Paco Alcacer left Barcelona for Borussia Dortmund in 2018. He was an instant hit with the Borussia fans scoring 18 goals in 26 Bundesliga appearances in his debut season. But he struggled with injuries this season and along with that the incredible form of recent signing Haaland has sent Alcacer down the pecking order.
Dortmund have now allowed the former Barcelona striker to return to LaLiga. Villarreal announced the signing of Alcacer on Thursday. The 26-year-old striker signed a five-and-a-half-year deal and reportedly commanding a club-record fee of €23million.
Alcacer began his career at Valencia, where he played 124 games, scoring 43 goals. From there he went to Barcelona, where he played 50 games and scored 15 goals before his move to Germany.
He enjoyed the best scoring spell of his career at Borussia Dortmund, playing 47 matches and scoring 26 goals. He will now hope to continue his recent form with the Yellow Submarines as well.
Villarreal are 8th in LaLiga and have also booked a place in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.
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The transfer of Bruno Fernandes to Manchester United has been on the card for the last few transfer windows. Now that’s a done deal! Manchester United have officially announced the signing of Bruno Fernandes from Sporting CP for a reported fee of around €70-80m.
Sporting CP have also confirmed the transfer from their end as well. They have released the financial figures: €55m guaranteed fee, €5m for a set number of appearances, €5m for Champions League qualification, €15m for individual achievements and 10% from any future sale.
🔴 🤝 🇵🇹#MUFC is delighted to announce the signing of Bruno Fernandes!
Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo are both international teammates. He was a part of the Portugal team that won the UEFA Nations League last year.
Fernandes said in a club statement: “My love of Manchester United really started when I used to watch Cristiano Ronaldo play and ever since then I have been a big fan of this great club. For me to now play for Manchester United feels incredible, I have worked hard to get to this moment and I can promise the fans that I will give everything for the badge to help bring us more success and trophies.”
“I want to thank Sporting for everything they have done for me. It is surreal to hear the nice words that have been said about me from players that used to play for this team. A massive thank you to Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] and everyone at Manchester United for the trust they have shown in me and I can’t wait to start to repay that on the pitch.”
Long-term injuries to Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay have depleted United’s midfield as they aim to get into the top four. So the signing of Fernandes will definitely bolster their chances of gaining a Champions League spot.
Bruno Fernandes is currently in red hot form. He has scored 8 goals and assisted another 7 goals in 17 Primeira Liga appearances. He will bring a lot of quality and a goal-scoring threat to the United midfield.
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It has been 2 years since Microsoft launched it’s Surface Book 2 back in October 2017, since then two generations of Surface Pro and Surface laptops have been launched. Even though the other Surface products were launched in 2019, we expected the Surface Book 3 but we got only the Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro 7.
But this year we have spotted the Surface Book 3, thanks to the keen eyes of _rogame. He has leaked two images of 3DMark listings that they claim are configurations of the Surface Book 3. Even though we aren’t sure of the transparency of this listings but we can still have a look.
There can be two reasons why these listings can be valid, first, they both have listed Microsoft as the vendor, with reference to the Graphics Card section of 3DMark relates that the OEM has produced the device rather than the one that has actually developed the GPU.
Secondly, the Surface Book series is the only series by Microsoft that is powered by a low-powered CPU and a discrete GPU. The use of the Ice Lake CPUs makes sense as they are the best low-powered mobile CPUs currently in the market.
According to the listings, the rumoured Surface Books 3 features two configurations one with discrete GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q and the other one with GTX 1650 Max-Q. Both these laptops feature the latest 10nm Ice Lake Intel Core i7-1065G7 (15W) that features 4 cores and 8 threads, also comes with up to 3.9GHz clock speed.
If in real Microsoft is in work, then in 2020 we may see a great new product, especially for the creative and productivity-oriented people. The one with Core i7-1065G7 and GTX 1650 Max-Q might be the 13.5-inch Surface Book 3 and the other one with GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q can be a new 15-inch model. No words or leaks regarding as for now.
Philippe Coutinho was bought by FC Barcelona for a hefty fee of £142 million back in January, 2018. Since then Coutinho didn’t make that much impact in the team’s performance and was quite forcibly loaned to Bayern Munich at the start of this season.
Coutinho who is a veteran midfielder was made a left-winger in the time of Ernesto Valverde’s coaching days. Though he might feel Coutinho fit well as a winger but it was not, he struggled mostly playing along with Saurez and Messi.
