LONDON: Kevin De Bruyne wants Napoli manager Antonio Conte to reunite him with former Manchester City teammate Jack Grealish.
Conte reportedly asked De Bruyne his opinion on Grealish, whose future at the Etihad has become increasingly uncertain after being dropped from Pep Guardiola’s Club World Cup squad.
De Bruyne, 33, who joined the Serie A club earlier this month, hopes his positive opinion of Grealish will encourage Conte to also sign the creative midfielder.
Manchester City are reportedly willing to take a huge loss on the £100 million they spent to buy Grealish from Aston Villa four years ago.
Grealish, 29, is also expected to take a big pay cut as Napoli can only afford to pay just over half of his £300,000 weekly wage.
However, the player is willing to accept a lower salary if a move to Italy opens up an opportunity for him to attract the interest of England manager Thomas Tuchel ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Everton are also interested in making Grealish their main signing in conjunction with the move to their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock – but the lure of playing in Italy with Napoli is said to be stronger.
According to SunSport, Napoli are willing to spend £45 million to land either Grealish or Alejandro Garnacho from Manchester United but will only buy one player.
The Serie A champions are likely to start their title defence with six former Premier League players in their starting line-up.
Scott McTominay’s previous transfer from Manchester United was so successful that he was named Serie A Player of the Year.
He partnered in midfield with Billy Gilmour, a former Chelsea and Brighton player.
Their main striker, Romelu Lukaku is also a former United and Chelsea player.
Bournemouth’s Philip Billing also joined Napoli in January in a move that could become permanent.
Manchester City are also open to releasing Grealish on loan, as long as there is a commitment to buy him permanently afterwards.
LIVERPOOL: Darwin Nunez is ready to accept an offer to leave Liverpool but the Premier League champions want at least 50 million pounds for the Uruguayan striker.
Throughout his time at Anfield, Nunez failed to live up to his reputation after moving from Benfica for 85 million pounds.
The 25-year-old scored 34 goals in his final season at Benfica but took three seasons to do so with Liverpool.
He did, however, score some important goals for Liverpool – 40 in total in three seasons – but management expected more from one of the most expensive players in the club’s history.
Liverpool listed Nunez in the January transfer window but did not want to jeopardize the squad that was on course to win the Premier League.
Now Liverpool manager Arne Slot is ready to let Nunez go this summer, especially if his sale can cover some new signings for the club.
Liverpool have signed Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen and are set to complete the £115 million transfer of his teammate Florian Wirtz.
Nunez is also wanted by several European and Saudi Arabian clubs. Napoli is one of Nunez’s main destinations of choice, while a move to the Middle East is a last resort.
European champions Paris Saint-Germain are also interested in Nunez, as well as Arsenal’s Kai Havertz.
MADRID: Real Madrid announced the signing of teenager Franco Mastantuono from River Plate today.
Madrid spent 45 million euros to land the 17-year-old, Spanish media reported, while reports from Argentina suggested the figure was higher at 60 million euros.
Mastantuono is scheduled to play in the Club World Cup campaign in the United States this summer with River before moving to the Spanish capital.
“Mastantuono will be a player at our club for the next six seasons, from August 14, 2025 to June 30, 2031,” Los Blancos said in a statement.
“At 17 years old, he also became the youngest player in history to play in an official match for the Argentine national team.”
The midfielder is a product of River’s academy and made his debut for the club’s first team in January 2024.
He becomes Real Madrid’s third player of the summer after Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Bournemouth’s Dean Huijsen.
Madrid also appointed Xabi Alonso as their new coach to replace Carlo Ancelotti.
LIVERPOOL: Mohamed Salah’s future is assured at Anfield but there are still doubts about another star striker with Barcelona ready to make an offer ahead of the final two years of his contract.
Three Liverpool stars see their contracts expire this June but two of them have already signed two-year extensions.
Salah and Virgil van Dijk are both set to remain at Anfield until the end of the 2026-27 season. However, for Trent Alexander-Arnold, an agreement has yet to be reached for a free transfer to Real Madrid this summer.
Liverpool now have to decide whether to sell one of their prized assets while the player’s price is still high or convince him to sign a new deal.
Barcelona are said to be interested in signing Luis Diaz, hoping to place the Colombian striker on the left side of a forward line that also includes Raphinha and Lamine Yamal.
Hansi Flick’s LaLiga champion squad wants to go further on the European stage after being knocked out in the semi-finals of the Champions League at the hands of Inter Milan.
With the new Nou Camp Stadium set to open this year, the club is now in a stable financial position and is prepared to spend 72 million pounds to sign Diaz.
Earlier this month, Diaz, who has scored 13 Premier League goals this season, insisted he was happy at Anfield and comfortable with his current contract.
“Yes, happy. Since the first day I arrived, I have always been happy, calm, enjoying football with this great team.
“We will talk about it (a new contract). For me, I want to stay for as long as I want, it also depends on the club. I am happy and enjoying the Premier League,” Diaz said.
Diaz joined Liverpool from Porto in 2022, and the forward has scored 41 goals in 146 appearances for the Reds.
He was often deployed on the right wing by former manager Jurgen Klopp, but played as a main striker under Arne Slot, with Cody Gakpo on the left.
BARCELONA, Spain: Barcelona travel to Inter Milan for an exciting second leg of the Champions League semi-final early Wednesday morning, with Raphinha’s final contribution ensuring it was tied 3-3 after the first leg.
