Mustafa Dogru, Caglar Soyuncu s former agent who oversaw the defender s move from Freiburg to Leicester City last summer, has revealed that Barcelona were interested in the player s services in 2016, when he left Altinordu and moved to the Bundesliga side.
Leicester signed Soyuncu for a reported fee of just over €21 million to replace Harry Maguire, who went to Manchester United as the world s most expensive defender. It s fair to say that the Foxes haven t felt the absence of the current United captain at all due to Soyuncu exceeding all expectations since his arrival to the King Power Stadium.
Speaking to AS, Dogru said negotiations with Barcelona took place and a project was presented to them, but they chose to accept Freiburg s proposal, feeling that it was impera…
It took them three years, but Real Madrid are finally in the Champions League semifinals again for the first time since winning the competition in 2018. They beat Liverpool in the final that year by 3-1, the same scoreline that they earned in the first leg of this tie against the same opponent, which eventually proved enough to see them through.
Too little, too late from Liverpool
In all fairness, Liverpool looked like the better team in this game, but an appalling performance in the first half of the first leg in Madrid, along with chances squandered in the rematch, cost them all they had to give in the Champions League this term. On that day, things took an upturn after manager Jurgen Klopp brought on Thiago Alcantara in the place of Naby Keita just before halftime, and from…
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Nantes appear to have taken a big step towards Ligue 1 survival after they triumphed in the first leg of the relegations play-offs, 1-2 away to Toulouse. All three goals came in the opening quarter of the match as Ludovic Blas broke the deadlock in the 10th minute, Devier Machado equalized for Toulouse in the 18th, and Randal Kolo Muani set the final score in the 22nd.
The two teams will face each other again on Sunday, this time at the Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes.
Nantes
Antoine Kombouare s team faced Montpellier at home in the final round of the league campaign, and a win in that match would have secured their survival then and there. However, they failed to earn a single point, losing 1-2, and finished in 18th place wi…
Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo believes his healthy rivalry with Barcelona counterpart Lionel Messi during his time in LaLiga made him a better player.
Both men have won the coveted Ballon d Or five times and are considered to be two of the greatest players of all time.
Ronaldo spent nine years with Real Madrid prior to joining Juventus in 2018 and Messi recently acknowledged the pair spurred each other on in their quest for individual honours.
The former Manchester United star has echoed those views, telling France Football: A lot of people said that we fed each other, that being together in Spain made us better.
That s certainly true. I felt his presence more in Madrid than in Manchester. It was a healthy rivalry. We were the symbols of our clubs.<…
Getafe have agreed a loan deal with Valencia for Michel that could see the 25-year-old remain at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez for two seasons.
The attacking midfielder embarks on the third loan spell of his career having been limited to only 13 La Liga appearances for Valencia last season.
Valencia have reached an agreement with Getafe for the loan transfer of footballer Michel until June 30, 2015, with option to extend another season, Valencia confirmed on their official website.
The club wishes to thank Michel [for his] professionalism and behavior in his stay at Valencia.
Having made his Valencia debut in 2008, Michel has spent time with Deportivo La Coruna and Hercules, while permanently leaving the Mestalla for one season to play for Levante.
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The 2022 World Cup is over. It obviously brought a lot of interesting moments with it, not least Lionel Messi finally crowning his incredible career with the biggest trophy the game has to offer, but also many things regarding the organization of the tournament itself.
The talking points in that aspect mostly revolved around Qatar as the country chosen to host it, it s rather strict laws and questionable human rights record, as well as the deaths of a large number of workers while the modern stadiums in and around Doha were built.
The one thing which didn t cause much talk was the competition format. It was the same as for a number of previous editions 32 teams split into eight groups of four, with two teams from each group progressing to the round of 16 and so on. The …
Arsenal have joined Manchester United in the race to sign Mats Hummels, .
The centre back, who scored two goals for Germany in their triumphant World Cup campaign in Brazil in the summer, has long been linked with a move to England with United seemingly the front runners.
However, Arsene Wenger is desperate to strengthen his depleted back line and has identified the Borussia Dortmund star as his top target.
Hummels joined Dortmund from rivals Bayern Munich in January 2008, and has since notched up two hundred and twenty-seven appearances in all competitions, scoring twenty goals, and was part of the squads that won back to back Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012.
He won his thirty-seventh international cap as the World Champions lost to Poland in th…
FC Dallas interim head coach Peter Luccin has urged his players to show their passion on the pitch when they welcome St. Louis City to the Toyota Stadium.
Dallas announced they had parted company with Nico Estevez on June 9 after a run of five matches without a win left them second from bottom in the Western Conference.
Peter Luccin was brought in as his interim replacement, with the Frenchman aiming to make a positive mark for his first game in charge.
I think it s very important to understand that not everything was bad in the past. I think that we build some foundation, Luccin said.
I can see the passion in their eyes. They see passion in my eyes, too. So, the passion for that game is a key factor, too. This is what I saw. This is what they see from …
Goals from Andy Carroll, Pedro Obiang and Mark Noble inspired West Ham to a comeback 3-1 win at Southampton as Slaven Bilic
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s men climbed into ninth in the Premier League.
A debut goal for Manolo Gabbiadini had Southampton fans in raptures, but celebrations were short-lived as West Ham responded with a trio of goals to bounce back in style from the 4-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City on Wednesday.
Gabbiadini struck a 12th-minute opener, thundering the ball beyond West Ham goalkeeper Darren Randolph after he was found by a lofted Jay Rodriguez pass.
The former Napoli forward had little time to enjoy his moment, though, as Carroll levelled just two minutes later with a tidy finish under a despairing Fraser Forster.
West Ham put the…
Thomas Muller s second Bundesliga goal of the season was enough for Bayern Munich to see off Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0 at Borussia-Park on Sunday, as the champions seized on RB Leipzig s loss to extend their commanding lead at the top of the table.
The Germany international had last netted in the German top flight in December 2016, going nine games without a goal, but he ended his drought with a fine finish after the break to seal the win for Carlo Ancelotti s men.
Bayern had reason for optimism heading into the encounter, having won six of their eight Bundesliga games in 2017 and drawing the remaining two, but they also knew Dieter Hecking s men would pose a stern test.
Gladbach had lost just four of their 11 Bundesliga games against Bayern since the start …