SPORT NEWS AND prexiuzpress

Premier League clubs Leicester City and Southampton are intrested in signing Valencia defender Aymen Abdennour. The 27-year-old Tunisian has been linked with a move to English premier league side. Abdennour almost joined Everton season before the deal collapsed, while more recently Olympique Marseille are said to have taken an interest in the Aymen Abdennour. However, according to HOTSportnews, Marseille will have tough competition from English duo Leicester and Southampton, who are both intrested in filling  their centre-back options. Inter Milan are also said to be interested in the Tunisia, who has played for Etoile du Sahel, Werder Bremen, Toulouse, Monaco and Valencia in his career.

It’s been a case of ‘so far so good’ for Arsenal this summer. They’ve signed left-back Sead Kolasinac on a free transfer, while they’ve also smashed their club record transfer fee to bring in Alexandre Lacazette for £52 million. And, as things stand, the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are all staying at the club despite doubts surrounding their future. But the Gunners won’t stop there. Having failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 21 years, Arsene Wenger knows just how important it is to get back among Europe’s elite. Therefore, the Frenchman wants to carry on spending and is setting his sights on Monaco’s Thomas Lemar. Wenger has already had £30 million and £40 million bids for the winger rejected with the Ligue 1 side holding out for a fee worth around £80 million. Wenger wants Lemar While that fee may seem excessive, Wenger is desperate to sign Lemar and is considering paying that much. But first, he must sell some players t...

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has arrived in Turin to have a medical ahead of a proposed move to Juventus. Sky Sports reported last month Juventus agreed a four-year contract to sign the player for around £14m. Szczesny has spent the past two seasons at Roma and played regularly for the Italian club who finished runners-up to Juventus in Serie A. The 27-year-old is likely to find his playing time limited in his first season as he will face competition from 39-year-old Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Szczesny joined Arsenal’s academy from Legia Warsaw in 2006 and made a total of 181 appearances for the Gunners. The Polish international had signed a long-term deal in November 2013 to keep him at the Emirates until 2018. However, manager Arsene Wenger has preferred to use goalkeepers Petr Cech and David Ospina which left Szczesny with limited opportunities.

The NBA has had five Arab players or players of Arab descent represent the region in the League. Of the five, Salah Mejri stands tallest, both literally and figuratively. The Tunisian center, who measures an intimidating 7-foot-2, so far remains the first Arab player born and raised on the African continent to play in the NBA. Alaa Abdelnaby, the Egyptian who blazed the trail for north Africans in the League, was drafted in 1990 having spent 20 years in the United States, already a citizen. That is after departing the continent as a toddler. The other two players from the region who preceded Mejri into the League —the Libyan pair of Raed Elhamali (originally Randy Holcomb, drafted 2002) and Hesham Salem (Hiram Fuller) who averaged 10.8 minutes per game for the Atlanta Hawks in the 2003/04 season —were both born in the United States. In fact, the only other player from the region in the NBA, Abdel Nader, had also lived in the United States for 20 years, and was a naturalized American be...

It seemed like a strange substitution at the time. Now it looks to have acquired more significance. There were two minutes left in the FA Cup final. Chelsea needed a goal to force extra time. They removed their scorer. Exit Diego Costa from the Wembley pitch -- and now, seemingly, from Stamford Bridge. Two months after that anticlimactic ending, Arsenal and Chelsea reconvene for a rematch of sorts in Beijing on Saturday, minus the same meaning and without Costa, the source of many a disagreement between the London rivals over the past three years. Spared the start of preseason training to negotiate a return to Atletico Madrid, he seemed guilty of premature celebration when he was pictured partying in his native Brazil and his former club's shirt at the weekend. Costa has endured a swift, ignominious descent from crucial to castoff. Costa was dumped by text message, a potentially costly error if it weakens Chelsea's negotiating position with Atletico -- not to mention the ...

American forward Paul Pierce signed a one-day contract with the Boston Celtics on Monday in a move that allows him to retire as a member of the NBA franchise. The 39-year-old Pierce spent the first 15 years of his career with Boston, helping the club to a league championship in 2008. "It's an honor to have this opportunity to once again call myself a Boston Celtic,"  said Pierce, a 10-time all star.  "The organization and city took me in and made me one of their own, and I couldn't imagine ending my career any other way." "I'm a Celtic for life." Team owner  Wyc Grousbeck  said they also plan to retire Pierce's No. 34 so that no other player will be able to wear it. Pierce averaged 19.7 points and 3.5 assists while playing in 1,343 career games with the  Celtics ,  Brooklyn Nets ,  Washington Wizards  and  Los Angeles Clippers . Check this out

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho revealed Antonio Valencia was sent off in the friendly win against Real Salt Lake after he refused a request from the referee to substitute the Manchester United full-back. Newly summer signing Romelu Lukaku open his first Manchester United account and Henrikh Mkhitaryan also on target but both Juan Mata and Matteo Darmian were forced off with injuries in the second-half a substitute Valencia saw red in Monday's 2-1 pre-season victory at Rio Tinto Stadium. Leading 2-1 at half-time, Valencia was introduced but he lasted only 15 minutes after a late tackle from behind on RSL's Sebastian Saucedo, who was involved in a heavy challenge on Juan Mata only moments earlier. Referee Allen Chapman initially awarded a free-kick but the MLS official then suddenly brandished a red card after speaking with Mourinho on the sidelines. "I think the delay was because the referee asked me to change the player and I didn't," Mourinho told report...