Welcome to Sprintgist Blog

Paul Pogba's agent Mino Raiola has ruled out the possibility of  Barcelona  signing his client this summer. 22-year-old Pogba signed a new Juventus deal in the off-season after turning down several offers to leave, but the Frenchman has been widely reported as already having agreed a move to the Nou Camp at the end of the current campaign. Raiola has denied this is the case though, despite admitting that conversations to that end had taken plance. “Barcelona… if I’m honest, no," he told Italian radio  Rai.  “There is no pre-agreement with anyone. "We’ve already talked with them and it was an impossibility that they could buy him."

Mourinho is giving a history lesson. He recalls: “A friend sent me some quotes of my press conference after the CL final in May 2004. I said that one day my career bad results will come. “In my career the bad results will come and I will face the bad results with the same honesty and dignity that I’m facing now as Euro champion. “I’ve been waiting 11 years for this. It took time, but came in a moment where I am stable and I am strong to face it. Mourinho still has confidence is players can turn their slump around. He said: “The players are giving their best every minute of every training session, giving solidarity between all of us. “[The problems are a] combination of factors and some of them I can’t, I don’t want, to touch them.”

The Dutchman was brought in to arrest United's slide and has done exactly that, but he cannot be relied upon to take them to the next stage in the coming month While  Louis van Gaal  talks often of his impending retirement from football management in 2017, it might well be in everyone’s best interests to bring the end date forward by a year regardless of  Manchester United ’s trophy haul come the end of this season. It is arguable that Van Gaal’s reign as United manager has been a success story to this point when placed in the context of the panic setting in before his arrival in England. The failures of the David Moyes era left United needing a quick fix. When Sir Alex Ferguson finally ended his unparalleled 26-year spell at Old Trafford, the club had employed the wrong kind of character to keep them in the hunt for major honours and were left looking for a firefighter within a year. In Van Gaal they found exactly the kind of man they required. They had money to thr

The ex-Arsenal midfielder has been linked with a claim that one of the Chelsea's star names does not want to win under the Portuguese but insists he is happy at Stamford Bridge Chelsea  midfielder  Cesc Fabregas  has denied he is the senior player leading a revolt against manager  Jose Mourinho . BBC Radio Five  claimed on Sunday one of the club's star names would rather lose than win under the embattled Mourinho, but the former Arsenal midfielder has hit back at reports that he is the player in question. Chelsea have endured a dismal start to the defence of their Premier League trophy and have won just three games this season, with Mourinho now under significant pressure, but the Spaniard insists he and his team-mates will return to winning ways soon. "I would like to clarify that contrary to a few reports form some online websites, I am extremely happy at Chelsea and have an excellent relationship with the manager," he wrote on Twitter. "There may

Jose Mourinho held a conference with members of his coaching staff on the pitch at Stamford Bridge following  the Blues' 3-1 defeat to Liverpool,  where he warned Chelsea  can NOT afford to lose their next Premier League match. They travel to Stoke next Saturday in the day's televised late kick-off, following their home Champions League tie against Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday. A double from Philippe Coutinho and a Christian Benteke strike cancelled out Ramires' early header to condemn the Blues to their sixth defeat in only 11 Premier League games this term at the weekend. The Portuguese took the unusual step of conducting a meeting on the pitch following the full-time whistle, after the crowd had left the stadium. Mirror Football, with the help of a lip reader, has taken a look at the clip and can reveal some of what  Mourinho  was saying to his assistants "It's not ... and we need to get it, the next one its really ... make sure ... must NOT lose

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure is in contention to win the African Footballer of the Year award for a record fifth time after being named on the shortlist for the 2015 prize. Toure, who has won the award for the past four years,  was on an original 37-man list released by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) last month and has now made the final 10-man selection. The Ivory Coast international is one of two players to have been named as the continent's best four times, with the other being former Cameroon international Samuel Eto'o, who won the prize in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010. Toure will fancy his chances of receiving the award for a fifth time at the Jan. 7 ceremony after captaining Ivory Coast to a first African Nations Cup triumph in 23 years back in February. The full shortlist: Andre Ayew (Swansea, Ghana) Aymen Abdennour (Valencia, Tunisia) Mudather Eltaib Ibrahim (El Hilal, Sudan) Mohamed Salah (Roma, Egypt) Pierre-Emerick Au

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been given a one-match stadium ban with immediate effect and also fined £40,000 by the Football Association. The punishment comes after Mourinho admitted a misconduct charge over his language and behaviour in the  defeat by West Ham on 24 October. Mourinho, 52, was sent to the stands after going to speak to referee Jon Moss in his room at half-time. He will miss Chelsea's league game at Stoke on Saturday, unless he appeals. Mourinho will receive the FA's written reasons this week and, if he contests the punishment, he could still be on the bench at the Britannia Stadium. The stadium ban is separate to the suspended one  he received along with a £50,000 fine  for comments he made after the loss to Southampton on 3 October. The Portuguese described that fine as  a "disgrace" and appealed. Mourinho's assistant, Silvino Louro, was also charged by the FA after being dismissed during the match at West Ham in rela