Chelsea midfielder N Golo Kante capped a fine 2017 by being named France Football s French Player of the Year.
Kante beat Paris Saint-Germain star and fellow France international Kylian Mbappe to the award on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old, who succeeded last year s winner Antoine Griezmann, edged Mbappe by five votes, while Real Madrid s Karim Benzema finished third.
Kante, who led Leicester City to a remarkable Premier League title success two seasons ago, helped Chelsea to the top-flight crown in 2016-17.
Le sommaire du nouveau numéro de France Football avec N Golo Kanté élu joueur français de l année
— France Football (@francefootball)
His exploits for Chelsea saw him crowned Premier League Player of the Season, PFA Players Player o…
Competition: Serie A
Market: Sampdoria to beat Benevento
Odds:
The new year brings a glut of games in Italy s top league as the footballing action continues. The top and the bottom of the table has remained incredibly tight, with a win often able to propel a team up a number of places. With all of this in mind, Sampdoria travel to play Benevento on Saturday.
Benevento have been awful this season and they need to embark upon a run of good form or they will face relegation very early in the season. After 19 games they have won just once, drawing one game and losing 17 times, while they have scored just 10 goals and conceded 41 times. In their last five they have picked up just four points, however, their last game ended in a victory, which has at…
Chelsea striker Diego Costa would be welcomed back to Atletico Madrid with open arms, according to club president Enrique Cerezo.
Costa left Atletico for Chelsea in 2014, but is said to be keen on an exit in the close-season, with the Stamford Bridge club on course for a mid-table finish after a dismal start to their Premier League title defence.
And Atletico, who will look to overcome a 2-1 deficit in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Barcelona on Wednesday, are keen on a reunion.
I think it’s difficult, but, as far as we are concerned, we would love it if he came back here, Cerezo told The Daily Mail.
Atletico are no strangers to re-signing former players – coach Diego Simeone had two spells at the club as a player…
Virgil van Dijk s protracted move to Liverpool left Southampton off balance and under a cloud , according to Saints chairman Ralph Krueger.
Van Dijk had been the subject of Liverpool s interest ahead of the 2017-18 season with Southampton reporting the Reds for making an illegal approach.
That forced Liverpool into an apology, Jurgen Klopp s side withdrawing their interest despite Van Dijk handing in a transfer request to force the move.
Southampton dug their heels in and refused to sell the Netherlands international but it left both club and player in limbo Van Dijk left out at certain times by Mauricio Pellegrino and limited to just 12 Premier League appearances.
A move to Anfield finally materialised, the 26-year-old completing his move to Liverpool f…
The Korea Football Association (KFA) have given a lifetime ban to 41 players after a match-fixing scandal.
The enquiry by the K-League and Korean FA dates back to the summer of 2011, with over three dozen players being found to have been involved in the fixing.
The world governing body FIFA has also extended the ban to apply worldwide, meaning no player caught up in the scandal can transfer overseas.
However, as many as 21 of the players turned themselves in to officials during the investigation, and they have now been offered the chance to return to the game following a probation that is believed to be between two and five years.
The voluntary probation means that any player wishing to return to football must inform the K-League of their intentions befo…