Rashford’s home Barcelona debut delayed
Marcus Rashford’s home debut for Barcelona has been moved to a stadium with an incredibly small capacity.
Rashford and the La Liga giants will take on former Barca star Cesc Fabregas’ Como in a Joan Gamper Trophy showdown on Sunday night.
Barca had hoped to stage the match in the new-and-improved Nou Camp but had those hopes dashed by the city council last month.
The Estadi Lluis Companys, where Barca played their home games last season, was seemingly the logical venue to host the match.
But the stadium is unable to stage the game due to obligations to host a number of concerts.
So that has paved the way for the city’s 6,000-capacity Johan Cruyff Stadium, the home of Barcelona’s women’s team, to host the match.
Newcastle make improved Sesko offer
Newcastle have made an improved £70million-plus offer to beat Manchester United to Benjamin Sesko.
The Magpies have earmarked the RB Leipzig hitman as a replacement for wantaway striker Alexander Isak.
But they know the Red Devils are also lurking as Ruben Amorim attempts to totally revamp his front line.
Newcastle had a club-record for the Slovenia international, who bagged 21 goals and six assists last season, knocked back last week.
But, having reportedly received encouragement from the player, Toon chiefs have now followed up with a bigger offer of around £70million plus £8.4million in add-ons.
United are yet to bid for Sesko despite reports the striker has also suggested he would be willing to join.
And Newcastle are keen to get an answer one way or another within the next 24 hours, so they can push ahead with alternative plans if Sesko is determined to join Man Utd.
The Toon have also been buoyed by RB Leipzig’s response, with David Ornstein claiming the German side would prefer Sesko moves to Newcastle at this stage.
‘A little bit lazy’
Bruno Fernandes criticised a “lazy” performance in the 2-2 draw against Everton and vowed to give the fans something to cheer this season.
The captain said: “We were a little bit lazy and we have to avoid that because the laziness you can pay at any moment. We need to change that.
“The situation is improving but we are not where this club needs to be.
“At this football club you can’t do anything wrong on the pitch and off the pitch because it’s too big worldwide and you get punished by that.
“The culture here was winning and we need to bring that back. Not only the winning mentality that we need, and I think that’s always been there, but obviously if you don’t win you don’t show it.
“A lot of people have suffered from this, a lot of people who had been working at the club for many many years had to go.
“The fans are paying more for tickets and we appreciate all the effort they put in for us so now it’s up to us to pay it back on the pitch.”
Rashford home debut at 6,000-seater ground
Marcus Rashford will make his Barcelona home debut at the 6,000 capacity Johan Cruyff Stadium.
Barca face Como in the Joan Gamper Trophy on Sunday.
The match was set to be played at the Camp Nou but it is still under construction.
The Estadi Lluis Companys, where Barca played their home games last season, is hosting a concert.
Skipper demands signings
Bruno Fernandes believes Man Utd need a couple more players to complete a successful transfer window.
He said after the 2-2 draw versus Everton: “I don’t want to have a dig at anyone. The club is doing the best they can in terms of all the financial situations they talk about. I’m not involved in that.
“But obviously it was crystal clear we needed more competition for the players that were here, we needed more quality to get everyone to step up a bit more to have more to do to get into the starting side.
“That’s what the club and the manager are trying to do and hopefully we can get one or two players more to help with that.”
United had Palhinha interest
Man Utd were keen on Joao Palhinha, 30, who has officially joined Spurs on loan with a £26m option to buy.
The ex-Fulham defensive midfielder wanted to leave Bayern Munich after struggling for minutes last season and he was previously managed by Ruben Amorim at Sporting.
Transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano said: “United, at the beginning of the window, end of May/start of June, considered the opportunity to go for Joao Palhinha.
“He is Portuguese like Ruben Amorim. He knows the player so well.”
