Football News

Arne Slot is gone and Andoni Iraola has the Anfield job. Opta’s season preview, out this morning, points to two very expensive forwards and one very old defensive habit.

Brighton have the offer, and they are not impressed Twelve months ago Brighton wanted 140 M€ for Carlos Baleba and Manchester United walked away. The asking price has halved since. United came back. Talks between the two clubs are at an advanced stage, The Athletic reported on Wednesday, with an opening package already lodged on…

Villa blinked first Around 70 M€. That is the number being whispered as Arsenal and Aston Villa edge towards an agreement for Ezri Konsa, according to The Athletic. Nothing has been made official yet. Konsa, 28 caps for England, made his position clear months ago by refusing fresh terms that would have tied him to…

Number 99 was on the pitch before the paperwork was Wednesday morning at La Pincenardiere, a 20-year-old Brazilian in a number 99 shirt jogged out with the rest of the group. Enzo Vagner had not signed anything yet. He trained anyway. Le Mans will confirm the loan move in the coming hours, tidying up a…

The Special One talks through his chat with Vinicius “Don’t go. It isn’t worth it.” That, according to Jose Mourinho, was the whole pitch. The Portuguese spoke to El Chiringuito this morning and did not dodge the question that landed the moment his return to the Real Madrid bench was announced: what exactly is going…

Ninety-one years without back-to-back titles 1935. That was the last time Arsenal successfully defended the English league title. It also made them only the second club in the country to win three in a row. The Gunners head into the new season carrying a label they hadn’t worn for 22 years: champions. The 3-0 win…

Two 17th-place finishes, then De Zerbi Seventeenth. Twice in a row. That is the ledger Roberto De Zerbi inherited when he walked into Tottenham late last season, and a seven-match run was just about enough to keep the club in the Premier League. He had no time to install anything. This summer changed the script.…

Two rejections, then a public accusation Forty candidates a year, ten places. Abdeslam Ouaddou has been on the wrong side of that maths twice. Turned down at the entrance stage for the French professional coaching badge on both attempts, the Orlando Pirates boss took his case to L’Equipe and said French football needed to “bring…

Barcelona, Chelsea, United. And in the end, Reims Stade de Reims announced Seydou Dembele’s arrival early in the afternoon. Eighteen years old, an attacking midfielder, a product of the JMG Academy in Bamako. On the face of it, just another young signing for a Ligue 2 club. Except for the list of clubs that wanted…