Daily Schmankerl: PUMA and Manchester City teaming up to keep Leroy Sane?; PSG lowers price on Neymar; Douglas Costa & Paulo Dybala might stay with Juventus; The final word on Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez; and MORE Bayern Munich news!

The Sane Saga should have its own “real crime”-style podcast at this point (Manchester Evening News)

As the transfer saga surrounding Leroy Sane turns, the Manchester Evening News threw some cold water on Niko Kovac’s statement about his “confidence” from Sunday. Specifically, Manchester Evening News reporter Stuart Brennan laid out some pretty declarative statements regarding the love triangle going on between Bayern Munich, Manchester City, and Germany international Leroy Sane. Among the information dropped by Brennan in his piece (believe it or not):

• “Manchester City are not in talks with Bayern Munich about Germany winger Leroy Sane.”
• “But there have been no talks between the clubs, and it seems there are none planned at present. And even if the 23-year-old star does decide to go, and the Bundesliga giants stump up a fee of up to £100million, the Blues will not be spending any of it on Mikel Oyarzabal.”
• “Reports from Spain suggest that City have already lined up £68million Athletic Bilbao left winger Mikel Oyarzabal as Sane’s replacement, but the Blues - barring a change of mind - are not planning to replace Sane if he does decide to leave.” (Ed. Note: We ran the original text for the sake of accuracy to the original story. MEN has since updated its post changing Athletic Bilbao to Real Sociedad.)
• “City want (Sane) to stay, he still has two years left on his contract, and negotiations with Sane about a lucrative new contract are ongoing. But the Blues will want some form of commitment from the player, because if he does not want to stay, they would prefer to sell him this summer, rather than next, as his value will drop considerably.”
• “There is no rush for Bayern to start talks – although the Premier League transfer window closes next week, the Bundesliga window is still open until September 2. That gives the German club over a month in which to make a move for Sane – or to keep on talking about it.”

Brennan then went on to discuss the rumor that PUMA might be willing to bolster Manchester City’s offer to Sane. PUMA, of course, is now Manchester City’s apparel partner:

There is also a rumor that new kit supplier PUMA may be dangling a sweetener in front of the exciting youngster in a bid to get him to stay and sign a £1million boot deal with them.

Brennan’s reporting of this story is interesting on two levels:

1. Brennan’s story seemingly threw dirt on the grave of another story from another Manchester Evening News reporter that ran just a day earlier (with regard to Manchester City’s alleged pursuit of Mikel Oyarzabal).
2. Brennan was also the author of a story earlier this month that indicated that Manchester City was looking to extend Sane’s deal rather than sell him off. This report was originally scoffed at by some, but was ultimately true.

Los Blancos essentially tell Zidane to “deal with it” (Daily Mail)

Just yesterday, we started to see the reports that James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale were likely going to stay with Real Madrid because of the team’s “thin” roster after losing Marco Asensio to an ACL injury.

Now, it looks like any thought of a sale of either player is officially gone.

Real Madrid have told James Rodriguez he will not be leaving the Bernabeu this summer as he trained with the club for the first time in 787 days. The Colombian had been expected to leave Real having spent the past two seasons out on loan at Bayern Munich, with Napoli one of the clubs linked with him.

But, according to Diario AS, there has been a change of heart by club president Florentino Perez in the wake of the resounding 7-3 defeat by rivals Atletico Madrid in New Jersey on Saturday. Manager Zinedine Zidane expected the 28-year-old to leave but it appears he will now have James and wantaway Gareth Bale in his squad for the season ahead whether he likes it or not.

For now, at least, we can likely move on from transfer rumors surrounding both players. Also, barring some sort of miracle, neither James, nor Bale will compete against Bayern, Tottenham Hotspur, and Fenerbahce in the Audi Cup as neither player was named to Real Madrid’s roster for the competition. per Marca.

Juve might be hanging on to Costa (Transfer Market Web)

It looked like former Bayern Munich winger Douglas Costa was heading away from Turin earlier this summer, but Juventus seems to have had a change of heart even with Arsenal, Manchester City, and Paris Saint-Germain reportedly interested in making a move for the 28-year-old.

Impressing Juventus new boss, Maurizio Sarri, with his preseason start, Brazilian international winger Douglas Costa (28), previously on the line, has now been put off sale once and for all. Currently on a deal with Italian giants until June 2022, former Bayern Munich and Shakhtar Donetsk player was inquired about by many clubs, including Arsenal, Manchester City, and PSG.

PSG lowers price tag on Neymar (Transfer Market Web)

Paris Saint-Germain has put Neymar on the discount rack dropping his price by a cool €120 million. FC Barcelona still looks like the team most interested in a move for the Brazil international.

From €300m to €180m. Paris Saint-Germain, according to last rumors on Sport, has lowered the claims for Neymar. The French club would be ready to sold the Brazilian ace €180m. The only suitor FC Barcelona will try to reduce the price, adding a player in the agreement. The French club didn’t like this possible solution, but everything can change in the coming days, if Barcelona will offer in the trade Philippe Coutinho. Everything will be decided in the coming weeks; the clubs are still far from a possible agreement.

Is that a mustache I see? (@FCBayernUS)

If this tweet is real and not the creation of some good editing from the @FCBayernUS social media admins, Joshua Kimmich might have grown back his caterpillar mustache.

Dybala wants to stay with Juve (Transfer Market Web)

Paulo Dybala has been a fixture in the transfer rumor mill for months. At various times, the 25-year-old has been linked to Bayern Munich, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, and Paris Saint-Germain, but it appears that Dybala only has eyes for the The Old Lady.

According to Corriere di Torino, Argentinian international forward Paulo Dybala (25) made clear Juventus top brass he’s eager to stay put, and start his fifth Bianconeri season in a row. To this end, a meeting between the player and the club high ranks, including boss Maurizio Sarri and the exec top brass line, is scheduled for next Thursday, August 1st. La Joya is tracked hard by Tottenham, with Manchester United and PSG pondering over a blitz on him.

This would be a nice problem to have (@FCBayernUS)

Spurs closing in on Lo Celso (Transfer Market Web)

Tottenham Hotspur appears to be getting very close to procuring Real Betis midfielder Giovani Lo Celso.

After having signed Tanguy Ndombelé from Lyon, Tottenham management, according to Daily Express, are about to seal the deal with Real Betis Sevilla on Argentinian international midfielder Giovani Lo Celso (23), on an about 60 million euros fee, a record sum for Spurs. Spanish club brought Lo Celso in from PSG on an overall €25m sum.