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Lionel Messi was reportedly close to joining Inter Miami; Messi’s current deal with Paris Saint-Germain runs until the end of the season and an extension to stay on remains possible; Messi will only consider options in January as his focus is on helping Argentina progress in the World Cup

Lionel Messi is expected to stay in European football at least until 2024, despite reports he is close to agreeing a deal to join MLS club Inter Miami next year.

Sky Sports News has been told that Messi is not close to a new agreement with any club – including his current team Paris Saint-Germain, who want to keep him beyond his current deal which expires in 2023.

However, remaining at PSG is Messi’s first option and the French club are understood to have approached him about entering negotiations over an extension.

Messi is concentrating on the World Cup with Argentina so will not consider his future options formally until January, when he can also speak to other top clubs outside France.

The 35-year-old believes he still has more years left in him at the top European level, having settled and impressed further in his second season at PSG.

Barcelona chief Joan Laporta has made no secret of his desire to bring Messi back to the Nou Camp, if they can afford him, stating earlier this month: “Leo knows that Barcelona is always his home.”

The MLS is an interesting option for Messi in the future, having spoken openly about wanting to play there in the past, but Sky Sports News has been told this is unlikely to be a destination for him until at least 2024 or even 2025.

And – despite reports they are confident of landing the Argentina star and close to agreeing a deal – his MLS destination is by no means assured to be David Beckham’s Inter Miami either at this stage.

The Barcelona president says the club will be subjected to the 1:4 rule in the summer again

FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, spoke to the media at the first edition of the Fundació de Enric Masip charity tournament at the Sant Cugat Golf Club. He spoke about the continued spending limits applied by LaLiga and the January transfer window.

Barça continue with their objective of constantly strengthening the squad and, asked about the club’s chances of signing in the January transfer window, Laporta left the door ajar.

“Now, we are at the 1:1 rule in terms of spending (can spend everything they save/bring in), but in the summer we will be back at the 1:4 rule (can only re-invest 25% of saving/money raised),” Laporta explained.

“If we had to sign someone, it would be better to do it in the winter, but we have a very competitive team: we are the club that contributes the most players to the World Cup ( 17). It shows a job well done and is clear proof that Xavi is doing a great job.”

Laporta continued: “We do not plan to do anything in January unless unforeseen circumstances occur that we have to resolve. That is because we already did our work in the summer with the ‘palancas’, which gave us a very competitive team. We are satisfied with how the season is going, despite the slip in the Champions League.”

He also had words for LaLiga, commenting that “the league’s (rules) restrict us more and more. They don’t stop in their effort to make it more and more strict. If they had had this obsession with ‘fair play’ a while go, we would not be here now. I hope flexibility prevails.”

They asked the Spanish stars to do them a favour on Thursday

The match between Spain and Germany ended 1-1 and Luis Enrique and Hansi Flick embraced, a detail of the good relationship the two coaches have. There are many more points in common between the two teams that faced each other at Al Bayt.

Antonio Rüdiger plays for Real Madrid, where he coincides with Carvajal and Asensio. The Catalans have Ter Stegen at FC Barcelona. Dani Olmo also at Lepizig with several selected from Germany.

At the end of the game, there was a curious detail that Cadena Cope spotted. Antonio Rudiger went looking for Carvajal while he attended the media. He approached by his side and said: “Now beat Japan.”

Dani Olmo himself admitted after the game that several of his teammates came up to him to ask him to win against Japan. “We will do it because we always go out with this idea,” said the winger.

A point would see Spain qualify although only in second place if Costa Rica beat Germany.

The Seleçao expects a substantial improvement from the blaugrana against Switzerland given Neymar’s absence due to injury.

Raphinha will be closely watched on Monday in the Brazil-Switzerland match, which could seal their place in the round of 16.

The Barça winger, who is expected to start, must step up from his debut against Serbia, for two implied reasons.

The absence of Neymar Jr. due to injury, who is the undisputed leader of the Seleçao and the team’s most influential player, leaves a huge hole to fill.

If not for that, the Blaugrana has been the target of criticism (sometimes unjust because of its virulence) for the chances spurned on opening day.

Tite will continue to rely on Raphinha, because he is very pleased with his tactical position, sacrificing himself in the defence as he did in Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United, and because he was brave in all offensive actions, even though his aim was off.

