Man City academy will have Guardiola ´spoilt for choice´

Italian giants AS Roma have announced on their official website that they have signed Argentine defender Nicolas Spolli from Catania.

The Giallorossi have agreed to pay €1.5m for a six-month loan, while they have the option to make the deal permanent for additional €1.5m.

Roma officials turned to Spolli after they failed in their attempts to sign Younes Kaboul and Vlad Chiriches.

The 31-year-old had only represented two clubs in his career ahead of the switch to Stadio Olimpico, having begun his career at Newell s Old Boys and joined Catania in 2009.

Spoli has since made 132 Serie A appearances for the Elephants, while featuring in 16 Serie B fixtures this season.

The experienced stopper is expected to provide cover for Kostas Manolas, Davide…

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman thinks opponents Manchester City are used to coping with criticism as they go into Saturday s Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium under pressure.

Manuel Pellegrini s men are on a poor run having drawn with bottom-of-the-table Aston Villa before suffering consecutive defeats at the hands of Liverpool and Juventus.

Southampton lost to Stoke City last week, but that negative result came after an impressive eight-match unbeaten run in all competitions.

Koeman, though, does not feel his side have any major advantage going into the game, despite the scrutiny over City s form, and sympathised with Pellegrini s long injury list.

Teams like City are used to having that pressure about winning games and if you don t win …

Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker has sent a message to the club s young players as he prepares to become the new academy manager, saying: Talent means nothing to me .

The 32-year-old remains captain and has a year left on his playing contract at the Emirates Stadium, but the club confirmed in July he will take over as the head of youth development at the end of the 2017-18 season.

Arsene Wenger described Mertesacker as an inspirational figure for everyone connected with the academy when announcing his new role, and the former Germany international has already outlined his approach to bringing through the next generation.

Talent means nothing to me, it s all about hard work, Mertesacker told the Arsenal Magazine.

When asked about his attitude towards youn…

Everton s wait for a Europa League group stage win goes on after a dramatic late Hector Yuste goal secured an unlikely 2-2 draw for 10-man Apollon Limassol at Goodison Park.

The Toffees were thumped 3-0 by Atalanta in their first Group E game and never impressed against a resolute Apollon side.

Adrian Sardinero took advantage of some poor defending from Ashley Williams to give the visitors a deserved lead in the 12th minute before Wayne Rooney equalised after an equally shambolic piece of play from Yuste.
 
Nikola Vlasic, who replaced Idrissa Gueye at the break, then scored his first goal for the club midway through the second half, but, after having Valentin Roberge sent off late on, Apollon secured a point through Yuste s 88th-minute goal.

Everton will h…

Real Madrid were held scoreless in a LaLiga away game for the first time under Zinedine Zidane as their attacking concerns resurfaced in Saturday s 0-0 draw with city rivals Atletico Madrid.

The visitors struggled to create chances in battling to a second blank of the season and first on the road in 35 top-flight matches.

Zidane will be particularly concerned by the form of Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, the pair having now scored just twice between them from a combined 16 league appearances this term.

In addition to leaving the champions 10 points shy of Barcelona – a gap never previously overcome by any team in a LaLiga title race the stalemate means Los Blancos have scored 11 fewer goals than Ernesto Valverde s men over the opening 12 fixtures.