..::Football III::..

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Wolfsburg would be wrong to stop De Bruyne earning crazy money - Allofs

Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs stressed it would be wrong to deny Kevin De Bruyne the chance to earn a lot more money elsewhere.

Manchester City have already made a big bid for the Belgium international and, while the player is not expected to force a move away from Wolfsburg, he has so far refused to rule out a move.

Allofs has previously said De Bruyne is almost certain to stay at the Bundesliga side this summer, but has since backtracked on that statement and revealed the club will not prevent him from pursuing a huge salary.

"It was brisk of me to say that Kevin is 99.9 per cent likely to stay," he told Bild.

"I also said that we are not a club which is dependent on transfer income. We want to build a good team, we are ambitious. So we need the best players.

"However, if a player has the chance to earn exceptional money elsewhere then we have to deal with that situation. Anything else would be wrong."

Allofs insists, however, there has been no official offer for the player as of yet and feels it will be impossible for the Bundesliga side to keep such an attacking talent long-term.

"According to his agent there are several clubs which show their interest. But there is no official offer.

"I always said it is unlikely that Kevin will stay until the end of his contract in 2019, unless we were to improve in an outstanding way and the conditions at Wolfsburg would change.

"We are not at the same level as Bayern, Real Madrid or Manchester City."
Wolfsburg kick off their Bundesliga campaign at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday at 15:30CET.

 

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Aubameyang: I had goosebumps after terrific Dortmund win

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was in awe of Borussia Dortmund's opening display of the season, admitting he had goosebumps following their 4-0 trouncing of Borussia Monchengladbach.

The 26-year-old striker and Marco Reus each scored one before Henrikh Mkhitaryan bagged a double at Signal Iduna Park as BVB started the campaign with an electrifying display in new coach Thomas Tuchel's league debut.Aubameyang shared his elation at Dortmund's performance, stating it went exactly as last season's DFB-Pokal runners-up had hoped it would.

"We played a terrific game," the Gabonese forward told reporters. "We implemented exactly what we wanted to do and we are naturally overjoyed.

"It was great fun to play in the game and the fans were incredible today. When I left with Marco Reus I had goosebumps. You dream about playing in that kind of atmosphere as a kid. It's just great."Reus was also very impressed with his side as they beat the team who finished third in the Bundesliga last term, 20 points ahead of BVB.

"That was a real endurance test, which we overcame very well indeed. We wanted to start the league in a good position and had a really strong team in front of us.

"Gladbach were the best team in the second half of last season. We put them under pressure from the start and forced them to make errors.

"The important thing was that we took our chances. We played very well with the ball and remained calm in our positions, waiting for our chances."The team performance was terrific from the first until the last minute and the victory is well-deserved."

Meanwhile, defender Mats Hummels believes there is even more to come from Tuchel's men, who are second in the table behind reigning champions Bayern Munich.

"We executed our game plan brilliantly. If we continue like this we can be very successful. It's great start to the season: four matches and four wins across the Europa League, DFB-Pokal and Bundesliga – we can go very far indeed.

"So far everything is going very well and we want to build from this. We don’t want to take anything for granted though as it is still early days"

 

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Mascherano: Barcelona have no room for mistakes

Javier Mascherano has warned Barcelona they cannot make any mistakes in Monday's Supercopa de Espana second leg against Athletic Bilbao if they want to overturn the 4-0 deficit.

An Aritz Aduriz hat-trick and a San Jose goal saw the European champions demolished by their Basque opponents at San Mames in a game which has put Barca's chase for the 2015 sextuple in doubt.

However, Mascherano believes his side have what it takes to come back from the defeat and still win the title, but maintains they must be more focused defensively.
"We didn't play well, that goes without saying, but I think the scoreline was worse than we deserved in the first leg," the Argentine told reporters."They had maybe six or seven chances and scored four goals, including a penalty. We had five or six chances but didn't score.

