Paris St Germain yesterday issued a terse “no comment” following reports in England that the French champions had ap-proached Jose Mourinho to be-come their new manager.

Sky Sports News flashed the development across their programming, billing it ‘Breaking News’ and citing “Sky sources”.

Sky said PSG chairman Nasser al-Khelaifi was understood to have instigated the approach to Mourinho immediately after PSG’s Champions League exit at the hands of Manchester City last week, “having grown frustrated at the club’s lack of progress in Europe under Laurent Blanc”.

Blanc signed a two-year contract extension in February, taking him through to June 2018.

Hagi steps down

Romania great Gheorghe ‘Gica’ Hagi has stepped aside as coach of his own club Viitorul Constanta at least until the end of the season after a poor run of results.

“I want to analyse the situation,” 51-year-old Hagi told re-porters yesterday.

Hagi, considered Romania’s all-time greatest player, founded Viitorul in 2009 and still owns the club, known for nurturing young talent in the Black Sea state.

In August, Viitorul went top of the league for the first time in the club’s six-year history but they have fallen away, collecting two points in their last eight games.

Kiessling gets new B. Leverkusen deal

Bayer Leverkusen have extended the contract of their German striker Stefan Kiessling until 2018 and promised him another role within the club when he ends his playing career.

The 32-year-old still had a year left to run on his deal, but Leverkusen have added another 12 months to that with the understanding that he will then hang up his boots at the age of 34 and move upstairs to take on a new position.

“I’m pleased that Leverkusen still have faith in me as a player and that they also believe in me beyond that,” Kiessling said.

“I will obviously do everything for this club, like I always have done, and set high targets.”

Spalletti has cleared the air with Totti

Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said yesterday he had cleared the air with stalwart playmaker Francesco Totti after Italian media reported that they had scuffled in the tunnel following Sunday’s match at Atalanta.

Spalletti repeated his denial that there had been any physical confrontation but added that the 39-year-old’s long history at the club did not entitle him to special treatment.

“It was written that Totti and I had a scuffle in the tunnel, but I didn’t meet any players in the tunnel,” Spalletti told reporters.

“I spoke with Totti yesterday and we cleared things up. Now we’re focusing on Torino.”

Zabaleta casts doubt over Man. City future

The emergence of right-back Bacary Sagna in the Manchester City starting line-up has forced defender Pablo Zabaleta to think about his future at the Etihad Stadium.

Two knee injuries have disrupted Zabaleta’s season and have limited the 31-year-old to 20 appearances in all competitions this season, while Sagna has cemented his place in the first-team.

“He (Sagna) has been outstanding this season. I’m so glad for him because he’s a great lad and also he’s given me a chance to have some rest thinking about the future,” Zabaleta said.

“I have just one more year here (on my contract) and we’ll see what happens at the end of the season.”

Zwanziger cleared

Former German football federation (DFB) president Theo Zwanziger is free to repeat his claim that ‘Qatar is a cancer on world football’, a German court ruled yesterday.

Zwanziger, who headed the DFB until 2012 and has been embroiled in a 2006 World Cup scandal, first made the comment last year, adding the decision for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup should be reviewed.

The Qatar FA (QFA) filed a lawsuit over the comment claiming it showed collective disrespect and Zwanziger should be banned from repeating it.

But Dusseldorf’s regional court ruled that Zwanziger was not obliged under German law to change his wording or be blocked from repeating it.

Marseille dismiss coach Michel

Marseille sacked coach Michel yesterday with four games to play in Ligue 1, citing the Spanish coach’s behaviour.

“Given the behaviour of Michel, notably during those last three weeks, Olympique de Marseille have suspended Michel with immediate effect,” OM said in a statement.

The club added that assistant coach Franck Passi would take charge of the team until the end of the season.

French sports daily L’Equipe reported that Michel, who took over from Marcelo Bielsa in August last year, did not direct Monday’s training session.

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