Espanyol bring in dynamic duo

After a solid start to life in division 2, Espanyol have this week moved to strengthen their attacking threat further by securing Mane and Sesko.

Mane was identified as a possible transfer target due to his versatility of being able to lead the line or play wide. With the teams goal scoring threat currently sat on the shoulders of veteran Cavani, its hoped Mane who will join mid-season will help the team in the second half of the season to get crucial points in the teams battle to beat the drop.

"We all know what Mane can bring to a team, and his age and location is not an issue for us. We've had players like Ibrahimovic last season show their worth short term for our club, and along with Muller who is already here his experience and rating will be invaluable"

The big capture though is one for the future and a player the manager has tried to sign for the last couple of years. Sesko has all the traits to become one of the very best. He has impressed in Austria and is now playing in Germany where he is expected to shine.

"He has for a long time been muttered in the same breath as Haaland, though has some way to go to have the success the Norwegian has. He is a big lad and has been clinical so far in his career. He is someway off our first team picture yet, but will spearhead our youth team this season to try and impress. Our academy continues to look strong with other additions this past week of Lepenant and young Montenegro starlet Adzic. Adzic celebrated his move by getting his first international under 21 cap last night at just 17 years old and has already hit 4 goals in 11 appearances this season in the top flight in his homeland. He is a big lad for a attacking midfielder and one we expect to be on the rise sooner or later".

Meanwhile fellow youth players Pacho, Hickey and Zabarnyi are now fully established first team starters, with Oroz and Lepenant also part of the first team squad. "We wanted to create a path to the first team and have opted to go with our youngsters at the back this season. It's always a gamble to sacrifice the ratings, but we really believe in these lads, who have the opportunity to grow as one unit for many seasons to come along side Sergio Gomez who continues to hold his spot in defence. We will continue to give first team minutes to other youth players as we did last season with Ben Seghir, who shined when he was given the opportunity and Sudakov. With the new rules we need to manage concerns and have sent a few out on loan and will likely send 2 or 3 more out over the next week or so. "

Regarding job speculation, "This is my club, my home and the thought of leaving has never crossed my mind. My current deal runs until the end of the season and renewal talks are on hold due to personal issues, though I can say with certainty this will be my final club within top 100"

D1 Back Pages (Matchday 3)

Old Lady Squeezes McKenzie in Close Encounter

A game that in reality could of went anyway, a draw would of been a fairer result but happy with the 3 points.

kevin mcgregor (Juventus)

Madrid Come From Behind At Arsenal

Lukaku bags brace to continue Real's unbeaten start to the season

Valencia See Off Villa With Wilf Magic

Zaha with a goal and two assists

Could he be our star man this season?

Ash L (Valencia CF)

Benfica Snatch Late Win In Classico

Pedro with the late winner

We were second best, so delighted to take the points home.

Gregg Robinson (SL Benfica)

it's been a very frustrating start, decent performances but poor results, and more so as this seems to happen every single season. I'll keep trying and making some adjustments.

André Guerra (FC Porto)

Nine Man Atleti Lose At City

Harmer: "Ever Get the Feeling You've Been Cheated?"

Not the best start to the season, especially against managerless City! We certainly didn’t help ourselves by having two players sent off in the first half!

Gav Harmer (Atletico Madrid)

Adam gets Barca off to winning start

First game in charge and a big win 3-2 over Bayern

Rodrygo scored twice but it was Mahrez who was most impressive with a goal, assist and motm. Happy with that!

Adam (Barcelona)

Valencia boss plays down Barca links

Manager was bookies' favourite to take over at Camp Nou

Yes there was some brief contact with Barcelona but I am here today and will be here for this season at least. The fans have welcomed me here from day one and I will continue to do my best for this great club.

Ash L (Valencia CF)

D2 Back Pages (Matchday 3)

New Internacional Manager Loses Debut in Humiliating Defeat

Fans not happy getting thrashed 3-0 by Stoke

My worse result for some time. Squad will now be assessed, but certainly Costa and Szobo are not for sale.

