Hulk, Witsel head to Russia

Zenit St Petersburg have signed Hulk from Porto and Axel Witsel from Benfica, both on five-year deals, for fees of 40 million euros each.

Hulk, 26, will wear the number 29 shirt for Luciano Spalletti s side, who currently sit top of the Russian Premier League after seven games.

Hours after announcing a deal for the Brazilian, Zenit also confirmed the signing of Belgian midfielder Witsel, who will take the number 28 jersey.

It s now official. Both players had signed five-year deals, Zenit spokesman Dmitry Tsimmerman said.

We were trying to sign them before the September 3 deadline for the Champions League so they can play for us in that competition as well as the Russian league.

Having cut his teeth in Japanese football with Kawasaki Fontale, …

Premier League sides battle for Granqvist

Liverpool, Newcastle and Sunderland are all looking at Genoa defender Andreas Granqvist, according to The Sun.

The Sweden international has been in impressive form for il Grifone over the last two years and he is heavily tipped to leave Stadio Luigi Ferraris for greener pastures in the January transfer window.

The Sun understands that a number of Premier League sides could enter a real bidding war for the experienced defender.

Liverpool were the first English club to express interest in the 27-year-old, but Newcastle and Sunderland are also believed to be following the highly rated centre-back.

Andreas Granqvist recently admitted he was flattered by the reported interest from Liverpool, so it appears he prefers a move to the Premiership despite being on …

CONMEBOL ´knocked on a lot of doors´ to keep half-spot – president

CONMEBOL president Juan Angel Napout claimed the federation had to work hard to keep their 4.5 qualifying spots for the World Cup.

The South American federation held onto their allocation of spots for football s showpiece, after the FIFA Congress decided in May that the spots-per-federation allotment would remain the same from the Brazil World Cup through to Qatar.

Napout revealed it was not simply a matter of FIFA signing off on the same numbers, stating CONMEBOL desperately defended the extra half-spot they have held since the 2002 World Cup in South Korea/Japan.

[They] have great value, the 57-year-old told CONMEBOL.com, referring to the half-spots they held onto for the Russia and Qatar World Cups.

They are football conquests in recognition of South…

Villas-Boas: Top four in Liverpool´s reach

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas believes Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is the man to bring Champions League football back to Anfield.

The Portuguese boss is preparing to host Rodgers Liverpool at White Hart Lane in the Premier League on Wednesday, knowing a win can take Spurs into the top four, but with their opponents on an eight-game unbeaten run of their own, he remains wary of the threat they pose.

At the moment they (Liverpool) are on a good run in terms of form, Villas-Boas told reporters.

They would want ideally to turn the draws into wins. In a couple of games there were very close to winning but they didn t get the result that they wanted.

They are in an awkward position in the league at the moment but the distance between the teams (in …

Lucas Moura on Atletico Madrid radar

French TV station TF1 is reporting that Atletico Madrid have been showing interest in Paris Saint-Germain winger Lucas Moura.

Los Colchoneros appear to be in the market for attacking reinforcements and the Brazilian footballer is one of the players they are looking at.

The 24-year-old has done pretty well this season, scoring 9 goals in 34 Ligue 1 appearances, but he hasn’t quite managed to establish himself as an undisputed starter.

Lucas Moura appears to be behind Angel di Maria and Julian Draxler in the pecking order and he may be ready to consider his options.

The Brazilian had joined Paris Saint-Germain in a €40 million deal from Sao Paulo back in January 2013, after the Saints hijacked Man Utd’s move.

Moura has since scored 30 goals i…

Dembele: Pochettino has changed everything at Tottenham

Mousa Dembele believes that Mauricio Pochettino has changed the culture at Tottenham, with the north-London side now confident in their ability to claim silverware.

Tottenham face in-form Everton on Sunday at White Hart Lane as they look to close the 10-point gap between themselves and Premier League leaders Chelsea.

Dembele joined Tottenham in 2012 and he believes the switch in mentality at the club is testament to the impact Pochettino has had in the past two-and-a-half seasons.

I think any team wants to win something [trophies], but I think for us, we believe we have the quality to do something, the Belgium midfielder told Sky Sports.

It s not something you can just explain to the camera it s a certain lifestyle at the club. Everything around it ch…

Simeone´s strangely toothless Atletico must quickly rediscover their bite

When the team sheets landed, it looked like Diego Simeone might have thrown his bottomless reserves of menacing caution to the wind.

Atletico Madrid lined up to face Chelsea in the Champions League with Angel Correa and Joao Felix either side of Luis Suarez in attack.

Marcos Llorente – a goalscoring revelation from midfield both this season and, famously, at Anfield at the same stage of the 2019-20 tournament – was at right wing-back, with Thomas Lemar arguably an even more offensive option on the other flank.

Hold onto your hats or, at the very least, your dark overcoats.

By half-time, Atleti had managed no shots on target and one attempt on goal overall.

Despite inviting mirth such as that immediately above, Simeone s men did not start by ma…

Odegaard will ´surely succeed´ at Real Madrid, says Zidane

Zinedine Zidane has no doubts Martin Odegaard will succeed at Real Madrid despite his limited appearances for Los Blancos this season. 

The 22-year-old was recalled by Madrid in August after a stellar campaign on loan at Real Sociedad, where he scored four goals and assisted a further six in 31 LaLiga appearances. 

He has struggled to make an impact back at his parent club this term, though, and has been limited to just three league starts. 

Not only has he failed to score in those appearances, Odegaard has also not created a significant chance for a team-mate or completed a dribble either. 

In contrast, last season Odegaard crafted 10 big opportunities and 62 chances in total – with 27 from set-pieces.

However, Zidane is confident the Nor…

Former referee Mike Dean addresses “mate” comment in controversial VAR decision explanation (Video)

At the start of last season in the Premier League, Chelsea played a 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge. In that game, there was an incident apparently missed by referee Anthony Taylor when Spurs defender Cristian Romero pulled Chelsea s Marc Cucurella by the hair inside the box.

Mike Dean was on VAR duty for that game and most astonishingly, he chose not to sent Taylor to take a look on the pitch-side screen. He later said he didn t do so because Taylor was a mate , causing plenty of uproar in the world of English football. However, Dean has come out to speak on the subject again, and he claims his words have been taken out of context.

Former referee Mike Dean addresses the controversy surrounding his recent comments on the decision not to send Anthon…

Barcelona linked with Ajax star Mohammed Kudus

Barcelona are interested in signing Mohammed Kudus from Ajax in the January transfer window, according to . The report in the British tabloid has claimed that Eredivisie club Ajax are willing to sell the Ghana international midfielder for £40 million in the middle of the season.

Kudus is one of the best young players in the world and did well for Ghana at the 2022 Qatar World Cup. The 22-year-old has progressed a lot at Ajax, and it would make sense for the Dutch giants to cash in on Kudus when his stock is high. 

The midfielder has made five starts and nine substitute appearances in the Eredivisie so far this season, scoring five goals in the process. Kudus has also made five starts and one substitute appearance in the UEFA Champions League so far this campaign, scor…