Vesper

They did.

No, no he isn't.

£35.5m for Hato is super fucking business 💪🏽

Chelsea agree £35.5m deal for Ajax’s Jorrel Hato and want RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons Hato, 19, set to sign seven-year deal at Stamford Bridge Dutch forward Simons could cost up to €70m https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jul/29/Chelsea-35m-deal-for-ajax-jorrel-hato-rb-leipzig-xavi-simons-transfer Chelsea have agreed to pay an initial €40m (£35.5m) for Jorrel Hato, with the teenage Ajax defender set to sign a seven-year contract at Stamford Bridge having already agreed personal terms. The Netherlands defender is due to fly to London for his medical in the coming days after Chelsea finalised the terms of the deal, which it is understood includes significant add-ons. The 19-year-old has made more than 100 appearances for Ajax’s first team and is capable of playing as a left-back or in central defence. He fits Chelsea’s policy of signing promising young players on long-term deals. Hato was not included in Ajax’s squad for pre-season competition the Como Cup on Sunday in anticipation of his impending move to Chelsea. In 2023 he became the youngest player to captain Ajax aged 17 and made his senior international debut a few weeks later. He is regarded as one of Europe’s brightest prospects and was part of the Netherlands Under-21 side that lost to England in the semi-finals of the European Championship in Slovakia last month. He will become Chelsea’s seventh signing of the summer after the arrivals of Liam Delap, João Pedro, Jamie Gittens, Estêvão, Dário Essugo and Mamadou Sarr. They are also in talks with RB Leipzig over a move for Xavi Simons, with the Netherlands forward thought to be valued at around €70m. The 22-year-old, who is capable of playing in several attacking roles, joined Leipzig from Paris Saint-Germain in January for €50m after two successful loan spells. Simons has also attracted interest from Bayern Munich but is thought to prefer a move to the Premier League. Chelsea have already sanctioned the departures of Kepa Arrizabalaga, Noni Madueke and Djordje Petrovic, while João Félix joined the Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr on Tuesday after a £44m deal was agreed.

What role would Hato play for Chelsea? Marc Cucurella led the Chelsea squad in minutes played across all competitions last season, and the lack of a natural alternative to him on the left side of defence exposes a thinner area of Enzo Maresca’s expensively assembled squad. Malo Gusto has been deployed at left-back, but is more comfortable on the right. Veiga was slated to be Cucurella’s long-term understudy, but struggled to win Maresca’s trust before pushing to go on loan to Juventus in January. With the Portugal international expected to depart permanently this summer, there is plenty of space for Hato to walk into. Despite being a very different physical profile from Cucurella (he stands at 6ft/182cm tall), Hato also possesses a remarkable number of similar qualities. As a left-back, he can overlap into crossing areas, invert into midfield to help his team control the middle of the pitch, or drive into the final third, where he is a more polished finisher than most defenders. Hato can also provide a quality option at centre-back. His versatility is impressive, and he has registered 100 professional appearances despite only turning 19 in March. Liam Twomey

