John Stones: Manchester City sign Everton defender for £47.5m

Manchester City have made John Stones and Raheem Sterling the two most expensive English players in history

Manchester City have signed John Stones from Everton for £47.5m, making him the world's second most expensive defender.

The 22-year-old England international has signed a six-year deal and is City boss Pep Guardiola's eighth signing.

Stones was earlier named in City's official Champions League squad, published on the Uefa website before the transfer was confirmed.

"It's an ambitious club with a great manager so I can't wait to get stuck in," said the former Barnsley player.

"I know it will be tough getting a place in this team, but I'm determined to become the best player I can be and help us to success."

In a short statement, Everton confirmed they had received a "record fee" for Stones, who made 95 appearances in three seasons, scoring once.

Championship side Barnsley, the Yorkshireman's first club, will get between £7m and £9m from a sell-on clause.

Everton, meanwhile, have had a £12m bid accepted for Swansea centre-half Ashley Williams, 31.

The Toffees had rejected a £40m bid for Stones from Chelsea last summer and rejected the player's transfer request.

Brazil international David Luiz is the most expensive defender in history, joining French champions Paris St-Germain from Chelsea for £50m in 2014.

Last year, City made Raheem Sterling the most expensive English player ever when he joined the club for £49m from Liverpool.

City have already signed Ilkay Gundogan, Nolito, Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus, Marlos Moreno, Aaron Mooy and Oleksandr Zinchenko this summer.

Their first Premier League fixture is at home to Sunderland on Saturday.

Why have City bought Stones?

• Could John Stones 'walk into Barcelona's team'?
• Analysis - Is £47.5m Stones worth the money?

Their statement described Stones as "one of the world's most promising centre-backs" with a reputation as a "ball-playing, 21st-century defender".

City also claim he is at his best when "neutralising opposition attacks" and "launching the first key pass out of the defensive third".

Guardiola said: "We want to help John show his quality with us and improve on what he has already achieved. I like the way he plays the game and I'm looking forward to welcoming him into the squad."

City's director of football, Txiki Begiristain, said the club had "worked hard" to sign him and regard him as "one of the best central defenders in Europe".

The rise of Stones

Stones was criticised by some supporters and pundits last season and told City TV: "I always know there's a lot of improvement for my game personally"

Stones joined Barnsley's academy at the age of seven and stayed at the club for 12 years.

He made his Tykes debut at the age of 17 and made 24 league appearances before moving to Everton in January 2013 for a fee thought to be about £3m.

Stones has made 95 appearances for the Toffees in three seasons, scoring once, and has 10 international caps.

He was part of the England squad at Euro 2016 but did not feature as they were knocked out in the last 16 by Iceland.

Criticised by some Everton supporters and former players such as Sol Campbell for making mistakes, Stones made the joint most errors directly leading to goals in the last season's Premier League season - three.

Only former Everton team-mate Phil Jagielka, Southampton's Maya Yoshida and West Ham's Aaron Cresswell made as many.

How Stones compared to some of Europe's top defenders last season
Player	Minutes played	Fouls conceded	Passing accuracy (%)	Duels success (%)
John Stones	2,779	11	88.7	66.52
Thiago Silva	2,622	19	94.63	71.05
Diego Godin	2,651	36	78.41	66.78
Mats Hummels	2,494	18	86.29	71.14
Giorgio Chiellini	1,789	27	86.55	64.81
Sergio Ramos	1,944	34	90.35	62.80
Pepe	1,887	17	87.61	67.23

Top five other English signings

• 2015 - Raheem Sterling £49m (Liverpool to Manchester City)
• 2011 - Andy Carroll £35m (Newcastle to Liverpool)
• 2002 - Rio Ferdinand £30m (Leeds to Manchester United)
• 2014 - Luke Shaw £27m (Southampton to Manchester United)
• 2004 - Wayne Rooney £27m (Everton to Manchester United)

World's most expensive defenders

• 2014 - David Luiz £50m (Chelsea to Paris St-Germain)
• 2016 - John Stones £47.5m (Everton to Manchester City)
• 2012 - Thiago Silva £36m (AC Milan to Paris St-Germain)
• 2014 - Eliaquim Mangala £32m (Porto to Manchester City)
• 2015 - Nicolas Otamendi £32m (Valencia to Manchester City)

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Gernot Rohr signs a deal as Nigeria's technical adviser

Gernot Rohr previously coached Gabon, Niger and Burkina Faso

The Nigeria Football Federation has announced that German Gernot Rohr has signed a two-year deal to work as a technical adviser.

