It appears that current owner Mike Ashley is edging forever closer to selling the club to a bid led by Amanda Staveley which is backed by the wealth of the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

First-team players are expected to return to training next week, providing Government's formal review and Premier League shareholders' meeting agree to finish the current campaign.

The £300m deal is awaiting the League's approval but that process is understood to have been held up given the complexity of broadcast piracy allegations against the Saudi state.

England were made to toil on day three of the fifth and final Test in Chennai as Lokesh Rahul hit 199. LAWRENCE BOOTH casts his eye over the day's action at the Chidambaram Stadium.

LAWRENCE BOOTH AT EDGBASTON: Alastair Cook already possessed the highest Test score at Edgbaston, having ground down India to the tune of 294 in 2011. His 243 here means he is now fifth too.

CRAIG HOPE IN COPENHAGEN: Christian Eriksen will find himself a marked man against Republic of Ireland on Friday night after angering his opponents last year.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY ROB DRAPER: The best coaches are always learning, sometimes even from their players. Vincent Kompany helped Martinez plot the downfall of Brazil at the World Cup.

Vincent Kompany says a lack of diversity within football institutions is part of the problem in tackling racism in the game. The Anderlecht boss has condemned fans who abused Romelu Lukaku.

Belgium's players relaxed between Euro 2020 qualifiers by completing an ambitious heading routine in a swimming pool. The squad are currently unbeaten after five games in Group I.

STEPHEN MCGOWAN AT HAMPDEN PARK: Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans made headlines by comparing a game against Scotland to playing San Marino. 

Former Manchester City defender Omar Elabdellaoui is being lined up for a return to England by a string of Premier League clubs. Leicester and Watford are among the sides monitoring him.

Mick McCarthy says he is happier knowing Ireland have to beat Denmark on Monday to qualify for Euro 2020 - and he is considering using Spurs teenager Troy Parrott in the high-profile match.

RUSSIA 1-4 BELGIUM: Eden Hazard scored a brace as Belgium beat Russia 4-1 away to ensure they will finish top of Euro 2020 qualifying Group I.

If there is an edge to the game, then it comes from recent unflattering comments by the Danes about the Irish style of play. Now the manager intends to use those words as a motivational tool.

Michy Batshuayi has been poking fun at Dedryck Boyata after the defender accidentally wore his No 23 shirt for Belgium in their Euro 2020 qualifying victory over Russia. 

When Mick McCarthy says he would have taken this scenario on his reappointment then you really should believe him for this has been an ugly campaign even by Ireland's recent standards.

The Republic of Ireland take on Denmark in their final Euro 2020 qualifying game tonight at the Aviva Stadium. Follow all the action from the 7.45pm GMT kick-off with SAM MCEVOY.

Shane Duffy is ready to reach Euro 2020 the hard way after the Republic of Ireland saw automatic qualification snatched from their grasp.

MLS have announced that they have suspended their league season for the next 30 days due to the coronavirus outbreak - delaying David Beckham's first home game as Inter Miami owner. 

Sony's comic-book adaptation Bloodshot, with Vin Diesel, grossed an estimated $9.3million from 2,861 venues from Friday to Sunday in the US and Canada.

Starbucks will temporarily switch to a 'to-go' model for many of its stores in the US for at least two weeks and it will shut down cafes in 'high social-gathering locations', including malls.

A former traveler on board the MSC Meraviglia got off in Miami on March 8 leaving the ship's 103 remaining passengers to continue on to the next destination. He tested positive for coronavirus.

Diamond rock samples that have been uncovered from deep underground in Baffin Island, Canada, form part of the puzzle of Earth's ancient continent, the 2.7 billion-year-old North Atlantic Craton.

The 57-year-old actress said the widespread focus on self-isolation as authorities around the world try to slow the spread of the illness meant she was unable to fly to her dad's memorial.

The U.S. Navy Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy set sail to LA Monday where the projected number of coronavirus-related hospital beds was five times that of Washington.

