Besiktas president Fikret Orman has confirmed the club are on the verge of signing Demba Ba from Chelsea F.C.
According to the Besiktas supremo, Chelsea initially wanted £10 million for the Senegal international but the Turkish Süper Lig side have successfully negotiated a more reasonable fee for the player.
Demba Ba is an excellent player, we have been in talks with Chelsea for a long time over bringing him to Istanbul, Orman said.
Talks are ongoing. Chelsea initially wanted £10 million for Ba but we have negotiated a price we are happy with.
We ll tell the media once the final deal is done.
Ba s imminent exit will help the Blues recover a fraction of the £62 million spent to lure Cesc Fàbregas and Diego Costa to Stamf…
Penarol begin their quest to win a first continental trophy in 27 years when they face Jorge Wilstermann in the Copa Sudamericana.
The Uruguayan giants are one of the most successful teams in South American football having won the Copa Libertadores five times, although they have not won a continental competition since their last Libertadores success in 1987.
Jorge Fossati s men should be favourites to progress from their two-legged first round tie with Bolivian outfit Wilstermann and will look to put the result beyond doubt with a strong showing in the first leg at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo on Wednesday.
However, despite the odds being stacked against them, Wilstermann boss Julio Cesar Baldivieso is hopeful his side can pull off a shock.
Baldivieso…
Former Barcelona presidential candidate Agusti Benedito has lodged a vote of no confidence against Josep Maria Bartomeu and the club s board of directors.
The 52-year-old, who
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ran for Camp Nou s top job in 2010 and 2015, confirmed his intentions at a news conference on Thursday as he accused president Bartomeu and predecessor Sandro Rosell of mismanagement.
The serious institutional crisis at our club requires that the club s members assess whether the current board still has our confidence, he said.
If you are a club member and believe that to restore the club we love the board should resign, join up with the will of many other fans by signing the vote of no confidence.
It is reported that Benedito requires 15 per cent of the club s members…
that Theo Walcott has agreed a new four year contract with Arsenal.
The England international was about to head into the final year of his previous contract with the Gunners, but is now committed to the club until the end of the 2018/19 campaign.
He now becomes one of the clubs highest earners, with the 26 year old set to earn in the region of £100,000 per week.
Walcott joined Arsene Wenger’s side from Southampton in January 2006, and has since racked up over three hundred appearances for the club, scoring seventy-six goals.
He was part of the squads that won back to back FA Cup’s in 2014 and 2015, while he has also been capped forty times by England, scoring five goals – three of which came in a famous 4-1 World Cup qualifying victory over …
Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has revealed he was upset at manager Alex Ferguson s decision to overlook him for the captaincy.
The retired ex-England international, who joined from Leeds for a British record fee of £30million in 2002, enjoyed a 12-year stay at the Old Trafford club before ending his career with QPR.
Ferdinand lifted the Champions League title in 2008 as stand-in captain but following the return to fitness of skipper Gary Neville, the centre-back was stripped of the armband.
Speaking in an interview with CNBC, Ferdinand admitted he questioned whether he was being undervalued after the decision was made.
Sometimes there s situations during your career you think, Am I getting the credit I feel I deserve? But, at the sam…
Pep Guardiola paid tribute to Brighton after his Manchester City side held on for a slender 2-1 win over the Seagulls in the Premier League on Saturday.
The champions looked be cruising to victory as Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland struck inside the opening 19 minutes at the Etihad Stadium but the visitors responded after the break.
Substitute Ansu Fati set up a nervy finish when he pulled a goal back in the 73rd minute and City were left clinging on when Manuel Akanji was sent off for a second bookable offence in stoppage time.
Returning to action with a win
— Manchester City (@ManCity)
The victory stopped the rot after for City after successive league defeats prior to the international break.
“Against Brighton it’s impossible …
A horrible error from Benfica s young record-breaking goalkeeper Mile Svilar gifted Manchester United a 1-0 win at the Estadio da Luz as Jose Mourinho s men made it three victories from three in Group A.
Svilar made history as the Champions League s youngest-ever goalkeeper at 18 years and 52 days, but his disappointing positional judgement resulted in Marcus Rashford scoring the decisive goal 26 minutes from time, letting United off after a pretty poor performance.
United probably just about edged things before the break, but it was a turgid half of football, with neither team showing a great deal of quality in the final third.
Mourinho will have been particularly unimpressed with United s inability to test Svilar regularly, particularly given how uncomfortab…
Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko has said the club s transfer target Kevin De Bruyne could benefit from another season at Wolfsburg.
Belgian midfielder De Bruyne helped Wolfsburg to a second-place finish in the Bundesliga and a DFB-Pokal win last season, scoring 10 goals in 34 league appearances, and his form has piqued the interest of City manager Manuel Pellegrini.
But Dzeko, who made the switch from Wolfsburg to the Etihad Stadium in January 2011, said another season in Germany might be a better choice for the 24-year-old former Chelsea player.
Top players like Kevin De Bruyne won t stay at Wolfsburg forever, Dzeko told German magazine Kicker.
Everybody dreams of one day playing for a leading international club. It was the same with me after we won…
Carlos Tevez has issued a rallying call for Argentina to change their attitude in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying or risk starting with successive defeats when Gerardo Martino s men meet Paraguay on Tuesday.
Martino s side suffered a surprise 2-0 reverse at the hands of Ecuador in the opening round of fixtures in the qualifying process for the 2018 showpiece, late goals from Frickson Erazo and Felipe Caicedo sealing victory in Buenos Aires.
Argentina were without inspirational captain Lionel Messi for the clash due to his knee ligament injury and suffered a further blow as Sergio Aguero limped off with a hamstring problem.
Both will be missing from Tuesday s clash in Asuncion, with Tevez saying the rest of the squad must face up to the situation and get their…
Newcastle United are interested in signing Timo Werner from Premier League rivals Chelsea in the summer transfer window, according to Bild journalist Christian Falk.
The well-known and well-respected journalist has claimed that Newcastle want to bring the 26-year-old Germany international forward to St. James’ Park.
This follows a report from Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano that Chelsea are open to offloading Werner.
TRUE✅ Newcastle is interested in
Christian Falk (@cfbayern)
Werner has been on the books of Chelsea since 2020 when he joined from German club RB Leipzig.
The 26-year-old has scored 10 goals and created 10 big dances in 56 appearances in the Premier League so far in his career. The German has won the…