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After a few years of inconsistency under goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp turned to back-up Loris Karius. After Karius’ melt-down in the UEFA Champions League final loss to Real Madrid, Anfield is now apparently in the market for an upgrade between the sticks.
In today’s edition of Liverpool FC transfer talk, we focus only the targets who could potentially be the new Reds #1.
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Chelsea star Eden Hazard bagged a brace for Belgium today, as did Manchester United man Romelu Lukaku, making them the first teammates to each score twice in the same World Cup game since Toni Kroos and Andre Schurrle in the 2014 semi-final rout over Brazil. Belgium beat Tunisia 5-2 in a match that could have seen the Red Devils easily rack up seven goals had they finished more scoring chances properly.
Hazard scored from a penalty kick in the 6′ and then again in the 51′, the latter of which is certainly a site to behold. Take a look at the footage below:
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Manchester United and Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku bagged a brace today before being subbed off early for fellow United man Marouane Fellaini. Lukaku scored in the 16′ and then again in the third minute of first half injury time, providing the scoring strike that probably ended Tunisia’s World Cup run. Belgium won 5-2 in a match that was much more lopsided than it sounds.
By bagging a brace in his first two World Cup games, Lukaku became the first player to score twice in consecutive World Cup games since the immortal Diego Maradona accomplished the feat for Argentina in 1986.
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If you’re having a Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest footballer ever party right now, Chelsea star Cesc Fabregas is taking your punch bowl away. While acknowledging Ronaldo’s current fine form at the World Cup in Russia, Fabregas also points out how some of the current hype is unwarranted. Ronaldo has scored four times in the first two games for Portugal, including a hat trick in the opener, an Iberian Peninsula derby draw with Spain.
In scoring his 85th career goal for country this week, he’s now the highest-scoring European born player in international football history. Portugal takes on Iran on Monday, needing only a draw to go through to the knockout round.
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England manager Gareth Southgate has responded to his team sheet leaking to the press and going viral all around the world yesterday. The team note, which conveys a majority of a potential starting XI for Sunday’s World Cup group stage clash against Panama, implies that Marcus Rashford will be in the first team alongside Harry Kane up top.
The formation on the note also infers that Rashford’s inclusion thus drops Raheem Sterling to the bench, and that Dele Alli will be missing due to injury and replaced by Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Southgate says we shouldn’t read too much into this document and that it doesn’t confirm any individual players statuses for Sunday.
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It continues to be a very exciting summer at Manchester United, with plenty of topics to discuss. What offseason, right?
So let’s take a spin through the latest news and notes items making the rounds on the internet today.
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It continues to be a very exciting summer at Liverpool, with plenty of topics to discuss. What offseason, right?
So let’s take a spin through the latest news and notes items making the rounds on the internet today.
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England have the proper security measures in place to prevent spying on their training sessions in Repino. However, when Steve Holland, the man who is essentially the number two to England manager Gareth Southgate is carelessly walking around with a team sheet during the portion of the session open to the public, well, things happen.
Perhaps now Panama will have an advantage as they prepare to tussle with Three Lions on Sunday. The England team sheet shows Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford in the first team, with Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling starting on the bench.
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Weeks before the World Cup started, Manchester United and France midfielder Paul Pogba said that he had ambitions of bossing this tournament. Two games in that’s exactly what he’s done as he’s been involved in all three of France’s goals in their two wins, over Australia and Peru.
During the period of World Cup warm up matches, France national team manager Didier Deschamps said that Pogba needed to step up his game and become a leader. Deschamps, as well as Pogba’s France teammates, defended Pogba when he was heckled by supporters of Les Bleus.
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We’re starting to see the first couple sparks before the Chelsea summer transfer window really catches fire. Former Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri is reportedly in line to replace Antonio Conte as manager, and with that transaction the other transfer dominoes will fall.
The first domino could be club legend Gianfranco Zola, who has been pegged to join a Sarri led backroom staff at Chelsea. The next could be another key figure from the Italian top flight, Juventus star Miralem Pjanic. It would be easy though, as Stamford Bridge faces tough competition from Barcelona to meet the reported £70 million price tag for the player.
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In the words of early ’90s R&B star Ce Ce Peniston: “finally, it has happened to me.” Emre Can departing Liverpool and joining Juventus is a transfer deal that we all knew was going to happen since April; and honestly, it was a long time coming even before that.
The Juventus club website made the following official announcement:
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Sixteen days ago Manchester United announced their first transfer addition of the summer, Brazilian midfielder Fred. He arrives from Shakhtar Donetsk for a transfer fee that’s being reported by various outlets as being in the neighborhood of €55 million ($69.3 million), with the possibility of rising to €60m with add-ons.
At that point, all parties involved had reached an agreement, but the deal was not yet finalized because of certain details that needed to be worked out. The hold up was apparently over the wait period on a work permit.
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