Bernardo Silva said he could not say no to Pep Guardiola after sealing his move to Manchester City from Monaco.

The Portugal international completed a transfer reportedly worth £43million on Friday, becoming City s first signing since their 2016-17 season came to an end.

Silva is excited about the upcoming experience of playing under Guardiola and thinks their link-up will lead to him winning major trophies during his stay in England.

If he is not the best coach in the world, he is one of the best, Silva, who will wear the number 20 shirt, told City s website. 

Of course when you have the opportunity of being trained by Guardiola, you don t say no.

As we all know, what he did with Barcelona and Bayern Munich was amazing and we expect also her…

Former Chelsea goalkeeper Mark Bosnich is confident incoming manager Antonio Conte will be afforded the time to make his mark at Stamford Bridge.

Conte will take the Chelsea reins ahead of the 2016-17 Premier League season following Italy s Euro 2016 campaign, and arrives with a world-class pedigree.

Conte won three Serie A titles with Juventus but that record is no certainty to provide him with a prolonged tenure in London, after Luiz Felipe Scolari, Carlo Ancelotti and Andre Villas-Boas were swiftly shown the door by owner Roman Abramovich, despite enjoying success prior to their arrivals.

But Bosnich, who spent two years at Stamford Bridge, believes Abramovich will show patience amid his demands for silverware following Chelsea s failure to finish inside the…

Alireza Jahanbakhsh stunned Chelsea with a late overhead-kick to earn Brighton and Hove Albion a hard-fought 1-1 draw on New Year s Day.

The Iran winger ended his long wait for a first Brighton goal against Bournemouth on Saturday, celebrating with joyful tears, and his second quickly followed in a stylish start to 2020.

Chelsea looked to be easing towards a third straight Premier League away win after Cesar Azpilicueta s early strike, failing to add to their lead but largely comfortable at the other end.

However, Jahanbakhsh leapt into an outstanding volley with six minutes of normal time remaining, and Frank Lampard s fourth-placed side were clinging on by full-time.

GOOOOOOAAAALLLL!

BRILLIANT, SIMPLY BRILLIANT! HE S DONE IT AGAIN!

Match…

Antonio Conte has signed an improved two-year contract at Chelsea, with his squad in the early stages of preparations to try and emulate last season s excellence.

The Blues utterly dominated as Conte took a successful first swing at England s top flight, a streak of 13 wins on the spin late in 2016 sending them well clear of a chasing pack that spent most of the campaign tripping over each other.

But former Juventus and Italy boss Conte had to show his mettle before it became plain sailing, with a pivotal tactical alteration and shrewd management of a certain big dressing room ego the latter move now looking very much a means to an end laying vital foundations.

CONTE S TACTICAL MASTERSTROKE

Saturday September 24, 18:15 This is when Chelsea …

Market: Boreham Wood win

Odds: 1/1 @

Only looking to pile more pressure onto Southend this weekend, Boreham Wood will welcome the Shrimpers to Meadow Park on Saturday afternoon.

Starting with the hosts, while Boreham Wood would have been disappointed by that 2-1 loss away at Chesterfield last weekend, the Whites managed to make an immediate return to winning ways. Claiming a deserved 1-0 victory away at King s Lynn, Luke Garrard s side find themselves battling it out in the promotion chase. Clearly making a host of improvements over the summer, the Hertfordshire-based outfit currently sits third in the table. Claiming eye-catching back-to-back 2-0 wins against Dagenham Redbridge and Torquay earlier in the month, Boreham Wood have also continued to shine on home …

RB Leipzig have confirmed American teenager Caden Clark will join them from New York Red Bulls.

Midfielder Clark will move to the Bundesliga club on a deal that runs until June 2024, though not until the end of the MLS season.

The 18-year-old was part of Barcelona s youth system before moving to New York. He scored on his first-team debut last October and has made eight appearances in 2020-21, managing four goals and an assist.

Caden Clark has fantastic skills and enormous potential,  Leipzig technical director Christopher Vivell said. He can play anywhere across attacking midfield and is incredibly adaptable in his playing style.

As well as that, he is a scoring threat, has great passing quality and strikes the ball well, allowing him to score goals…

Croatia boss Slaven Bilic believes his side have no excuse not to make the Euro 2012 finals despite a tough play-off draw against Turkey.

The two teams will lock horns in a two-legged tie, which will be a re-match of their Euro 2008 quarter-final clash, which Turkey won in penalty shoot-out.

Bilic believes his side are much stronger now and went as far as to claim he expects Croatia to progress to the showpiece event in Poland and Ukraine.

The Turkish team are strong, but not stronger than us, Bilic said. For three years, since that match in Vienna (in 2008), we have been waiting for the opportunity to get revenge.

Turkey are the strongest team we could have gotten in the draw, but we have more quality and we should go through.

The 43-year-ol…

Gareth Southgate praised Jude Bellingham’s never-say-die attitude after saving England from defeat against Belgium at the end of an international break that provides plenty of food for thought ahead of the Euros.

Among the favourites for glory this summer, the side third in FIFA’s world rankings stepped up preparations with a pair of high-level friendlies against the nations directly behind them in those standings.

Brazil are fifth and struck late on Saturday to inflict a first defeat on England in 15 months, which fourth-placed Belgium looked set to compound at rainy Wembley three days later.

Youri Tielemans opened the scoring after a Jordan Pickford error, with a Lewis Dunk mistake resulting in the Aston Villa midfielder scoring again after Ivan Toney had c…

Netherlands assistant coach Patrick Kluivert said he believes winger Arjen Robben has been the best player at the 2014 World Cup.

Kluivert s Dutch outfit are preparing for a FIFA World Cup semi-final with Argentina at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo.

While the former Netherlands international said the current senior team were a combined force, Robben stood out as the best of the lot as he prepares for a battle with three-time Ballon d Or winner Lionel Messi.

We individually may not be the best players in the world, but are a great collective, Kluivert said, as reported by telegraaf.nl.

Though we have, of course, about Arjen Robben, who in my eyes currently is the best player of the World Cup.

We should also not dwell on the good results, be…

Yann M Vila stated that the prospect of helping Inter return to the top of Italian football motivated him to join the club.

The 24-year-old France international completed his move from Russian Premier League outfit Rubin Kazan earlier this week, on an initial loan deal with the option to make the move permanent, bringing an end to weeks of speculation.

M Vila had been linked with the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool earlier in the close-season but it soon became clear that Inter was the most likely destination for the midfielder.

Inter completed a treble of the Serie A, Coppa Italia and UEFA Champions League under the stewardship of Jose Mourinho in 2010, but the past two seasons have seen the club finish ninth and fifth in the league.

However, under new ow…