General Football Thread - Any other business

As a Boro fan, I’d take him if Carrick was to go.

 

In the not so shocking news category, Xabi Alonso has confirmed he's leaving Leverkusen, so looks like Madrid have their new manager.

 

🚨 Arsenal agree deal to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad, here we go! ❤️🤍

Zubimendi has now verbally agreed to sign a long term deal… so formal steps must follow soon with Arsenal to trigger €60m clause.

Zubi, ready to become the first signing of the new season. pic.twitter.com/yzYJOydstE

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 10, 2025

So Arsenal have signed Martin Zubimendi.

Manchester City target Florian Wirtz has agreed to join Bayern Munich, with the Bundesliga champions prepared to pay £87.1m for the 22-year-old Bayer Leverkusen and Germany midfielder. (Bild - in German)

 

I guess you could say Wirtz was inevitably always going to join Bayern given the record of them successfully monopolising German talent but it's a blow for City and the Premier League in general to miss out on him. He's the best player on the market imo. Rodrygo and Xavi Simons are probably the next best options if teams can get hold of them. City, Liverpool and Arsenal should all be trying their best.

 

Yes, that's the position Arsenal have a major gap at.

 

Premier League clubs line up to bring Mason Greenwood home.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...league-mason-greenwood-marseille-return-home/

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Just 50 nautical miles will separate Mason Greenwood and England on a weekend when football’s most controversial forward may already be thinking of home.

Marseille travel the length of France to Le Havre to potentially seal a Champions League place after a campaign which, on paper, has been a success for Greenwood.

The latest Opta rankings list him as Europe’s fifth most effective player – just below Cole Palmer – and a 19th league goal on Saturday night would equal Didier Drogba’s debut season tally of strikes.

Yet life in France’s oldest port city has not provided the idyllic escapism Greenwood might have envisaged when he signed last summer. Criticism of his work-rate led to a fan bannerimploring Greenwood and his fellow striker Luis Henrique to “get a move on.”

Form has improved since an unconventional team boot camp in Rome, but, amid speculation he is unsettled, several close to his club situation accept that a transfer within the next two windows is “possible”.

The easiest next move would be to remain overseas. The Saudi Pro League has been monitoring Greenwood’s progress for months, although the latest information from senior figures in Riyadh suggest their leading clubs are full and some “shuffling” would be required to accommodate the 23-year-old.

Serie A or a return to La Liga have also been touted as the most natural next stage in the Greenwood rebuild, although tentative interest from Barcelona appears to have faded since a mid-season dip in form.

But those who know Greenwood best now speculate a growing interest from Premier League clubs. As initially reported by The Sun, those with an understanding of his situation say he is also pining for a return to his native north of England.

Huge roadblocks still stand in the way of such a homecoming, with campaigners insisting there can be no redemption following the rape charges that were made against him, and subsequently abandoned by the Crown Prosecution Service in 2023.


There is also a difference of opinion among friends of Greenwood over whether he feels ready. When he first escaped the surrounding storm with a loan spell at Getafe, he privately ruled out taking a step down in English football when leaving United.

That position could now be tested, however, with sources in France increasingly convinced that at least two Premier League teams may be weighing up an approach. Even if he did come home, however, there is no chance now of him catching Thomas Tuchel’s eye and adding to his solitary England cap. In March the FA confirmed that the striker had switched his eligibility to Steve McClaren’s Jamaica.

Rehabilitated family man
English teams know the health warnings, having been burned from the furore that surrounded them when Ched Evans, a significantly less talented player, returned to the game after his rape conviction was quashed.

But the mood around him may be changing. Since United’s statement in 2023 that “Mason did not commit the offences in respect of which he was originally charged”, there have been consecutive Christmases back home in the UK – and friends say he is a family man now, a father of two with Harriet Robson.

“Being a dad changed everything,” he wrote in an Instagram message to her on Mother’s Day. “But it’s watching you be a mum that’s taught me most. Strong, loving, and always in my corner.”

At Marseille, a family focus has helped head coach Roberto De Zerbi keep Greenwood on a tight leash, moulding him as an ideal successor to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

De Zerbi has at times described Greenwood as like a son, but there has been tough love too, not least the radical decision to move the entire squad away to Italy recently to renew their focus on Champions League qualification.

