Arda Turan 100 per cent fit to play vs Manchester City

The Turkish player completed the full training session and can start against City if Lucho wants him to.

Arda Turan has recovered totally from the pain in his right foot that kept him out of the squad against Granada.

Luis Enrique saw the Turk complete the full training session on Monday at the Etihad Stadium, without any sign of the injury which he sustained after a hard tackle by Martin Demichelis in the Catalan Super Cup in Tarragona. 

SPORT have found out that he finished the session feeling good and is available if Luis Enrique wants to pick him to replace the injured Andres Iniesta. The coach has various options on the table, including Rafinha, Denis Suarez and Andre Gomes. 

On Monday the Asturian coach said that he would take the decision after the training session before the game on Tuesday night. 

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Marcus Rashford picks his most important goal for Manchester United

Give Marcus Rashford his debut and there is a pretty good chance he'll score.

The young striker has found the net on his first appearance for Manchester United, England U-21's and the senior international side all in the last eight months.

On top of that, he can also boast having scored on his debut in the Europa League, Premier League, Manchester derby and EFL Cup.

Rashford is still just 18-years-old but he already has 14 senior goals across all competitions for club and country.

But of those 14 - 13 of which have come for the Red Devils - which one holds the greatest significance for the new English star?

The arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the summer meant Rashford dropped down the pecking order under Jose Mourinho and found early season opportunities hard to come by.

Nevertheless, Rashford grabbed every chance he was given and scored the late winner against Hull a few weeks ago with virtually the last kick of the game.

When describing the 92nd-minute strike, Rashford - perhaps surprisingly - hailed it as the 'most important' goal of his United career to date.

“It was a different moment for me and I don’t think I’ve scored one so late in the game before,” Rashford told United Review.

“It was an amazing feeling to be with the travelling fans as well, a brilliant feeling. It was instinct to go into the crowd in moments like that. You don’t think about it, you just do it!

“I feel like that was the most important goal for me, to get the winner in the last minute away from home. I like the feeling that it gave me and I want more. But on an emotional side the debut goal against Midtjylland is still at the top of the list for me.”

As dramatic as it was, you might have expected his winning goal against rivals Manchester City at the Etihad back in March to pip the close-range finish versus the Tigers.

Rashford did discuss becoming the youngest ever goalscorer in a Manchester derby and revealed that the piece of skill used to take the ball past Martin Demichelis was premeditated.

He added: “We were attacking and then they were attacking. I think they had a bit more of the ball but they weren’t really threatening us. There were two times before the goal when I got on a one-v-one with him Martin Demichelis and he just nicked the ball off me. I knew what I needed to do the next time I got the ball so I did it.

“Then I was against the keeper Joe Hart and it was just about relaxing, composing myself and that was what I did. After it went in, the fans were too far away but it was a good feeling with everyone coming towards you. To win the game 1-0 as well, to hold out as a team was great.”

Manchester City splash the cash on mega defensive line-up

With their 56 million euro signing of John Stones this week, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City made headlines by converting the Everton centre-back into the most expensive defender in English football history.

However, this shelling out of major cash is merely the evolution of a trend at City, who are currently under the reign of highly-rated coach Guardiola, whose spell at Bayern Munich yielded Bundesliga dominance but no European silverware.

Buying Stones brings the Sky Blues' spending on their back line over the last decade to the whopping sum of over 300 million euros.

No less than 19 players have come to the club for the purposes of defending the Man City goal, many of whom have become forgotten names.

Nicolas Otamendi, Eliaquim Mangala, Martin Demichelis, Maicon, Aleksandar Kolarov, Gael Clichy, Jerome Boateng, and Joleon Lescott are among the notable mentions in this illustrious list, which despite all the resources dedicated to it, has yet to produce a solid defensive identity.

This season, the Catalan boss' priority has been shoring up that problem area, with his eyes on Spaniards Dani Carvajal and Aymeric Laporte to fill in some important gaps.

Nonetheless, those prospects withered and Guardiola's attention became fixed on Stones, who is his kind of defender: one who can play the ball.

