General Football Thread - Any other business

Would the Spanish and Italians want this in winter? I doubt it. Very disruptive and potentially damaging to a team that progresses through the tournament. Lots of money at stake but no point if it ruins your League and Champions League seasons. Other teams wouldn't want to stop their matches for a month. If the league program continues then more people watch that and Real Madrid and AC Milan have to play a congested schedule. If everyone has a month off then those clubs had better be compensated. Massive can of worms and I can see Atletico Madrid, for example, taking advantage in La Liga. Might be good for lower League clubs as people would go to their matches instead.

 

Karetsas would be a bit of a coup for Dortmund. I still think he has become slightly overhyped though.

 

🚨 EXCL: Aston Villa in process of finalising move to sign Johan Manzambi from Freiburg. Newcastle United had agreement with #SCF but #NUFC lacked player approval. 20yo Swiss midfielder wants #AVFC & deal now accelerating towards conclusion @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/UTfbtXcSaH

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 12, 2026

 

Former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, 57, is on the shortlist to become Italy manager after Paolo Maldini was appointed the Italian FA's technical director. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian), external

Not sure how that will go down in Italy.


Southampton have offered a permanent job to Spygate intern Will Salt - The Sun

 

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Manchester United in advanced talks to sign Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa. All parties in contact as #MUFC try to finalise - 29yo midfielder keen on move. Ederson deal off for now; #MUFC may look to revisit later this summer @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/KbWwD1jxov

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 13, 2026

Villa are going to be this year’s playing in Europe but having to fight of relegation team.

 

Gladbach talent Wael Mohya (17) is set to switch international allegiance to Morocco and represent them at senior level. Very concrete talks with the Moroccan federation have already taken place. Mohya played for Germany's youth teams from the U16s to the U18s 🇩🇪🇲🇦 [@BILD] pic.twitter.com/Ppv16G8YR1

— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) July 14, 2026

Many in Germany are shocked by this as they truly thought he could become a bit of a talisman for Klopp´s rebuild but I´ve told everyone close to me he´ll choose Morocco (believe I´ve also stated this thought on this thread before if I´m not mistaken). Now many people are criticising the DFB for not having promoted him to a higher age group like the u21s since he´s regularly assisting and/or scoring off the bench in the Bundesliga but that´s more of a wishful thinking imo considering even a team like France couldn´t keep Bouaddi despite making him captain of their u21s at 17 and Zidane telling him he´s in his plans after the World Cup.

Many of the Moroccan immigrants in Germany (and the Netherlands, Belgium) are from poor, uneducated parents from the countryside who are a lot more conservative, religious and patriotic than your average Moroccan from say Marrakesh (I suppose it´s similar with those in England, Spain, France etc.). I´ve grown up around peers with backgrounds from mostly Turkey, Italy, Croatia and Morocco and whilst the Italians and even the Turks (though some of them were Kurds) were supporting both countries in football, for the Croatians and Moroccans it´s only ever been their patria they´ve supported. It´s only a small sample size of course, but it´s also showing on a broader spectrum with the DFB constantly losing their top Croatian and Moroccan prospects.

Völler knows there will never be a rule like "a player can´t switch after a competitive appearance at u17level" as Infantino or whoever´s in charge would lose most of the FA´s if such a rule ever came to pass so he´s now hoping to get FIFA to pay the other FA some soart of reparations for the development of these players.

 

European nations have bite little chance of getting that pass either. UEFA wont be able to act as one over this as the likes of Wales, Scotland, Northern and the Republic of Ireland, Turkey, Croatia etc would be opposed as well.

 

🚨 EXCL: Sunderland to sign Thomas Meunier as free agent. 34yo right-back available after expiry of Lille contract & joining #SAFC on 2yr deal. Belgium international landed into Newcastle this morning + will do medical before completing move @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/sODY4r7wNe

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 14, 2026

🚨 Man City pushing hard for Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille. High among 18yo’s suitors (#PSG not in contention) & while others favour season on loan at #LOSC, #MCFC would integrate now. Price ~€100m + Morocco int’l expected to make decision soon @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/W4oq8mi9RD

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 14, 2026

 

I was actually going to ask you about this guy a few weeks ago and whether he'd end up sticking with Germany.

I think at this point if for most European nations with a Moroccan dual you just expect them to play for Morocco. There's almost little point in even considering them as part of your pool.

I know Germany have struggled in recent tournaments but it's still Germany at the end of the day. With Klopp incoming and a clear pathway to the first team with just a small winger pool, I'd have thought Germany would still be a very attractive proposition for him.

EDIT: tbf I've just seen he's more of an attacking midfielder than a winger. Maybe he saw a harder pathway to the first team with Germany.

 

🚨 Exclusive: Growing support within UEFA to back a candidate to run against Gianni Infantino at the next presidential election.

Unlikely to be Aleksander Čeferin or Nasser Al-Khelaifi despite support for latter. Dariusz Mioduski floated by executives.https://t.co/XHfqwRWFwf

— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) July 14, 2026

Problem wil be persuading non UEFA members who are pretty much universally skeptical of UEFA at the moment.

