Author: David Great

Chelsea and France midfielder N’Golo Kante, 32, has been offered a salary that could reach £86m a year by Saudi clubs Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr. (Guardian) Out-of-contract Crystal Palace and Ivory Coast forward Wilfried Zaha, 30, has received a £15m-per-year offer to join Cristiano Ronaldo at Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr. Atletico Madrid are also interested. (Sky Sports) Aston Villa want Belgium midfielder Youri Tielemans, 26, after his departure from Leicester. (Athletic) Aston Villa have held talks to sign Spain defenders Aymeric Laporte, 29, and Pau Torres, 26, from Manchester City and Villarreal respectively. (90min) Chelsea have joined Barcelona and Liverpool in wanting Celta Vigo’s 21-year-old Spanish midfielder Gabri Veiga, who has a £34m release clause. (Guardian) Tottenham have shown an interest in Manchester United defender Harry…

Brazil are still intent on making Carlo Ancelotti their new coach and federation (CBF) president Ednaldo Rodrigues said he would use the national team’s friendlies in Europe to talk to the Real Madrid boss. Rodrigues said he would also approach the Spanish club’s president Florentino Perez and described Ancelotti as their first choice to replace Tite, who left the Brazil team after their quarter-final exit at the World Cup in Qatar in November. “He remains the Plan A and in this trip with the selection in Europe we can have greater clarity,” Rodrigues said on Tuesday in a press event…

Standard Chartered Nigeria says to successfully complete a Form A transaction with the Central Bank of Nigeria, the applicant must provide a three-year Tax Clearance Certificate. The commercial bank in a notice customers titled, ‘Provision of TCC for Form A transactions’ the bank noted that the new provision is a requirement of the Nigeria apex bank. “In compliance with regulatory directives, kindly note that Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) is now a requirement for processing Form A transactions,” Standard Chartered Bank said. The bank then listed the transactions that require TCC. “PTA/BTA, School fees, Upkeep/Maintenance, Medical, Personal Home Remittance, etc.” The bank…

United Arab Emirates club Al Jazira have appointed former Netherlands coach Frank de Boer as their new manager, the Emirati club said on Monday. De Boer succeeds Marcel Keizer, whose contract expired. The former Ajax Amsterdam coach had been in charge of the Abu Dhabi club since 2019. While Al Jazira did not specify the details, Dutch media reported that De Boer has signed a two-year contract starting on July 1. It is 53-year-old De Boer’s first appointment since he stepped down as Netherlands coach two years ago after Euro 2020 when they went out in the last 16 with…

Apple on Monday unveiled a costly augmented-reality headset called the Vision Pro in its riskiest bet since the introduction of the iPhone more than a decade ago, barging into a market dominated by Meta. At its annual developer conference, Apple also introduced a raft of new products and features, including a 15-inch MacBook Air, a powerful chip called M2 Ultra, improvements to its iOS software and a long-awaited tweak to prevent its autocorrect from annoyingly changing a common expletive to “ducking”. The Vision Pro will start at $3,499, more than three times the cost of the priciest headset in Meta’s…

By Owei Lakemfa Chief Obafemi Awolowo, affectionately called Awo, was a programmatic politician who had change as a mantra and believed that politics must serve the mass of the people. His philosophy of governance was encapsulated in the slogan: Life More Abundant, LMA. In turn, his followers had so much trust in him that some lost their lives in the streets while defending his legacy when he was imprisoned from 1963 to 1966. Some of his followers so revered Awo that they swore he sometimes appeared in the moon. On such occasions, the faithful crowded the streets to catch a…

Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan, 32, could return to Borussia Dortmund this summer as Barcelona cannot afford to pay the out-of-contract Germany midfielder’s wages. (Bild – in German) Barca have tried to persuade Gundogan by extending their contract offer to three years with reduced wages, while Arsenal have offered a two-year deal and a lucrative proposal is also expected from a Saudi club. (Sport – in Spanish) Real Madrid’s first bid for Harry Kane will be for 80m euros (£69m) but Tottenham have initially valued the England striker, 29, at 120m euros (£103m). (Sport – in Spanish) Tottenham will back incoming manager Ange Postecoglou with funds to rival Newcastle for Leicester’s England midfielder James Maddison, 26, and target Brentford’s Spain goalkeeper…

Labour unions, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and Teachers Union Congress (TUC) have agreed to suspend their planned nationwide strike after it reached an agreement with the Nigerian government on Monday night. In an agreement signed by the labour unions and the federal government, it was agreed that both parties will continue to dialogue to reach a minimum wage agreement for federal workers. In a circular titled, ‘Resolution of Engagement between the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and the Federal Government to resolve the issues associated with the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) on June…

Chelsea are expected to complete the signing of Sporting Lisbon’s 22-year-old Uruguay midfielder Manuel Ugarte, who has a £52m release clause. (Record – in Portuguese) Chelsea moved ahead of Paris St-Germain in the race to sign Ugarte with a proposal to buy a minority stake in Sporting as part of the deal. (Mirror) Manchester City hope their bid to win the Treble will persuade Norway striker Erling Haaland, 22, to sign a longer contract and fend off interest from Real Madrid. (Telegraph – subscription) Real Madrid have made contact with Tottenham about signing 29-year-old England striker Harry Kane. (Marca – in Spanish) Real Madrid will bid £100m for Kane. (Mail) Manchester United will make a £50m offer…

Eden Hazard will leave Real Madrid at the end of the season after agreeing to terminate his contract a year early, the club said on Saturday, with the winger enduring a dismal four years in LaLiga since his move from Chelsea. The former Belgium international, 32, joined Real in 2019 and became the Spanish club’s most expensive signing in history, but he has been restricted by several injury problems and struggled to settle at the Santiago Bernabeu. “Real Madrid C. F. and Eden Hazard have reached an agreement whereby the player is disassociated from the club as of June 30,…