Bakayoko keen for permanent Milan switch

Juventus chief executive Giuseppe Marotta believes Antonio Conte s reported move to Chelsea vindicates his club s decision to pluck him from Siena in 2011.

Conte went on to lead Juventus to three straight Serie A titles before moving on to coach Italy.

The Italian has already stated he will leave the post after Euro 2016 and has been widely reported to be the next Chelsea manager.

Marotta said he would be happy for Conte, should he complete the move.

The fact Antonio Conte is going to Chelsea just confirms that we made a good choice when we took him from Siena, he said.

I am proud of this and for him.

But Marotta said Conte s potential arrival at Chelsea would not hinder his efforts to keep Juan Cuadrado who is at Juventus on loan from …

Laurent Koscielny is confident Arsenal can spring a surprise in their Champions League tie with Barcelona, where his is relishing pitting his wits against football s most famous forward line.

France centre-back Koscielny will be in the sights of formidable trio Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar on Tuesday, when Luis Enrique s men contest the first leg of the last-16 tie at Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal lost to Barcelona in the 2010 and 2011 knockout stages and have bowed out at this round in each of the past three seasons.

Nevertheless, Koscielny believes a backline bolstered by influential goalkeeper Petr Cech can overturn the odds and secure a quarter-final place.

Just by looking at their statistics you see that they have the best offensive armada in …

Lionel Messi called for calm and said there is no need for Argentina to go crazy , despite failing to beat Iceland at the World Cup, partly thanks to his painful penalty miss.

Argentina s opening match at Russia 2018 ended in a 1-1 draw in Moscow after Alfred Finnbogason s historic goal cancelled out Sergio Aguero s opener in Saturday s Group D meeting.

Messi was denied by Hannes Thor Halldorsson when he took a second-half spot-kick  and he recorded 11 shots in the game without beating Iceland s goalkeeper.

Argentina s captain, a three-time beaten finalist at major tournaments with his country since 2014, does not want to panic after Iceland claimed a major scalp on their World Cup bow.

It was hard for us to break, it s not easy when a rival plays so…

Along with being arguably the finest centre-back of his generation, Leonardo Bonucci is the central character in one of the more remarkable anecdotes starring a modern footballer.

In October 2012, Bonucci, his wife and their then three-month-old son were accosted by an armed robber at a Ferrari dealership. The masked man pointed a gun in the Italy international s face and asked for his watch.

Clearly unhappy with this state of affairs, Bonucci punched his assailant to the floor and promptly chased him from the scene – forcing the thug to flee with an accomplice on a scooter.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, as Bonucci took the law into his own hands, the retreating villain shouted: What are you doing? Are you mad? I ll shoot you.

Now AC Milan have ag…

Bayer Leverkusen will be powerless to resist selling Kai Havertz to Chelsea if the Blues billionaire owner Roman Abramovich wants the German at Stamford Bridge, according to the Premier League club s former manager Avram Grant.

Havertz, 21, has been a revelation in the Bundesliga ever since making his breakthrough as a 17-year-old in the 2016-17 campaign.

The midfielder, who has been played in an increasingly attack-minded role over the past two years, has scored 29 Bundesliga goals since the start of the 2018-19 campaign, while his haul of 12 this term was added to with six assists.

Already a Germany international, Havertz is widely expected to leave Leverkusen in the coming weeks, with Chelsea said to be his most likely destination.

The financial implic…

The Catalan giants are said to be exploring an option to bring Thiago Alcantara back to Camp Nou.

Thiago is a Barcelona youth product who spent eight years at the club before leaving for Bayern Munich in 2013 in search for regular playing time.

Barcelona are known as a club that keeps a close eye on their former players and Spanish publication Don Balon reveals that the Catalans are now keen on a reunion with the 26-year-old.

Thiago Alcantara is reportedly seen as an alternative to Liverpool star playmaker Philippe Coutinho. Barcelona attempted to land the Brazilian magician during summer and will continue to push to his signature but Liverpool remain adamant in their stance and Barca are exploring their options.

Former Barcelona man Thiago Alcantara is …

Borussia Dortmund claimed their first win of the Champions League group stage this season after battling to a 2-0 victory away to Slavia Prague.

Achraf Hakimi struck in each half to settle a scrappy encounter in the Czech Republic and move Dortmund top of Group F ahead of Barcelona s meeting with Inter.

The brilliance of Marc-Andre ter Stegen mostly kept Dortmund frustrated against Barca in their opening match, but Wednesday s performance was more in keeping with recent Bundesliga draws with Eintracht Frankfurt and Werder Bremen, in which they surrendered leads to draw 2-2.

Jadon Sancho tested Ondrej Kolar within two minutes of kick-off as Dortmund made a bright start in front of Slavia fans bedecked in red and white rain ponchos to create an intimidating sight.<…

Bournemouth have paid £4.75million to settle a dispute with the English Football League over the club s financial results in the 2014-15 season before their Premier League promotion.

The EFL claimed that Bournemouth breached its Financial Fair Play rules at the time but the dispute was paused while those rules were subjected to a legal challenge by Queens Park Rangers.

With the matter having been settled, Premier League outfit Bournemouth are no longer accused of any attempt to infringe the rules or deceive the EFL.

A statement on Bournemouth s official website said: All relevant matters were taken into account when determining the quantum of the settlement.

EFL and AFC Bournemouth reach agreement to settle dispute arising out of financial results of the…

Manchester United stopped the rot at Old Trafford and slowed Liverpool s Premier League title charge with a battling performance in a tightly contested 1-1 draw.

Marcus Rashford opened the scoring in contentious fashion with his first goal for United in over a month to give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s much-improved side hope of a memorable victory.

United s hope faded with five minutes remaining, however, when Adam Lallana struck for the first time in the Premier League in over two years to claim a share of the spoils Liverpool s second-half display deserved.

Jurgen Klopp s men went into the game as favourites but had to settle for a draw, and the key Opta facts marked significant milestones on both sides of a fierce rivalry which rarely delivers a dull game.

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The experienced Brazilian international centre-back Leandro Castan is likely to leave the Serie A outfit in January.

The 31-year-old defender joined Giallorossi in 2012 from Corinthians but never quite managed to hold down a regular playing spot earning only 70 Serie A appearances during five years in Rome.

Castan was meant to go on a year-long deal to Sampdoria for the 2016-17 but just days prior to the new campaign his loan was terminated and the Brazilian went to Torino instead.

Hopes that he could resurrect his career were short-lived as Castan ended up playing mere nine matches during the entire season before returning to AS Rome.

Leandro Castan has yet to feature for Giallorossi this season and looks set to be dispatched on yet another loan once th…