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Valencia left-back Jose Luis Gaya is not for sale, his club has said.

The 19-year-old starlet has been linked with a move to Real Madrid, who are reportedly lining up a move for the rising star in the summer, according to the Spanish press.

But Los Che are not willing to part with the teenage yet and want to agree a new deal with Gaya, adding a 40 million euro clause in too.

Speaking to Cadena Copa, Valencia president Armadeo Salvo said Los Blancos have given their word they won’t bid for Gaya this summer and the defender will be going nowhere anytime soon.

“I spoke with Florentino and he told me he didn’t want Gaya. Gaya is not for sale to Real Madrid or anyone else. We want Gaya to stay here for many years. If one day he doesn’t want to be here, he can tell us and we’d understand,” he stated.

The youngster has made a good impression this season at the Mestalla, and has made 23 appearances so far. He has represented Spain at youth level from every age group from the Under 17’s to Under 21’s.

Los Blancos will likely be on the lookout for a new left back at the end of the season with out-of-favour Fabio Coentrao widely expected to leave.

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Sami Khedira is to resume first team training next week after recovering from a hamstring strain, he has revealed.

The Real Madrid man, who has been in and out of the side this season as hie struggles to get ahead of Luka Modric, Isco and Toni Kroos, picked up the problem playing in the 4-0 defeat to Atletico de Madrid three weeks ago.

He has since missed the wins over Deportivo and Elche in La Liga, and their Champions League first-leg tie with Schalke.

Taking to social media site Twitter, Khedira confirmed he will be back in training after the weekend.  “Finally! The doctors have cleared me for team practice next week,” he wrote.

The 27-year-old World Cup winner has been the subject of intense speculation over recent months as he nears the end of his deal at the Santiago Bernabeu. While he insists he wants to stay in the Spanish capital, there is no sign an agreement will be reached any time soon.

A host of top clubs from around Europe have been linked with the midfielder, including Premier League sides Arsenal, Liverpool and Machester United, while Bayern Munich and Schalke are monitoring the situation as they look to take Khedira back to his country.

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Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos has said boss Carlo Ancelotti is one of the best coaches he has ever had.

The experienced centre back has played under a host of big name bosses during his playing career including Fabio Capello, Vicente del Bosque and Jose Mourinho. But talking to FIFA.com, the Spain defender says Ancelotti’s exceptional man-management skills set him apart from the rest.

Ancelotti guided Los Blancos to four trophies in his first 15 months as Real Madrid boss – the Champions League, Copa del Rey, European Super Cup and Club World Cup.

He told football’s world governing body: “He notices how a player settles in, whether he makes an effort to open up to his team-mates or not.”

And Ramos continued: “He’s a coach who takes you aside, talks to you and makes everything as smooth as possible, both on a professional and personal level.

“That’s the key to success, which is why he’s a truly great coach. In my view, he’s one of the two best I’ve had in my whole career. It’s hard to choose the other. There’s former Spain coach Luis Aragones, then you have former Sevilla coach Joaquin Caparros, who really believed in me when I was a nobody.”

Ramos is currently on the sidelines with an hamstring injury picked up last month. He is expected to be due back in first team action in March all being well.

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Manchester United boss Louis Van Gaal has demanded the club sign Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane in the summer as he looks to put the Red Devils back in contention for the title and the Champions League, according to reports.

The Dutch boss has earmarked the centre back as the man he wants to shore up a defence that has look short on confidence and experience at times this season having lost trio Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra last summer.

And the Daily Express claims Van Gaal, who lead Holland to the semi-finals of the World Cup last year, has told United directors they should set aside around 38 million euros to land the France international.

Varane has featured in 16 league games for Los Blancos this season – the most in any season so far as a Real player. But reports have always persisted that he wants away from the club as he’s failed to dislodge Sergio Ramos and Pepe from the first team.

The player himself denies that, saying he was misquoted in a recent interview: “That is a lie, I always say the same thing. Competition is important for the team to improve. I like the competition and anything else is lies. It is from a translation that was not good.”

Should Madrid receive an offer in the region of 35-40 million euros, it could be a tempting one.

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Real Madrid’s director of institutional relations, Emilio Butragueno, has spoken of the club’s huge fan base – claiming six percent of the global population supports Los Blancos.

At an event in Madrid to celebrate the club’s 113th year, the former Real player revealed statistics on the number of visits to the official website as well as numbers of followers on social media.

Speaking at the El Real Madrid Sin Fronteras event, Butragueno stated: “According to our research, we can speak about 450 million fans throughout the world.”

With the world’s population around the 7.5 billion mark, the 450 million mark would mean around six percent of the population on Earth is a Madridista.

He went on to discuss social media, saying: “The first country for visits to our website is the USA. Then Colombia, Mexico, Indonesia and India. 173 million of our fans follow us on social media. On Facebook we have 108 million – Indonesia is the leader with eight million. On Twitter, the countries which follow Madrid most are Colombia, Mexico and Indonesia.”

In an example of how diverse and widespread the Madrid fanbase is, Mariano Lopez, editor of travel magazine Viajar, told the audience of his experience in Mynamar.

