Sports Burst – A Meeting Of Madrid’s Misfits
Morata wanted in Manchester, Allegri’s final failure reward and no-go for Novak
By Tim Stannard
1) Madrid turn down mega-million offer for Morata
Aside from similar human DNA and being residents of planet Earth, Alvaro Morata and James Rodriquez have quite a lot in common.
Both would have celebrated a little half-heartedly in the Champions League festivities, having only played a bit-part and no-part respectively in the Juve win. The pair are looking for a Real Madrid exit and have big names sniffing around. Finally, the Madridista twins are also meeting each other on the pitch on Wednesday in a friendly between Spain and Colombia.
While James to PSG has been a steady story during the week, Manchester United have suddenly jumped into the arena in Morata’s case with reports in Italy saying that an initial $67m offer for the Spanish forward has been turned down by Real Madrid, with the club holding out for another $30m or so. Either way, that news has probably cooled Milan’s heels in signing the striker. Plenty to talk about as the pair go face-to-face on the pitch on Wednesday
Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for all the daily news from the Real Madrid and Barcelona camp in the Clasico Corner.
2) Liverpool look to Gerson as Salah deal cools
TRANSFER TRACKER – Backtrack! Backtrack! The Mohamed Salah to Liverpool almost done deal appears to have cooled a little with very differing opinions over the valuation of the player between Roma and the Premier League club – about $15m apart apparently. This sees Liverpool now sniffing around Sporting CP forward, Gelson Martins. Even Douglas Costa of Bayern Munich is an option it seems.
Nolito has dropped a fairly big hint that he wants to leave Manchester City and return to Spain, citing language issues and the weather as sound reasons for a move. "My daughter's face has changed color – it looks like she's been living in a cave." The Man City misfit is linked with a swoosh to Sevilla where his daughter will be burned to a crisp in weeks.
3) Juventus reward more final failure for Allegri
Eugh. It’s a slow day if this is top-banner news, but…it’s a slow day. Juventus have announced that Massimiliano Allegri has penned an extension to his current contract with the Old Lady to 2020, enabling the Italian manager plenty of time to hit the hat-trick of Champions League final chokes with the Serie A side.
Elsewhere in Italy, Stefano Pioli was unveiled by Fiorentina manager with the cheery and uplifting message that “I hope my Viola adventure lasts for a long time.” And former Roma boss and soon-to-be Inter manager, Luciano Spalletti, has arrived in China to pen his own deal to take over one of Serie A’s greatest underachievers. Apart from the other team in Milan this season.
4) No-go in France for Novak in quarterfinal quashing
Tennis time and it’s very much boom, boom, shake the room in Paris with defending champion Novak Djokovic being knocked out of the French Open by Dominic Thiem - 7-6, 6-3 and then a big donut 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Rafa Nadal is through to the final four after his opponent retired. Number one seed, Andy Murray is popping up later in a clash against Kei Nishikori.
Over in the women’s bracket, the quarterfinals are continuing. The stand-out tie sees Elina Svitolina looking to take down Simona Halep.
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.