Man Utd ‘close in’ on signing No.3 amid transfer blow as £29m ‘offer is rejected’ by Euro giants

Julio Baptista is to leave Malaga after the Spanish club agreed to terminate his contract.

The Brazilian striker joined Malaga from Roma in January 2011 and enjoyed success in the early stages of his career at La Rosaleda, but his second season with the club was marred by injury.

The 31-year-old struggled to make an impact after returning to action in the second half of last term and has been strongly with a return to his homeland.

Cruzeiro are expected to sign the former Arsenal and Real Madrid forward, who won the Spanish title during his time at the Bernabeu.

Julio Cesar Baptista and Malaga reached an amicable agreement on Friday 19th July to terminate the striker s contract, a statement on the club s official website read.

The club and the player came t…

A double from Serbian striker Luka Jovic helped AC Milan to a 4-1 win over Cagliari and a place in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia.

Jovic struck twice in the first half of the contest at San Siro, while 19-year-old Chaka Traore was delighted to score his first Milan goal on his full debut early in the second half.

Paulo Azzi grabbed a consolation for Cagliari in the 87th minute but there was still time for substitute Rafael Leao to score a fourth for Milan, who have not won the competition for 20 years.

Milan boss Stefano Pioli retained only two players from the starting line-up for Saturday’s Serie A win over Sassuolo – Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders.

Sheer joy

— AC Milan (@acmilan)

Cagliari are sitting in the relegat…

Leon Osman is set to be offered a one-year contract with Everton,.

Aside from brief loan spells with Carlisle United and Derby County over a decade ago, the midfielder has spent his entire career at Goodison Park and he is expected to pass the four hundred appearance mark for the Toffee’s in the coming weeks.

Internationally, he won the first of two caps for England in a 4-2 friendly defeat to Sweden back in November 2012, with his second appearance coming in the 2014 World Cup qualifying victory over San Marino four months later.

He was handed a testimonial with Everton in the summer, while this season, he has made nine appearances in all competitions, and will hope to be involved as they take on Lille in the Europa League on Thursday evening.

Wit…

Manchester City winger Scott Sinclair will consider bringing an end to his Manchester City career when the transfer window reopens next month, .

The 25 year old has been limited to just two brief cameo appearances so far this season, neither of which have come in either the Premier League or the Champions League.

He spent last season on loan at West Bromwich Albion, but only made eleven appearances in all competitions for the club before returning to the Etihad Stadium in the summer.

Sinclair has turned out for no less than eleven clubs in his career, though he has managed no more than eighteen league appearances for all but one of them, Swansea City, in a two year spell prior to his move to Manchester.

Internationally, he has represented England at…

Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool are still working on making new signings but are unable to spend crazy money on arrivals.

Liverpool invested heavily in their squad during 2018 by signing Virgil van Dijk, Alisson, Naby Keita, Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri.

Ahead of the 2019-20 season, though, the Reds have only brought in teenage defender Sepp van den Berg from PEC Zwolle.

Lille forward Nicolas Pepe is reportedly a transfer target for the Anfield club as they seek reinforcements after winning last season s Champions League but Klopp indicated it might not be possible to strengthen his squad.

It s not easy, Klopp told the Liverpool Echo. I said last year that to improve the team is not easy with reasonable money. With crazy money, you always can do it – okay…

Roy Hodgson is confident nobody at Crystal Palace is looking to sell star winger Wilfried Zaha in January, but he recognises serious bids would have to be considered.

Zaha was widely linked with moves to both Everton and Arsenal in the previous transfer window, with Hodgson acknowledging the player was unhappy when no transfer materialised.

Palace reportedly set a £100million asking price, which neither club would go to, with fellow suitors Chelsea serving a transfer ban at the time.

However, Chelsea s suspension has since been reduced, meaning they can make signings next month, and Zaha continues to be mooted as an option.

Earlier in December, agent Federico Pastorello told Sky Sports News the Ivory Coast international deserves a new challenge and a top…

Concern surrounding Rangers financial plight intensified after the British Government held talks with the club s bankers in a bid to allay fears of the Scottish champions entering administration.

Last week Rangers manager Walter Smith said Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), part of the Lloyds group, were in charge at Ibrox since chairman David Murray stepped down at the beginning of the season.

Rangers have debts of around 30 million pounds and the club announced in January that every player on their books was up for sale.

And, with no new players having been bought by Rangers since August 2008, Smith says a new owner needs to be found as soon as possible.

Jim Murphy, the Secretary of State for Scotland a post in the UK government led by Prime Minister Gor…

AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli has admitted his side must strengthen in the January transfer window if they are to chase down leading duo Inter Milan and Juventus in Serie A.

Milan head to struggling Udinese on Saturday looking to close a seven-point deficit to second-placed Juve, and with Pioli eyeing reinforcements in defence and midfield.

“Our decisions don’t change and the club are working on it. There are two weeks remaining,” he said.

Pioli pointed out the need for a “complete” defender, saying any new recruit would need to be able to help with build-up play from the back.

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— AC Milan (@acmilan)

Milan have improved defensively since Simon Kjaer returned from injury, but the Denmark …

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Lukaku goes for repeat against Baggies

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Romelu Lukaku already has form for scoring against West Brom this season, as one of his six Premier League goals came in the 2-0 win at the Hawthorns in September.

Towards the end of 2014 the £28million striker struggled for goals, but he rediscovered his scoring touch this month in the FA Cup third round, when he netted a stoppage-time equaliser at home to West Ham.

Lukaku then continued that form in the replay at Upton Park on Tuesday night with an extra-time goal in the 2-2 draw, although it proved in vain in th…

Tottenham s impressive start to their UEFA Europa League campaign continued with a 2-0 victory over Anzhi Makhachkala on Thursday.

First-half goals from Jermain Defoe and Nacer Chadli saw the visitors take all three points in Moscow to increase their advantage at the top of Group K to four points.

Andre Villas-Boas, who won the competition with Porto in 2011, has seen his side win both of their group games without conceding a goal.

Sevilla and Rubin Kazan were two other sides who made it two victories from two matches, with the Russian Premier League side hammering Zulte-Waregem 4-0 at home.

The Liga team, meanwhile, relied on a penalty from Diego Perotti and Carlos Bacca s injury-time strike to beat 10-man Freiburg 2-0, with Fallou Diagne seeing red for the visi…