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Tuesday Kickoff: Messi expected to start alongside Neymar; Arsenal urged to pay up for Cabaye; and more

NeymarFCBarcelona3 (Getty)

By DAN KARELL

Wednesday could mark the first time since Neymar’s arrival at Barcelona that he and Lionel Messi would start a match at the same time.

As Neymar has been working his way to full fitness and Messi has been trying to play through a thigh injury, both haven’t been able to start a match together. However, it looks as if the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup is where we’ll see the two South American stars on the field at the same time, surely what Barcelona imagined when they acquired Neymar this summer.

Messi returned to training on Monday after missing out on Barcelona’s 1-0 victory last Sunday, while Neymar, even though he didn’t start, played 27 minutes off the bench and is thought to be fresh enough to start on Wednesday evening at the Camp Nou.

Here are some more stories to get your Tuesday started:

PARDEW TO ONLY SELL CABAYE AT RIGHT PRICE

With news spreading that Newcastle midfielder Yohan Cabaye has refused to play in each of their last two matches, the thought is that the team’s front office would be happy to offload him at whatever the price.

However, manager Alan Pardew came out on Tuesday and said that it’s not as simple as just letting him leave, and that he wouldn’t put the player ahead of the needs of the club.

“The bottom line with a world class player is that it (the fee) would have to be world class money,” Pardew told the Newcastle Chronicle.

Ten days ago, Arsenal submitted a bid in the region of £10 million for the French midfielder, much lower than Newcastle’s valuation. It’s thought that Arsenal would be forced to pay upwards of £20 million for Cabaye if they want to sign him.

GUNDOGAN SUFFERS INJURY SETBACK

Borussia Dortmund will have to wait at least another month until one of their key starters can take the field.

Ilkay Gundogan, who was so vital to Dortmund’s run to last season’s Champions League final, has suffered an injury set back and could be out for the next four weeks. The German international initially suffered a back injury on August 14 in a friendly international match against Paraguay and was originally expected to be back this week for full training.

The news means that Gundogan will almost certainly miss Germany’s World Cup qualifying matches against Austria and the Faroe Islands, while also missing the next few weeks of Dortmund games.

QUICK KICKS

Barcelona’s defensive midfielder Sergio Busquets has signed a new contract at the club through 2018, with a buyout clause of €150 million ($200 million). (REPORT)

Napoli owner Aurelio de Laurentiis announced on his Twitter feed that influential youngster Lorenzo Insigne had signed a new five-year contract, earning him €700,000 ($934,010) per season. (REPORT)

Both Georginio Wijnaldum and exciting 17-year-old Zakaria Bakkali will be in the PSV Eindhoven squad for Wednesday night’s Champions League match with AC Milan. (REPORT)

AS Monaco are set to activate the €20 million buyout clause of 20-year-old Geoffrey Kondogbia with Sevilla. (REPORT)

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What do you think of these developments? Excited to see Messi and Neymar start together? Do you see Arsenal signing Cabaye after all? Do you see BVB bringing in cover for Gundogan before the transfer window closes? Do you believe Busquets is smart to sign a contract with that high of a buy out clause?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. This site is very handy, and is actually much easier than combing through 10 sites worth of crap filler to find interesting news(which I do anyways). I really don’t see what was so hard to follow here.

    Reply
  2. $200 million for busquets…… he’s never going anywhere, and no one’s interested in him, so they might as well make it eleventy-jillion dollars

    Reply
    • You think nobody is interested in Sergio Busquets? Seriously? He’s easily one of the top 5 defensive midfielders in the world.

      Reply
    • I get that its hip on SBI to take shots at Barcelona consistently, but don’t kid yourself. If Vusquets became a free agent today the line to sign him would be out the door and it would headed by Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich.

      Reply
    • Saying no one is interested in him invalidates your whole post.

      Having said that, having a $200 million buyout is the same as not having a buyout when it comes to a defensive-minded player. The average fan likes goals, so goal-scorers jerseys sell much more, and clubs are more likely to recoup money from large transfer costs. Defensive players will never come close to the value of their attacking counterparts, so setting a buyout like this is just a waste of time.

      Reply
  3. So… about soccer

    I really think that Barcelona will play Messi too soon again and he will be stop/start all season.

    But despite that Messi has been injured so much this year, does anyone else think it won’t matter and he still wins the Ballon D’or?

    I think Ribery should get it personally.

    Reply
      • It’s based off the calendar year. He did win 2012. This year is for basically everything he did in 2013,

        Which is…. be injured.

      • no it’s not dude. 2013 is for everything in 2012. come on man.

        “award given annually to the player who is considered to have performed the best in the previous year.”

        so, 2012 was based on 2011. 2013 will be based on 2012. 2014 will be based on 2013, etc. that’s why at the start of 2012 everyone was wondering if CR would have a good enough season to beat Messi out for the 2013 Ballon d’Or. we’ll find out soon enough…

        now, if you were referring to the 2014 Ballon d’Or, then i apologize. i @ssumed you meant 2013.

      • http://www.fifa.com/ballondor/galaformat/index.html

        According to you 2012 Award would be for everything in 2011.

        Why did they wait to give the award FOR 2012, until Jan. 2013? Because they wanted the year to be finished.

        So, the award is given for 2013 will be in 2014 but right after the new year. But the name is the “2013 Ballon d’Or.

        So BRODUDEBRO

        Recap: 2013 is the year were currently in… The 2013 award will be given at the beginning of 2014. In 2013 Messi has been injuryed.

      • according to me? i quoted FIFA! i literally quoted the FIFA definition for the award. let me do it again for you:

        “…award given annually to the player who is considered to have performed the best in the previous year.”

        yes, the 2012 Ballon d’Or is based off of 2011 but was given to the players in January 2013. as is standard with EVERY year.

        in December 20XX the finalists are announced. then the award is always announced in January XY.

        don’t get mad at me because they do it that way and you are having trouble grasping the concept.

        so, again, the 2013 Ballon d’Or will be based on 2012 performance. the finalists will be announced in Dec. 2013 and the award will be given in January 2014. it’s just the way it is. stop fighting it.

      • Look, you clearly don’t understand how this works and are so caught up in me being wrong you refuse to read things.

        http://www.fifa.com/ballondor/playeroftheyear/index.html

        That is the 2012 award. For Ronaldo it says “2012 was yet another glorious year for the irrepressible Cristiano Ronaldo. With Portugal, he scored twice against the Netherlands and another against the Czech Republic to propel his side to the semi-finals of EURO 2012”

        Did Euro 2012 happen in 2011 too? Get some reading comprehension and pay attention to context.

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