The former Brighton head coach had to deny claims that the move was designed to restore harmony in the camp. Prior to the trip, the Italian had questioned Greenwood’s application after a tactical switch that led to Marseille’s full-backs being regularly exposed.

In March De Zerbi dropped the Englishman for back-to-back fixtures – including Le Classique against fierce rivals Paris St-Germain – determining that he was “not in the right physical condition to play”.
The club dismissed claims in L’Équipe that Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Adrien Rabiot had requested Greenwood be dropped after a spell of poor form.

But results have improved again since the squad’s reboot at Rome’s Hilton Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria hotel, some 500 miles away from Marseille. De Zerbi and a delegation of players even spent time paying their respects at the Vatican after the death of Pope Francis.

“I’ve always done things differently,” De Zerbi says of the stay. “When someone has ideas, you have to follow them, regardless of what others think. We went to Rome because we couldn’t find anywhere in Cannes, Saint-Tropez or Montpellier. So we could concentrate. Over the last 10 years, OM has only qualified for the Champions League three times. I’m trying to stay focused.”

For Greenwood, an escape from the harsh mid-season reviews of his performances appears to have helped. He and the team have rallied since a damaging 3-0 defeat by Monaco which led local publication Le Phocéen to give Greenwood a 2.5 rating out of 10. “It was a ghostly match for the former Mancunian, who brought almost nothing offensively to the Louis-II,” the outlet said.

The fanatical Marseille supporters fete their star players like no other club in Ligue 1, but Greenwood has generated nothing like the levels of affection that were lavished on Chris Waddle, the England international who spent three successful seasons there after moving from Spurs in 1989.

“The season of Mason Greenwood is a paradox,” says Aryles, a Marseille fan and one of the lead hosts of the Massilia Zone podcast. “Statistically, he has been for sure the best player of Marseille. He has the same statistics as [Didier] Drogba in 2004, the greatest striker of OM this century. Nevertheless, he has shown some difficulties in how he contributes to the collective plan of Roberto De Zerbi.

“He’s a controversial person, for sure. I would say 15 per cent of fans that were really opposed to his signing because of the case. At the end of the season, if he leaves, I don’t know if people will remember Greenwood in 20 years and say: ‘Oh, he was an amazing player.’”

There is no suggestion, however, that Marseille have any regrets about signing him. Club president Pablo Longoria said he “looked at all the information” when completing a £26.6m deal with United – despite the local mayor branding the deal “not acceptable”. His deal runs until 2029, and with United attaching many clauses, it will require a much heftier fee to prise the 23-year-old away this summer.

Greenwood, meanwhile, is seen as an introverted, indiscernible figure by those who cover Marseille games. It was some surprise that he stopped to talk to reporters after Marseille’s 1-1 draw with Lille last weekend. The interview came just hours after The Sun quoted a source saying Greenwood’s initial “love” for living on the Mediterranean coast was now wearing off.

But there were no questions about his future as Greenwood, speaking entirely in English, was instead asked whether he was disappointed to miss out on being nominated for players’ player of the season award after a campaign in which only Ousmane Dembélé has bettered his Ligue 1 goal tally.

“I’m not really bothered about that,” he said. “The only thing that bothers me at the moment is getting Marseille to the Champions League.”

Whether or not he will still be wearing Marseille’s colours in Europe’s premier club competition next season, however, remains to be seen.

Think if he went to a PL club things could get pretty intense for a bit. Not ideal if they are England seniors or youth players at that club.

 

https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broa...0m-termination-fee-to-ligue-1/5204738.article
French domestic football closer to going bankrupt again with yet more broadcast rights issues. The PL is probably not too many years way from similar issues. (Through France unlike other European countries is suffering more due to losing viewers to Rugby - no where else in Europe is football loosing interest to another sport to anywhere near the same extent.)

Think someday these issues will catch up and France could suffer problems in their talent production as well simply because I of the cost of elite training is not cheap even if the same structural advantages remain.

