Leeds and Southampton to miss out on Cody Gakpo?

Tottenham made a double swoop for highly-rated Sheffield United defenders Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker on Wednesday.

England Under-21 international Naughton and England Under-19 prodigy Walker moved to White Hart Lane from the Championship side for a joint undisclosed fee.

We are delighted to announce the signings of Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker from Sheffield United, a statement on Tottenham s website confirmed.

Naughton had also been the subject of a bid from Everton but Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp won the race to sign the Sheffield-born defender.

The 20-year-old has earned rave reviews since making his Blades debut in August 2008.

He made 50 appearances in all competitions last season, helping United reach the Championship play-off final …

On the first day of its meeting in Sydney, the FIFA Executive Committee decided to suspend the Iraqi Football Association (IFA) as of today, 26 May 2008, following the governmental decree passed on 20 May which dissolved the Iraqi National Olympic Committee and all national sport federations, including the IFA.
The FIFA Executive Committee also decided that in accordance with art. 14, par. 1 of the FIFA Statutes, the case of the Iraqi Football Association would be presented to the FIFA Congress on 30 May for suspension until the FIFA Congress in 2009, namely one year.
However, the suspension decided upon today may be lifted if FIFA receives by 29 May, midnight (Sydney time), 16.00h CET, written confirmation from the Iraqi government that the decree has been annulled.

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Real Madrid s last-minute sale of its unsettled Brazilian striker Robinho and the Spanish club s failure to sign a replacement highlight its disastrous recruitment for the 2008-09 season.

The Spanish champions signed only one new player Dutch international midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, who joined Real for five years from German side Hamburg.

The club s top transfer priority, Portuguese international striker Cristiano Ronaldo, ultimately decided to stay with Manchester United after weeks of being wooed by Real, partly due to pressure from the English club s coach, Alex Ferguson.

This first refusal was followed by snubs from two Spanish internationals, Santi Cazorla of Villarreal and David Villa of Valencia, who were either happy to stay at their clubs or mi…

James Rodriguez deserves more respect from Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid, according to former Colombia international Faustino Asprilla. 

A €80million transfer from Monaco in 2014, James enjoyed a fruitful first season with Madrid, scoring 17 goals and assisting 18 others in all competitions.

However, his opportunities were cut short in 2015-16, with a muscle tear in his thigh also seeing him miss a small part of the season. 

Asprilla believes James is not being given the respect he deserves at the Santiago Bernabeu, and said the only way he can prove his worth is if he gets more game time. 

If today he has not been able to demonstrate his quality, it is because the coach does not have him in his plans, the 57-time international told Onda Cero.…

Spanish media outlet that Real Madrid are still exploring the possibility of recruiting David De Gea from Manchester United.

Los Blancos were on the verge of signing the new Spain number one back in the summer of 2015, and the highly rated shot-stopper has since remained in their crosshairs.

Even though Real Madrid chiefs have been satisfied with the performances of Keylor Navas, they are not ready to rule out the possibility of making a move for David De Gea.

The good news is that the 26-year-old has a €60 million release clause in his current contract, meaning there will be nothing that Man Utd can do if los Blancos match their asking price.

David De Gea remains regarded as one of Europe’s leading goalkeepers and he recently took over from Iker C…

Nuno Espirito Santo is uncertain as to whether he will be able to call on Harry Kane when Tottenham face their new coach s former team Wolves on Sunday.

Spurs travelled to Portugal on Wednesday ahead of a Europa Conference League qualifier against Pacos de Ferreira.

Kane, who still reportedly wants to leave the club and join Manchester City, was not included in the travelling party, though Spurs have stated that is due to the England captain working on building up his fitness at the training ground.

The 28-year-old, who only returned to training last Friday, was not involved at all as Spurs won their opening game of the season against City on Sunday.

Wolves, the team Nuno left at the end of last season, are next up for Tottenham in the Premier League, tho…

Over one million World Cup ticket applications have been received by FIFA online and the majority of them are from South Africans, the local organising committee said on Friday.

The number of applications has far exceeded FIFA s and the Local Organising Committee s expectations. Not surprisingly, the country that has submitted the largest number of applications is South Africa followed by the United Kingdom and the USA, the committee said in a statement.

There are only 743,000 available tickets for the first phase of sales which ends on March 31.

We have had a phenomenal response from football fans around the world. We do expect a last-minute rush over the next few days to beat the deadline, particularly in South Africa, said FIFA secretary general Jerome Valc…

Bayern Munich have recruited the football professor they were looking for, but new coach Louis van Gaal will be expected to get top marks from his first day in charge on July 1.

Since former trainer Jurgen Klinsmann was sacked after only ten months in charge, Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had been scouring the continent for a top-level, German-speaking coach to help re-establish Bayern in Europe.

The English media claimed Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger was approached, but there was little realistic chance of the Frenchman relinquishing control at the north London club.

Van Gaal led AZ Alkmaar to the Dutch championship and finally won the title on April 19, while just eight days later Klinsmann was sacked by Bayern following dismal results including an unacc…

Galatasaray chairman Unal Aysal has claimed he will not stand in the way of Burak Yilmaz s mooted move to Chelsea.

Striker Yilmaz has been linked with a switch to Stamford Bridge after hitting 24 league goals last season, in what was his debut campaign with the club.

The Turkey international came close to joining Serie A side Lazio during the close-season and Aysal says he would not block any potential transfer.

Speaking at the Leaders in Football conference, the Gala chief actively encouraged his striker to strive for a move to a foreign league to prove himself there.

If he wants to go and Chelsea are interested then of course, why not? I favour Turkish players going to Europe to play in European leagues, he said.

No (we have not received an offer from Che…

Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet will use Belgium international duty to avoid talk of a transfer away from the club.

The 25-year-old has been an ever-present for Paolo Di Canio s side this season and his performances have created speculation that a move to Manchester United or Arsenal could be on the cards.

However, he has two years left on his contract at the Stadium of Light and is no rush to leave the club that he joined in 2010.

Instead, Mignolet will concentrate on the international matches with USA and Serbia before preparing for the new season at Sunderland.

I ll be going away with Belgium first of all and I ll focus on that, he said. Afterwards, I m abroad, so I m not going to really read the English newspapers.

I won t get carried awa…