Man Utd on ‘pole’ to ‘close transfer’ for ‘new Bellingham’; Ratcliffe ‘determined’ amid Real Madrid fear

Jose Mourinho concedes Tottenham will not be kings of the market in the January window as they are unable to match certain Premier League rivals in terms of profile and spending.

Tottenham have won five of their eight matches in all competitions since Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino last month.

The London side have been tipped to strengthen their squad early in 2020, while Christian Eriksen has been linked with a move away as he enters the final stages of his contract.

Mourinho reiterated he is content with his squad but acknowledged his hand may be forced somewhat when the transfer window reopens, with Jan Vertonghen another player facing an uncertain future.

Game time before game day.  

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial)

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There were encouraging signs for Bob Bradley in his first home Premier League fixture as Swansea City manager, but he was ultimately made to settle for a goalless draw against Watford.

The American, who replaced Francesco Guidolin at the Liberty Stadium at the beginning of this month, saw his side make Arsenal work hard for a 3-2 victory in his first game in charge last weekend.

A more disciplined defensive display restricted Watford during the first half, yet Swansea s more attacking outlook after the interval reaped no reward.

Gylfi Sigurdsson who hit the post late on and Mike van der Hoorn came closest to breaking the deadlock as Modou Barrow once again proved a menace down the wing, but Watford held out for a share of the spoils.

The result leaves Swa…

Frank Lampard accepts he is under pressure to turn around Chelsea s results and says he is not wanting any favours from owner Roman Abramovich.

Chelsea have lost four of their last six Premier League matches as many defeats as they had in their previous 23 with last week s 3-1 setback against Manchester City leaving them ninth.

The Blues have taken 26 points from their opening 17 league games of 2020-21, three points fewer than at the same stage last season. They have never finished higher than sixth after failing to amass more than 26 points at this stage of a campaign.

Amid reports that Abramovich is lining up candidates to replace Lampard if the barren run continues, the club s all-time leading goalscorer acknowledges he cannot rely on past success to keep him…

Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou declared Celtic will be hard to stop if they maintain their current form after watching the Bhoys tear Rangers apart in a 4-0 Old Firm derby success.

A Liel Abada brace, as well as goals from Jota and David Turnbull, moved the scintillating Scottish Premiership champions five points clear of their historic rivals in the early-season table on Saturday.

Celtic are now unbeaten in 38 league games, and have scored 25 goals in their opening six matches of the 2022-23 campaign.

Speaking to the BBC after the win, Postecoglou said: We have been in excellent form and I m really proud of the players.

It was a big game today, we knew that, a big occasion against a really good team, and I thought the boys were outstanding from start to f…

Hamburg s Marcell Jansen says the club are targeting a win over Borussia Dortmund on Saturday as they look to get their season on track.

Hamburg have endured an inconsistent campaign to date and sit ninth in the Bundesliga table ahead of the weekend, while Dortmund are 12 points adrift of leaders Bayern Munich in second place.

Dortmund are favourites. We need to be wide awake from the first minute. Our goal must be to win there, Jansen told Bild.

We still lack consistency and lose our concentration too much. We re brave but not toxic enough. We hide too much. It is a mystery that I don t understand.

The full-back has fallen out of favour with Germany since winning his first cap in September 2010, but aims to play his way back into Joachim Loew s plans…

Henrikh Mkhitaryan s first two goals for Borussia Dortmund were enough to secure his side a 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.

The close-season signing from Shaktar Donetsk opened the scoring, but Vaclav Kadlec hit back with his first Frankfurt goal in the 35th minute.

Mkhitaryan added another after the break though, to send Dortmund to the top of the Bundesliga as they maintained their 100 per cent record.

Dortmund made one change from their 1-0 win over Werder Bremen last week, with Sven Bender replacing Sebastian Kehl in midfield.

For the hosts, recent signings Stephan Schrock and Kadlec both featured in the starting line-up as Armin Veh s men went in search of consecutive Bundesliga wins.

Frankfurt started brightly and created an early chance w…

Sunderland were unable to complete the signing of Portuguese goalkeeper Mika Domingues on Wednesday.

The Premier League outfit were hoping to finalise a deal before the transfer deadline but they failed to do so, despite Portugal s Boavista claiming the transfer was done via social media.

Sunderland used Twitter to provide an update on the situation, with a statement from their official account reading: Despite the best endeavours of both clubs, a deal has not been completed for the transfer of Mika Domingues from Boavista to Sunderland AFC.

Mika a former Portugal youth international has been at Boavista since arriving from fellow Portuguese side Atletico CP in 2014.

While Sunderland were unable to sign Mika, David Moyes and Co. managed to bring in Didie…

China international defender Zhang Linpeng has claimed he is on his way to Chelsea before the end of the European transfer window.

The 26-year-old, who is currently at Chinese Super League (CSL) champions Guangzhou Evergrande, was relieved that his dream of five or six years of playing in the Premier League is nearing realisation.

While Zhang conceded he would not play for Chelsea initially a loan deal is expected Chinese media sources are reporting the 185-centimetre defender could be a future replacement for Branislav Ivanovic.

I am pleased and excited to finally have such an official invitation. I have been trying, waiting for this for five or six years and finally got the recognition from the Premier League, Zhang said, according to sports.qq.com.

Th…

Stefano Pioli hinted Divock Origi could make his first Serie A start when Milan go to Sampdoria on Saturday, as he emphasised the importance of competition in his Rossoneri squad.

Origi joined Milan in July after leaving Liverpool on a free transfer, but has been a peripheral figure during their promising start to the new campaign. 

With the likes of Rafael Leao, Junior Messias and Olivier Giroud preferred by Pioli, Origi has made just three substitute appearances in the league, playing a total of 47 minutes.

But speaking ahead of the trip to Sampdoria, Pioli said the Belgium international is ready to make his full debut.

Asked whether it was time for Origi to feature more heavily, Pioli said: I think so, because he is better and has had time to pick up …

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Looking to finish off the job in midweek, Juventus will welcome Inter Milan to Turin on Tuesday night with a spot in the final of this year s Coppa Italia up for grabs.

Juventus

Starting with the hosts, despite that 2-0 loss away at Inter Milan while on Serie A duties last month, the defending champions have managed to bounce back in some style. Enjoying what has been arguably their brightest spell under former Italian icon Andrea Pirlo, the Old Lady put in another eye-catching display over the weekend. Now with their sights set on trying to mount a late charge to defend their Italian crown, Juve picked up a deserved 2-0 win against Roma on home soil and the mood in their camp should be at a real high. Enjoying a six-match winning run …