INJURY RULES VERMAELEN OUT OF ARSENAL PRE SEASON TOUR

Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen has been ruled out of the club's pre-season tour of Asia because of injury.

Arsene Wenger takes his squad to Jakarta later on Thursday as the squad begin their preparations for the new campaign.

But the Belgium international will be staying behind as he starts his rehabilitation on a back problem.
"Unfortunately, due to a back injury I can't join my team mates on the Asia Tour the next few weeks," Vermaelen wrote on Twitter.
"I will be staying in London to receive the right treatment. Of course I will do my best to return on the pitch soon, and I will keep you posted on my progress."
Youngsters Chuba Akpom, Serge Gnabry, Kris Olsson and Gedion Zelalem have been included in the 24-man group for the matches in Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan.
However, Santi Cazorla and Nacho Monreal will also sit out the tour due to their involvement in the Confederations Cup, while Yaya Sanogo is still with France at the U-20 World Cup.

DE BRUYNE: I`M READY TO PROVE MY WORTH AT CHELSEA

Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is ready to show just why new manager Jose Mourinho recalled him to Chelsea as the squad jet out for a pre-season tour of Asia.
The Belgian international initially joined the Blues from Genk in January 2012, but spent the last campaign on loan at Bundesliga side Werder Bremen.
Mourinho made it clear on his return to the Stamford Bridge hotseat that the likes of De Bruyne, 22, and fellow promising young Belgian Romelu Lukaku, who was on loan at West Brom last season, are very much part of his plans for the new campaign.

It is an opportunity De Bruyne intends to take. Speaking to the club's official website, www.chelseafc.com, he said: "The manager said he has a lot of confidence and brought me back because he believes in me.
"I have to show that on the pitch, but it is nice when the trainer has confidence in you. I have to work hard and see what happens in pre-season.
"After training you can have a good laugh, but in the session he likes discipline and that everybody is working hard on the field."
Like Manchester United and Arsenal, Chelsea are making the most of some lucrative promotional opportunities while in the Far East, where they will play matches in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta before then heading to the United States where they will take part in the Guinness International Champions Cup, along with the likes of Everton, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Los Angeles Galaxy.
De Bruyne is expecting a testing schedule to sharpen up for the new Barclays Premier League campaign, which will open against Hull on Sunday August 18 as part of the first wave of live matches announced today.
"The tour of Asia will be difficult for us, with the heat and the humidity, but we will see what happens and we just have to prepare ourselves well for the season," he said.
"We have a lot of young players and it will be good to go on tour and stay together, and get to know each other and other places. It is always fun."
Czech Republic defender Tomas Kalas, 20, is another who will step up into the first-team group following his spell at Vitesse.

ADRIANO: THIAGO SILVA WANTS TO JOIN BARCELONA

Barcelona full-back Adriano has claimed Thiago Silva is keen to join him at the Camp Nou from Paris St Germain but believes the Ligue 1 club is standing in the way.

Barca have been linked with a move for the Brazil centre-back throughout the summer as they seek to strengthen in central defence following their humiliating 7-0 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals last season.
The Barcelona-based newspaper Sport reported earlier in the week that the La Liga champions had agreed personal terms with the player, but this was swiftly denied by Silva, via his agent Paulo Tonietto.

Speaking to radio station RAC1, Adriano, who is close friends with the defender, said his compatriot wanted to come to Barcelona.
Adriano said: "He told me that it would be a dream come true for him if he came to Barcelona. He has always wanted to wear the Barcelona shirt. I am his friend and I speak with him a lot. His signing would be very good news for Barcelona."
However, he acknowledged that the defender was a key part of the PSG team and believes it will be difficult to convince the French side to sell one of their most prized assets.
He said: "I think it's a question of what both parties want. If it was just up to Thiago Silva, he'd already be here. But it's not just up to him. PSG have also shown a lot of faith in him and if Barcelona want him, they need to come to an agreement with the club."
Adriano, a full-back by nature, was forced to step in at centre-back on several occasions last season, and admitted the club needed to add to their squad over the summer.

He said: "We had more injuries than in previous seasons but that can always happen. I think it makes sense to bring more players in, whoever comes will add something to the team and will be welcomed with open arms. It's up to the board of directors and the coach to sort out."
And he said he was looking forward to seeing what impact another of his compatriots, Neymar, will have at Barcelona next season, alongside four-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi.
"At last the soap opera has finished. We are very happy for him," he said.
"He'll learn a lot and we hope he adapts as soon as possible and will be a big help to us. Neymar is a good person and so is Leo. I hope they work well together and become the best partnership in the world."

CHELSEA PLAYER HAILS WERDER BREMEN

Chelsea midfielder Kevin De Bruyne believes he learnt a lot from his loan spell with Werder Bremen last term and is now eager to prove his worth in the Premier League.

The Belgian, who was signed by the Blues in January 2012, spent last season on loan at the German side where he impressed scoring 10 goals in 33 games.

De Bruyne's performances for die Werderaner earned him a place in the Belgium national team, and the 22-year-old has hailed his time in Germany as a fantastic learning curve.

“We had a difficult season with a lot of really young players who had almost no experience in the league, so it's very difficult, but I felt I had a good season and played a lot of minutes, and also with the national team which was very important for me,” De Bruyne told the Chelsea's official website.

“I think I managed to have a good year and managed not to have my own injuries, so I was very happy.

“The Bundesliga is a strong competition. You can compare it to the Premier League, which is probably more physical, it's a lot of running, but every team tries to play good football and always goes for the win.”

De Bruyne followed Chelsea's performances last season closely and, having returned to Stamford Bridge, is looking forward to showing what he can do in a blue shirt.

