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Top Confirmed and Speculated Football Transfers of the Summer

As the season has drawn to an end, we are moving forward and will be taking a look at potential bids for big players this summer. Starting off, we have Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva moving from Monaco to Manchester City for 43 million pound. Silva was instrumental this season in helping Monaco reach the semi-finals of the Champions League. He is expected to jump right into City’s starting eleven for next season. In terms of players out for Man City, they will be losing Argentine  wing back Pablo Zabaleta, French wingback Gael Clichy, Spanish winger Jesus Navas, Argentine goalkeeper Willy Caballero, and French wing back Bacary Sagna, just to name a few of the starters and substitutes this past season.

Another big signing starting AFC Bournemouth out on the right foot involves Bosnian goalkeeper Asmir Begovic moving from Chelsea. Begovic is a proven shot stopper and will really help out defensively with an already surprisingly solid Cherries starting eleven for next season.

As far as other players going out, Chelsea sold Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado to Juventus for 17 million pound. They also lose Ghanaian winger Christian Atsu to Newcastle United and English striker Dominic Solanke to Liverpool. 

Arsenal so far have acquired Bosnian left back Sead Kolasinac on a free transfer from Schalke. They will also be looking to potentially offload French striker Olivier Giroud and some cash in exchange for French striker Kylian Mbappe Lottin. Wenger is also keen to sign French winger Thomas Lemar and French striker Alexandre Lacazette  Arsenal could stand to lose Chilean striker Alexis Sanchez to Chelsea if the bid meets their satisfaction. Arsenal will also be losing Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina to Turkish club Fenerbahce, so they will need to hold onto Polish keeper Wojciech Szczęsny, coming back from a two-year loan at Roma. 

Everton will be losing English midfielder Tom Cleverly to Watford, but have impressed everyone by signing English goalkeeper Jordan Pickford from Sunderland. He is everyone’s favorite to be England’s number one moving forward. Ronald Koeman has also expressed much interest in signing Dutch attacking midfielder Davy Klaassen, Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson and English centreback Michael Keane this summer as well. 

Manchester United have completed signing Swedish centreback Victor Lindelof from Benfica for around 35 million pound. This is an important signing for the Red Devils as they will be losing one of their regular starting centrebacks, Chris Smalling. Swedish legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic is speculated to be on his way to the MLS upon the recovery from his season-ending injury. He is joining LA Galaxy on a free transfer. 

The summer transfer window has just begun and bigger signings will continue to be officially announced by clubs every day. It is anticipated that English clubs will not be afraid to splash cash on big players outside of the EPL. Stay tuned for updates about more transfer news in the coming months. We still have around two months of the summer transfer window so there is plenty of time to see some huge signings that everyone is hoping for. 

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Real Madrid First Club to Win Back to Back Champions League Titles

Real Madrid defend Champions League title, after defeating Italian super club Juventus 4-1 on Saturday, June 3, 2017 in Cardiff, Wales. Portuguese winger, Cristiano Ronaldo broke the deadlock after just 20 minutes of play after receiving a quality pass from Spanish wing-back, Dani Carvajal. With this goal, Ronaldo would become the footballer to score in three CL finals. 7 minutes later, Juventus equalized with a lovely overhead volley from Croatian striker, Mario Mandžukić after some brilliant football involving several of his teammates, the last touches coming off the chest and right foot of Argentinian striker, Gonzalo Higuaín. At halftime, three players had been booked a yellow card and the score was level at 1-1. 

Real Madrid started off the second half strong. Just over 15 minutes in, they would once again lead 2-1 after a long shot from Brazilian holding midfielder, Casemiro deflected off German holding midfielder, Sami Khedira and found its way past legendary Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon. Three minutes later, Ronaldo would find his brace and 600th career goal from Croatian playmaker Luka Modric’s cross from just six yards out. At this scoreline, Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado made his way onto the right side of the pitch. He would be booked twice in the span of 11 minutes, in the 72nd and 83 minutes, which forced Juventus to play with ten men. Juventus fans will argue Cuadrado’s second booking was undeserved as Spanish centre-back Sergio Ramos disgracefully flopped when the players met near the touchline. While Cuadrado gave Ramos a little nudge and may have slightly stepped on his foot, it was not enough to warrant the reaction from Sergio Ramos, even Real Madrid fans would probably agree. Ramos could have been sent off if the referee gave him another card for embellishment, and this event could have changed the direction of the game in. Ultimately, the conflict would not impact the score. Real Madrid put the game to bed in the 90th minute after an exquisitely placed goal in the bottom right corner by Spanish midfielder Marco Asensio, but was shown a yellow card for excessive celebration.

French footballer legend and current manager, Zinedine Zidane, secured Real Madrid’s twelfth European title and their sixth Champions League trophy. Real Madrid now stand as the only club in the history of the competition to defend the title. Further adding to Real Madrid’s successful season, they also won the La Liga title. Gianlugi Buffon, unfortunately will finish his career without winning the Champions League title, having won every other major title possible. Juventus would also be denied their second chance at winning a treble. 

