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• Sporting striker wants to play in Champions League

• Mikel Arteta thought to prefer Benjamin Sesko

Manchester United’s pursuit of Viktor Gyökeres appears doomed after the Sporting striker said signing for Arsenal would be a “dream”. United held exploratory discussions about buying the 27-year-old, with Ruben Amorim intent on strengthening the position. But it is understood the player’s representatives have told United he does not wish to join the club.

Instead Gyökeres is understood to view Arsenal as his preferred option since they will play in the Champions League next season.

Bayern Munich legend defined not only a position but an entire way of thinking about the game

It’s 17 years since Thomas Müller made his debut for Bayern. Since then he has played 751 games for the club, scoring 248 goals, while also scoring 45 goals in 131 games for Germany. He has won 13 Bundesliga titles, two Champions Leagues and a World Cup. He will retire at the end of the Club World Cup after a career played entirely at the highest level and yet still nobody has been able to quite work out what he is.

Is he a centre-forward? Is he a false 9? Is he a wide forward, a second striker, an attacking midfielder? Is he all of those things, none of those things or some of those things some of the time? Louis van Gaal loved him; Pep Guardiola never seemed quite so sure.

• Liverpool close to signing Bournemouth’s Kerkez for £40m

• Bournemouth want Rennes left-back Adrien Truffert

Andy Robertson is the subject of interest from Atlético Madrid as Liverpool edge closer towards the signing of the Bournemouth defender Milos Kerkez for a fee of about £40m. The Premier League champions planned to sign Kerkez to compete with the long-serving 31-year-old Scotland defender but are relaxed about the interest. Liverpool are not yet thought to have received any formal contact.

The trigger for Kerkez’s move is expected to be Bournemouth’s signing of the Rennes left-back Adrien Truffert. The 23-year-old Rennes captain, who received interest from other clubs, has agreed personal terms and is expected to cost about £15m.

Dusting off a pile of matchday gems from the City Ground spanning 50 years reveals a rich seam of cultural and sporting delights

What to do with the pile of vintage Nottingham Forest programmes that came into my possession several years ago? At first, standard protocol was observed for uncategorised piles of paper. The 21 City Ground programmes, spanning 50 years from September 1963 to November 2012, were packed away in a dark cupboard, ignored and unread. But finally taking the time to study them has paid dividends: a rich seam of history leaps off the pages in clear, elegant black-and-white type.

Forest’s presence in the top-flight’s upper echelons evoked the club’s halcyon days and plenty has been written about the Brian Clough-Peter Taylor era. Less attention has focused on Clough’s often entertaining programme notes during his 18-year tenure – while the editions outside Clough’s time are a fascinating way of charting Forest’s trajectory, as well as how profoundly football and wider society have changed.

• Iranian forward remains in Tehran due to closed airspace

• Inter to start Club World Cup campaign on Wednesday

The Inter forward Mehdi Taremi will not be able to join his teammates at the Club World Cup in the United States as he is stuck in Tehran because of the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel.

Flights from all Iranian airports have been grounded after an exchange of military strikes between Iran and Israel over the past two days. That meant the Iran international was unable to take his scheduled flight on Saturday to join his teammates in Los Angeles.

France international impressed with his flicks and tricks from a young age at Lyon. Now City hope he can fire their creative rebuild

“To win the Ballon d’Or and the Champions League,” came the response from Rayan Cherki to the Lyon academy director Jean-François Vulliez’s question. Even as a 15-year-old the playmaker was ambitious, knowing his talent would take him to the top. He might have expected to reach the Premier League earlier but he is ready to take the next steps at Manchester City.

Vulliez worked at Lyon for 12 years and from the moment he witnessed an eight-year-old Cherki he knew the club had a glorious talent on their hands. This week City paid £30.5m for the France international, who could make his debut against Wydad AC on Wednesday at the Club World Cup. Lyon’s academy coaches were soon gossiping about the two-footed generational talent who dribbled past opponents, created chances and plundered goals in the youth setup.

Across nearly seven years, Frank achieved great things. His switch to Spurs feels like a break-up but we wish him well

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. Thomas Frank is no longer Brentford’s manager and that’s not easy to write. We knew the day was drawing near but it’s still a bitter pill to swallow. It feels like a break-up, a one-sided one where we do not get the chance to ask why and how. And the grief supporters are experiencing is because we were so emotionally invested in a partnership that brought us so much joy in the near seven years we had together.

