Newcastle United, a club that has faced death head on in the form of relegation multiple times in its Premier League career, stays above the black line yet again to face another year in England’s top flight of football.
Juventus have announced the signing of Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira on a free transfer after his contract and role at the Bernabeu have come to an end. He was overshadowed by the dominance of Kroos, his fellow national teammate, in the midfield, and even by Sergio Ramos sporadically throughout European competitions.
Danny Ings will leave for Anfield this summer after completing his first season in the Premier League.
The some of the best minds in the world have come together to create the CIES biannual survey of player value in the transfer market, and while most of the conclusions that they come to will not surprise you — Lionel Messi is by far the most valuable — one almost certainly will: Eden Hazard is officially more valuable than Cristiano Ronaldo.
There is no doubting that Javier Hernandez has learned a lot during his time at Real Madrid. He has struggled and matured more in the past year than he has in his entire career.
The18 grew deeply excited this morning as it turned to the back pages (read: internet) of The Liverpool Echo and came across the words "Liverpool remain favourites to sign Swedish mega star Zlatan Ibrahimovic". And all for just $16 million.
In a day of ups and downs for Italian Champions Juventus - one that has seen them lose start defender Giorgio Chiellini ahead of their Champions League Final clash with Barcelona - the team has announced that they have officially signed Paulo Dybala from Palermo.
Dybala joins Juventus, penning a five-year contract with the club. More on his signing here: http://t.co/4eKKE8DWnw pic.twitter.com/WC7PoefO6V
We're not sure who originated this story, so we'll simply tell you that The Daily Mail - the Fox News of tabloid journalism - is reporting that Andrea Pirlo is set to accept an offer from New York City FC to come and spray cultured 40 yard passes all over MLS, once he's dispensed with the trivialities of a Champions League final. The story is being repeated by a slew of other media outlets, from Manchester to Madrid to Manhattan.
Memphis Depay might as well have been riding a meteor for the past year. He entered last Summer as an unknown to most of the mainstream soccer world, and made a name for himself at Brazil 2014 in a Dutch side that many thought would struggle to offer attacking options outside of the triumvirate of Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, and Robin van Persie. He kept the momentum of his World Cup success going all season at his club side PSV Eindhoven, where he led the club and the league in scoring from his position on the wing, and was a major factor in winning the league title.
It’s easy to see why Manchester United are so keen to land PSV Eindhoven’s Dutch winger Memphis Depay. The 21-year-old, who made a handful of eye-catching cameo appearances for The Netherlands at last year’s World Cup, is the Eredivisie’s leading scorer with 16 goals from midfield, and notched up another 13 last season. When The18 asked its Eredivisie scout (honestly, we have one) who "the next big thing" to come out of Holland will be, Depay was the first name on the list (and our scout's a Feyenoord supporter), in no small part because of goalscoring feats such as these: