Gareth Bale has signed for Los Angeles FC, marking a significant coup for the Major League Soccer club.

Reports emerged on Saturday that Bale, who had been linked with a switch to hometown club Cardiff City, had agreed a deal to move to California.

MLSsoccer.com, the official website of MLS, claimed the winger was to join LAFC on a one-year contract using targeted allocation money.

That deal has now been confirmed by Bale himself, with the 32-year-old posting a video to his official Twitter account.

The clip was captioned with the post "see you soon, Los Angeles" and showed Bale, who appeared to be standing on a golf course, wearing an LAFC jersey and baseball cap.

Bale's Real Madrid contract had been looking for a new club after guiding Wales to qualification for the 2022 World Cup.

Wales face the USMNT in their first group-stage match in Qatar.

Before then, Bale's signing boosts an LAFC team who already lead the Supporters' Shield race and have also secured Giorgio Chiellini ahead of the transfer window in MLS opening next month.

LAFC's first match after that date is El Trafico against rivals the LA Galaxy.

England captain Leah Williamson was full of praise for Lucy Bronze after the Lionesses emphatic 5-1 friendly win against the Netherlands on Friday.

Bronze, Beth Mead, who netted a double, Ella Toone and Lauren Hemp scored to seal an emphatic victory for Sarina Wiegman's side in Leeds.

England had fallen 1-0 behind to a Lieke Martens header, before Bronze put a cross into the box that somehow found its way into the net.

A Netherlands penalty was missed by the Dutch captain, Sherida Spitse, who was making her 200th international appearance, before the hosts put on a show in the second half at Elland Road, bagging four more goals to ease to victory.

"Lucy scored one of them in training yesterday, so I was trying to tell her to take it," a smiling Williamson told Stats Perform after the game. "But at the end of the day she's got forward and we've seen her in that position so many times that when she gets there she'll take it for the team.

"But also the state of the game and the penalty, it's not great, but our reaction after, you can't change that."

Following the win, Netherlands boss Mark Parsons said England are favourites for next month's Women's Euro 2022 tournament, and Williamson was asked if teams are playing against them with some fear.

"A little bit, I think, we're playing well, we're the home nation. It's a brilliant combo to have," she said. 

"Other countries will potentially look at the score lines and think 'Yeah, England are doing really well,' But I think we've just got to stay focused on what we're doing and what our job is.

"We know that even though we won 5-1 tonight, there was many things that we can work on, and get better at. Being clinical is something that we've wanted to improve on and we've obviously done that tonight and in a lot of the games previously with Sarina [Wiegman].

"I mean, if I was on another team, I don't really pay too much attention to score lines, because you don't know the ins and outs of the game. But I'm sure a lot of people will be speaking about us.

"We're very much focused on the one game at a time cliche."

Gareth Bale is signing for Los Angeles FC, according to a report in the United States.

MLSsoccer.com, the official website of MLS, claims the winger will join LAFC on a one-year contract using targeted allocation money.

That deal would expire next June, midway through the 2023 season.

Bale's Real Madrid contract expires this month, and he has been looking for a new club after guiding Wales to qualification for the 2022 World Cup.

The five-time Champions League winner has been widely linked with Cardiff City but instead appears set on a move Stateside.

Wales face the USMNT in their first group-stage match in Qatar.

Before then, Bale's signing would boost an LAFC team who already lead the Supporters' Shield race and have also secured Giorgio Chiellini ahead of the transfer window in MLS opening next month.

LAFC's first match after that date is El Trafico against rivals the LA Galaxy.

Netherlands head coach Mark Parsons believes England are favourites for the Women's Euro 2022 after seeing his team well beaten by the Lionesses on Friday.

England ran out 5-1 winners at Elland Road, with goals from Lucy Bronze, Beth Mead (two), Ella Toone and Lauren Hemp sealing an emphatic victory.

England's previous meeting with the Oranje was a 3-0 reverse in the Euro 2017 semi-finals, though the Lionesses maintained their record of having never lost back-to-back games against the Netherlands.

Sarina Wiegman was managing the Dutch side that day as they went on to win their home tournament, and now has the chance to do the same with England.

Speaking after the game, Parsons expressed his admiration for England, pointing to their home advantage and resources.

"This is our third top opponent we've faced," he said. "Brazil, we felt we should have won, France, we weren't good and didn't deserve to draw or win.