Rewind to October 2018, when Frank was appointed as Dean Smith’s successor, and not many of us would have thought we would now be looking forward to a fifth campaign in the top flight. There is much to be grateful to Frank and his team for. They brought us the fabled BMW (Saïd Benrahma, Bryan Mbeumo and Ollie Watkins); they broke our playoff hoodoo at the 10th time of asking to take us to the Premier League; they set club records and beat some of the best teams in the land. It really has been quite the ride.

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

• Women’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves

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

• Men’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves

Governing body cannot avoid the dark political backdrop to its tournament opening as Trump’s authorities flex their muscles

“When Donald Trump came in the laws just changed and it’s hard for immigrants now … you’ve got a lot of people being deported, people who have been in the United States for two decades. It’s not nice, it’s not right when someone who hasn’t committed a crime has to go back somewhere.

“I just don’t respect somebody like [Trump] that deports so many people and hurts so many families … this country was built on immigrants. Nobody’s from here.”

‘We represent 95% of footballers’ says assistant coach of team of barbers, teachers and students at Club World Cup

Were you looking for a symbol to exemplify the gulf that lies between Auckland City Football Club and their rivals at the Club World Cup, you would find it at Kiwitea Street, the team’s home ground.

Hard up against the Sandringham suburb it serves, the roofs of the surrounding city’s single-storey bungalows are visible from the one enclosed stand, and to the north there is nothing but the modest clubhouse and some incidental shrubbery to impede views of the Sky Tower’s lonely tenancy in the distant skyline. This, certainly, is no towering football cathedral of the kind Real Madrid and Manchester City call home.

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Trent Alexander-Arnold impressed with his Spanish at unveiling and maintains Real are the only club he would have left Liverpool for

Well, that was unexpected. Trent Alexander-Arnold took out the earpiece, made his way to the stage at Real Madrid’s training ground and said: “Buenas tardes a todos.” Good afternoon everyone. So far, so standard. But then he delivered the next line in Spanish too, then the one after that, and the one after that.

He kept going until he got to the end of his speech, when he delivered the one line everyone invariably does on the day they are presented here: “Hala Madrid!” It wasn’t long – one minute and one second, in all – but it was long enough to win them over already.

• David Moyes interested in Villarreal’s French striker

• Kostoulas moves from Olympiakos for £29.8m

Everton have turned their attentions to the Villarreal striker Thierno Barry as David Moyes attempts to improve his forward options for next season.

Barry scored 11 goals in La Liga last season and 19 overall as Villarreal qualified for the Champions League. The France under-21 international is understood to have a release clause of €40m (£34m) in his contract with the Spanish club but Everton would hope to sign the 22-year-old for less. Barry is currently on international duty at the European Under-21 Championship.

Moyes’s need to upgrade Everton’s attack is pressing with the club having missed out on Liam Delap and declined to take up an option to sign Armando Broja on a permanent deal from Chelsea, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin expected to leave on a free transfer this summer. Calvert-Lewin’s departure would leave only Beto and the unproven Youssef Chermiti as central striking options.

Meanwhile, Brighton have signed Charalampos Kostoulas from Olympiakos for a reported £29.8m (€35m) fee. The 18-year-old, who scored seven goals in 22 games as Olympiakos won a record-extending 48th domestic title last season, has signed a five-year contract.

• Fee of £100m plus £16m add-ons is possible British record

• Coveted playmaker will seal move when window reopens

Liverpool have agreed a club-record deal to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen. The Premier League champions will pay a guaranteed £100m for the coveted Germany international, plus potential add-ons of £16m that would make Wirtz the most expensive British transfer of all time.

Richard Hughes, Liverpool’s sporting director, has been engaged in negotiations for the attacking midfielder for several weeks and a deal was finally struck on Friday morning. Leverkusen had wanted €150m (£127.6m) for the 22-year-old, who had also attracted interest from Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Real Madrid, but made it clear to the German club that Anfield was his preferred destination. He will undergo a medical in the coming days and finalise the transfer once the window reopens next week. Personal terms have already been agreed, with Wirtz understood to have rejected more lucrative offers from elsewhere.

