Sports

The Copa America has been thrown into disarray after CONMEBOL removed Argentina as hosts amid the country s coronavirus situation.

Argentina were set to stage the showpiece South American tournament, starting June 13 in Buenos Aires, following the governing body s decision to strip Colombia of co-hosting rights due to anti-government protests and COVID-19 concerns in the nation.

CONMEBOL had been identifying new locations in Argentina to replace Colombia ahead of next month s scheduled curtain-raiser between Lionel Messi s La Albiceleste and Chile at El Monumental.

Instead, Argentina will not stage the Copa America – already pushed back a year due to the coronavirus pandemic – as CONMEBOL considers new hosts.

A CONMEBOL informa que, em atenção às c…

Arsenal have so far signed four first-team players this summer, and the fifth arrival, that of Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City, is believed to be imminent.

As expected, there are names who will be considered surplus to requirements, which means departures are likely to happen between now and the end of the transfer window. Manager Mikel Arteta has revealed as much.

We have a large squad, we have to make some decisions on the players that we re not going to be using consistently and be fair and straight with them.

Mikel Arteta says that the club will be busy with some outgoings at Arsenal over the next few weeks

— Football Daily (@footballdaily)

…

Paulo Dybala announced his return to the Juventus starting line-up with a match-winning brace as the Serie A champions triumphed 3-1 at Verona.

Dybala was handed a start by head coach Massimiliano Allegri for the first time in four Serie A matches – his impressive early season form having collapsed amid calls from Juve vice-president Pavel Nedved for the 24-year-old to make sacrifices in his private life .

The former Palermo favourite s impact was peripheral to begin with, as Blaise Matuidi netted a sixth-minute opener and Gonzalo Higuain regularly threatened more punishment for second-bottom Verona.

But ex-Juve defender Martin Caceres elevated an all-action showing by firing home a long-range equaliser before the hour and Allegri s men were facing reaching th…

Juventus defender Merih Demiral has been ruled out for at least 10 days after suffering another injury setback. 

Turkey international Demiral was taken off 69 minutes into Wednesday s 3-0 win over Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League. 

He was making his return to Juve s starting line-up after two games out with a minor injury sustained against Cagliari on November 21. 

The Italian giants confirmed on their official website on Thursday that Demiral has suffered a low-grade lesion of the right thigh. 

The 22-year will miss this weekend s Serie A derby with Torino, as well as next week s trip to Barcelona in the Champions League.

When you ve got that secret handshake down!    

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen)

Juve, fourth …

Senegalese defender Kalidou Koulibaly could hold talks with Chelsea after revealing there has been no sign of a new contract offer from Napoli.

Koulibaly has been linked with a £23million move to Stamford Bridge, and the 24-year-old said talks with incoming Chelsea manager Antonio Conte may take place soon .

Despite making 33 league appearances for Napoli and helping them to a second-place Serie A finish in 2015-16, Koulibaly has been offered no assurances over his future at Stadio San Paolo beyond 2019, when his current contract expires.

Koulibaly told French newspaper L Equipe that a move was not his intention, though, saying: I was happy to sign a five-year contract with them I did very good things this season and there are proposals on the table.

…

Several top European clubs are showing interest in Feyenoord midfielder Tonny Vilhena, according to Voetbal International.

The 21-year-old appears to have set his sights on leaving De Kuip in the summer and he should have no shortage of offers.

Feyenoord coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst attempted to persuade Vilhena to extend his stay, but the youngster is far from happy with the club’s latest contract offer and is almost certain to leave at the end of the season.

FC Porto, Sevilla, Valencia and Hamburg are all keen on the footballer who has shown a great deal of potential since coming through the youth ranks at De Kuip.

Despite his fragile age, the youngster already has 111 Eredivisie appearances to his name, and has so far scored 15 goals.

Vilh…

The Polish Ekstraklasa should have started a fortnight ago, but thanks to on-going corruption investigations, not a single game has been played.

This will change shortly, as on Wednesday the two clubs still in limbo (Korona Kielce and Zaglebie Lubin) will find out what league they will be playing in for the 2008/09 season.

There are four possible outcomes for PolandÂ’s top league from the Tribunal meetings that will occur on Wednesday.

The first option is that both Korona Kielce and Zaglebie Lubin will be cleared of any wrong doings in the corruption scandal that has rocked Polish soccer this year.

Both teams, which are currently listed as second league teams but have not played any such matches, will be brought back up to the Ekstraklasa a…

Pele has stoked the fire ahead of Saturday s friendly between Brazil and Argentina, claiming Neymar is a more complete player than Lionel Messi.

The two players will be the star attractions in New Jersey when the South American rivals clash, having already met on two occasions.

Messi was the winner both times, scoring a magnificent individual effort to secure Argentina s 1-0 victory over Brazil in 2010, before playing his part in a 4-0 thrashing of Santos in the Club World Cup final while in Barcelona colours.

Pele, writing for Argentine newspaper Ole, conceded the Barca star had the edge on the 20-year-old Santos starlet in terms of experience, but maintained that Neymar can do things on the pitch that were beyond Messi s grasp.

In a straight compari…

LA Galaxy head coach Sigi Schmid played down reports linking the MLS side with Manchester United star Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Los Angeles has emerged as a possible destination for 36-year-old Ibrahimovic, who is in the final six months of the contract extension he signed at United last August.

Ibrahimovic was linked with the Galaxy before he joined United from Paris Saint-Germain in 2016 and again prior to re-signing at Old Trafford following a serious knee injury suffered last season.

United manager Jose Mourinho said he would not stop Ibrahimovic from moving to the Galaxy, and responding to the speculation Tuesday, Schmid told LA Galaxy Insider: There s been a lot of talk about it in the past and it s something that maybe gets opened up again.

I don t kno…

Competition: Champions League

Market: Manchester City to beat Basel

Odds:

The Champions League returns for more action in the biggest club competition in world football. Every side left in the competition will have aspirations of winning the whole thing, but they must put their best foot forward in the first-leg of their games and, with this in mind, Manchester City travel to face Basel on Tuesday.

Basel were very good in their Champions League group as they finished second in Group A. After six games they won four and lost two, scoring 11 goals and conceding five times. Their last five games saw the side win four times and lose once as they ended on 12 points. Basel already have good practice in facing a side from Manchester as they finished …