Juventus sign Dybala for €32m

Juventus sign Paulo Dybala from Palermo for €32m

• Argentinian forward agrees five-year deal with Italian champions
• Dybala scored 13 goals in 34 Serie A appearances this season

 

Paulo Dybala has signed a five-year deal at Juventus.

Juventus have completed the signing of Palermo’s Argentinian forward Paulo Dybala for a fee of €32m, potentially rising to €40m, on a five-year contract.

Dybala, who moved to Palermo in 2012 from his home club Instituto, scored 13 times in 34 Serie A appearances this season, and the club had been keen to cash in on the 21-year-old, who turned down a contract extension in January.

“A fee of €32m, payable over four years, has been agreed, with a potential extra €8m to be added on if certain performance-related targets are met,” read a club statement.

Palmero was understood to have also attracted the attention of Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, with the club president Maurizio Zamparini saying last month: “At least three teams are really interested in him.

“The apple is ripe and we are ready to pick it. Those who understand football realise his potential.”

Why Iguodala was MVP of the Finals?

Why Iguodala was MVP of the NBA Finals?

BY PAUL BURROWES

Thirty-one-year-old Andre Iguodala was deservedly named NBA Finals MVP as he finished with the best Player Plus-Minus statistics.
Iggy, an 11-year veteran of the NBA who completed his second season with the Warriors, topped the six-game finals with net points of +59, edging out teammates Stephen Curry, +47, and Draymond Green, +38.

Plus-minus measures the point differential for the team when the player is on the court, which is the difference in the points scored for and the points scored against.
This is largely a team statistic, but when looked at individually can show how the team performs when a particular player is on court.
The one drawback of plus/minus is that it is influenced by the other players on the court as well. This statistic is useful on a multiple game-by-game basis, determining whether or not certain players have success when they are on the court together.
Regular season plus-minus statistics show that Curry was boss with +911 and was named MVP for the 2014-15 season, beating teammates Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.
No wonder Golden State were the team to beat this season.

Top 10 NBA teams

Top NBA teams for 2014-15

 

BY PAUL BURROWES

New NBA champions Golden State Warriors lived up their billing as the top team in the NBA when they defeated Cleveland Cavaliers 4-2 in the NBA Finals which ended Tuesday night.
According to the Simple Rating System (SRS), the Warriors were favoured to take the crown, their first since 1975 and their third championship title all told. They first won in 1956 when they were called the Philadelphia Warriors.

Top 10 NBA teams
1 Golden State Warriors, 10.01
2 Los Angeles Clippers, 6.80
3 San Antonio Spurs, 6.34
4 Atlanta Hawks, 4.75
5 Portland Trail Blazers, 4.41
6 Cleveland Cavaliers, 4.08
7 Houston Rockets, 3.82
8 Memphis Grizzlies, 3.62
9 Dallas Mavericks, 3.36
10 Chicago Bulls, 2.54
0 - denotes average (only 13 teams were above zero)



 

Finals defeat too much for LeBron

Finals defeats too much to bear for James

 

In fact, losing to Golden State hurt so much he would rather miss out on the play-offs altogether than lose another championship series.

James led the way for Cleveland with 32 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists in Game Six on Tuesday but it was not enough to carry the Cavaliers to victory over the Warriors.

Golden State picked up their first title in 40 years with the 105-97 win in Cleveland.

"When you fall short it hurts," James told reporters. "I'm starting to (think) I'd rather not even make the play-offs than to lose in the Finals. It would hurt a lot (less)."

James finished with averages of 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists for the six games, becoming the first player to lead both teams in total points, rebounds and assists in a Finals series.

There was talk he could follow Jerry West (1969) and become just the second player to win the Finals MVP despite losing the series, but that honour went to Golden State's Andre Iguodala, who hounded James throughout the match-up.

In the end, effort could not make up for a depleted roster.

The Cavs lost All Star guard Kyrie Irving to a knee injury in the series opener and All Star forward Kevin Love to a shoulder ailment in the first round of the play-offs.

"We never asked for sympathy when they went down," said coach David Blatt. "We never made an excuse and I certainly won't do that now. The Warriors were better."