“In the Burmese jungle, in a dispensary run by Buddhist monks, I go in and I see Kroos on the television. It turned out they were showing the Spanish Supercopa and the monk had been watching a repeat!”

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Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has said Alvaro Morata is likely to stay at Juventus beyond this season and distanced himself from reports he wants to bring the striker back.

The 22-year-old grew up in the youth teams at Los Blancos and was a back up to Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale last season but failed to make the breakthrough he was looking for.

When he slipped behind Jese Rodriguez in the pecking order at the Santiago Bernabeu, he decided to test himself in a new country and league and signed for the Old Lady for 18 million euros last summer.

Despite a slow start to life in Italy, Morata has started to impress, netting seven goals and providing support to fellow strikers Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente.

Reports last week suggested Los Blancos could look to activate a buy-back clause in the summer, with the club believed to be on the lookout for a new forward as they’ll not take up the option to sign Javier Hernandez.

But speaking to Italian paper Gazzetta dello Sport, Ancelotti said Morata would stay in Seria A for now.

“He needed to play. He’s a young boy who was looking for more opportunities and consistency. He had a lot of offers, he’s the one who chose Juve,” he said.

“He’s a modern striker, he has pace, rhythm and intensity, he’s cool in front of goal and he’s a hard worker. In Morata’s contract there’s a right of redemption [for us] but I think he’ll stay at Juventus.”

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Luka Modric

Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric could make a return to the first team this weekend when Los Blancos take on Villarreal.

The Croatian has been sidelined since November with a thigh injury and had been expected to be back in mid-March. But according to reports in Spain, the former Tottenham Hotspur player is well ahead of those estimations and could be available against the Yellow Submarine.

Madrid-based daily AS reported the 29-year-old was seen taking part in full training on Tuesday in a session that involved playing on a half-size pitch and passing, crossing and shooting. He came through the training with no issues.

It will be good news for Carlo Ancelotti to have the playmaker back as he played a key role in the team earlier this season that went on a 22-game winning run. His injury meant he missed the World Club Cup in December, when Los Blancos picked up their fourth trophy of 2014.

If Ancelotti deems it too soon to pick Modric against Villarreal, he could feature against Athletic Bilbao a week later. Those within the club are confident he’ll be match fit by March 22nd, when the 10-time Champions League winners head to the Camp Nou to face Barcelona in what is seen as a title decider.

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Bundesliga side Schalke have become the latest club in a long line to be linked with a move for Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira.

The German international is out of contract at the end of the season and is free to talk to other clubs now about a free transfer at the end of the campaign. It is widely expected the World Cup winner will leave the Santiago Bernabeu, bringing an end to a five-year spell in the Spanish capital.

Sport Bild claims Schalke are in talks with the midfielder. With Roberto di Matteo’s side due to visit Madrid in a couple of weeks time for the second leg of their Champions League tie, fans can expect to see plenty of reports of meetings between the German club and Khedira’s representatives.

A host of clubs from across Europe have been linked with the 27-year-old. Bayern Munich were reported to have agreed a deal with Khedira, while he was strongly linked with a move to Arsenal last summer.

Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City have all been rumoured to have targeted him at some point, while in Italy, Fiorentina and AC Milan have been mentioned as potential destinations for when he calls time on his career with Los Blancos.

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Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas has said he understands why Jese Rodriguez was frustrated on Sunday evening after he came on with less than one minute to go against Elche and didn’t touch the ball.

The young forward had spent more than 40 minutes warming up, and Spanish TV station Cuatro caught him shouting his frustration at assistant boss Fernando Hierro just before he come onto the field. “You can’t do this to me, I’ve been warming up for 40 minutes,” he told Hierro.

After the game, manager Carlo Ancelotti explained what happened, telling reporters he had wanted to bring Jese on earlier but the ball didn’t go out of play for a couple of minutes during stoppage time.

Casillas said it was a pity Jese didn’t get more game time, but the striker has an important role to play in the squad as Los Blancos look to win La Liga for the first time since 2012.

“It was a pity. He was longer than normal on the sideline, but the ball did not go out. I understand in the moment, with everyone heated, that he could feel bad. He is an important player for us, he has come back from a serious injury, and we must make him understand how to help us,” Casillas stated.

 

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David de Gea is set to pen a new contract at Premier League side Manchester United, ending speculation he could return to La Liga with Real Madrid.

The 24-year-old, who joined the Red Devils from Real’s city rivals Atletico de Madrid, has been linked with a move back to Spain with some reports claiming Italian boss Carlo Ancelotti had identified him as the long-term successor to Iker Casillas.

But the Daily Mirror claims Ancelotti has informed the club’s directors that he believes Casillas and Keylor Navas are good enough to keep Los Blancos at the top of the European game for the next few years and has cooled his interest in De Gea.

The Spain international will be entering the final year of his contract next year and boss Louis Van Gaal is keen to tie him down to a new deal and focus on putting United back on the map after a year away from the top table of European football.

De Gea was United’s player of the year last season and has impressed many again this time around with some excellent displays. He signed for United in 2011 for 25 million euros and has made 277 appearances in all for the Old Trafford side.

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