Vesper

CL winning goal

first time since 2014/15 that the WCL winner was not either Lyon or Barca

cannot believe Arsenal just won their 2nd Women's CL beat Barca 1 nil

Mbappe scored a brace to edge out Gyökeres for the Golden Boot

first time since 1937 that a Sunderland native has captained a winning side at Wembley

first time in 29 years that a side winning the playoff final at HT has lost the game

I wager we will try to buy Watson from Brighton for £40m in 2 years, lolol

Sunderland went into the playoffs with 5 straight defeats no team has even won the playoffs even losing 3 in a row before they started the play-offs

Sheff U blew SO many sitters and chances they should have won by 4 or 5 goals

Sunderland upsets Sheffield United 1 2 on a 95th minute game winning goal by a teen sub Tom Watson EPL bound

Diogo Costa Gregor Kobel Lucas Chevalier Jan Oblak Anatoly Trubin Marco Carnesecchi Matvey Safonov Guillaume Restes Joan Garcia Mike Maignan Mile Svilar Noah Atubolu Mads Hermansen Zion Suzuki Bento

Florian Wirtz: Liverpool in talks with Leverkusen as star snubs Bayern Merseyside club have formally spoken with Bayer Leverkusen after £126million-rated Germany playmaker turns down approach of Bayern Munich https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/liverpool-florian-wirtz-transfer-bayer-leverkusen-xwrjvjps5 Liverpool have formally spoken to Bayer Leverkusen and are now the frontrunners to sign Florian Wirtz after the Germany attacking midfielder turned down the advances of Bayern Munich. The development marks a significant step in the club’s pursuit of the 22-year-old star, who is understood to have been impressed by the scale of their ambitions under Arne Slot. A deal will remain complex because of Leverkusen’s £126 million asking price, but there is a feeling that they will accept a lower base figure and that a chunk of any fee can be paid in add-ons. Richard Hughes, the Liverpool sporting director, will lead the negotiations and look to drive Leverkusen down, having established a line of communication with the German club over the £30 million deal for Jeremie Frimpong. Liverpool are the favourites to secure the statement signing of Wirtz after growing pessimism in Bavaria regarding the German champions’ hopes of landing the player. Sources in Germany have indicated that Wirtz, who can play in a number of advanced roles, has turned down Bayern despite holding talks with coach Vincent Kompany. Instead, it is Liverpool’s vision for the future and their plans to continue to develop one of the most sough-after talents in Europe that has influenced Wirtz. When Liverpool sold Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for £142 million in January 2018, the structure of the deal included a sizeable amount of easily achievable add-ons. Liverpool also have the potential to boost their budget by selling players such as Darwin Nunez, who has been the subject of interest from Saudi Arabia, and goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher who is eager for regular first team football. He is close friends with Frimpong, who has already passed a medical at Anfield, with his arrival set to be confirmed when the transfer window opens. They sit beside each other in the Leverkusen dressing room and Frimpong, 24, used to give Wirtz lifts to training before he could drive. That link-up would make a move less daunting. Leverkusen have wanted Wirtz to sign a new deal with a lower release clause that would come into effect after the 2026 World Cup, but the strong interest in the player has complicated their hopes of doing so. They are also loath to sell to Bayern, who succeeded Leverkusen as Bundesliga champions this season. Wirtz has operated from the left in a 3-4-3 system this season but can also play off the right, as a false nine and as a No10, giving Slot the versatility and technical ability that he craves. Liverpool have said they have not made a formal approach over Wirtz, and denied they held a meeting with the player in the north west this month. However, they will hope to complete the signing and recruit Wirtz who had also attracted attention from Manchester City, who pulled out earlier this week.

if we buy Garnacho I am going to lose my mind he is not just overrated AF, he is dressing room poison from what I see

IF TRUE we should be ALL over that

Rom seals it 2 nil no way Cagliari scores 2

McTominay with a wondergoal to perhaps win the Scudetto

Wanna score goals in transition? Sign Emanuel Emegha Clubs are lining up for the Strasbourg striker. Who should pull the trigger? https://scoutedftbl.com/why-everyone-wants-emanuel-emegha/?ref=notebook-newsletter If the transfer rumour mill hints at any indication of reality, there's rarely a moment when the scouting departments of big and upwardly-mobile clubs decide they’re satisfied with their strikers. This looks especially true for the upcoming summer window: Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and more are all on the hunt for a centre-forward. Enter Emanuel Emegha. The 22-year-old Dutchman is the latest success story from the Sturm Graz Striker Factory, and joined BlueCo-owned Strasbourg in 2023 for a reported €13 million. He's scored 14 goals in 27 appearances this season, translating into 0.55 non-penalty goals per 90 minutes - the 7th-highest in Ligue 1. A young, prolific goalscorer is always bound to attract attention, and Emegha has been linked to a wide variety of clubs, including Chelsea, Newcastle United, Roma, Crystal Palace, and West Ham. Emegha’s performance and the gathering clouds of interest merit a deeper dive. But to do that, we'll need to understand more about Strasbourg, their tactical approach, and the platform the young forward has been given. All this will lead us to a simple conclusion: if you play fast and hard, Emegha should be on your radar. Let's dig in. 💡 Coming up... • How Strasbourg are one of France's most dynamic sides • The raw speed and shot volume that makes Emegha so enticing • ...and the misses that make him less so • Who's gunna fix him? How do RC Strasbourg play? Liam Rosenior’s Strasbourg aren’t your typical side in possession. They’re the kind of team that goes from a deep build-up like this… …to a pseudo-counter-attacking situation like this, within seconds. Strasbourg are yet another upwardly-mobile side in Europe that look to bait the opposition’s press close to their own goal before suddenly changing tempo and swiftly attacking the space the press leaves behind, creating ‘artificial transitions’. Strasbourg take the highest share of their touches in their own third in the league (40.4%) but also take the 4th-fewest touches in the final third per shot (10.6), indicating how much they move the ball around in their own third yet how quickly they try to get a shot off in the opponent's. As you can see in the plot below, that makes them the mirror image of a more conventional possession-based side like PSG. As a result, Strasbourg regularly create high-quality chances, with the 3rd-highest xG/shot in the league (0.13). snip

Who are Chelsea's untouchables? Or rather, who should they be? https://siphillipstalkschelsea.substack.com/p/who-are-chelseas-untouchables With the next summer transfer window now right around the corner and a lot of the talk being about who Chelsea might sell and who they might buy, I wanted to speak on ‘untouchables’ seeing as though this is a word used a lot in Chelsea briefings. So in my opinion, an untouchable player is a player that you would not even think about selling no matter what the offer is. So an indispensable player. A player who has to be one of the first names on the team sheet every single week and would walk into most other teams. We did something similar to this recently, but I’m intrigued again to see how many players in our squad you feel are or should be untouchable? Let’s vote on our Chelsea untouchables! I’m not going to bother voting on players like Robert Sanchez, because unless someone is going to do it as a joke, ain’t nobody voting him as an untouchable! So, are these players untouchable in YOUR opinion? As in you would not even think about selling…. snip

The SPTC Podcast - Group Chat Round Table Jai, Si, Danny & Luke cover the latest Chelsea transfer news and look ahead to Forest and Betis 2 hrs ago • Si Phillips, Jai Mcintosh, Danny Windsor, and Luke Rushbrook https://siphillipstalkschelsea.substack.com/p/the-sptc-podcast-group-chat-round

that could be one of dozens, lol