League One side Notts County have appointed former England international Alan Smith as player-coach, .
The 33 year old has spent the last two seasons with MK Dons, having initially moved to the club on loan from Newcastle United in January 2012.
Notts manager Shaun Derry is a huge admirer of the striker-come-midfielder, labelling him the ‘best player on the pitch’ when MK Dons faced County at Meadow Lane back in March.
Smith began his career with Leeds United, turning out for them over two-hundred times before moving to Manchester United following the Yorkshire side’s relegation to the Championship.
In three years at Old Trafford, he won the Premier League title and the League Cup, while he added to his collection of silverware by landing the se…
Arda Turan s agent insists the midfielder will see out his contract at Barcelona that runs until 2020.
The 30-year-old joined Barca from Atletico Madrid in July 2015 but, after his debut was delayed for six months due to the Catalan giants serving a player registration ban, he has failed to nail down a regular starting spot.
Arda scored 13 goals in 30 appearances last season, including a Champions League hat-trick against Borussia Monchengladbach, although he was limited to 14 starts in LaLiga by two lay-offs with adductor and abductor injuries.
Arsenal have been linked with his services but Arda s representative Ahmet Bulut maintains the player wants to fight for his place under new Barca boss Ernesto Valverde.
Arda will stay at Barca, Bulut told NTV S…
Germany international Marco Reus is determined to return to form and fitness for next year s World Cup after undergoing cruciate knee ligament surgery.
The Borussia Dortmund forward suffered the injury in their DFB-Pokal final victory over Eintracht Frankfurt, having already seen his 2016-17 campaign disrupted by injury.
Reus also missed the 2014 World Cup due to an ankle problem, pulling out of the squad before his side went on to become world champions.
But, after going under the knife, the 28-year-old is on the comeback trail and is fully focusing on recovering in time to aid both Dortmund and Germany in the coming campaign.
The surgery went fine and I m already on the road to recovery, Reus wrote in a post on his Facebook and Instagram pages.
Port Vale s Tom Pope had the FA Cup impact he promised before holders Manchester City ran out 4-1 winners at the Etihad Stadium.
Pope, whose disparaging Twitter post about City defender John Stones came to light following the third-round draw, nodded in a superb 35th-minute equaliser after Oleksandr Zinchenko s deflected opener.
However, Sergio Aguero ensured the hosts went in ahead at half-time before youngsters Taylor Harwood-Bellis – inadvertently scoring his first senior goal after Stones thought he had City s third – and Phil Foden sealed the Premier League champions progress.
Nathan Smith scrambled an eighth-minute effort from Foden out of the goalmouth but fellow Vale centre-back Leon Legge was not so effective with his own last-ditch attempt – tur…
La Liga giants Sevilla are thought to be keen on Fenerbahce defender Simon Kjaer.
The Rojiblancos are looking for a direct replacement for Adil Rami who moved to Marseille this season and are believed to have identified the Denmark international as their top-choice summer target.
Kjaer moved to Turkey in 2015 in a €7.5 transfer from French side Lille and has emerged as one of the leading figures for Turkish champions over the past two seasons.
Fenerbahce have already rebuffed an offer worth €8 million from AC Milan earlier this summer and have now informed Sevilla they will have to splash out offers in excess of €10 million and higher if they want to sign the Danish defender.
The Turkish giants are holding out for a significant fee that would help …