Author: Adejuyigbe Francis

Manchester United have completed the signing of Fenerbahce goalkeeper Altay Bayindir. The Turkish international joins United on a four-year contract with an option for a further year, for a fee of just over £4m, and replaces Dean Henderson as the club’s understudy to first choice goalkeeper Andre Onana. Henderson’s departure from Old Trafford was confirmed on Thursday evening. The 26-year-old has joined Crystal Palace on a permanent transfer for a fee of £15m plus £5m in add-ons – after making only 29 first-team appearances over the course of a 12-year association with the club. Henderson has sought first team football for some time and…

Manchester United against Bayern Munich is the standout fixture thrown out by the 2023/24 Champions League group stage draw, while Real Madrid are in the same group as Napoli. The draw took its usual format, with the 32 qualifiers divided into eight groups of four, A-H. Prior to the draw, all competing clubs were assigned to one of the four pots, with one team from each pot going into each group. No two clubs from the same country could be drawn in the same group. Manchester City and Sevilla headlined pot one as reigning Champions League and Europa League holders…

Callum Hudson-Odoi is close to joining Nottingham Forest on a permanent transfer from Chelsea. Hudson-Odoi has been training with the Chelsea academy all summer as he waited for clarity on his future, with the Blues prepared to cash in after he returned from an underwhelming loan spell with Bayer Leverkusen. Fulham were leading the race for Hudson-Odoi’s signature but the two London rivals could not come to an agreement over a transfer fee, opening the door for Forest to swoop in and strike a deal. The two clubs have already done business this summer, with midfielder Andrey Santos moving to the…

Manchester United are ‘seriously considering’ a move for Tottenham’s Sergio Reguilon after seeing a loan for Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella stall. Erik ten Hag has been in the market for a defender after seeing both his options at left back sidelined with injuries and Cucurella was expected to be the player to come in. As a result, United have explored the possibility of loaning Reguilon, who has not made an appearance for Tottenham this season, although a deal for Cucurella still remains in play, according to The Athletic. United will be forced into making a rapid decision, with little over 24 hours until the transfer deadline, and…

Romelu Lukaku has joined Roma from Chelsea on a season-long loan deal. The striker, 30, had been linked with fellow Serie A giants Inter Milan and Juventus earlier this summer but will instead be reunited with Jose Mourinho — his former boss at Manchester United and the Blues. Lukaku is Roma’s seventh signing of a busy summer following the arrivals of Sardar Azmoun, Rasmus Kristensen, Houssem Aouar, Evan Ndicka, Renato Sanches and Leandro Paredes. On his move to the Eternal City, the Belgian said: “The welcome I’ve received from this club and its fans has excited me and given me…

England manager Gareth Southgate has included Jordan Henderson and Harry Maguire in his squad for September’s games against Ukraine and Scotland. Midfielder Henderson, 33, has been picked after leaving Liverpool to join Saudi Arabian side Al-Ettifaq in July. Centre-back Maguire makes the squad despite not having played for Manchester United so far this season. England play Ukraine in a Euro 2024 qualifier on 9 September in Poland, and Scotland in a friendly on 12 September. The game against Scotland at Hampden Park is to mark the 150th anniversary of that fixture. Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah and Chelsea centre-back Levi Colwill…

The mother of Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales has been discharged from hospital. Angeles Bejar was admitted on Wednesday after locking herself in a church on Monday and going on hunger strike in protest at the treatment of her son. Rubiales has been heavily criticised for kissing Spain’s Jenni Hermoso on the lips after the World Cup final. Hermoso said the kiss during the presentation ceremony in Sydney on 20 August was not consensual. On entering the Divina Pastora church in Motril on Spain’s southern coast, Bejar told Spanish news agency EFE the strike would continue “indefinitely, day and night”. She…

UEFA does not want Champions League games to match the World Cup with double-digit minutes of stoppage time that its top soccer official called “absolutely absurd” on Wednesday. Adding so many extra minutes over a full season is bad for players’ health, UEFA Chief of Football Zvonimir Boban said. “Player welfare is really some kind of small tragedy,” Boban, a former AC Milan and Croatia star midfielder, said at a UEFA briefing on refereeing issues on the eve of the Champions League group-stage draw. FIFA pushed referees at the men’s and women’s World Cups in the past nine months to let the game clock routinely run from the…

Ansu Fati is willing to leave Barcelona before the transfer window closes this week with Brighton working on an ambitious loan deal for the Spain forward, sources have confirmed to ESPN. Tottenham have held talks with Barca as well, but they are also pursuing the signing of Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson. Fati, 20, is open to a season-long loan move to the Premier League, maintaining his link with Barça, but nothing has been finalised yet ahead of Friday’s transfer deadline. It marks a dramatic turnaround from Fati, who has previously been reluctant to leave the Catalan club this summer despite pressure from elsewhere. Barça, his agent, Jorge…

Arnaut Danjuma struck an 88th-minute winner as Premier League Everton came from behind to beat League Two’s bottom side Doncaster Rovers and reach the third round of the Carabao Cup. An upset looked on the cards when Joe Ironside put the hosts ahead a minute before half-time, glancing in a header from Tommy Rowe’s whipped ball. But new Everton signing Beto levelled with a goal on his debut, reaching an Abdoulaye Doucoure ball to calmly poke past Rovers goalkeeper Ian Lawlor. And Danjuma netted 15 minutes later to give his side a much-needed first win of the season. Having just…

Chelsea had to come from behind to beat League Two AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup at Stamford Bridge. The visitors started brightly and took the lead through a penalty in the 18th minute. Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez jumped into Harry Pell while trying to punch away a free-kick, and James Tilley made no mistake as he struck the ball powerfully down the centre of Sanchez’s goal. It was also a penalty which brought Chelsea level on the stroke of half-time. Noni Madueke was brought down by Alex Pearce and the winger dusted himself down to confidently send Alex Bass…

The mother of Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales has been hospitalised after going on hunger strike in protest at the treatment of her son, a local priest has said. Angeles Bejar locked herself in a church in Motril on Monday. Rubiales has been heavily criticised for kissing Spain’s Jenni Hermoso on the lips after the World Cup final. Hermoso said the kiss during the presentation ceremony in Sydney on 20 August was not consensual. On entering the Divina Pastora church in Motril on Spain’s southern coast, Bejar told Spanish news agency EFE the strike would continue “indefinite, day and night”. She added…