"I think it was isolated errors that punished us more than we deserved. We need to improve and minimise errors but we don't need to change everything."This team is reliable and this season we will get better, but now we need to think about how to turn this game around.

"We're excited about this. It's a unique challenge. We've got the tools to turn it around. In many occasions in the past this team has won games by a lot of goals, so we have to try to do this on Monday.

"We're not trying to be arrogant, they are a tough opponent, but we believe in our abilities. I'm sure we will be trying every way possible to win the game. It's essential that we don't let them score."Football's a game in which you pay for your mistakes. Sometimes you make mistakes yourself or the opponent forces you into them."

Mascherano - who can play in defence or midfield - maintains there is no need for Barca to completely change their style heading into the clash at Camp Nou."It's not a question of going mad and doing things we've never done before. We have to play the way we do naturally, that's how we go about winning it.

"I think we played against a team that were tough for us last season too. They are a team that challenge for every ball and make you uncomfortable. They're powerful in the air and it's always hard to play against them."

 

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Barcelona have to be perfect - Luis Enrique

Luis Enrique has demanded that Barcelona seek perfection as they look to turn around a 4-0 deficit against Athletic Bilbao in the Supercopa de Espana.

The Catalans conceded four goals for the second game in a row on Friday, following up their Uefa Super Cup 5-4 win against Sevilla with a trouncing in the first leg against the Basque club.

The Champions League holders have a mountain to climb as they look to win a sextuple of trophies, but Luis Enrique believes they can do it."I think we have a team big enough to do this," he told reporters. "We know we have to do very, very well and get everything right in each aspect of the game.

"We do things well. We have every possibility to turn it around. It would be pretentious to say we will defeinitely do that, but I believe we can.

"There were 18 games last season in which we scored four or more goals. We are capable of doing that. "I don't think the 4-0 reflects the way the game was played. We paid a heavy price for the few mistakes we made.

"It's unusual for us to create so many chances and not score. Athletic made their chances count and punished us for our mistakes."No team has ever come from 4-0 down in a Supercopa match. That's the challenge we've got ahead of us.

"Everything is difficult, we will try not to make any mistakes. We know we're capable of scoring four or more. The fact we didn't score at San Mames makes a big difference. We can keep a clean sheet."

 

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Real Madrid set to land Kovacic from Inter

Real Madrid are closing in on the signing of Inter central midfielder Mateo Kovacic for a fee in the region of €35 million.

The Croatia international, 21, has impressed at San Siro over the last two-and-a-half seasons and is top of Rafa Benitez's wishlist as he looks to strengthen his midfield.

Los Blancos made an initial offer of €30m for the former Dinamo Zagreb starlet, which was rejected, but hope that the addition of €5m in bonuses can seal the deal, with Inter expected to accept the proposal at that price.

Kovacic, who would link up with countryman Luka Modric in the Madrid engine room, has already verbally agreed personal terms with the capital-city club as a switch nears completion and will sign a five-year contract worth €4m per season.

With five goals in 35 Serie A appearances last term, the midfielder caught the attention of many top sides this summer, with Liverpool reported to be interested in luring him to the Premier League.

The Nerazzurri had been adamant that the Croatian would not leave, while the player's agent has reiterated that stance, but the lure of Madrid has proven too strong.

Madrid have long sought a central midfielder, with the lack of reinforcements in that area exposed last season while Modric was injured, and Benitez has first-hand experience of Kovacic's talent thanks to his time in Serie A.

The Spanish coach had been linked with the likes of William Carvalho and Arturo Vidal this summer, the latter joining Bayern Munich, but appears to have finally found his man in Kovacic.

Inter are well set to deal with the departure of the 21-year-old, having already signed Geoffrey Kondogbia, though will look to reinvest the €35m fee in another midfielder, a striker and a left-back, while Madrid could be prepared to offload either Lucas Silva or Asier Illarramendi, who has been linked with Liverpool recently.