“I managed to see the results, and some games, but not many because my own schedule was full,” the former Genk winger added.

“I spoke to people from the club regularly, and they came to watch games in Bremen, while I also talked to Eden Hazard in the national team also.

“It feels great to be back here now. I drove back from Belgium with Romelu Lukaku, through the channel tunnel. It's not that far and we enjoyed the trip.

“I had a good vacation after the season and in the end I was looking forward to starting again to get back to the normal life we are used to as footballers.”

ATLETICO MADRID SIGN MALAGA STAR

Atletico Madrid have completed the signing of Martin Demichelis on a free transfer, with the defender penning a one-year deal.

The centre-back has spent the last two seasons with Malaga and made 40 appearances last term as the club reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

But after turning down the offer of a contract extension with los Boquerones, Demichelis has opted to join last season's third-placed Liga side and spoke of his ambitions for the season ahead shortly after putting pen to paper.

He told Marca: "I know that I'm joining the best defence in the league and I hope we can keep that up. I will come here with a humble attitude and will contribute what I can. I hope it's a successful year for me and for the team.
"I know that Miranda and [Diego] Godin have a huge amount of respect in the team, they have both performed exceptionally well in the last few years.
"My career has never been easy and I've always had healthy competition for places."
The 32-year-old then admitted the influence of Atleti boss and compatriot Diego Simeone had swayed his decision to join los Rojiblancos and snub both Malaga and River Plate.
"It was a difficult decision because two clubs to which I am eternally grateful, River and Malaga, wanted to sign me," he added.
"I went to Argentina and I was thinking about staying there, but then Atletico appeared and Simeone was key in convincing me to join a consolidated group that was playing for trophies.
"Simeone has known about me for a long time and is aware of my performances in the last few years. He is one of the main reasons I'm now an Atletico player."
After selling Radamel Falcao to Monaco earlier this summer, Atleti have bolstered their ranks in recent weeks with the renewal of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois' loan for a third successive season and the signings of Leo Baptistao and David Villa.

TOTTENHAM REJECT RETURNS TO BELGIUM

Tottenham Hotspur reject John Bostock has joined Belgian side Royal Antwerp on a two-year deal.

MONACO SET TO APPEAL POINTS DEDUCTION

Ligue 1 side Monaco will appeal against a three-point penalty for crowd trouble.
Newly promoted Monaco was deducted three points (one suspended) and ordered to play a game behind closed doors after trouble flared at its final home game of the season - a second-division match against Le Mans.

The title celebrations were marred by a post-match pitch invasion, during which the referee was attacked by a supporter.
In a statement on Wednesday, Monaco says ''the punishment is abnormally severe and disproportionate.''

MALAGA SIGN ROQUE SANTA CRUZ

Roque Santa Cruz has signed a three-year contract with Malaga, the Primera Division club have confirmed.

The 31-year-old Paraguay striker spent last season on loan with Malaga, scoring eight goals in 31 matches, and has decided to commit his future to the Andalusian outfit after leaving Manchester City this summer.

A statement on www.malagacf.com read: "Malaga and Roque Santa Cruz have reached an agreement for the Paraguayan-born striker to continue with the Blue and Whites.
"Following the end of his previous contract with Manchester City, Santa Cruz has signed with Malaga for the next three years, and will travel to Germany this afternoon with Ignacio Camacho and Bobley Anderson, to join the rest of the first team for pre-season training with coach, Bernd Schuster."
Santa Cruz, who is Paraguay's record goalscorer, began his professional career with Olimpia in his homeland before moving to Bayern Munich in 1999.
After eight years in Germany he moved to England, first with Blackburn and then City, who he joined in 2009 for a fee in the region of £18million. During his time at City he played only a handful of times for the first team while spending time out on loan at Blackburn, Real Betis and Malaga.

GUARDIOLA: I WANTED TO SIGN NEYMAR

Pep Guardiola has revealed he wanted to sign Neymar for Barcelona three years ago, while rubbishing reports claiming he doubted Tito Vilanova's ability to partner him alongside Lionel Messi.

The Bayern Munich coach first became aware of the 21-year-old during his four-year tenure in charge of the Liga champions and says he did all he could to convince him to move to Camp Nou.

He said: "(Rosell) asked me to call him (Neymar) to discuss the possibility of convincing him to come to Barcelona and what I did was trying to convince him. At the last Fifa gala, I talked to him. We talked about football, the match against Santos and the idea I had of football."

Neymar eventually joined Barca from Santos for €57 million earlier this summer, but the move provoked much debate as to whether the Selecao star would complement Messi because of the similarity between their respective games.

Some sections of the media even claimed Guardiola himself had dismissed Tito Vilanova's ability to successfully mould the pair together, but the 42-year-old hit back at what he says are false accusations on the same afternoon he slammed Barca president Sandro Rosell for allegedly using underhand tactics against him.

"Winning the league with the record points in Barcelona's history is enough of an argument for me to tell if he [Vilanova] is qualified or not," the Bavarians boss added.

"Good players are always able to play together, and these too. Intermediaries are very wrong. The information they gave is very wrong. I would never dare make a comment like the one suggested I've done."

The Bavarians boss also revealed his interest in signing Barcelona star Thiago Alcantara, after mounting speculation the midfielder was set to join Manchester United.

REAL SOCIEDAD SIGN FIORENTINA DEFENDER

Real Sociedad have signed Switzerland international Haris Seferovic from Fiorentina.

The 21-year-old striker took his medical with Sociedad on Thursday morning before penning a four-year contract with the Primera Division outfit.