Jurgen Klopp has told Mario Balotelli he needs to leave Liverpool, but hopes to help him rediscover his best form beforehand.
Balotelli joined Liverpool from AC Milan in 2014 but, after scoring just one Premier League goal in 16 appearances in his first season at the club, he was sent back to San Siro on loan the following year.
The 25-year-old managed just to find the net just once in Serie A last term, though he missed more than three months with a groin injury, and Klopp does not see a future for him at Anfield.
However, the German hopes to help build Balotelli s confidence back up before sending him to a club where he can be a leading figure.
Since he has been back here, he s been a good guy and I can t say anything different than that, said Klopp.
Kevin De Bruyne has earned high praise from manager Pep Guardiola after leading Manchester City to an emphatic 4-0 win over Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.
De Bruyne opened the scoring and set up Ilkay Gundogan for his side s fourth goal at the Etihad Stadium, as in-form City made a statement of intent to their title rivals early in Guardiola s tenure.
Central to the impressive performance was the 25-year-old Belgium international, signed by City from Wolfsburg for big money in August 2015, having been deemed surplus to requirements by Guardiola s fierce rival Jose Mourinho at Chelsea earlier in his career.
He [De Bruyne] understands the game, he s physically strong, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach said.
[He is] aggressiv…
Bertrand Traore has been granted a work permit and will be available to play for Chelsea from the 2015-16 season.
The Burkina Faso midfielder agreed a deal with the Stamford Bridge club in October 2013, but had not played enough international football to be given a permit.
Traore was sent on loan to Eredivisie side Vitesse, where he made 48 league appearances across one and a half campaigns
The 19-year-old was particularly impressive in 2014-15, netting 14 goals in 33 outings as Vitesse secured UEFA Europa League qualification.
…
Roy Hodgson has warned his England players against being lulled into a false sense of security ahead of their Euro 2016 qualifier in Estonia.
England surged to a 5-0 victory over San Marino at Wembley on Thursday and could arguably have won by an even greater margin against one of international football s weakest nations.
Indeed, the hosts saw a legitimate goal disallowed for offside when Adam Lallana deflected an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain strike beyond the goalkeeper with the score at 3-0.
However, Hodgson has called for caution ahead of his side s trip to Tallinn, stressing Sunday s opponents could provide a step up in class.
I would be a bit wary of putting Estonia in the same category as San Marino, he said. They might surprise people who haven t seen …
Fabio Cannavaro has defended his brother Paolo after he was banned for six months for not reporting an instance of match-fixing.
Ex-Italy goalkeeper Matteo Gianello was also suspended for 39 months by the Italian Football Federation for trying to fix Napoli s clash against Sampdoria in 2010 an incident Paolo Cannavaro was allegedly aware of.
And the World Cup winner insists that his sibling is innocent and, at a charity event in Naples, suggested that sporting law in the country should be changed.
I was very sorry he had to be involved in this story, he is a white knight in a game full of scandals, he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Sporting law should be reformed in order to better judge cases like his.
I had two titles taken away from me, so I…
Jurgen Klopp enjoyed a welcome boost as Borussia Dortmund booked a place in the UEFA Champions League last 16 by beating Galatasaray 4-1.
The 2012-13 runners-up are struggling domestically in the Bundesliga following five straight defeats, but rallied to maintain their 100 per cent record in Group D in Europe s elite club competition on Tuesday.
Having previously crushed the same opponents 4-0 in Istanbul after earlier wins over Arsenal and Anderlecht, the German outfit are already safely through to the knockout stages.
I told my players to enjoy this, said Klopp.
It s important we ve got to feel the good things as there are now five days until the next league game.
Dortmund dominated Galatasaray from the outset in Turkey, but the return game …
Uncertainty continues to shroud the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations heading into this weekend s crucial round of qualifying fixtures.
Morocco was stripped of the right to host the finals by CAF on Tuesday after requesting that the tournament be postponed due to fears over the spread of the Ebola virus.
Additionally, Morocco s team have been disqualified from competing at the event.
African football’s governing body CAF is now scrambling to find an alternative location just two months before the AFCON is due to start, although president Issa Hayatou expects a new host to be confirmed in the next two to three days.
The furore has not affected the final two rounds of qualification, the first of which takes place this weekend with reigning champions Nigeria bat…
It was little wonder Mikel Arteta had his head in his hands and that was before Chelsea grabbed a late winner in a 2-1 victory at Arsenal on Sunday.
The new Gunners head coach had seemingly produced a masterclass, outmanoeuvring Frank Lampard a week on from the Chelsea boss own breakout tactical
00001119
display away at Tottenham.
But then Bernd Leno, one of Arsenal s more consistent performers in this miserable season, failed to intercept Mason Mount s deep 83rd-minute free-kick and instead left an open goal for Jorginho, who might have been sent off six minutes earlier and was fortunate to escape a second yellow card for wrestling Matteo Guendouzi to the ground.
As has so often been the case for Arsenal this term, worse was still to come.
Tammy Abra…
Teenager Jason Knight scored twice to end 10-man Derby County s seven-game winless run with a 2-1 victory over Charlton Athletic in the final match before the start of Wayne Rooney s Rams playing career.
Player-coach Rooney is in line to debut against Barnsley this week, formally completing a January transfer from DC United, but his new side had largely struggled in the Championship in his absence until Monday s improved display at Pride Park.
It was a player 16 years Rooney s junior who made the difference with his first senior goals, the opener a brave, stooping header after just 10 minutes.
The hosts were dealt a blow when ex-Charlton loanee Krystian Bielik was shown a straight red card for an awful, late lunge on Conor Gallagher, but the 10 men remained in co…
Manchester City manager Mark Hughes insists Robinho still has a future at Eastlands despite the Brazil forward s reported admission that he would love to join Barcelona.
Robinho is currently sidelined with an ankle injury but he fuelled speculation of a January move to the Nou Camp when he was quoted this week saying that it would be a dream to play for Barca.
It is not the first time Robinho has been linked with a move since joining City from Real Madrid in 2008.
But Hughes said on Friday: There is always speculation and noise surrounding Robinho. That has been the case since he came to the club.
He is a great guy. We are not in the process of taking outstanding players out of the team.
We want to complement the outstanding players at the club…