Cleverley joins Villa on loan

FOOTBALL: Aston Villa yesterday completed the season-long loan signing of Tom Cleverley.

Villa made a U-turn late on Monday to sign the Manchester United midfielder on loan and had to wait until the Premier League confirmed the paperwork had been completed in time.

Villa had initially pulled the plug on a permanent deal for Cleverley earlier on transfer deadline day with his wage demands pricing him out of a move.

Wiggins to lead Team Sky

CYCLING: Bradley Wiggins will defend his Tour of Britain title after being named as the leader of Team Sky’s squad for the race, which begins in Liverpool on Sunday.

Wiggins will be joined by fellow Britons Ian Stannard and Ben Swift, with Bernhard Eisel, David Lopez and Sebastian Henao.

“The Tour of Britain is a special race for me so to be returning as defending champion is a real honour,” Wiggins said.

SFA steps in over Guidetti transfer

FOOTBALL: The Scottish FA are to appeal to Fifa on behalf of Celtic to have the loan signing of Manchester City striker John Guidetti ratified.

Guidetti’s transfer was initiated but not completed before the deadline.

However, the Scottish FA is looking for Fifa to make “an exception” to allow Guidetti to move to the Scottish champions.

A Scottish FA spokesman said: “We will request an exception in order for the transfer to be concluded.”

Germany weighing up Euro 2020 final

FOOTBALL: Germany will wait until the very last minute before deciding whether to withdraw Munich’s rival bid against Wembley to stage the final of Euro 2020.

The German Football Association (DFB) is also planning a bid to host the entire Euro 2024 tournament and is considering dropping its 2020 bid to boost its chances.

DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach has disclosed they will wait until the day of the vote on September 19 before deciding.