How Liverpool can afford to buy Alexander Isak even after committing over £500m in two months https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6520277/2025/07/29/liverpool-afford-alexander-isak-transfer/ Liverpool’s largesse this summer has taken plenty aback, not least as it arrives following a dominant domestic showing last season. Having won the Premier League title in Arne Slot’s first year in the Anfield dugout, there’s been little suggestion of the club resting on their laurels. Wider dominance is the clear and stated aim, with heady transfer spending to go with tying down top goalscorer Mohamed Salah and captain Virgil van Dijk to contract extensions to replace their deals that were going to expire this summer. Including appropriate estimated fees and levies, alongside the £25million signing of Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia, who officially joined on July 1 after the deal was done last August, Liverpool’s spend in the past two months sits north of £300m ($400m). Even in the madcap world of modern-day transfers, that’s a huge sum. Using accounting years, only two clubs have previously exceeded that mark in single-season spending: Chelsea, twice, in 2022-23 and 2023-24, and Manchester City in 2017-18. Signing Alexander Isak too would take Liverpool beyond the £400m barrier, a realm only Chelsea have dared venture into. The latter have become almost synonymous with, shall we say, thinking outside the box; in each of the two seasons referenced, they avoided breaching Premier League profit and sustainability rules (PSR) through selling assets to fellow companies within the broader ownership group. Liverpool haven’t employed such tactics, so there’s naturally been plenty of wondering how exactly they can afford to do what they’re doing. Their owners at Fenway Sports Group (FSG) have long fielded accusations of frugality during their time at Anfield, pouring in money at a rate well below the level of peers. Across almost 14 years of ownership to the end of May last year, FSG provided £263.6m in funding to the club; Chelsea received £315m from their owners in 2023-24 alone. What’s more, much of FSG’s funding has been directed toward infrastructure projects, rather than squad improvements. To sign Isak, Liverpool will have to part with the third-highest fee ever paid for a footballer. Newcastle United would like conversations to start at about £150m for their Swedish striker, which might not prove attainable given he wants to leave and the list of realistic suitors is short. Yet even the £120m starting point Liverpool have previously communicated they are willing to make a deal at would only trail Paris Saint-Germain’s signings of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe when it comes to football’s richest transfers. To understand how Liverpool buying Isak is even a possibility, never mind his most realistic option from this vantage point, requires looking both forwards and backwards, as well as considering PSR and cash limits which, as we’ll see, can be very different things. What is their PSR position? Even before looking at their activity to date, it’s worth detailing where Liverpool stood at the onset of the summer. In 2023-24, they recorded a £57.1m pre-tax loss, the worst financial result in the club’s history. Yet, as The Athletic detailed in March, the big deficit was an exception: we projected Liverpool would be comfortably profitable last season. Premier League PSR is assessed over a rolling three-year period, meaning strong performance in a preceding financial year can set a club up nicely to spend in the following one. As with any club, Liverpool’s PSR loss figure is lower than their pre-tax one, as clubs can remove ‘allowable’ costs such as spending on youth development, or the club’s women’s team. In Liverpool’s case, those allowable costs are sizeable. We estimate they exceed £40m per season. In other words, that £57.1m pre-tax loss was far smaller within Liverpool’s PSR calculation. Correspondingly, the pre-tax profit we were already projecting for Liverpool in 2024-25 represents an even greater PSR profit. Across the past two seasons, the club’s combined PSR result is expected to be highly profitable — opening the door for them to post a large loss in 2025-26, if they chose to, while still remaining within the rules. How do they have so much cash? Separate to PSR is Liverpool’s cash position, which can be an obvious but underreported impediment to a club being active in the transfer market. FSG have long been keen to manage Liverpool sustainably, and that’s borne out in the strong cash position the club appears to have entered the summer with. To the end of the 2023-24 season, Liverpool owed a net £69.9m in transfer fees to other clubs, by far the lowest transfer debt of the Premier League’s ‘big six’ and pretty much middling across the division. That figure only fell last season, leaving Liverpool without large historic commitments hampering their ability to spend now. Compare that with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s March lamentation about Manchester United’s transfer debt — £271.6m at the end of last season, and even higher now — and you get a sense of how Liverpool are less restrained than others. What You Should Read Next The BookKeeper – Exploring Liverpool’s finances, England’s most profitable club In-depth analysis of Liverpool's economic situation from The Athletic's new specialist football finance writer Completion of works on the Anfield Road End in early 2024 brought an end to a significant period of infrastructure investment, releasing the club from sizeable cash commitments. Further ensuring plenty of cash to be tapped was the extension of a revolving credit facility (RCF) from £200m to £350m in September 2024. At the end of May that year, only £116m of the RCF had been drawn down. All of this is without getting into the fact Liverpool enjoyed record revenues in 2024-25, projected at over £700m, ones which are only expected to grow further this season. How much have Liverpool spent so far? Having established Liverpool’s strong PSR and cash positions, we can move onto determining just how much they’ve spent to date. Or, more pertinently, how much they’ve committed to in total spending. On transfer fees, agent fees and transfer levies, Liverpool’s estimated spend on Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong and Mamardashvili totals £314m. We don’t know the terms of when the various fees will be paid, but it seems a safe bet Liverpool’s transfer debt has jumped from lowly beginnings. Transfer fees tend to be widely reported at this level, but reliable information on how much players are paid is difficult to come by, and not only because there’s often little benefit to the involved parties in disclosing such figures. Clubs increasingly reward players with an array of performance bonuses which, if achieved, can mean the player’s actual annual wage strays far from the basic salary which might have leaked out back when they signed. Taking that crevasse-sized caveat into account, we’re necessarily limited in how accurately we can project what Liverpool have committed to in terms of paying their new recruits over their respective contracts, all of which run for a minimum of five years. Even so, estimates by The Athletic put the sum committed to those five new signings in excess of £250m over their contracts. Add that to the transfer fees above and we arrive at a commitment from Liverpool this summer to spend well in excess of half a billion pounds on new players. Even for a club with £700m-plus revenues, that’s a lot, especially when coupled with a wage bill which only trails Manchester City’s in England. How can they afford Isak too? As we’ve detailed, Liverpool have plenty of PSR headroom in 2025-26, and could stomach a big loss if they fancied it. The problem with that tactic is it does require mitigation further down the line. Come the 2027-28 season, the profit of last year falls off Liverpool’s calculation. That’s without getting into the intricacies of UEFA’s squad cost ratio (SCR), a measure which limits the proportion of income clubs can spent on transfer fees, wages and agent costs. Notably, income for SCR purposes includes a club’s profit on player sales (albeit a pro-rated version, which we won’t get into here). It is player sales which now hold the key to much of Liverpool’s financial strategy. Such sales will boost the bottom line in the current season, aiding both domestic and European PSR, as well as provide a cash boost and limit transfer debt from soaring too high. In fact, remarkable as it may seem, player sales in this window could prove enough to offset the in-year impact of Liverpool’s huge spending on incomings. They have probably already done so. To understand how that can possibly be the case, consider the sale of Luis Diaz to Bayern Munich. Diaz is to join the German champions for €75m (£65.6m; $87.4m). He arrived on Merseyside three and a half years ago for a fee which eventually saw £43m flow from Liverpool to Porto. That fee was expensed (amortised) across Diaz’s five-and-a-half-year contract, meaning his book value at the point of sale equated to roughly 36 per cent (two years out of five and a half) of the total fee spent on him. After adding on assumed agent fees and levies, that left Diaz’s book value at around £17.5m. Liverpool are selling him for £65.6m, thus crystallising a £48.1m profit — one which they book immediately into their 2025-26 accounts. The same is true of some far simpler sales. Pretty much all of the £30m generated from Jarell Quansah’s move to Bayer Leverkusen last month was also booked immediately as profit, likewise £8.4m received from Real Madrid for Trent Alexander-Arnold and £3m from West Bromwich Albion for Nat Phillips. A further £10m in profit came from selling Caoimhin Kelleher to Brentford. In all Liverpool have banked an estimated £99.5m profit on player sales already this summer. So Liverpool are in profit this summer? That £99.5m is just the transfer fees. The wages of those outgoings aren’t well-known but will all add up. Alexander-Arnold, for example, earned around £200,000 per week before bonuses, costing Liverpool a minimum £12m per year after employment taxes. While sales are booked immediately, transfer fees are spread across contracts. Liverpool’s May 31 accounting date offers a further disconnect, as player contracts run to 30 June, meaning a month’s worth of transfer fee at the end of a player’s contract will fall into the accounting period ostensibly covering the season after they’ve left the club. That has the corresponding impact of lowering the immediate hit. Ekitike, announced on July 23, will see just over 10 months of his fee and wages accounted for in 2025-26; it would have been 11 months if Liverpool’s financial year ran to the end of June. It might sound inconsequential, but at the level of fees involved here it makes a difference. On amortisation costs alone, we estimate Liverpool’s quintuple of new faces will hit the 2025-26 books to the tune of £56.3m. In other words, on fees, the combined £99.5m in player profits this summer comfortably outstrip this year’s amortisation cost stemming from new signings. That ignores wages, and Liverpool are paying big amounts to their new recruits, particularly Ekitike and Wirtz. Yet they’ve also shifted a chunk off the wage bill, principally through the departures of Alexander-Arnold and Diaz. Exact amounts are unknown but this summer’s sales could reasonably total around £25m in annual wages saved. The wages added via the new signings easily outweigh that sum but, as we’ve seen, player sales to date cover the new amortisation costs with over £40m left to play with. Our estimate of the total 2025-26 cost of Liverpool’s five new signings, across both fees and wages, is a little over £100m. That’s just a smidge more than the player profits Liverpool have generated this summer. Add in the wage savings and, as ludicrous as it may sound, Liverpool’s transfer activity has generated a profit in 2025-26. What would signing Isak mean for Liverpool’s future windows and current big-earners? Understand all that and you go a long way to understanding how, at least in the here and now, signing Isak even for the mooted £150m transfer fee (2025-26 amortisation after assorted costs: £28.6m) and £300,000 per week wage (2025-26 salary cost: £14.8m) wouldn’t blow Liverpool’s current finances to smithereens. Far from it. Signing Isak would add an estimated £43.4m in costs this year, but by our estimate that would only just tip the impact of this summer’s transfer dealings into a position of adding costs comparative to 2024-25. Owing to the timing of his signing, Isak’s annual cost would then increase to around £53m from next season. That highlights a rather glaring omission in all this. So far, we’ve only really considered 2025-26. Sales made this summer have generated £99.5m in profit but will garner precisely nothing next year; meanwhile, the new signings continue to cost the club a huge annual sum. Twelve months of costs for each of their new recruits will hit Liverpool’s books in 2026-27, and for several years after. We estimate business to date has loaded £109m onto Liverpool’s annual costs — a figure which rises to £162m if Isak is signed on a deal that would ultimately cost Liverpool over £250m across his time at Anfield. Predicting where Liverpool’s wider finances will go in the future is a fool’s errand, not least those elements linked to on-field performance. But by any stretch, an extra £109m-162m in annual costs, recurring for several years, is a big bill to pay. We outlined our estimation Liverpool’s business to date has committed them to well over half a billion in spending over the next five or six years; stick on a further £250m-plus for Isak and you’re at a sum in the region of £840m. That’s been offset by £99.5m in sales profits so far, alongside whatever wages have departed. There’s also the point that, in the case of Diaz, Liverpool benefit from not having to amortise his fee now he’s gone (the other departures had negligible amortisation costs). That’s around a further £9m saving on last year. All told, outgoings have probably generated income or produced cost savings this coming season totalling £136m, while adding the signing of Isak to existing business would see a total increase in this season’s costs of around £144m. In other words, the net impact of the summer’s activity would be to add just an extra £8m in costs in 2025-26. Isak would add a heavy future burden but Liverpool can afford him this summer (Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images) That does also ignore any impact from those new contracts handed to Van Dijk and Salah. Those two could become of greater significance to the matters of today in two years’ time. Their new contracts expire in 2027 and, while its unknown if they’ll stay beyond then, it’s a distinct possibility they won’t. Given the size of their pay packets, that would provide a significant reduction in Liverpool’s wage bill — thus helping to offset the costs this summer’s new signings are continuing to incur. That’s a while off, albeit Liverpool will already be thinking about how they foot the long-term costs they’re currently committing themselves to. As we’ve seen, remarkable as it may appear, this summer’s activity so far has actually generated a net profit in the club’s 2025-26 financial year. Any more big sales — like, for example, Darwin Nunez — would only further improve the bottom line. The potential problem comes later, when more sales are needed or other measures, like generating higher revenues or cutting costs, have to be undertaken. Liverpool’s summer is signing them up to a hefty future commitment, though in the here and now their finances continue to look rosy. That will remain the case even if they take the plunge and make Isak the most expensive player in English football history.

