Transfers
Is Griezmann really worth all the fuss for Barcelona?
Barcelona may well kick off the new season with Neymar and Antoine Griezmann up front alongside Lionel Messi in a remodelled front three, but the indications from Catalonia are that they can only afford one of them this summer and, if they had to choose, then the priority would be re-signing Neymar. The Brazilian might be seen in some quarters as damaged goods but he still has plenty of allies in the Barca dressing room, including the captain Messi. Neymar has a proven track record at Barca, having won the 2015 Champions League, and would be welcomed back even if the complexity of the deal is epic in its scale. New developments at Paris Saint-Germain since Leonardo arrived as sporting director have taken place at warp speed. This is a club that for the last two years did everything to cate...
Real Madrid signs Eden Hazard from Chelsea
Real Madrid signed Eden Hazard from Chelsea on Friday for its second major offseason addition, and reportedly its most expensive ever. The 28-year-old forward joined Madrid on a five-year contract and a transfer fee reported to be around 100 million euros ($113 million) plus variables, which would make him the club’s biggest signing. Madrid is rebuilding after one of the worst seasons in club history and had added forward Luka Jovic from Eintracht Frankfurt earlier this week. The Spanish club hadn’t made any blockbuster signings in years and was yet to bring in a top player to try to replace Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portugal forward left to join Juventus last season. Hazard had already indicated his final game for Chelsea was last week’s Europa League final victory over Arsenal. With tw...
Official: Real Madrid announce signing of Jovic
Real Madrid has made official the signing of Bosnian Serbian forward Jovic. The player has signed up to 2025. The white entity has announced it officially on its website. Jovic is 21 years old and has been one of the sensations of the season. Madrid pays 60 million euros to Eintracht Frankfurt. 12 of them will be for Benfica, the club that formed it. It is the first of the incorporations made official by Madrid. After him, those of Hazard and Mendy will come. In his statement, Real Madrid made this description of Jovic: «Luka Jović (Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 12/23/1997) is a new player of Real Madrid. The white club is reinforced by a forward who this season has been one of the great sensations of European football. Absolute international with the selection of Serbia, he is 21 y...
Kroos signs Madrid contract extension to 2023
The World Cup-winning midfielder will be sticking around at the Santiago Bernabeu, with another 12 months added to his terms in the Spanish capital Toni Kroos has committed his future to Real Madrid by agreeing a contract extension through to 2023. Kroos, 29, joined Madrid for €25 million in July 2014 and won 12 trophies including three Champions Leagues and one La Liga title in his first four seasons in Spain. The World Cup winning-midfielder had been tied to the Blancos until 2022, but another 12 months have now been added to his terms at the Santiago Bernabeu. That means he will be going nowhere during a summer expected to deliver much change in the Spanish capital. Real said in a statement on their official website: “Real Madrid CF and Toni Kroos have agreed to extend the player’...
Real Madrid’s unwanted Champions League hero
It is almost a year to the day since Gareth Bale scored probably the greatest ever goal in a Champions League Final – a brilliant overhead kick in Kiev to beat Liverpool and once again deliver the trophy to Real Madrid. Bale scored again that night and it was his two goals that made the difference in a 3-1 victory and meant that he – and Madrid – had won the European Cup for the fourth time in five years and further enhanced his status as the most successful British player ever to play for an overseas club. Except Bale had come off the bench. Coach Zinedine Zidane preferred Isco for the final and afterwards Bale left the door open that he might be on his way out of Madrid. “I have to sit down in the summer and discuss it with my agent and take it from there,” he said. The evening summed up...