Home Blog Page 7484

Barcelona drop Messi bombshell, and rumours for PSG move in 2021

“Economically speaking, last summer I would have sold Messi. It would have been desirable. For what you enter and for what you save,” confessed interim Barcelona president Carlos Tusquets in an interview with a radio station RAC1. 

Lionel Messi had, in fact, wanted to leave the club this summer, but eventually decided against the idea, staying on for the 20/21 season. He will be seeing out his contract till it’s conclusion in the summer of 2021, and will then be available for free. 

That is, of course, if Barcelona don’t manage to make the Argentinian sign a new deal with the club. Considering the financial disaster that the club are currently in, keeping Messi at the club as well as meeting a possibly higher salary demand is impossible for them right now. 

The weight to the argument rises from the fact that Barcelona are so deep in trouble that players will not receive their payment in January, as revealed by Tusquets himself recently. 

Additionally, Daniel Riolo, a very well renowned French journalist, has confirmed live on TV that Leo Messi will be a PSG player next season. 

“Lionel Messi will be at PSG next year. I am being very serious. Messi will be a PSG player next year,” Daniel Riolo told RMC Sport. 

Neymar also talked about his desire to play with Leo Messi once again, and curiously, talked about the reunion happening next year. Leandro Paredes has also joined in the transfer rumor talks about Messi becoming a Parisian. 

Lionel Messi will renew his contract at Barcelona, Neymar return is possible - Emili Rousaud
Photo by Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images

The only benefit that Barcelona will receive from letting Messi go in 2021 is relief from the huge wage chunk that the Argentine demands. They will not be able to charge a fee for him in the summer when his contract expires.

If Barcelona truly need money on their hands, they should try and let Messi go in the upcoming winter transfer window instead. However, the chances of a move going through are slim considering the player’s contract expires only months later and will be available for free. 

LeBron James signs a 2-year extension with Lakers for $85M

0

LeBron James’ stint with the Los Angeles Lakers has just been extended. The four-time MVP agreed to sign a two-year, $85 million maximum contract extension with the Lakers on Wednesday, as per his agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, via The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Before the extension, James had two years left on the four-year, $153 million deal he made with the Lakers in 2018, including a player option for the 2021-22 season. Now, he will be bound under contract till 2023. It also happens to be that this is the same year that James’ son, Bronny, graduates high school, and could potentially enter the league if the rule on draft eligibility is altered by then.

It was a no-brainer for the Lakers to lock up the future Hall of Famer for a couple more years. Despite the fact that he is now 35-years old, James still appears to be near the peak of his powers as a basketball player. He will be entering his 18th NBA season this year.

He is fresh off leading the Lakers to their first NBA championship since 2010 and was named the Finals MVP in Orlando for his excellent performance in the series. For the first time in his career, James led the league at 10.2 assists per game last season. He also added 25.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per performance. As a result, he finished second in MVP voting after Giannis Antetokounmpo.

LeBron James became the first player to win 3 Finals MVP for 3 different teams, this past season. Image Credits: The Indian Express

It appears that James is happy being a part of the Lakers franchise and the direction it is headed in. He also seems confident that the Lakers can raise another trophy in the upcoming season.

“We can (repeat). I mean, it’s that simple,” said James recently on an episode of the podcast “Road Trippin’,” via ESPN. “We absolutely can. … First of all, it all starts with health. You have to have some luck. You have to have health. If we can stay healthy.”

However, several key cogs from their title run in Orlando are now on other teams. Danny Green, Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee, and Rajan Rondo have suited up for other teams. On the bright side, the Lakers have also gained a ton of talent over this offseason by adding players like Dennis Schroder, Wesley Matthews, Montrezl Harrell and Marc Gasol. James is excited about the new additions and in turn, the Lakers got slightly younger.

“We did get younger,” said James. “We have a 27-year-old point guard (in Schroder). We got the 27-year-old Sixth Man of the Year award (winner) in Trezz. We got younger. We got Marc, who is a Defensive Player of the Year and his IQ, not only playing against him in the NBA, but also playing against him versus Spain with the national team.”

The duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis will have high expectations to meet the coming seasons. Image Credits: The New York Times

The next move for the Los Angeles Lakers should be to lock down Anthony Davis, now that James’ contract has been extended. They will have an open title window projecting to extend for many seasons, once that is done.

ISL 2020-21: ATK Mohun Bagan wins three matches in a row; can they defend the title?

0

ATK Mohun Bagan again clinched the match against Odisha FC on Thursday by a solitary goal by Roy Krishna in stoppage time. Roy Krishna headed the ball into the net to steal the match against Odisha FC for a back-to-back win for ATK Mohun Bagan.

The first half on Thursday was for both the teams as they both failed to take the chances and had to make some changes as Manvir Singh was handed his first start with ATK Mohun Bagan this season. However, ATKMB dominated and constantly created pressure on the opposition box and Odisha was better with the defense.

In the 38th minute, a dangerous free-kick was seen as Cole Alexander sent in a dangerous cross into the box. ATKMB also created a few dangerous chances but missed out to finish them.

Source-Sportstar-The Hindu

The second half was threatening and entertaining both as two of the teams played fiercely. In the second half, first shot on target came from Odisha as Diego Maurício forced a save from Arindam Bhattacharya with his right-footed shot. ATKMB nearly took the lead in the 55th minute, when Cole Alexander’s scraped clearance ended up into his own net, However, the goal wasn’t given as Manvir Singh was already judged to have handled the ball in the build-up.

In the 95th minute, Tiri sent the ball into the box and Sandesh Jhingan flicked the ball towards the goal, which was headed in by Krishna and helped ATKMB to stretch another win in three consecutive matches by staying on the tabletop.

ATKMB has not only won three back-to-back matches but is also yet to concede any goal by being on the tabletop in their debut season and definitely has the potential to defend the ISL title if they remain like this.

Motorola’s first G series smartphone ‘Nio’ tipped with Snapdragon 865SoC and dual-selfie camera

0

In a previous article, we have claimed that Motorola is expected to launch a new G series smartphone with the flagship Snapdragon 800 series chipset. Today, We have got the first image of this upcoming device, which gives some idea about the design and the external features of this phone and also some internal specifications. So let’s check out all this information.

According to the last report, the upcoming Moto G series smartphone is expected to have Snapdragon 888G chipset, but now it is announced that the smartphone will have Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 at the helm.

The XDA Developers have announced, that Motorola is going to release a smartphone with a codename- Nio. This phone is going to be a part of the company’s G series smartphone and it will have Snapdragon 865SoC.

The image of Nio reveals that the phone will have a dual front camera, and there will be two individual punch-holes to hold those dual lenses. There will a pretty substantial bezel all around with an even more pronounced chin- this design is a very familiar look for the G series smartphones.

Regarding the internal specifications, the Nio features a 6.7-inches screen with a 1080p+ panel and a refresh rate 0f 90Hz. This upcoming phone will have Motorola’s DiapplayPort Alternet mode which allows it to connect to external monitors.

The Nio will have a triple rear camera setup, includes a 64MP main shooter, alongside a 16MP Ultra-wide sensor, and a 2MP of depth sensor. On the front side, there will be two punch holes to hold dual selfie camera lenses- an 8MP wide lens and a 16MP ultra-wide lens.

The SoC of Nio is said to have at least 8GB RAM and up to 265GB internal storage. The phone will run on Android 11 and will have a decent battery backup of 5,000 mAh. But there is no information regarding the supportive charging speed.

That’s all the information we have for now. The company hasn’t revealed anything regarding the release date of this phone, but we are expecting that this new Moto G series family member, Nio will be surfaced in early 2021.

Source

Apple M1 Macs Windows virtualization performs better than the Surface Pro X in benchmarks

0

The new M1 Mac, powered by a 5nm chip, came out with an impressive performance in every situation. Its competitor, Microsoft Surface Pro X which is running an ARM chip, is beaten by these models during Windows virtualization. A YouTuber showed an unofficial process to run virtualization mode on these Macs.

