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- ConFed Cup
Yesterday Germany played their first game of the 2017 ConFed Cup. The reigning World Cup champion that left a slew of usual starters at home in order to give them a rest and try out some youngsters had its fair share of problems with Australia. In the end Germany got the 3:2 win but it was a lot closer than expected, although it was a deserved win. Leon Goretzka and Lars Stindl showed some good performances, while Bernd Leno made two mistakes which allowed Australia to score twice. The goalkeeper position is unbelievably deep in Germany and Leno did not show why he should be a part of the squad for next year's WC. Jogi Löw has said that all three goalkeepers will play at least one game during this tournament so expect either Trapp or ter Stegen to be in the goal for the next game.
There won't be any games today but the tournament will continue on Wednesday when hosts Russia take on Portugal and Mexico play New Zealand.
- Silly Rumors
As usual during the silly season some rumors make the rounds, most of them can be ignored but let's take a look.
Yesterday some reports surfaced that linked Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to ManCity. However some other journalists that cover ManCity have already denied those rumors which frankly didn't make any sense to begin with. City already have the young and talented Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero on the roster and they are reportedly interested to bring in Alexis Sanchez.
City have killed links to Aubameyang - which are unhelpful to their pursuit of Alexis Sanchez
— James Robson (@JamesRobsonMEN) June 20, 2017
In other news, Chinese club Tianjin Quanjian are reportedly close to an agreement with Köln for Anthony Modeste. This was confirmed by Köln's sporting director who told kicker "It's headed in that direction, but nothing is finalized yet". Köln will apparently get 35€ million for the 29-year-old striker, if this transfer goes through it will probably mean that Auba will definitely not go to China.
Other rumors linking Ousmane Dembélé to Barcelona keep resurfacing, especially in the Spanish press. It's obvious Barca are interested to bring him in but Ous still has a long running contract with Dortmund without a release clause, Barca are also linked to Marco Verratti and Nelson Semedo which would cost them a lot of money and BVB would probably not let Dembélé go for anything under 90€ million. Moreover Dortmund can offer him something that Barca can't, a guaranteed starting spot.
Dembélé will probably not finish his career in black and yellow and he might move as soon as next summer but a move this transfer window seems unlikely and even if he does, the fee would allow Dortmund to reinforce the squad.
Daily Buzz: Leno, Trapp, ter Stegen, Fährmann, Horn, Baumann....Germany have goalkeepers in excess but which two should back up Manuel Neuer during next year's World Cup?