Sports Burst - Ney Move to Madrid
Neymar's PSG pledge and a new Bernabeu Brazilian for Real Madrid
By Tim Stannard
Neymar says ney-way of moving to Madrid
Well, that's not good. There goes another giant tent pole transfer story designed to hold up the canopy of rumors in this summer transfer window.
Cristiano Ronaldo had already gone to Juventus to remove one click-chewing story, and now Neymar - the rolling-king - has completely and utterly committed his future to PSG, despite stories of a dash to Real Madrid to fill CR7's football and marketing vacuum.
But Neymar has said 'no'! And properly. Not even any 'but anything can happen, who knows' wiggle room that soccer players so love. "I'll stay. I have a contract with PSG and I've chosen to be there for the challenge." And for extra emphasis, Neymar declared to Fox Sports that "I won't change my mind about it."
Well that's that then.
But not all bad Brazilian news for Real Madrid on Friday as they did present another player - the new, new, new, new, new Neymar.
Vinicius Junior was shown off at the Santiago Bernabeu with the intriguing notion that the 18-year-old will be the star performer for Madrid this year. "I will show my teammates and the boss that I am ready to play," said Vinicius who revealed that he will be with the first team but potentially play some games for the club's 'B' team.
Head to the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for a countdown of the best ever Brazilians at the Bernabeu.
Icardi back on Real Madrid rumor mill
So what other options might Real Madrid be looking at? Well, Marca is dusting off the Mauro Icardi to the Bernabeu rumor all over again with the Whites looking for a possible Karim Benzema upgrade. However, Icardi seems quite content at Inter, especially as the club has Champions League football this season.
The Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois rumor looks to have slowed to an American freeway crawl after Maurizio Sarri gave a rousing speech in his Chelsea presentation that he wants his footballers to have fun, something that has not been possible for the past years under Antonio Conte and Jose 'Chuckles' Mourinho.
Switching back to a Milan theme and the AC part of the city has a rare piece of good news on Friday with the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturning a ban from UEFA which did see the club exiled from the Europa League next season for breaching Financial Fair Play rules. However, the news is bad for Fiorentina, which had taken Milan's slot.
Windy City kicks of ICC jamboree
Those European soccer types are over in the US at the moment, trying to take over with their fancy, open healthcare ways.
Manchester United took on Club America in a friendly in Arizona with the result being a 1-1 draw after goals from Henry Martin and Juan Mata. The United squad was definitely less star-packed than normal due to World Cup players still being absent and Alexis Sanchez late arriving due to visa issues.
Manchester City is next up as the Stateside portion of the ICC gets underway in a clash against Borussia Dortmund. There has been some Pep talk from Guardiola with the City boss saying that he is still looking for a replacement for Yaya Toure, and a home for poor Joe Hart.
Tiger still to roar in Open
The Open continues in Scotland on Friday - Sports Burst is going to try and be a bit more polite about it today - and there are some names at the top of the leaderboard as the golfers go through the second round. But who cares about that? Where's Tiger? Basically, in the middle of the pack coming in at even par after the first round and six shots off the lead at current time of writing but looking to make the cut at least.
Stage 13 of the Tour de France is underway with Team Sky's Geraint Thomas in the yellow jersey and expected to remain in that position considering the course is considerably flatter.