Monchi has been appointed as Aston Villa’s president of football operations, the club have announced.

The 54-year-old Spaniard arrives from Sevilla, where he was director of football.

Monchi’s time as sporting director at the LaLiga outfit, after playing for them as a goalkeeper, included seven UEFA Cup/Europa League wins, the first coming in 2005-06 and the most recent last season.

Three of those were achieved with Sevilla being managed by current Villa boss Unai Emery, in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Monchi, who left Sevilla in 2017 and became sporting director at Roma before returning to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium two years later, said on Villa’s official website: “I am very excited to join Aston Villa, a great project which is striving for excellence from the Under-9s to the top level, and I completely share the vision of Mr Sawiris and Mr Edens (owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens).

“I am also delighted and can’t wait to work with Unai Emery again, one of the best managers in football.

“After enjoying so many years with Sevilla and winning several European trophies with my life-long club, I look forward to building on the recent successes at Aston Villa and ensuring this colossal club continues to grow and improve.”

Villa chairman Sawiris said: “We are delighted to have Monchi joining us in this new position that consolidates all football responsibilities at the group.

“Alongside Unai and his staff, Monchi’s arrival will add to the world class team we are assembling both on and off the pitch. He is, like Unai Emery, a serial winner.

“With the appointment of Chris Heck on the business side, this new structure will ensure that the club is firing on all cylinders on the commercial side in addition to the football side to ensure that the club’s model is sustainable and positioned well to meet our growing ambitions.”

Villa also said Damian Vidagany is to assume the role of director of football operations, while Johan Lange will be global director of football development and international academies.

Monchi will assume his duties from July subject to receiving his work permit.

Emery was appointed Villa boss in October, succeeding Steven Gerrard, and took the team from just above the Premier League relegation zone to a seventh-placed finish, securing Europa Conference League qualification.

Next season will be the first time Villa have played in Europe since 2010.

Scotland manager Steve Clarke stressed the need to focus on “Norway the team” rather than become obsessed with trying to stop Erling Haaland.

Haaland goes into Saturday’s Euro 2024 qualifier in Oslo on the back of a 52-goal, treble-winning season with Manchester City and is set to make his first international appearance since September in front of an expectant crowd at the Ullevaal Stadium.

Much of the build-up to the game has been dominated by talk of the 22-year-old striker’s threat, but Clarke and defender Liam Cooper were careful not to overlook the rest of the Norway team – or give them any cause to feel under-appreciated.

Asked about trying stop Haaland, Clarke said: “As we always do, we concentrate on ourselves. We prepare properly for the game, we respect our opponents. We play Norway the team, and hopefully Scotland the team are a little bit better on the night.”

Leeds defender Cooper provided a similar response, saying: “With Erling, his goals and achievements speak for themselves. He has had an unbelievable season at club level, but I don’t like to disrespect the Norway team, they have a lot of good players and to put all our focus on one player, I think that would be wrong of us.

“We obviously know what Erling brings, he is an unbelievable player and unbelievable goalscorer, but we have to pay a lot of respect to the rest of the team as well.

“Obviously (Martin) Odegaard is a very good player, he has also been in a title challenge this year. They have got amazing players. We have to keep Erling and Odegaard in check, but there’s a lot of other players to worry about as well.”

Cooper played as Haaland netted twice at Elland Road earlier this season and, asked what made the forward such a difficult opponent, the 31-year-old said: “For one, he doesn’t need many chances. So you can almost guarantee if he does get a chance it will go away.

“He is strong, he is powerful and he is always on your shoulder, always looking to get in behind. Obviously if we are not on top of our game and we are not cautious of that, he can damage us and he can hurt us.

“But I don’t want to disrespect the rest of the team. We have got to look after the whole of the Norway team and that’s the way it will be.

“We are going to need a big performance, especially a defensive performance. Hopefully we can get that, the boys are dialled in, and get a positive result.”

Scotland go into the game on the back of beating Group A favourites Spain 2-0 at Hampden in March to make it a perfect start to the campaign, while Norway sit on one point from their two matches.

Asked if his Scotland side now expect to win these types of games, Clarke said: “I think we should come with confidence. Obviously we had a good March and we have had a good run of wins in competitive fixtures.

