26 players and limited seatsJosé Mourinho currently has a squad of 26 players, at a time when the Portuguese coach wants to rely on just 20, plus 3 players nursing long-term injuries, namely Militao, Rodrygo and Ferland Mendy. That leaves Mourinho with 3 players surplus to requirements, even when the injured are counted within the squad.
The coach made his position clear after the Budapest match. “I want a small squad, made up of 20 players plus the injured ones,” he said. Now, with Thiago Pitarch’s promotion to the first team confirmed, Real Madrid’s numbers have swelled to 26.
Given the reservations of the current window, matters appear largely settled. Mourinho seems satisfied with what he has, save for a handful of players who may leave before the market closes.
Real Madrid spent 225 million euros on 6 signings to meet the coach’s needs: Diomande, Cucurella, Dumfries, Konaté, Bernardo Silva and Carlos Espai. Rodri was meant to be the standout deal, but the Manchester City midfielder left the club at a critical time, and there are as yet no plans to enter the market for another midfielder.
Signing a new central defender may still land on the table if the club receives a good offer for Asensio and the academy graduate agrees to leave, although he keeps repeating his desire to stay.
LaLigaEspanyolESP23 Aug 202603:30Real MadridRMAThree players look surplus to Mourinho’s needs, but he wants to lean on those capable of filling more than one role, such as Arda Güler and Bernardo Silva. Both can play right across the attacking line, and both can slot into midfield too.
The same applies to Bellingham. The coach believes that keeping players who get few minutes and little realistic chance of playing risks breeding a tense atmosphere in the dressing room, something he is desperate to avoid.
Camavinga is another Real Madrid still hope to sell, but the truth is the club has not yet received any serious offers for the Frenchman this summer. Camavinga has hinted at a desire to stay, though he may change his mind if a major club comes calling.
Should a suitable offer arrive, Real Madrid would not stand in his way, even if Mourinho admired what Camavinga produced through pre-season and praised his commitment in training.
Endrick’s situation was more sensitive, but the club shelved the idea of loaning him out at Mourinho’s request, according to the Spanish newspaper “AS”. Focus now turns to another player, Mendy, especially as the left-back position boasts 3 options.
Real Madrid want to resolve Mendy’s situation, but the player, according to AS, has no intention of leaving right now.
Finally, Real Madrid await offers for Asensio, who is highly confident he can convince Mourinho he is the right player for the project. The academy graduate put in plenty of work during pre-season before suffering a muscular injury in the quadriceps.
The injury is expected to keep Asensio out of training at Valdebebas for six weeks. That will only make serious offers harder to come by across the rest of the window.
Two players for every position: that is Mourinho’s plan. Yet a surplus lingers in some areas, most notably central defence, until Militao recovers, whose situation remains uncertain, and left-back, where Mendy is seen as a case that is difficult to rely on.
A surplus exists on the right wing too, softened by Bernardo Silva’s ability to fill several roles, including midfield, and there is an abundance up front.
Should any of these players leave, Real Madrid will treat it as a positive. If suitable offers fail to arrive, they will most likely stay put. Either way, the club has already laid the foundations of Mourinho’s squad. All that remains is to settle the fate of the surplus players before the transfer market closes.

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Núñez closes inTrabzonspor mean business this summer. The Turkish club have thrown themselves into the transfer market with ambitious moves in attack and midfield, determined to shake up the balance of power next season.Tickets for Trabzonspor matches in the Turkish leagueBuy your ticket now!Turkish website “61saat” report that Trabzonspor have made significant progress in their pursuit of Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez, hot on the heels of landing Mohamed Salah.The club have struck a preliminary agreement with Nunez worth 8 million euros, according to the same source, with the deal set to be wrapped up in the coming hours.Nunez has accepted the offer. The only obstacle left is the approval of his current club, Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia, to cover part of his salary, a decision expected today.Saudi Pro LeagueAl HilalHIL15 Aug 202602:00Al-FaisalyAFSSuper LigKasimpasaKAS16 Aug 202600:00TrabzonsporTRSShould Al-Hilal’s response come back positive, the official announcement will follow tomorrow, sealing one of the most eagerly awaited signings for the club’s fans.At 27, Nunez brings a serious scoring record. Across 306 matches in his professional career he has netted 117 goals and laid on 51 assists, making him a heavyweight addition up front.The midfield hunt has hit a wall, however. Negotiations with Argentine star Leandro Paredes, of Boca Juniors, have collapsed.People close to Paredes told Argentine newspaper “Ole”, as quoted by the Turkish website, that his recent brilliance at the World Cup had thrust his name back to the forefront of the European market and drawn interest from several clubs.Those same sources then settled the debate. Paredes is determined to stay and put down roots in Argentina for now, shutting the door on a switch to the Turkish league.Tickets for Trabzonspor matches in the Turkish leagueBuy your ticket now!One deal on the brink, another gone up in smoke. Trabzonspor press on with their intensive push to plug the gaps before the season kicks off.

