Chelsea Owner Roman Abramovich has told head coach Antonio Conte that he is prepared to make a world-record bid for a defender to "try to tempt Juventus into selling Leonardo Bonucci in January." Abramovich was at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground last week and the pair "lunched together." Bonucci, the Juventus center-back, would be Conte’s "dream signing" and Abramovich is prepared to try to make a transfer happen by bidding more than the £50M Paris St. Germain paid the club for David Luiz, which is still a world record for a defender (London TELEGRAPH, 10/5).
National Rugby League side Melbourne Storm "is on the cusp of skipping the World Club Series in England" in favor of staying home to prepare for its 2017 NRL "premiership assault." Storm officials will reportedly meet this week to finalize their position "on whether or not" to head to the U.K. in February alongside Cronulla. Under the current arrangement, Storm would take part in the NRL Auckland Nines pre-season tournament before traveling to play in the revamped WCS. Storm CEO Dave Donaghy said, "We do have some serious concerns about traveling across to the other side of the world two weeks out from our season starting for what is effectively a trial match" (HERALD SUN, 10/4).
