tottenham Hotspur head coach Mauricio Pochettino took over as the Chelsea manager in the summer of 2023, and results were expected to be great.
Things are still bad. While there have been occasions when Chelsea have been brilliant, they have been very inconsistent and have struggled to score goals. The …
Stefano Pioli believes Milan could have ridden out their recent slump and still won the Serie A title if not for Napoli s exceptional season.
Milan are fourth in the table, having gone a costly five league matches without a win across January and the start of February.
Still, the Rossoneri were not in a dissimilar position at this stage of last season, in third place before rallying to win the Scudetto.
Pioli received the top honour at the Panchina d Oro – Italian football s coaching awards – on Monday in recognition of that stunning Milan triumph.
But the coach knows there will be no repeat this year as leaders Napoli are 18 points ahead.
Although Milan are five points down on where they were after 23 games of 2021-22, they still only trail I…
Hosts Portugal kick-off the inaugural Nations League Finals against Switzerland on Wednesday, beginning the last act of the 2018-19 European football season.
England take on Netherlands in the other semi-final on Thursday, with the loser condemned to remain at Guimaraes Estadio D Afonso Henriques for Sunday s third-place match.
The tournament will conclude where it began later the same day at Porto s Estadio do Dragao.
A succession of gripping group-stage encounters – notably Netherlands 3-0 thumping of Germany, England s against-the-odds triumph in Spain and Switzerland s remarkable qualification-sealing 5-2 comeback romp over Belgium – won the Nations League a number of early admirers, retaining the feel-good factor around the international game that spille…
Pep Guardiola hailed Bristol City s tactics after Manchester City needed a stoppage-time header from Sergio Aguero to claim a 2-1 win in Tuesday s EFL Cup semi-final first leg.
The Championship side – who knocked out Manchester United in the last round – led at the interval thanks to a Bobby Reid penalty that the striker won himself after being fouled by John Stones.
But Manchester City improved markedly in the second period, captain Kevin De Bruyne levelling 10 minutes after the break before Aguero came off the bench to head in Bernardo Silva s pinpoint cross.
While the runaway Premier League leaders dominated possession, the match was far from a procession and Guardiola believes the visitors willingness to attack made the game a more entertaining conte…
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp explained his decision to leave Xherdan Shaqiri out for his side s trip to Red Star Belgrade, saying his team s focus was purely on the game.
Shaqiri was born in Kosovo, an ethnically Albanian province that fought a war of independence against Serbian-dominated Yugoslav forces in the late 1990s. The Serbian government refuses to recognise Kosovo s independence.
The 27-year-old made headlines during the World Cup after celebrating his winner for Switzerland against Serbia by crossing his hands to imitate an eagle, which appears on Albania s flag.
Klopp opted against taking the attacker to Belgrade for Tuesday s Champions League clash and said Shaqiri had accepted his decision.
I took a lot of times in my life a decision abou…
According to a recent report from Sky Sports News, Chelsea are unlikely to trigger the buy-back clause which is currently in place in Nathan Ake’s Bournemouth contract. There are a lot of spinning plates when it comes to what both of these clubs are going to be doing between now and the end of the January transfer window, but one thing that seemed to be fairly certain was that the Blues were going to be exploring the option of bringing Ake back to Stamford Bridge.
Despite the fan support which has been put behind that idea in recent weeks, it no longer seems likely to happen. This’ll come as music to the ears of Cherries fans who, in the wake of an incredibly bad run in the Premier League, could really use a bit of good news as they attempt to claw their way out of trou…
Born in Bosnia-Herzegovina to Bosnian Serb parents in 1989, Marin – a Europa League winner with Chelsea (2013) and Sevilla (2014) moved to Germany at the age of two and 16 international caps for his new country followed.
Marin waited for calls from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia but they were not forthcoming as he opted for Germany – he was rewarded with a spot in Joachim Low s 2010 World Cup squad after impressing for Bremen.
While he represented Die Mannschaft, Marin s love for Serbian powerhouse Red Star – who snapped a 26-year drought from Europe s premier club competition last term – runs deep and a second successive season of Champions League football means a lot to the club captain.
It s different because you play with more passion for the club, Ma…
Cristiano Ronaldo s potential arrival at Juventus would be welcomed by Gonzalo Higuain, according to the striker s agent.
Reports emerged on Tuesday that Juventus had lodged a bid to Real Madrid for Ronaldo, who is heading into his 10th season with Los Blancos.
Ronaldo and Higuain played together at Madrid between 2009 and 2013, before the Argentinian moved onto Napoli, where his scintillating form earned him a switch to Turin.
And although Ronaldo s hypothetical arrival at the Serie A champions could threaten Higuain s place up front, his sibling Nicolas is positive there would be no issues.
We don t know anything yet. He was team-mates with Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid, but they haven t spoken about it, Nicolas Higuain told Sky Sport Italia.
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