Burnley have agreed a deal to sign Belgian international midfielder Steven Defour from Anderlecht on the eve of the new Premier League season.
The Lancashire club are said to have paid a fee of £7.35 million for the 28-year-old, who has 46 caps for Belgium and made 85 appearances for Anderlecht since joining the club from Porto in 2014.
Before joining Porto, Defour won the Belgian Pro League twice with Standard Liege, in 2007-08 and 2008-09, and was presented with the Belgian Golden Shoe – awarded to the league s best player – in 2007.
Defour becomes the fourth player signed by Burnley ahead of the new season, joining Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Nick Pope and Jamie Thomas.
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Amadou Onana is aiming to take Aston Villa to the top following the completion of his transfer from Everton on Monday.
Onana, who became Unai Emery s eighth signing this transfer window, signed a five-year contract in a deal worth £50million.
The 22-year-old will serve as a replacement for the departing Douglas Luiz, who completed a £42.35million switch to Juventus last month.
Onana featured in all four of Belgium s Euro 2024 fixtures in Germany, and made 72 appearances for Everton during his two-year stint at Goodison Park.
Villa are competing in the Champions League for the first time this season following their fourth place finish in the Premier League.
And Onana is keen to build on the foundations laid by Emery at Villa Park as he looks…
Germany head coach Hansi Flick has expressed firm opposition to Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup, just two months out from the opening game.
Former Bayern Munich boss Flick will lead Germany into a major tournament for the first time, having taken over from Joachim Low after Germany s last-16 exit to England at Euro 2020.
Germany will face Japan, Spain and Costa Rica in Group E, with their first game to be played against Japan on November 23, three days after Qatar take on Ecuador in the opener.
Flick said in a German newspaper interview on Tuesday that the question of Qatar s bid being accepted as a justified one should have been answered much earlier – with a no! .
He told the Suddeutsche Zeitung: It is obvious that a lot is wrong in Qatar when it…
Northern Ireland wrap up their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign when Denmark visit Windsor Park on Monday night.
Here the PA news agency looks at the key talking points ahead of the game.
It’s (almost) over
The good news is that this is the last of Northern Ireland’s Group H fixtures. A campaign which began with such optimism unravelled quickly in the first few games and has never recovered, with seven defeats in nine causing Northern Ireland’s world ranking to drop from 59th to 75th.
Michael O’Neill was clear ahead of the game that it was not as simple as drawing a line and moving on because lessons must be learned, but it will still be welcome to change the narrative of a campaign in which any realistic hope of reaching next year’s finals was gon…
Neymar has given the firmest indication yet that he will sign a new Paris Saint-Germain contract and urged Kylian Mbappe to make the same commitment.
Brazilian superstar Neymar joined after being bought out of his Barcelona contract for 222million Euros in 2017, making it the most expensive transfer in football history.
He has been repeatedly linked with a return to Spain, either at Barcelona or Real Madrid, but the prospects of such a move now appear remote as those clubs battle with the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
Neymar and Mbappe, a player who has also been linked with both LaLiga giants, are contracted to PSG until the end of the 2021-22 season.
The Brazil forward has been unsettled in the past in Paris but now sees his future in the F…
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp have been inducted into the League Manager Association s (LMA) Hall of Fame.
The LMA announced the pair s induction on Thursday, in recognition of their historic achievements in football management to date.
Guardiola and Klopp are going head-to-head for Premier League supremacy this season.
City boss Guardiola is seeking a third successive Premier League crown, while Klopp is looking to deliver Liverpool s first league title since 1990.
The League Managers Association has inducted Manchester City Manager Pep Guardiola and Liverpool Manager Jürgen Klopp into the LMA Hall of Fame
— LMA (@LMA_Managers)
It is an incredible honour to be a part of it, for the rest…
John Souttar believes he will benefit from the rigours of Rangers’ pre-season training as he prepares to battle for his place in Michael Beale’s side next season.
The revamped Light Blues squad are being put through their paces in Germany with a view to a flying start to next season.
Beale has signed six new players, with the promise of more to come, and the Gers defender told RangersTV that he is in a good place.
Souttar, whose 2022/23 season was hampered by injury before he was involved in Scotland’s Euro 2024 qualifying campaign wins over Norway and Georgia, said: “For me it is the first time in a couple of years I will have had a proper pre-season where I am feeling fit and feeling 100 percent.
“It gives you a base for the rest of the season…
Thierry Henry declared the race for the Ballon d Or over after Karim Benzema lifted the Champions League with Real Madrid on Saturday.
Benzema became just the second French captain to lift the trophy, after Didier Deschamps with Marseille in 1993, following a 1-0 win over Liverpool at the Stade de France.
Carlo Ancelotti s side were largely indebted to the heroics of Thibaut Courtois after the goalkeeper produced nine saves – a Champions League final record since Opta began recording data in 2003-04.
Vinicius Junior may have scored the winner in Paris but a 14th European Cup for Madrid, which is double the tally of second-best Milan (seven), came down to Benzema s efforts throughout the knockout stages.
The 34-year-old netted a hat-trick against Pari…
Verdict: Draw
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In desperate need of a response following their disappointing run out in Russia, Joachim Löw s Germany side will travel to the Johan Cruijff Arena for their second UEFA Nations League tie on Saturday night.
Holland
Starting with Saturday s hosts, after missing out on their second consecutive major tournament, Holland turned to former captain Ronald Koeman back in February. While the Oranges are coming off the back of a 2-1 loss away to recently crowned World Champions France, Holland have begun to show signs of improvements under the former Everton boss. Now losing just one of their last five in all competitions, they have also done an impressive job of improving on their recent form on home soil. Aside from a …
Arjen Robben returned to Bayern Munich on Thursday to accept a gift commemorating his hugely successful decade at the German club.
Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge greeted the retired winger with a giant canvas photo print depicting Robben and a selection of the trophies he won with the Bundesliga side.
The 35-year-old retired at the end of the 2018-19 season, calling time on a career which included eight Bundesliga titles and five DFB-Pokal triumphs.
However, Robben s most celebrated moment was his 89th-minute winner in the 2-1 Champions League final triumph over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley in 2013.
In all his glory
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN)
He made 309 competitive appearances for the club, scoring 144 goals.
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