Sports Burst - Pogba's Agent Provocateur
A not so secret agent and Bolt’s special birthday
Twitter troll urges Pogba departure
Well, someone wasn’t following the pointed advice of First Lady, Melania Trump, after her pleas that everyone should be very nice to each other on the internet.
That person is of course Don…(can’t go there?)…ok…Mino Raiola the super-agent and master of multi-million dollar deals every summer that sees one of his clients move teams to land him a hefty commission.
So far, there hasn’t been too much movement in the money department, so Raiola has been on The Twitter to first insult Paul Scholes for claiming Paul Pogba lacked leadership in the defeat to Brighton and that the former Manchester United midfielder should become a sports director to help find Pogba a new club. Not quite sure what all that means. But hey ho!
Raiola’s online outburst handily helps keep United at the top of the soccer news cycle as the trending club IN CRISIS! although there was either good – or bad – news for Old Trafford fans from the grown-up BBC on Tuesday with the organization claiming that Mourinho still had the confidence of the board despite wobbles both on and off the pitch and there were no plans to bring in Coach Zizou from his private yacht currently cruising the Med.
Get the latest on this Pogba parade and see what our Ray Hudson thinks on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.
Filipe’s tug of love
TRANSFER TRACKER TIME! Yep, there is still ten days to go in most markets so the wheeling and dealing hasn’t stopped.
One footballer expected to be changing clubs this week is Atletico’s Filipe Luis with Marca reporting that the Atletico leftback will be meeting Rojiblanco bosses to request a move. The Brazilian has a deal to 2019, is not content with the terms of a renewal, but has an offer on the table from PSG. The 1-1 draw against Valencia on Monday is expected to be Filipe’s last match.
One footballer who is staying put in Mario Balotelli who wrote that there will be a ‘season 3’ at Nice for the striker, despite the fact that coach Patrick Viera suggested that the Italian moving on from his club would be all ok with him.
Head to our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page at 12PM ET / 9AM PT for our Transfer Tracker show as we pour through the entrails and tealeaves to look for signs.
City lose Claudio Bravo in keeper crisis
Manchester City might have a weakness after all. After the Premier League club showed no sign at all of missing Kevin de Bruyne at the weekend, City has announced that Claudio Bravo has ruptured an Achilles tendon to see the Chilean keeper sidelined for a length of time to be determined after tests on Thursday.
This means that if anything should happen to Ederson between the sticks and the club will have a youth-teamer in goal. Joe Hart is probably enjoying a sense of Schadenfreude somewhere out there.
In other keeper news, Liverpool’s Loris Karius is expected to become the new keeper for Besiktas on Tuesday with talks ongoing over a two-year loan deal to the Turkish side.
Speaking of Turkey…the Superlig hour is a fine way to spend some time to catch a Turkey wrap of all the action at 6PM ET / 3PM PT.
Birthday Bolt starts trial Down Under
It’s a big day for Usain Bolt. On the occasion of the former sprinter’s 32nd birthday, the Jamaican has begun his trial with Australian club side, Central Coast Mariners. All in all, a normal training session – apart from legions of media in attendance – in what is set to be “an indefinite training period” with the side to see what happens.
“I’m entirely out of my comfort zone but that’s why I am here,” admitted the world’s fastest man who was open to what might happen next, “I’m here with a blank slate.”
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.