Chelsea agree deal to sell defender Ishe Samuels-Smith to Strasbourg https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6523605/2025/07/29/Chelsea-ishe-samuels-smith-strasbourg/ Chelsea have agreed a deal to sell under-21 defender Ishe Samuels-Smith to Strasbourg for an undisclosed fee. Samuels-Smith went to the French club for talks earlier this month and has now joined on a permanent basis. The 19-year-old was signed from Everton in 2023 for £4million but despite being highly rated at the club, did not make an appearance for the senior side. His expected chances of playing next season would be further reduced with Chelsea closing in on the signing Jorrel Hato from Ajax for a fee in excess of £40million. The Netherlands international will be primarily used at left back, which is where Samuels-Smith plays. Samuels-Smith, who signed a new deal at Stamford Bridge in April until 2031, is the latest player from Chelsea to go to Strasbourg, who are both owned by parent company BlueCo, this summer. Strasbourg bought midfielder Mathis Amougou for an undisclosed fee, while Mamadou Sarr and Mike Penders have joined on a season-long loan. Kendry Paez is also expected to move there on loan for the 2025-26 campaign.

and for us to pay half his wages

Romano should post it!!! LOLOLOLOL

The Issue ALEJANDRO GARNACHO SHOULD NEVER PLAY FOR Chelsea FOOTBALL CLUB. THE FANS DESERVE BETTER. Chelsea should avoid signing Alejandro Garnacho at all costs. While he's hyped as a future star, his 2024/25 season was anything but convincing—6 goals and 2 assists in 36 Premier League games is mediocre output for a winger playing regular minutes, especially when many of those contributions came in less meaningful fixtures. He had 0.7 succesful dribbles completed p90 which is downright terrible. He also missed 14 big chances. Garnacho went missing in key matches, lacked consistency, and too often looked like a YouTube highlight player rather than someone who could carry attacking responsibility at a top club. Worse still, Garnacho brings off-pitch drama that Chelsea do not need. His social media antics—liking posts criticizing his own manager, triggering internal investigations, and deactivating his X account—are the actions of someone who hasn’t matured professionally. His brother and agent, Roberto Garnacho, has only poured fuel on the fire: from publicly lashing out at Manchester United’s management to calling out Chelsea star Cole Palmer online. When fans criticize Garnacho, Roberto jumps into the replies with petty, defensive digs, creating unnecessary distractions and controversy. That kind of circus doesn't belong at a club trying to rebuild. And Chelsea already have a better solution: they’ve signed Jamie Bynoe-Gittens from Borussia Dortmund—a talented, grounded winger with high upside and none of the baggage. Gittens brings Bundesliga experience, end product, and coachability, and he arrives without a trail of tabloid headlines or a Twitter-warrior brother. In short, Garnacho may have raw talent, but his inconsistent performances, ego issues, and disruptive entourage make him a massive liability. Chelsea should be building a disciplined, focused team—not handing the keys to a teenage diva and his mouthy brother.

Israel committing genocide in Gaza, say Israel-based human rights groups Reports detailing intentional targeting of Palestinians as a group, and systemic destruction of Palestinian society, add to pressure for action https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/28/israel-committing-genocide-in-gaza-say-israel-based-human-rights-groups Two leading human rights organisations based in Israel, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, say Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the country’s western allies have a legal and moral duty to stop it. In reports published on Monday, the two groups said Israel had targeted civilians in Gaza only because of their identity as Palestinians over nearly two years of war, causing severe and in some cases irreparable damage to Palestinian society. A number of international and Palestinian groups have already described the war as genocidal, but reports from two of Israel-Palestine’s most respected human rights organisations, who have for decades documented systemic abuses, is likely to add to pressure for action. The reports detailed crimes including the killing of tens of thousands of women, children and elderly people, mass forced displacement and starvation, and the destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure that have deprived Palestinians of healthcare, education and other basic rights. “What we see is a clear, intentional attack on civilians in order to destroy a group,” said Yuli Novak, the director of B’Tselem, calling for urgent action. “I think every human being has to ask himself: what do you do in the face of genocide?” It is vital to recognise that a genocide is under way even without a ruling in the case before the international court of justice, she said. “Genocide is not just a legal crime. It’s a social and political phenomenon.” Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) focuses in its report on a detailed chronological account of the assault on Gaza’s health system, with many details documented directly by the group’s own team, which worked regularly in Gaza before 7 October 2023. The destruction of the healthcare system alone makes the war genocidal under article 2c of the genocide convention, which prohibits deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group “in whole or part”, said its director, Guy Shalev. “You don’t have to have all five articles of the genocide convention to be fulfilled in order for something to be genocide,” he said, although the report also details other genocidal aspects of Israel’s war. snip

3 month plus old news

years? days

he was weak in the FCWC

what the fuckery!!!!!!

