Vesper

Enzo Maresca praises Liam Delap but says Chelsea have ‘perfect No 9’ in Nicolas Jackson https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6272040/2025/04/11/Chelsea-liam-delap-enzo-maresca/ Enzo Maresca insisted that Nicolas Jackson is the “perfect No 9” for Chelsea but said he would welcome another striker like him at Stamford Bridge as he praised Ipswich Town’s Liam Delap ahead of the meeting between the two teams on Sunday. Chelsea are among a host of Premier League clubs known to be tracking Delap, who has scored 12 goals in his first top-flight campaign and has a £30million ($39.2million) release clause if Ipswich are relegated to the Championship. Maresca knows Delap from his stint coaching Manchester City’s elite development squad in 2020-21, when Delap was in City’s academy. While Maresca would not be drawn on Chelsea’s interest in the 22-year-old and pointedly praised Jackson after Thursday’s 3-0 win over Legia Warsaw in the UEFA Conference League round of 16, he did not hide his admiration for the Ipswich striker. “In terms of numbers, he’s doing fantastic,” Maresca said of Delap. “I think he’s scored 12 (Premier League) goals already. It’s not just in terms of his numbers. The way he plays and fights and is always ‘there’. But he’s an Ipswich player. He’s an enemy on Sunday because we need to beat them, and then after the game I wish him all the best for the future. “To compare Liam with Harry Kane and Erling Haaland, it’s a bit early. But in terms of style he’s that kind of player. They are all real nines. “We also have a good nine (Jackson). He’s doing well since we started. Unfortunately, we’ve missed him (during his injury), and sometimes you need to miss players to realise how important they are. With Nico, we are a completely different team compared to when he was injured. We are happy with Nico as our striker.” Jackson has nine Premier League goals this season (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images) Asked what profile of striker Chelsea will be looking to sign this summer, Maresca replied: “My perfect number nine is exactly Nico Jackson. We already have a number nine. It’s not summer now.” Jackson missed two months of the season, from February to April, after sustaining a hamstring injury. When pressed on whether he would like to have two Jacksons in his squad, Maresca smiled and added: “If we can have a copy of Nico, it’s OK. With Nico we are a better team. Nico is the one we need. “Last season, he scored goals without penalties. This season he scored goals until he was injured. We are happy with Nico. And about next season, it’s not the moment (to talk about transfers).” Delap played a key role in Ipswich’s shock 2-0 win over Chelsea at Portman Road in December, winning and scoring an early penalty, setting up the second goal and carrying a threat with his pace and physicality in transition. Maresca is keenly aware that his team will need to control him better when the two teams meet again on Sunday. “It’s something we need to pay attention to,” Maresca said. “If you watch Ipswich, (Delap) is doing that against any team, not just against us. In the first game, he was quite good for them. We need to deal with that, and we need to do much, much better compared to the first game.” Ipswich are 12 points adrift of safety behind 17th-placed Wolves with seven matches left to play.

Chelsea’s Acheampong feels the love from Maresca – and this time, it’s not tough https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6271483/2025/04/11/josh-acheampong-Chelsea-legia-warsaw-analysis/ The question was about Tyrique George. Enzo Maresca was happy to engage with it and to praise his winger, but he really wanted to talk about another Chelsea teenager. “I’m very happy first of all for the Chelsea academy because it’s one of our boys from the academy, so I’m very happy for him,” Maresca said of 19-year-old George in his press conference after a 3-0 win over Legia Warsaw in the first leg of their Conference League quarter-final tie on Thursday. “He was quite good in the first half, taking responsibility. Then, second half in the middle (as a No 9), he was a bit better. “But the one that I fell in love (with) is Josh Acheampong because potentially, he can be a fantastic player, a top player for this club, (and) for football in general. A good player shows you they can play in different positions and do good. He was a full-back, good, midfielder, good, central defender, good, so it’s not about, ‘I play in that position or in that position’ — if you are a good player, you can be in different positions. “Since we started, I’m in love with him, but (against Legia) he showed that he can be a very good player.” Love affairs, like footballers, are rarely linear in their development. Maresca signalled his high regard for Acheampong by assessing him during Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the United States, and then again by elevating him back into the first-team picture soon after his contract standoff, which had frozen him out of match action, was resolved in December. Acheampong impressed against Legia Warsaw (Piotr Hawalej/Getty Images) A first Premier League start followed away at Crystal Palace in early January and Maresca promptly labelled Acheampong the best player on the pitch in Chelsea’s 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park. Within 10 days, the perception of his trajectory had changed — Acheampong struggled against a rampant Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge and Maresca substituted him in the 71st minute, shortly after he had failed to contain Antoine Semenyo for the visitors’ second goal in a 2-2 draw. In almost three months between that game and Thursday in Warsaw, Acheampong has been on the pitch for 55 minutes across three matches. His only start, against Copenhagen at Stamford Bridge in the Conference League round of 16 last month, ended at half-time. Maresca insisted the substitution was down to broader tactical considerations, but his choice left little room to envision a significant role for the 18-year-old in the defining stretch of Chelsea’s season. Beyond that, Acheampong’s rapid rise and equally precipitous fall in the first two weeks of January lent itself to the more cynical notion that Maresca might have wanted to send a message to Chelsea about the need for defensive reinforcements in the winter market. Wesley Fofana was out and centre-back targets, most notably Palace’s Marc Guehi, were being explored. Maresca would not have been the first Chelsea coach to deploy such methods, but his appreciation of Acheampong has always felt sincere, fitting neatly into his specific veneration of versatility in high-level footballers. Can you understand the game in multiple positions and can you perform in multiple roles during a match? Acheampong showcased those qualities in abundance against Legia. Starting at right-back but operating for the most part as the right of a three-man defence in possession, his decision-making with and without the ball was almost flawless. When the opportunity arose to carry the ball forward amid a steady diet of safe possessional passes, he pushed himself through and around pressure with a progressive first touch. Chelsea’s best chance of an otherwise forgettable first half came from an Acheampong surge: having driven into a crossing position on the right, he cut the ball back perfectly into the unmarked feet of Cole Palmer. When the England international’s shot was smothered, the ball ran free for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who forced a flying save with a curling effort. During the second half, Maresca’s substitutions pushed Acheampong into the base of midfield from defence and the 18-year-old bounced passes unerringly to Chelsea team-mates amid the traffic. On the very rare occasions when he misread the terrain, club captain Reece James was on hand to dispense some constructive advice. It found willing ears. “The best thing about Josh is that he’s open, he wants to learn,” Maresca added after the Legia win. “’Full-back? ‘No problem, what do I have to do?’. Perfect, midfielder, ‘What do I have to do?’. Good players want to play in all positions, they want to learn, and Josh is doing that since we started.” Maresca was delighted with Acheampong after the match (Piotr Hawalej/Getty Images) Such praise is hugely encouraging for Acheampong but also a positive development for Maresca, who has not always come across as enthusiastic about Chelsea’s academy talent. His touchline frustration with George has been startlingly visible at times and his comments about Chelsea’s struggles to create in the first half against Copenhagen in the previous round seemed to draw a straight line to the presence of George and Shim Mheuka in the team. But George has been developing under Maresca, gaining confidence as well as knowledge. At 17, Mheuka is even younger but added more meaningful first-team minutes off the bench against Legia. Conference League football is close to an ideal proving ground given Chelsea’s vast superiority over all of their opponents and their head coach has generally found the right balance of game time. Love can be productive, even when it could be called tough, and Maresca’s nuanced handling of Acheampong and George may have given Chelsea two more players capable of meaningful contributions. It could even help Chelsea achieve the dual goals of a top-five Premier League finish and lifting the Conference League. Considering the stakes on both fronts, that is no small benefit.

