New Palmeiras striker Maikon Leite is ready to take the Brazil Serie A by storm after serious injury blighted the start of his career.
The 22-year-old was beginning to make an impression at Santos when he badly damaged his knee in a league match three years ago.
On his return to fitness, Leite spent part of 2010 on loan at Atletico Paranaense, before beginning to force his way back into contention at Santos.
He scored seven goals in fourteen matches last season, as the Sao Paulo-based outfit clinched the 2011 Paulista and Copa Libertadores titles.
Despite his encouraging contribution, Leite was allowed to sign a pre-contract agreement with cross-city rivals Palmeiras in January, before joining on a five-year deal.
In 2008 I just arrived at Santo…
Liverpool and Manchester City moved safely through to the Carling Cup fourth round on Wednesday, while Chelsea struggled past Fulham.
Manchester City had goals from debutant Owen Hargreaves and striker Mario Balotelli to thank for their 2-0 win over Birmingham at Etihad Stadium.
Hargreaves scored City s opener after 17 minutes with a long-range drive, the 30-year-old s first goal since he struck the winner in Manchester United s 2-1 win over Arsenal in April 2008.
Liverpool defeated Brighton and Hove Albion 2-1 at Amex Stadium, with goals from Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt putting Kenny Dalglish s men 2-0 up before Ashley Barnes slotted home a late penalty for the hosts.
After scores ended at 0-0, Chelsea were forced to go to penalties before overcoming a …
Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has claimed the club denied him time off to visit his brother Ibrahim, who died last week.
Ibrahim Toure passed away at the age of 28 last Friday, with reports suggesting he had been undergoing treatment for cancer.
Both Yaya and older brother Kolo are competing at the FIFA World Cup for Ivory Coast, and have decided to remain with the team, despite the passing of their sibling.
But, in a column for France Football, Toure alleged that City prevented him from being by Ibrahim s bedside following the conclusion of the Premier League season, instead insisting that he fly to Abu Dhabi with the team to celebrate winning the title.
City have refused to comment on the matter, although it is understood Toure did not submit a …
Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal of the game as Real Madrid beat Basel to equal the club record of 15 consecutive victories.
The prolific Portugal forward matched Real legend Raul s tally of 71 UEFA Champions League goals with a first-half strike at Jakob-Park on Wednesday, which ensured Carlo Ancelotti s side won Group B.
Ronaldo s latest goal was his 26th in what is proving to be another outstanding season and helped Real match the run of wins achieved in the 1960-61 and 2011-12 campaigns.
Gareth Bale struck by the crossbar in the second half and Ronaldo missed a great chance to register his 72nd Champions League goal, which would have left him two adrift of new record holder Lionel Messi.
Real were not at their brilliant best, but they w…
Ilkay Gundogan has revealed he has found it mentally difficult to recover from a series of serious injuries as he fights to get fit for Manchester City.
Gundogan was only able to start nine Premier League matches in an injury-hit campaign last season as City went trophyless under new boss Pep Guardiola, the Germany international tearing cruciate knee ligaments in December.
The 26-year-old midfielder is closing in on a return to action, but previously missed both the 2014 World Cup which Germany won and Euro 2016 due to injury.
It is heavy mentally to accept that, Gundogan told BBC Sport regarding being forced out of two successive major tournaments.
It is really hard always to fall and fight your way back. You feel good and feel ready, then you get the…
LaLiga are in talks over the prospect of hosting matches overseas, according to president Javier Tebas.
Tebas has backed the proposal of staging certain fixtures on foreign soil in the past in order to encourage more lucrative broadcasting and sponsorship deals.
Kick-off times were altered for the 2017-18 season to suit audiences in Asia, with Tebas stating in March that Spain s top flight will continue to take steps to ensure that this part of the world can enjoy LaLiga as much as possible .
And the 55-year-old has now reiterated his support for games being staged abroad, although he says discussions are very much at a preliminary stage.
LaLiga is global entertainment and we want to grow the international appeal of LaLiga, he said, as quoted by the Fi…
Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Haris Seferovic from Benfica in the summer transfer window, according to . It has been reported that it is Tottenham head coach Nuno who wants to bring the striker to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs head coach Nuno wants to sign a new striker in the summer transfer window. The former Wolverhampton Wanderers manager wants to sign the 29-year-old Switzerland international striker. Benfica themselves are willing to sell Seferovic.
Seferovic has a release clause of £50 million in his contract at Benfica, but the Portuguese giants are willing to do a deal for around £20 million to £25 million. The Benfica no.14 22 goals and gave seven assists in the league last season. The striker also scored three goals in five Euro 2020 game…
Fabian Delph is willing to play at left-back to ease Manchester City s selection woes following Benjamin Mendy s injury.
France international Mendy hobbled out of Saturday s 5-0 win at home to Crystal Palace ahead of a key week in which City face Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League and Premier League champions Chelsea.
But midfielder Delph has put his hand up to help out Pep Guardiola by reverting to a role he has played previously, including in the midweek EFL Cup defeat of West Brom.
I ve played left-back before, not many times, under Gerard Houllier when I was a young kid of 20 or 21, he said, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News. If I can help the team I am happy. I am a team player – if we win I go home happy.
All the players know the s…
Marcus Rashford will miss the start of the new Premier League season after opting to have shoulder surgery following Euro 2020, according to reports.
The Manchester United forward, who missed a penalty in England s 3-2 shoot-out loss to Italy on Sunday before being a target of racist online abuse, is likely to be sidelined for approximately 12 weeks, up until October.
The BBC reported that Rashford had a scan on the shoulder on Tuesday, which revealed the damage was so severe that it required surgery rather than rest. However, the surgeon is not available until later this month delaying his recovery.
Manchester United s opening fixture of the 2021-22 Premier League season is against Leeds United on August 14.
Rashford had been hampered by the shoulder com…
Gianfranco Zola has claimed England boss Gareth Southgate was too conservative too soon in the Euro 2020 final and suffered the inevitable consequences.
Italy s penalty shoot-out victory over England at Wembley on Sunday has been followed by reports that Southgate could soon be knighted.
That is despite his team falling short when they had home advantage, failing to build on Luke Shaw s second-minute strike that was the earliest goal scored in a European Championship final.
Roberto Mancini s impressive Italy had 19 shots to England s six over the 120 minutes, while also enjoying 65.4 per cent of possession. The Azzurri finished with an expected goals score of 2.16 compared to England s meagre 0.55, underlining their dominance of the chances.
Leonardo Bonu…