Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar will join the Brazil national team shortly after he was granted an early release by the French champions, a source has confirmed to ESPN FC -- despite coach Thomas Tuchel not authorising it.

Neymar, 27, is suspended for PSG's season-ending Ligue 1 clash away at Reims on Friday and requested an early release from club duty to start his preparation for this summer's international tournament on home soil. However, Tuchel did not grant the €222 million man his release, which the source says will see him join up with the Brazil squad in the coming hours, as the German explained in a press conference on Thursday.

"No, Neymar has not been released," said Tuchel. "In any case, he has not by me. It is not a sporting thing, so I do not know. You will have to ask the club."

Tuchel later added that he believes that PSG need to be stricter moving forward, yet the source indicated that a member of Les Parisiens' sporting leadership allowed Neymar to depart early.

"Correct, this season has had its problems," said the coach. "The goal moving forward has to be to stay more focused! That goes for the team, as well as the club.

"We must be stricter and pull in the same direction to achieve our goals."

PSG will finish their season without Neymar in Reims and teammate Dani Alves told ESPN in an exclusive interview that he "would bet the Eiffel Tower" on his compatriot still being at Parc des Princes next season.

Brazil boss Tite has previously said he will discuss Neymar's recent disciplinary issues when the two men meet for the start of their Copa America campaign.

Sergio Ramos is contemplating leaving Real Madrid after 14 seasons with the club, a source within the club told ESPN's Paola Nunez on Friday.

The source said the club have said they will make every effort to keep their captain, adding, though, that management is not despairing over Ramos' threat as they would have in years past.

The team captain is under contract through 2021 for more than &euros;12 million per year after renewing in 2017. Spanish media, including El Chiringuito and Marca, both independently confirmed on Friday that Ramos is considering an exit and could move to another major European club.

Ramos has won 20 titles with Real Madrid in total including four European Cups, four Club World Cups, three UEFA Super Cups, four league titles, three Spanish Super Cups and two Copas del Rey.

According to the reports, both Manchester United and PSG have asked about Ramos' availability in the recent past, and the Madrid captain is considering a change as "something beneficial both for the team and on a personal level."

There was renewed optimism around Madrid when Zinedine Zidane -- who left after leading the club to three successive Champions League titles -- returned following a difficult season under first Julen Lopetegui and then Santiago Solari as managers in in the first seven months of the season. However, results have remained underwhelming.

A busy summer is expected at as Zidane and club president Florentino Perez look to rebuild a side which won four of the five Champions League trophies from 2014 to 2018, but struggled last season and finished trophyless.

Eden Hazard, Paul Pogba, Luka Jovic, Ferland Mendy and Christian Eriksen are the names mentioned as potential summer arrivals, while there are big questions over the long-term futures of Gareth Bale, Keylor Navas, Isco, Luka Modric and Marcelo

Denys Popov scored on a header off a corner kick in the 51st minute, and Ukraine beat the United States 2-1 Friday at Bielsko Biala, Poland, in the Americans' opener at the Under-20 World Cup.

Serhii Buletsa put Ukraine ahead in the 26th minute. Heorhii Tsitaishvili played a long pass from before the midfield stripe to Buletsa. Defender Sergino Best went up with Buletsa but didn't get his head on the ball, which bounced toward the net. Buletsa ran onto the ball and volleyed past goalkeeper Brady Scott from 10 yards.

Brandon Servania tied the score six minutes later , capping a series of swift passes.

Dest played the ball ahead to Servania, who tapped it to Konrad De La Fuente as Dest streaked toward the penalty area. De La Fuente returned the ball to Dest, who sent it wide to Tim Weah on the left flank. Weah, a son of former Liberia President and former FIFA player of the year George Weah, crossed into an unmarked Servania, who poked the ball in with his right foot from 5 yards.

"In general I'm very happy with the team. The team made a good effort, tried to win the game," U.S. coach Tab Ramos said. "Unfortunately on that set piece in the second half we lost the game, but I'm very happy with the players' effort and overall with today's performance to start the tournament."

The U.S. plays Nigeria on Monday and closes the group stage against Qatar on May 30. The Americans were eliminated in the quarterfinals in 2015 and 2017.

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TOP STORY: Everton demand huge Richarlison sum

Should Richarlison leave Everton this summer, he will not be doing so on the cheap, as Marco Silva's side are expected to ask for £100 million for the Brazilian, according to The Sun.

Richarlison enjoyed a fruitful season in 2018-19 after signing for the Toffees from Watford. A record of 17 goals in 46 games in all competitions this season has brought about the interest of Manchester United and Barcelona.

The music to United's ears is that Richarlison desires to stay in the Premier League, having settled into life in England. That puts Inter Milan, PSG and Atletico Madrid -- who have all shown interest -- at a disadvantage.

If Everton do sell for £100m, it will be a hefty profit on the £50m fee they purchased him for last summer.

