FIFA seeks to punish Ronaldo, Messi; Chelsea may sell Morata in January 2019?

FIFA seeks to punish Ronaldo and Messi if they continue to skip The Best gala

Ronaldo and Messi, the two biggest stars of contemporary football, were both absent from The Best awards ceremony in London. One cited the need to prepare for a match, while the other canceled his plans to attend due to family matters.

Besides affecting FIFA's reputation, the absence of the two superstars also had a negative impact on the 2018 Team of the Year award. Ronaldo and Messi were both included in the Team of the Year, meaning the Organizing Committee could not take photos of all 11 players at the award ceremony.

To prevent similar incidents in the coming years, FIFA President Gianni Infantino has ordered the legal department to find a way to create regulations to ensure the biggest stars are present. If they continue to skip the awards ceremony like last time, Ronaldo and Messi could get in trouble, or even be fined.

Infantino's predecessor, Sepp Blatter, made the mistake of mocking Ronaldo's post-goal celebration in 2013. Ronaldo reacted and Blatter publicly apologized. Only then did CR7 agree to attend the FIFA Ballon d'Or ceremony the same year he won, helping FIFA avoid the situation of the award going unclaimed.

Real and Chelsea are close to reaching an agreement to sign Liverpool's 60 million Euro target

For Real Madrid, Isco had to undergo appendectomy, Bale got injured while Karim Benzema "failed to score" in recent matches, making coach Sarri unhappy.

Meanwhile, for Chelsea, although Eden Hazard is on the rise as he leads the Premier League's top scorer list, his teammates on the attack line such as Alvaro Morata, Olivier Giroud and Willian have yet to achieve a stable scoring performance.

That situation forced both Los Blancos and The Blues to turn their eyes to the transfer market to increase the firepower of their attack.

Nabil Fekir

In that effort, they have targeted Nabil Fekir, Liverpool's 60 million Euro target in the last summer transfer window.

According to revealed information, The Kops were very close to recruiting the French star - the 2018 World Cup champion, but the deal fell through for various reasons.

Currently, two major media sites, L'Equipe and TEAMtalk, have taken turns confirming that both Real and Chelsea have jumped into this deal and they are very close to recruiting Fekir.

Chelsea could sell Morata in January 2019

According to The Sun, Chelsea's board of directors are not satisfied with Morata's performance this season. According to this source, The Blues may sell the Spanish striker in the January 2019 transfer window. Since the beginning of the season, coach Sarri has created many conditions, but Morata has played very disappointingly, missed many scoring opportunities in many different matches and has not contributed effectively to Chelsea.

Bale to miss Champions League clash with CSKA Moscow

Bale suffered a thigh injury in the 0-0 draw with Atletico Madrid in round 7 of La Liga at the weekend. According to the latest information, the former Tottenham player will miss the match against CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Champions League taking place in the middle of this week. This is bad news for coach Julen Lopetegui, when his team has gone 3 consecutive matches without a win.

MU sell Alexis Sanchez at a loss

British press reported that MU is ready to sell Alexis Sanchez at a loss in the winter transfer window (January 2019), after disappointing performance that Mourinho and the team's leadership could no longer stand.

Mourinho publicly criticized Sanchez in front of the whole team, ready to sell the Chilean striker if he could still keep his job.

MU will find a partner who is willing to "take" the former Arsenal striker, who has been a shadow of himself since moving to Old Trafford in January 2018. Sanchez has not scored a single goal in this year's tournament. Previously, he only scored 3 goals in 23 appearances for MU.

By getting rid of Alexis Sanchez, MU not only cuts down on the sky-high salary costs but also creates opportunities for Martial and Rashford, who the Red Devils bosses believe are more than capable of replacing him.

Mourinho, who is at high risk of being fired, also "rejected" the striker he was so happy to bring in. According to Fox Sport Chile, the Portuguese coach also criticized Sanchez in front of the whole team on the training ground, before removing him from the MU squad that lost 1-3 to West Ham in round 7 of the Premier League.