Thiago Alcantara Joins Bayern Munich leaving The Reds behind

The Spain international, 22, was tipped to become David Moyes' first big signing at Old Trafford.But Champions League winners Bayern Munich have nipped in and agreed a deal to bring Thiago to Germany.

There he will link up with ex-Barca boss Pep Guardiola, who is embarking on his first season at the Bayern helm.

A fee of £21.6m has been agreed between the two clubs, as well as a commitment to hold a friendly by 2017.

United are short of midfield options following the retirement of Paul Scholes - but Moyes will have to look elsewhere to strengthen.

Thiago had found first-team opportunities hard to come by at the Nou Camp, with Cesc Fabregas, Andres Iniesta and Xavi all above him in the pecking order.

And with next year's World Cup round the corner, Thiago was keen to get regular football to boost his chances of starring for Spain.

A Barcelona statement read: "FC Barcelona and FC Bayern Munich have reached an agreement over the transfer of the player Thiago Alcantara to the German club for a total of 25 million (euros).

"This agreement also includes holding a friendly match between the two teams, which will be played in the next four years."

Rooney shows his anger after Moyes comments

- Wayne Rooney is reportedly 'angry and confused' over United's comments.

- Chelsea and Arsenal are both interested in signing Rooney.

Wayne Rooney looks almost certain to quit Manchester United before the start of the season after revealing his anger at the way the club have considered his future.

Chelsea and Arsenal are both keen to take the England striker, who is reportedly both 'angry and confused' at his treatment after comments from new United boss David Moyes.

Moyes had said Rooney is key to the squad - in the event of Robin van Persie being injured.

According to Sky Sports, he feels he has nothing to prove at United after nine seasons, contrary to media reports and United's message.

A source close to the situation has highlighted Rooney's unhappiness.

As far as the 27-year-old is concerned, he is at the peak of his career and has no intention of playing second fiddle to anyone, or being reduced to the ranks of becoming a squad player.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho spoke last week regarding his interest in Rooney, saying: 'He is a player I like very much but I can’t say much more. He is fast and direct and I like him. But he is a Manchester United player.'

On Tuesday he was willing to speak about the 27-year-old when he told BBC Sport: 'If Wayne is a second choice for Man United, then the national team will be affected.'

'This is a period when the big clubs and their managers are connected with everything,' Mourinho said. 'Until August 31, that’s the oldest story in football, rumours and rumours. At the end, something comes true."

Steven Gerrard wants Liverpool to invest more money for signings

The Kop skipper has signed a new contract worth around £140,000 a week which will keep him at Anfield until 2015.

He is desperate to bring success back to the club, but admits the Merseysiders need more new faces – despite already snapping up four players this summer.

Gerrard, 33, has spent his entire 15-year professional career a Liverpool, scoring 158 goals in 630 appearances, but only had a year left on his contract.

He said: “I’ve been here that long and so to extend, it’s a big day for me and I’m really happy for myself and my family.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence and belief in my team-mates and in the coaches we’ve got.

“That’s the reason why I feel as if we can move forward together and get success back soon.

“Every fan out there, and the players are no different – we want to see a few more faces to strengthen the team and squad even more.

“It is an exciting time when you get a few new faces in to freshen the squad up – you’re at the beginning of the season and it’s a fresh start.

“There are trophies to be won and things to achieve. I won’t lie to you, I’m really excited at the moment.”

Liverpool have already signed Simon Mignolet, Kolo Toure, Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto this summer – but face the prospect of losing star man Luis Suarez.

Whatever happens though, Gerrard clearly believes the club are on the up after failing to win any silverware or qualify for the Champions League last season.

The England skipper admits it’s a huge 12 months for him with the World Cup on the horizon next summer – but he insists his only focus right now is Liverpool.

He said: “It’s a big year – it’s a World Cup year. We’ve got a lot of hard work to do to get to the World Cup first.

“As a footballer, you concentrate on the next game and it’s very important you’re not distracted by the thought of qualifying or getting to a World Cup.

"Eden is a special one" told by Jose Mourinho

Ever since Mourinho returned to Stamford Bridge, there has been a ­belief among the fans that the manager will make all the difference.

