Everton ready to pay £12m for Ben Brereton Diaz

Joshua Zirkzee scored a late winner on his Manchester United debut as the Red Devils claimed a 1-0 victory over Fulham in the first Premier League match of 2024-25.

After recording their lowest-ever Premier League finish last season, United looked set to be frustrated at Old Trafford on Friday until their new striker diverted a deft finish past Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno in the 87th minute.

Introduced midway through the second half by Erik ten Hag, Zirkzee applied the crucial touch to fellow substitute Alejandro Garnacho’s teasing centre to settle the contest.

Bruno Fernandes had earlier squandered United’s best chances, with Leno in excellent form for the visitors, making two saves from the Portuguese playmaker in swift succession.

Leno denied Maso…

Best odds: 6/5

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Sassuolo welcome Lazio to the Stadio Citta del Tricolore on Sunday to do battle for the points needed fairly strongly by both sides, though for different reasons, and it promises to be a fierce encounter.

Sassuolo

Having had a fine 2021/22 season, being near the top of the Serie A for a while before going back down and finishing 11th, Sassuolo are now back fighting to stay in the league. Their case is not exactly desperate at this point, given that they re 16th at the moment with 16 points, seven more than Verona in the red zone, with Spezia sitting in between. For Verona, as well as Sampdoria and Cremonese further down, things don t look too promising.

On the other hand, Alessio Dionisi will be extremely worried by the fact th…

Villarreal have signed Brazilian goalkeeper Luiz Junior from Portuguese club Famalicao, the LaLiga side announced on Tuesday.

Junior, who kept eight clean sheets in 33 Liga Portugal appearances last season, has signed a six-year deal for a reported £10.2m transfer fee.

The 23-year-old made 111 saves last year, a total only bettered by Boavista s Joao Goncalves (112) and Farense s Ricardo Velho (140).

He conceded 39 times in the league, averaging a save percentage of 73.47%, the second highest of any goalkeeper to make over 30 appearances last campaign.

Junior made 140 appearances for Famalicao, keeping 42 clean sheets and conceding 178 goals across his four-year stint with the club.

The Brazilian will replace Filip Jorgensen at Villarreal, who…

Erik ten Hag is not concerned by Wout Weghorst s lack of goals since joining Manchester United on loan as he believes the striker is helping to get more out of other players.

Weghorst has started all six of United s matches since arriving from Burnley last month but has scored only once, in the 3-0 EFL Cup semi-final first-leg win at Nottingham Forest.

The 30-year-old has also yet to assist a goal in his 439 minutes on the field and was substituted off shortly before the hour mark in Saturday s 2-1 league win over Crystal Palace.

However, United have scored 13 goals across the six games Weghorst has played in, winning four of those, and he has received the backing of manager Ten Hag.

He is the one who makes players around him play better, Ten Hag said ah…

Paris Saint-Germain boss Christophe Galtier says people should not read too much into Neymar not starting the 3-0 Ligue 1 win over Nantes.

The Brazil international has been in sensational form at the start of the 2022-23 campaign, scoring seven goals in five appearances prior to Saturday s game at the Stade de la Beaujoire.

However, he watched on from the substitutes  bench as Kylian Mbappe put the Ligue 1 champions 2-0 up either side of a red card for Nantes wing-back Fabio, with Neymar introduced in place of Mbappe in the second half.

Nuno Mendes added a third after Neymar s shot had cannoned back off the post as PSG racked up 24 goals after their first six games.

That equalled the record for goals scored by a team in Europe s big five leagues at this …

Ademola Lookman struck a brace as a youthful Everton signed off from an underwhelming Europa League campaign with a 3-0 win at Apollon Limassol on Thursday.

Subbed at half-time of his only Premier League start this season, the 20-year-old scored twice inside the opening half hour to end his 20-match scoreless run in all competitions and give the Toffees their first win at the final attempt in Group E.

The visitors clearly had an eye on Sunday s derby against Liverpool in handing starting debuts to young trio Harry Charsley, Fraser Hornby and Morgan Feeney.

Lookman took his opportunity to impress by heading in the opener in the 21st minute, before he unleashed a long-range rocket soon after to effectively sew up third spot ahead of the Cypriot champions.

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Pep Guardiola can return to Barcelona whenever he wants according to club president Josep Maria Bartomeu, who said he sees the Manchester City coach running the club s famous La Masia training academy.

Bartomeu said he offered Guardiola the opportunity to take charge of La Masia towards the end of his four-year spell as Barcelona head coach.

Guardiola, who guided one of football s all-time great teams through one of the most successful periods in Barcelona s history between 2008 and 2012, opted instead to leave Camp Nou and enjoyed a spell as Bayern Munich boss before joining City.

But Bartomeu insists the door is never closed on a potential return.

He s a genius and he has the doors of his house open whenever he wants, Bartomeu told The Times.

…

Market: Both teams to score

Odds: 7/10 @

Getting a new era underway on Saturday afternoon, Nottingham Forest will welcome Bournemouth to the City Ground.

Starting with the hosts, eventually slumping to a 2-0 loss at home against Champions League dreamers Tottenham last weekend, that result was enough to cost Steve Cooper his job in the Nottingham Forest hot seat. Turning to ex-Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo, the Portuguese tactician has a real job on his hands. Coming under a huge amount of scrutiny since opening up the 2023/24 campaign, they have now recorded just a single point from any of their previous six Premier League appearances. In fact, aside from a 2-0 victory against Aston Villa on November 5th, Forest are without a win from any of their other 12 st…

Prediction: Juventus to win and both teams to score

Odds:

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Andrea Pirlo will be aiming to add to his UEFA Champions League triumphs claimed as a player as he takes charge of Juventus in the Round of 16 for the first time against Porto at the Estádio do Dragão.

The former midfielder lifted two titles during his playing career and now faces the first-leg against the two-time winners on Wednesday evening in Portugal.

FC Porto

Having last lifted the UEFA Champions League under Jose Mourinho in 2004, the Dragons are once again attempting to disturb the established order. The Portuguese giants head into the knockout rounds having finished second in Group C behind Pep Guardiola s Manchester City. They impressed throughout the group stages,…

Cristiano Ronaldo sent his former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson his support and urged him to be strong after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

United confirmed on Saturday that Ferguson, 76, fell ill on Friday and has been in intensive care after undergoing a procedure which went very well , according to the club.

The Scot managed United for 27 years until 2013, enjoying an immensely successful career in Manchester which saw him win a host of trophies and discover many great players.

Arguably chief among the talents he developed was Ronaldo, whom Ferguson signed from Sporting CP in 2003 as a replacement for David Beckham.

Ferguson nurtured Ronaldo at United and the attacker won the first of his five Ballons d Or under his tutelage at Old Trafford i…