Thomas Meunier has completed a return to French football, signing for Lille after just five months with Trabzonspor.
Meunier, who won the Ligue 1 title three times with Paris Saint-Germain during his four years at the Parc des Princes, has signed a two-year contract with Les Dogues.
The 32-year-old featured eight times for Borussia Dortmund this season after missing the start of the campaign through injury, before completing a move to Turkey in February.
The Belgian played 14 times in the Super Lig, scoring once and providing five assists as Trabzonspor finished runners-up to Besiktas in the Turkish Cup.
Meunier will provide experience for Bruno Genesio s side, who will compete in the Champions League this season following their fourth place finish in L…
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Hoping to make up some ground in the Serie B title chase, Vila Nova will travel to Ponte Preta in the early hours of Wednesday.
Starting with the hosts, while Ponte Preta might have secured an action-packed 4-2 victory against Mirassol earlier in the month, Nelsinho Baptista s men came crashing back down to earth last weekend. Eventually slumping to a 1-0 loss at the hands of Paysandu, the one-time Santos boss has seen his inconsistent squad muster just a single victory from any of their previous four Serie B appearances. Almost sat in second-tier limbo, the Sao Paulo-based outfit are also seeking some defensive resolve. Including a 2-0 defeat against Botafogo last month, the Macaca have recorded just two clean sheets from any …
Sinisa Mihajlovic is facing a new leukaemia battle after the Bologna head coach revealed he is heading back to hospital for treatment.
The Serie A stalwart, who played for Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio and Inter, was first diagnosed with the disease ahead of the 2019-20 season and underwent a bone marrow transplant in October 2019. He was back in the dugout six weeks later.
He has remained boss of Bologna since then but will step away from his responsibilities for an indeterminate period after revealing he has encountered a setback.
Mihajlovic announced the news on Saturday, telling reporters in a news conference that a routine test had given cause for concern.
In recent years the recovery was excellent, but unfortunately, from the latest analysis some a…
Bayern close in on Kim signing
Bayern Munich are reportedly close to an agreement to sign in-demand defender Kim Min-jae from Napoli. Several Premier League clubs are believed to have shown interest in the 26-year-old South Korea international, but with nothing put in writing, Bayern obviously decided to take advantage of the situation.
West Ham reject Arsenal bid for Declan Rice
West Ham United have reportedly rejected an official offer from Arsenal for the services of Declan Rice. Apparently the offer the Gunners sent stood at £80 million guaranteed, with add-ons potentially rising up to £10 million on top of that, while the Hammers value their captain at more than £100 million.
The 24-year-old midfielder is on the wish lists of a num…
Newcastle United are interested in signing Rob Holding from Premier League rivals Arsenal in the January transfer window, according to . It has been reported that Holding is among a number of defenders that Newcastle are looking at a potential signing this month.
Holding has been on the books of Arsenal since 2016 and has had injury problems. The former England Under-21 international is not getting much playing time for the Gunners at the moment, and Arsenal could well decide to cash in on him now. The 26-year-old has made three starts and two substitute appearances in the Premier League so far this season.
Newcastle are in the Premier League bottom three at the moment and could get relegated to the Championship at the end of the season. Holding is a very good and exper…
Bayern Munich coach Niko Kovac urged his side to be more ruthless after they were held 1-1 by RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Emil Forsberg scored from the spot to equalise for Leipzig after Robert Lewandowski s 199th goal for Bayern had put the visitors ahead.
Bayern are in third place in the Bundesliga table, two points behind leaders Leipzig.
We have to do more with our superiority, Kovac said.
In the end, the result is annoying. We had more chances, played well, but unfortunately two points less than planned.
We played sensationally in the first half, that was the best performance so far. After that, we got ourselves into trouble.
We re pulling the positives out of the game we played a really good game.
8 8 poin…
UEFA reaffirmed its opposition to the founding of breakaway competitions in a meeting with Super League backers A22 Sports on Tuesday.
It was revealed last month that media executive Bernd Reichart was heading up plans for a revival of the Super League, which endured a failed launch in the face of public and media pressure last year.
While nine of the competition s 12 founding clubs withdrew in the face of widespread criticism, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus remain committed to the project.
Reichart, who represented A22 Sports at Tuesday s meeting, told the Financial Times in October there is a lot of sympathy for the Super League.
Following the meeting, however, UEFA declared European football s organisers remain committed to competitions based on o…
Arsenal survived a second-half scare to book their place in the Europa League quarter-finals despite a 1-0 defeat to Olympiacos.
With a 3-1 cushion from the first leg, Arsenal managed to exorcise the demons from their round-of-32 defeat to the same opponents a little over a year ago, but it was tighter than they would have wanted.
Youssef El-Arabi scored the crucial goal for Olympiacos last season, and he was on target again to put the visitors ahead on the night on Thursday.
However, the introduction of Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard helped steady the hosts, before Ousseynou Ba s red card ended Olympiacos hopes.
4/5 Arsenal have made it to the quarter-finals for the fourth time in their last five Europa League/UEFA Cup campaigns (knocked out at L…
Despite finishing top of Group A, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is preparing for a difficult draw in the Champions League round of 16.
Spanish forward Lucas Perez scored a hat-trick as Arsenal eased past Basel 4-1 in Switzerland on Tuesday.
The comprehensive win and Paris Saint-Germain s surprise draw against Ludogorets ensured Arsenal topped Group A.
Progressing as group winners could still see Arsenal come up against German title holders Bayern Munich or Bayer Leverkusen, while reigning European champions Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund are possible opponents depending on Wednesday s result.
Whatever transpires, Wenger is braced for a tough draw as the Premier League outfit seek to advance beyond the last 16 for the first time since 2009-10.
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I don t see why not. We all have our ups and downs in football, Kalac said when asked if Rebic can be a success in his second stint in Serie A. The one thing at Milan that people don t realise, the expectations are so high. It doesn t matter who you play against, they expect you to win. You need to win and supporters expect it. The club is built to win.
Once these players play and train regularly, they work out things together and combinations form. I ve seen many great players come to Milan and not be successful because it s a different expectation. When you re the main man or focal point at a smaller club, it s easier because the team works for you. Whereas at Milan, you need to be part of the parcel in the big cog, but he can be a success.
Rebic will have his first…