Vesper

Grinder part of the window. Things slowing down as the other clubs dig in heels both selling and buying. I am expecting a bad finish to the window. Hope I am wrong. In terms of our buying: No CB No GK We likely miss out on Simons. Only deal of import that goes through will possibly be Garnacho, and if Man U play hardball, we may dump £45-50m on him. Selling: I really worry about us selling anything much in terms of a fair price (if we can even sell them at all) for most of the ones left to go. Especially tough times ahead I fear with selling Sterling, Chilwell, Jackson, Disasi, Nkunku, and now even Carney (as German teams are cheap cunts, almost as bad as Italians). Hopefully we can get decent money for Davd Datro Fofana and Alfie Gilchrist, plus Deivid Washington later on. Lastly, I really want to keep Veiga, now that we very likely will not buy a CB.

The thing we’ll all be saying in May is… Kay: What next for Marcus Rashford/Jack Grealish/Raheem Sterling as he heads back to Manchester United/Manchester City/Chelsea after his loan spell? Crafton: The tickets for the World Cup are HOW MUCH? Spiers: Will Manchester City’s 115 charges case be resolved this week? Miller: I wish I hadn’t fallen for the Arsenal thing, again… Hughes: Time to put your feet up, Pep. James: Fair play to you, Ange Postecoglou, for keeping Leeds up. Akinwolere: Chelsea have got their eye on another 10 players to bolster the squad ahead of next season, with more outgoings still to come. Jones: With Premier League Golden Boot winner Harry Maguire up front, nothing can stop England. It’s coming home.