“But we know we are coming to a difficult place. We always respect our opponents, we try and play as well as we can, and hopefully we can add to the points tally.

“It’s a different challenge, it’s an away game. Norway are a different team from Spain, they play a different way.

“They put you under a little bit more pressure maybe. Spain will pass the ball and pass the ball and try to win the game with possession. Norway can play with the ball because they have good ball players, but they can also be quite direct as well.”

Clarke reported a healthy squad following a Spanish training camp and this week’s work at Lesser Hampden.

“Full squad’s here, 25 players have travelled,” he said. “I have got a big decision, I have got to leave two out of the 23, so that’s my next job.”

Scotland aim to build on their flying start to their European Championship qualifying group when they face Norway in Oslo on Saturday.

Steve Clarke’s side made a perfect start in March against Cyprus and Spain with five goals and two clean sheets, while Norway only collected one point.

Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the major talking points ahead of the encounter.

How do you stop Haaland?

With 21 goals in 23 internationals, Erling Haaland’s goalscoring rate for his country is similar to the records he has set at Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund and now Manchester City. Steve Clarke has decisions to make over who goes up against a striker who netted 52 goals for treble winning City this season. The player who started in the heart of the back three in victory over Spain, Grant Hanley, is missing for Scotland through injury. The likes of Jack Hendry, John Souttar and Liam Cooper are vying for his place.

Can Scotland’s forwards overshadow Haaland?

The visitors have plenty of goal threats from midfield with Scott McTominay already on four goals in the campaign and John McGinn taking his international tally to 16 in the opening victory over Cyprus. With Che Adams injured, Lyndon Dykes is likely to lead the line with eight Scotland goals to his name. Lawrence Shankland and Kevin Nisbet are both off the mark for their country and go into the game in good form.

A big chance for Scotland already

An away win would put Scotland eight points clear of their opponents and put them in a strong position to seal a top-two position and automatic qualification for Germany. A draw would also keep Scotland on course provided they follow it up with a home win against Georgia. Norway have the chance to kick-start their campaign and ensure all three top seeds have beaten each other at home.

Learning the lessons

Scotland embarked on a training camp in Spain before their normal week’s preparation, after suffering defeats against Ukraine and Republic of Ireland last June on the back of varied workloads and season finishes for their players. Clarke hopes the extra preparation will lead to a stronger post-season performance this year.

Aberdeen have announced the signing of Slovenian striker Ester Sokler on a three-year deal.

The 24-year-old, joining from NK Radomlje for an undisclosed fee, becomes the Dons’ second new arrival in as many days and third recruit of the summer, following Nicky Devlin and Leighton Clarkson.

Sokler scored 10 goals in 30 games for Radomlje last season.

Aberdeen boss Barry Robson said on the club’s official website: “Ester is a striker with all the key attributes needed to be a success here and he further strengthens our attacking options for next season.

“He fits the profile of striker we were searching for, someone who can continue to develop in the correct environment and is another good example of our overall recruitment strategy, looking further afield for players who we believe can make a positive impact here.”

Sokler will officially become an Aberdeen player subject to successful completion of the UK immigration process, following the award of a Governing Body Endorsement on Thursday.

Lee Johnson believes Hibernian have added “craft” and “nous” to their attack after signing veteran striker Adam Le Fondre on an initial one-year contract.

The 36-year-old Englishman, who has amassed 273 career goals, joins the cinch Premiership club after recently leaving Australian side Sydney, where he spent the majority of the past five years.

Prior to moving to the A-League in 2018, Le Fondre played for a range of English clubs, with his most prolific spells coming at Rochdale, Rotherham and Reading, where he played under Hibs’ current director of football, Brian McDermott.

“Adam brings craft to our new frontline and his experience and nous in the game will help develop our younger strikers,” boss Johnson told the Hibs website.

“Throughout his career he has a proven goal-scoring record and physically he’s in good shape. We look forward to working with him.”

The arrival of Le Fondre will help fill the void left by Scotland striker Kevin Nisbet, who was sold to Millwall last weekend. Hibs have the option to extend Le Fondre’s contract by a further year if they wish.

Dundee have signed “old-school” Mexican defender Antonio Portales, subject to the granting of a visa and international clearance.

The 27-year-old centre-back moves to Dens Park from Atlante, a second-tier side in his homeland.

