La Liga
KOEMAN BARS YET-TO-RELEASED SUAREZ FROM TRAINING WITH BARCA SQUAD
Luis Suarez has been asked to train on his own by new Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman as he prepares to leave the LaLiga club for Juventus.
Although the new coach has told him that his services were no longer required, the club has not formally terminated his contract which still has one-year expiry date.
However, the Uruguayan forward is reported by Daily Mail to be in talks with the Spanish club to terminate his contract, which expires in 2021, after six successful years at the Camp Nou.
Quoting Spanish outlet, Marca, Daily Mail reported that Suarez has agreed a £9million salary with the Serie A champions in a move that would see him link-up with Cristiano Ronaldo in Turin.
And several reports, including ESPN, have claimed that the striker is training away from the first-team group alongside Arturo Vidal and another fitness coach while his future gets resolved.
Suarez posted an image of him training with Barcelona on his Instagram story with the caption, ‘Professional’, implying that he will remain dedicated to the LaLiga club while he remains a player there.
The forward’s proposed £9m salary in Italy will see him receive a lower wage compared to what he currently earns at Barcelona, though the 33-year-old is expected to earn additional sums in bonuses and image rights payments.
Suarez is the third-highest goalscorer in Barcelona’s history with 198 strikes to his name – despite only joining the Catalan side six years ago.
Yet new boss Koeman has refused to include him in his plans for next season and he is set to depart the club alongside Vidal – who has been strongly linked with a move to Inter Milan.
Suarez was reportedly told by the Dutch manager that his services are no longer required in a one-minute phone call which left the Uruguayan stunned.
The striker was also upset at the radio silence by club president Josep Maria Bartomeu over his future, with Barcelona fans already upset at their own chief over the way he has handled Lionel Messi’s transfer saga.
During his time at the Camp Nou, Suarez has won four LaLiga titles, four Spanish Cups along with the Champions League and Club World Cup titles in 2015.
He originally joined the Spanish giants for a £65million from Liverpool in 2014.
Barcelona said their request for a permit to return to the Camp Nou for Sunday’s LaLiga match against Real Sociedad has been denied, with the city council highlighting safety and security issues with the revamped venue.
Barca had been hoping to return to a reduced-capacity Camp Nou with 27,000 spectators but have failed to obtain the necessary permits from Barcelona City Council.
Barca will instead host the match at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Montjuic, where they played during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons with renovations at Camp Nou now nine months behind schedule.
“We have spotted different elements that need to be fixed and have an impact in the safety and security of the stadium,” chief of civil protection Sebastia Massague said at a city council meeting.
Barca had to begin their LaLiga home campaign at the Estadi Johan Cruyff in their own training complex, where only 6,000 fans attended their match against Valencia on September 14, after a Post Malone concert left the Lluis Companys pitch in poor condition.
“The club is currently working on the new amendments that the council has shared today,” Barca said in a statement.
On Friday, the Catalan club also announced that their Champions League group stage match against Paris St Germain on October 1 would also take place at the Lluis Companys.
Barca are second in LaLiga, trailing leaders Real Madrid by five points but having played a game fewer.
-Reuters
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Villarreal midfielder Thomas Partey on Wednesday appeared in a London court and pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault involving three women.
Partey, a Ghana international, is accused of five counts of rape relating to two women, plus a charge of sexual assault against a third woman, between April 2021 and June 2022.
The alleged offences took place when Partey played for Premier League soccer club Arsenal. He left the club this summer and signed for Spain’s Villarreal.
The 32-year-old appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and enter his not guilty pleas.
Partey was released on bail ahead of his trial, which was listed for Nov. 2, 2026 and is due to take between six and eight weeks.
He was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59.2 million) in 2020 and became a key member of the English side’s first team, before his contract expired at the end of June.
Partey played for Villarreal in their Champions League game against Arsenal’s bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night.
He came on as a second-half substitute and was booed loudly by the Spurs fans every time he touched the ball.
-Reuters
Villarreal and Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey, who has been charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, walks outside Southwark Crown Court, in London, Britain, September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska
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Real Madrid on Tuesday denounced plans to stage a LaLiga match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami, warning the proposal could undermine football’s competitive balance and vowing to petition global governing bodies to block the move.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Monday approved the December 20 fixture at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which could become the first LaLiga match held abroad and the first European league fixture staged in the United States.
“Real Madrid wish to express to its members, supporters and football fans in general its firm rejection of the proposal,” the club said in a statement, revealing they have already urged FIFA, UEFA and Spain’s Higher Sports Council (CSD) to intervene.
The club accused the RFEF of making its decision “without informing or consulting the clubs participating in the competition” and argued that staging the match in Miami “violates the essential principle of territorial reciprocity” in home-and-away league formats.
Real further stated that the move would “alter the competitive balance” and grant “an unfair sporting advantage” to the clubs involved.
The club also warned that approving the proposal could compromise sporting integrity and “set an unacceptable precedent,” insisting any change of this nature should require “the express and unanimous agreement of all the clubs participating in the competition”.
The plan still requires approval from UEFA, US Soccer, CONCACAF and ultimately FIFA before LaLiga President Javier Tebas can realise his long-held ambition of taking Spanish football to the U.S.
-Reuters
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