The result of losing two key players was that Cleveland had to feed James the ball more, but the increased workload saw him make just 39 percent of his shots.

"I don't enjoy being as non-efficient as I was. I don't enjoy dribbling the ball for countless seconds on the shot clock with the team looking at me to make a play," James said.

"That's not winning basketball. It was what I had to do, what was needed. We ran out of talent."

Give Ings time says Gerrard

Gerrard urges Liverpool fans: Give Ings time to settle

 

Departing Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is excited about the arrival of England Under-21 striker Danny Ings but urged fans to be patient with him.
Ings will formally complete his move from Burnley when his contract expires on July 1, with the Reds hopeful he can make the step up after scoring 11 goals for the relegated Clarets last season.

Gerrard believes the 22-year-old, currently with England for the Under-21 European Championships in the Czech Republic, can develop into a top striker but insists he needs time to adapt to his new surroundings.
"The Ings one I'm really excited about because he can be what he wants to be - I know the talent's there, he's very young, he's fresh," Gerrard, who begins a new challenge with Los Angeles Galaxy this summer, told Liverpoolfc.com.

"I think if he carries on learning and developing he can become a top striker and we love top strikers, so the stage is there and I wish (him) the best of luck and I'm looking forward to watching (him) play.
"For me, the supporters just need to be patient with him, he's still very young and I'm sure he'll get eased in gently.
"He might be the type of player that needs that bigger club and does thrive on the pressure.
"He's certainly got the platform there at one of the best clubs in the world to showcase his talents.
"Hopefully he can get some goals early on which will give him the confidence that'll make him feel like he belongs there."

 

Falcao set to join Chelsea

Radamel Falcao Set to Join Chelsea F.C. on Loan: Reports

Radamel Falcao previously played for AS Monaco.

© AFP

London: English Premier League champions Chelsea are on the verge of agreeing a loan deal for Monaco striker Radamel Falcao, the BBC and Sky Sports both reported on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old Colombia international spent last season on loan at Manchester United but could only manage four goals in 29 appearances for the Old Trafford club.

Last week, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho indicated the Blues were interested in signing Falcao by saying he wanted to "help" him get back to his best.

"If I can help Falcao reach his level again, I will do it," Mourinho told DirecTV Sports.

"It hurts me that people in England think that the real Falcao is the one we saw at Manchester United," the Portuguese manager added.

Falcao's first European club was Portuguese side Porto, where Mourinho himself had previously made his reputation as a coach.

Chelsea have a striker vacancy after Ivory Coast veteran Didier Drogba left on a free transfer after the end of last season.

Man U hope for productive US tour

Manchester United hope that pre-season US tour will pay dividends, says Louis van Gaal

Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal will expect his team to hit the ground running next season after improving their summer schedule.

Van Gaal was critical of the program for Manchester United's pre-season tour of the United States last summer, believing the team spent too much time crossing time zones.

United played games in Los Angeles, Denver, Washington, Detroit and Miami last year but have scaled back the travelling and will be based predominantly on the west coast this time.

United will stay mainly in the Seattle and San Francisco Bay areas as they train and play four matches in the International Champions Cup.

Van Gaal told MUTV: "When you see our pre-season last year in the United States of America, we won everything playing against big, top clubs, and then we had to play our first match against Swansea City and we lost. That cannot happen next year.

"The most important aspect is building up our team with individual players so they are thinking like a team, but also we need fitness and match rhythm and therefore we have to play matches, but we also have to train also.

"The problem was when we went to America (last year) we didn't have so many times to train because we had to fly and travel a lot.

"Now though, we have improved our America tour because we have two base camps and we are at the other side of America so we have lower temperatures and can build up our fitness better.

"Last year we had a lot of time differences. You cannot then train your body properly. Therefore it was not good.

"Now we are always in the same base camps so we have no time difference and we have chosen our hotel nearby the training accommodation.

"So it is now more easy to train twice a day and that is very important in pre-season."

United face Club America in Seattle on July 17, San Jose Earthquakes in Berkeley on July 21 and then Barcelona in Santa Clara four days later. They then play Paris Saint-Germain in Chicago on July 29 as they head home.