Real Madrid are plotting a deal for Bayern Munich star Michael Olise, while Chelsea want to sign Messi… just not the Inter Miami one.

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TRENDING RUMORS

– Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is planning a major move to sign Bayern Munich winger Michael Olise in the summer, but Bundesliga leaders do not plan on letting him leave, according to Sport Bild. The 24-year-old’s contract runs until 2029 and doesn’t include a release clause, so Bayern feel no obligation to offload him. Liverpool also want Olise as they look for a possible successor to Mohamed Salah, who could soon leave Anfield.

– Arsenal have little intention of letting Riccardo Calafiori leave in the summer despite the defender being the topic of interest from Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus and Napoli, according to TEAMtalk. The Gunners are fully committed to keeping the 23-year-old, who is settled in north London and not actively looking to leave the Emirates. Interest from Chelsea has also been reported but Calafiori joining the club is seen as highly unlikely.

– Chelsea are lining up a move to sign Rayane Messi from Strasbourg, with the winger on loan at Saudi Pro League club Neom, reports TEAMtalk. Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain have also enquired about the 18-year-old but Chelsea’s owners, BlueCo, don’t want to see him leave their multi-club network. The plan had originally been for Messi to be integrated into Strasbourg’s first-team next season before heading to Stamford Bridge, but that plan is now being reviewed.

– AC Milan and Inter are among the clubs who will try to compete with Arsenal to sign Leon Goretzka as a free agent when the midfielder’s Bayern Munich contract expires in the summer, as reported by Calciomercato. Milan have already initiated contact with the 31-year-old’s entourage, while Inter are hoping to complete a move that would be similar to the ones they have previously completed for Hakan Çalhanoglu and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Even so, Arsenal are the frontrunners to complete a deal.

– Marseille want to sign Jonathan David in the summer if they qualify for the Champions League but face competition from the Premier League, as reported by Tuttosport. While David would reject any offer from Olympique Lyonnais due to Paulo Fonseca being in charge of Les Gones, the 26-year-old has always been fascinated by the idea of playing in the Premier League. Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United all made attempts to sign him in January.

EXPERT TAKE

OTHER RUMORS

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– Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, RB Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund and several LaLiga clubs have been closely monitoring Newcastle United left back Lewis Hall. (Caught Offside)

– Crystal Palace and Leeds United both want Derby County and USMNT striker Patrick Agyemang. (Football Insider)

– Manchester City could sign Tottenham right back Pedro Porro for significantly less than his £70 million valuation. (Football Insider)

– Inter and AC Milan are both seriously considering a move for Manchester City defender Nathan Ake. (Caught Offside)

– Newcastle United could accelerate their plans to renew Kieran Trippier‘s contract amid fears that Tino Livramento could move to Manchester City. (Football Insider)

– Various clubs from England and Europe have contacted Liverpool about signing goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili permanently or on loan. (TEAMtalk)

– Rocco Reitz will join RB Leipzig from Borussia Monchengladbach for €20 million plus another potential €3 million in bonuses. (Florian Plettenberg)

– Juventus and Dusan Vlahovic are rapidly moving towards agreeing a new contract, with the striker’s current deal set to expire at the end of the season. (Tuttosport)

– Feyenoord and Wolves will speak to Bournemouth about signing Max Aarons at the end of the season, while Porto are also interested in the right back on loan with Rangers. (Ekrem Konur)

MIAMI — Two hours after a blown ball-strike call ended the Dominican Republic’s World Baseball Classic, players emerged from the team’s clubhouse with smiles, music and a message.

The smiles covered the pain of the 2-1 loss Sunday night that sent Team USA to the WBC final, the music followed them as they walked down the hall at LoanDepot Park and to the team bus, and the message came from star Juan Soto, who preferred to look at the whole of the tournament rather than its final game.

“We showed the world who’s the best team in baseball,” Soto told ESPN. “That’s all I got to say.”

Soto’s frustration, as well as his teammates’, was palpable after home-plate umpire Cory Blaser called a full-count slider from U.S. closer Mason Miller for a strike against D.R. shortstop Geraldo Perdomo despite the pitch being clearly below the zone. The call came one inning after Soto was caught looking on a slider that was also below the zone, though not to the extent of Perdomo, who had worked a brilliant seven-pitch at-bat before the eighth ended the Dominicans’ dreams of bringing home a WBC championship.

