Tag: Football

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Although most of the European transfer windows have now closed, there are some that are still open, with clubs looking to strengthen their squad. One such club is Al-Nassr, with the Saudi window set to close in a few days time.

Al-Nassr, despite signing five time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, are yet to win any trophies since his arrival in 2022.

The Saudi side are regular runners up, coming second in the league for the last two seasons and regularly getting to finals, but not quite securing the trophy.

However, Al-Nassr are hoping that will change with a new signing.

The club are now looking to long-term Manchester United target, Adrien Rabiot.

The France international has been a free agent since his contract with Juventus expired at the start of the summer. The Old Lady wanted to extend the contract, however Rabiot rejected the approaches amid interest from United.

Now the midfielder has been reported by Italian outlet RMC Sport as being offered a contract where he’d be earning €20 million a year.

United were looking to Rabiot as a cheap option to improve the midfield, with the France international having a wealth of experience at PSG and Juventus.

Its unknown what the players thoughts on the offer are at this time.

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This summer saw France international Anthony Martial leave Manchester United at the end of his contract.

After nine years, Martial left Old Trafford with United not looking to renew his contract any further in a bid to rejuvenate the squad.

Until now the striker has been without a club, despite interest from France and Saudi Arabia. However, the France international may have found his new home.

According to Sport24 via The Sun, the Frenchman may now find himself moving to Greek club AEK Athens.

AEK are extremely keen on signing Martial, being willing to make him the highest-paid player in the club’s history.

The current highest earner is former Tottenham star Erik Lamela, and whilst it’s not know what Martial has been offered, it’s set to considerably overshadow Lamela’s earnings.

The former Red Devil was on a £250,000 per week contract at United and it’s unknown how this new contract would compare.

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Despite transfer deadline day being over, Manchester United may still be able to dispatch one of their priority sales in the form of winger, Antony.

The Brazilian has fallen out of favour with Erik ten Hag, having not lived up to the hype he was bought under. Since joining from Ajax in 2022 for €95 million, the 24-year-old has made 83 appearances with only 11 goals and 5 assists, a massive step down from the 24 goals and 22 assists he grabbed in one less game at the Eredivisie side.

As a result, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Dan Ashworth highlighted Antony as a player to sell this summer to try and generate more transfer funds for the club. However, the Brazil international received very little interest, with only one formal bid coming from Real Betis for a season-long loan.

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Now Turkish publication, Fotomac, has reported that Fenerbahce are now interested in the attacker, and are currently engaging in transfer talks with Manchester United. The deal in question would be for a season-long loan, much like Betis.

Despite United rejecting Betis’ offer, wanting to sell the winger permanently instead of loaning him, the report suggests that the deal for Antony will be finalised tonight.

Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho is reportedly keen to bring in new additions this summer, having also looked at Victor Lindelof earlier in the transfer window.

The move for Antony is reportedly brought on by Galatasaray’s signing of Victor Osimhen, with Fenerbahce wanting to get their own big-name signing too.

The Turkish transfer window is open for another ten days, giving the club some time to pull the deal off before the panic of their deadline day sets in.

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The summer transfer window is always a fantastic opportunity to take stock at the end of the season.

It allows teams to look at the market and provide more strength and depth for a squad, whilst also unloading any unwanted stars or cash in on contracts running out.

However, to have a successful transfer season, a strong recruitment team is vital.

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At the start of the summer, Manchester United decided to appoint Christopher Vivell as interim head of recruitment until the end of the transfer window.

After having success with recruitment at Chelsea and RB Leipzig, Vivell’s expertise and experience were deemed an absolute asset that United wanted to secure.

Now, it seems The Red Devils have made up their mind on how beneficial his appointment at the club was. This summer saw United spend £200 million on five signings in the form of Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, and Manuel Ugarte.

It’s now been decided that Vivell will be remaining in post until after the January transfer window, indicating that the club feel his involvement has been vital in a successful window.

With sporting director Dan Ashworth still finalising how he wants the football department to operate, a final review into Vivell’s role will take place at the end of the January window, with the recruitment expert also deciding if he wants to stay in Manchester long-term.

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Marcus Rashford has had a hard time of  finding his form lately at Manchester United.

Back in 2022/23, Rashford had a great showing, grabbing 30 goals for The Red Devils. However, since then he has managed to find the same goal scoring boots he had then.

