Man Utd transfer: Everton laugh off ‘unacceptable’ Ratcliffe’s stingy offer for Branthwaite

Spain winger Gerard Deulofeu has completed his return to Barcelona from Everton.

The LaLiga giants exercised a buyback clause in the deal that saw the 23-year-old move to Goodison Park in 2015 two weeks ago after he impressed while on loan at AC Milan during the second half of last season.

Deulofeu, 23, completed his medical at Barcelona on Friday before signing a contract running until June 2019 at the club s offices.

Barca did not disclose the fee paid for Deulofeu, although it has been widely reported to be €12million.

 : Gerard Deulofeu formalizes return to Barça    

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)

Full-back Nelson Semedo is set to be unveiled as the second signing of Ernesto Valverde s tenure at Camp Nou later on Friday.

…

If Zlatan Ibrahimovic wants a statue of himself to replace the Eiffel Tower to ensure he remains at Paris Saint-Germain, he should think again after the iconic French landmark cheekily responded on social media.

Ibrahimovic is not expected to stay in Paris beyond the end of the season after firing PSG to a fourth successive Ligue 1 title via a 9-0 demolition of Troyes on Sunday.

Speaking post-match, the 34-year-old jokingly claimed he would stay in the French capital if the Eiffel Tower was altered for his statue.

Ibrahimovic s comments drew a response from the Eiffel Tower s official Twitter account, reminding the Sweden international there is only room for one landmark in Paris.

I like your humour @Ibra_officiel @PSG_inside and the view of @Paris is as…

Gianfranco Zola says Chelsea are not the perfect team and don t create enough chances given the possession they have.

Zola is assistant to head coach Maurizio Sarri, who admitted following Wednesday s 0-0 draw with Southampton that Chelsea have not been good enough recently in the last 20 metres .

While many Blues fans are happy to attribute those problems to the form of struggling striker Alvaro Morata, Zola feels it is due to wider-ranging issues.

Speaking ahead of Saturday s FA Cup third-round tie at home to Nottingham Forest, Zola said: I can tell you in the past Barcelona had problems in the last 20 metres, Bayern [Munich], [Manchester] City, everyone suffers when there is no space up there.

This is the big issue we have, for the amount of time we h…

Brighton and Hove Albion, newcomers to the Premier League, have broken the team transfer fee record to sign 25-year-old Davy Propper on a four-year deal, according to the . The fee is believed to be around the £10 million mark.

The Dutch international has made 249 appearances in the Dutch Eredivisie. Propper began his career with his hometown team Vitesse, where he played for six seasons, before signing with PSV Eindhoven.

There, he won the league in his first full season in the squad and made 87 total appearances in his two-year stint with the prestigious club.

The Seagulls hope that Propper will continue on his scoring streak he had in the Netherlands, scoring 43 goals over his eight seasons with Dutch clubs.

Also, the midfielder will hope to continue…

For a moment it looked as though we were about to say goodbye to the outstanding team of the Euro 2020 group stage as early as the round-of-16.

But VAR came to the rescue in denying Marko Arnautovic a famous goal and, from then on, you just had the feeling fate was on Italy s side.

Roberto Mancini s Azzurri were aiming to extend their unbeaten run to 31 matches, setting a new record, and while Austria certainly went for it towards the end as they pulled one back through Sasa Kalajdzic, Italy saw out a historic 2-1 victory.

But where there was unrelenting praise before, there were arguably doubts about Italy and their system for the first time in Euro 2020, with Mancini forced to turn to his bench to get the job done in extra-time.

It should be said, for l…

Barcelona have announced losses of €97million for the 2019-20 economic year and blamed the coronavirus pandemic for a €203m decrease in revenue.

The Catalan club finished the year with revenue of €855m, which they said could have been a record-breaking €1.059billion were it not for the COVID-19 outbreak.

Barca decreased their expenses by €74m but still suffered significant losses, though the extension of the season beyond June 30 meant profit and loss items from the end of the season were transferred to the 2020-21 financial year.

There would have been a profit of €2m rather than a loss of €97m had it not been for the pandemic, according to Barca.

A club statement read: FC Barcelona has not been immune to the outbreak of COVID-19, but its co…

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that key defensive duo Kyle Walker and John Stones will miss Sunday’s title showdown with Arsenal.

Walker suffered a hamstring injury in the early stages of England’s friendly with Brazil last weekend, while Stones completed that game but then picked up an adductor problem 10 minutes into the draw with Belgium.

Goalkeeper Ederson could return to the side for the first time since suffering a thigh injury when conceding a penalty against Liverpool and Manuel Akanji has recovered from a knock on international duty with Switzerland, while Guardiola will make a late decision on the fitness of Kevin de Bruyne.

PEP (On injury updates) Ederson is much better. Kyle [Walker] and John [Stones] are out.

— Man…

Raphinha’s second-half goal helped Barcelona edge out 10-man Las Palmas 1-0 to close the gap on LaLiga leaders Real Madrid to five points.

Barcelona saw two goals chalked off for offside and Robert Lewandowski hit the bar but Las Palmas had goalkeeper Alvaro Valles red carded for a crude challenge on Raphinha outside his box after 25 minutes.

Xavi’s side were unable to initially capitalise on the extra man but Joao Felix came off the bench and provided a delicately-weighted ball over the top for Raphinha to head into the net in the 59th minute.

BOOM.

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)

Felix could have given Barcelona some breathing room but conspired to hit the goal frame from point-blank range. However, the hosts extended their unbeaten run in…

Palace close on Yaya Sanogo

Premier League strugglers Crystal Palace hope to secure the loan signing of Arsenal striker Yaya Sanogo, .

The Frenchman was believed to be on the verge of joining Ligue 1 side Bordeaux, but Arsene Wenger pulled the plug on the deal as he wants the forward to remain in England.

And while the Professor moved to suggest that Hull City have expressed their interest, L Equipe has learned that Crystal Palace have emerged as favourites.

New Eagles boss Alan Pardew has reportedly spoken with Wenger about allowing Sanogo to move to Selhurst Park and it would appear as through an agreement is on the horizon.

The move to Crystal Palace would be beneficial for the 21-year-old, who is yet to open his Premier League account.

…

Roberto Mancini is disappointed that Manchester City allowed Daniel Sturridge to leave the club.

The young forward left Eastlands to join Chelsea in 2009 after it was reported that then manager Mark Hughes did not wish to meet his excessive wage demands.

After a loan spell at Bolton, the 22-year-old has now carved out a place for himself in Chelsea s first-team, and has scored a goal in each of his last three Premier League appearances.

But Mancini insists that, had he been boss at the time, he would not have sanctioned the youngster s move.

It was strange because Sturridge was developed in Manchester (in the academy) and someone let him go, Mancini told The Mail on Sunday.

For sure he was one of the best young players at City. It was not diffi…