Chelsea

Sina Sports have claimed the enigmatic Shanghai owner will hold a meeting in Singapore with Drogba’s two French agents and his Chinese deputy.

The 34-year-old Ivory Coast forward has long been linked with a big-money move to China when his current contract expires at the end of this season, following former Chelsea team-mate Nicolas Anelka’s switch to the Shanghai outfit.

It has been reported that Drogba, who scored in Saturday’s 2-1 FA Cup triumph over Liverpool, would be offered almost €250,000 per season by Shenhua on a two-year contract.

Drogba’s agent Thierno Seidy had told L’Equipe in late April that Drogba had “a lot of offers from everywhere”.

However, just last week Anelka revealed Drogba had made up his mind on his future, but hadn’t made it public because it was inconvenient as he bids for an improved new deal with Chelsea.

“Even if Drogba finally chooses to stay with Chelsea, that can only prove Drogba himself wanted to stay and Chelsea also wanted to keep him,” Anelka told Chinese media according to the Daily Mail.

“If Drogba cannot come to Shanghai, then there are no regrets because the world still has many other fine players.”

Inter Milan

Stramaccioni, 36, replaced Claudio Ranieri in March having been promoted from the club’s Under-19s side after leading them to the inaugural NextGen Series title.

The young coach has since won five, drawn two and lost one of his eight games in charge of Inter, and masterminded a resounding 4-2 victory over city rivals AC Milan, ending their title hopes in the processs.

Inter are now level on points with fifth-placed Napoil, who hold the last Europa League qualifying spot, with one game left to play.

When asked if Stramaccioni deserved to remain in charge of the team in the future, Moratti told Inter’s official website:”Yes I believe so.

“In any case when we signed him in a gesture which he considered to be mad, in reality, in my opinion, it was an intelligent solution and hence, I believe we can continue like this.

“He is a young guy that nevertheless seems to have an experience that allows him to do things well.” he said, according to soccernet.

AC Milan

The Rossoneri failed to retain their Serie A title from the previous campaign as they ended up losing the race for the Scudetto to a resurgent Juventus, leading to rumours surfacing that the club had run out of patience with the former Cagliari boss.

However, in response to the claims, Berlusconi told reporters: “[Allegri] has a two-year contract with us. I see no reason why there are all these discussions about his future.”

Berlusconi then expressed his opinion on Milan’s title challenge this season, and felt his side had a 19th league triumph in their grasp but allowed the Old Lady to work their way back into contention.

“It was Milan’s title to throw away,” the former Italian Prime Minister noted. “We were top of the table and in the lead.

“It’s our fault that we did not win [the league]. However, it is impossible to not speak highly of Juventus, who have played really well all season and showed great perseverance.”

Chelsea

The Blues will take on PSG at the home of the New York Yankees baseball team – which will hold 54,000 spectators once configured for football – on Sunday, July 22.

Chelsea have not played in New York since 1954 and they and PSG will contest the first football match at Yankee Stadium since it opened in 2009.

The game reunites the Blues with former manager Carlo Ancelotti – who they controversially sacked at the end of last season – his assistant Claude Makelele, coach Paul Clement and defender Alex.

It will be the second game of Chelsea’s US tour, with the club also announcing today their final fixture would be against AC Milan at Sun Life Stadium in Miami on Saturday, July 28.

They had already confirmed matches against Seattle Sounders at CenturyLink Field on July 18 and and MLS All Stars at PPL Park, Philadelphia, on July 25.

“Chelsea Football Club is delighted to be heading to New York after such a long time away, and it will be a real pleasure to visit Yankee Stadium for what is sure to be a competitive game,” said chief exec Ron Gourlay on the club’s official website.

“Paris St Germain represents a true test for us in our preparations for the new season.

“We know Carlo well and respect the superb job he did for us, and continues to do in France. It should be a fantastic game.”

Real Madrid

The match will be played at the Home Depot Center, the home of the MLS side, on August 2, as the exhibition tournament returns for the second year running.

Galaxy chief operating officer Chris McGowan told the club’s official website: “We are excited to give our fans a chance to see the Galaxy take on one of the best clubs in the world in Real Madrid.

“This will be a tremendous event for Southern California soccer fans, especially with the opportunity to see this game in such an intimate setting as The Home Depot Center.

“It will truly be one of the must-see sporting events of the year.”

The match will mark the fourth time that the Galaxy have locked horns with Madrid, with their first friendly encounter coming in 2005.

Other clubs participating in the WFC this summer include Liverpool, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan, Seattle Sounders and New York Red Bulls.

The 25-year-old suffered the injury to the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in a game where Bolton blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with West Bromwich Albion.

A club statement read: “Scans have revealed that David Wheater has ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

“The defender picked up the injury when he landed awkwardly during yesterday’s home game against West Bromwich Albion.

“He is expected to be out of action for up to nine months.”

Wanderers’ final game of the season is at Stoke next Sunday, and the club need to win if they are to have any chance of staying up. Owen Coyle’s men are two points from safety.

