The Bundesliga outfit have tied the talented teenager to fresh terms and insist that agreement includes no buyout fee which can be triggered by rivals

Jadon Sancho’s new contract at Borussia Dortmund is “without a release clause”, claims the club’s head of the licensed player department.

The talented teenager has seen his rapid rise to prominence in Germany rewarded with fresh terms through to 2022.

Sancho has starred in the Bundesliga this season, contributing one goal and six assists, and he has also been drafted into the senior England squad for the first time.

He has achieved all of that at just 18 years of age, with there still plenty of potential to be unlocked in an exciting prospect.

Dortmund intend to be the ones to benefit from that development, although they are prepared to admit that interest is being shown in the youngster.

Sebastian Kehl told Sky Deutschland after denying the presence of a buyout fee in Sancho’s deal: “We are not naïve to not take note of other clubs’ interest.

“The lads are doing a grand job right now. And thus, there will always be enquiries for the players we have here.

“Especially for players like Jadon Sancho, who has been invited to the England senior squad for the first time.”

Much of Sancho’s impact this season has been made off the bench, with just one Bundesliga start handed to him.

He has figured from the off in two Champions League encounters, though, with vital experience being picked up at the very highest level.

If he can continue down his current path, then interest in his services can be expected to build.

Players of his obvious ability rarely stay under the radar for long, with Manchester City potentially kicking themselves for having allowed such talent to slip their net.

Sancho departed the Etihad Stadium in the summer of 2017 after taking the decision to go in search of competitive minutes in Germany, rather than wait for limited opportunities in England.

The former Ajax winger has made solid start to life in Serie A and is positive about his future after scoring his first goal in Italy

Justin Kluivert wants to play more after scoring his first goal for Roma.

The Dutch winger has made two starts and three substitute appearances for the Serie A club since his £16 million ($21m) move from Ajax in the summer.

The 19-year-old, son of Ajax and Barcelona great Patrick Kluivert, was on target in Roma’s 5-0 Champions League win over Viktoria Plzen in their last game.

And he told Fox Sports: “I’d like to play more games from the first minute and I hope it happens more often in the future.

“For now, I can’t complain, I feel like I’m growing so much and I feel good at Roma.

“I’m trying to come through, but I have great confidence in myself and I’m ready to show my worth.

“I know it’s easy to go from being a great talent to a player who risks not making it, but for me it’s not a problem whatsoever. I have to keep proving myself.

“However, I know that sooner or later my time will come. I just have to keep training hard, like I’m already doing.”

Kluivert was the subject of intense transfer speculation before his move to Roma, with Manchester United reportedly interested following a productive breakthrough season with Ajax.

However, his father believes he will be better off in the Italian capital than he would have been at Old Trafford.

“A jump to the Premier League would have been difficult,” Kluivert senior told La Gazzetta dello Sport at the time of the move. “I think United would have been too big a jump. Roma is an important club, but the pressures are lower.

“I’m very satisfied with what he is doing. He doesn’t speak much, but he is someone who knows how to listen and is motivated, I would have liked to stay in Ajax for another year, but he chose for himself. I think Roma is a good solution.

“Roma must not win by force and it is a club that is used to good football. It is the ideal place for Justin right now. Then, who doesn’t dream of Barcelona? But Italian football is catching up and Justin can take advantage of it.”

The Arsenal boss is confident the former Spain manager can get Real Madrid back on track amid four winless and scoreless matches

Unai Emery said stuttering Real Madrid must find balance without Cristiano Ronaldo but the Arsenal boss has backed Julen Lopetegui to do so.

All-time leading scorer Ronaldo left for Italian champions Juventus in the off-season and Madrid have struggled to fill the void following four consecutive matches without a goal.

Madrid have lost three of those games, including last week’s shock 1-0 LaLiga defeat at Deportivo Alaves, increasing the pressure on under-fire head coach Lopetegui.

Emery, however, is confident Lopetegui – who replaced Zinedine Zidane at the start of the season – can get Madrid back on track.

“Real Madrid must find balance without him and they need time to adapt,” former Sevilla boss Emery said. “However, I think Julen will find it.”

Emery added: “We cannot answer for Julen, but when it happens to me, I try to be patient, but it is difficult to ask for patience in football. I’m sure the goals will come for Lopetegui.”