Martin Nobel, the guy who did the unofficial Windows virtualization process. He illustrated the process on the M1 Mac mini in the below video given. Martin has revealed using an unofficial workaround, that how Windows 10 was running on the new machine. In Surface Pro X, the performance of M1 is faster than the silicon.

As per the video clip, the M1 Mac mini beats the Surface Pro X with a higher score when running Geekbench 5. Even in the single-core tests, the M1 Mac mini’s performance was supreme, gathering more than twice the score in the benchmark run. The results are:

Surface Pro X-

  • Single-Core – 793
  • Multi-Core – 3113

M1 Mac mini-

  • Single-Core – 1515
  • Multi-Core – 4998

Now seeing the performance, it might happen that, many M1 Mac customers will love to have Windows 10 as an OS on their system. There is still no official support to run the operating system on a Mac platform. Craig Federighi has said that it is possible to run a Windows OS on these M1 Macs, but the final decision is up to Microsoft to turn the possibility into reality.

Source

Tata Sons planning for $1 billion funding to make iPhone manufacturing plant

0

India has become a hotspot for investment and manufacturing in 2020; almost every brand is affected by the US-China trade war. This opportunity has been grabbed by India, which looks to lure brands to establish manufacturing plants in India and making the country one of the biggest exporter in the globe.

However, the dream requires a huge capital investment and investors are really keen on India’s potential. The biggest manufacturing to be done in India is of iPhones because Apple contractors want to shift a significant part of their existing plants to India.

Now, an interesting story comes out from ET Telecom that says, Tata Sons is seeking up to a whopping $1 billion in overseas loans to set up a globally scalable mobile phone and component contract manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu.

iPhone SE (2020) or OnePlus 8 who is the winner in India?

This plant initially will start by making iPhone parts and it will be operated by Tata Electronics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons. Initially, it will make iPhone casings and eventually partnering other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in South Korea and Japan as part of a “larger electronics ecosystem,” as said by one of the sources.

Tata Group is targeting a capital expenditure of whopping $1.5 billion for the priority project via a combination of internal accruals and borrowings. This makes sense as investing in this area will eventually result in a huge profit as Apple iPhones will flourish in India with local manufacturing.

“This offers high growth potential for the group provided the execution is done well and by roping in top management with expertise in this area,” said a group director. “The group is identifying the right CEO to head this venture and also roping in directors from GE.”

UEFA Nations League finals 2021: All you need to know

0

The UEFA Nations League semi-finalists had already been finalized. Italy, Belgium, France and Spain qualified for the 2021 UEFA Nations League finals.

The whole tournament will take place in Italy in October, 2021.

The draw for the UEFA Nations League 2021 semi-finals were made yesterday.

  • Italy will face Spain on 6th October 2021
  • France will play Belgium on 7th October 2021

The third place match will be followed by the final on Sunday, 10th October 2021.

All the four matches of the 2021 UEFA Nations League finals will be taking place in two stadiums in Italy – Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan and Turin’s Juventus Stadium.

Manchester United paid another £2.7m to Sporting Lisbon for Bruno Fernandes

0

Since his joining in January, Bruno Fernandes is making the headlines for every good reason with Manchester United. His performance is becoming better and better every day.

The Portuguese midfielder has contributed 22 goals and 13 assists in his first 37 games for Manchester United. He is now one of the best creators in the Premier League along with Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Liverpool’s Mohammad Salah.

Bruno Fernandes is a very fearless midfielder. His quick thinking, quick passing helps Manchester United in quick transitions. Sometimes he makes a mistake while providing a visionary pass. But he never stops trying those things. This fearless attitude makes him different from other midfielders.

In a recent report of a Portuguese outlet, Correio da Manhã (via Sports Witness) claims that Manchester United has recently paid another £2.7m to Sporting Lisbon for their successful qualification in the UEFA Champions League this season.

But his performance and contribution are worth every penny. He is one of the fan’s favorite. His manager and some former legends of the club are also happy with his performance.

United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer earlier in an interview said, “He is a goalscoring and assisting midfielder, a little bit like Paul Scholes. He can strike a ball fantastically.”

