Sports Burst – Football’s Puppet Master Unmasked
Transfer rumors become truth, Keylor under fire and solid start for Serena.
By Tim Stannard
1) Chinese Super League boss reveals mega offers for football’s finest
And so, like a Bond villain stepping out of the shadows, the shady figure that has been messing with the heads of so many of Europe’s top players has been revealed.
The mastermind that could have put paid to the title chances of Chelsea, PSG and Monaco by unsettling Diego Costa, Edinson Cavani and Falcao. The genius that tried to bring Karim Benzema from the Santiago Bernabeu.
That uber-saboteur turns out to be Shu Yuhui, owner of Chinese Super League club Tianjin Quanjian, who spoke in an interview published on Tuesday about the mass of bids currently being made for some of the world’s biggest football cheeses by his club. "The online reports about Costa - it's true we'd like him, and we made an offer for Cavani and were deep in negotiations."
However, it seems that many of these transfers would have gone through had it not been for those pesky kids at the Chinese Super League who restricted the number of foreign players at member clubs that can be fielded to three for the season to come in March. "This situation has brought a change to our signing plans," admitted Shu.
2) Keeper Keylor criticized ahead of Copa
Welcome to La Liga, Coach Zizou!
Even though a reminder was probably not needed for Real Madrid’s French coach that those following La Liga are a few ham slices short of a bocadillo, Zinedine Zidane got one anyway with the press in Spain asking on Tuesday if Keylor Navas was to blame for the loss to Sevilla on Sunday. “He was our keeper for the 40 games when we didn’t lose,” sighed a weary Coach Zizou.
The Real Madrid man was speaking ahead of Tuesday’s Copa del Rey clash against Celta Vigo and has decided to include Cristiano Ronaldo in the squad for the first-leg quarterfinal clash, although he didn’t reveal if the Portuguese pouter was going to start or not. “You will all see tomorrow,” teased Zidane.
That game is live, live, live on beIN SPORTS from 3:10PM ET / 12:10PM PT. And hear more thoughts from the Madrid camp on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.
3) Rumor of Barca warming to Messi move to Manchester
It is silly season in English newspaper, the Sun, which is pushing the story that Barcelona are not totally against the idea of Leo Messi joining Manchester City next summer to keep Pep Guardiola chirpy.
And the new move that refuses to go away, after the case of Simone Zaza is Gerard Deulofeu’s loan deal from Everton to Milan, quite timely for the San Siro club which has just the one league win in four after Monday’s draw with Torino. Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for the latest transfer tracker news and made-up stuff.
4) AFCON continues with Ghana getting going
The final AFCON group gets its first round matches out the way on Tuesday and both live on beIN SPORTS. Some people’s picks, Ghana, are taking on Uganda at 11:00AM ET / 7:50AM PT with dark horse and a very hungry Egypt side facing Mali at 2PM ET / 11AM PT.
“We know we have a tough group. But also, the other teams know that we are tough for them. So first we need to qualify,” mused Ghana and former Chelsea boss, Avram Grant.
5) Carefree Serena sails into Aussie Open round 2
Day Two Down Under was fairly shock free at the Australian Open with Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal through to round two in their respective clashes.
A happy-go-lucky Serena Williams had a storming start to her attempt to win a record-beating 23 Grand Slam titles beat Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic in straight sets and beamed afterwards that "every match I'm playing for fun. I get to travel the world and do what I do best - play tennis."
WHAT IS SPORTS BURST?
The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. SB is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time.