Crystal Palace are looking to sign former Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini.
The 32-year-old has been without a team since leaving Arsenal at the end of last season but was having a medical at Premier League Palace yesterday, according to media reports.
Flamini made over 200 ap-pearances in two spells with the Gunners and won the Serie A title with Milan in 2011.
Rooney should quit England – Shilton
Former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, 66, believes Wayne Rooney should have retired from the national team duty after Euro 2016.
The 30-year-old forward has announced his intention to hang up his England boots after the 2018 World Cup but Shilton feels he should already have done so.
Shilton, whose England record of 125 caps is likely to be broken by Rooney, said: “I don’t think he’s a striker any more. He is spraying a few balls around, but I don’t think he’s being effective.
“I thought he should have retired after the Euros.”
Rooney made his 116th international appearance during Sunday’s World Cup qualifier against Slovakia.
Dane Bendtner joins Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest have completed the signing of former Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner on a two-year contract.
The 28-year-old has been a free agent since leaving Wolfsburg last season, enabling Forest to sign him outside of the transfer window, which closed last week.
Bendtner becomes the 12th new arrival at the City Ground following the appointment of Philippe Montanier as head coach over the summer.
The Denmark international could be set for a swift reunion with Arsenal, with Forest having been drawn at home to Arsene Wenger’s team in the League Cup later this month.
Ben Arfa warned to lift his game at PSG
Hatem Ben Arfa has been warned he must work harder to force his way back into the Paris St Germain side after being dropped by coach Unai Emery.
The mercurial midfielder earned a surprise move to the Ligue 1 champions this summer after rebuilding his troubled career with a stand-out season for Nice last campaign, but his spell in the capital has had a rocky start and played only a handful of minutes off the bench.
Emery said: “He has played in every game… sometimes more, sometimes less, but he has played every time. He needs to work to improve himself so that if he plays a good 10 minutes, he can play 20 minutes the next time and so on.
“This is the process. He has to work hard and have the right mentality.”
Mario Gomez has high expectations
Wolfsburg should be aiming for a top-three finish this season, according to their forward Mario Gomez.
The 31-year-old is set to make his competitive debut for the Wolves in their clash with Cologne this weekend after scoring in a warm-up match last week.
He expects to be playing on Europe’s biggest stage with Wolfsburg in the 2017-18 campaign.
“If you look at the team we’ve got, then we must not be talking about sixth or seventh place, but we should be talking about wanting to be right up there,” Gomez said.
“Bayern Munich and Dortmund are probably out of reach, but there’s nothing wrong with setting high aims.”
Rashford bags hat-trick for U-21s
Marcus Rashford grabbed a hat-trick on his England U-21 debut as they crushed Norway 6-1 in a European Championship qualifier late Tuesday.
The 18-year-old Manchester United forward, left out of the senior squad by new manager Sam Allardyce, slotted home from 18 yards before adding a deflected shot and converting a penalty to complete his treble.
Rashford also scored on his Premier League and Europa League debuts last season as well as netting his first England goal three minutes into his first international start against Australia in May.
Nathaniel Chalobah, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Lewis Baker also scored for England to put them two points clear of Switzerland at the top of their group.
Solo’s suspension
Hope Solo’s repeated actions “forced” US Soccer to hand a six-month suspension to the outspoken goalkeeper, United States women’s coach Jill Ellis said.
Solo, 35, received the ban from internationals two weeks ago after she branded opponents Sweden “a bunch of cowards” at last month’s Rio Olympics.
“Over time, there’s been off-the-field distractions and the federation has taken action against Hope Solo,” Ellis said.
“It wasn’t a decision just made about comments, it was a sum total of actions that have unfortunately shone a negative light on our programme.”