Mourinho discusses De Gea’s future and ‘zero performance’

Jose Mourinho has predicted talks to resolve David de Gea’s future at Manchester United to “finish well,” while he called the goalkeeper’s display against Young Boys a “zero performance with a save.” The Red Devils have activated the one-year extension clause in his contract that will keep De Gea at Old Trafford until the summer …

‘Sooner or later’ I will be an international boss – Guardiola

Pep Guardiola feels he will make the step into international management “sooner or later”. Guardiola guided Manchester City to the Premier League title last season, finishing with a record 100 points. The 47-year-old former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach was the keynote speaker in the Peers Annual Lecture at Liverpool University’s Department of Modern Languages …

Van Dijk tips one Liverpool player to be future captain

Virgil van Dijk thinks Andy Robertson will be a future Liverpool captain if he keeps progressing in the same way for club and country. The 24-year-old arrived at Anfield from Hull last July for a reported initial fee of £8million and has now firmly established himself as part of Jurgen Klopp’s starting XI. His impressive …

F365’s early loser: Drowning rookie Thierry Henry

Club Brugge had last won a Champions League group game in November 2005. For an idea of how much football has changed since then, Rangers qualified for the knock-out stages that season. On Tuesday night, Brugge ended 13 years of hurt by travelling to Monaco and thumping Thierry Henry’s side 4-0. That followed a 1-1 …

Real Madrid confirm Solari as permanent manager

Real Madrid have confirmed the appointment of Santiago Solari as their permanent manager following his successful spell in caretaker charge. Solari oversaw four consecutive victories in all competitions, with 15 goals scored, as Real’s interim boss following the departure of Julen Lopetegui last month and has now been handed the reins full-time until June 2021. …

‘Morata’s attitude is not a problem’ – Sarri

Maurizio Sarri is expected to revert to his first-choice line-up when Chelsea play Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday, with the main selection dilemma between Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud up front. Sarri insisted last weekend’s loss to Tottenham was not down to one or two players and hinted after Thursday night’s 4-0 Europa …

Shaqiri tells Liverpool how to keep pressure on Man City

Xherdan Shaqiri has told Liverpool they must continue to be brave in their push for Premier League title glory and if they are to maintain the pressure on leaders Manchester City. Jurgen Klopp’s side responded to going behind at Burnley by scoring twice in seven second-half minutes as they eventually won 3-1 on a testing …

4.43cm of Neymar and other £5m Scudamore gift ideas…

After nearly 20 years as the Premier League’s biggest cheese, Richard Scudamore is set to step down as executive chairman next month. A divisive figure, and at times resembling a pantomime villain, Scudamore joined the Premier League in November 1999 before hanging about long enough to see the value of the league expand beyond even …