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LUIS SUAREZ AGREES TERMS WITH ATLETICO MADRID FOR A MOVE TO DIEGO SIMEONE’S SIDE

Barcelona’s Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez has reached an agreement with Atletico Madrid and may arrive at the Wanda Metropolitano on a two-year deal, according to local reports from the Madrid club.

Barca’s new manager Ronald Koeman has already told the 33-year-old that he is not part of his plans. Since arriving at Camp Nou in 2014, Suarez has scored 198 goals in 283 games and won four La Liga titles, four Copa del Rey championships and one UEFA Champions League title. Since Neymar departed for Paris Saint-Germain, Suarez has been the most effective partner for Lionel Messi.

That partly explained why Messi told Barca he wanted to leave after the club made it clear that they no longer wanted Suarez.

Of course, before the transfer can be completed, Suarez and Barca must settle their compensation problem. There’s still one year left on Suarez’s contract with Barca. The 33-year-old wanted his last-year salary but the club did not want to pay him that much. According to the latest report by Catalan radio station RAC1, Barcelona have agreed to end Suarez’s contract by paying him part of the agreed salary.

That news should motivate Atletico Madrid to speed up in selling Diego Costa. Rumors suggest Fenerbahçe are interested in landing him, but so far there has been no concrete offer.

Meanwhile, Juventus who almost signed Suarez but called the deal off in the end because of a passport problem, are interested in bringing back Alvaro Morata on loan from Atletico Madrid, according to reports.

Morata played for Juventus in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, winning two Serie A titles and reaching the Champions League final with the club.

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Gundogan test positive for covid-19

Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has tested positive for coronavirus.

The 29-year-old is observing a 10-day self-isolation period, the Premier League club confirmed.

As a result, the Germany international will miss City’s opening league game of the season against Wolves on Monday

“Everyone at the club wishes Ilkay a speedy recovery,” Manchester City said in a statement.

City winger Riyad Mahrez and defender Aymeric Laporte previously tested positive for Covid-19 but are now back in training.

Pep Guardiola’s side are also due to play Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup on Thursday and Leicester City in the Premier League on Sunday.

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PSG regain form as Mbappe scores on Return

Kylian Mbappe scored on his comeback to the team as Paris St-Germain beat Nice in Ligue 1.

Mbappe had missed their opening three games – two defeats and one win – after testing positive for coronavirus.

The France forward opened the scoring on his first appearance of the season from the penalty spot after he was fouled by Kephren Thuram.

Angel di Maria doubled the lead from a rebound after Mbappe had a shot saved and Marquinhos headed in their third.

Mbappe thought he had a second goal with 15 minutes to go but it was disallowed for offside.

PSG were without Neymar, Layvin Kurzawa and Leandro Paredes, who were all suspended after their red cards in the melee against Marseille.

Patrick Vieira’s Nice are on six points from four games, the same total as champions PSG.

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Pirlo gets first win as manager

Cristiano Ronaldo scored as Juventus marked Andrea Pirlo’s first match as head coach with a comfortable 3-0 win over Sampdoria in Serie A.

Sweden winger Dejan Kulusevski opened the scoring on his debut, with a calm finish into the bottom left corner.

And Leonardo Bonucci prodded in the second for Juve, who are chasing a 10th successive Scudetto.

Ronaldo, who had earlier hit the crossbar, rounded off the scoring late on from Aaron Ramsey’s pass.

Like Sunday’s other Serie A matches, a small number of supporters were at the season opener after the Italian government allowed up to 1,000 fans to attend matches for the first time since March.

Former Milan and Juventus midfielder Pirlo had no senior coaching experience before he was chosen to replace Maurizio Sarri in August, and only received his coaching badge last week.

However, this was a relatively comfortable introduction to his new role, with his side easing to victory against Claudio Ranieri’s team.

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PSG Want Dele Alli

Paris St-Germain are interested in Tottenham forward Dele Alli.

The Champions League finalists are aware of the England international’s potential availability and senior figures at the club are known to be admirers of the 24-year-old.

Spurs sources insist they expect Alli to stay and fight for his place.

However, the player was not in the squad for victories against Lokomotiv Plovdiv in the Europa League and Southampton in the Premier League.

Spurs boss Jose Mourinho has recently added to his attacking options with the signing of Gareth Bale from Real Madrid.

The Wales international is expected to be fit to join Mourinho’s squad after the October international break.

By that time, the transfer window will have closed and, although Premier League clubs can do business after the 5 October deadline, they can only trade with English Football League clubs.

It means Alli has a fortnight to sort out his future or risk an extended spell on the sidelines until the January window opens.

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MAN UNITED SUFFER SHOCKING OPENING DAY DEFEAT AT HOME TO CRYSTAL PALACE.

Manchester United suffered a shock 3-1 defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace in their opening Premier League match of the season on Saturday.

A Wilfried Zaha double and an Andros Townsend strike sealed the points for the visitors as United lost their first league opener at home since 2014.

Substitute Donny van de Beek scored his first goal for the club on his debut but it was not enough to inspire a comeback.

“You can see we are short and they deserved the points,” United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said. “Today was a performance you don’t see very often from this group. We should look at ourselves in the mirror. Everyone knows we can perform better than this.”

With Van de Beek on the bench, Solskjaer’s starting line-up saw David de Gea start ahead of Dean Henderson and included Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes, but it was Palace who took control early when Townsend opened the scoring after seven minutes, converting a cross at the back post.

Thereafter, the visitors were most threatening on the counter-attack and De Gea made a smart save to deny Jordan Ayew before the interval, but failed to double their lead until just past the midway point of the second half.

When referee Martin Atkinson agreed with VAR Jonathan Moss that Victor Lindelof had handled Ayew’s shot from close range, Palace were awarded a spot kick.

