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The teams are on their way out of the London Stadium tunnel. It’s slightly above freezing and rain, probably not snow, is forecast a bit later this evening. Kick-off is next.

Transfer window: While we wait for kick-off, why not have a look at the latest deals from across the men’s and women’s games with our sharp interactives:

• Wilcox considers Norwegian a prime candidate for role

• Senior players would welcome temporary appointment

Ole Gunnar Solskjær could make a shock return to Manchester United as interim manager, with Jason Wilcox, the director of football, considering him a prime candidate for the role.

Solskjær is thought to be open to taking up the position at a club where he remains a huge fan favourite as a former successful player there. Senior players led by Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire would welcome his temporary appointment.

Adil Boulbina’s sensational strike deep in extra time gave Algeria a 1-0 win in the Africa Cup of Nations last-16 ties against DR Congo

10 min: Algeria win their first corner … Bensebaini takes but it barely clears the first man. Amoura is now down and the replay shows his football boot came clean off during that corner. No foul, which is the right decision I think, and play continues with a DR Congo free-kick.

9 min: Chancel Mbemba is down receiving treatment. Would be a huge miss for DR Congo for their captain to be injured early but he seems to be OK.

Our cartoonist on a typically sedate start to 2026 at two of the Premier League’s biggest football ‘projects’

• But this cartoon | David’s favourite work of 2025

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The club are in a decent position but there is dissatisfaction with the ownership and the new head coach must not get caught in the crossfire

The way Chelsea are run will come as no surprise to Liam Rosenior. He has longstanding relationships with three of the five sporting directors and will know from his time at Strasbourg, who are part of the same ownership, that the head coach’s best chance of surviving is not to make the mistake of rebelling against the structure.

Rosenior will have to show more political savvy than Enzo Maresca, who talked himself out of the job last week. Yet given the 41‑year‑old is familiar with the working conditions at BlueCo, the investment vehicle that owns Chelsea and Strasbourg, his biggest challenge is unlikely to be managing upwards. Rosenior will know where to train his focus and not to rock the boat. Crucially, he does not inherit a team in crisis. Chelsea are fifth and earned a creditable draw at Manchester City on Sunday; despite the rancour of Maresca’s final days, this is not a situation that calls for a major rebuild.

• Bournemouth’s Semenyo due for medical on Thursday

• Academy graduate Alleyne recalled amid injury crisis

Manchester City will be without Rúben Dias for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury, exacerbating Pep Guardiola’s defensive injury crisis. The shortage of centre-backs could force the club into the transfer market, with the Crystal Palace captain, Marc Guéhi, of interest.

City are contemplating a bid for Guéhi and are close to completing a move for the forward Antoine Semenyo, who is due for a medical on Thursday after playing a final game for Bournemouth on Wednesday at home against Tottenham. City have agreed to pay Semenyo’s almost £65m release clause.

• Mason was appointed in June on three-year contract

• West Brom 18th in the Championship after latest loss

West Brom have sacked Ryan Mason as their head coach after a stoppage-time defeat at Leicester on Monday left the club 18th in the Championship. It was the team’s 10th away defeat in a row and ended the 34-year-old’s tenure after seven months.

Mason was appointed on a three-year deal after holding a variety of roles at Tottenham, including interim manager and assistant to Ange Postecoglou. West Brom said two members of Mason’s staff, Nigel Gibbs and Sam Pooley, had also left.

Club must learn to play without fear and harness their young players, particularly Kobbie Mainoo, and regain a seat at Europe’s top table

Whatever the protestations from Manchester United about the relationship between Ruben Amorim and the higher-ups not collapsing like a house of cards, clearly something was not right. The head coach became increasingly open that something was amiss after chats with Jason Wilcox. The director of football has not covered himself in glory at the club, but he and the chief executive, Omar Berrada, remain while another head coach departs. Conversations with potential replacements need to centre on everyone being on the same page. There were disagreements over tactics and recruitment, which created tension Old Trafford could ill afford. Nothing will be fixed overnight, meaning the incoming coach needs explicit guidelines on what is required and must offer a clear path on how tactics and style will meet expectations. Season-by-season ambitions should be set, allowing everyone to be held accountable, instead of the blame being foisted on one man.

