By Tim Stannard

1) No theater of dreams return for Ronaldo 

So, it looks like Cristiano Ronaldo’s medium-term future is going to go one of four ways, down from five on Thursday. 

Option one is to stay Real Madrid – where he has a contract until his mid-70’s. 

The second is a move to PSG in what would be an internet-exploding swap deal with Neymar. The third door is take the riches of China and lastly, launch an acting career – and play some soccer – in MLS. According to Marca, the Cr-exit route for CR7 that is now blocked is Manchester United. 

Friday’s edition of the Spanish paper says that whatever interest the Premier League club may have had in bringing the Portuguese poacher back to Old Trafford after nine years has been extinguished by both the imminently-incoming Alexis Sanchez and the expected summer arrival of Antoine Griezmann. Being half as prolific at Paulinho in front of goal in La Liga this season certainly isn’t helping Ronaldo’s case, either. 

Of course, the whole five-options concept is largely theoretical anyway, considering Ronaldo has never actually stated that he wants to leave Real Madrid and his club has never actually stated that they want to sell him. Instead, all the stories have been filtered through various PR machines and papers to feed a click bait world. Sports Burst isn’t complaining. 

Tune into the Locker Room at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT to find out the latest hot takes from the White House on the other side of the Atlantic. 

2) Bayern Munich seal another top talent deal for free 

TRANSFER TRACKER TIME! 

Once again, Bayern Munich have been sneaky peakies in their transfer dealings by poaching the best players from their rivals for free. 

In a move that mirrors the moves of Robert Lewandowski and Mats Hummels, the Bundesliga giants have snapped up talented Schalke midfielder, Leon Goretzka, who will jump ship to Munich on a free transfer after passing a medical on Friday. 

While that is a solid done deal, Friday is full of some other rather curious tales that include Chelsea sniffing around 36-year-old Stoke City, Peter Crouch, in an increasingly desperate search for a target man striker that also reportedly includes Roma’s Edin Dzeko and Andy Carroll of West Ham.

Sort of done deals, but not quite transfers are also making the news on Friday – contract extensions. Barcelona have renewed Sergi Roberto to 2022, while Manchester City have bagged Fernandinho to 2020. 

Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for the latest transfer moves, rumors and a large amount of made-up stuff. 

3) Marseille look to make table-top move in Ligue Un

Not that soccer ever really stops, but the weekend is now upon us with a cluster of games. 

Leading the way on beIN SPORTS is a Ligue Un encounter between Caen and high-flying Marseille, a team that could move into second in the standings with a victory. The action starts at 2:30PM ET / 11:30AM PT. On Sunday, remember that it’s first against second with PSG heading to Lyon at 3PM ET / 12PM PT on CONNECT. 

La Liga gets underway on beIN SPORTS Espanol with Getafe hosting an Athletic Bilbao side in quite the hurry to make the European places by the end of the season. Elsewhere, the Bundesliga is offering up Hertha Berlin against Borussia Dortmund, a club surrounded in speculation that star striker, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, has already agreed personal terms to join Arsenal, after the forward was left out of the squad for Friday’s match. 

Catch the best highlights of the day on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT. 

4) Captains America for LeBron and Steph

Elsewhere in the wide, wide world of sport, LeBron James and Stephen Curry will serve at the captains for the NBA All Stars game next month after leading the voting in their respective conferences.

The sweltering heat continues down under for the tennis players in the Australian Open. Round 3 winners in Melbourne include local anti-hero, Nick Kyrgios. Rafa Nadal also past through to the last 16. Number two seed, Caroline Wozniacki, moved through to next round however, the fairytale was over for 15-year-old Marta Kostyuk who lost out to Ukranian compatriot, Elina Svitolina.

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. Sports Burst 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.