Real Madrid on Tuesday confirmed the signing of Serbia striker Luka Jovic from Eintracht Frankfurt for a fee reported to be €60million.

Jovic became one of Europe s most in-demand players after scoring 17 Bundesliga goals and a further 10 in Eintracht s run to the semi-finals of the Europa League in 2018-19.

The Bundesliga club have made a massive profit on the 21-year-old as they only trigged a purchase option in his loan deal from Benfica for a reported €6m in April.

He certainly comes highly recommended by those who know him best.

Milos Ninkovic  Jovic s former team-mate at Red Star Belgrade

He is such a nice guy. [At] 16 years old, to play for such a big club in Serbia is unbelievable, Ninkovic, who now plays for A-League …

Philippe Coutinho says he is unsure where he will be playing next season as speculation continues to mount over his Barcelona future.

The Brazil international had an underwhelming first full campaign at Camp Nou, contributing five LaLiga goals and two assists.

Coutinho acknowledged earlier this week he needs to improve to justify his hefty price tag, with Barcelona paying a fee that could rise to £142million to sign him from Liverpool in January 2018.

Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain are rumoured to be interested in the 27-year-old, but he is keeping his attention on helping Brazil to Copa America glory on home soil.

I do not know. The future, nobody knows, Coutinho told reporters when asked if he will leave Barcelona.

I am focused to…

Prediction: Draw

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Happy New Year one and all! It s safe to say that 2019 has been one hell of a year for us all, and in the world of football, 2020 looks set to be even crazier with everything from the Summer Olympics to UEFA Euro 2020 and beyond. Before all that, though, there s still a whole half of the season to go in the domestic leagues all across the land including in the Premier League. Today, we ll be looking at a pretty intriguing game up in the North East as Newcastle United host high-flying Leicester City.

Newcastle

From their aerial presence to their strong structure, Newcastle United have been much better than anyone was really expecting them to be over the course of the last few months. Steve Bruce has turned a neg…

Bundesliga sides Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburger SV are reportedly in the chase for Corinthians forward Paolo Guerrero, .

The experienced striker recently expressed his desire to return to Europe, putting himself in the shopping window ahead of the final week of transfer dealings in top European leagues.

Bild has learned that Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg are showing interest in the 31-year-old, who has already left his mark on German Bundesliga.

Paolo Guerrero began his professional career at Bayern Munich, where he scored 10 goals in 27 league outings before joining Hamburg.

The striker went on to make 134 league appearances for the Red Shorts, but left the club on a bad note, following several much publicized incidents.

Guerrero left Germany to …

Mohamed Salah will be the Liverpool player to watch as Jurgen Klopp leaves the club, with Stephen Warnock wondering if the superstar winger s sale might represent an opportunity in the Anfield rebuild.

Hugely popular Liverpool manager Klopp announced last week this season will be his last at Liverpool, departing after almost nine years on Merseyside.

Klopp s coaching staff are following him out of the club, while sporting director Jorg Schmadtke is to exit at the end of the January transfer window.

The shock announcement of Klopp s decision leaves Liverpool with lots to do before the next campaign, and calls may have to be made around some of the key men who have made the manager s tenure such a success.

For Warnock, who played for the Reds under Rafael B…

Barcelona will go into the FIFA Club World Cup as favourites to win the competition for the first time, but winger Lionel Messi says they must learn the lessons from their last involvement.

The Club World Cup is the only international honour missing from Barcelona s well-stocked trophy cabinet after their previous attempt to win it, in 2006, ended in a 1-0 defeat to Brazilian side Internacional.

I think the most important lesson we ve learned is not to be over-confident and to get to know our opponents in depth, said Messi, in an interview with the FIFA website on the eve of the December 9-19 tournament here.

The last time we maybe thought that the other sides were a bit below us and that s something we can t afford to let happen again if we want to be champio…

The winner of the Ballon d Or was finally announced on Monday, but the man who claimed the trophy has been widely accepted for months. Sort-of-new prize, same old story.

There will be no red-carpet gala to honour the victor this time, thanks to the end of FIFA and France Football s joint venture; no global broadcast of the glum-faced holder, Lionel Messi on this occasion, handing over the prize to Cristiano Ronaldo in a ninth round of pass the parcel at the pinnacle of football s individual standings.

Messi s disappointment will be just as real, though. More so, perhaps, as we may never see his name on the golden ball again.

In January, after winning for an unprecedented fifth time, he said: It s incredible and it s much more than anything I could have dreamed…

Pep Guardiola felt guilty that Manchester City misfired against Southampton but stressed it was not because they failed to sign a new striker. 

The Premier League champions were held to a goalless draw by Saints at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and only registered one shot on target, that attempt coming from Phil Foden in the 90th minute. 

Guardiola had infuriated some supporters by calling on more to turn up for the top-flight clash after a crowd of 38,062 attended the 6-3 Champions League thumping of RB Leipzig in midweek. 

There were 52,698 watching the stalemate against Southampton and Guardiola felt responsible as City were unable to put on a show. 

[The fans] come to see a show, to see a game. When it doesn t happen I feel a bit guilty beca…

Diego Costa has been compared to Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero by Atletico Madrid team-mate Filipe Luis.

Costa has scored an outstanding 30 goals in 40 matches for Diego Simeone s side this season, keeping Atletico in the hunt for domestic and European silverware.

The Spain international scored the only goal of the game against Espanyol on Saturday to keep Atletico hot on the heels of city rivals Real Madrid in the La Liga title race.

And Luis believes Costa s ability to produced a moment of magic when it really mattes is reminiscent of former Atletico striker Aguero who joined City in 2011 after five years at Vicente Calderon.

Every time we seem to get stuck, Diego proves to be decisive, he told Marca.

He always manages to create chances from not…

Market: Aston Villa win

Odds: 3/4 @

Looking to extend on their Champions League charge on Saturday evening, Aston Villa will make the trip to Kenilworth Road when they meet Luton.

Starting with the hosts, crashing out of the FA Cup earlier in the week following a 6-2 drumming at the hands of Manchester City, it is no secret that Luton are tipped as a leading contender to be hit with an immediate Championship return. While Rob Edwards’ men might have gained plenty of plaudits from across England’s top-flight this season, the Hatters are enduring a real crisis. Last seen in Premier League action suffering a collapse at Anfield as they slumped to a 4-1 loss against Liverpool, the former Watford boss has a real job on his hands at Kenilworth Road. Opening Saturd…