Neymar fights with Semedo at training

Neymar Jr. continues to dominate the headlines. And not just for his possible transfer to PSG and his goals against Manchester United and Juventus, but also for his attitude at training.

Angry at a hard challenge from Semedo in training, the Brazilian squared up to the Portuguese, but the Portuguese was more reticent and tried to avoid a confrontation by backing away from Neymar. But Neymar didn’t want to let it go and challenged his teammate to come back, and then went looking for him. As you can see in the video from The Daily Mail, Mascherano, Busquets and Luis Suárez stepped in to calm the situation.

Whether it was his own decision or a decision by Valverde or one of the captains, Neymar then left the session after the argument. He ripped off his bib and stormed off.

The video is circulating on social media and more and more Barça fans are demanding that a solution is found to this situation as soon as possible so the squad can prepare properly for the season.

Barça agree terms with Coutinho

Barça have moved a step closer to signing the Brazilian Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool and have reached a deal with the player according to RAC1. Now they just need to agree a fee with Liverpool.

Barcelona have sent a delegation to Liverpool to try to agree a deal with the club but have already agreed a contract with the Brazilian. But Liverpool have already rejected an offer of around €80 million from Barça but the club will continue to negotiate.

Barcelona have been following Coutinho for a while but the deal is being blocked by Liverpool and their German manager, Jurgen Klopp, who does not want to lose the Brazilian.

Leo Messi destroyed the GPS

“He’s happy, he’s renewed his contract at Barcelona and he’s turned up at pre-season like a train”, sources in the dressing room said about Leo Messi before the tour to the US. And we had doubts because such exaggerations are often made about great players from the dressing room.

It wasn’t until the first friendly that we could see that the claims were true and backed up by the data. According to our sources his GPS data and parameters were incredible. All Barça players wear a GPS tracker during pre-season matches to monitor their physical and metabolic condition.
And on Sunday, Leo Messi’s GPS showed numbers that had never been seen before in pre-season. While obviously the exact figures are confidential, we have been told that “they are Messi’s best in pre-season” in terms of the number of kilometres run, acceleration, top speed, speed over 20 metres and aerobic capacity and numerous other categories.

Despite this, it should be pointed out that Messi is often coming off the back of a World Cup or Copa America in June, which affects his physical preparation and means the player barely has any holiday time.

Nevertheless, he has reported back this season “like a storm”, which when added to his incredible talent, makes him a “complete leader” in every sense. And an image paints a thousand words: to see Leo defending in the right back position when Aleix Vidal was upfield and the way he pressured Juve’s players when in possession highlight what good condition he is in. In fact, the Argentinian recovered the ball six times.

Gerard Pique reveals Neymar's future: He stays

Gerard Pique has spoken. The defender, who fancies himself as a future FC Barcelona president, published an Instagram post which seems to have revealed Neymar's future.

"He stays," wrote Pique, along with a picture of himself and Barcelona's Brazilian forward, who has been strongly linked with a move to PSG. It adds to what was already a messy issue, with Neymar yet to come out himself and state his intentions.
The winger was said to be close to agreeing a deal with PSG and leaving the club he signed for in 2013.

Leo Messi does a Boateng on Javier Mascherano

Lionel Messi doesn't let even his own team-mates off the hook. In the warm up before facing Juventus, the best player in the world pulled off a brilliant move which left Javier Mascherano seated on the floor.

Messi's body movement sent his compatriot backwards and unbalanced him, although Jasper Cillessen denied Messi twice when it came to the shot.
It was reminiscent of the play Messi pulled off against Bayern Munich's Jerome Boateng in the Champions League 2015 semi-finals.

Messi and Suarez's chat to convince Neymar to stay

FC Barcelona’s tour of the USA is being monopolised by the Neymar case, meaning the sporting side and even the social and commercial elements of the tour are falling into second place.
A situation which is worrying for the club. The club haven’t just been able to ignore the speculation and watch Neymar sail off into PSG’s arms.

After many meeting between Bartomeu, the directors on the trop, CEO Oscar Grau, Robert Fernandez and Albert Soler, the club have mobilised to try and revert a situation that seemed irredeemable 24 hours earlier - Neymar leaving.

The Brazilian has ignored the club’s requests for him to make a public comment, to calm Barcelona fans. The prolonged silence and the movements of his father can be understood as a declaration of intent.

SPORT have learned that the people who have worked to convince Neymar to stay in the last few hours were Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

There was a long chat. On Saturday night at the Sheraton in New Jersey, where Barcelona were staying. His two strike partners met him for discuss the situation, two players whom he has strong friendships with and affinity for.