Sunderland are back and buoyant with bold signings, intense demand for seats and 100,000 shirts sold https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6545745/2025/08/12/sunderland-premier-league-return/ On the corridor wall outside David Bruce’s office in Black Cat House, there is a framed piece of paper that has fundamentally changed Sunderland’s world. It is their Premier League share certificate, awarded to the club’s owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus at the AGM dinner in early June, displayed for all to see. Sunderland’s, if you were wondering, was the 128th certificate issued. “You need to look at that,” an enthusiastic Bruce, Sunderland’s chief business officer and lifelong supporter, tells The Athletic. “It shows what we’re all part of. My job is to help keep it on that wall.” Not since 2017, when meekly surrendering to relegation from the Premier League under David Moyes, have Sunderland held a ticket to the party that begins again with the visit of West Ham United this weekend. “I’ve never experienced a buzz like this,” adds Bruce. “It’s palpable.” Tickets for Saturday’s opening game all went within a day of going on sale. Season cards, too, are long gone. Kit sales have never been higher and the club shop, two floors below that share certificate, has a snaking queue of supporters wishing to add Premier League badges to the sleeves of new shirts. Eight years were spent awaiting this moment. There was the ignominy of falling into League One and then the long, arduous road back that climaxed with promotion via the Championship play-off final in May. Those dramatic victories over Coventry City and Sheffield United are already the stuff of Wearside legend. There is the very real danger of the Premier League’s formidable strength quickly putting an end to Sunderland’s rise in the coming months but this is a very different club to the one that parted with English football’s elite. The ambition now is to be sustainable and strategic after a string of wasteful, aimless years began a ruinous slide captured on the Netflix documentary Sunderland Til I Die. Even with this summer’s spending — £121m ($163m) and counting — it is stressed there will be no deviation from the plans that have brought them this far. “Kyril has a very clear vision,” says Bruce. “It’s been, ‘How do we build a football club that’s sustainable?’. Doing the right things on and off the pitch, building a club that people can really buy into. “A lot has been written about what’s been done on the pitch, young talent and creating a platform for them, but a big part of what Kyril has pushed on the business side is to understand how we build a club that reconnects with the people.” It has been no small task. “The feelings the fans had towards the club and the players that played here (in 2016-17) would suggest there was a real separation,” he adds. “For this part of the world to have that is really quite upsetting. What you’ve got now is something that fans recognise as being theirs.” West Ham’s visit on Saturday promises to be a spectacle but it will not beat the delirium felt when the Stadium of Light last hosted a competitive match. Dan Ballard’s extra-time header to sink Coventry in the Championship play-off semi-final second leg was the cue for feral celebrations and the platform for more of the same as Sheffield United were then beaten at Wembley. That stroked finish from Tommy Watson, now a Brighton & Hove Albion player, was as big as any in Sunderland’s modern history; cathartic and the sudden catalyst for what could be transformative change. Returning to the Premier League was always Louis-Dreyfus’ stated aim when taking a controlling stake in Sunderland from Stewart Donald in February 2021. The son of Robert Louis-Dreyfus, the late former owner of Marseille, made it clear at the start of 2021-22 that a five-year plan could guide Sunderland from the backwaters of League One and up to the Premier League. It took just four. There were missteps along the way, like defeat by Lincoln City in the League One play-offs and the disastrous appointment of Michael Beale, but Louis-Dreyfus, still only 27, has turned Sunderland into a club feeling good about itself once more. “Kyril is a very progressive young guy,” says Bruce, who was convinced to step down from his position as chief marketing officer at Major League Soccer to return to his home city last year. David Bruce will play a key role in driving Sunderland’s off-field growth (Sunderland AFC) “He sees the world differently to many owners, who probably grew up consuming sports on radio and in newspapers. Kyril has grown up with the mobile phone and social media. “He’s very thoughtful, he’s very thorough. There’s a lot of noise around this club with a lot of scale but he’s good at hearing the feeling and staying resolute towards good plans. “In football it’s very easy to get drawn into the emotions and move away from plans because things happen in real time to move you off course. You have to listen to some of that but you also have to stay the course with plans you believe in. For such a young person to have that steadiness is a real quality.” Sunderland’s methods in coming this far have barely altered in the past four years, even when irritating a string of head coaches. New arrivals have typically been under 23 with the potential to develop into assets. Jobe Bellingham went from being a £1.5m signing from Birmingham City to a £32m player sold to Borussia Dortmund this summer. The year before it was Jack Clarke, sold to Ipswich Town for £15m and the year before that, Ross Stewart, who Southampton paid £9m to sign. Reinvestment has regularly been smart, such as moves for Ballard, Dennis Cirkin, Romaine Mundle and Eliezer Mayenda, which have complemented the emergence of academy graduates that include Anthony Patterson, Chris Rigg, Dan Neil and Watson. Wages have been controlled along the way. Figures from the 2023-24 season, the last available club accounts, showed salary costs to be 81 per cent of turnover, way below the Championship average. Sustainability has always been the buzzword and it stretches to the business outlook of a club that was the ninth-best supported in England last season, with an average home crowd of just under 40,000. “For us to be successful, a modern football club at the highest level, it’s the ability to take advantage of the scale and reach you have,” says Bruce. “You have to build your revenue streams. If you sit here and you don’t grow revenue streams, then your football club stagnates. It does not grow and others go past you very quickly. You can’t become the club your fans want you to be, and from the business side we’re very cognisant of that.” What You Should Read Next Sunderland have spent over £100m on transfers. This is how they could do it – and why they need to Sunderland have been the seventh highest spenders in the Premier League this summer. And yet, it might just be necessary Sunderland, inevitably, will enjoy record revenues in this coming season. There is a guarantee to earn at least £110m from the Premier League pot (almost three times the club’s turnover in 2023-24), as well as matchday and commercial income climbing to new highs. Kit sales, in particular, have seen enormous growth. A partnership with Hummel, the Danish manufacturer that formerly supplied the club’s kits between 1988 and 1994, led to output trebling last season. “We’ve moved from about 33,000, 34,000 shirts two seasons ago (when with Nike) to circa 100,000 shirts in our first season with Hummel,” says Bruce. “That puts you top 10 in the country. What we’re seeing is unprecedented here. There were 500 people here when we launched our home shirt last month, before the store even opened.” There has also been increased demand for tickets. North of 30,000 season cards were sold before the Wembley victory and the limits were reached within 48 hours of being placed on sale in June. With corporate hospitality offerings taking season-ticket holders to 41,000 and Michelin star chef Tommy Banks now overseeing high-end food on site, it is the first time since the capacity of the Stadium of Light was increased in 2000 that supply cannot meet demand. The summer weeks have only served to heighten the anticipation. Former West Ham defender Arthur Masuaku became Sunderland’s 10th signing over the weekend, with the capture of Switzerland international Granit Xhaka underlining ambitions to buck a trend that has seen the last six promoted clubs all suffer relegation inside a year. Twice the club transfer record was broken, first to turn Enzo Le Fee’s loan from Roma into a £19m deal and then when signing Habib Diarra from Strasbourg for £30m. Granit Xhaka was a Bundesliga winner with Bayer Leverkusen in May 2024 (Daniela Porcelli/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images) Sunderland’s net spend, offset by the exits of Bellingham and Watson, currently stands in the region of £85m, with an expectation for further signings to arrive before the transfer deadline. “There’s headroom based on how the club has been run in the last few years,” explains Bruce. “We’ve been sensible with how we’ve spent based on the revenue afforded to us as a football club and we’ll always have that in mind. We can’t spend beyond our means and we haven’t since Kyril took over. We make X, we spend Y. It’s as simple as that, so if we can build revenues, that gives us greater opportunity to spend on the football side.” Sunderland will be disadvantaged when only allowed to lose £61m over their next three-year assessment period but the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, says Bruce, are not a concern. “Our approach in the window has been well measured,” he says. “We spent a lot of time as an executive team on what our revenues are going to look like and where we’ve come from in the last couple of years. “What can we spend? What’s the anchor point on wages and what’s the money we can spend in the market? We’re doing it with a view to being a sustainable football club but with every chance of staying in the league. We feel confident. Like what happened in the last parts of last season, where people came together, the feeling around the club can give us a very good chance.” Sunderland have hope again.