"Tonight, I think England will be favourites in the Euros where they're at, the qualities of players, the home crowd, the resources that the WSL have been putting in, the work the clubs have been doing. You add all that up, it's very hard to see that they're not favourites."

Netherlands will be in Group C at Euro 2022 along with Sweden, Portugal and Switzerland, starting off against the Swedes at Bramall Lane on July 9.

"Very difficult evening. I think the one thing we wanted to avoid by taking on such a big game, big opponent early in our preparation, was this outcome" Parsons admitted, before suggesting that England's extra preparation time after the end of their season played a big part.

"If we had avoided this outcome, I think we will only be taking positives. I feel a big responsibility because I knew how big of a step this would be.

"Also, I was aware of the English league finishing May 11. They got their holiday, they got in two weeks before us that they would be in this place, but was aggressive and ambitious in having the game when it was, hoped that we'd be in a controlled position at 60 minutes because the minds probably would have carried the bodies at that point."

The contest had been relatively even in the first half, with the score still 1-1 until the 53rd minute when Mead grabbed her first of the night.

Three more goals in the last 18 minutes gave the game a scoreline that had not seemed likely at the break, and Parsons took some solace in that, while taking some of the blame himself.

He added: "Some of the great decision-making we had in the first half had gone [in the second], so it's going to feel like two games. Analysing the first 55, 60 minutes and throwing the last 30, 35 minutes in the bin very quickly because I don't think there'll be anything worth taking from that due to the level where we're at physically, which is normal, but the organisation didn't help the players at that point.

"When the [final] whistle went, I knew I was going to be analysing a shorter game... There'd be no point in looking any further because I let them down. At that point, the organisation should have been a lot safer, more defensive, because the legs had gone and England were just getting fresher and fresher with their changes.

"With the home crowd, we felt it once or twice in the first half. In the second half it was the flags and the noise coming from the home crowd, which is an experience we needed to learn. Yeah. Tough night."

Newly promoted Premier League club Nottingham Forest have broken their transfer record to sign forward Taiwo Awoniyi.

Forest, who have returned to the top flight for the 2022-23 season after 23 years away, reportedly triggered a £17.2million (€20m) release clause in Awoniyi's Union Berlin contract.

The Nigeria international spent six years at Liverpool but only received a UK work permit last year, shortly before departing for Union in a permanent transfer.

Liverpool are reportedly due to receive 10 per cent of the fee paid by Forest for Awoniyi, who scored 15 times in 31 Bundesliga games last season.

In all competitions, the striker – who spent the previous campaign on loan at Union and was also linked to Newcastle United – netted 20 goals in 43 appearances.

Awoniyi has signed a five-year contract at The City Ground and boosts a side who relied on winger Brennan Johnson as their primary source of goals as they came up through the Championship play-offs. Johnson scored 18 league goals.

"I'm very excited to be here at Nottingham Forest," said Awoniyi, whose signing surpasses the club's previous record outlay of £13.2m on Joao Carvalho in 2018.

"It's always been my dream to play in the Premier League, and having spoken to Steve Cooper about our ambitions and looking at Forest, with its great history, it's a club that I want to be part of."

Awoniyi is widely expected to be followed to Forest by Manchester United and England goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

Ernesto Valverde, not Marcelo Bielsa, is set to become Athletic Bilbao's next coach after Jon Uriarte won the club's presidential election on Friday.

Valverde has coached Athletic on two previous occasions, from 2003 to 2005 and 2013 to 2017. No coach has overseen more games for the club than his tally of 306.

He enjoyed success with Athletic during his second spell, leading the team to Europe in each campaign and winning the Supercopa de Espana in 2015-16, beating Barcelona 5-1.

In 2017, Valverde was appointed Barca coach. He won LaLiga in his two full seasons at Camp Nou, and a Copa del Rey title in 2018, but failure in the Champions League placed him on thin ice and he was dismissed in late 2019.

The 58-year-old has since been out of work but earlier this week, Athletic presidential candidate Uriarte stated that Valverde would become the club's new coach should he win the election.

Another candidate, Ricardo Barkala, had also backed Valverde to be the coach, while Inaki Arechabaleta had chosen Marcelo Bielsa – another former Athletic coach who is fondly remembered in the Basque country.

Yet Bielsa will not be returning to San Mames just yet, and instead it is Valverde who is set to be appointed following Uriarte's victory.

Uriarte, the youngest of the three candidates at 43, is a former banker who co-founded ticket portal Ticketbis, which was sold to eBay in 2016. He won the election with 46.71 per cent of the vote.