The Brazilian spent most of his days in Liverpool playing naturally as a CAM and it gave Liverpool the glory which Barcelona were craving for after his arrival to Camp Nou. Coutinho played one and a half season mostly as a winger and was seen many times being replaced by Dembele.
Now that Valverde has departed the Blaugranas, things are changing under the new coach Quique Setien. Even though the 61-year old is trying his best to improve Barcelona’s style of play but the injuries of both Saurez and Dembele is hurting Barcelona the most.
Barcelona lost against Valencia recently by 2-0 and barely managed to win against the third tier Ibiza. Both the matches were very frustrating for the coach and the board, rumours were round that the Blaugranas are looking for a new number 9 as Luis Saurez has been ruled out for four months.
Now it seems the talks between Rodrigo, Aubameyang have broken down and new leaks suggests Barca is planning to bring back their costly Brazilian to strengthen their squad. Being loaned to the German giant, the clause stated that if Bayern wants then they can buy Coutinho permanently for £120 million.
Bayern have stated that they aren’t willing to pay for the Brazilian which means he would likely return back after this season. So, instead of hunting for a new CF, Barcelona wants to bring their costly Brazilian and work under the new coach.
Quique Setien is a huge admirer of Coutinho and even though it might be tough for Barca to get back their player in the mid season of the loan but it will surely be easier than getting a good CF in the coming days of this ending January transfer window.
If the Brazilian comes back to Camp Nou it will be interesting to see him working under Quique and how he will adapt to his style of play and what role he actually gets in the team. It is being said he will be back in the coming days before the transfer window ends.
The transfer of Bruno Fernandes to Manchester United has been on the card for the last few transfer windows. Now that’s a done deal! Manchester United have officially announced that they have reached an agreement with Sporting CP for the transfer of Bruno Fernandes.
Manchester United released a statement: “Manchester United is delighted to announce it has reached agreement with Sporting Clube de Portugal for the transfer of Bruno Fernandes. The deal is subject to a medical and the agreement of personal terms. A further announcement will be made in due course.”
Manchester United is delighted to announce it has reached agreement with Sporting Clube de Portugal for the transfer of Bruno Fernandes.
The deal is subject to a medical and the agreement of personal terms.
Manchester United have shelled out a big sum of money for the midfielder. They will initially pay €55m and another €25m in bonuses for the service of the Portugal international.
“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them".
Sporting CP have also confirmed the transfer from their end as well. They have released the financial figures: €55m guaranteed fee, €5m for a set number of appearances, €5m for Champions League qualification, €15m for individual achievements and 10% from any future sale.
Long-term injuries to Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay have depleted United’s midfield as they aim to get into the top four. So the signing of Fernandes will definitely bolster their chances of gaining a Champions League spot.
Bruno Fernandes is currently in red hot form. He has scored 8 goals and assisted another 7 goals in 17 Primeira Liga appearances. He will bring a lot of quality and a goal-scoring threat to the United midfield.
He is expected to undergo medical in Manchester on Wednesday and can be unveiled as a Manchester United player on Thursday after reaching an agreement on personal terms, which is just a mere formality now.
All the latest 2019-20 kits of football teams from all over the world are now available on Tech2Sports. Superior quality kits at the lowest price guaranteed. Show your support for your favourite club and country by wearing their colours.
The Denmark international has finally ended his transfer saga by officially moving to Inter. Christian Eriksen has signed a four and a half year contract with the Serie A club. He left Tottenham after playing six and a half years for them.
Eriksen joined Tottenham from Ajax in 2013 and has gone on to become one of the best-attacking midfielders playing in the Premier League. Many clubs like Manchester United and Real Madrid were rumoured to be interested in signing him.
Inter and Tottenham have agreed on a €20m deal for the transfer of Eriksen. This transfer will also see Ajax get €2m as they are entitled to get 10% of the transfer fee.
Tottenham released a statement officially announcing Eriksen’s departure: “The club can confirm the departure of Christian Eriksen after an agreement was reached with FC Internazionale Milano for the Denmark international’s transfer. He made 305 appearances for us following his move from Ajax in August 2013 and scored 69 times. We wish Christian well for the future.”
Christian Eriksen wrote a letter for the Tottenham fans: “Dear Tottenham fans, I don’t know where to start! I didn’t have the time to say goodbye to everyone, even though it felt like I played a lot of games where everyone said and thought I would be gone the next day.”
“I have so many unbelievable memories over the last six and a half years I was at Spurs. I enjoyed being at the training ground every day and playing games in the stadium so much, but sometimes you just want to try something new!”