Premier League tactical trends to watch in 2025-26: Flying full-backs, counter-attacks, and the ‘Lavolpiana’ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6542301/2025/08/12/premier-league-tactical-trends-2025-26/ Tactically, the Premier League is in a real state of flux. After four consecutive title-winning years with a distinct, possession and territory-based style, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City were reduced to a third-place finish on 71 points in 2024-25 — their worst since Guardiola’s debut campaign of 2016-17. Meanwhile Liverpool cruised to the title in their first season post-Jurgen Klopp, with Arne Slot’s side developing a reputation for their flexibility and adaptability. They had 25 wins and only lost twice across the first 34 matches, by which point the trophy was theirs. Nottingham Forest showed European football can be earned with a throwback, defend-first and counter-attack strategy, while for the second season running all three promoted teams were relegated. So what might we expect from 2025-26? Flying full-backs, not inverted ones Last season, the chasing pack of European clubs seemed to realise, en masse, that they did not need to copy City, Chelsea, and Arsenal by rolling a full-back into midfield. In fact, those clubs had even more success with flying full-backs running beyond a winger. Per SkillCorner, Milos Kerkez was the only player in the division to make 100+ overlaps and 100+ underlaps, which suited the directness of Bournemouth’s in-possession approach — and with him joining Liverpool this summer, makes him a younger iteration of Andy Robertson. “He’s a player that, because of his physical condition, arrives so many times to the last third with the ball under control to put good crosses,” said Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola of Kerkez last season. Likewise, the arrival of Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen, a wing-back in their Bundesliga-winning team of 2023-24, means Slot can deploy maximal width and beyond-the-ball full-backs on both sides. (Carl Recine/Getty Images) Newcastle United’s full-back pairing of Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento were particularly frequent underlappers; Antonee Robinson put up 10 assists for Fulham last year, completing the most crosses of any player in the division, consistently running beyond from left-back. Other honourable mentions include Daniel Munoz (Crystal Palace), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (West Ham United), Michael Kayode (Brentford) and Lucas Digne (Aston Villa). As per SkillCorner, the frequency of full-backs overlapping has decreased in recent seasons, down nearly 14 per cent in 2024-25 compared to the 2018-19 campaign. Meanwhile, underlaps are on the rise — up by more than a third over the same period. This might seem strange considering the prevalence of inverted wingers, who play on the opposite side to their dominant foot, and like to cut inside, which would suit a supporting overlap. However, many coaches want their wingers to start with high and wide positions regardless, and by enticing opposition full-backs out one-v-one, an underlap can often unlock a defence. The ‘Lavolpiana’ — dropping a pivot in Premier League midfield battles are changing. We see that at goal kicks, when teams will often build-up with six players close to their own goal and position four up on halfway, leaving a hole in central midfield because opponents press man-to-man so often. In settled possession, 4-4-2 mid-blocks are increasingly common, to man-mark in central midfield. Consequently, short passing routes through the centre of the pitch have a lot more risk than reward (unless a team has a pivot with the press resistance of Rodri or Ryan Gravenberch). As per Footovision, an advanced data provider, the proportion of line-breaking passes played centrally during build-up dropped by five percentage points from 2023-24 to 2024-25 in the Premier League. Expect to see more of the Lavolpiana tactic, named after Argentine coach Ricardo La Volpe. This is where a central midfielder drops deeper, playing between the two centre-backs, and breaks lines with longer-range passes. Here is Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali playing that role, allowing right-back Kieran Trippier to push forward and create a two-v-one against Ipswich Town’s left-back. If any midfielder was made for the role, it is Youri Tielemans at Aston Villa. He ranked ninth in Europe’s top-five leagues last season for through balls (24). With Rodri injured for most of last season, Bernardo Silva used the tactic on an as-needed basis against particularly stubborn mid-blocks. Mateo Kovacic has operated similarly for Guardiola, with this being a consistent feature of his sides. And here is Carlos Baleba doing that in the build-up for Brighton & Hove Albion’s opener away at Manchester United. “We had a good balance between defence and controlling the game in possession,” Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler said afterwards. Coaches tend to value this build-up tweak not just for the way it opens passing lanes — as opponents are reluctant to commit a player too high to press the midfielder — but also because it provides extra cover as rest defence versus counter-attacks. What You Should Read Next What last season’s Premier League data can tell us about 2025-26 Outfielders taking goal kicks, long throws and rising to the rhythm – just some of the growing trends in England's top flight Back to basics set pieces There is an irony that even as clubs focus on and invest ever more deeply in set pieces, the tactics are trending towards yesteryear. Last term, 60 per cent of all corners were inswingers, up from 41 per cent in 2018-19. Short corners have remained pretty consistent (roughly one in five) while outswingers have really fallen out of fashion. Teams largely copied the approaches of Arsenal and Aston Villa, two of the earlier Premier League clubs to hire formal set-piece coaches, who tended to pack the six-yard box and drop inswingers onto the opposition goalkeeper. Everton, too, consistently caused teams problems with these delivery types under Sean Dyche. “It is special in the Premier League because you can block, push, foul and there is no whistle,” Crystal Palace head coach Oliver Glasner said of corners last season, indirectly offering an explanation of why more teams are prioritising inswingers — because they are allowed to. “This gives you more opportunities in attacking set plays but it causes more trouble when defending set plays”. Premier League corners: a reliably busy scene (Stu Forster/Getty Images) Likewise, teams are increasingly launching the ball upfield from kick-off, and long throws have been on a steady rise across the past four years too: there were 279 throws into the penalty area in 2020-21 (and only three goals from throw-ins that season). Last season, it was 501 and 20 goals from throw-ins. Thomas Frank’s Brentford were — as in previous seasons — league leaders here, with 103 penalty-box throws and six goals from throw-ins. Frank, now being Tottenham Hotspur head coach, might give the tactic more popularity if his new side continue to use it. The potential re-rise of the 3-4-2-1 Chelsea in 2016-17 were the last team to win the Premier League playing a variation of a 3-4-3. City morphed into this shape plenty in attacking during 2022-23 (when John Stones would move from centre-back into midfield), but generally there has been a homogeneity of 4-3-3 among the league’s best. However, the 3-4-2-1 is starting to creep its way back in. It is the first-choice shape of Ruben Amorim at Manchester United, and Glasner at Crystal Palace — the pair having success with it at their respective former clubs Sporting CP and Eintracht Frankfurt. Amorim and Glasner, 3-4-2-1 enthusiasts both (Michael Regan/Getty Images) Here is how it looked for United and Palace in settled possession, able to commit a wing-back onto the last line and with dual No 10s that can pin opposition full-backs, while playing close to their No 9. It was a similar story with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Vitor Pereira. When he arrived in December 2024, the club were 19th on nine points after 16 matches. His predecessor Gary O’Neil had switched between a back three and four, but Pereira went purely with a 3-4-2-1 for the rest of the season and Wolves took 33 points from their remaining 22 games. They survived comfortably, finishing 16th. It might be a blueprint for more teams, particularly promoted sides needing a solid defensive foundation. With so many teams defending in a back four, a wing-back system can be a relatively straightforward way of overloading opponents and creating a front five. In total, there were 120 instances of the 3-4-2-1 or 3-2-4-1 (different ways of labelling the same thing) in 2024-25, with its frequency trending upwards since 2019-20, where it was only 25 times. A focus on attacking transitions The Premier League took the German Bundesliga’s crown last season: England’s top tier is, statistically, the most counter-attacking among Europe’s major leagues. Fast break shots have been on a five-year rise, as has the expected goals (xG, or chance quality) from those scenarios. After 54 fast break goals in 2021-22, the past three campaigns have seen 87, 83, and, most recently, 112 goals. More teams trying to play expansively, and in the opposition half, are increasing counter-attacking opportunities. Add to this that there is a particularly high frequency of strikers and wingers with the physical and technical capacity to exploit disjointed and underloaded defences. Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal were the top teams at scoring from fast breaks last season — it is no longer an underdog tactic — while Brighton, Tottenham, Leicester City, Nottingham Forest and Brentford were a quintet of clubs who conceded at least eight goals from those scenarios. “Everyone is talking about what we’re doing with the ball, scoring goals, but when you look at our counter-press, how we win the ball back, it’s so hard for opponents,” Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard said in March 2024. “I’ve been on the other side before. Trying to defend deep and escaping that when you are being pressed is so difficult.” Expect to see even more aggressive counter-pressing next season, perhaps more tactical fouls, and coaches with a focus on rest defence — the positioning of players and spacing between them when a team has possession, ready to counter-press should a turnover occur.

