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The French Open champion pulled out of last month’s China Open after just 31 minutes and withdrew from this week’s Kremlin Cup because of the persistent problem. Halep, 27, said she had hoped to compete at the season finale in Singapore, which starts on Sunday, but that she had taken the “tough” decision to put her health first. “It’s always difficult to withdraw from a big tournament,” said the Romanian, who sustained the injury in Wuhan last month. “My back is not okay. I didn’t practice for the last four weeks. I’m not ready to compete at this level and I’m still sore.” Her withdrawal means that Kiki Bertens from the Netherlands moves into the eighth and final qualifying spot in the WTA Finals. It has been a disappointing end to a spectacular season for Halep, which saw her secure the year-end number one ranking in the WTA standings for the second year running. She spent 40 weeks at number one in 2018, and won three titles from a tour-leading six final appearance...

Pogba and Mourinho are not believed to be on speaking terms at the Theatre of Dreams after a disastrous start to the season for the Red Devils. Mourinho dropped Pogba from his starting line-up throughout the second half of last season but he was hopeful of repairing their relationship after the midfielder spearheaded France’s World Cup victory in Russia last summer. However, after making Pogba captain for the start of the season, the 24-year-old has repeatedly undermined Mourinho by criticising his tactics and claiming he will be ‘fined’ if he says what he feels about his position at the club. Mourinho, though, believes the problems have come from Pogba’s camp and he feels the Frenchman is listening to the wrong people in the background, according to the Manchester Evening News. Mino Raiola orchestrated Pogba’s move to Old Trafford but he publicly slated Paul Scholes for questioning Pogba’s leadership qualities in August and the club were furious at the nature of the incid...

Arsenal defender, Laurent Koscielny, has confirmed his retirement from international football and taken a swipe at France boss Didier Deschamps in the process. The 33-year-old suffered an achilles injury in the Gunners’ Europa League semi-final against Atletico Madrid at the end of last season and missed the World Cup as a result. Koscielny has now admitted that France winning the tournament caused him a lot of “psychological damage”. “France’s World Cup victory did me a lot more psychological damage than my injury did me. “I think that I have given everything I can for France, I am 33, I have done two Euros, one World Cup. “France has a great generation of great players now. My injury does not change my decision. “For Les Bleus, it is finished,” he told Canal +. Koscielny also hit out at Deschamps for not offering him any support during his injury worries. “He called me once for my birthday in September. “Otherwise, no. Lots of people disappointed me. Not only the...

Manchester United are set to take final decision on defender, Antonio Valencia’s future, at the club. Valencia is set to leave Old Trafford on a free transfer due to a clause in his contract. The Ecuador international’s current contract at United will expire at the end of the season. The Sun reports that United’s board has to make the decision on Valencia’s future by March 1, 2019 or the right-back is free to negotiate his exit. The report claimed that United’s board can trigger an option to extend the 33-year-old stay for another 12 months. Valencia has also called just like Mogba for Mourinho to be sacked.

The Spanish striker is set to move to the Hammers having struggled for regular minutes, while the Colombia goalkeeper could also be on the move Arsenal are in discussions over the sale of two of their fringe players, with Lucas Perez and David Ospina both potentially leaving the club in the coming days.   Perez has undergone a medical at West Ham, while Ospina will hold talks with Turkish giants Besiktas over joining them before the summer transfer window closes on Thursday. Perez, 29, had returned to Arsenal following a season-long loan at former club Deportivo La Coruna in 2017-18, where he scored nine goals in 37 appearances. Perez moved back to Deportivo on loan after initially joining the Gunners in 2016 in a move reportedly worth around £17m ($22m). But Perez found playing time hard to come by in his lone season at the Emirates, making just 11 Premier League appearances and scoring one goal in the league. New Hammers manager Manuel Pellegrini has been...

Tokyo 2020 will be the first Olympics to use facial recognition technology to increase security around all venues, the organisers announced on Tuesday. Games organisers have linked up with popular Japanese telecommunications and information technology giant NEC to develop the first system of this kind to be implemented at an Olympics. The technology, which was demonstrated to the media at an event in the Japanese capital, will use IC chips within identification cards to automatically verify the identity of those entering over 40 venues. More than 300,000 athletes and Games staff will have to submit photographs to a database before the Olympics start in July 2020. "Every time they enter the facility, they have to do a security check," explained Tokyo 2020 ’ s head of security Tsuyoshi Iwashita. "Tokyo’s venues doesn’t always have enough space for the security check or even space to wait for the security check. When the events are happening, w...

Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui has decided to promote Marco Asensio as Cristiano Ronaldo ’ s replacement in the team. A host of names have been linked with Real Madrid including Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Eden Hazard. Hazard openly admitted he would like a move to Real but Chelsea have put a £177.9million price tag on him as he has just signed a new contract that wouldn’t expire until 2020. And as a result of Chelsea ’ s demands, Spanish newspaper Marca say manager Julen Lopetegui has assessed his squad over pre-season and decided on how he will replace Ronaldo using Asensio on the same position has the young forward has proved to julen how advantageous he could be to the first team in that position. It is claimed Lopetegui would rather use Asensio in his front three than spend a “ ludicrous sum ” on Hazard, after all asensio is young and ready to play at full strength and with so much focus so their wouldn’t be a Ronaldo lapse. Real are said...

MANCHESTER UNITED Manchester united have been in talks with a lot of talks this summer and have been very active in the transfer market making a whooping bid of £47m for Fred. Fred has landed at the old Trafford ready to start a new league with style. Diogo Dalot and Lee Grant have also joined the red devils in this campaign and are willing to show they are worth more than their values. Players in: Fred (£47m, Shakhtar Donetsk), Diogo Dalot (£19m, Porto), Lee Grant (£1.5m, Stoke).   Players out: Dean Henderson (loan, Sheffield United), Joe Riley (undisclosed, Bradford), Sam Johnstone (£6.5m, West Brom), Daley Blind (£14.1m, Ajax), Matty Willock (loan, St Mirren), Cameron Borthwick-Jackson (loan, Scunthorpe), Max Johnstone, Jake Kenyon, Ilias Moutha-Sebtaoui, Devonte Redmond, Theo Richardson, Charlie Scott (all released), Michael Carrick (retired).

MANCHESTER CITY The English premier league winners have maintain the most part of its team and have added a £60m transfer of Rivad Mahrez. The team is willing to lift up the EPL league once again In the 2018/2019 season. One of the surprising transfer in this summer is the release of yaya toure, who has greatly contributed to the growth and success of the club in the past year. Manchester city has released yaya toure, although there are still some speculations surrounding this release, but as at the day of this post he has been released by mancity. Players in: Riyad Mahrez (£60m, Leicester). Players out: Pablo Maffeo (£8.8m, Stuttgart), Will Patching (free, Notts County), Ashley Smith-Brown (undisclosed, Plymouth), Jacob Davenport (undisclosed, Blackburn), Angelino (£5m, PSV), Olarenwaju Kayode (£2.7m, Shakhtar Donetsk), Angus Gunn (£10m, Southampton), Anthony Caceres (loan, Melbourne City), Matt Smith (loan, FC Twente), Manu Garcia (loan, T...

LIVERPOOL Liverpool has been in the market and they’ve been making this happen for them, they have successfully signed four top players and are still looking to sign more before the window closes. They’ve also been active in loaning and selling to land to the anfield new and ready players. Players in: Naby Keita (£52.75m, RB Leipzig), Fabinho (£43.7m, Monaco), Xherdan Shaqiri (£13m, Stoke), Alisson (£56m, Roma). Players out: Danny Ward (£12.5m, Leicester), Ovie Ejaria and Ryan Kent (loan, Rangers), Adam Bogdan (loan, Hibs), Jordan Williams (free, Rochdale), Emre Can (free, Juventus), Jon Flanagan (free, Rangers), Harry Wilson (loan, Derby), Shamal George (loan, Tranmere), Taiwo Awoniyi (loan, Gent), Allan (loan, Eintracht Frankfurt), Toni Correia Gomes, Yan Dhanda, Andrew Firth, Paulo Neves Alves, Mich ’ El Parker, Michael Williams (all released).

