Aston Villa sack Gerrard after Fulham defeat

Catalan daily newspaper that Sevilla are stepping up their efforts to sign Almeria winger Aleix Vidal.

Los Rojiblancos are in need of attacking reinforcements as their main creative outlet Ivan Rakitic is set to complete a switch to Barcelona.

And Sevilla seem to have made Almeria winger Aleix Vidal their number one priority at the moment.

While the player s employers are holding out for €4 million, their league rivals plan to offer €3 million in cash plus either Julian Cuesta or Papa Diawara.

Considering that the two sides are not that far apart at the moment, chances are an agreement will be reached in the coming weeks.

Aleix Vidal joined Almeria from Mallorca B in the summer of 2011 and he immediately developed into an important player at…

Hull City chairman Assem Allam said he will stay true to his word, and sell the Premier League club, should a name change be rejected.

The English Football Association s membership committee voted against Steve Bruce s side being re-named Hull Tigers on Tuesday, and Allam who pledged to cut ties with the club he has backed since 2010 said he will keep his promise, despite the recent setback.

The full FA council must adhere to the recommendation from the membership committee, in order to officially block the proposal.

Allam said: How could you imagine I would change my mind? People who know me know that I do not go back on what I say.

The 74-year-old Egyptian has not given up hope of the name change still taking place, as he revealed his intention to bal…

Atletico Madrid applied pressure on Barcelona ahead of El Clasico as a 5-1 victory over Real Betis saw them move to within six points of the Liga leaders.

With Luis Enrique s men playing Real Madrid later on Saturday, Atletico took their opportunity to cut Barca s lead with a comfortable victory inspired by Antoine Griezmann and Fernando Torres.

The pair struck late in the first half to put Atleti ahead at Vicente Calderon, Torres netting with a smart finish before Griezmann enjoyed a stroke of good luck as Betis goalkeeper Adan allowed his throughball to go all the way in.

After Jan Oblak had made a fine double save to deny Heiko Westermann, Atleti resumed their control and saw Griezmann denied again before Juanfran added the third just after the hour.

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that Tottenham Hotspur could be lining up a bid to bring Bournemouth’s Adam Smith back to White Hart Lane.

With Kyle Walker strongly linked with a move away from the North London club manager Mauricio Pochettino is on the lookout for reinforcements and Smith could fit the bill.

The twenty-six year old began his career with Spurs, but made just two appearances for the club spending much of his early years out on loan with the likes of Leeds United, Derby County and Bournemouth – who he signed for permanently in January 2014.

Since then, Smith has played seventy times in all competitions helping them win promotion to the top flight two years ago.

Internationally, he has been capped eleven times for England U21s but is yet to represent his country…

Beckham to captain Galaxy

David Beckham will captain Los Angeles Galaxy for the first time in three years when they face Real Salt Lake on Saturday.The 35-year-old first took the role upon joining the Major League Soccer club in 2007.Beckham relinquished the job when he joined AC Milan on loan in 2009, with United States international Landon Donovan becoming skipper.But with Donovan away on international duty, the veteran Englishman a former Manchester United and Real Madrid player will captain the team at the Rio Tinto Stadium. I ll be proud to wear it, Beckham said, referring to captain s armband. It doesn t change the way I play. It s something you re very proud to wear, but you need more than one leader on the field. Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena felt Beckham was the natura…

Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre is adamant the club has a bright financial future despite posting a 20m pound loss last year.

The club s published accounts for July 2009 to June were the makings of previous owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, widely despised by the Anfield faithful.

The report showed that rising revenues were undermined by an increase in debt, but Fenway Sports Group, who took over the club for 300m pounds in October, have injected 200m pounds of debt repayments into the club so far.

And Ayres is confident the club is now in good hands.

As much as we are all aware of the difficult circumstances surrounding these accounts and that period in the Club s history, everyone in the world can now see just how much has since been achieved…

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan believes coach Thomas Tuchel has the squad strength to cope with their current injury woes ahead of Wednesday s visit to Darmstadt.

Tuchel saw his side struggle to break down 10-man Hoffenheim in their 3-1 win at Signal Iduna Park on Sunday, with Dortmund missing centre-backs Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Mats Hummels, while Gundogan was only fit for the second half after illness.

The likes of Marco Reus, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Lukasz Piszczek all shook off injury or illness to feature as an initially lacklustre Dortmund eventually prevailed with three late goals after Sebastian Rudy had seen red for Hoffenheim.

It keeps Dortmund within eight points of leaders Bayern Munich amid a hectic fixture schedule t…

Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah is eager to avoid injuries in their final friendly before the FIFA World Cup against South Korea on Monday.

Appiah s men face South Korea at Sun Life Stadium in Miami as they finish their preparations for Ghana s tournament opener against the United States next Monday.

Ghana reached the World Cup quarter-finals in South Africa in 2010, but face a tough task if they are to replicate that feat in Brazil, having also been drawn in Group G alongside Germany and Portugal.

A number of teams have suffered high-profile injuries in the lead up to the competition, with group rivals Germany seeing Marco Reus ruled out due to an ankle problem suffered in last Friday s 6-1 win over Armenia.

And Appiah is keen to ensure that he has a full squad of pla…

Germany head coach Joachim Low has called for clarity in the controversy over doping allegations levelled at Russia s 2014 World Cup squad.

A report in the Mail on Sunday claimed that Russia s 23-man squad at the finals in Brazil, along with another 11 footballers, are people of interest to officials at the heart of the probe into state-sponsored doping in Russia.

FIFA is still investigating the claims, which relate to players mentioned in the McLaren Report, which last year claimed more than 1,000 Russian sportspeople benefitted from a highly organised state-doping scheme, described as corruption on an unprecedented scale that led to a ban on Russian athletes competing at the Rio Olympics.

Both FIFA and Russian officials have pointed out none of their players ha…

Jeremy Toulalan is set to move to Bordeaux after his request to be released by Monaco was accepted.

Former France international Toulalan joined Monaco from Malaga in 2013 and had one more season remaining on his contract.

However, the club from the principality agreed to the captain s request for a move to Bordeaux, with the Nantes-born player citing a desire to move closer to his hometown.

The 32-year-old will arrive in the south west next week for a medical and to sign a deal with Jocelyn Gourvennec s team.

I spent three wonderful seasons with Monaco and I am proud to have contributed to the club s return to the forefront of the French and European stage, he said in a statement.

It is time for me to take on a different challenge that will also…