Mario Balotelli has signed for Silvio Berlusconi’s team Monza on a deal until the end of the season, the Italian Serie B side announced on Monday.

In a statement, Monza said that striker Balotelli has signed a contract until the end of June, but did not disclose the Italy international’s wages.

The 30-year-old reunites with former Milan chiefs Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani, under whom he played over 2013 and 2014 and then on loan from Liverpool for the 2015-16 Serie A season.

He also rejoins former Milan teammate Kevin Prince Boateng, who signed for Monza in September.

Balotelli, who has scored 14 times in 36 appearances for his national team, played for his hometown team Brescia last season but couldn’t do anything to stop them from being relegated to second-tier Serie B.

Former Italian prime minister Berlusconi purchased Monza in September 2018 for around three million euros (today $3.6 million) having sold Milan for 740 million euros in April 2017.

The club from just outside Milan earned promotion from third-tier Serie C last season and are currently nine points off the automatic promotion places for the top flight.

Source: AFP

Borussia Dortmund’s 16-year-old striker Youssoufa Moukoko became the youngest-ever player to feature in a Bundesliga game when he came on as a second-half substitute against Hertha Berlin on Saturday.

Moukoko came on in the 85th minute in the place of Erling Haaland.

Moukoko, whose sensational run through the youth teams in recent seasons has shown him to be one of the biggest talents of his generation, made his league debut a day after his 16th birthday on Friday made him eligible to play under current rules.

Former Dortmund player Nuri Sahin had held the record, having made his debut in 2006 at the age of 16 years and 11 months.

The Cameroon-born Moukoko is already a Germany youth international with the Under-20 team and regularly played above his age group throughout his youth career at Dortmund, scoring 141 goals in 81 games for the Under-17 and Under-19 teams.

In the current Under-19 season alone he has netted 10 times in three appearances.

Source: Reuters

N’Golo Kante scored just his second international goal as World Cup holders France defeated European champions Portugal 1-0 in Lisbon on Saturday to secure a place in the Nations League finals.

Chelsea midfielder Kante was quickest to react to a rebound as he netted the winner on 54 minutes that clinched France top spot in Group 3 ahead of the final round of matches.

France lead Portugal by three points ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Sweden in Paris but are guaranteed first place by virtue of their superior head-to-head record.

Didier Deschamps’ side became the first team to advance to the finals, which UEFA has pencilled in for October next year. Portugal won the inaugural edition on home soil in 2019.

With victory for either country enough to win the group, Deschamps made two changes to the team that drew 0-0 with Portugal at the Stade de France last month.

Source: AFP

Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng wants to start contract extension talks with the European champions his agent said on Wednesday amid uncertainty surrounding the future of fellow centre-back David Alaba.

Boateng, 32, a 2014 World Cup winner, is out of contract in June.

“We are open to contract talks and would be delighted to have them with Bayern,” Boateng’s representative Damir Smoljan told Sport1.

“Jerome feels unbelievably well here and the team is incredibly focused and professional.”

Boateng joined Bayern in 2011 and has won eight Bundesliga titles.

He was also a key member of the Bayern team which won Champions League titles in 2013 and last August.

The timing of his agent’s comments come days after Bayern revealed a stalemate with Alaba, 28, who also has only seven months left on his current deal.

Boateng also underlined his form on Tuesday with his first Champions League goal for five years before saying the Bavarian squad are all behind Alaba.

Along with fellow stars Mats Hummels and Thomas Mueller, Boateng was told in March 2019 by Germany coach Joachim Loew his international career was over.

However, the trio’s current form has led to calls to reinstate them for next June’s postponed Euro 2020.

Bayern coach Hansi Flick said senior club bosses “are all glad” to see Boateng in such eye-catching form.

Flick praised Boateng’s “very good” performance in Salzburg as his goal “paved the way” to victory.

Bayern lost Thiago Alcantara to Liverpool in September and Alaba, who has reportedly demanded a huge pay rise, looks set to leave in the coming months.

The league leaders have made no secret, like all top-flight clubs in Germany, their finances have been badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Players have to become more understanding. We have insane financial losses and haven’t had a spectator in the stadium for eight months,” chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told Sport Bild.

AFP

Sergio Ramos scored the winning goal in Real Madrid’s 3-1 win at Barcelona after a video review awarded him a penalty in the Spanish league on Saturday.

Ramos restored Madrid’s advantage in the 63rd from the spot after a brush with Barcelona’s Clement Lenglet in the area. After consulting the video screen on the touch line, referee Juan Martínez ruled that Lenglet had impeded Ramos from contesting a high ball by grabbing his shirt.

