Luiz Adriano could be on his way to the Premier League after revealing he will not be extending his contract with Shakhtar Donetsk. The 27-year-old has reportedly been scouted by Arsenal and also attracted interest from Liverpool. He is the current top scorer in this season’s Champions League with nine goals in seven matches, but now looks set to move on when his contract expires in December. “My plan is to respect the contract, which has not been renewed and will expire in December 2015,” said the Brazilian. “I am in a good moment of my career and we’ll do what will be best for me and for the club. With my contract set to expire and many good performances, it’ll be difficult to stay in Ukraine.” Adriano arrived at Shakhtar from Brazilian side Internacional in 2007 and helped the Ukrainian club win the UEFA Cup in 2008/09. He has also made two appearances for Brazil but Shakhtar could now be tempted to sell him in the summer.

Sami Khedira has confirmed that he will leave Real Madrid when his contract expires in the summer, but says he is not yet sure where he will go next. The Germany international has been linked with a move to Arsenal and Bundesliga sides Bayern Munich and Schalke. But, in an interview with German magazine Kicker, the 27-year-old said he has not decided where his next move will be. “I want to find new challenges for my career and continue to grow as a player,” he commented. “I don’t have an agreement with any club nor any preferences as to who I would like to join.” Khedira arrived at the Bernabeu in 2010 from Stuttgart and has made more than 100 appearances for Los Blancos since.

Fernando Alonso has rejected McLaren’s verdict on the pre-season crash that left him concussed and said it was caused by a steering problem. The Spaniard has been passed fit to return to action at this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix, where he spoke about the accident for the first time. Although the team said there was no sign of a failure, Alonso said the car “definitely had a steering problem”. He also denied he had come round after the crash thinking he was 15.

The 2000 Olympic superheavyweight gold medallist Audley Harrison has retired from the sport, aged 43, the boxer announced on his website. Harrison had 38 professional fights, winning 31 and losing seven.

Spain’s national team will pay tribute to the victims of the French Alps plane crash in Friday’s European Championship qualifying match against Ukraine. The German A320 Airbus flight 4U952 from Barcelona to Dusseldorf came down in a remote mountain valley in France on Tuesday 24 March. Germany’s national team held a minute’s silence before their friendly match against Australia on Wednesday, and both teams wore black armbands. Spain’s government has said at least 51 Spaniards were among the 150 victims in Tuesday’s crash, in which at least three Britons were also killed.

On a day that goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama marked his 100 caps for Nigeria, the Super Eagles lost 1 – 0 to Uganda in Uyo. The only goal of the match was scored by Uganda’s Farouk Miya in the 81st minute. Our soccer continues to nose dive. While other serious African countries have hired quality coaches and are already building their teams, the NFF is still playing hide and seek with Stephen Keshi. It’s pathetic really.

Goalkeeper Boubacar Barry and defender Kolo Toure will mark the end of their Ivory Coast careers in this week’s friendly matches. Both players retired from international duty after helping the Elephants win the Africa Cup of Nations this year. But they are in the squad to face Angola in Abidjan on Thursday and away to Equatorial Guinea on Sunday. It means Barry and Toure can say farewell in front of their own fans at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium. The pair were given honorary places in a 28-man selection that includes all of the winning from the tournament as Ivory Coast uses the games to celebrate its success.

Can’t Nigerian authorities emulate this kind of gesture for our retiring stars that did us proud? Couldn’t they have invited Yobo at least to play a good bye game at Uyo yesterday? Just asking.

England goalkeeper Fraser Forster will be out “long-term” and miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, his club Southampton announce. He had successful surgery this afternoon after damaging his left knee last weekend.

The Super Eagles camp has been bubbling since Monday as many of the players invited for the pair of international friendly matches against Uganda and South Africa have arrived, goal reports. Among the early birds from Europe was Odion Ighalo.  His arrival increased the number of players at the Le Meridien Hotel in Uyo as at dinner time on Monday. Godfrey Oboabona, Azubuike Egwuekwe , Kenneth Omeruo, Akeem Latifu, Ogenyi Onazi, Leon Balogun and Ahmed Musa were also already in camp.