Worried about the situation they tried to make Neymar see that he could be at no better place than at Barcelona. They told him that now he can’t leave because there is a lot more to win together in this sporting project.

It was a tough conversation which lasted more than an hour, and Neymar listened attentively to his team-mates, whom he admires and has a good relationship which stretches beyond the field of play.
They listened to the Brazilian’s arguments, but they made him see the success of the team that lies ahead of they work together, fighting for new challenges.

This initiative from Barcelona’s stars has at least worked to muddy the situation for him. “I’ll stay,” he told Messi and Suarez.

Now we have to wait and see if Neymar comes out publicly and confirms the good news he gave to the South American duo.

Neymar heading back to Barcelona with a fancy new hairstyle

Brazil star Neymar is heading back to Barcelona ahead of the start of pre-season. After enjoying some deserved time off with friends and family, he returns to the Catalan city to get back to work under new coach Ernesto Valverde.

Neymar's spent the summer in Japan, the United States and his native Brazil, enjoying himself with friends and family. He also found time to take part in the tournament he organises each year, Neymar Jr's Five, where he spoke about Barça's interest in Guangzhou Evergrande's Paulinho.

He also found time to change his look -- again. His latest hairstyle, shaved on the sides, has garnered a lot of attention on social media after he first posted a photograph late on Monday. 

Neymar is looking forward to getting back to Spain and Barça's new project under Valverde, where he will be reunited with Leo Messi and Luis Suarez, his friends in the trident.

The 18 players who will start work under Valverde at Barcelona

For their medical tests and the first training session under new coach Ernesto Valverde, 18 FC Barcelona players will report for duty on Wednesday, with the remainder of the squad coming back gradually over the next few days.

The first group will consist of 14 players from the first team plus four from La Masia: Rakitic, Luis Suarez, Rafinha, Cillessen, Mascherano, Alcacer, Sergi Roberto, Aleix Vidal, Marlon, Douglas, Vermaelen, Samper, Munir, Deulofeu, Ortola, Alena , Cucurella, and Palencia.
On Friday, an international group - Iniesta, Alba, Denis Suarez, Busquets, Digne and Umtiti - will join.

Those who have been in Japan for the unveiling of the sponsorship agreement with Rakuten - Messi, Pique, Neymar and Arda - will report on Saturday, whilst the other two players who are missing and who disputed the Confederations Cup, Andre Gomes and Marc-Andre ter Stegen, join the group after the tour of the United States.

Leo Messi and Luis Suarez are back in Barcelona

Leo Messi and Luis Suárez are now in Barcelona. The two Barça stars, accompanied by their respective families, have returned to the Catalan city after enjoying a deserved break. The two families arrived back in Spain on a private plane from the Caribbean, where they had spent the last few days. 

Messi and Suarez have spent some time together in Antigua and Barbuda, where the Argentine star, his wife Antonela Roccuzzo and his two sons Thiago and Mateo had been enjoying their honeymoon after Leo and Antonela wed in Rosario on June 30.

Argentine international Messi, who played in a game for his country, does not have to return to training until July 14 -- and he travels to Japan this week as a club representative before joining up with his team-mates on Friday.

Suarez, who did not play for Uruguay in the summer, is due at the Ciudad Deportiva de Sant Joan Despí on Wednesday to begin work under new Barca coach Ernesto Valverde.

Verratti: the summer's soap opera

If my maths is not wrong there are 51 days of the transfer market left and the Marco Verratti transfer is threatining to become a topic even more tiresome than the songs 'Despacito' and 'Súbeme la radio' combined (Luis Fonsi and Enrique Iglesias, if you're struggling outside of Spain). You'd suppose the player put an end to the speculations when he filmed an interview saying sorry for his agents comments that he "was a prisoner of Emir." It was a given, it seemed, he would stay in Paris. But newspaper L'Equipe report that, despite the video, neither Barça nor the player have given up on a transfer. So there are two options, given those reports.  Expand on them, as Cadena SER have done, or invent a little, as Deportes Cuatro have.

On the show La Graderia on SER, they went directly to the source and spoke to Antoine Maumon, the journalist who follows Paris Saint-Germain and who works for said newspaper. Maumon informed that the player was obliged to film the interview, although he added that he still does not expect a deal will be possible this summer. In contrast, Cuatro used the French media's reports and then added a new line. They recreated a Whatspp conversation in which Barça president Josep Maria Bartomeu supposedly said to the player "we will wait until August 31" but without any actual evidence. And meanwhile, Real Madrid continue to make signings like a machine. This summer is going to be long. Very long.

