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Wednesday Kickoff: Clubs lining up for Di Maria; Peralta moves to América; and more

AngelDiMariaRealMadrid1-Levante2014 (Getty)

By DAN KARELL

Clubs in France and England are lining up to sign one of Real Madrid’s best players this season ahead of the 2014 World Cup.

Angel Di Maria has plenty of suitors across the world and Spanish publication Marca believes that Arsenal, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, and AS Monaco are all preparing bids worth a minimum of 40 million euros ($55 million) for the Argentine left-winger.

Marca reports that while everyone at Real Madrid is focused on the UEFA Champions League final, there are those in the club who would be willing to sell Di Maria and the player himself prefers to have his club future decided before he joins the Argentine squad in Brazil next month.

Di Maria played both on the left and in central midfield this season for Carlo Ancelotti, accruing 50 appearances for Los Blancos in all competitions. The 26-year-old has scored 11 times in all competitions this season as well.

Here are some more stories to start off your Wednesday:

PERALTA MAKES SURPRISE MOVE TO CLUB AMERICA

Club America have made the signing of the summer by taking the man who knocked them out of the 2014 Clausura playoffs away from Santos Laguna.

Mexican national team forward Oribe Peralta has signed with Club America for an undisclosed fee, making the move official before the start of the World Cup in Brazil. America struggled in their first season under head coach Antonio Mohamed, finishing in sixth place and getting knocked out in the Liguilla quarterfinals.

Peralta was named the 2013 CONCACAF Player of the Year and brings to the Estadio Azteca a tremendous strike rate. The 30-year-old scored 19 goals over the Apertura and Clausura, and has scored 60 league goals for Santos Laguna since the 2011 Apertura.

Peralta also scored 10 times for Mexico in its World Cup qualification campaign, though five of them came in the two-legged playoff against New Zealand. Peralta was the star of the 2012 London Olympics, scoring four goals in six games as Mexico won the gold medal.

TERRY SIGNS ONE-YEAR CONTRACT TO REMAIN AT CHELSEA

Chelsea captain John Terry isn’t ready to give up his place in the squad.

The former England international signed a new one-year contract with Chelsea on Tuesday, extending his stay with the London club to a 17th year since joining as a 14-year-old. According to the London Times, Terry even took a pay-cut to remain at Chelsea, though he could earn the same amount of money he currently makes with incentives and bonuses.

The Times report that he cut his salary from $15.27 million to approximately $12.25 million per year.

Terry started and played in 34 of Chelsea’s 38 English Premier League matches this season and helped the team into the UEFA Champions League semifinals where they fell to Atletico Madrid.

QUICK KICKS

UEFA has rejected Benfica’s appeal on Lazar Markovic’s yellow-card ban, keeping arguably Benfica’s top player suspended for the Europa League final on Wednesday. (REPORT)

A young Germany side featuring eight uncapped players drew 0-0 with Poland in an international friendly in Frankfurt. (REPORT)

Former Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-Sung has retired at the age of 33. (REPORT)

Torino forward Ciro Immobile, who leads Serie A with 22 goals this year, has said he doesn’t plan on joining Juventus or Borussia Dortmund this summer. (REPORT)

Victor Valdes said goodbye to teammates and coaches at Barcelona in an open letter, confirming his intent to move to a new club this summer. (REPORT)

AC Milan have promoted 15-year-old wunderkind Hachim Mastour to first team training, and if he plays against Sassuolo in the final week of the season, he’ll be the youngest ever debutant in club history. (REPORT)

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What do you think of these reports? Do you see Di Maria moving to the English Premier League? Would you rather see him stay at Real Madrid? What do you think of Peralta’s transfer?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. if Real Madrid get rid of Di Maria i’m going to flip out. for one, our coach doesn’t want to get rid of him. number two, Ronaldo absolutely doesn’t. he made that very clear last transfer window. Madrid better keep him!

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    • also, Junior Flores will officially play with Dortmund II next season. that’s good news! hopefully him and Rubio really catch on and work their way into the first team of their clubs.

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  2. Supposedly Arsenal have activated Carlos Vela’s buyback clause of 4 mil euros, at that price they’d be stupid not to. He has even said in recent interviews that he would be open to return and if it doesn’t work out his value is easily triple that.

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    • It seems like a no brainer, right? At the very least they get some depth in the rotation. I’m not sure what a potential top end is for him. Anyone have any thoughts about how he might perform back in the EPL?

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      • For Arsenal? Probably quite well.

        He’s the best player in CONCACAF and he’s snubbing Mexico. I hope he keeps moving higher and higher so Mexican fans can suffer endlessly knowing their federation and their nonsense built this.

      • Depends on how he fits into the Arsenal side, if he’s willing to play outside in Arsenal 4-2-3-1 he could fit nicely. If he wants to play as the striker it might be a bit of an issue because Wenger clearly favors larger people in that solo role (Giroud, Sanogo, Higuain, etc.)

  3. Why is Peralta’s move to America a “surprise?” I’ve been reading for days online all the rumors about America setting their sights on Peralta and Omar Gonzalez.

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  4. Anybody else watch the 30 for 30 last night?

    Klinsmann could probably suit up still. He dropped bombs on Dempsey about being self-centered and selfish on the field. And his comments ripping the media for making Donovan ‘untouchable,’ and following that up by saying they’re wrong, he’s not. Boom.

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    • Die Klinsy also basically said that Sunderland’s midfield is crap, alluding to that Jozy doesn’t get any opportunities, saying something like “if you don’t get any opportunities, you don’t score, but then you get criticized and then put on the bench or off the roster.”

      JK gets it.

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      • Valid point but when Altidore’s confidence gets shaken he doesn’t score. I really questions how well Altidore will do for USMNT. Hopefully we could tell from the friendlies.

      • …and yet, when Connor WIckham replaced Altidore in the lineup, he became a prolific scorer and player of the month in the EPL.

      • No. Connor Wickham had a period of three good games and then didn’t score again at the tail of the season. Hardly prolific.

        And this isn’t to defend Altidore, he has been missing chances he should have buried every day.

        Sunderland needs a lot of restructuring, period.

      • Jim
        I completely disagree. He doesn’t get it…at all.
        He seems to want everyone to go to Europe, then he whines when they play on an overmatched team.

        THAT IS EUROPE.

        Then he says there are guys that could make Barca…Fine, I will never underrate Americans, we will have players make that level….but when guys make Barca, you have the opposite problem it is too easy.

      • Sorry! Enjoy 🙂 There’s so, so much beyond what I said.

        It’s one of the best documentaries I think I’ve ever seen (homer goggles off). Bravo to whomever scripted it.

    • He is playing out of position at the moment (Bale), which means limited minutes, which means he is probably unhappy, and he is obviously good enough to play at any club he wants except Madrid. This, is why.

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      • Last time Suarez wanted to leave, Liverpool refused and threatened to play Suarez with the reserves. That was when Liverpool didn’t make the Champions League. Suarez leaving is by no means certain.

      • but Suarez doesn’t play the same position. Suarez would be bad news for Benz. Bale and Ronaldo will still be out wide and Suarez isn’t going to play in that attacking mid position like Di Maria or Isco. so i think selling Di Maria for Suarez further complicates matters.

    • because isco is a beast and they can get a good fee for him to fund buying another striker (suarez, or backup option)

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      • Di Maria more of a beast though and we don’t need another striker. Suarez and Benz won’t be ok alternating and that would force the sell of Morata. as Carlo said, if he had it his way, he wouldn’t buy (or sell) anyone.

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