Aston Villa name Lange as new sporting director

Vincenzo Montella considers wantaway midfielder Steven N Zonzi to be very important to his plans at Sevilla and will make discussions with the France international one of his initial main goals at the club.

The former AC Milan coach was presented as Sevilla s new boss on Saturday after taking over from Eduardo Berizzo, who had been dismissed on December 22, and convincing N Zonzi to stay could go some way towards a positive settling in period for Montella.

N Zonzi, who starred for Sevilla last season, has been out of the picture since getting substituted at half-time in the 3-3 Champions League draw against Liverpool on November 21, with Berizzo reportedly singling him out for criticism with the Andalusians 3-0 down.

The Frenchman has been linked with moves to Ev…

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Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor is looking forward to new challenges after announcing he will leave the relegated Premier League club.

The 30-year-old has been a first-team regular at St James Park since making his debut in March 2004, making 268 appearances over 13 seasons.

He will not add to that tally, though, after both parties opted not to extend his current deal, meaning Taylor will become a free agent later this month.

Taylor admitted it will be a huge wrench to leave the club and not help them battle to get back into the top flight after their relegation to the Championship in 2015-16.

It will be a huge wrench to leave Newcastle but I ve been offered exciting opportunities both in the UK and abroad and I m
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really looking forw…

Romelu Lukaku s agent Federico Pastorello has condemned newspaper Corriere dello Sport and acknowledged Italian football has an issue with racism.

Lukaku and former Manchester United team-mate Chris Smalling featured on the front page of Thursday s issue of the popular newspaper, which printed the headline Black Friday ahead of Inter s meeting with Roma in Serie A.

The headline has been widely criticised, and it follows on from numerous examples of racist behaviour across Italian football this season – with Lukaku having already been a victim of such abuse earlier in the campaign.

While Italy struggles with uncomfortable questions regarding cultural issues of discrimination, Pastorello believes the country has ingrained problems with racism.

Bein…

West Brom centre-back Gareth McAuley is already itching to help make amends for the club s poor Premier League campaign.

The Midlands outfit narrowly escaped relegation to the Championship this season, eventually retaining their top-flight status by finishing just three points clear of the drop zone.

That represented a significant deterioration on West Brom s eighth-placed finish in 2012-13, with head coach Steve Clarke dismissed last December due to the club s worsening performance.

Clarke s successor Pepe Mel kept West Brom up but departed The Hawthorns earlier this month, and McAuley has called on his team-mates to hit the ground running next term to avoid another relegation scrap.

Speaking to the club s official website, he said: The boys are talking about c…

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell feels sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta made the right decision to promote Tito Vilanova to head coach.

Vilanova replaced Pep Guardiola at the end of the 2011/12 campaign following the latter s decision to take a break from the game for a year, and Barca are more than satisfied with his former assistant s work so far this season, as they lead La Liga by 11 points.

Tito has talent, he understands what Barcelona mean, what La Masia is and what being Catalan means, Rosell told reporters.

It was a brilliant decision by Zubizarreta to give him the job.

Rosell then went on to say that he does not expect Xavi Hernandez to retire any time soon after the veteran midfielder put pen to paper on a new contract on Monday.

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Xavi hopes to stay at Barcelona for many years but insists his main focus is on winning trophies, rather than extending his contract at Camp Nou.

The Blaugrana are on track for a treble this season. Nine points clear at the LaLiga summit, Xavi has already secured Supercopa de Espana glory, while Barca are also 1-0 to the good in their two-legged Copa del Rey semi-final tie with Real Madrid.

The former midfielder has one year remaining on his existing contract, although club president Joan Laporta revealed negotiations over a new deal were ongoing.

Xavi is hopeful those talks are successful and he can enjoy a lengthy reign at Barca, similar to that of Alex Ferguson, who won 13 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues during his 27-year tenure with Mancheste…

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag insisted he is not frustrated at all by the club s transfer window, despite encountering difficulties in the market.

United have drafted in Christian Eriksen, Lisandro Martinez and Tyrell Malacia ahead of the 2022-23 campaign but have not been able to land other targets – including Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong.

That has led to some reports that the club are concerned about the limited number of new arrivals ahead of the Premier League season, which United begin at Old Trafford against Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday.

Ten Hag has denied that he feels that way, however, adding that he is really happy with the three additions the club has made.

I m not frustrated at all. First of all, we have a squad and we h…

Despite being out on loan at Sporting Lisbon for the season, Nani harbours hopes of a return to Premier League side Manchester United.

Nani feels he has a long-term future at Manchester United, despite spending the season on loan at Sporting Lisbon.

The winger was sent back to his homeland as part of the deal that brought Marcos Rojo to Old Trafford last August. 

A return to Sporting – where the Portugal international started out – appeared to spell the end of Nani s United career, even though he only signed a new five-year deal with the Premier League club in September 2013. 

But the winger is adamant that he can force his way back into the United first team under Louis van Gaal. 

When quizzed on whether he felt aggrieved with Van Gaal f…

Paddy McNair believes Jose Mourinho is the right man to bring success back to Manchester United.

Mourinho is widely expected to be named United s new manager this week following the sacking of Louis van Gaal on Monday.

And young defender McNair, who is away with Northern Ireland as they prepare for Euro 2016, is thrilled by the prospect of working with the former Chelsea boss.

He s a world-class manager. He s won lots of trophies, Champions Leagues and he s worked with the best players in the world, the 21-year-old told Sky Sports News.

I ll be looking to impress, hopefully when I play in France he ll be watching.

He wins trophies. Man United should be winning trophies every year so it s a good fit.

Despite his excitement over Mourinh…