Month: August 2021

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Tottenham Hotspur join Kurt Zouma race

Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly joined the race to sign Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma.

The Frenchman was initially tipped to head to Sevilla as part of a player-plus-cash deal for Jules Kounde, but a move for the 22-year-old appears to have hit a roadblock for the Blues.

Zouma has since been heavily linked with a transfer across the capital to West Ham United, although the centre-back’s wage demands are supposedly threatening to scupper a switch to the London Stadium.

Now, Sky Sports News reports that Spurs are keen to bring in a new centre-back after striking a deal for Cristian Romero, and Zouma features on the Lilywhites’ list of potential targets.

The report adds that West Ham are still in the race, but with Chelsea’s £25m valuation hindering negotiations, Zouma is happy to see out his Stamford Bridge deal, which expires in 2023.

The 26-year-old watched on from the bench during his side’s 3-0 win over Crystal Palace at the weekend, and he has registered 10 goals from 151 games in a Chelsea shirt

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Atletico Madrid ‘agree deal for Tottenham Hotspur-linked Dusan Vlahovic

Atletico Madrid have reportedly beaten Tottenham Hotspur to the signing of Fiorentina striker Dusan Vlahovic.

With continued uncertainty over Harry Kane’s future in North London, Spurs had supposedly identified Vlahovic as an ideal candidate to lead the line in the event of the England captain’s departure.

Inter Milan were rumoured to have been interested before striking a deal for Edin Dzeko, and Fiorentina intended to tie Vlahovic down to fresh terms amid interest from top European clubs.

However, Corriere dello Sport claims that Atletico have now agreed a €70m (£59.6m) deal to sign the Serbian from La Viola, forcing Tottenham to look elsewhere in their striker search.

Spurs’ pursuit of Lautaro Martinez also appears to be dead in the water following the latest update from the Argentine’s agent, and the Lilywhites are said to have turned their attention to Barcelona’s Martin Braithwaite.

Vlahovic prepares to leave Fiorentina after netting 21 goals in Serie A last season, and he kicked off the 2021-22 campaign with a brace in a Coppa Italia victory against Cosenza at the weekend.

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Paul Pogba will not sign new Manchester United deal this month

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba will not sign a new deal with the Red Devils during the current transfer window, according to a report.

The France international is now in the final year of his existing contract with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, who are desperate not to lose him for free in the summer of 2022.

Paris Saint-Germain continue to be credited with an interest in Pogba, although the arrival of Lionel Messi is thought to have scuppered any chances of a move in August.

Solskjaer supposedly remains keen to tie the midfielder down to a new deal, but the Daily Mail claims that Pogba is in no rush to agree fresh terms or decide his future.

The report adds that United chiefs want Pogba to stay on until at least 2025, and he could expect a rise on the £290k a week he currently pockets in Manchester, but there is very little chance of the former Juventus man deciding his future this month.

The 28-year-old set up four of Man United’s five goals in a 5-1 drubbing of Leeds United at the weekend, and PSG are rumoured to be preparing a mammoth £510k-a-week deal for the Frenchman should he run down his United contract

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Carlo Ancelotti rules out Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid return

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has insisted that he has “never considered” bringing Cristiano Ronaldo back to the Bernabeu.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s next career move remains the subject of much speculation, with his existing deal at Juventus due to expire in 2022 amid links with Los Blancos and Manchester United.

Ronaldo recently took to social media to lash out at the ‘disrespectful’ coverage of his future, and Ancelotti has also weighed in on the saga with a post on Twitter.

The 62-year-old wrote on Tuesday: “Cristiano is a Real Madrid legend and he has all my love and respect. I have never considered signing him. We look forward.#HalaMadrid.”

Manchester City are also rumoured to have been offered the chance to sign the Portuguese attacker, but Pep Guardiola’s side have retained their focus on a move for Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane.

