American investors Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan have completed their takeover of Swansea City, subject to Premier League approval.

A statement on the Swansea website said the investment consortium led by the two businessmen had acquired a “controlling majority” of the shares.

Several existing shareholders would have a smaller stake and chairman Huw Jenkins, who remains in charge of the day-to-day running of the club in an executive role, will “maintain an ownership stake”.

Swansea said the takeover was expected to be fully sanctioned by the Premier League in the coming weeks.

Postecoglou slams Australia pitches

Substandard Australian football pitches are “cheating” fans and could derail the country’s World Cup ambitions, according to Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou and his players lamented the playing surface at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium on Saturday after Australia defeated Greece 1-0 in a friendly courtesy of a late Mathew Leckie strike.

“We’ve got an international team here that we’re hosting and we’re supposed to be the sporting nation of the world,” he said.

“The crowd were fantastic (but) I felt sorry for them... it’s just not good enough.

“In our game, the pitch is actually an essential part of the spectacle. If that’s not good then we’re cheating people.”

Sinclair writes off England chances

Trevor Sinclair believes Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2016 squad lacks balance and is destined to fall short in France unless the “right formula” is found.

The former England winger also feels manager Hodgson’s insistence on fielding captain Wayne Rooney in a deep-lying attacking position, at the expense of younger players, will harm England’s prospects.

“I think we’ll go out in the knockout stages. We’ll go through the groups but I just can’t see the balance at the moment,” he said.

“I just think that Roy as a manager is kind of half going for the youth because he obviously wants to get Wayne in the team and that is unbalancing the group.”

Tottenham chasing Palermo’s Vazquez

Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly pushing to sign Palermo’s midfielder Franco Vazquez.

The Argentine-born is ready to move away from the Serie A strugglers and follow in the footsteps of his former team-mate Paulo Dybala and join a bigger club.

The Sunday People said that Spurs are ready to make a formal offer to Palermo for ‘El Mundo.’

Napoli, Juventus, Fiorentina, Milan and Roma have all been linked with the player but are not ready to meet the €25m price-tag.

Lewandowski not leaving Bayern

Bayern Munich are not going to listen to any offers for Robert Lewandowski this summer, according to the man who oversees their transfer activity.

The Poland striker has been linked with a move to Real Madrid or the Premier League having netted 30 goals in the Bundesliga last term.

He is just one of the stars clubs will have their eyes on at Euro 2016, but Bayern’s technical director Michael Reschke says they would all be wasting their time making an approach for the 27-year-old.

“He’s going to be playing for Bayern Munich again next season, there’s absolutely no doubt about it,” Reschke said.

“He still has three years on his contract here and we know that we have the best striker in the world in our squad.”

Mourinho will winat United – Carvalho

Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho has backed his former club boss Jose Mourinho to lead Manchester United to the Premier League title.

Carvalho won trophies under Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea and Real Madrid and has backed Mourinho to lead United to their first title since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

“Jose will have something to prove after what happened at Chelsea,” Carvalho said.

“I think he will make Man. United better and in the next two years they will be champions. I have no doubt that he can bring trophies back to United again.”

Neymar still behind Messi and Ronaldo

Brazil legend Pele insists that fellow countryman Neymar is not quite up to the levels of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo yet.

Neymar, 24, finished third behind Messi and Ronaldo at the 2015 Ballon d’Or and has been tipped to become the best player in the world since moving to Barcelona from Santos in 2013.

But Pele believes he still has a way to go to reach the highest level.

“I’ve known Neymar since he was little and many years ago his coaches told me he was very good,” Pele said.

“That is so but he doesn’t have the quality of Ronaldo or Messi. He still has to improve.”

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