For once this season, the statistics did not reflect the Brazilian’s contribution to Barcelona’s third goal when his powerful shot hit the crossbar and bounced off the head of Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer before hitting the net and scoring his own goal.
Despite this, his numbers in the Champions League are impressive and prove Raphinha’s greatness in the attacking machinery of Hansi Flick’s team.
Raphinha scored 12 goals in 13 European matches and assisted nine goals, if you include his assist for Sommer’s own goal, 21 goals – while Inter’s opponents scored 22 goals as a team throughout the competition.
The 28-year-old’s goal tally even surpassed Lionel Messi’s best record of 19 direct goal involvements with the Catalan giants in the Champions League campaign.
Throughout the season, the former Leeds winger scored 31 goals and provided 25 assists in 52 appearances in all competitions, as Barcelona targeted a potential quadruple, with the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup already within reach.
Barcelona’s success on the brink of the Champions League final is proven by the sudden rise of Raphinha in his third season at the club.
On the other hand, he said the Brazilian winger’s rise was due to coach Flick.
“The fact is he practically changed everything for me,” Raphinha said.
“I wanted to leave the club before the season started, it was very important for the coach to change my mind, for me to stay at this club.
“He gave me the confidence to do what I do, he changed everything, he basically changed my career.
“I had my best, best season since I started playing and I owe it to him.”
LONDON: Nuno Espirito Santo said Nottingham Forest are excited to be in the race for a place in the Champions League and FA Cup semi-finals after they beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 away from home early this morning.
Forest have reclaimed third place and are in a good position among the five clubs competing for a Champions League spot behind Liverpool and Arsenal.
“We are in a fight that no one expected, including ourselves,” said Nuno.
“We did well against the big teams and it makes us proud. We also accept this challenge,” said the former Spurs manager.
Forest took a two-goal lead in the first 16 minutes through Elliot Anderson and Chris Wood before absorbing Tottenham’s pressure.
They conceded in the 87th minute when Richarlison headed in, but managed to hold on to win.
Forest’s excellent season could be even better this weekend when they face Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals.
“We have a big week ahead of us. We’re going to Wembley against a giant team and there are a lot of games ahead of us. As long as we continue this approach, competing well, you never know.”
MADRID: Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe was suspended for one La Liga match early this morning after being shown a red card against Alaves.
The France captain made a harsh tackle on Antonio Blanco during Madrid’s 1-0 league win on Sunday before being sent off.
Mbappe will miss Madrid’s La Liga clash with Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, as Carlo Ancelotti’s side try to catch up with leaders Barcelona.
The Spanish football federation’s disciplinary committee’s interpretation of Mbappe’s offence was that it occurred “in the game” and not an incident of violent conduct, which could lead to a harsher punishment.
LIVERPOOL, England: Liverpool manager Arne Slot said he did not agree with the offside rule that saw Diogo Jota’s goal confirmed to beat Everton 1-0 early this morning, but stated that the right decision had been made.
Jota struck the only goal just before the hour mark at Anfield as Liverpool moved 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
Luis Diaz was in an offside position when James Tarkowski blocked a pass intended for the Colombian.
However, Diaz grabbed the rebound before passing it to Jota to score his first goal since January.
Everton boss David Moyes said he was disappointed to lose the clash with his neighbours on a “clearly offside goal.”
However, Slot said the officials made the right decision because of the rules after Tarkowski grabbed the ball.
“It’s not offside, according to the rules,” Slot said.
“Do I like the rule? No, I don’t like the rule. I hate the rule but the implementation of the rule was lucky for us today because it was done well in that situation.”
The goal was the second most controversial decision of the match after Tarkowski escaped a red card after just 11 minutes following a dangerous tackle on Alexis Mac Allister.
The Everton captain was only shown a yellow card by referee Samuel Barrott, who was not directed by VAR to review his original decision.
TURIN, Italy: Thiago Motta was fired as Juventus coach last night after less than a season in charge, with former player Igor Tudor replacing him, the Italian giants announced.
“Juventus FC announces the dismissal of Thiago Motta from his duties as coach of the men’s first team,” a Juventus statement said.
“The club would like to thank Thiago Motta and all the staff for the level of professionalism and the work they have carried out in recent months with great passion and dedication.
“Juventus also announced that the team will now be led by Igor Tudor, who will conduct his first training session tomorrow, Monday, March 24.”
The decision to sack Motta follows a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Atalanta – their biggest home defeat since 1967 – and a 3-0 defeat at Fiorentina in the club’s last two matches, leaving Juve fifth in the Italian top flight.
Following the defeat, the club’s directors used the international break to discuss with Motta, leading to the decision that he was no longer suitable for the role.
But doubts at the club had arisen since before March.
After guiding Bologna to the Champions League last season, Motta, 42, arrived to a roaring welcome in Turin in July last year. But his honeymoon was short-lived.
His team has rarely impressed and has drawn 13 times in the league, while expensive summer signings including Douglas Luiz and Teun Koopmeiners have failed to live up to expectations.
The situation was made worse by Motta’s erratic decisions regarding his starting line-up – he used 39 different formations in his 42 matches in charge.
Last month, Juventus were knocked out of the Champions League by PSV Eindhoven in the last-16 play-offs and lost to Empoli in the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup, of which they are the defending champions.