Former Atlético Madrid executive is replacement for Edu‘I cannot wait to get started in my new role’ Arsenal have confirmed the appointment of Andrea Berta as their new sporting director, with the Italian expected to attend their game against Fulham on Tuesday as he begins his new role immediately. Berta emerged as Arsenal’s leading candidate to replace Edu after he resigned from the post in November to join the network of clubs spearheaded by Evangelos Marinakis, the Nottingham Forest owner. Berta left Atlético Madrid in January after 12 years in the Spanish capital and has been credited with being behind a string of successful signings including Jan Oblak (€4m from Benfica in 2014) and Rodri (€25m from Villarreal in 2019). Continue reading...

The future of Watford manager Tom Cleverley was bizarrely - but perhaps not unsurprisingly - thrust into the spotlight this week amid reports that former Villarreal boss Jose Martin Rojo was being lined up

Few Premier League players divide opinion like the Chelsea striker but his scoring record stands up to scrutiny By Matt Furniss for Opta Analyst Football is a game of opinions, but Tim Sherwood could maybe do with analysing the data before stating his. Speaking as a pundit on an international broadcast following Chelsea’s win over Brentford on Sunday, Sherwood declared that “at times [Nicolas Jackson] looks like someone playing in Soccer Aid who’s not a footballer.” It’s fair to say that Jackson has divided opinion more than most players since arriving in the Premier League in the summer of 2023. The Senegal striker displayed raw talent in his 18 months in the first team at Spanish top-flight club Villarreal. Continue reading...

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Former Barcelona youth starlet Iker Goujon was "inseparable" from Chelsea attacker Nicolas Jackson during their time together at Villarreal and both he and former Mirandes coach Pablo Gomez Rubio, who worked with the 23-year-old during a loan spell, are not surprised by the Senegal international's exciting evolution

Villarreal and former Arsenal ace has been rumoured to be in a relationship with American adult film star Teanna Trump and the couple have now been pictured together in a restaurant

‘It doesn’t make any sense,’ says Atlético Madrid managerBarcelona counterpart Hansi Flick also voices concerns The Atlético Madrid manager, Diego Simeone, said on Saturday it made no sense to play this weekend after catastrophic floods swept through parts of Spain. The deadliest flash floods in Spain’s modern history – and the second-deadliest European floods of the century – have killed at least 211 people and dozens are unaccounted for, four days after torrential rains swept the region of Valencia, the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said on Saturday. The matches between Valencia and Real Madrid, along with Villarreal versus Rayo Vallecano, are among several postponed after the floods. This article will update with news of Saturday’s European club action Continue reading...

Real Madrid were angry that Vinícius Júnior missed out but crowning the Spain midfielder marks a shift in thinking When Rodrigo Hernández was a student, living in a hall of residence and reading business at university in Castellón, he was, to use his own words, “the lame one who never did anything”. He might go for dinner, sure, might briefly stop by the bar, but he would never do any of the after-hours stuff. Most of his class couldn’t understand it, until they saw him playing for Villarreal. He was 19, he hadn’t said anything and they didn’t know he was a footballer; now, at 28, he has been voted the best in the world, the first Spanish man to win the Ballon d’Or since Luis Suárez, 64 years ago. On a dramatic day dominated by cries of injustice, this was in its way an act of justice: to Rodri himself but beyond than that to a kind of player and person, to an idea, a concept; to collectivism embodied by an individual, maybe even football itself. To Spain too, even if it wasn’t received that way at home where Real Madrid’s refusal to fly to Paris when they found out that Vinícius Júnior would not be the winner, set the tone and hung heavy, overshadowing everything. A national success, Rodri joining Aitana Bonmati, was not really celebrated as one, certainly not with unanimity. Continue reading...

Marcos Senna was on the brink of signing for Manchester United at the peak of Sir Alex Ferguson's glory years, but Manuel Pellegrini convinced him to spend three more years with Villarreal

Inter second after beating 10-man Torino 3-2Spanish champions beat Villarreal 2-0 A hat-trick from Marcus Thuram gave Inter a 3-2 victory over 10-man Torino at home in their Serie A clash, following an early red card for visiting defender Guillermo Maripan. Inter are second in the league with 14 points, two behind Napoli. Torino are sixth. Continue reading...

A Mallorca fan who hurled racists insults at Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior and Villarreal Samu Chukwueze has been handed a 12-month suspended sentence by a Spanish court.

A knee injury will rule out Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen for months after he was carried off on a stretcher during Sunday's 5-1 LaLiga win at Villarreal, a source confirmed to ESPN.

Forwards Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha both scored twice to help Barcelona thrash hosts Villarreal 5-1 on Sunday as the visitors maintained their perfect start in LaLiga with a sixth consecutive victory.

Boniface scores late in 4-3 win against WolfsburgLewandowski and Raphinha both score twice Bayer Leverkusen pulled off a stunning comeback against Wolfsburg when they twice fought back from a goal down with Victor Boniface scoring the decisive goal in the 93rd minute, giving them a 4-3 home win on Sunday. The champions suffered a nightmare start as Nordi Mukiele scored an own goal in the fourth minute, but they levelled nine minutes later when Florian Wirtz struck from the edge of the box. Jonathan Tah scored their second with a cool header. Continue reading...

Mbangula, Weah and Cambiaso on target in Juve winAtlético Madrid fight back for 2-2 draw at Villarreal New head coach Thiago Motta led Juventus to a comfortable 3-0 win over newly promoted Como in their Serie A opener at a sold-out Allianz Stadium on Monday. Belgian forward Samuel Mbangula and USA winger Timothy Weah both netted in the first half, scoring their first goals for Juve in Serie A, before Andrea Cambiaso added the third from a distance in stoppage time. Continue reading...