Sports Burst - Neymar Stays at PSG! Probably!
Neymar drops breadcrumbs of truth and deception in declaration on what makes the Brazilian a happy football camper
By Tim Stannard
Neymar says that he is happy whenever he plays football, no matter where it is. Even Paris
Neymar has left a pleasing philosophical conundrum to pass an otherwise quiet sporting Thursday. But more on today's vacuum of excitement in a minute.
The Brazilian was speaking after PSG's 5-0 win over Galatasaray on Wednesday - complete with an unusually giving gesture...but more on that in a minute as well - and was probed on his future with the French club. Not for the first time.
Neymar replied that he was "happy when I play football. What I like best is being out on the field, no matter where I am. Where there are two posts, a ball and teammates, I am happy."
Now that could either mean that PSG is a perfectly fine place to be for the foreseeable future, as Sport Burst's research shows that the club's activities do include two posts, a ball and teammates. That's quite a few boxes ticked.
However, it could also be an opaque reference to moments that an unhappy Neymar is not playing football at PSG - whether through it be through his own fault by being suspended for punching fans, injured after goading opposition players into trying to kick him into orbit, or being substituted.
But, there is no guarantee that a combination of these three occurrences won't happen anywhere else.
To this end, Sports Burst is declaring that Neymar has given a clear signal that he is staying at PSG. But probably because he found out that Barcelona can't afford to buy him next summer.
The Sports Burst live show will be all over this one. Oh yes it will. Just head to our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page at 12PM ET.
Clubs face threat of Europa League survival
Right. Name the 2018/2019 Europa League winner?
Ok...took a while but you got there.
Name the 2017/2018 Europa League winner...without peeking on the internet.
Now you're stuck.
Sports Burst can't remember either. It thinks it might be Atletico Madrid. But it is not going to make the five-second effort to find out.
And that's why Thursday doesn't necessarily see a set of teams fighting to make the top two in the 450 Europa League groups this year and qualification to the next phase but battling to avoid them and continue the Thursday night torture.
The likes of Celtic, Sevilla, Arsenal and Manchester United were clumsy enough to have already secured qualification to the next round, where they will be joined by a cluster of really annoyed clubs who were booted out of the Champions League and sent to Europa League purgatory - hello Inter and Ajax.
The final matchday sees Arsenal with the chance of passing through if the Gunners are not careful. The same applies to Porto and Roma and, and...nope can't do this anymore.
Life is too short.
Atletico dust off the $100 million forgotten man of football
A blast from the past has popped up in the latest transfer rumors. Two short years ago, demands of $100 million were being touted by Torino for their Italian striker, Andrea Belotti. Funnily enough, no one was up for paying that amount.
However, Italian outlet Tuttosport says that Atletico Madrid might part with $35 million in the winter window to buy the forward who has seven Serie A strikes so far this season.
This means that Atletico might have given up the ghost on bringing in Edinson Cavani, who scored for PSG on Wednesday night in the Champions League after Neymar graciously let the Uruguayan take a penalty in the win over Galatasaray.
A new team has come onto the scene to sign King Zlatan. Milan are still the current favorites, however, reports suggest that Everton are speaking to the Swede's agent, despite the club not actually having a manager yet, after the departure of Marco Silva.