Kalvin Phillips returned from World Cup duty with England overweight and not ready to feature against Liverpool, according to Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.
The midfielder has endured a frustrating season hampered by injury issues after moving to the Etihad Stadium from boyhood club Leeds United in the last transfer window.
Phillips was still selected by Gareth Southgate for Qatar 2022 but played just 40 minutes across the tournament before England suffered quarter-final heartbreak against France.
The 27-year-old, who has been restricted to just one substitute appearance in the Premier League for City, missed the EFL Cup fourth-round win over Liverpool on Thursday.
While England team-mates Jack Grealish, John Stones and Phil Foden all featured in …
According to , as relayed by , Tottenham Hotspur remain keen on signing Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna despite having two bids for the defender turned down. Spurs have made two offers for the 22-year-old already, but Italian club Bologna have rejected both of them.
Bologna want €25 million (£21.38m) for Tomiyasu, at least a fixed transfer fee of €20 million (£17.10m). The Serie A club have received an offer of €19 million (£16.25m) plus bonuses from Spurs. That has been turned down, but Spurs are planning to come back with another bid for the 22-year-old, who can also play as a right-back.
Tomiyasu scored two goals in 31 Serie A matches for Bologna . During the 2019-20 campaign, the Japan international scored one goal and gave three assists in 29 league games.<…
Paris Saint-Germain defender Alex is confident that he will agree a new deal with the French champions before the end of the season.
The 31-year-old Brazilian is out of contract at the end of the campaign but has been a regular for PSG in the three seasons since he arrived from Chelsea.
With PSG primed to wrap up a second consecutive Ligue 1 title this season, Alex confirmed that he is likely to agree a new deal in the next few weeks.
I am very happy in Paris and almost everything is right to renew, he told GloboEsporte.com.
I believe that in a week or two we will sign an agreement for another year.
While Alex is set to sort his club future out soon, he does not expect any new developments at international level.
The centre-back has not played fo…
Thiago Silva labelled Pele as forever the king of football as tributes flooded in from Brazil players after the Selecao great s death on Thursday.
The three-time World Cup winner suffered multiple organ failure after being moved to palliative care in Sao Paulo earlier in December when his body stopped responding to cancer treatment.
Sao Paolo s Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital confirmed the cause of the 82-year-old s death before tributes poured in from players, clubs and sporting organisations.
Pele helped Brazil to World Cup success in 1958, 1962 and 1970, with no player in the tournament s history winning more, and the likes of Silva and Casemiro joined in sharing their memories of the former forward.
Forever the king of football, the Legend!, Chels…
Brentford manager Thomas Frank is worried but hopeful about the knee injury that saw Ivan Toney stretchered off late in their 2-0 win over West Ham United on Friday.
Toney, who has been in the news after being charged with 262 breaches of the Football Association s betting rules, scored the opening goal and got the assist for the other before being stretchered off in the 90th minute after landing awkwardly on his right knee.
The England forward appeared in significant pain, which Frank said was worrying but needing further assessment.
Hopefully he s okay, Frank told SkySports. I m happy for the three points and another goal to add to his tally.
I don t know exactly how he will be against Liverpool in three days time, it s unlikely he s subbed off becaus…
Inter crashed out of the Coppa Italia as Stefano Pioli was haunted by former club Lazio, who claimed a 2-1 quarter-final victory at San Siro.
The hosts came into the tie on a nine-match winning streak and Lazio had lost two straight games, but the form book was turned upside down in a match that saw both sides finish with 10 men.
Felipe Anderson headed in his third goal of the season in the first half as Serie A s fourth and fifth-placed teams did battle in the cup.
And Lucas Biglia struck with a second-half penalty after Miranda had been sent off for a foul on Ciro Immobile.
Inter had hopes of a comeback when Stefan Radu received a second yellow for the visitors and Marcelo Brozovic struck with a late header, but Lazio survived.
Lazio, who ar…
Former Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson believes the competitiveness of the Premier League may have come as a surprise to Pep Guardiola.
It has been somewhat of a culture shock for Guardiola since arriving to the physicality and wide-open nature of England, where City are 10 points adrift of leaders Chelsea, as the two-time Champions League-winning manager remains defiant in his tactics.
Guardiola whose City were bundled out of the Champions League by Monaco in the last 16 won the Bundesliga in each of his three seasons at Bayern Munich and only lost out to Real Madrid in LaLiga in one of four campaigns.
Such dominance is hard to find in England as City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United and Liverpool Guardiola s opponents at the Etihad St…
Spanish TV programme El Chiringuito de Jugones has suggested that Spanish defender Alvaro Arbeloa is eager to leave Real Madrid.
Having fallen behind Daniel Carvajal in the pecking order, the Spain international is no longer prepared to wait for his chance and he wants to quit los Leones before the transfer window closes on Sunday.
Arbeloa has also been disappointed by the treatment from the club fans and he looks set to leave Spain altogether.
England and Italy appear to be his most likely destinations, with Napoli boss Rafael Benitez hoping to get reunited with the player he coached at Liverpool.
Alvaro Arbeloa, 31, had began his career at Real Madrid and returned to Santigo Bernabeu in the summer of 2009 following spells with Deportivo La Coruna and L…
Barcelona are interesting in making a move to sign Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Christian Eriksen, according to Sky Sports.
The Denmark international, who has also been linked with fellow La Liga giants Real Madrid has been in superb form for Tottenham Hotspur over the past few seasons, once again helping them qualify for the Champions League last term.
Spanish champions Barca are looking for reinforcements this season and may use Brazil international Rafinha as a makeweight in any potential deal.
Eriksen moved to Spurs from Ajax in the summer of 2013 and he has since racked up two hundred and twenty-five appearances for the club in all competitions, scoring fifty-six goals while he was named their Player of the Year in both 2014 and 2017.
Internati…
New Zealand defender Tommy Smith has lauded Barcelona superstar Neymar as the best player he has ever faced – four days before a potential encounter with Cristiano Ronaldo at the Confederations Cup.
Smith faced Neymar at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and admitted he came off comfortably second best despite sensing the Brazil forward was stuck in second gear .
Smith – who runs a soccer school for children in the Ipswich area of England during school holidays – is appearing at a third major tournament for his national team, after also competing at the 2010 World Cup.
The All Whites centre-back is set to make his second start of the Confederations Cup against Mexico on Wednesday in Sochi, after Anthony Hudson s men went down 2-0 to hosts Russia in Saturday…