Newcastle United https://thedailybriefing.io/i/169406914/newcastle-united Newcastle are in contact with Benjamin Šeško's camp but have not reached any agreement. RB Leipzig have yet to receive a formal offer, and any potential deal may hinge on the future of Alexander Isak. (Florian Plettenberg) Eddie Howe on chances for Isak to join Newcastle squad on tour next week: “No, no chance”. Yoane Wissa is still pushing for a move to Newcastle, but Brentford have told the club to pay over £50m or back off. Wissa feels the club has broken a verbal agreement from last year, which allowed him to leave for £26m this summer. (Ben Jacobs)

England’s Lucy Bronze says she played in Euros with fractured leg: ‘It’s painful but I’m going to party’ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6518788/2025/07/27/england-women-euros-bronze-injury-leg/ England defender Lucy Bronze says that she played the entirety of the Women’s European Championship tournament with a fractured tibia in her left leg. The 33-year-old played in all six of England’s matches in a successful Euro campaign, including playing 105 minutes in the final against Spain, which England won via a penalty shootout. However, the Chelsea defender, who was taken off at half-time of extra-time with a knee injury, revealed after the final whistle that she had entered the tournament with an injury. What You Should Read Next England 1-1 Spain AET (3-1 on pens): Wiegman gets her calls right as Lionesses win Euro 2025 Michael Cox, Laia Cervello Herrero and Tamerra Griffin analyse the main talking points of the 2025 UEFA Women's Championship final Speaking to BBC Sport after the win, she said: “I’ve played the whole tournament with a fractured tibia, but nobody knew, and I’ve hurt my knee today on my other leg. “Which is why the girls gave me a lot of love after the Sweden game because I’ve been in a lot of pain. If that is what it takes to play for England, that is what I’ll do. It’s very painful, but I’m going to party.” Bronze, who was playing in her seventh major tournament with England, had several key moments during Euro 2025, including a pivotal penalty during the shootout victory over Sweden on July 17. The defender celebrated with her team-mates with a visible bandage on her right knee and was seen struggling to walk during post-match jubilation. The Euros victory was Bronze’s 26th career trophy. “We never lost belief in ourselves,” she added. “There was a lot of noise on the outside, but we stuck together. To go to extra time back to back to back is incredible. We give each other energy and what we’ve done today is incredible. “I don’t think we were thinking too much about the World Cup (final defeat). It always goes that they win, then we win, then they win, so it was our turn today. “To win on penalties is an amazing feeling, but to lose on penalties is the worst feeling. They (Spain) are great players and they’ve achieved a lot. It wasn’t meant for them today, it was meant for England.”

