Sao Paulo: Brazilian club Santos accepted the offers made by Barcelona and Real Madrid for young striker Neymar, who will now decide where he wants to go. Details of the offers were not made official, but Brazilian media reported that Real Madrid are willing to pay 35 million for Neymar, 7 million more than rivals Barcelona. Real Madrid also reportedly offered a bigger salary, but the player has said in the past that his personal preference is to play alongside Lionel Messi in Barcelona.
Santos vice president Odilio Rodrigues said early on Saturday that the offers were "similar," but admitted that Neymar had a "gentleman's agreement" with Barcelona. Neymar learned the details of the offers past midnight Brazilian time in the coastal city of Santos, but left Santos' headquarters without giving any hints about which team he will choose.
"I'm happy to know that these two clubs are interested in me. I'm very proud; it's one of the happiest moments of my life," a smiling Neymar said. "I'll look at both the offers very carefully. I'll go home and make a decision along with my family. I'm not in a hurry. The decision may come in five minutes, in half an hour or in three days."
Neymar was accompanied by his dad, Neymar Silva Santos, who handles the player's career. He said it will be mostly up to the youngster to decide his future. "We are not going to rush into a decision," Santos said. "We will
09:11 AM, May 25, 2013
Rio de Janeiro: Barcelona have reportedly made a final offer of 23 million euros to sign Brazil international striker Neymar during the European summer transfer window. The Catalan club's football director Raul Sanllehi returned to Spain Thursday after a week of negotiations with Neymar's club Santos and his representatives, Estado de S.Paulo newspaper reported. The Brazilian outfit has reportedly rejected successive bids of 18 million euros and 20 million euros...
03:54 PM, May 24, 2013
Madrid: FC Barcelona confirmed that the football club has agreed to extend the contract of utility player Adriano Correia until the end of June 2017. Adriano has signed a four year-extension with the club he joined in the summer of 2010 for 9.5 million euros from Sevilla and has so far made 105 appearances in which he has scored 10 goals, reports Xinhua. This has perhaps been his most productive...
04:02 PM, May 23, 2013
Pellegrini, who had previously coached Villarreal and Real Madrid in Spain, arrived at Malaga in November 2010. ...
03:13 PM, May 23, 2013
Rio de Janeiro: Santos have rejected a 20 million-euro offer from Barcelona for Brazil star Neymar. The Brazilian outfit, which last week turned down Barcelona's initial 18 million-euro bid for the striker, made the decision after a meeting of the club's board on Wednesday night, reports Xinhua. "Santos has analysed the the proposal and it doesn't meet our requirements," Santos vice-president Odilio Rodrigues told O Globo. "He (Neymar) remains a...
02:03 PM, May 23, 2013
Madrid: Barcelona utility player Adriano Correia has agreed a four-year contract extension until 2017, the La Liga champions said in a statement on Wednesday. The Brazilian, who was signed from Sevilla in 2010, has a buy-out clause of 90 million euros. "He's become known as one of the most versatile players on Barcelona's roster," Barca said. "He's performed well in the centre back position, as well as the right and...
11:33 PM, May 22, 2013
Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian striker Neymar has agreed in principle to join Barcelona, July 1. The 21-year-old striker is understood to have signed a deal last week to join the Spanish giants following the Confederations Cup in Brazil, reports Xinhua. Neymar's current club Santos could ratify the deal on Wednesday. As anticipation surrounding the move intensified, Barcelona star Lionel Messi said Neymar would be a "wonderful signing" for the Catalan...
02:39 PM, May 22, 2013
Madrid: Florentino Perez's record as Real Madrid president was under scrutiny on Tuesday after the construction magnate's latest coaching project ended in disarray with the premature departure of Jose Mourinho. Perez, who is up for reelection next month, announced on Monday Mourinho would be leaving at the end of the season, three years before his contract expires. The world's richest club by income finished their latest campaign without a major...
05:09 PM, May 21, 2013
Here is a look at the life and career of Jose Mourinho, the charismatic Portuguese manager, who will leave Real Madrid at the end of the season after reaching an agreement with the club on Monday to leave three years before the end of his contract: EARLY DAYS: - Jose Mourinho was born in January 1963 in Setubal, Portugal. - Following a modest playing career, he accepted a job in...