Arechabaleta was second with a 33.72 per cent share, with Barkala coming in third (18.13 per cent).

Sarina Wiegman is "absolutely happy" with England's progress ahead of the Women's Euro 2022, but she did not see a stunning 5-1 defeat of the Netherlands as cause to get carried away.

England have never lost back-to-back matches against the Oranje, yet their previous meeting had been a crushing 3-0 reverse in the Euro 2017 semi-finals.

Wiegman was in the Netherlands dugout on that occasion, guiding her country to a home tournament success.

That is now her aim with the Lionesses, and Friday's victory at Elland Road surely laid down a marker, with Beth Mead scoring twice – either side of goals from Ella Toone and Lauren Hemp – after Lucy Bronze had cancelled out Lieke Martens' opener.

England are yet to lose in their 13 games under Wiegman, scoring 80 times across those matches, but the manager still saw room for improvement.

"Maybe," Wiegman told ITV Sport when asked if she had to temper expectations. "For us, it's just that when we lose, we go with our plan; when we win, we go with our plan.

"We had a good win, but we cannot think we are there. Today showed that we have still lots of things to do.

"Things went really well, but lots of things didn't go well, and we really have to improve that, too. We'll start working on that again on Monday."

That is not to say Wiegman was unhappy with what she saw, adding: "I'm absolutely happy. It was such a high-level game.

"Of course the score says a lot: 5-1. That's really good, the game in the second half was really good, so there are very exciting things to see.

"Yes, we're in a good place, but still we have some things to improve."

The slow start was undoubtedly one area that could have concerned Wiegman, although she was enthused by England's response to only the third goal they have conceded in her tenure – this the first time they have trailed.

"It's very nice to score five goals, but for us it actually was good that we got behind for the first time and how we reacted to that," she said.

"We needed to come back from not playing well, conceding a goal, and get the game to a higher standard. That was good."

Wayne Rooney has resigned as Derby County manager after a "rollercoaster" reign, the former Manchester United and England star said on Friday.

Rooney took his first role in management when he was appointed at Derby in November 2020, and faced a difficult challenge as the club were blighted by off-field issues.

Derby were relegated from the Championship at the end of last season after having 21 points deducted, 12 for entering administration and nine for historical financial breaches under former owner Mel Morris.

The Rams will be playing in the third tier for the first time since the 1985-86 season, yet Derby had hoped to keep Rooney.

American businessman Chris Kirchner expressed an interest in acquiring the club and was named preferred bidder by administrators in April, but he pulled out earlier in June.

Rooney, who was linked to Everton before Frank Lampard was named manager, says he has kept a close eye on Derby's ownership developments but has decided to resign.

"Over the course of the summer I have been closely following developments regarding the ownership of Derby County," Rooney said, in a statement released on the club's website.

"Today I met with the administrators to inform them of my decision that it was time for me to leave the club. In fairness to them, they tried tremendously hard to change my decision, but my mind was made up.

"My time at the club has been a rollercoaster of emotions, both highs and lows, but I have to say that I have enjoyed the challenge. Personally, I feel the club now needs to be led by someone with fresh energy and not affected by the events that have happened over the last 18 months.

"I will remember my time at Derby with great pride and affection and would like to thank all my staff, players and of course the fans for their incredible support. I will never forget you and hope to see you all again in the near future and in happier times.

"Finally, I am aware that the club still have interested parties who wish to take over the running of the club. To them I say this, Derby County is a great club with a great history and great fans. I wish you all the best and much success for the future."

Burnley manager Vincent Kompany has acknowledged the Clarets were always likely to lose their more valuable players after Premier League relegation.

The 36-year-old former Manchester City defender took over at Turf Moor after leaving Belgian club Anderlecht, where he spent three years.

Burnley are returning to the Championship after spending six years in the Premier League, with Sean Dyche leaving at the back end of the 2021-22 campaign after ten years with the club.

Interim manager Michael Jackson managed to produce an initial bounce, but it was not enough to keep Burnley up as the Clarets suffered relegation on the final day of the season following a home defeat to Newcastle United.

As such, Burnley are expected to cash in on their high-profile players in the transfer window. Goalkeeper Nick Pope has already left to join Newcastle, while Maxwel Cornet – the club's top scorer in the 2021-22 season – has also been linked with a move away. 