• Thomas Frank could move for former club’s main strikers

• Spurs file legal claim against Ineos over sponsorship deal

Tottenham have held initial talks about signing Bryan Mbeumo from Thomas Frank’s former club Brentford and are also interested in bringing his strike partner Yoane Wissa to north London.

Frank was confirmed as Ange Postecoglou’s replacement on Thursday and is targeting the duo that contributed 39 Premier League goals last season for Brentford as he attempts to strengthen the Spurs squad. Mbeumo is also wanted by Manchester United, who had an offer worth up to £55m for the Cameroon forward rejected last week and are expected to return with an improved bid.

• Former Watford manager back in the dugout in Devon

• Buckingham and Barry-Murphy in frame for Cardiff post

Tom Cleverley has been handed a three-year deal as Plymouth Argyle’s new head coach. The club, relegated to League One, appointed the 35-year-old former Watford manager after being impressed in further talks this week. Cleverley succeeds Miron Muslic, who left for Schalke at the end of last month.

Cleverley, sacked by Watford last month after finishing 14th in the Championship, had been identified as Plymouth’s number-one target after final interviews with four candidates on Wednesday. Discussions are believed to have been held with Jack Wilshere and Des Buckingham but neither made the final stages. The St Mirren manager, Stephen Robinson, is thought to have made the last round of talks. The recruitment has been led by David Fox, their former player who was recently appointed head of football operations, and the former Norwich sporting director Stuart Webber, a consultant.

Club World Cup offers new coach a first chance to measure task ahead at a club that has become angry and unmoored

Of course he has been taking part in training. Quite frankly, it would have been deeply and offensively off-brand for Xabi Alonso not to have joined in. Darting around in the roasting heat, physically moving players into his desired positions, pinging pinpoint passes in his classic Predator boots: it was Alonso in his purest essence, and as the new Real Madrid coach oversaw his first sessions at Valdebebas this week it was hard not to feel that on some level nature was healing.

As a player Alonso was a difference-maker, a details man, a midfielder who adored the ball and tried to leave nothing to chance. As a coach, the same traits define him. Sessions are high-intensity, fast-paced, but almost always with the ball at feet. He intervenes constantly, always correcting, always cajoling, and in case of doubt he can always grab a ball and illustrate the point himself. Zinedine Zidane would occasionally participate in training if numbers were short. But with Alonso it is almost as if he needs to be involved, that playing and coaching are simply two ways of painting the same picture.

The Dane showed at Brentford how he will approach some issues, though handling the chair will, as ever, be key

Early in Ange Postecoglou’s reign, Spurs fans chanted: “We’ve got our Tottenham back.” The Australian departed as a cult hero after a Europa League triumph but in Bilbao his team had played nothing like the “glory game” of club lore, instead hanging on for dear life. And that was a marked improvement on the sludge served up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, amid 22 Premier League defeats. Is Thomas Frank the manager to return Spurs to the days of Bill Nicholson or Keith Burkinshaw? With the right players and a trailing wind, it’s not impossible. Before promotion to the Premier League, Frank’s Brentford played an attractive hybrid passing and pressing game, only to readjust to the division above with a style that at first seemed agricultural, a playing of the margins, though one that embraced attack rather than defence as the means of survival. Frank does not shun creative players; Christian Eriksen’s signing in January 2022 was a masterstroke, while Mikkel Damsgaard’s awkward running belies a playmaker of high quality and high output. Last season, Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Kevin Schade were in double figures for Premier League goals. No other team attacked with such fearlessness.

Saudi-backed streaming superpower’s TV deal for Fifa’s global project is next expansionist step towards a world super league

“And what exactly are you doing here, sir?” To be fair, the border guard at Miami international airport made an excellent point. As ice-breakers go, frowning over the passports and visa stickers of the long-haul crowd on matchday minus four of the Fifa Club World Cup, the border guard was at least in tune with the zeitgeist. What is football doing here?

What are Lionel Messi, Trent Alexander-Arnold and the massed engines of the football-industrial complex doing hovering like an alien landing party over this fun, sinking sandbank of a city, a strip of land where the ocean seems to be punching a mulchy green hole in the asphalt every few miles, a place that from the air seems to be made entirely from deep-fried crumb, tropical weed and traffic?

