Al Nassr willing to pay €100 million for exit-bound Raphinha

Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr are reportedly eager to make a significant move for Barcelona winger Raphinha, and they are prepared to offer a staggering €100 million for his services.

Raphinha has become one of the most sought-after players in Barcelona’s squad this transfer window. 

Despite his desire to stay with Barcelona, interest from other clubs, especially from the Premier League and Saudi Arabia, is intensifying. The latest interest comes with a massive financial offer.

Just yesterday, it was reported that Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal were preparing a substantial bid for Raphinha. Furthermore, Unai Emery’s Aston Villa has also shown interest, looking to replace Moussa Diaby. 

Now, it has been confirmed that the significant offer from Saudi Arabia is from Al Nassr and it is an astronomical figure, both for the player and for Barcelona.

Raphinha had an impressive season, scoring 10 goals and providing 13 assists in 37 games.

Source: https://barcauniversal.com

Chukwueze Voted MOTM In AC Milan's Win Against Manchester City

AC Milan began their preseason tour in the best possible way as they beat Manchester City 3-2 at the Yankee Stadium on Saturday night. 

In the 19th minute it was Manchester City who took the lead and it was Erling Haaland who got the goal.

Right on the half-hour mark Milan were level as Lorenzo Colombo scored with a powerful header from Samuel Chukwueze's cross on the right.

Four minutes later it was 2-1 to Milan. Colombo made no mistake from close range, once again beating Emerson with a volley from inside the box as Chukwueze got another assist.

Ten minutes into the second half, it was 2-2 when a great bit of play from Manchester City's Hamilton saw him get past AC Milan's Calabria and cross for McAtee who scored all alone in the area.

Marco Nasty scored the winning goal for AC Milan as his right-footed shot first time beat Emerson and found the bottom corner.

Manchester City has lost two games in the tour, having lost 3-4 to Scottish premier side, Celtic.

FIFA Deducts Six Points From Canada Olympic Women’s Football Team

Canada’s Olympic women’s football team have been deducted six points and their coach Beverly Priestman suspended for a year after a staff member used a drone to spy on New Zealand Olympic team at the Paris Games, FIFA said on Saturday. It also handed down a fine of 200,000 Swiss francs ($226,000).

The ruling is a blow to Canada’s hopes of defending the Olympic title they won at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

It leaves them on minus three points in Group A before they play hosts France on Sunday in Saint-Etienne.

They beat New Zealand 2-1 in their opening game on Thursday but the deduction means they now face having to win their next two matches to stand any chance of reaching the quarter-finals.

Canada Soccer chief executive Kevin Blue had tried to convince FIFA not to punish the team, saying the players had not seen any footage produced by the drone.

“The players themselves have not been involved in any unethical behaviour,” Blue told reporters on Friday.

“And frankly we ask FIFA to take that into consideration if contemplating any further sanctions.

“Specifically we do not feel that a deduction of points in this tournament would be fair to our players.”

Canada’s players had insisted they were innocent of wrongdoing after their opening victory over the New Zealanders.

“There was a lot of emotion, frustration and humiliation because as a player, it doesn’t reflect our values and what we want to represent as competitors at the Olympics,” defender Vanessa Gilles said.

“The Games represent fair play. As Canadians, these are not our values or those of our country. We are not cheats.”

Canadian Olympic Committee chief executive David Shoemaker said separately on Friday that Canada’s victory at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics might also have been stained by spying tactics.

Source: AFP

Former Real Madrid star James Rodríguez receives offers from 2 La Liga clubs

A pair of La Liga clubs have forwarded contract offers to former Real Madrid midfielder James Rodríguez.

The 33-year-old is for his part fresh off something of a whirlwind few weeks in his native South America.

First, James was named Player of the Tournament, owing to his exploits in guiding Colombia to the finale of the Copa América.

Then, days later, confirmation was forthcoming that the one-time Bayern Munich and Everton man had reached a mutual agreement to terminate his contract with Brazilian giants São Paulo.

James’ decision came with a view to taking advantage of his Copa brilliance, to secure a return to Europe.

Both Celta Vigo and Real Betis have already gone as far as to present contract offers to the gifted player.

The former are understood to be pushing particularly hard,‘betting heavily’ on adding James to their midfield ranks for the 2024/25 campaign.

Source: Conor Laird | GSFN

Manchester United Ready To Sell Seven Players

Manchester United are ready to sell seven players in order to fund more signings:

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Aaron Wan-Bissaka

🇸🇪 Victor Lindelof

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Harry Maguire

🇩🇰 Christian Eriksen

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scott McTominay

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jadon Sancho

🇧🇷 Antony

(Source: ESPN)