Paul Masters (SC Internacional)

Standard Liège Suffer Heavy Defeat to São Paulo

Tammy Abraham Hat-Trick

Hoffenheim Win With Only Shot on Target

Clear chances were at a premium

Thanks to MotM Drągowski for keeping us in the game

Carl Martin (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim)

Espanyol Edge Levante In Tight Game

Cavani bagged both goals to justify the clubs decision to bring him in

Age is just a number, and the likes of Cavani are critical to our young players developing. It was important to get back to winning ways after our defeat to PSG and send our home support home happy.

glen mullan (RCD Espanyol)

Pedro Vilar (Tottenham Hotspur)

Draxler, Pulgar and Gunter Available at Spurs

Part exchange only

Milan Pointless and Bottom of the Table

Think this seasons gonna be a rough one.

Andrew Bailey (AC Milan)

D3 Back Pages (Matchday 3)

New CSKA Signing Blasts Teammates

Losses Pile Up

I can’t believe I have to play with this shit.

Marcelo Brozovic (CSKA Moskva)

Ten Man Sassuolo Stun Schalke With Late Win

Gyasi the hero

We can fight! Got our first points of the season with a vital win.

Hugos Monkides (Sassuolo)

Awful result for Schalke in a game that they dominated and against ten men. Early season optimism hopefully not misplaced.

Steven Allington (FC Schalke 04)

Sampdoria Hold Sunderland to Draw

Milik scores in first minute

A red card for Zapata destroyed our possibilities to win the match.

Alessandro Ioli (Sunderland)

Ajax Denied by Red Card

Played with a man down for an hour at Inter

A valiant effort against one of the stronger sides in the division. Happy with the performance. On to the next one where Sancho comes back from injury.

Syed Shah (Ajax)

Twente Draw With Swansea to Keep Up Good Start

Pasalic rescues a point

After going one nil down we managed to get a second half penalty and end the game with a point … very happy with 4 points after the first 3 games.

Jamie Alldridge (FC Twente)

Gladbach Stun Cruzeiro in Brazil!

Gladbach unbeaten in their opening two away games, fifth in the table

A game I was expecting to lose by a couple of goals so i was pleased with the point. The stats were close so probably a fair result. A good start to the season for us.

⭐️Ken Keeley⭐️ (Borussia Mönchengladbach)

D4 Back Pages (Matchday 3)

Augsburg Top Of The Table!

Augsburg 2 - 0 winners at Saint-Etienne

Wallace the hero with 2 goals and then manages to get him self sent off.

paddy d (FC Augsburg)

Olympiacos Star Juanmi Available for Transfer

Attilio Bonicci Earns Transfer Ban with Cektovič Signing

Squad Cap violation blamed on club admin failure

Olympiacos Draw 3-3 Thriller With AZ Alkmaar

Patrick and Calleri were amongst the goalscorers

First point of the season, I am not satisfied so far at all.

Master T (Olympiacos)

Feyenoord Denied By Late Equaliser

1 - 1 against Monaco in a great game

We almost took the victory if it weren't for Rousillon's last minute goal.

Sheene Ralspunsky (Feyenoord)

Sevilla Unbeaten in Division 4

Not a bad start to D4, 3 games unbeaten, need to pick up a few wins though while we wait for the potential rises (and falls) to happen.

Mister TRX (Sevilla)

D5 Back Pages (Matchday 3)

Beşiktaş Get First Win Over Pointless Lyon

Beşiktaş Struggling in D5 After Slow Start

Bailly Joins Lazio in £3.8m Transfer

Santos FC Draw to Bottom of the League

Drawing to bottom of the league isn't ideal, but still 7 points from 9 is solid/

Daniel Wythe (Santos FC)

Dynamo Kyiv Denied by Partizan

Penalty, red card and Sergio Rico with 4 fantastic saves were enough for the 3 points

We focus on our next game to avoid the same mistakes.