“He has got such a wonderful technique, but he also is going to get assists from set plays and from his range of passes. He is a similar type to Scholesy: fiery, passionate, hates losing, and the same number [18] on the back of the shirt.”

Bruno’s partnership with Paul Pogba and other United’s attackers makes United a threat to the opposition. United are capable of doing wonders this season.

Tecno POVA gaming smartphone launched in India at just INR 9,999

0

Tecno POVA is a budget gaming smartphone that launched in India today. Earlier, this phone has launched in Nigeria as well. Let’s check out its specifications and pricing of this budget gaming smartphone.

Tecno POVA runs the custom HiOS 7.0 which is based on the Android 10 OS and is powered by a MediaTek Helio G80 SoC chipset. Regarding the display, this phone features a large 6.8-inch HD+ hole-punch display. This phone has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner.

TECNO POVA powered by MediaTek Helio G80 | MediaTek

The Helio G80 chipset of this phone is paired with 4GB/6GB of RAM and 64GB/128GB of internal storage. Coming to the camera section, this phone offers a quad rear camera setup at the top left corner of the rear panel which includes a 16MP F/1.85 aperture primary sensor, a 2MP depth sensor, a 2MP macro sensor for ultrawide, and a lowlight AI sensor supported by a super quad flash. For selfies, this phone has an 8MP selfie snapper at the front. This phone is available in three different color variants: Dazzle Black, Magic Blue, and Speed Purple.

As it is a gaming smartphone, heat dissipation and charging consumption are some issues to examine in it. The rear panel of this phone is made with stylish Multilayer Graphite + Thermal Conductive Gel. This multilayer improves heat dissipation as well as reduces the temperature rise while charging.

In terms of battery, the Tecno POVA is fueled up by a mammoth 6000mAH Li-polymer battery with the support of 18W dual IC flash charging. That means you can enjoy your gaming without even thinking about its battery life. Regarding the dimension, this phone measures 171.2mm x 77.57mm x 9.4mm and weighs around 215.5 grams.

Now coming to the pricing and availability, the Tecno POVA gaming smartphone will be up for sale on 11th December, 12 PM at a price tag of Rs, 9,999 (64GB) and Rs. 11,999 (128GB) exclusively via Flipkart.

Samsung Galaxy S21 appeared on the GeekBench website with Snapdragon 888, paired with 8GB RAM

0

A recent update has come out regarding the upcoming Galaxy S21 series from Samsung as the Galaxy S21 smartphone has been listed on the Geekbench certification website. On Geekbench, the Galaxy S21 carries a model number SM-G991u and its chipset codename is “lahaina”. From the Geekbecnch listing, we have come to know that the upcoming Galaxy S21 will run on the latest Android 11 OS and will be powered by the newest octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset. Also, the SoC of this phone is paired with 8GB of RAM.

In terms of the score on Geekbench 5.2.5, the Galaxy S21 has managed to score 1075 (single-core score) points and 2916 (multi-core score) points. As per the availability, the S21 series is expected to get launched in the mid of 2021.

Apart from the vanilla model, recently, we’ve got some 3D render images of the Galaxy S21+ smartphone which tells us what it might look like. Samsung Galaxy S21+ features a flat display (expected to feature a 6.7-inch display) with razor-thin side bezels. Unfortunately, Samsung will not provide an under-display selfie camera in this S21 series. So, this phone features a super small hole-punch cutout for its front-facing camera. That’s all about the front side.

credit: xleaks x Coverpigtou

Coming to the rear panel, this phone features a rectangular triple rear camera module at the top-left side of the panel with the support of an LED flash. Regarding the dimension, this phone measures 161.55mm x 75.6mm x 7.86mm.

credit: xleaks x Coverpigtou

In terms of the S21 Ultra model, it is expected to be the one that will completely replace the Galaxy Note series. The Galaxy S21 Ultra will run One UI 3.1, based on the Android 11 OS, and it will be powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 chipset or the Exynos 2100 chipset (not confirmed yet). Both the chipsets support 5G connectivity. Regarding the display, this phone will offer a 6.8-inch WQHD+ LTPO display with an adaptive refresh rate of 120Hz.

Source