Once they seemed an unstoppable force but a huge gap between the Nordic leagues and Europe’s elite has emerged in the past 20 years

For a brief period in the early 2000s, Scandinavian clubs seemed unstoppable in European women’s football. Umeå lifted the Uefa Women’s Cup in 2003 and again in 2004, using a blend of technical skill and tactical intelligence. The Swedish side were a powerhouse and attracted top talent from around the world, including Marta, widely regarded as the greatest ever female player.

That dominance feels very distant. In 2025, a Norwegian, Swedish or Danish club winning the Women’s Champions League is almost unthinkable. Vålerenga were the only Scandinavian team to reach the Champions League league stage this season and they did not qualify for the knockout phase.

Sean Ruiz and his team reveal the kit preparations and dressing room routines that make the players tick

Sean Ruiz always leaves his training-ground office door wide open. He is no fan of enclosed spaces, but there is much more to it. The passing Wolves defender Yerson Mosquera spots Ruiz and pops in for a brief chat with a fellow Colombian. Minutes later an under-21s player seeks Ruiz’s counsel on a non-footballing matter.

“It’s a blessing to have these relationships,” Ruiz says. “To see them not just for what everybody else sees: a centre-back, a striker for Wolves. These guys are like family to me. I’m lucky to get to see this side of them, to be there when things are good, when things are bad. We’re not just players and staff here. It’s something more.”

Fallout from a dour and unsuccessful reign will hit well-paid executives who backed the outgoing head coach

Ruben Amorim’s tenure as Manchester United head coach began its final unravelling via four words uttered in Friday’s media conference to preview the weekend trip to Leeds. “You are very smart,” was Amorim’s signoff to this correspondent’s last question regarding if the Portuguese had been informed of a change in the January transfer budget by Jason Wilcox, the director of football.

The question was asked in reaction to Amorim’s odd comment on Christmas Eve that he was beginning to “understand” the finance was not available to sign the footballers needed to “play a perfect 3-4-3”. Hearing this, the radar bleeped red – Amorim was clearly countenancing changing from a system he was quasi-obsessed with.

All the latest Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A deals and a club-by-club guide

• Women’s transfer interactive – all the January deals

Every deal in the WSL, NWSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Première Ligue and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide

• Men’s transfer interactive – all the January deals

Price tag for winger’s move to Manchester City would make headlines in any other country but not in England

Antoine Semenyo, it seems likely, will soon join Manchester City from Bournemouth for a fee of £65m. Given how well Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden have played from the right this season, it is not immediately obvious why City need him, but the modern game is the modern game, the rammed calendar makes large and flexible squads essential and Pep Guardiola may have some esoteric plan for the Ghanaian anyway. But perhaps what is most striking about the deal is the fee – or, more precisely, how little attention it has drawn.

English football has become inured to big transfers. The fee feels about right. Semenyo is 25. He has four and a half years left on his contract. He is quick, skilful, intelligent and works hard. He is disciplined, but has the capacity to do the unexpected. Of course a player of his ability costs that much. Yet £65m would make him the third-most expensive player in Bundesliga history. He would be the seventh-most expensive in Serie A history, the 14th-most expensive in La Liga history. Only nine non-English clubs have paid a fee higher than that. Even in Premier League terms, Semenyo sneaks into the top 25.

European media giant aims to emulate success of sports podcast network Goalhanger, founded by Gary Lineker

The YouTube media business co-founded by Gary Neville has been bought by one of Europe’s biggest commercial radio companies, in the latest sign of the streaming platform’s increasing influence in sports broadcasting.

Global, which already owns the likes of LBC and podcasts including The News Agents, has taken a majority stake in The Overlap, co-founded with Scott Melvin by the former Manchester United defender, who remains one of the channel’s most prominent figures.