 

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Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal: Delaney own goal gets Gunners up and running

Arsenal secured their first win of the Premier League season after a Damien Delaney own goal granted them maximum points against London rivals Crystal Palace.

Having been pegged back before half-time, Arsenal – beaten by West Ham on the opening day – secured all three points just before the hour as Delaney handed the visitors their sixth successive win over Palace.

Olivier Giroud netted his first of the campaign after 16 minutes to give Arsene Wenger's side the lead with a superb finish, before Joel Ward recorded the second Premier League goal of his career to level things up.Arsenal's advantage was restored 10 minutes into the second half as Delaney diverted Alexis Sanchez's header beyond Alex McCarthy.

Home debutant Connor Wickham wasted a late chance to earn Palace a point, while the introduction of loanee Patrick Bamford preceded a late rally in which Jordon Mutch and Ward went close.

But Arsenal held firm to get their first points of the campaign, helping to atone for the 2-0 home reverse against West Ham.

Keen to put that result quickly behind them, Arsenal made a positive start and saw Giroud and Sanchez both denied inside 10 minutes by crucial defensive blocks.

With Arsenal's early dominance the opening goal seemed inevitable and duly arrived after 16 minutes as Giroud's superb acrobatic volley found the bottom-left corner from Mesut Ozil's precise delivery.

A second looked likely as Wenger's side – who made two changes from the West Ham defeat – enjoyed prolonged spells of possession but, against the run of play, Palace drew level.

As the half hour approached, Yannick Bolasie and James McArthur combined well on the edge of the Arsenal penalty area to set up Ward, and his low drive arrowed past Petr Cech.

Spurred on by the vocal home support, Palace – with Bolasie and Wickham making their first starts of the campaign – began to threaten more, but they needed a reflex save from McCarthy to keep out Aaron Ramsey's front-post flick before the break.

Palace made a vibrant start to the second half and went agonisingly close to taking the lead three minutes in as Wickham crashed an effort off the post from Wilfried Zaha's cross. The new Palace striker was made to rue his miss just before the hour as the visitors retook the lead, Sanchez's towering back-post header turned into his own net by the unfortunate Delaney.

Ramsey should have extended their advantage further after 67 minutes following a flowing move down the left, the Wales international superbly picked out by Ozil before lashing over the bar.

Palace applied late pressure in their search for an equaliser with Wickham, Mutch and Ward all wasting openings, while McCarthy was needed to make one last save to prevent Santi Cazorla from stretching Arsenal's winning margin.

 

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Hummels: Dortmund can go a long way this season

Mats Hummels believes that the sky is the limit for Borussia Dortmund after their promising start to the new season.

Uncertainty surrounded the club following Jurgen Klopp's decision to stand down at the end of last season, which saw BVB finish seventh in the Bundesliga standings.

However, new boss Thomas Tuchel has made an instant impact, with Dortmund progressing to the play-off round of the Europa League with a commanding 6-0 aggregate defeat of Wolfsberger before then easing past Chemnitzer in their DFB-Pokal opener.

Most impressively of all, though, BVB kicked off their Bundesliga in style on Saturday, beating last season's third-place finishers Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0 at Signal Iduna Park.

Consequently, Hummels believes that Dortmund - Champions League finalists in 2014 - are on their way back to the top.

"We executed our game plan brilliantly," Hummels said of the demolition of Gladbach. "If we continue like this we can be very successful.

"It's a great start to the season: four competitive matches and four wins – we can go very far indeed.

"We don’t want to take anything for granted, though, as it is still early days.

"But so far everything is going very well and we want to build from this."

Dortmund face Norwegian outfit Odd in the Europa League on Thursday before returning to Bundesliga action at Ingolstadt next weekend.

 

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Wenger hails Arsenal response

Arsene Wenger praised Arsenal's intensity in banishing memories of their opening day defeat to West Ham by securing a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.
The Gunners came in for criticism after the 2-0 loss at the Emirates Stadium last weekend, but the Frenchman was happy to see a reaction at Selhurst Park.

