Bayer Leverkusen are set to recruit Greek defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos from Schalke, .

The Greece international spent the previous season on loan at Bay Arena, and despite initially struggling for playing time, he did eventually prove his worth.

As a result, Bayer have entered talks with Schalke in an attempt to purchase his contract and Bild claims that a €5.5 million transfer fee is all but agreed.

With the player having missed large chunks of the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 seasons through a succession of injuries, the Miners are ready to offload the 23 year old footballer.

Papadopoulos, who had joined Schalke from Olympiakos, finally got his chance at Bay Arena after Emir Spahic was sacked, and he went on to score 2 goals in 14 Bundesliga appearances…

Liverpool maintained their 100 per cent start to the Premier League season as Dean Henderson s howler handed them a hard-fought 1-0 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

The Reds have swept all before them so far this season domestically but looked destined to drop their first points of the campaign against Chris Wilder s spirited side.

Blade goalkeeper Henderson gifted them a 16th straight league victory, though, allowing Georginio Wijnaldum s volley to squirm through his grasp with 20 minutes remaining.

The result means Jurgen Klopp s table-topping squad move eight points clear of reigning champions Manchester City, who head to Everton later on Saturday.

3 Georginio Wijnaldum has scored his 22nd goal for Liverpool and Newcastle combined, with t…

(GSM) Hertha BSC have confirmed the appointment of former VfB Stuttgart boss Markus Babbel as coach on a one-year rolling contract.

The contract will be extended if the relegated club are promoted back to the Bundesliga.

Babbel, who succeeds Friedhelm Funkel, after being relieved of his coaching duties following a 13 month spell at Stuttgart in December 2009.

And the former Liverpool and Germany defender has been out of a job since.

Hertha chief executive Michael Preetz said: The common goal is the revival (of Hertha). He (Babbel) is a renowned football expert who has already done a good job at Stuttgart. He shares our philosophy for the development of Hertha.

The 37-year-old Babbel said: Hertha is a great club with a great tradition. The key fo…

Hertha Berlin have signed Bosnia-Herzegovina striker Vedad Ibisevic from Bundesliga rivals Stuttgart.

The 31-year-old moves from the Mercedes-Benz Arena to the Olympiastadion after the two clubs agreed an undisclosed fee.

Ibisevic has scored 82 goals in 202 Bundesliga appearances across spells for Alemannia Aachen, Hoffenheim and Stuttgart.

He joined Stuttgart from Hoffenheim in January 2012 and was part of the team that reached the DFB-Pokal final in 2013, only to lose 3-2 to Bayern Munich.

They were beautiful years in Stuttgart, even though we have not always achieved the desired results Ibisevic told his now former club s official website. 

In the end we were all in agreement that a change for both sides is the right decision. I wish Stuttga…

Christian Pulisic is loving life at Chelsea after repaying Frank Lampard s faith in him with a hat-trick in the Blues 4-2 win at Burnley.

After being left out of Chelsea s Premier League starting line-ups since August, Pulisic was drafted in for Callum Hudson-Odoi at Turf Moor and scored the opening goal of the game after 21 minutes.

The 21-year-old, who provided an assist for fellow substitute Michy Batshuayi s goal in a 1-0 Champions League win over Ajax in midweek, doubled Chelsea s lead on the cusp of half-time and scored again after 56 minutes to become the club s youngest hat-trick scorer the Premier League era.

Pulisic picked out his first goal a low, angled drive from 12 yards after a neat piece of skill inside the box as his favourite of the three but w…

Vancouver Whitecaps boosted their MLS play-off chances with a Brian White-inspired 3-0 victory over San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.

White scored a hat-trick as the Whitecaps moved within just one point of the seventh and final post-season spot in the Western Conference heading into the last seven matches of the regular season.

A recruit from New York Red Bulls following June s trade, White – who has scored eight goals in his past nine games – opened the scoring in the 26th minute.

White doubled the lead with a header approaching the hour mark before completing his first career hat-trick 17 minutes from the end – using his head to get on the end of Ryan Gauld s corner.

Montreal topped fellow Eastern Conference play-off hopefuls Atlanta United 2-1 c…

Guinean international midfielder Mamadou Bah signed for German Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart on a three year contract on Tuesday for around 600,000 euros from French Third Division outfit Strasbourg.

The 22-year-old a member of the Guinea side that reached the 2008 Afirca Cup of Nations quarter-finals had been at Strasbourg since 2007 playing 61 times and scoring four goals.

He is a young player, and very talented, said Fredi Bobic, Stuttgart s sports director.

He will give us more choice in midfield. We are convinced of his ability.

According to Bobic, Bah had also been in talks with French Ligue 1 side Auxerre, who could offer him Champions League group action.

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Liverpool are in talks with Jon Flanagan over a new deal .

The defender, known by Reds’ fans as ‘the Scouse Cafu’ is out of contract in the summer and the club are keen to retain his services.

A product of the Liverpool Academy, Flanagan is closing in on fifty senior appearances for the club while his one and only goal so far came in a 5-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur in December 2013.

He is a full England international having made his debut as a substitute in a friendly against Ecuador in June 2014 though he is yet to win a second cap.

Liverpool booked their place in the quarter finals of the Europa League after beating Manchester United 3-1 on aggregate in the round of sixteen and they will face manager Jurgen Klopp’s former side Borussia Dortm…

According to Bild, Bayern Munich are set to battle it out with Atletico Madrid and Liverpool in the race to try and sign RB Leipzig forward Timo Werner. The German international has reportedly revealed that he can imagine himself signing for Bayern, although his current Leipzig contract isn’t set to expire until 2020.

Bayern haven’t made a formal approach but after learning of the interest from Atletico and Liverpool, it seems as if they’re going to step up their game.

Werner made the jump over to Leipzig from Stuttgart back in 2016, and ever since then he’s been able to establish himself as a firm fan favourite.

Bayern haven’t had the best of seasons up to this point although they do seem to be turning things around, with the big question being whethe…

“One thing that I will say about this group – when we’ve looked at previous groups before, and previous camps, there’s probably a different mentality,” he said.

“I think, before, people have put us down as big favourites and that we’ve gone there to win it. But in this group we’ve got a bit of a humble side. I think everyone knows how well we can play together, and we probably are one of the favourites.

“But we will go into this tournament respecting every team. For my personal opinion in this group, I feel like we’ve got the right balance and, hopefully, when we go out there we will show that.”

It helps that Carsley has been able to select a side that is packed with Premier League experience, with the likes of Ramsey, Morgan Gibbs-White, Em…