Category: Slides

Lionel Messi has communicated to Barcelona that he wants to leave the club and will activate a clause to end unilaterally his contract.

It has also been reported that the club will defend their rights to demand a fee for the player, rather than let him go for free. The club claim the clause became inactive after June 10th.

His decision to call time on his career at Barcelona comes following the most humiliating defeat he has suffered while playing for the club, losing 8-2 in the Champions League quarter final to Bayern Munich.

It was after that game that rumours started to circulate that Messi had come to the end of his tether at Barça, as journalist Marcelo Bechler, the man who first broke the news that Neymar would move to PSG, reported that Messi wanted a move.

It is a situation that neither the club nor Messi ever wanted to happen. He would happily spend the rest of his career at the Camp Nou if he had any faith in the board to oversee the sort of changes the club has needed for a while. But having dragged Barcelona to title wins in 2018 and 2019, not with the help of the board’s recruitment but in spite of it, he does not owe them anything more.

He has given his best years to the club, has not won a Champions League for five years, and does not want to waste any more time at a club going through a rebuild as his legs begin to wane.

Where he goes now is another matter, but there will not be a shortage of takers for the greatest player of all time.

Inter Milan are understood to be interested in bringing Messi to the San Siro, while Barça have also shown interest in Lautaro Martínez. The Italian club are understood to have the financial might to match his wage demands too.

Another option for Messi will be a reunion with his former manager Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Guardiola has not won the Champions League since he managed Messi at Barcelona and with the coach only likely to stay at City for another year, a Last Dance with his old mentor could tempt Messi towards Manchester.

AS Roma have completed the signing of Pedro, who was a free agent after leaving Chelsea this month, on a three-year contract.

AS Roma have made an official statement to confirm that they have secured the services of Pedro on a three-year contract that will run through to 30 June 2023. The Spanish winger joins the Serie A giants on a free transfer, having departed Chelsea at the end of his contract this month.

Pedro is one of the most decorated players of all time, having won 25 trophies over his stints with Barcelona and Chelsea as well as the Spanish national side. The 33-year-old joined Chelsea in the summer of 2015 after an illustrious spell with the Blaugrana, with whom he won every possible trophy multiple times.

Over the past half-a-decade, the Spaniard was a consistent performer for the Blues, although the last couple of seasons saw him fall down the pecking order. His prospects were only going to suffer more in the upcoming season, with Chelsea already signing Hakim Ziyech while also closing in on Kai Havertz.

So, it became clear that with Chelsea becoming a more youthful side, he, like Willian, who has gone on to join Arsenal, would need to move on to a club where he can secure regular game time. As a result, Pedro started being linked with a number of clubs across Europe.

In particular, AS Roma seemed to be heavily linked with the player, with their prospects of signing him strengthening further in recent weeks. Now, the Giallorossi have gone on to land the veteran winger on a free transfer. Pedro, who is set to play Serie A football for the very first time, has put pen to paper on a three-year contract.

Upon completing the switch, the former Chelsea winger expressed his excitement, saying, “I am delighted to be here at Roma. I’m excited for this challenge and to compete to achieve our targets over the coming seasons. I want to thank the fans for the welcome they’ve given me. I hope to make them happy.”

Roma already have a stacked squad, with attack being beefed up in recent windows as well. But, despite all the talent at Paulo Fonseca’s disposal, the Serie A outfit lack an experienced figure out on the wings, especially Diego Perotti linked with a possible summer exit.

Pedro, with all his experience at the top level with Chelsea and Barcelona, is potentially a fine addition to the Roma squad. Now set for a new phase in his career, it will be interesting to see if his signing can galvanize an underperforming squad.

Arsenal are reportedly close to selling Ainsley Maitland-Niles to Wolves.

According to reports, the clubs are still working on a fee, although other outlets have it in the £20M range. Maitland-Niles and Wolves have also yet to agree to personal terms. But it looks like, out of nowhere, this move is a “when” not an “if” question.

Earlier this summer, it was reported that Maitland-Niles had decided that he needed a move away from the Emirates to get regular first team minutes. I had hoped that his strong performances and important role in the big games to wrap up the season might have convinced the club and AMN to find some common ground, but alas, no such luck.

I don’t like the move, but if the player wants out, there’s not much Arsenal can do. The Gunners need a rebuild, and even though a 22-year old, homegrown player like Maitland-Niles would have been a nice piece, the club should be able to turn around and reinvest the funds he brings in to help reconstruct the roster.

Mikel Arteta has other targets for the window, and Arsenal were always going to have to sell to buy. If we’re being realistic, the guys most fans want sold aren’t likely to bring back much in the way of a return. AMN has value and will go for meaningful money. I just wish that money wasn’t coming from a club that was fighting for the same table positions as the Gunners last season; strengthening a competitor doesn’t feel good.