But the Chelsea boss has spent the first week of pre-season drumming into his players that success will not come down to anyone in the dugout – but those on the pitch.

And Belgian Hazard is one of those ­Mourinho has spoken to in depth, telling him exactly what he expects him to deliver in his second year in English football.

Hazard said: “He told us all what he expected of us, what he wants to see.

“To me, he told me to be ambitious with my game, to try things and that, if I do that, I can do something special this year.

“I told him I wanted to do myself justice, to do as well as I can, and that is all he wants to see from all of us.

"I hope it will end up being productive. His arrival is important certainly but it won’t be him who actually goes out there and wins the title.

“He’ll do everything he can to put that in place, create the ­environment for us.

“But it’ll be the players who have to deliver the trophies.

“We have to concentrate on what he wants of us and if we all give 100 per cent we have a real chance of ­winning the title.

“Of course there’ll be big rivals out there, Manchester United, City, ­Tottenham, Arsenal – they’ll all be competing with us for that title.

“But we have a real chance this year and with a good manager in place our chances are even greater.”

The Chelsea players reported back for pre-season training last Monday and flew out to the Far East on ­Thursday.

They begin their build-up ­tomorrow with a match against ­Manchester United’s conquerors at the weekend Shingha All-Star XI and it will be down to the players rather than the manager to resurrect Chelsea’s ­domestic fortunes.

Yesterday’s training session in 33-degree heat typified the hard work that Mourinho is determined to get through alongside the corporate ­responsibilities of being in this part of the world.

But the Blues chief has surprised those new charges, who have had to judge him on reputation, with his laid-back attitude.

Hazard, 22, added: “Well, he’s ­someone who comes across as very calm in what he does.

“We’ve only been working together for a week now and it’s been a good week.

“There’s been a lot said about him and written about him, things we’d heard and read, but I’ve found him a very good person.

“He loves his players. He laughs and jokes with them a lot out on the ­training pitch and that’s good to see in a coach.

"He’s calm, yes – although I’m sure he can lose his cool as well. But he’s calm in explaining what he wants us to do so that we understand fully his instructions, we learn.

“He won’t always be calm, ­obviously. But we’ll see. We’ll see how it goes over the course of the season.”

A lot will depend on how ­Mourinho is able to perform in the transfer ­market.

And Hazard reiterated his call from June for the club to look at bringing Wayne Rooney to Stamford Bridge.

Fellow Belgian Christian Benteke is also a target and Hazard praised the striker for having the courage to hand in a transfer request at current club Aston Villa.

“Benteke is my friend,” he said. “We get on very well. And he had an ­unbelievable first season for a young striker in the Premier League.

“His dream is to play even higher. As for his decision, I think it’s the right one because he has the quality to impose himself wherever.

“I wasn’t surprised, no. We speak all the time and he’d told me, ‘Right, I’ve done well. What next?’ I think he’s got all the attributes for a big club.”

17 die in Indonesian boxing match stampede

TIMIKA, JUL 15 -

Seventeen spectators were crushed to death at a boxing match in remote eastern Indonesia after supporters of the loser started a riot, according to police.

"Seventeen people died in the crush, 12 of whom were women, and another 38 were injured and have been hospitalised for treatment," Papua provincial police spokesman I Gede Sumerta Jaya told AFP.

Around 1,500 people had watched the local championship match late Sunday night at a stadium in the town of Nabire when supporters angered by the outcome began throwing chairs.

"Everyone else made a quick dash for the exit in fear the violence would get out of control, and dozens of people were trampled on," Jaya said.

A witness, who did not want to be named, was quoted by news website Detik.com as saying: "There are five gates to the stadium, but only two were in operation during the match.

"So I just ran to the one closest to me."

In 2011, two people were killed in a stampede when thousands of fans jammed a Jakarta stadium for the Southeast Asian Games football final between the home nation and rival Malaysia.

In February 2008, 10 young people were trampled or crushed to death as hundreds of music fans tried to force their way out of a rock concert in the city of Bandung.

In September the same year, at least 21 people were killed in a stampede in East Java as they crowded an alley to receive a cash handout for Ramadan.