The Brazilian coach has never considered taking the Barcelona player out of the team. In addition, Antony, who is his immediate substitute, has not been in the team for two days in a row due to “discomfort”, according to the CBF.

The last few hours have not been easy for Raphinha off the pitch either. A sector of the Brazilian press has criticized him for his fiery defence of Neymar Jr. on social media, with a post that said “the biggest mistake of Neymar’s career was to be born Brazilian, this country does not deserve his talent and his soccer”.

Neymar Jr.’s stance in defending the vote for the far-right Jair Bolsonaro during the recent election campaign further polarized the country. And the number 10’s injury, which has left him out of the group stage, has not endeared him to a sector of the Brazilian population that does not forgive him for his support of the extreme right.

Ex-footballer Walter Casagrande Jr. has been extremely critical of Raphinha’s post. “What Brazil does not deserve is to have supporters of fascists, racists, homophobes and sexists like Neymar himself and some others who are also in the Seleçao. I prefer to think that you, Raphinha, don’t know what you are sharing on the internet because if you agree with this, consciously, I am very sorry. Maybe you don’t deserve to be Brazilian either,” he said in his column on the UOL portal.

He also recommended the Culé study Brazilian history and further added that “Raphinha is trying hard to take Neymar’s place as the Seleçao’s disliked one”.

“He’s the type of footballer we need. He knows the project and we’re talking. I hope he joins us. It depends on him”, the Barça coach acknowledged in an interview on ‘ESPN’
“He has a goal, dribbling, a brutal ability to make a difference”, has analyzed the Egarense coach

Since his arrival on the FC Barcelona bench, Xavi Hernández has taken on a very important role in some negotiations to reinforce the Barça squad, in addition to being the technical director of the first team. The culé club has benefited from his figure, highly valued in the world of football, to convince footballers like Robert Lewandowski or Jules Koundé. The Egarense coach has acknowledged, in an interview on ‘ESPN’, that he has also made a move to obtain the services of one of the most promising Brazilian pearls, Endrick.

“We have been speaking with his father and also directly with the player. I explained to them the project we have at Barça. We want talent and he is a talent. He has a goal, a dribble, a brutal ability to make a difference. He is a player of the present, who is already playing in the Brazilian league, and also of the future”, he confessed. “He is the type of footballer we need. Get to know the project and we are talking. I hope you will join us. It depends on him,” he added.

In the same interview, Xavi explained why he rejected the Brazilian team when he was managing Al-Sadd. “They came to Qatar and offered me to be part of the Tite coaching staff, but I wanted to be a coach, not an assistant. It would have been a tremendous opportunity, but it didn’t happen because it was clear to me that I wanted to be a Barça coach. That was my dream and here I am”, he has valued.

Barcelona are worried Uruguay are trying to rush the defender back from injury

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez travelled to Doha (Qatar) on Friday to spend five days there watching the World Cup in situ and attending to his agreements with those responsible for the World Cup as an ambassador of the tournament, according to an agreement signed when he was a player for Al Saad.

At the same time, Xavi will take advantage of the opportunity to watch some football matches live (including Spain-Germany). One of the missions will be to meet with Ronald Araújo, a player who is recovering from an injury. He suffered a thigh problem in Uruguay’s friendly against Iran at the end of September. On his return to Barcelona, they advised him after surgery he would be out for two-three months, a time that he is close to completing in the best-case scenario.

However, the pessimistic report from the two Barça physiotherapists who are in Doha with the Uruguayan central defender has caused alarm bells to go off about his recovery because they feel Uruguay are forcing him so that he can play as soon as possible. He was not available for the first game on Thursday but could be for the second, against Portugal next Monday.

Xavi’s objective is to meet with the player and with the Uruguay coach Diego Alonso to put a stop to the rush and encourage medical evaluations to prevail before any decision. Xavi does not want Araujo to suffer a relapse and will seek to protect the player.

Barça have already suffered from the absence of central defenders this season. In the decisive stretch of the Champions League in October, they were missing Araujo, Koundé and Christensen, which cost them in the games against Inter Milan

“To see what happens with his agreement, but all the good players have to be in the Barça”, recognized
“He has a lot of quality and it’s a decision he has to make,” he added.