The former Oaxaca, San Luis and Monterrey player made 45 appearances and scored nine goals in the season just finished, and recently-appointed manager Tony Docherty is delighted to add Portales to the Dark Blues squad as they prepare for their return to the cinch Premiership.

“The club were made aware of Antonio and our recruitment team watched him extensively,” Docherty told the Dundee website. “We then all agreed that he would make a great addition to our playing squad.

“He is someone who enjoys defending, he is a bit old-school in terms that he enjoys defending.

“He is effective in both boxes and has real ability to play out from the back. He displays real passion and desire in his performances and I think this is something that will really relate to the Dundee fans.”

Goalkeeper Elliott Parish has left St Johnstone after a four-year stint with the club.

The 33-year-old joined Saints from Dundee in 2019 and predominantly served as the Perth team’s back-up before taking on goalkeeping coach duties midway through the season just finished.

“Everyone at St Johnstone wishes Elliott all the best in his future career and thanks him for his service to the club,” Saints said as they confirmed his departure on Friday.

Parish made 27 appearances, the last of which came last December.

The former Bristol City, Blackpool and Colchester keeper was on the bench as understudy to Zander Clark for both finals as Saints won an historic League Cup and Scottish Cup double in 2021, while he made one appearance in the earlier rounds of each competition.

Former Dundee United manager Liam Fox has returned to boyhood club Hearts as their B Team coach.

The 39-year-old takes over the role of managing the club’s youngsters in the Lowland League after Steven Naismith recently stepped up to take charge of the first team.

Fox, a childhood supporter who came through the Jambos’ academy as a player, previously spent five and a half years coaching Hearts’ under-17s, under-20s, reserves and first team before leaving in the summer of 2020.

He returns to Tynecastle at the end of an eventful campaign in which he had a chastening five-month spell as Dundee United boss before joining Barry Robson’s backroom staff at Aberdeen from March until the end of the season.

“I’m delighted to be back at Hearts and already looking forward to getting started,” Fox told the Jambos’ website.

“This club means a lot to me and has done ever since I became a supporter as a young boy. It was an honour to come through the academy system as a player and start my coaching career here, and it is a privilege to be able to come back and take over as B Team head coach.

“Away from Hearts I’ve gained a lot of experience at different top-flight clubs in a variety of coaching roles and I feel perfectly placed to bring those skills to the B Team, as well as younger age group players and coaches within the academy.

“The club has a pathway to the first team for young players. The opportunity to be involved is there for them but they have to work hard every single day to earn it.

“My job is drive them forward, support them and get the best out of them, not only for their benefit but for the benefit of Heart of Midlothian Football Club.”

Sporting Director Joe Savage welcomed the return of Fox. “The role of B Team manager is a very important component in the football department,” he said.

“We needed someone who has a history of developing talent and improving players. Liam had displayed much of that in his time here previously, and that’s been supplemented with the experience he picked up along the away at Livingston, Dundee United and Aberdeen.

“When we were looking for someone to fill the role, Liam was our first target, so we’re delighted to get him.”

Chelsea midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko has been released following the expiry of his contract, the club has confirmed.

The 28-year-old was signed by former manager Antonio Conte shortly after the team’s last Premier League title triumph in 2017 but had not played for the club since the end of his first season.

He has since spent time on loan at AC Milan – with whom he won the Serie A title in 2022 – Napoli and former club Monaco.

He arrived at Stamford Bridge in a £40million deal after helping Monaco to a surprise Ligue 1 title success, having been part of the team that also featured Kylian Mbappe and Bernardo Silva.

The side managed by Leonardo Jardin knocked out Manchester City in the last-16 of the Champions League en route to a semi-final exit to Juventus.

But the midfielder, who won one cap for France in 2017, failed to live up to the expectation that accompanied his arrival.

His most memorable moment in blue came during the 2018 FA Cup final when he played the full 90 minutes as Conte’s side ran out 1-0 winners against Manchester United to lift the trophy.

Another 12 players to have come through Chelsea’s academy have also left the club according to a list released by the Premier League, including goalkeeper Nathan Baxter who played 12 times in the Championship on loan at Hull last season.

Brighton have announced the signing of German midfielder Mahmoud Dahoud from Borussia Dortmund.

