🚨 FULL INTERVIEW BY JOAN LAPORTA REGARDING JULIÁN ÁLVAREZ:
"First of all, we have absolute respect for Atlético Madrid and their officials. We also have a great deal of personal respect for them, because we have known each other for many years.
"I would like to explain how everything happened, because at Barcelona we made an offer to Atlético Madrid, from club to club. I personally confirmed that offer during a private phone conversation I had with Miguel Ángel Gil Marín.
"He told me that they had no intention of selling the player because they did not have a replacement for him going forward.
"I told him that we were interested in the player and that, of course, we respected their position of not wanting to sell him. But if they found a replacement during the current summer transfer window, we would be interested in signing him.
"So, after Atlético Madrid confirmed that they would not sell him, we said: “Okay, we’ll leave it for later,” because, in principle, they did not have a replacement and therefore we could not sign the player.
"What happened afterwards? We received information at the club that Atlético Madrid were negotiating with other clubs over the sale of the player.
"Naturally, after receiving that information, we said that we still stand by our proposal and our offer, because everyone knows that the player wants to come to Barcelona.
"So this situation created a lot of noise, but it was not caused by Barcelona’s actions. They told us that they would not sell the player, while it appears, at least according to the information reaching us, that they are trying to reach agreements with other clubs.
"After that, through people we trust, we contacted Enrique Cerezo. Enrique Cerezo later made some public comments.
"With all due respect to Enrique Cerezo, I believe Barcelona acted appropriately and did exactly what we normally do with other clubs. The same thing happened with Manchester City, and there have been other clubs we contacted to ask whether they were willing to sell one of their players. When they told us, “No, we are not selling,” we left it there.
"But in this case, there are special circumstances because we are receiving information that Atlético Madrid want to sell the player to other clubs. That is why Barcelona are still there, and the offer we made remains valid until the end of the transfer window, in case Atlético Madrid decide to sell the player.
"The truth is that we are very interested in the player. We would like our offer to be accepted, and we are handling the situation with complete respect for Atlético Madrid.
"We want them to know that if they are willing to sell the player during the current summer transfer window, we are ready to sign him based on the offer we have already made to them."
🚨🔵🔴 Barcelona have fully agreed on personal terms with Rodri after contract proposal sent to his agent.
Negotiations club to club to follow with Man City to advance on transfer fee and get the deal done ASAP.
🎥➕ https://t.co/qAhLqKiRBL
Democracy ends after elections. EFCC freezing Osun govt account without court order is pure abuse of power. Since when did the executive arm of government gain the authority to unilaterally cripple another executive arm without a court order? What happened to the rule of law?
EFCC PRESS STATEMENT
Why EFCC Froze Osun State's Government Account
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is compelled to publicly address issues pertaining to its preventive moves in freezing the bank account of the Osun State government, without prejudice to the imminent governorship election in the state.
The Commission has been busy investigating the Osun state government since March, 2026, regarding alleged fraudulent handling of Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and Federal Account Allocation Committee, FAAC account to the tune of N11, 000,000, 000(Eleven Billion Naira only). To this end, some officials of the state government, especially the Accountant General of the State, have had interview sessions with investigators of the EFCC.
These ongoing investigations of the state government would not have warranted any placement of Post No Debit order on its account but for the precipitate and unwarranted movement of funds from the accounts to different suspicious accounts since August 2, 2026. The Commission noticed huge transfers of funds into different corporate entities and had to swiftly halt the trend by freezing the accounts from which such heavy funds are being moved.
The EFCC’s preventive mandate is a public-inclined framework of safeguarding public funds, assets and resources. The Commission cannot watch idly while a state government’s account is being pillaged. While the Commission is fully aware of the impending governorship election in Osun State, it has a responsibility to act in defence of the sanctity of the funds of the state. It will be uncharitable for the Commission to allow an excuse of an upcoming election to fold its arms to perform its legally-assigned functions.
It is equally needful to state that the Commission is keeping watch over the finances of other states like Osun State. Many of these states are on the investigative radar of the Commission to ensure accountability and probity. The Commission has always pointed out that it is non-partisan and non-sectarian but always working in the overall interests of Nigerians. The Osun State government account was frozen to save public funds from being looted.
The public is enjoined to ignore false narratives and deliberate demonization of the works of the EFCC. The interests of all Nigerians are greater and will always be protected by the Commission.
There are many full scholarships in the UK, but many applicants don't know how to find them.
Here is a list of some lesser known fully funded UK scholarships, some even covering travel fees (most of them are annual, so you can prepare ahead):
1. Allan and Nesta Ferguson Trust Scholarship - University of Birmingham https://t.co/fBeDjRK5mF
2. A.S. Hornby Educational Trust Scholarship | University of Exeter https://t.co/pt35zpEGke
3. The Sainsbury Laboratory | David Sainsbury International MSc… https://t.co/shSiyaa7Dl
4. The Bartlett Promise Sub-Saharan Africa Master’s Scholarship | UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment https://t.co/Cn6aFxR4HX
5. Allan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust Scholarships | Manchester Metropolitan University https://t.co/IkKnHGM45D
6. Scholarships for Global Health and Tropical Medicine | LSTM https://t.co/lnDzGLDNGl
7. Full MBA Scholarship https://t.co/b25c7B9Pjw
8. Spärck AI Scholarship | University of Southampton https://t.co/0Bh7UIOwp1
9. Spärck AI Scholarship | The University of Manchester https://t.co/IIikcx7RbJ
10. Spärck AI scholarship | Current students | University of Bristol https://t.co/6MzSCbViaG
More to come...
Imagine failing on the biggest stage back to back and still escaping the headlines, while the guy breaking records at retirement age gets the heat. Ronaldo’s World Cup was a failure, no spin can change that. Messi showed up, Ronaldo checked out.
Funny how the media stays quiet on Ronaldo’s ghost performance in the World Cup man went missing when it mattered most, but somehow Messi, at 39, dragging Argentina all the way to the final with 12 goal contributions, is the one they try to drag.