Juventus are not worried that Luis Suarez’s passport status might stop him completing a move to the Serie A club, according to Sky in Italy.

There are still several hurdles to clear before Luis Suarez can move to Serie A

Suarez is close to agreeing terms with Juventus but a free transfer from Barcelona can only happen after he agrees a severance package with his current club.

The Uruguay striker has a contract with Barcelona which runs until the end of the 2020/21 season.

Suarez would then need to become an Italian citizen to fit in with Serie A squad regulations – his wife Sofia Balbi is already an Italian citizen.

Weston McKennie’s arrival in Turin complicates matters for Suarez and Juve

That was enough for him to be considered an EU player in La Liga but the rules surrounding individual nationality are different in Italy.

The deal is further complicated by the fact Juventus recently filled their last two overseas slots by signing American Weston McKennie from Schalke and Brazil international Arthur from Barcelona.

Sky in Italy are also reporting Juventus could offer Barcelona team or individual-related bonuses to make the deal smoother, with the clubs enjoying a good relationship.

Source – Sky Sports

The Juventus star had to be reminded to put a mask on as he was forced to watch his nation from the stands.

Photo by Getty

Cristiano Ronaldo was reprimanded for not wearing a mask while watching Portugal in the Nations League on Saturday night.

Ruled out of the game against Croatia with a toe infection that has been likened to a bee sting, Ronaldo was forced to sit in the stands as he saw his nation claim a convincing 4-1 victory.

Goals from Joao Cancelo, Diogo Jota, Joao Felix and Andre Silva wrapped up the comfortable win for Portugal, who have now won nine of their last 10 matches.

During the game, Ronaldo inevitably drew plenty of attention after a stadium official was filmed approaching the 35-year-old to remind him to put on a mask as part of coronavirus protocol.

While seemingly not to pleased by the distraction, the Juventus attacker quickly complied and put on a mask as he watched the remainder of the match.

Portugal next face Sweden on Tuesday night with manager Fernando Santos conceding on Saturday that Ronaldo may not be fit in time to feature.

“I wasn’t resting him. If he was in good shape, he would have been [in the starting XI] able to play the game,” Santos told RTP.

“Today he trained, feels better and, at the moment, he will travel to Sweden. Then we’ll see. There is no injury, but he has to recover from that infection.”

Santos’ side managed to impress without their biggest star against Croatia and it came as no surprise to their coach.

“From what they did during the week, they showed me this was possible. This team knows each other well, the job was to remember what has been done before,” Santos said.

“The team corresponded, 100 per cent. There were some less good periods, but that is part of football.”

Portugal are looking to defend their Nations League title after winning the inaugural edition last year when they defeated the Netherlands 1-0 in the final.

Ronaldo helped lead his country to that final in June, having netted a hat-trick against Switzerland in a 3-1 semi-final win.

The Juventus star’s next match for Portugal could see him score his 100th international goal with Ronaldo currently sitting on 99 strikes across 164 games for his country.

Source – Goal.com

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Six-time Ballon d’Or winner will be staying at Camp Nou for another season, revealing a long-standing disagreement with the president.

Lionel Messi has broken his silence on why he sought to leave Barcelona, revealing to Goal a long-running dispute with club president Josep Maria Bartomeu regarding his future at Camp Nou and the overall direction of the Liga giants.

The six-time Ballon d’Or winner shook up the football world at the end of August when he dropped a major bombshell on Barca by demanding to leave and activating a clause in his contract that he believed would permit him to exit the Catalan club for free.

A dramatic saga ensued, with Messi refusing to engage with club commitments such as medical tests or training and the rumour mill was sent into overdrive with speculation about where the 33-year-old could play next.

With Barcelona crashing ignominiously out of the Champions League after an 8-2 hammering by Bayern Munich just a few weeks earlier, the idea of a sensational Messi exit piled the pressure on Bartomeu as presidential candidates lined up to cast judgement on the outgoing chief.

The embarrassing defeat to Bayern was not the reason for Messi’s drastic action, though it was certainly a bitter blow. In actual fact, internal talk of an exit from Barcelona has been ongoing for a year or more, but with no resolution on the horizon, and Messi finally felt that he needed to force the issue.

“I told the club, including the president, that I wanted to go. I’ve been telling him that all year. I believed it was time to step aside,” Messi told Goal.

“I believed that the club needed more young players, new players and I thought my time in Barcelona was over. I felt very sorry because I always said that I wanted to finish my career here.

