News. Sports. Arts & Entertainment. Politics
Barcelona took a 1-0 lead on Manchester United into the dressing room at half time of their International Champions Cup meeting. Neymar provided the scoring. Overall, it was statistically pretty dominating for Barca, who out-shot United 12-6 in the first half, putting seven on goal in comparison to United’s three.
The Red Devils also lost the possession battle, 67%-33%. Go here for the link to the takeaways from the first half of this game.
Follow paulmbanks
The Neymar narrative overshadows every other storyline in the meeting between Barcelona and Manchester United in Washington D.C. Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain, will he or won’t he, has become the transfer saga of sagas this summer. It could have ripple effects too, with Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho potentially back in play, should Neymar bolt.
This, despite Liverpool’s repeated insistence that Coutinhho is not for sale.
Follow paulmbanks
Yesterday, according to Sky Sports transfer centre, RAC1 , a radio station in Spain, reported that Barcelona agreed upon a deal with Liverpool FC midfielder Philippe Coutinho. The report made it clear that the deal was between Barcelona and Coutinho himself, not Liverpool itself. It also went on to say that no fee had been agreed upon between LFC and the Catalan club.
Jurgen Klopp has strongly and consistently maintained that Philippe Coutinho is his best player, and that the Brazilian is not for sale; at any price.
Follow paulmbanks
By Matthew High
The FA announced last month that it had ended all of its current sponsorship deals with betting companies, which included a long-term agreement with betting giant Ladbrokes.
Follow paulmbanks
Javier Hernandez, affectionately known as Chicharito, left Old Trafford for Bayer Leverkusen in a £7.3 million transaction when Louis Van Gaal was Manchester United manager in 2015. Current United Manager Jose Mourinho has previously claimed that he would never have sold the Mexican striker had he been in charge at that time.
This week Hernandez returned to the Premier League, having completed a £16 million move to West Ham United. Ahead of tonight’s preseason friendly against Barcelona in Washington D.C. the topic of Chicharito came up in Mourinho’s news conference.
[Read more…]
The Premier League has seen a massive financial windfall, via the massive increase in price for broadcasting rights. The rocketing revenue streams generated by television contracts makes the clubs richer, and therefore allows them to spend more on acquiring top notch players. This summer alone, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool all broke their club records for individual transfer fees.
Manchester United broke the world record last summer, by paying £89.3 million for Paul Pogba. They made another top ten most expensive in history buy this summer with Romelu Lukaku at £75 million. Additionally, they signed Victor Lindelof at £31 million, and thus spent £106m on just two players.
Follow paulmbanks
It’s no secret that Manchester United Manager Jose Mourinho wants to buy two more players this summer. It’s not a mystery what two positions of need he’s trying to fill either. Mourinho has the luxury of being a little bit transparent when discussing the summer transfer window because he knows that he has the power of (by many measures) the wealthiest club in the world behind him.
Of course, openly discussing your specific transfer targets only serves to drive up the price, so Mourinho refrains from that.
Follow paulmbanks
Manchester United will most likely welcome their injured midfielders Juan Mata and Ander Herrera back to the team this weekend, says Manager Jose Mourinho. Both of them will get to experience United’s final tune-ups before the regular season begins in mid August.
Mata took an ankle knock during last Monday’s win at Real Salt Lake, which kept him out of both the Manchester Derby on Thursday and the battle with Real Madrid this past Sunday. In that match, a 1-1 draw where United defeated Real on penalty kicks, Herrera was subbed off just seven minutes into being brought on as a half-time replacement.
Follow paulmbanks
Liverpool FC Manager Jurgen Klopp won’t give any bulletin board material to two of his local rivals. The German was asked to comment about the summer transfer business of both Everton and Manchester United, but he made no remarks that would spark controversy. He instead politely answered the reporter’s query, maintaining that he is not interested in what they are up to this summer transfer window.
Follow paulmbanks
Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp wisely refused to be drawn into a war of words with Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho. The German said that he is simply “not interested” in what Mourinho has to say about Liverpool, while also acknowledging that his side had a 2015-16 season that was similar to what Manchester United just experienced this past campaign.
Both Chelsea and Liverpool were without European football this past season and it worked to their advantage. The former won the Premier League title while the latter reached the top four. Mourinho said that this upcoming season will be tougher for both as they will now face the added workload.
Follow paulmbanks
For Kenedy, his days at Chelsea FC may be numbered, and the clock probably started ticking as soon as he posted those two controversial Instagram stories. The Brazilian winger was sent home the team’s Asian tour following his offensive social media posts about China. In one post, he dropped the f-bomb on the world’s most populous country, and in the other he appeared to be mocking a security guard.
Many social media users denounced his behavior as racist, and Chelsea football club were left with no other recourse but to issue an official statement apologizing to China.
Follow paulmbanks
Chelsea FC broke the club record for most expensive transfer when they signed Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid less than a week ago. The striker, brought in as a replacement for Diego Costa and as a fallback option when Stamford Bridge missed out on Romelu Lukaku, cost the club £58 million.
That makes him the 13th most expensive signing in world history. Morata made his debut in a blue shirt today, in a 3-2 preseason friendly loss to Bayern Munich.
Follow paulmbanks