Reports in England claim Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has given his nod to the sale of Danny Drinkwater and Tiemoue Bakayoko after his assessment of their pre-season tour to Japan.

Lampard, who can’t sign players because of a transfer ban, wanted to look at his existing squad in the Far East before deciding on their futures but now regards the £75million pair as surplus to requirements, according to the Mail Sports Online.

Drinkwater, a former Premier League champion with Leicester City, has played only 23 times for Chelsea following his £35million move in 2017. His last appearance came against Manchester City in the Community Shield last August.

Bakayoko, 24, joined from Monaco the same summer as Drinkwater but was loaned out to AC Milan last season after struggling in the Premier League.

With Lampard restricted to 17 overseas players in Chelsea’s Premier League squad, he has decided that Bakayoko can be sacrificed with Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic, Ross Barkley and N’Golo Kante better options in midfield.

Everton could move for the £40million Frenchman as a replacement for Idrissa Gueye.

There are reports in Spain that Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has acquired a controlling stake in Gimnàstic Manresa.

The former Spain international, through his company Kosmos, will take control of the club who will subsequently become an affiliate of FC Andorra – whom Pique officially bought in January.

Catalan outlet Nació Digital reports that the deal has been ratified by 80% of its members as cited by Marca.

That move saw Kosmos take full responsibility for the club’s debt after Andorra’s directors sanctioned the move at a general meeting, with the portfolio of clubs now growing.

Pique will now become the club’s leading shareholder while the move will ensure that Gimàstic Manresa will become a Sports Public Limited Company, report Football Espana.

FC Andorra currently compete in the Primera Catalana – the fifth level of Spanish football – but played in the third tier between 1980 and 1998, with a Copa del Rey fourth round appearance in 1991.

Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic has identified reasons the Red Devils will struggle to win trophies this season.

The Bosnian, who won the league with Chelsea in 2015 and 2017, believes Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team needs more experience before they can seriously challenge for the title.

Matic is in contention to be United’s captain this term and appeared in all their pre-season wins, against Perth Glory, Leeds, Inter Milan and Tottenham.

‘Quality and experience brings you the title. In this squad we have quality and no experience,’ says the 30-year-old as cited by the Daily Mail.

‘We have five or six top players but they are still young like Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial. They have shown their quality on the pitch but are too young to lead the team of course.

‘Mason Greenwood – great potential. United have a project and know what they want with players of the future. But you need to give them time because, at 17, you cannot play the same like you are 26 or 27.

‘Football always wants results but the fans need to be patient so they can improve. In the future I am sure these players will take United back to where they belong.’

The successful Chelsea teams Matic played in were packed with knowhow. In 2015, John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic were ever-presents in the side under then manager Jose Mourinho and the club still had Didier Drogba and Petr Cech in the dressing room. ‘I was one of the young ones,’ said Matic.

Two years later, Antonio Conte relied on Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Pedro to get Chelsea over the line.

‘We had young talented players like Eden Hazard but you need a mix of experience with that talent,’ said Matic, who is likely to be the oldest member of Solskjaer’s otherwise-youthful first XI this season.

Photo Credit: Twitter

Cristiano Ronaldo posted an emotional snap to Instagram showing how he is missing his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez and his four children.

The 34-year-old Portuguese is currently on a tour of Asia with Juventus.

But thoughts of the family are never far away if his latest social media posting is anything to go by, the Sun report.

He uploaded a photo of Georgina with his four children, Cristiano Jr, twins Eva and Mateo and Alana Martin.

He simply captioned it “missing you” followed by five heart emojis and tagged in his stunning partner.

Ronaldo is set for another important season with Juve, with new boss Maurizio Sarri making him the first name on the team-sheet.

But Gazetta reports that he must “start the season in perfect shape”, from when Sarri will give him “total freedom of movement” in the starting XI.

Essentially it will be a team of ten with Ronaldo given the license to do his own thing on the pitch.

And Sarri has previous experience of having an outstanding maverick of a footballer at his disposal.

At Chelsea he managed Belgian magician Eden Hazard who could turn a game on a sixpence – just like CR7.

Ronaldo failed to appear in Juventus’ final friendly on the Asian tour against a Korean All-stars XI as he is suffering with a muscle injury.

This left fans who attended the game furious, many of whom had bought Ronaldo face-masks and other memorabilia to welcome their hero.

Former Chelsea midfielder Oscar has revealed his interest in joining Serie A clubs Inter Milan and AC Milan this summer, stating that he “spoke to two clubs from Milan in recent weeks. I want to play in Italy!”

