Football news

Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo expects striker Sergio Aguero to be at the club next season despite transfer speculation surrounding the Argentinian.

Most of Europe's top clubs have been linked with Aguero over the last year or so but Atletico have managed to keep hold of their prized asset, whose contract buy-out clause is €60m.

"He has a contract with us, we want him to stay and he is happy here. Only if someone comes in to pay his buy-out clause would we then have to see what he decides... I would be surprised if he wasn't here next season," Cerezo said.

Mancini committed to Man. City

Roberto Mancini is not tempted by a return to Italy and insists his future is at Manchester City.

The former Italy international has only been in charge at City since December 2009, but reports in his homeland have linked Mancini with a return to Serie A this summer.

"I miss Italy as a country but football in England is beautiful," said Mancini. The former Inter boss was in Naples yesterday where he testified for 15 minutes in the criminal trial into the Italian match-fixing scandal.

Mancini was called in as a witness in the trial that includes former Juventus executive Luciano Moggi and former referee selector Paolo Bergamo as defendants.

Kewell on track, says coach Verbeek

Australia striker Harry Kewell is on track to play in next month's World Cup, coach Pim Verbeek said yesterday, despite missing out on the Socceroos' narrow win over rivals New Zealand.

Kewell, 31, has only played a couple of minutes this year with his Turkish club Galatasaray as he works his way back from a long-standing groin injury.

The former Liverpool and Leeds star yesterday went through his paces with members of the squad who weren't involved in Monday's 2-1 friendly win in Melbourne.

"He trained with the players who didn't train or play too much over the past week and he completed the whole training session," Verbeek said.

"Harry is physically almost 100 per cent."

Tigana is new coach at Bordeaux

Former France midfielder Jean Tigana was named as coach of Bordeaux replacing Laurent Blanc.

Tigana had been among the favourites for one of the top managerial jobs in French football as soon as it was made clear that Blanc would take over as national team coach after the World Cup.

An influential member of the French team that won the European title in 1984 and reached the semi-finals at both the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, Tigana also has enjoyed success as a coach with Lyon, Monaco and Fulham.

Brazilian Aurelio to quit Liverpool

Defender Fabio Aurelio will leave Liverpool next week after turning down a new pay-as-you-play deal, Reds' coach Rafael Benitez has said.

The Brazilian has seen his time at Anfield spoiled by a succession of injuries, especially in the just-concluded season.

He missed the start of the campaign after sustaining a freak knee problem while playing football with his children and a thigh problem at the end of February prematurely ended his season.

Because of his fitness record the club offered the 30-year-old a flexible deal based on the matches he played but Aurelio wanted the security of a more permanent arrangement and has chosen to end his four-year stay at Anfield.

"Fabio's contract is nearly finished and he is going to leave us," said Benitez.

Samaras turns on to Palermo move

Georgios Samaras has performed a u-turn over the prospect of leaving Celtic for Palermo.

Greece striker Samaras, who has two years remaining on his Parkhead contract, insisted earlier this month he had no interest in quitting the Hoops for the Italian club.

But he appears to have had a change of heart, saying: "I'm delighted that Palermo are interested in me.

"Of course, I would be happy to play for such a club. I saw that they just missed out on qualifying for the Champions League this season. That's a pity, but, who knows, maybe next year it will happen."

Samaras, 25, said he will wait until after the World Cup to make a decision about his future.

Veh is new coach at Hamburg

Former Wolfsburg and Stuttgart coach Armin Veh was named as the new manager of Bundesliga side Hamburg, yesterday.

The northern city side finished seventh in the league and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League where they lost to Fulham, but they still sacked coach Bruno Labbadia.

The 49-year-old Veh signed a contract taking him on until June 30, 2012, the club announced on its website.