Sergio Ramos came out in defense of his manager, saying it would be “crazy” for the club to sack him so soon into his tenure. 

However, an inside source at the club revealed to Goal that Lopetegui’s fate may just come down to the upcoming Clasico against Barcelona.

Howe says his Bournemouth side can play even better than they did in their 4-0 Premier League win at Watford.

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe insists his side had played better despite watching them storm to their heaviest away Premier League win at Watford on Saturday.

A Joshua King brace was sandwiched by goals from David Brooks and Callum Wilson, while Watford were reduced to 10 men when Christian Kabasele was shown a second yellow card in the first half.

The result maintained a strong start to the season for the Cherries, who now sit fifth behind only Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea.

Arsenal could leapfrog Bournemouth when they visit Fulham on Sunday, but Howe was impressed by the way his side performed at Vicarage Road.

“It’s a great result for us and we’re delighted with that,” he said.

“I would say that we have played better than that, but we’re certainly very pleased with that result and our position off the back of it.

“Both centre halves were dominant and Jefferson Lerma did a good defensive job in front of them, I’m really pleased with their work.

“We were very good in both boxes today, which was a flip from our last away game at Burnley [a 4-0 defeat]. It was an incisive, efficient performance and we dealt with the physical contest really well.

“Wins obviously give you the confidence and belief you need to win really difficult games in the Premier League.

“There’s tough games to come, we need those mental qualities shown today to push on and get more results.

“Nothing is a given in this league, we will enjoy where we are but we have to maximise this period.”

Opposite number Javi Gracia, meanwhile, was unhappy with a below-par display that made it four Premier League games without a win for the Hornets.

“It is always a bad moment to lose like today,” he said. 

“Today is the first day we haven’t competed as in other games. They were much better than us. We will try to improve for the next game.”

The two-time FIFA Women’s Player of the Year is adapting to a new position, and using her brain to compensate for the effects of age

Carli Lloyd is well aware that she’s a different player now than she used to be.

At 36, of course, it is only natural. But where some players may quickly drop off a cliff as they enter their mid 30s, Lloyd is using a new role to gracefully extend one of the most decorated careers in U.S. women’s national team history.

For most of her career, Lloyd has been a midfielder. As she’ll tell you though, that hardly meant that she stuck to one defined role in the center of the park.

“I’ve played center mid alongside Shannon Boxx for so many years where one of us goes forward and one holds and vice versa. I’ve played holding mid in the 2012 Olympics, I’ve played left mid, I’ve played right mid, I’ve played attacking mid,” Lloyd said.

But as her career with the national team enters its twilight phase, Lloyd has embarked on a transition that has seen her leave the midfield entirely. Once the USWNT’s star playmaker as a No. 10, the veteran is now primarily a striker – and is playing the role mostly off the bench.

Not every two-time FIFA Women’s Player of the Year would handle such a change as well as Lloyd, who is looking at her move from focal point to role player in a philosophical way.

“Obviously with age you’ve got to change some things,” Lloyd said. “I still feel probably as fit as I’ve ever felt, as explosive as I’ve ever felt but these last couple years I’ve really been trying to train my brain in a different way.

“I’m not the Carli Lloyd from five years ago that’s just going to get the ball and start running towards goal. I’ve got to be able to play smarter with my brain.”

It’s a crossroads that every veteran is forced to confront sooner or later. As physical advantages diminish, the only way to keep up is by trading raw athletic ability for guile, positional awareness and pure understanding of the game.

Lloyd, a notoriously hardworking and studious player, is using those characteristics to ring out every ounce of production from the closing stages of her career.

“These last couple years for me personally has been studying the game and trying to evolve,” Lloyd said. “With that has been this thing where I’ve maybe had to take a couple steps backwards to go five steps forward.”

Mallory Pugh, one of the USWNT’s best hopes for the future and a player 16 years Lloyd’s junior, recognizes that the veteran’s ongoing transformation isn’t something that just any player can accomplish.

“She’s just Carli – she can do it,” Pugh said. “I think that just shows her quality. You don’t really see that a lot from players who can play the 10 role so well and then can also play the nine role so well. Credit to her that she’s made the transition perfectly … Just having her as a leader out there and just kind of following is just super inspiring.”

