Is naming English football clubs your secret superpower? Well then, Clark Kent – let's see what you're made of with this FourFourTwo quiz.

The First Division of the Football League was replaced by the Premier League at the pinnacle of the English game at the start of the 1992-93 season. Regardless, the top-flight is the top-flight. How much do you know about its post-war history?

There have been 60 clubs in the top division of English football since 1945. You've got a nice, round 10 minutes to name the lot. Let us know your score below.

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Did you get 100% in this top-flight quiz? Here are a couple more you might like. Can you name every team in the EFL right now and every team ever to have won any one of English football's top four divisions?

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You could hear the groans rising over both sides of the Pennines when the Carabao Cup first round draw paired Preston North End with Huddersfield Town.

Despite being in different divisions for the past two years, both sides were given more than ample opportunity to grow sick of the sight of one another after they were drawn against each other both in the League Cup and the FA Cup in 2022/23.

Deepdale has been far from a happy hunting ground for Huddersfield over the years, either. The Terriers’ 2-1 Championship victory on Boxing Day 2022 – right in the middle of that season of four head-to-head meetings – is the only time they have won there in 21 trips since 1969.

Goodison Park sees men's football again in unlikely circumstances

But a curious change of venue turned the game into a proper novelty. The relaid pitch at Preston was not going to be ready in time to fulfil the fixture, and a change of venue was required.

Huddersfield offered to reverse the fixture and host the game, but were rebuffed. Instead, the game would be held at Goodison Park and potentially become the last competitive men’s game ever to be played at the famous old stadium.

There were plenty of fans of both teams who had never visited Everton before. Huddersfield had made the trip just four times since 1971, Preston just twice since 1961, the last of which was for a League Cup game in 2004. Out of nowhere, what looked like forever being a blank space on the mental stadium checklist could now be fulfilled.

The stadium itself still looks good enough from the outside, and there were still reminders around the place of Everton's rich history, most notably Z Cars getting a run-out half an hour before kick-off and Stuart McCall's presence in the Preston dugout, still rocking the same haircut he's had since 1988.

But the interior tells a different story. Only the lower tiers of the Goodison Road stand and Gwladys Street end, as well as the Park End stand, were open to fans; the Bullens Road stand has been completely covered in tarps bearing the words ‘Welcome to Goodison Park, the home of Everton Women’.

The upper tier of the Goodison Road stand remains in use by the press and assorted club suits from both sides, but many of the seats around the press box have been torn out and taken away. Some of the dismantled still sit in the kind of plastic boxes that supermarkets use to make home deliveries.

The feeling of post-apocalyptic desolation is amplified by liberal use of yellow and black tape to keep members of the media from wandering up to comb through the wreckage and grab a souvenir – which, in hindsight, I wish I had done anyway to take home to my Evertonian brother-in-law.

Perhaps it was only apt, then, that it was Preston and Huddersfield in action on the day. These are two clubs whose histories are marked by fabulous glories in bygone years – England’s first-ever back-to-back title winners against the first side ever to go three in a row, and who faced each other in two FA Cup finals in the 1920s and 30s – but who have have gotten used to decade upon decade of lower-league football.

The whole experience must have been particularly surreal for Huddersfield captain Ryan Ledson, a Scouser who came through the youth ranks at Everton and spent seven happy years at Preston before making the move across the Pennines last summer.

“I don't know Everton for being in the new stadium,” he said at Town’s pre-match press conference. “I only know Everton being Goodison Park. I was a ball boy there. I grew up there from the age of four or five.

“It's going to be a special afternoon for me and on a on a personal level to to be back there, and obviously to play against the club where I spent so many years.

"It's going to be the last time I’m ever going to play there, isn't it? So it’s a moment for for me for my family to to cherish”

That’s not how it turned out for Ledson, unfortunately.

Preston were reduced to ten men after just 21 minutes and went behind to Radinio Balker’s header seven minutes before the break, only to come out much stronger in the second half and grab a 93rd-minute equaliser through new signing Jusef Erabi.

That took the game straight to penalties – and the first man to step up at the Gwladys Street end was Ledson.

Preston keeper Daniel Iversen saved his spot kick, then denied Marcus Harness too. It may come as some amusement to Everton fans that Ledson is, in fact, a Red.

Huddersfield's Sunderland loanee Matty Young kept out Andrew Moran’s effort in response, but former Huddersfield man Delano Burgzorg converted the winning penalty to send Preston through.

All told, the whole experience had a strange, dream-like quality - an imaginary experience football game that actually really happened.

The battle of the World Cup sell-off plot may be over but the war is only just beginning.

FIFA’s embarrassing climbdown over the landgrab hatched by its president Gianni Infantino to auction off stakes in its various competitions, including the World Cup, to private investors unified football in outright condemnation of the brazen proposal.

None were more forthright in shooting down the plans than UEFA, who wrote to their former Secretary General to warn that they were ‘actively considering legal action’ against him for the money-spinning scheme despite it being swiftly aborted.

UEFA ready to wage war on FIFA over World Cup sell-off

But that was potentially only the tip of the iceberg for punitive action from the House of European Football, which also committed to a unanimous boycott of all FIFA tournaments if the controversial carve-up by present governance pressed ahead - a stance which has been firmly upheld.

UEFA must take a degree of accountability for Infantino’s scheme. It was, after all, from their Nyon headquarters where the powerbroker which the Swiss-Italian became was allowed to build his stock before ascending to power, 167 miles northeast, at the global game's Geneva base over a decade ago.

He is to them what Anakin Skywalker became to the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars; starting out as their once great future hope before defecting to the footballing dark side.

Contempt for Infantino runs deep among his erstwhile employers, whose president Aleksander Ceferin led an eight-person walkout at last year’s FIFA Congress in Paraguay after a three-hour delay caused by its figurehead prioritising schmoozing with world leaders, including American president Donald Trump, in the Middle East.

That affront inflamed relations between the eminent organisations of international football, but tensions had existed long before the botched ploy to allow Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared, and myriad shadowy investors to get rich off the World Cup’s legacy. Infantino’s 2016 defection saw FIFA aggressively manoeuvre itself to outstrip the Champions League as the highest-grossing tournament.

It also lit a spark in Ceferin to actively push his organisation to become the antithesis of FIFA while also trying to steal the thunder of his former colleague turned adversary where possible. The latest example saw UEFA assign refereeing duties for this month's Super Cup to Omar Artan, the Somali official who was denied entry to the World Cup by the Trump administration.

Another such effort saw the governing body reportedly planning to join forces with the International Champions Cup, a pre-season exhibition series involving some of Europe’s biggest clubs, to roll out a Champions League-style tournament in summer 2021 to overshadow the launch of the expanded Club World Cup before Covid put paid to the rival initiative.

Infantino’s attempted revenge manifested itself in engaging in discussions to rebrand the European Super League under FIFA’s umbrellamere months before the controversial breakaway that threatened to destroy the integrity of the Champions League was unleashed and rapidly disintegrated amid widespread backlash.

When the short-lived concept was rolled out by 12 of the continent’s biggest teams, Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi replaced Juventus supremo Andrea Agnelli as head of the European Club Association – now European Football Clubs. Such a move would previously have been chided by Ceferin’s administration, given the murky connotations associated with state ownership in elite-level football.

But Al-Khelafi was embraced with open arms at a time of genuine conflict and has even been touted as a possible UEFA-endorsed rival to Infantino in next year’s FIFA elections, despite the Qatar Football Association already ruling out backing any candidate to run against the incumbent.

Worse, however, could still follow for the 56-year-old if the World Cup’s prestige remains diminished by a summer of controversy which stretched beyond his ill-fated FIFA Forward Enterprise. It recently emerged that the blueprint for an alternative tournament under a working title of the Global Nations League have been locked away in the UEFA vault for the best part of a decade and support for the eight-team format already garnered early support from both CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation.

Infantino’s gluttony has derailed his bid to kill the golden goose of international football but Ceferin would not hesitate in firing the bullet that strips him of all power. If he succeeds, the accusations of a ‘UEFA Mafia’ regularly aired by supporters will no longer be without foundation.

Every footballer must have their own tale about the big transfer move that got away from them - but Michail Antonio's will have stung more than most.

The forward had already made the jump from non-league Tooting & Mitcham straight to then-Championship Reading as a teenager in 2008, but found minutes hard to come by in Berkshire.

Instead, the Royals sent him out on a series of loans - five of them in total - before making the final one permanent by taking up a move to Sheffield Wednesday.

'That was probably one of the best days I’ve had'

In the interim, though, Antonio spent time at Cheltenham, Southampton and Colchester...and his first two loan spells both left him with mixed feelings.

Antonio told FourFourTwo of his EFL debut for Cheltenham in 2009: "It was under Martin Allen, on loan at Cheltenham against Leeds. I went from playing in front of 200 to 500 people at Tooting, to 20,000 people at Elland Road in the space of six months. Unbelievable.

"The first 28 minutes, I was on absolute fire, beating people for fun, doing long throws, taking corners – I was doing it all. Then after 28 minutes, I tore three ligaments in my ankle."

Upon recovering from that injury, Antonio was sent out on loan to League One again.

This time he joined Southampton, where he played a part in their Johnstone's Paint Trophy triumph at Wembley.

He said: "That was probably one of the best days I’ve had.

"We had some unbelievable players in that Southampton squad – Kelvin Davis, Jose Fonte, Dan Harding, Morgan Schneiderlin, Adam Lallana, Jason Puncheon, Rickie Lambert, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – and we were in League One!

"It was crazy. Southampton had started the season on -10 points, and we just missed out on the play-offs.

"But we won the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final against Carlisle and I really enjoyed my time there.

"I actually wanted to sign for them again, but Reading told me no.

"The following season Southampton got promoted, then went from League One to the Premier League in only two years.

"I was left thinking to myself, ‘That could have been me…’."

Antonio made it to the Premier League himself just a couple of years later, though, leaving Sheffield Wednesday for Nottingham Forest before attracting the attention of West Ham, where he spent ten years and made 268 top-flight appearances.

Sometimes you just have to be patient, as it turns out.

Can you answer 10 football trivia questions in an average of just nine seconds? Let's find out in another FourFourTwo Quickfire Quiz!

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FourFourTwo has many more football quizzes, all courtesy of Kwizly. Let's begin by asking you to name all 95 clubs to have won any one of the top four tiers of English football.

Still not used to having no World Cup football to get stuck into at all hours of the day and night? FourFourTwo's Big World Cup 2026 quiz will ease you through your withdrawal and test your knowledge of the tournament at the same time.

With the new domestic season approaching, we want you to name every Premier League player nominated for the Ballon d'Or since 2000 and the top 100 goalscorers in the history of the Premier League. That's a lot tougher than it sounds, so good luck!

If you can handle that, let's find out whether you can guess these team line-ups based on the nationalities of their players alone and identify all of these footballer autobiographies from their titles.

If you're still not sated, why not try to name 100 players from the clubs where they've played football in our latest career path quiz or attempt to identify the locations of these 10 iconic football statues.

We have puzzles too. Our Weekend Crossword is a regular football teaser for your Sunday, and don't forget to sign up to the newsletter for more quizzes in your inbox. Don't forget to join The Club for free additional membership benefits!

West Ham’s move from the Boleyn Ground to the London Stadium remains one of the most contentious stadium relocations in recent football history.

The Hammers’ previous home was steeped in history and provided the kind of edge that is only found in old-school, tightly-packed stadiums that are becoming more and more rare in this age.

As the East Enders prepare for life back in the second tier, former Hammers favourite Tony Gale believes that the club’s fortunes on the pitch have indeed suffered following the 2016 move.

Gale on why West Ham struggle at the London Stadium

For Gale, the contrast between the side that left Upton Park under Slaven Bilic and the football that has been seen since is clear.

“Slaven Bilic took us out of Upton Park and I enjoyed that period,” Gale tells FourFourTwo. “Dimitri Payet, Manuel Lanzini, players that crowds wanted to watch.

“I remember listening to Slav, he was really interesting. He said the pitch is roughly the same size as Upton Park, but because of the vast expanse of the surroundings, there’s an optical illusion around the place and he said that reflected in the players. He found it hard to keep the team compact when they played at home.”

But Gale, who turned out more than 300 times for the Irons between 1984 and 1994, is aware that it is all too easy to look back with rose-tinted spectacles.

“But we must also remember that Upton Park didn’t always have a great atmosphere,” he admits. “You look at the start of our really good season in 1985-86, our crowds were down to 15,000.

“They’re now 62,000, and the acoustics of the new stadium are brilliant. Don’t tell me we haven’t had great nights with the European games there.

