Florian Thauvin is excited by the prospect of playing with one of the best in the world in Mario Balotelli and urged the Italian to join him at Marseille.

After a difficult couple of years at Liverpool and AC Milan, Balotelli surprised many by joining Ligue 1 side Nice ahead of the 2016-17 season.

In France, Balotelli has gone some way to rediscovering his best form, scoring 33 times across two Ligue 1 seasons and he looks set to move on once again, with his contract about to expire.

Although Balotelli is expected to return to Serie A, Marseille coach Rudi Garcia expressed his admiration for the striker at the end of May and Thauvin has echoed his boss.

I spoke for a few seconds with Mario Balotelli during half time against Italy, Thauvin told reporters.…

Kylian Mbappe fired a hat-trick as Paris St Germain thumped amateur opponents Revel 9-0 in the French Cup at the Stade Pierre-Fabre.

The round-of-64 tie in Castres was never in doubt from the moment Mbappe opened the scoring in the 17th minute, yet the France striker was wasteful despite boosting his goal tally for the season to 25 in all competitions.

Marco Asensio starred for PSG, orchestrating the downfall of opponents operating in the sixth tier of French football, and the Spain star was on target shortly before half-time.

Into the next round of the | 0-9

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English)

Mbappe was the only player to keep his place in a side showing 10 changes following Wednesday’s 2-0 Champions Trophy victory over Toulouse, but G…

Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Marcel Sabitzer from Bayern Munich in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that Spurs are among a number of clubs who have been impressed by how well Sabitzer has done at Manchester United so far and are monitoring his situation.

Bayern are open to selling Sabitzer at the end of the season, but the defending Bundesliga champions will demand as much as £30 million in transfer fees for him. The Austria international midfielder joined Manchester United on loan from Bayern in the January transfer window and is scheduled to go back to the German club in the summer of 2023.

Sabitzer has made six starts and two substitute appearances in the Premier League for United during his loan spell so far, providin…

Paris Saint-Germain have announced that they have released midfielder Mohamed Sissoko from his contract at Parc des Princes.

The Malian had one year left on his deal with the Saints, but his contract was terminated by mutual consent so as to allow the player to continue his career elsewhere.

, the 28-year-old will probably moving to Reading, who are attempting to return to the Premier League after getting relegated last season.

Mohamed Sissoko has seen very little playing time at Parc des Princes of late and it was clear that he would be leaving the club this summer.

The Mali international had joined PSG from Juventus in the summer of 2011, but his career quickly started taking a turn for the worse.

Sissoko spent the second part of last season on…

Stuttgart full-back Cristian Molinaro has suggested that he could leave the club at the end of the season.

The Italian has a contract until June 2014 at Mercedes-Benz Arena, but he is concerned by the lack of playing time this season.

Molinaro has fallen behind Arthur Boka in the pecking order and admits he wants to leave the Swabians in search of a first team football.

“I have played less this season than during previous years,” Molinaro .

“I respect the decisions of the coach. But, I am 29. A player like me, at my age, I want to play more.”

Molinaro joined Stuttgart in a €4.3 million move from Juventus in January 2010, but never quite managed to impress in German Bundesliga.

He has since made a total of 85 league appearances f…

Shanghai Shenhua have confirmed they are in detailed talks with Boca Juniors in a bid to sign Carlos Tevez and claim to have made a breakthrough in the negotiations.

Reports have suggested Tevez has been offered an astonishing €40million-per-year to make a move to the Chinese Super League.

The 32-year-old is under contract with Boca until June 2018, but Shanghai president Wu Xiaohui is hopeful of striking a deal.

We have done a lot of work [on trying to sign Tevez] and it s safe to say that there has been a definite breakthrough in the negotiations, Wu told Shenhua News.

But for a variety of reasons, we have not nailed down the deal.

Their club have problems that are still yet to be solved and I will spare you the details. 

We will …

Tottenham and England midfielder Eric Dier believes his early performances this season have struggled as a result of his efforts at Euro 2016.

Dier s excellent displays for Spurs in 2015-16 saw him become established as a fixture in England s midfield, although he could not prevent Roy Hodgson s side getting dumped out in the last 16 by Iceland in shock fashion in France.

The 22-year-old has struggled to recapture that form since his return to club football, although his cause has perhaps not been helped by Mauricio Pochettino taking advantage of his versatility to use him in defence to cover for the injured Toby Alderweireld.

It is completely up to the manager where I play. What is more important is making sure I m feeling good mentally,  Dier …

Prediction: Chelsea to Win 2-0

Odds:

Bookmaker:

Newcastle United will be aiming to break their four-match winless run in the Premier League on Saturday as they host top four contenders Chelsea at St James Park.

Despite having an impressive season so far under Steve Bruce, the Magpies have struggled in recent weeks and will be aiming to recapture their form. Meanwhile, Frank Lampard s troops will be hoping to consolidate their position in the Champions League places.

Newcastle United

Despite reaching the lofty heights of ninth with their recent win against Crystal Palace, Newcastle have been slightly inconsistent in the past few weeks. Their only win in their last seven matches is their 4-1 victory against League One outfit Rochdale at St James…

Zlatan Ibrahimovic headlines the MLS All-Stars announced for an August fixture against Serie A champions Juventus.

Ibrahimovic has registered seven goals for LA Galaxy since cutting short his Manchester United stay to switch to MLS, including hitting a brace on debut.

The 36-year-old is the headline name in the MLS All-Stars squad, though David Villa and Sebastian Giovinco also included by Atlanta United coach Gerardo Martino.

Former Barcelona boss Martino has called up five of his club s players, with the fixture set to be played at Atlanta s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on August 1.

Big names. Big stage.

 Introducing the 2018 Team!  

— Major League Soccer (@MLS)

World Cup players Carlos Vela, Francisco Calvo, Yoshimar Yot…

Still got it?

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has made it clear that he would be more than happy to take Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy on loan. Of course, Tottenham already have Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe and at the time of writing, they still have Roman Pavlyuchenko as well.

Redknapp said,

If he was available it could be of interest. It s not impossible. If it was right we could be interested. It s interesting but it depends what the deal is, he was fantastic in England and a great goal scorer.

The great Dutch international striker is thirty-three now and he has only featured for Real Madrid four times this season. His goal scoring record stands scrutiny against the best strikers the world have ever seen, but the consensus o…