On 13 June 1925, the International Football Association Board voted to reduce the required number of opponents between an attacker and the goal line from three to two

15 June 1925

One of the world’s best strikers talks about being part of a revolution, moving to Gotham FC and the upcoming Euros

Esther González is at the top of her game. The 32-year-old striker’s list of accolades – World Cup winner, three-time Liga F champion, National Women’s Soccer League champion, Copa de la Reina victor and Concacaf W Champions Cup winner – is matched by few in the sport. But as a young girl growing up in southern Spain, her path was uncertain, rife with obstacles. “As a child, I dreamed of what I wanted to be when I grew up,” she says. “It was a soccer player. But, let’s say, circumstances didn’t allow me to see women’s soccer or anything close to women’s soccer.”

As she grew up with three sisters, González’s earliest memories of football were playing with her hermanas in their small village in Andalusia. She dreamed of being a footballer, but there wasn’t a path before her. The shy young talent with a nose for goals would play with the local boys: they needed a goalscorer and she stepped in. As González grew, her father took her on car journeys of more than four hours each way to get to training.

Changes to the channel come as phone alerts and YouTube have replaced highlight packages and yellow ties

A constant in pubs, gyms and hotel breakfast rooms, almost always with the sound down. Perhaps not since cinema’s silent age have faces been so familiar without the general public knowing their voices. The vibe is more casual than in previous times, shirt sleeves rather than business suits, but the formula remains the same: a carousel of news, clips, quotes, quips, centred around highlights, all framed within a constant flow of results, fixtures and league tables.

Sky Sports News hits 27 years of broadcasting in August, having been launched for the 1998-99 football season by BSkyB. As the domestic football season concluded, news came of changes within the Osterley-based newsroom. Seven members of the broadcast talent team would be leaving, including the long-serving Rob Wotton and the senior football reporter Melissa Reddy, within a process of voluntary redundancies.

The league will relish the long-awaited chance to go toe-to-toe with the world, but they may not love the result

• Tell us what you’re looking forward to (or not) at the Club World Cup

The beach clubs of Dubai and Ibiza may be a little quieter this summer, at least when it comes to their headcount of European soccer stars. The off-season has been intruded upon by the Club World Cup with the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Inter in the United States for this summer’s expanded tournament, which kicks off this weekend. Wayne Lineker and Salt Bae may get lonely.

European enthusiasm for Gianni Infantino’s latest harebrained scheme is low. The $131m bounty for winning the tournament has incentivised clubs at boardroom level (see Real Madrid spending many millions extra to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold in time to play), but players may not be as driven on the pitch. European fans may not even watch – the tournament is being broadcast in the UK on Channel 5, a network known more for daytime reality TV repeats than live soccer. It’s being streamed worldwide on DAZN, a platform with wildly varying adoption levels across the globe.

• Former Spurs boss has been leading USA since late 2024

• Thomas Frank leading race to replace Ange Postecoglou

Mauricio Pochettino pushed back against suggestions he is a candidate to take over the newly-vacant Tottenham Hotspur managerial position, telling reporters on Saturday that it was “not realistic” for him to leave his current role as US men’s national team manager.

Pochettino had been considered a possible candidate to replace Ange Postecoglou, who was sacked by Spurs on Friday despite him leading the club to Europa League glory – the club’s first trophy in 17 years. However, Spurs finished 17th in the Premier League, their lowest position since 1977. The Guardian understands that Brentford’s Thomas Frank is the No 1 target for Spurs. He has a £10m release clause in his contract and would be open to an official approach.

It’s the Sids! Barça reclaimed the title as Madrid’s giants faltered while Athletic, Celta and Rayo shook up the European places

The day La Liga 2024-25 began, Wojciech Szczesny was sitting on the beach in Marbella lighting up a cigarette, enjoying his retirement. The night it ended, he sat in the dressing room in Cornellà, 1,000km round the coast, and lit up a cigar instead. He had walked away in August, at 35 years old, unwanted and his heart no longer in it, or so he thought. Nine months on, here he was surrounded by kids half his age, a footballer again and winner of every trophy his new home country had to offer. He had not lost a single league match en route to becoming a champion.

“I’ve arrived where even my imagination wouldn’t even dare to take me,” Szczesny had said when he retired. And if he hadn’t dared imagine that, there was no way he could imagine this: a Copa del Rey, a Super Cup and a Champions League semi-final to go with the title.

