Julius Joel

A former Barcelona captain, Carles Puyol has noted that Cristiano Ronaldo’s exit from Real Madrid was affecting the club. Puyol said it was logical that Real is having problems without the Portuguese star. Madrid’s forwards have struggled for goals following Ronaldo’s summer move to Juventus. Puyol told AS, “When your best player leaves it’s logical that the team suffers a slump. “They need to look for solutions, another way of playing; they relied a lot on Cristiano’s goals. “Now they have to replace those goals with other scorers and look for a different style. It’s a task for both the players and the coach.”

Manchester United are among the clubs expected to bid for Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon sancho  in the near future after his superb form in the Bundesliga. Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham are all also mentioned as being among the youngster’s admirers, with the daily mirror saying Dortmund anticipate bids to come in for him soon. The German giants also hope to command as much as £100m for Sancho, who looks one of the top young talents in world football and one who could go down a similar route to Ousmane Dembele. The France international cost Dortmund around £10m a couple of years back, but moved to Barcelona for over £100m after just one season. Sancho cost £8m to sign from Manchester City and looks to have similar potential after topping Europe’s big five leagues for assists this season, with Dortmund expecting to bring in what would be a club-record fee for United or any of the other Premier League clubs mentioned. Jadon Sancho transfer ideal for Manchester Uni

Manchester United and Chelsea are reported as being among the clubs keeping tabs on Gareth Bale’s transfer situation as Real Madrid look prepared to sanction his departure. Tottenham are also mentioned as being among Bale’s admirers, though the player himself is said to not be keen on leaving the Spanish capital. This is potentially a real blow for Premier League clubs, though it remains to be seen who will come out on top in this power battle. It seems likely that Real will try to push hard to offload Bale if they truly do not want him at the Bernabeu, though it would be hard to do if the player himself does not accept any offers that come in. Still, if the Wales international were to get into a situation where he wasn’t playing regularly and knew he wasn’t wanted, he may be more open to a move back to England at some point. The former Tottenham man shone at Spurs earlier in his career, becoming one of the best attacking players on the planet before his big move to Madrid.