Juve release Alves
Juventus have confirmed the release of Dani Alves, paving the way for a possible reunion with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
The 34-year-old Brazilian right-back, who played under Guardiola at Barcelona, announced earlier this week he was leaving the Serie A champions.
City have been linked heavily with the player since releasing right-backs Pablo Zabaleta and Bacary Sagna at the end of last season.
Alves only joined Juve last summer and leaves midway through a two-year contract. His single campaign in Turin was interrupted by a broken leg suffered last November but he returned to help the club to a Serie A and Coppa Italia double and reach the Champions League final.
Barca to face Chapecoense
Barcelona will play Brazilian side Chapecoense, whose team was all but wiped out in an air crash last November, in a friendly match at the Camp Nou on August 7.
The match will “help pay tribute to the 71 people who died in the accident on November 28th, 2016, as well as their families,” the Spanish giants said on their website.
“Barca hopes to help Chapecoense rebuild institutionally and recover the competitive level it had before the tragedy,” it added.
The winner of the match will receive the Joan Gamper Trophy, named after the Swiss founder of Barcelona.
Nineteen Chapecoense players and 24 club officials died on November 28 when the team’s plane crashed into a mountainside in Colombia.
Unsung Chapecoense had been on their way to face Atletico Nacional in Medellin for the biggest match in their history, the final of the Copa Sudamericana, South America’s second-biggest club tournament.
After the tragedy, Atletico ceded the title to Chapecoense in tribute.
Barcelona invited Chapecoense in December to play in its annual Joan Gamper friendly tournament but the exact date of the match had not been known until now.
Ronaldo heads for home
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo revealed on Thursday he will not play in the Confederations Cup third-place match this weekend as he will finally meet his newborn twin boys.
Hours after Wednesday’s 3-0 defeat to Chile in a penalty shoot-out in Kazan, Ronaldo said he had been given permission to miss the play-off in Moscow, against either Germany or Mexico, to meet his new arrivals.
Ronaldo, 32, is believed to have fathered the twins with a surrogate mother in the United States and already has a seven-year-old son, Cristiano Ronaldo Jr, from a previous relationship.
Defoe heads south
Jermain Defoe has completed a move to Bournemouth on a three-year deal.
The 34-year-old left Sunderland following their relegation from the Premier League last season.
And the England striker returns to Bournemouth, where he had a successful loan spell early in his career.
Earlier this month, while on England duty, Defoe said the move to the south coast was happening.
He scored 18 times on a season-long loan at Bournemouth from West Ham in 2000/01 and netted in 10 successive matches.
It is understood Defoe will earn around £65,000 a week.
Former West Ham, Tottenham and Portsmouth striker Defoe joined the Black Cats in January 2015 but was unable to halt their slide into the Championship last term despite netting 15 Premier League goals.
The striker’s signing could be the first deal of the week, with the likelihood of Chelsea defender Nathan Ake following in a £20million deal.
However, the Cherries are not interested in signing John Terry, who will be a free agent on Saturday, when the summer transfer window opens.
Swansea sign keeper
Premier League Swansea City have made Dutch goalkeeper Erwin Mulder their first summer signing on a free transfer after the 28-year-old turned down a new contract at Eredivisie side Heerenveen.
Swansea said on their website that Mulder had signed a three-year deal and will compete with Polish international Lukasz Fabianski and Swedish keeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt for the position.
“Now the opportunity has come and I have taken it with both hands,” he said. “The Premier League is the biggest league in the world. As a player, you want to be part of that.
“Of course I want to challenge to play here, but Lukasz Fabianski is here and Kristoffer Nordfeldt is here, so it is going to be difficult. But I am going to do (my) best.”
Mulder will join his new team mates for pre-season training on Monday.
Swansea finished 15th last season after a successful battle against relegation.
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