ShopnoSports News

Players have been urged to come forward for support from the Professional Footballers’ Association if they feel they are developing an addiction to sleeping tablets.

Everton midfielder Dele Alli said in an interview released on Thursday with The Overlap podcast that he had developed a “scary” addiction to sleeping pills, adding: “It’s probably a problem that not only I have, I think it’s something that’s going around more than people realise in football.”

Wantaway midfielder Jean-Philippe Gbamin and defenders Mason Holgate and Vitalii Mykolenko have not travelled with Everton’s squad for a pre-season training camp in Switzerland.

In May, Gbamin’s agent said the player did not want to return to the club after enduring a nightmare four-year spell decimated by serious injuries which has restricted the 27-year-old to just eight appearances.

Everton defender Seamus Coleman has signed a new one-year contract.

The right-back, whose current deal expired at the end of this month, has agreed to stay at Goodison Park for a 15th season after signing until 2024.

Everton risked the fury of their fans after appointing former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez as the replacement for Carlo Ancelotti on this day in 2021.

Benitez had enjoyed great success during a six-year spell at Anfield, including winning the Champions League in unforgettable circumstances in 2005 – as well as reaching the final two years later – and lifting the FA Cup in 2006.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has settled his High Court contract dispute with Everton.

The Italian, who spent 18 months at Goodison Park between December 2019 and June 2021, finishing 12th and 10th before returning to the Bernabeu, had lodged a case which court records stated related to “general commercial contracts and arrangements”.