It s a fact that free transfers in football are, all things considered, quite expensive. Wages, signing fees, agent demands and general costs make any such deal have a sizeable imprint on a club s balance sheet.
Still, Paris Saint-Germain s signing of Gianluigi Donnarumma for a big fat zero in transfer fees sounds like a sensational piece of business – particularly after his Euro 2020 heroics.
The Italy goalkeeper has left Milan, his boyhood club, to join Mauricio Pochettino s side where he hopes to be able to challenge for the biggest club trophies, most obviously the Champions League.
Certainly, Donnarumma is right to aspire to the top prizes. This is a player who made 200 appearances for the Rossoneri by the age of just 21 years and 146 days, who was value…
Paris Saint-Germain sporting director Leonardo said we don t touch other people s players when asked about the possibility of Lionel Messi teaming up again with Neymar at the Ligue 1 champions.
Brazil international Neymar caused a stir in the week, saying there is nothing he wants more than to line up alongside his former Barcelona team-mate again next year.
Messi failed to engineer a move away from Barca in the previous transfer window but, with his contract running out next June, it remains unclear whether he will choose to leave in 2021.
Neymar and Messi played together at Camp Nou between 2013 and 2017, but Leonardo did not want to talk up the chances of a mouth-watering reunion between the pair in Paris.
You know, it s normal for Neymar t…
Olivier Giroud has to fight for every chance he gets, according to France coach Didier Deschamps, after the experienced forward marked a rare Chelsea start with a four-goal showing against Sevilla.
Having booked Chelsea s place in the last 16 of the Champions League with a late winner against Rennes last week, Giroud starred as Frank Lampard s side romped to a 4-0 win at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on Wednesday.
Giroud, the first Chelsea player to score four times in a European match, has started just two games in all competitions this term and is behind Tammy Abraham and Timo Werner in the pecking order, though Lampard acknowledged the 34-year-old s display against Sevilla means he must be considered to feature from the off against Leeds United this weekend.
It is…
Gabriel Gabigol Barbosa scored an 85th-minute penalty as Brazil came from behind to preserve their perfect CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying record with a late 3-1 win at Venezuela.
The Selecao had never lost in 17 previous World Cup qualifiers against Venezuela (W16 D1) – the most Brazil had faced an opponent without defeat – but the South American giants found themselves sensationally trailing at half-time on Thursday.
Eric Ramirez s first international goal had bottom outfit Venezuela dreaming of the unlikeliest of wins in the 11th minute, but Marquinhos equalised in the 71st minute in Caracas.
Gabigol was fouled with five minutes remaining and converted his own spot-kick to guide CONMEBOL leaders Brazil to their ninth win in nine qualifiers on the road to Qat…
Liverpool s win over Atletico Madrid last week was the team s 25th match in all competitions in a row without defeat, equaling the club record set under the legendary Bob Paisley. However, the run was brought to a halt on Sunday at the London Stadium as West Ham emerged victorious from an extremely exciting contest with the Merseysiders.
An own-goal by Alisson Becker gave the Hammers the lead in the fourth minute, and Trent Alexander-Arnold equalized with a superbly taken free-kick in the 41st. Pablo Fornals restored the Hammers lead in the 67th and Kurt Zouma extended it in the 74, and Divock Origi eventually pulled one back for the visitors with seven minutes of the 90 left.
Controversies again
It s fair to say that the general standard of the officiating in the Prem…
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said he is surprised at the reaction to Manchester United not being awarded a penalty in Sunday s scoreless Premier League draw.
United were left aggrieved following the denial of a first-half spot-kick as Chelsea and the visiting Red Devils produced a 0-0 stalemate at Stamford Bridge.
In the first half, referee Stuart Attwell checked on the pitchside monitor to see if a penalty should have been awarded to United when a bouncing ball struck the raised hand of Callum Hudson-Odoi, who was tussling with Mason Greenwood.
Attwell stuck with his initial decision not to give the spot-kick and, much to the frustration of United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and full-back Luke Shaw.
0 Thomas Tuchel has become just the second manager to…
Liverpool are interested in signing Rayan Ait-Nouri from Premier League rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that manager Jurgen Klopp, who will step down from the role at the end of the season, has personally recommended Liverpool to get a deal done for the left-back.
Ait-Nouri is one of the best young defenders in the Premier League. The 22-year-old Algeria international can operate as a left-back or as a left wing-back. After a loan spell at Wolves from Angers in 2020-21, he made the deal permanent and has progressed and developed a lot since then.
Ait-Nouri has made 89 appearances in the Premier League so far in his career. The left-back has scored four goals, given four assists, and kept 10 clean sheets…
Kris Doolan believes Partick Thistle have all the ingredients of a cinch Premiership team as they stand on the brink of a return to the top flight.
The Jags will take a 2-0 lead from the first leg of their play-off final against Ross County to Dingwall for the return game on Sunday.
Doolan, who stepped up from the club’s academy to take over from Ian McCall in February – initially as interim boss – has total belief in his squad, the first team to finish fourth in the second tier to go all the way to the play-off final.
Former Thistle striker Doolan, who lost a play-off final against Livingston in 2018, said: “Ian McCall built this squad and he deserves a lot of credit for that because it is a fantastic squad.
“To me it is a Premiership squad and…
Lee Johnson believes Hibernian have added “craft” and “nous” to their attack after signing veteran striker Adam Le Fondre on an initial one-year contract.
The 36-year-old Englishman, who has amassed 273 career goals, joins the cinch Premiership club after recently leaving Australian side Sydney, where he spent the majority of the past five years.
Prior to moving to the A-League in 2018, Le Fondre played for a range of English clubs, with his most prolific spells coming at Rochdale, Rotherham and Reading, where he played under Hibs’ current director of football, Brian McDermott.
“Adam brings craft to our new frontline and his experience and nous in the game will help develop our younger strikers,” boss Johnson told the Hibs website.
“Throug…
Everton are interested in signing Henrique Carmo from São Paulo, according to . The report in the Brazilian news outlet has claimed that Premier League club Everton have expressed an interest in Carmo.
However, the Toffees are unlikely to find it easy to get a deal done for the 17-year-old striker. That is because Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain are also looking at the Brazilian teenager and have expressed an interest in him as well. There is also interest in Carmo from Al-Qadsiah in from Saudi Arabia.
Carmo is under contract at Brazilian giants São Paulo until December 2025. Tricolor Paulista want to extend that deal, but it remains to be seen if they will be able to convince the striker to put pen to paper on a new contract. UOL has claimed that Shakhtar Donetsk …