Gianluigi Donnarumma on PSG future: ‘Someone has decided that I can no longer be part of the group’ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6549540/2025/08/12/donnarumma-psg-transfer-luis-enrique/ Gianluigi Donnarumma has claimed “someone has decided that I can no longer be part of the group” at Paris Saint-Germain. The Italian goalkeeper’s comments came after PSG head coach Luis Enrique said his omission from the squad for Wednesday’s UEFA Super Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur was because they want a “different goalkeeping profile”. Donnarumma said in a statement on Tuesday: “Unfortunately, someone has decided that I can no longer be part of the group and contribute to the team’s success. I am disappointed and disheartened. “I hope to have the opportunity to look the fans at the Parc des Princes in the eyes one more time and say goodbye as it should be done. If that doesn’t happen, I want you to know that your support and affection mean the world to me, and I will never forget it.” Donnarumma was PSG’s first-choice goalkeeper last season, playing 47 matches and helping the Paris club to win the Champions League for the first time with a 5-0 victory over Inter. The 26-year-old featured in all of their games at the Club World Cup this summer, including the 3-0 defeat against Chelsea in the final. What You Should Read Next Gianluigi Donnarumma: From a liability to PSG’s ‘titan in goal’ in the Champions League The Italian looked shaky and uncertain earlier in the competition. Against Arsenal, he was superb and kept his team in the driving seat Last week, PSG signed France international Lucas Chevallier from Lille on a five-year contract. Donnarumma has entered the final 12 months of his deal with the French title-winners, and The Athletic reported on Tuesday that he is willing to leave PSG. His future was on the agenda at Tuesday’s pre-match press conference, featuring Luis Enrique and PSG captain Marquinhos. “These are always difficult decisions to make,” Luis Enrique said. “I can definitely talk about Gigio, because he’s one of the best players in his position, without a doubt. He’s even better as a person. We’re looking for a goalkeeping profile different from Donnarumma. It’s always difficult to make the decision in these kinds of situations.” Marquinhos was questioned about Donnarumma’s future and he said that the Italian “is part of this (club’s) history and always will be”. “We’re so proud of what he’s done, we thank him from the bottom of our hearts, we don’t know if he’s staying or going yet and if he’s staying we welcome him with open arms,” the Brazilian added.

