🚨 Full UCL/UEL and UECL draws, ten Hag's good news, new LFC deal for Danns, Dragusin starts, strong Real Madrid statement and much more
Today's round-up of news clips and transfer stories, featuring Barcelona, Chelsea and more...
Good morning all, and welcome to the latest edition of the Daily Briefing - thanks as always for reading, and hope you enjoy! :-)
Today’s top stories:
🎧 LISTEN: The Debrief Podcast: How many trophies will Liverpool win?
Chelsea will pay Brentford £750,000 for their set-piece coach
Plus more from Aston Villa, Man City & Inter
AC Milan
Rafa Leão: “I feel 100% Milanista. Ibrahimović and Maldini helped me understand how big Milan is. It's an honour to play for this shirt, and I'm happy to be here.”
Aston Villa
Aston Villa have moved ahead of Arsenal in their race to sign a La Liga sensation. Find out who it is in Matteo Moretto’s exclusive column.
Barcelona
Barcelona are currently not working on a deal for Mason Greenwood deal despite recent links. Manchester United are open to selling the player and finding a solution in the summer as reported earlier this week, but Barça’s focus is now on different targets.
Joao Felix has a huge chance to win back Barça’s trust this weekend [Football Espana]
Ronald Araújo when asked to send a message to the Barça fans about his future: “All the people know I’m very happy at Barça. I’m always trying to show that every time I wear this shirt. I’m happy here and I’ll give my best always.”
Champions League Quarter-Final Draw
Arsenal v Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid v Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid v Man City
Paris Saint-Germain v Barcelona
First leg matches will be played on April 9/10, whilst the second legs come a week later on 16/17 April.
Champions League Semi-Final Draw
Atletico Madrid/Borussia Dortmund v Paris Saint-Germain/Barcelona
Arsenal/Bayern v Real Madrid/Man City
First legs to be played on April 30/May 1 and second legs on May 7/May 8
A draw also took place to determine who will be the home team in the final at Wembley on June 1, and either Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain or Barcelona will be given that honour.
Be the first to read EXCLUSIVE NEWS ARTICLES from me, Fabrizio Romano, Christian Falk, Neil Jones, Ben Jacobs, Jonathan Johnson, Charles Watts and Matteo Moretto!
Chelsea
Pochettino: “It's not interesting for the people what I think what it means to me to be successful. If I say one thing, people go in another direction. The most important is how the owners and sporting directors judge the job.”
Pochettino on Conor Gallagher: "He's convincing the manager of England because his commitment is always 200%. He needs to keep performing with this commitment. It's one of his best skills, the capacity to always be ready to fight and help, and the show his quality."
Si Phillips has another Chelsea exclusive as he discusses the news that the club have added two new left-backs to their summer shopping list.
More on Chelsea and their new set piece coach Bernardo Cueva. Final compensation to Brentford will be £750k. Cueva will join the Blues in the summer.
Europa League Quarter-Final Draw
AC Milan v AS Roma
Liverpool v Atalanta
Bayer Leverkusen v West Ham United
Benfica v Marseille
First leg matches will be played on April 11, whilst the second legs come a week later on 18 April.
Europa League Semi-Final Draw
Benfica/Marseille v Liverpool/Atalanta
AC Milan/AS Roma v Bayer Leverkusen/West Ham United
First legs to be played on May 2 and second legs on May 9
A draw also took place to determine who will be the home team in the final at the Dublin Arena on May 22, and either Benfica, Marseille, Liverpool or Atalanta will be given that honour.
Europa Conference League Quarter-Final Draw
Club Brugge v PAOK
Olympiacos v Fenerbahçe
Aston Villa v Lille
Viktoria Plzen v Fiorentina
First leg matches will be played on April 11, whilst the second legs come a week later on 18 April.
Europa Conference League Semi-Final Draw
Aston Villa/Lille v Olympiacos/Fenerbahçe
Viktoria Plzen/Fiorentina v Club Brugge/PAOK
First legs to be played on May 2 and second legs on May 9
A draw also took place to determine who will be the home team in the final at the AEK Arena on May 29, and either Aston Villa, Lille, Olympiacos or Fenerbahçe will be given that honour.
Inter
Lautaro Martinez will become Inter’s highest paid player this summer, and Matteo Moretto has an exclusive deep dive on the deal.
Costacurta aims dig at Inter striker Lautaro Martinez [Football Italia]
Lazio
Igor Tudor is set to replace Sarri with documents being prepared. Deal valid until June 2025 with an option for a further season.
Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp spoke to the media ahead of Liverpool’s FA Cup tie against Man United, and he had mixed news on the injury front [pictures from Hayters]:
Football pundit has named the manager Liverpool players want [talkSPORT]
Jayden Danns has signed a new long-term deal at Liverpool, agreed and completed. He only wanted to stay at Liverpool and to continue his development process.
Luton Town
Teden Mengi, set to be called up for England U21 upcoming games after his performances with Luton Town.
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola: "De Bruyne won't be ready for Newcastle but he feels good, I'm grateful he can recover for rest of the season. Ederson could be ready after the international break, Grealish is getting better and he's back in the group."
Pep Guardiola on Bruno Guimaraes: "Exceptional holding midfielder; aggressive, with the ball has the pause, on set-pieces he's aggressive. Now, Newcastle want to grow and I'm pretty sure he's part of their project for the next years, definitely."
Man City land another highly-rated teenager ahead of EPL rivals [The Athletic]
Pep Guardiola spoke about drawing Real Madrid again in the Champions League during his pre-match press conference for the FA Cup tie against Newcastle [pictures from Hayters]:
Our reader-funded model means we can provide you with the most reliable transfer news from football’s most authoritative journalists advertising free, but it does rely on some readers making a contribution by subscribing to the premium content, please try it out by clicking the ‘2 months for Free!’ button below.
Manchester United
Mason Greenwood doesn’t want to return to Man United but the Red Devils want as much as they can for him. Atlético Madrid are one of many clubs interested, and Matteo Moretto has more on this developing story.
£41m star wants to retire at Man United [todofichajes]
Erik ten Hag on Marcus Rashford and PSG reports: “We did not re-sign Marcus last season for four years with the intention of selling him now. He should be part of the Man United project and it’s (PSG speculation) not a subject we talk about.”
Erik ten Hag had some great news with regards to Man United’s injured players ahead of their FA Cup tie against Liverpool [pictures from Hayters]:
Real Madrid
Brahim Díaz: “My contract? There’s no negotiation as Real Madrid is the place where I want to be. I want to play for Real and win titles for this club. I’m just doing my best every day as I love this club.”
Vinicius Junior threatened to go on strike at Real Madrid [Sport]
Ancelotti: "I've no idea if they're worried at Man City after the draw. We are optimistic, not worried. We will play with full confidence. One year we won, the following year it was them. Let's see."
Ancelotti: "We are hungry. We're in top condition, better than ever. We'll have Thibaut Courtois and Eder Militao available again soon. Courtois and Militao vs City? I think they can be part of the squad. But we won’t take any risks. We will test them."
Real Madrid statement: Real Madrid C. F. has filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office against the crimes of hatred and discrimination, for the racist and hateful insults directed against our player Vinicius Junior in the vicinity of the Olympic Stadium of Montjuic and the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid before the matches Barcelona-Naples and Atlético de Madrid-Inter Milan, of the Champions League. Real Madrid asks the Prosecutor's Office to request the security forces for the existing recordings in both locations in order to identify the perpetrators of such racist and hateful insults. Real Madrid condemns these violent attacks of racism, discrimination and hatred that have been taking place, unfortunately repeatedly, against our player Vinicius Junior. Our club will continue to work in the defence of the values of football and sport, and will remain firm in its fight for zero tolerance in the face of episodes as disgusting as those that continue to occur in recent times.
Spain
Pau Cubarsí, included in Spain’s list for the first time at 17. Full squad as follows: Unai, Raya, Remiro. Carvajal, Navas, Porro, Laporte, Le Normand, Vivian, Cubarsí, Gayà, Grimaldo. Rodri, Zubimendi, Merino, Fabián, Baena, Sancet. Olmo, Morata, Yamal, Joselu, Nico, Moreno, Oyarzabal, Sarabia.
Tottenham Hotspur
Ange Postecoglou on Manor Solomon: “No real progress for him. Unfortunately he’s not really comfortable with where he’s at. The medical team are looking for some other strategies now.”
Postecoglou on UCL spot influencing Tottenham summer window: "I doubt our off-season plans in terms of strengthening the team will change markedly from where we are now. We know what we need. We know the areas we need to strengthen... and that won’t change."
Postecoglou has confirmed that Radu Dragusin will make his first Spurs start against Fulham this weekend [pictures from Hayters]: