Yaya Toure decided to stay at Manchester City after being assured he is a key figure in the club’s future.
Playmaker Toure looked to be on his way out of the Etihad Stadium this summer and was linked in reports with clubs including Inter and Chelsea.
However, agent Dimitri Seluk has confirmed Toure will remain at the club he joined from Bar-celona five years ago.
Seluk said: “Yaya is staying because Sheikh Mansour told him he must stay.
“Mansour told Yaya that he is still a very important player and that he was the first big player to join City after the takeover... City wouldn’t even discuss a sale.”
Saints for Europe
Southampton will play in Europe next season.
With Arsenal’s third place finish ensuring Champions League football for Arsene Wenger’s side, their Europa League spot for winning the FA Cup goes to the next highest placed league side, which is seventh-placed Saints.
Ronald Koeman’s outfit will enter the competition at the third qualifying round on July 30.
Southampton last entered Europe 12 years ago after they lost to the Gunners in the final of the FA Cup and this is the first season that the European place has gone to the next-best league side rather than the losing finalists.
Coleman committed
Chris Coleman says he will never walk away from Wales after revealing he has been approached about other managerial jobs.
Coleman’s stock has risen with Wales unbeaten halfway through Euro 2016 qualifying and his team on course for an appearance at a major tournament since the 1958 World Cup.
But the former Fulham and Real Sociedad boss has pledged to see out his current contract.
“I’ve had one or two phone calls but nothing to make me say ‘I’m off’,” said Coleman.
“I would never walk away from Wales, certainly not halfway through a campaign. If you get the opportunity to manage your country, no matter where you’re from, you take it.”
Real chief lets slip signing of Benitez
Real Madrid vice-president Eduardo Fernandez de Blas has accidentally let slip at the meeting of a fans group that Rafa Benitez will be the new club coach.
Benitez will leave Napoli this month and has been hotly tipped to take over from Carlo Ancelotti at the Bernabeu but so far there has been no confirmation.
“Ancelotti is an absolute phenomenon and we give him all our appreciation,” Fernandez de Blas told the Madrid members group.
“Until three days ago he was the best trainer in the world as two years ago it was Jose Mourinho and from this week onwards it will be Rafa Benitez.”
Barca’s Xavi aims for perfect send off
Barcelona midfielder Xavi raised the King’s Cup aloft alongside Andres Iniesta in his final appearance at the Camp Nou on Saturday and now victory in the Champions League would make it a perfect send-off for the club legend.
Xavi became the first Spanish player to win 24 trophies following the 3-1 win over Athletic Bilbao and can still add to that with a victory over Juve on Saturday.
“We are now in a position where we can start to make comparisons although there is a long way to go and next Saturday we will see what happens,” Xavi told reporters.
“We could equal the historic treble but who knows? I think the coach (Luis Enrique) has rotated the squad well and so we are all fresh which is important.”
Leicester players in ‘racial abuse orgy’
Leicester City have been rocked by a race scandal after three players were allegedly filmed in an orgy with a Thai woman who was racially abused.
The club is owned by Thai billionaires and the shocking video was reportedly filmed while players were touring the country cele-brating staying up in football’s top flight.
The video allegedly shows defender James Pearson, 22, the son of the club’s manager Nigel, naked in a hotel room as Thai women are filmed engaged in sex acts.
It is alleged he is joined by striker Tom Hopper, 21 and goalkeeper Adam Smith, 22, who appear to be shown lying naked in a bed laughing as the video is filmed.
Striker Muto turns down Chelsea
FC Tokyo striker Yoshinori Muto, 22, confirmed yesterday he had opted to join Mainz over Chelsea due to concerns about a lack of playing opportunities at the English champions.
Muto, who scored the winner from the penalty spot in Tokyo’s 2-1 J-League victory over Kas-hiwa Reysol on Saturday, has signed a four-year deal at the Bundesliga club, with the transfer fee believed to be 470 million yen ($3.79 million).
Muto scored 13 goals for Tokyo last season.
Reports said Chelsea, who announced a commercial deal with Japanese tyre firm Yokohama Rubber Company this year, had bid around 700 million yen for Muto in March.