Kane breaks another record, Chelsea get Broja fee, Karius to leave Newcastle, Son disgusted with Spurs, Coventry leave it late and much more
Today's round-up of news clips and transfer stories, featuring Barcelona, Chelsea and more...
Good morning all, and welcome to the latest edition of the Daily Briefing - thanks as always for reading, and hope you enjoy! :-)
Today’s top stories:
🎧 LISTEN: The Debrief Podcast: How many trophies will Liverpool win?
Harry Amass has signed his first professional contract at Manchester United
Plus more from Barcelona, Brentford & Real Madrid
Arsenal
Arsenal set to reject Thierry Henry’s Saliba request for the summer [Mirror]
Arsenal have completed the signing of 16-year-old central defender Brayden Clarke from Wolves. Clarke, joining the club as a first year scholar.
Barcelona
Xavi on the UCL draw: “We know that Paris Saint-Germain are probably the favourites because of the huge transfers that they made, but remember we have the history on our side with more Champions League trophies. I’m sure we can compete, we will do our best.”
Barcelona defender Mikayil Faye is set to be called up by the Senegal national team. He’s still waiting to make his debut at Barça but was already part of Xavi’s list last week and performing at a top level in the academy.
Xavi: “We decided to let Antoine Griezmann leave just because of the financial situation. The club had to let him go. Griezmann is a player that I like a lot, but he left for that reason.”
Xavi on his future: “My decision will not change, the club knows that very well. I’m planning to stay at Barça until June 30 and then my idea is to take time to rest.”
Xavi and Diego Simeone speak about Joao Felix ahead of Sunday fixture [Football Espana]
Bayern Munich
Kim Min-jae: “I've never experienced being on the bench so often before, but I think I can learn something from it. I'm thinking a lot at the moment. I also played many games but there are so many good players at Bayern, so it can happen that I don't play.”
Harry Kane is the first player in Bundesliga history to score 31 goals in his debut season. 31 league goals is also the most he's ever scored in a league season, beating 30 Premier League goals when he was as Tottenham. Saturday’s goal also means he has 37 goals in 35 games in all competitions.
Benfica
Orkun Kökçü, unhappy at Benfica: “I chose Benfica thinking that it was the best option for my career… but from the beginning, they never made me feel important. Maybe I've been too modest so far regarding the role I was given. My situation here at Benfica is not what I expected. Roger Schmidt told me that I would have a role similar to the one I had at Feyenoord, where I defined the passing circuits, where I could always go forward… and this is not happening.”
Brazil
Brazil have released an official statement on Casemiro as he’s gonna miss the upcoming games due to injury: The coach of the Brazilian team, Dorival Júnior, announced, this Saturday (16), the call-up of striker Pepê, from Porto (POR). He was called up to replace Casemiro, from Manchester United, who was out due to injury and is out of the friendlies against England and Spain, on March 23 and 26, respectively.
Brentford
Ivan Toney was asked by Sky about his ideal scenario for the summer transfer window. “If Brentford was to sell me… they make their money, I move to Real Madrid and it's all good” he said, laughing.
Burnley
Vincent Kompany’s side secured a vital Premier League win over Brentford. Jacob Bruun Larsen opened the scoring for the Clarets before David Datro Fofana scored what turned out to be the winner. Kristoffer Ajer’s late goal for the Bees was nothing more than a consolation in their 2-1 loss.
David Datro Fofana is having a brilliant loan spell this season: Assist vs Man City on his debut, two goals and MOTM to get a point v Fulham, goal and MOTM to get a point v West Ham, goal to get 3 points v Brentford.
Chelsea
Chelsea are due to receive a fee in the region of £4m from Fulham after Armando Broja again failed to make starting XI, this time against Spurs. Broja will return to Chelsea in June.
Si Phillips does a deep dive into Todd Boehly’s new problem at Chelsea.
Copenhagen
FC Copenhagen have reached an agreement with talented midfielder Hunor Nemeth to sign a new contract until December 2026. It’s all done for the 2007 born midfielder to stay at the club. Huge work by Copenhagen to keep one of their assets for the future.
FA Cup Quarter Final Results
Manchester City are the first team in FA Cup history to reach the semi-finals in six consecutive seasons. They did so thanks to two deflected first-half goals from Bernando Silva, 2-0 the final score [pictures from BBC Sport]:
A magnificent game between Wolves and Coventry ended 3-2 to the visitors and the ending of the match was classic FA Cup football. Ellis Simms had opened the scoring for Coventry on 53 minutes, but Rayan Ait-Nouri’s 83rd minute equaliser and 88th minute assist to Hugo Bueno looked to have won the game for the hosts. In nine minutes of injury-time, the Sky Blues managed to rally themselves again with Simms equalising on 97 minutes and Haji Wright incredibly winning it in the 100th minute [pictures from Emirates FA Cup]:
Fulham
Rodrigo Muniz has now scored 7 goals in 7 games since February 2, when Armando Broja joined Fulham on loan. It will cost Fulham £4m to Chelsea for the Broja loan but Muniz’s value now is way bigger. His two goals on Saturday, along with one from Saša Lukić, earned Fulham a 3-0 win against Tottenham.
Luton
Another late show from Luton as Luke Berry’s last minute goal secured them a point against Nottingham Forest, who had taken the lead through Chris Wood. 1-1 the final score.
Manchester United
Ten Hag: "We have to save the season. We have an opportunity to win silverware. The only opportunity is the FA Cup, so we are only three wins away but big games and we have to play our best."
£85m Man United star ‘offered’ to Barcelona.
Harry Amass has signed his first professional contract at Manchester United. Amass joined from Watford last summer.
Newcastle United
Loris Karius on plans to leave Newcastle: “I’d like to have more space, I’d be happy to join an Italian club as the next step.” Karius has signed for former Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio’s agency and is looking for a new chapter in June.
England legend claims Newcastle star has not been the same this season [BBC]
Real Madrid
Vinicius Jr has scored 6 goals in his last 4 games for Real Madrid. 18 goals and 8 assists in 28 games this season in all competitions for Vini… and a hat-trick of assists for Fede Valverde vs Osasuna.
Arsenal chase Real Madrid midfield star [Football 365]
Tottenham Hotspur
Ange Postecoglou: “I don't see fourth as the prize. You can throw all sorts of things but this club has achieved things. So fourth is not my end goal. I don't want to finish fourth if we haven't grown as a team and developed as a team. If nobody believes me then that's fine.”
Pundit claims two players “shouldn’t be starting” for Tottenham [talkSPORT]
Son: “Losing that game I think is unacceptable. As a player we should take responsibility. We were soft. It is unacceptable. The fans do not deserve this. Attacking players should feel responsibility because we had chances to kill the game.”
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Pedro Neto could be out until the end of the season due to a new injury, as Wolves boss Gary O’Neil confirms. “Pedro, potentially end of season for him. It’s very similar to the injury he had on the other side.”