BEB Weekend Sports: Juicy News!

Chelsea agree deal in principle to sign Werner


Chelsea have agreed a deal in principle to sign Timo Werner from RB Leipzig.

The Germany international striker has a €55m (£49.4m) release clause which expires on Monday June 15.

Chelsea have offered a £200,000-a-week contract to Werner, who also interested Liverpool and Manchester United.

He had publicly indicated his preference to move to Premier League leaders Liverpool but they were unwilling to pay the release clause in the current climate.

That allowed Chelsea to move in for their number one forward target, and the 24-year-old is happy to play for Frank Lampard's side. His priority has always been to sign for a Champions League club where he can play regularly.

Werner is set to join Hakim Ziyech, who is joining from Ajax for £33m on July 1, as new additions at Stamford Bridge this summer following their transfer ban being lifted by FIFA in December last year.

Chelsea were unable to sign players last year and opted not to bring in any acquisitions in January, instead focusing on their main targets this summer.
The club are also interested in bringing in a new left-back, with Leicester's Ben Chilwell their number one target.

Bayern move closer to winning eight straight Bundesliga title 


Bayern Munich need two wins from their last four games to win an eighth straight Bundesliga title after hitting back to beat Bayer Leverkusen.

Hansi Flick's side have lost just once in their past 21 games in all competitions but did it the hard way after trailing at Leverkusen.

Kingsley Coman, Leon Goretzka and Serge Gnabry all netted in the first half following Lucas Alario's opener.

Bayern have lost just two games in 26 since Flick replaced the sacked Niko Kovac in November and come up against Eintracht Frankfurt in the German Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

Second-placed Borussia Dortmund maintained their slim hopes of overhauling Bayern and winning the title by edging a 1-0 victory over Hertha Berlin - ex-Liverpool midfielder Emre Can scoring for the hosts.

It did not start well for Bayern against Leverkusen, who had been in fine form with just one defeat in their previous 14 games but were without injured star man Kai Havertz, as Argentine striker Alario beat the offside trap and kept his cool to finish from Julian Baumgartlinger's through ball.

The setback sparked Bayern into life, France international Coman slotting home the equaliser and Goretzka turned from provider to scorer by drilling in from the edge of the box.

Ex-Arsenal and West Brom man Gnabry converted his 19th goal of the season by latching onto a long ball over the top to lob a smart finish over the advancing goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky.

Teenager Florian Wirtz, 17, came off the bench to score a lovely consolation goal late on, cutting onto his left foot inside the area and curling a strike past the reach of Manuel Neuer.

Bayern striker Lewandowski picked up a yellow card, meaning he will be suspended for their league game against Borussia Monchengladbach next Saturday.

The Poland international has 44 goals overall this campaign, but will now only have three games to chase down Gerd Muller's record of 40 in a single Bundesliga season.

McGregor announces retirement for third time


Ireland's former two-weight UFC champion, 31, has a record of 22 wins and four defeats.

His last fight, in January 2020, saw him beat American fan favourite Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone in just 40 seconds in Las Vegas.

He has previously announced his retirement in 2016 and 2019 before twice returning to the octagon.

McGregor also tried boxing, losing to former five-weight world champion Floyd Mayweather in August 2017.

"Hey guys I've decided to retire from fighting," he said on Twitterexternal-link on Sunday" 
"Thank you all for the amazing memories! What a ride it's been!"
He later told ESPNexternal-link he was "bored of the game".

McGregor added:
"The game just does not excite me, and that's that. All this waiting around. There's nothing happening.
"I'm going through opponent options, and there's nothing really there at the minute. There's nothing that's exciting me."
Speaking after UFC 250 in Las Vegas on Saturday, the organisation's president Dana White said he had not been given advance warning of McGregor's announcement.
"One of my people grabbed me and showed it to me on social media - that's Conor, that's how Conor works and does things," said White.

Formula 1 season to start with eight races in Europe


The 2020 Formula 1 season will start in Austria on 5 July, the first of a run of eight races in Europe.

An F1 statement said the championship would begin across three consecutive weekends - two in Austria on 5 and 12 July and a third in Hungary.

There will then be a two-week break before two consecutive races in Britain and events in Spain, Belgium and Italy.

All will be run behind closed doors with participants following guidelines to minimise the spread of Covid-19.

The British Grands Prix at Silverstone will be held 2 and 9 August, followed immediately by the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona on 16 August.

The Belgian and Italian Grands Prix will complete the European part of the season on their original dates of 30 August and 6 September.

Plans for the remainder of the season were not announced, because of the uncertainty of the coronavirus situation in the various countries that would have made up the original schedule.

However, F1 said it had "an expectation of having a total of 15-18 races before we complete our season in December".

It is understood that F1 is highly confident of finishing the championship with races in Bahrain on 6 December and Abu Dhabi on 13 December.

Before that, the low incidence of coronavirus in China, Vietnam and Japan makes races in those countries a strong probability in October.

The Russian Grand Prix, which is pencilled in for after the European events along with the race in Azerbaijan, and those in the US, Mexico and Brazil are more uncertain because of the high rates of infection in those countries.

from Bola Esho's Blog

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