Today’s rumours know a P45 when they see one

The big plan to turn West Ham’s season around is well under way. The forwards Pablo Felipe and Taty Castellanos have checked in, allowing the focus to shift backwards. An offer has been made for the Al-Nassr goalkeeper Bento. The 26-year-old Brazilian, who started his career with Athletico Paranaense before moving to Saudi Arabia, has amassed six international caps, which is not bad going when his rivals are Alisson and Ederson.

Josko Gvardiol’s broken shin could prompt Manchester City to enter the market. They have already recalled Max Alleyne from a loan spell at Watford, but could make a call a little further south and ascertain how much it would set them back to acquire Marc Guéhi. The England international almost moved to Liverpool, who maintain an interest, at the end of the previous transfer window before Oliver Glasner’s foot slammed down. The Eagles, however, might want a bit of cash for a player whose contract ends in six months.

• Fee of around £40m needed to sign Palace centre-back

• Club say Croatian suffered tibial fracture in Chelsea game

Manchester City are considering a move for Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi, with the south London club expected to demand around £40m for the defender who is out of contract in the close season.

Palace’s fee expectation for their captain is £5m more than the price quoted to Liverpool when the Merseyside club came close to signing him last summer. This reflects the disruption to Palace’s season if Guéhi does depart and their need to replace the 25-year-old.

• Sheffield United have given 699 pages of new evidence

• Footballer was found dead at her home aged 27 in 2023

A coroner has apologised to the family of Maddy Cusack for distress caused by a further delay to the inquest into the Sheffield United player’s deathThe case was adjourned on Monday until at least 29 June.

The midfielder, who played more than 100 games for the club, was found dead at her home in Derbyshire in September 2023, aged 27, and an inquest – delayed multiple times in 2025 – had been due to begin on Monday, but was adjourned after the family received 699 pages of new evidence from Sheffield United 10 days before Christmas. That was described by the family’s lawyers as “totally unacceptable, for a hearing due to start on 5 January”.

It’s not supposed to be like this. Nigeria, for at least two decades, have been a team that huffed and puffed, struggled with the weight of their own history and expectation, seemed always less than the sum of their parts. Even as they won the tournament in 2013, or got to the final in 2024, the sense of effort was palpable. Nothing came easily to them. They’re not meant to be a side who canter through last-16 ties.

But on a foul night in Fez, though, the rain leaching across the stadium, Nigeria, inspired by Ademola Lookman, produced a performance of emphatic attacking quality and effectively had the game won with two goals before the half hour. Lookman put them ahead after 20 minutes with his third goal of the tournament, a typical finish into the top corner after a clever cutback from Akor Adams. Five minutes later, it was Lookman’s cross that Victor Osimhen turned in to make it 2-0. The same combination added a third two minutes into the second half, and whatever sliver of hope remained for Mozambique was vanquished for good. Adams smashed in a fourth from yet another Lookman assist.

Ousmane Dembélé becomes our seventh winner as he beats Lamine Yamal into second and Vitinha into third on our list of the best players on the planet

• Premier League dominates list | How every judge voted | Our methodology | The top 100 female players for 2025

• 2024 edition | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

The Frenchman, who has been named the best male footballer in the world by the Guardian, has benefitted from PSG’s focus on the team rather than individuals

What makes a good player great, and a great player the best? This question has been occupying me since 2014, when the Guardian first asked me to contribute to its inaugural Next Generation feature. My job was to look for a France-based talent born in 1997 who could go on to have a stellar career.

After a great deal of research, I narrowed it down from my shortlist of five by asking questions not about the players’ football ability, but about other attributes: resilience, adaptability, decision-making, creativity, work ethic, response to feedback and willingness to learn. Qualities we cannot see, and are harder to measure.

Aitana Bonmatí has been voted the best female player on the planet by our panel of 127 experts ahead of Mariona Caldentey and Alessia Russo

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The margin may have got smaller but the brilliant Spanish midfielder makes it a hat-trick of No 1 finishes

They say the best things come in threes, and Aitana Bonmatí has written herself into the Guardian’s top 100 history as the first player to finish at the top of the tree for a third consecutive year.