James Tarkowski's contract is expiring and the defender is set to join Everton, while his fellow centre-back Ben Mee is also leaving the club. Dwight McNeil, too, is rumoured to be attracting Premier League interest.

"You always have to expect that some of the more valuable players will move on [after relegation]," Kompany told reporters on Friday.

"We wish them well and are looking forward to bringing in some exciting players.

"It goes with the drop in revenue when you drop out of the Premier League and you have to expect that.

"It is a few players who have perhaps earned the right to move on."

The Clarets are reportedly nearing the signings of Arsenal defender Daniel Ballard, as well as Milton Keynes Dons midfielder Scott Twine.

"We are close to signing a few players," Kompany added. "There is nobody we are bringing in today, I don't think, but we have set up a few medicals."

While his squad seems set to undergo plenty of change, Kompany is excited to get started.

"I have been well received and I have been blending in quite quickly," Kompany added. "I was not in a need to come to Burnley, I had other options.

"We started talking about the problems in the short term and the opportunities long term. I liked how open the ownership were."

Kompany's first competitive match in charge of Burnley comes on July 29 at Huddersfield Town.

Ajax head coach Alfred Schreuder believes Jurrien Timber will remain at the club amid interest from Manchester United – and hopes to keep Antony too.

Both players have been reported as transfer targets for United following their appointment of former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag, who is said to be keen to reunite with the pair.

Netherlands boss and former United manager Louis van Gaal has reportedly told defender Timber that should he move and not be an automatic first-team pick, it may affect his chances of making the squad for the World Cup.

Schreuder is optimistic the 21-year-old will stick with the Eredivisie side.

"I think this guy is very smart. He knows very well what is good for himself to develop. And I don't think he's finished at Ajax," Schreuder told ESPN.

Asked whether Timber would remain at the club, the coach added: "I hope so and I assume that."

Schreuder had a similar assessment regarding Antony as he expressed his desire to retain the winger who scored 10 goals and contributed eight assists for Ajax last season.

"It is clear that we want to keep that boy. I think he still has a contract until 2025," Schreuder added.

"I really want to work with him; he knows that, and the club knows that too."

Italy great Fabio Cannavaro has suggested former club Napoli should attempt to sign Paulo Dybala, while making a "sacrifice" to renew Kalidou Koulibaly's contract.

Dybala appears set to join Inter when his Juventus contract expires at the end of June, with Romelu Lukaku also reportedly close to joining Simone Inzaghi's side on loan.

Napoli supporters have grown frustrated with president Aurelio De Laurentiis, with the Partenopei said to be looking to reduce their wage bill, leaving the future of Dries Mertens and Koulibaly in doubt.

Lorenzo Insigne has already left for MLS side Toronto and Cannavaro, who started his career in Naples, urged Napoli to move for Dybala.

"If I were in De Laurentiis I would make a proposal to Dybala," the World Cup winner told Corriere dello Sport.

While Napoli are unlikely to be able to acquire the Argentina international, Cannavaro also says they must do all in their power to keep Koulibaly.

Barcelona, Juventus and Manchester United are reportedly interested in the centre-back, whose contract is set to expire in June 2023.

De Laurentiis conceded earlier in May that the Senegal international could not be forced into staying after Koulibaly had stated "we'll see what happens at the end of the season".

"Kalidou represents a pillar of a team that in recent years has always been lucky enough to be able to count on him: if I were in the club I would make a sacrifice to keep him, to renew," Cannavaro added. 

"Maybe he has demands that some other club could satisfy, but it is difficult to find players like him in that role: we must keep them close. 

"There is a shortage [of such players], you can find a midfielder or a forward."

Luciano Spalletti will be keen to keep Koulibaly after Napoli conceded the joint-fewest goals in Serie A (31) and kept the second-most clean sheets (16 – behind Milan, 18) in the 2021-22 campaign.

Milan will start their Serie A title defence at home to Udinese, while Inter's attempts to reclaim the Scudetto will begin at newly promoted Lecce.

Stefano Pioli's side edged out Inter for the championship in the 2021-22 campaign, their first Scudetto in 11 years, and will again face stern competition from Juventus, Napoli and Simone Inzaghi's side next season.

Milan visit Atalanta on the second matchday, with the first Derby di Milano between Pioli's side and Inter coming on September 4, when Lazio host Napoli.

Dusan Vlahovic will return to Fiorentina with Juventus on the same weekend, while Milan host Napoli and Massimiliano Allegri's side in the space of two weeks between matchday seven and nine.