Ronaldo found the back of the net five times at Euro 2020 and enters the 2021-22 campaign with a Capocannoniere to defend following his 29-goal haul in Serie A last term.

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BARCELONA’S FINANCIAL SITUATION VERY WORRYING – PRESIDENT JOAN LAPORTA

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has opened up on the club’s “very worrying” financial situation, revealing the LaLiga giants are 1.35billion euros (£115b) in debt.

Laporta blamed his predecessor Josep Bartomeu for a “terrible inheritance” which he says sees club salaries representing 103 per cent of income at the Nou Camp.

He revealed that Lionel Messi’s new contract would have taken the wage bill to account for 110 per cent of the club’s annual revenue – a figure LaLiga did not accept.

Laporta blamed the club’s “dramatic” situation for Messi’s departure to Paris St Germain last week and accused Bartomeu’s regime of countless “lies”, insisting that he and his board of directors must be held accountable.

Laporta, in his second spell as club president after being re-elected earlier this year, said at a press conference: “Our salaries represent 103 per cent of the club’s total income. That’s 20-25 per cent more than our competitors.

“The first thing we had to do when we arrived was to ask for a loan of 80million euros because otherwise, we could not pay the salaries. The previous regime was full of lies.

“We also found that we had to do some urgent repairs to the Camp Nou because otherwise, it posed a risk to the attending fans. We also found out that the club had already received 50 per cent of the TV rights fees in advance.

“We found the wage policy in the form of what experts call an inverted pyramid – veterans on long contracts and youngsters on short deal. There were no wages cuts – lies.

“We have found that disproportionate payments have been made to intermediaries, not even agents.

“Barcelona has a negative net worth of 451million euros – it is a terrible inheritance. What has been happening is very worrying.

“Bartomeu’s (open) letter is an effort to justify management that is unjustifiable. It is an exercise in desperation. They are responsible for everything until March 7. They will not escape their doing.”

Barcelona signed Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia on free transfers this summer.

However, despite the departure of Messi, the club were only able to register the pair at late notice ahead of their opening-day victory against Real Sociedad on Sunday after captain Gerard Pique agreed to take a reduction in his salary.

Laporta hopes other senior players will soon follow suit.

“I thank Pique for his willingness to help the club. His reduction has helped us to register players. We can register Kun (Sergio Aguero) with the agreement we plan to have with the other players. I hope the other captains act like Pique,” said Laporta.

Despite such a wealth of problems, Laporta believes Barcelona can repair the situation and has revealed that it has taken out a loan of “550million euros with an interest rate of 1.1 per cent to restructure the club.”

He thinks it will take a couple of years for the club to be back on a more stable financial footing.

“The situation is dramatic, but we have good news,” said Laporta. “The strategic plan based on our credibility and experience, on the assets that Barca have, makes this situation temporary. I think that in a couple of years, the club’s economy will be healthy.

“We are not scared at all. We are highly motivated and positive and morale is high. It’s a big challenge but we are capable of overcoming it.

“I’d like to call on all Barca fans and the entire club to be united. With football and unity, I’m convinced this era will be full of success.”

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KICK IT OUT CONDEMNS ALLEGED HOMOPHOBIC CHANTING AT BILLY GILMOUR

Alleged homophobic chanting by Liverpool supporters aimed at Norwich’s on-loan midfielder Billy Gilmour has been condemned by Kick It Out.

The abuse is alleged to have taken place during Liverpool’s 3-0 win at Carrow Road on Saturday.

A statement on Twitter from anti-discrimination organisation Kick It Out said: “We are disappointed that only two weeks into the English football season, we have already seen numerous incidents of discrimination at stadiums up and down the country.

“The use of the term ‘rent boy’ in chants by a portion of Liverpool fans at Carrow Road was unquestionably homophobic and has no place in our game. We have also had reports of incidents at other games and are awaiting further clarification.

