FOOTBALL DIGEST

ADAM ARMSTRONG is set to have a medical at Southampton today after they agreed a deal with Blackburn worth up to £15million. After weeks of negotiations with the Saints refusing to meet Blackburn’s £20m price tag for the prolific 24-year-old striker, the two clubs reached a compromise yesterday. Armstrong has been lined up to replace Danny Ings, following the Englishman’s £30m move to Aston Villa last week. Southampton have also agreed a season-long loan deal with Chelsea for 19-year-old Albania striker Armando Broja.

WEST HAM are edging closer to solving their search for a centre back by landing Fiorentina’s Nikola Milenkovic. Talks over a £14m deal for the Serb, 23, have progressed in recent days.

NORWICH have signed American winger Josh Sargent from Werder Bremen for £8m. The 21-year-old has won 16 caps for his country.

HARROGATE have had their next three fixtures postponed after they suffered a Covid-19 outbreak. The club’s League Two trips to Crawley on Saturday and Leyton Orient on August 17 will be rescheduled due to players either testing positive or self-isolating as close contacts. However, league bosses are awaiting proposals from Harrogate over tonight’s Carabao Cup first-round clash with Rochdale, which will be forfeited if it cannot be rearranged before the next round. Harrogate beat Rochdale 3-2 in their opening game of the League Two season.

RANGERS manager Steven Gerrard has urged his players to ‘flip the mood’ against Malmo in the Champions League qualifiers tonight. The Scottish champions have lost twice in the first eight days of this season: last week’s 2-1 first-leg loss in Malmo and a first league defeat since March 2020 at Dundee United on Saturday. Gerrard (above) said: ‘We won’t use any excuses, the last two performances have not been to the level we have set. We only need one performance to light the fire again.’