Libor Kozak s first Aston Villa goal since December 2013 was in vain as Tim Sherwood s side suffered a 3-1 friendly defeat at the hands of Fulham on Saturday.
The Czech striker has missed over 18 months of football after suffering a broken leg in January 2014, before a back injury ended his hopes of a comeback last season.
Kozak s quest to be part of Sherwood s plans for the upcoming campaign made a positive start in Portugal, though, the 26-year-old netting 10 minutes after coming on at half-time.
Villa – who had new signing Micah Richards at centre-half – enjoyed plenty of early possession against Kit Symons men, but found themselves behind midway through the half as Matt Smith converted Thomas Eisfeld s cross.
Richards and Ashley Westwood both sa…
After Antoine Griezmann s long-awaited move to Barcelona, another transfer saga appears close to completion.
Leicester City and England centre-back Harry Maguire is reportedly poised for Manchester.
The red half will be happy…
TOP STORY – UNITED AGREE £80M DEAL FOR MAGUIRE
Manchester United have agreed to pay a world-record fee for a defender to sign Maguire from Leicester City, according to The Sun.
United will reportedly fork out £60million with an additional £20m available in add-ons, to see the England centre-back surpass Liverpool s Virgil van Dijk as the most expensive defender.
Man United agree world-record £80m Harry Maguire transfer
— The Sun Football (@TheSunFootball)
Premier League cham…
A-League leaders Sydney FC played for 65 minutes with 10 men but rallied to beat second-placed Melbourne City 2-1 on Sunday.
Kosta Barbarouses struck late on to extend Sydney s advantage at the summit to nine points, settling a more sedate second half after a gripping first period that featured two goals, a red card and a missed penalty.
That frantic spell was kickstarted by the City opener in the 22nd minute as a short corner from the right saw Craig Noone send a cross towards the back post to Connor Metcalfe, who thundered a header past Andrew Redmayne.
Sydney quickly suffered a second blow when Rhyan Grant was sent off for an awful studs-up challenge into the shins of Nathaniel Atkinson, which was initially punished only with a yellow card before the referee…
As Cristiano Ronaldo contemplated a year that has brought him enough silverware to last a lifetime, the Manchester United winger could have been forgiven for resting on his laurels.
But the Portuguese playmaker is determined to make his star shine even brighter in 2009 after beating Barcelona s Lionel Messi and Liverpool striker Fernando Torres to the Ballon d Or this week.
The award is given to Europe s top footballer and, on the back of a phenomenal 2007-08 season in which he scored 42 goals for his Premier League and Champions League-winning club, there is little doubt that Ronaldo deserved the prize, yet he believes he can get even better.
I always play with pressure because people always expect a lot from me and I don t think that will change, Ronaldo to…
FA Cup third round day is an exciting day for the fans of the little clubs and a often a nervous day for the fans of the Premier League big boys.
There has probably never been a third round in the history of the cup that hasn’t contained at least one giant killing act. This year will be no different.
Rather than doing predictions this week I thought I’d look at the games involving Premier League teams and see if we can find where the inevitable shock or shocks are going to take place.
Friday 2nd January 2009
Tottenham v Wigan
This game was played last night. No possibility of a shock here as both teams are in the top league and would have fancied their chances equally. As it turned out, the current Cup holder, Harry Red…
Actor Ian McKellen famously played Gandalf the wise wizard in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film franchises, but could he come back again for the next film, tentatively titled The Hunt for Gollum? The 85-year-old actor recently revealed that he’s been asked to come back.
“I’ve just been told there are going to be more films and Gandalf will be involved and they hope that I’ll be playing him,” he told The Big Issue. “When? I don’t know. What the script is Come from Sports betting site VPbet ? It’s not written yet. So they better be quick!”
McKellen is likely referring to a previous comment he made regarding The Hunt for Gollum, when he said he would be eager to play Gandalf again so long a…
Wolfsburg, Lazio vying for Pato
Sky Sports is reporting that Wolfsburg and Lazio are locked in the battle for Corinthians forward Alexandre Pato.
It is believed that the Brazilian footballer hopes to return to Europe this summer and that is now a realistic possibility.
According to Sky Sports, Wolfsburg plan to make a move on Pato as soon as they complete the sale of Ivan Perisic to Inter Milan.
Meanwhile, Lazio are keeping close tabs on the former AC Milan hotshot as well, but they are waiting to see whether the team will qualify for the Champions League group stages before making their interest concrete.
The 25-year-old, who is currently on loan at Sao Paulo, is reportedly valued at €10 million by Corinthians.
Alexandre Pato returned …
Could new signing Samuel Eto o fire Chelsea to the Premier League title this season?
During the transfer window Chelsea brought in a high-profile striker, that had won every honour there is in the club game and played at the pinnacle of football.
No not Wayne Rooney, some may say unfortunately, but Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o.
Move
The former-Barcelona star moved to Chelsea from Russian club Anzhi for an undisclosed fee towards the end of the transfer window. The veteran star is believed to have taken a major pay-cut to make the move possible.
He was always going to have to take a pay-cut to move on this summer, as he was the highest paid player in world football on ridiculously high wages in Russia.
Last chance
Eto’o obviou…
Tottenham Hotspur are in a lot of problems. Not only is their season not going their way and they already changed managers, but now their main star Harry Kane is set to miss the most of the remainder of the season. Spurs announced on Thursday that Kane s injury earned on the New Year s Day ended up being a ruptured tendon and he will have to go to surgery.
This means Kane will be able to return to training not before April and therefore a new striker will be a necessity for Jose Mourinho s side. Now, according to a report from the Guardian, Tottenham will look to sign Krzysztof Piatek from AC Milan in order to soften the blow as much as possible.
The 24-year-old striker scored 30 goals in all competitions between Genoa and Milan last season, but has just four this time …
Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc has confirmed they are looking to sign a striker but Alvaro Morata is likely to be too expensive for the Bundesliga club.
Dortmund have a sizeable hole to fill up front following the sale of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January, with the Gabon international moving to Arsenal for a reported fee of £56million.
Media reports have linked them with a move for Morata, who missed out on a place in Spain s World Cup squad after struggling for form in the second half of the 2017-18 season at Chelsea.
However, while admitting he wants to bolster the attacking options available to new coach Lucien Favre, Zorc will not do crazy things when it comes to spending money in the transfer window, particularly when they already h…