SOCCER FOOTBALL 24H

CHELSEA are set to bring in defender Papy Djilobodji in a £2.75m deal from Nantes today. Jose Mourinho has been desperate for a new centre half after his side conceded nine goals in their first four Premier League matches. The West Londoners have agreed the move with the French club and Djilobodji, 26, is due for talks and a medical today. The arrival of the 6ft 4in Senegal defender comes after Chelsea missed out on Everton's John Stones. Meanwhile young forward Jeremie Boga, 18, has joined Rennes and Brazilian Lucas Piazon, 21, has moved to Reading, both on season-long loan deals.

ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger has allegedly flown to France to seal a deal for Paris St-Germain striker Edinson Cavani. Wenger, who has only made one new addition to his squad this summer, is understood to be scouring the market for a world-class centre-forward. Recently, reports have claimed the Frenchman has lined up Cavani as an alternative to Real Madrid striker Benzema, who publicly ko'd a move to the Emirates last Monday. And according to Twitter account GestiFuteFifa, which claims to be part of the famous GestiFute agency, Wenger has flown out to Paris to finalise a deal for the Uruguayan striker. Along with a picture of Wenger on a plane, the account tweeted: "Wenger has flown to Paris to discuss personal terms with Cavani. Deal is very close to being completed." GestiFuteFifa went on to claim that the Gunners have had a £45m bid for the 28-year-old accepted by PSG. They added: #Arsenal's payment of £45M for #PSG forward Cavani, is an initial ...

The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder claims he had numerous problems with the Dutch coach and it forced him to leave Old Trafford Angel Di Maria has revealed that problems fitting into Louis van Gaal's philosophy were behind him leaving Manchester United this summer. The Argentine, 27, was signed with much fanfare last August, arriving at Old Trafford for a club record €75 million following a Champions League-winning season with Real Madrid. However, Di Maria struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League and ended up joining French champions Paris Saint-Germain for €63m earlier this month. Following his impressive debut off the bench against Monaco – in which he assisted the third goal in the 3-0 with a fantastic through ball for Ezequiel Lavezzi from his own half – the versatile midfielder opened up about why he left United. "Van Gaal has his philosophy and one of the reasons I wanted to go to Manchester United is because of that factor," he told ESPN Radio....

Manchester United starlet Adnan Januzaj has completed his move to Borussia Dortmund on loan. The 20-year-old has moved to the Bundesliga side despite interest from Tottenham, Everton, Marseille and Valencia. Januzaj looked as though he would spend the season at Old Trafford having been picked to start ahead of Ashley Young so far after scoring against Aston Villa.  The Belgian international confirmed the move on Twitter, as he posted a photo of himself holding up the no.9 shirt with the caption: “Pleased to sign for Dortmund! Looking forward to the new season.” He also told the club’s website: “Borussia Dortmund are a great club, the fans here are supposed to be really incredible. I want to achieve great things with the team.” The Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said: “Adnan is a highly gifted and technically gifted player who completes our attacking department.”

Amid the furore surround ing how much money the Red Devils are willing to spend on the 19-year-old, it is already being forgotten that he is a player of tremendous potential Barely 24 hours left in the summer transfer window, an astronomical fee, a relative unknown on English shores - small wonder Manchester United's proposed signing of Anthony Martial has raised more than a few eyebrows. Yes the fee is reported to be around the €50m mark - at least. Yes the Parisian forward has played fewer than 50 top-flight matches in France and has only 10 senior league goals to his credit. But Martial, at 19 years of age, is considered France's next great superstar. United's handling of the deal might be described as desperate, late, even clumsy, but they are buying themselves a player of outstanding potential. Such is his quality, Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim reportedly threatened to resign if the forward, who signed a contract running until 2019 in June to ward off Totte...

IT MAY have been 10 months but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will meet up with his England colleagues at St George's Park today with a breezy smile, a handshake and no doubt a huge dollop of banter. That is a far cry from what was on the menu the first time he was called up into Roy Hodgson's first squad for a double-header of friendlies against Norway and Belgium just before Euro 2012. In those days, it was the Lowry Hotel in Manchester that provided the base for England internationals. That latest rendezvous may have been old hat for Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, John Terry, Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney, 418 caps between them. However, 18-year-old Oxlade-Chamberlain, newly arrived in the Arsenal first team, was somewhat in awe at the prospect. "You struggle to eat your food," he recalls. "Your stomach is churning. You start putting things on your plate you don't even like eating just to make time to look around to assess the table plan, see where ...

Manchester City defender Jason Denayer has joined Galatasaray on loan. The 20-year-old Belgian centre-back will spend the 2015/16 season with the Turkish giants after being being pushed down the pecking order at the Etihad Stadium. Denayer, who starred for Celtic last season, is fifth in line for a start inc central defence behind captain Vincent Kompany, Eliaquim Mangala, Martin Demichelis and new signing Nicolas Otamendi.

