SPORTS

CHELSEA striker Diego Costa will head to Spain to force through a move to Atletico Madrid. Costa has remained in his native Brazil and visited his former club Sergipana Federation yesterday. The striker has been fined £300,000 by Chelsea for failing to turn up to pre-season training as scheduled. Chelsea want to sell Costa and have already signed Alvaro Morata ...

LIVERPOOL have been made favourites to sign Paris Saint-Germain star Julian Draxler this summer. Paris Saint-Germain have reportedly told Draxler he is surplus to requirements following their world-record £198million deal for Neymar. And news of his expected departure has put the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea on red alert. Draxler only signed for PSG from Wolfsburg back ...

USAIN BOLT will miss out on his lifelong dream of playing for Manchester United due to the hamstring injury sustained in his farewell race at the London Stadium. United Legends take on their Barcelona counterparts at Old Trafford on September 2 in a charity match, raising money for the Manchester United Foundation and its work in the local community. Ruud ...

Rafael Nadal extended his unbeaten run over Frenchman Richard Gasquet to 15 to reach the Cincinnati Open third round. The Spaniard, 31, who has not lost a set to Gasquet since 2008, won 6-3 6-4. Roger Federer’s withdrawal from the tournament means on Monday Nadal will return to world number one for the first time since July 2014, taking over ...

The Best Award seems to be FIFA’s answer to France Football Magazine’s Ballon D’or; after the two entities split last year, Cristiano Ronaldo became the first recipient of the Award when he walked away with it (and the Ballon d’Or) after a scintillating 2016 where he not only won the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid and then crowned it ...

Barcelona have suffered a blow on the eve of the new La Liga season after Luis Suarez was ruled out for a month with a knee injury. The former Liverpool striker was hurt during the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid, which La Liga champions won 2-0 at the Bernabeu to clinch a 5-1 aggregate victory. ...

MANCHESTER UNITED boss Jose Mourinho still wants to sign Inter Milan winger Ivan Perisic, reports claim. Manchester United have spent the summer trying to prise Ivan Perisic away from Inter Milan. But, so far, Mourinho has been thwarted in his attempts to land the Croatia international. Talk over a transfer has cooled in recent weeks, with Inter determined to give ...

Mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor is happy about the switch to lighter gloves for his Aug. 26 fight against undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather and says his opponent will now struggle to make it past the second round. The Nevada State Athletic Commission on Wednesday, just 10 days before the hotly anticipated Las Vegas fight, approved requests from Mayweather and ...

Barcelona’s general manager said the club are close to completing deals for Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele after Wednesday’s 2-0 Super Cup loss to Real Madrid, although the claim has been strongly rejected by Borussia Dortmund. Liverpool’s Coutinho has been the subject of two bids from Barcelona, the most recent worth €100 million turned down last week. However, Coutinho responded ...

JURGEN KLOPP has hit back at Barcelona’s comments over signing Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho. Barcelona have identified Coutinho as the ideal replacement for Neymar, who left the Nou Camp to join Paris Saint-Germain in a world-record £200million deal earlier this month. Coutinho has handed in a transfer request at Liverpool in order to force through a move to the Catalan ...