Premier League’s failure to prevent Chelsea’s latest accounting tricks shows it can’t regulate its clubs https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6269885/2025/04/11/premier-league-Chelsea-regulator/ At various points over the past few years, people have stopped and asked how on earth Chelsea could afford to spend such enormous sums in the transfer market without falling foul to the Premier League’s financial regulations. The responses at the time, gleaned from people inside Stamford Bridge as well as various financial experts, usually pointed to the way the club had structured many of these deals: not just spreading transfer payments over several years, but protecting players’ value on the balance sheet by signing them to eight-, nine- or even 10-year contracts. Chelsea, it was always stated, were confident they would comply with the league’s profit and sustainability regulations (PSR), even if some of us struggled to see how a staggering — and, as it transpired, staggeringly ineffective — £745.2million ($967m) transfer outlay over the course of the 2022-23 season could be accounted for. In the event, PSR compliance was met in the summer of 2023 thanks to a series of sales just before the PSR deadline at the end of June: Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly to Al Ahli for a combined £33m, Mateo Kovacic to Manchester City for £25m, Ruben Loftus-Cheek to Milan for £15m, Kai Havertz to Arsenal for £65m and… a couple of hotels adjacent to Stamford Bridge, plus car parking, to BlueCo 22 Properties Ltd, a subsidiary of the club’s holding company, for £76.5m. The hotel sale caused anger among some of Chelsea’s rivals amid questions about both the valuation and its legitimacy within the context of PSR. The Premier League analysed the hotel sales for fair market value, making a slight adjustment to Chelsea’s profit in terms of the PSR calculation. But no rules had been broken. Significantly, though, the league agreed to hold a vote to decide whether to remove clubs’ ability to include asset sales — stadiums, training grounds, hotels, office buildings etc — in future PSR calculations. The loophole, it seemed, was about to be closed. Chelsea’s highly successful women’s team has been sold within the existing ownership (Nathan Stirk/Getty Images) But when it came to a vote at the Premier League’s annual meeting in Harrogate last June, only 11 of the 20 clubs backed the motion, well short of the two-thirds majority required for rule changes. There followed another period of frantic trading just before last summer’s PSR deadline (Ian Maatsen to Aston Villa for £37.5m, Omari Hutchinson to Ipswich Town for £20m), which went a long way towards a huge £152m transfer profit for the season. But Chelsea still needed another lever to pull. Sure enough, their latest accounts, released last week, detailed the “repositioning” sale of their women’s team to BlueCo 22 Midco Limited, another subsidiary of BlueCo 22 Limited, for £200m. Another big loss became a pre-tax profit of £128.4m and, at a stroke, another PSR headache seemed to be cured. Once again, there is consternation among some of their rivals, asking how on earth Chelsea’s WSL team, which declared revenues of just over £11m last season, could be valued at £200m. The Premier League are still to assess that deal for fair market value, but internally there is a feeling that — unlike UEFA, European football’s governing body, who do not allow such asset sales to sister companies to count towards their financial fair play (FFP) calculations — their authority on the matter was effectively eliminated by that lost vote in Harrogate last June. Among the clubs who voted against closing the loophole, or abstained, some felt the wording of the proposed change was too vague, failing to distinguish between the type of non-football revenues they felt they should be allowed to exploit (such as building hotels or entertainment venues) and apparent tricks of accountancy. Others felt that even if they disagreed with the principle, they would be wrong to vote for something that might constrain them if they needed to address a cash shortfall at a later date. That sums up the whole mess. You have financial regulations designed to keep spending under control, but from the start, they have been less stringent than their UEFA equivalent. You have clubs racking up huge losses but nonetheless able to comply with spending regulations after finding and exploiting loopholes in the rulebook. You have a league that does not have the authority to regulate itself because the rulebook is determined by the clubs. You have clubs that instinctively object to a certain loophole but feel unable to vote against it because self-interest tells them they might just need it in future. This week, The Athletic revealed that Bournemouth would have been in breach of PSR in at least one of the past two seasons had the Premier League not approved a £71.4m loan write-off when Bill Foley’s Black Knight Football Club bought the club from Maxim Demin in December 2022. In normal circumstances, a shareholder loan would not be allowed to be written off from a PSR perspective. The Premier League allowed it in the Bournemouth case because it was linked to the takeover rather than “ordinary business”. But without that write-off, the club would have recorded pre-tax losses of £148.6m over a three-year cycle, against a permitted PSR limit of £83m — and, if you support Everton or Nottingham Forest, both of whom were hit with points deduction last season, it might reopen old wounds and frustrations regarding the fairness or otherwise of the PSR regime. Shareholder loans have become a big issue in the PSR debate, with Everton, Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion all benefiting from interest-free loans in excess of £250m. Manchester City’s latest challenge to the PSR rules suggested that, if certain commercial deals with “related parties” can be scrutinised or even vetoed by the Premier League if they are felt to be at more favourable rates than market value, then the benefits derived from interest-free loans from a shareholder should fall into the same category. Manchester City’s stance on that issue seems entirely reasonable. But there will be no crackdown on interest-free loans unless a) there is a vote on the matter and b) at least 14 of the 20 Premier League clubs side with them. Once again, self-interest would be likely to hold sway. The Premier League is going from one regulatory crisis to another. Any hopes of possible “closure” after the eventual resolution of their case against Manchester City — relating to more than 100 alleged breaches of the competition’s financial rules between 2009 and 2016, which the club deny — have been replaced