Colombian striker Radamel Falcao looks set to be plying his trade at Chelsea next season

A few days ago , amongst others reported that Chelsea were close to reaching agreement with Monaco over the loan signing of Colombian striker Radamel Falcao.

The Mail is reporting that the Blues will pay a £7million loan fee for the striker.

Falcao is currently away on international duty with Colombia at the Copa America and will be hoping his team can claim glory in Chile.

Flop

Falcao will probably be relieved to be in that Colombia squad for the Copa, after such a poor campaign on-loan in the Premier League at Manchester United.

When he arrived at United on-loan from Monaco last summer it was considered a major coup for veteran Dutch boss Louis van…

The Copa Libertadores de América has been an annual cup competition since 1960. It is the most prestigious club trophy in South American football. Despite being a South American competition, Mexican teams have been invited since 1998.

This season the competition has generally seemed to be less impressive than in recent years although the exit of the Mexican teams due to concerns over swine flu hasn’t helped.

Formats

The competition has had several different formats since it began, but today at least three clubs per country compete in the tournament while Argentina and Brazil each have five clubs.

It consists of three stages. In it’s present format it begins in early-February with one knockout qualifying round know…

Napoli have vowed to fight the points deduction and banning of two of their players for not reporting plans to fix matches in 2010.

Former goalkeeper Mattia Gianello reportedly approached Paolo Cannavaro and Gianluca Grava in an attempt to fix the result of a game against Sampdoria in 2010, and the club have been docked two points and fined 70,000 euros for not reporting the incident.

Cannavaro and Grava have also been banned for six months, but the club does not believe they should have been punished.

The president Aurelio De Laurentiis, the coach Walter Mazzarri and the whole team are confident that no violation can be attributed to SSC Napoli, read an official statement on the club s website.

While not entering into the obsolete and outdated princip…

A proud Nuno Espirito Santo hailed his relentless Wolves team after a 3-2 win over Manchester City in the Premier League on Friday.

Wolves found themselves 2-0 behind at the Molineux after Raheem Sterling s brace followed Ederson s 12th-minute red card for City.

However, they fought back and goals from Adama Traore, Raul Jimenez and Matt Doherty saw them stun City and climb into fifth in the table.

Nuno lauded his team for their fight as they moved to within eight points of third-placed City.

We are relentless and will keep on going, it doesn t matter what happens, we want to compete, the Wolves head coach said, via the club s website.

Of course, they were blocking our game, on our right side, but most important was staying in the game. Concedin…

Luis Suarez is extremely unlikely to leave Liverpool in the transfer window, according to Gordon Taylor.

Suarez has made no secret of his desire to leave Anfield, claiming that Liverpool have reneged on an agreement to sell the Uruguayan if a UEFA Champions League club came in with an offer in excess of £40million.

Manager Brendan Rodgers responded by accusing Suarez of showing total disrespect for Liverpool.

Arsenal have seen two bids for Suarez rejected by Liverpool, but despite their interest, Professional Footballers Association chief executive Taylor believes it will be practically impossible for the 26-year-old to move to a new club in the final month of the window.

With the transfer window expiring, the difficulties of not only selling him to a competito…

Simone Zaza expressed his frustration at continued speculation surrounding his Valencia future, insisting he wishes to remain at Mestalla.

Italy forward Zaza scored his first international goal in almost four years against Netherlands on Monday, having returned to the squad after impressing with 13 LaLiga strikes in 2017-18.

His fine form has led to reports he could be on the move – AC Milan have been credited with an interest – but he insisted that is not the case.

I do not understand why I have to leave. [The media] are always speaking about my exit from Valencia, but I have always said that I want to stay, Zaza told Onda Cero.

I get along with everyone and I live very happily here. I have not talked to the club about my future, they have not been…

Roma forward Patrik Schick has no regrets about a failed move to Juventus last July.

The Czech Republic international was set to move to the Old Lady in 2017 from Sampdoria until two medicals revealed a heart inflammation.

When asked if he regrets not being given the chance to play for the side who went on to win Serie A, Schick insisted he does not think about it.

Do I wonder what might have been? No, I ve already closed it out, he told Lidovky.

I never looked back at it, it wouldn t be worth it. I was glad to move to Roma and I had no regrets that Juventus didn t work out.

After the first round of medicals I knew there was a heart problem. They told me right away.

The 22-year-old scored just three goals in all competitions for Roma…

Russian newspaper that Lokomotiv Moscow are preparing a summer bid for Lyon defender Dejan Lovren.

Lokomotiv boss and former Croatia coach Slaven Bilic is a keen admirer of his compatriot and will attempt to lure him to Moscow at the end of the current campaign.

Lovren’s representative admits that his client is followed by a number of clubs from Russia’s top flight.

“Russian clubs have been watching Dejan ever since he played in Croatia,” agent Nikki Vukas confirmed to Izvestia.

“I am sure that if a tempting offer was to arrive, the club would not stand in the player’s way.”

Dejan Lovren, 23, arrived at Stade Gerland from Dinamo Zagreb in January 2010 and quickly established himself as a first team regular.

He has made a to…

Massimiliano Allegri wants his Juventus team to show personality as they look to defend their first-leg lead away at Sporting CP in the Europa League.

The Bianconeri claimed a 1-0 victory at the Allianz Stadium last week thanks to a Federico Gatti strike as they bid to lift the Europa League for a fourth time, a win that would move them up to second in the all-time rankings behind Sevilla s six.

However, they still have to get past a Sporting side who have already dumped out Premier League leaders Arsenal and are unbeaten in their last six at home in all competitions.

Allegri knows his side will have to show a strong mentality to preserve their slender advantage at the Estadio Jose Alvalade on Thursday, telling Sky Sport Italia: You need to have personality, spee…

Nordin Amrabat has claimed referee Mark Geiger asked for Portugal defender Pepe’s shirt following Morocco’s elimination from the tournament.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal as Portugal won 1-0 in Moscow to move to the top of Group B, despite numerous second half chances for the North Africans.

But Amrabat, who was on loan at Leganes from Watford in 2017-18, was bemused by the alleged request of the referee.

I do not know what he is used to, but he was very impressed by Cristiano Ronaldo, and I hear from Pepe that he asked in the first half if he should have his shirt, he told Dutch television channel NOS.

This is the World Cup, this isn’t a circus.

Amrabat had been a doubt to face Portugal after suffering a head injury in the 1-0 …