Aston Villa’s Leander Dendoncker has joined Napoli on loan for the rest of the season.
The midfielder moves to the defending Serie A champions as they struggle to retain their title, sitting ninth and 21 points off leaders Juventus.
He has made 15 appearances for Villa this season, scoring once, having joined from Wolves in 2022.
Borussia Monchengladbach will try to complete a permanent deal for Reece Oxford after he was recalled from his loan spell early by West Ham, the club s sporting director Max Eberl said.
The 19-year-old joined Gladbach on a season-long loan in June but has started only two league games for the Bundesliga club.
West Ham brought an early end to Oxford s loan spell on Friday, with some reports suggesting he could make a quick return to Germany with RB Leipzig.
However, they may have competition for his signature with Eberl confirming Monchengladbach s interest, while also suggesting the versatile defender is keen to make a permanent move.
We were informed of their decision to activate the clause and recall him this morning, said Eberl.
However, we c…
Chelsea have not given up hope of catching Manchester City and retaining their Premier League crown, according to Danny Drinkwater.
Antonio Conte s men moved into second place in the table on Saturday after a comprehensive 5-0 thrashing of Stoke City at Stamford Bridge.
The hosts raced into a 3-0 lead midway through the first half thanks to Antonio Rudiger, Pedro and Drinkwater as Stoke were brushed aside with ease.
Willian and Davide Zappacosta completed the win late on to fire Chelsea above Manchester United and to within 13 of leaders City – who face Crystal Palace on Sunday.
We re doing well. The more wins we pick up in a row, the better it is for us, he told BBC s Match of the Day.
‘It’s alright I suppose!’ A modest Danny Drinkwate…
Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi did not offer any backing to coach Laurent Blanc as he called for a new cycle and big changes in the French capital.
For the second successive season PSG completed a clean sweep of domestic trophies, triumphing in the Trophee des Champions, the Coupe de la Liga, the Coupe de France and Ligue 1 – the latter with a record points total of 96.
However, elimination from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage for a fourth campaign running has left a bitter taste in the president s mouth.
Asked whether he could confirm Blanc would be at the helm for the start of the 2016-17 season by Le Parisien, Al-Khelaifi replied: I will not speak of particular cases. Big changes will happen. A new cycle will start, you ll …
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said he couldn t be less interested in anything in the world regarding Nike s apparent leak of Philippe Coutinho s rumoured transfer to Barcelona.
The Brazilian has been linked with the Catalan giants since the start of the season and was not part of the Reds squad for Monday s 2-1 victory at Burnley due to a minor thigh complaint.
Build-up to that clash was dominated by sportswear manufacturer Nike advertising customisation of Barca s 2017-18 kit along with the caption: Philippe Coutinho is ready to light up Camp Nou. Get your 2017-18 FC Barcelona kit with the Magician s name on it. Act fast – free personalisation only available until 6 January.
Nike later deleted the page and it remains unclear whether it was a PR blunde…
Steven Naismith has put his greater productivity in 2013-14 down to switching inside to a more central striking role for Everton.
The Scotland international joined from Rangers two years ago, scoring four goals in all competitions during the 2012-13 campaign.
This time round, however, Naismith netted nine times as Everton finished fifth in the Premier League and reached the last eight of the FA Cup.
And the 27-year-old attributes that improvement to moving into a central position, rather than taking up a berth out on the wing.
For me I look back each season and see if there needs to be an improvement, he told the club s official website.
This season there has definitely been a bigger improvement than last season when I was getting used to new surroundings a…
Eden Hazard has played down reports he could make a close-season move from Chelsea to Paris Saint-Germain.
The Belgium international has been linked with a big-money move to the Ligue 1 champions as they look to build a squad capable of UEFA Champions League glory.
PSG are close to signing Hazard s Chelsea team-mate David Luiz after agreeing a fee thought to be around £40million with the Premier League club.
But Hazard, who is currently preparing for Belgium s FIFA World Cup campaign, is ignoring speculation that he could follow the Brazilian from London to Paris.
If you got to know me you d know I m not someone who is disturbed by it, the 23-year-old said.
Every year they say I m everywhere. It s part of the job.
I focus on the World Cup, which is …
Saturday s Match of the Day will have a new format without a host or studio pundits after Ian Wright, Alan Shearer and other leading names backed presenter Gary Lineker.
The BBC announced on Friday that Lineker would not be involved in this week s edition of the hugely popular British football show after he became involved in a political row following a Twitter post.
Lineker would be absent from Match of the Day until we ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media , the BBC said, but it soon became clear he had the support of a number of colleagues.
Wright and Shearer, the show s two leading pundits who were due to feature on Saturday, announced they had told the BBC they would not be appearing.
As Micah Richards, Jermaine Jenas and Ale…
Pep Guardiola believes Erling Haaland s secret weapon is that he never gets sad about missing chances.
The Norwegian striker scored his 28th Premier League goal of the season as his penalty gave Manchester City a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Haaland had missed a presentable chance in the first half but slotted his spot-kick with calm precision in the 78th minute at Selhurst Park.
One of his biggest attributes I discovered and knowing him, working together he can miss one chance and he never gets depressed, he isn t sad, Guardiola said after the win.
He s always thinking positive, the next one, he knows he ll have the chance and he ll be there. This is an incredible attribute for a football player.
An athlete normally in football and …
Eredivisie side Twente have been provisionally demoted to the Eerste Divisie by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) over their financial mismanagement.
Twente were banned from European competition for three years by the KNVB in December after the club was found guilty of deliberately misleading the organisation in regard to its relationship with Malta-based investment firm Doyen Sports.
A fourth failure to get their finances in order led to Twente being deducted points for the second season running they were docked three points on two separate occasions in 2014-15.
The club were also fined by FIFA last season for breaching third-party ownership rules.
A KNVB statement confirmed Twente had been offered a second chance in the Jupiler League , despit…
Andy Carroll makes his first return to Liverpool since leaving for West Ham when the sides meet in the Premier League on Saturday.
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has backed Andy Carroll to cope with the pressure of making his first return to Liverpool since swapping Anfield for Upton Park.
Allardyce s men head to Merseyside on Saturday hoping to preserve their position ahead of Liverpool in the Premier League table.
Seventh-placed West Ham hold a one-point advantage over Brendan Rodgers side following a first half to the season that exceeded expectations.
This weekend s fixture marks Carroll s first return to Anfield since joining West Ham on an initial loan deal that became permanent in May 2013, and Allardyce has urged the striker to play his own…