🚨 Poch slams Chelsea fans, Leverkusen go 47 unbeaten, Rangnick's NO to Bayern, ACL woe for Bardghji, Lewy's happiness & more
Today's round-up, featuring a European round-up, Chelsea, Man United and more...
Good morning everyone and welcome to another Daily Briefing - thanks as always for reading, and hope you enjoy!
Today’s top stories:
🎧 LISTEN: The Debrief Podcast - What will Arne Slot bring to Liverpool?
Chelsea fans send a clear message to the board over Conor Gallagher
Ten Hag snaps at the media during his Man United press conference
Inter Miami enquire about another Argentinian World Cup winner
Plus more on Dortmund, Man United and Newcastle
Aston Villa
Prince William certainly enjoyed Ollie Watkins’ first half strike against Olympiacos in the Europa Conference League [pictures from TNT Sports]:
Aston Villa want to sign out of contract Leicester player [Football Insider]
Barcelona
Robert Lewandowski confirms he’s happy to stay at Barça: “It's special to be here, to be a striker of such a club because of it’s history. It is the biggest club in the world and I’m proud to be part of it.”
Chelsea to make €55m offer for Barcelona target [Mundo Deportivo]
Bayer Leverkusen
Alejandro Grimaldo with his 18th assist of the season, but also 11 goals for the LWB. Incredible season so far after he joined Leverkusen as a free agent last summer.
Florian Wirtz turns 21 today, super young and already with 18 goals and 19 assists this season. Wirtz had an ACL injury in 2022 and reacted by winning the Bundesliga title this year and fighting for two more titles. Bayer consider Wirtz untouchable for this summer.
Bayern Munich
Ralf Rangnick turns down Bayern proposal and will NOT become the new manager due to personal reasons. “I'm the Austrian team coach with all my heart. This is not a rejection of Bayern, but rather a decision for my team and our common goals,” he said.
Bayern were just waiting for Ralf Rangnick to accept their proposal with an announcement set for next week. After Xabi Alonso and Julian Nagelsmann also said no, talks over a new coach will re-start immediately.
Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen: "We didn't talk about Alphonso Davies during our meeting with Real Madrid. We never talk about individual players in this context and nothing has changed."
Sebastian Hoeneß on the Bayern job: “I've already been asked about that, but nothing has changed. FC Bayern is an exceptional club, they will certainly find a good solution.”
Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund are extremely happy with Mats Hummels performances and contacts to extend his contract are already ongoing. Waiting for details to be clarified, plan is to continue with Hummels for next season.
Chelsea
Trevoh Chalobah’s towering header set Chelsea on their way to a 2-0 win over London rivals Tottenham Hotspur [pictures from Sky Sports]:
Pochettino: "People on social media say Roméo Lavia isn’t here because of Pochettino... but I never trained with Lavia. We arrived from a different club, not from Mars, to manage footballers. It is disrespectful from people bored at home using social media."
Pochettino: "On social media, you can see people saying: ‘hey, you must do this, do that’... then when I am on the street, the people are really good. They appreciate and give us credit for working in a project and process that is so difficult..."
‘Chelsea since birth.’ Chelsea fans send a clear message with a banner for Conor Gallagher at Stamford Bridge.
Pochettino on Conor Gallagher’s future: “I am not involved, I don't know anything, but you can see he’s in my starting XI. Gallagher’s future is not my decision. It needs to be resolved between the club and Conor.”
Chelsea as well as Newcastle are among the clubs informed on conditions of the deal to sign Tosin Adarabioyo as a free agent. Several clubs are asking for conditions on his potential free signing, but no formal proposal has been made. Tosin will take his time to decide his future.
Pochettino: “It's difficult to see that every single week I am under scrutiny and judgement. It's not my decision whether to be here or not to be here next season. All managers need time to translate their ideas and philosophy, we need time. What I can say is, if after the decision [on his future], if we want to match the history of Chelsea there’s a lot of work to do. We’ll see if we have time to build this way.”
Si Phillips takes an exclusive look at Mauricio Pochettino’s claim that too many youngsters are harming Chelsea this season.
Be the first to read EXCLUSIVE NEWS ARTICLES from me, Fabrizio Romano, Christian Falk, Neil Jones, Ben Jacobs, Jonathan Johnson, Charles Watts and Matteo Moretto!
Copenhagen
Swedish talent Roony Bardghji has torn his ACL, injury confirmed by Copenhagen. The winger is on the shortlist of several clubs for the future but will be out for the next 6 months.
European Round-Up
There were goals galore in the Europa League and Europa Conference League semi-final first-leg fixtures on Thursday night, as Bayer Leverkusen made it 47 unbeaten whilst Aston Villa gave themselves a mountain to climb.