“So, Spurs fans, it has been a pleasure to play at your club and hopefully we meet again in the future!”
Eriksen is the 3rd player Inter have signed in this January transfer window. They have previously signed Ashley Young from Manchester United and Victor Moses from Chelsea.
Antonio Conte is building a team that has all the qualities needed to dethrone Juventus from the top of Serie A. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus will face tough competition from Inter in their bid to retain the Serie A title this season.
Tottenham also haven’t made any delay to get a long term replacement for Eriksen. They signed Lo Celso on a permanent deal from Real Betis.
All the latest 2019-20 kits of football teams from all over the world are now available on Tech2Sports. Superior quality kits at the lowest price guaranteed. Show your support for your favourite club and country by wearing their colours.
India is one of the most promising markets for smartphones, we all know that being in India we see the excitement among people for smartphones which is becoming stagnant in many other countries. So, with days we are witnessing new smartphone brands entering into the market every day.
It’s surprising to see India now has secured the 2nd spot in the smartphone market across the globe, even surpassing the US and is now only behind China. The latest reports from the Counterpoint Research has shown that smartphone shipments in India have reached 158 million units in 2019 with a 7.7 per cent year-on-year growth.
This is much due to the fact of the key Chinese smartphone brands like Xiaomi, Realme, Oppo, Vivo, we are witnessing a surge in the demand of smartphone these days by the customers. India now needs smartphone more than ever and with so many different manufacturers and the competition between them we are getting quality smartphones at affordable price points.
Let’s not forget the major game-changers in this smartphone industry are the eCommerce websites which not only have eased the way we shop smartphones but also providing them at lowest prices has raised the demand for smartphones with days. The key players Flipkart and Amazon have helped to boost smartphone sales in the country.
Now the report from Counterpoint Research says that the Chinese brands have accounted for a combined 72% market share in 2019 compared to 60% in 2018.
Both the low-budget and budget segment has played a key role in increasing smartphone sales in the country and due to the fact that we now are getting the better device in the budget segment is indeed attracting more people to buy them off recently.
“India is underpenetrated relative to many other markets … Going forward, we expect … demand to grow further due to the ongoing transition from feature phones to smartphones and progressive diffusion of key smartphone features to the entry-level price tier as a result of hyper-competition among multiple players”.
Tarun Pathak, Counterpoint’s Associate Director
If we have a closer look at the market share in 2019, Xiaomi has retained its top spot held over two years now. Both the Redmi and Redmi Note series have helped to retain its top spot and the Redmi K20 series also made an impact in the mid-range smartphone market.
Then there’s Samsung who saw a decline of 5 per cent on a YoY basis but still maintaining 21% of the market share is quite healthy with the likes of its A-series, M-series and obviously its flagship S-series of smartphones.
Undoubtedly, Realme has registered a massive 255 per cent growth as because in 2019 it has launched many smartphones from low-budget to mid-range and even its flagship killer Realme X2 Pro as well. The brand has intensified fight against Xiaomi in online sales and eyes to increase its offline sales also in future.
Oppo and Vivo both have focussed on its offline sales and Vivo has also launched few smartphones like Vivo Z1x, Z1 Pro, U10 and U20 to increase its online presence in the smartphone market. Whereas, Oppo has focussed in the mid-range and flagship smartphones like Oppo Reno 2 series and Oppo F11 series.
Among others we have Lenovo owned Motorola, OnePlus, Apple and manufacturers of low-end smartphones. The Transsion Group which owns brands like Infinix and Tecno bagged its highest ever market share in Q4 2019.
Overall, India is the only country which is seeing immense growth and smartphone market and it will not be surprising each day to see new players in this race. In between this, the consumers are getting better smartphones every day because of the stiff competition in this ever-growing market in the country.
Announced back in 2018, Apple’s own home smart speaker, the HomePod, has finally landed in India and has been silently listed on the Cupertino giant’s website without any kind announcement or press release.
The device is now being shown on Apple India’s website with complete pricing, so Apple’s own home smart speaker will be available in the country for ₹19,900 which is really expensive, considering the fact people in India have alternatives of Google Home and Amazon Echo smart speakers in the budget segment.
So it seems if you want to put Siri into action then you might have to end up spending ₹19,900 which is cheaper than HomePod’s US price of $299. You can use Siri to do all the smart home-related tasks and other tasks including asking queries, listening to music and a lot more.
Even though this is a smart speaker, the Cupertino giant puts much more focus on the sound quality as well as the clarity of the music that you can listen with the HomePod. Apple even claims that the speaker is one of the best sounding smart speakers out there.
