Spanish club Real Madrid has begun searching again for reinforcements for its midfield.
The Spanish newspaper "Sport" reported that the club has expressed interest in Alex Scott (23 years old), the English player who plays for Bournemouth.
Real Madrid's interest in signing the player comes at a time when the midfield remains one of the positions that worries Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho.
Real Madrid actually tried to solve the midfield problem during the last summer transfers, by signing Spanish international midfielder Rodri, as a major contractual target, but in the end the player chose to move to rival Barcelona, after negotiations with Real Madrid.
Mourinho himself later admitted that he had spoken to the player, and the club made him a special offer to move to him.
The alternative was Portuguese Bernardo Silva, who joined on a free transfer from Manchester City, England, and signed a contract with Real Madrid until 2028. However, the player was not very convincing.
The derby match against Atletico Madrid highlighted the midfield dilemma once again, as Mourinho prefers the duo of Valverde and Chouamini, while Bernardo Silva does not remain an option. What is more, the preferred duo does not give Mourinho the desired control over the matches.
Some Real Madrid fans believe that since the departure of the German Toni Kroos, the team has not found a player who can control the tempo of the game from the back, calm the tempo when there is a need for that, and transfer the ball in an organized manner between the team members. After that, the Croatian Luka Modric left, so that this deep-rooted feeling among the fans increased, and Rodri seemed an appropriate solution, but he did not join in the end.
Here the importance of Alex Scott appears, who moved from Bristol City to Bournemouth in 2023, in a deal worth approximately 25 million pounds sterling, and he graduated in playing to play more roles deep inside the field.
Although he started his career as an offensive player, he has emerged in recent seasons as an offensive and pivotal midfielder, and he can also play in the defensive midfield position. His ability to dribble, penetrate lines with the ball, contribute to recovering the ball, and play in various levels and positions on the field, are among the most prominent features that attracted the interest of clubs to him.
Scott also gave a distinguished performance with Bournemouth last season, where he played 34 matches mainly in the English Premier League, and developed in his game, becoming one of the best young midfielders in English football.
His contract with Bournemouth runs until June 2028, and his club had previously rejected offers from Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United last summer. According to English reports, the player is valued at approximately 80 million pounds sterling.
An independent committee convicted English club Manchester City of committing violations of the English Premier League’s financial regulations in the period between the 2009-2010 and 2017-2018 seasons.
Amidst anticipation of the thorny decision to impose sanctions against the English club, the British news agency (PA Media) reviews a series of the strongest sanctions in the history of sports.
At the forefront of these penalties is the “Calciopoli” scandal, in which Juventus was relegated to the Italian second division, in addition to deducting 9 points from its score after prominent officials in the club were involved in tampering with arbitration decisions.
The sanctions also included stripping Juventus of the Italian Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, and deducting points from Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina.
In the SpyJet scandal, the McLaren team, which competes in the Formula 1 World Championship, was punished with a fine of $100 million in addition to being excluded from the World Manufacturers’ Championship due to the leak of confidential information containing about 800 pages about the Ferrari team’s car for the 2007 season.
This information was leaked by Nigel Stepney, a Ferrari employee, to his friend Mike Coughlan, chief designer at the McLaren team.
The plan was revealed when Coughlan's wife took the documents to a local photocopying store, where she aroused the suspicions of the store owner, who was a Ferrari fan, and he informed the Italian team officials of the matter.
In 2016, Durham Cricket Club was relegated to the second division after the England and Wales Cricket Board decided to deduct 48 points from its score due to the team suffering from financial problems due to its huge spending on developing its stadium to host the largest number of international matches.
The penalties also included deducting points from the club's balance in limited-round competitions and stripping it of hosting test matches.
Saracens, the four-time English Premier Rugby League champion, was also punished with a 35-point deduction and a £5 million fine in November 2019, for not adhering to the salary cap.
Because of this punishment, the team was placed at the bottom of the league table, and at the beginning of 2020, the English Premier Rugby League confirmed Saracens’ relegation to the second division for the 2020-2021 season, due to its inability to reduce the salary cap.
In 1906, the English Football Association convicted Manchester City of violating player payment regulations aimed at ensuring equal opportunities and fair competition.
The penalties included 17 players, in addition to banning two club officials for life, and banning two others for one year.
In another spying scandal, Southampton was excluded from the English Premier League qualifiers last May, losing potential financial gains of no less than 200 million pounds over three seasons if it advances to the Premier League.
Southampton was punished after the club admitted to three espionage charges, one of which related to Middlesbrough, before the two teams’ match in the qualifiers. It was also decided to deduct 4 points from Southampton's balance this season.
Lionel Scaloni, the coach of the Argentine national football team, confirmed his desire to continue with Tango, indicating that renewing his contract, which expires next December, is only a matter of time.
Scaloni said, on the eve of the confrontation with Bolivia: “I spoke briefly with the president of the Argentine Federation to see if we could move forward and reach an agreement. "We have these upcoming matches, but it's just a matter of reaching an agreement."
The website of the Spanish newspaper “Marca” quoted Scaloni as saying: “The desire is there, and this is the most important thing.” I am determined to continue, motivated to continue working and ready to reach an agreement. When we have something, we will announce it.”
Scaloni explained that the number 10 shirt, which is worn by national team captain Lionel Messi, will not be worn by any player during the matches between Bolivia and Burkina Faso, before the friendly match against Benin on October 6, which will be the farewell match for Messi, who announced his retirement from international football.
The Argentine coach has currently ruled out holding the Villalissima match against Spain, which was scheduled to bring together the South American and European champions before the World Cup.
Scaloni said: “I have no idea about that, but looking at the match schedule, I do not see that holding the match is possible at the present time.”