Marseille vs Atalanta (1-1): Gianluca Scamacca continued his fine scoring form in the competition by putting the visitors one up in the 11th minute, before Chancel Mbemba Mangulu evened things up in the 20th minute. Things remained tight and even for the rest of the match, meaning there’s all to play for in next Thursday’s second leg.
Roma vs Bayer Leverkusen (0-2): Xabi Alonso’s side just keep picking teams off, with Roma unable to derail the Leverkusen juggernaut either. Florian Wirtz opened the scoring before a stunning effort from Robert Andrich gave the visitors a huge advantage ahead of the second leg [pictures from TNT Sports]:
Aston Villa vs Olympiacos (2-4): Ayoub Ek Kaabi was the hero for Olympiacos with a fine hat-trick at Villa Park. Ollie Watkins and Moussa Diaby’s goals for Unai Emery’s side just about give Aston Villa something to cling to ahead of the second leg, though a late missed penalty from Douglas Luiz could yet prove to be crucial. Santiago Hezze’s fourth for the visitors means that Villa have it all to do in Greece [pictures from TNT Sports]:
Fiorentina vs Club Brugge (3-2): Fiorentina needed a 91st minute winner from M’Bala Nzola to edge a five-goal thriller despite having an incredible 31 shots at goal against Club Brugge. Riccardo Sottil had opened the scoring in the fifth minute for the hosts before they were pegged back by a Hans Vanaken penalty. Fiorentina took the lead again through Andrea Belotti, but Igor Thiago had the Belgians back on level terms just after the hour and two minutes after their Raphael Onyedika had been sent off. Consistent home pressure then got its reward in injury time.
Inter Miami
Inter Miami only asked about Ángel Di María's situation at Benfica, there's no formal proposal or advanced talks so far. Fideo's future at Benfica remains open, waiting for both parties to make a decision on his contract due to expire in June.
Inter Milan
Inter vice president Javier Zanetti: “I can confirm that Lautaro Martínez and Nicolò Barella will both sign new deals, for sure. The agreements will be done as we want to continue together on the club and player side.”
Zanetti on Inter interest in Joshua Zirkzee and Lukaku disappointment [TMW]
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Manchester United
Manchester United confirm Jonny Evans and Anthony Martial are back in training ahead of the trip to Crystal Palace. It will be the final month for Martial at Man United as he’s leaving as a free agent in the summer.
Ten Hag on Jadon Sancho after his performance against Real Madrid: “Jadon played very good, he showed why Manchester United bought him and he showed he represents a high value for the club. Which is good. I'm happy for Jadon, for his performance and we'll see what is going to happen in the future.”
Ten Hag: “We are NOT going to sell the main part of the squad, it’s a joke. As every summer, 200 players getting interest from United and we sell all of the players in our squad… You (the media) make all of the headlines and that takes responsibility how you make such a headline.”
Ten Hag confirms he's planning for Man United’s future with Jason Wilcox: "We’ve talked every day from last week. In a very short period we have to build an intense relationship. We are working now to a plan. We had a plan already before he stepped in and now we have to get aligned."
Ten Hag on Manchester United and chances to be in the Europa League: “It will have an impact on the budget, but I'm sure Manchester United is a very attractive team and club to play for. Many players will be very happy to play for Man United, I'm sure.”
Juventus emerge as favourites to sign Man United outcast [inews]
Newcastle United
Sandro Tonali has been given a suspended two-month ban from competitive football by an independent Regulatory Commission after self- declaring breaches of FA Betting Rules. He has also been fined £20,000 and warned by the FA as to his future conduct. The banning period is fully suspended for the duration of the 2024/25 season, meaning he will be available to return to competitive football upon the conclusion of an existing ten-month sanction imposed by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) on 27 October 2023.
FA statement reveals that Sandro Tonali has voluntarily taken a reduced weekly income from Newcastle during the period of the Italian FA sporting sanction. He will be back in action at the end of August, and is training on a regular basis to be at his best level for next season.
Newcastle register interest in top Manchester United target [Football Transfers]
Paris Saint-Germain
Lucas Hernández has torn his ACL and he will be out for the next 6/7 months. Season over for the PSG defender and he won’t be part of the France squad at the Euros, confirmed.
Stade de Reims
Will Still leaves Stade de Reims with immediate effect, it’s over between the 31- year-old manager and the French club.
Tottenham Hotspur
Postecoglou on the €17m buy option for Timo Werner: "We will decide at the end of the season. Are there going to be other gaps and where does Timo fit in with that strategy? We need to discuss the strategy and then decide. I think he’s been very good for us."
Simon Jordan says Tottenham trio are not good enough to play for Ange Postecoglou [Daily Mail]
Ange Postecoglou after Spurs’ 2-0 defeat at Chelsea: “We were so far off it and that’s on me today. Come on mate, we didn't play well… What do you want, for me to write you a dossier on where it went wrong? We were poor today.”