Soccer news

Former England international striker Teddy Sheringham is close to agreeing terms to join Portsmouth, the Premiership newcomers said yesterday.

The club are hopeful the 37-year-old, who ended his second spell with Tottenham at the end of the season after being told he was no longer required, will sign later in the week after returning from holiday.

"We hope to have an agreement in place but really there is no further we can take it until Teddy returns from abroad," said Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie.

Sheringham, who has won 51 England caps, has scored over 300 domestic goals in spells with Millwall, Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and Spurs.

He joined Tottenham in 1992 for £2.1 million from Nottingham Forest before moving to Manchester United in 1997 for £3.5 million.

A highly successful spell at Old Trafford followed with Sheringham famously helping them win the 1999 Treble with an injury-time equaliser in their Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich. He returned to Spurs in 2001.

Frank Rijkaard has been handed the chance to transform the fortunes of Barcelona after being named as the new coach of the Catalan giants yesterday.

Rijkaard takes over from former Luton Town midfielder Radomir Antic, who was told earlier in the day he would not be offered a new contract by the club.

Rijkaard resigned as Holland coach after the semi-final defeat by Italy in Euro 2000 and afterwards had a spell coaching Sparta Rotterdam, quitting after they were relegated from the top flight of Dutch football.

Mike Newell has been appointed the new manager of Luton Town after winning a poll of fans, players, shareholders and season-ticket holders, as well as the club's board.

The former Hartlepool manager and ex-Luton striker agreed a two-year contract with the club after beating off competition from Joe Kinnear and Steve Cotterill, who were on a three-man shortlist.

Former Irish international Kinnear was widely expected to be reappointed but, in a last-minute turnaround in the voting, Newell took a slight majority of the votes.

Reading have confirmed their interest in Wimbledon striker David Connolly.

The Republic of Ireland international suffered an injury-hit 2002/2003 campaign, but still managed to score 24 goals.

Reading chief executive Nigel Howe said yesterday: "We have expressed an interest for David Connolly but have not made an offer.

"I am not sure whether we will be making an offer, we have got a lot of alternatives at this stage and are weighing up our options."