looked really solid

Pedro: 25 trophies 1 World Cup 1 European Championship 6 league titles 8 domestic cups 3 CLs 2 World Club Cups 3 UEFA Super Cups 1 Europa League He has over 800 games played, over 300 goals/assists for club and country. One of the most underrated players on the planet in the last 25 years.

He scored 20 goals in 2747 minutes in 2023/24

I would much rather Donnarumma goes to Citeh than United. It's just them switching from one great keeper to another, whereas Donnarumma to Man U is them replacing a shit keeper with a WC one.

Want to keep Veiga unless a £40m or so real, not fake offer comes in

https://www.instagram.com/p/DNRBUxFAYwg/?hl=en&img_index=2

Leoni has beast-level potential as a CB

The 2025 UEFA Super Cup in Udine: All you need to know Paris will face Europa League winners Tottenham at Stadio Friuli in Udine, Italy, on Wednesday 13 August 2025. https://www.uefa.com/uefasupercup/news/0299-1dd006b069f1-92c705b7362c-1000--the-2025-uefa-super-cup-in-udine-all-you-need-to-know/ Where will the UEFA Super Cup be played? The 2025 UEFA Super Cup will be held at Stadio Friuli in Udine, Italy. Home of Italian Serie A club Udinese, Stadio Friuli was one of six venues for the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. It hosted four games in all, including Spain's victory over Germany in the final. This venue will be the 13th to stage the UEFA Super Cup since the fixture switched from its long-term home of Monaco, after Prague (2013), Cardiff (2014), Tbilisi (2015), Trondheim (2016), Skopje (2017), Tallinn (2018), Istanbul (2019), Budapest (2020), Belfast (2021), Helsinki (2022), Piraeus (2023) and Warsaw (2024). Real Madrid won the 2024 UEFA Super Cup, beating Atalanta 2-0 courtesy of goals from Federico Valverde and debutant Kylian Mbappé at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland.