The England international is understood to have been taken under Ruud van Nistelrooy’s wing as a bit of a personal project. The personal coaching is said to be working on his positioning to help the star become more of a clinical finisher.

Rashford is one of the longest serving Red Devils in the current squad after coming through the United academy.

However, now another former United academy graduate and club legend has spoken about Rashford’s place at Old Trafford.

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Talking to talkSPORT, ex-Red Devil, Nicky Butt, addressed what is going wrong for Rashford.

The former midfielder said: “I don’t know and it’s actually sad watching that because I’ve known Marcus since he was probably eight and nine at Man United coming through and he’s always been the one that you hold hope for.”

He continued: “I do believe and people will be screaming down the phone now probably but I do believe he’s still got the talent to be one of the best top players in the world.

”He’s just not clicking for the last few years at Man United, you’re always saying he’s just going to do it, he’s going to do it but it’s looking like maybe it’s time for a change for him.

“No one really knows what his mentality is, but there’s a lot of talent within that man and he’s a top, top footballer.

”But it’s just not happening for Man United now, people always point to the fact of his body language, he doesn’t care, I can tell you now he does care, he’s a proper lad but he’s just not clicking for him.

”Maybe it is time to go and find a club where he can get a bit of a deep breath, the eyes aren’t on him all the time.

“He’s the excuse for all the fans, all the fans look at him and it’s not just him, the whole team, the whole squad needs to up the game.”

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Manchester United have had a terrible start to the season from an injury standpoint.

With five players out injured before the Premier League even began, it was beginning to look concerning that a repeat of last season’s injury woes was going to affect The Red Devils.

Going into the pre-season, long term injuries were still ruling Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia out of action.

However, the pre-season then claimed Rasmus Hojlund, Victor Lindelof and new-signing Leny Yoro to the ranks of the injured.

Now, going into the international break, unfortunately for United, Mason Mount has picked up another knock, ruling him out until October.

Despite Mount not being in the running to play against Southampton in the first game back after the break, two of the injured stars may make an appearance.

Left-back Luke Shaw and striker Rasmus Hojlund are set to be recovered enough to be considered for the away game against the Saints.

Unfortunately for Yoro, he won’t be able to make his competitive debut until November having undergone surgery on his fractured metatarsal.

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Botafogo are currently leading the Brazilian league well beyond the halfway stage in the season.

Whilst they’ve been knocked out of the Copa do Brasil, their Copa Libertadores dreams are still alive, set to face Sao Paulo in the Quarter-Finals.

With the final push of the league, and the knockout stages of the continental cup still ahead, Botafogo are unfortunately experiencing a number of injuries across the pitch.

Former Manchester United defender Rafael is out with a knee injury, while centre-back Pablo, winger Jeffinho and striker Matheus Nascimento are all out with hamstring injuries.

Midfielder Eduardo is out with an undefined muscle injury, however the most serious of all is winger Junior Santos with a broken tibia.

Now, in light of this wave of injuries, sports journalist Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that another ex-United star is on his way to the Brazilian club.

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Romano has reported that left-back Alex Telles is on his way to Brazil to join the club in a deal that will see him with Botafogo until 2026.

Telles recently played alongside Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr, however terminated his contract yesterday to travel to Brazil.

Much like Ronaldo, the 31-year-old joined the Saudi Arabian side from Manchester United – a year after the Ballon d’Or winner.

The defender’s time at Old Trafford saw him make 50 appearances with a singular goal and seven assists, with a loan spell to Seville coming at the end of his three years with the club.

However, at Al-Nassr, Telles has had a bit more luck, with three goals and five appearances in 38 games.

Botafogo will be hoping he can build on this to help them secure the league title for the first time since 1994/95.

EXCL: Alex Telles to Botafogo, here we go! Deal done on 2.5 year contract valid until the end of 2026.

Agreement reached tonight as Telles terminated his contract at Al Nassr and returns to Brazil.

Telles Fogão, done. pic.twitter.com/wTA2P3uUAS

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 2, 2024

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Manchester United have now decided to keep their recent trialist around by appointing him as their new player-coach role in the academy.

The role seems very similar to the one held by Tom Huddlestone between 2022 and 2024 when he retired from football to become the assistant manager at Wigan Athletic.