Last year the majestic midfielder emulated her Barcelona and Spain teammate Alexia Putellas by winning for a second year running, but the 27-year-old has now gone one better, establishing herself once again at the top of the women’s game.

On the podcast today: five minutes after the Monday edition of Football Weekly had finished recording, news broke that Ruben Amorim had been sacked by Manchester United. Twenty-four hours later, today’s assembled panel react to the news.

How do we view his tenure? And what happens next? Darren Fletcher is at the wheel for now, with Oliver Glasner the long-term favourite.

An elite Manchester United panel and your questions on today’s Guardian Football Weekly … 

Kick off your afternoon with the Guardian’s take on the world of football

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Join us as we delve deeper into the wonderful world of women’s football in our weekly newsletter. It is informative, entertaining, global, critical – when needed – and, above all, passionate. Written mainly by Júlia Belas Trindade and Sophie Downey, expect guest appearances from stars such as Anita Asante, Ada Hegerberg and many more.

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Even the return of Martin O’Neill is unlikely to placate supporters frustrated by poor performances, a lack of investment, and chaos in the boardroom

Any club confirming the end of an error after eight games owes an apology to their supporters. In Celtic’s case, even the admission of an all-time blunder in hiring Wilfried Nancy would be unlikely to placate the masses. Remorse has not been forthcoming anyway. As Martin O’Neill’s return as manager was confirmed, office bearers took it in turn to express disappointment at the Nancy affair. Which was very good of them.

Celtic do not have a monopoly on bad decision-making. It just currently feels as if that is the case. A club who have dominated in Scotland for more than a decade, who have vast resources and more scope to plan than others of much lower stature, should never have been seeking a fourth manager in one season. That they are points firmly towards a lack of strategy and direction. It is a preposterous situation. Celtic are lucky that O’Neill, 73, retains an appetite to work. He also ticks another box, that of being idolised in the stands.

An Old Trafford season-ticket holder on why the club’s real problems go far deeper than the departing head coach

Well, here we go again. The clown car called Manchester United just tooted its horn, backfired loudly and threw its latest driver out on to Sir Matt Busby Way.

Darren Fletcher is now at the wheel, where Ruben, Ole and so many others have been before. A wheel that seems to come off in the hands of those who attempt to grip it.

Win over Cremonese was only made possible after a late injury led to match-winner’s inclusion as a substitute

The man who breathed life into Fiorentina’s survival bid was not meant to be playing at all. Moise Kean returned to training on Saturday after almost a week away attending to a private family matter. The club’s manager, Paolo Vanoli, did not intend to name him in the matchday squad to face Cremonese one day later, but had his hand forced by a late injury to Edin Dzeko.

“I have to tell the truth because that’s how I am – I’m a sincere person,” said Vanoli on Sunday. “When [Kean] came back I told him ‘Moise, out of respect for the group, I’m not even going to put you on the bench’.”

Paris FC put up a good fight at the Parc des Princes on Sunday but this derby does not yet feel like a rivalry

By Get French Football News

The first of two Paris derbies in the space of eight days gave Paris Saint-Germain a chance to make a statement against their upstart neighbours. The tifo display in the Parc des Princes – which read “Paris c’est nous” – could be read as both a nod to the clubs’ shared history and a reminder of the one-sided nature of the derby.

For a few years, they were the same club. Paris Saint-Germain are the result of a merger between Stade Saint-Germain and Paris FC in 1970, which the latter split from a few years later. PSG were soon winning trophies but Paris FC went through decades of obscurity before emerging as Ligue 2 regulars in the years before they were taken over by the Arnault family and Red Bull.

