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BRIGHTON COMPLETE SIGNING OF ADAM LALLANA FROM LIVERPOOL

Brighton have confirmed the signing of midfielder Adam Lallana from Liverpool on a three-year contract.

The former Southampton star had been undergoing a medical with the Seagulls but his move has now gone through after celebrating the Premier League title with the Reds last week.

Speaking for the first time since signing with the club, Lallana said it was ‘the perfect match’, admitting it was an easy choice after Brighton made him feel ‘wanted’.

‘I can’t wait, it’s a breath of fresh air coming down here… having my medical done, everything’s new and It’s challenge I’m looking forward to and I can’t wait to get started.

‘The whole infrastructure and ambition around Brighton excites me. There is so much young talent, so much ability.

The manager’s highly sought after and it was a pretty easy choice in the end – especially given how much Brighton have reached out and its nice to know you’re wanted and I think it’s a perfect match.’

His new manager Graham Potter said he was looking forward to working with him and hailed his ‘wealth of experience’, insisting there was ‘no doubting’ his quality.

‘There is no doubting Adam’s quality, and if you look at his footballing CV his ability is clear for everyone to see,’ Potter said.

‘He has played at the very highest level, for both club and country, and achieved great things. He has a wealth of experience alongside his technical quality.

‘The honours he won during his time at Liverpool, and the high regard in which he is held at Anfield, only further underline his ability and character.

‘Adam is a really exciting signing for us, someone I am sure the supporters will be really looking forward to seeing play as and when things are able to begin to return to normal.

‘To have both his experience and quality out on the pitch will be a great addition for us, and I know he will be an excellent role model for our younger players in the squad.

‘I am really looking forward to working with him when we return for pre-season training in a few weeks.’

Lallana posted a picture of himself holding up a Brighton shirt on Instagram. The 32-year-old, who will wear the number 14 shirt, said he ‘couldn’t be more excited’ to begin the new chapter and was ‘proud’ to be linking up with the club.

So a new adventure begins,’ he wrote. ‘Couldn’t be more excited… a club with ambition and hunger to match my own. I’m ready for it. Delighted and proud to be joining the Brighton family. Can’t wait to get started.’

Lallana arrives at Brighton having won a host of trophies for Liverpool in his six years at Anfield. An impressive CV includes the Premier League title, the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup.

He joined Liverpool in 2014 after catching the eye at boyhood side Southampton and went on to play 178 games for the club scoring 22 goals.

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VALENCIA’S FERRAN TORRES MAY JOIN MANCHESTER CITY

Manchester City could make Valencia winger Ferran Torres their first summer signing to replace Leroy Sane.

Valencia want £40m for Torres, who has a year left on his contract with the La Liga club, and BBC Sport understands the 20-year-old Spain international is keen on a move to Etihad Stadium.

Germany forward Sane left City for Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.

City, who finished second in the Premier League, are also expected to target central defenders this summer.

England centre-back John Stones, 26, and 32-year-old Argentina defender Nicolas Otamendi fell behind 19-year-old Eric Garcia as a partner for first-choice Aymeric Laporte following the coronavirus shutdown.

Spain Under-21 international Garcia started six of City’s 10 Premier League games after the season restarted in June. Stones, who missed the first two matches with an ankle injury, started only two and Otamendi three.

City director of football Txiki Begiristain has said he is expecting a “strange” transfer window given the campaign will not end completely until the end of August, with the new one starting three weeks later on 12 September.

“We have to be ready,” he told City’s official website. “We have less time than ever, so people will have to move fast. We still have the Champions League, so we have to wait to move forward.”

Begiristain also said it was possible City will play a friendly behind closed doors this weekend to prepare for the Champions League last-16 second leg against Real Madrid on 7 August.

City won the first leg 2-1 in Madrid before the season was suspended in March.

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Mbappe set to be out for three weeks

Injured Paris St-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe will miss the Champions League quarter-final with Atalanta in Lisbon on 12 August.

Mbappe, 21, sustained an ankle injury during the French Cup final against Saint-Etienne on Friday, ruling him out for three weeks.

He could return for the semi-final on 18 August, if PSG qualify.

Scans confirmed “an ankle sprain with damage to the external ligament”, the club said.

