Barcelona have had an appeal against their transfer ban rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. That means they are unable to sign any new players in 2015.

The Catalan club were initially handed the ban for breaching FIFA guidelines relating the transfers of players under the age of 18. Barcelona lodged an appeal against the decision which was announced in April - and that bought them enough time so they could secure the services of Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic amongst others over the summer.

Appeal

However now CAS has upheld the original decision to ban Barcelona - and that could be bad news for some Premier League clubs who had been hoping to swoop for some of the best talent on display at the Nou Camp.

Pulis & Sherwood in hunt for West Brom job

West Brom are on the lookout for a new manager and it seems they have narrowed it down to two men. Tim Sherwood and Tony Pulis are set to hold talks with the Baggies about taking over at the Hawthorns.

West Brom sacked Alan Irvine after a disastrous start to the season which has left the club just one point clear of the relegation zone. Pulis is looking for his first job since walking away from Crystal Palace just before the start of the current campaign despite being named manger of the season, while Sherwood has been out of work since being let go by Tottenham over the summer.

Dhoni retires from test cricket

India cricket captain MS Dhoni has announced his retirement from test matches. The wicketkeeper/batsman with an average of just over 38 and captained his country in 60 tests and will now focus on One day and T20 games.

The 33-year-old stepped down after drawing the third test against Australia, and the The Board of Control for Cricket in India have paid tribute to one of their 'greatest ever captains'.

The statement read: "BCCI, while respecting the decision of MS Dhoni, wishes to thank him for his enormous contribution to Test cricket and the laurels that he has brought to India."