Goalkeeper who swapped city rivals in the summer proved pivotal on his return with a stunning series of saves

“I hope people don’t get angry but he’s my friend.” There wasn’t long until the Barcelona derby and Jofre Carreras had briefly abandoned the warm-up to talk to the TV. There on the touchline, talk inevitably turned to his former roommate, housemate and teammate Joan García, now in goal for their greatest rivals. Carreras’s answer was just about audible over all the noise and then he was off again: he had something else to do before it all started, accepting a shirt marking his 100th game for Espanyol. Behind them as club legend Rafa Marañón presented it, the team captains lined up for a photo of their own with the first Catalan to referee this fixture in 80 years and, way off to the left out of shot, García clapped. Like everything else he did, except actually play, he did so discreetly.

Joan and Jofre, both 24, have known each other “for as long as I can remember”, in Carreras’s words. Over four years, they shared a room at Espanyol’s residency on Carretera de Mataró in Sant Adrià del Besòs and then they shared an apartment. When García collected his award as Espanyol’s best player in 2023-24, and was handed a supply of sausages, Carreras also received an award – two different supporters’ clubs rewarding two different winners on the same day. When García started being noticed beyond Barcelona, Carreras declared his friend the world’s best. And when the summer heat got a bit much – and, boy, did it – García took refuge at Carreras’s. Now though they were opponents. And that, Carreras said, was “a bit strange”.

The man widely expected to be the next Chelsea head coach once opined on a wide variety of topics in his Guardian column

Coaching may be Liam Rosenior’s forte but, during his days as a Brighton defender, the man widely expected to be Chelsea’s new manager was also a pretty useful Guardian columnist. His eagerly awaited dispatches were invariably packed with thought‑provoking opinions on an assortment of topics, ranging from dead balls to Donald Trump. Below are excerpts from a cross-section of Rosenior’s thoughts during his three years with us, alongside a sense of what they tell us about the 41‑year‑old and how he could carry out his duties at Stamford Bridge. It is important to remember, of course, that Rosenior’s views may have changed in the intervening period.

• Wicky is the fifth permanent head coach in team history

• Swiss arrives after stints with Chicago and Young Boys

Sporting Kansas City named Raphaël Wicky as the fifth permanent head coach in franchise history on Monday.

Wicky, 48, coached the Chicago Fire from 2020-21 before managing BSC Young Boys in his native Switzerland from 2022-24. He signed a contract through the 2027-28 MLS season with an option for the 2028-29 campaign.

• Last 16: Morocco 1-0 Tanzania (Brahim 64)

• Cameroon await in last eight after beating South Africa

Brahim Díaz scored his fourth goal for Morocco at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations to put the hosts into the quarter-finals with a nervous 1-0 victory over Tanzania in Rabat.

Morocco dominated possession but Tanzania had opportunities to cause a huge shock, and it took a fine strike from Brahim to book a place in the last eight.

Our cartoonist reflects on what Socceroos, Matildas and A-League fans are crossing their fingers for this year

• Coach Thierry Mouyouma also sacked by government

• Veteran defender Bruno Ecuele Manga ditched too

Gabon’s government has announced the suspension of the national football team, the sacking of their coach and the kicking of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of the squad after three defeats at the Africa Cup of Nations finals.

Gabon’s acting sports minister announced the suspension of the national team on television after they finished last in their group and were eliminated from the tournament in Morocco.

The manager is no longer the most important person at a football club – perhaps it is time for those above them to front up to the media

‘Since I joined the club, the last 48 hours have been the worst because many people didn’t support us” and “I came here to be the manager, not to be the coach” will ultimately be the managerial epitaphs of Enzo Maresca and Ruben Amorim.

Maresca instigated a chain of events at Chelsea that resulted in his departure, while open sourness between dugout and hierarchy at Manchester United rapidly descended in a civil war that ended with Amorim’s abrupt sacking on Monday.

Coach stopped toeing the line at Stamford Bridge with one eye on the Manchester City job, frustrating his employers

It was late on New Year’s Eve when Chelsea’s patience ran out. They knew that Enzo Maresca was attempting to engineer an exit from the club and now they were ready to call his bluff. Midnight was approaching and the fireworks at Stamford Bridge were about to erupt.