Victor Moses has described Inter Milan’s 3-2 defeat to Sevilla as devastating after they gave their all in the Uefa Europa League final.

The former Nigeria international came on as a 78th-minute substitute on Friday as Antonio Conte’s men bowed to the Spanish outfit at the RheinEnergieStadion.

Romelu Lukaku got Inter Milan off to a flying start from the penalty spot in the fifth minute but Luuk de Jong’s double within 20 minutes turned the game around for Sevilla.

Diego Godin drew the Nerazzurri level in the 35th minute but Romelu Lukaku’s own goal in the 74th minute sealed the five-goal thriller for Sevilla and secured their sixth Europa League title.

Moses who joined Inter Milan on a short-term loan from Chelsea in January, was hoping to end his temporary stint in Italy with a trophy after he helped them finish second in the Serie A this season, behind Juventus.

“Devastated to lose the final on Friday. We gave everything but it just wasn’t to be,” Moses wrote on Instagram. “Thank you so much to all of the fans for your amazing support for the team during the season.”

Moses contributed three assists in 20 games for Inter Milan in the second-half of the 2019-20 season, which include 15 Serie A appearances.

Prior to his move to Italy in January, the 29-year-old spent the first-half of the season on loan in Turkey with Fenerbahce but he was restricted to first-team action.

Inter Milan have the option to make Moses’ stay permanent with his Chelsea contract expected to expire in June 2021.

He has been at Stamford Bridge since 2012 after leaving Wigan Athletic.

Moses called time on his international career in August 2018 after representing Nigeria in two Fifa World Cup tournaments and he was part of the team that won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

Barcelona midfielder Miralem Pjanic has tested positive for Covid-19, the Spanish club announced on Sunday.

The Bosnian, 30, is “feeling well”, self-isolating at home and will travel to Barcelona in 15 days’ time.

Pjanic is joining Barcelona from Serie A champions Juventus in a swap deal with Brazil international Arthur.

Barca, who finished the 2019-20 season without a trophy for the first time in 12 years, begin their 2020-21 La Liga campaign on 12 September.

Alex Oxalde-Chamberlain has been ruled out of the Community Shield match against Arsenal after suffering an injury to his knee in training.

The midfielder wiill miss the rest of Liverpool’s pre-season camp out in Austria after picking up the knock, including the two friendly games with Stuttgart and RB Salzburg.

The 27-year-old was involved in a challenge during training when the incident occured and boss Jurgen Klopp explained that it looks like a smiliar injury to the one captain Jordan Henderson suffered toward the end of last season against Brighton.

Oxlade-Chamberlain has returned to Melwood for rehabilitation with club medical staff.

“Really unfortunate,” Klopp told the official club website.

“An unfortunate situation as well; it was a challenge [in training].

“It looks like it is very similar to what Hendo had, which keeps him out for we don’t know for sure exactly how long, but for sure this pre-season he will not make a game, Arsenal for sure not and then we will see. The next game is probably two weeks later, but I don’t know.

“We have to wait but it is far away from being perfect, of course. It is really hard for him and hard for us, but it is not to change.”

Jurgen Klopp was left “very happy” with his team’s performance in their first pre-season outing, with a 3-0 win against Stuttgart providing the required level of intensity away from training.

The Reds were greeted by a downpour as they prepared for their clash against the German outfit, leaving a heavy, water-laden pitch at the Saalfelden Arena.

Having travelled to Austria one week ago, the boss was eager to see his players ramp up the intensity from training into game situations, with the Premier League season kicking off in just three weeks’ time.

And he was “very happy” with what he witnessed, with his two different XIs keeping Stuttgart off the scoresheet while Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita and Rhian Brewster all etched their name on it.

While conditions did not always allow for slick movement, there were an abundance of positive signs to emerge from Kostas Tsimikas making his ‘debut’ to Takumi Minamino‘s sharp touch and, in general, a valuable run out.

“I’m very happy, very happy,” Klopp told LFCTV after the game. “It was a super intense session today because the weather, wow!

“It rained like crazy, the pitch was really difficult – you could see the water was still on the pitch. That always makes football games tricky.

“Good organised opponent obviously but we scored nice goals but for me, the most important thing was that we felt 45 minutes football was different to a 90-minute session.

“There you have breaks, but here there are none so you just have to go and do it and that was the most important thing to do today, and the boys did it.

“They felt the intensity of the game, very good. So now tomorrow we do less, Monday have two sessions, Tuesday is Salzburg – interesting. So it’s all good.

“I think Ki-Jana [Hoever] rolled his ankle a little bit but apart from that they all should be fine which is obviously very important.”