😿

I am ok with that, to a fairly significant degree. I am NOT ok with this: 🤬

Fichajes is just on hyper-drive with the wild claims/lies They claim Citeh are offering us €250m (€200m base fee + €50m in add-ons) for Palmer and that PSG are offering us €150m (€125m base fee + €25m in add-ons) for Enzo F

I resigned myself to the fact he is coming and I will back him fully until and if he proves he is not good enough. I hope he DOES become a monster (monster in a good way, lolol)

your new pillow

Enzo Maresca Chelsea decision proven right after controversial transfer plan Chelsea news as Robert Sanchez gets one over Mike Maignan and draws the support of Stamford Bridge, showing how far things have swung https://www.football.london/Chelsea-fc/news/enzo-maresca-Chelsea-decision-proven-32242380 Perhaps nothing sums up the change in mood at Chelsea better than Robert Sanchez. It was only in April that he was actively booed and jeered for the role played in an almost season-ending 2-2 draw at home to Ipswich Town. Sanchez was whistled and hounded by most of Stamford Bridge after passing short when 1-0 down to the almost relegated Tractor Boys in a game Chelsea could hardly afford not to win. The Matthew Harding Stand behind him, in particular, took offence to what they were seeing. When Sanchez went long and Chelsea conceded the ball it drew anger from Enzo Maresca but more from the crowd. Moments later he was picking the ball out of the net and the atmosphere was mutinous. Skip ahead four months (and just 19 games in all competitions, not all of which Sanchez has played) and he was greeted like somewhat of a hero. When running towards the same end that threatened to end his Chelsea career, Sanchez got a loud cheer and a warm round of applause. Maybe it was because Mike Maignan was in the opposite goal and Chelsea supporters wanted to prove a point to the keeper they almost signed at the start of June, or maybe there was genuine appreciation. After all, Sanchez had played as much of a key role as anyone in helping Chelsea to win the Club World Cup. Ironically, it was his direct kicking to the right flank which helped set up two of the goals. Playing over Paris Saint-Germain's press, Sanchez arrowed balls towards Malo Gusto and Cole Palmer, exploiting the space. When it comes to this sort of thing, Sanchez has always been good. For all of the weaknesses he does have in playing short and around his box, the Spaniard is excellent at picking out teammates further forward. He is also a terrific and ambitious cross collector. There are times when his decision-making proves costly, therefore giving the effect that he is bad in his area, but his long reach and impressive physical attributes (i.e., being really tall) are assets. Strip his game back and simplify it and Sanchez can be more than useful at Chelsea still. The fact that he will be No.1 is something that many have had to come to terms with an accept. Sanchez has never been massively popular but is maybe at the apex right now. He was signed during the peak of Brighton hysteria for Chelsea, when everyone and everything even related to seagulls was a target. Add in an embarrassing 'highlights' reel of mistakes and it is understandable why there was some consternation among supporters. His first season did little to settle people down and for large portions of 2024/25 was out of favour as well. Sanchez epitomised all that was wrong with Chelsea, or so it felt. Now he was welcomed back in as a world champion. Just how long this newfound goodwill lasts waits to be seen; football is fickle. There is optimism around Chelsea but that could vanish quickly if the season starts slowly. The direction of travel is upwards but the game is not easy or straightforward. Sanchez knows this as much as anyone so he will have enjoyed the reaction Maignan received here. During a break he was caught in line with a rogue sprinkler turning on, drawing laughter and mocking from the Matthew Harding End. Then, before Liam Delap blasted a penalty past Maignan, the crowd sung "you're just a **** Robert Sanchez." Most still believe that Chelsea need a new goalkeeper to be capable of challenging for titles again. The club are reticent to be too reactive in the market, though, especially without cost-efficient immediate upgrades available. This is why they did not push as strongly as fans wished for Maignan. There is also the case of Mike Penders. He is now on loan at RC Strasbourg, where he will continue to develop in senior football. Chelsea are essentially trying to bridge the gap between their current crop and Penders in the hope that he fulfils the potential of being not only a viable Premier League goalkeeper but a world class one. Sanchez still has a lot of work to do in order to confidently be that guy in the interim and do it with more total backing, but he is benefiting from the positivity as much as anyone.

