As we enter the New Year I’ve recently thought of what will be the big stories and events that we will talk about for weeks on end. I’m going to predict what I think are the five events and stories we will be discussing a lot here is my top list.

Cristiano Ronaldo to leave Real Madrid:

With this one I am hugely confident this will happen because Ronaldo is 31 and Madrid don’t tend to keep a lot of players beyond 31. Two reasons I believe this will happen is because of the opinions of two well respected journalists who you see regularly talking about La Liga on Sky. The first one is Guillem Balague who is well known for breaking big stories regarding big name signings, he recently said that amongst the Madrid hierarchy there is a plan to let Ronaldo leave soon and I would trust a lot of what he says. The other Journalist Graham Hunter who is a Scottish journo based in Spain he, said on a 5 Live European Football Special that all directions are heading towards Ronaldo leaving the Bernabeu. In terms of where he would go there are three possibilities, his old club Manchester United, PSG (Paris Saint Germain) or a move to the MLS. I would perhaps rule out the MLS because he would perhaps consider that at 35 not 31. Man Utd would perhaps be the first you would think of as he is still loved by the Old Trafford faithful seven years after he left for Madrid and for Chief Executive Ed Woodward it would get him the big name he craves. Since taking over from David Gill in 2013 Woodward has needed a huge powerhouse name to make his mark as a good negotiator, if Ronaldo chooses to go back to Old Trafford he will be welcomed back like a conqueroring hero but we’ll see. In regards to PSG it’s also another one that could happen, the French giants funded by an Arab billionaire would love to get Ronaldo with biggest star Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s contract up after this season. Getting Ronaldo to Paris would be a huge coup for PSG and put them as one of Europe’s greats it would also put them on the map worldwide with Ronaldo’s brand. The one stumbling block to this could be whether Ronaldo would look at this as being a step down in his career because nobody really watches Ligue 1, but he might end up there if a big pile of money is offered his way. Wherever he does end up one thing I’m sure of is that Cristiano a Ronaldo is leaving Real Madrid and I’m looking forward to see where he ends up.

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Amir Khan vs Kell Brook:

As a boxing fan this is a fight I’ve wanted for three years because it’s a rivalry that goes back to their amateur days. For Khan his story of one who was the 17 year old from a Pakistani Muslim family who went to the Olympics in Athens and won the silver medal in the lightweight division. Khan has since then won a world title at 22 and cracked America with wins against Paulie Malinaggi, Marcos Madaina and Zab Judah. For Brook it has been a tougher journey for the guy trained in the famous Ingle Gym in Sheffield which produced Prince Naseem Hamed. Since signing with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, Brook has become a name and won the IBF Welterweight title. The reasons this fight hasn’t happend could be because Khan told Brook to win a world title otherwise it wasn’t worth it then Khan told him to fight a big name then he’d fight him. Khan though recently has failed to secure fights with Floyd Mayweather & Manny Pacquaio which in terms of huge big fights leaves only Brook, unless he goes for a rematch with Danny Garcia or fights Keith Thurman but those fights would only be big in America. If Khan were to fight Brook and beat him that would arguably make him king of the division or put him amongst the big boys. For Brook a victory would be bigger it would propell him into massive fights against Thurman, Timothy Bradley or Adrien Broner. If this fight happens then it will headline Wembley Stadium and it will perhaps be a full capacity of 90.000 which would be remarkable for boxing. I for one hope this fight does happen and am confident of it happening otherwise if it doesn’t this year then it perhaps never will happen.

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Bayern Munich to win Champions League:

This one I’m pretty confident of because Bayen Munich have just become better this season and look totally dominant. This has been helped by ace signings which include Douglas Costa & Kingsay Conman who have added strength down the wide areas. Plus the brilliant signing of Arturo Vidal from Juventus for £40m was a perfect replacement for Bastian Scweinstiger who left for Manchester United. Another reason I believe Bayern will win is that with the recent news of Pep Guardiola leaving and Carlo Ancelotti joining in the summer Pep will want to leave Munich with the Champions League a title he won twice at Barcelona. Another reason to believe this is that Bayern striker Robert Lewandoski is in the best form of his career and is scoring for fun & with Thomas Muller recently signing a new deal it could be huge to the team from Southern Bavaria. Another plus for this is that Bayern also have Xavi Alonso, Arjen Robben and Manuel Nuer which is good backup. Many are tipping Barca for the title but I believe Germany’s finest will triumph in Milan because all round they are nearly unstoppable.

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Lewis Hamilton 4 time champion:

I am intrigued to see how this one pans out one because if Lewis does win a 4th title he will be Britian’s greatest ever racing driver. For Lewis Hamilton winning a 4th title will evaluate his status even more, but this year is expected to be harder for him with Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari expected to get better and Nico Rosberg also expected to give him a hard time it won’t be easy for Hamilton to bag the title this year. For the last two years Lewis has been utterly dominant with Mercedes sweeping all before them, this year will be Mercedes and Hamilton’s toughest challenge with Schuderia Maranello looking to fight them at every corner and Vettel coming off the back of a great first year with Ferrari. But the bigger challenge IMO will come from Lewis teammate and arch nemesis Nico Rosberg who pushed to Hamilton to the wire in 2014 but failed to even mount a proper challenge in 2015, fresh off the back of four wins towards the end of the season Rosberg will hope to mount the fiercest challenge he’s ever given and if that happens a three way battle between Hamilton, Rosbeg and Vettel could be the greatest thing to happen to the sport of F1 with all the rows and political arguing the sport could need this battle.

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Germany will win Euro 2016:

In my final prediction for this year I went for who I thought would win this years European Championship’s and I came to only one conclusion and that was Germany. Germany to me are a country that love to be dominant especially if you look through sporting history, Germany’s football team had been building for this since 2002 with countless efforts in developing their youth system and eventually bringing up great players the likes of Thomas Muller, Manuel Nuer, Marco Rues, Mesut Ozil and Matt Hummels. No other European team seems to have a team that’s taking people by storm I expect Spain and France to mount a good challenge even Portugal to get to the semi’s but nothing tells me that Germany won’t be lifting the trophy in Paris next July. Under manager Joacham Loew Germany isn’t a team that hugely excites you but always manages to get the job done which in a tournament like this is exactly what’s required. I personally expect this to be a long period of German domination of international football which we should all be worried about because when Germany is top dog at something whether it be car manufacturing, Economics or motor racing they don’t like to let go easily.

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I have enjoyed doing these predictions for this year and look forward to seeing if they come true hope you enjoy your sporting year and a Happy New Year to all.