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What’s the story?Eight years after first pulling on the Barcelona shirt, Uruguayan defender Ronald Araujo wore Liverpool’s colours for the first time as the Premier League club confirmed his move. It was a rare sight for Catalan fans. Only two days earlier, Araujo had worn the captain’s armband on the Camp Nou pitch.Spanish newspaper Sport report that German head coach Hansi Flick sat Araujo down for a frank and direct conversation. Flick admitted the defender would find it hard to enjoy the spotlight, explaining that his core idea rested on building a left-sided central defence, with Pau Cubarsi an untouchable piece in the future plan.Once Flick could not guarantee the standing Araujo wanted, the player’s stance shifted. Despite his commitment and history with the club, he chose to look for a way out with no promise of a starting role.The Premier League response came quickly. Liverpool contacted Araujo’s representatives last Wednesday to explore a deal, with the English club short at centre-back following Konate’s departure, the advancing age of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, and new arrival Jeremie Jacquet still short of the experience to offer immediate guarantees.Andoni Iraola spoke directly with Araujo on Wednesday to talk him into the switch. Liverpool’s head coach laid out the sporting project and the role he had in mind for the Uruguayan: a high-level defensive pairing alongside van Dijk.Club FriendliesLiverpoolLIV16 Aug 202619:00ComoCOMClub FriendliesBaselBAS16 Aug 202622:30BarcelonaBARThe loan sees Liverpool cover Araujo’s full salary, with a purchase option of 55 million euros written into the agreement. That gives the English club the chance to make the move permanent at the end of the season.Flick addressed the Uruguayan in his press conference after the Udinese match. He praised him, but insisted his style does not fit particularly well with Barcelona’s current philosophy.One striking detail stands out. Sport revealed that the loan terms carry no fear clause, so Araujo can play as normal against Barcelona should the two sides meet in the Champions League, with nothing stopping him from facing his former club.

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Continuing uncertaintyReal Madrid keep shrouding their new arrivals in secrecy. Mourinho, Marc Cucurella, Ibrahim Konaté, Denzel Dumfries, Bernardo Silva, Espí and Yan Diomandé all joined during the summer window, yet not one has been officially presented. That leaves a manager and six players in limbo, among them the most expensive deal in the club’s history.
According to the Spanish newspaper “Mundo Deportivo”, every one of them has already spoken to the club’s official media. None, though, has been given a proper unveiling in the usual fashion, Mourinho included, despite him being the Merengues’ first signing back in June.
Speculation over the dates rumbles on. Word was that the presentations would follow the World Cup, but that never materialised, and the whole business has turned into a genuine puzzle.
Every new player is already at Valdebebas and taking part in training. They have joined the pre-season preparations without a single official presentation to mark it.
One theory suggests the club could unveil all the signings together inside the Santiago Bernabéu, though that remains nothing more than a rumour for now.
Club FriendliesDeportivo de A CorunaCOR13 Aug 202603:00Real MadridRMAReports also linked Mourinho’s presentation to the launch of his Netflix documentary. The film drops today, yet there is no sign of the manager being presented alongside it.
Throughout the summer, neither Real Madrid, nor Mourinho, nor the players showed much appetite for the whole affair. That does not mean the presentations will never happen.
As the Spanish newspaper put it, the plain truth is this: no date, no place and no time have been fixed for presenting these new signings.