“The ground has changed but the crowd hasn’t. They’ll respond to 100 per cent effort and good football.”

And while the passion of the fans is there, Gale looks at the current infrastructure when it comes to why the club’s fortunes have been on the turn.

“Outside, it’s a different story,” he adds. “There should be more things around the stadium. You should feel like you’re coming up to a football ground, because it really doesn’t feel like that at present. It’s 20 to 25 minutes’ walk from Stratford station and it’s all wide open, not like the old cramped streets near Upton Park. That makes it hard to build an atmosphere outside.

“A lot of Premier League grounds suffer from that, but I miss the old programme sellers and old-fashioned hot dog stalls where you could smell the onions from the next post code. The London Stadium doesn’t ‘smell’ of football.”

As Coventry City prepare for their first season back in the top flight for a generation, few are under any illusions as to the task facing them over the next nine months.

Boss Frank Lampard delivered promotion in style last season, as the Sky Blues followed up their 2025 play-off semi-final defeat to Sunderland by easing to the Championship title, finishing 11 points clear of the chasing pack.

The former England and Chelsea midfielder now faces an altogether different task now though, as he works to ensure that Coventry do not go one-and-done in the Premier League.

Harry Redknapp on Frank Lampard’s task

Should Lampard need advice of how to approach the coming season, he won’t have to look far, as his uncle Harry Redknapp is one of the most experienced managers of recent times and knows a thing or two about Premier League survival.

But even Redknapp is baulking at the challenge his nephew faces, despite seeing the 48-year-old excel in the dugout last season.

“He’s surprised me,” Redknapp admits to FourFourTwo. "I didn’t see them going up at the start of the year.

“I didn’t see Coventry in it at all. I thought if they could finish sixth, maybe make the play-offs, it’d be a great season for him.”

And if Coventry are to beat the drop this year, Lampard will again have to exceed expectations.

“What he’s got to do is make sure he goes into the new Premier League season prepared,” Redknapp continues. “Are they going to be good enough to stay up? That’s the problem.”

Redknapp is also quick to point out that promising coaches that impress in the second tier can quickly find themselves under immense pressure.

“We’ve seen it so many times before,” he continues. “Good young managers that know the game and have done an excellent job, quickly watch all their hard work unravel.

“When results aren’t going your way, you have people calling up the radio. You get idiots who don’t know what they’re talking about coming on and going, ‘Well, yeah, we’re losing because he's a Championship manager’.

“What a load of rubbish.”

When Diego Forlan put pen to paper and joined Manchester United in January 2002, it would prove to be a life-changing move for the then-22-year-old.

The £6.9million deal that saw him move from Argentine side Independiente to Old Trafford kicked off a career in Europe that saw him turn out for the Red Devils, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan

On the international front, he would establish himself as a key part of Uruguay’s potent frontline alongside Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, a journey which may not have played out the same, had he not netted a goal in a losing effort for Independiente.

How Forlan sealed his Manchester United move

When Independiente took on Boca Juniors at La Bombonera in December 2001, the visitors were very much the support act on a day when Boca were saying goodbye to a coaching legend, but for Forlan, it was a game that changed his life.

“This was the day Manchester United seriously put me on their radar,” Forlan explains to FourFourTwo. “A club scout, along with Martin Ferguson, travelled to Buenos Aires to watch me play at La Bombonera.

“The stadium was packed because it was Carlos Bianchi’s farewell as head coach,” he continues.

“I remember the fans chanting for him to stay, because his legacy at Boca Juniors had been extraordinary, crowned by that victory a year earlier against Real Madrid [in the Intercontinental Cup].”

With La Bombonera at fever pitch, the match lived up to the occasion, with attacking football on top and plenty of goals scored.

“It was an open game, with chances at both ends, and Boca Juniors eventually won 5–3,” Forlan adds, before turning to his own contribution that day.

“However, I scored a good goal with a powerful left-footed finish that confirmed the expectations of those who were watching me.”

And although Independiente would end up on the losing side as Boca delighted their fans with a 5-3 victory, Forlan would soon learn just how important his goal in would prove to be.

“I didn’t know it until a bit later, but that match was one of the ones that gave me the chance to make the leap from Argentina to the Premier League,” he adds.

A month later, Forlan was a plane to England and after a quick detour to Middlesbrough, would be signed up at Manchester United, where he would make 98 appearances and net 17 goals over the next three seasons.

Chelsea have been many things throughout their history but they haven’t once been accused of shyness.

Love them or hate them, Chelsea do things however they want and without apology. The results can be a mixed bag.

They’re the only club outside Manchester with five titles in the Premier League era and more, much more than this, they did it their way. Equally, it’s now 10 seasons since the Blues won the league and that barely tells the story of the intervening years.

Chelsea have invested in expensive potential

Chelsea have veered from basket case to brilliant and back again, winning trophies almost in spite of influential individuals with no business having as much say as they did.

If pendulous progress is The New Chelsea Way, freshly appointed manager Xabi Alonso could be about to oversee a lurch for the better.

They remain under the watchful eye of UEFA and financial regulations demand that a club with no natural restraint finds ways to avoid the need to rein itself in, but their summer transfer business in totality is giving off a whiff of promise.

Even as some of the completed transfers appear surprising on paper, the sum of the parts is surely stronger than what came before. Suddenly, a club that was engulfed in utter bedlam just a few months ago has a team capable of putting things right.

There’s no escaping the financial outlay but Alonso will look around the Chelsea dressing room at Fulham at the start of the season and find proven players who warrant the investment.

Morgan Rogers arrived from Aston Villa for a British record transfer fee of £117 million. He might be a player with a low floor by elite standards but Rogers can and will win matches on his own at the very highest level.

If Rogers was an ostentatious purchase, defender Maxence Lacroix should be a solid bet. Chelsea reportedly paid Crystal Palace more than £52 million for the France centre-back but he’s a known quantity.

The deal to bring in Geovany Quenda was done long before Alonso arrived but Atalanta right-back Marco Palestra, now a senior international with Italy, is another shrewd addition with the better part of 15 years of football ahead of him. 22-year-old Valentin Barco has since followed.

Big brothers

At 26, Lacroix is the oldest by far of Chelsea’s major new signings. At least, he would have been the oldest if it weren’t for a phenomenally Chelsea jerk in the other direction.

Apparently concerned about a lack of experience and leadership, the Blues opted against spending big money to load the temporal middle ground and simply went full-bore at raising the average age with a couple of golden oldies.

There’s nothing clever about acquiring 36-year-old Jordan Henderson and 35-year-old Danny Welbeck beyond having the wherewithal to decide they’re needed.

Henderson offers grit, experience and the authority to demand the highest standards from Chelsea’s younger players. He won’t have expected to be rolling into Stamford Bridge three years after leaving Liverpool but it took a single season at Brentford to convince Alonso of his worth.

Before walking the well-worn path from Brighton & Hove Albion, Welbeck produced the season of his career. He’d never scored more goals in a single Premier League campaign and made more appearances in 2025-26 than ever before.

After reaching double figures in back-to-back Premier League seasons – the first and second times in his career – Welbeck is a convincing depth and rotation option for a manager who’d rather run with Joao Pedro and the veteran than wait for a version of Liam Delap that might never blossom.

Why Chelsea’s transfer strategy is going to pay off

By hook or by crook, the Blues have assembled a squad that can stabilise from the root and mount a serious challenge at the top end of the Premier League when they need it most. Missing out on the Champions League again doesn’t bear thinking about.

The ‘can’ has usually been true; in FourFourTwo’s opinion, that they ‘will’ feels more compelling this time around.

Alonso has a team with ability and balance. There’s some depth. There are goals. There’s drive and creativity and match impact. It doesn’t much matter whether Chelsea ever looked beyond one signing to identify the next.

They’ve bounced from one profile to the next in the transfer market but the West Londoners aren’t operating in the dark without a torch. By hiring former Villa set piece architect Austin MacPhee, Chelsea signalled their intent to win in the fine margins.

Alonso has a plan and they’ll be deploying it in what looks like a positive context.

The teams above them last season must all contend with European football this term and Chelsea, one way or another and for the first time in a long time, appear to have married heft to wits in their summer recruitment.

"I was held in one of the roughest prisons in Singapore for 101 days. There were no beds or proper toilets. I was in cells with rapists and murderers. I was punched and beaten up every day. My nose was broken twice. I needed stitches for my eyes, my armpits and my chin. They tried to rape me.

“After two weeks, one guy tried to help me out. He said, ‘You have to fight back, or it will never stop.’ I was never a fighter before, but for the next 10 days I beat the s**t out of anyone who crossed me. I was so angry. Eventually, they began to leave me be. The worst thing was, I hadn’t even committed a crime.”

It may sound like the storyline to an unlikely Shawshank Redemption sequel, but it was a terrifying reality for Lutz Pfannenstiel. They’d form a remarkable anecdote for anybody to recount, but for Pfannenstiel, the experience is just a small part of an incredible life story. It’s a tale that includes him lying dead on the pitch for three minutes, being pelted with stones by angry mobs, comas, post-apartheid Johannesburg, business collapses, fast cars, faster women, court cases and trance music.

Oh, and did we mention the football? Pfannenstiel played quite a lot of it – in all, more than 400 games at 25 different clubs. In fact, the German goalkeeper became the first man on the planet to have plied his trade professionally across the six different FIFA continents – from Armenia to Albania, Bavaria to Brazil, New Zealand and Namibia to Norway and Nottingham. Not to mention a suitably bonkers spell with the Crazy Gang of Wimbledon.

“I’ve never stopped anywhere long enough to buy a house,” he told FFT. “But at some point I may buy a tour bus.” Apt for one of the most rock ’n’ roll football adventures ever told.

“HELLO, C**TS”

It may seem like Pfannenstiel decided to throw darts blindfolded into a world map for his career path, but it was never planned that way. Born in Bavaria in 1973, he was a talented young stopper who dreamed of keeping goal at the Maracana one day. Developed by his hometown club, Bad Kotzting, he won caps for Germany’s junior sides. Bayern Munich offered Pfannenstiel a contract aged 18, but he had other ideas. “I was obsessed with playing and didn’t fancy sitting on the bench,” he said. “Then a scout asked me if I wanted to sign for Penang. They offered me $5,000 and a car, which was decent. I thought I’d get some experience out there and then return to Europe.”

In Malaysia, he played in front of up to 40,000 fans, and at night doubled as a techno DJ on the Kuala Lumpur club scene. “I was a s**tty DJ, but I had the top records from Germany three months ahead of everyone else,” he laughed. “I’d just jump around like a lunatic.

“I liked new languages, religions and traditions – even if I was just a boy. But the football was average, and in 1994 Wimbledon came in for me. I would have gone anywhere in England. It’s a special football country for me.”

Joe Kinnear and Terry Burton had heard about the youngster via a scout, but if Penang had been an eye-opener, nothing could prepare him for the Crazy Gang. “It was a big surprise,” he said. “I went to training in Roehampton Park and imagined that England would have high-quality facilities. But we were in a park with two shacks, and two old ladies dishing out baked beans every morning! I signed a week-to-week deal anyway, lived in Kilburn, played in the reserves and made enough to just survive.”

Inevitably, he became victim to some Dons madness. “Gary Blissett and Mick Harford became good friends,” he said. “They took me out drinking once and I nearly died, so I didn’t drink again after that! I didn’t speak good English either, and the lads became my teachers. All they ever said was “f**king hell” and “stupid c**t”. I sounded like a gangster because I copied them. “Once we went for a meal and two girls were looking over at me. Gary told me that English girls loved polite foreigners, so to go over and say, “Hello, I’m Lutz from Germany, you little c**ts.” I said, “What does it mean?” They told me it meant “darling”.

"So I went over and said, “Hello, c**ts!” The girls nearly choked on their cake. But they realised I’d been tricked and told Gary off. “Another time I bought some nice shoes, but the dressing room was very dirty so I put them on the bench. The boys didn’t like that and when I got back in, they’d nailed my shoes to the bench. I went home barefoot. The shoes are probably still there now.”

Pfannenstiel didn’t make it into the first team at Wimbledon, but after a blinding display against Nottingham Forest’s reserves, found himself at the City Ground. “I thought I had a chance of ousting Mark Crossley, but the coach didn’t fancy me, so I went out on loan to South Africa,” he said.

He moved to Johannesburg-based Orlando Pirates, right after the end of apartheid and with the country still a political tinderbox. “It was very tense,” he remembered. “People were vicious to each other. Black and white were in different corners. It was very difficult, because the whole team was black and they really disliked me. But once they realised I was European and liberal, it got better. I enjoyed playing and the crowds were amazing.”