The first Derby di Roma will see Jose Mourinho's side host Lazio on matchday 13, with the return meeting scheduled for matchday 27.

Inter will meet Milan for their second clash in week 21, while Serie A will take a break between November 13 and January 4, owing to the World Cup in Qatar.

The weekend of May 7 could be influential in the title race, with Atalanta hosting Juventus, Lazio visiting Milan, Inter travelling to Roma and Napoli playing at home to Fiorentina.

Milan lifted the Scudetto on the final matchday in 2022 and should it go all the way again, Pioli's men host Hellas Verona, while Inter make the trip to Torino and Juventus are away at Udinese.

Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi was on Friday acquitted on appeal for a second time by a Swiss federal court of charges of corruption in the attribution of World Cup television rights.

Al-Khelaifi had been charged with inciting former FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke to commit aggravated criminal mismanagement.

Valcke was accused of wanting to transfer the Middle East and North Africa television rights for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups to a media company headed by Al-Khelaifi.

Al-Khelaifi allegedly offered Valcke, who is serving a 10-year ban from football that was handed down by the Fifa Ethics Committee in 2018, exclusive use of a luxury villa in Sardinia in exchange.

The PSG president has been cleared again of a charge of incitement to commit aggravated criminal mismanagement.

It is the second time Al-Khelaifi has been cleared of wrongdoing in the Swiss federal criminal court after prosecutors appealed against the original verdicts.

"The years of baseless allegations, fictitious charges and constant smears have been proven to be completely and wholly unsubstantiated – twice," Al Khelaifi's lawyer Marc Bonnant said in a widely reported statement.

Valcke was convicted of separate charges not involving Al-Khelaifi. He was given an 11-month suspended sentence and must also repay FIFA €1.75m (£1.58m) for forgery and passive corruption.

Those charges relate to Valcke exploiting his position to influence the awarding of media rights for Italy and Greece for various World Cup and other tournaments scheduled between 2018 and 2030, in exchange for payments from Greek businessman Dinos Deris, who has also been charged.

The Frenchman was cleared of the most serious charges involving accepting bribes and aggravated criminal mismanagement.

Having finishing 15 points behind champions Real Madrid in LaLiga season, Atletico Madrid are in a bit of a rebuilding process.

While Hector Herrera, Luis Suarez and Sime Vrsaljko head for the exit, Saul Niguez and Alvaro Morata return from loans, with Belgium midfielder Axel Witsel potentially also signing on a free transfer.

Reports suggest that Atleti are also particularly keen on keeping one of Witsel's international team-mates.

TOP STORY – ATLETI TO WARD OFF CARRASCO INTEREST

Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone is unwilling to let go of Yannick Carrasco amid growing interest from Premier League clubs, according to Diario AS.

Although Carrasco's contract expires in 2024, his reported release clause of €60million reportedly makes him an attractive prospect to the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.

Simeone has apparently ordered the club to not field any offers for the 28-year-old, who he considers fundamental to his future plans.

Though the player is reportedly happy at the Wanda Metropolitano, offers from elsewhere could potentially play a role in any contract negotiations.

ROUND-UP

– Cristiano Ronaldo is considering a departure from Manchester United in response to a lack of recent transfer activity under Erik ten Hag, Record reports.

– Barcelona have finally made a bid for Robert Lewandowski, with an opening offer to Bayern Munich of €40m, according to the Telegraph.

– The same publication is also reporting that, with one year remaining on his contract, France international Adrien Rabiot has requested a transfer from Juventus to the Premier League.

– Milan are considering making an offer for Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz, per TuttomercatoWeb.

Saint-Etienne will start life in Ligue 2 with a three-point deduction for the crowd trouble that followed their relegation from the French top flight. 

The 5-4 penalty shootout defeat to Auxerre in May was followed by ugly scenes, with supporters clashing with police and security staff after storming the pitch and targeting players. 

The Ligue de Football Professionnel announced on Thursday that the club had been handed a six-point deduction, though three were suspended. 

Saint-Etienne will also play their first four home games of the season at an empty Stade Geoffroy-Guichard after two of the six-match ban they received were suspended. 

The club said in a statement: "Given the nature of the facts, Saint-Etienne has decided not to appeal the decision.

"The club appeals strongly to everyone's responsibility so that these unspeakable acts never happen again at the Geoffroy-Guichard."