On Sunday night in a World Cup qualifier against Panama, Lloyd earned a rare start – her first in eight games with the national team. She responded by scoring a hat trick.

Was her dominant performance proof that her transformation is complete? Hardly, especially given the quality of the USA’s opponent on the night.

Lloyd barely even seem to be moved by scoring three against Panama (“it’s not even [about] the goals,” she said) but instead was focused on improving at her new position, and using each game as a forward to gain more experience – and to get more on film to study.

“I’ve really been dissecting the games. I’ve always been a person who watches every game that I play in and kind of dissects it and studies it, but now it’s more with my brain and less with the body,” Lloyd said.

“I know what I need to work on. I know some of the things they want and I’ve just got to be able to do it and be kind of an unpredictable No 9. I’m not going to be the standing target player, I’ve got more to offer than that and I’ve just got to continue getting better.”

Lloyd appears set to play a key role at the World Cup next summer as a 37-year-old. From there, who knows how much further her transformation will end up extending an already-stellar career.

“This isn’t the end,” Lloyd said. “I’ve got to keep climbing.”

A man who knows all about the pressures of being drafted into the Three Lions fold at a young age believes the Borussia Dortmund forward will flourish

Jadon Sancho “won’t be fazed” by the pressure of representing England, says Theo Walcott, with a former teen star for the Three Lions convinced that the Borussia Dortmund forward will flourish.

At 18 years of age, a man who took the brave decision to walk out on Manchester City and head for Germany in the summer of 2017 has been handed a maiden senior international call-up.

Gareth Southgate has drafted Sancho into the fold on the back of a positive opening to the 2018-19 campaign which has delivered just one Bundesliga start, but six assists.

An exciting prospect could now be handed his England debut in Nations League clashes with Croatia and Spain, with Walcott tipping him to make an immediate impact.

The Everton winger knows all about the challenges of making an international breakthrough at a young age, having been handed a World Cup call-up in 2006 at the age of 17 and without a competitive outing for Arsenal to his name, and he expects Sancho to take everything in his stride.

Walcott said: “He can deal with it, he’s been in the Dortmund dressing room, he’s played at their stadium which is fantastic. He won’t be fazed at all.

“It’s completely different now, there are a lot of young players in that group. When I came through there was Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard – completely established players in the team – so it’s a different environment I would say.

“Of course, it’s still daunting, but when you get down on the field and play football that’s all you want to do, you just want to play, it doesn’t matter who it’s for.

“You just want to go out there and do your best and I’m sure everyone will.

“The young players with England is fantastic to see and they’ve just got to take their chances. Good luck to them all.”

Sancho has been joined in the latest Three Lions squad by fellow rookies Mason Mount, James Maddison, Nathaniel Chalobah and Lewis Dunk.

Walcott, meanwhile, continues to find himself overlooked. He has not figured for his country since November 2016 and remains stuck on 47 caps.

While frustrated with his absence from the team’s starting XI, the Chilean took to social media to defend his manager

Arturo Vidal admitted he is not happy with his limited playing time at Barcelona, though the midfielder insisted he would tell Ernesto Valverde directly if he had a problem with the head coach.

Vidal has been in the headlines after reacting angrily to his benching in Barcelona’s 4-2 win over Tottenham in the Champions League last week – the Chile international using social media to voice his frustration.

An angry emoji was posted on social media by Vidal – who arrived from Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich in the off-season – following the match at Wembley.

Vidal was also absent from Valverde’s starting XI for Barca’s 1-1 draw away to Valencia in LaLiga on Sunday.

Asked about the situation at Camp Nou, the 31-year-old – who is in Miami for Chile’s friendly against Peru on Friday before heading to Queretaro to face Mexico four days later – told reporters: “I am not happy but if I have a problem with the coach I will say it to his face.

“How am I going to be happy if I don’t play, and me of all people. I am someone that has always fought, that has been in the best teams in the world, that has won everything and who wants to continue winning at Barcelona.

“I am fine physically and happy. In the past few games I have been a little irritated but that’s how it is, we will keep battling, there are a lot of important games ahead and we will see.”

Vidal was quizzed specifically on his social media activity after quickly deleting a message, which read, “You don’t need to fight with Judases, they end up hanging themselves.”

“When I have a problem or I am angry then I go straight to the coach and I speak to him,” he said. “You can have various reasons for doing these things.

