17-year-old phenom Martin Odegaard’s standing with the Real Madrid first team just became that much more confusing. The latest reports from the Santiago Bernabeu allege that Real Madrid club president Florentino Perez has forced manager Zinedine Zidane to include Odegaard in the club’s pre-season tour against Zidane’s wishes.
I love center back highlight videos. I am not sure why this is, but I can't get enough.
This one is perhaps my favorite. It depicts Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho as a pair of warrior gods who defend Liverpool's goal and honor against all comers and defeat them with ease.
(Extremely The Wire voice) Look out, NASL. Omar's comin'. Mexican striker Omar Bravo, formerly of Chivas, has joined the NASL's Carolina RailHawks.
Bravo will join the seventh-place RailHawks in hopes of bolstering their attack. Having scored more than 150 goals in his professional career, we like his chances.
Graziano Pelle, who scored 11 Premier League goals in 30 appearances for Southampton last season, is about to make as much money as Zlatan Ibrahimovic after accepting a transfer to Chinese side Shandong Luneng.
The Italian international had been wanted by the likes of Chelsea and Everton, but he’s decided to leave Southampton in a £13 million transfer while signing a contract that will pay him £13.6 million per year for two years.
Jorge Sampaoli has just arrived in Sevilla after leading Chile to their 2015 Copa America title, but his plans for the club’s upcoming season are already running full steam ahead.
The former Chile manager, he resigned in January of 2016, watched with pride as La Roja once again captured the Copa this June. Now, he will be looking to match their success with his own at Sevilla.
Managing Sevilla will be the biggest club test of Sampaoli’s coaching career, and it’s an excellent opportunity to prove that he’s one of the finer managers in the world.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan should not be blamed for moving to Manchester United from Borussia Dortmund. He gets to play for a larger club, be more famous and reportedly triple his wages. That's a no-brainer for just about anybody.
His former club doesn't see it that way though.
Borussia Dortmund announced on their Facebook page that Mkhitaryan was leaving the club, and they couldn't resist throwing a little jab at the departing midfielder.
Here's the post in full (bolding mine):
And here I thought today was going to be a slow news day. Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced Thursday his next destination will be Manchester United, where he will be reunited with his coach at Inter Milan, Jose Mourinho.
The move has been speculated for quite a while, basically since he announced he was leaving PSG, but Zlatan made it official Thursday on Instagram. Premier League center-backs are on notice.
Twenty-nine-year-old Brazilian striker Hulk is set to smash the Asian transfer record fee, previously held by Brazilian Alex Teixeira, as he completes his $61.2 million move from Zenit St Petersburg to Chinese Super League club Shanghai SIPG.
Hulk will reportedly earn in excess of $42,000 per week with the Chinese club.
When Arsenal triggered Jamie Vardy’s £20 million release clause on June 3, it was easy to envision the beginning of the end for the Leicester City fairytale.
They’d just won the Premier League title, something Arsenal haven’t managed for 12 years, and qualified for the 2016-17 Champions League, but surely the uncertainty surrounding Leicester’s ability to do it all again come August could’ve majorly influenced Vardy.
After a pair of successful seasons in Italy with Juventus, Spanish striker Alvaro Morata is set to return to Real Madrid this summer.
“Real Madrid C. F. have informed Juventus FC of their decision to salvage the federative rights on the player Álvaro Morata, who will join up with the first team for pre-season training under the command of Zinedine Zidane,” read a statement on Real Madrid’s official website Tuesday.