Meet Jorrel Hato, the Ajax teenager on cusp of Chelsea move: ‘I want to achieve big things’ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6519740/2025/07/28/jorrel-hato-Chelsea-transfer-interview/ Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared on The Athletic in September 2024. Jorrel Hato might be young, but the Dutch centre-back is used to taking responsibility. The evening before he spoke to The Athletic in April 2024 — back when Hato was 18 — 36-time Eredivisie champions Ajax conceded a stoppage-time equaliser in a 1-1 home draw against mid-table Go Ahead Eagles. It was not Hato’s fault — goalkeeper Diant Ramaj dropped a simple cross, and after sprinting back to the goal line, Hato couldn’t quite block the shot — yet rewatching footage in a building overlooking the Ajax academy pitches, he blamed himself anyway. “I watched it back already,” he said at the time, revealing later he does video work each week with the squad’s oldest player, 40-year-old reserve goalkeeper Remko Pasveer. “I dropped backwards because there was danger, the ball came onto my hips… but ah, it was an awkward height. I touched it, but it wasn’t enough.” A bridge connects the academy to the Amsterdam club’s 55,000-capacity Johan Cruyff Arena, and staff emphasise the metaphorical importance of walking over it to join the first team. Compared to the previous generation of Ajax academy talents, such as Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt, the now 19-year-old crossed into a more challenging situation. In the 2023-24 season, the club came fifth in the Eredivisie table, their worst finish since the 1990s, and because Ajax struggle financially without the Champions League, doing much better domestically is imperative. Hato, rather than settling into a winning team, instantly had to become part of a transformation. “I know about the players who get into the first team when they’re 17 or 18 and play in an Ajax team that was dominating the league and going far in Europe,” he said of his predecessors. “It’s a different situation for me. I have more responsibility than those players. So it’s different, and it is difficult, but I’m doing it well.” Already evident is a preternatural calmness on the ball, a characteristic of Ajax academy defenders, and allied with his passing range and physical traits, Hato looks like one of the most talented young centre-backs in Europe. EA Sports FC 24 gave him the highest potential rating among the under-21 centre-backs in the video game. He has lived up to that billing. In the 2023-24 Eredivisie season, he completed the third-most passes and had the highest completion percentage. In November, at 17 years and eight months, he became the youngest player to captain Ajax. A week later, he replaced Virgil van Dijk at half-time of a European Championship qualifier against Gibraltar, becoming the second-youngest player to represent the Netherlands since 1931, behind De Ligt. With Ajax needing to make sales to fund incoming transfers in summer 2024, Europe’s biggest clubs were on notice, but Hato was at the heart of the project to rebuild the club. He signed a new contract in March 2024 and reaffirmed in June 2024 that he was staying. Despite needing to facilitate up to 10 departures during the window, Ajax were clear: Hato was not for sale. It worked out for them, as they finished second in the Eredivisie, just a point behind winners PSV. Hato played 31 games in the league, starting 30 of them. “This season was… let’s say it was a learning season for all of us,” he said of the 2023-24 campaign. “But even more so for me as an 18-year-old guy. I can take these learnings in the future. I want to achieve more, to achieve big things with Ajax: championships, playing in Europe, being at the highest levels of the Champions League. “It’s not rare that people are going to speculate or think I’ll go to another club, but for me, it was always, ‘I want to stay at Ajax and achieve things’.” Of course, potential bidders still kept tabs. It now looks as though he will move to Chelsea this summer, with the west London club closing in on a deal to sign him. Moving to the capital will see Hato share a city with his idol. “Coaches told me that I always needed to look up to Virgil van Dijk, but when I played in the under-18s, I always looked up to Jurrien Timber,” Hato said. “I played with him for six months before he left, and I learned so much from him. When I came into the first team, he was my mentor. I love his playing style, his calmness on the ball. And he is just a great defender in defending terms.” When Timber was signed by Arsenal in the summer of 2023, the qualities that attracted manager Mikel Arteta included his bravery and ability in possession — not only passing but also carrying. Those traits are evident now in his younger counterpart. Sitting with The Athletic, Hato watches a clip (embedded below) of himself dribbling through opponents Napoli in a UEFA Youth League game in 2022. “If you play at the Ajax academy, you always get that bravery the coaches tell you to play with,” Hato says. “It’s one of my qualities to dribble past players and create a chance. There needs to be space to do it, but if there is space, I will always try to look forward for that.” Does he do it naturally, or was it coached into him? “A little bit of both,” he replies. “I have it naturally, but coaches tell me that I can do it more often.” One of those coaches was Dolf Roks, a former head of academy at Sparta Rotterdam, Hato’s first professional club, before he left at 12 years old to join Ajax. Roks also now coaches in their youth setup. Hato helped Ajax improve last season (Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images) “There was always the feeling that he had more (bravery) than he’d show us,” Roks says. “There was one game where he was really aggressive, where he was really going for the ball, and I told him, ‘That’s what you have to do’. He was comfortable, so we had to make him show us what he could really do.” Hato’s football journey began in the shadow of Rotterdam’s De Kuip stadium, home of Ajax’s bitter rivals Feyenoord. His family were Feyenoord fans and his first football involvement came when his father, a plasterer, took him down to local team De Zwervers, who were effectively situated at the southern end of the Eredivisie side’s training pitches. In his first year, he played on the left wing for their top youth team. “He was so easy on the ball,” said Michel Koks, the club’s president. “All the kids only want to dribble and never pass, but he’d be happy to do it. He’d always stand slightly away, to the left or the right, and see where the space is. That’s how you knew, at five years old, that he was going to be a good footballer.” He was also a terrible loser. “He’d always want to be alone,” said Koks, remembering how Hato would walk behind the goal at the far end of the pitch. “He just could not have it when the people around him were smiling after a loss. It wasn’t what he wanted.” “I remember,” said Hato, smiling at the memory. “When I was very young, I’d always cry when I lost. My father would be upset at me for that. But the only thing that would make it better was the next win.” Despite being under their noses, Hato was ignored by Feyenoord. Instead, he joined neighbours Sparta Rotterdam before switching to Ajax, enticed by their academy’s historic success. According to internal data, 84 per cent of players who appear for the Amsterdam side at under-17s level will have some sort of professional career in the game. Hato’s brother, Elgyn, made the same move from Sparta to Ajax’s under-14s last year. “They (Feyenoord) never wanted me, but it’s OK,” Hato said. “I play at Ajax, and I play in the first team. Of course, when you grow up in Rotterdam, you grow up as a Feyenoord kid. But if a club like Ajax comes, you don’t say no.” Part of the rivalry between Feyenoord and Ajax is down to the personalities of their respective cities. Rotterdammers perceive themselves to be industrious and down-to-earth, and consider Amsterdammers privileged and over-stylised. Ajax fans, for their part, say this feeling is mired in jealousy towards their status as the Netherlands’ most successful club. When he spoke to The Athletic, Hato still lived in Rotterdam, close to De Kuip, and drove just over an hour north to Ajax’s training complex each day. It is fitting, in a way, a player who, in his footballing traits, is now half-Rotterdam, half-Amsterdam. “The Feyenoord slogan is ‘geen woorden maar daden’ (actions rather than words),” said Koks. “It comes from the harbour (it is a major port city), a long time ago. It’s the difference between the two cities, and you can see it in him. He’s working hard, he knows where he comes from, but now he’s a stylish player, developing a little bit more show.” Coaches at Ajax were aware last year that Hato was not yet physically mature, which they think could enable him to improve even further once that happens. “I worked with (73-cap Dutch international and Ajax great) Frank Rijkaard, and Jorrel has the same attitude,” said Roks. “But also, at 18 years old, he had the same sense of needing to grow into his body, to get in tune with it. And when you see his body, it is clear that in two years, he will be more stable when he’s more used to his physique. Hato was not targeted by Feyenoord despite coming from Rotterdam (Maurice van Steen/ANP/AFP via Getty Images) “He’s fast. I don’t know if people recognise how fast he is, but reaching the next level in duels is very hard. He’s got to say, ‘It’s my ball, it’s for me’. Then, it’s doing what he’s already shown he can — to have the ball, to be brave and dribble in, and to play balls beyond the back line.” Last season, he played the 12th-most passes into the final third across the entire Eredivisie. The challenge now is for him to get nearer the top of the list in that metric. Two days after he spoke to The Athletic in April 2024, Ajax lost 6-0 to Feyenoord at De Kuip. It is their heaviest defeat in the match known as De Klassieker, and their largest in any match for 97 years. Given a torrid time at left-back by now-Brighton player Yankuba Minteh, this was Hato’s toughest day as a professional. That he will rebound, however, seems clear. “I always go back to my standards,” said Hato. “It’s just playing football, doing my thing, and not letting the outside noise affect your skills. In the academy, we heard about (basketball icon) Michael Jordan, saying that he missed 1,200 free throws, and that is why he succeeded. “I’m not afraid to make mistakes. Everyone makes them. It’s not fun or good, but life goes on — and so you learn from them.”

Chelsea’s Mike Penders joins Strasbourg on loan https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6508994/2025/07/28/mike-penders-strasbourg-Chelsea/ Chelsea goalkeeper Mike Penders has joined sister club Strasbourg on loan for the season. The Athletic reported on July 22 that Penders was set to join Strasbourg, alongside defender Mamadou Sarr, who arrived at Chelsea from the French side earlier this summer. The Premier League side agreed a deal in advance to sign Penders from Genk last summer, with the 19-year-old joining up with his new side ahead of the Club World Cup campaign in the United States. He did not play a minute, acting as third choice behind Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen. Penders is expected to become Strasbourg’s No 1 for the 2025-26 campaign, effectively replacing Djordje Petrovic, who spent last season on loan with Liam Rosenior’s side from Chelsea before joining Bournemouth permanently earlier this month. What You Should Read Next Mike Penders will join Chelsea in the summer – is he ready for the Premier League? Goalkeeper Mike Penders is 19 and has only just broken into the first-team at Genk Penders, who stands at 6ft 7in (200cm), began last season as first choice for the Genk Under-21s, who play in the Belgian second tier, before becoming the first-team goalkeeper in January. He ended the season with 25 first-team appearances. The Belgian has also represented his country at youth level, playing up to under-19s. Strasbourg are also controlled by BlueCo, the holding company which owns Chelsea. FIFA rules permit only three players be loaned between clubs with such arrangements. Rosenior’s side will play Conference League football next season after finishing seventh in 2024-25. Petrovic was voted as their player of the season after keeping 10 clean sheets in 31 Ligue 1 appearances.

