As the Lionel Messi saga has seemingly come to a close at Barcelona, his strike partner Luis Suarez looks set to depart Camp Nou and team up with Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus.
The Uruguayan was reportedly told last week he was not part of new boss Ronald Koeman’s plans and he was free to find another club.
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Juve could have landed themselves a brilliant foil for Messi’s arch-rival Ronaldo, who has pledged at least one more season to the Serie A champions, with reports from the BBC stating the 33-year-old has agreed terms with the Italians.
Another interesting twist in Suarez move would be that one of his new teammates would be veteran Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini, whom Suarez infamously bit on the shoulder at the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.
ON THE MOVE
Another Manchester City target, Kalidou Koulibaly, moved a step closer to signing as Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis has identified Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos as the Senegalese’s replacement. De Laurentiis boosted City’s chances of getting their man by admitting he rues not selling Koulibaly earier, in order to cash in on the promising defender.
Chelsea also received a boost as their long-term target Kai Havertz left the Germany squad to head to London, in hope of becoming Frank Lampard’s sixth signing of the summer. He is expected to sign from Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday for a fee of around 90 million pounds.
Back in Manchester, Manchester defender Chris Smalling should join loan club Roma on a permanent basis this weekend.