by concerns of further legal actions and further attacks on the league’s attempts to regulate itself and its member clubs. It is a grim situation and it divides opinion hugely between those who feel the league has got involved in things it shouldn’t have done and those who feel the league should have been far more stringent far earlier to stop things spiralling so far beyond its control. Equally, the very notion of financial regulation divides opinion between those who consider the rules too restrictive (the ones who feel Everton and Forest were punished for “showing ambition” last season) and those who consider the rules too permissive (those of us who feel that the Merseyside club would have been far better served had the Premier League stepped in much earlier and much more assertively to avert the threat of financial meltdown under Farhad Moshiri’s ownership). Chelsea’s is a different situation, but it comes back to the same concern about the dangers — both to the competition and to the club itself — of unsustainable spending. Concerns about the impact on the competition have been quelled by the fact that the two biggest single-season transfer outlays in football history have so far brought mediocre results on the pitch, but that is hardly the point when they are playing against clubs who stay well within the very loose spending limits that the regulations allow. Among some top-flight clubs, there is an admiration for the way Chelsea have operated under the ownership of a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital: the amortisation trick with those staggeringly long contracts; the vast accumulation of younger players with resale value in mind; the willingness to exploit loopholes by selling the hotels and the women’s team to ensure that they remain PSR-compliant even while running up another huge operating loss. But the difficulty in praising Chelsea’s owners for their ingenuity is that, just as signing Mykhailo Mudryk and numerous others on eight-year contracts looks rather less than inspired two years in, selling assets to a sister company is the type of move that tends to set alarm bells ringing in English football. Derby County turned a loss into a profit when they sold their stadium to a company owned by their then-owner, Mel Morris, two days before their accounting deadline in June 2018; Sheffield Wednesday did likewise by selling their Hillsborough stadium to their owner, Dejphon Chansiri, a year later. Stamford Bridge is protected from sale by the CPO (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images) In these cases and others, such as at Reading and the previous ownership regime at Birmingham City, these are looked back upon as regrettable moves, born of desperation, rather than a template for sensible club ownership. The EFL, feeling their rulebook was being abused and that heritage and vital assets were being traded with little consideration for long-term consequences, closed that loophole. Aston Villa sold Villa Park to NSWE Stadium Limited, a company controlled by their co-owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens — again at a time of financial difficulty in the final weeks before an accounting deadline at the end of the 2018-19 season. Without that sale, Villa would have been in breach of the EFL’s financial regulations in the season that brought promotion. There are no regrets in Villa’s case given the heights they have reached since, but perhaps there has also been a recognition, amid the club’s continuing PSR challenges of the past few seasons, that you can only sell the family silver once. But should it ever be an option to sell a stadium, a training ground or even one of the club’s teams — in Chelsea’s case, the women’s team — to address a headache brought about by wild spending? It is the type of action that would be discouraged, if not totally outlawed, under the UK government’s plans for an independent regulator for English football. One proposal in the Football Government Bill is that the regulator would listen to supporters’ views before deciding whether to approve any plan to sell a club’s key assets, such as a stadium or, presumably, a team. The very notion of an independent regulator is anathema to those at Premier League HQ as well as to most of the clubs. One of the phrases we keep hearing is about the danger of “unintended consequences”. But the story of English football in the 21st century has been full of unintended consequences, unsuitable owners and unforeseen problems. A laissez-faire approach led to a climate in which nothing was off-limits. The more the Premier League has tried to address its regulatory challenges over the past few years, the harder its life has become. The repercussions of the Manchester City case, whatever the verdict, will inevitably be resounding and damaging one way or the other. And yet, as the league’s chief executive Richard Masters said in an interview with the Financial Times last month, “there is no happy alternative to enforcing the rules” — or at least trying to. In an ideal world, self-regulation would preclude self-interest. But the interests of the game have been overtaken by the financial, commercial or indeed political objectives of club owners. The Premier League, as a body, has been powerless to stop that. The Football Association, still commonly described as English football’s governing body, has become content to be a mere bystander. But battles are raging left, right and centre. Every week seems to throw up another question of what is — or should be — permissible. By coincidence, one of the few stadiums in English football that is already protected is Stamford Bridge, the freehold for which has been owned since 1997 by Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO) plc, a group of more than 13,000 shareholders that, as well as supporters, includes former players such as John Terry, Frank Lampard and Marcel Desailly. The purpose behind the venture was to ensure that Stamford Bridge could not be sold to property developers, as very nearly happened during the 1980s. In the early 2010s, then-owner Roman Abramovich tried to buy the freehold back from CPO to facilitate a move to a new stadium. Despite the widespread goodwill towards Abramovich’s ownership, he fell some way short of the 75 per cent threshold he needed. At some point in future, once their future plans have become clearer, Chelsea’s current ownership are likely to go back to CPO with a new proposal to buy the leasehold, whether with a view to redeveloping Stamford Bridge or relocating to a new stadium. What Chelsea cannot do is sell the stadium to a sister company simply to resolve a PSR headache. If that option had been available to them, you suspect they might have done it by now.