Analysis Why are all the strikers massive again? Detailing the reasons for and ramifications of the jumbo-sized centre-forward trend https://scoutedftbl.com/why-all-the-strikers-massive-again/ The evolution of the 21st-century striker is documented, unsurprisingly, in books about tactics. In The Mixer, Michael Cox writes that the old-school Premier League archetype of the centre-forward, “a tall, strong number-9 who remained in the penalty box and thrived on crosses”, eventually gave way to technical, hybrid strikers like Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tévez, Robin van Persie, Harry Kane, and even false nines like Roberto Firmino, who represented the antithesis to centre-forward orthodoxy. Similarly, in Inverting the Pyramid, Jonathan Wilson describes how pure ”poachers” in the mould of Filippo Inzaghi and young Michael Owen were replaced by strikers who’d combine multiple traditional centre-forward archetypes in one. “The best modern forwards,” Wilson writes, “have at least an element of universality and – crucially – they have to be able to function within the system.” The age of the goal-hanging big striker was over; the time of the nine-and-a-half had come. Today, the picture looks rather different. Most of the Premier League clubs challenging for titles and for Champions League qualification all possess, or are targeting, big, physical strikers. At the time of writing, Manchester City have Erling Haaland; Arsenal have bagged Viktor Gyökeres; Hugo Ekitiké is in Liverpool, signing a contract; Newcastle United are just about holding onto Alexander Isak; Liam Delap is settling in at Chelsea. What’s more, almost all the hyped young striker talents on the market are physical unicorns. Benjamin Šeško, Nick Woltemade, Samu Aghehowa, Emanuel Emegha, Tolu Arokodare, and Promise David are all 6’4” and above, and combine their height and strength with great mobility, if not blistering pace. Most of these strikers aren’t known for their technical refinement in possession, either. Though their passing and link up play remains raw at best, buying clubs seem unperturbed. While it won’t much bother David Moyes, Everton’s new 6’5” signing Thierno Barry is a prime example: he possesses great physicality, off-ball intelligence, and dribbling, but completed just 8.1 passes p90 last season, and his first touch and weight of pass remain very inconsistent. So what’s going on here? Why are big, physical strikers who spend most of their time stretching backlines and attacking the box en vogue again, decades after they were phased out? The answer may lie in tactical trends over the past five years and emerging patterns in player development. Using stats, stills, and conversations with a few experts, I set out to investigate.d out more The new centre-forward ‘meta’ As Jake discussed in his introduction to the Power Forward archetype, the game’s physicality has grown over the past six years. With every passing season, the fastest players get faster, while all players are tasked with more ‘High-Intensity Actions’. As a result, Jake notes, big clubs target physical profiles to fill the No.9 spot. Tiago Estêvão, currently Famalicão’s Head of Recruitment and Performance Analysis and formerly a Technical Scout at AC Milan, believes this is a case of tactical environments and player skillsets shaping each other. “It’s a self-fulfilling system,” Tiago told me, “where with the ‘athletification’ of football, even at top-level, elite teams, you have big teams prioritising physical characteristics for their No.9s. You want tall, fast guys in the Haaland/Šeško mould of fast and tall, strong freaks.” He cites Manchester City’s signing of Haaland as the key turning point for this change in striker profiles at big clubs. Others working in recruitment at the top level echo this opinion. “If you look at the Premier League,” a scout at a Premier League club, who wished to stay anonymous, told me, “it's pretty remarkable how homogeneous body types are across the pitch now. We've figured out that actually football does have a real physical ideal across positions in general, but strikers are your most important player so you in a way need them to be ‘perfect’ if you want to be competitive”. Fans of basketball may notice a familiar pattern. When the pace-and-space era of the NBA and the rise of the three-pointer pushed traditional ‘bigs’ to the periphery, new generations of ‘bigs’ who developed their three-point-shooting, ball-handling, and passing skills emerged. Now, ‘small-ball’ experiments are outnumbered by double-big lineups in the playoffs. It’s intuitive to guess that the striker position in football is going through something similar. What’s better than a 5’9” striker who can link up play and facilitate final-third passing? A 6’3” striker who can link up play and facilitate final-third passing. But here’s where the story gets more interesting: strikers aren’t just bigger in 2025, they also play the game rather differently. For starters, strikers in the Big Five Leagues complete fewer passes now than at the beginning of the decade. Plus, shots and touches in the box represent a larger proportion of strikers’ overall involvements today, with their ‘Shot Happiness’ and ‘Penalty-Area Proximity’ – to pilfer ideas from Jake – increasing as the 2020s have progressed. These trends aren’t limited to younger physical strikers, or among strikers leading the line at smaller clubs, either. When you look at the season-by-season passing numbers of established strikers at top clubs who’ve often been used as lone strikers, the vast majority of them complete fewer passes every year. The exceptions here are Alexander Isak, whose teams scaling in quality and style have increased his volume, and Harry Kane, whose numbers went up last season after years of decline. Nevertheless, the pattern is clear: every year, strikers at big clubs become less involved in link-up play. Does this represent a return of the old-school striker that Cox referred to: big, strong strikers who stay in the box? Let’s dig into the tactical context. Man-marking, match-ups, and pinning Surely the return of tall, physical strikers with great box presence has signalled the resurgence of crosses and long balls, of pumping it at the big guy’s head? Well, no, not really. Over the past five seasons, teams’ ratios of crosses to total passes in the Big Five Leagues have wavered slightly, with a small downward trend, while their ratios of long balls to total passes have fallen to a small extent. But as we’ll discuss later, teams are certainly playing more direct, just not through the air. Plus, less of the game takes place in the air now, in general. In the 2020-21 season, the average Big Five League side contested 31.32 aerial duels per game; in 2024-25, they contested 27.15. The answers lie in what teams do out of possession. I spoke with The Athletic’s Jon Mackenzie on this. “One of the biggest tactical evolutions of the last half-decades,” Jon says, “has come out of possession. Where man-marking had all but died out by around the early 2010s, we saw a resurgence of man-to-man ideas as the decade wore on because teams out-of-possession were increasingly less happy to allow the opposition to possess the ball without pressure.” This in turn informs how teams attempt to pry open defences. “As this man-orientation became more prevalent,” he continues, “possession teams were incentivised to progress the ball through different means than simply short passing, one of which was playing direct. Because teams were pressing high and leaving their defenders one-on-one against forwards, bringing in strikers who could compete in duels had obvious upsides. So through time, we started seeing striker profiles evolving in that direction.” Twitter’s resident striker expert, @sthsthburner, known as just ‘Seth’ or ‘Burner’, also notes the influence of out-of-possession trends. “An increase in man-to-man marking,” Burner says, “means hoofing it to a strong outlet or a channel runner is often the easiest or the best route, better still if they're a one-on-one or carrying threat to boot.” Clearly, the proliferation of man-marking intuitively leads to strikers’ involvements in a game revolving around matchups and one-on-ones. However, interestingly enough, the numbers suggest that strikers don’t contest more one-on-one ‘duels’ on the ball. Strikers contest fewer aerial duels every passing season, while their one-on-one dribbling numbers fell noticeably hard last season. Teams aren’t pumping it to the big man up top more, or letting the striker ‘cook’ against centre-backs off the dribble. Look at Robert Lewandowski’s positioning here when Bayern Munich aggressively press Barcelona’s build-up man-to-man. Playing on the shoulder of the last defender, even slightly offside, Lewandowski pins back Bayern’s backline, creating either an option in behind if Barça decide to