A baffling story soon had a familiar, predictable ending. Maresca, who is not the first manager to run out of friends at Chelsea, had taken the provocations too far. There was surprise when he told staff that he did not want to conduct his post-match press conference after the disappointing 2-2 draw with Bournemouth on Tuesday night. The official explanation was that Maresca was too unwell to talk in public, despite having just spent the evening coaching on the Stamford Bridge touchline, but the friction was palpable and it was never going to sit well with the Chelsea hierarchy when it took less than 24 hours for reports to emerge that the sickness line was a red herring and their head coach had actually decided not to meet the media because he needed time to consider his options. It was further confirmation that this was someone who wanted to be sacked. Maresca dared Chelsea to act and will have been the least surprised person in the world to find himself unemployed less than a day into 2026.

Football provided direction, belonging, purpose and validation. Letting go of that has meant confronting the void left behind

Accepting retirement from professional football has felt like stepping into a landscape shaped by loss and uncertainty. Even when the decision is rational, even when the body is signalling that it’s time, there is something profoundly emotional about acknowledging that an era of your life has ended.

To me, it felt very much like grief. The shock, sadness, anger, confusion and numbness mirror the emotional responses that accompany any major loss I’ve experienced. But instead of mourning the loss of a loved one, you are mourning the loss of a part of you – a big part. For years football provided direction, belonging, inspiration, purpose and validation. A sense of being part of something bigger.

Set pieces on the rise, fans transformed to customers and conspiracies seen in every decision – is football losing its fun?

English football has always mirrored the passions, conflicts, identities and inequalities of the age. After the golden 1960s, the decay of the 1970s and ensuing disasters of the 1980s came the cap-sleeved, rebounding self-confidence of the 1990s. The 21st century so far has taken in globalisation and wanton commercialism. After that rabid, often reckless push for continued growth, society and the game alight on the uncertainties that encapsulated 2025.

To catch the 20 Premier League clubs in live action this season, and this writer completed the full set on Tuesday witnessing Arsenal’s second-half demolition of Aston Villa, has been a study in that uncertainty. From the grumbling of fans, to the ever-fragile egos of managers, to players slugging through the gristle of 90 minutes of hard-pressing slog, a leading question comes to mind: is anyone actually still enjoying this?

Our cartoonist looks back at the big stories and memorable moments as we wave farewell to another year in football

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With the club game hurtling along a Premier League-trodden path, women’s football is at a crossroads

Where will women’s football in England be in a decade’s time? How can we possibly begin to imagine the scale of the interest, attendances and participation then? How will the game on the pitch have developed, with each generation training and playing in better and better environments and at younger ages? It’s near impossible to make even educated guesses.

Women’s football in England is at a crossroads. The Women’s Super League and Women’s Super League 2 are now run independently of the Football Association, leading to increased outside investment, the rise of multi-club ownership groups, and the million-pound transfer barrier being broken twice in one summer. Minimum standards in the WSL and WSL2 have also been extended or raised and, while there is always talk of maintaining the connection between players and supporters, the women’s game is hurtling along a Premier League-trodden path at a fierce pace.

We look at 10 players likely to create headlines next month, including the ‘new Kevin De Bruyne’

• Men’s transfer interactive: January 2026 edition

While Semenyo would doubtless prefer to be in Morocco at the moment, one of the advantages to Ghana’s failure to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations has been that the 25-year-old is in the same country as all the clubs who have expressed an interest in signing him. With a contract at Bournemouth containing a £65m release clause that becomes active for the first two weeks of January, Manchester City appear to have won the race for the player who has scored 20 Premier League goals since the start of last season. Chelsea and Tottenham have now moved on to other targets but could Liverpool or Manchester United attempt to steal a late march on their rivals? They need to get a move on if so.

From jaw-dropping tricks to scorpion kicks, flicks, solo efforts and more – enjoy our pick of 2025’s best goals

The very definition of top bins: James Edmondson pops one right in the stanchion at Slough Town to help Macclesfield Town into the third round of the FA Cup.

