Sports Burst – Real Madrid’s Hand-Me-Downs
PSG take Real Madrid’s spares, Pep’s Barca boost and Hazard’s hard knock.
By Tim Stannard
1) James and Pepe proposed in PSG move
Well, that’s one strategy to try and edge closer to winning the Champions League – borrow the current holders’ cast-offs.
That appears to be the PSG plan this summer with the media-market warming to the idea that the Ligue Un club might well be making a bid for two Real Madrid players that aren’t exactly key parts of the current team. The first name is no surprise in the form of the out-of-contract Pepe, however the second figure being bandied around in the Spanish press is James Rodriguez, a footballer who did not even make Coach Zizou’s squad for the Champions League final.
‘Marca’ is reporting a meeting between the PSG owner, Nasser Al Khelaifi, and Super-Agent, Jorge Mendes, in Cardiff at the Champions League final and the Spanish paper is putting two and two together to probably make 15.
2) Pep boosts Barca with bounce-back boast
Of course, the fourth rule of the universe, somewhere below dark matter is the fact that Real Madrid and Barcelona are forever tied together, so Monday sees Pep Guardiola warning Madridistas to not get too comfortable on their armchairs of joy as Barcelona will be back in business to challenge the double-winners next season.
“I would also tell them not to become overconfident because Barcelona always bounce back,” said Pep Guardiola speaking at a charity golf day in Spain.
However, Guardiola did have some nice words for Coach Zizou, the only manager to have delivered back-to-back Champions League titles in history. “I am happy for him because he has done an excellent job."
Tune into the XTRA from 7PM ET / 4PM PT for all the latest news from the world of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
3) Hazard out of action after ankle break
First Antoine Griezmann took himself off the Transfer Tracker express by pledging his immediate future to Atletico Madrid – dependent on his locker position in the new stadium – and now Eden Hazard has done the same.
While the former was very much voluntary, the Belgian’s move wasn’t with the Chelsea forward breaking his ankle in training with Belgium on Sunday, and undergoing surgery, to potentially put himself out of the summer shenanigans.
The footballer is expected to miss the start of the new season, and all this happened at the same time after hinting in the Belgian press that he might leave Stamford Bridge by listening to offers from Real Madrid. “We all have dreams. It could be Spain, it could be staying with Chelsea.” Or it could be a summer on crutches.
4) Messi after di Maria for Barcelona move
TRANSFER TRACKER BONUS!
Well, let’s face it, there’s not too much else going on these days. But Ernesto Valverde has reportedly green-lighted the pursuit of Arsenal full-back, Hector Bellerin, Leo Messi will persuade Angel di Maria to switch PSG for Barcelona according to Le Parisien and Mohamed Salah’s move from Roma to Liverpool could be finalized in the next few days
Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for all the latest Transfer Tracker news, views and generally made-up stuff.
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.