“As always, we thank those who reported these incidents to us, and urge fans to do the same if they witness discrimination of any kind in football in the future. We will continue to liaise with all relevant clubs and the football authorities to identify and hold accountable those responsible.”

On Saturday, Liverpool LGBT+ fans group Kop Outs tweeted: “Great result today marred by homophobic chanting by some of our fans targeting Chelsea loanee Billy Gilmour. If you can’t support without resorting to bigoted nonsense, you don’t understand.”

That was retweeted by the official account of Liverpool, who said: “The chant is offensive and inappropriate – a message we have repeatedly communicated alongside Kop Outs. We urge supporters to remember the inclusive values of the club and to refrain from using it in the future.”

Scotland international Gilmour, 20, made his competitive debut for Norwich in Saturday’s game after joining the club on a season-long loan from Chelsea in July.

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HARRY KANE WILL JOIN THE SQUAD WHEN HE IS READY – NUNO SANTO

Tottenham boss Nuno Espirito Santo says Harry Kane will join the squad when he is ready after missing the 1-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday.

Kane was not involved as Spurs beat the reigning champions 1-0 thanks to Son Heung-min’s second-half goal, putting on a show to suggest they may be okay even if their star striker gets his wish to leave.

The future of Kane, who is keen on a move to City, has been the major talking point of the summer and his late return to training meant that he was not included in the matchday squad for Spurs’ Premier League opener.

It is understood Kane was in the stadium to watch the game and he will have been left in no doubt how the fans feel about the situation following a loud rendition of “are you watching Harry Kane?”.

Kane trained on Sunday morning and Nuno said: “Harry, like (new signings) Bryan (Gil), Cristian Romero, they joined us later.

“For Cristian and Bryan it was very important to be here today. To feel the atmosphere and be in the stadium and be in the hotel, attending the meeting, but knowing they don’t have too many sessions with us.

“Harry worked this morning, he is preparing himself and when he is ready he will join the group and help the team.”

Nuno added on Sky Sports when asked about the fans’ chants: “Look, Harry Kane is one of the best players in the world, honestly.

“We are very lucky to have him. He has to get ready and help the team. We still have to go to Portugal (to play Pacos de Ferreira in the Europa Conference League play-offs) then we think about Wolves.”

While Kane was late in reporting back for pre-season training, his fellow forward Son was busy signing a new contract and endeared himself to the Tottenham fans yet further by scoring a 55th-minute winner.

The South Korean loves playing against City – this was the seventh time he has scored against them and the fourth in four games in north London.

Son earned the plaudits, but it was the performance of Japhet Tanganga that was most impressive as he kept Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish largely quiet.

Nuno added: “All the team did very well, but Japhet was huge today. He faced too many one-v-ones today against fantastic players and he dealt fantastic with the situation.

“There’s no perfection, we still have a long way to go to be perfect and probably we will never achieve it, but I’m really proud of the way the players worked and really thankful for the support of the fans.

“It was huge the way they helped the team until the final minute, helping the boys, and we are very thankful for it.”

With this game out of the way, City may well now intensify their pursuit of Kane, which has so far amounted to an opening £100million bid – some way off what Spurs want to even get to the negotiating table.

Their need for a striker was obvious in north London as they missed several chances, but Pep Guardiola, who last week revealed he wants to sign Kane, was not prepared to bite this time when asked if this performance showed why they need the Spurs man.

“We are the same people as last season, Sergio (Aguero) has gone unfortunately but we only had him for seven games,” he said.

“We are the same people. We won the Premier League and we made very good things. It is a tough rival, we did everything to win.

“It is the same people as last season and we scored loads of goals. It has happened, we were there, we arrived many times and today we could not score and it is the same mystery. We are good enough to score a goal.”