The 27-year-old will join Albion on a four-year contract on July 1 following the expiry of his deal with the Bundesliga club.

Syria-born Dahoud, who was capped twice by Germany in 2020, becomes the Premier League side’s third signing of the summer following deals for Joao Pedro and James Milner.

Seagulls head coach Roberto De Zerbi told his club’s website: “I’m excited to have Mahmoud in my team.

“I wanted him when I was at Sassuolo and I’m sure he is going to be a top player for us.”

Dahoud began his career with Borussia Monchengladbach before moving to Dortmund in 2017.

He went on to make 141 appearances for this season’s Bundesliga runners-up, although his game time was restricted after he had surgery on his shoulder last summer.

Brighton technical director David Weir said: “We’re delighted to bring Mahmoud to the club, his quality and ability will really add to the options available to Roberto.

“He’s a quality player, he’s got lots of experience playing at a high level in Germany with great experience in Europe too.”

Manuel Lanzini will leave West Ham when his contract expires at the end of June.

The Argentinian midfielder joined the Hammers from United Arab Emirates side Al Jazira in the summer of 2015 and has made 226 appearances, scoring 32 goals.

Lanzini’s most memorable moment was his long-range equaliser at Tottenham in 2020 as West Ham came from 3-0 down to snatch a 3-3 draw.

The 30-year-old has been linked with a return to Argentina and former club River Plate.

Manager David Moyes told the club website: “Manu is a fantastic professional, a really good lad, and whichever club he joins will have an excellent player on their hands.

“We are sorry to see him go, but he deserves the opportunity to play more regularly elsewhere, and we wish him well in his next adventure.”

Norway manager Stale Solbakken joked that if Jack Grealish could train for England then he has no cause to worry about Erling Haaland’s treble celebrations ahead of Saturday’s clash with Scotland.

Solbakken understood the need for Haaland to revel in his success with Manchester City after last weekend’s Champions League final.

Solbakken has taken it easy with Haaland this week, more concerned with ensuring the striker recharges, and believes a homecoming welcome will lift his star man during the Euro 2024 qualifier in Oslo.

City celebrated in Ibiza after their Istanbul success against Inter before continuing the party on a bus parade in Manchester on Monday with Grealish throwing himself wholeheartedly into the fun.

When asked what the Norwegian people made of the scenes ahead of a big international, Solbakken said: “I think everyone understands that and I also think it’s a good idea to do that.

“Because, no matter how good you are, if you say (Pep) Guardiola is the best manager in the world and he has managed to do this treble once in Spain, once time in England, even when he had the best players representing the biggest clubs with the biggest budgets, you could think this would happen more often. But it doesn’t because it’s so, so difficult.

“And I don’t think you can postpone a celebration like that. You can’t say ‘let’s meet up in the summer when these national games are over and we party’. It’s not the same because the excitement is a little bit out of your body and you have to do it then.

“When he came here, he didn’t look like he had gone the Grealish way. If Grealish managed to train for England the first time, he should also manage to do it for us.”

Only one of Haaland’s 53 goals this season has come on the international stage but the 22-year-old has not played for his country since September and Solbakken believes an excited home crowd will help him overcome his heavy schedule.

“The biggest gift in that is the love the crowd will give him because it’s a long time since he has played in Norway and he didn’t participate in the two internationals earlier this year,” the former Wolves and Copenhagen manager said.

“Obviously the Norwegian people have seen him on telly for a long time without seeing him live. I think he has had one game here in a year.

“So that will probably pump him up and give him the five to 10 per cent he probably lacks due to the programme he has been through and all the feelings and emotions he has been through as well.”

Haaland was missed in March as Norway took one point from their opening two Group A games against Spain and Georgia, while Scotland sealed maximum return.

On the game, Solbakken said: “It’s more crucial for us than Scotland of course but no matter what, before the group started, this would always have been a key game.

“But it’s more that Scotland have had a really great start. I think we played two really good games but what messed it up a little bit, even though we only got one point, is that Scotland beat Spain.

“That means it looks much better for us if we can beat you and everyone is beating each other. If we win, also Spain are in trouble, because it’s two teams who can catch them.”

Reading have been charged by the EFL with multiple breaches of its financial regulations for repeatedly failing to pay their players in the 2022-23 season.

