Chelsea interim boss Roberto Di Matteo claims he has not asked for the job on a permanent basis.

Di Matteo has been in charge for three games since the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas, including the spectacular 4-1 win over Napoli last week which sent Chelsea through to the last eight of the Champions League.

If results carry on in this fashion it may not be long until the Italian becomes one of the front-runners for the manager s seat. However, Di Matteo has refused to reveal if he is interested in taking the job on full-time.

That has not crossed my mind for one second, he told RTE Sport.

I have so many things to do you can t even imagine. I am focusing just to get the team ready to the best of my ability for Sunday.

We have set ourselves the …

NN Consultoria, the company owned by Neymar s father, has responded to the latest attempt by Spanish prosecutors to seek a jail term for the Barcelona star, insisting the parties under suspicion will be cleared of any wrongdoing. 

A two-year prison sentence and €10 million fine is being sought for the Brazil international, as well as fines and jail terms for his father and mother, over alleged corruption surrounding his transfer from Santos in 2013.

The case stems from a complaint by investment group DIS, which owned 40 per cent of Neymar s economic rights and claims it received less money than it was entitled to following the Brazil international s transfer.

On Wednesday, NN Consultoria issued a statement claiming the latest reports are not a new development,…

David Moyes is hoping to rebuild Jack Rodwell s career at Sunderland having previously handed him his Premier League debut at the age of 16 during their time together at Everton.

Rodwell would make 85 league appearances for the Merseyside club before he was eventually sold to Manchester City in 2012, but the prodigious youngster failed to live up to the hype and only made 16 league appearances in two years before being sold to relegation battlers Sunderland.

Under Sam Allardyce, Sunderland spectacularly avoided relegation last season before moving on to take on the England job opening the door for Moyes to make his Premier League return and reunite with Rodwell.

Moyes said life will not be easy for the midfielder under his stewardship but backed the Englishman to…

Liverpool and Manchester United are set to battle for the signing of Internazionale goalkeeper Samir Handanovic,.

The Slovenia international, who almost secured a move to Roma last month, now looks set to leave the Giuseppe Meazza at the end of the season at both United and Liverpool are vying for his services.

He has made one hundred and nine appearances for Inter since signing from Udinese in the summer of 2012, while he has also played for Treviso, Lazio and Rimini during his time in Italy.

Internationally, the 30 year old has been capped seventy-four times by Slovenia, with three of those appearances coming at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

Inter, who were knocked out of the Coppa Italia by Napoli yesterday evening, turn their attent…

Arsenal and Liverpool great Ray Kennedy has died at the age of 70.

Kennedy, whose death was announced on Tuesday, was a major figure in English football in the 1970s and 1980s as he won almost every trophy there was to win.

He played an integral role in the Gunners domestic double-winning 1971 side and scored 71 goals in 212 games before his 1974 move to Merseyside.

At Liverpool, he was transformed from a forward into a midfielder, winning five league titles and three European Cups during a seven-and-a-half-year stay at Anfield.

Though his arrival was overshadowed by the departure of the Reds greatest manager Bill Shankly, Kennedy managed 393 appearances for Liverpool and scored 72 times.

Later moves to Swansea City, Hartlepool and Cypriot outfit…

Arsenal have completed the signing of goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale from Championship club Sheffield United for a reported £24million plus add-ons.

Ramsdale made England s squad at Euro 2020 after Dean Henderson had to pull out through injury, though it was Jordan Pickford who played every minute of the Three Lions campaign.

The 23-year-old joined Sheffield United in 2020 after going down with Bournemouth, but he suffered a consecutive Premier League relegation as the Blades finished bottom last season.

However, Mikel Arteta sees Ramsdale as genuine competition for Bernd Leno, and perhaps a long-term replacement for the Germany international, too.

Ramsdale was left out of the Blades squad for Wednesday s game against West Brom. Slavisa Jokanovic had previous…

RB Leipzig are determined to wrap up a top-four Bundesliga finish, despite fifth spot possibly earning a place in next season s Champions League, the club s chief business officer said on Thursday.

Leipzig, who host Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, are fourth on 59 points, two ahead of Dortmund with four games left in the season. A win would put the Saxony club firmly in the driving seat for a top-four finish.

The top four qualify automatically for the Champions League group stage, although Germany is likely to earn a fifth spot as one of the top two in UEFA s coefficient table depending on the remaining results in European competition this season.

That (potential fifth spot) involves a lot of data and statistics, said Leipzig CBO Johann Plenge in a media call. We…

The FIFA World Cup is well underway with a parade of intriguing games taking place thus far, especially on Tuesday.

However, it was a day that also brought with it the first two goalless draws of the tournament, with the second being played out by Mexico and Poland. Today, we re going to run through a few takeaways from a disappointing afternoon at Stadium 974.

Worst game so far

We re just going to come out and say it this was the worst game of the 2022 World Cup so far. Tunisia and Denmark also drew 0-0 but provided great entertainment, whereas Netherlands vs Senegal was incredibly dull but featured two goals. Mexico and Poland just never really seem to get going which is strange, considering there was quite a lot on the line in their opening game.

Lewandowski s …

Esteban Granero was glowing with pride after wearing the captain s armband in Real Madrid s 5-1 friendly victory over Oviedo on Tuesday.

The midfielder was awarded the captaincy in the absence of players such as Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos, and felt honoured to lead his team-mates, even if it was just a warm-up game.

It is an honour to be captain of Real Madrid, even though it was only a pre-season match, the midfielder said.

It was a typical pre-season match but we were very focused in the way we played. We did not like that we conceded a goal but we played at a good level.

Granero noted the performance of the youngsters who were given a chance to prove their worth, adding he is keen to lend them a helping hand.

The guys from Castilla are…

FC Barcelona right-back Dani Alves has revealed that French giants PSG were interested in signing him during the summer transfer window, .

They made contact in the summer after everything that had been said in the media, confirmed Dani Alves.

I know that they contacted a lot of players and are building a great side.

They did talk to my representatives about the possibility of a move but that was low because my price is very high and they quickly moved on to talk to others.

Since Paris Saint-Germain did not meet the Catalans valuation of Alves, Les Parisiens eventually signed Holland international full-back Gregory van der Wiel from his boyhood club Ajax Amsterdam.

Van der Wiel has started one French Ligue 1 match for PSG in 2012…