🚨 Liverpool make contact with Florian Wirtz camp to express interest in signing playmaker if he leaves Bayer Leverkusen & is keen on moving to England. #LFC admiration long-standing but unclear whether 22yo plans to exit #Bayer04 or Germany @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/bi9i4bxa3g— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) May 14, 2025
🚨 Liverpool advancing in talks to sign Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen - increasing confidence from Dutch int’l camp deal will be struck. 24yo #Bayer04 right-back keen on move so personal terms no issue. ~€35m clause appeals to #LFC @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/9fBYE5O8NL— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) May 15, 2025
🚨 Real Madrid activate £50m release clause in Dean Huijsen contract + working to finalise signing of Bournemouth centre-back. Talks over personal terms advanced & reps in Madrid to close transfer. W/ @Dan_Sheldon_ @GuillermoRai_ @TheAthleticFC #RMFC #AFCB https://t.co/coBOAZ55Pc— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) May 15, 2025
.@talkSPORT understands Wrexham are willing to pay Cairney £50,000-a-week. https://t.co/WO1IEil62j— Alex Crook ⚽️🎙 (@alex_crook) May 15, 2025 This transfer strategy might've worked for them in the lower leagues but it won't work in the Championship. Very stupid use of resources.
🚨 EXCL: Brighton & Hove Albion pursuing deal to sign left-sided player Cuiabano from Botafogo. Already 2 #BHAFC offers turned down by #Botafogo; €5m+2m / €5m+3m. Fenerbahce saw €6m+2m rejected in Jan. Interest building for 22yo Brazilian @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/QmLZB7srsE— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) May 15, 2025
Remarkable day in Paraguay: began with Infantino arriving hrs late and then a dramatic walk out by European FIFA Council members midway through congress in an apparent protest at Infantino prioritizing meetings in Middle East. https://t.co/R2R4UMPKDH— Adam Crafton (@AdamCrafton_) May 15, 2025
Leeds United have released a statement in response to a social media post appearing to show club captain Ethan Ampadu's son wearing a Galatasaray shirt.25 years ago two Leeds United supporters, Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, were killed on the eve of the two clubs… pic.twitter.com/5K4pAUkhmr— BBC Sport West Yorkshire (@BBCWYS) May 16, 2025 This is quite some story.
I don’t even know where to begin with this! I get that it’s obviously an horrible tragedy but this was 25 years ago. Is this so outrageous that a kid of a Leeds player wore a Gala shirt? Never realised that this was still a really big issue considering how long ago it was.
For Leeds fans it’s extremely offensive, Equivalent of someone winding up a Man United player with a negative Munich Air crash reference or a Liverpool player with a negative Hillsborough reference.
It’s a complex issue involving Ampadu and herself - purposely posting that knowing it would get backlash towards Ampadu. The reason the club is so hated by Leeds fans is how Galatasaray reacted to the incident.
Arsene Wenger's radical plan to change the offside law may end up being ditched because of fears it could have too drastic an impact on the way football is played. (The Times) https://www.thetimes.com/sport/foot...radical-offside-reforms-doubt-trial-g68bmlsc8 Arsène Wenger’s radical plan to change the offside law may end up being ditched because of fears it could have too drastic an impact on the way football is played. Wenger, the Fifa global development chief, has set up trials in youth tournaments where there has to be clear daylight between the torsos of attacker and defender for offside to be given. However, the former Arsenal manager admitted at the Fifa Congress in Asunción this week that he had some worries about the data that has come back from the trials. The International FA Board, which oversees the laws of football, will make a decision in March on what happens next, but it looks increasingly likely that any changes will have to be watered down. Victor Montagliani, a Fifa vice-president who runs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, said the trials needed to ensure that matches did not become ultra-defensive or, at the other extreme, end in crazy scorelines. “They have done one test and I don’t think the results of that were great,” Montagliani said. “If we want to change the offside rule it needs to be thoroughly tested because it could significantly change a game in terms of tactics. Are teams just going to bunker down because they can’t play a high line? Or is it going to mean a lot more goals? “Maybe I’m an old-school guy but you don’t want a striker popping six goals in the Manchester derby when previously three-quarters of his body would have been offside. Let’s really study it before we make a decision.”
Goals per game are at good enough levels that there's no real argument that they need to be significantly increased by changing offside. Wenger's plan does nothing for the problems with offside & VAR - it just shifts the point at which you measure. Better to sort out how it is managed via VAR.
Because of the ever-increasing costs and infrastructure demands involved in hosting a World Cup, plus whatever behind closed doors payments FIFA officials command, we're going to reach a stage where either the USA or a Middle Eastern petrostate are involved in the hosting of the majority of future World Cups. Bleak.
The bubble will burst someday. And either it won’t be financially viable and/or a schism within global football with rival bodies.
I think the Frimpong signing might signal a change of system for Liverpool. He's absolutely not a RB in a back four, he'd get pretty crushed in the PL imo. If people think Trent was shaky defensively then he'll take things to a new level. I think Liverpool might use him as a winger to let Salah come in a bit more centrally.
Now Southampton are down, they now start Harwood-Bellis and Wood together for the first time (?). Maybe going to be their starting centre backs in the Championship next season to try and get them straight back into the Premier League. Guess it depends on who they bring in as manager.
Think a PL club may take a punt on Harwood-Bellis. Maybe one of the promoted clubs - back to Burnley?