Franck Kessie will not stay in Serie A, but instead will be forming part of Xavi s rebuild at Barcelona.

After a long contract saga at Milan, the Ivorian midfielder will reportedly leave the Serie A title contenders at the end of the season on a free transfer.

The 25-year-old will be the last player to leave from Milan s notorious splurge of 2017, which saw the club nearly break the €200million mark on over 10 players.

TOP STORY – KESSIE SET FOR BARCELONA MOVE 

Those who have followed Franck Kessie s contract situation with Milan will be aware a €6.5million salary was his reported benchmark. Milan have been reticent to pay that figure gross, but Barcelona are said to be willing to pay it net.

Protracted contract renegotiations between …

Best odds: 13/20

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The Carabao Cup is well underway in England, and in the third round, Norwich City will welcome Liverpool to Carrow Road on Tuesday evening.

These two teams have already met at the same venue in the opening round of the Premier League campaign. The Merseysiders won that day by 0-3, courtesy of goals from Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah.

Norwich City

Following that defeat to Liverpool, Norwich were thrashed 5-0 away to Manchester City, before achieving their only win of the season so far a 6-0 win over Bournemouth in the second round of the Carabao Cup. Their Premier League woes quickly continued afterwards as they suffered defeats at home against Leicester City 1-2, 1-0 away to Arsenal, and 1-3 at home against Wa…

Few would be surprised if Manchester City and Liverpool, the Premier League s two dominant teams, each won their five remaining matches this season.

Liverpool have 12 victories in 13 games, with their sole aberration a 2-2 draw against City.

Yet that run will not be enough to take the title should City themselves continue to win, maintaining a tiny one-point gap that represents a chasm in this rivalry.

Perhaps the distraction of huge Champions League tasks could instead encourage one side or the other to take their eyes off the prize – or maybe a Premier League rival can provide an upset.

Liverpool must still tackle two of the other three opponents to have taken points off City this term (Tottenham and Southampton) but first face a team transformed sinc…

Mesut Ozil s agent has revealed the exiled midfielder will not leave Arsenal in January and insists his client has every intention of seeing out the remainder of his contract. 

Ozil was omitted from Mikel Arteta s Premier League and Europa League squads in October and cannot be selected again for first-team action until at least January when changes to the player lists can be made. 

The former Real Madrid midfielder, a club-record signing when he joined for a reported £42million in 2013, has not made an appearance since March 7.

Ozil s influence has waned since providing 19 assists and creating 28 big chances in 35 Premier League outings during the 2015-16 season, setting up nine, eight, two and two goals in the following four campaigns respectively. 

…

Best Odds: 19/20

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Desperate to make a crucial return to winning ways on Saturday afternoon, Manchester United will welcome Wolves to Old Trafford.

Manchester United

Starting with the hosts, while Manchester United might still find themselves sat in pole position to book a Champions League return this season, they are enduring what has been a recent blip. Last seen putting in another downbeat display as they suffered a 1-0 loss away at West Ham, Erik ten Hag’s side have suffered back-to-back Premier League defeats and there is some growing pressure on the former Ajax boss. Mustering just a single victory from any of their last four top-flight appearances and opening May with another 1-0 defeat at the hands of Brighton, United will know that they are …

Tyrell Malacia has signed for Manchester United from Feyenoord in a deal that is reportedly worth up to £15million.

The Netherlands international becomes the long-awaited first signing of the Erik ten Hag era at Old Trafford, following a slew of exits under the Dutchman.

Malacia will now join up with his countryman at United and is expected to offer competition to England defender Luke Shaw and Brazil s Alex Telles in the left-back role going forward, having signed a four-year contract with an option for a further season.

The 22-year-old was reported to be moving for a £13m (€15.1m) fee, with just shy of £2m in add-ons. Reports in the Netherlands claim Feyenoord will receive a percentage of any future sale, too.

It s an incredible feeling to ha…

Mikel Arteta condemned Arsenal s repeated mistakes after another damaging defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday.

The Gunners seven match unbeaten run in the Premier League came to an end at Wolves in midweek when both David Luiz and Bernd Leno were sent off.

And another loss swiftly followed against Villa after Cedric Soares gifted the only goal of the game to the home side, Ollie Watkins netting a scruffy effort from Bertrand Traore s centre.

Cedric s mistake was the sole error leading to a shot in the entire match, but it was a costly one.

Arsenal had 66.3 per cent of the possession and 14 shots to Villa s 12 yet only troubled the target three times, failing to create a single big chance from which Opta would expect the visitors to score.

Arteta tol…

England and Scotland will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first international football match with a repeat fixture at Glasgow s Hampden Park in 2023.

The two teams played out the inaugural game, officially considered the maiden encounter in the sport s international history by FIFA, on November 30, 1872.

As part of the celebrations marking 150 years since that 0-0 draw at Hamilton Crescent in Glasgow, they will face off in the same city next year on September 12.

Any meeting with Scotland is always special, England manager Gareth Southgate said.

Ourselves and Scotland are the oldest of rivals, and passions are sure to be high at Hampden.

But this milestone is much bigger than our two nations, as it is also an opportunity to celebrate 15…

Juventus star Leonardo Bonucci has expressed his admiration for outgoing Bianconeri and Italy team-mate Giorgio Chiellini.

Chiellini confirmed after the 4-2 Coppa Italia final loss to Inter in midweek that this season will be his last for Juve, who the 37-year-old has played for since 2004 and won 20 trophies during his time in Turin.

The veteran defender has already announced he will retire from international duty with Italy as well after a meeting with Argentina at Wembley Stadium on June 1.

It will be a fitting end for Chiellini after he lifted the Euro 2020 title at Wembley following a penalty shoot-out victory over England last July alongside long-time team-mate Bonucci.

Reports in Italy suggest Chiellini may opt to play in MLS before taking his va…

Borussia Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl allayed fears Marco Reus could miss the World Cup after the forward sustained an ankle injury against Schalke.

Reus struggles with injuries are well-documented, and it appeared he had suffered another devastating blow when he came off the field on a stretcher in the first half of Saturday s Revierderby.

The initial outlook for Reus, who was in tears as he left the pitch, was not positive, with Dortmund head coach Edin Terzic telling Sky Sport after the game: It looks as if the ligaments were injured. Of course, he was very disappointed and was in a lot of pain.

Reus was absent from Germany s victorious 2014 World Cup campaign with another ankle injury, but Kehl is confident he will be fit for the upcoming edit…