Jordi Alba: I want to play as much as possible under Valverde

The Barcelona left-back Jordi Alba spent the week in Doha with Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets for some promotional events. He said, in an interview at the Aspire Academy in Doha, that "Messi's renewal is very important for us", "he's the best player in history. If I can keep playing with him, it's better."

 Regarding new coach Ernesto Valverde, who replaces the departing Luis Enrique, Alba added: "I want to play as much as possible under Valverde. With him everyone starts from zero, so I'm happy for the new challenge ahead."

 Alba added: "We want to win all the titles possible this season.". He arrived from Valencia in 2012 for 14m and has won 11 titles.

Lionel Messi set to become football's first £1million-a-week footballer with staggering new Barcelona contract

Lionel Messi is set to become the world's first £1million-a-week footballer.


Five-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi is poised to sign a new four-year contract with Barcelona - and will earn a staggering basic wage as a result.


It is reported that Messi, 30, will earn over £1million-a-week before bonuses and endorsements.


The Sunday Times report that the annual wage has been set at €62million (£54.8million).


If Messi sees out the deal until he is 34, Barcelona will have committed at least £220million in order to keep him at the Nou Camp over the four-year period.


In comparison, his Real Madrid rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, earns approximately £18million-a-year.


Messi's future is continually brought into question when transfer windows open, with regular reports linking him with a reunion with his former manager Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.


But the Argentinian appears poised to play out the back end of his career at Barcelona with the latest contract.


Barcelona can certainly afford Messi's extortionate new wage, with annual revenue from 2016 listed as £614.8million - second in the world to only Manchester United.


Club chiefs believe that Messi's marketing power helped contribute to 20 per cent of that total.

Neymar starts the season with a new tattoo

Neymar, FC Barcelona's Brazilian winger, took advantage of his final few hours in his homeland to pass by the office of his tattoo artist and get some ink done before heading back to Catalonia. This is what Neymar did after appearing at the final of the Neymar Five tournament.

Neymar had some work done on his right leg. However from the images we have seen it's not yet possible to look at it and ascertain what it is or refers to. In the coming days we will no doubt get better pictures of the work Neymar had done.

Ney is expected in Ibiza for a couple of days before heading back to Barcelona for preseason, on July 12.

Aleix Vidal wants to be Ernesto Valverde's No 1 choice for the No 2 spot

FC Barcelona's defender Aleix Vidal's holidays are over. After a season with ups and downs and a big injury, from which he made a superb recovery and was able to appear in the Copa del Rey final, Vidal doesn't want to miss the train. He wants to be one of Ernesto Valverde's key men for the season ahead.

For this Aleix Vidal has ended his holiday early and become the first player to go back to work at the club's training ground to start pre-season training. Vidal met Valverde on his first visit to the club's training ground.

The Valverde era begins at Barcelona

FC Barcelona will begin life under head coach Ernesto Valverde this week with the players set to arrive on 12 July, but the former Athletic Club boss has already started work at the training ground in Sant Joan Despi.

The 53-year-old, who will not appear in any press conferences at the moment, has outlined to his coaching staff the work that wants his players to do during pre-season.

It is expected that there will be double training sessions in the morning and the afternoon at the beginning, before the team travel to the United States where they will play friendlies against Juventus, Manchester United and Real Madrid.

The American tour is expected to feature the entire squad, even the likes of Denis Suarez who has cut his holiday short to take part.

Two others who finished the season late due to international commitments, Andre Gomes and Marc-Andre ter Stegen, could follow the path of the Galician player.

The first few weeks could also see some academy players, such as Sergi Palencia, Carles Alena and Marlon, members of Barca B's promotion to the Segunda Division a few weeks ago, given a chance to shine.

Valverde will initially have to work with Arda Turan, Thomas Vermaelen, Munir El-Haddadi, Douglas and Sergi Samper in training, all of whom are not in the plans of the coach from Extremadura and are free to leave the club.

Bartomeu's desperate message to Marco Verratti

FC Barcelona still have not lost all hope of signing PSG's Marco Verratti. The latest move has been a message from president Josep Maria Bartomeu to the Italian midfielder. According to Marca he wanted to show the player that the club have not ruled out his signing this summer.

 Verratti, despite the recent quotes in which he asked forgiveness to PSG, is still thinking about playing at Barcelona and the Blaugrana wanted to show him their support.

According to Marca, Bartomeu told Verratti: "We will wait for you until August 31".