Real Madrid to get Arsenal's Reyes in exchange for Baptisa.

Real Madrid have agreed a deal with Arsenal to take Spain forward Jose Antonio Reyes on loan for one season with Brazil’s Julio Baptista moving in the other direction, the Primera Liga club said on Friday.

“Real and Arsenal have reached agreement tonight to exchange the playing rights of Reyes and Baptista for the 2006/7 season,” the club said in a statement on their Web site.

The deal includes an option for the clubs to buy the respective players at the end of the season-long loans.

Reyes, 22, had long been a target for the nine-times European champions and the player had made no secret of his desire to return to Spain.

“I am the happiest person in the world. I was on edge until I actually signed the contract,” Reyes told Radio Marca.

Reyes is the fifth player to join Real since Ramon Calderon was elected president following Italy’s World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro, Brazil midfielder Emerson, Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mali midfielder Mahamadou Diarra.

He becomes only the second Spanish player to join Real in the last five years, the first being his former Sevilla team mate defender Sergio Ramos who signed for close to 30 million euros last season.

Arsenal paid a club record fee of around £17mil for Reyes in January 2004, but although he produced flashes of the brilliance he showed at Sevilla, his performances for the Londoners have remained inconsistent.

Reyes admitted finding it difficult to adjust to England and the style of football in the Premiership and in February 2005 he told a bogus radio interviewer claiming to be a Real Madrid representative that he would like to play for the Spanish club.

Despite his reservations he signed a new six-year contract with Arsenal in July 2005 after helping the team win the FA Cup final.

Reyes has won 21 caps for Spain, but was left out of the squad for Euro 2004 and made just one appearance at the recent World Cup, playing 69 minutes of Spain’s 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in their final group match.

Real’s 24-year-old midfielder-cum-forward Baptista, who has failed to make it into new coach Fabio Capello’s plans, was a target for Arsenal before he joined Real from Sevilla last year in a deal worth US$24.20 million.

He scored 50 goals in all competitions in his two years with Sevilla but struggled to land a regular first-team place at Real last season.

Baptista joins Jonathan Woodgate, Thomas Gravesen and Pablo Garcia in the Real clear out under Capello. – Reuters

Ageless Andre survives five-set thriller against Baghdatis

AGELESS Andre Agassi continued to defy the odds and elude retirement by shocking number eight seed Marcos Baghdatis in a five-set thriller on Thursday to advance to the third round of the US Open.

Spurred on by a raucous crowd of nearly 24,000 at Arthur Ashe Stadium that cheered his every shot, 36-year-old unseeded Agassi edged the Australian Open finalist 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5.

Agassi, playing the final tournament of his illustrious career, needed a cortisone shot for his ailing back after his excruciating four-set win over Andrei Pavel on Monday.

But he took centre stage on Thursday night looking fresh, relaxed and ready to have some fun.

His precision groundstrokes kept the 21-year-old Cypriot off-balance early in the match, forcing him into repeated mistakes, especially on the backhand side.

Baghdatis committed 40 unforced errors in the first two sets but settled down in the third, breaking Agassi’s serve to take a 5-3 lead before serving out for the set.

Agassi held a 4-0 lead in the fourth and appeared ready to close out the match and prepare for German qualifier Benjamin Becker in the third round.

But the hard-serving Baghdatis suddenly found his game, his legs, and his stamina to win seven of the next eight games to force a decisive fifth set.

They exchanged early breaks in the final set but with Baghdatis serving at 5-6 and battling severe cramps in both thighs, Agassi broke the the Cypriot’s serve to close out the three-hour, 48-minute contest.

“I got up 4-0 in the fourth set but it wasn’t my back that was getting tight, it was my throat, my breathing,” a smiling Agassi told the crowd. “I fought so hard. This means the world to me.”

Powell clocks slow time in Poland

Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell warmed up for the final Golden League meet of the season by winning the 100m in 10.02 seconds at a low-key Polish event on Wednesday.

Powell, who shares the world record of 9.77 with Justin Gatlin, ran in chilly rain and windy conditions at the Pedro’s Cup. It was one of the few times he failed to break 10 seconds this year.

Another Jamaican, Michael Frater, was second in 10.25. American Shawn Crawford was third in 10.50.

Jamaica’s Sherone Simpson won the women’s 100m in 11.25.

Hampered by the difficult weather conditions, Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva failed to clear a height in the women’s pole vault.

The athletes were preparing for Sunday’s ISTAF meet in Berlin, in neighbouring Germany. – AP

Don’t give up hope, Neville tells Beckham

David Beckham has been told not to give up hope of returning to the England squad by former teammate Phil Neville.

Beckham quit as England captain in July after the World Cup and was then left out of coach Steve McClaren’s first squad for a friendly against Greece earlier this month prompting speculation his international career was over.

The Real Madrid midfielder will not feature when England face Andorra in their first Euro 2008 qualifier at Old Trafford tomorrow.

“At international level you just have to keep fighting because you can’t move to another international country,” Neville said on Wednesday.

“Playing international football is so special that it’s worth that fight. That was how I felt and I’m sure it’s how David Beckham feels as well.

“I can only speak for myself, but I would never say I was retiring from international football just because I had been left out of a squad,” added Everton’s Neville, who played with Beckham at Manchester United and forced his way back into the national squad after missing out on the World Cup in Germany. – Reuters

Beckham plans to discuss new deal

David Beckham plans to discuss a new contract with Real Madrid in the next few months, but the former England captain has not yet agreed an extension to his current deal with the Spanish club.

“The intention on both sides is to sit down and talk over a new deal in the autumn,” a spokesman for Beckham told Reuters yesterday. “No new deal has been agreed at the moment.”

Beckham joined Real on a four-year contract from Manchester United in 2003, but has yet to win a major trophy at the club. – Reuters

Sore Kimi Raikkonen rues ‘messy’ start

Kimi Raikkonen (pic) said he felt both sore and disappointed after the early collision that eliminated him from Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix.

The Finn, driving for the McLaren Mercedes-Benz team, won the inaugural race at the Istanbul Speed Park in 2005 and had high hopes of doing well again.

But this time he was involved in a six-car shunt at turn one on the opening lap after Italian Giancarlo Fisichella spun in his Renault and was left facing the oncoming cars.

Raikkonen, hit by American Scott Speed in a Toro Rosso, crawled back to the pits with a shredded left rear tyre.

Then, when he returned to the track, he slewed off the circuit and into the barriers.

“It got very messy at the start,” said Raikkonen.

“I tried to avoid a spinning Fisichella, but then Speed hit my left rear tyre causing a puncture. I drove for almost a whole lap with a damaged tyre in order to get back to the pits to see what could be done.

“The team changed my tyre, but I think the car must have incurred quite a lot of damage at this point.

“When I re-joined the race, I came into turn four, had no rear end grip, got sideways, ran out of road, hit the tyre wall and that was it.

“My back is a bit sore but nothing to worry about. I'm obviously disappointed that my race was over so quickly, but there was nothing we could do.”

His McLaren team-mate Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa completed another solid race to finish in fifth position, having started from 11th.

“A good result coming from 11th position,” said de la Rosa. “There was mayhem at the first corner following Fisichella's spin and I just made it through despite lots of debris on the track.

“It was a tough race with the one-stop strategy as I had to look after my rear tyres and this made it challenging to be consistently quick.

“However my race pace was good and I could even overtake a couple of cars. With a higher grid position a better outcome to the race would have been possible.” – AFP