An Olivier Giroud volley and Damien Delaney's own goal sealed victory for Arsenal and Wenger felt his team's display was one befitting a side with aims of challenging for the Premier League title.

"I'm very pleased with the three points," he told Sky Sports. "If we had gone two games and zero points it would be absolutely difficult and we knew this would be a tricky one.

"Last week we had a bit of a stroll and thought we would win the game. Today we played real Premier League football from the first minute to the last."With the ambitions we have made you have to have full commitment and we had that."

Giroud echoed Wenger's sentiments after opening his account for the season, but rued a host of wasted opportunities to extend their advantage further.He added: "We really wanted to play our game, but even though we won we could have killed game [earlier].

"We could have scored more goals with better choices, but we are very happy to get three points, that is the main thing for the team."

 

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Manchester City 3-0 Chelsea: Mourinho's champions crushed by Aguero & Co.

Manchester City continued a strong start to the Premier League season with a thoroughly convincing 3-0 victory against reigning champions Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium.

Restored to the starting XI, Sergio Aguero looked short of sharpness as he missed early chances before finally burying one midway through the first half.

Chelsea's distance behind a dominant City side was underlined by the substitution of captain John Terry at half-time but it brought no significant upturn in their fortunes and Vincent Kompany scored for the second consecutive game with a near-post header to settle it for Manuel Pellegrini's side.

With the Blues tamed, Fernandinho added insult to injury in the 84th minute as he finished off a vibrant team move by firing a clean shot through a crowded penalty box.

Asmir Begovic came into the Chelsea starting XI for the suspended Thibaut Courtois as one of two changes to the side who drew 2-2 with Swansea City last time out and the former Stoke City goalkeeper was called into action inside the opening minute when Aguero - in for Wilfried Bony as City's only alteration - was sent clean through on goal by David Silva. The Argentine failed to find a way past Begovic and Jesus Navas drilled wide from the rebound.

Begovic was making a promising start to his full Chelsea debut and got down brilliantly to his left to keep out another Aguero strike on 16 minutes, before pulling off an almost identical save from the same man a minute later.

As encouraged as Mourinho will have been by the early performance of his stand-in keeper, the fact that he saw as much action as he did in the opening 20 minutes will have given the Chelsea boss some cause for concern.

And the Portuguese's worst fears were realised in the 31st minute when Aguero and Yaya Toure exchanged passes on the edge of the box - the former tying up Gary Cahill in knots and guiding a low effort beyond Begovic into the bottom-left corner.

Cesc Fabregas - making his 50th Chelsea appearance - fired just wide as the visitors chased an equaliser and, after making such a positive start, Begovic found himself responsible for giving Cahill a bloodied nose as he attempted to punch clear an Aleksandar Kolarov free kick in the 44th minute.

The first appearance of Chelsea's medical staff on the pitch prompted a chorus of ironic cheers and chants of "Eva, Eva, Eva" from the home fans, a result of the row over the controversial demotions of Eva Carneiro and Jon Fearn after the Swanse game.

Tempers flared as the players left the pitch for half-time, with Diego Costa feeling aggrieved after being caught by the flailing arm of Fernandinho.

Mourinho replaced Terry with Kurt Zouma for the second half - the first time that he has substituted his captain in the Premier League - and Ramires thought that he had pulled Chelsea level five minutes in but the linesman raised his flag for a marginal offside as the Brazilian obliviously wheeled off in celebration.

Chelsea pressed higher up in the second period and could have restored parity after 70 minutes when the ball found its way to the feet of Eden Hazard in the box following a counterattack, but the Belgian fired straight at goalkeeper Joe Hart.

The visitors then fell further behind as Kompany outmuscled Branislav Ivanovic to double City's advantage with a goal similar to the one that he scored at West Brom on Monday.

And the rout was complete five minutes from time - Fernandinho rifling home from the edge of the area as Chelsea's defenders switched off.