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A decisive meeting between Deco and Hugo VianaBarcelona and Manchester City are continuing their negotiations over Rodri’s move to the Catalan club, after the player settled his position and expressed his desire to wear the Barcelona shirt next season, turning down offers from Real Madrid, as well as Manchester City’s offer to renew his contract.
Both parties want an agreement as quickly as possible. Yet the negotiations remain more complicated than they appear, with a clear disagreement over the financial terms of the deal, according to the Spanish newspaper “Marca”.
Some press reports have claimed Barcelona and Manchester City have reached a final agreement over Rodri’s move. They haven’t. The talks are nowhere near that stage.
Despite the good relationship between the two clubs, an agreement does not appear to be close. Barcelona put an initial offer worth 50 million euros on the table to secure the player, and Manchester City rejected it.
The English club want at least 70 million euros to part with the Spanish midfielder. Barcelona, for now, do not appear willing to pay that amount.
Deco, Barcelona’s sporting director, is expected to meet Hugo Viana, Manchester City’s sporting director, in the coming hours, in an attempt to bring the two viewpoints closer together and reach a formula that satisfies both parties.
Variables linked to the player’s performance may form part of the solution, with Barcelona insisting on a financial ceiling lower than Manchester City’s demands.
Both sporting directors are working to speed up the talks, driven by Hansi Flick’s desire for Rodri to join his squad as soon as possible.
Rodri had been expected to join Barcelona’s training on Wednesday, alongside the rest of the Spain national team players. Completing the deal by that date looks difficult given the negotiations are still ongoing.
The midfielder will also undergo a medical examination before completing his move, while several details in the agreement between Barcelona and Manchester City still need to be settled and given the finishing touches.

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Who is he?With the summer window winding down, Barcelona are in a frenzy to reshape their squad. The focus falls on Rodri, Julian Alvarez and Cancelo. But first they need a sale to ease the wage ceiling and fund the ambitious plan of sporting director Deco and head coach Hansi Flick.Spanish newspaper “Sport” report that French defender Jules Kounde could be one of those to leave should a tempting offer arrive. Arsenal have shown serious interest in him as an alternative to their primary target, Aston Villa’s Konsa, whose club want more than 75 million euros. The Gunners think that figure is excessive.Ronald Araujo has already gone, and Barcelona hope to bank around 40 million euros from selling Marc Casado in the coming days. Kounde offers another route to extra income despite his recent renewal until 2030, with every indicator pointing to his desire to stay with the Blaugrana.A conversation with Flick still awaits, though. The German has already spelled out the situations of Araujo and Casado, and the Frenchman lost his shine last season. From the look of things, Flick prefers to build around Eric Garcia in the centre.Kounde is exactly the kind of player who enchants Mikel Arteta. Arsenal’s manager wants a versatile hybrid defender who can play centre-back and right-back, and his side are suffering serious defensive problems at the start of the season. William Saliba is out indefinitely with back problems. Timber, meanwhile, has chronic thigh issues that make it hard for him to play consistently.Club FriendliesArsenalARS13 Aug 202602:30ComoCOMClub FriendliesBaselBAS16 Aug 202622:30BarcelonaBARBarcelona are waiting on events for now and preparing for every scenario. They would certainly accept a multi-million offer for Kounde, provided they land a first-class centre-back to replace him. Flick will cover the left flank with Cancelo, whose signing is now imminent, plus Balde. On the right he has Eric Garcia and the promising Xavi Espart, who is clearly winning the German coach over.Paris Saint-Germain also want a first-class defender, yet the French club have taken no serious steps in that direction. Every sign suggests they will sign a young player of great promise instead. Bayern Munich hold Kounde in their portfolio too, though the Bavarians need to sell more than buy.The final word rests with Kounde himself. He has joined collective training and is waiting for Flick to clarify his situation. His sky-high market value and his contract until 2030 hand Barcelona significant negotiating power.

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Bags packed and the date drawing nearFerran Torres and Rodri Hernandez are racing against time to avoid returning to Barcelona and Manchester City, amid ongoing negotiations over the move of each to a new club during the summer transfer window, according to the Spanish newspaper “Mundo Deportivo”.
Both men are watching the talks closely, with a return to training at their current clubs now looming. Each wants his future sorted as soon as possible so he can slot straight into the preparations of his new team, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona.
The internationals who lasted until the final week of the World Cup are nearing the end of their holidays, and Ferran Torres and Rodri Hernandez are waiting anxiously on the fate of their futures.
Their agents are pushing to get the transfers over the line. Barcelona striker Ferran Torres is now close to leaving the Catalan club for Paris Saint-Germain, while Rodri is close to leaving Manchester City for Barcelona.
Speed is everything for both players over the coming days, so they can begin work with their new teams without delay rather than report back to their current clubs.
Ferran Torres is expected to return to training next Wednesday, 12 August, alongside the rest of the Spanish players yet to resume work with Barcelona.
That leaves all parties precious little time on Tuesday to close the deal and spare Ferran Torres another appearance at the Joan Gamper Sports City on Wednesday morning, ahead of the new season.
Rodri has more time to settle his transfer
Rodri, by contrast, has a bigger window to settle his future. Manchester City have set Friday 14 August as the date for his return to training.
His coach Enzo Maresca recently indicated that Rodri “will be in Manchester on Friday”, a reference to the Spanish midfielder’s return to the English club.
Succeed in the talks over the coming days, though, and Barcelona and Manchester City spare Rodri the trip back to England. He would head straight to Barcelona to begin a new chapter in his career.
Hansi Flick is eagerly awaiting Rodri’s arrival, viewing him as one of the key pieces in Barcelona’s project for the new season, while the Catalan club keep working to wrap up the deal as quickly as possible.
So Ferran Torres and Rodri find themselves in a race against time. The former’s return to Barcelona is coming up fast, while the latter has a few extra days before his scheduled return to Manchester City, with the negotiations still to decide their fate for good.

