Out-of-contract Ruiz focused on Costa Rica

West Ham United are turning their attentions to La Liga once again. According to reports from Spain, mostly from AS newspapers, West Ham are targeting Athletic Bilbao s centre-back Unai Nunez as a transfer target ahead of the upcoming January transfer window.

AS are claiming that the Hammers are willing to meet the 22-year-old s buy-out clause once the January window opens. Reportedly, the clause stands at 30 million euros. This move could make sense from a couple of angles. First of all, Manuel Pellegrini is known for having done great work in Spain, mostly when he was Malaga head coach and he knows the market, which we have seen with his signature of Pablo Fornals from Villarreal last summer.

Nunez has only featured in six La Liga matches for Bilbao in the first half …

Barcelona have confirmed that defender Thomas Vermaelen has been given permission to travel to Italy and undergo a medical with Roma.

Roma coach Luciano Spalletti on Friday stated that the Serie A club are in advanced talks to sign the 30-year-old Belgium international.

And Barca on Sunday posted a tweet announcing the former Arsenal player was set for a physical examination in the Italian capital.

With the Club s permission, Thomas Vermaelen has travelled to Rome to undergo a medical with AS Roma

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)

Vermaelen has struggled for playing time at Camp Nou since leaving the Gunners for a reported €20million fee in 2014.

A thigh injury meant he was unable to make his Barca debut until the final match of the 201…

AC Milan wrapped up a Europa League group stage place as Gennaro Gattuso s first season in charge ended with 5-1 thumping of Fiorentina at San Siro.

Already sure of a qualifying spot, the Rossoneri needed to at least match Atalanta s result against Cagliari in order to finish sixth in Serie A and go directly through to the main draw of Europe s second-tier continental competition.

And Milan made sure in style thanks in large part to Hakan Calhanoglu, who equalised three minutes after Giovanni Simeone s opener and then delivered the cross for Patrick Cutrone to head the hosts into the lead at the end of an eventful first half.

Nikola Kalinic added a third against his former side soon after the restart before Cutrone and Giacomo Bonaventura combined to cap off a …

Wigan Athletic have completed the permanent signing of Antonee Robinson from Everton after the left-back spent the 2018/19 season on loan with the Latics, and they chose to echo the famous Star Wars intro to announce the deal.

https://www.facebook.com/wiganathletic/videos/2432903923456648/

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Somehow, Peter Kenyon has become synonymous with everything that is wrong in the game. He has been associated with the high wages, ridiculous transfer fees, the Ashley Cole ‘tapping up’ affair and of course, the recent transfer embargo after Chelsea were found guilty of enticing a youngster to break their contract elsewhere by FIFA.

Leaving

The former Manchester United Chief Executive has held that role at Chelsea for some five and a half years but has now announced that he will be leaving at the end of October. He will continue at Chelsea as a non-executive director but his hands on role will come to an end.

The fifty-five year old Kenyon made the following statement on the official Chelsea website,

I am certain I have at…

Holders Manchester United and fellow 2008 finalists Chelsea will have to battle their way to potential Champions League glory after being paired with Inter Milan and Juventus respectively on Friday.

But in a draw for the first knockout round that produced some mouth-watering fixtures between European football s big guns United and Premier League rivals Chelsea were not alone in facing tough opposition.

Liverpool, winners in 2005, are also assured a tough passage to the quarter-finals of the competition after being drawn with nine-times champions Real Madrid.

Arsenal will look favourably on the task that awaits them after being drawn with Roma, whose Olympic stadium will host the final in May 2009.

However seven-times French champions Lyon face a toug…

Iker Casillas kept a clean sheet on his competitive Porto debut as Julen Lopetegui s side got their Primeira Liga season up and running with a routine 3-0 victory over Vitoria Guimaraes.

Casillas swapped Real Madrid for Porto in the close-season and watched on untroubled for much of Saturday s match at the Estadio Do Dragao.

Vincent Aboubakar opened the scoring after just eight minutes, and it looked like the visitors were in for a long night as Cristian Tello went close to a second midway through the first half.

Lopetegui had to wait until the hour mark for a two-goal cushion, though, as Aboubakar netted again shortly after Casillas made a good save.

Silvestre Varela then added a third late on for Porto as their bid for a first Primeira Liga title since…

West Brom head coach Tony Pulis has named long-time associate David Kemp and former Wigan Athletic boss Paul Jewell as his assistants.

Pulis was confirmed as Alan Irvine s successor at The Hawthorns on New Year s Day and removed Rob Kelly, Keith Downing and Dean Kiely from the club s backroom staff on Monday.

Kemp arrives having worked with Pulis at Portsmouth, Plymouth Argyle, Stoke City and Crystal Palace, while Jewell has not occupied a managerial post since leaving Ipswich Town in 2012.

I don t know what I ve done to suffer Kempy again but I suppose I will have to put up with him, joked Pulis.  But the truth is that we have a working relationship which I value very highly – he knows what I want without even having to ask these days.

Jewelly�…

Malaga have turned to a familiar face as they aim to secure an immediate return to LaLiga, appointing Juan Ramon Lopez Muniz as head coach for the third time.

Muniz was the last Malaga coach to secure promotion from the Segunda Division, doing so in the 2007-08 campaign during his first stint in charge of the club.

After a season with Racing Santander, he duly returned to Malaga and kept them in the top flight courtesy of a final-day draw with Real Madrid.

Muniz then spent a lengthy period at Dnipro as the assistant to Juande Ramos, the man he had first worked under at Malaga in 2003.

His most reaching coaching role came at Levante, whom he guided to promotion in 2017 before being sacked this March prior to the club retaining their top-tier status.

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In what looks set to be a season-defining showdown from the Etihad on Wednesday night, Manchester City will welcome Arsenal to town for what is a heavyweight affair.

Manchester City

Starting with the hosts, while Manchester City might still find themselves sat five points adrift of Wednesday’s guests and defending their Premier League crown, Pep Guardiola’s side are riding what has been a stellar wave of momentum. Now feeling like they’re in pole position to defend their domestic crown this season, Pep Guardiola’s side have certainly found top gear at a crucial time. Last seen over the weekend punching their FA Cup final ticket thanks to a routine 3-0 victory against Championship high-flyers Sheffield United, the one-time Bar…