Earlyface

Bayer Leverkusen have taken advantage of their option to sign defender Kyriakos
Papadopoulos on a permanent basis from Schalke.
The Greece international, who has been consistently linked with English giants
Liverpool, joined up with Leverkusen last summer on a season-long loan deal.
He saw his season interrupted by injury, but still did enough to persuade
Leverkusen to activate the purchase option included in his loan agreement.
Papadopoulos, who remains a highly rated centre-back, has now put pen to paper
on a contract at the BayArena which runs until the summer of 2020.
And the young defender is pleased to be staying put at Leverkusen, where he
believes he can continue to progress as a player.
Papadopoulos told his club's site: "I am delighted it's worked out.
"Last season I had, despite my serious shoulder injuries, a fantastic time at
Leverkusen.
"The club have great confidence in me and have been strong in helping me. I'm
grateful and I look forward to my future in this great team, which can still move
forward and achieve a lot."
Schalke originally snapped Papadopoulos up from Greek giants Olympiacos in
2010.
The 23-year-old has won 17 caps for Greece at international level so far, scoring
four goals in the process.