Premier League top-five race: Why it’s important and which teams can make the Champions League https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6267224/2025/04/11/premier-league-top-five-race-champions-league-Chelsea-man-city/ Arsenal’s 3-0 win against Real Madrid on Tuesday in the first leg of a Champions League quarter-final was notable not only for Declan Rice’s direct free-kick double, but also as the result which sealed a fifth place in that competition for Premier League teams next season, through the European Performance Spots (EPS). The English top flight is now guaranteed one of the two EPS places for 2025-26, with Spain’s La Liga likely to take the other. With the relegation battle all but over, and Liverpool needing only 11 points from their remaining seven games to secure the title, the race to finish in the top five is the most interesting undecided element of this season’s final two months. With that in mind, The Athletic will examine the state of play each week as the fight intensifies. Here’s how the Premier League table looks heading into matchweek 32 this weekend: Liverpool and Arsenal can already start planning for eight more Champions League league-phase fixtures between September and January — but from Nottingham Forest down to Aston Villa, things are very tight. Realistically, it looks like Forest, Villa, Chelsea, Newcastle United and Manchester City are fighting for three spots, although Fulham, Brighton and Hove Albion and Bournemouth could all shove themselves into real contention with a strong set of results. It’s probably worth noting Brighton have averaged two points per game across their past 10 fixtures, a rate only Liverpool can better in the division. Opta’s prediction model — which simulates the remaining fixtures 10,000 times to come up with its results — agrees that Fulham, Brighton and Bournemouth are unlikely to make a successful push for the top five; it also says Forest are likely to hold onto third place. The rest, though, is very much up for grabs. Why is Champions League qualification so important? The first thing to know about the Champions League — the new Champions League, not the old Champions League in the format used until this season — is that it is lucrative. Very lucrative. Qualifiers for the now 36-team league phase earn €18.62million (£16m/$20.7m) just for being there. That’s more than four times what Europa League sides receive for the same achievement in UEFA’s second-tier competition. Moreover, it’s above the €17.1m Fiorentina made in total from the third-tier Conference League last season — and they were its highest-earning club. Win a league-phase match in the Champions League and UEFA, European football’s governing body, will reward you with €2.1m for your efforts. A draw gets you €700,000. Finish in the top eight and you’ll get a further €2m, a final placing in the next eight gets you €1m, but then you’ll also get another €1m for playing in the knockout play-off round if that happens, so really you get €2m too. Dizzy yet? This is all before the performance money beyond the league phase, which ranges from €11million for going out in the round of 16 to €63.5m for winning the whole thing. There’s a ‘value pillar’, too, where the money goes up a notch further if you’re an English club. This is, in short, distributed according to historic individual performance and your domestic broadcasters’ contribution to the overall Champions League TV money. The English broadcasters pay a lot — in every season since 2003-04, their share of the tournament’s TV pool has been either the highest or second-highest — so English clubs get paid a lot. (Joe Klamar / AFP) Those clubs with recent European pedigree, such as 2022-23 Champions League winners Manchester City and Chelsea, who lifted the trophy two years earlier, automatically earn more upon qualification by virtue of how that value pillar is distributed. But things are all relative, and though a Forest or a Newcastle wouldn’t immediately earn as much as those from the ‘Big Six’, they’d likely see a greater proportional revenue boost from UEFA’s premier club competition next season. It isn’t just the lush green of Champions League pitches under the midweek lights that clubs have their eyes on. Chris Weatherspoon How are the contenders feeling? With seven rounds of matches remaining (plus a game in hand for Newcastle, at home against Crystal Palace next Wednesday) nothing is decided yet. Newcastle may have that additional fixture in their back pocket but, according to Opta’s Power Rankings, they have one of the Premier League’s most difficult run-ins. Manchester City and Nottingham Forest, in contrast, have the easiest sets of matches — on paper at least. But football is not played on paper, and pressure can do strange things to footballers and/or their managers. Here, then, is the first of a weekly vibe check from our writers covering each of the realistic contenders to be up there with Liverpool and Arsenal in the top five when the final whistles blow up and down the country on that last, potentially pivotal round of fixtures on Sunday, May 25. Nottingham Forest The mood at Forest following the 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday is a slightly curious one. Despite losing to one of their direct rivals for Champions League qualification, there were more positives than negatives within a performance that saw them produce a resurgent second half, despite being without Chris Wood, Ola Aina, Taiwo Awoniyi and, by that point, Anthony Elanga, who had to be withdrawn at half-time. This Saturday, they host an Everton side who have been made hard to beat by David Moyes, after he returned for a second spell in charge in January. Moyes lost his first game after replacing Sean Dyche but has since overseen a run of just one defeat (to title-bound Liverpool at Anfield) in 11 league matches — albeit with five of the last six ending in draws (including four games that have finished 1-1). Forest, though, will be in a confident mood at the City Ground, where they have lost only twice all season and not since early November. They then have more than a week to prepare for a Monday night visit to an entirely unpredictable Tottenham side and their former Forest winger and academy graduate Brennan Johnson — when they will hope to be back to something close to full strength on the injury front. Paul Taylor Forest would welcome some more Chris Wood goals in their remaining games (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images) Chelsea The vibe at Chelsea heading into the final stretch of the Premier League season might be best described as being somewhere between bullishness and desperation. Enzo Maresca’s team have been conceding ground to their rivals for Champions League qualification virtually from the moment he played down their title chances after beating Tottenham 4-3 away on December 8 to take sole possession of second place, four points behind Liverpool. If the season had started on December 9, they would be 11th now, with as many losses (six) as wins in their 16 matches. Some of the injuries which precipitated that slump have eased. Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke are back, which could reinvigorate struggling talisman Cole Palmer. Wesley Fofana, however, is out for the rest of the campaign and Chelsea’s defensive performance is markedly worse without the Frenchman in their back line. Romeo Lavia is also a significant (and ongoing) absentee. Home form has just about kept them afloat; Chelsea have won five on the spin at Stamford Bridge, largely taking care of business against struggling opposition including Wolves (currently 17th), Southampton (last), Leicester (19th) and Spurs (14th). That will need to continue there against third-bottom Ipswich on Sunday because the fixture list is about to get much harder. Indeed, their final four league games have the feel of a gauntlet: Liverpool at home, Newcastle away, Manchester United at home, Forest away. Top five is more doable than top four, but achieving either will be an uphill battle. Liam Twomey Nicolas Jackson’s return is a boost for Chelsea’s top-five prospects (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images) Newcastle United An already historic campaign can still become a truly exceptional one for Newcastle — and momentum is very much behind them in their pursuit of a top-five finish. Rather than slacken their focus following their Carabao Cup final victory over Liverpool last month, which delivered the club’s first piece of major domestic silverware in 70 years, Eddie Howe’s side have since secured back-to-back victories over Brentford and Leicester, making it four wins in a row in all competitions. Already in fifth, below Chelsea on goal difference alone, Newcastle also have a game in hand on all of their rivals in this scrap for the top five. That match takes place on Wednesday, when Crystal Palace come to Tyneside and, while that will be a difficult assignment — coming up against another in-form side and playing the middle fixture in a run of three matches over six days — it presents a real opportunity, too. Before that, Newcastle welcome Manchester United to St James’ Park on Sunday, looking to secure a first-ever Premier League double over the division’s 13th-placed side (and their first in a league season since 1930-31). Even given the visitors’ impressive defensive performance in a goalless derby against champions City last weekend, Newcastle rightly will be targeting a victory. A minimum of four points, but ideally six, from these two games should cement Newcastle’s position as favourites for one of those other three Champions League spots. Chris Waugh This season has already been a success for Newcastle – Champions League qualification would cap it off beautifully (Stu Forster/Getty Images) Manchester City Ordinarily, you would expect Manchester City to shrug off any issues come the business end of a season. Recovering from a massive midweek Champions League game? Facing a team in form? No problem. But not so in 2024-25. City seemed content with a draw/scared by the idea of Manchester derby defeat against United at Old Trafford last weekend and while they are more stable now than they were during the winter months, there are still plenty of question marks — a major one being how they can cope over these remaining matches without Erling Haaland, who won’t play again this season because of an ankle injury. That means that Saturday’s home game against Crystal Palace is not regarded as confidently as it may have been in previous years. Palace also have a good record against City even when Guardiola’s men were flying high (two wins and two draws in their past six trips to the Etihad Stadium) and something as trivial as the game being the weekend’s early kick-off is another reason for concern. City have only won eight of their last 22 league games and will have to get at least three or four more from those still to play if they want one of the five Champions League spots. Sam Lee City won the Champions League less than two years ago; now they are battling merely to qualify for it (Michael Steele/Getty Images) Aston Villa Regardless of Villa’s run of seven straight wins across three competitions coming to an end away to a formidable Paris Saint-Germain side in the first leg of a Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday, there is a feeling the squad are peaking at the right time. Manager Unai Emery has a clean bill of health, significant strength in depth — he made eight changes to the starting XI for the win against Nottingham Forest last weekend and will likely do similar on Saturday away to already-relegated Southampton — while confidence that his players can make a late run into a second straight Champions League place is strong, given some of their rivals are beginning to fade. Victory over Southampton would set them up perfectly for Newcastle’s visit seven days later — a fixture that’s looking like a real top-five six-pointer. Jacob Tanswell Villa would love to be back in the Champions League next season (Michael Steele/Getty Images) Any other business Newcastle, as winners of the Carabao Cup, already have a spot in the final round of Conference League qualifying guaranteed for next season, though that won’t stop Howe’s side aiming for the Champions League (or even Europa League as a sixth-place finisher). Frankly, there are myriad qualification scenarios at play, with the progress of the sides still competing in the three UEFA competitions and in the FA Cup a key factor regarding how many spots the division eventually gets, and how they are distributed. Things will, however, become clearer as the weeks pass. What we do know is that with Manchester United and Tottenham seemingly destined to finish in the table’s bottom half, both sides have to be all-in on the Europa League, where they have got as far as the ongoing quarter-finals. Winning that competition’s final in the Spanish city of Bilbao on Wednesday, May 21 would not only rescue a largely painful 2024-25 for either club but will also give them a spot in the 2025-26 Champions League, meaning six Premier League sides taking part in it next season.