The former Barcelona coach's teams are known for being stingey with the ball and rarely allowing other teams a chance to score; while known for their possession play they have always featured high-line defending.

Certainly, a change will be welcome, as last season City's goals against tally was the worst of the top six Premier League clubs.

Football Transfer Rumors: Man City close to signing £50M-rated John Stones, set to outbid EPL rivals Man United, Chelsea for Everton defender

Manchester City is reportedly close to signing Everton defender John Stones for £50 million this summer as they are set to outbid English Premier League rivals Manchester United and Chelsea.

The Sun reported that incoming Man City head coach Pep Guardiola is "confident" that the club "has won the £50 million transfer scrap" for the 22-year-old English center back over their more illustrious competitors, the Red Devils and Blues, as the Citizens are currently short on defenders following the release of veteran center back Martin Demichelis earlier this month.

Team captain Vincent Kompany, who also plays center back for the squad, is still sidelined by injury at the moment and there are still no reports about the Belgian's estimated return to the pitch.

Stones almost left Merseyside to transfer to the Stamford Bridge in London last summer when then Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho tried to snag him away from Everton. The Toffees remained firm in their decision not to let go of the Barnsley, England native, though, and so they kept him for one more season.

This time, with Mourinho now the head coach of United, the Portuguese mentor is still a fan of the young center back and is rumored to be planning on making an offer for Stones once more this offseason.

Meanwhile, Caught Offside noted that the Stones is "the perfect fit" for Guardiola because of the Englishman's high IQ and skills on the defensive end of the pitch. His "ability on the ball to play out from the back" is said to be highly essential to the former Barça and Bavarian manager.

Everton received three bids from Chelsea last summer - a £20 million, £26 million and £30 million offer - and all were turned down by the Toffees. The 6-foot-2 defender said to have also submitted a request to exit Goodison Park, but it was also denied by the club.

Stones has just finished his third season with the Toffees after he was acquired from Barnsley FC in January 2013 for a reported transfer fee of only £3 million. He spent the second half of the 2012-2013 season as an unused substitute for Everton and made his Premier League debut in August of that year during the following season.

In three years so far with the club, Stones had appeared in 95 games in all competitions and managed to score a single goal during the said time span.

Argentina 23 For 2016 Copa America Team

MIAMI, FL, Sporting Alert – Here is the Argentina 23-man final team roster for the 2016 Copa America tournament in the United States from June 3-26.

There are doubts over whether Lionel Messi will be available for the start tournament, after the Barcelona forward left last Friday’s friendly international contest against Honduras in the 64th minute with back pains.

It was later revealed that he has suffered from a deep lumbar hematoma.

The 28-year-old revealed this week that those pains have been slowly decreasing, but it is still uncertain as to whether he would be ready in time for his country’s opening group match against Chile on June 6, which is a rematch of the 2015 Copa America final.

Also included in the star-studded Argentine squad are Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero, Napoli FC’s Gonzalo Higuain, Nicolas Gaitan of Benfica and Paris Saint-Germain attacker Angel Di Maria.

The heavy weighted midfield list includes Barcelona’s Javier Mascherano, Sevilla Ever Banega, Lucas Biglia of Lazio and Javier Pastore of Paris Saint-Germain.

English Premier League defenders Nicolas Otamendi of Manchester City and Marcos Rojo from Manchester United are also listed in the squad, with Manchester United backup keeper Sergio Romero also securing a place.

Missing out are Geronimo Real Sociedad goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, Enzo Perez of Valencia, Boca Juniors forward Carlos Tevez, defender Ezequiel Garay of Zenit St. Petersburg and Manchester United centre-back Martin Demichelis.

Argentina will play in Group D of the tournament against with Chile, Bolivia, and Panama.

