By Tim Stannard/beIN SPORTS USA

Casemiro set for another three years at Real Madrid after contract renewal revealed 

Real Madrid has done soccer a solid by bucking a creeping trend that a cheerless Sports Burst whole-heartedly disapproves of - announcing contract renewals as new signings.

As Neymar would cheerfully confirm, contracts in sport are entirely worthless. 

A brand new player can certainly be welcomed without too much unnecessary fanfare. A new deal for a footballer who could literally be moved on that very same day is nothing to get excited about. 

Real Madrid's decision not to air their contractual laundry for all to see means that sports daily, Marca, have only just discovered that Casemiro was renewed until 2023 a few months ago, with the club running a policy of not publicizing internal deals. 

The 28-year-old Casemiro boasts four Champions League titles with Real Madrid and is arguably the only player on the squad who knows how to tackle without getting sent off. Sorry, Sergio Ramos. 

A team that definitely has no trouble in openly discussing deals and contracts is Barcelona. And Wednesday's edition of Sport is declaring that the world of soccer has been told that Ansu Fati will not be leaving the club on any kind sale or loan deal this summer. 

Unless Lautaro Martinez is involved. Or perhaps Neymar. 

Significantly more solid news from Spain is due on Thursday with LaLiga set to announce a restart date for the resumption of the current campaign, with league president, Javier Tebas, pushing for the June 11 and the Seville derby. 

The Sports Burst live show will bring all the latest from today at 12PM ET / 9AM PT on our beIN SPORTS Facebook page and beIN XTRA channel. 

And Sports Burst PM will wrap up the day's news on beIN SPORTS at 7PM ET. 

RB Leipzig look to move into second as Bundesliga continues 

Germany is serving up some more sizzling soccer on Wednesday after a decisive Tuesday that saw Bayern Munich put themselves very much in the driving seat for the title after defeating Borussia Dortmund in a 1-0 win.

"Very, very difficult," admitted Dortmund boss, Lucien Favre, whose team now has a seven-point gap from Bayern at the top of the table and are waiting on news of Erling Haaland's fitness after the forward left Der Klassiker after 72 minutes with a knee injury. 

Indeed, Dortmund might even end the midweek round of matches in third should RB Leipzig defeat Hertha Berlin in Wednesday's opener. 

Meanwhile, Schalke will be hoping to end a run of nine Bundesliga games without at win at Fortuna Dusseldorf. 

EPL clubs approve progression to full contact training

Wednesday saw another meeting of EPL clubs in the winding path of Project Restart.

Under discussion were the proposals for the teams to progress to full contact training - a proposal that was approved unanimously. Next up on Thursday is another conference call for the club bosses on how to progress with starting matches. As ever, under discussion will be whether games will have to be played in neutral venues and the start-date itself. 

Liverpool might need just two matches to wrap up the league title and club captain, Jordan Henderson, has admitted that the experience of lifting the trophy with no fans in the stands - or streets - will be "strange." 

"Whenever fans are allowed back into the stadium, I am sure we will have some sort of celebration together," added Henderson. 

NHL jumps straight to playoffs in summer shakeup 

Out of the North America's big four sports, currently on shutdown due to the coronavirus outbreak, hockey has made the first clearest step - or rather slide - into restarting. 

The organization has formally ended the regular season and is planning to skate straight to a 24-team playoff schedule to be played in two hub cities. 

While no date has yet been given for the playoffs to take place - formal training is suspended until the beginning of July - the cities being looked at to host the matches are Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Vancouver.

The proposals see five-match playoffs in the earlier rounds with seven games for the Conference finals and the Stanley Cup final itself. 

Meanwhile MLB plans to restart the season have stalled over proposed player cuts which could see figures such as Mike Trout having to get by on around $17 million this season. Apparently, a ban on spitting could be a controversial point as well. 

The NBA is expected to release guidelines for the regular seasons restart on June 1.