Dortmund fans unfurl banner to protest against potential Gotze return

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has set his sights on bringing former Hammer Joe Cole back to the east London club.

Cole has been struggling for game time at Liverpool and has only played 45 minutes in the Premier League under Brendan Rodgers, having been brought on as a substitute on three occasions.

Cole endured a similar fate under the Reds former manager, Kenny Dalglish, which prompted him to move to Ligue 1 side Lille for a season long-loan in 2011-12.

Allardyce, though, is surprised by Cole s lack of game time.

You would have thought that Joe would be involved there by now, because of all of Brendan s injury problems and his lack of strength in depth.

But he doesn t appear to have managed to be able to do that there.

Whether we mo…

Ajax midfielder Christian Poulsen has announced his intention to leave the Eredivisie champions at the end of the season.

Poulsen moved to Amsterdam in August 2012, and has helped Ajax claim back-to-back domestic titles.

He has made 42 appearances in all competitions this season, providing an experienced head in an otherwise young midfield for Frank de Boer s men.

The 34-year-old s contract will expire at the end of the campaign and, although the club were keen for him to extend his stay, Poulsen is ready for a new challenge.

It was a difficult decision because I m really enjoying myself at Ajax, he told Ajax s official website. My family also. We think it s a nice club with great people.

We wanted to think carefully about, my decision was taken with my bra…

Spain are the new leaders of the FIFA World Ranking after their successful European Championships campaign. Previous leaders Argentina drop to sixth place.

The Spanish began Euro 2008 in fourth place and gained another 254 points, enough to surpass Argentina, Brazil and Italy and take the top spot.

Italy, who reached the quarter finals at Euro 2008, move up one spot into second place and Germany climb two spots to third place.

Biggest climbers in the top ten are the Netherlands, from tenth to fifth place, and Croatia who went from fifteenth to seventh place.

The top 10 as of July 2nd, 2008

1. Spain 1557
2. Italy 1404
3. Germany 1364
4. Brazil 1344
5. Netherlands 1299
6. Argentina 1298
7. Croatia 1282
8. Czech Republic 1146
9. Portugal 110…

Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper Mitch Langerak is unavailable for Saturday s DFB-Pokal final with Bayern Munich due to a knee injury.

The Australia international has played in three of Dortmund s five games in the competition this season, although he did not feature in the quarter-final with Eintracht Frankfurt or the semi-final against Wolfsburg.

Langerak has been named in Australia s provisional squad for the FIFA World Cup and is in contention to start for his country at the tournament in Brazil next month.

However, the 25-year-old will not have the chance to feature in the DFB-Pokal showpiece at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

Regular goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller is expected to start, while Zlatan Alomerovic will deputise for Langerak on the bench.

His knee…

Tyrone Mings has no issues with Steven Gerrard s decision to replace him as captain of Aston Villa.

Villa confirmed on Wednesday that John McGinn will skipper the side heading into the 2022-23 campaign, with Emiliano Martinez taking over as vice-captain and Ashley Young named club captain.

Mings had worn the captain s armband since Jack Grealish left for Manchester City last year.

The England international has been a near ever-present in his three seasons at Villa but he faces a fight for a starting spot this term following the arrival of Diego Carlos.

Explaining his decision to change the leadership hierarchy, Gerrard told the club s official website: John has demonstrated that he is ready to take on the captaincy through his performances on the pitch c…

Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane revelled in the struggling LaLiga champions hugely important win over Sevilla as the under-fire boss celebrated a timely victory.

Madrid snapped a run of back-to-back losses with a 1-0 success away to Sevilla in LaLiga on Saturday, alleviating some pressure on Zidane.

Zidane s position at the helm has been questioned following defeats to Deportivo Alaves and Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League, but Yassine Bounou s 55th-minute own goal gifted the Frenchman some respite.

The result moved Madrid within six points of leaders Atletico Madrid, though Real Sociedad could return to the summit and open up a seven-point advantage ahead of Los Blancos if they beat Alaves on Sunday.

 : “Congratulations to the players be…

Burak Yilmaz struggled badly with injuries during 2015-16, but feels his opener for Turkey against Czech Republic at Euro 2016 was just rewards for his hard work.

The 30-year-old s season was ruined by a persistent thigh problem, although he managed to return in time to be a part of Fatih Terim s squad for the finals.

It looked a bleak picture for Turkey heading into their final Group D fixture in Lens, without a goal or point to their name and staring elimination in the face.

But goals from Burak and Ozan Tufan earned a 2-0 success and the possibility of reaching the last 16 as one of the best-ranked third-placed sides.

This is my first major tournament. I m very happy, I scored an important goal in a decisive game, and everything worked well, Burak sa…

Borussia Dortmund will solve Henrikh Mkhirtaryan s future at the club this week, according to CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke, as Manchester United pursue a deal.

The 27-year-old midfielder is reportedly top of Jose Mourinho s wishlist at Old Trafford, with a £26.3million fee thought to have been agreed between United and Dortmund.

Mino Raiola, Mkhitaryan s agent, has made no secret of the move s potential labelling United his client s dream club and saying it would be a sin if he did not chase the deal.

Mkhitaryan scored 18 goals for Dortmund in 2015-16, and picked up the Bundesliga Players Player of the Season award, but the Armenia international could be a Premier League player in a matter of days.

Watzke told Kicker that Dortmund wanted clarity on Mkhitaryan…

Real Madrid turned down a blank cheque for their Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy from Manchester City after selling their Brazilian forward Robinho to the English side, sports daily Marca reported on Wednesday.

Manchester City and its new owner, billionaire Arab businessman Sulaiman Al-Fahim of the UAE, offered an out of the ordinary sum for the 32-year-old after sealing their purchase of Robinho on Monday for 42 million euros (61 million dollars), it said.

Al-Fahim, who wants to turn Manchester City into the biggest football club in the world, said on Tuesday he was willing to pay 150 million euros for crosstown rival Manchester United s Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo.

Real Madrid had offered around 85 million euros for Ronaldo over the summer but the…

The ghosts of recent past will haunt France and England as the former world champions embark on crucial midweek 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

Memories of England s sole triumph are sepia-tinted in going back to 1966 but at least they picked up three points, albeit at the expense of little Andorra, in their opening game, while a directionless France were capitulating 3-1 in Austria.

Memories of France s 1998 triumph are a little fresher but in footballing terms they were eons away from that level in Vienna, conceding a trio of soft goals which render imperative a win over Serbia at the Stade de France on Wednesday.

But it is England s ghosts which are chronologically the closest as they head for Zagreb to take on a Croatian side which did the double over them in …