Brisbane Roar midfielder Erik Paartalu has completed his expected move to Chinese Super League club Tianjin Teda.
The 26-year-old was virtually unknown in Australia when then-Roar coach Ange Postecoglou signed him from Scottish First Division outfit Greenock Morton ahead of the 2010-11 A-League season.
But Paartalu made an immediate impact, playing every match of the campaign as Brisbane clinched the A-League title for the first time.
The Sydney-born midfielder wrote his name into Roar folklore in the Grand Final of the 2010-11 season, with his 120th-minute equaliser taking the match to penalties.
Brisbane eventually edged the Central Coast Mariners in a thrilling shootout that Paartalu also scored a spot-kick in.
And he backed it up last season,…
Bayer Leverkusen youngster Benjamin Henrichs has moved to reveal that a number of English Premier League clubs have been showing interest in his services.
The 19-year-old shot to prominence this season as die Werkself coach Roger Schmidt converted him to right-sided defender, and he has now even received a first ever call-up to the senior national team.
, Henrichs has revealed that he had a chance to join Barcelona some six years ago, but he, nonetheless, remained with Bayer Leverkusen.
However, a big club move could still be on the cards as the youngster claims that several Premier League clubs are keen on his services.
“English clubs showed interest (in my services) after an international match in England with Germany Under-19 in September 2015,” H…
Andy Robertson urged Liverpool to wake up quickly after a dire first-half performance resulted in a 4-1 humbling at Napoli in their Champions League opener on Wednesday.
Liverpool have failed to live up to early expectations in the Premier League, winning just twice in six games, and their poor start to the season continued in Naples.
Piotr Zielinski converted from the penalty spot after just five minutes, before Alisson denied Victor Osimhen s spot-kick – but that only denied the inevitable for the out-of-sorts Reds.
Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Giovanni Simeone, the latter on his Champions League debut, added further goals before half-time, with Zielinski adding a fourth after the interval.
It was just the fourth time Liverpool have found themselves…
Liverpool starlet Raheem Sterling says he is surprised by how quickly he has established himself at the Anfield Club.
Sterling arrived at Liverpool as a 15-year-old in 2010, and made his senior debut late last season against Wigan.
His progress has continued this season, and he made his first Premier League start against Manchester City last August.
He has gone on to make 19 starts for Brendan Rodgers side in the league this term and, although his output has been checked in recent weeks by a thigh strain, Sterling said he is amazed by how well he has coped with senior football.
At the start of the season the manager said to all the young players that if we did well in training and had the right commitment and attitude, he wouldn t be afraid to throw us …
Avram Grant said the whole nation can be proud of Ghana, despite Sunday s shoot-out loss to Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations final.
After suffering a heartbreaking 9-8 penalty shoot-out defeat to Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations final, Ghana coach Avram Grant was still full of praise for his players on Sunday.
With the showdown in Bata still goalless at the end of 120 minutes, Ghana appeared in the box seat to add to their four AFCON titles, only to surrender a two-goal lead in the shoot-out as Ivory Coast triumphed thanks to goalkeeper Boubacar Barry.
Barry saved the penalty of opposite number Brimah Razak before stepping up to convert the winning kick for Ivory Coast s second AFCON trophy.
Not much had been expected of Ghana in Equatoria…
Quique Setien praised Ansu Fati after the teenage forward helped Barcelona to a 2-1 win over Levante in LaLiga on Sunday.
Fati, 17, scored twice in the first half as Barca closed the gap to league leaders and rivals Real Madrid to three points.
He became the youngest player to score a brace in LaLiga in the 21st century, breaking a record previously held by Juanmi Jimenez.
Fati has netted five goals this season and Setien hailed him for stepping up for Barcelona, who are set to be without the injured Luis Suarez until the end of 2019-20.
I think that Ansu is a boy that is emerging, that we all know that has great potential, head coach Setien told a news conference.
You have to understand that you have to give him peace of mind and confidence to …
The 28-year-old has moved to the newly-promoted club on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee following two years at St Andrews.
I m delighted to be here, he told the club s official website.
I feel that I m joining Hull City at an exciting time and the chance to play in the Barclays Premier League was also a huge attraction. It s something that I ve been lucky enough to do before and I wanted to get back to that level.
Hopefully I can help this team to have a good season and push as high up the table as possible. I can t wait for Chelsea on the first day of the season now.
Davies most recently featured in the top flight for Aston Villa in 2010 but has since been playing his football in the Championship.
He started 40 games for Birmingham last season,…
Lyon stars dominate the shortlist for the Best FIFA Women s Player award after the French club won a third consecutive Champions League crown.
Norway s Ada Hegerberg, who hit 15 goals in the tournament, is joined by team-mates Amandine Henry, Wendie Renard, Dzsenifer Marozsan, Saki Kumagai and Lucy Bronze.
Neither of the last two winners of the prize, United States star Carli Lloyd and Netherlands international Lieke Martens, were included on the shortlist.
Lyon s Reynald Pedros leads the nominees for the coach award along with Emma Hayes, who led Chelsea to Super League and FA Cup titles without defeat in either competition.
The Best FIFA Women s Player: Lucy Bronze (England and Lyon); Pernille Harder (Denmark and Wolfsburg); Ada Hegerberg (Norway and L…
Aleksander Ceferin has announced he will not stand for a further term as UEFA president in 2027.
Changes to the UEFA statute which were approved at Thursday’s Congress in Paris made a further term that would extend to 2031 possible, but Ceferin has now ruled that out.
“I decided six months ago that I would not run any more. The reason is that after some time every organisation needs fresh blood, but mainly because I was away from my family for seven years now,” the Slovenian said at a press conference after the Congress.
UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin will shortly attend a press conference here in Paris.
You can watch it here:
— UEFA (@UEFA)
“I intentionally didn’t want to disclose my thoughts before, because firstly, I…
Former Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti believes the era of long managerial reigns will come to a permanent end once Arsene Wenger leaves Arsenal.
The 66-year-old has been in charge of the Gunners since 1996, while Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 having led Manchester United for 27 years.
Ancelotti praised the fact that Arsenal and United s long-term approach is different to that of many teams on the continent but still expects Wenger s tenure to be the last mammoth managerial tenure.
He told The Independent: Maybe clubs like Arsenal, or Manchester United have different ideas and are not just focused on the result they are focused on other things, such as their project.
Other teams such as Real Madrid want to be at the top all the time. PSG, when I …