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Former Saints striker Peter Crouch has announced his retirement from football at the age of 38.Crouch joined Saints from Aston Villa for £2.5m in July 2004 and scored 16 goals in 33 appearances in his only season at the club.Despite his impressive tally he was unable to help keep the club in the Premier League as they were relegated at the end of the campaign.This led to Crouch being snapped up by Liverpool in a £7m deal on a four-year contract.Crouch made his English league debut in 2000 at QPR and went on to play for nine clubs, including Liverpool, Portsmouth, Tottenham and Stoke before spending the second half of last season at Burnley.He made his England debut against Colombia in May 2005 and went on to play 42 times for the Three Lions, scoring 22 goals.He confirmed his retirement on...

Liverpool started pre-season in fine fashion as they beat Tranmere 6-0 at Prenton Park on Thursday night.Liverpool dominated the first half and were 3-0 up at half time thanks to Nathaniel Clyne's fine early strike (6), followed by a quick double by the impressive Rhian Brewster (38 and 45), his first senior goals for the club.Jurgen Klopp changed his entire side for the second half and continued to control the game as goals from Curtis Jones (53), Divock Origi (60) and Bobby Duncan (67) flattened Tranmere.Liverpool now go to Bradford on Sunday, before their US tour starts against Dortmund on July 19.

Juan Mata turned down a £550,000-per-week offer from China to remain at Manchester United, say reports. The Spain international agreed fresh terms with the Old Trafford club in June as he neared the end of his previous contract. Before penning the extension, Mata was linked with the likes of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. However, 90min reports that the attacking midfielder received a mammoth contract offer from Chinese Super League side Shanghai SIPG, which he rejected in order to remain in Manchester. The former Chelsea player is understood to have always favoured a stay, but he was originally unhappy with United’s offer of a one-year extension. The 31-year-old eventually convinced the club to hand him a longer deal, which was signed in mid-June with just a fortn...

Frank Lampard's tenure as Chelsea boss started with a friendly draw on Wednesday, with Michy Batshuayi scoring for the Blues before a late leveller from Irish side Bohemians saw the London club held to a 1-1 stalemate.Lampard picked a side headlined by Batshuayi and Pedro for the friendly which marked the start of his reign as Chelsea boss, and it was Belgium international Batshuayi who kicked things off by opening the scoring just eight minutes in.Left-back Kenedy - back from a loan spell at Newcastle - laid on the opener, driving in from the left side and firing a shot that was blocked into the path of Batshuayi. The 25-year-old did well to hold off a defender and fire home, giving Lampard's side an early lead.Lampard rung the changes at half-time, with the like of Danny Drinkwater, Cesa...

Arsenal have confirmed that former player Edu is to return to the club as technical director.The 41-year-old, who won two Premier League titles and two FA Cups during a four-and-a-half-year spell with Arsenal, has been linked with a return to north London for some time.Edu, who played under current Arsenal boss Unai Emery during a spell at Valencia, has served as general co-ordinator of the Brazil national team since 2016, and leaves his post after his country won the Copa America for the first time in 12 years on Sunday.Arsenal confirmed that he will travel to the USA with the squad on Thursday as their pre-season tour gets underway.

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Paul Pogba has "never been a problem" and there is an "agenda" against the France midfielder.Pogba's agent Mino Raiola has said the 26-year-old wants to leave United and hopes "there will soon be a satisfying solution for all parties".In his first news conference of pre-season in Perth, Australia, Solskjaer referenced a video of £89m record-signing Pogba and team-mate Jesse Lingard that was reported as a bust-up between the pair."It's an agenda against Paul, he's a great, great professional, never been any problems, he has a heart of gold," said the Norwegian."Jesse and Paul yesterday walking around and it's portrayed as a fight between the two boys and I know you're here to sell players and stories but they're all professional."Solskjaer ad...