Pfannenstiel defied advice not to go out in the city’s lethal townships. “I was in a hotel in Hillbrow, the most criminal part of the city,” he said. “They told me, ‘Don’t leave or you’ll get shot.’ But after a week I was bored and thought, ‘Screw it.’ People knew me from the team and I ended up being OK. That gave me a nose for danger.” Come the end of the season, he was bound for very different climes: Finland. “I played for TPV and Haka, and it was nice, though very cold,” he said. “Finnish people are also difficult to get to know, until they get drunk, at which point they start telling you stuff you don’t want to hear. The language is also impossible – I can count to three and say a couple of swear words, that’s about it.”

With the Finns unable to meet his financial demands, Pfannenstiel ended up playing with Wacker Burghausen in the German third tier, but found himself no longer feeling at home. In 2000, an offer came in from Geylang United in Singapore. It was a move that would change his life forever.

Geylang were one of the biggest clubs in Singapore and Pfannenstiel was thrust straight into the first XI, and with it local superstardom. As well as being picked up to model for Armani Exchange, he started doing media work, analysing Premier League games for Singaporean TV and ESPN.

“I’d gone from zero to 100 in a few weeks,” he recalled. “I was playing in front of lots of fans and living like some kind of royalty. They party until they drop in Singapore. I was going mad with the cars and the girls – living it large. It was a huge high, but then everything came crashing down.”

JAILED FOR WINNING

Pfannenstiel’s nightmare began when he was approached by an Indian man at a petrol station. The man, recognising Pfannenstiel, asked the goalkeeper how he thought Geylang would do in their next game. “I said, ‘We’re in good shape, we’re going to win!’” the German replied. “It was an everyday conversation.” Two weeks later, the same man approached him while he was eating at a restaurant with friends. They spoke again about the coming weekend’s game. “I said, ‘We’re going to murder them!’ and that was that,” he recalled. A third meeting in a shopping centre also took place, where Pfannenstiel – accompanied by his girlfriend – told the same man that he believed his team would triumph once more. “I never saw the guy again,” he said.

Corruption was rife in the Singaporean football scene at the time, though, and a widespread clampdown was taking place. One Sunday, as he was watching TV with Australian footballer Mirko Jurilj, his peace was rudely disturbed. “The doorbell went and my friend opened the door,” he recalled. “A fist knocked him to the floor. It was four guys and they smashed up my whole house. They were corruption police – a rough unit. It was like something from a film. I said, ‘Guys, what are you looking for?’ They replied, ‘Money and betting slips.’ I said, ‘My money is in the bank, and I don’t bet.’ I even joked, ‘You’ve forgotten to break my lamp – maybe there’s a million pounds in it!’ So they smashed that, too. They found nothing.”

The laughter soon stopped. The pair were arrested, held for 48 hours with no lawyer and tortured, Pfannenstiel claimed. “I was being interrogated like a hardened criminal,” he said. “I was slapped, put naked into a cold cell, they tried to break my fingers. They asked me the same s**t and I just denied it. “Then the Indian guy appeared. I confirmed I’d met him and I signed a statement. The policeman said, ‘You’re going to prison.’ I said, ‘Listen up, mother f**ker, if you jail me for this, you must be a world champion. I’ve done nothing.’”

Released from custody, he carried on playing for Geylang – keeping seven clean sheets in the season’s final eight games. By that point, Pfannenstiel thought the scandal had blown over, but after the last match of the season, was told to report back to the police. He was handcuffed and told he was being charged with making a ‘verbal corrupt agreement’.

“This crime doesn’t even exist,” said Pfannenstiel. “The bookie said that I’d agreed to share his bonus if we won games. It was my word against his. But how could I be corrupt by trying to win a game, anyway? I always try to win!”

At trial, numerous witnesses spoke in his favour, while the prosecution just had the bookmaker. Yet Pfannenstiel was found guilty, the judge concluding that he had deliberately played better than usual in the games discussed. “It was even proven in court that no money changed hands,” he said. But he was sent away to the country’s fearsome Queenstown Remand Prison.

“When you’re fighting someone who has been given the death penalty, they don’t have much to lose,” he said. “I stepped over my shadow and learned how to fight. People were dying in there. It’s the worst place on the planet.”

“I WAS DEAD”

Pfannenstiel was finally released after passing a lie detector test and headed home. His ordeal was over. He’d lost 16kg of weight and was in a mentally fragile state. “I had the biggest party ever when I got out,” he said. “But I was carrying around a prison mentality. Every time someone looked at me, I felt like knocking them out. I threatened this guy at a beer festival. I had to get myself in check. I scared people.”

He moved to Bradford with his English girlfriend. “I liked Yorkshire,” he said. “I had a week-to-week contract with Huddersfield, and Lou Macari and Joe Jordan helped me a lot. I never told them about prison, but they knew.

“I trained with Bradford Park Avenue and a guy called Trevor Storton, who’d played for Liverpool, helped turn my life around. He got me thinking straight.” Not feeling quite ready for English football again, however, Pfannenstiel accepted another trial – more than 11,000 miles away. “I had a friend in the south of New Zealand, in Dunedin,” he said.

“All I wanted was a chance to do my studies in sports and tourism management quietly, and play a little football. So I flew 48 hours straight for the trial. Manchester to London, London to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Auckland, and Auckland to Dunedin. I slept for two hours, then went to the club. “At the trial, they hit shots at me for 40 minutes and I was on f**king fire. The chairman was open-mouthed and I said to him, ‘You decide what to pay me.’ I slept for 24 hours, then the next day they made me the best-paid player in the club’s history, as well as one of the best in the league.”

Pfannenstiel would play in New Zealand’s league for five months a year for the next five years, while spending the rest of the time out on loan. But there was more drama to come. During a spell back in non-league with Bradford Park Avenue, he was involved in a nasty collision with Harrogate Town’s Clayton Donaldson. His lung collapsed and his heart stopped beating for three minutes.

“In England, it takes a nuclear war to stop a game, but they stopped it after that challenge!” he said. “I was dead. I had no pulse. The physio brought me back to life three times. I was in a coma for a few hours and the doctor thought I might be mentally handicapped. “But then I woke up. Everything was a blur. I thought I was still playing, and I started shouting at the nurses, ‘Get me the f**k out of here, we’re winning 2-1!’ “The nurse told me that the game had stopped. I was fuming. I tried to move, but couldn’t. I thought I was paralysed, but was tied down. I told them, ‘Cut me off this bloody board’, then got up and walked home. But I couldn’t breathe, so I got driven back to the hospital.”

BIGGER THAN THE BIBLE

Ten days later after defying death, Pfannenstiel played again. Inevitably, he was soon back on tour. He played with Baerum in Norway (“peaceful”), for Calgary Mustangs (“they went bust while I was there”), Vancouver Whitecaps (“professional, and a lovely city”), in Albania with Vllaznia Shkoder, where away fans pelted him with rocks and fireworks (“they’re passionate”), and for Armenia’s Bentonit Ijevan. He also returned to New Zealand with Otago United, where he took home a penguin and kept it in his bathtub.

But it was a call from his agent that finally helped him achieve a personal dream. “He said to me, ‘Lutz, you’ve played on five different continents, how do you fancy making it six and going to Brazil with Atletico Ibirama?’” Pfannenstiel recalled. “It took me back to my childhood dream. The next thing I knew it was sunshine, beautiful people and football as a religion.”

He also finally got to don his gloves at the Maracana. “I’d been searching for something all my life, and it felt like that was it,” he said. “I smiled for the whole 90 minutes. For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel restless.”

Spells at Floy and Manglerud Star in Norway, plus Namibian side Ramblers, brought Pfannenstiel’s playing career to an end. “I’d been the goalkeeping coach of Cuba,” he said. “Then I was a sports director in Norway, coached Ramblers and was assistant coach of Namibia.”

During the 2010 World Cup, he appeared alongside Oliver Kahn as a pundit on German TV, before becoming director of international relations and scouting for Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga. “It’s easy for me to scout, because I know people all over the world!” he laughed. “My phone book is bigger than the Bible. I’m the ultimate example of football’s globalisation. When I did well in weaker leagues, my ambitions meant I tried to better myself by taking new opportunities. And sometimes, like in England, I wasn’t quite good enough to make it, so I moved on. Circumstances just keep me moving.”

You get the impression that once he’d started globe-trotting, however, there was no stopping him – towards the end, his itinerant lifestyle became a USP and something he cashed in on, writing a book about his adventures.

Pfannenstiel learned some major life lessons along the way. Travel gave him a lot. “I have more air miles than any other person in the world, and I should be in the book of records for packing suitcases,” he said, before revealing an ambition to tick off the last remaining continent and play a charity match in Antarctica. Plenty of penguins there. Not so many bathtubs.

This article first appeared in the August 2011 edition of FourFourTwo magazine

Bill Shankly famously declared that a football club is made up of a holy trinity.

Players, the manager and supporters sat at the heart of the Liverpool godfather's ethos while ‘directors don’t come into it – they are only there to sign the cheques’.

Fenway Sports Group are routinely confronted with that sentiment by the Anfield faithful whenever their 16-year tenure has veered dangerously into avaricious territory.

Liverpool entertaining new investment bid

As Reds’ owners, the Americans have racked up more own goals than Jamie Carragher. From conspiring to create the ill-fated European Super League to an audacious attempt to trademark the word ‘Liverpool’ – and everything in between – John W. Henry and Co. have routinely been forced into embarrassing climbdowns.

FSG’s time at the helm on Merseyside was always set to have a limited shelf life, especially as figureheads Henry and Tom Werner took on a club racked by debt and disarray in October 2010 at the ages of 61 and 60 respectively. Even Mike Gordon, tasked with overseeing day-to-day operations, is now in his seventh decade of life.

The Boston-based investment vehicle is not actively eyeing an exit strategy, but a potential succession plan has emerged amid talks over selling a minority stake to a consortium headed up by the former Queens Park Rangers chairman Amit Bhatia.

It is not the first time they have diluted Liverpool’s power dynamic after Dynasty Equity took up a fractional share in 2023, which was valued between £82m and £164m, but this latest approach offers the owners of the Boston Red Sox a viable long-term out.

Bhatia’s group, which is backed by his father-in-law and steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, has set its sights on a share of 30% in exchange for a £1.35bn investment that would see the club’s valuation rise to £4.5bn – outstripping several Premier League peers.

Several high-profile names are also being courted to add financial gravitas to the bid with Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin both recently approached to join, although neither have indicated any leaning either way.

Irrespective of whether the pair jump aboard, Bhatia’s potential candidacy can act as a force for good; not least as Mittal’s estimated fortune stands at £23.2bn – nearly two-and-a-half times greater than the current valuation of FSG’s overall sporting portfolio.

The 46-year-old is not your average football club investor. Unlike those he seeks to join forces with, there will be no learning curve as he has already experienced the assorted highs and lows of ownership during 18 seasons in Loftus Road’s corridors of power.

In ‘The Four Year Plan’, the documentary which charted QPR’s attempt to return to the Premier League, he is portrayed as a diligent operator who often soothed tensions inflamed by the belligerent majority shareholder Flavio Briatore. While the Italian bore the brunt of fan invective, Bhatia’s willingness to engage – both in and outside of the boardroom setting – earned an invaluable amount of goodwill. Once the cameras stopped rolling, he continued to demonstrate a clear understanding of the values which supporters hold dear in their emotional connection with the club.

Never was that more evident than in his decision to resign as the Hoops’ vice-chairman, just weeks after a first campaign in the top flight since 1995/96 was secured, over plans for a 40% price hike on season tickets. Although he later returned to the hierarchy, it offers an insight of what Kopites can expect should he join their ranks.

FSG have persistently tested the waters over Anfield's entrance fees, most recently at the end of last season when they were met with fresh opposition towards attempts to raise ticket prices for the next three years in line with the rate of inflation. An initial doubling down on the proposal proved to be short-lived but only served to preserve the seeds of mistrust which the club’s core supporters continue to harbour about their overlords.

Bhatia has the potential to ease such tensions with an outward appearance of a fan in the directors’ box. A preference to shun the matchday attire of stuffy suits favoured by his potential new cohorts is matched by embracing the raw emotion of football while he has, on occasion, been guilty of revelling in his surroundings by pressing the flesh at QPR’s training base decked in a full training rigout, complete with his initials.

Liverpool fans could be forgiven for fearing that this potential new minority investor is just another Christian Purslow, whose spell as their CEO went down in infamy, but Bhatia is hardly in the same league as the self-proclaimed ‘Fernando Torres of finance’.

