Rahman loaned to Schalke as Emerson talk intensifies

Bayer Leverkusen have appointed Red Bull Salzburg boss Roger Schmidt as their coach for next season.

Schmidt joins Leverkusen on a two-year contract after enjoying a magnificent season with Salzburg, who clinched the Austrian Bundesliga title with eight games to play and beat Ajax on their way to the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League.

His Salzburg side have been great entertainers this season, plundering an incredible 105 goals with three league games still to play.

And the 47-year-old will now look to experience further success with a Leverkusen side that parted company with Sami Hyypia earlier this month.

We sounded out the market and very quickly made up our minds to opt for Roger Schmidt, sporting director Rudi Voller told Leverkusen s official website.

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Greek Super League champions Olympiakos are keen on signing England U21 winger Tom Ince, .

The 22 year old moved to Crystal Palace on loan from Blackpool back in January, though he has made just six appearances for the Eagles, scoring his only goal for the club on his debut – a 3-1 win over West Bromwich Albion.

He has been linked with a move to a whole host of Premier League sides this summer, though his father, former England international and Blackpool manager Paul Ince, was reportedly in Athens at the weekend discussing a potential move.

Ince Jnr was named the Football League’s Young Player of the Year last after a fine 2012/13 campaign which saw him miss just two league games, and score eighteen goals.

He began this season in similarly goo…

Schalke coach Huub Stevens says replacing Raul at the Veltins Arena will prove to be an almost impossible task.

The Spanish attacker joined Schalke in 2010 from Real Madrid, and a year later fired the Gelsenkirchen side to the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in their history.

But the 34-year-old is set to leave Germany at the end of the season after opting against extending his stay at Schalke, and Stevens admits his presence will be sorely missed.

Raul is one of a kind, there s no such thing as another Raul, he told Kicker.

Stevens returned to Schalke in September, after previously leading the club between 1996 and 2002, to replace Ralf Rangnick, who stepped down from the post due to exhaustion.

The 58-year-old has only one yea…

Massimiliano Allegri is sure Juventus will grow in confidence after securing their place in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages.

The Serie A champions played out a 0-0 draw with Spanish counterparts Atletico Madrid in Turin on Tuesday and the point was enough to secure second in Group A.

It marks a return to the last 16 for Juve, who were eliminated at the group stages in the 2013-14 Champions League campaign.

Head coach Allegri believes there are four teams that are currently a cut above the rest in Europe s premier competition, but feels that his side are capable of competing with the elite.

[Finishing second] means Juve will take on one of the group winners in the next phase of the competition, he told Sky Sport Italia.

The level of E…

Market: Union Berlin win

Odds: 4/6 @

Looking to pick up a first-leg advantage on Thursday evening when they turn their attention back to Europa League duties, Union Berlin will host Royale Union.

Starting with the hosts, while Union Berlin might be in the midst of what has been a recent inconsistent spell, the mood in Urs Fischer s camp should be at a continued high. Although Die Eisernen might have won just one of their previous five matchups across all formats, the Kopenick-based outfit did claim a major European scalp last month. Eventually coming past Dutch icons Ajax on February 23rd thanks to a 3-1 romp at the Stadion An der Alten Forsterei, some have tipped Union as a potential Europa League dark horse in 2023. Remarkably suffering just a single defeat si…

Atletico Madrid will not be signing Cristiano Ronaldo and that decision is final, according to club president Enrique Cerezo.

Speaking at the presentation of Nahuel Molina on Friday, Cerezo said the newly recruited Argentina international was the last piece of the jigsaw.

That means Diego Simeone s squad is complete as far as Cerezo is concerned.

Molina has joined from Udinese, and Atletico have also brought in the likes of Samuel Lino and Axel Witsel to plump up their ranks after Luis Suarez, Sime Vrsaljko and Hector Herrera moved on.

With this incorporation our sports directorate has managed to fit the last piece we were looking for, said Cerezo.

I repeat, for the journalists, with this incorporation our sports directorate has managed to…

French daily newspaper L’Equipe claims that Cameroon midfielder Alex Song is being linked with a return to the Emirates.

The experienced footballer has been training with the Gunners after leaving Rubin Kazan, but it remains to be seen whether he will be offered a contract.

Song has not been released by Rubin Kazan, but he could soon become a free agent with the Russian club having failed to pay him wages for the past four months.

Yann M’Vila has already left Rubin to join Saint Etienne on a free transfer and his fellow midfielder is also searching for a new club.

Song, 30, had only made 22 league appearances for the Russian giants since joining on a free transfer in August 2016.

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Cristiano Ronaldo believes he could be back playing for Manchester United by the end of September after completing his recovery from ankle surgery.

The Portuguese winger went under the knife in July following the Euro 2008 tournamment and initial forecasts were that he could be out of action until late October and possibly November.

But Ronaldo, who scored 42 goals last season to fire United to the Premier League title and Champions League, has been told his rehabilitation is ahead of schedule and he is on track for an early return to action.

I am feeling fine. I am feeling really good and my recovery is going well, the 23-year-old said.

I am more than happy with my progress and I hope to be back playing for United by the end of September that is my …

According to the Daily Mail, France coach Raymond Domenech will be sacked if his side fail to beat Serbia on Wednesday.

The man who led France to an unexpected World Cup final in 2006 has failed to produce the goods since then. A very poor Euro 2008 saw him ridiculed for his belief in horoscopes and attacked as being tactically naive in the press.

It was slightly surprising that he kept his job following their dismal group stage exit and he surely needed a good start to his World Cup qualifying campaign. A 3-1 defeat to Austria at the weekend was not what he needed.

It seems likely that the Serbia game will be his last in charge and another defeat would make that 99% certain.

(Source Daily Mail)

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Olympiacos forward Youssef El-Arabi claimed the never-say-die attitude of his team-mates helped them secure Europa League football next year.

El-Arabi scored an 87th-minute penalty to give Olympiacos a 1-0 win over Red Star Belgrade in their final Champions League Group B match on Wednesday.

The victory enabled Olympiacos to climb above their opponents into third spot and ensured the Greek side will take part in continental competition in 2020.

Morocco international El-Arabi said: We had many attempts to score, but sometimes, regardless of the volume of opportunities, the ball just wouldn t go in. 

But we didn t give up and succeeded in the end. Most important, we held on to qualify.

I admit it wasn t easy to take that penalty. But I am glad, b…