Chris Baggio (Dynamo Kyiv)

Club Brugge Maintain Perfect Start

Big Sim was the player of the match

Barcelona Appoint Villain

After a frenzied morning of speculation on social media, Barcelona have announced who will be their new boss to replace Dan Wallace.

The board considered several top class applications, but appointed Adam on the basis of his more than 350 games at Aston Villa.

Under Adam's stewardship, Villa have made good progress, from mid-table in D3 to qualifying for Europe in D1. In the last two seasons Villa made it to a Youth Shield final and a World Club Shield final.

I have made some brave moves in the transfer market and sold some big hitters in the name of long term progression.

I’m not a club hopper and will keep a long term plan in place whilst trying to make first team improvements.

My Villa side shows I have done that relatively successfully.

I'm thrilled to take on this special Barcelona squad.

Adam (Barcelona)

Zerbo Denies Barcelona Links

I always said that if it depended on me I would sign for life for Levante, Barcelona excellent team, well built by a friend but I would never have applied, just as I didn't do it for Juventus which is the team of which I am a fan, I am in love with my Levante project and I still have many goals to achieve

Salvatore Zerbo (Levante)

Next Barcelona Manager odds

Even though it's one of the biggest jobs going I don't expect any of the top top sides to see managers applying for the position. 'closer to home' from the earlier press release could mean Glen but would he leave his project across the city? The same goes for Salvatore at Levante, though would he continue his friends project at Barca?

Ash L then came into the mix, and became my favourite, fantastic job at Valencia making them a steady mid to top end Div1 side, English side managers, I believe alot of these guys are very settled, but I think Adam at Villa has done some very shrewd business over his time and Villa and might just be the preferred choice at Barca,

Gav Harmer, I know says he loves Madrid but could be be swayed to move to the Catalan giants, it would of course mean a new pair of socks,

Doug Earle in the same area as Glen and Salvatore would he leave his Leicester city project, but one of the top managers in here, so certainly will be one of the names on the table.

Jamie N, won a few trophies at city and if he moved to Spain could we see the return of Alex to City for a 3rd spell?

Scott the legendary Barcelona manager could he be asked to return and bring Barca back to top spot and again show brother James who's boss 😳

Andrew Kelly did a great job at Real and going along nicely at PSG certainly was in my thoughts this morning when I made the list up, just unsure if he would leave PSG? Good luck to whoever gets the job 😊

D1 Back Pages (Matchday 2)

Barcelona in Crisis as Manager Walks Out

Wallace Leaves but Denies Corruption

Atleti's Title Hopes Dashed by Everton

Harmer - "Ever Get the Feeling You've Been Cheated?"

Delighted with our first 3 points in what promises to be a tough top division as always. Secured a great 2-1 victory over Gav's Atletico.

RJ Alston (Everton)

Real on Fire as Payet Nets Wonder Free Kick

Madrid make it two wins out of two with a clinical performance against Leverkusen

0-0 upto 60 minutes until Payet, fresh off the bench and with his first touch, curls in a beauty of a free kick. Lukaku adds the cherry late on for a 2-0 victory.

Rob Ryan (Real Madrid)

Juventus Shoot Down Gunners

2-0 winners over arsenal away from home

Another solid performance, early days but 6 points out of 6, 4 goals for and 0 against.

kevin mcgregor (Juventus)

Real Madrid Complete Sanches Transfer

Lemar goes to Stoke

Valencia Exposed by Benfica

2-0 home defeat

Stats quite close but Benfica’s prowess upfront was too much for the home side.

Ash L (Valencia)

Benzema and Ronny started despite reports that Atletico Madrid have been trying to unsettle them for the past 4 days.

Gregg Robinson (SL Benfica)

Porto's Title Challenge in Shambles

Draw with Baggies brings first point

A goal conceded in the 1st minute and a monstrous performance from opponent's goalkeeper Kobel screwd things up for us tonight. Still looking for the 1st win, hopefully soon enough. It sucks to always struggle to get results in the first matches of the season, it kinda kills the hope.

André Guerra (FC Porto)

Valencia Reinforce Defence

Pedraza Signs from Inter