Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GREEN ON VERGE OF TURNING BLUE
STEVE BRUCE has seen off Thierry Henry for now at Aston Villa – but the toughest challenges could still lie ahead.
Bruce got the green light yesterday to continue as Villa boss despite the club’s takeover.
New owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens publicly backed Bruce after buying a majority shareholding last week.
But the ambitious duo want promotion to the Premier League and now Bruce has to lift Villa from their 1-0 play-off final loss to Fulham.
They return to competitive action in less than two weeks on Monday, August 6, at Hull, when Bruce will want his men firing back in the Championship.
But it won’t be easy VETERAN goalkeeper Robert Green is close to completing a shock move to Chelsea.
The 38-year-old, whose last appearance was in a League Cup match for Leeds against Newport a year ago, has reportedly agreed terms and is due to have a medical.
The former England international spent last season at Huddersfield but did not make a first-team appearance and left when his contract ran out at the end of the campaign.
He is likely to be third choice for the Blues, behind Thibaut Courtois and Willy Caballero.
His arrival would increase the number of homegrown players at Stamford Bridge following Portuguese goalkeeper Eduardo’s loan to Vitesse Arnhem.
Green (left) began his career at Norwich and played for West Ham and QPR before moving to Leeds in 2016.
He made 12 appearances for England, the penultimate of which was in a 1-1 draw with the USA at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa when his mistake gifted Clint Dempsey an equaliser.
Chelsea midfielder Mario Pasalic has gone on loan again, this time to Serie A club Atalanta. The 23-year-old, who was at Spartak Moscow last term, played the second half of the friendly win over Perth Glory on Monday before heading to Italy. SOUTHAMPTON took the value of their players out on loan to a staggering £42million by sending flop midfielder Jordy Clasie back to Feyenoord.
Clasie (above) has played 49 games since joining Saints from the Dutch giants in an £8m deal in the summer of 2015.
Saints have also shipped out £19m record signing Guido Carrillo and £15m Sofiane Boufal on loan. They also want to find keeper Fraser Forster a new club.