Costa hit the post in stoppage time but even a goal would have done nothing to spoil City's day.

 

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Official: Chelsea sign Rahman from Augsburg

Chelsea have completed the signing of Augsburg defender Baba Rahman for an undisclosed fee.

The Premier League champions had been looking for a new left-back following Felipe Luis' return to Atletico Madrid earlier this summer but initially struggled to agree a deal with the German outfit for their 21-year-old Ghana international.

Augsburg chairman Jonas Hoffman stated that the club had no need to sell, claiming that they would not even entertain any bid under £14 million (€20m).

As a result, Chelsea increased their offer to £17.5m (€20m) and, although Augsburg did not reveal the size of the transfer fee, the Bundesliga side announced on Sunday that Rahman is now on his way to Stamford Bridge.

Rahman only joined Augsburg from Greuther Furth last summer but sporting director Stefan Reuter insisted that there were no hard feelings towards the defender for pushing for a move to the Premier League.

"Baba has developed with us tremendously and made a great leap," he told Bild. "It's not just an award for his achievements, but also for our work, if an international giant like Chelsea are interested in signing him. We wish him well in England."

Rahman's signing comes as a timely boost for Chelsea, who have begun the defence of their crown in unconvincing fashion, taking just a single point from their opening two games and manager Jose Mourinho has moved to sure up a defence that has already leaked five goals.

Felipe Luis' departure had left Cesar Azpilicueta as their only option at left-back, with Kurt Zouma was forced to stand-in when the Spanish defender went off injured in the Community Shield defeat to Arsenal earlier this month.

Rahman will now offer Mourinho an alternative to Azpilicueta at left-back, as well as the option to move the former Marseille man to right-back at the expense of Branislav Ivanovic.

 

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Mourinho: Substituted Terry was NOT injured

Jose Mourinho says that John Terry was not carrying an injury when he hauled off the captain at half-time of Chelsea's 3-0 defeat by Manchester City, insisting that it was a tactical switch.

The veteran centre-back was replaced by Kurt Zouma with the Blues a goal down and the champions went on to concede twice more as Chelsea made their worst start to a Premier League season in 17 years.

"John Terry [had no injury]. It was just a decision. I know that Kurt Zouma is the fastest defender Chelsea have," the Portuguese told Sky Sports.

"He is a player of my total trust. With me he was never substituted but, with other managers, he was not even playing. Some people thought his career was over. If anyone has the free mind to make this decision, I am the one because I'm the one who gave him the chance to be what he is: a fantastic player and captain.

"I left him out because, tactically, I had to make a change. Sometimes you are right and sometimes you are wrong but I think I was right. We controlled the counterattack completely afterwards. My decision was proven right.

"John is Chelsea captain, for sure, and a player with my entire confidence, for sure."

Mourinho was also of the opinion that Chelsea had been the better side in the second off at the Etihad Stadium and felt that both Fernandinho and Yaya Toure should have been sent off.

"The best team in the first half won the game," he remarked, "[but] the best team in the second half was Chelsea for sure. We had a difficult first half, we didn't create a lot and our goalkeeper made a few important saves.

"Second half, everything was different. If the 1-0 was a doubtful result at minute 70, 3-0 is completely fake. At 1-0 Chelsea were the best team for the whole second half.

"They make a change because they feel 1-0 is in danger and we concede a second goal. If 1-1 a different story, their team is in trouble."

 

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Awesome Aguero & Manchester City send out emphatic message to bitter Mourinho

If only they could play Chelsea every week. Manchester City capitalised on their routine 3-0 demolition of West Bromwich Albion on matchday one in the Premier League by doing similar to Jose Mourinho's bedraggled Blues. On the evidence of it, Chelsea are closer to West Brom than they are to City, despite what the manager might say about it.

"If 1-0 was a doubtful result at minute 70, 3-0 is completely fake," Mourinho spat to Sky Sports. "At 1-0 Chelsea were the best team for the whole second half.