PSG added: “The player is expected to be sidelined for approximately three weeks.”

France international Mbappe left the pitch in tears after being fouled by Saint-Etienne defender Loic Perrin in the first half of PSG’s victory.

The conclusion of this season’s Champions League, delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, will consist of an eight-team straight knockout tournament in the Portuguese capital, with the final on 23 August.

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Kylian Mbappe to miss PSG’s Champions League quarter-final due to ankle injury

Kylian Mbappe will miss PSG’s Champions League quarter-final against Atalanta in Lisbon on August 12 after suffering an injury in the Coupe de France final on Friday.

Paris St Germain forward Kylian Mbappe has been ruled out for three weeks after he suffered an ankle injury in Friday’s French Cup final win over St Etienne, the Ligue 1 champions said on Monday.

It means Mbappe will miss PSG’s Champions League quarter-final against Italian side Atalanta in Lisbon on Aug. 12.

“The results of today’s scan confirmed an ankle sprain with damage to the external ligament. The player is expected to be sidelined for approximately three weeks,” PSG said in a statement.

A rough tackle from Loic Perrin saw the St Etienne defender catch Mbappe on the ankle and the 21-year-old collapsed on the pitch in pain before being substituted.

Perrin was sent off for the challenge as PSG won 1-0.

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Lionel Messi urges Barcelona to appoint Marcelo Bielsa as new head coach

Marcelo Bielsa, who has been a mentor to Pep Guardiola in the past, has previously managed in La Liga, taking charge of Espanyol in 1998 before leading Athletic Bilbao between 2011 and 2013.

Lionel Messi has reportedly expressed his interest in having Leeds United’s Marcelo Bielsa as the new manager of Barcelona after a disappointing second-place finish in La Liga last season.

Bielsa led Leeds United back into the Premier League for the 2020/21 campaign with a Championship title win, ending a 16-year-long wait. But the Argentine tactician is yet to sign a new contract at Elland Road.

The 65-year-old’s existing deal with Leeds is due to expire next week, and according to The Sun, Messi has urged Barcelona to bring the former Athletic Bilbao manager back in Spain.

After being appointed mid-season as the head coach of the Catalan club, Quique Setien is under pressure of losing his job after conceding the domestic league title to rivals Real Madrid by five points.

According to The Sun, Barcelona are yet to make contact with Bielsa’s representatives but the threat of a move “will set alarm bells ringing at Elland Road”.

Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani, on the other hand, believes that the Argentine coach will need no persuasion to extend his deal at the club.

“It’s on merit for him to be here and he deserves it. I think it’s an honour for Marcelo as for any other coach to be in charge of a club like Leeds United in the Premier League,” said Radrizzani.

“So, at the end, we don’t have to persuade anyone to stay at our club. It’s on merit and ambition because it’s a big club,” he added.

Bielsa, who has been a mentor to Pep Guardiola in the past, has the experience of managing in La Liga, taking charge of Espanyol in 1998 before leading Athletic Bilbao between 2011 and 2013.

Barcelona will take on Napoli in the second leg of their last-16 UEFA Champions League clash on August 8 with the tie delicately poised following a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Italy.

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Zenith sign Dejan Lovern

Zenit St Petersburg have signed defender Dejan Lovren from Liverpool for £10.9m on a three-year contract.

The Croatia centre-back, 31, has joined the Russian club after playing in 10 Premier League games this season for champions Liverpool.

Lovren, signed from Southampton for £20m in July 2014, also helped the Reds win the Champions League in 2019.

He scored five goals in 131 league appearances for Liverpool but played just three times in 2020.

Lovren also helped Croatia reach the 2018 World Cup final, where they lost 4-2 to France, and has 57 caps for his country.

His Anfield contract ran until June 2021 and the club had an option to extend it by a year.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said “another Liverpool legend” had left the club.

“He was absolutely a very, very important part of this team from the first day since I was in,” added the German, who took charge in October 2015.

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Vertoghen leaves spurs on a free

Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen has left the club after eight years.

Vertonghen, 33, made 315 appearances for Tottenham, but leaves after seeing his playing time limited under new manager Jose Mourinho this season.

The Belgian, who departs as a free agent, helped Spurs reach finals in the Champions League and League Cup.

