Central & South America

Just before the new year, Puebla announced the signing of 26-year-old Bolivia international Alejandro Chumacero from La Paz club The Strongest. At 5-4, Chumacero is as diminutive as they come in the midfield/wide areas, but his talent was enough to earn a short-lived spell at Brazilian club Sport Recife at the age of 22. 

This is the end of an era. Ronaldinho, the last remaining active player not named Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to have won the Ballon d'Or, one of the most joyous and fun footballers of all time, has officially hung up his cleats.

Dinho hasn't actually played competitive football since 2015, but his retirement rules out any chance of a return. Unless, of course, he returns.

Atlanta United is doing everything right. From hiring a new coach who has made astute signings to building a beautiful new stadium and filling said stadium up with raucous fans, the Five Stripes have hit the ground running as a model for future expansion franchises to follow. That continued on Friday with the reported record signing of 18-year-old Argentine Ezequiel Barco. 

In an interview with Russian news source Blic, Barcelona and Argentina demigod Lionel Messi spoke on how he’d like to improve his penalty taking in 2018 and his future prospects as a manager. 

Lionel Messi is probably the best soccer player of all time, and one of the reasons for that is he never stops trying to improve himself. Even though he's a world-class passer, dribbler and finisher, Messi told a Russian outlet his goal now is to be a better penalty-taker.

Having last made a competitive appearance in 2014 for Atletico Paranaense, Inter Milan legend and former Brazilian international Adriano made a triumphant return in the world-renowned Maracana stadium for a friendly this week. The 35-year-old looked healthy and happy after years of troubling rumors concerning his alcohol abuse and falling in with Rio favela gangs. 

The reception he got from the stadium and his fellow players was heartwarming to say the least.

Rinson Lopez is a 30-year-old Colombian right back who plays for El Nacional in Ecuador. This is noteworthy because for his entire professional career, beginning when he was 17, it was thought that Lopez was an Ecuadorian right back. This is also noteworthy because, like Chivas Guadalajara in Mexico, El Nacional have a policy of only playing Ecuadorian nationals.

So.

It’s not an easy thing to break into the Paris Saint-Germain midfield as an attack-minded 21-year-old. With a guaranteed front three of Edinson Cavani, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe balanced by the automatic midfield selections of Adrien Rabiot and Marco Verratti, there’s only one remaining spot outside of defense for the likes of Angel Di Maria, Julian Draxler, Javier Pastore, Thiago Motta and Giovani Lo Celso (the 21-year-old referenced above) to battle for.