09:43 AM, May 21, 2013
Madrid: Mallorca's hopes of avoiding relegation from the Spanish league were kept alive by a 1-0 win against Real Betis on Monday. With two rounds left, 19th-place Mallorca are three points behind 17th-place Deportivo La Coruna but with an inferior goal difference. Mallorca striker Tomer Hemed scored in the 21st minute from close to the penalty spot after goalkeeper Adrian San Miguel saved Victor Casadesus Castano's initial shot. Betis stayed...
09:10 AM, May 21, 2013
Jose Mourinho will leave Real Madrid at the end of the season having once again produced some golden quotes. Here are some of the Portuguese coach's most memorable utterances over the years as well as what others have said about him. WHILE PORTO COACH: "The only thing that I want to say is that we are the best ones and in normal conditions we are more than the best ones....
09:00 AM, May 21, 2013
Madrid: Jose Mourinho will leave Real Madrid at the end of the season after three years at the Spanish club, paving the way for his expected return to Chelsea. The Portuguese coach's final season at Madrid has been blighted by divisions and a lack of trophies, but he is free to leave three years early from his contract after the final match on June 1 without any compensation involved. "To...
11:42 PM, May 20, 2013
Singapore: Atletico Madrid will not stand in the way of striker Radamel Falcao if he wants to leave the club this offseason, general manager Miguel Angel Gil Marin said Monday. Marin said in Singapore that it's up to Falcao to decide whether to say at Atletico-the newly crowned Copa del Rey champions-but the club would support him no matter what he chooses. "Before the start of the season we talked...
06:42 PM, May 20, 2013
Paris: Paris Saint-Germain coach Carlo Ancelotti wants to leave the club and says Real Madrid is a possible destination. The Italian had a meeting to discuss his future with club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and sporting director Leonardo on Sunday. But it's believed the recently crowned French league champions are reluctant to release him a year before his contract expires. "We had a meeting and I asked to leave the club,"...
09:11 AM, May 20, 2013
Barcelona: Newly crowned Spanish champion Barcelona celebrated winning the league title in front of their home fans by easing to a 2-1 victory over Valladolid on Sunday. While rain and dropping temperatures threatened to dampen the party in the stands, Barcelona had little trouble keeping alive its bid to equal Real Madrid's 2012 record haul of 100 points even without the injured Lionel Messi. The weather cleared up in time...
08:26 AM, May 20, 2013
Barcelona: Real Sociedad came back to win 2-1 at Sevilla and Valencia beat Getafe 1-0 on Saturday as both teams remained locked on points in their fight for a fourth-place finish in the Spanish league. Sociedad remained ahead of fifth-place Valencia on head-to-head goal difference and in control of Spain's last Champions League spot with two rounds to go. The Basque side fell behind 10 minutes in at Sanchez Pizjuan...
08:29 AM, May 19, 2013
Madrid: Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho were sifting through the debris of what the Portuguese coach termed a "disastrous" 2012-13 campaign after Friday's King's Cup final defeat left the world's richest club without a major trophy for the season. The 2-1 reverse to Atletico Madrid at their own Bernabeu stadium meant Mourinho, widely expected to move on at the end of this term, finished a season without significant silverware for...
05:10 PM, May 18, 2013
Madrid: A Copa del Rey final defeat against Atletico Madrid capped the worst season of Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho's career, the Portuguese said on Friday after the 2-1 loss left him without a major title this season. Widely expected to move on at the end of the campaign and linked with a return to Chelsea, a grim-faced Mourinho gave little away about his future but said Real, the world's...
09:18 AM, May 18, 2013
Madrid: Barcelona have confirmed that striker Leo Messi will miss the rest of the season as a result of the muscle injury which forced him out of his side's 2-1 win away over Atletico Madrid. The fact that Messi's injury is a relapse of the hamstring problem, which he originally suffered in the quarter-final of the Champions League April 2 and which has troubled him ever since, is a key...
01:16 PM, May 14, 2013
Paris: Paris St Germain have rejected a bid by Real Madrid to hire coach Carlo Ancelotti, club president Nasser al Khelaifi said on Monday. "They (Real) came and I discussed it with them. He's got a contract with us for one more year...for me, he's here next year. He's a fantastic guy and I'm sure he'll respect his contract," Al Khelaifi said. Ancelotti refused to confirm he would stay at...
10:35 PM, May 13, 2013
