Bottas joins Mercedes after Massa returns to Williams

Valtteri Bottas has replaced Nico Rosberg at Mercedes, after Williams confirmed the return of Felipe Massa on a one-year deal for the 2017 Formula One season.

Having finally defeated team-mate and long-term rival Lewis Hamilton to reign supreme in F1, Rosberg announced his retirement on December 2 - just five days after winning the title.

Mercedes were consequently left scrambling to find a replacement for a seat they did not expect to be left vacant and Bottas quickly emerged as favourite to fill the void left by Rosberg's departure.

 

Premier League transfer window 2017 LIVE: All the ins and outs

News from England’s second tier now, and Aston Villa left-back, and former Liverpool man Aly Cissokho has now left the club on loan. He has joined Olympiacos. Meanwhile Fulham have upped their interest in Standard Liege midfielder Ibrahima Cisse

Walter Mazarri has been eyeing up a loan move for Fiorentina striker Mauro Zarate. The Argentinian forward had a spell in the Premier League with Birmingham in 2008, before returning with West Ham between 2014-16, where he scored five goals.

And Sam Allardyce has vowed to switch his sights to Europe after being priced out of a move for English players. According to the Sun, Sevilla’s holding midfielder Vicente Iborra could be on the way to Selhurst Park for £12m.

Dimitri Payet may be facing an uncomfortable future after officials from Marseille failed to agree a deal with the Hammers for the on-strike midfielder.

 

Premier League Diary: Sky start making regions fight one another for glory

Say what you like about Sky Sports – within the bounds of libel laws and common decency, obviously, you filthy-mouthed animal – but they know how football works. They know where the buttons are; they know what makes the ordinary fan tick. To any other television company, this weekend’s Premier League scheduling might have been a curiosity, something to mention in passing. But Sky, bouncing from the success of Red Monday a few months ago, saw their chance to create a whole new institution from whole cloth:

Premier League HOT or NOT: Davies, Bilic, Crouch, Guardiola, Pogba

What’s sexy, and what’s unsexy, in football this week…

HOT

Tom Davies’ beard

There was much to admire about the Everton youngster’s coming-of-age display against Manchester City. The swashbuckling midfield dynamism, the relentless running, the Messi-esque flick and finish for his sublime goal, the passionate celebration with the home fans and the laughably unfashionable blonde curtains. But the icing on this electrifying Evertonian cake was the bushy monstrosity covering the lower part of his face. Davies boasted a fulsomeness of facial hair that no 18-year-old should have a right to grow – and it was this beard that symbolised his readiness for Premier League football and proved he could mix it with the men.

 

Costa and Payet disloyal? Premier League is just being played at its own game

You could not, as they say, make it up. Some clubs in the English Premier League are a bit miffed because a foreign league with oodles of cash is trying to waltz in and buy up its best players. This is, of course, an affront because it is the Premier League clubs that are supposed to buy up everyone else’s players.