He also has no qualms about running with big names and personalities, as the audacious plays for Bezos and Saverin, as well as tussling with Briatore and fellow F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone during his time in west London both fully attest.

If Bhatia becomes Liverpool’s new figurehead in waiting, supporters could do far worse than having a friend in high places to steer them through the eventual post-FSG era.

Michail Antonio must have thought that international football was just never going to happen for him before he finally got his first cap for Jamaica at the age of 31.

The forward had the opportunity to represent the Caribbean nation nearly a decade earlier, but let it slip through his grasp.

By the time they came calling again, he had a realistic shot at making it into the England squad and was called up multiple times, only for injury to rule him out each time.

'I went to three England camps, then did my hamstring and never got called up again'

Antonio finally made his international bow in 2021 and has since gone on to accumulate 28 caps for Jamaica.

And while the forward is proud to have played his part, it would be entirely fair for him to wonder about what might have been had it not been for those repeated bouts of bad luck.

Antonio told FourFourTwo: "I was in three England squads and got called up for two others, but got injured for the other two, so I wasn’t able to go.

"I always wanted to play for Jamaica – every year from when I was born until I was 14, my mum took me to Jamaica so that I knew the culture.

"[Jamaica] scouted me at Sheffield Wednesday and said, 'We want you to come'.

"But they came to my next game against Leeds and I had an absolute stinker - I smelled out the entire pitch!

So they didn’t call me up for the next international – they were calling up players in League Two, and I’d been in the Championship for two years.

I’d been doing well enough – they saw me in a bad game, so I understand that they might think I’m not good...but it was one game. That annoyed me.

"Then they didn’t try to call me back up until Nottingham Forest, although I didn’t know about that call-up.

"At West Ham, I went to three England camps, then did my hamstring and missed the Euros, then never got called up again.

"Had that injury not happened, I definitely would have played a few games – how many I’m not sure, with the quality England had.

"But I got called up by Jamaica and I don’t regret it, I enjoyed every moment."

Pre-Match Poser, anyone? Here it is.

Ipswich Town are first in the Premier League, followed by Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and Coventry City rounding up the top four. Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Brighton are all in midtable. Manchester United are 20th, narrowly ahead of Arsenal – before there's a steep jump to Manchester City just above them. Liverpool are 17th, and Tottenham Hotspur 16th. What are we talking about?

We'll reveal the answer this time next week in the next edition of The Pre-Match Poser – stay tuned for that – but for now, here's the answer to last week's conundrum…

Q. Which club follows next in the pattern? Everton, Arsenal, Arsenal, Leeds United…

A. It’s Raith Rovers. These are the clubs supported by the last five Labour leaders. New prime minister Andy Burnham is an Everton fan, replacing a Gooner in Sir Keir Starmer. Predecessor Jeremy Corbyn had common ground with Starmer, at least, in that he was an Emirates Stadium season ticket holder, while Ed Miliband became a Leeds United fan after moving to the city in 1973. Labour’s last PM pre-Starmer, Gordon Brown, is a renowned fan of Kirkcaldy-based Rovers. We would've gone with Prime Ministers more generally, but that's murky water when it comes to Boris “I support all London clubs” Johnson and David “Villa/West Ham” Cameron.

More football quizzes we know you'll love

While you're pondering what kind of list has Ipswich at the top and Manchester United at the bottom, we've got some more quizzes, powered by Kwizly, to help keep your mind sharp. Are you ready?

We’re kicking off with a double-header that audits the complete geography and historical silverware of the English game. First, we want you to test your knowledge of the current pyramid by naming every club in the Football League right now, a trial of contemporary depth spanning the Championship down to League Two. Once you've mapped out the modern 72, expand your scope to historical champions and see if you can name every team to have won one of English football's top four tiers, celebrating title-winners across every generation of domestic football.

If your scouting network is more attuned to stadium landmarks and locker-room literature, we have two unique cultural hurdles waiting in the tunnel. Put your visual recognition to the test by trying to locate these famous football statues, identifying the bronze monuments erected to honour immortal legends around the world. After touring the stadium grounds, trade the turnstiles for the library and test your bookish credentials by naming the authors of these footballer autobiographies, proving you know the minds behind the game’s most famous tell-all memoirs.

To lower your pulse after that culture-heavy workout, settle into a quiet spot in the dugout for FourFourTwo’s Weekend Crossword 65, with clues on The Super League, Super Cups and Superheroes. To ensure you stay top of the table every single day, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for your daily briefing of hand-picked trivia and tactical analysis. To complete your transfer to terrace legend status, join The Club: our free membership hub that serves as your digital dugout, where you can unlock secret hints for our toughest quizzes, climb global leaderboards, and debate the latest topics directly in the comments section.

Leeds United will start the 2026/27 season on the up following last year’s successful return to the Premier League.

The club failed to establish themselves back in the top flight following their previous promotion in 2020, as their return from a 16-year Premier League exile ended after just three seasons, but supporters will now be hoping that they are back among the big boys of English football for the long haul.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Leeds were often one of the Premier League’s most exciting sides, their high-water mark being the run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2001, before the house of cards built by Peter Ridsdale came crashing down.

Lucas Radebe on Leeds’ 2004 relegation

Just three years on from their defeat to Valencia in the last-four of Europe’s biggest club competition, Leeds found themselves relegated following a turgid campaign which saw a squad, still packed with stars, fail to beat the drop.

Leeds United legend Lucas Radebe was at the club throughout this rise and fall, with injuries meaning the South African was only able to feature 14 times in the 2003/04 campaign, a season which still weighs heavy on him.

“That was very tough to take, especially as we had competed in the UEFA Cup during the 2002-03 season,” Radebe tells FourFourTwo as he recalls the rapid nature of the club’s decline.

“The next year, we saw the decline in our players and standard of game,” he continues. “It was saddening because we were trying hard, but it felt like everything was against us.”

The club's financial issues were beginning to hit home after chairman Peter Ridsdale’s admission that the club had ‘lived the dream’ and bankrolled a series of spending sprees on the assumption that the club would be regular participants in the Champions League.

“We were being dragged down to the relegation zone and due to mismanagement were losing the quality that had pushed us up the Premier League,” he continues.

For Radebe, who joined the club from South African side Kaizer Chiefs in 1994 and established himself as one of the fans’ all-time favourites over the next decade, relegation really hit home when he looked to these supporters.

“When we got relegated, we saw on the supporters’ faces what it meant to them. That was tough, very sad,” he recalls, before paying tribute to the unwavering loyalty of the Elland Road faithful.

“But the most important thing was that the fans never lost hope of a return.

“But for Leeds supporters it has been a rollercoaster ride, and it was a difficult time for the whole club until we finally made it back into the Premier League 16 years later, in 2020.”

When Tony Cascarino called time on his 12-year spell in English football to join Marseille in 1994, his career had already taken plenty of twists and turns.

The Republic of Ireland striker was 31 years old when he made the move to France, and as he joined Marseille in a turbulent time in the club’s history, few backed him to make a sizeable impact.

Instead, Cascarino’s two-season spell would reinvigorate his career, seeing him play some of the best of his career and leave a lasting impression among the Marseille fans.

Cascarino on leaving Chelsea for France

Cascarino was a free agent when he chose to leave Chelsea following an injury-hit spell at Stamford Bridge which had seen him net just eight goals in two years.

His fortunes would soon change, as he netted 31 goals as Marseille swept to the Ligue 2 title in the 1994/95 season, only for the club to be denied promotion due to an ongoing investigation into financial irregularities and match-fixing scandals.

“If I said it was difficult that would be an understatement,” Cascarino recalls to FourFourTwo when asked about the challenge of adapting to life at Marseille.

“But it was also the most beautiful thing. Marseille had won the Champions League in 1993 but were relegated a year later in a match-fixing scandal, and that gave me a window to sign for them.

“By the grace of God, I got an opportunity to go to such a big club that I never thought I could have played for.”

Cascarino would make the most of this opportunity, ensuring he was in the best possible condition for his new side.

“I was in great shape there – six to eight pounds lighter than I ever was in England,” he continues. “People even told me I looked ill when they saw me. My cheekbones were like cyclists in the Tour de France.”

This newfound fitness would quickly pay dividends as he made an immediate impact for his new side, as he would net 30 goals the following season when the club were finally able to be promoted, before he secured another move.

“I did amazingly at Marseille, but was even better at Nancy because it was playing for a smaller club in the top division. My goalscoring record was so good that I was even awarded the city’s Medaille d’Or.

“I’ve always said the biggest thing that I achieved during my career was to turn things around at 31, after suffering a lot of injuries at Chelsea, which let me have those glorious years in France and play until I was 38.”

During David Moyes’ second stint as West Ham boss, the Scot delivered the most successful period in the club’s modern-day history.

That culminated in the Hammers winning the Europa Conference League in 2023, during a run of three consecutive European campaigns.

But despite delivering silverware and memories that the club’s fans will cherish forever, he would be gone at the end of the following season, as the noise around his pragmatic style of play became too loud to overcome.

Michail Antonio on David Moyes at West Ham

Former West Ham striker Michail Antonio played some of his best football under Moyes, scoring 55 goals in 182 appearances under the former Manchester United boss, believing that the Scot quickly understood the soul of the club.

“He just knew the culture of the club and how to get the boys going,” Antonio tells FourFourTwo. “We didn’t play the best football, but we got results.”

Antonio does, however, acknowledge that this approach would sometimes come at the expense of winning over the fans.

“Obviously the fans were frustrated by the style of play,” he admits. “But we were winning and managed to achieve things with it.”

Moyes’ first spell saw him parachuted in to beat the drop in November 2017, but he would not be handed a permanent deal at the end of that season, despite meeting this objective.

“That’s why I was surprised he didn’t get the job permanently after his first spell, because he kept us up. Then the second time, the fans did get annoyed with the style of play and wanted us to play better.”

Moyes’ second stint saw him arrive in December 2019, with the club in 17th place and it would last for five years before the club looked to change direction.

While many pundits questioned the move, Antonio admits that the Hammers’ dressing room also believed letting Moyes go was a risk

“Yeah, because of what he was achieving,” the Jamaica international adds. “We kept getting into Europe and doing well.

“But in the last year, we were getting close to relegation, so you thought, ‘Even though we’re doing well in Europe, we might need to find a new philosophy.’”

Michail Antonio’s autobiography 'Humans Not Robots', published by HarperCollins, is available now

Watch Manchester United vs PSG today as the Red Devils face the reigning Champions League holders, with FourFourTwo bringing you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Manchester United continue their pre-season preparations with a clash against PSG in Gothenburg.

Both sides will be competing in this season's UEFA Champions League, with Michael Carrick pitted against Luis Enrique in the dugout.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Manchester United vs PSG online and from anywhere.

Can I watch Manchester United vs PSG for free?

Unfortunately, Manchester United vs PSG is not being broadcast free-to-air.

Read on as we show you how to watch the game online from anywhere.

Watch Manchester United vs PSG from anywhere

Away from home right now? You don't have to miss Manchester United vs PSG. The solution to your geo-restriction nightmares is a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a piece of software that can set your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.

FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate NordVPN as the best VPN you can buy.

How to watch Manchester United vs PSG

Manchester United vs PSG will be shown live on MUTV.

MUTV is United's in-house television channel and costs £7.99/month or £29.99/year.

It is available to stream on MUTV Digital and the official Manchester United app, as well as on Sky (Channel 418) and Virgin Media (Channel 526) in the UK - but you must pay an extra £7/month to watch it on linear TV.

MUTV is also accessible via beIN Sports in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Manchester United vs PSG: Preview

Man Utd were rather impressive in their 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid last week in Stockholm, with Bryan Mbeumo scoring twice.

Shea Lacey impressed out wide, as well as midfielder Mason Mount, who is hoping to go a season injury-free after a pretty horrid few seasons with spells on the sidelines at Old Trafford.

Fans also saw a first glimpse of 15-year-old JJ Gabriel for the very first time, as he shone in the last eight or so minutes at the Strawberry Arena.

Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot were the latest duo to return from pre-season breaks this week and should be pushing to make United's travelling squad this weekend.

SEE ALSO How to watch the World Cup for FREE

PSG are also still welcoming back some of their World Cup stars, with Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and Bradley Barcola still enjoying some downtime.

A 3-0 loss to Mallorca was a wake-up call for Enrique's men in their last pre-season outing, with the Spaniard describing the game as 'a match to improve our physical condition'.

In terms of transfers, there hasn't been much action in the French capital, with Alessandro Longoni, Khalil Ayari and Hermi M'Futila the only small pieces of business done so far.

