Atletico Madrid defeated Athletic Bilbao 2-1 at the San Mames on Tuesday to continue their unbeaten start to league play after five matches. But anemic draws against Girona and Valencia find them trailing Barcelona by four points, and you can’t fight the feeling that despite the continued excellence of players like Koke and Antoine Griezmann, there’s a Diego Costa-sized hole in this Atleti side.
Real Madrid and Karim Benzema have agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension with the striker now set to stay until 2021, past the Frenchman’s 33rd birthday.
In recent days a (wild) rumor has spread saying Club América’s jewel, 17-year-old Diego Lainez, could be sold for the staggering amount of $35-41.8 million in 2018. TV Azteca reporter Omar Zerón recently tweeted that several European teams are looking to sign the young player in order to develop him and turn the left-footed Mexican into a star.
Isco, the best player in the world on current form according to The18's Connor Fleming, has agreed to a new contract at Real Madrid that runs through the 2021-2022 season.
Here's Real Madrid's official statement:
According to an ESPN FC source, 20-year-old Sporting Kansas City defender Erik Palmer-Brown will sign a four-and-a-half year contract with Manchester City in January after the expiration of his contract in MLS.
Last week, Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski made some pointed comments to Speigel regarding Bayern Munich's transfer business, which he said was not ambitious enough for an elite European giant like Bayern.
The EPL transfer deadline will be moved up next season to before the start of the season, in an attempt to curb the silliness of players angling for moves while playing actual soccer games against teams they might be sold to.
Those of you who revel in the insanity of the transfer deadline need not fret, though. Next summer's transfer window will still be dumb as hell.
La Liga president Javier Tebas is not happy with PSG's handling of Financial Fair Play rules this summer. Could that be because PSG bought one of his league's most marketable stars, a player who was sure to be the face of the league in a few years' time, for an exhorbitant price and one of the giants of his league couldn't hang on to said young star? Is Javier Tevas extremely bitter about this?
The hype surrounding Barcelona midfielder Carles Alena has been slowly building for some time now. Alena joined La Masia as a 7-year-old, and it wasn’t long after that comparisons to Andres Iniesta began. Last season, Alena was pivotal in helping Barca B earn promotion to the Second Division A after appearing in 29 matches, scoring three goals and registering seven assists.