Manchester United have an agreement in place with Tottenham for the signing of Toby Alderweireld, but Spurs have refused to complete the deal until they have brought in a replacement for the Belgium international. The red devils are in doubts concerning Spurs' motives, and are in still in search for an alternative for the player just in case the deal doesn’t go through before the transfer deadline on Thursday United have been pursuing the 29-year-old throughout the summer but have widened the net in recent times after the initial failure to agree a fee with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy. Alderweireld has remained their number-one target to add to their defensive stocks during the various twists and turns of this summer ’ s search, and the player is keen to end his spell in north London after falling out of favour with Mauricio Pochettino last season. We hope to see a good turn out has tottenham has increasingly been in talks with different teams for players i...

Great Britain Davis Cup captain Leon Smith revealed Murray needed extensive treatment after suffering from the effects of the heat. The Scot, also the Lawn Tennis Association's head of men's tennis, told BBC Radio 5 Live: "About 15-20 minutes after the match finished he started to feel unwell and a bit of cramp and that is what the heat has done for him. "But there is a great team in the locker room and they have kept him moving around for a couple of hours and getting the salts back in his body. "He will be okay but he's got to work hard for the next couple of hours. He'll feel like sitting down but he needs to keep active and getting the right things in his body. Jamie Murray and Australian partner John Peers battled their way into the second round of the men's doubles at the Australian Open with victory over Matt Reid and Luke Saville. After wins on Wednesday for Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins and Londoner Dominic Ingl...

The Egyptian legend has called retired his career with the Pharaohs where he was present for two decades The 45-year-old was handed his debut in 1996 and played in 159 matches in a career 0f over 20 years He won four African Cup of Nations [1998, 2006, 2008 and 2010]. Also, he was named the best goalkeeper in Africa four times. Earlier this summer, El-Hadary made history at the 2018 World Cup in Russia as he became the oldest player to feature in the biggest party after he was a part of the Pharaohs ’ last group game against Saudi Arabia. El-Hadary expressed his intention by saying,  "There is an end for every start, after a lot of thinking I took my decision to international retirement 22 years, 4 months and 12 days from my first match with Egypt and I saw that this is the right moment to hang my gloves after we made the Egyptian people happy by participating in the world cup. “ This is a moment I didn ’ t want to come, I trained hard day and night to reach ...

David Luiz has urged Belgian duo Courtois and Hazard to also stay put after starring for their country at the World Cup. Courtois, 26, has a year remaining on his contract and has been repeatedly linked with a move to Real Madrid. Chelsea risk losing him for a reduced fee in January or for free next summer. The former Atletico Madrid stopper has repeatedly stated his desire to move closer to his two children in the Spanish capital. Hazard, whose deal expires in 2020, has stalled over a new contract offer and has long been the subject of speculation over a move to Real. “ Chelsea wants for the best players to stay, ” said Luiz. “ They know Chelsea a lot, so they know what they ’ ve had here, the fun they ’ ve had here. Everybody loves them and I hope they can stay. ” Sarri said he would sanction Courtois ’ departure if the goalkeeper expresses a desire to leave following Sunday ’ s Community Shield defeat to Manchester City. The transfer window for incoming play...

Stan Kroenke is ready to complete a takeover of Arsenal that will see the worth value of the club stand at £1.8 billion ($2.3bn). Kroenke is the majority shareholder at the Emirates Stadium but has now made an offer to buy Alisher Usmanov's 30 per cent stake in the club, thus giving him full control. Usmanov has accepted the terms of the bid and will now receive £550m ($712m) for his stake. Kroenke said,   “ We at KSE are moving forward with this offer leading to 100 per cent ownership of the club. “ We appreciate Mr Usmanov ’ s dedication to the Arsenal Football Club and the storied ethos and history the Club represents. ” Kroenke's company, KSE, announced by saying,   "KSE UK is pleased to announce the terms of its all-cash offer to acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Arsenal Holdings PLC other than the Arsenal Shares already held by KSE. "KSE, a Delaware corporation wholly-owned by Mr E. Stanley Ko...

