■SPAIN
Eto’o receives huge offer
Barcelona have received a “stratospheric” offer for their Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o, but they want him to stay, club chairman Joan Laporta said on Sunday. “He has a stratospheric offer which would make him the world’s best-paid player,” Laporta told Spanish radio in comments published on the club’s Web site. However, Laporta has said all along he wants to keep the forward, while sports daily AS reported last week that there was a dearth of offers for the star, who bagged 30 goals in La Liga last season and also hit the opener in the 2-0 Champions League final win over Manchester United. “I think Eto’o would like to stay and I would like him to,” Laporta said. Eto’o’s current contract only runs for another year and AS indicated wage demands of some 10 million euros (US$14 million) a year were frightening off top clubs, although big-spending English Premier League club Manchester City, French side Lyon and Italy’s Inter are all said to be interested.
■SPAIN
Real make Benzema offer
Real Madrid have offered 32 million euros (US$45 million) for Lyon striker Karim Benzema after switching their attention to the France international from Valencia forward David Villa, sports daily Marca reported on Sunday. Marca said the French have yet to respond to Real’s offer, but last week Bernard Lacombe, adviser to Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas, told Marca that “nothing is impossible and if we receive a good offer, we will not close the door to anyone.” Lyon’s director of communications Olivier Blanc said merely that “the only news is Real Madrid contacted Olympique Lyon a few days ago to discuss Karim Benzema. Benzema and Olympique Lyon confirmed his initial desire is to stay another year with Lyon.” Manchester United are also admirers of Benzema, but Real have decided to swoop now given the reluctance of Valencia’s new chairman Manuel Llorente to sell them Spain striker Villa.
■ITALY
Wolfsburg deny Dzeko move
German champions VfL Wolfsburg are refusing to sell Edin Dzeko to AC Milan, the Bosnian striker said on Sunday. “Wolfsburg won’t let me go. Everyone knows that Milan are the team of my dreams, but I can not do anything,” the 23-year-old told Italy’s Sky television. Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani, looking for a new attacker after selling playmaker Kaka to Real Madrid, is not giving up despite Wolfsburg’s stance. “We will wait until the end of next week,” he told reporters. The Rossoneri chief also reiterated that striker Alexandre Pato will not be leaving the San Siro despite media reports saying former Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti had bid 60 million euros (US$84 million) to take the Brazilian to Chelsea.
■AUSTRALIA
Wolves, Fulham sales flop
A plan to showcase two English Premier League teams in Australia next month is threatening to be a flop because of a lack of early interest from local fans. Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham have been booked to play double-headers against Australian A-League clubs Perth and North Queensland. However, with less than two weeks to go before the first match, local officials said they had only sold about 9,000 tickets for the two double-headers. “I am staggered actually — I thought that the games would have been sold out within a week or two,” Perth owner Tony Sage told local radio. “It’s just disappointing to me that we haven’t even gone half way to selling out.”
Japanese badminton star Chiharu Shida on Tuesday told Chinese fans to “stop stalking” her, adding that she was “very scared” by the unwanted attention. Shida, who won women’s doubles bronze at the Paris Olympics last year, has a strong following in China partly because of her engagement with the local culture. The 27-year-old, currently competing at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, has been dubbed the “Badminton Goddess” by fans and media. She hit out at some supporters on Tuesday, accusing them in an Instagram post of taking their fandom too far. “Every time we compete in China we always experience the harm
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have shown the team do not need star power to win trophies and with the French Ligue 1 title won with six games to spare, the French champions would look to finish the season without losing, manager Luis Enrique said on Saturday. A 1-0 victory over Angers SCO at the Parc des Princes helped PSG win their fourth straight Ligue 1 title and a record-extending 13th overall. PSG can still break Nantes’ 30-year-old record of 32 games unbeaten. Although Nantes lost one game en route to the title, no French club has ever gone an entire league
THREES KINGS: The Celtics claimed a piece of league history by setting a new record for the number of threes in a season, ending their game with 1,370 Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun on Friday combined for 65 points as the Houston Rockets halted Oklahoma City’s 11-game winning streak with a statement 125-111 victory. In a potential Western Conference finals preview, the Rockets produced a dominant all-round performance to jolt the top-seeded Thunder’s all-conquering preparations for the post-season. Green finished with 34 points from 11-of-24 shooting, while Turkish big man Sengun made 31 points as second-placed Houston improved to 51-27. Oklahoma City grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter, but Houston soon knocked the Thunder out of their stride with a physical approach to move into the
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has failed in an attempt to persuade the PGA Tour to deliver serious concessions in exchange for a US$1.5 billion investment, leaving elite golf no closer to reconciliation just days from the season’s first major. The PGA Tour’s stance would give credence to the rising sense that the organization has increasing confidence in its position after a turbulent period caused by the formation of the Saudi-backed LIV Tour. Sources indicate that in correspondence sent to the PGA Tour last week, PIF sought assurances that the LIV circuit could continue to operate and that PIF governor Yasir
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