The Scottish influence inspired title winners in Naples, Inter blew up and Claudio Ranieri enjoyed his Roman return

The season has barely ended and already it is clear Serie A will look very different next term. Five of the league’s top 10 sides have parted ways with their managers and a sixth, Claudio Ranieri, is moving upstairs at Roma. More changes may soon follow, with Igor Tudor’s future at Juventus uncertain and Como’s Cesc Fàbregas drawing attention from bigger clubs – including the runners-up, Inter, who need a replacement for Simone Inzaghi.

Could we equal the turnover of last summer, when 14 out of 20 teams got a new coach? It’s not impossible, especially with several lower-half teams and their tacticians still exploring the options available.

Amid the tired legs and loose passes of Senegal defeat, the Crystal Palace star enjoyed his best England game to date

The beer cups are not yet being hurled. Tabloid editors have not yet decided which root vegetable would Photoshop best on to his face. Helicopters are not yet being dispatched to take aerial shots of his house. We are still probably at least two defeats away from our first second world war-themed front page.

But perhaps in hindsight, this was the week Thomas Tuchel finally became the England manager. The night he finally felt the weight of the hairshirt. Finally glimpsed the depth and darkness of a job in which all defeats are humiliations, where the default temperature is set permanently to “scorn”, where every decision is a betrayal of somebody, somewhere.

Organisation’s former president has no regrets over what was lowest grossing film in US history when released a decade ago

There are movies that bomb at the box office. And then there is the Fifa biopic United Passions, starring Tim Roth, Sam Neill and Gérard Depardieu, which was hit with the cinematic equivalent of a thermonuclear strike when it opened in the US 10 years ago this week.

You might remember the fallout; the fact it took only $918 (£678) in its opening weekend, making it the lowest grossing film in US history at the time, and the stories detailing how two people bought tickets to see it in Philadelphia, and only one in Phoenix, before it was pulled by distributors.

Tottenham chair was not blinded by silverware and decided finishing fourth-bottom of the Premier League was not enough

In football, there is always a lot of light and noise. There is always a lot of emotion. That is both its appeal and why it is so difficult for those in the game to make decisions. Ange Postecoglou gave Tottenham one of the great nights in the club’s history when they won the Europa League in Bilbao.

A first trophy in 17 years. A first European trophy in 41. It’s easy to understand why the instinct is gratitude, to hope that somehow victory can be self-replicating, that silverware begets silverware and something fundamental in Tottenham’s being was transformed at San Mamés.

Our cartoonist looks ahead to Fifa’s $1bn bonanza hosted amid unrest in the United States

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What was once simply a garment that declared your affiliation to a club is now a global business earning millions from collectors of vintage kits

On the second floor of an unprepossessing building on the outskirts of Amsterdam, there is a metal cabinet that destroys footballers’ DNA. The contraption belongs to MatchWornShirt and was part of a deal to sell the kits of Real Madrid players to the public. To allay concerns that the genetic material of Cristiano Ronaldo might escape into the wild, the steel wardrobe was built so that every shirt could be blasted by a germicidal lamp.

For new, read old, because MatchWornShirt sells precisely what the company’s name suggests: kits that have been stuck to the bodies of professional athletes. Want the jersey Son Heung-min pulled on against Manchester United in the Europa League final? You can have it, if you beat the current auction price of £22,000. The very shirt Cole Palmer had on when he scored four first-half goals against Brighton last season? That went for £34,000.

Midfielder on being left out of France’s Euro 2025 squad, her exit from Aston Villa and a new lease of life in San Diego

‘I had hard times and this team really gave me back my love and motivation for football,” Kenza Dali says of San Diego Wave as she prepares to open up on a turbulent year.

Over the course of a refreshingly honest conversation, the midfielder reveals why she left Aston Villa to move to the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in January, details why she is enjoying working under Jonas Eidevall and discusses, for the first time, the grief that affected her participation in the Olympics. There is, however, one topic on which she is not quite ready to go into details yet.

World Cup captain’s withdrawal is an important wake-up call, and leaves serious questions for coach Sarina Wiegman

Millie Bright’s decision to withdraw from selection for the European Championship this summer, partly to look after her mental health, is one of the most courageous acts an England player has made and might yet prove to have just as powerful an impact off the pitch as her performances have had on it.

