It's been a slow news day today, but somehow, media outlets have come up with some crazy rumours. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United are the three biggest clubs in the world and so they are also the sides to be involved in most number of reports.
Having gone through all the reports so far today here are the three rumours I felt that needed some clearance:
#1 - Barcelona set to appoint Ernesto Valverde
Don Balon were the first to report the rumour of Valverde being selected as the next Barcelona manager today. However, they are not the source of this. Guillem Balague was the one to make this claim way back in March!
He said, “Athletic Bilbao manager Ernesto Valverde, whose contract at the San Mames Stadium expires at the end of the season, is the top priority. He [Valverde] has said no to the job twice. To say no a third time would be very difficult and with his contract up at the end of the season the timing is good too.”
Both Don Balon and Guillem Balague are two of the most unreliable sources and those are the ones that are reporting this. Therefore, this is a rumour that can be thrown out of the window like a fly from your soup/coffee.
#2 - Barcelona keen on signing Angel Di Maria
Mundo Deportivo have been reporting that Barcelona are tracking Di Maria and the player is keen on joining them too. And according to them, it's Lionel Messi who is persuading the club to sign the Argentine!
Linking Di Maria to Barcelona is okay. Saying that the player wants to join them is also acceptable. But reporting that Messi has advised the club to sign him is just insane.
Like, who told you this? Did Messi send a text or did Neymar overhear the Argentine talking to Luis Enrique or Josep Bartomeu and leak it out to the press? Anyway, I find it ridiculous that they mentioned Messi's name in the report just to 'sell' the article.
#3 - Manchester United to beat Chelsea and sign Romelu Lukaku
Romelu Lukaku has joined Chelsea, PSG and now Manchester United in the last one week! That's against the FIFA policy, isn't it?
Despite the striker calling out the rumours on Twitter regularly in the past couple of days, the English press are just not backing out from making up the rumour.
It's a known fact that the Belgian striker is a big fan of Chelsea and he has kept saying that he has unfinished business at Stamford Bridge. The 23-year-old has made his career decisions only after discussing it with Didier Drogba, and we all know where the Ivory Costa striker would ask him to move.