Soccer - World- Latest soccer headlines from Europe, Britain, South America and Asia

? Rodgers says going for interview would be unfair to fans
? 39-year-old signed three-and-a-half-year deal in February

Brendan Rodgers has turned down an approach from Liverpool. The Swansea City manager was invited to be interviewed for the position to replace Kenny Dalglish but he has declined on the basis that Liverpool should be fully aware of what he brings to the table without the need to be part of a process that looks set to involve quite a list of candidates.

Pep Guardiola, Fabio Capello, Roberto Martínez and André Villas-Boas are all under consideration.

Rodgers is also conscious of how disrespectful it would look to the Swansea supporters if he was seen to be chasing, rather than being offered, another position.

He signed an improved three-and-a-half year contract at Liberty Stadium in February and although he is hugely ambitious, there is no sense that he needs to go looking for opportunities elsewhere, especially at a time when he is trying to build a team at Swansea. Talks are ongoing in relation to signing Gylfi Sigurdsson, who was such a revelation on loan last season.

There is also a feeling among those close to Rodgers that Swansea's performance at Anfield in November, when they were applauded off the pitch by the Liverpool supporters, together with the 1-0 victory over Dalglish's team on the last day of the season, should provide more than enough evidence of his qualities, as opposed to being part of a formal interview process.

Rodgers, who is also on the shortlist for the managerial vacancy at Aston Villa, has seen his reputation grow on the back of Swansea's outstanding first season in the Premier League, when they finished 11th and were widely acclaimed for their easy-on-the-eye playing style.

? Solskjaer flies to Birmingham on Randy Lerner's jet
? Former Manchester United star is manager of Molde

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has officially opened talks with Aston Villa about becoming the club's new manager.

Solskjaer is currently in charge of Molde, a club where he spent two years as a player prior to joining Manchester United in 1996.

A statement on Molde's website read: "Molde Football Club is aware of interest and contact from Aston Villa, and is aware that Aston Villa and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are holding talks."

Solskjaer's odds on taking up the post vacated by Alex McLeish on Monday were slashed on Thursday down to 6-4 from 25-1, with the Norwegian odds-on favourite on Friday.

The Villa owner Randy Lerner's private jet flew into Solskjaer's home town of Kristiansund to collect the 39-year-old and fly him to Birmingham on Friday to begin negotiations.

Solskjaer is seen as the young, progressive manager required by Lerner after first failing with Gérard Houllier and then McLeish in the wake of Martin O'Neill's departure in August 2010.

After quitting playing in 2008, Solskjaer took charge of United's reserve team for two and a half years before guiding Molde to their first Norwegian league title in 100 years last October in his debut campaign in charge.

Solskjaer, however, is just one year into a four-year contract, and can look forward to Champions League football next season.

Another for Solskjaer is his wife Silje and three children and whether to move them back to England.

Solskjaer is currently en route to Birmingham having not shown up to take training today, despite Molde facing an away game at Sandnes Ulf on Sunday.

The former Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and Barnsley striker Jan Aage Fjortoft, now a television presenter, tweeted: "Molde confirms Aston Villa interest for Solskjaer. Ready to negotiate."

Fjortoft has also claimed that Lerner's jet departed Kristiansund on Friday morning, adding: "Employees at the airport saying Ole Gunnar AND his wife were on board. Seems like Elvis has left the building."

Fjortoft, however, does have his doubts about Solskjaer accepting the job as he said: "Not sure Solskjaer will go for this. Champions League with Molde and always one who likes to end what he is starting. But hey! It's Premier League."

? Turn on our auto-refresh tool for the latest updates
? Email jacob.steinberg.casual@guardian.co.uk for a chat
? Or follow him on The Twitters

11.04am: "Thanks for the tip off about Solksjaer being interviewed for the Villa job," says Ian Burch. "I was contemplating popping out to put some money on Gary Megson for the post, but I'll bung some on him for the Liverpool job instead."