Pedri is being one of the sensations of the season. In the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he is one of the benchmarks for the Spanish team, but also for the entire competition. At just 20 years old, today, just turned, he monopolizes all the ‘flashes’ and is the center of attention of the media.

During an interview with ‘Cadena Cope’, the Barça midfielder was asked if he would sign Marco Asensio, a teammate of the national team, but a rival in La Liga, given that in recent months he has been linked to the Blaugrana team.

“He has a lot of quality, let’s see what happens with his contract but all the good players have to be at Barça. Let’s see what happens with his contract but he has plenty of qualities. It’s a decision he has to make,” said the Canarian in the aforementioned interview.

It should be remembered that Asensio ends his contract with Real Madrid on June 30 and did not close the doors of the Camp Nou recently. “Now I only think about Real Madrid, but in the future you never know what can happen,” he replied.

The Catalan club fear Uruguay could rush the centre-back back into action

Even though Barcelona demanded that the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) did not force Ronald Araujo’s recovery so that he can take part in the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the South American team assure that they have no complaints with the Catalan club, according to Cope.

“If they’re upset, it’s their problem,” adds the quoted information about the position of the Uruguayan team. They also add that the player’s camp is calm and that when he is recovered, they will give him the all-clear to return to action.

Uruguay have ruled him out for the first two matches of the group stage, starting with South Korea on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. and followed by Portugal on Monday at 8:00 p.m.

It is also almost impossible for him to play against Ghana in the third and final match of the group, a week Friday at 11:00 a.m.

Before joining the Uruguayan squad in Qatar, Barça and the AUF reached an agreement and agreed that Araujo would form part of the group, but that he would remain under the supervision and guidelines of two physiotherapists from FC Barcelona.

However, the Blaugrana physios have not been able to carry out their work according to the recovery guidelines that had been set since the beginning of the recovery process.

If the AUF insists on not respecting the agreement reached with Barça and force Araujo’s recovery so that he is available for coach Diego Alonso, Barça are willing to take the case with FIFA.

The Spanish manager has taken Arsenal to the top of the Premier League

It is not a secret that Barcelona have Mikel Arteta in mind as a future coach. Arteta is a coach in fashion in England. His Arsenal side lead the Premier League, which is a result of his rebuild over the last two years.

He changed a lot of the big players, like Aubameyang, and helped others, like Granit Xhaka, re-find their best form after several poor finishes in the league.

The club stuck with him and let him build and that has been the key to the success of a coach that Barcelona has in its sights.

Arteta has a contract until 2025. But the American owners are already pressing him to extend his deal as part of a long-term project.

The Spaniard also knows that he is an option to replace Pep Guardiola at Manchester City one day, where he was previously the assistant, although Guardiola has recently signed a new deal until 2025.

That is why he does not want to rush any decision. What is clear is that it depends on what happens on the Barcelona bench in the meantime

The summer of 2025 will be very busy and Arteta could become the most coveted coach by the biggest clubs.

Spain defeated Costa Rica at Al Thumama Stadium today, Wednesday, in the first round of the 2022 World Cup in Group E competitions.

Ferran Torres scored two goals for Spain in his country’s 7-0 victory over Costa Rica.

The 23-year-old Spanish striker played fearlessly against Barcelona, ​​where every opportunity went to Dembele

There is a long talk here about the midfielder of La Roja Pedri, who played today to enjoy while Barcelona we see him running more.

Here it is also worth mentioning the veteran defender Jordi Alba, who was assigned today a liberal offensive role and creates many opportunities.
As for the anchor player, nicknamed the pivot of the earth, Sergio Busquets, we felt as if he could play for four more years.

Gavi was the star of the match and scored many goals because Enrique hired him, and the Spain national team player won the man of his team award against Costa Rica.

Jaffe became the third youngest goal scorer in the history of the World Cup after Brazilian Pele in the 1958 World Cup against Sweden at the age of 17 years and 249 days.

This is in addition to Argentine Manuel Rosas, at the age of 18 years and 93 days, against Mexico in the 1930 edition.

With Enrique’s experience and mentality, he brought out the best in them because of their correct employment and knowledge of their roles without randomness. This is the difference between a coach with years of experience and a coach with his early beginnings.