David De Gea saved Ayew’s penalty but, after more VAR intervention, it was retaken because the goalkeeper was off his line. Ex-United winger Zaha stepped up to convert from the spot to make it 2-0.

Van de Beek replaced Pogba and made an instant impact with a smart close range finish to close the gap, but Zaha wrapped up the points five minutes later with a fine strike after turning Lindelof.

“In the week of training we did really well, we trained good so my feeling was really positive, Van de Beek told MUTV after the game. “But today we played too slowly, too long with the ball and I think against an opponent like Crystal Palace you need to speed up the game to create something. That was not good enough.”

Palace have won their opening two games for the first time in the Premier League era and manager Roy Hodgson was impressed with his side’s display at both ends.

“We made certain and kept them playing in front of us and they could not profit from those spaces they are skilful enough to find,” he said. “And when we had the ball I thought we looked very dangerous and threatening so I don’t think it was a big surprise that we scored three.”

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BARCELONA HAVE BIDS REJECTED FOR NORWICH STAR, MAX AARONS

Barcelona have had two bids rejected for Norwich City defender Max Aarons as they look to replace Nelson Semedo, sources have confirmed.

Barca first made contact with Aarons’ agents over a transfer in May and have already agreed on personal terms with the right-back.

However, they have been unable to strike a deal with Norwich, with an initial offer to take Aarons on loan with an option to buy next summer for around €20 million knocked back by the Championship club.

A second offer has also been turned down but sources asay that Barca haven’t completely given up hope of landing the England under-21 international yet after making him their No.1 full-back target.

Sources at the Catalan club have revealed that Semedo could leave in the next week, with talks at an advanced stage with a Premier League side.

Barca hope to sell Semedo for over €30m. They plan to re-invest that money on a younger right-back to compete with Sergi Roberto this season.

Aarons, 20, has emerged as their preferred option but they are also managing a number of alternatives in case they are unable to find a breakthrough in negotiations with Norwich.

Ajax defender Sergino Dest has also been followed by Barca for a while and is another name on the table if Semedo is sold in the coming days.

In the case of both Aarons and Dest, Barca face competition from Bayern Munich. Sources close to the United States international confirmed that youthe Bundesliga champions are in pole position.

That would clear the way for Barca to move for Aarons, although they have also sounded out the chances of doing deals for Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin and Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot.

Barca could still push ahead with signing a full-back even if Semedo stays. However, they cannot buy until they offload players, which is why they initially proposed a season-long loan when negotiating for Aarons.

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LA LIGA BANS RONALD KOEMAN FROM SIGNING LIVERPOOL’S GEORGINO WIJNALDUM.

Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman is currently banned from making a move for Georginio Wijnaldum because of La Liga rules.

The former Netherlands boss has arrived at the Nou Camp with a very clear idea of what players he wants to bring in.

And he has also not been afraid on kicking players out after telling the likes of Luis Suarez and Riqui Puig to leave.

Koeman has been eyeing some players from the national side he coached not long ago.

The two that are on his wish list are Memphis Depay and Wijnaldum.

The former is being touted to replace Suarez up front to form a fluid attack with Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi.

Whereas Wijnaldum is wanted to bring some balance and control into Barcelona’s midfield, which was badly exposed by Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

However, Koeman will not be able to sign the Liverpool star or anyone for that matter because of some binding rules from La Liga.

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit Spain hard, with football taking a huge punch as a result of the lack of revenue.

Barca were already in a rut, with huge transfers for the likes of Frenkie de Jong, Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele and Griezmann setting them back.

Clubs in Spain are under strict guidelines as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

Barcelona are operating on a £510m-a-year wage bill which has been classified unsustainable.

It means they must sell players before they will be allowed to bring anymore in, meaning any move for Wijnaldum is off.

But a program in place means that any transfer fee must be paid in double, with the other half going to the government to help out smaller clubs.

La Liga has outlined to top-tier clubs how much they can spend on transfers, dependant on their finances over the past five years.

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Liverpool maintain their title defence

Liverpool were helped by Christensen’s moment of sheer panic that reduced Chelsea to 10 men right on the break – but they were head and shoulders ahead of a negative home team even before that crucial moment.

The champions dominated from the first whistle and it seemed only a matter of time before they scored, pinning Chelsea back in their own territory and probing for openings at will.

And when the breakthrough came, no-one deserved it more than Mane, now comfortable in world-class and willing to do the dirty work as well as apply the finishing touches.

Mane’s first goal was a superb header but in many ways he summed up what makes him the complete attacker with his second, reacting with fury at giving the ball away before chasing down Kepa.

The Senegal forward’s pace forced the error from a goalkeeper who does not necessarily need forcing into errors and effectively finished the contest with Liverpool’s second.

It was all so easy for Liverpool after that, Thiago easing his way in as a substitute although there will be a concern about yet another injury for captain Henderson, who went off at half-time.

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BARCELONA AGREE TERMS WITH INTER MILAN FOR VIDAL MOVE.

According to very reliable journalists, including Fabrizio Romano and Gianluca Di Marzio, Arturo Vidal to Inter is confirmed.

An agreement between Barcelona and the Italian club has been reached for a transfer fee of just €1m.

The price tag on Vidal is obviously symbolic since a 33-year-old Vidal is not worth a lot, the Catalan club is more focused on getting rid of the player’s wage.

The Chilean midfielder is expected to arrive in Milan tomorrow to complete his transfer. Reportedly, Vidal will sign a two-year deal, earning him €6m net per season.

Arturo Vidal has joined Barcelona in August 2018 for a €18m transfer fee, leaving German giants Bayern Munich. Since then, the midfielder has played a total of 4989 minutes in a Barça jersey, featuring in 96 games in which he scored 11 goals and made 10 assists.