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LA LIGA: BARCELONA BEGINS POST-MESSI ERA WITH WIN OVER REAL SOCIEDAD, ATLETICO MADRID VICTORIOUS IN ILL-TEMPERED CLASH

Barcelona started life without Lionel Messi by defeating Real Sociedad 4-2 in their LaLiga opener at the Camp Nou on Sunday even if fans admitted it felt like “a leap into the unknown”.

Captain Gerard Pique gave them a 19th minute lead with his 50th goal for the club.

Martin Braithwaite found the net in first half injury time and in the 59th minute. Sergi Roberto added a fourth in the last minute of the game.

Just over 20,000 fans were in attendance as crowds returned for the first time since the pandemic.

However, they had to hold their breath at one stage when Sociedad came back from 3-0 down to get to 3-2 thanks to goals from 20-year-old Julen Lobete in the 82nd minute and a 30-metre free-kick from skipper Mikel Oyarzabal three minutes later.

Six-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi called time on his two-decade career at Barcelona last week and moved to Paris Saint-Germain.

Messi’s memory lingered heavy over the Camp Nou on Sunday despite the removal of a giant photograph of the Argentine superstar from the entrance in the wake of his move to France.

Some banners were in place well before kick-off venting the fans anger towards president Joan Laporta.

One read “Laporta, Barca is not your business”, while another proclaimed “Barca yes, Laporta no!”

“It was a big emotional blow,” said 23-year-old Barca fan Adria De Lucas.

“I was in my room when I saw the news. I started sending messages to all my friends, and no one believed it. It was emotionally hard.”

The supporter added: “It’s a leap into the unknown (without Messi). We will see what happens.”

Inside the Camp Nou, fans made the most of their return after 18 months, chanting “Messi! Messi!”.

Banners expressed their “eternal gratitude”.

“The supporters are with us, they want to see football,” said Pique.

“We knew they were going to react that way. We all know what Leo represents, but everything changes and we have to keep going.

“We will be very competitive and we will fight for titles to the end. We will not have his talent, but we have proven that we can all play together.”

LaLiga champions Atletico Madrid got their season underway with a 2-1 win at Celta Vigo.

Angel Correa gave Atletico the lead after 23 minutes after being set up by Thomas Lemar.

Correa added a second goal in the 64th minute just five minutes after Iago Aspas had pulled Celta level from the penalty spot.

However, the game was marred by a mass brawl in the closing stages following a foul on Atletico striker Luis Suarez.

Red cards were brandished for Hugo Mallo of Celta and Mario Hermoso of Atletico.

In Sunday’s late game, Sevilla defeated Rayo Vallecano 3-0 with Moroccan international Youssef En-Nesyri scoring a first-half penalty before new Argentine recruit Erik Lamela grabbed two.

Vallecano played 75 minutes a man short after goalkeeper Luca Zidane, the son of French football legend Zinedine, was red-carded for bringing down Oussama Idrissi in the move which led to the penalty.

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ROGER FEDERER OUT FOR SEVERAL MONTHS AFTER FURTHER KNEE SURGERY

Roger Federer has revealed he faces “many months” out of the game as he prepares to undergo further knee surgery.

The 40-year-old, who missed the Tokyo Olympics with a knee injury after losing in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, said he had opted for another operation to give himself “a glimmer of hope” of returning to competition.

“I’ll be on crutches for many weeks and also out of the game for many months,” he said in a video on Instagram on Sunday evening.

Federer, who will miss the upcoming US Open, said: “I just wanted to give you a bit of an update about what’s been going on since Wimbledon, as you can imagine it’s not been simple.

“I’ve been doing a lot of checks with the doctors as well on my knee, getting all the information as I hurt myself further during the grass court season in Wimbledon and it’s just not the way to go forward.

“Unfortunately for the medium to long term to feel better I will need surgery so I decided to do it.”

The former world number one, who has won a joint record 20 grand slam titles with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, admitted he did not know whether he would be able to return to top-level tennis, only that his desire to come back to the tour remained.

