Real to sign Porto’s Militao
MADRID: Real Madrid will sign Porto’s Brazilian defender Eder Militao at the end of the season for €50 million, the Portuguese club said on Thursday.
The 21-year-old has agreed a six-year contract with Madrid and will become coach Zinedine Zidane’s first signing after his return to the Santiago Bernabeu this week, while the transfer fee is a record for a Portuguese club.
Militao, who joined Porto last year from Sao Paulo, made his Brazil debut last September in a 5-0 friendly win over El Salvador.
He will add competition to a Real Madrid defence that still continues to depend on an ageing Sergio Ramos, who was suspended as they crashed out of the Champions League with a 4-1 home defeat to Ajax Amsterdam earlier this month.
SCHOLES QUITS AS OLDHAM MANAGER
MANCHESTER:FORMER Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has resigned as Oldham Athletic manager “with great regret” after only 31 days in charge, he said on Thursday.
Scholes, a lifelong Oldham fan, won one of his seven games as manager of the English League Two (fourth-tier) club who are 14th in the standings. “I hoped to at the very least, see out my initial term of 18 months as the manager of a club I’ve supported all my life. The fans, players, my friends and family all knew how proud and excited I was to take this role,” Scholes, said in a statement.
FA CHARGES VILLA AND BIRMINGHAM
LONDON: English football clubs Birmingham City and Aston Villa have been charged with failing to control their players in a heated derby match last weekend, the English Football Association (FA) said on Thursday.
Players from both teams were charged with breaching FA Rule 20 after a confrontation followed a foul by Birmingham’s Maikel Kieftenbeld on Villa captain Jack Grealish in the fifth minute.
Both clubs, which play in the second-tier Championship, have until March 18 to respond.