The charges relate to three separate occasions on which players’ wages were not paid on time and in full as the team were relegated from the Championship.

Owner Dai Yongge has also been charged with allowing the club to be in breach of the EFL’s financial rules.

Reading were docked six points in April for breaking profit and sustainability rules which ultimately led to them finishing in the bottom three and dropping into League One.

Manager Paul Ince was sacked later that month with the club on a winless run of eight games.

He was replaced by interim boss Noel Hunt who failed to win any of his five matches in charge.

An EFL statement read: “The charges relate to the club failing to meet their obligations to pay its players’ wages on time and in full on or around 31 October 2022, 30 November 2022 and 28 April 2023.

“Yongge Dai, the club’s owner, has also been charged with causing the club to be in breach of EFL regulations despite his commitment to fund the cash requirements of the club.

“The club and Mr Dai have until 4pm on Thursday 29 June 2023 to respond to the charges.”

QPR director of football Les Ferdinand has stepped down from the role.

Ferdinand, 56, spent eight years as a player at the club and returned to Loftus Road in 2014, initially as head of football operations.

QPR were relegated from the Premier League in 2015 and have spent the last eight years in the Championship, narrowly avoiding relegation last season.

Ferdinand told the club’s official website: “This has not been an easy decision. My life is football, I love football and I want to stay in football, but I do feel this is the right time for me to step down from my position here.

“Everyone knows how special Queens Park Rangers is to me and it has been a privilege to be back at the club.

“There have been challenging times and I have had to make some very difficult decisions but every decision I have made has been with the best interests of the club at heart.”

QPR appointed Gareth Ainsworth as head coach in February after sacking Neil Critchley, who lasted just 12 games in the role.

Critchley had replaced Michael Beale, who left Loftus Road in November to become Rangers manager having guided QPR to seventh in the table.

QPR chairman Amit Bhatia added: “In an industry where individuals with genuine authenticity and integrity appear to be scarce, Les’ sincerity and honesty have always set him apart, and have made him so special and so valued by the board.”

New signing Sam Lammers is hoping to become “settled” at Rangers in the coming years after spending much of his time as an Atalanta player out on loan.

The 26-year-old forward joined the Serie A side three years ago from PSV Eindhoven but he made just one start for the Bergamo outfit and was farmed out three times, to Eintracht Frankfurt, Empoli and Sampdoria.

Having signed a four-year contract with Rangers, Lammers is confident he will be given a proper chance to establish himself at Ibrox as he bids to get his career back on track.

“This is what I’ve been searching for,” he told Sky Sports. “After this season I made it clear for myself that I wanted a new place to settle down, a new home because even last year I was at two clubs and before that I was on loan in Germany.

“I think now is time to settle somewhere and it’s good to sign a permanent deal with Rangers. The confidence of the club is key for me to sign.

“Coming into a new country is not easy. When you go from Holland to Italy it’s a change of language, a change of culture and everything.

“It gets easier but you feel at home after one year or six months, you need time to settle, and it didn’t happen for me in the last two years so I’m happy that I have the possibility to do that here.”

During his first loan spell at Eintracht Frankfurt, Lammers encountered the Rangers support for the first time. The Dutchman was an unused sub for the Bundesliga side as they defeated the Gers on penalties in the Europa League final in Seville just over a year ago.

“When we got to the final, it felt as if it was the best-supported clubs of the Europa League colliding,” said Lammers.

“It was, from both sides, very impressive. At that game you could see how big the club is and how it lives here in Scotland also.”

Lammers has scored only 27 career goals, the majority of which came on loan at Heerenveen in 2018-19. However, he insists his game is about more than just scoring.

“I know for a striker the main target is to score a lot of goals and I know I can do that also,” he said. “I’m aware of this being a big part of being a striker and this is also my goal at Rangers to do that, but I’m not a typical striker who is only hanging inside the box for his one or two chances.

“I want to help the team, I can drop out of the striker position. With my legs you would expect me maybe to be a target man but that’s not what I am.

“I want to score more goals again because I know I have it in me. In the past I scored a lot of goals then in the last couple of years not so much, but sometimes in the clubs I was at it wasn’t easy as you didn’t get a lot of chances.

“I think the attacking style of play at Rangers also fits me.”