Gianluigi Donnarumma has insisted that he wants to stay at AC Milan as a host of top clubs keep tabs on his progress.
The 21-year-old has been a target for a number of European clubs since he burst onto the scene with Milan in 2015, but he has remained faithful to his boyhood club.
However, with the Italian’s contract set to expire in the summer of 2021, attention has turned to whether Donnarumma will sign an extended deal with Milan, or seek pastures new.
Zinedine Zidane is looking to sell five of his Real Madrid stars in order to lay the foundations for another spree of signings as Madrid look to ring the changes this summer.
According to AS, Zidane has been told in no uncertain terms that he must sell before he buys, meaning that the Frenchman will attempt to offload some of his outcasts in order to fund big money moves.
It spells what could be the end for Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez and Lucas Vasquez, who have teetered on the outskirts of the Los Blancos squad for large spells of this season.
Chelsea could be set for a sensational move for Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer this summer after appearing to finally lose patience with Kepa Arrizabalaga.
World-record signing Kepa has come under pressure this season after recently losing his place to 38-year-old deputy Willy Caballero.
The Spaniard was dropped after a series of error-strewn performances in January, but regained his place shortly before the season was curtailed by coronavirus.
And according to German newspaper Bild, Neuer is seen as the ideal replacement by Frank Lampard.
The research group CIES Football Observatory have just released its most valuable squads in the transfer market from Europe’s top-five leagues, and it is the current European and World Champions who now sit top the pile.
The Liverpool squad is now worth a whopping €1.4 billion (£1.27 billion), which puts them ahead of every other club on the continent. Second is Premier League rival Manchester City at €1.36b.
Spanish giants Barcelona (€1.17b) and Real Madrid (€1.1b) are third and fourth respectively, with Chelsea shockingly in fifth place (€1.08b) despite having been banned from signing players in last summer’s transfer window.
FIFA has postponed South American qualifying matches for the 2022 Qatar World Cup after a request from the region’s football federation amid concerns over the spread of coronavirus.
,A statement from the sport’s world governing body read:
“Following consultation with CONMEBOL, FIFA has decided to postpone the upcoming South American qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 as follows:
“Matches originally scheduled to take place during the international window of 23-31 March 2020 are postponed to later dates
Details of the postponed matches will be discussed and announced soon
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has tested positive for coronavirus and the club’s game against Brighton on Saturday has been postponed.
The Gunners have closed their training ground and club staff who had recent contact with Arteta will now self-isolate. The Premier League will hold “an emergency club meeting” on Friday to discuss future fixtures.
“This is really disappointing,” said Arteta. “I took the test after feeling poorly. I will be at work as soon as I’m allowed.”
Arsenal expects a “significant number of people” will self-isolate, including the “full first-team squad”.
The United States Soccer Federation has called off all men’s and women’s national team matches in March and April due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federation announced Thursday.
The men were scheduled to play two European-based friendlies at the end of this month, against the Netherlands and Wales, while the women had planned to play US-based games against Australia and Brazil in April.
“With the health of our players, coaches, staff and fans as our main priority, U.S. Soccer has decided it was in the best interest to cancel the majority of our upcoming domestic and international camps at all levels, including our senior Men’s and Women’s National Team games in March and April, due to the outbreak of COVID-19,” U.S. Soccer Chief Medical Officer George Chiampas said in a federation statement.
Diego Simeone compared Jan Oblak to Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi after the goalkeeper’s exploits helped Atletico Madrid eliminate Champions League holders Liverpool.
Oblak produced a man-of-the-match display with a number of important saves in Atletico’s stunning 3-2 extra-time victory over Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday.
Liverpool were on top for much of the last-16 second leg – having 34 shots on goal – but they could not move clear of Atletico or get the better of Oblak as the visitors secured a 4-2 aggregate triumph thanks to Marcos Llorente’s brace and Alvaro Morata’s late strike.
Jurgen Klopp believes Atletico Madrid should play “proper football” instead of relying on counterattacks after they eliminated his Liverpool team from the Champions League on Wednesday.
Diego Simeone’s team beat the Reds 3-2 after extra time in the second leg of their last-16 tie at Anfield, sending the defending European champions crashing out of the competition.
Georginio Wijnaldum’s first half strike took the game into extra time and Roberto Firmino put the European champions in the driving seat just four minutes in.
But Atletico recovered thanks to a Marcos Llorente double and a late goal from Alvaro Morata to make it 4-2 on aggregate.
Spain’s La Liga, the Dutch Eredivisie, Portugal’s Primeira Liga and USA’s Major League Soccer have been suspended over coronavirus concerns.
There will be no action in the Spanish top flight for “at least the next two rounds of matches” as a result of the quarantine of the Real Madrid squad.
Netherlands’ top two leagues have also been suspended for the same period.
The 2020 Major League Soccer season – which started less than two weeks ago – has been suspended for 30 days.