August 8, 2017 marks the fixture where Real Madrid will face this season’s Europa League champions, Manchester United. Ronaldo will be facing off against his former club and former Real Madrid manager, Jose Mourinho in the UEFA Super Cup in Macedonia. Ronaldo has won his fourth Champions League title and finished as top goalscorer (12) of the competition, edging Argentinian striker, Lionel Messi (11) by one goal. 

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New Adidas s’Goods Football Club Home Jersey

Friends! Head on over to Twitter and order yourself an authentic Adidas exclusive s’Goods FC home jersey! https://twitter.com/the_sGoods/status/870490321313869825

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Huddersfield Town to receive £185 million with return to top flight

Huddersfield Town are joining Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion in promotion to the English Premier League after 120 minutes of a goalless draw and defeating in Reading in a penalty shoot-out. Huddersfield has missed out on top-flight football for 45 years, which is concerning. However, the team is set to receive a minimum of £185 million and this could help increase their chances of avoiding relegation after next season. A decent portion of this money (£84.4m) is provided to every Premier League club from TV income. Any of the three teams recently promoted from SkyBet Championship that are able to compete for a following season in the top-flight would receive an even greater reward of £100m. Huddersfield Town, as well as the other two promoted sides, must find a balance with strengthening the squad and the financial risk of spending too much too quickly and causing long-term debt and relegation. In the last decade, just less than half of newly promoted sides have avoided relegation in their first season. "We are one year into the new broadcast rights arrangements and fans of these clubs will be fully aware of the financial reward for playing in the top flight next season," said Dan Jones, partner and head of the Sports Business Group at Deloitte. He continued by stating, “Whilst this typically includes some increased expenditure on playing talent in the short term, it is important that promoted clubs are committed to long-term financial responsibility”. Most folks did not even fancy Huddersfield’s chances of gaining promotion, so now some are saying they have got no chance of staying up next season. It is good to see Huddersfield succeed after struggling for so long and falling short in the final third. Fans are determined and are not fazed by the majority predicting immediate relegation to SkyBet Championship. This is the stuff of dreams for German manager David Wagner and the “Wagner Revolution”. Anyone involved to a small club that sees it gain promotion knows exactly how Huddersfield supporters must feel, Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County. But Huddersfield Town are different, composed of many different parts, all working together to create good football. The Australian national Aaron Mooy, on loan from Man City, has been instrumental in midfield for them this season. It will be interesting to see how his future with the club turns out, whether or not he is signed on a permanent deal. Either way, the entire team has this all-for-one mentality you do not always see at this level of association football these days. Some of the better player from top-flight teams tend to play for themselves or may not adapt to play their style of football with international footballers, or within certain leagues as well. After a somewhat shaky season, the team has found pretty decent form. Hopefully some new signings over the summer can work with returning players, coaches, staff, etc to continue that form into next season, in what should be another great season of football. 

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Mourinho Wins “Last Trophy”In Europa League Final with Man U

Jose Mourinho and Manchester United beat Ajax 2-0 in the Europa League Final in Stockholm on Wednesday. The goals came from Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, in the 18th and 48th minutes respectively, and Ander Herrera was player of the match, “I want to dedicate the trophy to the [Manchester bombing] victims”, he said in a postgame interview. After the game, Mourinho told the press that this trophy is the most important in his managing career because it will be his last. “Of course, Champions League is bigger than Europa League, but that is the last trophy, and when the feelings are under the skin, and obviously, it is a fantastic feeling for the team. Manchester United coasted to a relatively easy victory thanks to Mourinho’s supreme tactics, capitalizing off Ajax’s mistakes, scoring on a counter attack and a set piece. Having won the EFL cup earlier this season, this is Manchester United’s second piece of silverware for the season. The win also secures participation for Manchester United in the Champions League next season, despite only finishing sixth this season in the English Premier League. This is also the first time United has won the Europa League, meaning they have one every trophy possible, for a grand total of 43 trophies in their existence. Mourinho ended what he has called his “most difficult season as a manager” on a good note after a number of fixtures that were difficult to watch. On a personal note, this win is Mourinho’s fourth major European trophy, and in his 14 major club finals, he has been victorious in 12 of them as a manager. Furthermore, he is the only manager to win both the Europa League and Champions League on two separate occasions. Mourinho won the UEFA Cup with Porto in 2003, before going on to win the Champions League in the following season. His second Champions League victory came in 2010 with Inter Milan. It is safe to say his most recent success has sealed his place in the history books. Some have pointed out that managers don’t always win anything in the best years and there are others who win in poor years… Mourinho’s one of the latter. Still, one could argue Manchester’s campaign this season was lackluster, especially when you consider all of the cash they splashed to bring in players during transfer windows. Mourinho has also received a lot of criticism in recent months and constantly must deal with nay sayers. The fact remains he failed to produce entertaining football for most of the season. A new season means new players, and footballers at Manchester United have expressed interest in playing alongside French strikers Antione Griezman of Atletico Madrid and Kylian Mbappe Lottin of AS Monaco. Champions League fixtures mean the players must carry this form on into the next season, in the Premier League as well. However, United look to be moving in the right direction since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure in 2013. And they surely have Mourinho to thank for that.