Deco: Today´s Barca not as good

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho feels the Premier League title is Manchester City s for the taking after their off-season transfer splurge.

New City boss Manuel Pellegrini may have lost Carlos Tevez, Kolo Toure and Maicon among others, but there has been no shortage of quality in the men brought in to replace them.

Spanish duo Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo, Montenegrin forward Stevan Jovetic and Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho have all landed at Eastlands under Pellegrini s watch.

And Mourinho feels those quality signings will see City head into the new season as favourites to regain the title they won in sensational style in 2011/12.

They bought very well, Mourinho said. That doesn t surprise me, because they have the money to buy but also the knowledge.

T…

Everton have reportedly agreed a fee of £5.7 deal for Atletico Madrid defender John Heitinga and are now trying to agree personal terms to bring the defender to Goodison Park.

Everton boss David Moyes is hoping to pair the Dutch international with fellow new signing Sylvain Distin after the departure of Joleon Lescott for £24 million.

The Dutch star is renowned for his adaptability on the pitch being able to play as centre-back, right-back or as a defensive midfielder and only recently joined Spanish side Atletico Madrid in 2008 for a fee of €10 million.

However Moyes is still on the look out for more players before the transfer window closes with midfielders Ever Banega and David Bentley said to be high on the wish list, although…

Australia international Matthew Spiranovic has left Western Sydney Wanderers to sign for Chinese Super League (CSL) strugglers Hangzhou Greentown.

Spiranovic, who has played 27 games for his country, ended his two-year association with the Wanderers on Friday, with the A-League club confirming his departure.

The central defender won the AFC Champions League with Western Sydney in 2014, while he was also part of the team that lost the 2014 A-League grand final to Brisbane Roar, scoring the opening goal before the Wanderers succumbed 2-1.

Matthew s time at the Wanderers saw our club reach the heights in both the domestic competition and AFC Champions League and he will be fondly remembered by the Wanderers faithful, Western Sydney CEO John Tsatsimas said in a stat…

Napoli have signed Romanian defender Vlad Chiriches from Tottenham in a deal thought to be worth £4.5 million.

The 25-year-old international was the subject of interest from Roma and Fiorentina, but Napoli have won the race for his signature after he passed a medical at the San Paolo.

The transfer brings to an end Chiriches’ torrid spell in north London, which yielded only 24 starts in the Premier League after a £6.8 million move from Steaua Bucharest in 2013.

Chiriches made just 10 appearances in the league for Tottenham last season, and was notably sent off in the club’s 3-0 defeat at Stoke City, compounding the disappointment of fans who had high expectations for the defender when he arrived at the club.

Tottenham’s summer signing Toby Alderwei…

Swansea City have begun negotiations with Liverpool about the prospect of signing Rhian Brewster on loan in January, according to .

The 19-year-old striker was kept at Anfield by manager Jurgen Klopp for the first half of the season, but with the team out of the Carabao Cup, the competition in which Brewster made both of his first-team appearances this season, the German is now willing to allow him to leave on a temporary basis in order to gain some valuable experience. There was some talk of Crystal Palace being interested too, but Eagles boss Roy Hodgson refused to promise the youngster any amount of game-time, which is something the Swans are willing to do. Further more, Brewster has already played under Swansea manager Steve Cooper during his time with England s U-17s.

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Atalanta earned another considerable Serie A scalp as they thumped league leaders AC Milan 3-0 at the San Siro on Saturday evening.

Christian Romero struck the opening goal of the game as he converted with a great, diving header just before the half-hour mark. The visitors then doubled their advantage after the break, with Josip Ilicic winning and scoring a penalty. Duvan Zapata sealed the victory with just under a quarter of an hour remaining as he polished off a lethal counter-attack to condemn Milan to just their second league defeat of the season.

Here are three things we learnt from the San Siro:

Uncharacteristically wasteful from Milan

Sitting top of Serie A ahead of the match, AC Milan were aiming to extend their advantage but they simply were not able t…

Fabio Capello admits banishing the fear factor has been the key to England s success during his reign.

Capello led England to next year s World Cup in South Africa in impressive fashion as his side won nine of their 10 qualifying matches.

But the sky-high morale around England is a complete contrast to the shattered group of players Capello found when he took over from Steve McClaren after they failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

I remember the first training session and I was surprised because the players were really good, Capello said on Friday at the Global Sport Summit in London.

And I thought What has happened here, they are good players so why are they not playing in the European Championships? .

I understood everything when they played Swi…

Cameroon striker Georges-Kevin Nkoudou believes his side have the “weapons” to get the better of defending champions Senegal in their Africa Cup of Nations clash.

Senegal got their title defence off to an ideal start with a 3-0 win over Gambia, while Cameroon had to come from behind to secure a 1-1 draw against 10-man Guinea in Group C.

However, Nkoudou remains in a confident mood ahead of Friday’s eagerly anticipated clash between the Indomitable Lions and the Teranga Lions at the Charles Konan Banny stadium in Yamoussoukro.

About the first gameAbout Lamine CAMARA

— Football Senegal (@FootballSenegal)

“It’s true that Senegal is the favourite, but as I always say we must never bury Cameroon, we remain a great team and a great nation,…

Leaders Real Madrid travel to city neighbours Getafe in La Liga on Sunday, Barcelona visit Deportivo La Coruna.

Real Madrid make the short trip to Getafe this weekend looking to get back to winning ways after exiting the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.

Carlo Ancelotti s side were dumped out of the cup by city rivals Atletico earlier this week, but remain top of La Liga by a point from Barcelona.

With one less competition to worry about, Real s focus immediately switches back to the league as they look to secure a first domestic title since 2012, and a healthy record against Getafe will give them confidence of taking all three points.

Real have won 10 of the last 11 meetings between the sides, triumphing by at least a three-goal margin in the three most…

Stefano Mauri s appeal against a match-fixing ban has failed, seeing his ban increase from six to nine months.

The Lazio captain was issued the six-month suspension in August by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).

Mauri was banned in regards to two Lazio Serie A fixtures in 2011 against Genoa and Lecce, where he was deemed to have failed to report his knowledge of match-fixing despite being cleared of any offence for the Genoa game.

The extended suspension means that the 33-year-old will miss the season unless he is successful with his expected appeal further to Italy s National Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Lazio s appeal to reduce the €40,000 euro fine for their involvement was also rejected and was therefore increased to €50,000 by the FIGC.

Th…