French daily newspaper that Nice goalkeeper Mouez Hassen is set to join Premier League side Southampton.

The 21-year-old has seen his first team chances severely limited of late and he is set to leave the club in the January window,

According to Nice-Matin, Hassen will soon be reunited with former boss Claude Puel at St Mary’s as he is about to join on loan with an option to buy.

The talented shot-stopper was a first team regular at Allianz Riviera when the current Saints manager was in charge and the duo will get another opportunity to work together.

Hassen already has 49 Ligue 1 outings to his name, but he was last a starter in France’s top flight back in November 2015.

Current goalkeeper options at Southampton include veteran Stuart Tayl…

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is confident his side can close the gap to Manchester City next season.

Wild inconsistencies in results – beating Manchester United 7-0 and Bournemouth 9-0 but losing to struggling Leeds, their only home defeat of the season – had left the Reds 20 points adrift of the Premier League leaders going into the weekend.

It has been more common for the two to push each other all the way to the final day of the season, Liverpool twice coming second by just a point, and despite their most recent troubles Klopp expects normal service to be resumed when the new campaign kicks off in August.

“There are two games a season, maybe with cups three, four or five, when you play City, Arsenal and the others,” he said ahead of the trip to strug…

Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray admitted his side are in “good spirits” ahead of the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final at Luton.

The Black Cats take a slender advantage into the game after securing a 2-1 win at the Stadium of Light in the first leg on Saturday.

Luton had gone ahead in the 11th minute through Elijah Adebayo’s close-range strike, but Amad Diallo curled in a stunning equaliser before Trai Hume headed them in front after the break.

There are no words

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— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC)

“I think the team are in good spirits. I’ve said all season, we believe we can compete against anybody in the league,” Mowbray told a pre-match press conference.

“This game is against a team who …

Manchester City s takeover of the Melbourne Heart could spark an arms race that lifts the A-League standard, according to John van t Schip.

The Heart coach anticipated not only a dramatic increase of quality on the pitch in Australia s domestic football competition as a result of the Premier League giant s purchase of his club, but he envisaged more big overseas backers to get involved in the A-League as well.

Every team would get stronger, play against better teams if you play against good teams normally you get better yourself as well, he said.

If we now get resources with the new owners and strengths that we can grow as a club, we will benefit and in the end everyone will benefit, will make the level higher.

And also other clubs will maybe now find in…

AFC Bournemouth forward Joshua King insists he has nothing to prove as he prepares to face his old club Manchester United.

Norway international King spent five years on the books at United, making his way from the youth academy to a spot in the senior squad during his time at Old Trafford. 

However, the 23-year-old never made a senior appearance at the club, and spent the majority of his time on loan before moving to Blackburn Rovers in 2013.

It was there that he made a name for himself before he was picked up by the newly promoted Bournemouth at the start of the 2015-16 season.

King has started the majority of the club s Premier League fixtures so far this season but says if he plays against United this Saturday, he will treat them like any other oppon…

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Seria A is now back in full swing after the three-month break, and as a part of the 28th round of the 2019/20 campaign, Lazio will welcome Fiorentina to the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday evening. Both these clubs were once considered top sides in the Italian top flight, but it has been quite a different story for them in recent years. And while Lazio have to some extent managed to regain a place in the upper part of the table, especially this season, Fiorentina clearly have some way to go.

Lazio

Arguably the biggest surprise of the season, Lazio have succeeded in overtaking Inter Milan for the second place with 62 points at the moment and, with 11 rounds to go, they are eight points short compared to Juventus at the top. The Nerazzurri …

Christian Eriksen has dismissed claims of a major bust-up with Tottenham team-mate Jan Vertonghen, describing the rumours as b******t .

The Denmark star was responding to a tweet referring to a story that alleged an argument took place involving Eriksen, Vertonghen and Spurs captain Harry Kane, which centred on allegations of an affair between Vertonghen and Eriksen s partner.

The Twitter post also suggested there is serious disharmony within the Spurs dressing room, with the club said to be refusing to offer Vertonghen a new contract and manager Mauricio Pochettino likely to join Real Madrid at the end of the season.

Eriksen retweeted the post while adding the word b******t as a hashtag, as well as a sleepy emoji.

Vertonghen then shared Eriksen s tweet…

Great manager or clown?

There have been some pretty disappointing performances in the World Cup so far. Mexico were not as good as expected against South Africa, Greece were terrible, England under performed and Serbia were nowhere near as good as I thought they’d be. Uruguay were poor and even Holland didn’t look as fluent as expected when they beat Denmark. Italy were not good although that doesn t mean much by past experience.

Terrible
Having said all that, one team stands out above the rest when it comes to being a let down. France were terrible against Uruguay and those who felt they should never have been there after Thierry Henry handled them into the finals will be feeling that they were absolutely right.

They will have a chance to put things right…

Controversial Brazilian striker Adriano was questioned by authorities in Rio on Wednesday over allegations of links to a drug-dealing gang that has been accused of murdering police officers.

Adriano faced questioning having Monday failed to appear at a police interview Monday in connection with the allegations, sending his lawyer instead to ask for a delay.

He finally appeared with lawyer Adilson Fernandes and emerged an hour later without comment.

Head of Rio s civil police Allan Turnowski said Adriano had been questioned in order to clarify some points of the enquiry, as in the case of any citizen.

The striker, who missed the cut for Brazil s World Cup squad, is set to head for a week s holiday on Sardinia at the weekend before heading off to join Rom…

French Ligue 1 side Saint Etienne look set to offer Morgan Amalfitano an escape route from West Ham, .

The French midfielder s future at Boleyn Ground is up in the air after he was banned from club s training ground for missing a team meeting.

West Ham now hope to offload the former Marseille star as quickly as possible and Saint Etienne look set to lend a helping hand.

Namely, les Verts boss Christophe Galtier is a big fan of the 30-year-old footballer and he has called him by phone to try and persuade him to move to Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

Morgan Amalfitano has enjoyed mixed success since swapping Ligue 1 for English Premier League and he looks set to return to France this summer.

The experienced midfielder made a total of 52 league outings f…