Gareth Bale to ascend to Ronaldo’s Madrid throne
 
The Prince of Wales is a tough job. Potentially waiting a whole lifetime on the sidelines for the rightful ruler to pass away or abdicate their imperious throne before taking on the role as supreme being.
 
And so, it’s been that way for both Prince Charles and Gareth Bale. However, while Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II shows no sign of going anywhere soon, Cristiano Ronaldo vacated his Real Madrid throne this summer to finally give Bale the chance to ascend.  
 
And there was good news from Julen Lopetugui on Monday evening with the fresh-faced Real Madrid boss – at least until November or so – hinting quite strongly that Gareth Bale is set to be the new Cristiano Ronaldo.
 
Speaking on Monday night in Miami ahead of an ICC clash against Manchester United, the former Spain boss revealed that “as a coach, it is an exciting challenge to make a competitive team without Cristiano.” And that’s a good thing, considering Lopetegui probably didn’t have too much say in the matter with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe pretty much off the market. "We are convinced that Bale is going to have a great year and we expect a lot from him.”

 
The XTRA is the place to be on Tuesday at 7PM ET / 4PM PT with our Ray Hudson asking if Bale is ready to step into the tippy-toe cleats of Cristiano Ronaldo.
 
 

Ronaldo starts Juventus duty as Higuain departs
 
The luxury locker has been selected and the hyper length mirror installed. Cristiano Ronaldo is officially ready for action for the Old Lady – Juventus, just to be clear – with the now former Real Madrid man doing his first training session for the Serie A side on Tuesday.

 
And it was a thumbs-aloft with smiles a’plenty for CR7, despite the fact that the footballer would have been a little bit Norman No-Mates in Turin with the rest of the squad over in Atlanta, Georgia for what is now being officially branded as the Zlatan-less MLS All-Stars game. “It will be a great game but also a party,” boomed new club captain, Giorgio Chiellini.
 
The other big Juve news of the day is a footballer making way for Ronaldo’s arrival, and that’s Gonazlo Higuain. The former Madrid teammate of CR7 is set to complete a loan move to Milan this week with the San Siro side having an option to buy next summer.
 
More on this and some other transfer juicy bits in our very excellent Transfer Tracker show live every day at 12PM ET / 9AM PT on our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page.
 
 

Messi returns to training for Barcelona
 
Sticking with Milan for a second and the Italian team is in ICC action on Tuesday night with a clash against the so-quiet-you’d-not-notice-they-are-there Tottenham Hotspur in Minnesota. As previously mentioned Real Madrid is taking on Manchester United in Miami while over in Dallas, Barcelona is set to face Roma.
 
Meanwhile, back at the Camp Nou ranch, the Spanish contingent and a certain Lionel Messi are getting probed by doctors and swapping amusing stories of World Cup failure with their vacations now over.
 
Head to the XTRA with the latest news from the Barcelona camp as it prepares for its BBQ grilling of Roma.

More Milan moves and Rojo alert for United
 
Milan’s other team – Inter – is making a bit of transfer noise with Atletico and Croatia rightback, Sime Vrsaljko, expected to be moving to the Serie A side this week and he could be joined by Bayern’s midfield monster, Arturo Vidal, who is on the brink of crossing the Alps to beef up Inter.
 
Jose Mourinho, speaking exclusively to Kay Murray – PART TWO TODAY ON THE XTRA! - said that he was confident of one new signing for Manchester United. And it looks like being a centerback with Marcos Rojo now being bundled into a car by the transfer rumor mill and moving to Everton.
 
Lazio midfielder, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, has returned to the club claiming that there will be no move to Chelsea - “You can see that I am here,” said the Serbian unconvincingly.  
 

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