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NFL

Source: With market cool, Cam may wait to sign

With league sources saying that the market to sign Cam Newton has cooled over the past month, the veteran quarterback is expected to take his time before joining a team, a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

Newton could wait until teams resume regular activity following the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. That could give teams the chance to check Newton’s health and meet with him in person.

Sources around the league aren’t sure whether Newton would take a backup job.

League sources believe Newton and the New England Patriots talked early during his free agency but nothing materialized.

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Newton, 31, has been a free agent since the Panthers released him March 24, ending a nine-year relationship with the quarterback they drafted No. 1 overall in 2011.

Newton, who holds most of Carolina’s career passing records, missed 14 games last season with a Lisfranc injury in his left foot and the final two games of the 2018 season with a shoulder injury that also required surgery. He underwent surgery for the Lisfranc injury in December.

Newton had a physical in Atlanta on March 23 that was coordinated by the Panthers and his agency, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Newton passed the physical and is healthy, with both his shoulder and foot “checking out well,” a source told Schefter.

Information from ESPN’s David Newton was used in this report.

Soccer

Atalanta's Gasperini may have had COVID-19 during Valencia match

Find out the latest on COVID-19’s impact on the sports world and when sports are returning by subscribing to Breaking News push notifications in the Sports and COVID-19 section.

Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini says that he felt sick during his side’s Champions League last-16 second-leg clash at Valencia on March 10 and later tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.

The first leg at the San Siro in Milan on Feb. 19 was dubbed “Game Zero” for accelerating the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the hard-hit Lombardy region of Italy.

“The night before the match in Valencia I was ill,” Gasperini told Gazetta dello Sport, per ESPN UK. “The afternoon of the match, I was even worse.

“On the bench, I was feeling awful. It was March 10. The two previous nights in Zigonia (Bergamo), I didn’t sleep much. I wasn’t feverish, but I felt so worn down as if I’d had was 40C (104F). Every two minutes, I’d hear an ambulance go by. There’s a hospital nearby. It felt like wartime.”

Champions League debutants Atalanta won the second leg in Spain 4-3 to bounce Valencia from the competition 8-4 on aggregate. The same day, the Italian government announced a nationwide lockdown as the coronavirus swiftly spread through the European nation.

Gasperini admitted that he felt better days later, adding, “Despite not having a fever, I did the test. Ten days ago, the tests confirmed I had had COVID-19. I have the antibodies, but that does not mean I’m immune.”

The Champions League suspended play following a pair of fixtures played in empty stadiums on March 11. Atalanta, Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, and Atletico Madrid had progressed to the quarterfinals, while the four other last-16 clashes were halted prior to the second leg. UEFA hopes to complete the 2019-20 competition in August.

Gasperini’s charges will return to action June 20 as Serie A resumes the 2019-20 campaign more than three months after it stopped amid the coronavirus pandemic.