Going to a major tournament for your country is every player’s dream and therefore for Bright, who captained England in the 2023 World Cup final, to bravely risk criticism and sacrifice that opportunity because she has the self-awareness to know that – in her words – “the fans deserve more” than what she can offer is sad for the Lionesses, but it should also serve two higher purposes.

Wales midfielder feels ready to return from a knee injury and is looking for a club

“It’s been like snakes and ladders,” says the midfielder Joe Morrell, detailing how a hellish 16 months has proved the most difficult duel of his career. An innocuous click in his left knee, a setback in the gym while on holiday in Miami and the onset of arthrofibrosis – a condition where scar tissue builds between joints – and suddenly 492 days have passed since his last appearance, for Portsmouth in a League One match at Oxford.

He had just celebrated his 100th game for the club en route to the Championship. “People are probably quite confused and think I have disappeared. Everyone forgets about you.”

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After years of existing only as a fever dream inside the shiny, spacious cranium of Fifa’s greatest showman, Gianni Infantino, the first edition of an expanded, summertime Club World Cup that nobody asked for is finally here. Infantino’s most ambitious vanity project to date is about to collide with reality, and as students of the Swiss school of football farce, we’re excited. It’s not so much a question of what will go wrong over the next 30 sun-baked days in an increasingly dystopian USA USA USA, but what might actually go right. Saturday’s opener pitches Egyptian giants Al-Ahly (who qualified by winning the 2021 African Big Cup) against MLS middleweights Inter Miami (who qualified by having Lionel Messi in their team) at the 65,000-capacity Hard Rock Stadium. Fifa has denied reports that fewer than 20,000 tickets have been sold for the game in Miami, but the tournament’s dynamic pricing model is trending in one direction: from $349 in December, some tickets are now cheaper than $60.

The time has come for me to move on. But, even as I leave, I know I have left a big piece of my heart at Brentford, not just at the football club but with the community and, of course, the incredible and loyal supporters. For my family and I, it has been a privilege to be allowed to be part of such a special community – it’s an experience and adventure that we will cherish for life” – Thomas Frank pens a love letter to Brentford fans after racing round the North Circular for a different kind of adventure at the Cirque du Spurs.

On the dawn of the ‘it doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s a disgraceful monstrosity that shouldn’t exist’, can I make a plea that we just ignore it? I mean, I know any reputable sports writer, or someone who has to knock out The Daily, can’t, because of journalism etc, but surely, the 1,057 can keep the letters section free of any mention of the wretched thing. C’mon folks, pedantry, nostalgic whimsy, godawful puns and lengthy diatribes about the state of it all suffused a sense of powerlessness and angst. We’ve got this. Maybe still go easy on the puns” – Jon Millard.

Good luck to Crystal Palace fans, if Woody Johnson does buy John Textor’s shares (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). The Jets are an absolute clown show and have been so forever. Johnson is generally regarded as the stupidest owner in the league, and there’s admittedly tough competition. So, yeah, could be fun in south London” – Joe Pearson.

Re: Trent Alexander-Arnold’s fluent unveiling (yesterday’s Football Daily). I assume Florian Wirtz will be busy reading and learning his scouse in time for the new season” – Kevin Quinn.

When the new manager of Spurs inevitably reproduces his appalling starts suffered at his previous clubs, will the headline be ‘Frank’s side bottom’, accompanied by an image of Thomas’s spherical fibreglass head?” – Peter McHugh.

Tanzanian’s career has been defined by a series of firsts and the 21-year-old is keen to make a mark at her first Wafcon

Aisha Masaka became the first Tanzanian footballer to play in the Women’s Super League when she signed for Brighton last summer, and she is a pioneer for her country in several ways. Masaka was the first to play in the Champions League, when she was with the Swedish club BK Häcken, from 2022 to 2024, and recently launched the AKM Foundation, aimed at fighting poverty and promoting gender equality through sport.

Masaka started playing street football as a teenager and dabbled in every other sport available to her including basketball and volleyball, much to her parents’ dismay. “We fought a lot because parents, especially in Africa, find it difficult to allow their girls to play football,” says the 21-year-old. “They wanted me to go to school and not be involved in any sport at all.”.

In this mailbag edition of Jonathan Wilson’s newsletter, he answers questions about inverted wingers, favorite jerseys and more

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We’re now a year-ish from the World Cup. The tournament is still dominated by European and South American teams. But which continent without a winner (Asia, Africa, Central and North America and, I guess, Oceania) has the best chance of lifting the trophy first?