The former Brazil international was sold by the Stamford Bridge club to Shanghai SIPG for €60m in January 2017.

Oscar, who is arguably the most talented footballer playing in China, confirmed his desire to return to European football.

He spoke exclusively to PassioneInter.com as cited by Football Italia: “I spoke to two clubs from Milan in recent weeks… I can’t get into details, but yes, one thing I can say: I want to play in Italy!”

His £400,000-a-week contract with Shanghai SIPG runs to December 2020 and it’s likely the San Siro giants would pursue a loan with option to buy.

Photo Credit: Daily Express

Reports in England claim Arsenal have agreed a transfer fee of £71.1m with Lille for Manchester United and Napoli target Nicolas Pepe.

According to BBC Sport, the Gunners will pay in installments and an agreement over a five-year deal is expected to be reached in the next 48 hours.

The free-scoring Ivory Coast winger was on the radar of the Old Trafford club and Napoli, but reports claim the player rejected the Serie A club offer.

Napoli lost out because of issues pertaining to Pepe’s representatives and their commission, reported to be €5m each, on top of the €5m per year salary for the player.

Lille president Gerard Lopez confirmed on Friday that the club had received four acceptable offers for the highly rated 24-year-old, with L’Equipe reporting that Arsenal and Liverpool were two of the clubs involved.

Photo Credit: Sky Sports

Gareth Bale is reportedly closing in on a lucrative move to China as representatives are locked in talks with Jiangsu Suning over deal that could be worth £1m per week.

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane said that it would be for the best if the player left the club as soon as possible.

Bale himself has consistently stated that he wants to remain in the Spanish capital, with three years still to run on his contract at the Santiago Bernabeu, however Los Blancos appear adamant to sell him.

According to Sky Sports, told talks of a move to China are progressing and there is still some work to do as Bale eyes move away from Santiago Bernabeu.

Jiangsu Suning increasingly confident they can convince Bale to sign before the Chinese windown closes on Wednesday.

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has blasted the former manager of his club Rafa Benitez insisting that it was “impossible” to keep hold of the coach – because was only interested in money.

The Toon Army have called for a boycott of the club’s games next season after the Newcastle owner replaced the fan-favourite manager with Steve Bruce.

Benitez revealed he wanted to stay on Tyneside but left after he wasn’t given assurances over transfers and infrastructure — and because he lost all trust in Ashley.

The 59-year-old then doubled his Newcastle salary after agreeing a staggering £12million-a-year deal to become boss of Chinese side Dalian Yifang.

And Ashley has claimed Benitez was determined to follow a lucrative move to the Far East from the start and he had even offered him an eight-year contract to stay.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: “I’d say it was money first, Rafa, then the club last. He took the totally soft option, took the money and went to China.

“If he’d gone back to Real Madrid, or a top-six club in the Premier League, I get it. But it was about money and all he had to do was say that from the beginning.

“He asked for a 50 per cent pay increase and I think he did that because he knew it couldn’t work.

“I’m not disappointed in him as a manager – he did an excellent job. It puzzles me why any fan thinks I wouldn’t want him. I’m not the thickest person on the planet.”

After Benitez’s exit, Ashley moved to announce former Sunderland boss Bruce on a three-year deal, report the Sun.

The Tyneside outfit had to pay the Owls £4million in compensation after the 58-year-old walked out before his resignation was accepted.

And plenty of Newcastle fans are not convinced he will be able to keep the club in the Premier League next season.

Edden Hazard has predicted that Christian Pulisic can be one of the best footballers in the future at Chelsea.

The American international is likely to fill the void on Chelsea’s left flank created by Hazard’s departure to Real Madrid earlier this summer in a £100million deal, report the Metro.

Chelsea broke their transfer record to sign Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund in January, but loaned the 20-year-old back to the German club for the second half of last season.

Pulisic has shown flashes of the skill and dribbling ability that convinced Chelsea to invest so heavily in him on the club’s pre-season tour and Hazard is confident he will become a firm favourite of the Stamford Bridge faithful.

‘He can be one of the best in the future for sure,’ he told The Associated Press

‘He can be (a star). Now he’s at one of the best clubs in the world. He’s a proper player. He can play football.’

Hazard’s move to Madrid has coincided with him returning to the cover of the FIFA computer game series. He added: ‘When you play football, it’s a dream to, first, be in FIFA and then to be on the cover.

‘You want to play more often because you’re on the cover.’