he has one league goal this season (versus 17th place Alavés) in almost 800 (788) minutes of La Liga football total of 2 topflight goals in 1300 minutes (had another in the Conference League, in 303 minutes, no goals in 208 Copa del Rey minutes, verus 2 shit low division teams, then was completely shut down by Barca in a 5-1 rout loss)

Short…listed: A short recommendation. After adding Finn Jeltsch to your shortlist last week, I fancy adding another right-sided defender. Get used to hearing about Josh Acheampong. When it comes to emerging prospects from the Chelsea academy — of which there are many — there are few more exciting than the 18-year-old defender. Watch him on the pitch and you’ll be taken aback by two things: one, his lanky size and two, his smooth athleticism. Both shouldn’t go together, but they do — he has a tremendous coordination of his lanky limbs that manifests in speed, agility and control. They are also the bedrock of his defensive ability, where his eye-catching length enables him to win duels in the air and on the ground, lurching over the top of strikers to head the ball back or stretching a leg in to jab the ball away. You’ll be even more moved when you see him stride through midfield with the ball. He has that in his locker, taking two or three defenders out of the game at a time. He’s also composed and confident as a manipulator and passer. For such a lanky frame, his ability on the ball is clean and smooth. All in all, Acheampong is a complete package that is very much suited to the modern game. In terms of pathway, he might have to follow the Levi Colwill route. He went on loan to the Championship as an 18-year-old and had an excellent season at Huddersfield Town. It proved to be a launchpad for his career, going on to impress on loan at Brighton & Hove Albion before establishing himself as a regular starter and occasional captain at Chelsea. Acheampong has all the skill and potential to do similar. But, quite frankly, Chelsea should just put their trust in himright now. Give him opportunities, chuck him in when and where needed. If they do that, they'll save themselves a lot of time, hassle, money, and embarrassment.

Sky are reporting Cesc Fàbregas is among the favourites to replace Marco Rose at RB Leipzig. A young manager for a young squad: it fits, but it'd be a shame to see him abandon his Como project so soon.

Chelsea’s Josh Acheampong praised by Enzo Maresca: ‘I’m in love with him’ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6270759/2025/04/10/josh-acheampong-Chelsea-maresca-praise/ Enzo Maresca said he is “in love” with Josh Acheampong after the Chelsea youth-team graduate produced another composed performance in the 3-0 win over Legia Warsaw. Fellow academy graduate Tyrique George scored his first senior goal for Chelsea in the 49th minute of the first leg of their Conference League quarter-final tie in Poland’s capital, and in his post-match press conference Maresca praised the attacker’s contribution. But the 45-year-old head coach reserved his warmest words for Acheampong, who impressed as a right-back, centre-back and deep-lying midfielder at different stages of Thursday’s game. “I’m very happy first of all for the Chelsea academy because it’s one of our boys from the academy so very happy for him,” Maresca said of George. “He was quite good first half, taking responsibility, second half in the middle probably he was a bit better. “But the one that I fell in love with is Josh Acheampong because for me potentially he can be fantastic player, a top player for this club, and for football in general. A good player shows you they can play in different position and do good. He was a full back, good, midfielder, good, central defender, good, so it’s not about ‘I play in that position or in that position’ — if you are a good player you can be in different positions. “To be honest since we started I’m in love with him but (against Legia) he showed that he can be a very good player for this club.” Asked if he will continue to deploy Acheampong in a variety of roles, Maresca added: “He can be good in different positions and the best thing from Josh also is that he’s open, he wants to learn; ‘Ok, full back? No problem, what do I have to do? Perfect, midfielder, what do I have to do?’ “Good players, they want to play in all positions, they want to learn and Josh is doing that since we started. We use him in the way we are using Malo Gusto since we started, (Marc) Cucurella: full back inside, central defender inside and he was very good.”

Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 3 – George’s first goal, Nkunku falters but semi-finals in sight https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6264499/2025/04/10/legia-warsaw-0-Chelsea-3-george-madueke-nkunku/ Chelsea continue to find the Conference League a bit too easy. They made themselves heavy favourites to reach the semi-finals of Europe’s third-tier cup competition with a 3-0 victory at Legia Warsaw, with Enzo Maresca able to manage the minutes of both Cole Palmer and Reece James while also fielding a handful of teenage prospects. One of the latter, Tyrique George, scored his first senior Chelsea goal to get his side up and running in Poland before Noni Madueke scored twice to give his side a comfortable lead ahead of next week’s quarter-final second leg at Stamford Bridge. It wasn’t all plain sailing, however, with Christopher Nkunku missing a second-half penalty to cap a frustrating evening for the French forward. Liam Twomey breaks down the main talking points from Warsaw. George’s moment to savour It was evident from his ecstatic reaction, wheeling and spinning away towards the corner flag in front of the Legia ultras, that George has been eagerly awaiting this moment. George’s first senior Chelsea goal arrived on his 17th senior appearance. More than half of them have come in the UEFA Conference League and he has steadily grown in confidence and stature on this stage — particularly as he has increasingly been deployed in positions that maximise his abilities. Here, he began in his favoured position on the left flank and probed Legia’s low block relentlessly, but Chelsea’s broader caution in possession limited his scope to take risks. His best moment came shortly before the break, running onto a sharp Jadon Sancho pass into a crossing position on the left, with his delivery falling agonisingly short of reaching Palmer. Tyrique George celebrates scoring his first Chelsea goal (Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images) Whenever words of advice were needed for George or fellow Cobham graduate Josh Acheampong, club captain Reece James was ready and willing to provide them, but it was a subtle tactical reshuffle that paved the way for the young winger’s biggest contribution. Palmer’s withdrawal for Madueke shifted Sancho to the left, Nkunku into a deeper role and George into the No 9 position, from where he showed natural goalscoring instincts to react quickest to Kacper Tobiasz parrying James’ shot back into danger. There should be more Chelsea goals in George’s future, but this was a big moment that solidified the hugely encouraging progress he has made in recent months. What You Should Read Next Chelsea winning the Conference League would give them a financial and footballing safety net Winning the Conference League would give Chelsea benefits across the board if they fail to qualify for the Champions League Nkunku’s Chelsea career continues to underwhelm There was a grim sense of inevitability as Nkunku faced down a wall of deafening Legia whistles and prepared to take a penalty kick in the 73rd minute. Southampton and Morecambe are the only two teams to have conceded goals to Nkunku since he last found the net in the Conference League against Heidenheim in November. Whether it be positional discomfort, a crisis of confidence or emotional disengagement in what are surely the final months of his Chelsea career, he has receded almost entirely from view. It was much the same in Warsaw, where he spent the first half either as a bystander to Chelsea’s possession up front or dropping deep to touch the ball in areas Legia did not care about. Maresca attempted to remedy that at half-time by moving him deeper, but Chelsea’s best football was still played by others around Nkunku — namely by George, Sancho and Madueke. So when his moment to make a direct impact from the spot arrived, it was no surprise to see Tobiasz fly to his right and beat away Nkunku’s telegraphed penalty attempt. It mattered not to Chelsea on a night when they still had far too much for Legia, but there will come a time before the end of May when Nkunku hurts his team in a game settled by fine margins — though on the strength of his form in 2025, he might not even make it onto the pitch. Christopher Nkunku had a penalty saved against Legia Warsaw (Julian Finney/Getty Images) Have no fear, Chelsea are here The famous atmosphere of the Marshall Jozef Pilsudski Municipal Stadium was the main topic of Chelsea’s pre-match media duties. Maresca and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall were both asked about it and the Italian even revealed he had shown his players clips of the Legia ultras who stand, often bounce, and always sing behind the goal at the north end of the ground. How would Chelsea deal with it? Ahead of kick-off, the intimidation was ramped up with a giant tifo of a knight using his sword to stab a lion (mercifully, it did not particularly resemble either of the Stamford Bridge mascots, Stamford or Bridget) above the words “FEAR NO ONE”. But once the referee blew his whistle, the match and the atmosphere co-existed in parallel but entirely separate universes. Legia’s ultras maintained a constant rhythm with their volume, but so did Chelsea with their passing, and the ultra-cautious 5-4-1 low block of the home side quickly turned proceedings into a glorified possession drill. Clear chances were few and far between in a forgettable opening period — Maresca’s team have now gone 315 first-half minutes without scoring — but there was even less sense of jeopardy. Home supporters show off an intimidatory banner (Piotr Hawalej/Getty Images) Chelsea did not blink when kicking towards the Legia ultras after the break and were swiftly rewarded for their composure, even after Maresca opted to substitute Palmer at the break as he continues to manage his superstar’s minutes. George followed up James’ low shot to break the deadlock in the 49th minute and Madueke slotted in from Sancho’s low pass shortly before the hour mark, and then just 25 seconds after Nkunku’s missed penalty. After that, the songs, the drums and the whistles continued unabated, but there was a decidedly low-stakes feel as Chelsea continued to dominate without breaking a sweat. At least some of Legia’s fans will have another chance to make themselves heard when they travel to Stamford Bridge next week but, on this evidence, it will not affect anything. What did Enzo Maresca say? “We planned the game to try to have our best players for this game, and to give also a chance to rest players to recover energy, and at the end, I think it was overall a professional performance; a good result. “Probably, in the second half, we were much better compared to the first half for different reasons. “I said many times that we need to learn how to play different kind of games. When you face Tottenham, we said many times that they try to press high, there is more space, but when they (opponents) sit back, you have to be more quick on the ball, you have to try to have a shot from outside the box because they are all inside the box, so if you don’t shoot, it’s difficult. “Then, the first goal, I think, came from wrist shot, you know, a rebound, and Ty (George) was there.” What next for Chelsea? Sunday, April 13: Ipswich (Home), Premier League, 2pm UK, 9am ET