Wheater suffered the injury in the first half at the Reebok Stadium, but played on initially only to be replaced at half-time by Zat Knight.

Bolton also lost Martin Petrov to a knock at the weekend, although Lee Chung-yong returned from a broken leg to make his first appearance of the campaign off the bench.

Blackburn Rovers

Monday’s 1-0 home defeat to Wigan ended Rovers’ 11-year stay in the top flight but Kean is backing himself and his squad to attain promotion next term.

“I’m a big believer in my own ability and the guys I’ve got in the dressing room, each and every one them is devastated but I can’t fault their commitment,” he told reporters. “I’m convinced we can build a side to move us forward again.

“Yeah I do [believe I’ll still be here]. I can’t control [the fans reactions]. We’ve not mentioned what’s happened tonight but I’m confident we’ll have a plan in place to build a squad that will bounce us back immediately.”

The Scot also revealed his disappointment that the Lancashire outfit could not force the relegation battle down to the last game of the season.

He added: “It’s difficult to put into words what the atmosphere is like in the dressing room, I think there was a few things thrown our way that questioned our commitment but tonight I think we gave it a real go.

“We felt we’d done enough to take it to the last game like we did last season.

“It was going to be tough but we felt that could we have won tonight then, obviously we had to go and beat Chelsea but the fact was that we had to win tonight. It was disappointing we couldn’t take it to the last game.”

The 44-year-old went on to bemoan the loss of several key players during the season and targeted a quick return to the Premier League.

“I’ll sit down with the owners and discuss how to assemble a squad that can help us bounce back straight away because certainly we’ve lost a lot of experience over the last six months,” he continued.

“I think we need to try and keep the majority of the squad together to make sure from the first game of next season we’re in a position to get back into the division we should be in.

“We have to build a squad as quickly as possible, the division below is a very tough league to get out of and we need a squad that can be competitive. That’s the first thing I’ll be doing tomorrow morning.”

The club chose the 36-year-old Aloisi ahead of fellow Heart assistant coach Ante Milicic.

Aloisi replaces inaugural Melbourne coach John van `t Schip, who stepped down after leading the Heart through their first two seasons in the A-League.

Aloisi is the only Australian to have played in the world’s best three domestic competitions – the English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A.

Aloisi, who was the Heart’s youth team coach in 2011-12, said he had learnt a lot from Dutchman van `t Schip over the last 12 months.

“When I retired here just over a year ago I didn’t expect to be the head coach within a year,” he said.

“I enjoyed the experience with the youth team and when this came along I thought it was a great opportunity to get into the head coaching role.”

Aloisi expects Milicic to remain on the Heart’s coaching staff, despite expected interest from the new western Sydney A-League franchise.

“We’re good friends off the pitch too,” said Aloisi.

“Ante is an integral part of this club.”

Aloisi said he believed the Heart had the most exciting young squad in the A-League.

They have already re-signed 15 players for next season and hope to have their squad finalised by the time pre-season training begins in June.

Wigan Athletic

The Latics secured their Premier League status for another season with a 1-0 win away at Blackburn on Monday evening, which in turn condemned Rovers to relegation to the Championship.

And now Whelan has suggested the Spaniard may leave the DW Stadium, as exclusively revealed by Goal.com, but remains hopeful he can retain the former Swansea boss’ services for another few years.

Whelan told reporters after the game: “I believe Roberto will go to one of the top European clubs when the time is right. Hopefully we can hold on to him for another two or three years but he will go eventually with my best wishes.

“He’s had faith from day one. We had a really tough start to the season but we always believed. I believed in him. He has faith in his players. As the season’s gone along we’ve played better and better. He’s proved he’s an absolutely top quality manager.”

Whelan, a former Blackburn player, did admit that he was sorry to see his old side relegated from the top flight after an 11 season stretch in the Premier League.

He added: “Number one I’m really sorry we put Rovers down. They’ve had 11 fantastic years here [in the Premier League]. So I’ve got mixed feelings tonight. I’m Wigan through and through but when you play for football for a club like Rovers, you do get feeling of sorrow.”

Arsenal

Sagna was forced off during the Gunners’ 3-3 draw at home to Norwich on Saturday, with the challenge leaving manager Arsene Wenger outraged.

And with Sagna’s hopes of representing Les Bleus in Ukraine and Poland next month ended, the right-back has hit out at Johnson.

“He trod on my leg,” Sagna is quoted as saying. “I think he did it on purpose.”

Sagna suffered a similar injury in October and he is vowing to come back stronger.

“The play carried on and I got up,” he said. “When I went to control the ball, I felt a crack just like the first time against Tottenham.

“He trod on me in the same place as the previous fracture was. That’s what caused the pressure. It cut in two. Now I’ll start all over again. I’ve come back before and I’ll come back even stronger a second time.”

Replays appeared to suggest the collision was accidental and Norwich boss Paul Lambert has backed Johnson.

Lambert said: “There’s nothing in that, it’s not malicious.”