David Moyes faces defeat in first experience with Man Utd

Teeratep Winothai: remember the name. He became the first scorer in the David Moyes era but to the blushes of the new manager and players the winner came against them on 50 minutes, when Ben Amos was wrong-footed by the Singha All Star XI captain.

"It wasn't a brilliant result," Moyes said, "but I'm more pleased with the way they kept going. We gave one or two young players an opportunity. It was certainly a good fitness workout."

With his strike Winothai, a former Belgian second division footballer, joined John Aldridge and Neil Slatter in the footnotes of players who have handed defeats to United's past two managers in their first games, after Alex Ferguson's 1986 vintage went down 2-0 to Oxford at the Manor Ground in the opener to what proved to be 26-plus years of success.

Given that precedent, perhaps the question was the wrong way round when Moyes was asked if the defeat was a bad sign rather than a good one. "I hope not – if I'm going to lose any games I'm happy to lose these ones, that's for sure," he said.

United have lost these outings before – one came in a 2-1 reverse to Kansas City three years ago, and they lost a penalty shootout to Barcelona last August. Also, Moyes had to choose this inaugural XI from a depleted squad that was missing nine first-team players, but this is still not how he would have wanted his reign to begin.

Yet the Scot had a point when he said: "It's not one we desperately needed to win but it was a game we needed to get prepared for. In relative terms it's not of the biggest importance."

United's disjointed evening was summed up near the end when the misfiring Danny Welbeck produced a shot that wobbled past Narit Taweekul's right post as the striker fell over.

But at least by this juncture United had brightened, following the 63rd-minute introduction of Wilfried Zaha, Phil Jones and Jesse Lingard. Zaha, on his debut, went closest. A pivot on to his left was followed by a sweet swish of the boot that this time hit Taweekul's right upright before, later, Lingard scuffed a shot at the keeper.

Before the game Zaha had voiced his desire not to go out on loan again, after he was leased back to Crystal Palace for the second part of last season following his £15m move.The winger did those hopes no harm in his cameo but these are early days. "Wilfried did well, he gave us something," Moyes said. "We're short of forwards, we didn't have many options with Wayne [Rooney] injured, Robin [van Persie] joining up later, [Javier] Hernández not here and Will Keane being injured.

"He [Zaha] gave us a bit and was certainly unlucky not to score with that shot. We'll see how he does. It's the first chance I've had to see him up close. We'll see how we can fit him in as quick as we can."

Moyes's first act on game-day was to marshal a side from a depleted squad. Rooney hamstring handed Welbeck a start at the head of United's familiar 4-2-3-1. Also on the absentee list were David de Gea and Antonio Valencia, who join up next week in Sydney following international commitments, plus Shinji Kagawa (Japan, in a fortnight), and the injured headed by the captain, Nemanja Vidic (sciatica), Nani (nose operation), Chris Smalling (foot) and Ashley Young (ankle rehabilitation).

All of this meant that the 18-year-old Adnan Januzaj stepped into Rooney's No10 berth to offer a promising display that faded after the break. "If he continues to play like that he'll get more chances," said Moyes.

The defeat came inside a 65,000 sell-out Rajamangala National Stadium that was a red wall of noise, making the experience feel like a political convention. It will have been a novel outing for Moyes. But he will not want too many repeats of the result. Or more injuries – Alexander Büttner limped off in the first half with a tight hamstring, Moyes confirmed.

Chelsea Bids £15m for tottenham star

Chelsea are set to make a shock move to sign Tottenham full-back Kyle Walker according to Sports Direct News.

Jose Mourinho has earnmarked a bid for the impressive young 23 year old England man, perhaps feeling that the right-back is a better bet than current options for the position in his Blues squad.

The former Sheffield United man has been a virtual ever present at White Hart Lane over the past two seasons, having spent a fair bit of time out on loan learning his trade at  QPR and Aston Villa before finding his feet at the North London club.

Walker has amassed 95 appereances in the last two campaigns and has five England national team caps to his name but perhaps the chance to make the 'step-up' to Chelsea would tempt the talented full-back knowing that a high profile move could well aid his push for a more prominent role in Roy Hodgson's step-up, all the more important given a World Cup is on the horizon.