Forest great was loved in Nottingham but underappreciated in Scotland before going on to thrive as a coach

On the eve of a Celtic European tie 25 years ago, Stiliyan Petrov cut an increasingly agitated figure. The young midfielder, soon to shoot to prominence under Martin O’Neill, was finding it impossible to snatch the ball from a rotund, wizened coach during a possession drill. Petrov’s teammates were cackling with laughter. John Robertson’s brilliance was understated enough in Scotland. Word of his talent in the game was never likely to reach Petrov as he grew up in Bulgaria.

Petrov is part of a recent generation who owe a debt of gratitude to Robertson the coach. More of them later. When news of Robertson’s death filtered through on Christmas Day, the prevailing sense was that his country had lost one of a kind. He was also an individual who, for reasons associated with his own modesty, really never received the kudos he deserved in the land of his birth.

The head coach (or should that be manager?) fired cryptic shots at his Old Trafford bosses, then was fired himself

• Amorim sacked after power struggle over transfers

Discontent at Manchester United these days is only ever deferred. Ruben Amorim’s departure from the club on Monday was long anticipated and came, in the end, with a weary sigh. He had made a half-hearted protest about the recruitment structure after Sunday’s draw at Leeds, but it felt even at the time like barely more than a gesture. And so another manager, the seventh since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013, falls victim to the United meat-grinder.

Everybody at United, fundamentally, is unhappy. And not unhappy in the sense that Alex Ferguson used to be unhappy, when the club was essentially fuelled by his volcanic rages, but enervated, frustrated by the realisation that this is not how things used to be, that this was once the biggest football club in the country and now they keep failing to get the win they need to lift them to fifth.

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Considering it took Chelsea 19 days to sack Enzo Maresca following his very public act of insubordination towards the Stamford Bridge hierarchy in mid-December, it is only the speed with which Manchester United kicked their head coach towards the kerb following yesterday’s outburst at Elland Road that might have come as a surprise to Ruben Amorim. Short of rocking up for his post-match press conference waving a placard bearing the slogan “Please Sack Me”, the Portuguese could scarcely have done more to ensure the abrupt receipt of his marching orders. As if his repeated insistence he was “going to be manager of this team, not head coach” wasn’t enough, Amorim threw shade at Jason Wilcox, the club sporting director, and announced there’d be a Ruben-shaped hole in the Old Trafford exit door when his contract expired in 18 months – unless he was sacked first. Less than 18 hours later, with the monotonous predictability of a Bazballing batter throwing away his wicket to a time-killing pre-lunch long hop, any remaining confusion over the 40-year-old’s exact job title was finally cleared up – Amorim is now neither manager nor head coach at United, but gainfully and perhaps mercifully unemployed.

What next for the bin fire that is present-day Manchester United? Will they bring back Ole Gunnar Solskjær, hire Carlo Ancelotti’s eyebrow, or ask Martin O’Neill to steady the ship but just for eight games? Perhaps they’ll blow the cobwebs off Sir Alex Ferguson and get him to see out the campaign (except he might actually win a trophy and then insist on staying in charge). Still, it could be worse — they could give Big Ange his third Premier League club of the season. After all, what could possibly go wrong? – Mark McFadden.

My family and I have been attending every England match for the last three years to get enough caps to secure tickets for Englands World Cup campaign in USA USA USA. Despite the paltry ticket allocation and ridiculous prices we applied for tickets. Over the weekend we cancelled our applications. Peace prize anyone?” – Ben Gibbes.

La Liga side Osasuna have just launched an ‘Osasunista desde la cuna’ (Osasunista from the Cradle) initiative, in which all babies born in Navarra receive a free shirt, shorts, toy and notebook, plus €50 deposited in an account. I would suggest Premier League clubs do the same, but we all know how that would pan out” – Noble Francis.

So, you urged the reader to ‘pour yourself a pint of wine’ (Football Daily Christmas awards). I received that at 12.04pm on 17 December, possibly a new record. Given the time of year, would it be 100 miles wide of the mark for me to suggest that pints of wine contributed to the timing, as well as the content of this piece?” – Glynn Marshall.