Man Utd make final decision on Alejandro Garnacho swap transfer with four stars offered Alejandro Garnacho is looking for a way out of Manchester United and has made it clear to the club that he wants to join Chelsea and will not entertain any other transfers https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/garnacho-man-utd-future-Chelsea-35713089 Alejandro Garnacho has told Manchester United he only wants to join Chelsea with the Argentine agreeing to terms over a deal at Stamford Bridge until 2032. The winger has fallen out of favour at Old Trafford and has been tipped to leave all summer. The Blues' interest dates back to January when they considered a move and Garnacho has no intention of taking up any other offer. He sees west London as the best place to reignite his career having previously been seen as a future star on the red side of Manchester. GiveMeSport reports that a reunion with Erik ten Hag at Bayer Leverkusen and a lucrative switch to Saudi Arabia were also options put to him. Napoli even reignited their interest but Garnacho has no plans to join anyone but Chelsea. The 21-year-old is so determined to secure a move to the Blues that he will shun every other avenue and spend a year on the sidelines in Manchester if that's what it takes. Chelsea hope to seal a deal for around £30million, but that is about £20m shy of what United were hoping to recoup for their player. The Blues had put forward several swap proposals, including Nicolas Jackson, but there is no interest. READ MORE: PSG issue Gianluigi Donnarumma statement with Man Utd 'expected to make bid' Christopher Nkunku is another player who Chelsea have offered to the Red Devils. Axel Disasi and Renato Veiga were also put on the table but United have made it clear that they want cash to re-invest into their squad - not players. Last term Garnacho scored 11 times - the best total of his career - but had to deal with a midseason positional switch which saw Ruben Amorim try and utilise him as a wing-back. Come the end of the season and the Argentine found himself on the bench for the Europa League final - reacting angrily on social media. He is one of a number of big names - Jadon Sancho and Antony among them - who have yet to secure moves away from Manchester with time running out. Amorim has admitted that any players who are not sold will be bought back into the fold. The Portuguese boss said: “I understand the clubs are waiting for the last minute but they can have a surprise. I’m ready to receive the players, they have more competition, more competition if you want to play in the World Cup next year, so you need to play."

Chelsea have already asked Man City about signing their ‘extraordinary’ player who Pep Guardiola loves https://www.manchestercity.news/Chelsea-have-already-asked-man-city-about-signing-their-extraordinary-player-who-pep-guardiola-loves/ Manchester City News can exclusively confirm that Chelsea have enquired about signing Rico Lewis as several Premier League clubs have shown they are keen to sign the 20-year-old as well. Chelsea’s addition of Cole Palmer as well as Raheem Sterling has demonstrated how both clubs are willing to do business with each other, with City signing Mateo Kovacic in 2023 as well. Pep Guardiola wants a smaller squad and with James McAtee, Savinho and Jack Grealish all reported to be leaving, the decision-makers at the Etihad Stadium seem to be adhering to the Catalan’s demand. The Sky Blues’ stance on keeping Rico Lewis’ future has now come to the fore. Chelsea asked about signing Rico Lewis Our transfer expert, Graeme Bailey has been notified that Chelsea have asked Manchester City about Lewis’ potential availability, with Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Newcastle United have all expressed their interest as well. When Chelsea showed their interest in signing Nico O’Reilly, Manchester City News can reveal that they also discovered whether his teammate would be up for sale. With Manchester City News revealing that Ruben Dias’ new contract was a priority at the Etihad Stadium, so is Lewis’ extension for Viana — with both players ready to put pen to paper. Pep Guardiola has already made a bold Rico Lewis prediction at Man City Since breaking into the Sky Blues’ first-team, the youngster has been a revelation. So much so that Guardiola has entrusted the Bury-born wonderkid to play in a variety of roles, including right-back, left-back, central midfield and attacking midfield. In December 2022, Pep Guardiola heaped praise on Lewis by predicting him to be a star at the Etihad Stadium for the next decade. Guardiola said via Manchester City’s official website: “We had the privilege to almost announce that this guy will [have] a big decade, will have an absolutely incredible player for Manchester City because he is so intelligent, so humble.”