“It [the Judas message] was nothing to do with anything sporting and I took it down to stop people speculating. There are personal things, jokes which you can put on social media and people take the wrong way.”

The Napoli boss was full of praise for his former star but suggested he picked the wrong team when he opted to make the move to Serie A

Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti believes Cristiano Ronaldo’s presence in Serie A can restore the league to its former glory, but joked that the star’s only mistake was joining Juventus.

The 33-year-old has already scored five goals and set up four in nine appearances in the Italian top flight despite a slow start following his summer switch from Real Madrid.

The Portuguese star has been tipped to help Juve end their long search for a Champions League crown and enhance the Turin side’s hold on the domestic title.

And, although Ancelotti is happy to see Serie A have another global icon, he wonders if his former player could have picked a better team.

“The arrival of Cristiano is an excellent sign for the image of Serie A,” he told France Football.

“”For a long time, it was the league of stars, Diego Maradona, Michel Platini, Zico, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Andriy Shevchenko, Kaka, Ibrahimovic… That was the case for at least 10 years. The arrival of Cristiano will restore its reputation. 

“He is a huge professional. His only mistake is going to Juve!”

Napoli face Ancelotti’s former side Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday. Although he sees Thomas Tuchel’s team as one of the favourites to win the competition, he has confidence in the strength of his own squad.

“It’s nice to see how the club is growing,” he said. “They are one of the best teams in Europe. PSG can win the Champions League, that’s for sure.”

He added: “Today is a different Napoli. We do not have Maradona, but we built a real high-level team, with young players in particular. 

“Napoli have been playing very well for several years, so the quality is there. I will try to bring some experience, help the team to have a little more personality and courage in some moments when we’re not playing as well.”

The left-back insists that it is not just a two-horse race, with the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham all still in touch with the top

Liverpool full-back Andrew Robertson dismissed suggestions the Premier League title race is already down to two teams.

Jurgen Klopp’s men played out a 0-0 draw with Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday, with Riyad Mahrez missing a late penalty for the visitors.

Heading into the international break, City, Liverpool and Chelsea are all on 20 points, with Arsenal and Tottenham two adrift.

And Robertson, who enjoyed a strong outing against Pep Guardiola’s side, has nixed suggestions that there is already a two-horse race at the top of the table.

“We feel we can compete with any team but people seem to be just dismissing other teams and making it a two-horse race, which is not the case,” Robertson told Sky Sports News.

“We played Chelsea last week, who were excellent. They have been on a great run.

“You see teams like Arsenal with a new manager putting great results together so there is a long way to go and there will be a lot of teams competing but we hope we are one of them.”

Liverpool have faced Spurs, Chelsea and City in three of their past four league games, winning one and drawing two.

They return to action with a trip to Huddersfield Town on October 20.

The German praised the midfielder’s starring role in the club’s 6-1 thrashing of Red Star Belgrade ahead of Sunday’s game against Lyon

Thomas Tuchel believes Marco Verratti is among the best players in the world and can help the Paris Saint-Germain fans fall in love with his team.

PSG have made a flying start to the new season, winning their first eight Ligue 1 matches and recovering from a Champions League defeat to Liverpool by thrashing Red Star Belgrade 6-1.

Italy international Verratti stood out in the triumph over Red Star and coach Tuchel picked out the midfielder as a key player in his bid to create a team that appeals to supporters.

“For me, it’s not a surprise [how Verratti plays],” Tuchel told a pre-match news conference ahead of facing Lyon. “Marco is very important, he is an extraordinary player.

“He is one of the best players in the world. He finds solutions in closed situations, in very tight spaces. He is very confident and he works like crazy when we lose the ball.

“It’s very good for us, to influence all the others, and also the fans. I want our fans to fall in love with the team – we have the best players in the world. It’s very important for us.” 

Tuchel was speaking in advance of his side looking to make it nine wins out of nine in Ligue 1 and extend the eight-point gap to Lille in second place, with the team buoyed by the revivial of their European campaign after a limp defeat at Anfield in September. Lyon opened their Champions League campaign with a 2-1 win away at Manchester City.

“It is a tough match against a top-quality team,” he said. “OL are better against bigger sides, as we saw against both Marseille and Manchester City – we saw their true ability both times. Lyon feel freer when they are not considered favourites.”