Liverpool to offer £50 voucher to fans with ´Coutinho 10´ shirts

Liverpool have announced they will compensate supporters who bought a 2017-18 replica shirt with Philippe Coutinho s name and number printed on the back, after a deal was agreed for the Brazilian to join Barcelona.

After five years at Anfield, Coutinho is set to join LaLiga leaders Barca on a five-and-a-half-year contract, subject to a medical.

Following confirmation on Saturday that a transfer agreement had been reached, Liverpool issued a statement confirming fans with Coutinho 10 shirts purchased from the club will be entitled to £50 vouchers.

Liverpool Football Club is to offer supporters who bought a 2017-18 replica shirt printed with Philippe Coutinho s name and number a £50 voucher, once the move is completed, read the statement.

The offer â€â€¦

Watford for promotion and England to dominate world football. What are your hopes and fears?

As we get ever closer to the next football season I thought it would be worth having a look at the hopes, fears and expectations that I have about what lies ahead. Can we expect the best or the worst? Will we be dancing in the streets or crying into our beer?

Hopes

Firstly, I hope that Watford are promoted to the Premier League, get promotion in the Wiltshire League (I coach them!) and the Premiership is a feast of flowing, attacking football. I hope that at least six clubs are in the title race and that once again an English team wins the Champions League. (It would be nice if the rest of Europe could provide some decent opposition this year! :))

I hope England are unstoppable in the World Cup qualifiers and play a brand of football that has the rest of the wo…

Ballack laughs off Fergie age taunts

Star midfielder Michael Ballack said he had nothing left to prove in the latter part of his career and backed Chelsea s 30-somethings to have the last laugh over Manchester United s Alex Ferguson.

The 31-year-old newly-wed dismissed Ferguson s comments about Chelsea s age as pre-season chatter, insisting there was still room for improvement under new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Our team can still improve. If you are 30 or 31 you are not old, said Ballack after joining Chelsea s tour here.

Last year Maka (Claude Makelele) was 34 and he played very well. I have nothing to prove, this type of thing happens over the summer, people talking about each other.

And Ballack said new signing Deco, 30, could prove the difference as Chelsea aim to make up for nar…

Torres wants silverware

On his return from Euro 2008 yesterday Fernando Torres has promised to win trophies for Liverpool this season.

He was commenting on the fact that the trophy he won with Spain at Euro 2008 was the first and he added that he hoped that it wouldnÂ’t be the last either.

The twenty four year old who scored thirty three goals during the 2007/8 campaign praised his manager Rafa Benitez for the assistance that he gave him in his development during the season which went a long way to assisting him and Spain to win the European Championship.

Torres concluded by saying that he was desperate for Liverpool to win their first of hopefully many trophies to come.

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Spain 3-0 Norway: Three Things We Learned

Spain battered Norway 3-0 over the weekend to give themselves a great start to UEFA Euro 2024 qualification.

Countries across the continent have spent the last few days kickstarting their road to Germany. Some will obviously favour themselves to succeed more so than others, but this part of the process always throws up a few surprises.

We didn t see any on Saturday, though, as the Spaniards tore through Norway with ruthless efficiency. Today, we ll be taking a look at a few of our biggest takeaways from the action.

The unspoken hero

It s always important to bring through new talent, and more often than not, it s younger talent. However, former Newcastle and Stoke forward Joselu broke that trend in this particular encounter. The 32-year-old, who is the oldest pl…

Conte challenges Barkley to earn World Cup place

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has challenged Ross Barkley to earn a place in the England squad for the World Cup following his move to Stamford Bridge.

The 24-year-old completed a transfer to the Premier League champions from Everton last Friday for a reported fee of £15million, despite having missed all of 2017-18 so far while he recovers from hamstring surgery.

Barkley last played for his country in a 2-1 friendly win over Australia in May 2016, but Conte hopes he can produce a level of form this season that will earn him a recall from Gareth Southgate.

We are talking about a player with great talent, he said. Before this bad injury he was with the national team.

I think we have five months to show he deserves a call with the national team for the World…

John Guidetti joins Deportivo Alaves

Celta striker John Guidetti moved to La Liga rivals Deportivo Alaves on loan until the end of the season.

The 25-year-old Swedish international is hoping to revive his career following a disappointing start to the season at Celta which saw him make only 8 La Liga appearances in the 2017/18 season.

Guidetti was expected to spearhead Celta’s attack this campaign but the towering Swede suffered a collarbone injury during preseason which ruled him out for almost two months into the new campaign. Having successfully recovered from injury, he struggled to get back into the squad.

Former Manchester City forward is hoping to gain regular playing time that would boost his chances of making it into Sweden’s World Cup squad.

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El Glorioso are enduring a…

Arnautovic: I want to stay in England

Wherever Marko Arnautovic plays next season, the Stoke City forward wants it to be in the Premier League.

But the Austria international, currently away on international duty at Euro 2016, refused to commit to Stoke with his contract set to expire in 2017.

That might mean Stoke will sell him during the transfer window, should they not be able to negotiate an extension, rather than lose him for nothing at the end of the next season.

I cannot say if I will stay there or not. First of all I want to play a strong European Championships, stay fit and then we will see where I play next season, Arnautovic said.

I cannot rule anything out but my goal is to stay in England.

I feel very comfortable there and I ve performed well. There I would be accepted…

Buffon sets Italy bar high

Italy captain Gianluigi Buffon believes that anything less than a quarter-final appearance at the FIFA World Cup would be a failure.

Goalkeeper Buffon helped Italy win the 2006 World Cup, while they also reached the UEFA Euro 2012 final before losing to Spain.

The 36-year-old is confident that his team have the ability to cause upsets throughout the tournament and praised their ability to avoid surprise defeats.

Buffon said on Wednesday: From the quarter-finals onwards we can say it has been a good World Cup and a positive tournament.

But naturally you are never fully satisfied. I don t feel as if I can say today with certainty that we can reach the final.

I think that our national team has become one that is reliable and that manages to win the matches it …

Keane makes Liverpool debut in friendly draw

Robbie Keane made his Liverpool debut in a 0-0 friendly draw at Villarreal on Wednesday night following a 20 million-pound (40 million-dollar) transfer from Tottenham Hotspur.

The forward s future had been in the balance since the end of last season with Spurs initially reluctant to let the Irishman leave and lodging a formal complaint when Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez admitted his interest in the player before finally being persuaded to sell by the size of Liverpool s offer.

The deal went through on the same day Benitez and his squad flew out to Spain for this game, the latest stage of the Premier League club s pre-season build-up. Having pursued the striker for so long, the Reds boss wasted no time unveiling his new signing.

And the sight of Keane a self-c…