Football | Pre-Season: Lukaku, Rashford on target for United

Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford were on target as Manchester United defeated Premier League rivals Manchester City 2-0 in their International Champions Cup pre-season clash at Houston's NRG Stadium on Thursday.

Belgian international Lukaku grabbed his second goal in his second start for United as the Red Devils eased past a disjointed City.
England striker Rashford meanwhile continued his impressive pre-season form with his third goal in three games of United's US tour.
The game was the first ever Manchester derby played on foreign soil and both teams commemorated the May 22 attacks at a concert in the city shortly before the kick-off.
"It was a very good training session," United manager Jose Mourinho said afterwards.
"We had to play well in the first half, is good intensity, the players are tired. I am really pleased and I'm sure Pep (Guardiola) is the same. The result is not the most important thing."
City manager Pep Guardiola meanwhile shrugged off the loss, preferring to enthuse about the performance of teenager Phil Foden, a 17-year-old who has emerged from the club's youth set-up.
"I don't have words... It's a long time since I saw a performance like this - it was another level," said Guardiola, who also confirmed that defender Aleksandar Kolarov was on his way out of the club, with Roma the likely destination.
"I don't like working with people who don't want to stay. He has a big chance to go to Roma. He has said he wants to leave," Guardiola said of Kolarov.
Kolarov's looming exit heightens speculation that City are close to signing Monaco fullback Benjamin Mendy.
Earlier, United enjoyed the better of the early exchanges, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan testing new City keeper Ederson with a long-range effort just after 20 minutes.
Ander Herrera also tried his luck from distance shortly afterwards but the young Brazilian gathered comfortably.
At the other end meanwhile, City, who handed a debut to new signing Kyle Walker, slowly got into their stride, with a deflected Raheem Sterling effort tipped over by David De Gea.
City should have had a penalty on 31 minutes when youngster Patrick Roberts was tugged back by Chris Smalling as he burst into the area.
Instead Smalling managed to get a foot in and clear with Sterling's follow-up effort blocked.

Football | Bundeliga : Neuer replaces Lahm as Bayern's captain

 Germany goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer will replace Philipp Lahm as Bayern Munich's skipper for next season, the Bundesliga champions' chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has confirmed.

"Our No 1 is the No 1 (choice) – Manuel Neuer," Rummenigge told Munich daily newspaper TZ.
"He is an established professional, who will take the armband from Philipp Lahm.
"He has developed really well with the national team – not only on, but also off the pitch."
World Cup-winner Neuer has been Germany's goalkeeper since Bastian Schweinsteiger made his final international appearance last August.
The 31-year-old Neuer steps in to skipper Bayern after Lahm retired from all football in May after 22 years with the Bavarian giants.
Neuer has sat out Bayern's current tour of China and Singapore to recover from a foot surgery, but is expected to be back for the German giants when the new Bundesliga season kicks off on August 18.
Bayern will be hunting a sixth straight German league title in 2017/18.
Having signed for Bayern in 2011, Neuer will become the fourth goalkeeper to captain the side after Oliver Kahn, Raimond Aumann and Sepp Maier.
In Neuer's absence, Thomas Mueller is captaining Bayern on their tour of China, where they lost 3-2 to Arsenal on penalties in a friendly after a 1-1 draw in Shanghai on Wednesday.
A header by Arsenal's Nigeria striker Alex Iwobi deep into added time cancelled out Robert Lewandowski's early penalty for Bayern before the Gunners won the spot-kick shootout.

© AFP

Football | Transfer Mood : Szczesny Now Juve's Keeper

Juventus have signed Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny on a four-year contract for €12.2 million the Italian champions said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Poland international, capped 29 times, spent the last two years on loan at Serie A rivals AS Roma, making 38 league appearances last season.
The 27-year-old finished the campaign with the most clean sheets in the league, 14, one ahead of Gianluigi Buffon, Juventus' first choice goalkeeper for the last 16 years.
"Every player that comes at Juventus becomes better, every player that comes wins trophies," Szczesny said in a news conference.
Juventus said on their website (www.juventus.com/) that the fee for the Pole may increase by €3.1 million if certain conditions are achieved over the course of the four-year deal.
Buffon, capped a record 169 times by Italy, renewed a contract with Juventus until 2018 last year and said that he is planning to retire after the 2018 World Cup.