Brooks and Wilson on Spurs' shortlist

AFC Bournemouth pair David Brooks and Callum Wilson are both targets for Tottenham Hotspur, The Sun reports.

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Both have excelled in the Premier League for the Cherries this season, and Mauricio Pochettino is eyeing an £80m deal for the players.

Wilson made his international debut for England this season, and Brooks is a regular in the Wales side. Bournemouth signed Wilson for as little as £3m from Coventry five years ago, while Brooks was snapped up from Sheffield United last summer.

West Ham and Leicester target Llorente

While he isn't getting any younger and is far from the first-choice striker at Tottenham, Fernando Llorente still has a couple of Premier League sides chasing him this summer, says The Sun.

The 34-year-old has played second fiddle to Harry Kane at Spurs since joining the club from Swansea in 2017. However, West Ham and Leicester City both feel they can offer the Spaniard more game time in England's top flight.

With his contract expiring, Llorente is set to become a free agent, and could leave on a free transfer to Napoli. Even Barcelona have reportedly shown interest as they look for someone to provide competition for Luis Suarez.

Mkhitaryan surplus to Emery's requirements

More from The Sun, which is reporting that Henrikh Mkhitaryan, in the headlines for all the wrong reasons lately, is headed for the exits at Arsenal.

Much has been made of the fact that Arsenal will not be taking the Armenian with them to the Europa League final in Baku, Azerbaijan, against Chelsea on Wednesday due to security concerns between his native Armenia and Azerbaijan.

While Mkhitaryan recently stated that he wants to stay at the club, the reports suggest that Unai Emery will be looking to offload him alongside Mesut Ozil this summer.

Tap-ins

- Manchester United have made an opening bid of £35m for Lyon's Moussa Dembele, according to the Daily Mail. Dembele has netted 23 goals for the French club since signing from Celtic.

- Bayern Munich could be gearing up for a Premier League double raid, as they look to sign Callum Hudson-Odoi from Chelsea and Manchester City's Leroy Sane, the Daily Mail reports. On Sane, Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said: "There have not been any talks so far. He's an interesting player, we will try."

Goal-scoring machine Carlos Vela will be back at it on Friday at home against Montreal, while Eastern Conference leader Philadelphia welcomes in surging Portland on Saturday and a Alejandro Pozuelo-less Toronto FC hosts MLS goal king Chris Wondolowski and San Jose on Sunday.

Vela keeps cranking out goals for LAFC

Los Angeles FC is 14 games into its season and not once has Carlos Vela gone two games in a row without scoring. That's pretty amazing to think about; you could certainly forgive Vela if he had a stretch of three or four games when he did not score. He now has 14 goals and seven assists this season, and he has gone goalless in just four contests. That is nuts.

It was an interesting week last week for Vela in the two games against FC Dallas. After scoring the opener in the first contest, the Mexican striker was lucky to not have suffered a serious injury on a late, harsh tackle from Bressan, which provoked the ire of LAFC head coach Bob Bradley. Three days later, the two teams met again in Texas, and there was another Bressan-Vela clash, which ended with Vela's penalty kick getting saved. Luckily for the former Real Sociedad man, Vela got a second chance from the spot later on and buried his effort.

Vela will look to make it four games in a row with a goal on Friday night at home against the Montreal Impact (10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+), who are a surprising third in the Eastern Conference. Ever since they gave up that seven spot at Sporting Kansas City earlier in the season, the Impact have locked things down defensively. Vela is always a good bet to score at home, but it won't be easy against a solid Impact back line.

A Philly special between Union and Timbers

You have to go all the way back to April 13 to find the last time that the Philadelphia Union lost a game. That was a 2-0 defeat in Carson, California, to the LA Galaxy. Since then, Jim Curtin's team has collected four wins and a pair of draws on its way to the top of the Eastern Conference table.

There really is no one player who stands out on this squad, and the goal totals reveal as much. The leading scorer? David Accam with four -- and Accam is not even on the team anymore, having been shipped to the Columbus Crew and then acquired by Nashville, but remaining in Columbus on loan for GAM, TAM and an acronym to be named later.

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This all circles back to the point that the Union have one of the deepest squads in the league. And they'll come up against another strong side on Saturday in the form of the Portland Timbers (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+). After a woeful start -- one point in its first six games -- Portland has kicked into gear, and the match in Philadelphia marks the Timbers' last road affair until they finally return for their home opener.

The Timbers made one of the biggest moves of the transfer window by acquiring Argentine striker Brian Fernandez from Necaxa. He had 13 goals in the Liga MX Clausura. And he already scored in his debut last week versus Houston. The matchup between Fernandez and Philadelphia's center-back of combo of Jack Elliot and Auston Trusty will be a must-see.

Pozuelo-less TFC welcomes in King Wondo

Alejandro Pozuelo has been a revelation in Toronto this season since arriving from Belgian side Genk with five goals and six assists; but last week's red card means the Spaniard will miss out on Sunday's home contest with the San Jose Earthquakes (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+).

