Football news

Napoli's owner Aurelio De Laurentiis is ready to provide the team's new head coach Antonio Conte with a record transfer budget.

According to Il Matino, the 54-year-old will receive €230 million for transfers. The publication also revealed some details of Conte's contract in Naples.

Firstly, the agreement contains a clause that allows the coach to unilaterally terminate the contract with the club at the end of each season. Conte will also have a decisive vote on the team's transfers, not only for incoming players but also for the sale of players.

Midfielder Georgy Sudakov has frankly told Inews.co.uk that he wants to leave Shakhtar Donetsk next summer.

- "There is no safe place in Ukraine today. Everyone is afraid. It's hard mentally. Every time my daughter hears sirens, she runs to hide under the covers. It is hard to come to terms with this. I have the opportunity to move my family out of Ukraine. A vivid example of how it is now is that our last game in Dnipro lasted five hours. There were four breaks for air raid sirens, and each time it was quite difficult to return. It's especially hard when I'm in Europe and I see a message from my wife about an attack at four in the morning and missiles overhead.

I just talked to her about it 30 minutes ago. My attitude is that I have achieved the maximum at Shakhtar, I have developed as much as possible as a player and I am ready to move forward. I hope to show what I can do at the Euros, and then my future can be decided. The English Premier League is my dream. It would be great to play there in one of the best clubs. I can't single out any of them as my priority," said the Donetsk man.

Lechia's Ukrainian midfielder Maksym Khlan answered the question: which tournament is stronger - the Polish Ekstraklasa or the Ukrainian championship.

- At the moment, the Ekstraklasa is stronger. For obvious reasons, Ukraine has not had a high level for a long time, but we have a huge potential to be one of the best in Europe, I am sure we will realise this potential over time," Maksym said in an interview withUV.

Benfica and Ukraine goalkeeper Anatolii Trubin wants to go to the Olympic Games with the Ukrainian national team.

- I haven't talked about the Olympics with the club yet, but I'm already asking the coach a little bit. Japan qualified for the Olympics and our goalkeeper is also playing there. I don't know what will happen. I hope we will be able to go to the Euros. This is the first time for Ukraine. Our team has reached this tournament, and we want to finish this story beautifully. I will do my best to get permission," Trubin was quoted as saying by vZbirna.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin has been included in the creamy side's squad for the Champions League final match against Borussia Dortmund.

In total, there are four goalkeepers in the application. In addition to the Ukrainian, there are Thibaut Courtois, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Fran Gonzalez. At the same time, Lunin did not fly with the team to London because of the flu and has already missed four days of training. He is working individually and plans to join his teammates tomorrow.

The Champions League final match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid will take place on Saturday, 1 June. The match starts at 22:00 Kyiv time.

Argentina winger Angel di Maria is close to moving to North America.

According to ESPN, the 36-year-old's next club will be Inter Miami, where he will join his friend and compatriot Lionel Messi.

However, due to financial constraints, Inter may find it difficult to sign Di Maria this summer. If they are unable to do so, the Argentine will continue his performances for Benfica and then move to the United States in the winter of 2025.

Di Maria has decided that Benfica will be his last European club. He will also retire from the Argentine national team after the 2024 Copa America.

Serhiy Dolgansky will remain at the helm of Vorskla Poltava for the next season. According to TaToTake, the club's management has decided so.

At the same time, some changes and additions to Dolgansky's coaching staff are possible.

Vorskla also faces a global personnel task - to decide on the future of 10 players whose contracts with the club expire on 30 June.

It is known that Najeb Yakubu (moving to Rukh) and Ruslan Stepaniuk (choosing a new team) will not stay in Poltava; negotiations are underway with goalkeeper Pavlo Isenko; Shakhtar's loan to Viktor Kornienko is set to expire; the fate of the players who were invited to join the team under Viktor Skrypnyk - Tiago Santana, Felipe Rodriguez, Ardit Tolly, Tiago Cunha, Lucas Ramirez (contracts until 31 December 2025) - is unknown; Amilcar Kodjovi will almost certainly leave, but the fate of Rodel Richards will be decided in the coming weeks. The forward has healed his injury but has not played for a long time.

Midfielder Vladyslav Kalytvintsev and Oleksandriya are in talks to extend their cooperation, journalist Ihor Burbas has reported.

According to the source, they are ready to extend the player's contract, but on a 50 per cent discount. Vlad himself would also like to stay, but refuses to take such a significant pay cut.

The current labour agreement between the former Dynamo Kyiv player and the Citizens expires tomorrow.

Benfica and Ukraine goalkeeper Anatolii Trubin assessed the Blue and Yellows' rivals in the group stage of Euro 2024.

- The teams that have reached the Euro have good qualities. Some say it will be very easy to get out of the group, but I don't think so. I remember the youth Euro, and it was also very difficult. It will be interesting and we, the players, should not think that the group is easy. We will show everything on the football field. We need to focus on each game - step by step," Trubin was quoted as saying by vZbirna.

Left Bank captain Andriy Spivakov commented on the minimal defeat to Obolon in the first play-off match for the right to play in the Ukrainian Premier League next season.

- It's a pity we lost. We knew there would be a lot of struggle. We had a chance from a set piece, Obolon scored from a set piece. Even at this level, the speed is higher than in the first league. We had to get used to it a bit. I hope that in the second match we will do better, with the support of our stands. It's a shame that I didn't score my chance, but the goalkeeper's level is very high. Rybka is a legend in Ukrainian football. He played phenomenally," UPL TV quoted the midfielder as saying.

Dnipro-1's commercial director, Vyacheslav Fridman, has frankly said that his club will not receive a single euro cent from Girona for the fact that the team's former striker Artem Dovbyk became the top scorer in the Spanish league.

"According to Friedman, Dnipro-1 will not receive anything extra from Girona for Dovbyk's fantastic season. We quote him verbatim: "There are no bonuses."

It will be recalled that Artem Dovbyk moved from Dnipro-1 to Girona in the summer of 2023 for €15 million. The player played 39 matches for the Catalan club in the 2023/2024 season: 24 goals, ten assists.

The analytical portal Sofacore has named the national team of the Ukrainian championship for the 2023/2024 season.

It is worth noting that Dynamo's representatives were also included in the team of the UPL's best players. These are midfielders Volodymyr Brazhko (7.48), Mykola Shaparenko (7.44) and Vitalii Buyalskyi (7.64).

Shakhtar also has three players: defender Mykola Matvienko (7.42), midfielders Georgy Sudakov (7.63) and Oleksandr Zubkov (7.96).

Also among the best are two Zorya players - defender Arseniy Batagov (7.26) and forward Eduardo Guerrero (7.42). Rukh: goalkeeper Dmytro Ledviy (7.23) and defender Bohdan Slyubyk (7.20).

The only representative of Dnipro-1 in the symbolic team is midfielder Oleksandr Pikhalonok (7.68).