go direct, or space between Bayern’s midfield and backline if Barça attempt to play through the press. He’ll occasionally drop back and drag a defender with him when playing a one-touch layoff pass or heading the ball into space… …but positioning himself on the last line very much remains the default, and Barça’s midfielders and wingers receive between the lines more, rather than their striker. Haaland, who completed just 8.4 passes p90 last season, represents an extreme in how physically-gifted strikers are tasked with stretching backlines and occupying defenders to help their teams score, even in a high-possession system. In addition to positioning himself on the last line, he consistently sticks to the far-side of the play and vacates space, occupying defenders due to his physical and goalscoring threat. He doesn’t offer himself as an option, but still facilitates passing play around him. Clearly, pinning back defenders becomes increasingly important in a new tactical environment, and people within the game recognise it, too. “The key for us with [our striker],” the anonymous Premier League scout says, “is his ability to be an outlet for us and his ability and willingness to make the runs that stretch the backline. His ability to drop in and play is respectable enough that you have to track him, but that makes that spin and run more potent.” Recent trends in possession may also emphasise the value of pinning backlines and creating space. As Burner notes, the resurgence of prolific No.10s and touchline wingers necessitates strikers pinning backlines, creating targets for through-balls, and creating space for cut-backs. A mix of man-marking, the return of creative No.10s and touchline wingers, and the rise of goalscoring No.10s, he says, means there’s “more value in an outlet up top pinning the backline for them to arrive late to the box or even creating central spaces for cutbacks and hitting those cutbacks themselves.” In the age of front fives in possession and big, rich sides stacking attacking quality together, the guys up top prosper with more specific roles. In this tactical environment, physical profiles are also especially well-suited to turning possession into goals. When a striker like Haaland attacks from the far-side of the ball, matchups become all the more crucial. With opponents setting up tight, compact blocks when the ball reaches the defensive third, teams tend to attack around defences rather than through them, as Liam Tharme noted for The Athletic - they progress the ball with diagonal passes out wide and then back inside to create shots. A striker on the wrong side of the defender manoeuvring his way towards the ball has to make the best use of his physical prowess and/or his off-ball guile. Haaland’s goal against Arsenal in City’s 1-5 loss provides an example: he outmuscles and outjumps William Saliba, which is no small feat. This is Billy Carpenter’s ‘Ethan Pinnock test’. When a new generation of physically, mentally, and technically-gifted centre-backs form the spine of low-blocks and mid-blocks, “physical battles become paramount”. Strikers are tasked with creating mismatches, with strength, jumping, speed, and off-ball tricks, en route to attacking the back post. Plus, the growing prominence of transitions is playing a key role, too. This season, in comparison to 2020-21, teams get on the ball slightly less in the middle third and progress up the pitch more quickly, especially in the attacking third. These differences may not be large but they represent the acceleration of a trend that’s been underway since the mid-2010s. Naturally, a side hitting the opposition on the counter-attack requires a fast or aerially-dominant outlet to pump the ball to. “You can be a more traditional target man who the ball sticks to or more one who stretches the play,” the anonymous scout says, “but ultimately if you are looking to be breaking in transition, you can't be coming too deep and looking to get involved. Physicality helps here because I want my striker affecting the back line with his physical skills, making things difficult for them.” Lastly, as Tiago noted in our conversation, two other early-2010s trends continue to shape the physicality of centre-forward profiles: pressing demands, and the increasing reliance on set-pieces to create shots. Strikers win the ball themselves less often now than at the beginning of the decade – doing so 0.96 times p90 on average, a slight decrease from 1.1 in 2020-21 – due to many high presses retreating into midfield blocks, but strikers are still tasked with intense off-ball work to usher opposition build-ups out wide. Tactical systems on the pitch reveal one side of the story. What happens in academies and coaching set-ups, unbeknownst to outsiders, adds further nuance. Specialists and player development Take a look through the names of all the hyped-up young strikers linked with big moves this summer, then look up their height. You'll find most, if not all, are 6'1" or above. Meanwhile, slightly undersized strikers - even the 5'10" Loïs Openda - rarely find their way to the headlines. The anonymous scout notes that improvements in player development are allowing young, physically gifted strikers level-up their technical skillsets - meaning technicality is no longer the domain of the diminutive. “Essentially I think it's because we are just getting better at developing well-rounded footballers,” he says. “In the past players who were both technically gifted and physically gifted were unicorns. I think we've just begun to understand how to develop more of them”. He also adds that smaller, technical strikers are moved “to the periphery”. Meanwhile, Tiago asserts that emerging striker profiles at the highest level are a result of tactical trends allowing unique physical profiles to progress further than they otherwise would - which then gives them a platform for technical improvement. “You have these guys who,” Tiago says, “years back, wouldn't ever reach a top team cause they'd only fit relegation football, reach a top team and do so early. And then presumably that increases your chances of technical development under elite coaches and conditions.” Many strikers nearing two metres tall may not turn into Harry Kane, but they can at the very least stop being liabilities with the ball. Šeško perhaps represents one such example. Consequently, in a game previously defined by the increasing prominence of ‘generalists’, specialist strikers who thrive because of their divinely-ordained physical skillsets get a major head start. “Basketball used to have the concept of a ‘tweener’,” the unnamed scout says, “someone who wasn't a 4 or a 5, and it was a real negative term and that's how I feel about centre-forwards. If you’re a striker who doesn't always perform as a nine and we see you do alright out wide and no one is super sure what you are, then in my mind you are 100% a winger.” Many of us have broad ideas about the history of football tactics. Some consider it a linear story of ‘development’ - from archaic kick-and-rush football to sophisticated press-and-possess tactics. Others think tactics move in circles; the 2-3-5 formation becomes dominant, is slowly replaced by formations with more defenders like the 5-3-2, which in turn is supplanted by top sides forming the 2-3-5 shape in possession. The famed pyramid is inverted and then re-inverted to fit new contexts. It’s easy to consider these top-level striker trends as similar. But, crucially, the current dominant profile is inextricably linked to the tactical undercurrents that created the conditions for it, and must be viewed in its own terms. Even if strikers like Haaland and Barry don’t pass the ball much, their participation in their teams’ possession sequences, creating space for their teammates with carefully-considered positioning and physical engagement, is fundamental. Even if these strikers don’t create shots for themselves at the end of every possession, they certainly help their teammates pry open defences, in transition or against a settled block. To return to Wilson’s description of ‘the best modern forwards’, the new crop of strikers may not show the same ‘universality’, but certainly ‘function within the system’. Although big strikers are the dominant force, it’s not all over for the little guy. They continue to flourish in front twos alongside a bigger striker, with Lautaro Martinez and Julian Alvarez key examples. Additionally, as Jon observed, big sides this pre-season and in the Club World Cup are experimenting with situational front-twos, thus pinning and occupying backlines in new ways. Every tactical trend has a counter. As the pyramid slowly re-inverts, positional requirements will change with it, and the undersized striker might just become an undervalued commodity again soon. As someone who’s 5’7” on a good day, I know which profile I’m rooting for.