Dean Huijsen interest? Liam Delap’s clause? – Ask Ornstein https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6269833/2025/04/10/liverpool-transfer-latest-dean-huijsen-liam-delap-manchester-united/ Today, we ran the latest edition of our subscriber-exclusive Ask Ornstein Q&A. Once a week for an hour, The Athletic’s subscribers can ask me for my views on anything from the football world. I have pulled together some of my favourite questions and my answers below. Got a question? Join us again next Thursday Harry J. asked: Hi David, Do you know of any names of centre-backs that Liverpool are looking at for the summer? David Ornstein: Hi, Harry. Yes, I now understand that Liverpool are among the clubs with a firm interest in Dean Huijsen. This has been reported elsewhere and is accurate. Chelsea have enquired and Arsenal are in the mix, too. At the moment, those are perhaps the three leading contenders, but not the only ones, with Newcastle and Tottenham also keen. I believe they have all held meetings or conversations with Huijsen’s camp in the past week, but I’m not aware of offers being made just yet, so the direction of travel remains unclear. It has been well documented that Real Madrid held great appeal for Huijsen growing up and they do like him, but I don’t know of them actively working on it and therefore — at the time of writing — it looks most probable he will join another Premier League club. I think there’s a desire on the part of Bournemouth and the player to have this situation decided as soon as possible. The £50m ($64.8m) release clause makes it a clean and potentially quick deal to do, which we’ve seen Liverpool capitalise on in the past. Maybe their consideration is influenced by the lack of developments so far on Ibrahima Konate’s contract situation, and you imagine Huijsen would have a good chance of starting alongside Virgil van Dijk if he was signed. I guess Chelsea could say the same about starting beside Colwill, while you imagine similar amounts of game time would come his way at Newcastle and Tottenham. Arsenal is a bit trickier with Saliba and Gabriel in situ for now, but if Kiwior was to be sold, you could envisage Huijsen playing a lot as part of their centre-back unit and, from what I hear, Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta are huge fans of the Spain international. I’m not sure about other names in relation to Liverpool at the moment, but suddenly from everyone wanting a left centre-back, it’s currently the right side they’re all focusing on. In general terms (I don’t know about Liverpool), Marc Guehi will definitely be one to watch and Trevoh Chalobah as well. Daniel B. asked: “Hi David, thanks for your work. I would like to ask if there is a possibility that Kai Havertz will return in May?” Ornstein: It looks and sounds like his recovery is going well, Daniel, so perhaps they’ll try to reintegrate him before the season finishes if it is safe to do so and there is something to play for. But let’s see — a lot of ‘ifs’ in that! Havertz is currently out of action due to injury (Alex Pantling/Getty Images) Louis F. asked: “Hi David — would you be able to give any insight into Liam Delap’s clause?” Ornstein: The general understanding is a £40million buy-back clause for Manchester City and a £30m release clause for any club in the event of Ipswich being relegated. I don’t think City are looking at re-signing Delap, so if he leaves Portman Road, I would expect the destination to be elsewhere. I reported in November that Chelsea and Manchester United were considering him and that remains the case. But there are plenty of other suitors and no decisions yet, so I wouldn’t expect an outcome for some time yet. Aaron A. asked: “Hello David. As you reported, Viktor Gyokeres featured more prominently on Arsenal’s striker list with the introduction of Andrea Berta, how does that affect Arsenal’s interest in Benjamin Sesko? Is he still regarded as one of the top options? Does Berta rate him?” Ornstein: Hi, Aaron. Arsenal have done a significant amount of work on Sesko over a long period. He is clearly a super talent who is doing really well and I’m sure he will continue to flourish. My colleague James McNicholas detailed recently that Arsenal have some reservations, so perhaps Mikel Arteta and Berta are prioritising others (we’ve reported previously about Isak/Gyokeres). That doesn’t mean to say Sesko is out of the equation, but perhaps Arsenal is not looking like his most probable destination at this moment in time. We know Manchester United rate him highly, too… I seem to recall him being their top — or a prominent — target last summer before he decided to stay at Leipzig and sign a new contract. He is also among the names Chelsea are considering and I’m sure other top clubs are, too. It is not a cheap deal to do, but none of these are and if/when Sesko does move, it seems whoever wins the race will be getting a gem. Liam M. asked: “The talk around Arsenal and left-wingers seems particularly quiet. Do you believe this is one of their priority positions and, if so, who are some of the names the club is pursuing?” Ornstein: A wide attacker has been on the agenda for some time and I do hear left-winger is a position they are considering this summer. We all know Nico Williams is a player Mikel Arteta admires, but that doesn’t mean it will happen. There will be many names in the frame; for example, Arsenal are one of multiple top clubs who like Anthony Gordon. But, again, it doesn’t mean much unless something develops and we have no indications of that yet. Matthew B. asked: “Hi David, any truth in the Oliver Glasner to Spurs rumours?” Ornstein: I don’t have information on this at present, Matthew. That’s not to say they wouldn’t consider Glasner if they are to make a change — I think most clubs would given the work he is doing at Selhurst Park. Palace are trying to renew his contract and until that happens, others may see this as an opportunity to pounce. Clearly, there is uncertainty about Postecoglou’s position amid such a disappointing season for them, although let’s see what happens in the Europa League. Reports have suggested Spurs will look at the likes of Iraola, Silva and Frank if they are to make a change, but there would be other names, too, and if Glasner has entered — or does enter — their thinking, I don’t think that would come as a huge surprise. Glasner has impressed with Crystal Palace (Dan Istitene/Getty Images) Jack B. asked: “Xabi Alonso and his coaching staff were reportedly at the Etihad campus today. Any news on why this is/can you confirm that he is?” Ornstein: No idea but, irrespective, the consensus in football seems to be that if Ancelotti leaves Real Madrid, it is Alonso who is very likely to replace him. Moi M. asked: “Hi David, do you have any names for possible Chelsea wingers?” Ornstein: We’ve reported about Gittens and Garnacho since January and there will be other names under consideration, too. Equally, Chelsea won’t be the only club looking at the players they are. So let’s see — but I am fascinated to watch what happens with Gittens, as he’s a fantastic player and looks to have a very bright future. Matthew S. asked: “Who is most likely to leave Bournemouth this summer? This team gives 2010s Southampton vibes.” Ornstein: Huijsen will go and after that, it will probably be one of Milos Kerkez and Antoine Semenyo; I don’t think they want or need both to depart. Their recruitment has been impressive and it looks set to continue with Eli Junior Kroupi. It will be interesting to see if they get into Europe and how they cope, but on and off the pitch (players, coach, transfers, training ground, multi-club etc), they appear to be building well and in a sustainable way. Arthur M. asked: “Where do you think Evan Ferguson ends up?” Ornstein: Great question, Arthur, and sadly one I don’t have a decent answer to. Apologies! It wouldn’t surprise me if he plays himself back into form and returns to shine for Brighton. There’s an outstanding player there. You just hope he stays injury-free and starts to flourish again. Henry H. asked: “Reality check: Are Spurs really going to be in on some of Europe’s best talent/young talent this summer? The likes of Jamie Gittens, Matheus Cunha and Liam Delap. Will they be able to attract said talent considering their league position and the likely possibility they will not be in Europe?” Ornstein: They’ve done a pretty good job of it so far, Henry! Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, Wilson Odobert and Antonin Kinsky… top signings who are impacting now and will be even better in the future. That’s strong recruitment from Spurs in that area and there’s no reason why it won’t continue.