"They make a change because they feel 1-0 is in danger and we concede a second goal. If 1-1 a different story, their team is in trouble."

Nonsense. City are setting a standard that might already be unachievable for the chasing pack. If this is how they deal with Chelsea, their title rivals at the start of the season, then what might be in store for Watford next week? This is a superb team playing exquite football and all the pieces slotted together in a profound, statement-making display against last season's Premier League champions.

Segio Aguero was afforded three or four clear chances to get his eye in before finally rolling the ball past Asmir Begovic for the opening goal. The ease with which he palmed off Cahill all afternoon will only expedite Mourinho's quest to bring in John Stones from Everton.

David Silva, the type of player Mourinho teams usually excel in snuffing out, found as much space as he needed. The gap between defence and midfield was all too big for Chelsea and the Spaniard profited; offering passes to Aguero and an assist to Kompany.

Raheem Sterling had Branislav Ivanovic exactly where he wanted him; while he lost out on the physical side to the Serb, his nippiness in attack meant he could go past the full back at will. Fernandinho dominated the midfield landscape and fired home the third.

Jose Mourinho can scarcely offer an excuse for this one, as he did last week in shifting the focus onto Jon Fearn and Eva Carneiro when his team conceded two to draw at Stamford Bridge against Swansea. The defeat here completes Jose's worst-ever start to a season as Chelsea manager.

Other than the 2006-07 campaign, when they lost to Middlesbrough on matchday two, Chelsea under the Portuguese had won their first two games of every Premier League season. Not so this time around.

Something is fundamentally broken. They are already five points behind City. Mourinho revealed that after a truncated pre-season campaign that his side might not be fully fit until after the fourth league game. By then it will be far, far too late.

There is a toxicity about Chelsea this week, in the wake of the Carneiro affair, which was referenced too by the City support when the replacement physio-doctor duo of Steven and Chris Hughes were summoned to treat Gary Cahill late in the first half.

Seconds later and they were upfield tending to Diego Costa who had been jostled heavily by Vincent Kompany. That, ironically, left Chelsea with eight outfield players on a counter-attack, the very offence Mourinho used to dispense with Carniero and Fearn for their perceived lack of understanding of football.

Here, it was more illustrative of the fact that Chelsea were being battered, both physically and on a technical front too. City played like a dream.

For Mourinho, the nightmare continues.

 

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City 'always' dominate Chelsea - Pellegrini

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini said his side “always dominate” Chelsea when the two sides meet after sealing an emphatic 3-0 victory over the defending champions.

Goals from Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho secured the bumper win at the Etihad Stadium as City moved five points clear of their title rivals.

After watching his team condemn the Blues to their worst start to a Premier League season for 17 years, Pellegrini insisted his side are consistently better when the heavyweights come head to head.“Two things are the most pleasing to me about this match,” the Chilean coach told reporters.

“Number one to score three goals. In the first half we played really well, just Asmir Begoivc put in a great performance and we didn't score more.

"Second it was important to get a clean sheet. To win 3-0 in two games, one against the champions, we are just starting the season but it’s important to play in the way we did today."We always dominate Chelsea. Maybe we draw against them last year and before we lost but always we dominate Chelsea. Today we made the complete work."

Despite speculation over his future at the Etihad at the end of last season, Pellegrini recently signed a contract extension and was delighted with his side's complete performance.

"I am very proud of this team because we have had a lot of criticism, but we are always the highest-scoring team," he told Sky Sports. "We have won two titles and last year we finished in second place and I continue playing this side. This is the side fans deserve.

"The first half we played really well and it was down to [Chelseagoalkeeper Asmir] Begovic that we didn't score more, but it was important to get a clean sheet, and to play in the way we did, especially against the champions.

"I think we always dominate against Chelsea, but we didn't give them any chances on the counter attack and we made complete work of our chances."

