Gourcuff prepared to lose ´unhappy´ Aliadiere

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has promised to support Sam Allardyce as the Sunderland boss stands on the brink of landing the England job.

Allardyce is set to be recommended to the Football Association board at a meeting on Thursday, with a three-man panel having identified the 61-year-old as the best candidate to succeed Roy Hodgson.

Mourinho and Allardyce have clashed in the past, with the Portuguese accusing the then West Ham manager of playing football from the 19th century following a goalless draw with Chelsea in 2014.

Allardyce responded by saying I don t give a s**** to be honest , but he appears to have found an unlikely ally as he prepares to take the reins of the national team.

It is your country and I think you have a complicated co…

Chelsea full-back Ryan Bertrand has dismissed reports that he is about to move away from the club, .

Liverpool have been linked with a move for the England international, with Reds boss Brendan Rodgers having worked with him whilst managing the reserves at Stamford Bridge, and also taking him on loan whilst at Reading.

However, the 23 year old is keen to remain with the Blues, and fight Ashley Cole for a place in the Blues starting XI next season.

Bertand came through Chelsea’s youth system in 2006, enjoying loan spells with Bournemouth, Norwich City and Nottingham Forest, as well as the Royals, before breaking in to the first team under Carlo Ancelotti in 2011.

He featured in half of the Chelsea’s league games last season, and scored his firs…

Wigan midfielder Lee Cattermole has agreed a six-million-pound (9.9 million dollar) move to Premier League rivals Sunderland.

The 21-year-old agreed a four-year deal and will make his debut in Saturday s Premier League opener against Bolton.

The former Middlesbrough youth team player, signed by former Latics boss Steve Bruce for Wigan in a 3.5-million-pound deal in July 2008, becomes Sunderland s fifth signing of the summer after Darren Bent, Lorik Cana, Fraizer Campbell and Paulo Da Silva.

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez said he was disappointed to lose the services of the England Under-21 international.

The fee is a good one, said Martinez. It is far more than the club paid for him last year and the third-highest in Wigan Athletic history.

The…

Winger Rocky Visconte has had his contract terminated by Brisbane Roar with mutual consent.

The 22-year-old turned down a new deal from former club Hearts to move back to Australia in 2010 and was part of Ange Postecoglou s Roar squad that won back-to-back A-League titles.

But after failing to make an appearance this season, new Roar coach Mike Mulvey has announced the decision to let Visconte go, given the depth of quality in Brisbane s squad.

Rocky has worked hard at training since I arrived at the club and we wish him the best of luck for the future, Mulvey said.

These decisions are never taken lightly, but we felt it was the right thing to do at this point in time.

At this stage of his career Rocky needs to play first-team football and he …

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has vowed to take a more attacking approach into the 2013/14 English Premier League season.

Newcastle finished fifth in 2011/12, but fell away badly last term to finish in 16th place after finding themselves involved in a relegation battle.

And Pardew has said he is determined to make teams fear making the journey to St James Park once again.

I think last year the bottom line was we were not threatening the goal enough, Pardew was quoted as saying by The Mirror.

If you re not threatening the goal enough, teams get a little bit more confidence, they score against you and start to believe that if they score, they will win.

Therefore, not only are you suffering from a lack of confidence, you are suffering from an over-confident op…

Xherdan Shaqiri is set on leaving Stoke City in the transfer window and would like to join a Premier League club.

The Switzerland international scored eight goals in the top flight in 2017-18 but was unable to save his side from relegation to the Championship.

Shaqiri, who reportedly has a release clause of £13.5million that has become active following Stoke s drop to the second tier, is said to have attracted the interest of Everton.

Although he does not want to discount a move elsewhere in Europe, the forward admits he would love to stay in England.

It is no secret that I will leave the club, he told Aargauer Zeitung.

I think the [English] league is perfect for me. I would love to stay in England but I don t want to rule anything out. It s th…

Belgium cannot afford to rely on the individual talents of Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Dries Mertens if they are to be successful at the World Cup, says Roberto Martinez.

The Red Devils travel to Russia with some of the hottest talent in Europe within their ranks, and consequently are tipped to challenge for the title.

Premier League winner De Bruyne completed 18 assists for Manchester City in 2017-18, while Chelsea s Hazard found the back of the net on 12 occasions.

In Italy, Mertens was fifth top scorer with 18 Serie A strikes, while Martinez also has the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Jan Vertonghen and Thibaut Courtois at his disposal.

Despite the individual talent throughout Belgium s squad, Martinez – who oversaw Wednesday s 3-0 win over Egypt in Br…

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Inter Milan and Benfica are set to play the second leg of their clash in the Champions League quarterfinals at San Siro on Wednesday. The Italian side are two goals ahead after the first leg, courtesy of goals by Nicolo Barella and Romelu Lukaku, and it should be interesting to see if the Portuguese team have something in their locker to turn the tide.

Inter Milan

Things haven t been going well for Inter in the Serie A, and it s probably fair to say that their Champions League success and the fact that they re playing in the semifinals of Coppa Italia are keeping head coach Simone Inzaghi in his job.

Since beating Lecce at the beginning of March, Inter have played eight matches in all competitions so far, and the game in Lisb…

Going to Naples as part of a Champions League campaign was never easy for Liverpool. Even at the height of their power, they lost there on a regular basis, usually in tight, difficult matches for both teams. On Wednesday, however, Napoli simply strolled through the contest, taking just over 45 minutes to score four times, courtesy of Piotr Zielinski (5 penalty, 47 ), Andre Zambo Anguissa (31 ) and Giovani Simeone (44 ), before the visitors finally gave some kind of an answer through Luis Diaz (49 ). They even had the luxury of Victor Osimhen getting a penalty saved by Alisson Becker right after the one taken by Zielinski, without any consequences for his team.

There s no real point in discussing the penalties. The first was given straight away and the second at a VAR interventi…

Laurent Blanc is looking forward to facing a man who inspired him to become a manager when Paris Saint-Germain take on Monaco.

French football s big spenders will meet for the first time since 2011 at the Parc des Princes on Sunday, with both teams having yet to taste defeat in Ligue 1 this season.

But Blanc is simply excited by the prospect of coming up against opposite number Claudio Ranieri, whom he worked under during a one-season stint as a player with Napoli over 20 years ago.

I was inspired by him (Ranieri) because even at that the time, he wanted to make the game (attacking), he said.

He already had the offensive spirit. He showed that he wanted his team produce. and it influenced me because it gave me a vision of the game that I liked.

Ranieri s …