Federico Valverde opened the scoring for Madrid in the fifth minute when he fired in a pass from Karim Benzema.

Barcelona’s Ansu Fati leveled three minutes later from an attack cued by Lionel Messi.

Barcelona was taking the match to Madrid’s area when Ramos was sent to the spot by the VAR review.

Luka Modric capped the win for Madrid in the 90th with Barcelona searching for an equalizer.

Madrid leads the league with 13 points. Barcelona has 7 with a game in hand.

It was the first “clásico” match played without fans since the Spanish league closed all stadiums to the public after since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

(AP)

The Cameroon international has reacted to the Bavarians’ impressive start in the European competition

Eric Choupo-Moting has praised Bayern Munich after securing a 4-0 victory over Atletico Madrid in Wednesday’s Champions League game.

Kingsley Coman’s brace and strikes from Corentin Tolisso and Leon Goretzka ensured the Bavarians got off to a flying start in the tournament.

Choupo-Moting teamed up with the Champions League and Bundesliga winners this summer after leaving French giants Paris Saint-Germain.

The forward starred for PSG during his two-year stay at the club, inspiring them to the final of the top European competition last season.

The Cameroon international made his debut for Bayern in the competition, replacing Robert Lewandowski with seven minutes left to play and gave a good account of himself.

The 31-year-old has taken to social media to shower encomium on the fine displays delivered by his side at Allianz Arena.

“Top performance from the team and top start to the Champions League,” Choupo-Moting posted on Instagram.

Choupo-Moting has now made three appearances for Bayern after his man of the match showings on his debut against Duren in a DFB Pokal game and his display against Arminia Bielefeld.

The centre-forward bagged a brace against Duren to help his new clubs claim a comfortable victory at the Allianz Arena.

Choupo-Moting will hope to get more minutes under his belt when Bayern slug it out with Lokomotiv Moscow in their next outing in the tournament on October 27.

The centre-forward had starred for Hamburger SV, Mainz 05 and Schalke 04 before moving to England to join Stoke City in the summer of 2017.

Choupo-Moting left Stoke in 2018 to team up with the Parisians following the Potters’ relegation from the Premier League.

The 31-year-old forward is currently the captain of Cameroon, having been in the national team since 2010 and now has more than 50 appearances for the Indomitable Lions.

The forward will be expected to play a key role for Cameroon in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.

Source: Goal.com

Marcus Rashford insists Edinson Cavani will prove a valuable addition for Manchester United after the veteran Uruguay striker swapped life on the farm for the Old Trafford spotlight.

Cavani signed a two-year contract worth £210,000-per-week ($271,000) on transfer deadline day.

The 33-year-old missed Saturday’s 4-1 victory at Newcastle — United’s first match since his signing — after going into quarantine for 14 days following his arrival in England.

He was not part of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad for their Champions League group game against his former club Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.

But when Cavani is finally available, he is sure to find himself the centre of attention.

Cavani scored 200 goals in seven years with PSG, but he left the Ligue 1 champions in June after a contract dispute, missing their run to the Champions League final.

His age and lack of recent action — he hasn’t played since PSG’s Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund in March — prompted some United fans to label Cavani a panic buy after their failure to land Borussia Dortmund forward Jadon Sancho.

Cavani spent the last few months shearing sheep on his farm back home in Uruguay and indulging his unlikely passion for ballet — even featuring in an advert for a Montevideo dance school.

But, while he relishes his quiet life away from football and could easily have slipped into retirement, Cavani’s love affair with the game was strong enough to persuade him to accept a new challenge with United, regardless of what the critics say.

“I had a lot of different opportunities, I was excited to play in the Premier League and even more so for Manchester United,” Cavani said.

“I am very motivated because I always want to play as much as possible, work, train and give the best of myself.”

– ‘Massive player’ –

Cavani and his girlfriend contracted Covid-19 over a month ago after a holiday in Ibiza, but he is recovered and ready to add his experience and predatory instincts to a young United team in need of guidance.

While their free-scoring victory at Newcastle suggested United already have enough attacking talent, the truth is Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Daniel James are all still relatively raw, capable of excellence and head-scratching inconsistency in equal measure.

Rashford hopes Cavani can emulate the impact made by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who joined the club in 2016 having left PSG as a free agent.

Ibrahimovic, who was also in his 30s during his time at Old Trafford, bagged four goals in his first five United appearances and finished with 28 in his debut season as his talismanic presence took the pressure off his team-mates.

“As a forward line it is something to look forward to,” Rashford told Sky Sports.