Tyler Dibling has the talent but is an instant Premier League return the right move for him? https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6545099/2025/08/11/tyler-dibling-southampton-everton-premier-league/ When the Championship season got underway over the weekend, one of the most talented young players in the country wasn’t involved. England Under-21 international Tyler Dibling was not injured or suspended. Instead, a player once said to have been valued at £100million was left out by new Southampton manager Will Still because he was “not in a headspace” to feature. “There are a few players who are where they’re at in their career and making choices,” Still told ITV Sport when asked about Dibling, while also referencing Samuel Edozie and Joe Aribo, who didn’t play in the 2-1 win against Wrexham on Saturday. Dibling, 19, is the subject of intense interest from Everton who have seen a couple of bids turned down, the latest being worth £40million ($54m) including add-ons. Southampton have made a counter-proposal of £45m plus £5m in add-ons and a 25 per cent sell-on clause, a package that might be too rich for Everton’s blood. Everton are more confident of bringing Jack Grealish to Hill Dickinson Stadium, which is a little ironic given how much Dibling is reminiscent of Grealish at his free, flying best while at Aston Villa. The pulled-down socks lend themselves to the comparison but Dibling is also Grealish-esque in the manner of his gliding, jinking running style. Able to beat a man with the nonchalant drop of a shoulder, there’s a bit of Chris Waddle about them, too. What You Should Read Next Tyler Dibling wears his socks so low Jack Grealish would blush – he’s Premier League ready Southampton head coach Russell Martin knows he has a special talent on his hands in Tyler Dibling - he looks at home in the top flight Ball-carrying is his outstanding attribute but anyone who saw Dibling often single-handedly carry a dreadful Southampton team up the field last season will have spotted how fearless, tenacious, inventive and almost impudent he was when taking the game to the opposition. Dibling made 20 Premier League starts, mostly from the right wing but also as an attacking central midfielder, showcasing the talent that had already been evident for many years on the south coast, including when he scored a hat-trick of near-identical goals for Southampton’s B team against Newcastle in a 4-2 Premier League 2 win three years ago. Dibling is keen to return to the top flight and has also earned admirers at Newcastle United and Aston Villa. Even in the second tier, Dibling’s contract running until 2027 means the ball is in Southampton’s court. They will not be minded to accept anything less than a premium price for one of English football’s most exciting young talents. The situation leaves Dibling at a career crossroads for the second time in his young career. A couple of months after he was named on the bench for a Premier League game as a 16-year-old by former Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl, Chelsea enticed Dibling to London before Southampton could offer professional terms when Dibling turned 17. In July 2022, via a lucrative financial package that Southampton couldn’t match, Dibling moved to Stamford Bridge. However, the shy 16-year-old struggled to adapt to his new big-city surroundings and was said to have felt like “an outsider”. By the end of August, having played just two games, Dibling returned to Southampton on reduced terms, with credit due to both clubs for facilitating the move, given the difficulties a homesick teenager was experiencing. “You have international after international from the first team down to the under-15s at Chelsea, and it is a ruthless environment,” former Southampton B-team coach David Horseman told The Athletic in 2022. “Tyler wasn’t ready for it.” Three years on, he looks set to move on again, but Southampton might ask whether the time is right for Dibling, who first joined their academy at eight years old, to fly the nest. Everton and their manager David Moyes have a history of moulding, trusting and nurturing young talents, so Dibling would likely get more playing time there than he would at other top-flight clubs, such as, well, Chelsea. But would Dibling benefit more from a year in the Championship, consistently playing week in, week out, in what is likely to be a winning team? Dibling may be worth £40m but he is still at the very start of his professional career, with only 2,404 minutes of senior football (in the Premier League and domestic cups) under his belt, the equivalent of just 26 full 90-minute matches. Many young English players honed their games in the second tier, not least Grealish with Villa, but also Morgan Gibbs-White, who flourished on loan at Sheffield United in 2021-22, and Mason Mount, who came to prominence during a fabulous season with Derby County in 2018-19 before winning the Champions League with Chelsea two years later. Dibling also has plenty to improve in his game, particularly his end product. There are still three weeks left in the window and all parties will want a solution sooner rather than later. “Ty’s just not in a headspace and not in a place that allowed him to get on the pitch today,” Southampton boss Still said on Saturday. “I thought that Ty wasn’t quite there and I understand it. He’s still young and there’s a lot going on, so we will see how that goes. “If nothing happens, then he will be a part of what we want to do and be important as well, but time will tell. It’s standard transfer window stuff.” Dibling and those around him have to work out where his potential will be maximised, a crucial decision. “Sometimes it’s better to stay in an environment where you feel at home and where everybody does everything for you,” former Southampton manager Hasenhuttl told reporters after Dibling had returned in 2022. “There’s a reason, in England, you say the grass is not always greener somewhere else.” Will Hasenhuttl’s words be prescient once more or will Dibling show he is ready to leave home?