The Liam Delap transfer auction – featuring Chelsea, Man Utd and half the Premier League https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6266733/2025/04/10/liam-delap-manchester-united-transfer-auction/ Roll up, roll up, for what is shaping up to be one of the bigger auctions in modern years for the Premier League. Exactly how big depends on how many of Liam Delap’s admirers are willing to turn their interest in the Ipswich Town striker into something with greater substance. But The Athletic’s information is that more than half of the Premier League’s clubs are monitoring his availability with a view to capitalising on Ipswich’s near-guaranteed relegation to the Championship. Chelsea and Manchester United’s interest in the 22-year-old is serious. The west London club have committed significant time and effort into pursuing Delap, who was signed at Manchester City by their co-director of recruitment and talent Joe Shields and then coached by Enzo Maresca, then Pep Guardiola’s assistant and now Chelsea manager. They are perhaps best placed for any possible deal, but Chelsea have other options when it comes to signing a striker. Delap also features high on United’s list of summer targets and that stems from a firmly held belief at Old Trafford that he is capable of filling their centre-forward role as an upgrade on Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee. United’s link with Delap goes back to the club’s technical director, Jason Wilcox, who was previously in charge of City’s academy and involved in signing the striker, then 16, from Derby’s youth system in 2019. Six years on, United are keen to make a deal happen. Very keen, in fact. Could Delap replace either Hojlund (left) or Zirkzee at United? (Visionhaus/Getty Images) As it stands, Liverpool and Arsenal – two of the clubs scouring the market for a new forward – are prioritising others ahead of the player whose 12 goals in the Premier League this season represent more than a third of Ipswich’s entire total. Yet there are all sorts of other clubs in England’s top division, outside the top two, who are intrigued by the buyout clause in Delap’s contract, which will come into play as soon as his current club, 12 points behind 17th-placed Wolves, are relegated. The figure is around £30million ($38m) – a number that is affordable to many of his prospective employees. Nor is the interest restricted to English football at a time when so many clubs throughout Europe are looking for a certain type of player — the old-fashioned goalscorer — and discovering that it has become an increasingly rare species in the modern game. Bayern Munich is one possible destination, with head coach Vincent Kompany a fan of Delap. There is interest from Italy, specifically Milan, currently ninth in Serie A but harbouring ambitions to reinvent themselves as a title-chasing club. To add further intrigue, as reported by The Athletic in February, Manchester City have a buyback clause with Ipswich that means, in theory, they could pay £40million to re-sign a player who went in the other direction for half that amount last summer. That, however, seems unlikely for a number of reasons, not least because City already have Erling Haaland and another highly capable forward in the shape of Egypt international Omar Marmoush, signed from Eintracht Frankfurt for £59m in January. Delap in a rare first-team outing for Manchester City in 2022 (Clive Mason/Getty Images) Where does all this lead? As always with modern-day football, the richest and biggest clubs usually get their way. They hold the power, for the most part, and it is fair to assume that some of Delap’s other admirers – even clubs who are in a higher league position than, say, Manchester United – may reluctantly have to let them get on with it. Just because there is a buyout clause in place, don’t automatically assume that Delap will go for a fixed price, either. If two clubs, or more, meet the clause, it is quite possible that follow-up offers will be made and the numbers will start to go up. It is also inevitable that wages will come into it and a significant part of Delap’s thinking will come down to which clubs are offering him the highest salary. Yet there are other considerations, too, such as league positions, the possibility of playing in Europe, challenging for trophies, and Delap’s desire to be a mandatory first-team pick. At Bayern, for example, would he get into the team ahead of Harry Kane? Is there any benefit in staying at Ipswich (unlikely)? Or would any clubs from Saudi Arabia be able to tempt him away (unlikely again)? At Ipswich, they talk about Delap having the self-assurance and work ethic that is almost always found in the elite forwards. Kieran McKenna, Ipswich’s manager, has acknowledged his team are almost certainly going down. Yet McKenna is still regarded within coaching circles as one of the more impressive up-and-coming managers in the business, having previously won back-to-back promotions with Ipswich from League One, and it is clear the former Manchester United coach rates Delap among the Premier League’s outstanding forwards. That alone says something about the player in question. Ipswich manager McKenna rates Delap highly (Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images) Some people might remain sceptical about his ability to make the leap from a bottom-three club to one that has aspirations at the other end of the league table. Why, they might ask, have Liverpool and Arsenal kept their distance if Delap is really so good? It is a valid question, but perhaps it is also worth remembering that a team in Ipswich’s position does not create anything like the number of chances as one higher up the division. On that basis, the clubs with the more serious interest in Delap are entitled to regard his 12 goals at the 31-game mark as an impressive, if not jaw-dropping, return. Only three Premier League strikers have outperformed Delap in surpassing their expected goals tally (he has an xG of 9, including penalties). How Premier League strikers' xG differences compare Player Club Goals xG Diff Chris Wood Nottm Forest 18 11 7 Alexander Isak Newcastle 20 16.3 3.7 Jorgen Strand Larsen Wolves 11 7.8 3.2 Liam Delap Ipswich 12 9 3.1 Rodrigo Muniz Fulham 8 5.5 2.5 Although he has not yet broken into the England senior squad, that is surely only a matter of time. Delap has played for his country at every level from under-16s to the under-21s. He is capable of scoring all sorts of goals — headers, penalty-box finishes, long-range shooting — and has benefited from hours on the training ground at Ipswich with the coach, Lee Grant, who specialises with the team’s attacking players and was once a team-mate of Delap’s father, Rory, at Stoke City. Grant has worked closely with Delap on every aspect of his performance, including the right way to channel his physicality and unsettle opponents with his powerful build. He has the second-highest number of carries among strikers in the Premier League this season (72) and his average carry distance of 7.3 metres is the highest of any centre-forward in the league. Even when he does not score, his combative streak makes him such a difficult opponent that it creates space for others. The end result is a player who has established himself as a proven Premier League forward at an age when there is still scope for considerable improvement. That, in turn, has made Delap the subject of inquiries from a cluster of clubs trying to get ahead with their summer business and understand, realistically, what chance they have of becoming his next employer. How many exactly? Well, perhaps it is easier to point out which clubs do not appear to have him in their thoughts. Bournemouth, with Evanilson leading their attack, are one. Liverpool and Arsenal seem to be looking elsewhere for the time being, whereas Leicester City and Southampton — who were interested in signing Delap last summer, and at one point had him at their Staplewood training ground — are automatically out of the picture now they, like Ipswich, are gearing up for a return to the Championship. That apart, however, Delap has admirers among all the English clubs who could realistically afford him. Many have registered that interest already. The race is on and Delap will go into the summer as the hottest property on the market.

fuck 1 1 Yoro

Betis is also very good I am very worried with either one

no not a cult not at all

1 1 spuds drew level

Onana howler Matic has to be loving it

1 nil Lyon

damn shame Malick Fofana (brilliant teen left winger, well was a teen , turned 20yo 10 days ago) hurt his knee really wanted to watch him v Manure

nil 1 Frankfurt