“I knew 100% it was a ball,” Perdomo told ESPN. “I knew it.”

While the Americans celebrated what otherwise was a taut, tense and elite display of baseball between the two most talented countries in the world, the ending left a sour taste for Dominicans to whom the WBC is of Olympic-level importance. Even more frustrating was that the automated ball-strike challenge system — which will debut in Major League Baseball this season to address such blown calls — is not being used in the WBC.

In 2023, the year the pitch clock was introduced in MLB, the WBC did not implement it, either. For ABS to work accurately in MLB this season, the league took measurements of each player’s height to assign a proper strike zone. Doing so for the WBC would have necessitated measurements for players from all 20 countries in the tournament as well as the implementation of the system used to call it in Japan and Puerto Rico.

“It’s part of the game,” Dominican Republic general manager Nelson Cruz told ESPN. “You lost by inches. We’ll have ABS in a few years, so hopefully next time we can challenge plays like that.

“This event is really good for baseball. You have regular fans that love the game — and you have people who don’t pay attention and you’re attracting them.”

The attention has been significant, particularly on a Dominican team teeming with stars and even more with energy and excitement. The D.R. broke the WBC record for home runs in one tournament when Junior Caminero took U.S. ace Paul Skenes deep for a 1-0 lead. The U.S. clawed back with home runs from Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony. And the game turned over to the bullpens, with Team USA’s power relief pitching shutting down a Dominican team that had dominated through pool play and a quarterfinal win.

The crowd of 36,337, strongly pro-Dominican, booed the blown third-strike call on Soto and caterwauled at the one against Perdomo, with him telling Blaser — who otherwise called a consistent and strong game behind home plate — that the umpire knew it was a ball.

“It was a lot,” said Perdomo, who had taken a slider similar to the blown call for a ball earlier in the count and also fouled off consecutive 101 mph two-strike pitches to stay alive. “It was the whole tournament, but we didn’t lose the game right there. That’s a part of the game, and I hope we do better next time.”

Next time could come in the Olympics, if Major League Baseball and the players can strike a deal to allow big leaguers to play in the Los Angeles Games in 2028. The next WBC has not been scheduled, but the success has delighted players and MLB officials.

Team USA will face the winner of Monday’s semifinal between Italy and Venezuela in Tuesday’s WBC final.

The first World Baseball Classic semifinal is in the books, with Team USA edging the Dominican Republic 2-1 in the matchup many had been dreaming about since the start of the WBC.

Ace Paul Skenes delivered a strong outing, Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony each hit clutch home runs, and a slew of stellar defensive plays and gutsy relief moments pushed the United States to Tuesday’s championship game, where the winner of Monday’s Venezuela-Italy clash will await.

How did the U.S. get it done? Here are our takeaways and updates from a thrilling night of baseball in Miami.

Takeaways

Paul Skenes really is that guy. The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner wasn’t exactly dominant. Junior Caminero crushed a 1-2 slider to open the scoring in the second inning for his third home run of the tournament. Skenes escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth. He exited the game with two runners on base in the fifth. But he held the powerful Dominican lineup — arguably the best one ever assembled — to one run over 4⅓ innings in front of a pro-Dominican crowd. It was Skenes’ most important start since turning professional, and he met the moment. — Jorge Castillo

In a game of star pitchers and elite hitters, it was the defense that stood out. Julio Rodriguez was hit on his right hand by a 98 mph fastball, then robbed Aaron Judge of a potential home run in center field. Judge threw out Fernando Tatis Jr., who was trying to go first to third on a single, to end the inning with Juan Soto next to bat. And Bobby Witt Jr. went deep into the hole to field a grounder from Manny Machado and throw him out, one of several spectacular defensive plays turned in by the young Kansas City Royals shortstop in this tournament. In a game like this, with the rosters so closely matched and the fans so amped, that type of defense made all the difference. — Alden Gonzalez

That was a wonderful baseball game. Tension. Drama. Passion. Pride. Everything baseball can be. Everything you want baseball to be. So, for it to end on a called strike three by home plate umpire Cory Blaser on a Mason Miller slider that was clearly below the zone was such a gut punch, not just to the Dominican Republic players, whose country cares more about the WBC than any, but to a game that deserved better. ABS cannot come soon enough because this should be about the quality of the game, which was tremendous, and not the bitter taste left due to human fallibility. — Jeff Passan

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