Lee Charnley has left his role as managing director at Newcastle United following the club s lucrative takeover.

Charnley worked his way through the ranks at St James Park across 22 years, holding positions before, during and briefly after Mike Ashley s unpopular tenure.

With Ashley increasingly absent from the day-to-day running at Newcastle, Charnley took on increased responsibilities while still reporting back to the owner.

He remained in his role initially when a consortium backed by Saudi Arabia s Public Investment Fund bought the club for £305million last month.

Although reports this week indicated Charnley had hopes of remaining at Newcastle, his departure was confirmed on Friday.

can confirm that Lee Charnley has left the club following …

Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta says promising youngster Marc Muniesa will be promoted to the first team next season.

Muniesa, 19, is a product of the illustrious Barcelona youth academy, and has already made 61 league appearances for the club s reserve team.

The defender is now expected to join the senior side in 2012/13, with Zubizarreta confident the youngster is ready to make the next step in his career.

He (Muniesa) will be part of Pep Guardiola s squad next term, Zubizarreta said in an interview with RAC1 this week.

Muniesa made his first-team debut in May 2009 at the age of 17, but was shown a straight red card during his first official appearance.

The centre-back is contracted to Barca until the end of 2013/14 season.

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According to , Xavi Hernandez could yet change his mind about leaving his position as the Barcelona head coach at the end of the season.

Xavi s announcement appears to have relieved the pressure off the shoulders of his players, and his ability to find the right balance between the experience of players like Robert Lewandowski and Ilkay Gundogan, along with the youth and talent of Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi has yielded excellent results. Though still eight points behind Real Madrid in the La Liga standings, the Catalans have come close to booking a place in the semifinals of the Champions League after their victory over Paris Saint-Germain in France this week, which is probably more than many expected of them in this competition only a few months ago.

Club president J…

Jordan Henderson is reluctant to compare Liverpool s table-toppers to the class that almost won the title in the 2013-14 season.

The Reds were in devastating form to hammer Watford 6-1 at Anfield on Sunday, with Sadio Mane (2), Philippe Coutinho, Emre Can, Roberto Firmino and Georginio Wijnaldum all on target.

It sent Liverpool top of the Premier League for the first time since May 2014, when they narrowly lost out on the crown to Manchester City under Brendan Rodgers.

However, captain Henderson remains keen to temper expectations at Anfield despite Jurgen Klopp s men being in sublime form.

I don t like comparing teams, he said. The past is the past. 

I feel this is a very good team with good players, but you don t get anything for being top …

Belgium have confirmed the appointment of former Everton boss Roberto Martinez to succeed Marc Wilmots.

The Spaniard was dismissed by Everton in May just before the end of a disappointing Premier League campaign, bringing to an end his three-year spell at Goodison Park.

He will take charge of a Belgium side who failed to live up to the pre-tournament hype at Euro 2016, suffering a 3-1 quarter-final exit at the hands of Wales.

Our new head coach: Roberto Martínez !

— BelgianRedDevils (@BelRedDevils)

That led to Wilmots losing his job as Belgium sought a new direction for their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.

In Martinez they have turned to a man whose entire managerial career has been spent in England.

Having started out…

Hakim Ziyech s official Chelsea debut will have to wait for at least a couple of weeks after Frank Lampard confirmed the new signing has a knee injury.

Media reports began circulating on Wednesday suggesting Morocco international Ziyech was a doubt for Monday s trip to Brighton and Hove Albion for the Blues Premier League opener.

Ziyech arrived from Ajax in pre-season after a £33.3million deal had been agreed last term, with the forward boosting his reputation in 2018-19 after a number of impressive performances en route to the Champions League semi-finals.

But Chelsea fans will have to wait a bit longer to see him in competitive action, as Lampard confirmed the reports he has sustained an injury.

Ziyech s fellow new signings Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwel…

Sydney FC have announced the signing of Australia defender Ryan McGowan.

The A-League champions confirmed the 29-year-old, who spent the second half of the 2018-19 season with Dundee, has joined on a two-year deal.

McGowan will play in the A-League for the first time in his career and could face his younger brother, Dylan, who has joined rivals Western Sydney Wanderers.

And the centre-back, who has spent much of his career in Scotland, is looking forward to teaming up with former Socceroos team-mate Alex Wilkinson.

I m excited to be coming back to Australia and to be playing my first Hyundai A-League football,” McGowan told Sydney FC s official website.

It s a brilliant opportunity, especially to be joining the reigning A-League champion…

Monaco midfielder Jeremy Toulalan is on the radar of Serie A giants Inter Milan, .

Following yet another disappointing season, the Nerazzurri are expected to invest heavily in the summer transfer window and the French footballer is one of the players they are looking at.

The 31-year-old returned to France a year and a half ago as he left Malaga for Monaco, and he is still held in high regard by Europe s top sides.

Toulalan is hoping to reignite his international career having last featured for France at the 2010 World Cup and a move to Italian Serie A could help.

The experienced midfielder made a name for himself at Lyon, making 128 league appearances for les Gones, while he also enjoyed two successful seasons with Malaga.

Toulalan returned to Fr…

30th June 2012

European Championship 2012 has fully lived up to the expectations and the final between reigning champions Spain and resurgent Italy is certainly worthy of the occasion. La Furia Roja are on the road to become the first ever national team to win three major competitions in a row, but the Azzurri are there to make sure they are the ones to enter the history books instead.

If Spain have been thoroughly impressive at the Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup, we cannot really say they reached the Euro 2012 final in style. La Furia Roja were forced to grind out results in group stage and they were on the verge of elimination for most of the game against Croatia. Following the comfortable victory over France in the quarter-finals, Vincent del Bosque’s side were a…

Sebastian Ariosa has emerged victorious from a legal battle with former employers Club Olimpia after the Paraguayan outfit suspended him while he was suffering from cancer.

The Uruguayan joined Olimpia in 2011 and was contracted until 2015, but was diagnosed with the disease in 2013.

Olimpia subsequently suspended his contract until he was fit to return, leading to lengthy legal proceedings which culminated in the Court of Arbitration for Sport finding in the player s favour on Tuesday, as confirmed in a statement by FIFPro, the world players union.

Ariosa has now fully recovered from the illness, and is back in his homeland playing for Defensor Sporting.

FIFPro is pleased to announce a major legal victory has been awarded to Uruguayan footballer, Seba…