Wolfsburg have completed the signing of Tottenham winger Ismail Azzaoui. Less than 24 hours after selling Kevin De Bruyne to Manchester City, the Bundesliga club have confirmed the signing of Azzaoui for an undisclosed fee. "We've been following Azzaoui's progress for a long time now," said Wolfsburg's director of sport Klaus Allofs on his club's website. "He's a young player with plenty of potential who we expect to break into our first-team in the mid-term. "We will get a more precise and complete picture of his current level over the next few weeks and will then decide which of our teams [first team or reserves] he will begin playing in."

After originally postponing the announcement, England head coach Roy Hodgson has finally given out his 22-man squad selection for his nation’s upcoming Euro 2016 Group E qualifiers in San Marino (on September 5th) and then against Switzerland (Sept 8th) at Wembley. Perhaps the slight surprises are sole-capped duo Jonjo Shelvey, whose last appearance was back in 2012 against the tiny country in Italy’s mainland, and Jamie Vardy, who has kept his place in the set-up after featuring against Republic of Ireland in June. The pair have managed less than 40 minutes in a senior Three Lions shirt combined, but have highly impressed for respective Premier League clubs Swansea City and Leicester City this and last season. Other  England (12/1 Euro 2016 joint-fourth favourites)  recalls, meanwhile, are Jack Butland, Michael Carrick, Harry Kane, Ryan Mason, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Luke Shaw and John Stones. Usual suspects such as captain Wayne Rooney, Joe Hart, Raheem S...

Sunderland (11/8 with Coral to stay in the Premier League this term)  have announced the signing of Fabio Borini from Liverpool for a fee of £7.75m, rising to £9.75m with add-ons, on a four-yeal deal. The sole-capped Italy forward, 24, spent a season on loan with the Black Cats from the Reds back in 2013/14, but rejected a permanent move the following summer. However, they have finally got their man. Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat said: “Fabio is a great addition to the squad who will make our front line stronger. He can play in a number of attacking positions which is a huge benefit to the team.” Borini, who has been handed the number nine shirt, meanwhile, added: “I am delighted to be back at Sunderland. It is a club I know really well from my time here previously. “It will be emotional for me to play at the Stadium of Light again and I can’t wait to get back on the pitch as a Sunderland player.” The Italian first came to England as a youngster in 2007 with Chel...

His career began at  Kintbury Rangers  before stops at Hungerford and Poole took him into the football league and scoring-for-fun runs at  Swindon ,  Burnley  and  QPR . But could Charlie Austin soon be plying his trade on the biggest stage in English football? The Betfair market makes the 26-year-old an even money chance to sign for  Manchester United  in this transfer window. That will come as a surprise to those of us who have seen his name linked with the, how shall we put it, less lofty teams in the top-flight - think West Ham and Newcastle. Following a less than stunning opening to the season, which has seen just three goals scored in four league games and striker  Wayne Rooney  drawing a blank entirely, rumours are rife that United will move for a forward. The QPR striker is now operating at  Championship  level following the West London club's relegation from the Premier League last season. He is already ...

The Citizens lost their English top-flight title last season, having been way below the level of eventual winners Chelsea, and there were areas in the team that required strengthening in order to mount a serious challenge this time round. It was vital the transfer dealings of the club worked in this campaign and, with four victories from as many matches and no goals conceded, the summer arrivals have been a big hit. England international Raheem Sterling was bought from Liverpool for £49million and the winger has made a big impact at his new club, grabbing a goal in the 2-0 success over Watford. Fellow compatriot Fabian Delph has also added more competition for places in the midfield having made the switch from Aston Villa, while Nicolas Otamendi will keep the centre-backs on their toes after arriving from Valencia. Add to that the fact that the likes of Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany look like they are back to their best and all seems rosy at the Etihad Stadium, but the additi...

Latest:  Juventus left their transfer business late, completing deals for Hernanes and Mario Lemina while Leverkusen signed Javier Hernández and Wolfsburg snapped up Julian Draxler. Arsenal FC (ENG) •  In:   Petr Čech  (Chelsea FC) •  Out:  Abou Diaby (released, Olympique de Marseille), Ryo Miyaichi (FC St. Pauli),  Lukas Podolski (Galatasaray AŞ), Yaya Sanogo (AFC Ajax, loan), Carl Jenkinson (West Ham United FC, loan), Wojciech Szczęsny (AS Roma, loan), Chuba Akpom (Hull City, loan), Serge Gnabry (West Bromwich Albion FC, loan) FC Astana (KAZ) •  In:  Serikzhan Muzhikov (FC Kaisar Kyzylorda), Junior Kabananga (Cercle Bruges), Denys Dedechko (FC Vorskla Poltava), Branko Ilić (FK Partizan), Zhakyp Kozhamberdy (FC Taraz), Rinat Khairullin (FC Zhetysu Taldykorgan) •  Out:  Birzhan Kulbekov (released), Ulan Konysbayev (FC Kairat Almaty), Tohtar Zhangylyshbay (FC Kairat Almaty), Sergey Ostapenko (released), Casper Larsen (Odense ...