© Reuters

Football | Transfer Window : Pepe joins Besiktas from Real

Portugal international Pepe has signed for Besiktas, the Turkish champions announced on Tuesday, bringing to an end 10 incident-pakced years with Spanish giants Real Madrid.

The 34-year-old Brazilian-born defender joined Real from Porto in 2007 for €30 million, winning the Liga title in his first campaign.
His contract with Real expired last month and, according to reports in the Turkish media, he will sign a two-year contract with Besiktas.
He leaves Real after winning three La Liga titles, two King's Cup trophies and following three Champions League triumphs, although he missed this year's European Cup final victory against Juventus due to injury.
Pepe gained infamy in his second campaign in Spain for kicking out at Getafe's Javier Casquero after fouling him and punching Juan Albin in a game in April 2009, earning a 10-game ban, and later said he had "lost control".
He was sent off four times for Real, including a red card for a lunge on Barcelona's Dani Alves in a Champions League semifinal first leg in 2011, but will be fondly remembered by the Madrid club's fans for his spirited performances and consistent partnership with Sergio Ramos.
Pepe has made 86 appearances for Portugal and was named Man of the Match in the Euro 2016 final win over France.
He scored an added time equaliser in Sunday's Confederations Cup third place playoff game against Mexico to send it into extra time in which the European champions won 2-1.

Football | English Premier League: Man United agree fee for Lukaku

Everton's Belgian international striker Romelu Lukaku is set to join Manchester United instead of champions Chelsea for a fee of £75 million ($97m, 85.5m euros), according to the British media.

Both the BBC and Press Association reported the deal was all but done for the 24-year-old Lukaku, who will be reunited with Jose Mourinho, who sold him to Everton in 2014 for £28m when the Portuguese coach was in his second spell as Chelsea manager.
Everton had offered the former Anderlecht star the most lucrative contract in the club's history after he scored 25 Premier League goals last season but he turned it down, saying he wanted to move on to another level.
This alerted several clubs to his availability with Chelsea initially the favourites but Mourinho – who enjoys excellent relations with his agent Mino Raiola – looks to have snatched him from under Antoni Conte's nose.
If the deal goes through Lukaku's arrival at Old Trafford would suggest United cease their interest in signing Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid.
Raiola has had a profitable time since Mourinho took over at United last year, with the world's most expensive player Paul Pogba, attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, all his clients, arriving at the club in 2016.

© Reuters

Football | La Liga : New bumper Barca deal for Messi

 

Lionel Messi has agreed to stay at FC Barcelona until 2021 in a deal that all but commits the star striker to playing out the rest of his top-flight career at the Spanish giants.

The megastar who joined Barcelona as a teenager 17 years ago will remain at the club until he is 34 under the new deal, the Catalan club announced Wednesday, ending months of speculation about the future of the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.
"The deal will be signed in the coming weeks, when Messi returns to the team for pre-season training," the club said in a statement, as the 30-year-old enjoyed his honeymoon just days after he wed his childhood sweetheart in Argentina.
Messi has hinted in the past that he would like to return in the future to Argentina to play for his very first club, CA Newell's Old Boys in his hometown of Rosario, where he wed last week. But he has also said that his priority is to win more honours with Barca, the club he has called his home since he was 13.
No financial details of Messi's new contact were disclosed, but Spain's Marca sports daily reported on Tuesday that the deal included a €300-million termination clause.

Under his current contract, due to run out in June 2018, Messi earns around €20 million a year in salary, according to Spanish media -- and this didn't include millions of euros in revenues earned from ads and performance-linked bonuses.
Messi joined FC Barcelona in 2000 when he was just 13 years old in the youth training centre.
"He made his first team debut at just 16 years of age in a friendly against FC Porto, before making his debut the following season against Espanyol at 17," the club said in a statement.
"Shortly after, he scored his first senior goal with a clever lob against Albacete at the Camp Nou."
The deal announcement is likely to reassure fans and members of FC Barcelona, which has had a disappointing season by the club's own high standards.
The club was eliminated from the Champions League in the quarter finals by Juventus, and came second behind arch-rivals Real Madrid in La Liga, though Barca did win the Copa del Rey.