Football

This is just a quick thought.

Over the past few years we saw a new kind of 10 as the dominant force, the athletic pressing physical player. Your Mason Mounts and Connor Gallaghers etc. Players who would regain possession, more valuable out of possession than the traditional 10 who would create chances and be a vital cog in possession.

Players like Isco became rare.

But now we've got anpther new wave of players. Athletic runners as the recent pressers were but more aggressive in the traditional way, making runs into the box during attacks instead of sitting outside the box waiting to pounce back on the change of possession. Think Jude at Madrid, McTominay at Napoli.

In bw these we also had players like Damsgaard which had the potential to define a generation but didn't.

I'm not saying one or the other is now meta, just that we've currently got more molds than before which can be plugged in different playatyles.

Wolves have made their first signing of the summer by bringing in forward Fer Lopez in a £19m deal from Celta Vigo.

The 21-year-old left-footer has joined the Molineux club on a five-year contract.

His staff choices have been interesting. Pep Lijnders! The long-term assistant to Klopp. Also James French.

Meanwhile let go of Lilo, Vicens and inigo Dominguez.

Apparently asked for klopps blessing before hiring Lijnders too.

I wonder how much of this was pep himself making the decision. He tends to have a free hand at this stuff. Genuinely gonna be an interesting season for city

One of the funniest stories I've read.

Some football hard-men are all bluster, but not the Partick Thistle legend Chic Charnley, who holds the record for most red cards in Scottish football. In 1990 Partick were training at Ruchill Park in Glasgow, when a group of local youths abused them. Charnley responded with some verbals, and the youths ran off, only for two of them to return, one wielding a Samurai sword. Charnley charged them, chasing them through Maryhill, by some accounts brandishing a traffic cone.

Dzeko arrived in the Italian capital this morning to undertake his medical examination and after completing it, has travelled to Florence’s Viola Park where Fiorentina train – to meet teammates and colleagues.

The Ibrox club said they would "firmly deny any breach of Scottish FA rules" after former Ibrox defender Brown called a refereeing decision "corrupt" on Rangers TV.

In the final match of Rangers' league season, Nicolas Raskin appeared to bundle the ball over the line, with the SFA's key match incident panel later ruling the goal should have stood.

Citing being found in breach of SFA disciplinary rule 38, Rangers said: "If this is now the standard, they will be watched closely to ensure it is applied across the board, consistently, without exception and without favour."

Referee Nick Walsh and his on-field officials thought the ball had been kept out by Hibernian defender Rocky Bushiri, and VAR Andrew Dallas ruled that there was no camera angle that proved Raskin's effort had gone in.

Hibs equalised through Kieron Bowie moments later, with the match finishing 2-2.

Brown said on the club's in-house TV channel: "I would say it is corrupt."

Commentator Tom Miller replied: "Well, I'm not sure we can actually say that." However, Brown added: "Well, I am saying it."

Rangers subsequently demanded the introduction of goal-line technology.

"John Brown spoke emotionally and spontaneously as someone who cares deeply about the club. His words were not scripted, and they were not an official club comment," Rangers said.

The FA Cup holders are looking to strengthen their defence this summer given the uncertainty over the future of skipper Marc Guehi, who has just 12 months to run on his contract.

The Ivory Coast international is valued at around £40 million, a fee that would smash the club's current transfer record of £32 million for Christian Benteke in 2016.

The towering 28-year-old has had plenty of suitors in the early stages of the summer transfer window. He will be entering the final year of his contract in 2025-26, and looks likely to secure a move away from Toro after spending eight years on the club’s books.

Now, according to reports from Matteo Moretto and Calciomercato.com, Napoli are on the verge of sealing an agreement with Torino to sign Milinkovic-Savic.

Thursday’s reports claim that the Partneopei are expecting to close a deal for €18m.

Nine of City's matches last season started or restarted late, with the longest delay coming before the second half of the Manchester derby in December 2024 which resumed two minutes and 24 seconds later than billed.

The Premier League said City had accepted and apologised for the breaches, external, with the fines totalling £1.08m. They have 14 days to pay.

Last season the club were fined £2.09m for delaying 22 matches, and manager Pep Guardiola said he would try and make his team talks shorter.

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Manchester United fans have accused the club of giving fans a "kick in the teeth" after announcing matchday ticket prices could reach £97.

The most expensive matchday tickets at Old Trafford last season were £66. There are four categories, with the lowest reserved exclusively for "some" cup games.

It means the lowest priced ticket for a Premier League game is £37, for the two category C matches against Sunderland and Wolves. That figure rises to £97 for the highest priced tickets in category A, which involves games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle and Tottenham.

Club officials argue the £97 applies to less than 1% of the available tickets.

"When the club said they were introducing this new model, we urged them to keep the majority of matches at current levels and only apply the highest price category for a small number of the biggest games and reduce prices for lower demand games.

"Once again, they have failed to consult any of the fans' representative bodies on the details of the decision and once again they're making choices against the interests of fans and, we believe, the club as a whole.

And in a wide-ranging interview with United We Stand published on Wednesday, United chief executive Omar Berrada said the rollout of the £66 decision, which was subsequently reversed, was "not good".

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Beyond that about 15 championship teams have wages comparable to laliga teams! Including Leeds who would be 8th in laliga.