He had three spells at Burnley, helped hometown club Swansea in to the top tier of English football and won 54 caps for his country.

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The Chelsea player’s quality is not lost on the Manchester City boss.

VAR continues to be a hot topic in the Premier League week after week, leading to the PGMOL coming under increasing pressure while Uefa’s officials have also been criticised for their handling

The Frenchman won three league titles and seven FA Cups.

Two big Wembley meetings await in the Cup, while a desperation derby looks to be in store at Goodison ParkThere was a distinct end-of-season vibe at the Gtech Community Stadium after Brentford’s win over Sheffield United, with Thomas Frank and his players performing what amounted to a lap of honour as they took plaudits from fans relieved that the spectre …

Arsenal manager says change needed to ‘protect our players’Accrington chairman open to boycott if ‘enough clubs’ want itMikel Arteta insisted that the scrapping of FA Cup replays was necessary to “protect our players” as Accrington Stanley’s chairman said he would support a boycott of the tournament if there was widespread backing.As the …

Dutch club relegated in wake of Guardian and TBIJ investigationDocuments appeared to show financial ties to AbramovichThe Dutch football association has deducted 18 points from Vitesse Arnhem, officially confirming the club’s relegation, in the wake of an investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) that uncovered …

Club’s losses reduced by property deal with sister companyChelsea would have lost £166.4m without hotel salesPremier League clubs reacted with exasperation after seeing that ­Chelsea eased their financial ­position with the £76.5m sale of two hotels to a ­sister company in a deal that appears to have helped the club avoid a breach of …

Forward, who faces Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday, has managed a debut season goal tally up there with big namesThe pure poacher’s instinct. The understanding of timing and angles, the striker’s sixth sense for exactly where the ball is going to be, and exactly what he’s going to do with it. The ball is loose in the penalty area, and as …

Promo images show youngsters looking excited – but possibly more for the task ahead than the clothes they are wearingDesigning the kits for Olympic and Paralympic athletes to compete in is hardly a simple task. It’s one that takes in the demands of multiple, wildly different sports, as well as comfort, performance and some kind of unifying aesthetic that …

Madrid being cast as underdogs is a grotesque measure of where we are but absorbing tie was a telling clash of contrastsIt turns out Pep Guardiola was right after all. Manchester City’s pursuit of the double-treble will now remain “a hypothetical dream”.This was Pep’s own excellent phrase before Wednesday’s second leg against Real Madrid, a …

Our writers pick the winner, key players and dark horses as the NBA postseason gets into full swingGolden State Warriors. It feels flat-out wrong to have a postseason without Stephen Curry, but regardless of how good he still is, that’s the way the cookie crumbles when you don’t give him an adequate supporting cast. Hopefully the Warriors will take the …

A compelling matchup between two of America’s brightest young boxing talents has been overshadowed by questions about the the social-media superstar’s state of mindOne of the most unusual build-ups to a major prizefight in recent memory came no closer to normalcy on Thursday afternoon when Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia came together for the final press …

New York are a talented but messy team. Instead it could be the Dallas Stars who come out on top in the Stanley Cup finalIn clinching the Presidents’ Trophy – awarded to the team with the best regular season record – the New York Rangers now hope to break the curse that purportedly jinxes its holders to playoff failure. It’s been a decade since a …

Manager forgives Garnacho and says: ‘We move on’ Wilcox leaves role as Southampton’s director of footballErik ten Hag has denied claims of ­factions within his Manchester United squad, while attempting to put a line under a string of recent controversies.On a day when Jason Wilcox was confirmed as United’s technical director, joining from …

All four athletes disqualified and forced to return prize moneySpecial committee issues apology but steers clear of fix talkOrganisers have revoked He Jie’s first place in the Beijing half marathon last weekend after an investigation confirmed that three other runners had slowed down to let him win the race. All four were disqualified and had to return …

Australia’s fastest woman, who broke the 100m national record earlier this year, may not even race the event at the Paris OlympicsShe may be Australia’s fastest woman ever over 100m, but the blue-ribband event is not a priority for Torrie Lewis as she seeks to qualify for the Paris Olympics later this year. It may seem counterintuitive, but to the …

With just the final two rounds to come, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura and Gukesh Domaraju share the lead while the world No 2 , Fabiano Caruana, is half a point behindWith 12 rounds complete and just Saturday’s and Sunday’s final two rounds to come, the Candidates in Toronto could hardly be closer. Three players share the lead, another is just half …

Garcia weighed 143.2lbs on Friday, 3.2lbs above division limitFight at Barclays Center will go forward as non-title boutGarcia to honor deal to pay Haney $500k for each pound overGarcia’s erratic behavior in spotlight before Haney showdownRyan Garcia has spectacularly failed to make weight for his world super lightweight championship fight with Devin …