 

🚨 EXCL: Carlo Ancelotti appointed head coach of Brazil. 65yo Italian to leave Real Madrid after final La Liga fixture vs Real Sociadad + start new job on May 26. Contracts signed following cordial negotiations led by Diego Fernandes for CBF @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/oc9MYsJ2mM

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) May 12, 2025

 

Embarrassing for Brazil to have a foreign coach, they should be ashamed.

Also shame on Ancelotti. He could easily get the Italy job. He doesn't even want to live in Brazil.

 

Not making a World Cup final in over two decades has made them turn.

But to be fair it’s probably more practical that the Brazil manager is based in Europe where most of their players are.

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/34920180/accrington-stanley-efl-financial-oblivion-league-two/
Accrington Stanley is in deep financial trouble - all seems a bit of a mess,

 

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Transfer deadline will be brought FORWARD to help staff ⏰Summer window(s) to close at 7pm rather than 11pm https://t.co/1veHm9xfPd

— Mike Keegan (@MikeKeegan_DM) May 12, 2025

End of an era.

 

Worrying news,

Breaking: #nffc striker Taiwo Awoniyi taken to hospital this evening, and is due to undergo urgent abdominal surgery, I’m told. Complications discovered today by club medical staff, who took him straight to hospital. Awoniyi tried to play on, but was in obvious pain v #lcfc.

— Rob Dorsett (@RobDorsettSky) May 12, 2025

 

I used to be a big fan of Accrington Stanley and how they managed to claw their way into the Football League. But owner Andy Holte seems like a whiny toad over some of this: building an entertainment venue without planning permission and then endless complaining when the council responded to noise complaints from neighbors. What were they supposed to do?

 

Interesting news from Everton. Once they move to their new stadium, Goodison Park will become home to the Everton women's team.

 

That's good news, we should do everything we can to protect older stadiums when possible.

 

Bayer Leverkusen would rather sell Florian Wirtz to Manchester City over Bayern Münich.

City would pay their €150m asking price, and are not a domestic rival.

— @kicker pic.twitter.com/P4H4W13Uzi

— The Touchline | Football Coverage (@TouchlineX) May 13, 2025

 

Florian Wirtz and his parents flew to Manchester for a meeting with Pep Guardiola today. They returned to Germany this evening. Hans Wirtz did not want to comment [@BILD] pic.twitter.com/1eTkJB6MSX

— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) May 13, 2025

 

When you look at how awful Southampton have been in the Premier League this season then compare their promotion-winning side to those in year's Championship playoffs, it looks very long for whoever wins at Wembley next week. None of Sheff Utd, Sunderland or Coventry are even close to the level Saints were at last year.

That doesn't necessarily mean they'll be as bad as Southampton in the PL because recruitment can be much better, but it really underscores how much work they'll need to do just to avoid being totally embarrassed. It's almost impossible to see any of them staying up.

 

I totally agree with you about the quality, however I think none of them will be as orthodox and attack-minded in their approach as Soton were and will be more defensive and about character and fight in the Prem which could help them (they would still need almost perfect recruitment as you said and a lot of luck of course).

Speaking of the game: Sunderland were way, way too timid trying to defend their one goal lead at their own ground! It was also reminiscent of that Italy final. They´ve woken up a bit now in extra time and Mundle has played a big part in it since he came on. But of course right now as I´m typing this he misses a good chance to win it for Sunderland lol

 

100%, I think lessons have been learned in that regard now. I think it'll be you boys in the PL next year, I'd be surprised if Sunderland pull it off. You're right about how they played there, great character to nick the win but they were really poor tonight and they have been for months. You just need to hope you can nip your playoff curse in the bud!

 

🚨 Manchester City have contacted AC Milan to express interest in signing Tijjani Reijnders. Talks at early stage + no formal offer yet but #MCFC hope agreement will be reached to buy 26yo #ACMilan midfielder this summer. W/ @JamesHorncastle @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/4kF3xHHu7P

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) May 13, 2025

 

Enzo Maresca's job is not on the line in Chelsea's final three games of the season - even if the club miss out on Champions League qualification #cfc https://t.co/Nhkar19qPh

— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) May 14, 2025