He added: “It’s going to be difficult of course in some ways, but at the same time I know it’s the right thing to do because I want to be healthy, I want to be running around later as well again and I want to give myself a glimmer of hope to return to the tour in some shape or form.

“I am realistic. Don’t get me wrong, I know how difficult it is at this age to do another surgery and try it. I want to be healthy, I will go through the rehab process I think also with a goal, while I’m still active, which I think is going to help me during this long period of time.

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IRELAND BEAT MALTA 97-66 TO WIN FIBA EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP FOR SMALL NATIONS

Ireland have won the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries, after a 97-66 victory over Malta.

It completes the double for head coach Mark Keenan, who won the 1994 Promotions Cup as Ireland captain, also at the National Basketball Arena. Ireland’s assistant coach Adrian Fulton was also in that 1994 winning team.

John Carroll and Jordan Blount were the Ireland’s top scorers on the night, with 20 and 17 points respectively. Their consistent performances throughout the week saw them included in the tournament All-Star team too.

It took Ireland two minutes to register their first points, a Carroll jump shot. The first quarter was played at a frantic pace after that, Sean Flood’s three point jump shot bringing the game level at 8-8. A Ciaran Roe three-point jump shot in the final minute of the quarter made it 23-15, before one of Malta’s leading lights, Tevin Falzon, reduced arrears by two with a layup.

Ireland opened the second quarter with a Will Hanley a three point jump shot within 15 seconds, but Malta responded with eight unanswered points to make it a one point game, 26-25 — Ireland were being given their sternest test so far in the tournament.

Malta’s scoring run was ended by a lovely three point jump shot from Flood, who picked up 12 points by half-time. Will Hanley was also catching the eye, with seven points, two rebounds and one assist by the break, as Ireland led 51-32.

The momentum was with Ireland, midway through the third quarter a three point jump shot from the corner by CJ Fulton had Ireland 66-38 up. Malta narrowed that gap, with Alec Felice Pace getting eight points in the quarter, while the Falzon brothers, Tevin and Aaron, continued to pose a threat, however Ireland held a 73-54 advantage going into the final quarter.

Ireland kept their composure in the fourth quarter, Carroll’s dunk just under two and a half minutes in was greeted with raucous cheers from the Irish bench, Ireland’s lead was now 21 points, 79-58. Neil Randolph finished off the game in style with a three point jump shot in the closing seconds as Ireland rounded out a 97-66 win.

Ireland head coach Mark Keenan said: “Unreal, absolutely delighted. We pulled off another great performance this evening, I know it was a little bit dodgy in the second half, but we got that comfortable lead. A bit of a slow start for both teams, but we got on top and we got a great second quarter to push it out at half-time. The guys are superb, I think they’re all MVP’s there. They all sacrificed minutes for the good of the team and that is how we won the tournament, hats off. The rest of my staff, absolutely super.”

Asked about winning the tournament as a coach and player Keenan added: “It’s unreal. It would have been lovely to have two thousand fans here to cheer on, but it doesn’t take away what an absolute achievement and I think this team now needs to move on now. I think we’ve showed, Basketball Ireland, we need to be at the next level.”

Quarter score — Q1: 23-17, Q2: 28-15, Q3: 22-22, Q4: 24-12

Ireland: CJ Fulton (5), Ciaran Roe (5), Kyle Hosford (2), Sean Flood (16), Lorcan Murphy (10), Neil Randolph (3), Adrian O’Sullivan (7), Jordan Blount (17), Eoin Quigley (1), Will Hanley (7), John Carroll (20), Jason Killeen (4).

Malta: Jack Zammit (6), David Bugeja (DNP), Alec Felice Pace (10), Peter Shoults (5), Matthew Scerri (0), Nathan Xuereb (6), Tevin Falzon (17), Ian Felice Pace (10), Aaron Falzon (13), Kurt-Joseph Xuereb (9), Kurt Cassar (DNP), Phillip Engelbert (0).