 

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Crystal Palace 1-2 Arsenal: Delaney own goal gets Gunners up and running

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Manchester City closing in on £25m deal for Otamendi

Manchester City are closing in on a £25 million deal for Valencia centre-back Nicolas Otamendi, Goal understands.

The proposed deal would see Eliaquim Mangala spend the rest of the season on loan at Mestalla, and City are hopeful of negotiating the price down still further due to the money Valencia still owe them for last summer's transfer of Alvaro Negredo.

Otamendi, 27, followed up a breakthrough season in Spain by helping Argentina reach the final of this summer's Copa America and has been repeatedly linked with a move to Manchester United in recent months.

But it is bitter rivals City who have won the race to sign the Argentine they hope will prove a worthy defensive partner for captain Vincent Kompany, with Mangala failing to convince in the Premier League since his £32m move from Porto in the summer of 2014.

There is still hope in the corridors of power at the Etihad Stadium that a season in Spain will help Mangala, 24, mature into a top-class centre-back and Valencia will not be given an option to sign the Frenchman permanently.

Otamendi has become a key figure at Valencia but the Spanish giants are under pressure to sell players in order to meet Financial Fair Play obligations.

 

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Wadak naha...shik

Manchester United backline 1kata onema karana player kenek nathi wenna yanne

LVG ge response 1kanam anthimai​

 

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PSG 2-0 Gazelec Ajaccio: Matuidi and Silva win it for dominant champions

Blaise Matuidi and Thiago Silva were on target as Paris Saint-Germain recorded a dominant 2-0 win over Gazelec Ajaccio on Sunday.

Buoyed by parading their latest big-money acquisition Angel Di Maria before kick-off, PSG wasted no time in taking an early lead through Matuidi's wonderful 11th-minute effort.

Thiago Silva added a second 10 minutes later as PSG, shorn of the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic, exploited Ajaccio's lack of top-flight experience in the early stages.

Although Edinson Cavani missed several gilt-edged chances to extend PSG's lead, the visitors were much more resilient in the second period, despite offering little in terms of an attacking threat.

Serge Aurier also squandered a decent opportunity with 10 minutes remaining, heading wide from six yards out, as the scoreline remained the same and PSG followed up their opening day win over Lille last Friday.

Blanc's men, in the hunt for a fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title, looked determined to showcase their quality from the off, penetrating Ajaccio's defence with ease in the second minute as Aurier fed Cavani and his shot was well blocked by Roderic Filippi.

That resolve did not last long for Ajaccio – who secured their second straight promotion last season – with Matuidi latching onto Filippi's poor header before powering into the box to dispatch a thunderous left-footed strike into the roof of the net.

Despite continuing to dominate possession, PSG were lucky to escape unscathed when Damjan Djokovic crossed into Gregory Pujol, but the 35-year-old could not direct his glancing header goalwards.

And Ajaccio were made to pay when dreadful marking allowed skipper Thiago Silva to charge in from the edge of the area and head home under no pressure from Thiago Motta's inswinging corner.

PSG took their foot off the gas as the game approached half-time, although youngster Jean Kevin Augustin did go close on his full competitive debut, but the 18-year-old could only direct his header wide from Maxwell's cross.

The second half continued in similar fashion, with PSG content to play at their own pace. Cavani should have netted his first of the season when Matuidi's cross found him on the edge of the six-yard box, only for the Uruguayan to mistime his shot, allowing Ajaccio to clear.

Cavani then headed over from Lucas Moura's pinpoint delivery before David Luiz's goal-bound header was blocked on the line by Alexandre Coeff.

PSG spurned another opening when Aurier headed wide under pressure from Ajaccio goalkeeper Clement Maury, who then made an excellent save to deny Luiz and retain some pride for Thierry Laurey's outfit.

 

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Pellegrini hails 'unbelievable' Aguero after Chelsea display

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini praised striker Sergio Aguero following his side's 3-0 win over Chelsea, claiming the Argentinian could have scored "three or four" in the first half.