As a patron of your august publication. I totally delighted in your working conditions sign-off in the Christmas awards. Fabulous. Well deserved. Thanks for your efforts” – S Sullivan (Sully).

Please stop” – Frankie Dodds.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Today’s newsletter looks at 10 superlative talents who are ready to take the next step in the coming 12 months

Alara Sehitler, Bayern Munich and Germany (19): Sehitler’s transition into Bayern Munich’s first team has come as little surprise and the creative midfielder has established herself as a strong impact player for José Barcala’s side. She has three Frauen Bundesliga goals this season and sparked Bayern’s comeback against Arsenal in the Champions League. After making her senior debut for Germany in November 2024, she will be looking to establish herself as a regular for their upcoming 2027 World Cup qualifiers.

Giulia Galli, Roma and Italy (17): Galli is widely regarded as one of the best young Italian talents to emerge for a long time and became Roma’s youngest player to make her Serie A debut in May 2024, aged 16 and one month. Establishing herself in the senior squad this season, she scored her first club goal in September and has featured in the Champions League. After starring in Italy’s sensational run to the semi-finals of last summer’s Under-17 Euros, the talented forward played a significant role at the subsequent Under-17 World Cup, picking up the bronze boot. She will surely feature at this autumn’s Under-20 World Cup.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jamie Jackson, John Brewin and Nooruddean Choudry as Ruben Amorim is sacked as Manchester United head coach

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on email.

On the podcast today: five minutes after the Monday edition of Football Weekly had finished recording, news broke that Ruben Amorim had left Manchester United. Twenty-four hours later, today’s assembled panel react to the news.

Today’s fluff is here to neither manage nor coach

Not content with appointing a new head coach in the coming days, Chelsea are plotting a massive £135m move for Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior. The Brazilian is not too happy in the Spanish capital, by all accounts, and is yet to agree an extension to his contract that runs until June 2027. This trifling situation could open up the possibility of a sale, to avoid losing the winger for nothing in 18 months.

Adam Wharton would not be short of suitors if Crystal Palace allowed him to leave in the summer, especially if he makes an appearance at the World Cup. Real Madrid have an interest in the England midfielder, boosted by the potential Vinícius loot, but they would face competition in Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United. The last three named would mean the 21-year-old could return to his native north-west.

Highs and lows for Alexander Isak, Wolves’ sobering survival chances and were Chelsea lucky at Newcastle?

• Premier League scoring charts

Can results be misleading? That is the question. Aston Villa’s winning streak continued against Manchester United, but so did the nagging doubts. They were the lesser team by several measures – fewer shots (12-15), less possession (43-57), fewer big chances (2-3). As usual, the victory was a slender one. But games are not won by stats. They are won by solid teamwork, shrewd management and individual talent – and Villa have all three. Morgan Rogers may be their only star, but he’s delivering like Father Christmas. Unai Emery is wily, battle-hardened, five years ahead of Ruben Amorim. If Rogers profited from Leny Yoro’s naivety, that was probably because Emery had spotted that Yoro is not a right-back, and told Rogers to start wide, cut in and torment him. Talent and management, working together. Tim de Lisle

Match report: Aston Villa 2-1 Manchester United

Match report: Everton 0-1 Arsenal

Match report: Manchester City 3-0 West Ham

Match report: Tottenham 1-2 Liverpool

Match report: Newcastle 2-2 Chelsea

Match report: Wolves 0-2 Brentford

Match report: Leeds 4-1 Crystal Palace

Give the one you love something special: a free subscription to Football Daily. The gift that never starts giving

Welcome to the fourth Football Daily Christmas Awards. This is the bit where, in our old guise, we would bang on about becoming so jaded that we’d lost count of how many years we’d been churning out this old tat. Hmm … So OK, here we are, refreshed and ready to go! Pour yourself a pint of wine, throw your boots up on the desk, decompress, de-depress, and enjoy!

From PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye to Brazil’s next hope, we select some of the most talented players born in 2008. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and go even further back. Here’s our Premier League class of 2025