by Tim Stannard

Barca set to bring in Dutch striker as club gives up on Lautaro Martinez signing 

As Barcelona's official Twitter site confirmed rather nonchalantly - while carefully wiping the past ten days of the club from history - Messi was back in training for a second day on Tuesday.

This is despite the news in the city that Luis Suarez is on the brink of joining Juventus - a few passport issues to work out - and that Barca had given up on bringing Lautaro Martinez to the Camp Nou. 

Instead, Messi's rather limited enthusiasm for the new Camp Nou campaign might have been piqued by the fact that a move for Lyon and Netherlands striker, Memphis Depay was in the works. 

Indeed, the Dutch forward himself confirmed this by announcing that "I know there is interest from Barcelona" to Netherlands media. The Camp Nou club still has a couple of weeks to wrap up the deal, which might including Samuel Umtiti returning to Lyon, before the team's LaLiga campaign gets underway. 

Depay's potentially final match for Lyon could be on Friday in a Ligue 1 match-up against Bordeaux that is live, live, live on beIN SPORTS from 2:50PM ET. 

Bale back in Madrid for another summer showdown

Real Madrid has its own mini-drama on Tuesday with Gareth Bale returning to pre-season training with the club in what could be another standoff. Coach Zizou doesn't want the player, Bale himself seems ambivalent to all things Real Madrid, but the problem is that the club seems unwilling to let the footballer go. 

At least James Rodriguez is not around any more to worsen Coach Zizou's move with the Colombian officially being announced as Everton's latest signing, who will soon disappear into the mists of doom at Goodison Park. 

The 2020-21 LaLiga season gets underway on Friday with Granada vs. Athletic Club that is live, live, live on beIN SPORTS Espanyol and CONNECT at 2:50PM ET. 

Mbappe joins list of sidelined PSG players as Lens comes into focus 

For once, PSG's summer has been largely free of superstar transfer showdowns. Even from Neymar. 

Indeed, the club's Sporting Director, Leonardo, admitted that the club's kitty was opened last week to see if there was anything left to bring Lionel Messi to the French capital.

Neymar, Mbappe are all still in place - with Mauro Icardi formally added - and ready for the club's Ligue 1 opener against Lens on Thursday.

Except some won't be there in the rearranged match in the north of France.

Seven first-teamers are going to be missing the match due to undergoing quarantine procedures having tested positive for COVID-19. Six players were already ruled out due to quarantine restrictions.

That list grew when Kylian Mbappe was sent home from France duty on Monday having tested positive for COVID-19 to begin a period of eight days in isolation. That will rule the player out of at least three league games including Sunday's Le Classique against Marseille. 

The club is set to undergo tests on the remaining squad on Tuesday. However, despite this quantity of absent players, the Lens match is expected to go ahead due to a recent change in Ligue 1 procedures that state that if 20 of the 30 listed players in a team's squad are clear then a game can go ahead. 

Lens vs. PSG is live, live, live on beIN SPORTS from 2:50PM ET on Thursday.