However, the initial player-coach in the academy was created in 2021 with Paul McShane. The Ireland international hung up his boots when Huddlestone stepped into the role, shifting role slightly to become the development coach with the Under-18s side. Following this McShane became the assistant manager of the Under-21s side before stepping up to be the manager of the youth team last summer.

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Now, it looks like recent trialist Tommy Rowe is ready to take on the mantle next.

The 35-year-old recently took to the pitch in a trial against Chester FC back in July, with The Red Devils coming out on top with a 3-1 win. Seemingly impressed by his performance and presence on the pitch, United have deemed the trial a success.

Now Manchester Evening News has reported that the club have appointed Rowe to the position, with him being able to give on-field feedback to the players.

The midfielder was released from Doncaster back in July after three years with the club. Having played throughout League Two, League One and the Championship, Rowe brings a wealth of experience to the role with 659 games under his belt, grabbing 92 goals and 61 assists.

Initially the player-coach role was really questioned as to it’s ability to bring value to the youth players in the academy. However, the role has now been mirrored in other Premier League academies with rivals Liverpool signing former player Jay Spearing to take on a similar responsibility.

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Manchester United have had an extremely eventful transfer season this summer. From the Scott McTominay U-Turn with Fulham to Chelsea’s aggressive attempts to sign Jadon Sancho, then there’s the double deal for Matthijs de Ligt and the dramatically long pursuit of Manuel Ugarte.

Now though, the window is shut so the only deals that can still be done are minimal and all include players leaving the club. The Dutch, Saudi Arabian, and Turkish transfer windows are still open for another week, to name a few. As a result, we could still see some of United’s priority offloads leaving the club.

Some of these desired departures include Christian Eriksen who’s been offered to his former club Ajax, and Casemiro who is being looked at by Galatasaray for a potential loan.

In a press briefing before the Liverpool game at Old Trafford, new CEO, Omar Berrada, and sporting director, Dan Ashworth spoke to reports about a range of things including their support of Erik ten Hag and their approach in the transfer window.

Reporters from The Athletic queried the approach used in this summer’s transfer market, specifically the power ten Hag had over these considering he’d worked with de Ligt and Mazraoui before, with Joshua Zirkzee making it a third Dutch signing with most of the new appointments in the coaching staff also being Dutch.

In response to this, Ashworth commented: “I can’t comment on what’s happened previously, I don’t know how they’ve made the decisions on players coming in, and as I’ve already alluded to, it’s a joined-up process.”

He continued: “We looked at objective, subjective opinions and came up with the best possible solution we can to fill the positions we have identified.

“It is natural in human nature to work with somebody you’ve worked with previously in all contexts, in all business contexts. I’m sure you guys have all done it as well.

“That is a natural sway because you know that person, because you know that player, but also we’ve signed a number of players this summer that haven’t worked with Erik previously: Yoro, Ugarte, he’d never worked with Zirkzee — and you can’t say just because he’s Dutch he knows him! You would put the whole of the English market to me! He’s not worked with him before.

“He’s worked with Matthijs and Nous previously and, as I’ve said before, they were both on our radar and it’s a joined-up decision on who comes in and out of this football club.”

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Despite most of the European transfer windows now having come to a close, some remain open for another week, including the Dutch and Turkish transfer markets.

With there still being the potential for Manchester United to offload some of their unwanted stars, one of the Turkish giants has come knocking.

Earlier on in the summer, United identified seven key players they wanted to move on, with a number still at the club past deadline day. These stars include Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelöf, Christian Eriksen, Casemiro, and Antony. Unfortunately for The Red Devils nothing materialised for these stars with no interest in Maguire, only Fenerbahce looking at Lindelöf and then Real Betis looking at Eriksen and Antony as potential loan deals.

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However, the biggest amount of interest in these five came for Casemiro with the veteran attracting suitors from Saudi Arabia alongside German giants Bayern Munich.

Now, according to journalist Ali Nici Kucuk on X, Galatasaray have contacted Manchester United to enquire about signing Casemiro.

It’s understood that the potential deal being looked at is a loan offer for a year, however, it’s not yet known how United will respond to this, with the Brazilian being a priority sale throughout the summer to arrange a permanent move away from Old Trafford.

Galatasaray have made some big signings already this summer with a loan move for Victor Osimhen from Napoli, and free transfers of Hakim Ziyech and Michy Batshuayi from Chelsea and Fenerbahce respectively.

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