“It was a very difficult year, I suffered a lot in training, in games and in the dressing room. Everything became very difficult for me and there came a time when I considered looking for new ambitions.

“It did not come because of the Champions League result against Bayern, no – I had been thinking about the decision for a long time.

“I told the president and, well, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not keep his word.”

The act of sending the infamous burofax to the club outlining his position became something of an embarrassment for figures around the club, with former Barca vice-president Jordi Mestre notably declaring “the best player in history does not leave with a burofax!”

However Messi has insisted that it was not done with the intention of creating a bitter dispute, but to make his position – that he wanted to leave – official. Indeed, the Argentine is of the belief that it would simply have been business as usual had he not taken that step.

“Throughout the year I had been telling the president that I wanted to leave, that the time had come to seek new goals and new directions in my career,” explained Messi. “He told me all the time: ‘We’ll talk, not now, this and that’, but nothing. The president did not give me a clue at what he was really saying.

“Sending the burofax was making it official that I wanted to go and that I was free and the optional year – I was not going to use it and I wanted to go.

“It was not to make a mess, or to go against the club, but the way to make it official because my decision had been made.”

He added: “If I don’t send the burofax, it’s like nothing happens, I have the optional year I had to have continued all year.

“What they say is that I did not say it before June 10 – but I repeat, we were in the middle of all the competitions and it was not the moment.

“But apart from that, the president always told me ‘when the season is over, you decide if you stay or leave’, he never set a date, and well, it was simply to make it official that I wouldn’t continue, but not to start a fight because I didn’t want to fight against the club.”

For most fans, the thought of Messi leaving Barca for another club was incomprehensible and especially since the player himself has spoken at length in the past of his desire to conclude his career in Catalunya.

However, he had grown increasingly frustrated with what he felt was a lack of direction from Bartomeu and the club stewardship, suggesting that that there has been no coherent approach from those in charge.

“Of course I had a hard time deciding. It does not come from the Bayern result, it comes from many things,” he stressed. “I always said I wanted to end here and I always said I wanted to stay here. That I wanted a winning project and to win titles with the club, to continue expanding the legend of Barcelona.

“And the truth is that there has been no project or anything for a long time, they juggle and cover holes as things go by. As I said before, I always thought about the welfare of my family and the club.”

Source – Goal.com

The 21-year-old has become the latest signing of a big-spending summer for the Blues, joining from Bayer Leverkusen.

Photo by Getty/Goal

New Chelsea signing Kai Havertz has said the chance to learn from head coach Frank Lampard was a major factor in his decision to join the Blues.

Havertz moved to Stamford Bridge from Bayer Leverkusen on Friday  in a deal worth £70 million ($91m) including add-ons.

After months of rumours linking the Germany international to Chelsea, he has now put pen to paper on a five-year contract at the Premier League side.

The 21-year-old is a goalscoring midfielder, much like his new manager was during his playing career, and Havertz8 revealed that working under Lampard was a major draw for him.

“Of course he had a big impact on my decision because I loved him as a player and watched him very often, and I think I can learn from him now he is a manager as well,” Havertz told Chelsea’s website of Lampard.

“I think he is a very humble person and a great guy and I can’t wait to play with him and learn from him.

“He was very offensive like me and he loves to score goals, and I love to score goals as well so I think he will help me a lot in my position. Also maybe on the things that I can improve and I can’t wait to work with him.”

Another major factor in Havertz’s decision was the chance to link up with a pair of his team-mates with the Germany national team.

I think it is very exciting because Chelsea has very young players and I know some of the players like Timo [Werner] and Toni [Rudiger],” he said.

“I have played with them in the national team and they are good friends of mine and so I think this is very good for me.

“Also that Chelsea have very young players and English players and that is very nice and a big project. Hopefully we can have many successes.”

Havertz is the latest addition in a big-spending summer for Chelsea, with Werner, Ben Chilwell, Malang Sarr and Thiago Silva also having arrived.

The Germany international knows that the new additions combined with Chelsea’s returning stars means there will be be expectations at the club in 2020-21.

“I want to achieve as much as possible, I try to do my best and of course it is a very big step,” Havertz said.

“For me it is a new country, a new culture and it is difficult maybe in the first two or three weeks, but then I think I just want to play football and have fun with the boys.

“Of course I want to have big success and we want to win titles here. Chelsea is always a big club and they want to win titles and I try to do my best so we can achieve these things.”