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What about the Diriyah negotiations?Saudi press reports have revealed the fate of Ahli player Enzo Millot’s departure from the club and his move to Diriyah during the current summer transfer window, amid the player’s name being linked with a departure from the club.Saudi Roshn League match ticketsBuy your ticket now!Saudi newspaper “Al-Yaum” quoted sources close to Ahli: “Enzo Millot currently rejects the idea of leaving the club and moving to Diriyah, as the player is insisting on officially continuing with the team next season.”Saudi Pro LeagueAl DiriyahDIR14 Aug 202602:00Al AhliAHLAhli’s officials want Millot gone this summer, a call driven by the head coach and the club’s sporting management.Beyond his exit, the board are hunting more than one new face before the window shuts, keen to reinforce the squad ahead of the new season.Saudi newspaper “Arriyadiyah” reports that Diriyah have struck a deal with Ahli over Millot’s switch to the newly promoted Roshn League side, a loan running until the end of the new season.Saudi Roshn League match ticketsBuy your ticket now!Millot joined Ahli at the start of last season from Germany’s Stuttgart. Jaissle pushed hard for the deal, viewing the Frenchman as an important addition to his midfield and rating his ability to carry out the German coach’s technical ideas.

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The former AC Milan defender speaksAlessandro ‘Billy’ Costacurta, former defender and now a Sky pundit, speaks to the Corriere dello Sport.AC Milan”After a fairly strange start, they have moved well. They signed an excellent defender like Gila, a good striker like Gonçalo Ramos, who works very hard for the team, and they kept Modric, which counts as a signing. Then there is Amorim, and I like him: after the death of Baresi he recalled his legacy and I liked that. He is a coach who can restore enthusiasm. The new players are good, the squad is good, now they need those from last year to raise their level. Then AC Milan can return to the Champions League. What are this AC Milan side missing to return to the levels of yours? We had owners who spent more than anyone else in Europe. Now they are not in the top ten and you can see that in the wrong choice of some players, who have been the great disappointment of the last two years. We need to understand whether it was a problem of character or of the environment. When things became complicated they collapsed mentally, just look at the end of last season: I blame them more than the manager or the ownership”.

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Al-Riyadh have announced their return to the top table of the Roshn Saudi League in style. The “School of the Central Region” have wrapped up one of the standout deals of the summer window, signing Egypt international star Mahmoud Hassan Trezeguet.Saudi Roshn League match ticketsBuy your ticket now!Sources close to Al-Riyadh told Saudi Arabia’s “Arriyadiyah” newspaper that the board had secured the Professional League Association’s approval to close the deal. The club have already signed the Egyptian winger, with an official announcement due within the coming hours now that they have met the registration requirements.Saudi Pro LeagueAl-EttifaqALI15 Aug 202602:00Al RiyadhALRClub FriendliesBarcelonaBAR20 Aug 202602:00Al Ahly SCAHLThe move followed a key milestone. Last Thursday, the club chaired by Bandar Al-Muqail received the “financial competence” certificate after satisfying every condition set by the association, becoming officially eligible to register its new players in the first-team squad.Trezeguet, 31, ended his contract with Egypt’s Al-Ahly last month and joins Al-Riyadh on a free transfer, capping a professional journey that spans ten years.Saudi Roshn League match ticketsBuy your ticket now!The Egyptian winger arrives with a rich CV. He has turned out for English side Aston Villa, plus Trabzonspor, Kasımpaşa and Istanbul Başakşehir in Turkey, Anderlecht and Mouscron in Belgium, and Qatar’s Al-Rayyan.He returned last summer to his parent club Al-Ahly, where he came up through the youth ranks before earning promotion to the first team in 2012.His overseas adventure began in 2015 with a loan move to Belgium’s Anderlecht. The club then made the transfer permanent.

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