Arsene Wenger dodged questions about his future with Arsenal.

Wenger is under renewed pressure after losing the Carabao Cup final 3-0 to Manchester City on Sunday as well as the possibility of Arsenal not qualifying for the Champions League for the second straight season.

"My position is my position. Honestly, that's the last worry I have at the moment. My worry is to focus to get the team ready for tomorrow," Wenger said a news conference ahead of Thursday's Premier League game against Man City. "I don't ask you if your position is reviewed at the end of the season."

Wenger was pressed on why he would not clarify whether he intends to see out the final season of his contract.

"I just told you the answer," he said. "If you need clarity, I can repeat exactly the same answer. Exactly, that's the clarity. Does it stop you from sleeping that my position is uncertain or would not be certain, or is certain? No. What is interesting in football is the performances of football, the game you will see on Thursday night. That is what is important.

"All the rest may make headlines, but it is not really interesting. I am just amazed that I have to always answer things that are exactly the same. I [have been] here for 21 years. I turned the whole world down to respect my contracts. So I am still amazed that I still have to answer these types of questions."

Real Madrid is set to exercise their buy-back option on Omar Mascarell, bring him back from Eintracht Frankfurt. 

Mascarell has emerged as a solid defensive midfielder in the Bundesliga this season.

Real Madrid will have Mascarell in camp with the club this summer as their other midfielders will be returning late from the World Cup. Real Madrid could sell Mascarell on at a profit.

Mascarell joined Los Blancos' youth team in 2010.

Antonio Conte has been confirmed as Italy's first choice to become their next manager.

Conte's future with Chelsea remains uncertain.

Roberto Mancini, Carlo Ancelotti, and Claudio Ranieri are also being considered.

“I haven’t chosen yet but I think Conte is the one who could do the best,” said football association’s vice-commissioner Alessandro Costacurta.

“[Conte] has already shown he knows how to be national team coach while the others haven’t yet,” said Costacurta, the former Milan and Italy defender who is in charge of selecting the coach under the federation’s emergency administration.

“That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be happy with Mancini or with Ancelotti – although [Ancelotti] seems to have removed himself from consideration.”

Conte left Italy to join Chelsea in 2016 after the European Championships.

Atletico Madrid have sold Yannick Carrasco and Nicolas Gaitan to Dalian Yifang of the Chinese Super League.

Carrasco's move is believed to be worth around £26 million. 

The relationship between Carrasco and Diego Simeone had become increasingly strained.

David de Gea is expected to reject a new round of interest from Real Madrid and sign an extension with Manchester United.

De Gea has 18 months remaining on his current deal with United holding an option to extend it to 2020.

De Gea was set to join Real Madrid in 2015 but the paperwork was not filed in time.

Thibaut Courtois has also been linked with Real Madrid but he's also discussing an extension with Chelsea.

Robert Lewandowski and his agent, Cezary Kucharski, have parted ways after 10 years of working together.

The agent had reportedly "offered" Lewandowski to Real Madrid.

On Monday the 29-year-old told German magazine kicker he did not want to think about speculation, focusing only on Bayern.

"I don't have any idea if my agent has spoken to Real Madrid," said Lewandowski, who is under contract with the Bundesliga champions until 2021.

Barcelona hopes to avoid a repeat of the Neymar situation last summer when Paris Saint-Germain triggered his buyout clause.

Barcelona have begun to increase the release clause in some of their players' contracts.

Lionel Messi's buyout price is now €700 million, while Gerard Pique and Sergio Roberto would cost €500 million apiece.

"I would like to say it's going to stay [at the current level] but I am not sure," Josep Maria Bartomeu said when asked whether the cost of players would continue to spiral.

"Because, all the time, more and more clubs are belonging to very rich people or to states who are investing a lot of money in football, and this money comes to the clubs.

"We try to keep our players, we don't want to sell. I hope that next summer nobody will come to buy our best players."

Barcelona wants to keep their current squad in place.

"We don't want to sell," he added. "We are a club that want to have good football, we like to practice [the] unique football that we play, and Messi is key player.

"But the more important thing is he doesn't want to leave. He likes the city, it's his club, he came from Argentina at 12. You can have as many clauses as you want, but if a player doesn't want to leave he will stay.

"Andres Iniesta is an example. We want him here not as a player, but as a legend in the future, and with Messi I hope it's the same.

"Now he's got a four-year contract, but I don't think it will be his last."

Antonio Conte said he would need to resolve his differences with the board of Chelsea in order to see out the rest of his contract.

Conte expects to have other options available to him if he leaves Chelsea.

“In 14 years, Chelsea have changed coach 10 times, so they do have a tendency to chop and change here,” he told Mediaset Premium. “The media plays on this when the results are negative, and they were already talking about me getting sacked after we lost the first game of the season to Burnley.

“But it’s no problem for me. In fact, I really like pressure. I just hope it doesn’t affect the players. In our line of work, we always have a bag packed. My intention is to remain here, but if something were to change, there would be several different scenarios opening up.

“It’s no problem for me. But I have said very clearly that I have a contract to 2019 and I intend to respect it, but anything can happen in football. I’m happy here but, to move forward with the marriage, everyone needs to be in agreement. All parties must be happy.”

Zinedine Zidane hinted he may have already decided he'll step down as manager of Real Madrid after current season.

Zidane has won back-to-back Champions League titles in his first 18 months in the job and also La Liga in 2017. 

But Real Madrid are 17 points behind Barcelona this season in La Liga as Zidane's tactical ability has been criticized.

"[In football management] there is a lot of fatigue, even more in Real Madrid," Zidane said. "Of course a moment can come when there are changes, but for all of us, not just the coach. Not yet, but it will happen for sure.

"For me the most important thing is still the day to day work, I want to finish this season, there are things to play for -- that is all that interests me. I do not want to talk about anything else."

Jose Mourinho has denied reports that his relationship with Paul Pogba has broken down and that the player wants to leave Manchester United.

“You can call it speculation, I would call it a lot of lies,” Mourinho said. “Paul accepts he has not been playing well in the last few matches, but that is all. It is a big lie that we don’t communicate, that we don’t agree about his best position and that we don’t have a good relationship.

“It is my problem that he is not playing well at the moment, but he will play in the FA Cup against Huddersfield, and that is the end of the story. We don’t fight every day and we don’t want to sell. I don’t want to be nasty to the punditry industry in this country – it must be the biggest in the world and they are being paid millions – but it is ridiculous to talk about Paul being played out of position.

“Against Newcastle Paul played in midfield, we had a six [Nemanja Matic] and two eights [Jesse Lingard and Pogba], with Paul on the left hand side. If you ask Paul what is his preferred formation it is 4-3-3. If you ask him where he likes to play in that formation it is eight, on the left. That is exactly what he was doing against Newcastle.”