10.58am: Gretar Steinsson, Paul Robinson, Sean Davis, Robbie Blake, Ricardo Gardner, Ivan Klasnic, Mark Connolly, Tope Obadeyi, Rhys Bennett, Dino Fazlic and Tom Eckersley are those who have left Bolton, while Tuncay Sanli, Dedryck Boyata and Ryo Miyaichi have all returned to their respective parent clubs after loans spells.

10.48am: ACTUAL NEWS! Molde have confirmed that they are in talks with Aston Villa over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

10.38am: "Maybe Guardiola just meant a sabbatical from the Champions League," says Alex Netherton. As ever, I'm hoping they give it to Phil Brown.

10.35am: Elsewhere in the office, Rob Smyth and John Ashdown ponder how long it will be before Terry Connor is offered the Liverpool job. Not before Curbs turns it down.

10.26am: Liverpool plan to speak to as many as 12 managers apparently. By the way, you have to admire their confidence in putting Guardiola at the top of their wishlist, even after he said "I'm going to take a sabbatical".

10.25am: A blow for Sam Allardyce: Kevin Davies has signed a new contract with Bolton Wanderers.

10.24am: "What would be worse, losing a mere promotion playoff final or losing a promotion/relegation playoff final which Bundesliga has?" points out Saurav Samaddar. "I'd say the latter would be more heartbreaking, especially if it is the upper tier team which loses."

10.21am: Nigel Mediocre wants to leave Bolton after their relegation. Nothing like loyalty!

10.15am: "What team do you think Robbie will go with tomorrow?" says Jake Joynson. "Or what team would you go with? Either I'm just an anxious Chelsea fan trying to kill time so tomorrow night comes quicker.."

Given that poor old Michael Essien looks shot, I would go with this team if everyone's fit:

Cech; Bosingwa, Luiz, Cahill, Cole; Lampard, Mikel; Kalou, Mata, Malouda; Drogba.

10.10am: I'm next to useless today. I'm worse than Smyth was on Sunday. One more sleep. The play-off final is the worst game to lose.

10.02am: "People should be asking Ronaldo about things beyond football," says Michael "Big House" Casagranda. "I feel like he's got a lot to teach us."

9.50am: A rival for Paul the Octopus.

9.49am: Sky are saying Brendan Rodgers has turned down Liverpool's approach. How the mighty have fallen.

9.45am: "'A man's head is always complicated'? Except in the case of Ronaldo, where the brain space is divided between self love, cash-appreciation, a simmering resentment of Messi, and a bit more self love," says Matt Dony. "Oh, and the ability to welly a football. Sounds pretty simple to me..."

9.44am: Why wouldn't you want to watch all 126 of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Manchester United goals?

9.29am: New Chelsea signing Marko Marin is tipping his new side to win in Munich tomorrow, pointing to Bayern's woeful defending against Dortmund.

I watched the German cup final. They made big errors. Chelsea have better players and will do well if they play offensively. I think (Chelsea) will win at the weekend. Bayern did a very good job against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final, but they did not do well in the cup final. I think the strongest Bayern player is Franck Ribery because of his dribbling and because he's a goal threat. There's also Mario Gomez. He's scored a lot of goals in the Champions League and is a constant danger. If Chelsea can stop them then they will do well."

9.26am: Here are the provisional squads for tomorrow's Edinburgh derby. BIG BEATS IS A DOUBT FOR HEARTS!

Hibs: Brown, McPake, Kujabi, Hanlon, Doherty, Towell, Soares, Sproule, Osbourne, O'Donovan, O'Connor, Doyle, Francomb, Grant, Claros, O'Hanlon, Murray, Stevenson.

Hearts: MacDonald, McGowan, Zaliukas, Webster, Grainger, Prychynenko, Barr, Black, Santana, Driver, Skacel, Glen, Ridgers, Elliott, Mrowiec, Novikovas, Robinson, Holt, Smith, Morton, Taouil.

9.11am: FACT TIME: Only two teams have won the European Cup on their own ground: Real Madrid in 1957 and Inter in 1965. Then again, only one team have lost on home ground: Roma in 1984. So what does this all mean? Not much to be honest.