Source – Goal.com

Three more Paris Saint-Germain players have tested positive for coronavirus, the French club has confirmed.

Six Paris Saint-Germain players have now tested positive for coronavirus in 24 hours

In what is a major setback to the French champions’ preparations for the new season, the players will now observe protocols relating to quarantine.

“The latest SarsCoV2 PCR tests carried out within the Paris Saint-Germain squad confirm the result of three new positive cases,” the club wrote in a post on Twitter. “These players follow the appropriate health protocol.”

The news comes 24 hours after three other PSG players returned positive tests, with Brazilian forward Neymar among that group.

The French domestic season is already underway but PSG are yet to play because of their run to the Champions League final.

PSG were due to face Lens in their French 2020/21 top flight opener just six days after their 1-0 loss to Bayern in the Champions League final, but the game will now be played after the international break, giving them 12 days to prepare for the beginning of the campaign.

Ligue 1 was the most high profile European professional football league not to resume matches following the coronavirus pandemic, with PSG handed the title.

Thomas Tuchel’s side were 12 points clear at the top before play was suspended in March.

Source – Sky Sports

The Italian manager is eager to shake things up in Turin as the club looks to finally combine domestic success with European glory again.

Photo by Getty Images

Juventus head coach Andrea Pirlo said expectations are high after replacing Maurizio Sarri as the Serie A champions eye a 10th consecutive Scudetto and Champions League final berth with “great desire”.

Juve surprisingly turned to first-time coach and club great Pirlo last month following the dismissal of Sarri, who led the Italian giants to a ninth successive Serie A title in 2019-20.

While Sarri helped maintain Juve’s dominance in Serie A, albeit by only a point ahead of Inter, a shock Champions League last-16 exit to Lyon proved the final straw for the club’s hierarchy.

With Pirlo – who was promoted from his position as Under-23 coach following just a week in charge – now at the helm, the former Italy midfielder provided an assessment of his squad ahead of their Serie A opener against Sampdoria on September 20.

“We will give all of ourselves, we will certainly have a great desire to show the fans that Juventus wants to win the 10th consecutive Scudetto and possibly reach the end of the Champions League,” the 41-year-old told JTV.

“There’s a great desire and high expectations, but we are here, and we want to do our best.”

“I’ve had good impressions, we started well with enthusiasm and desire to go again,” Pirlo added. “After a few days, the lads left with the national teams but we continue to work with those who stayed here.

“The lads are eager to do well, they have found a new methodology with some new exercises they have never done and therefore this already brings enthusiasm.

“The path will be long, also because we don’t have a lot of time to work with many players who are away.

“But we are working well with those we have available. I hope I will have transmitted some concepts we are working on already for the first day and hope to find something in the middle of the pitch.”

The Champions League is highly coveted in Turin, with Juventus unable to get their hands on the trophy since 1996.

Since reigning supreme in Europe 24 years ago, Juve have finished runners-up in 1997, 1998, 2003, 2015 and 2017.

“The aggression and the desire to win the ball back after losing it, that’s something we are working on a lot,” Pirlo continued.

“Looking at the last Champions League, the teams that went all the way were the ones who were trying to recover the ball in the shortest possible time. That must be a characteristic that distinguishes us.”

Source – Goal.com

The Chilean has unloaded on his former club after securing a permanent move to Italy.

Photo by Getty Images

Alexis Sanchez has admitted he wanted to leave Manchester United and return to Arsenal after his very first training session with the Red Devils.

The former Barcelona attacker left the Emirates for Old Trafford in January 2018 but struggled to impress across two seasons before being sent to Inter on loan last year.

In Serie A across the 2019-20 campaign, Sanchez showed glimpses of his former self and secured a permanent move to Milan in August.

Reflecting on his time in Manchester via a video posted on his Instagram, the 31-year-old claims he knew very quickly he wasn’t going to enjoy his time with the club and hit out at the squad’s lack of unity during his time there.

“After the first training session I realised many things, I came home and asked my family and my manager if I could not break the contract and return to Arsenal, something did not fit me, but I had already signed,” Sanchez said.

“Months passed and I kept feeling the same. We were not united as a team at that time.

“The journalists also spoke without knowing and it hurt. Former players also spoke and had no idea what was happening inside the club. And they hurt me.

“A player also depends on the internal environment, that we need to be a family. We weren’t like that, and it was reflected on the field. If someone had to be blamed, they blamed me.

