Alvaro Morata must improve his condition to be ready for the new Premier League season, believes Chelsea boss Antonio Conte.
Club-record signing Morata made his first start for Chelsea in a 2-1 International Champions Cup defeat to Inter in Singapore on Saturday, with Stevan Jovetic and Ivan Perisic on target for the Serie A side before Geoffrey Kondogbia s comical own goal.
The striker, who joined from Real Madrid for a reported £70million fee, started on the left of a front three with Michy Batshuayi playing down the middle, but the Spain international struggled to make an impression.
And Conte accepted Morata has work to do on his fitness, with the Community Shield against Arsenal set to get Chelsea s campaign under way on August 6.
Morata is just s…
Huddersfield Town have signed Tom Ince from Derby County ahead of the club s first season in the Premier League.
The forward has signed a three-year deal after joining for an undisclosed fee – confirmed as a club record for Derby – on Tuesday, marking the end of a Rams career that saw him make 115 appearances, scoring 38 goals.
Since winning the Championship play-off final on penalties against Reading, Terriers head coach David Wagner has already brought in Laurent Depoitre, Aaron Mooy and Jonas Lossl.
And the German believes Ince will offer his side a potent attacking outlet for what promises to be a tough campaign.
Tom has a massive desire to come to and play in the Head Coach David Wagner (DTS)
— Huddersfield Town (@htafcdotcom)
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Diego Simeone appeared to have perfected a defence-first approach at Atletico Madrid.
However, Zinedine Zidane s work with Real Madrid this season has seemingly been based on the same philosophy and is reaping far greater rewards.
LaLiga leaders Madrid will hope to open a six-point lead over Barcelona when they entertain local rivals Atletico at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
With the help of Opta, we look at the impressive numbers behind Los Blancos miserly defence.
A sluggish start
It was not an ideal start for Zidane when he returned for a second stint as coach last March.
A 4-1 win over Real Valladolid was not enough for Santiago Solari to keep his job following back-to-back home defeats to Barcelona and a shock Champio…
Burnley have given Ben Gibson permission to train with former club Middlesbrough.
The defender arrived to Turf Moor in the summer of 2018 for a fee reported to have been around £15 million, which at the time equaled their record set by the signing of striker Chris Wood from Leeds United the year before. However, he has failed to convince manager Sean Dyche of his abilities and has only made six competitive appearances for the Clarets in 18 months and he s now very firm in his demand to leave.
In their official statement (quoted by ), Burnley confirmed that the permission to train with Middlesbrough has indeed been given to Gibson. They went on to explain that the player had made his stance clear to them during the winter transfer window, but there simply hadn t been an…
´Let´s go for 200´ – Ancelotti sets another milestone in his sights after matching Ferguson´s Champi
Carlo Ancelotti joked of reaching 200 Champions League victories with Real Madrid after he matched Alex Ferguson s record following Wednesday s win over Celtic.
First-half penalties from Luka Modric and Rodrygo, followed by second-half strikes from Marco Asensio, Vinicius Junior, and Federico Valverde saw Madrid ease to a 5-1 win at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The win was Ancelotti s 102nd in the Champions League, drawing him level with Manchester United great Ferguson for the most victories by a coach in the competition.
When asked about matching the record, Ancelotti quipped: Let s go for the 200. Happy to do it here at Madrid!
It s been a lot of games on the bench. I think I ve done pretty well.
102 Carlo Ancelotti has equalled Alex Ferguson as th…
Market: Lens win
Odds: 7/10 @
Looking to extend on what has been a real Ligue 1 purple patch, Lens will make the trip to a struggling Angers on Saturday night.
Starting with the hosts, while Angers might have extended on their Ligue 1 status last season, Les Scoistes are in the midst of a real top-flight struggle this time around. Putting in another downbeat display last weekend as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat away at Monaco, Gerald Baticle s side are tipped as a leading relegation pick. Sat rock-bottom of the table and four points adrift of breaking out of the drop zone, the one-time Brest boss finds a huge amount of pressure on his shoulders. Really crashing back down to earth after returning from September s international break, Angers have now lost each of t…
Eintracht Frankfurt have completed the signing of Real Sociedad striker Haris Seferovic.
The 22-year-old, who featured for Switzerland at the World Cup, has penned a three-year deal at the Commerzbank-Arena.
Seferovic only joined Sociedad in July 2013, but his stay in La Liga proved an unhappy one as he scored just twice in 24 top-flight appearances, although he started just nine of those matches.
Despite that poor return, Frankfurt sporting director Bruno Hubner believes Seferovic will prove a valuable acquisition for the Bundesliga side.
We are delighted that [Seferovic s] move was in our favour, he told the club s official website.
We chose a young player who has a lot of experience.
After breaking into the first-team at Grasshopper …
Academica de Coimbra striker Eder has revealed he has turned down the chance to join Championship club West Ham.
The 24-year-old was taken to a hotel in Oporto after Academica s goalless draw at Rio Ave on Saturday to discuss a move to Upton Park.
After the meeting, Eder who was born in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau disappeared with no explanation, which made the Portuguese club report the matter to the police.
I did not flee or disappear. I am in Lisbon with my family, Eder told Radio Renascenca.
We had a meeting at the hotel, but I did not like the way things were handled and I thought it was not the best for my career. I decided to leave.
Meanwhile, Goal.com Germany has reported Cologne are also in the race for the striker, who h…
Toronto coach Greg Vanney hailed high-profile recruit Sebastian Giovinco, who participated in his first training session.
Sebastian Giovinco may have only taken part in his first training session with Toronto but the Italy international forward made an immediate impact, drawing high praise from coach Greg Vanney on Wednesday.
Giovinco took part in training for the first time since joining Toronto from Serie A champions Juventus on a five-year deal reportedly worth $7 million per season.
And the agile 28-year-old left a lasting impression on Vanney following Wednesday s session.
I m very pleased, Vanney told reporters. It s what I had seen of him when we were doing all our scouting.
He s very quick and nifty in the pockets, in those little tight …
West Ham United co-chairman David Gold has hinted that the club will sign Carl Jenkinson permanently once his loan deal form Arsenal has expired, .
Gold was asked by a fan on Twitter if Jenkinson was available to play against the Gunners on Saturday, to which he responded, ‘Not this year’.
The 23 year old moved to Upton Park in the summer, and has since racked up twenty-seven appearances for the club in all competitions.
He was allowed to move away on a temporary basis after failing to hold down a first-team place under Arsene Wenger, who paid Charlton Athletic around £1m to secure his services in June 2011.
Having played for both Finland and England at youth level, he made his full international debut for the latter in November 2012, coming on…