Under-fire Newcastle manager Alan Pardew finally found an ally in one of his former midfielders Yohan Cabaye.
Cabaye, 28, made 79 league appearances for the Tyneside club from 2011-14, defecting to Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain in January and Newcastle s fortunes spiralled downwards after his departure.
The France international threw his support behind his old boss Pardew, who is in much need of a friend with his job on the line.
The manager is in trouble now but he shouldn t get all the complaints because it s not only about him, so I am sad for him and want to wish him all the best, Cabaye told The Guardian.
When I was there and the second season wasn t good, the fact was that we were the players on the pitch.
Cabaye said he was a fan…
Garry Monk is backing his Swansea City side to win at Stoke City for the first time in the Premier League when the two sides meet on Sunday.
The Welsh club have lost two and drawn one of their three top-flight matches at the Britannia Stadium since they were promoted from the Championship in 2011.
Swansea manager Monk is unperturbed by that record and is adamant that his side ought to have secured all three points when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Mark Hughes last season.
Monk s men have made an encouraging start to the season, but two draws and as many defeats from their last four has stunted their early progress.
Stoke have won only twice in the league this term and Monk sees Sunday s clash as an opportunity to claim a second away victory on the road…
Brazil international Paulinho has agreed a deal with Barcelona, Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao captain Zheng Zhi has confirmed.
Multiple reports on Saturday claimed the 29-year-old midfielder has travelled to Spain to finalise a transfer after Barca agreed to pay his release clause, thought to be set at €40million.
Speaking after his side s 2-1 win over Henan Jianye, the Guangzhou skipper revealed that Paulinho is on the verge of a move back to Europe.
We have lost such a key player [in Paulinho], he said. And our line-up and style of play will be absolutely affected by his departure because it is impossible for us to seek any replacement at this stage of the campaign.
Anyway, we want to wish Paulinho good luck. His transfer to such a big club as Ba…
Ligue 1 champions Monaco are weighing up summer bid for forward Rodrigo Moreno, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.
The Principality club have come to terms with losing wonderkid Kylian Mbappe, who is set to leave after being dropped from the squad.
And Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim plans to replace him with Valencia hotshot Rodrigo Moreno.
The head coach knows the player well from the Portuguese league and he believes the 26-year-old has yet to realise his undoubted potential.
hasn’t quite managed to justify a €30 million transfer fee, having scored mere 10 goals in 75 La Liga outings for Valencia.
Los Che will probably jump at the opportunity to offload one of their high earners, especially knowing that Monaco have a lot of money to burn.…
Market: Czech Republic win
Odds: 11/10 @
Looking to build off of their midweek performance, the Czech Republic will turn their attention back to Nations League duties when they travel to Israel on Sunday night.
Starting with the hosts, watching their chances of securing a spot at next year s European Championships brought to an end after suffering penalties defeat away at Hampden on Thursday night, Israel have really struggled to find any kind of form over the past 16 months. Failing to offer much in the final third in Scotland and mustering just a single shot on target, Willibald Ruttensteiner s men could also only open this year s Nations League campaign with back-to-back stalemates. Now in the midst of a five-match winless run across all competitions, a 3-1 …
Erling Haaland, Jadon Sancho and Ansu Fati headline the final 20-name shortlist for the 2020 Golden Boy award.
The prize, presented by Italian newspaper Tuttosport and won by Joao Felix last year, is given to the best player aged 21 or under from a top-tier league in Europe.
Haaland is a leading contender for the accolade after scoring 44 goals across all competitions in 2019-20 – 16 of those coming in 18 appearances after a mid-season move from Salzburg to Borussia Dortmund.
Among all Bundesliga players last season to have scored at least 10 goals, only Robert Lewandowski (81.2) had a better minutes-per-goal record than Haaland (81.7).
7/3 Erling is the first player in the history to score 7 goals in his first 3 appearances. He has scored with each o…
Former Germany striker Karl-Heinz Riedle believes the race to win the Bundesliga title will go down to the wire.
Riedle said his former club Borussia Dortmund will be neck-and-neck with current leaders Bayern Munich when the title is decided in May.
The 46-year-old said that Dortmund can contend with the Bavarian giants in the long term, and insisted that the current German championship is far from being decided.
I think it will be close to the end, Riedle told Goal.com. The goal for the season would be to secure a spot in the Champions League next year.
The World Cup winner also labelled 22-year-old Marco Reus, who confirmed his move from Borussia Moenchengladbach last week, as a top transfer , adding that his style fits 100 percent with BVB .
Market: Both teams to score
Odds: 4/6 @
In what could be an enjoyable showdown from the Volkswagen Arena on Tuesday evening, Wolfsburg will host Borussia Dortmund.
Starting with the hosts, while Wolfsburg might have endured a sluggish start to the 2022/23 campaign, Niko Kovac s side have come roaring back in some style over recent months. Last seen over the weekend putting in another thumping display as they cruised their way to a 3-0 romp against Mainz, the former Monaco boss finds his side in the midst of an extended eight-match unbeaten run across all formats. With that hugely impressive run of form stemming all the way back to September 18th, Wolfsburg have also found quite a clinical edge in the final third. On a run that is highlighted by a 4-0 victory at …
Porto left-back Alvaro Pereira says his failure to clinch a transfer to Chelsea did not upset him.
The Uruguay international was high on the list of off-season targets for Chelsea coach Andre Villas-Boas, who had worked with the defender at Liga Sagres outfit Porto during the treble-winning 2010/11 season.
But the English Premier League outfit failed to reach an agreement with Porto, who were determined to hold out for the 30 million-euro figure in Pereira s release clause.
I was glad that such an important club showed interest in signing me, the full-back told Monte Carlo TV.
If the transfer did not happen it was for some reason, and I am sure that fate holds something better for me.
I look at this as something positive, rather than a negati…
Newcastle United have placed a price tag of 15 million pounds on goalkeeper Tim Krul, according to reports in the UK.
The Dutchman has been one of the standout performers for Newcastle this season, and has conceded just 25 goals in 20 English Premier League games.
Many had expected Steve Harper to be Shay Given s long-term successor to the Newcastle when the Irishman left to join Manchester City in 2009, yet Krul s performances have pushed the veteran to the sidelines.
The 23-year-old s form led to a first senior international cap for the Netherlands in June 2011.
The Sun claim the Dutchman has been attracting interest from several Premier League clubs, including Chelsea and Tottenham.
With Brad Friedel seemingly in the twilight of his career and…