Argentina Full Squad For The 2016 Copa America:

Goalkeeper: Andujar, Mariano (Estudiantes La Plata); Guzman, Nahuel (Tigres UANL); Romero, Sergio (Manchester United)

Defenders: Cuesta, Victor (Independiente); Funes Mori, Ramiro (Everton); Maidana, Jonathan (River Plate); Mercado, Gabriel (River Plater); Otamendi, Nicolas (Manchester City); Rojo, Marcos (Manchester United); Roncaglia, Facundo (Fiorentina)

Midfielder: Banega, Ever (Sevilla / Spain)M – Biglia, Lucas (Lazio / Italy)M – Fernandez, Augusto (Atletico Madrid); Kranevitter, Matias (Atletico Madrid); Mascherano, Javier (Barcelona); Pastore, Javier (Paris Saint-Germain)

Forward: Messi, Lionel (Barcelona); Aguero, Sergio (Manchester City); Higuain, Gonzalo (Napoli); Lamela, Erik (Tottenham Hotspur); Di Maria, Angel (Paris Saint-Germain); Gaitan, Nicolas (Benfica); Lavezzi, Ezequiel (Hebeir China Tortune)

Footballers 'unable to function' properly due to gambling fears - study

Premier League footballers' performances are suffering due to worries related to gambling, according to a study reported in the Daily Telegraph.

The newspaper reports that Graeme Law, of the University of Chester, interviewed 34 current and former professional footballers, including international and Premier League players.

Law carried out the research as part of his PhD study, titled "Pay and conditions in professional football," and will present his conclusions at the British Sociological Association's annual conference in Birmingham on Thursday.

"Players were unable to function to the level expected, and this leads to resentment in the team about their gambling," Law said.

"Players gamble as a way of relieving the boredom on journeys to away games and after training on preseason tours. Contrary to popular opinion, their actions are heavily regulated and constrained, so they get easily bored.

"Previous gambling environments were more social and encouraged group interaction, whereas the internet now allows gambling to be done in private."

One Premier League player told Law: "I have lost a lot and I had a stinker because it's all I thought about during the game."

On Wednesday, Press Association Sport reported that Manchester City defender Martin Demichelis will not contest a Football Association charge over alleged betting offences.

Demichelis, 35, is accused of 12 breaches of FA rule E8 concerning matches played between Jan. 22 and 28 this year.

English FA to ask FIFA to research dementia link to football

LONDON — The English Football Association will ask FIFA to investigate whether former players have dementia as a consequence of brain damage from playing the game.

Three members of England’s 1966 World Cup squad — Martin Peters, Nobby Stiles, Ray Wilson — have Alzheimer’s, family members told Saturday’s Daily Mirror newspaper.

Concerns have grown in Britain about the impact of head injuries after campaigning by the family of former England striker Jeff Astle, whose death in 2002 was attributed to repeatedly heading heavy, leather balls.

English FA medical head Ian Beasley is seeking assistance from world soccer’s governing body to help determine if there are definitive long-term health dangers from playing the game, and if prospective players should be warned.

“We are taking some research questions to FIFA imminently to ask, ‘Can you help us in trying to find out if dementia is more common in ex-professional footballers?’” Beasley told The Associated Press on Saturday.

“The trouble is we just don’t know ... it’s a massive undertaking to try and decide whether there’s an association between having played professional football and cognitive decline, dementia you might call it commonly — brain damage causing functional impairment over time. We just don’t know. It’s always tempting to say ‘It must be.’ But we’re not sure.”

Last year, the U.S. Soccer Federation recommended a ban on headers for players 10 and under in a bid to address concerns about the impact of head injuries.

Beasley, who is also the England team doctor, wants researchers to assess whether the severity of any brain damage depends on which position the person played, how many games they played, and at which level.

“The hope is (FIFA) will tell us one way or another,” Beasley said. “This is a health and safety issue in the end, and that’s what it will come down to. You may still want to be a professional footballer but at least we can advise you what the chances are of something irreversible happening to you.”

FIFA chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak was not aware of the FA seeking specific research into links between footballers’ brain trauma and dementia.

“We have very little evidence that would substantiate that assumption for football players,” Dvorak told the AP at the Football Medicine Strategies conference in London. “But that’s the reason why we are also studying the long-term changes of former professional male and female footballers. Not only for brain dysfunction but also early onset of osteoarthritis.

“We are looking at the long-term changes without having any suspicions yet.”