“Hopefully he comes in and scores goals, because he can definitely help us win games and points. He can be a massive player for us this season.

“To win two or three trophies in a season you need a squad, it’s not possible if you don’t have people who can score goals one week and the next week.

“Growing up, United always had four or five forwards who could score goals at any time. The closer we get to that, the more strength we’ll have.”

Source:  AFP

Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller scored two goals each as the German champions crushed hosts Arminia Bielefeld 4-1 in the Bundesliga on Saturday to move within a point of the top spot.

Mueller scored either side of Lewandowski’s double, with the Polish striker taking his season’s tally to seven league goals from four games, as Bayern moved to nine points, level with third-placed Borussia Dortmund and one behind leaders RB Leipzig, who won 2-0 at Augsburg.

Bayern, who also twice hit the woodwork, have a busy schedule, having played in the German Cup and league this week and next facing Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Mueller grabbed an eighth minute lead with a bit of luck after his first effort was saved but the ball bounced back into his path, while Lewandowski was left with far too much space to score with a well-placed shot in the 26th.

Arminia goalkeeper Stefan Ortega kept the scoreline respectable in the first half with several spectacular stops, including a sensational one-handed save from Lewandowski’s close-range header.

But the home keeper was beaten again with the last kick of the first half, a deflected shot from Lewandowski after good work from Mueller.

Bayern, who had to use changing rooms in a nearby school ahead of the game due to strict COVID-19 regulations, scored again six minutes after the restart when Lewandowski crossed and Mueller volleyed in from close range.

Arminia’s Japan international Ritsu Doan was rewarded for a fine performance with a goal in the 58th before Bayern were left with 10 men following the dismissal of Corentin Tolisso for a last-man foul.

(Source: Reuters)

Arsenal’s move for Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey is expected to be the biggest deal of transfer deadline day, while Edinson Cavani is on the verge of a move to Manchester United.

Partey has been a long-term target for the Gunners, who have reportedly matched his 50 million euro (£45 million, $59 million) buyout clause to bolster their threadbare midfield options.

The Ghanian has made 188 appearances for the Spanish giants and was part of the Atletico sides that reached the 2016 Champions League final and beat Arsenal on the way to winning the Europa League in 2018.

Uruguayan international Lucas Torreira is expected to go the other way from Arsenal to Atletico on a season-long loan deal.

Arsenal have made an impressive start to the season, winning three of their opening four Premier League games, as they aim to return to the Champions League next season for the first time in five years.

However, the Londoners have been short in central midfield with Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi, who has joined Hertha Berlin on a season-long loan, frozen out by Mikel Arteta.

United, scrambling for reinforcements after their 6-1 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday, are expected to make more signings, with Dutch international midfielder Donny van de Beek their only addition before Monday.

Brazilian international left-back Alex Telles has joined from Porto for an initial fee of £13.5 million.

“He is a player we have been tracking for some time and his performances over the past few years are exactly what we are looking for,” said United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

“He is a fighter and a winner and will add real determination and competition to the squad.”

Former Paris Saint-Germain striker Cavani is reportedly close to joining on a two-year deal as a free agent.

After a forlorn chase of Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho, United are also interested in adding two teenage wingers — Amad Traore of Atalanta and Penarol’s Facundo Pellistri.

However, neither is expected to make an instant impact on the first-team should deals be completed.

Premier League table-toppers Everton signed centre-back Ben Godfrey for a reported initial fee of £25 million.

But Theo Walcott is on the way out of Goodison Park for a return to Southampton on loan, whom he left as a 16-year-old to join Arsenal in 2006.

Tottenham’s Ryan Sessegnon has also joined the growing batch of young English players in the Bundesliga with a season-long loan move to Hoffenheim.

– Quiet window for European giants –

According to a report by the Centre for Economics Business Research, Premier League clubs were on course for an astonishing 95 percent of the net spend in Europe’s big five leagues this transfer window.

Barcelona’s accounts for the 2019/20 season showed the drastic impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on even the world’s richest clubs as the Catalans posted 97 million euro losses.

However, some of Europe’s giants were busy on the final day.

Juventus secured one of the hottest properties in Italian football as Federico Chiesa joined from Fiorentina on a two-year loan deal worth 10 million euros with an obligation to buy if certain conditions are met for a further 40 million.

Bayern Munich added a trio of new players as Douglas Costa returned to the Allianz Arena for a second spell on loan from Juventus.

The European champions also signed former PSG striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting on a one-year deal and Bouna Sarr from Marseille.

Source: AFP