 

Yeah he can play okay-ish on the wings but he´s a totally different beast in the 10 role (at least as of now, but he has the raw ingredients to also excell on the wing imo). Also just stumbled across an article from a local newspaper in Mönchengladbach allegedly close to the family denying these reports and stating he´s soley focused on next season and hopes to play for the German u21s for now (Weren´t there articles like that about Bouaddi too when the news about his witch first came out?) so hard to tell but I´m still expecting him to represent Morocco at senior level sooner or later. Filip Pavic could turn out to be a much bigger loss anyway as he´s being touoted as potentially Germany´s best young defensive prospect (has played up a year with Croatia at the u17 Euros but didn´t need a one-time switch as it´s only been friendlies with Germany before so in theory still eligible but his decision sounded definite. I expect Marko Soldic and Niko Ilicevic (a.k.a. the "German Dowman" as the media here likes to call him) to follow him later down the line tbh.

IIrc Belgium wanted to ban Morocco-eligible players from their youth teams and fill these holes with talents from their camps for potential late developers (excluding those of Moroccan descent) but then many started to complain about discrimination, how you are supposed to keep these players if you actively exclude them from your youth teams and so on but imo that´s the right move for the future when the exact same pattern occurs in 99,9% of the time.

Looks like Ben Farhat who´s an interesting striker/winger hybrid type will switch to Germany though, huge fan of what I´ve seen so far (but only in the 2. BL so will need time to adapt). Tunisia´s something of the opposite of Morocco (well, considering how bad they are not surprising at all) where you had the fathers of Ben Farhat or Yasin Ayari telling their sons to decline their senior call-ups to wait for the country they grew up in. Same with Saliba although he never considered them in the first place I´d suppose.

 

I suspect it would be illegal in pretty much every European to have racial limits on who can be in academies and would likely push a lot more players out of European teams as all the other countries would say it’s the Moroccans now but if your heritage is Turkish, Algerian ,Senegalese etc you not really wanted either.

 

Good article here regarding Morocco and there approach to dual nationals. It should be available for all to read



https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/74...1.xlA.C52B.7R6Pe-FnCRPy&smid=ta-android-share

 

Credit Morocco I guess, tracking player a from 8 years old in Europe is ridiculous, but they still missed out on the one player who might have elevated them to contender status.

 

FIFA could be defunded in Europe if Russia is let back in by FIfA. UEFA is opposed but FIFA is supposedly in favour. https://www.politico.eu/article/9-eu-countries-push-defund-olympics-russian-re-entry/

 

The US House has voted to pass a measure to enact year-round Daylight Saving Time across the country, springing Congress forward into an issue that has long stumped lawmakers and spurred impassioned pleas by parents, farmers and others with sharply divergent views. It will now… pic.twitter.com/Xs6UTpMWya

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) July 14, 2026

Wonder if the PL will try and move some matches an hour later if USA tv didn’t fancy an hour later USA time in the winter,

Ditto there is talk the EU will do it as well which if we don’t could mean we expected to have have 7pm or 9pm kickoffs our time for UEFA matches. which won’t be popular

 

I think most nations are operating like this now. Morocco called up Rabbaj's brother from the 9th tier of English football in order to convince him to switch. I'm sure they're pulling many other levers beyond simple due-diligence.

I also think the history of nations is important to the levels of belonging and nationalism that the diaspora feel. If we consider Croatia, it's a young nation forged in blood which will engender deep feelings of nationalism. Consider Nigeria as a counterweight, a nation founded by the British in the colonial era that fell into civil war soon after independence in the 1960s. That must explain, at least in part, why some of the Nigerian diaspora will chose not one but two nations over Nigeria.

 

🚨 EXCL: Nottingham Forest to sign Xaver Schlager as free agent. 28yo Austria midfielder rejected RB Leipzig renewal & elite European clubs for #NFFC. 2+1yr contract after strong WC - brings quality, leadership, experience. Medical this week @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/0jvhqiPaQz

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 15, 2026

 

🚨 Arsenal reach agreement with Club Brugge to sign Christos Tzolis. Deal for 24yo left winger done at €40m asking price set by #ClubBrugge. Move in process of being finalised - Greece international wanted & prioritised #AFC move throughout @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/iYMBAjVc3k

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 16, 2026

 

🚨 EXCL: Newcastle United make offer to sign Lucas Bergvall from Tottenham Hotspur. Proposal for 20yo midfielder £46m; turned down. #THFC rejected all bids so far (#NFFC lower + others higher than #NUFC) but will consider sale at right price @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/wulgjMQ1yD

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 17, 2026

 

Which Gomes are you talking about ?

 

Ah. I completely forgot about him

 

🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Italy's Paolo Maldini and Leonardo have met Pep Guardiola and proposed to him the possibility of coaching the Italian national team.

— @DiMarzio pic.twitter.com/VBKnBTYXwV

— The Touchline | 𝐓 (@TouchlineX) July 20, 2026

This will be very interesting if they can convince him. My opinion on Pep and international football is that he'd only take a job at one of the teams with the four of five strongest squads in the world.

I'd imagine the Italian federation will point to recent youth team results as part of their pitch, but at that point the job becomes a long-term project which might not necessarily be what he's looking for.