Del Bosque impressed by Atletico, Koke

Seventy-six year old Sir Bobby Robson is a true great of the English game. He has had recurrent problems with cancer for many years and in 2008 he told the world that he had terminal lung cancer.

Defeated

He has defeated cancer on four occasions but the fifth time will eventually beat him. He had bowel cancer in 1992, a malignant melanoma in 1995, and a tumour in his right lung and a brain tumour, both in 2006. As a result of these four illnesses he was left partially paralysed due to a stroke caused by the brain tumour, and also with a partially prosthetic upper jaw after the melanoma was surgically removed. The fifth diagnosis of cancer came in February 2007and it consisted of cancerous nodules in both lungs, and was diagnosed as terminal.

At that point, Sir …

Jack Grealish and Aston Villa provided a perfect model of how to sell a star player in the best possible way , Stiliyan Petrov says.

And former Villa captain Petrov feels it is an example Harry Kane and Tottenham should heed as the England captain attempts to join Grealish at Manchester City.

Grealish left Villa Park for £100million this week, having wanted to join a Champions League club.

For Kane, who has already played in Europe s elite club competition, the intention appears to be to join a genuine title contender.

Spurs have fallen away, while City appear well set for their Premier League title defence.

It was reported Kane skipped pre-season training in a bid to force a transfer, although the striker said on Friday he would never, and have…

Luiz Felipe Scolari began life as Chelsea on new manager with the unresolved future of Frank Lampard sitting at the top of an overflowing in-tray.

Scolari has already secured his number one transfer target with former Barcelona star Deco having signed for the London club on Monday in a deal worth just over eight million pounds.

The arrival of the Portugal playmaker has however only served to fuel the uncertainty over whether fellow midfielder Lampard will remain at Stamford Bridge or opt to join former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan.

Lampard, 30, has only a year on his current contract left and there has been no progress towards an agreement on the long-term deal he says he wants to sign with Chelsea.

Scolari likes his teams to play entert…

Current Bundesliga leaders Hamburger SV and Frank Rost have come to a new agreement that should leave the goalkeeper at the north-German team for another year.

Rost s contract initially expired in 2009, but is now set to end in the summer of 2010.

The 35-year-old began his professional career in 1992, and spent the first ten years at Werder Bremen. After five years at Schalke 04, where he eventually lost his position as first choice to Manuel Neuer, Rost moved to Hamburg in 2007.

Since joining his current side, Rost made 58 club appearances.

…

Newcastle United goalkeeper Tim Krul has joined Ajax on a season-long loan following Jasper Cillessen s move to Barcelona.

Krul has also signed a one-year contract extension at St James Park that will keep him on the club s books until 2018.

The loss of Cillessen to Barca left Ajax needing to quickly fill their number-one jersey, and Krul who moved to Tyneside from ADO Den Haag in 2005 is relishing the challenge after being relegated with Newcastle at the end of last season.

I don t think many clubs are equivalent to Newcastle. Ajax is in that category, he told the Eredivisie outfit s official website.

Ajax is a club with many talents and I look forward to passing on the experience I have accumulated over the past decade.

When I got the text fr…

Prediction: Match to end in 2-2 draw

Best Odds: 

Bookmaker: 

Everton and Leicester City will face each other in the Premier League this week. The match at Goodison Park will kick off at 8:15pm UK time on Wednesday and promises to be an exciting game of football.

Everton

Everton will head into the match against Leicester on the back of a 3-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday at Goodison Park in the fourth round of the FA Cup. It followed a 2-1 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers away from home in the Premier League.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side are seventh in the Premier League table at the moment with 32 points from 17 matches. The Merseyside club are only three points behind fourth-placed West Ham United, who have played 20 games. Everton are very …

Los Blaugranas established the signing of a left-back as one of their priorities ahead of the 2019-20 season. Even though they first acquired Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong, they never forget about strengthening the left side of their defence. And now they have completed a move for their desired transfer target at the position.

This Sunday, FC Barcelona the signing of Junior Firpo. The soon-to-be 23-year-old defender was announced as Barcelona’s new player after signing a five-year deal at the club. This means he will be part of the squad until the end of the 2023-24 season. Barcelona signed Firpo for a €18 million transfer, but they could end up paying up to €30m considering there are €12m more in several add-ons. Plus, the Spain U21 international will have a �…

I head back to the murky world of Premier League predictions after a remarkable performance of nine correct predictions in twelve during international week. I don’t expect that sort of success rate here!

Saturday 4th April 2009

Arsenal v Manchester City

Arsenal have opened up a three point lead over fifth placed Aston Villa. They are unbeaten in sixteen league games, in the FA Cup semi-finals and the Champions League quarter-finals. They are a looking good at the moment and a trip to the Emirates is a daunting prospect for anyone.

It could be particularly daunting for a Manchester City side who have still only won once away from home this season. They have slowly crept up to tenth place and are only three points short of seventh, but their away…

Chelsea centre-back Alex will miss Brazil s upcoming World Cup qualifiers and the Confederations Cup to undergo surgery on a hernia, according to the Brazilian football federation.

Brazil coach Dunga will announce a replacement for Alex ahead of the World Cup qualifiers, against Uruguay at Montevideo on June 6 and Paraguay at Recife four days later.

After 12 rounds of matches, Paraguay top the South American pool with 23 points while Brazil are on 21, one point ahead of Chile, with Argentina in fourth on 19 and Uruguay fifth a further two points adrift.

The top four teams in the nine-team group qualify automatically for the World Cup next summer in South Africa while the fifth-placed team goes into a playoff against the fourth-placed team from the CONCACAF group…

Catalan daily that Manchester United are pondering a move for Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez.

The Chilean had had a slow start to his career at Camp Nou, having largely struggled to prove his worth under Pep Guardiola, but everything changed with the arrival of Tata Martino.

Sanchez has managed to nail down a regular starting berth this season and went on to score 4 goals in 6 league matches.

As a result, Manchester United are being linked with a move for the highly rated striker, although it would take a substantial offer for Barcelona to even consider cashing in on the Chile international.

Alexis Sanchez arrived at Camp Nou in a mega money deal from Udinese in the summer of 2011 and has since bagged 23 goals in 60 La Liga matches.

Sanchez sc…