Brazilian star Marta leaves Umea IK

Massimiliano Allegri will consider offers from other clubs after July 15 as he looks ahead to life after Juventus but will not rule out the possibility of taking a break from football.

Juve announced on Friday that the 51-year-old, who led the club to five consecutive Serie A titles during his five years in Turin, would be leaving after the 2018-19 season concludes next weekend.

Allegri had been linked with Manchester United prior to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer securing the full-time manager s job, while Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea are also said to be interested.

But the Livorno-born coach indicated he needs some time to weigh up his options.

I don t know what will happen in future, Allegri told a news conference. I need a little rest, too.<…

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes Andre Villas-Boas deserved a second chance in the English Premier League.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes Andre Villas-Boas deserved a second chance in the English Premier League.

The Portuguese joined Chelsea at the beginning of the 2011/12 season with increasing esteem after guiding his Porto side to a league, cup and Europa League treble the previous campaign.

His reign at Stamford Bridge lasted until that February when he was sacked following a defeat at West Bromwich Albion.

But, after a couple of months out, he took over from Harry Redknapp at Tottenham and now has them firmly in the race for a top-three finish.

Speaking ahead of Sunday s north London derby, Wenger told Arsenal s website: He …

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has been handed a senior Spain call-up by coach Vicente del Bosque.

The 22-year-old could make his debut for his national side when Spain host Finland in a World Cup qualifier in Gijon before travelling to France four days later.

Despite criticism of the Manchester United defence this season, the young goalkeeper has impressed at times this season, particularly against Real Madrid in the Champions League, and appears to have caught the eye of his national team coach.

De Gea was handed his first call-up when he made the preliminary squad for Spain s successful Euro 2012 campaign but missed out on a place in the final squad.

The former Atletico youth product has represented Spain from Under-15 level up to Under-21 w…

Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez has pulled out of Uruguay s squad for their upcoming friendlies.

The 23-year-old had been included in Uruguay s squad for the games against Japan and South Korea on March 24 and 28 respectively.

However, the Uruguayan Football Association and Liverpool both announced on Friday that Nunez will not be linking up with his international team-mates.

According to reports from Uruguay, the former Benfica man is recovering from an ankle injury sustained in Wednesday s 1-0 loss at Real Madrid.

Nunez has 14 goals and four assists in 33 appearances in his first campaign at Anfield – only Mohamed Salah (33) has been directly involved in more goals among Liverpool players.

Uruguay have called up Club America forward Jonathan Ro…

Real Madrid were simply on another level to Eintracht Frankfurt, according to head coach Oliver Glasner, who nevertheless demanded his team find a way to improve further.

Glasner s Eintracht side were comfortably beaten 2-0 by the Champions League winners in the Super Cup on Wednesday.

David Alaba put Madrid ahead in the first half at Helsinki Olympic Stadium, before Karim Benzema netted midway through the second half to put the result to bed.

In the process, Benzema became Madrid s outright second-highest goalscorer, having scored 324 times for Los Blancos.

While Glasner did not believe his side delivered the special defensive performance he asked for before the game, he knows Madrid are a difficult team to match.

I think we improved from the l…

Hatem Ben Arfa claims he does not want to replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic as Paris Saint-Germain s star player following the Swede s departure to Manchester United.

Ibrahimovic was PSG s undisputed main man in recent years, but the experienced attacker opted to leave the Ligue 1 champions in favour of a move to Old Trafford.

Ben Arfa, meanwhile, joined PSG after a stellar campaign with Nice, but he is not thinking about individual success.

The star of PSG is the entire team, the technical staff and the club. There is no individual star, the 29-year-old told L Equipe.

You do not necessarily need one big superstar to have a great team. You only have to look at Atletico Madrid to realise that.

I do not want to be PSG s star man. I want to be part of a …

Could Frank de Boer succeed compatriot Ronald Koeman at Southampton?

Ronald Koeman’s impending move to Everton seems to have caused a major meltdown on the south coast. Southampton fans are suddenly sounding very bitter, claiming that their club is bigger than Everton.

If anybody has read my editorials on a regular basis over the past few years they will know that I have been massively impressed by the Saints.

However, for Saints fans to claim that they are the bigger club is like Aqua claiming they are bigger than Abba just because they have more recent hits, it’s ridiculous.

Big club or not

Sorry for all the good work done by the likes of Nigel Adkins, Mauricio Pochettino and of course Ronald Koeman, Southampton cannot come near the history…

Valencia midfielder David Silva, who has been sidelined for over three months due to an ankle injury that required surgery, has been called up for the club s match at home Saturday against Espanyol.

The 22-year-old, one of the best players in Spain s European championship winning squad this year, was operated on his left ankle in mid-September, one month after he picked up the injury.

I am feeling fine even though I am probably missing match fitness at the moment. But whether I play will depend on the coach, of course, he told sports daily Marca earlier on Friday.

I will be back to the way I was before the injury, if not better and I cannot wait to be able to help the team again, he added.

Silva sparked interest from clubs like Manchester United and …

Manchester United and Tottenham are Gareth Bale s only realistic options for a move back to the Premier League, says Ian Rush.

Bale looks to be out of favour at Real Madrid, having failed to establish himself in Los Blancos side since Zinedine Zidane made his return to the club.

The Wales forward was an unused substitute in Madrid s final-day defeat to Real Betis, with Zidane claiming afterwards he would not have brought the 29-year-old on even if he had more changes available.

Madrid have since spent big money on bringing in Eden Hazard to fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo, with Luka Jovic also joining from Eintracht Frankfurt to further bolster their attacking options.

Bale s future at the club looks firmly in doubt, though his agent has suggeste…

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer labelled Manchester City the best team in England after Manchester United were drawn to face their rivals in the EFL Cup semi-finals.

Manchester United claimed a 3-0 win over Colchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday to get through their last-eight meeting.

Solskjaer s men recorded an upset derby victory over City in the Premier League earlier this month and the teams will meet again across two legs in January.

The Norwegian said Pep Guardiola s men, who have won back-to-back Premier League titles but are off the pace this season, were England s best.

[They will be] fantastic days in Manchester. They re the best team in England and we re confident going into the semi-final, Solskjaer said.

A Manchester derby awaits in th…