“I do self-criticism and should have played better. But I was always blamed, even if I played for a few minutes.”

Sanchez ultimately made 45 appearances for the Red Devils, scoring just five times and contributing nine assists – statistics that pale in comparison to the 80 goals he struck across 166 games with the Gunners.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer recently conceded Sanchez simply failed to play to his full potential while at United.

“We wish him all the best and he is a top player who we want to see play his best football,” Solskjaer said.

“For whatever reason we didn’t see the best of him here, but he’s a top professional and we wish him all the best.”

Former Red Devil Paul Scholes wasn’t so kind in his farewell for the Chilean attacker, noting that the club should have arranged an exit sooner.

Source – Goal.com

The duo have been tipped for big-money moves away, as Man City continue to be linked with the Senegal defender.

Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis has said that star duo Kalidou Koulibaly and Arkadiusz Milik “are on the way out, transfer market permitting.”

Senegal international Koulibaly has long been linked with a big-money move to the Premier League, with Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City all reported to have an interest.

Milik, meanwhile, appears set to stay in Italy and join either Roma or Juventus after he found the back of the net 11 times in Serie A last season.

Though both players appear close to the exit door, De Laurentiis has insisted that neither will be sold unless Napoli’s asking price is met.

“Koulibaly and Milik are both on their way out, transfer market permitting,” De Laurentiis told Canale 21.

“So, if the transfer market allows us to sell these two excellent players, we will know how to replace them. If not, then we’ll discuss it again next year.”

City have been strongly linked with Koulibaly as Pep Guardiola’s side look to strengthen in defence after falling short in the Premier League and Champions League last term.

The Blues have already sealed a £40 million ($52m) move for Bournemouth defender Nathan Ake, but they may have to shell out even more to land Koulibaly.

In July, De Laurentiis said that his side’s asking price for the 29-year-old was €90m (£80m/$107m).

The Napoli chief told Sky Italia: “Kalidou is a great person, I would be terribly sad to lose him. But there is a time for everything, even to move apart.

“But the €90m is not on the table and so it takes two to make a deal.”

Koulibaly joined Napoli from Belgian side Genk in 2014 and has a contract with the Serie A side through 2023.

Milik’s deal with Napoli expires at the end of the upcoming season, meaning the club will have to sell soon if they wish to avoid the possibility of him leaving on a free.

Still, De Laurentiis is reportedly demanding €50m (£44m/$59m) for the Polish striker, who moved to Napoli from Ajax ahead of the 2016-17 campaign and has hit double digits in league goals in the past two seasons.

Source – Goal.com

The Argentine shocked the world last week when he formally requested an exit from the only club he’s ever represented at senior level.

Photo by Getty composite

Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos has said he wants Lionel Messi to stay at Barcelona, but believes the Argentine has earned the right to decide his club future.

Messi has shockingly requested a Camp Nou exit as he looks to activate a release clause in his contract that will allow him to unilaterally depart.

After arriving in Barcelona for crunch talks over his son’s future on Wednesday, Jorge Messi admitted that “it would be difficult” for his son to remain at the club he’s called home for 20 years.

As rumours of a move to Manchester City continue to percolate, Madrid captain Ramos said he is keen for the star of his club’s greatest rivals to stay.

“It’s something that we’re not focused on but the player has earned the right to be able to decide on his future,” Ramos said, speaking ahead of Spain‘s Nations League match against Germany on Thursday.

“Having said that, for the Spanish game and for Barca and for the rest of us, we’d like him to stay as we always want the best around.”

Ramos would go on to address his own future, as the 34-year-old gets set to enter the final year of his contract with Real Madrid.

Though talks over an extension have yet to get underway, Ramos has insisted that he is calm over his future and believes that he will eventually come to an agreement over a new deal.

“It’s something that we have yet to address but something that neither I or those at the club are anxious about,” Ramos said.

“I’ve spent years with Real Madrid and never really contemplated leaving and am confident that we’ll reach a mutually suitable arrangement. My focus is now on preparing for a solid season ahead.”

Last year, Ramos expressed his desire to represent Spain at the Olympics in Tokyo, which have since been pushed back to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Quizzed again on his potential participation in the Olympics, Ramos said he would have to take time to make a decision ahead of an extremely hectic club season.

“I’m looking at taking things one game at a time and we’ll have to wait and see,” Ramos said.

“This is set to be one of the most complex seasons with games set to be played every three days due to the tight schedule.”

Source – Goal.com