9.07am: An interesting snippet courtesy of French football writer Tom Williams:

PSG source tells today's L'Equipe that transfer of Kaka from Real Madrid is "practically assured".

9.03am: Cristiano Ronaldo has said that Manchester United are still the team to beat. They're not, but it's nice of him to say so.

I saw a few days ago (City scored) two goals in the last minute, 91 and 93. I had a bet that Manchester United would win the league but I lost. I feel very disappointed because United is still in my heart. City have a fantastic team now, but I think Manchester (United) will carry on being king of England in my opinion."

Turning to his own future, Ronaldo declared himself happy at the Bernabeu but declined to make any long-term predictions.

The future? Nobody knows. I feel very happy here. It's a great club, fantastic fans...it's great. In one year or two you never know. A man's head is always complicated."

A man's head is always complicated? Deep.

8.57am: It's also the Scottish Cup final between Hibs and Hearts. Go on Big Beats!

8.48am: As for me, I'll be watching the Champions League final through a drunken haze and tears because I am a #lad and I'm going to the play-off final between Blackpool and West Ham at Wembley. West Ham are the favourites, not that that's meant much this season, and should win. They've beaten Blackpool 4-0 and 4-1 this season and if they play as they did against Cardiff in the semi-final, they should have too much for Ian Holloway's side. But don't write off Blackpool. They have experience of the play-off final, having beaten Cardiff 3-2 two years ago and have a number of dangerous attackers in the shape of Matt Phillips, Mark Corrigan's girlfriend Stephen Dobbie, Kevin Phillips, Gary Taylor-Fletcher and Tom Ince. Ince? There's a name to haunt every West Ham fan.

Morning. They said we were done. They said we were finished, that there was no return. They said last week was the last time you could get all your breaking squad news here on a Friday. But you can't keep the banter blog down and here we are again, back for a rousing encore. That, therefore, makes this blog Chelsea, who have been written off and called too old, only now they're in the Champions League final. When Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003, it was with the very clear aim of attaining glory in Europe. Eight years on and that dream has proved elusive. There have been near misses, controversial moments and wasted opportunities, not least when John Terry slipped against Manchester United in Moscow.

Terry, of course, cannot play in tomorrow's final against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena after his dunderheaded red card against Barcelona in the semi-final. Despite that, Chelsea still managed to battle their way through without their captain and now have the chance to secure a unique double, having won the FA Cup two weeks ago. Should they win tomorrow, the job will surely be Roberto di Matteo's to turn down; it probably already is, to be fair. It will be far from easy against the attacking might of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery though, especially as Ramires, Raul Meireles and Branislav Ivanovic are also suspended. Gary Cahill and David Luiz are expected to be fit though. Bayern aren't without problems of their own though. They were schmiced 5-2 by Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup final last Saturday, finished second in the league and are without the suspended Holger Badstuber, David Alaba and Luis Gustavo. A prediction? It's become more or less impossible to predict anything this season ... but I'm going with Bayern Munich. Just.

? Holland striker will not rush to sign contract
? Manchester City and Juventus interested

Robin van Persie has indicated that he has no intention of signing his proposed new contract at Arsenal in the immediate future as he waits to see which of his suitors will make official offers for him.

Manchester City and Juventus are prominent among that group and sources at each club say their information is that Van Persie will not agree to fresh terms at the Emirates Stadium under any circumstances, increasing the likelihood of his departure this summer.

The striker opened negotiations with the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, and the club's chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, in London on Wednesday and it was never likely that the meeting would end with Van Persie's signature on the new deal, which would pay him £130,000 a week, plus a £5m re-signing bonus. Van Persie's contract has a little over 12 months to run.

Arsenal maintain there is plenty of time for Van Persie to reflect and commit his remaining peak years to them and they also have the option of holding him for one final season, even if that policy would risk them losing a hugely saleable asset for nothing as a free agent next summer.

Van Persie travelled to the Netherlands on Thursday to join his national team for their Euro 2012 preparations and developments are not expected until after the finals in Poland and Ukraine, although Wenger will remain in contact with his captain and, as such, talks will be ongoing.