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England coach Roy Hodgson admitted his anger over training ground ‘espionage’ after a picture showing Harry Kane in a possible starting line-up emerged. Photographers watching Kane’s first training session with the senior squad on Tuesday seemed to stumble on Hodgson’s possible selection for Friday’s European Qualifier against Lithuania at Wembley. They took shots of an England formation on a scrap of paper in Hodgson’s hand, which showed Spurs striker Kane partnered with captain Wayne Rooney.

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Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo could face punishment for his goal celebration when he netted the equaliser in Sunday’s La Liga ‘Clasico’ at Barcelona. Ronaldo, not for the first time when he has scored at the Nou Camp, appeared to be urging the Barca fans to calm down when he struck to make it 1-1 for Real in the 31st minute. “We have to be careful with provocative gestures by a player when he scores a goal or with any other provocation or conduct that could incite violence among spectators,” said Spanish League (LFP) president Javier Tebas. “It must be sanctioned, from a fine up to a suspension,” he added. “We will look into it.”

The English Women’s Super League One gets under way this evening, with defending champions Liverpool Ladies (featuring Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala) looking to win the WSL crown for the third year in a row. The Reds host newly-promoted Sunderland.

Spanish club Barcelona declares three days of official mourning in memory of the victims of the Germanwings plane crash. One hundred and fifty people were killed when the flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday. The club says its Catalan, Barcelona City and Club flags are all being flown at half-mast as a sign of respect for the victims. The club’s handball and roller hockey teams wore black armbands during their games yesterday and the basketball side will do the same for their Euroleague match against Zalgiris Kaunas this evening.

Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel will serve a three-match ban after an independent FA disciplinary panel rejected his appeal against a violent conduct charge. The Slovakia international stood on Manchester United keeper David de Gea in the last seconds of Liverpool’s 2-1 home defeat at Anfield on Sunday. The incident was missed at the time by referee Martin Atkinson.

Sprinter Justin Gatlin has been given a new sponsorship deal by US sportswear giant Nike. The 33-year-old American dominated the 100m and 200m in 2014, and is many experts’ favourite to win a golden double at August’s world championships. “But Gatlin has served two doping bans, including a four-year suspension between 2006-2010. He was sponsored by Nike prior to his second ban but has been wearing Chinese firm Xtep’s kit since 2012.

Olympic champion and world record holder Usain Bolt will make his first appearance in the United States in five years when he competes in the Adidas Grand Prix Diamond League meeting in New York on 13 June. The Jamaican sprinter set his first 100 metres world record at the meeting in 2008 when he clocked 9.72 seconds. His only other appearance in the U.S. since then was to anchor a Jamaican 4×100 metres team at the 2010 Penn Relays.

Former Manchester United skipper Nemanja Vidic will not leave Inter Milan at the end of the season, claims his agent. The Serb, 33, has been strongly linked with a return to England after joining the Nerazzurri as a free agent last summer. Asked if Vidic would stay at Inter, his agent Silvano Martina told Gazzetta dello Sport: “I think he should, yes, because he has another two years left on his contract. “In fact, I want to reveal something. Last year he made a specific choice to come to Milan, even though Manchester United wanted to keep him and kept calling up to December.” Vidic was dropped by the Nerazzurri earlier in the season, but has since re-established himself under Roberto Mancini.

Injured West Brom striker Brown Ideye is hopeful of returning for next week’s Premier League home match against QPR. The Nigeria international, 26, missed the 3-0 defeat at Manchester City with a knee problem, which also forced him out of his nation’s friendly against Uganda. “I thought I could be fit for Nigeria. I thought I could even be fit for the game at Manchester City,” the Baggies’ record signing tells the club’s official website. “But I couldn’t run and I have had to stay back instead of risking it by going to internationals. “I just have to rest. The pain is still there but the doctors and physios have been doing their best to make sure I’m fit for the QPR game.”

Few Premier League fans could quite believe that Brazil superstar Robinho was leaving Real Madrid in 2008 for…Manchester City. City, of course, were then simply just a mid-table top-flight side. Almost seven years on, Robinho admits he was quite surprised by the £32.5m move too. “I knew I was going to play in England but I didn’t know for which club!” says the 31-year-old, who was also linked to Chelsea before going to City. Now back at Santos, Robinho discusses his brief, but sometimes brilliant, time at Eastlands on City’s official website.