Pepe unhappy with Real Madrid exit
Madrid, June 6: Portugese defender Pepe confirmed he has had offers from Premier League clubs after announcing he will leave Real Madrid when his contract expires this summer.
Pepe, 34, has spent 10 years with the European champions, but has fallen down the pecking order under Zinedine Zidane this season as Madrid won a La Liga and Champions League double for the first time in 59 years.
“What Madrid have done is spectacular, but there are things that I still don’t understand,” the Brazilianborn centre-back told Spanish radio station Cope.
“I don’t know why I have disappeared from the team.
“An era has come to an end and, from now, a new one will start, but Real Madrid’s way of doing things hasn’t been correct.”
French giants Paris SaintGermain and Italy’s Inter Milan have both been rumoured as Pepe’s possible next destination.
“There are more offers. Not just from PSG or Inter, but England for example,” he added.
“I don’t have anything signed with any other club. I could have done so earlier but I didn’t want to destabilise the team.”
Pepe has won three La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues in his decade in Spain.
Pioli takes over at Fiorentina Milan: Former Inter Milan and Lazio coach Stefano Pioli has agreed terms to take over at Fiorentina on a two-year deal, the Serie A club announced Tuesday.
Pioli was sacked three games before the end of a rollercoaster Serie A campaign with Inter that saw a qualitypacked Nerazzurri side go from Champions League qualification contenders to missing out on European football altogether.
But Fiorentina, where Pioli played 156 times between 1989 and 1995, were quick to make the 51-yearold coach an offer following the departure of Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa.
“Fiorentina announces the club has reached agreement with Stefano Pioli, who will take over as first team coach,” said a statement by Fiorentina on Tuesday.
“The new coach will sign a two-year deal, with the option of a third.”
Fiorentina finished eighth in Serie A, three points adrift of the Europa League qualification places.
Dortmund rope in Bosz B e r l i n : Dutchman Peter Bosz has
been named as the new coach of Borussia Dortmund, the German giants announced on Tuesday.
Bosz, arrives 53, from Ajax after leading the Dutch side to the final of the Europa League, where they lost 2-0 to Manchester United last month.
Briefly a player in Germany with Hansa Rostock in the 1990s, he replaces Thomas Tuchel, who was sacked despite Dortmund winning the German Cup — their first major silverware in five years — and finishing third in the Bundesliga in the season just finished.