France manager Didier Deschamps believes Kylian Mbappe should be allowed to do what he wants, playing down rumours of a rift between the two.

The comments came after Mbappe was spotted in a nightclub in Sweden on Thursday, the same night France beat Israel 4-1, having been left out of the squad by Deschamps to recover from an injury.

Mbappe had suffered a muscle injury with Real Madrid last month and was given the international break to rest by the France manager.

But Deschamps was both unconcerned and unaware of the striker s excursion.

I don t follow the news of players who are not here, he said. Kylian is following a programme with Real Madrid. I don t know if he was away or not.

The controversy stems from rumours that Mbappe had asked Desch…

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While the domestic season may be over across Europe, there s still a lot of football left to be played in the United States as this year s Major League Soccer campaign rolls on. A parade of clubs across both conferences are hoping that they can make it to the post-season and today, we re going to take a look at a clash between two of the very best: Los Angeles FC and New York Red Bulls.

Los Angeles FC

After coming firing out of the blocks as an extension team way back in 2019, even winning the Supporters Shield, LAFC haven t quite been able to live up to the hype since then. They tend to smash the regular season out of the park before crumbling in the play-offs and they ll hope to put an end to that trend this…

Mikel Arteta has hinted that Emile Smith Rowe is nearing a move away from Arsenal after not being involved in their pre-season friendly against Bournemouth on Thursday.

Arsenal needed penalties to get past Andoni Iraola s side in Los Angeles, with Fabio Vieira s strike cancelled out by Antoine Semenyo s deflected effort.

Smith Rowe was due to feature at Dignity Health Sports Park after being listed among the substitutes, but remained on the bench for the entirety of the encounter.

The 23-year-old, who has made 115 appearances for Arsenal, is poised to complete a £35million move to Fulham, as reported by David Ornstein.

Fulham are in the market for a new midfielder, having allowed Joao Palhinha to depart for Bayern Munich earlier this month in a repor…

Atalanta are interested in signing Marc Pubill from Almeria in the summer transfer window, according to Fabrizio Romano. The well-known and well-respected Italian journalist has claimed that Serie A club Atalanta have opened talked with Segunda Division outfit Almeria over a deal for Pubill.

Romano wrote on : EXCL: “Atalanta open talks to sign Spanish RB Marc Pubill, request around €20m package deal from Almería, add-ons included.

“15% sell-on clause also request from Almería. Atalanta have already signed Retegui today from Genoa for €22m plus €3m add-ons.”

Pubill has been on the books of Almeria since the summer of 2023 when he joined the club after leaving Levante. The Spain Under-23 international right-back made 22 starts and one substitute appe…

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has become part owner of Manchester United as one of the UK’s richest men has bought a 25 per cent stake in the club he supported as a boy.

The billionaire has bought a share in the Old Trafford club, worth a reported £1.25billion, after Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani withdrew his interest to end a lengthy process where he tried to buy the club outright.

The 71-year-old has a reported net worth £12.5billion thanks to the success of global chemical company Ineos, which has enjoyed exponential growth since he founded it in 1998, and will assume delegated responsibility for the club’s football operations. He will also invest an additional 300 million US dollars (£236.7million) into the club’s infrastructure.

Manchester United reaches agr…

Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Brahim Diaz from Real Madrid in the summer transfer window, according to . The report in the French news outlet has claimed that AS Roma are also keen on Diaz, who can operate as an attacking midfielder or as a winger.

FootMercato has claimed that both Tottenham and AS Roma have made offers to Madrid for Diaz. Madrid, who won La Liga and the UEFA Champions League last season, have turned down those offers and do not plan to offload the Morocco international this summer.

Diaz has been on the books of Madrid since 2019 when he joined after leaving Manchester City. The Morocco international had a loan spell at AC Milan from 2020 until 2023 and was part of Carlo Ancelotti’s side at Madrid last season. Diaz scored eight goals and…

Real Madrid always feel respected by every team in the Champions League, so says coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Madrid overcame holders Manchester City on penalties in the quarter-finals to tee up a last-four clash with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.

City dominated much of the second leg in Manchester, yet after a 4-4 draw on aggregate, it was Ancelotti s team who got over the line.

Fourteen-time European champions Madrid, who allowed Karim Benzema to leave for Saudi Arabia at the end of last season, were not fancied to get past City, but Ancelotti does not think his team have been undervalued in this year s competition.

Madrid is never undervalued in this competition, because everyone knows what we can do, he said.

We feel respect from everyone.

…

John Hackworth has challenged St. Louis City to do better against Houston Dynamo after a disappointing loss to LA Galaxy last time out in MLS.

St. Louis had won back-to-back games before losing 1-0 to the Galaxy last time out in a game where they did not register a single shot on target.

They cannot make the playoffs, sitting 12th in the Western Conference on 34 points with just two games left, and Hackworth is looking to learn from their mistakes in the last game to end their final home match of the season on a positive note.

We didn t play as well as we re capable of [against LA Galaxy], but I think that can be a good thing for us going forward, he said.

I don t want anybody to accept that it was anything other than a loss. We can look at ourselves kn…

Defence is seemingly the best form of attack, so says Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy after his side kept an 11th clean sheet of the season in their 2-0 win over Toronto FC.

After securing their spot in the playoffs, the Crew will be looking to continue their momentum for the final games of the campaign, starting with the visit of Orlando City FC this weekend.

Nancy’s squad have been impressive at both ends of the pitch, keeping the most shutouts in the division along with scoring 54 goals, a total only bettered by Eastern Conference leaders Inter Miami (67), while also conceding the fewest goals in the MLS this term (28).

The Columbus head coach lauded his players for their showings in attack and defence, saying their success this season has been down …

Hazard drops Premier League hint

Lille highly rated forward Eden Hazard admits that he is likely to move to English Premier League in the summer.

The 21-year-old has a long list of suitors from top European leagues, but the player is not interested in January exit.

No, it s impossible, Hazard told Canal+ regarding rumours he could leave les Dogues this month.

I still have lots of things to do with Lille, we could win one or two trophies.

I want to concentrate on my game and enjoy life with my public and my team. I am not leaving.

However, the player recently revealed he is set to quit the Ligue 1 champions at the end of the season and now reveals that English Premier League is his preferred destination.

I think I m heading to…