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EDITOR PICKS

  • Watch: Carvajal's header delivers killer blow for Madrid in UCL final

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • Real Madrid beat Dortmund to win 15th European Cup

NFL

Sources: Cutler leans toward staying in booth

4:47 PM ET

  • Jeff DarlingtonESPN

Jay Cutler is leaning toward staying in broadcasting and not joining the Miami Dolphins, sources close to the situation told ESPN on Saturday.

Although Cutler became intrigued by the possibility of reuniting with Dolphins coach Adam Gase in the immediate wake of Ryan Tannehill’s knee injury, his continued contemplation is swaying him back in the direction of staying retired, sources told ESPN.

  • Jay Cutler and Adam Gase worked well together in Chicago, says Bears OL Kyle Long, and that would make a reunion in Miami possible.

Tannehill suffered a left knee injury in Thursday’s scrimmage that may require season-ending surgery.

Until Saturday, Cutler had been in direct contact with Gase, giving a clear sense of his interest in playing for him, according to sources. The more Cutler considers it, however, the more he questions whether a return to football is what he wants, sources said.

One source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Cutler is “really struggling to leave his family.”

Should Tannehill need surgery, Gase could go into a more passionate sales-pitch mode to pull Cutler back into the mix. Barring such a scenario, the Dolphins will likely need to start looking in a different place — or settle on backup Matt Moore — to handle their starting quarterback duties.

Gase said earlier Saturday that there was one preliminary talk with Cutler, but things haven’t progressed beyond that at this stage.

“When I get there, I will be able to tell you, but I don’t think it’s close to anything,” Gase said. “Like I said, I’ve had one conversation with [Cutler]. That’s where we’re at.

“I’m dealing with this [team] right now. When I know more, hopefully within the next few days, I will have a better idea of what’s going on.”

Gase said the conversation with Cutler was positive. The pair were together with the Chicago Bears in 2015 and developed a good rapport. Cutler had one of his better seasons under Gase, throwing for 3,659 yards, 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

Cutler was released by the Bears this offseason and wasn’t re-signed. He took a television job with Fox but seems open to returning to the NFL under the right circumstances.

“He’s interested,” Gase said of Cutler. “But we’re just trying to figure out everything. You don’t expect this to happen. … I know I need somebody either way. I’d like to know exactly with Ryan first. So that helps me make a decision with what direction to go.”

James Walker contributed to this report.

Soccer

FIFPro asks EU to investigate 'anti-competitive' transfer rules

Paris Saint-Germain’s €222-million transaction for Neymar triggered a stern response from international footballers’ union FIFPro, which called on the European Commission to revamp the “unjustified and illegal” transfer system.

Having already lodged a legal complaint to the European Union in 2015, FIFPro again demanded action on Friday from authorities.

General secretary Theo van Seggelen – who has lobbied for the abolition of transfer fees, restrictions on squad sizes, and caps on payments to agents – denounced the disproportion of wealth in the game.

“The world-record transfer of Brazilian Neymar from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain is the latest example of how football is ever more the domain of a select group of rich, mostly European-based clubs,” Seggelen said in a statement.

Related – Football’s cash obsession: How to fix the inflated transfer system

“Given much of football’s transfer activity occurs within Europe, where significant transfer fees are exchanged between clubs, FIFPro is asking the European Commission to launch a thorough investigation of the transfer rules it approved in 2001 and which are now in need of urgent review.”

Only 14.4 percent of the 14,591 international transfers in 2016 fetched a transfer fee, according to a FIFA press release, emphasising just how exclusive the transfer market is.

Neymar’s transfer came at more than double the cost of the previous world-record outlay for a footballer, set by Manchester United last year when it signed Paul Pogba for €105 million.

Booming television revenue and inflated sponsorship agreements have armed the biggest clubs with the financial power to spend more and more, but it’s a reality FIFPro hopes to end.

“FIFPro claims an inflated and distorted market, with escalating transfer fees at the heart of it, has helped to destroy competitive balance,” Seggelen added. “The transfer rules governed by FIFA are anti-competitive, unjustified, and illegal.”

NFL

Lockett comes off PUP, “ready to go”

4:30 PM ET

  • Sheil KapadiaESPN Writer

    Close

    • Covered the Philadelphia Eagles for Philadelphia Magazine and Philly.com from 2008 to 2015.
    • Covered the Baltimore Ravens and the NFL for BaltimoreSun.com from 2006 to 2008.

RENTON, Wash. — Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett came off the PUP list Friday and is on track to be ready for the start of the regular season.

“I’m pretty much ready to go,” Lockett said. “If we had a game tomorrow, I’d play in it.”

Lockett suffered fractures to the tibia and fibula in his right leg in December. He underwent surgery and spent Christmas and New Year’s in the hospital.

