Aston Villa want to sign Lazio winger Felipe Anderson

Nick Montgomery expressed “pride” in Jair Tavares over the way the Portuguese winger has seized his second chance at Hibernian after being frozen out under previous boss Lee Johnson.

The 22-year-old spoke this week of the “mental devastation” he endured over his lack of game time following his move to the cinch Premiership club from Benfica in the summer of 2022.

Tavares made just nine appearances for Johnson last term and featured only twice this calendar year – both times as a late sub – before the Englishman was sacked in late August.

However, the winger has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence since Montgomery’s appointment in September, featuring in nine of the current manager’s 11 games in charge and starting each of the last five.

“Jai…

Mohamed Elneny has revealed Mikel Arteta s decision to axe captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang last season left the squad scared .

The Gunners parted ways with the Gabon international in January, offloading the forward to Barcelona after disciplinary issues at Emirates Stadium, but have since seen the striker return to the Premier League with Chelsea.

Arteta s side will come face to face with Aubameyang this weekend as they look to maintain their spot at the summit of the table against the Blues and will have no doubts about the threat he poses.

Aubameyang scored 92 goals during his four-year spell in north London, lifting the FA Cup in 2019-20, and Arteta s decision to move away from the forward at the start of the year was a controversial one.

That choice…

Edu has earned a promotion at Arsenal with the Gunners announcing their former midfielder has become the club s first ever sporting director.

The Brazilian played for Arsenal between 2001 and 2005, making 29 league appearances in their 2003-04 Invincibles season, before taking over as the Gunners technical director in 2019.

His time in that role has seen him work with manager Mikel Arteta to improve Arsenal s standing in the Premier League, as their young side head into the World Cup break with a five-point lead at the top of the table.

That success earned Edu a new role, as he takes on responsibility for the academy alongside his existing duties.

In a statement, chief executive Vinai Venkatesham said: We are delighted that Edu is recommitting his future …

Barcelona may be strong favourites for their Champions League quarter-final against Manchester United, but their recent history in the competition is not the best.

Humiliation against Roma in the quarter-finals a year ago was just the latest disappointment of recent years for the Catalan giants, who have not reached the final since defeating Juventus in 2015.

A mini-drought would be of little concern to most clubs but Barca, with Lionel Messi leading their ranks, are not like most teams and European success is simply demanded at Camp Nou.

United triumphed against the odds in the last round to knock out Paris Saint-Germain and Omnisport has picked out four Barca defeats in the Champions League that can give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s side hope.

Manchester Uni…

Christian Eriksen says Manchester United must iron out their inconsistencies after a limp defeat at Nottingham Forest that was “hard to swallow” but “nothing new”.

Erik ten Hag’s side have seen forward momentum followed by setbacks on numerous occasions this season, with the conclusion to 2023 epitomising their ongoing issues.

Old Trafford was rocking on Boxing Day as United secured a brilliant 3-2 comeback against Aston Villa, but their performance regressed on the banks of the Trent on Saturday evening.

Morgan Gibbs-White’s late strike sealed Forest a memorable 2-1 triumph as United suffered a 21st defeat of the calendar year, and 14th in all competitions of a chastening campaign.

Defeat at The City Ground. ||

— Manchester United …

Ajax and Abdelhak Nouri s family have agreed a €7.85million (£6.54m) settlement as compensation for inadequate medical treatment that left the midfielder with brain damage.

Nouri suffered a cardiac arrest during a pre-season friendly against Werder Bremen in July 2017 that resulted in serious permanent damage to the brain.

Ajax have paid for his treatment and care ever since, and will continue to do so, after accepting responsibility that the medical attention provided to Nouri was inadequate .

The reigning Eredivisie champions announced on Monday that they had reached an amicable agreement, instead of going to the KNVB Arbitration Committee, after Nouri s family sued the club.

Edwin van der Sar general manager AFC Ajax said on the settlement: It is go…

Arsenal are interested in signing Ferran Torres from Barcelona in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that Barcelona, who won the La Liga title last season, have made Torres available for transfer, and that Arsenal, who are aiming to clinch the Premier League title this campaign, are keen on bringing the forward to the Emirates Stadium.

Torres has been on the books of Barcelona since January 2022 when he joined from Manchester City. The 23-year-old can operate as a forward or as a winger. Torres has played 40 times for Spain so far in his career, scoring 18 goals in the process.

The forward has made 10 starts and 11 substitute appearances in La Liga so far this season. He has scored seven goals and given two assists in those games. Torres h…

Pep Guardiola has frequently been accused of overthinking during his time as Manchester City manager, with some even putting their continued failure to win the Champions League down to this reason.

As a case in point, City lost to Chelsea in the 2021 final of that competition when Guardiola decided against fielding a naturally defensive midfielder.

Perhaps it has been a fair criticism at times, but by extension it highlights the self-belief that he can outmanoeuvre opponents before they ve even set foot on the pitch.

He might even be accused of having overcomplicated plans for Thursday s trip to Stamford Bridge.

Yet Guardiola also inspired the 1-0 win over Chelsea with his own apparent recognition that he got his initial line-up wrong, his second-half cha…

The United States barely raised a sweat as they opened their CONCACAF Nations League with a 7-0 humbling of Cuba.

USA star Weston McKennie scored a 13-minute hat-trick in the first half of the Group A clash at Audi Field in Washington on Friday.

Gregg Berhalter s USA were a class above in the American capital, where the home side led struggling Cuba 6-0 at half-time.

USA were expected to ease past Cuba in the inaugural CONCACAF Nations League and the match went according to script after a dream start.

Okay, and here is that record-setting hat trick in 40 seconds!

4-0,

— U.S. Soccer MNT (@USMNT)

McKennie broke the deadlock after just 31 seconds and the Schalke midfielder doubled the lead a little more than four minutes later …

Carlos Corberan expressed his delight as West Brom came from behind to thump Huddersfield 4-1.

Marking his first return to the Terriers since departing in 2022, Corberan oversaw a rampant Baggies display as they tightened their grip on the play-offs.

It was not plain sailing for the visitors, who failed to register a shot in the first half as they fell behind to Delano Burgzorg’s opener.

But a double courtesy of the in-form Mikey Johnston – his fifth and sixth goals since a January loan move from Celtic – inspired a second-half comeback.

And a poacher’s finish from Kyle Bartley twinned with an Okay Yokuslu thunderbolt topped off a rampaging second half showing.

“We knew that today was important and that it was going to be a tough game,�…