Of course, the big news continues to be whether Barcola leaves the Parc des Princes, with Andoni Iraola keen on bringing him to Liverpool.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Manchester United 1-0 PSG

A narrow win for Man Utd who seem a little further on in their pre-season prep at this stage.

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Watch West Ham United vs Portsmouth for free as Nuno Espirito Santo's newly-relegated side look to make a winning start to the season in the Carabao Cup, with FourFourTwo bringing you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

This Carabao Cup first-round tie feels like the first taste of life in the Championship for the Hammers, who have not played at this stage of the competition since the last time they were at this level in 2011/12.

Opponents Portsmouth should provide an indicator of what awaits Nuno's men over the next nine months, with the south coast club the first of many teams who will view a victory at the London Stadium as a major scalp.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch West Ham United vs Portsmouth online, on TV, and from anywhere.

Can I watch West Ham United vs Portsmouth for free?

West Ham United vs Portsmouth is not technically being shown anywhere for free, but viewers in Australia can watch the Carabao Cup first-round tie on beIN SPORTS, which includes a 7-day free trial for new users.

Not in Australia? Use NordVPN to unlock your beIN SPORTS stream from anywhere in the world.

Watch West Ham United vs Portsmouth from anywhere

Away from home right now? You don't have to miss West Ham United vs Portsmouth. The solution to your geo-restriction nightmares is a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a piece of software that can set your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.

FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate NordVPN as the best VPN you can buy.

How to watch West Ham United vs Portsmouth in the UK

West Ham United vs Portsmouth is being shown live on Sky Sports in the UK.

The clash at the London Stadium is live on Sky Sports+, with kick-off at 3pm BST.

How to watch West Ham United vs Portsmouth in the US

West Ham United vs Portsmouth is available to watch on Paramount+ in the US, with kick-off at 10am ET.

Paramount+ plans start at $8.99 a month and you'll get access to multiple Carabao Cup game as well as every Champions League match in 2026/27.

How to watch West Ham United vs Portsmouth in Australia

As mentioned above, fans in Australia can watch West Ham United vs Portsmouth on beIN SPORTS, which will have live coverage of every Carabao Cup fixture this season.

The game kicks-off at 12am AEST (Sun) and will be live on beIN SPORTS 3, as well as on the beIN Sports Connect streaming platform.

West Ham United vs Portsmouth: Preview

Despite an upturn in form in the second half of last season, West Ham United find themselves back in the Championship for the first time in 14 years.

They start the campaign against fellow second-tier outfit Portsmouth as the London Stadium welcomes the first of many new clubs through its doors for the first time.

West Ham head into this game off the back of a less tumultuous summer than some might have expected, with manager Nuno Espirito Santo and captain Jarrod Bowen both staying put in East London. They have seen some big names move on, though, most notably midfielder Mateus Fernandes and winger Crysencio Summerville, who joined Tottenham Hotspur and Al Hilal for £140m combined.

The Hammers are yet to use that money in the transfer market but that will surely change in the final four weeks of the window - especially if they suffer a shock reverse against Portsmouth, or in their Championship opener at fellow relegated side Burnley next Sunday.

SEE ALSO Should I use a VPN to watch football?

Pompey have been far busier than the Hammers so far this summer, with six players arriving at Fratton Park as the club look to avoid a third successive relegation battle.

Manager John Mousinho has worked wonders since arriving in January 2023 and last term's 18th-place finish was the second successive season in which he has hauled the club clear of trouble when they looked in danger of a return to League One.

This cup tie in the capital will be seen as a stress-free day out for the Pompey faithful before the grind of the league campaign, with 9,000 away fans set to travel to the London Stadium, although a positive result could raise expectations.

Mousinho's men start the league season at home to Queens Park Rangers next Saturday and the Fratton Park atmosphere will be even more heightened than usual if they can claim an upset against the Hammers.

FourFourTwo's prediction

West Ham United 2-0 Portsmouth

The Hammers are expected to challenge for an immediate return to the Premier League, so will feel they should win this one fairly comfortably.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

It has been a blockbuster summer transfer window for Real Madrid, who have reinforced their backline with the additions of Denzel Dumfries, Marc Cucurella, and Ibrahima Konate.

Not only that, Los Blancos have added Carlos Espi and Bernardo Silva to their attack, too - but the marquee arrival is without question Yan Diomande.

One year on from leaving Leganes for RB Leipzig, Diomande returns to the Spanish capital with Real Madrid reportedly paying an initial €125 million plus €15 million in bonuses. But is the 19-year-old winger worth the investment? His former coach Todd Eason certainly thinks so.

Is Yan Diomande worth the price Real Madrid are paying?

"I see everyone in the media saying, 'Is he worth $100 million?' I think he is.

"Even though he doesn't have as much experience, he's going to be a guy that's going to continue to increase his value, as he continues to mature and get that experience," stated Eason in an exclusive FourFourTwo interview.

Born into poverty in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, Diomande always knew that a professional football career was going to be the way he supported his family.

It's why he left home at nine years old, playing on the dirt pitches of the Académie Inter Foot Sud Comoé. At 15, Diomande flew to Florida by himself and joined DME Academy, acknowledging the professional pathway was more than likely closed to him if he stayed in Africa.

Despite battling homesickness and being one of the few players on Eason's team who didn't speak English, Diomande adjusted seamlessly to life in American soccer.

He won the amateur United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) national title and the UPSL Playoffs Golden Boot by scoring in all six rounds of the playoffs, going on to earn 2023 STARI Player of the Year honours.

Unable to find a new club, Diomande was forced to return to the Ivory Coast before eventually attracting the interest of Leganes, who signed him in November 2024. Diomande made his professional debut four months later, playing 10 times and doing enough to convince Leipzig to trigger his €20m release clause.

It proved a savvy investment, with Diomande leading Leipzig to a top-three Bundesliga finish and Champions League qualification with 13 goals and 10 assists in 36 appearances.

The Bundesliga Rookie of the Season then returned to North America to take part in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, delivering a Man of the Match display versus Ecuador and bagging an assist in a must-win victory against Curacao.

While he was unable to steer his country past Norway in their first-ever World Cup knockout match, Diomande proved himself in the biggest competition in sport. It's no real surprise then, that Real have spent heavily on the 19-year-old.

While Rodrygo is sidelined with an ACL injury, Diomande has the potential to lock down a starting spot on the right side of attack alongside Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, and Kylian Mbappe.

As opposed to other potential options on the right flank like Arda Guler, Brahim Diaz, and Federico Valverde, Diomande is a natural winger with pace and panache who can beat his man by cutting inside as well as bursting towards the touchline.

"Obviously, you saw him in LaLiga, and once he got going, he was a standout all of a sudden, and then in the Bundesliga, everybody knew his name," Eason tells FFT. "It's scary to think what his ceiling's going to be. That's the hard thing, and now he's going to be on a team that he's not going to have to carry.

"I'm excited to see what comes of it because I never was able to challenge him enough here, and it didn't look like Leganes could challenge him enough.

"I think we're going to see elements of his game that we probably haven't seen, because he's just going to be one of the guys now, instead of the focal point of the team that he's on."

Two years after plying his trade under Eason, Diomande is now honing his talents under Jose Mourinho, who has returned to the Santiago Bernabeu after 13 years. He'll be looking to follow in the footsteps of compatriots Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou, who took significant strides under Mourinho during their time at Chelsea.

He may have been born in the Ivory Coast. He may have debuted in Spain. He may have broken onto the scene in Germany. But if it wasn't for his chapter in the United States, Yan Diomande might have never unlocked his potential and emerged as one of the most promising wingers in world football.

Would Yan Diomande be a good signing for Real Madrid? Tell us in the comments below

Watch Chelsea vs Milan for free as Xabi Alonso's men continue their pre-season endeavours in Asia. FourFourTwo brings you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Alonso has had a mixed bag so far in pre-season, emphatically beating A League side Western Sydney Wanderers before losing to London rivals Tottenham.

The Blues lost 1-0 to Juventus last time out, with new signing Danny Welbeck making his debut for the club and Mykhailo Mudryk returning to the fold following his ban.

Milan most recently drew 1-1 with rivals Inter, before also drawing 2-2 with Scottish giants Celtic, so it's anybody's guess how this one is going to pan out.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Chelsea vs Milan online, on TV, and from anywhere.

Can I watch Chelsea vs Milan for free?

Yes, free-to-air Indonesian broadcaster TVNI is showing the match between Chelsea and Milan for free.

L'Equipe Live Foot in France will also show this game at no cost.

Not in Indonesia or the US? Use NordVPN to unlock your stream from anywhere in the world.

Watch Chelsea vs Milan from anywhere

Away from home right now? You don't have to miss Chelsea vs Milan. The solution to your geo-restriction nightmares is a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a piece of software that can set your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.

FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate NordVPN as the best VPN you can buy.

How to watch Chelsea vs Milan in the UK

In the UK, you will need CFC+ to stream Chelsea vs Milan.

CFC+ is Chelsea's in-house streaming platform and is showing every Blues pre-season game. A match pass costs £9.99, or you can pay £14.99 a year to unlock all of Chelsea's remaining summer friendlies, including this friendly.

Abroad? Use NordVPN to access your usual stream.

How to watch Chelsea vs Milan in the US

Chelsea vs Milan is available to watch on Paramount+.

Paramount+ plans start at $8.99 a month and give you access to every Champions League game, select matches in the Carabao Cup and EFL, plus much more.

Outside of the US? Watch Chelsea vs Milan on Paramount+ with NordVPN.

How to watch Chelsea vs Milan in Australia

Paramount+ will be showing Chelsea vs Milan in Australia.

Plans start at AU$7.99 per month or AU$70.99 per year.

Away from Australia? Get NordVPN to access your usual Paramount+ stream.

Chelsea vs Milan: Preview

Chelsea are, of course, still waiting for a whole host of World Cup stars to join up with them, with Jordan Henderson and Morgan Rogers still on a break after England's endeavours.

The former Liverpool and Sunderland man joined the Blues earlier this week, following fellow Brit Danny Welbeck through the door.

Pedro Neto is said to be of interest to Manchester City, with a huge question mark surrounding his future.

There were first outings in blue for Mike Penders and Geovany Quenda, plus the return to action of Mykhailo Mudryk against Juve, as Alonso begins to shape his side for the season.

SEE ALSO Should I use a VPN to watch football?

Milan drew 1-1 with Inter just over 48 hours ago, with former Chelsea striker Christopher Nkunku scoring for Ruben Amorim's side.

The former Manchester United boss is sticking to his three-at-the-back principles, with Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlović starting against the reigning Serie A champions.

Twenty-one players were used against Inter as Amorim continues to settle into life in Italy, tasked with returning the Rossoneri to their former glories.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Chelsea 4-2 Milan

Switching to Amorim's demands will be tough in the start for Milan and we expect Chelsea's quality to shine through.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s time at Al Nassr has made him the first person in history to become a billionaire thanks to their football career – but even his wealth isn’t enough to get him into the list of the 50 richest people in the sport.

And Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds can forget about it, too – while he’s valued at around £300m, you’ll need a net worth of at least £2.6bn to make our list, restricted to people who own at least 25 per cent of a club, or otherwise have an active role.

Numbers are based on publicly available figures. Where possible, we’ve used Forbes valuations as of early December.

Despite hours of painstaking research, inevitably there may be some omissions, given the sheer number of clubs in world football. This, though, is one of the most extensive football rich lists created for some time.

50. JOHN TEXTOR - LYON/BOTAFOGO £2.6BN

Rarely do investors create as much noise as John Textor managed in 2025. The Missouri native had owned more a stake of more than 40 per cent of Crystal Palace since 2021, but sold his shares to compatriot Woody Johnson after the Eagles’ FA Cup victory.

The win meant Palace qualified for the Europa League – a boon for any investor – and New York Jets owner Johnson gladly swooped in for a £190m purchase. Textor, who made his fortune through a string of tech and media ventures, made a cool £100m profit, yet he parted with his portion reluctantly, as Palace tried in vain to save their Europa League place. UEFA rules bar multiple teams from a single multi-club ownership structure taking part in the same competition – Palace argued they weren’t part of such a structure, but Textor’s Eagle Football Group holds a controlling interest in Brazilians Botafogo, RWDM Brussels of Belgium and significantly French side Lyon, who’d qualified for the Europa League after finishing sixth in Ligue 1.

If things weren’t already complicated enough, Lyon were also battling to retain their place in France’s top flight, after the body that oversees the accounts of French professional football clubs ruled that they should be relegated because of the poor state of their finances.