The 63-year-old ex-Gabon, Niger and Burkina Faso coach will be assisted by Salisu Yusuf, who was appointed as chief coach last month.

The NFF's technical committee recommended Rohr after the federation failed to reach an agreement with Frenchman Paul Le Guen last month.

"I am enthusiastic to get to work," Rohr told the NFF website.

"This is a big challenge because Nigeria has big players everywhere and has the ability to do well internationally.

"I have a German heart - the heart of a winner.

"I have confidence that with the right atmosphere and the right support, the Super Eagles have the capacity not only to qualify for the World Cup, but get to the latter stages of the competition."

Ahmed Yusuf Fresh, vice chairman of the NFF's committee, explained their recommendation.

"The committee was impressed with Mr. Rohr's profile and current activities for the German Football Federation (DFB)," he said.

"He was very positive, showed great interest in the job and is ready and willing to live in Nigeria. He is also willing to work with indigenous Nigerian coaches and with the committee, and believes the Super Eagles can qualify for the 2018 Fifa World Cup, which is very important to the NFF.

"He swayed the committee with his calmness, good knowledge of the African terrain, focus and maturity."

Sunday Oliseh was the Super Eagles' last permanent coach before he quit in February in a row over his contract.

Rohr, who has been working on development programmes for the German football association (DFB) since December, played at Bayern Munich and Girondins Bordeaux.

He then coached Bordeaux when they lost to Bayern in the 1996 UEFA Cup final and last worked in Africa as Burkina Faso coach before joining the DFB.

His other past managerial jobs include French club Nantes and Nice, Young Boys Berne in Switzerland, the Tunisian club Etoile du Sahel and the national teams of Gabon and Niger.

Rohr took Gabon to the quarter-finals of the 2012 Nations Cup on home soil and also managed Niger at the 2013 edition but failed to get them out of the group stage.

Before leaving Burkina Faso, he led the Stallions into the final round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

The NFF had confirmed Salisu Yusuf as the national team's chief coach in July.

Nigeria have failed to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Gabon, but are in the final round of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

They have been drawn in Group B where they will face Algeria, the top-ranked side in Africa, Cameroon, as well as Zambia.

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NFF recommends Gernot Rohr for appointment as Super Eagles' Technical Adviser

The Technical and Development Committee of Nigeria Football Federation has recommended German - Mr. Gernot Rohr for appointment as Technical Adviser of the Super Eagles.

Ahmed Yusuf Fresh, vice chairman of the committee, said the team was convinced of the former German defender’s suitability for the job after a long session with him in Abuja on Saturday.

“The committee was impressed with Mr. Rohr’s profile and current activities for the German Football Federation (DFB), so we invited him to Nigeria for exhaustive deliberations. He was very positive, showed great interest in the job and is ready and willing to live in Nigeria.

He is also willing to work with indigenous Nigerian coaches and with the committee, and believes the Super Eagles can qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which is very important to the NFF. He swayed the committee with his calmness, good knowledge of the African terrain, focus and maturity” Ahmed Yusuf said.

 

According to NFF's Technical and Development Committee, Rohr has the character and confidence to take the Super Eagles to new heights of excellence.  “Our job is to recommend him to the Board, which we have done. The NFF legal department is working on the final draft of the contract but we have agreed on a range of terms and conditions. The Secretariat will present the full contract to Mr. Rohr in the following days and the Executive Board will contact Mr. Rohr for the final negotiations.”

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Venus Williams crashes out in first round of singles tennis in Rio

Four-time gold medallist, Venus Williams yesterday crashed out of the Olympic tennis tournament in Rio, losing to Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in a three-hour centre court marathon.

"She had been ill for a few days with a bad virus. She had an upset stomach and she was coughing up a lot, you could see she was really struggling,' said US captain Mary Jo Fernandez, who faced the media in Williams' place.

This is the first time in her career that Venus will lose in the opening round. She's said to be suffering with a virus and was heard coughing during the match. She will now play in the doubles with Serena.

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New Season Jerseys Are Finally Out.