CHELSEA Chelsea has been very active in the transfer market doing a lot of money making than spending as well as doing a lot of talks than acting. Chelsea have brought to the team Jorginho and Robert green. Jorginho on the other hand is on the road to show that he is worth his price as he has played his first match in the community shield in which the side lost to man city, but hopes to prove his worth in subsequent matches. Players in: Jorginho (£57m, Napoli), Robert Green (free, Huddersfield). Players out: Charlie Colkett (loan, Shrewsbury), Lewis Baker and Jamal Blackman (loan, Leeds), Nathan Baxter (loan, Yeovil), Trevoh Chalobah (loan, Ipswich), Reece James (loan, Wigan), Dujon Sterling (loan, Coventry), Jake Clarke-Salter (loan, Vitesse Arnhem), Jordan Houghton (free, MK Dons), Eduardo (loan, Vitesse Arnhem), Kenedy (loan, Newcastle), Todd Kane (loan, Hull), Mason Mount (loan, Derby), Jeremie Boga (£3m...

The 2018/2019 Premier League season officially kicked off on Sunday, August 5, with the Community Reigning champions Manchester City facing FA Cup winner Chelsea, in this year ’ s curtain raiser. City boss, Pep Guardiola, won his third piece of silverware in England, while new Blues manager Maurizio Sarri, look to begin his reign with a new style of play. The game was played at Wembley Stadium and kicked off by 3pm.   Chelsea lineup included a newly introduced face from the junior team, who stood out at the game yesterday and is looking to gain the favor of the fans this opening season CHELSEA LINEUP:   Caballero, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Alonso, Jorginho, Fabregas, Barkley, Pedro, Hudson-Odoi, Morata MANCHESTER CITY LINEUP: Bravo, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Sane, Bernardo, Mendy, Fernandinho, Mahrez, Foden, Aguero First half: – in the first half Aguero struck in magnificent ball to put City in the lead, dril...

The Blues winger has spoken out about his future for the first time, as he addressed rumours about his departure from Stamford Bridge Willian wants to stay at Chelsea despite  speculation linking him with a move away from the club , but admits that the change from manager from Antonio Conte to Maurizio Sarri has kept him happy at the club. Sarri brought Willian on off the bench in a 2-0 loss to Manchester City in the Community Shield played yesterday. The 29-year-old's future was in doubt after being in talks over a move to Barcelona which eventually collapsed and the Brazilian has continually been linked with Jose Mourinho's Manchester United. Willian included, "My will is staying at the club, unless they want to sell me," Willian said after the loss to Man City. "We never know, but I have been always clear about my wish of staying here. My head is here at the Chelsea, but we never know about tomorrow. I hope to remain at the club. ...

ARSENAL Arsenal as made quite a positive impact in the transfer window this opening season, some the players who have left the club have surprisingly left for big clubs in other leagues. The run of Santi Cazola and Jack Wilshare finally ends with an end with their free transfer move to Villarreal and west ham respectively. This are the transfer made by arsenal till date Players in: Stephan Lichtsteiner (free, Juventus), Bernd Leno (£19.3m, Bayer Leverkusen), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (£17.7m, Borussia Dortmund), Lucas Torreira (£26m, Sampdoria), Matteo Guendouzi (£7m, Lorient). Players out: Santi Cazorla (free, Villarreal), Jack Wilshere (free, West Ham), Marc Bola (free, Blackpool), Kelechi Nwakali (loan, Porto), Jeff Reine-Adelaide (undisclosed, Angers), Alexander Crean, Aaron Eyoma, Ryan Huddart, Chiori Johnson, Hugo Keto, Tafari Moore (all released), Per Mertesacker (retired).

The Toffees have moved to reignite their interest in the centre-back having been frustrated by Barca's refusal to move on their valuation Everton have finally reached an agreement with Barcelona over the signing of defender Yerry Mina. Barca, who were initially reluctant to drop their £35 million ($47m) valuation of the Colombia international, have settled on a fee in the region of €32m (£29m/$37m) following a dramatic last 48 hours of developments in the player's future. Marco Silva's side appeared to be on the verge of signing Mina, who starred for Colombia at the World Cup,  on July 26 , although  turned their attentions to Marcos Rojo  having been frustrated by Barca's initial refusal to lower their asking price.   With only a few days remaining of the transfer window in England, there has been a change of heart on Merseyside and the club quickly moved to agree a transfer in the region of €32m. Mina, for his part, app...