Barcelona Block Neymar's Multi-Million Dollar
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FOOTBALL | Page 2 ATHLETICS | Page 7 ‘Very special’ ‘Underdog’ Austria brace Bolt ready to for historic fi re in 100m Euro 2017 game defence Wednesday, August 2, 2017 CRICKET Dhul-Qa’da 10 , 1438 AH England’s Ali picks GULF TIMES his moment for fi rst hat-trick SPORT Page 4 FOOTBALL Barcelona block Neymar’s multi-million dollar bonus Brazil and Barca star keeps fans guessing with cryptic Twitter posts as CRICKET speculation mounts about his move to Paris Saint-Germain No Bangladesh tour AFP Barcelona without new pay deal, arcelona have blocked pay- ment of a 26-million-euro says Australia’s Smith ($31-million) bonus for star attacker Neymar as specula- Reuters Btion mounts that he will move to Paris Sydney Saint-Germain, a source at the club said yesterday. The Brazilian football star, who is due ustralian players will not to come back for training today morn- travel to Bangladesh for a ing, is at the centre of an apparent tug two-test tour starting this of war between the two European gi- Amonth until the pay dis- ants in what would be the most expen- pute between them and the sport’s sive transfer fee in football history. national governing body is resolved, Speculation is mounting that the captain Steve Smith said yesterday. 25-year-old could quit Barcelona for The Australian Cricketers’ Associa- PSG for a world-record 222mn euros. tion (ACA) and Cricket Australia’s “These 26mn euros have been placed (CA) have failed to resolve a long- with a notary pending to see if the play- running pay dispute that has left er continues,” the source, who refused around 230 players eff ectively to be named, told AFP. unemployed after the previous five- The renewal bonus was agreed on a year agreement expired in June. year ago when Neymar extended his The Australia A team boycotted contract with Barcelona until 2021, and their South Africa tour in July after a was due to be paid to the player after he new Memorandum of Understand- completed a year. ing could not be agreed and Smith But the club has decided to put it on says the senior team will skip the hold pending to see how the situation Bangladesh tour, which is scheduled evolves. to start on Aug 27. CA is on the verge of an agreement The contract Neymar signed also Guessing game: Neymar “I’d like to, but as we’ve said for a with the players’ union and Smith increased an early termination clause long time we need to get the deal remained hopeful that a solution from 200 to 222mn euros, which PSG is Spanish sports media doubt he will In another video posted from an forward could be headed directly to done first,” Smith told Fox Sports. would be found. reportedly willing to pay. show up. aeroplane, Neymar jokes around with Paris after deciding to quit the Spanish “I don’t think it would be fair for us to “It’s had some diff icult moments,” Neymar’s future is the talk of Span- Neymar, meanwhile, triggered a an image messaging app that superim- club. go away after the (Australia) A guys the 28-year-old said. ish football, and particularly Barcelona guessing game on his return from Chi- posed a Spanish fl ag and a small plane BeIN Sport, like PSG backed by Qa- were very strong on not going away “When this is all over with, I have to supporters. na yesterday, posting a video on social on his tee-shirt — suggesting he is in- tar, said in a tweet in Arabic on Monday on their tour, for us to then go away I deal with Pat Howard, I have to deal After a successful pre-season tour media apparently from Dubai but leav- deed headed home to Barcelona. that Neymar had decided to leave the don’t think that’s fair. with the (CA) Board and speak to (CA in the United States that saw Barce- ing his fi nal destination — Paris or Bar- The decor in that video was identifi - Catalan club, citing a club management “CA know this, they’ve been told chief executive) James Sutherland lona win against Juventus, Manchester celona — a mystery. able as from an Emirates aeroplane. source at Barcelona. this. I told (CA’s Executive General so I have to be careful with what sort United and Real Madrid, the footballer As speculation mounts of an im- Earlier reports claimed that he was While Neymar has studiously re- Manager Team Performance) Pat of lines I tread. fl ew to China for a promotion trip. minent record-busting transfer from headed from China to Doha, to meet mained silent about his future, Barca Howard personally that this was “Talking to the two parties and try- But he studiously avoided