Cristiano Ronaldo was the subject of a massive €300million transfer offer from an unnamed Chinese club, his agent Jorge Mendes has claimed.
In addition to reclaiming the title of the world s most expensive player, the Real Madrid forward could have earned €100m each season by moving to China but had no interest in any switch and turned it down, according to his representative.
From China they have offered €300m to Real Madrid and more than €100m per year to the player, Mendes said to Sky Italia.
But money is not everything – Real Madrid are his club for life.
Ronaldo, who this year was awarded his fourth Ballon d Or crown, signed a new contract with Madrid last month that will tie him to the club until 2021.
He has won two Champions L…
Arsenal opened up a four-point lead at the top of the Premier League as two early goals proved just enough to see off Wolves at the Emirates Stadium.
With closest challengers and reigning champions Manchester City not in action until Sunday, Mikel Arteta’s side took full advantage as Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard struck in the opening 16 minutes before a nervy ending brought about by Matheus Cunha’s strike.
The Gunners ultimately ran out 2-1 winners on an afternoon where their early goals were the peak of a performance that promised more than it provided.
Having thrashed Lens here 6-0 on Wednesday to ensure safe passage into the last 16 of the Champions League, Wolves proved they were made of sterner stuff and stayed in the contest until the last.
S…
The 2021-22 season may still be ongoing at international level, but Premier League and Ligue 1 clubs can officially register new signings for the next campaign following the opening of the transfer window on Friday.
Teams in LaLiga, Serie A and the Bundesliga must wait until July 1 for their business to go through – though that is not to say preparations are not already in full swing behind the scenes.
Indeed, a number of big deals are already in place and waiting to get the seal of approval, with Antonio Rudiger heading to Real Madrid and Karim Adeyemi brought in by Borussia Dortmund to replace Manchester City-bound Erling Haaland, while others – Darwin Nunez to Liverpool and Aurelien Tchouameni to Madrid – appear to be all-but complete.
One transfer saga …
Joshua Zirkzee scored a late winner on his Manchester United debut as the Red Devils claimed a 1-0 victory over Fulham in the first Premier League match of 2024-25.
After recording their lowest-ever Premier League finish last season, United looked set to be frustrated at Old Trafford on Friday until their new striker diverted a deft finish past Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno in the 87th minute.
Introduced midway through the second half by Erik ten Hag, Zirkzee applied the crucial touch to fellow substitute Alejandro Garnacho’s teasing centre to settle the contest.
Bruno Fernandes had earlier squandered United’s best chances, with Leno in excellent form for the visitors, making two saves from the Portuguese playmaker in swift succession.
Leno denied Maso…
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Sassuolo welcome Lazio to the Stadio Citta del Tricolore on Sunday to do battle for the points needed fairly strongly by both sides, though for different reasons, and it promises to be a fierce encounter.
Sassuolo
Having had a fine 2021/22 season, being near the top of the Serie A for a while before going back down and finishing 11th, Sassuolo are now back fighting to stay in the league. Their case is not exactly desperate at this point, given that they re 16th at the moment with 16 points, seven more than Verona in the red zone, with Spezia sitting in between. For Verona, as well as Sampdoria and Cremonese further down, things don t look too promising.
On the other hand, Alessio Dionisi will be extremely worried by the fact th…
Everton are ready to pay £12 million for Blackburn Rovers striker Ben Brereton Diaz, according to . The report has claimed that Premier League club Everton have made a formal move for the Chile international striker, with Championship outfit Blackburn looking fo £15 million.
The report has claimed that the Toffees registered their official interest in Diaz on Wednesday. Blackburn believe that Leeds could bid for the Chilean striker as well before the summer transfer window closes.
Diaz had a loan spell at Blackburn from Nottingham Forest in 2018-19 and subsequently made the deal permanent. The striker has progressed and developed as a player at Rovers and is now considered as one of the best footballers in the Championship. The 23-year-old has scored two goals and giv…
Villarreal have signed Brazilian goalkeeper Luiz Junior from Portuguese club Famalicao, the LaLiga side announced on Tuesday.
Junior, who kept eight clean sheets in 33 Liga Portugal appearances last season, has signed a six-year deal for a reported £10.2m transfer fee.
The 23-year-old made 111 saves last year, a total only bettered by Boavista s Joao Goncalves (112) and Farense s Ricardo Velho (140).
He conceded 39 times in the league, averaging a save percentage of 73.47%, the second highest of any goalkeeper to make over 30 appearances last campaign.
Junior made 140 appearances for Famalicao, keeping 42 clean sheets and conceding 178 goals across his four-year stint with the club.
The Brazilian will replace Filip Jorgensen at Villarreal, who…
Erik ten Hag is not concerned by Wout Weghorst s lack of goals since joining Manchester United on loan as he believes the striker is helping to get more out of other players.
Weghorst has started all six of United s matches since arriving from Burnley last month but has scored only once, in the 3-0 EFL Cup semi-final first-leg win at Nottingham Forest.
The 30-year-old has also yet to assist a goal in his 439 minutes on the field and was substituted off shortly before the hour mark in Saturday s 2-1 league win over Crystal Palace.
However, United have scored 13 goals across the six games Weghorst has played in, winning four of those, and he has received the backing of manager Ten Hag.
He is the one who makes players around him play better, Ten Hag said ah…
Paris Saint-Germain boss Christophe Galtier says people should not read too much into Neymar not starting the 3-0 Ligue 1 win over Nantes.
The Brazil international has been in sensational form at the start of the 2022-23 campaign, scoring seven goals in five appearances prior to Saturday s game at the Stade de la Beaujoire.
However, he watched on from the substitutes bench as Kylian Mbappe put the Ligue 1 champions 2-0 up either side of a red card for Nantes wing-back Fabio, with Neymar introduced in place of Mbappe in the second half.
Nuno Mendes added a third after Neymar s shot had cannoned back off the post as PSG racked up 24 goals after their first six games.
That equalled the record for goals scored by a team in Europe s big five leagues at this …
Ademola Lookman struck a brace as a youthful Everton signed off from an underwhelming Europa League campaign with a 3-0 win at Apollon Limassol on Thursday.
Subbed at half-time of his only Premier League start this season, the 20-year-old scored twice inside the opening half hour to end his 20-match scoreless run in all competitions and give the Toffees their first win at the final attempt in Group E.
The visitors clearly had an eye on Sunday s derby against Liverpool in handing starting debuts to young trio Harry Charsley, Fraser Hornby and Morgan Feeney.
Lookman took his opportunity to impress by heading in the opener in the 21st minute, before he unleashed a long-range rocket soon after to effectively sew up third spot ahead of the Cypriot champions.
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