BARCA CHASE SILVA

Barcelona have been showing a lot of interest in the Brazilian centre backs like Thiago Silva and David Luiz over the last few months. They are looking to replace ageing defender Carlos Puyol. The club has so far been relying on midfielders like Javier Mascherano and Alex Song to substitute the 35-year-old captain when he is absent from the first-team squad. Barcelona recently failed in their attempts to persuade Silva to join the Catalan club. After several weeks of transfer rumours, the 28-year-old Brazilian centre back signed a new contract with his club PSG.

As a result, the Catalan club have stepped up their interest in Chelsea defender David Luiz, who has been on their radar for a long time. In fact, Barcelona have been looking at Luiz even before he signed for Chelsea. The 26-year-old defender has established as one of the important members of the Chelsea squad. He is valued in excess of £ 40 million by the club, who paid only £ 21 million for his signature in 2011. Barcelona recently came in with their first official offer of £ 35 million, which was instantly rejected by Chelsea. Now, manager José Mourinho has said that the Spanish club are wasting their time in their efforts to sign Luiz because Chelsea do not want to sell him.

“The bid? It’s lost time for them. My advice to them is to go to the second player on their list because they are wasting their time. We don’t want to lose our best players. No chance,” said the Portuguese manager. Mourinho also confirmed that Brazilian right back Wallace is likely to join Inter Milan a season long loan deal. The 18-year-old only recently joined Chelsea, but heavy competition for the first-team spot is likely to meant he will leave on a loan deal.

BRAZIL ARE CHAMPIONS

Brazil managed to beat Spain 3-0 in the final of the Confederations cup to win the trophy once again in their illustrious history. After the match, Brazil manager Luiz Felipe Scolari has said that this victory could prove to be the start of a great period for the national team. Scolari was appointed in place of Mano Menezes several months ago, but the results have so far been disappointing. The Confederations cup saw Brazil play in competitive matches for the first time in two years, but they did not disappoint as they managed to dominate their opponents throughout the tournament.

The domination continued against world and European champions Spain as well. Spain are coming into the tournament as the clear favourites after having lifted the World Cup and the European Championships in the last five years. However, they were beaten soundly by the Brazilian team possessing the likes of Neymar and Oscar. Neymar has been one of the standout players in the tournament and he dominated the opposition once again. He scored a goal for his efforts, while Fred was once again at the right place at the right time to score two.

This is the second spell in charge of the national team for Scolari, and he is delighted to have tasted success once again.

“I don’t think I could feel any better than how I am right now. I thought that any positive result would be great and to beat them 3-0, that is much better than I imagined. But I also believe that overall, not only because of the score but the way we played, we had a very good match. Now I am able to dream that we have an idea, that we have a path ahead of us, and that we have a good team to play in the World Cup next year as equals with other strong contenders,” said Scolari.

MILITO SUFFERS INJURY PROBLEMS

Argentine striker Diego Milito was one of the main reasons for Inter Milan winning the Champions league back in 2010. The striker, though, has since suffered several injury problems, which have worsened in recent seasons. As a result, there have been recent rumours that the 33-year-old may announced his retirement from football at the end of the season. Milito, though, has rejected such speculation by saying that he expects to start playing again when he recovers from his current injury problems.

Milito has been suffering from a serious knee problem, which has kept him out of action for the majority of the year. There have been reports that the striker has failed to make a full recovery from the injury, thus prompting reports that he may be contemplating retiring from football.

Milito has said that returning back to his home country Argentina to play for an Argentine club would be one of his dreams. It is not known whether the 33-year-old may be sold in the summer in order to achieve this dream. The former Genoa man has said that he is right now concentrating only on returning to the pitch, and he will have to take thoughts about his future from there on. Milito was signed from the Italian club Genoa four years ago.

“My future? I expect to start playing again. There’s just one goal in my head right now and that’s to try and make a good recovery and get back on the pitch. Will I end my career at Inter? I honestly don’t know. I’ve always said that I’d like to go back to Argentina and play with the club I started with. You never know. Now I’m focused on recovering and getting back on the pitch. I don’t know what will happen after that,” said the striker.