“So my time at the club comes to an end, a sad day for many reasons,” Vertonghen wrote in a post on Instagram.

“I will miss the friends I’ve made here, the staff that make the club run, playing at the amazing new stadium and of course you fans,” he added.

“Thank you for all the support over the years. You’ve been amazing. We had many unbelievable memories but for now, it’s goodbye.”

Vertonghen, who joined Tottenham from Ajax in 2012, did not feature in his side’s last Premier League game of the season, a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.

His team-mate, England striker Harry Kane, was among those to pay tribute to Vertonghen and goalkeeper Michel Vorm, who is also leaving.

“It’s been a pleasure sharing a dressing room with them,” Kane said in a caption, alongside a squad picture.

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Messi will sign new deal says Barcelona president

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu says he has “no doubt” Argentina forward Lionel Messi will sign a new contract with the club.

The 33-year-old’s current deal expires in 2021.

BBC Sport columnist Guillem Balague recently reported Messi was “fed up” at the Spanish club.

“Messi has said many times that he wants to retire here and I have no doubt that he will re-sign,” Bartomeu told Mundo Deportivo.

Barcelona finished the domestic season five points behind La Liga champions Real Madrid.

They play the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with Napoli on 8 August with the score 1-1 from the first match in February.

Messi, who won the La Liga Golden Boot with 25 goals, has said “things have to change” at the club.

On the transfer front, Bartomeu added: “Now we are making decisions and the players, if they do not come as part of a player exchange, it is very difficult for them to come.”

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Russia shouldn’t be allowed to the olympics games says former russia doping agent

No Russian athletes should be allowed to take part in the postponed Tokyo Olympics next year, says former doping mastermind turned whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov.

The architect of the country’s infamous state-sponsored doping scandal told BBC Sport the country had not changed despite being banned from all major sporting events for four years in December for manipulating laboratory data.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has ruled that Russian athletes who prove they are clean will be able to compete in Japan under a neutral flag.

In his first broadcast interview since the decision, Rodchenkov, the former head of Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory, said: “It should be an absolute blanket ban without any excuses or admissions of athletes.

“The same personnel who were smuggling and swapping samples during Sochi [the 2014 Winter Games], they were falsifying all documentation.

“It was a progression in falsifying, day by day, of this data – an incredible fraud of unspeakable proportion. It shows the country learns absolutely nothing.”

Russia’s Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) was declared non-compliant for doctoring laboratory data handed over to investigators last year.

It had to provide the information to Wada as a condition of its controversial reinstatement in 2018 after a three-year suspension for a cheating conspiracy across the “vast majority” of Olympic sports.

Russia has repeatedly denied the allegations, and claimed the unprecedented four-year sanction is excessive, unfair and politically motivated.

Its appeal against a punishment that rules it out of both the Tokyo Games and the 2022 football World Cup will be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in November.

Speaking via Zoom from an undisclosed location in the US where he has been in hiding for the past five years, and shrouded in a scarf, sunglasses and hat to keep his changed identity secret, Rodchenkov believes he is now “unrecognisable”, having also changed his behaviour and gestures.

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LEIGHTON BAINES ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT AFTER 13 YEARS AT GOODISON PARK.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - MARCH 1: Leighton Baines of Everton during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Manchester United at Goodison Park on March 1, 2020 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

Leighton Baines has confirmed his retirement from football after 13 years at Everton.

The 35-year-old full-back made 420 appearances for Everton, captaining the side and scoring 39 goals after joining the club from Wigan in 2007.

Baines, who was also capped 30 times by England and appeared at the 2014 World Cup, announced his decision announced following the club’s 3-1 defeat by Bournemouth on the final day of the Premier League season.

He was offered a one-year contract extension by the Toffees, but has only played 17 times in the last two seasons as Lucas Digne took over as first-choice left-back.

“I am incredibly proud to have represented Everton for the past 13 years and my decision to retire has been a difficult one to make,” Baines wrote in a statement.

“After speaking to my family, I feel now is the right time to end my playing career but I do so with many great memories at this proud football club.

“As someone from the city, Everton means so much to me and it has been an honour to be part of the Club for so long.

“I would like to thank everyone who has supported me during my time at Everton, especially the fans who have been fantastic with me from the moment I signed.”