comment- Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain, PSG’s Qatari owners and pass a medical coach Ernesto Valverde is expecting how things were going to be if there ing to figure out what each of them ing on the situation. Neymar’s video appeared to be from the before his reported 222-million-euro him back at the club today for the re- wasn’t a deal done.” want and the best way forward. It’s Today, Barcelona players resume fi rst class lounge at Dubai airport. ($260mn) move from Barca. sumption of training, although Spanish The dispute revolves around CA’s been a long process and hopefully it training after their summer break, with The 25-year-old forward, who was But his being on an Emirates plane sports media claim he won’t turn up. scrapping of the two-decade-old comes to a close soon.” a double session in the morning and in in Shanghai on Monday fulfi lling a rules out Doha as a possible destination In his four years with the Catalans he revenue share model, by which play- Sutherland said last week that his the afternoon. sponsor’s engagement, also posted a given the diplomatic crisis between has won the Champions League in 2015, ers get a fixed share of the organisa- organisation would take the pay Neymar has been called to the train- photo with the caption in Portuguese: Qatar and its Gulf neighbours. La Liga twice, the Spanish Cup three tion’s annual revenue, in the new dispute to arbitration if a resolution ing, the club source said, although “Lunch at half-way”. Other reports had said the Barcelona times and one FIFA Club World Cup. pay deal. Local media reported that was not found by this week. BEACH VOLLEYBALL Qatar duo top pool in World Championships By Sports Reporter With this win avenged a 2-1 loss Vienna to the Latvian’s at the 2015 FIVB Xiamen Open to even the head-to-head at 1-1 in FIVB World Tour competition he Qatar duo of Jeff erson Pereira and Cherif Younousse topped Pool B in the said. “We did well in the pools round and Cherif Beach Volleyball World Championships really enjoys playing these big tournaments. He after a convincing 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) win connects really well with the supporters and Tover second-seeded Latvians Aleksandrs Sam- plays with happiness and the fans here have oilovs and Janis Smedins in Vienna. been amazing so far. With this win they avenged a 2-1 loss to the “We are more confi dent after what we did and Latvians at the 2015 FIVB Xiamen Open to even we feel we can compete in the top, so maybe we their head-to-head record at 1-1 in FIVB World can surprise people again”. Tour competition. The 28-year-old player also trusts his own Qatar fi nished their Pool B engagements with Qatar’s Jeff erson Pereira lucky charm to claim a good result in Vienna. a 3-0 record while Latvia are second with two in action in Vienna. Jeff erson has grown a goatee to compete in the wins and a loss. Germany’s Markus Bocker- World Championships, one that has earned mann/Lars Fluggen are third while Jhonatan him the nickname “The Rock” (in a reference Golindanoa and Carlos Rangel of Venezuela fi n- to American actor and professional wrestler ished 4th. Dwayne Johnson). Both Latvia and Qatar have advanced to the “It all started in a regional tournament in knockout phase and will play Thursday. Asia”, he recalls. “I was wearing the goatee and The Qatari duo have made impressive progress was playing with a lot of intensity, hitting the since their historic performance in The Hague, ball really hard and people starting calling me fi nishing ninth at Rio 2016 Olympic Games and ‘The Rock’. We got a pretty good result there winning their fi rst-ever gold medal in the FIVB and since then I decided to grow it to every im- World Tour in Kish Island also last year. portant tournament we play, especially the Ol- “I believe we can repeat what we did in The ympics and the World Championships. It has Hague and, why not, even get further”, Jeff erson worked so far and I hope it does again this time”. Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, August 2, 2017 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT EURO 2017: WOMEN ‘Very special’ Austria Real expected to brace for historic game give MLS stars intense match ‘When you get to play for a team like Real Madrid, there’s no days off . There are no File picture of Austria’s Katharina Schiechtl (L) in action during their easy games. They have a world-class coach that they are trying to impress’ UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 quarter-final against Spain.