Chelsea captain John Terry believes team-mate Gary Cahill is the best centre-back in the Premier League.
Cahill has seen his spot in the Chelsea starting XI come under threat from promising France defender Kurt Zouma but, since vowing to silence his critics last month, he has nailed down a place in a team poised to win the league.
Earlier in the month former England manager Fabio Capello called on Terry who retired
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from international football in September 2012 to return to the national team.
But Terry insists Cahill is the best option for current England boss Roy Hodgson.
Terry said: Gary is a big character. He was obviously disappointed to be left out of the Chelsea side a few months ago, but he has come back and taken his chance again.
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The professional footballers union in France has warned against resuming the Ligue 1 season over a busy schedule that could put the health of players at risk.
Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 were suspended indefinitely on March 13 due to the coronavirus pandemic, with France on a nationwide lockdown until at least May 11.
A report in L Equipe last week said organisers are considering restarting Ligue 1 on June 3 or June 17, with teams likely to have to play every three days to conclude the regular campaign by July 25 and leave time for promotion and relegation play-offs in early August.
Such a hectic calendar would lead to a greater risk of players becoming injured and risk games becoming less entertaining for fans, according to Sylvain Kastendeuch, the co-president of the…
Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien faces a great challenge of his international career when he captains Ghana against Ivory Coast here on Friday.
The box-to-box workaholic with the biting tackle and thunderous drive must inspire an injury-ravaged Black Stars side against the under-pressure Africa Cup of Nations title favourites in a crunch Group B clash.
It will be the second fixture in this restive northern Angola enclave where an ambush last Friday claimed two lives as the Togolese delegation crossed the border from a Congo training camp.
Togo later withdrew, leaving Ghana, Ivory Coast and outsiders Burkina Faso fighting for two quarter-finals places and the Burkinabe threw a spanner in the works by forcing a goalless stalemate with the Ivorians.
Ghana …
Tottenham have agreed a deal to sign Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen from Ajax.
The 21-year-old is a product of the Dutch club s famed academy, but has elected to take on a new challenge in the Premier League after four seasons and a total of 161 appearances.
He becomes Tottenham s seventh signing of the transfer window, with Andre Villas-Boas side having splashed out ahead of receiving an anticipated €100million windfall from the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid.
Eriksen won three Eredivisie titles and one KNVB Cup during his time at Ajax, and kicked off the new campaign with two goals in just four outings.
The midfielder has also been capped on 37 occasions by his country, notching four goals at international level since his debut in February 2010.
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Bayern Munich chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has revealed that the Bundesliga giants are likely to take up the option to purchase Juventus winger Kingsley Coman on a permanent basis.
France youngster Coman arrived at the Allianz Arena on a two-year loan from Juve in 2015, going on to net six goals and provide 12 assists across all competitions last term.
And although he struggled for form early on in 2016-17 following his exploits at Euro 2016, Rummenigge expects Coman to remain at Bayern adding that Mehdi Benatia is likely to make his current loan switch to Juve permanent.
With Coman we have an option that is valid until April 30, Rummenigge told Tuttosport.
He had a few difficulties after the Euros, but lately has returned to his usual leve…
Veteran Italian striker Alberto Gilardino has officially terminated his deal with Serie A outfit Palermo and will spend the next six months playing for league rivals Pescara.
The much-travelled 34-year-old forward who played for Verona, Parma Milan, Fiorentina, Genoa and Bologna before moving to China in 2014, has already arrived at his new club and went through a first training session with his new teammates, according to .
Pescara chairman Daniele Sebastiani has confirmed that Gilardino has agreed on a 6-month deal with the automatic renewal clause if the club manage to stay up in the Italian top tier.
The Dolphins are currently rock-bottom is the Serie A, sitting in 20th place with only 9 points to their name after 18 rounds and the club certainly hope the ex…
Diego Simeone described Koke as an exemplary captain after the midfielder made a record-breaking 554th Atletico Madrid appearance in Saturday s 2-0 win at Sevilla.
Koke – who came through Atleti s youth ranks – surpassed fellow Colchoneros great Adelardo Rodriguez in the club s all-time appearance chart in a routine victory at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.
The 30-year-old marked the occasion with an assist, teeing up Marcos Llorente to score a fine opener before Alvaro Morata lobbed Yassine Bounou to score his fourth league goal of the campaign after the break.
Koke has been a key player throughout Simeone s long reign in Madrid, and the Argentine struggled find the words to describe his captain s influence after the win.
It is difficult, in a short tim…
Erling Haaland shares many of the same qualities as Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, according to Peter Schmeichel, who has described the Manchester City man as several top strikers put into one player .
Haaland produced an incredible display as City swatted aside Manchester United for a 6-3 derby win on Sunday, scoring a treble and teeing up two goals for fellow hat-trick hero Phil Foden.
The Norwegian – who has scored 14 goals in his first eight Premier League appearances – has now scored a hat-trick in three successive home league games, becoming the first player to do so in the competition s history.
After watching Haaland tear United apart at the Etihad Stadium, Schmeichel picked out similarities between the 22-year-old and several striking lege…
Brazilian international striker Adriano on Wednesday declared himself very moved after completing his transfer from Flamengo to Italian heavyweights Roma.
I m very moved to have been welcomed in this manner. I feel like I m in Rio, he said at a press conference during his presentation.
Addressing the club s fans, he added: I m sure you ll have a great season, right from the start, and I know you can go far. I m aware of my responsibilities but I m really very happy to be here in Rome.
Roma, runners-up in Serie A last season, revealed earlier in the day that Adriano has signed a three-year contract tying him to the club until June 2013 and worth five million euros gross per year plus bonuses.
Adriano, 28, did not win a place in Brazil s World Cup squad …
Great success over three years
Germany have been something of a surprise package at the World Cup and I think even those in Germany may have thought their team was too inexperienced to expect much from. Who am I kidding? They always assume they’ll make the at least the semi-finals and in eleven of the last fifteen World Cups they have been right!
They faced what I hoped would be a tough test against England and quite simply out-classed them and blew them away. Then they faced what I thought would be a tough test against Argentina, but once again, they won the game at a stroll.
Toughest
This evening they face the toughest test as they take on pre-tournament and still favourites, Spain. Despite Spain not yet reaching the heights that they displayed at Euro…