– Stacey

Time is running out before the tournament in Switzerland. We rank the 16 sides heading for this summer’s Euros

With the Nations League group stage coming to a close, we take a look at the 16 teams taking part in the European Championship this summer to see how they are shaping up:

Today’s rumours are eyeing the weekend

Alejandro Garnacho will be allowed to leave Manchester United this summer if the price is right. One surprising potential suitor is Aston Villa, who could make a move for the winger. They took Marcus Rashford on loan from Old Trafford last season, revitalising his career somewhat in the progress, so Garnacho may feel it is a move in the right direction away from the current dead end.

It will be a busy summer at United as Ruben Amorim attempts to assemble a squad that has the vague chance of fitting into his 3-4-3 constraints. One key area where improvement is required is centre-forward. A potential plan to source an actual goalscorer could see United offer up Joshua Zirkzee to Napoli as part of a deal for Victor Osimhen. There could, however, be some very serious competition for the Nigerian as Liverpool may also fancy a nibble.

Plus: has anyone done the Beautiful South journey; champions in three different confederations; and did a player score while carrying an umbrella?

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Fenerbahçe have finished runners-up for the fourth season in a row and 26th time in the Turkish top flight (since 1959),” weeps Emre Öztürk. “Which teams have been runners-up most times? Is my team second in that list, too?”

Fear not, Emre: Fenerbahçe are among the also-rans in this particular competition. But they are Turkey’s greatest runners-up: they’ve assumed the position 30 times overall, 26 since the introduction of the Süper Lig in 1959. That puts them well clear of Galatasaray (19 overall, 11 since 1959) and Besiktas (19/14).

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, George Elek and Lars Sivertsen to discuss England’s laboured win over Andorra, the Nations League final and Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs exit

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On the podcast today, the panel discusses England’s World Cup qualifier as they edge past Andorra in a game that raises familiar questions – low block, players out of position, and why is Jordan Henderson playing? The panel also rounds up the home nations’ international fixtures as Wales ease past Liechtenstein ahead of a crunch tie in Belgium, while Scotland stumble badly against Iceland and Italy sack Spalletti after a humbling by Norway.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Paul Watson and Dan Bardell to discuss transfers and preview the international break

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On the podcast today: England get ready for Andorra and Senegal but are there any interesting questions to ask about Thomas Tuchel’s squad and should we care? We also preview the upcoming fixtures for the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Best players, best managers, best matches, best goals, biggest flops and biggest gripes: our writers have their say

Mohamed Salah. The numbers don’t lie – 47 goal contributions in the Premier League was an outstanding return from the Egyptian, who seems to be getting better with age. Ed Aarons

Arne Slot’s first season could not have gone any better while Wolves fans drank to Vítor Pereira’s arrival

By winning the league, the Dutchman surprised pretty much everyone. He faced the daunting task of succeeding Jürgen Klopp and inherited the German’s squad, adding only Federico Chiesa, who barely kicked a ball in anger. Not much changed from the previous year, except Ryan Gravenberch became the designated defensive midfielder as Slot’s Liverpool looked to get on the ball as much as possible. Slot was never going to be a personality who generated headlines like Klopp did, keeping his cards close to his chest, but he always comes across as someone who is very personable and has brought the players closer together. Slot made Liverpool an efficient winning machine – rarely thrashing teams, often winning by the odd goal or two – and that allowed them to race to a second Premier League title. No one could compete with the Reds, which was partly down to rivals dropping their standards but most of it can be attributed to the fact Slot made his team superior.

Managers, teams and players who have disappointed over the campaign – including the reigning footballer of the year

Ruben Amorim’s average points tally of a point per league game since arriving at Manchester United in early November puts him just above Malky Mackay’s record at Cardiff and Paul Jewell’s Premier League record with Bradford, Wigan and Derby. While Sporting won the Primeira Liga title without Amorim, United have fallen down the table to 15th since the Portuguese took the reins from the interim coach, Ruud van Nistelrooy. Much of the ire towards United has been directed at the owners but on the pitch Amorim has failed to adapt his squad of expensive, experienced internationals into anything approaching a cohesive unit. The Europa League final defeat by Tottenham showed how much work is left to do.