Van Persie, the Footballer of the Year, who is central to Arsenal's plans for the future, would favour a move to Barcelona while Real Madrid may also appeal. It is unclear how he would feel about a move to Manchester City, who are prepared to pay him £250,000 a week.

Patrick Vieira, City's football development executive, confirmed his club's interest in Van Persie, but expects the Dutchman to have plenty of suitors given the uncertainty surrounding his contract.

"I don't think it will only be City who would like these kind of players," he said. "I don't think you have so many good talents like Van Persie who have just one year left on his contract. There will be a lot of teams who will want a player like Van Persie."

If Van Persie does decide to leave, Vieira believes that it would be a huge setback for Arsenal and could even convince more star players that their futures lie elsewhere, especially after Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri left to join Barcelona and City respectively last summer.

"It will be as difficult as when they lost Fabregas or Nasri," said Vieira. "Then you knew that Robin was behind. If they lose Robin, who is behind? Of course it is going to be difficult to keep or to convince Robin.

"It was a shock for them to lose Nasri and Fabregas and if they lose Van Persie, it will be a drama. If Robin decides to leave, that means maybe next year it will be Walcott and the next year maybe it will be Wilshere. It will be difficult for Arsenal to keep all their top players. But if they keep Robin, they will send out a positive message to all the clubs around them."

With that in mind, Vieira, a former Arsenal captain, is surprised that his old club have not already resolved Van Persie's future. Last summer, Arsenal's plans in the transfer market were disrupted by holding on to Fabregas and Nasri for as long as possible, which played a major part in their shambolic start to the season.

"I think that is something they should have closed a long time ago but Arsenal don't need me to tell them that," Vieira added. "It is really difficult to find a player with the quality of Van Persie with one year left on his contract, so it is difficult to understand."

Vieira has no such worries at City, who won their first league title since 1968 last Sunday, and says that all anyone is concerned with at Eastlands is building on their success this season. As a player at Arsenal, Vieira won the title three times, but he was never able to retain it ? in the Premier League era, the only side other than Manchester United to win back-to-back titles are José Mourinho's Chelsea in 2005 and 2006.

"I think it is really important for a team when you win the league back to back," said Vieira. "With Arsenal we never did that. If you want to dominate, it is really important to win the league back to back and improving our run in the Champions League is really important."

? Manager expected to agree a deal worth around £5m a year
? List of summer transfer targets also set be discussed

Roberto Mancini is in talks with Manchester City's owners and is expected to sign a new contract soon. The Italian is in Abu Dhabi to discuss the champions' summer transfers and he will also negotiate fresh personal terms.

Mancini earns £3.5m a year and has 12 months remaining on his deal; the City manager and Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the chairman, are expected to agree a three- or four-year contract worth around £5m annually.

Mancini is in Abu Dhabi with David Platt, the first-team coach, Brian Marwood, the director of football administration, and the acting chief executive, John MacBeath, for talks that are being led by Mubarak and which focus on a list of targets headed by Robin van Persie, the Arsenal striker, and Lille's Belgian forward Eden Hazard.

City's long-term planning has also taken Attilio Lombardo, one of Mancini's coaches, to Argentina, where the Italian watched Lucas Ocampos and Ezequiel Cirigliano, two River Plate youngsters.

Lombardo saw the pair in training and attended River Plate's Primera B game with Instituto on 21 April. Ocampos, 17, is a striker and the 20-year-old Cirigliano a midfielder.

Happy Holidays To All Soccer Fans is a post from: SoccerOverload.com

Spain Faces France in 2014 World Cup Qualifying is a post from: SoccerOverload.com

TV Schedule For 2012 EURO Qualifiers is a post from: SoccerOverload.com

SOCCER TV SCHEDULE FOR MARCH 4 – 7, 2011 is a post from: SoccerOverload.com

UEFA Europa League Results is a post from: SoccerOverload.com

PST: Ex-U.S. coach?s relationship with Mohamed Aboutrika is both heartbreaking and heartwarming.