Trump retweeted the Navy boasting the USNS Mercy was 'under way' for Los Angeles after leaving port in San Diego Monday. In reality after 24 hours it was just nine miles from port.

William Dufris, the voice-actor behind Bob the Builder in the US and Canada, has died from cancer at the age of 62, it was confirmed Wednesday.

A man furiously sprayed anti-bacterial disinfectant on his coffee cup before grabbing from the ledge of a drive-thru window at a Tim Horton fast food restaurant in Canada.

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson says he wants to provide the chain's 350,000 employees 'economic certainty' as they are to receive a month's pay amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Lynda Jager, from Ontario, began working out when she was 21 - but was always too scared to go to the gym, and would only exercise in her home.

Justin Trudeau has warned Donald Trump it is not in either of their countries' interests to engage in a coronavirus trade war after the US banned companies from exporting face masks.

Larah Bross, who runs the Bross Bagels shop in Edinburgh, asked landlord Mario Aydemir Demirezen for alternative rent arrangements, a request he branded 'typical Jewish behaviour'.

Two-thirds of severely ill coronavirus patients in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan improved after taking remdesvir, a US-made Ebola drug, while China canceled phase III of it trial

The fossilised chunk of hardwood found near Vancouver Island dates back to the end of the Cretaceous period roughly 80 million years ago.

Point Roberts in Washington State is located on the southern tip of a Canadian peninsula and so is not connected by land to mainland America. It has no coronavirus cases.

Russia-born Valeria Lipovetsky is regularly asked if she's a teenager, and she's told she's doesn't look old enough to have three children, she revealed in a video posted to TikTok .

Gunman Gabriel Wortman, 51, was shot dead by police after a 12-hour slaughter across the eastern province of Nova Scotia where he killed 16 people.

Mikaël Theimer, who was born in Paris and now lives in Montreal, Canada, used Zoom, FaceTime and Facebook messenger to snap shots of people in their opulent homes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Amber Allen, 31, a YouTuber from Ontario, Canada, has only 30 items of clothing and lives off the land. She says lockdown should encourage everyone to be more sustainable.

A Canadian nurse 'was found to have over 150 pounds of marijuana in the trunk of her car as she attempted to smuggle it into the U.S. through Detroit Ambassador Bridge customs' (pictured).

Nikki Bigger, from Kingston, Ontario, first started living in a van back in 2015, when she moved to New Zealand.

Justin Bieber has been enduring a tranquil lockdown with wife Hailey, 23, at their mansion in Canada.

Michael Davy said he bought a male Electus Parrot from fellow Salt Spring Island resident Akhtar Kidwai last year for $2,100, but a month later the bird was diagnoses with a terminal virus.

EXCLUSIVE BY WILL KELLEHER: As agreed long before coronavirus shut down the sport, the idea next summer is that England will tour the USA and Canada while the Lions are in South Africa.

Harris, 32, was killed when she was thrown from the motorcycle she was riding through a plate-glass window while filming a stand-in scene for actress Zazie Beetz on location in Vancouver, Canada.

Astounding footage shows three skateboarders in Toronto, Canada, riding on an empty expressway performing flips and tricks during the coronavirus lockdown. Police slapped them with a $110 fine.

Record cold temperatures are headed for the North East this weekend, triggered by the dismal combination of a weak polar vortex and an unusually cold air mass coming in from Canada.

AMANDA PLATELL: We learned that they have chosen as their LA hideaway, a Tuscan-style mansion amid 14 acres in a gated community in one of the most sought-after areas of Hollywood....

She's the glamorous AFL WAG known for her impeccable fashion sense. And on Tuesday, Jessie Murphy didn't disappoint when she stepped out for a skincare launch at David Jones in Melbourne.

A criminal gang, in Queensland, with members as young as 12 bragged about the police being powerless to stop them stealing cars and joyriding.