On the makeup of the goals and his newest signing, Klopp was full of praise, adding: “How we made the goals was absolutely exceptional.

“Obviously Taki was in pretty good shape, Kostas showed some nice glimpses of his talent – so we know we have good boys here.

“Curtis first-half, obviously around the goals, Harvey hard-working until the end, Rhian – they all look really promising.

“They had to work today and that’s what they did, so I’m fine with the performance.

“[Kostas is] a pretty quick player obviously and pretty confident, a really good player. Did well.

“The next challenge is now to get used to all our defending and that will take time, no doubt. But when he has the ball it looks not so bad.”

The Reds will now continue to train over the next few days in Austria before meeting Salzburg at the Red Bull Arena on Tuesday afternoon, a clash Klopp is expecting to be “pretty intense.”

Romelu Lukaku suffered the agony of an own goal that handed Sevilla the ecstasy of a sixth Europa League triumph. After an explosive opening half the final had entered its closing phase when Diego Carlos intervened to become the Spanish club’s hero.

The defender, leg heavily strapped, attempted an overhead kick that was missing the goal before Lukaku’s attempted clearance went straight in. Internazionale rallied: Alexis Sánchez, a late replacement, had an effort cleared off the line by Jules Koundé but ultimately this was Sevilla’s night.

Luuk de Jong’s reward from Julen Lopetegui for the winner that knocked out Manchester United was to start as his central striker. Antonio Conte’s XI showed the former United players Ashley Young and Lukaku in his 3-5-2 though Sánchez was a substitute only.

Inter had not won a European trophy since the Champions League triumph a decade ago, while Sevilla had claimed this competition three times in the last six years.

The Spaniards had proved feisty against United and Danilo D’Ambrosio signalled Inter would go toe-to-toe with them by handing off Sergio Reguilón in the opening moments. Nothing came from the free-kick but when moving down the other end instantly Inter had a penalty.

A Lukaku burst took him into Sevilla’s area and Diego Carlos pulled the No 9 down. Danny Makkelie in his first continental final pointed to the spot but the referee gave the defender a yellow card when red seemed appropriate. This completed a hat-trick of penalties conceded by Carlos – to follow those in the quarter and semi-finals and when Lukaku converted for Inter he joined the Brazilian Ronaldo’s mark of 34 in a season for the club, and Conte’s team had the lead.

This initiated a first-half goalfest. Sevilla’s response was to probe via a Suso cross Inter scrambled away. But when Jesus Navas hit a ball in from the same right flank De Jong’s flying header was too powerful for Samir Handanovic, Inter’s goalkeeper beaten to his left.

In a hectic final, Conte was booked by Makkelie after the latter failed to give a second penalty when the ball hit Fernando’s hand: the manager’s protests crossed from vociferous to disrespectful.

An Éver Banega free-kick for Sevilla and a clever Young ball that released Lukaku were the only threat for a passage as the game lulled. But, then, De Jong struck via a second header, connecting with another Banega dead-ball, this spiralling over Handanovic from wide.

The lead lasted barely two minutes. Again, from a free-kick, again from a header, Inter responded. This time Marcelo Brozovic floated the ball over and Diego Godín’s hunger had him leaping through a crowd to head beyond Yassine Bounou. By the break a breather was needed by all.

The second half had a cagey beginning. When Nicolò Barella was hauled back by Joan Jordan near the centre circle, instead of firing the free-kick into Sevilla’s area the ball went sideways.

Surely, though, this was calm before the tempest started up again. So it was that, suddenly, Carlos was flinging himself at Robert Gagliardini’s shot, and, at the other end, De Jong had to be crowded out.

Then, Reguilón skated past Godín and hit the side-netting. More space opened up. Young, Inter’s left wing-back, hit a 30-yard shot that was high, a sign of how his team hogged possession at this juncture. Lukaku missed after racing clear: Conte, on the sideline, was bereft.

Young’s radar was better when pinging in a free-kick towards Godín that Bounou punched clear. Now, disaster struck for Lukaku as he scored inadvertently at both ends.

Banega’s free-kick went to Carlos and his bicycle volley was going wide before the Belgian stuck out a leg and beat Handanovic. From here Sevilla dug in.

Manchester United say captain Harry Maguire is “fully co-operating with the Greek authorities” following an “alleged incident” on the island of Mykonos on Thursday night.

Local reports have named Maguire as being involved in an incident, but no details have yet been confirmed.

The England defender, 27, is on holiday in Greece.

He joined United from Leicester for £80m – a world record fee for a defender – in August 2019.

“The club is aware of an alleged incident involving Harry Maguire in Mykonos last night,” United said in a statement on Friday.

“Contact has been made with Harry, and he is fully co-operating with the Greek authorities. At this time we will be making no further comm