Newcastle want Burnley defender James Tarkowski in January

Watford have sacked head coach Xisco Munoz following Saturday s 1-0 defeat against Leeds United.

The 41-year-old only replaced Vladimir Ivic in the Vicarage Road dugout 10 months ago and guided the Hornets to promotion from the Championship last season.

Watford beat Aston Villa 3-2 in their first game back in the top flight, but they have since taken just four points from a possible 18 and are 14th in the table.

Xisco becomes the first Premier League managerial sacking of the season, with Watford confirming the news on their official website on Sunday.

The board feels recent performances strongly indicate a negative trend at a time when team cohesion should be visibly improving, the club statement read.

The Hornets will always be grateful to Xis…

Ajax are keen on signing Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid this summer, according to Dutch outlet De Telegraaf.

Odegaard joined Real Madrid Castilla from Stromsgodset as a 16-year-old back in 2015. Since then, he has made only two appearances for the first team, and has spent most of his time as a Real employee out on loan. He has so far represented SC Heerenven and Vitesse Anhem (currently there) in the Eredivisie over the last two seasons, which means he now has substantial experience when it comes to the Dutch top division.

The Champions League semifinalists, who incidentally knocked out holders Real Madrid out of UEFA s elite club competition in the round of 16, have been mulling over the idea for some time now, with the first links appearing a few months ago.

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We lost the first game against Real Madrid 2-0, so we had nothing to lose, Barnetta, now starring once again for hometown club St Gallen, recalled. We thought maybe, if we can score, there is a little, little chance.

They did just that – Christian Fuchs and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar establishing first-half leads that were cancelled out on each occasion by Cristiano Ronaldo.

An injury to Eric Maxim Choupo Moting saw Sane introduced for a Champions League debut before the half hour and, after Karim Benzema put Madrid ahead on the night, the teenager took centre stage.

Collecting a pass from Fuchs on the right-hand corner of the penalty area, Sane shifted inside and curled a vicious shot beyond Iker Casillas – becoming the youngest player to score against Madrid in …

Leicester City want to sign Freddie Woodman from Preston North End in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that Leicester are among the clubs who are keen on securing the services of the former Newcastle United goalkeeper.

Preston are reportedly willing to sell the 25-year-old goalkeeper in the summer of 2023. Woodman has been on the books of Preston since the summer of 2022 when he joined from Premier League club Newcastle.

The 25-year-old former England Under-21 international goalkeeper has established himself as the number one between the posts for Preston and is one of the better players in his position in the Championship. 

So far this season, Woodman has made 34 appearances in the Championship, one in the Carabao Cup and two i…

Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City have never dominated a team like they did against embattled neighbours Manchester United in Saturday s Premier League derby.

City completely outplayed United in a 2-0 victory at Old Trafford, where the Premier League champions humbled their bitter rivals thanks to Eric Bailly s own goal and a Bernardo Silva effort.

Guardiola s City have won more away Premier League games at Old Trafford than any other team (eight).

The all-round display against United delighted Guardiola, whose City enjoyed 67.4 per cent possession and had five shots on target compared to just one for the Red Devils.

Maybe this was the game that we dominated for the most time, Guardiola said.

Except for 10 minutes of the second half, the ot…

Jadon Sancho has all the qualities to become as good as Cristiano Ronaldo, according to Borrusia Dortmund team-mate Raphael Guerreiro.

England international Sancho has shot to prominence in Germany after opting to leave Manchester City in 2017 to pursue first-team opportunities. 

The 20-year-old has been linked with a move to Manchester United and Guerreiro believes the sky is the limit for Sancho.

In fact, he could even put himself on a par with all-time great and five-time Ballon d Or winner Ronaldo.

Cristiano is one of the best in the world – and to even be as good as him, Jadon still has to work a lot, a lot,  Guerreiro, an international colleague of Ronaldo s, told Bild. 

He has everything you need to be just as good as Cristiano, …

Romelu Lukaku hoped to have answered some of his critics with a hat-trick in Belgium s Euro 2024 qualifying opener at Sweden.

Lukaku scored all three goals as Belgium claimed a 3-0 win in what had looked like being the toughest game of their campaign.

Goals have not flowed so easily at club level this season, with Lukaku returning to Inter and scoring just three times in Serie A – albeit while hampered by injury.

But Friday s game was a step in the right direction as Belgium s record goalscorer said: It was not an easy game, but we can be satisfied. We did well.

I am happy that I can play minutes and show the outside world what I can do.

3 Romelu Lukaku scored his third hattrick for the tonight, equalling Robert De Veen as the player with the…

Fernando Santos could not question Portugal s effort as he revealed some players were in tears after losing to Belgium at Euro 2020.

Portugal were reigning European champions having stunned France in Euro 2016 and an exciting squad hinted at another challenge over the coming weeks.

But a draw with France in their final Group F match saw Santos side condemned to a last-16 clash with the world s top-ranked team.

Thorgan Hazard was the matchwinner for Belgium, his spectacular strike enough for a 1-0 success – their first against Portugal since 1989.

This was despite Portugal attempting 23 shots – worth 1.7 expected goals (xG) – to the Red Devils six (0.2 xG).

We are disappointed and sad, Santos told TVI24. I ve got some players crying in the d…

Wolfsburg forward Andre Schurrle is relishing the opportunity to make history for the Bundesliga club when they host Manchester United in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Dieter Hecking s men will qualify for the knockout rounds of the competition for the first time with a draw against Group B rivals United at the Volkswagen Arena.

Runs to the quarter-finals of the Europa League in 2009-10 and 2014-15 represent Wolfsburg s best performances in continental competition to date.

But Schurrle who joined Wolfsburg from Chelsea in February said: It s an extremely beautiful game and that s why we re extremely motivated.

We know it s a big opportunity for us to write history for Wolfsburg and hopefully we will leave as the winners.

United require a vic…

In what was a repeat of the 2016 final out in Rio, Brazil managed to once again get one over on Germany as they opened this summer s Olympic adventure with an action-packed win in Tokyo.

Opening Group D tipped as a landslide pick to cruise their way to the later stages, the South American giants run rampant at an empty Yokohama Stadium as they picked up what was an emphatic 4-2 win on Thursday lunchtime.

Looking to claim back-to-back gold medals after Neymar s heroics on home soil five years ago, a first-half hat-trick from Everton ace Richarlison was enough to wrap up proceedings against a German side that did try to rally in the second 45.

Finally wrapping up the game with just moments remaining and dominating from the opening whistle, we have taken a look at …