julian

Real Madrid have had a 150m euro (£130m) offer for striker Julian Alvarez rejected by city rivals Atletico Madrid.

Real president Florentino Perez last week pledged to make a 150m euro offer for an unnamed “galactico” player if re-elected to his position.

Having successfully retained control on Sunday, Perez made good on his promise.

However, the move for the 26-year-old Argentina international was turned down by his club, who cited Alvarez’s release clause of 500m euros (£430m).

In a statement, Real said: “Following the meeting of the board of directors held today, it has made an offer of 150 million euros to Club Atletico de Madrid for the federative rights of the player Julian Alvarez.

“After reviewing and evaluating the offer, Club Atletico de Madrid has expressed its gratitude for the proposal, made within the framework of the good relations between both clubs, and has rejected it, referring to the player’s release clause.”

Atletico did not immediately comment.

Former Manchester City player Alvarez, who won the 2022 World Cup with Argentina, joined the La Liga club in an £81.5m deal in 2024.

He scored 20 goals in 49 appearances for Atletico last season as they finished fourth in the table and reached the Champions League semi-finals.

As someone who has been covering high school baseball championship games in Southern California for six decades, the pitching performance seen on Friday night by Julian Garcia of St. John Bosco moves into the top five, if not a share for No. 1.

Garcia struck out 14, walked none and surrendered only a first-inning double to Codey Brown in a 2-0 victory over Norco in the Southern Section Division 1 final at Cal State Fullerton. His fastball was reaching 95 mph. He was blowing fastballs past top hitters all night.

Probably the No. 1 pitching performance continues to be Bret Saberhagen of Cleveland in the 1981 City Section championship game at Dodger Stadium when he threw a no-hitter against Palisades.

Others that come to mind:

No pitcher has been as overpowering as Garcia was under the lights. And he needed to be near perfect to beat Norco pitcher Jordan Ayala, who also was outstanding.

What a memory to add to Southern California’s great pitching moments in championship games.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

JOHN Lennon’s son Julian has revealed his devastating health diagnosis while sending a warning to his fans.

The son of the iconic singer from The Beatles has opened up about being diagnosed with coronary heart disease and pre-diabetes.

The 63-year-old musician, who followed in his father’s footsteps and had the hit Too Late For Goodbyes, opened up in a recent social media post.

Taking to social media, Julian said in a post: “After being diagnosed with Coronary Heart Disease & a Pre-Diabetic, I urge you all to get checked out sooner rather than later.

“You never know what hidden health issues you may have, even after exercising and eating as much ‘good/healthy’ food as possible.

“Nip it in the bud! As they say…

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“Even with these ailments, I’ve managed to catch them early enough, to be able to reverse some of the damage and will hopefully be able to live a healthy long life!

“Please get checked out, before you’re checked out…

“And last but not least, thanks to all the Doctors who have helped and guided me on this new journey so far… Truly.”

Fans rushed to support Julian amid his health woes.

“Be well Julian! I’m on the same journey,” said one fan.

“Dear Julian, You are very thoughtful to share this, especially for our benefit. Good luck with your new healthier journey. Please keep us updated,” added a second.

“Good advice. Trying to be better at it now. Take good care,” penned a third.

This isn’t Julian’s first health concern.

In 2020, the musician revealed he had to undergo an emergency operation to remove a cancerous growth from his head.

The singer had visited his dermatologist, who noticed a lump on his head which he had had all his life “looked and felt a little different”.

After having a biopsy, the results showed that the mole was cancerous and Julian got it removed immediately. 

Writing on social media at the time, he said: “She urged me to have a Biopsy 2 days ago, which I obliged…

“Only to learn, 24 hrs later, that it was malignant/cancerous, and that her recommendation was to get it removed immediately, which is what happened today…

“Hopefully we managed to remove all that was cancerous, but the mole is being sent off again, for a further/deeper analysis, and I’ll have those results next week.”

Julian is the son of John Lennon and his first wife Cynthia, who sadly died in April 2015.