It's a shame to see that because it denies us all the chance to see the Pozuelo-Jozy Altidore connection that had such a sizzling start when Pozuelo arrived in late March. Altidore had missed several weeks through injury, but he returned as a substitute in last week's 3-0 loss at Real Salt Lake, just as Pozuelo received his sending off.

Altidore will have to carry the load against San Jose, which is coming off a 4-1 win over Chicago in which Chris Wondolowski became MLS' all-time leading scorer with his first four-score match. The 36-year-old had been reduced to a substitute role until starting last week, and Wondolowski certainly made the most of it.

Whether coach Matias Almeyda sticks with Wondo in the starting role is another matter. The Quakes are yet to win away from home this season, so the Argentine boss might opt to ride Wondo's hot boot for another week.

Former England spinner Monty Panesar has spoken in depth about his mental health issues, describing the shock of being diagnosed with "paranoia/schizophrenia". The 37-year-old now believes he has put his problems behind him and remains hopeful that he can win a return to first-class cricket despite being without a club since 2016.

Panesar was an England regular during the mid-to-late 2000s but suffered from bouts of depression and drinking to excess. He was released by Sussex in 2013 after a late-night incident that involved urinating on a bouncer outside a club and although he was included on the subsequent Ashes tour, he played his final match for England during that year's Boxing Day Test at the MCG.

Speaking to Nasser Hussain, the former England captain, in an interview with the Daily Mail, Panesar talked about his battle with depression and his hopes for a comeback. He revealed that he had consulted another former England captain Mike Brearley, who is also a qualified psychologist, about his mental health.

"My parents became worried," he said. "They wanted me to see someone. I had always thought strong people couldn't have a problem. I was always the guy who would win games, who had everything in order.

"My cricket had always gone the way I had planned it, but suddenly things started going in a direction I hadn't experienced since childhood. It had all been up, up, up but this was new territory mentally.

"It was a guy called Peter Gilmore who said I was suffering from paranoia/schizophrenia and that shocked me massively. Mike Brearley told me to be careful about the things I was saying to myself. Some experts thought I'd never get better but I knew I could fight it, come through it."

Having left Sussex, Panesar had further run-ins with the management at Essex, before returning for a brief spell at Northamptonshire, where he originally rose to England prominence. He has now written an autobiography, The Full Monty, detailing his experiences and said he is determined to give his playing career "one more go".

"It was difficult," he said. "Everyone was doubting me. I spoke to [former wicketkeeper turned mentor] Neil Burns and he told me everyone thought I'd gone off the rails. He told me there were so many rumours and I had to put the record straight. I tried to do a couple of interviews to get the message out that I'd had problems, but I was on the way back.

"Now the book will hopefully get everything out there. I love the game. I'm not a bad egg in the dressing room, I'm actually a nice guy. I want people to remember the good Monty, but it takes a while to eradicate bad memories. It's like I'm a fireball and people are worried that if they get too close to me they'll get burnt.

"I don't need medication. I don't drink. I don't have good and bad days. All of those things have gone. There was a moment I was at Northampton about 18 months ago and I looked around and thought, 'Wow, those paranoid thoughts are not there any more'. I knew then Monty was back. I'm going to be a cricketer again. I'm going to do it."

On the eve of their first warm-up match of the World Cup, India suffered an injury scare with allrounder Vijay Shankar leaving the training session midway after being hit on his right hand. Vijay was hit on the forearm while attempting a pull against left-arm fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed, who is among the four quicks travelling with the Indian squad as net bowlers.

Vijay, who was part of the second group of batsmen alongside MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya, immediately walked back to the dressing room carrying two bats in his left hand. There is no official word yet from the BCCI on whether Vijay would need any scans and whether he would be available for the warm-up fixture against New Zealand on Saturday.

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India would hope Vijay's injury is not serious considering Kedar Jadhav is yet to hit full tilt in the training. Jadhav, who picked up a left shoulder injury during the IPL on May 5, was retained in the 15-man squad by the selectors based on a positive assessment by team physiotherapist Patrick Farhart.

India trained at the Oval on Thursday and Friday, and on both days Jadhav started with light drills with Farhart following him like a shadow. On Thursday, Jadhav took some throwdowns without batting in the main nets. However, on Friday, he did the complete drill, including some fielding practice, before wrapping it by batting in the nets.

Jadhav, though, is likely to sit out of the warm-up game against New Zealand. If Vijay recovers, he is set to bat at No.4, the position MSK Prasad, Indian chairman of selectors, had said the allrounder was ideal for while announcing the World Cup squad.

In case Vijay does not play, then it is likely that KL Rahul would replace him. Rahul, who was part of the last batch of batsmen in India's second training session, was included in the squad mainly as the cover for the openers, but Prasad said he was equally capable of batting in the middle order.