Lockett spent the entire offseason in Seattle rehabbing and said he’s been running for the last three months. He didn’t participate in all aspects of Friday’s practice but has no doubts about being ready for Week 1.

Tyler Lockett says he’s ready to play for Week 1 after recovering from a broken leg last December. AP Photo/L.G. Patterson

“One of the things that I thought about was when I was a kid, I had a dog,” Lockett said. “When you train him, you’ve got to keep him in a little cage. I felt like I was stuck in a cage for eight months after I broke my leg. So as soon as they let me go today, I didn’t know what to do. So I was just running around, having fun, being a little kid again.”

Lockett caught 41 balls for 597 yards in 15 games last season, but he was playing at less than 100 percent for much of the year because of a knee injury suffered early in the season. He’s expected to compete for a starting job in 2017.

Soccer

Why Neymar still doesn't make PSG the Champions League favourite

By luring Neymar out of a comfortable life at Barcelona and away from one of the world’s best attacking trios, Paris Saint-Germain changed football’s landscape. In one swift move, the French giant weakened a direct European rival and upended the sport’s establishment.

But the €222-million transfer doesn’t guarantee PSG success in the Champions League. Only two players in the world have the power to turn a club into a tournament favourite, and they are two of the best in history -Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Neymar’s arrival means many more things. It validates a league that’s failed to command international respect and opens up a world of commercial opportunities. That the Brazilian will improve results is obvious; it’s his marketing impact that stands to make PSG an attractive option for future stars and partnerships.

“Before Neymar, the value of the club was $1 billion,” PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi told reporters Friday, according to the BBC. “Now it is $1.5 billion.”

Related – Neymar: Desire for ‘bigger challenge,’ not money, behind switch to PSG

No matter where Neymar plays in a front three with Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria, PSG now has the ammunition to frighten any defence. The Sao Paulo native’s goal-scoring record in the Champions League is also reassuring: Only four players since 2013-14 have scored more than Neymar’s 21 goals in the competition.

Whether PSG has the team to win every trophy around is another proposition altogether.

Questions have to be asked of the club’s defence. Captain Thiago Silva has shirked from the challenge on the grandest stages, and Marquinhos showed in the embarrassing 6-1 reverse to Barcelona that he’s prone to calamitous errors.

The full-back position is deep, but apart from 21-year-old Presnel Kimpembe, there’s no one else to relieve the Brazilian centre-half duo.

PSG also has the look of a top-heavy outfit. Jese, Hatem Ben Arfa, and Goncalo Guedes are outsiders on this team, and questions about Julian Draxler’s role are valid. The capital club did well to keep the tactically astute Marco Verratti this summer, especially as Barcelona circled above, but PSG still lacks a world-class midfield anchor like Real Madrid’s Casemiro or Sergio Busquets. A 34-year-old Thiago Motta doesn’t cut it, and Adrien Rabiot, who is more of a roamer, is not yet at his counterparts’ level.

The looming spectre of Financial Fair Play should also encourage PSG to sell some of its peripherals, but more importantly, it could prompt the departures of players who’d otherwise have a regular say on the pitch. Blaise Matuidi has been linked with a move abroad, and the fact that Verratti enlisted the restless Mino Raiola as his agent may mean a transfer is in the pipeline.

Even as PSG is right now, manager Unai Emery doesn’t have the best squad in the game.

Man for man, Madrid still boasts a better starting XI. Headlined by Cristiano Ronaldo, inspired by Luka Modric, and flanked by electrifying full-backs Marcelo and Dani Carvajal, Los Blancos have an authoritative figure in every position. They also have a manager in Zinedine Zidane who’s found success with different formations and maximised Ronaldo’s output.

Critics haven’t been kind to Emery, either. He faced a lashing in the aftermath of PSG’s collapse to Barcelona, with L’Equipe saying he was “too reserved” in the second leg of that historic Champions League turnaround. In Ligue 1, his tactical stubbornness cost PSG points. Many thought he wouldn’t last the season.

Even with some of football’s biggest names in recent years, PSG has stumbled at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League. It hasn’t reached the semis since 1995.

While the signing of a world-class player of Neymar’s stature is a statement of intent, the club is still a work in progress.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

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Soccer

  • Watch: Carvajal's header delivers killer blow for Madrid in UCL final

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • Real Madrid beat Dortmund to win 15th European Cup

  • Police arrest dozens of ticket-less fans at Wembley final

  • Dortmund boss Terzic lauds 'brilliant' Sancho after UCL defeat

  • Modric, Kroos among Madrid stars to make history with latest UCL triumph

  • Madrid's inevitability is a superpower no rival can match

  • Transfer window preview: 50 players who could move this summer

  • Vinicius Jr. named Champions League Player of the Season

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