Following repeated attempts to get past the impressive Asmir Begovic, the former Atletico Madrid forward finally opened his account after half and hour before Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho netted two late goals to add gloss to a convincing victory.

Pellegrini's side have moved to the top of the Premier League table and five points clear of champions Chelsea with the win and the boss was delighted with his striker's performance.

"The first 45 minutes from Aguero were unbelievable," the 61-year-old coach said."It was just the three important saves from Begovic didn't allow him to score three or four goals.

"[The result] was very satisfying because it's not easy to beat the champions.Chelsea are the best team. They won the title last season and I think that the first 45 minutes we played deserved at least three goals.

"We played really well without conceding any chances for Chelsea to score and we created at least four clear chances.

"It was just Begovic had a great performance and we couldn't score more goals."Second half we had maybe some restrictions by the yellow cards, but in our worst moments Chelsea didn't have chances and finally we scored the two other goals that we deserved in the first half."

However, Pellegrini is reluctant to claim the result sends a warning signal to any other would-be champions and played down the importance of the early-season victory."We are not sending a message to anybody, we are just playing the way we always try to," he added.

"We have only played two games this season, but in both games we scored three goals and I think we have more concentration in defending, so that's why we also have clean sheets in the two games."[But] nothing is significant until the end of the season."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Wenger hails 'magnificent' Ozil display

Arsene Wenger heaped praise on Mesut Ozil after the Germany international produced an impressive display in Arsenal's 2-1 win over Crystal Palace.

The playmaker was at the heart of Arsenal's attacking play at Selhurst Park and provided a pinpoint delivery for Olivier Giroud to open the scoring after 16 minutes with an acrobatic volley.

Although Palace equalised through Joel Ward, it was the visitors who ran out victors courtesy of a Damien Delaney own goal and the French manager was delighted with Ozil's contribution to Arsenal's win."He had a very good performance," Wenger beamed. "He was very important from getting out of tight areas.

"It's a pleasure to watch the quality and intelligence of his passing, he was absolutely magnificent.

"He works harder than a lot of people thinks he does, he's not spectacular in his defending but he wants to do the job and help the team. "What I liked today was he made many runs behind without the ball, that's new. He mixed up his game because usually he comes for the ball."

Wenger was also thrilled with Alexis Sanchez's efforts as the Chilean completed 75 minutes on his first start of the campaign following on from his successful summer antics at the Copa America in his homeland.

"It was not a coincidence that he found the header," the Arsenal boss added.
"it's a typical Sanchez goal with more desire than fitness. He's still a bit short fitness-wise but he's a fighter."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Allofs: Wolfsburg braced for De Bruyne offers

Wolfsburg are braced for a new offer for sought-after playmaker Kevin De Bruyne in the coming days, but hope to persuade the Belgium international to stay.

Manchester City have been heavily tipped to be considering another approach for the former Chelsea midfieder as they look to bring the 24-year-old back to England before the transfer deadline closes.

After 10 goals and 20 assists in the Bundesliga last season, Wolfsburg want to keep De Bruyne, who has a contract until 2019, but sporting director Klaus Allofs is braced for another enquiry for his star player.

"The decisive part is that we don't want to sell him," he told Sky Deutschland. "There could very well be another offer during the next few days."However, there are many preconditions indicating that he will stay."

Meanwhile, head coach Dieter Hecking defended De Bruyne after he was substituted with 15 minutes to play following a below-par performance in Wolfsburg's 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt."The guy played average. He's allowed to do so," he said.

"And that I substituted him a bit earlier is something that I can grant him once in a while. His performance doesn't always have to be extraordinary."What really upset me were the chants coming from certain fans. That's something you just don't do. I want to stress this fact.

"I think that Kevin tried a lot and it simply didn't work out. He was stopped where he's usually able to pass a player, then he played a pass that was not precise enough."We know about Kevin that he's not upset with his team-mates but with himself because he knows he's able to do better.

"Like I said, this was an average performance by him and everything else is fine."