RB Leipzig coach Ralf Rangnick has revealed he turned down opportunities to sign Bayern Munich pair Philipp Lahm and Robert Lewandowski at separate points in his career.
Rangnick has coached a host of Bundesliga sides in recent decades before helping mastermind wealthy Leipzig s controversial rise to the 2.Bundesliga as sporting director then head coach.
However, the 57-year-old says he rejected the chance to bring World Cup-winning Germany captain Lahm to Hannover in 2003 before also turning down Lewandowski when at Hoffenheim.
Rangnick told Bild: At the time Philipp played in midfield and I told the Bayern coach Hermann Gerland that I already have a player like him with Altin Lala.
In retrospect, it must be said, of course, that we would have …
The agent of Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes has revealed that his client would jump at the chance to return to PSV Eindhoven.
Gomes left the Dutch club in 2008 in order to move to White Hart Lane but, after two error-strewn seasons, fell behind Brad Friedel and then Hugo Lloris in the pecking order at the London club,.
The Brazilian s representative has now revealed that Gomes would relish the opportunity to return to the Philips Stadion, with PSV s current first-choice keeper Jeroen Zoet linked with a departure.
Heurelho had a fantastic and victorious history at PSV. He experienced the best time of his career there. To date he still receives messages, letters etc from the PSV fans, Alex Soares told Sky Sports.
Heurelho is a Tottenham player and he is under …
Arsenal returned to the top of the Premier League after a tight 0-0 draw at bogey club Stoke City, with Jack Butland again in sparkling form.
The 22-year-old goalkeeper made terrific saves to deny Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud twice, while Arsenal s Petr Cech made a superb double stop to keep the scores level.
Arsenal had not won at Stoke since February 2010 and never looked likely to find a way through Butland, who continues to pile pressure on Joe Hart s England place.
Stoke, having already beaten Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City at home this season, had the better of the game without creating clear chances and Mark Hughes men could not break the deadlock.
The draw sees Arsenal climb above Leicester City and back to the top of…
Portuguese giants FC Porto are hot on the trail of Panathinaikos midfielder Mehdi Abeid, .
The Algerian footballer did well to kick-start his career in Greece following a disappointing spell with Newcastle United and he is now back on the radar of top European clubs.
The Dragons hope to lure Abeid to Estadio do Dragao in the summer transfer window and they have a good chance of making that happen.
Namely, even though the midfielder has a €6 million release clause in his contract, it is believed that Panathinaikos would consider offers in the region of €3 million.
Mehdi Abeid had joined Newcastle United on a free transfer from Lens in the summer of 2011, but he never quite managed to prove his worth in England.
He has impressed during the two …
Crystal Palace are eyeing a move for Roma goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski, according to the Mail Online.
New manager Frank De Boer saw his team lose 3-0 at home to newly promoted Huddersfield Town in his first game in charge, and is keen to bring in reinforcements with the transfer window set to slam shut in just over two weeks time.
So far, the Eagles have only brought in two players this summer with Jairo Riedewald coming in from Ajax and fellow defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah joining on a season-long loan from Manchester United.
Skorupski, who has made just five Serie A appearances for Roma since signing from Gornik Zabrze in 2013 would provide competition for current first choice shot stopper Wayne Hennesey and Palace veteran Julian Speroni.
The one-ti…
Fabio Borini will undergo a medical with AC Milan on Thursday ahead of a reported €6million move from Sunderland.
Widespread reports state the forward will move to San Siro pending the successful completion of fitness checks.
If the deal goes through, Borini will add to Milan s signings of Andre Silva, Ricardo Rodriguez, Mateo Musacchio and Franck Kessie.
Borini only scored twice in 24 Premier League appearances as Sunderland finished bottom last season and subsequently dropped to the Championship.
The 26-year-old joined Sunderland from Liverpool in 2015, having previously spent a spell on loan at the Stadium of Light in 2013-14. He has also represented Chelsea, Swansea City, Parma and Roma.
Borini has one Italy cap, which he received in 2012.
Clement Lenglet said he is glad the Neymar speculation is finally over so Barcelona can focus on defending their LaLgia title and challenging for the Champions League.
Neymar was heavily linked with a return to Barca but the Paris Saint-Germain superstar was unable to engineer a move back to Camp Nou prior to Monday s transfer deadline.
Speculation over Neymar – who joined PSG in a world-record €222million deal in 2017 – dominated headlines as Barca only won one of their opening three LaLiga matches before the international break.
Barcelona and France defender Lenglet said the Spanish giants can now focus solely on football.
Several players are away, but life goes on at the Ciutat Esportiva!
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)
…
Stanislav Cherchesov and Oscar Tabarez will have to juggle pragmatism and momentum on Monday when Uruguay and Russia clash in Samara.
Both teams have won their opening two matches in contrasting fashion and already qualified for the round of 16.
Andrei Kanchelskis may have described them pre-tournament as the worst Russian team I have ever seen but that kind of negativity has not rubbed off on Cherchesov s men, who swept past Saudi Arabia 5-0 on opening night before subduing Egypt and Mohamed Salah to make it six points from six.
Uruguay, on the other hand, have been less entertaining and less convincing.
A 1-0 defeat of Egypt was mirrored against Saudi Arabia but Tabarez s side undoubtedly have more to prove in their last group game.
Their stru…
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has offered a novel explanation for Manchester United s underwhelming home form this season – the players jerseys are blending into the red canvas of banners and empty seats at Old Trafford.
United s form both at home and on the road have made for curious reading for much of the season – after all, their 6-1 defeat to Tottenham at Old Trafford in October was the Red Devils joint-heaviest Premier League loss and saw them beaten in their opening two home games of a league campaign for the first time since 1986-87.
Yet, United have not lost a Premier League away game since January 19, 2020, winning 15 of those 23 matches on the road since.
Delving into the numbers a little more, United s 54.2 per cent win rate at home across all competition…
Manchester United dropped points for a second successive Premier League home match on Saturday, as they were held to a 1-1 draw by promoted Wolves.
Former manager Alex Ferguson was back at Old Trafford for the first time since his May health scare, but United failed to put on much of a show for him, instead producing a performance which surely would have resulted in the Scot s infamous hairdryer treatment.
Although United looked particularly off the pace early on and rode their luck, they broke the deadlock in the 18th minute, with Fred getting his first goal for the club.
Joao Moutinho scored Wolves deserved equaliser with a fine finish early in the second half and, although United upped the pressure late on, they could not find a winner in Fergie time , as the…