Talking of specs, the speaker looks similar to Google Home speakers with 6.8-inches height and it features 7 tweeters each with its own customised amplifier, a six-mic array for far-field voice recognition with Siri.
The Apple HomePod does also feature a high-excursion woofer with a custom amplifier and the Apple-designed A8 chip inside it helps to do all kinds of smart stuff including that cool feature that allows users to transfer music from iPhone to HomePod easily.
When it comes to availability, Apple’s site says nothing regarding the date when you actually can buy or pre-order it. The site page just asks the users to check back again for the availability, but we hope soon it will be up for grabs.
Although it might be expensive to other Assistants out there, an Apple fan will always like to have a HomePod in his or her home and fiddle with Siri all day long.
Corsair, the PC equipment maker is well known for its gaming PCs featuring their own chassis, RAM, cooler, PSU and much more. Corsair has made quite a few compact gaming PCs as well and so they have brought a new range of compact gaming PCs.
So Corsair has brought two new AMD powered gaming PCs: the Corsair Vengeance 6180 and the Corsair Vengeance 6182. Both are powered by the AMD’s Matisse processor Ryzen 7 3700X which is an 8 core, 16 threaded CPU with up to 4.4GHz clock speed and 36MB cache.
As these are all-AMD gaming PCs so on the GPU front you have high-end Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics card based on AMD’s Navi RDNA technology and a boost clock of up to 1905 MHz. As this is a gaming PC, Corsair has supplied its own 480GB NVMe SSD and Vengeance RGP Pro DDR4 memory (2x 8 GB) with RGB.
For cooling, we have the Hydro Series H100i RGB Platinum 240mm liquid CPU cooler onboard and LL series cooling fans which add up the wide lighting effects of this small gaming PC. The Corsair iCUE software helps to tune your gaming PC and change the lighting effects.
For the PSU, you get the Corsair RM650 650W 80 PLUS GOLD which is enough for this build. Both the Corsair Vengeance 6180 and Corsair Vengeance 6182 gaming PCs have a starting price of US$1,999.99.
There isn’t much difference between the two, the Vengeance 6180 features 480 GB NVMe SSD and 2 TB HDD while the Vengeance 6182 has a 1 TB NVMe SSD and 2 TB HDD. The Vengeance 6180 features a B540 motherboard, while the 6182 is equipped with ASRock’s X570 Pro4 motherboard.
Being stuffed with AMD goodness, these compact gaming PCs with Ryzen 7 3700X and XFX’s Radeon RX 5700 XT Raw II Ultra makes it a perfect option for both gamers and enthusiasts. Both of these gaming PCs are available at Corsair’s site and you can get one for your home as well.
Tech giant Xiaomi is known for its budget-friendly wearables and in fact, it is the number one wearable company in India and even its dedicated wearable company Huami is doing great with its smartwatches in India. Xiaomi launched a lot of its own watches including Mi Watch and Mi Watch Color in China.
Now it seems Xiaomi is not stopping at all and they are about to launch a new wearable device in India under its ‘Redmi’ branding. The device was originally teased by Redmi GM, Lu Weibing, during the Mi Watch launch and it has been reportedly discovered on the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification website.
Also, a tipster based out of China has even claimed to have found mentions of a Redmi fitness tracker within the Mi Fit app. This proves that some type of wearable by Xiaomi under the Redmi branding is in works and will surely be launched in India.
However, it’s not clear whether it will be a full-fledged smartwatch or just a cut-price smart band. Leaks also suggest that the device will feature an alarm clock, heart rate monitoring and the ability of music streaming from connected phones.
It will also be able to display weather updates like the Mi Band 4 and will support payments via NFC which will be a new feature. The leaked images that have been found within the Mi Fit app suggests this to be a basic fitness tracker that looks similar to the Mi Band 4 rather than a smartwatch.
Also, as for now, it’s not clear if the smart band will be undercut version of Mi Band 4 or a better one and which functionalities it will borrow from the original Mi smart wearables.
Even though we are assuming this to be a smart band this can also be a watch as well because according to the tipster Sudhanshu @Sudhanshu1414 who suggests that the listing on the BIS website shows a Redmi device certified under the ‘SmartWatch’ category rather than being a smart band with model number HMSH01GE.
For now, apart from this, we do not have any solid info regarding the device but all we say we can soon expect a new wearable by Xiaomi in India, maybe one that will be competing with Realme’s upcoming fitness tracker.