Textor bought Lyon from long-time owner Jean-Michel Aulas in 2022, then invested in the squad after they sat bottom of the table early in his first full season in charge. In October 2024, Eagle Football Group announced debts of £422m. Lyon fans protested against Textor last summer but eventually the club won an appeal against relegation, selling Rayan Cherki, Said Benrahma and Georges Mikautadze to boost their finances, as well as releasing Alexandre Lacazette and Nemanja Matic.

Textor’s club purchases were angled towards a networked approach, with scouting, transfers and commercial strategies aligned across four nations. It was appearing to bear fruit thanks to Palace’s triumph and Botafogo claiming domestic and Copa Libertadores success in 2024, but Lyon fans aren’t the only ones who have been sceptical.

Botafogo fans turned on him in 2025 over poor performances and the sale of stars, including Igor Jesus to Nottingham Forest in a cut-price deal. Given that Palace supporters aren’t huge fans of him either these days, with the sale of his shares coming too late to avoid their demotion to the Conference League, Textor has quickly found out that club ownership isn’t the best way to make yourself popular.

49. JOHN FISHER - SAN JOSE £2.9BN

WHO? Fisher inherited part of his parents’ Gap retail empire. He’s no stranger to sports, having invested in baseball’s San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics – the latter he’s controversially moving to Las Vegas.

RECORD As well as a small stake in Celtic, Fisher bought the San Jose Earthquakes in 2007, helping them return to MLS, but has plans to sell.

48. RENZO ROSSO & FAMILY - VICENZA £2.9BN

WHO? Rosso founded fashion label Diesel in the late 1970s and now heads his Only The Brave Group, an umbrella organisation including a range of luxury designer labels.

RECORD He entered football in 1996, buying his local Italian side Bassano Virtus. In 2018, he rescued bankrupt Vicenza Calcio and merged the clubs.

=46. BEHDAD EGHBALI & JOSE E. FELICIANO - CHELSEA £2.9BN EACH

WHO? Eghbali and Feliciano made their fortunes in investment banking, before co-founding private equity giant Clearlake Capital in 2006.

RECORD Clearlake own a 61.5 per cent stake in Chelsea and Strasbourg, with Todd Boehly, Mark Walter and Hansjorg Wyss owning the rest.

45. GAIL MILLER & FAMILY - REAL SALT LAKE £3.6BN

WHO? Larry H. Miller began with a single car dealership in 1979 and created a conglomerate, also buying NBA team Utah Jazz. Wife Gail took over after his death in 2009.

RECORD Gail added MLS side Real Salt Lake and NWSL’s Utah Royals, plus their stadium, to the family’s portfolio in April 2025 for £450m.

44. FLORENTINO PEREZ - REAL MADRID £3.6BN

WHO? It’s hard to imagine the modern football landscape without the Real Madrid president. An engineer by trade, Perez built his fortune through ACS, a construction company he transformed into one of the world’s most powerful infrastructure, telecommunications and services groups. The corporate authority, wealth and influence that he garnered in that role led to the career shift that has come to define him.

RECORD After a first failed bid for the Real Madrid presidency in 1995, Perez finally won the role in 2000, pledging to sign superstar Luis Figo from arch rivals Barcelona if he won the election. Such a ludicrous notion was initially laughed at, yet Perez was a man of his word and pulled off one of the most jaw-dropping deals in football history.

Figo’s arrival kickstarted the Galacticos era, with Perez aiming to sign the world’s biggest superstars. In came Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, David Beckham, Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and countless others in the years that followed. Across his two spells as president – he stepped down in 2006 after criticism over a poor period of results, but was re-elected in 2009 – Perez has reshaped Real Madrid from a traditional giant into a modern superclub that consistently delivers. Seven of Los Blancos’ record 15 European Cups have been won under his stewardship, while no club comes close in terms of marketing and revenue.

43. EVANGELOS MARINAKIS - NOTTINGHAM FOREST/OLYMPIACOS £3.9BN

Whether remonstrating with Nuno Espirito Santo on the pitch, or his club barring Gary Neville from using the City Ground commentary box, things tend to be eventful when Marinakis is around. He’s not short of passion.

Born into a prominent Greek shipping family, Marinakis built on his father’s foundations by growing Capital Maritime & Trading Corp into a global empire and becoming one of the most influential figures in international trade. He has added media and energy ventures to his portfolio, securing his status among Greece’s most powerful businessmen.

His first foray into football came in 2010, when he bought Olympiacos. The juggernauts have since re-established domestic dominance, won Greece’s first European trophy at club level with the 2024 Conference League, and have regularly reached the group stage of the Champions League. He has invested heavily in infrastructure, expanded the club’s commercial reach and pushed for modernisation across Greek football.

Yet his tenure has not been without friction. Marinakis is known for his fiery temperament – sudden managerial changes, public criticism of refereeing standards and other rows have become part of his shtick in Greek football, and it’s a temperament that English football fans have also come to know well.

In 2017, he brought his combative energy to the Midlands, completing a takeover of Nottingham Forest. His mission was clear – revive a sleeping giant. After years of instability, Forest suddenly had real financial backing and an owner willing to act decisively. The early years were turbulent – frequent managerial turnover and inconsistent recruitment slowed progress – but the pivot came with the appointment of Steve Cooper. Backed by Marinakis’s willingness to invest, Forest surged to promotion in 2022, returning to the Premier League after a 23-year exile. Survival at the top level has proved challenging. He has spent aggressively to keep Forest competitive, signing huge rafts of players in single windows. Some have flopped, while others have soared. His relationship with managers remains combustible – particularly Nuno, who masterminded Forest’s run to Europe last term before being sacked just a few games into the new season. Successor Ange Postecoglou didn’t last long either.

What can’t be questioned is Marinakis’s ambition. Forest’s commercial profile has grown, matchday revenue improved and long-stagnant infrastructure projects have moved forward under his direction.

42. JOE MANSUETO - CHICAGO FIRE £4BN

WHO? The Chicago Fire owner made billions telling investors how much things are worth – his Morningstar Inc provides recommendations to the asset management industry.

RECORD On-pitch results have been lacklustre, but Mansueto’s tenure at the Fire has brought a return to the city’s 61,000-seater Soldier Field stadium and a new training ground.

41. SALINAS FAMILY - MAZATLAN £4BN

WHO? Mexican Ricardo Salinas Pliego turned interests in telecomms, retail, media and financial services into the sprawling Grupo Salinas empire.

RECORD His company took on Liga MX side Mazatlan in 2020, but reports say he could sell his stake in them and Club Puebla, potentially funding a 2030 presidential campaign.

40. ROCCO COMMISSO - FIORENTINA £4BN

WHO? Italian-born Commisso moved to the States with his family aged 12 and worked in the financial sector before founding Mediacom, the fifth largest cable TV company in the US.

RECORD He first bought the New York Cosmos in 2017, then Fiorentina two years later, but La Viola have been rock bottom of Serie A this season.

39. JOHN W. HENRY - LIVERPOOL £4BN

WHO? Henry made his money in investment management and has since built a sporting empire, notably ending the Boston Red Sox’s 86-year wait for a World Series title.

RECORD His Fenway Sports Group bought Liverpool in 2010, and have delivered two Premier League titles and a Champions League to Anfield.

38. DIETMAR HOPP - HOFFENHEIM £4BN

If you tuned in to the Bundesliga over the 2019-20 season, there’s a good chance you will have seen Dietmar Hopp’s face staring back your way through sniper’s cross hairs.

That was the year fan protests over Hopp’s involvement in German football reached their peak, with games across several weekends plagued by threats and abusive chanting on the terraces. Hopp, the owner of TSG Hoffenheim, had rapidly become one of the most hated figures in German football.

After graduating from university in the 1960s, Hopp worked as a software developer at IBM. In 1972, he and four associates founded the SAP software company, which eventually became the world’s third-largest IT group and remains the most valuable company in Germany today. He retired in 2003, but retains around 5.5 per cent in shares and is one of Germany’s richest figures.

When Hopp bought his hometown side Hoffenheim in 1990, they were an eighth-tier club based in a small village. But thanks to his huge investment, they catapulted up the leagues, reaching the 2. Bundesliga in 2007 and the top tier just 12 months later. Hopp built two stadiums, a state-of-the-art training facility and is believed to have spent around £300m of his personal fortune on players, staff and facilities. His status as generous benefactor, while envied by rival supporters, was without question.

Until 2015, that is, when Hopp applied for an exemption from Germany’s 50+1 rule, which stipulates that 50 per cent of the voting shares in football clubs, plus one share, remain in the hands of their members, rather than investors and private companies. Exemptions are made for investors who can show they have supported a club “substantially and uninterruptedly” for 20 years, as Hopp believed he had. When this exception was granted, the abuse began.

To many ultras across Germany, Hopp came to represent everything rotten about the modern game – a billionaire who wanted to do away with tradition and seize power of a collective entity. Each and every time the 50+1 rule saw a new challenge, Hopp’s face finds itself back in the cross hairs.

He announced his decision to annul the exemption in 2023 and has since taken a back-seat role at the club, but football fans don’t forget in a hurry.

37. MIKHEIL LOMTADZE - WYCOMBE £5BN

WHO? The CEO of Kazakh “super app” Kaspi, Lomtadze sees football through the lens of data and bought 90 per cent of Wycombe in 2024, but is reportedly yet to attend a game.

RECORD The noises at Wycombe have been around long-term success and sustainability, but a slump from League One’s automatic promotion race will have stung last term.

36. RYBOLOVLEV FAMILY - MONACO £5BN

WHO? Dmitry Rybolovlev is a rare breed – a Russian oligarch who has avoided western sanctions following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, he distances himself from the regime.

RECORD Since becoming Monaco’s majority owner in 2011, they have gone from Ligue 2 to the French title and Champions League semi-finals.

35. LEWIS FAMILY - SPURS £5BN

WHO? The ultimate power behind Spurs, the Lewis family are majority owners of ENIC, an investment group that is the club’s majority owner.

RECORD The asset-first ownership model: build an impressive stadium, grow revenues and let the football catch up. Trophyless years may have irked fans, but it hasn’t all been bad.

34. JUAN CARLOS ESCOTET - DEPORTIVO £5BN

WHO? The Madrid-born founder of the Venezuelan financial instutition Banesco, plus majority shareholder of Abanca, a major Spanish bank.

RECORD Abanca bought Deportivo La Coruna in 2020, with Escotet now their president. The struggling club’s debts have been paid off, and they have risen back to the second tier.

33. JIM KAVANAUGH - ST LOUIS CITY £6BN

WHO? A tech founder with a love for European football, Kavanaugh spent some of his World Wide Technology riches to bring MLS to St Louis.

RECORD The team were a winning machine in their debut MLS season. They became the first rookie club to top their conference, but suffered a humbling early play-off elimination.

32. NASSEF SAWIRIS - ASTON VILLA £6BN

The Aston Villa that Nassef Sawiris walked into in July 2018 was a lot different to how the club looks now. They were licking their wounds after defeat to Fulham in the Championship play-off final, which left them staring at a third straight second-tier season.

With only one year of Premier League parachute payments left, Villa were at a fork in the road. Fail to clamber back up to the top table for a third successive season and they risked going the same way as other fallen giants, dealing with the fallout of a long-term exile. The pressure was on for Sawiris and co-owner Wes Edens to hit the ground running. It was a gamble. Fast-forward to 2026 and that risk appears to have paid off, the good times returning via an exciting side that made the Champions League quarter-finals last term.

Perhaps Sawiris’ judgement should never have been doubted. The youngest son of Egyptian business giant Onsi Sawiris, Nassef is a part of one of the country’s richest dynasties thanks to the success of the Orascom group, which reaches across several industries. The Villa owner cut his teeth working with Orascom’s construction arm, helping the business grow beyond Egypt to become an international player.

Sawiris’ nose for opportunity led to Villa, joining forces with US billionaire financier Wes Edens to form V Sports and buy the club from previous owner Tony Xia when Villa faced significant cash flow issues. The group also now has a stake in Portuguese Primeira Liga club Vitoria Guimaraes.

The co-owners’ first big decision at Villa Park was to sack manager Steve Bruce following a run of three wins in 11 matches to start the new campaign, turning instead to Dean Smith. That appointment would prove an inspired move, with the hometown hero leading the Villans on a 10-match winning run to surge into the play-offs, where they beat Frank Lampard’s Derby to return to the Premier League.

That eye for managerial change has been a theme over Sawiris’ spell at the club, with Unai Emery’s arrival in October 2022, as the replacement for Steven Gerrard, transforming Villa into a regular qualifier for European competition. The yearly need to sell players in order to stay on the right side of PSR limits has complicated things, but there’s a real sense that, if rules allowed it, even more of Sawiris’ money would have been poured into helping the team climb up the Premier League table.