'Worse than prison': Brexit Brit locked up in Swedish detention centre then deported https://www.thelocal.se/20250728/worse-than-prison-brexit-brit-locked-up-in-swedish-detention-centre-then-deported/ A security camera next to Åstorp detention centre in Skåne. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT British national Nigel Davies, who missed the post-Brexit deadline to get residency in Sweden, was this month seized by Swedish police, locked up for three nights and then forcibly deported to the UK. "I'm 63 years old. I've been living here in Sweden for 16 years. I have a house, a family home, two children, a dog," Davies told The Local. "I'm very bitter at the Swedish police, migration authorities, and government. I've been failed by a lot of organisations. And the British embassy has been absolutely worthless," said the father of two. Unexpected arrest The problems began for Welsh-born Davies when he officially lost his right to reside in Sweden in February 2025 after missing the key post-Brexit residency deadline years earlier. Brits living in Sweden and other EU countries were guaranteed their right to legally remain after Brexit as part of the Withdrawal Agreement. However British nationals in Sweden had to formally apply for their post Brexit status by December 31st, 2021. Those, like Davies, who missed the deadline, faced a legal battle to stay and numerous bureaucratic obstacles. Davies had been required to sign in at his local police station in Helsingborg twice a week. But when he went to sign in as usual earlier this month he was approached by two Swedish police officers. They read him a three page charge sheet which accused him, among other things, of "absconding" by failing to sign in on one of his required dates. He was then driven to the Migration Agency's detention centre in Åstorp, some 20 km outside Helsingborg. He says he was then locked in a cell and only allowed out for two 30-minute exercise sessions a day. "People call it a 'detention centre', but it's a prison in every way, shape and form," Davies said. "The rules are exactly like a prison. The staff treat you as if they're working in a prison. The food is probably worse than a prison. It is disgusting slop." For the next four days and three nights, Davies tried to get help from friends and family. "All I had was a pair of shorts and a T shirt. I had nothing at all. I only had my phone. I didn't even have my wallet with me. All of it was left in the car, which I had parked outside the police station," he said. READ ALSO: It's five years since Brexit but problems lie ahead for Brits in Europe The police had taken his phone when he was arrested, so it was only when he was allowed to put his sim card in the old phone provided by the detention centre that he could contact family. He was promised a lawyer on his first day, but each day passed without one arriving, and then on the evening of his third night in the cell, he was told he would be deported to the UK the next day. By that time, his neighbours had brought him a small rucksack with a spare pair of socks and pants, T shirts, and shorts. "I was woken up at 4am and two policemen loaded me into a van, and I was treated like a prisoner. I was treated like El Chapo. Over the next three or four or five hours, I was treated like a drug dealer. It was disgusting, absolutely disgusting," he said. The two policemen guarding him changed vehicles in a high security facility in Malmö and then he was driven to Copenhagen Airport and marched onto the plane. The two border guards remained on the flight with him. "I was flanked by two badged police officers all the way through Copenhagen Airport, and they were making a performance, doing the pantomime, going to the front of the queue, getting on the plane first as if I was top priority," said Davies. "It was very humiliating, considering I've never committed a crime. All the staff were looking at me as if to say, 'oh my god, have we seen this guy on the news. What has he done? Who was he killed?'. That was the feeling, and it was horrible," said Davies. Once they arrived in London, however, the situation changed entirely. He was given his UK passport and his smartphone back. He was given free train tickets to Cardiff, the nearest big city to his former home in the west of Wales. READ ALSO: British actor married to Swedish pop star gives up post-Brexit fight to stay in Sweden The Swedish border policeman, who had accompanied him on the flight, even went so far as to tell him that as he was a UK citizen with no stamps on his passport he was entitled to visa-free entry to Sweden, so there was in fact nothing to stop him getting straight on the next plane back to Copenhagen. "I said, 'well, then what was the point?'," Davies said. "I saw the paperwork. These were business class tickets that the Swedish government has paid: 7,000 kronor per person. And these two guards had to fly back to Gothenburg as well." Mitigating circumstances The detention and deportation marks the latest in what Davies sees as a succession of unfair treatment by the Swedish migration authorities and border police, starting with the refusal to grant him post-Brexit residency in 2022 - he claims because he submitted his application six days after the strict deadline. Davies wasn't alone, in fact hundreds of Brits were left fighting to stay on in Sweden after having missed the date to submit their applications to stay in the country post-Brexit. The country has an unusually high rate of rejections, with data at the end of 2023 showing that 22 percent of residence applications from UK nationals under the Withdrawal Agreement had not been successful in Sweden. The Local last year interviewed the former Bollywood actor Kenny Solomons, who was forced to leave Sweden in 2024 after failing to get post-Brexit residency, like Davies for missing the deadline. Solomons' case made national news in Sweden thanks to his marriage to the singer of the disco band Alcazar. READ ALSO: Brits in Sweden still in limbo years after Brexit deadline The reason that Davies failed to sign in at his local police station on the day in question, he contends, was that it was closed. "It was a red day [public holiday] in Sweden, and I've actually got a dated photograph of me outside the locked police station, but in their strange mentality, that counts as absconding," he said. As for his late application to apply for post-Brexit residency in Sweden, Davies claims he was under strain due to the illness of his wife, who died three years ago. "My wife was at that time dying of cancer here in Helsingborg and it was during the Covid pandemic, so the hospital weren't sending people out to help in the house. They blankly refused, even though she had terminal with breast cancer." After applying late Davies was denied residency in Sweden. He then lost his appeal against the decision which he blames on his "incompetent" lawyer. He carried on living in Sweden despite having lost his right to residency. It was only once his daughter turned 18 years old, however, that the Swedish authorities made concrete moves to deport him, although he was detained in Gothenburg in February for four days when she was still 17 years old. Lost all respect Davies says he now has no desire to live in Sweden, and has returned only to sell his house, pack up and relocate, first to the UK, and then ideally to Denmark, where his children now live. Like many Brits living abroad, Davies wasn't eligible to vote in the referendum on leaving the EU, but said he was sympathetic in many ways to the Leave side. He said he did not expect to be personally affected by the outcome of the referendum. But his anger remains directed at Swedish authorities. "I've lost all respect for Sweden and for the rest of my life and probably my children's lives, whenever we speak to someone who says, 'Sweden's a very social, accepting country. I'm going to say 'No, it's not'. That's my personal crusade, to tell people what the Swedish government, migration department and police have done to me." The Local has contacted the Migration Agency for a response, but officials say they are not able to comment on individual cases.