Alex Iwobi will fight on at Arsenal even if Arsene Wenger does not continue as manager, former Nigeria star Jay-Jay Okocha has predicted.
The 21-year-old made his first-team debut in October 2015 and quickly established himself as an important part of the Gunners plans.
However, the Nigeria international forward has not made an appearance in the Premier League since the 2-2 draw with Manchester City on April 2, prompting speculation that his long-term future could be away from Emirates Stadium.
Wenger himself has yet to confirm if he will sign a new contract to stay on beyond this season, but Okocha, who is Iwobi s uncle, does not believe the fates of the two men are linked.
It s not easy to break into an Arsenal team from youth, the former Paris Saint-G…
Trent Alexander-Arnold and injured pair Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson have been named in England s 33-man provisional squad for Euro 2020.
Gareth Southgate has until midnight on June 1 to cut his squad down to 26, but he will have time to assess players in training ahead of friendlies against Austria and Romania on June 2 and June 6 respectively.
Alexander-Arnold had been the headline name to miss out on England s squad for the March internationals, but the Liverpool full-back does feature in this extended list.
He is joined by Reds team-mate Jordan Henderson, who has not featured for Liverpool since sustaining an injury in the Merseyside derby in February, while Manchester United captain Maguire, who is currently struggling with an ankle ligament problem…
Representatives of the Serie A champions Juventus were in attendance at the Allianz Arena, watching Bayern Munich demolish the Portuguese powerhouse Benfica last night.
Bianconeri are said to have been watching the 23-year-old Benfica star full-back Alex Grimaldo who is identified as a potential replacement for Juventus’ wantaway star Alex Sandro.
The Brazilian is being constantly linked with a move to the Premier League and the Serie A heavyweights are slowly making plans to replace the 27-year-old should he decide to leave Italy at the end of the season.
Alex Grimaldo has been one of the rising stars of Benfica recently. A former Barcelona youngster joined Benfica in 2016 and went on to establish himself as a vital part of Rui Vitoria’s side.
Napol…
Allegations of match fixing and illegal betting in Bulgarian football erupted in the national media on Friday ahead of a trip to Sofia by UEFA President Michel Platini this weekend.
Fixed matches investigated in Bulgaria, the daily 7 Dni Sport announced on its front page, while the mass-circulation Trud daily titled a two-page report: Scandalous allegations of illegal betting.
This followed other investigations into match-fixing, broadcast earlier this week on Bulgarian television.
According to 7 Dni Sport, European football governing body UEFA had alerted Bulgaria s organised crime unit about possible match-fixing in a 2009 Bulgarian Cup game between second-division sides Marek Dupnitsa and Kaliakra Kavarna.
Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) chief Borisl…
Interim Argentina coach Sergio Batista, who succeeded Diego Maradona in July, is set to be confirmed in his post by the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) on Tuesday.
The AFA executive committee are expected to make the announcement the day after a meeting at which Batista assisted, according to AFA sources on Monday.
Batista was asked for a summary of his interim role and to explain what he expected to do if appointed, AFA spokesman Andres Ventura said after the meeting.
Batista, who lad Argentina to the 2008 Olympic title, has the backing of the AFA s powerful president Julio Grondona.
The 1986 world champion has also the support of 2009 Ballon d Or winner Lionel Messi.
I want him to stay because we feel comfortable with him, the group is wor…
Neven Subotic could return for the start of Borussia Dortmund s Bundesliga season after returning to training on Sunday.
The defender has spent the last eight months on the sidelines after suffering a knee cruciate ligament injury in a 2-1 defeat against Wolfsburg in November.
Subotic had shown positive signs in his rehabilitation that lifted hopes he may return before the end of last season, but he did not recover in time to be considered by Jurgen Klopp.
With Dortmund set to open their Bundesliga campaign against Bayer Leverkusen on August 23 the defender could now provide a welcome boost to his head coach after giving an update on his progress via Facebook.
In a post on his official page the 25-year-old revealed he had taken the first step in returning…
Alejandro Sabella will leave his post as Argentina head coach after the FIFA World Cup final, his agent has revealed.
The 59-year-old took over the reins of the national team in 2011 and has guided the side to the brink of glory in on the home soil of their fiercest rivals, Brazil.
Having come through the group stage with a 100 per cent record, Argentina beat both Switzerland and Belgium 1-0 in their respective second-round and quarter-final ties.
After a goalless last-four clash with Netherlands on Wednesday, Argentina required penalties to squeeze through to the final at the Maracana, a result that maintained their perfect record in World Cup semi-finals.
Regardless of Sunday s result against Germany, Eugenio Lopez has declared that Sabella intends to s…
Another video game series is shifting to the big screen, or at least will try to. Lionsgate has announced a deal with Red Barrels to make a movie version of the horror game series Outlast. Lionsgate has some experience with spooky stuff, as it’s the producer of the popular Saw franchise.
Producer Roy Lee, who has worked on popular horror films like It and Barbarian, is attached to the Outlast movie, with J.T. Petty writing the screenplay. Petty, who also worked on the game series, said, “Expanding the Outlast universe into film is an incredible opportunity to dive deeper into the characters and killers we love.” Bloody-Disgusting had the exclusive reveal of the Outlast movie.
The Outlast series debuted in 2013, with Outlast 2 landing in 2017 and The Outlast Trials debuting i…
Burnley s Aaron Lennon hopes his openness about mental health issues have helped normalise the subject among professional football players.
Lennon was detained under the UK s Mental Health Act in May 2017 over concerns about his wellbeing, during his time at Everton.
The 31-year-old is confident the worst of the stress-related illness he was suffering from is behind him, and now hopes to be a role model for his peers.
There s probably a lot of footballers who don t want to come and speak about it but it s just normal, Lennon said. There s going to be spells where you don t feel so great and there s going to be spells where you do feel great.
Hopefully it opens the door for people to say, OK, I m not feeling good. There s so much help out there and hope…
Andres Iniesta played a key role in selling Vissel Kobe to his old Spain and Barcelona team-mate David Villa.
Villa will be reunited with Iniesta at the J.League club after the 36-year-old left New York City at the end of his contract.
Iniesta ended a career-long association with Barca to join Kobe at the end of the 2017-18 season and ex-Germany star Lukas Podolski plays alongside him under head coach Juan Manuel Lillo – a mentor to Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.
Kobe concluded their 2018 campaign with a 3-2 win over Vegalta Sendai on Saturday, with Iniesta scoring as they took a 3-0 lead.
Although they could only manage a 10th-place finish, Villa was convinced to join after Iniesta spoke in glowing terms of his Japanese experience.
Good lu…