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£65,000-a-week Liverpool footballer Dejan Lovren discovers his wife is having an affair with £200-a-month forestry worker

Liverpool and Croatian defender Dejan Lovren (pictured left with his wife) missed the Euro 2016 tournament after he found out his wife and mother of his two children was having an affair with a forestry worker, a man named Dario Torbic (pictured right with Anita Lovren), an old friend of Anitas who earns about £200-a-month...

 

Lovren (pictured with Anita and their son), who joined Liverpool for £20million in 2014 and earns £65,000-a-week, was said to be embarrassed when he discovered the affair but has refused to give up on his marriage. He reportedly whisked his wife away for a make or break holiday in June this year, determined to make his marriage to the mother of his two children work.

According to the Sun UK, Dejan and Anita have been together since they were 16 but have recently been having issues.

 Anita and Dario pictured above

Below is how The Sun UK reported it ...

The affair started when his wife, 26, and Dario met up last December in their home city of Zagreb. Anita persuaded Dario to fly to England and they got together at a Liverpool hotel after which they swapped hundreds of love messages.

She left her home in England with Lovren in March to return to her homeland and, The Sun on Sunday understands, went to see a divorce lawyer.

 Anita told £200-a-month Dario, who lives in a rented flat, that they would be together.

A source said: “Dejan and Anita’s marriage has been rocky for some time and she sought refuge with her old friend Dario. They had a whirlwind affair and she told Dario she loved him. She told him she would move back to Zagreb and was thinking of divorcing Dejan. She convinced him she would do it. But when Dejan found out he hit the roof.

“He was really hurt at her infidelity. It hurt his pride. He admitted he had not been the best ­husband but he provided a nice home and life for her and their two young children.”

“It hurt his pride and affected his football. It’s usually footballers cheating on Wags, not the other way round.”

Anita eventually decided to ditch her lover and rejoin Lovren in England at the family’s home with their children Elena, three, and Josip, one.

She and Lovren had first got together at 16, moving to France in 2010 when he transferred from Dinamo Zagreb to Lyon.

They are thought to have split for a short time but reconciled when she found out she was pregnant. They tied the knot so she would not give birth out of wedlock.

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Community Shield: Jose Mourinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic win first trophy of Man U career after 2-1 win over Leicester (photos)

F.A Cup champions Man U. defeated Premier League champions Leicester City 2-1 today to win the community shield, handing Jose Mourinho and new star signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic their first silverware with the club.

A Zlatan Ibrahimovic second half goal was all that was needed to overcome a resilient Leicester City side who had equalized through Jamie Vardy after youngster Jesse Lingard scored the first goal of the game.


Jose Mourinho started the match with new signing Eric Bailly and Daley Blind manning the defence while Rooney, Lingard and Superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic handled the attack.

Leicester City, still basking in the euphoria of being crowned Premier League champions started with a team almost identical to their title winning team of last season with N'golo Kante, who recently signed for Chelsea the major exception, while new boy Ahmed Musa had to make do with a place on the bench.

Jesse Lingard, United's FA Cup final match-winner against Crystal Palace in May, gave new boss Jose Mourinho's men a 32 minute lead with a stunning solo goal.

He picked the ball up just inside Leicester's half, dribbled past four  Leicester players and slotted the ball past goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Nigerian winger Ahmed Musa showed how much of a constant threat he could be on the wing after he was introduced at halftime alongside Demarai Gray.

Leicester City hero Jamie Vardy equalised seven minutes into the second half after pouncing on Marouane Fellaini's poor back-pass and dribbling past goalkeeper David De Gea.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was standing fractionally offside when Antonio Valencia delivered a stand-up cross from the right side to which he jumped and headed into the net after shrugging off Leicester City captain Wes Morgan.

It was a not too important match but in terms of a trophy, increasing fitness levels and mental preparation ahead of the premier league season which starts next weekend and Paul Pogba's imminent record breaking arrival, Jose Mourinho will be happy to have won the match.

More photos.

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Football Star, Paul Pogba & Drake Party Together

French football star, Paul Pogba and his new found friend, rapper Drake were spotted chilling together at a club in New York, United States in the early hours of Saturday as Pogba prepares for his record breaking £100m move to his former club, Manchester United.

Drake captioned the photo above of himself holding a Pogba Jersey and captioned it ‘When Paul Pogba comes to see you that’s a ’

While Pogba shared the photo below, and captioned ‘Very nice meeting you bro’

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