La Liga
Not Only Neymar, PSG Sure of Getting Arsenal’s Sanchez
Paris Saint-Germain are sure of having a big outing in the coming season as the Parisians are raiding the big European clubs for the big stars.
The expensive hunt for the FC Barcelona Brazilian star, Neymar is already well known. Sports Village Square gathered from theScore that the PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi is also targeting the Chilean star of Arsenal, Alexis Sanchez.
The French Ligue 1 club has tasked its newly appointed sporting director, Antero Henrique to snatch Sanchez from Arsenal. Sanchez, Sports Village Square recalls, scored the milestone 400th goal of the FIFA Confederations Cup.
Score Media reports that PSG Sporting Director, Henrique was was spotted in London Friday with the Sanchez and his agent, Fernando Felicevich.
The six-time Ligue 1 champion now has to convince both FC Barcelona and Arsenal to sell Neymar and Sanchez respectively. But the French club is believed to have the financial resources to take both players.
Speculations are rife that PSG have the financial resources to meet the staggering release clause in Neymar’s contract with FC Barcelona, but getting Sanchez from Arsenal could be a bit more challenging.
Arsenal is certain to reject a €45-million bid. But theScore’s report has it that PSG would be willing to submit a £70-million bid for the tireless 28-year-old Sanchez and meet his opulent £400,000-a-week wage demands.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has repeatedly stressed that Sanchez isn’t for sale, but with just a year left on his current deal amid reports of discontent in north London, Arsenal risks losing the player on a free transfer next summer.
With Manchester City eyeing Sanchez, Wenger would prefer selling the player to a club outside of the Premier League.
Wenger and PSG Chairman, Al-Khelaifi, are understood to have a healthy working relationship as the French gaffer has been employed as an analyst for the Qatari businessman’s beIn Sports and Al Jazeera television channels, hinting that a potential move to Ligue 1 for Sanchez could be the most plausible outcome.
It was mission accomplished, said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after his side fought back from two-goals behind to snatch a rip-roaring 4-4 draw on Tuesday for a 5-4 aggregate win that put them through to the Copa del Rey final.
Ancelotti brushed off questions about a sub-par performance by his side and praised his players’ effort in what he considered a highly entertaining encounter.
“We have achieved our goal today which was to reach the final and there is not much time to think about it,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“It was an entertaining game with some mistakes and a lot of good things. It was fun and we are in the final.
“I never saw ourselves out of it because anything can happen at the Bernabeu. When we have to come from behind, we never give up. We never give up, especially at home, with the fans by our side.”
Ancelotti said David Alaba was not to blame after he deflected two balls into his own goal, calling it “bad luck” by the Austrian defender, but urged his defence to play with better focus moving forward.
“It’s not good to concede four goals in a game,” Ancelotti said.
“Right now we are a team that has a lot of effectiveness up-front, but little balance.
“However, we can’t ignore what we did in attack, scoring four goals against Real is not that easy. I think we are doing quite well.”
Real Madrid, who have won the Spanish Cup only once in over a decade, will play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in a mouth-watering final in Seville next month.
Atletico fought back to hold Barca to a thrilling 4-4 draw ahead of Wednesday’s second-leg in Madrid.
-Reuters
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Real Madrid’s legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti will go on trial next week for allegedly failing to declare income to Spain’s tax office, the Madrid court which will hear the case has said.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months for the 65-year-old Italian, accusing him of having cost Spain’s treasury more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in undeclared earnings from image rights in 2014 and 2015.
The trial will begin on Wednesday and it is expected to last two days, a spokesman for the court said.
Ancelotti, who as a coach has won a record five Champions League trophies including three with Real, must be present for the hearings, he added.
Prosecutors accuse him of only declaring in his tax returns the personal remuneration received from Real Madrid during those two years even though he himself declared himself to be a tax resident in Spain and indicated his home was in Madrid.
They accuse Ancelotti of allegedly setting up a “confusing” and “complex” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings from his image rights as well as from other sources such as real estate.
A Spanish court in 2023 ordered Ancelotti to stand trial over the affair, but did not set a date.
Ancelotti dismissed the affair last year as “an old story that I hope will be resolved soon” when he was asked about the case.
He took over at Real Madrid in 2013, leaving in May 2015, before being appointed at Bayern Munich the following year.
The former Italy international midfielder, who as a player won the European Cup twice with AC Milan, later managed Napoli and Everton before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.
Aside from his success in the Champions League he has won domestic league titles with Madrid and Milan, in England with Chelsea, in Germany with Bayern Munich and in France with Paris Saint-Germain.
-AFP
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Spain’s former soccer chief Luis Rubiales told Reuters on Thursday he would appeal a court ruling which found him guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent.-
-Reuters
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