31. RINAT AKHMETOV - SHAKHTAR DONETSK £6BN

WHO? Ukraine’s richest man, he founded a business that supplied fuel for steel production and grew his wealth through investment group System Capital Management.

RECORD Shakhtar have been a force domestically since Akhmetov took over as president in 1996 and won the Europa League in 2009.

30. DENISE YORK & FAMILY - LEEDS/RANGERS £6BN

WHO? American sports aristocracy as owners of San Francisco 49ers and Pittsburgh Penguins’ 1991 NHL championship team, the family’s wealth came from mall real estate.

RECORD It took two seasons for the Yorks’ 49ers Enterprises to get Leeds into the Premier League again, while they’ve had a rocky start to life with Rangers, just ask Russell Martin...

29. PAVEL TYKAC - SLAVIA PRAGUE £7BN

WHO? A hard-nosed investor with a formidable reputation in the Czech Republic, Tykac grew his wealth as a specialist in the energy market.

RECORD A lifelong Slavia Prague fan, he bought the club from Chinese ownership in 2023 and delivered a title last term, but results in Europe have been underwhelming.

28. DAN FRIEDKIN - EVERTON/ROMA £7BN

WHO? There’s a case to be made that Friedkin is the world’s coolest club owner. After taking charge of the family business, The Friedkin Group, which primarily distributes Toyotas across North America, he used his enormous bank balance to explore his own passions. He moved into film, buying the production company behind the Oscar-winning Parasite. The son of a wealthy pilot and stuntman, Friedkin has produced films himself and won an award for best speciality stunt after landing a Spitfire on a beach for Dunkirk.

RECORD Friedkin splashed £532m to buy Roma in 2020, hiring Jose Mourinho to lead the club to 2022 Conference League glory, and added Everton to his portfolio in December 2024. After years of frustration under Farhad Moshiri, Toffees fans are now hopeful for steady progress.

27. TODD BOEHLY - CHELSEA £7BN

It’s hard to believe that as recently as 2022, hardly any football fans had heard of Todd Boehly, such has been his impact leading the consortium that bought Chelsea in May that year.

Not that the American was alien to all sports fans. At the time of his arrival in London, Boehly already part-owned the LA Dodgers baseball team and women’s basketball outfit the LA Sparks. You don’t build that kind of portfolio without a whole lot of cash.

Boehly made that money in finance. After rising in banking and investment firms, he founded Eldridge Industries in 2015 – a private holding company that invests in multiple areas, including big tech, insurance and real estate.

Under the stewardship of Boehly and his ownership group, the Dodgers have won three World Series. There, he built a reputation for taking long-term control of players’ contracts by offering lengthy deals on high wages. While considered a risk by some, the move does limit the chances a valuable player can leave for free during their prime.

After the headline-smashing Chelsea purchase, in collaboration with Behdad Eghbali and Jose E. Feliciano at Clearlake Capital, Boehly repeated his old MLB trick by installing himself as chairman and interim sporting director.

His lack of a footballing background quickly saw him given meme status by Premier League fans, particularly thanks to some questionable early decisions. Fresh into his new role, Boehly went on a £250m spending spree, swiftly sacked Champions League winner Thomas Tuchel and called for a Premier League All-Star game. Next manager Graham Potter lasted just seven months.

With Boehly still chairman but no longer sporting director as of January 2023, the Blues gradually became more settled. The club’s ownership group also bought Strasbourg – the French outfit have risen to the point they returned to Europe this season for the first time in six years, while Chelsea have steadily progressed at a more high-profile level.

Italian gaffer Enzo Maresca was given a lot more time to work with one of the youngest squads in Europe, moulding them into an exciting unit built around the mercurial talents of Cole Palmer, and lifting the Conference League and Club World Cup last year.

It’s been proof that if you’re willing to throw enough money at a situation, eventually something sticks. People laughed at Boehly when he arrived in London. They’re not laughing now.

26 - MICHAL STRNAD - VIKTORIA PLZEN £8BN

WHO? Owner of Czechoslovak Group (CSG), a sprawling industrial-defence conglomerate originally built by his father, producing armoured vehicles, ammunition, radars and more.

RECORD Last year, Strnad moved into sports by becoming majority owner of Viktoria Plzen, with plans to expand youth development and ensure long-term economic stability.

25. AVRAM & JOEL GLAZER - MANCHESTER UNITED £8BN

WHO? American Malcolm Glazer built an empire through finance and real estate, before buying NFL side Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1995.

RECORD Glazer’s 2005 Man United takeover took out huge loans against the club. Sons Avram and Joel are still joint chairmen, but sold a 27.7 per cent stake to Jim Ratcliffe in 2024.

24. DANIEL KRETINSKY - WEST HAM/SPARTA £8BN

WHO? Kretinsky’s J&T investment group bought Sparta Prague in 2004, and he now owns 40 per cent of the club personally. He acquired 27 per cent of West Ham in 2021.

RECORD Conference League victory in 2023 had the Hammers dreaming, but unrest has been rife this season, though not focused on Kretinsky.

23. ARTHUR BLANK - ATLANTA UNITED £8BN

WHO? The Atlanta United owner’s smart retail moves made him billions as the co-owner of US DIY giant Home Depot. Blank also owns the Atlanta Falcons NFL franchise.

RECORD Atlanta United took MLS by storm after joining in 2017, winning the title in 2018 and the US Open Cup a year later, but things have slowed.

22 EDWARD S. ROGERS III - TORONTO FC £9BN

WHO? Canadian boardroom royalty, Rogers runs Rogers Communications, and is chairman of the Rogers Bank, Toronto Blue Jays and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

RECORD Toronto FC’s fortunes have fluctuated from the highs of winning the MLS Cup in 2017 to missing the past five play-off campaigns.

21. ANDERS HOLCH POVLSEN - FC MIDTJYLLAND £10BN

WHO? Dane Povlsen took over his family’s fashion house Bestseller at 28, while holding stakes in ASOS and Zalando, and owning 220,000 acres of the Scottish Highlands.

RECORD In 2023, Povlsen bought a majority stake in Midtjylland from Brentford owner Matthew Benham. The club won the title a year later.

20. ROBERT KRAFT - NE REVOLUTION £10BN

WHO? After hitting it big in the paper and packaging world, Kraft diversified into entertainment, real estate and private equity, notably multiple Super Bowl winners New England Patriots.

RECORD He founded MLS side New England Revolution in 1996. They finally lifted the Supporters’ Shield in 2021, setting a points record.

19. HASLAM FAMILY - COLUMBUS CREW £11BN

WHO? James Haslam started a petrol station empire in 1958. Son Jimmy now owns MLS’s Columbus Crew, NFL’s Cleveland Browns and a stake in NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.

RECORD After purchasing the Crew in 2019, Haslam scrapped plans to move the team to Texas. They won the MLS Cup in 2020 and 2023.

18. SHAHID KHAN - FULHAM £11BN

Big moustache, bigger pockets. If ever there was a walking, talking advert for the American dream, then it’s Fulham’s billionaire owner Shahid Khan.

Born in the Pakistani city of Lahore in 1950, Khan emigrated to the United States as a 16-year-old with just $500 in his pocket. He put himself through college washing dishes for $1.20 an hour, ultimately emerging with a degree in industrial engineering and bagging himself a director job at automotive manufacturing company Flex-N-Gate.

In 1978, he started his own business, Bumper Works, which made parts for customised pickup trucks, thanks to a $50,000 loan from the Small Business Administration. It was so successful, he returned to Flex-N-Gate after buying out his former employer and taking control of the firm. In just a few years, Khan transformed the company into one of the biggest automotive part suppliers in North America, becoming Toyota’s sole provider along the way.

Today, Flex-N-Gate boasts over 25,000 employees and 70 manufacturing plants across the US, China, Argentina, Spain, France, Germany, Mexico and Canada. A lover of sports from a young age, Khan became the first ethnic-minority owner of an NFL franchise in 2012, with the $770m purchase of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Eighteen months later, he paid north of £150m to Mohamed Al Fayed for Premier League side Fulham.

His tenure hasn’t been without its bumps, with the Cottagers relegated in his first season at the helm, ending a 13-year stay in England’s top flight. They almost went down again before coming back up via the play-offs in 2017-18. Two further relegations and promotions were to come, with Khan’s son Tony – installed as sporting director, despite little prior experience within the game and also splitting his time with his All Elite Wrestling interests – coming under particular fire from fans.

The West Londoners’ Premier League return for the 2022-23 season preceded an era of subsequent calm, however. Under Portuguese gaffer Marco Silva, who has performed miracles despite occasional frustrations in the transfer market, the club has remained well clear of relegation danger.

Shahid, in the meantime, has set about transforming Craven Cottage, commencing with a renovation of the Riverside Stand in 2019. Now complete, the stand boasts an extra 3,000 seats, luxury hospitality, a hotel, restaurants, bars and even a rooftop pool.

Jibes about Fulham being the club of choice for the champagne-guzzling upper-middle class are at an all-time high, but anyone who’s experienced a match from its sumptuous leather seats will tell you Khan has created something extraordinary on the banks of the River Thames.

17. JIM RATCLIFFE - MANCHESTER UNITED £13BN

Few modern superclubs can boast an owner who genuinely counts himself a supporter. In minority shareholder and overseer of football operations Jim Ratcliffe, Manchester United can.

Raised in a council house in Greater Manchester, a young Ratcliffe was a Red Devils fanatic from an early age. Yet few would have predicted his rise to one of football’s most prominent positions.

Ratcliffe took a circuitous route to his self-made fortune. After graduating with a chemical engineering degree from the University of Birmingham in 1974, he was reportedly fired from BP for having eczema. Undeterred, he joined Esso and studied for a masters at London Business School, before spending much of the 1990s working for a US private equity firm. Everything changed in 1998, when he launched INEOS.

The company hoovered up run-down petrochemicals plants across Europe, streamlined them and turned them into money-making machines. INEOS rapidly grew from a single Antwerp site into a global chemicals and materials group with tens of billions in annual sales.

Ratcliffe’s first foray into the sports world came in 2017, with the purchase of Swiss Super League club Lausanne. He added Ligue 1’s Nice in 2019, the same year he bought cycling’s Team Sky – the latter overseen by marginal-gains disciple Dave Brailsford, who would become a collaborator of Ratcliffe’s across multiple projects.

Sailing and F1 investments followed, yet it was his move into Premier League football that caused the biggest splash. When the Glazers announced they were looking for investment in Manchester United, Ratcliffe purchased a 27.7 per cent stake in the club, on the condition that he and his team would assume control of football operations.

Fans initially rejoiced at his arrival, as Ratcliffe overhauled a much-criticised executive line-up and promised to shift the club’s focus from commercial growth to winning silverware.

Yet it’s been far from plain sailing. Executive and managerial missteps – including Dan Ashworth’s brief tenure as sporting director and a U-turn over manager Erik ten Hag’s sacking in the wake of the shock FA Cup win in 2024 – plus more than 400 staff redundancies, have drawn ire from the fanbase.

There’s been the promise of a new 100,000-seater stadium, which Ratcliffe has dubbed “the Wembley of the North”, and the billionaire remains committed, but turning around a listing ship of such magnitude is his toughest challenge yet.

16. JOHANN RUPERT - STELLENBOSCH £14BN

WHO? Rupert ranks as South Africa’s richest man and serves as chairman for luxury goods company Richemont – with brands including Cartier – and investment company Remgro.

RECORD As owner of hometown club Stellenbosch, steady growth is the order of the day. They soon earned top-flight status and have finished third each of the last two seasons.

15. TAYLOR FAMILY - ST LOUIS CITY £14BN

WHO? The Taylor family are known for masterminding the worldwide boom of rental car giant Enterprise. They’ve applied their family values to MLS expansion side St Louis City.

RECORD After establishing the club in 2019, St Louis topped the Western Conference in their maiden 2023 campaign. Not too shoddy!

14. PHILIP ANSCHUTZ - LA GALAXY £15BN

WHO? “Without Phil Anschutz, there’s no MLS.” Those were the words of the league’s commissioner Don Garber in 2006. Even today, few would disagree. Born in 1939 in rural Kansas, Anschutz made his fortune after buying out his father’s drilling company, striking oil in Wyoming and selling a stake in the field to Mobil in 1982 for around $500m. He then diversified into transport, real estate and just about every other lucrative avenue one might expect.

RECORD Recognising the potential of football in his homeland ahead of the 1994 World Cup, Anschutz was one of the founders of MLS, owning a number of teams at various stages due to the league’s financial issues. It’s his stewardship of LA Galaxy, whom he purchased in 1998, that he’s best associated with, the club winning six MLS Cups on his watch.

13. FAIQ BOLKIAH - RATCHABURI £15BN

If you asked most people to name the world’s richest footballer, they’d get the answer wrong. It’s not Cristiano Ronaldo, nor is it Lionel Messi.

If you include former players, some might say Mathieu Flamini, but the former Arsenal midfielder was forced to deny that he’s now worth £26bn, after the environmentally conscious former player co-founded a biochemicals company in 2008. “This sum does not match up with the valuation of our company – in fact it’s the total value of the market we want to attack,” Flamini insisted. “There was a misunderstanding, as if we had given only one restaurant the value of the entire catering market.”

The world’s richest footballer actually plays for Ratchaburi FC in Thailand’s top flight, but Faiq Bolkiah didn’t rise from humble beginnings. Rather, he was born into unimaginable wealth as a member of Brunei’s royal family.

The nephew of the Southeast Asian nation’s Sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah, Faiq was born in LA in 1998, then moved to England and was educated at Berkshire’s prestigious Bradfield College. He joined Southampton’s academy aged 11, and had spells at Chelsea and Leicester.

It was while playing for the Foxes’ age category sides that Bolkiah made his international debut. Despite being scouted by the USA, owing to his dual citizenship, Bolkiah ultimately opted to play for his family’s nation. At the age of 18, he played the full 90 minutes of a Suzuki Cup qualifier with Timor-Leste. The fact he was captain on his debut, still a teenager, had absolutely nothing to do with his family’s status, we’re sure.

Bolkiah also played for Leicester in the UEFA Youth League, but moved on to Portuguese side Maritimo in 2020. A right-footed left winger who enjoys cutting inside and shooting from range, Bolkiah failed to play a first-team game for Maritimo, despite making the bench for a Primeira Liga clash against Lisbon juggernauts Sporting in February 2021. Come December that year, he joined Thai League 1 outfit Chonburi.

The first Bruneian to sign for a Thai club, Bolkiah finally became a regular starter with Chonburi, staying for two seasons and scoring his first goals in senior football. He moved to Ratchaburi in 2023, and has remained there since.

At the age of 27, Bolkiah surely won’t be thinking about post-playing pursuits just yet, although FFT can’t imagine he’ll feel the need to jump aboard the punditry circuit in order to make a few extra bob after hanging up his boots.

12. STAN KROENKE - ARSENAL £16BN

WHO? After he married Walmart heiress Ann Walton, Kroenke was taken under his father-in-law’s wing and launched a real estate empire, mainly focused on shopping malls.

RECORD He acquired full control of Arsenal in 2011. Despite consistent cup success, failure to land Premier League glory has frustrated fans.

11. PINAULT FAMILY - RENNES £16BN

WHO? The family own some of the best-known luxury brands in the world, such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, and have also branched out into the wine and culture sectors.

RECORD Since 1998, the Pinault era at Rennes has been about steady growth, rewarded with a Coupe de France triumph against PSG in 2019.

10. AMIN H. NASSER - AL QADSIAH £17BN

WHO? As club backers go, Nasser is in the big leagues as president and CEO of Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer. He was the face of their 2023 takeover of Saudis Al Qadsiah.

RECORD The team immediately won the Saudi First Division in 2024, and signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nacho for their top-flight debut.

9. DAVID TEPPER - CHARLOTTE FC £18BN

WHO? Investment banker Tepper left Goldman Sachs in 1992 to found hedge fund Appaloosa and is owner of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.

RECORD In 2019, he paid roughly £240m to bring MLS to Charlotte by launching a new team. They debuted in the 2022 season and draw some of the league’s top attendances.

8. SHEIKH MANSOUR - MANCHESTER CITY £23BN

Thanks to the investment of Emirati royal Sheikh Mansour, there’s a whole generation of Manchester City fans too young to remember a time before their relentless modern success.

It’s almost hard to imagine that, as recently as 2002, City were in the second tier, reliant on the goals of Paul Dickov and Shaun Goater to mount promotion pushes. Even as recently as 2008-09 they finished 10th – a distant 40 points behind rivals Manchester United, still the dominant force in English football. But everything was about to change.

The latter season marked the arrival of Mansour, who paid around £200m to purchase the club outright from Thai businessman Thaksin Shinawatra. If fans weren’t already excited by reports of their new impresario’s bank balance, the deadline day signing of Brazilian star Robinho soon sent them into overdrive. That was merely a taste of things to come, as City – dubbed the “noisy neighbours” by Red Devils gaffer Alex Ferguson – spent vast sums hoovering up some of the most coveted talent in world football over successive windows.

City’s 35-year wait for silverware ended in May 2011, as Roberto Mancini’s side sealed FA Cup glory. Twelve months later, they had a first top-flight title in 44 years, courtesy of Sergio Aguero’s iconic stoppage-time winner against QPR on the final day of the season.

The silverware has kept flowing, as successive managers and superstars have turned City into England’s most feared outfit. While that was already the case before Pep Guardiola’s 2016 arrival, the winning machine has since gone into overdrive. He has delivered six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups and a long-coveted Champions League success in 2023 – the latter part of an historic treble.

Mansour’s ambition hasn’t stopped in Manchester. In 2013 he founded City Football Group (CFG), a global multi-club setup, with City as the flagship. He has acquired and launched clubs across the world. Notable members include Girona, Palermo and New York City, establishing a network sharing resources, scouting and commercial know-how.

Meanwhile, Mansour’s vast wealth has revamped every aspect of those clubs, with City boasting world-class academy, training and hospitality facilities – the former delivering a conveyor belt of starlets the envy of world football. In short, arguably no football club owner has delivered so much, so emphatically, to a single fanbase, in so little time.

7. IDAN OFER - FAMALICAO £25BN

WHO? A shipping, mining and energy magnate, he owns Quantum Pacific Group, which runs one of the largest private shipping fleets in the world.

RECORD Ofer bought an 85 per cent stake in Portuguese side Famalicao, who won promotion to the top flight in 2019, and a 33 per cent share of Atletico Madrid, though the club are currently being taken over again.

=5. MARK MATESCHITZ & CHALERM YOOVIDHYA - RED BULL CLUBS £33BN EACH

WHO? Austrian Mateschitz and Thai businessman Yoovidhya inherited their Red Bull stakes, respectively holding 49 and 51 per cent.

RECORD Red Bull have had success through Leipzig’s ascent in Germany and Salzburg’s Austrian dominance, plus hold a minority stake in Leeds.

4. HARTONO FAMILY - COMO £38BN

WHO? Among Indonesia’s most powerful families, the Hartonos made their vast wealth from tobacco, then moved into a host of other sectors.

RECORD A Serie D outfit at the time of their 2019 takeover, Como have been catapulted into Serie A with Cesc Fabregas in the dugout and Hollywood stars battling for tickets.

3. ARNAULT FAMILY - PARIS FC £143BN

WHO? The Arnaults are the French business dynasty, owning luxury goods company LVMH. Its brands include Louis Vuitton and Dior.

RECORD It took a matter of months for the Arnaults to end Paris FC’s 46 years out of the top flight in May. Now the club’s aim is to establish themselves as a genuine force.

2. AL THANI FAMILY - PSG £253BN

WHO? Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is the Emir of Qatar – in 2004, he founded Qatar Sports Investments and has ploughed the Gulf nation’s petrodollars into global sport.

RECORD The 2011 purchase of PSG transformed them into a superclub. By 2025 they’d secured 36 domestic trophies and the Champions League.

1. MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN & FAMILY - NEWCASTLE/PIF CLUBS £1.2TN

So loathed by the Newcastle faithful had owner Mike Ashley become after 14 years of inertia, fans would likely have been happy to see him replaced by one of the cast of Geordie Shore.

Instead, when the retail magnate did finally sell up in 2021, they were taken over by people worth over a trillion quid – that’s 12 zeros, for the record. The club are now owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia and their royals, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler, the figurehead. The PIF also owns four clubs in the Saudi Pro League – reigning champions Al Ittihad, last year’s Asian Champions League Elite winners Al Ahli, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr, plus Al Hilal, who had Neymar on their books for a period and beat Manchester City to reach the last eight of last year’s Club World Cup.

PIF’s vast wealth, aided by the nation’s huge oil reserves, prompted Newcastle’s long-suffering fans to quickly dub Bin Salman a hero – some even seeing fit to don traditional Arabic robes and head scarves to games in the aftermath.

The acquisition was the first major step in Saudi Arabia’s aggressive sports and culture investment push over the past four years, to boost the nation’s international profile. Everything from heavyweight boxing bouts and F1 to comedy festivals have recently been staged in Saudi Arabia, which has also won hosting rights to the 2034 World Cup. Critics have been quick to label the Saudis’ actions as sportswashing – a PR smokescreen to distract from human rights abuses in the country and its deeply conservative values.

Back on Tyneside, PIF’s arrival has rapidly transformed Newcastle. Just like Nassef Sawiris’ first move at Aston Villa, much-maligned manager Steve Bruce was quickly dispensed with – in came Eddie Howe, and with him a host of new signings who were capable of delivering an exciting brand of football.

It has transformed the Magpies from relegation candidates to Champions League regulars, even if Premier League profit and sustainability regulations have made it difficult for them to rise all the way up to title contention just yet, like Manchester City quickly did after Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2008. Last March though, Newcastle won the League Cup to finally end 56 trophyless years – on Tyneside, absolutely nobody was still pining for Mike Ashley.

“Now it is up to the fans, players and national associations to reclaim football and bring it back to its roots under new leadership.”

So said Sepp Blatter in a post on X on July 21, as the former FIFA President suggested World Cup 2026 was the year that the competition had “lost its credibility” in his latest dig at successor, Gianni Infantino.

But that quote would have been just as relevant following Blatter’s resignation as the head of world football’s governing body in June 2015, amid a huge corruption investigation into top FIFA officials. The fact that Blatter is now lecturing Infantino as if he is a moral arbiter of the sport is an embarrassing look for him, FIFA and football.

How can Sepp Blatter criticise Gianni Infantino with a straight face?

Blatter is not the most prolific poster on X, as you might expect from someone who turned 90 in March. However, the man who calls himself a ‘Football Philosopher’ in his bio has upped his social media game this summer, with the World Cup and Infantino’s doomed plan to sell off stakes in the tournament and other FIFA competitions to private investors giving him plenty to talk about.

Since June 13, the Swiss has shared several posts on X criticising FIFA over various issues including the decision to overturn USA striker Folarin Balogun’s one-match ban after President Donald Trump waded in, the World Cup final half-time show and Infantino’s investment proposal. Those posts are almost always accompanied by the hashtags #GianniInfantino and #DonaldTrump.

Blatter’s views are certainly valid and will be shared by millions of fans (what’s that meme about the worst person you know making a great point?) but it is frankly incredible that he can write them with a straight face.

In two of his posts, the former FIFA chief used the Latin phrase ‘Quo vadis’, which means ‘where are you going?’. This was Blatter seemingly questioning FIFA’s direction of travel under Infantino - something he may have wanted to consider during his own tenure.

Between his election in 1998 and resignation 17 years later, the organisation was dogged by numerous scandals including allegations of corruption and the controversial decision in 2010 to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively. This culminated in the investigation in 2015, which saw seven top FIFA officials arrested in Zurich on the eve of the FIFA Congress, with Blatter resigning days later.

It is important to note here that Blatter was not one of the officials arrested and he was cleared last year of corruption charges stemming from his time at FIFA, which related to a payment of 2m Swiss francs (now about £1.84m) he made to then-UEFA President Michel Platini in 2011.

However, he was banned from football for eight years - reduced to six on appeal - by FIFA’s ethics committee in 2015, before receiving a further suspension of six years and eight months in March 2021 for multiple breaches of FIFA’s Code of Ethics, including the articles entitled ‘duty of loyalty’, ‘conflicts of interest’ and ‘offering and accepting gifts or other benefits’.

It is why Blatter must surely see the irony in saying the World Cup has “lost its credibility”, when the bidding process to host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments was overshadowed by allegations of corruption. More than half of the 22 members of FIFA’s Executive Committee, which decided the World Cup hosts, have since been handed punishments ranging from fines to lifetime bans from football.

It is why Blatter’s criticism of Infantino’s World Cup sell-off plan lost some weight when, in another post, he said that FIFA has a “fiduciary responsibility to protect the global game”.

‘Fiduciary’ means to put someone else's interests ahead of your own, which doesn’t tally with the 2014 report by US attorney Michael Garcia into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding processes. Garcia stated the Executive Committee under Blatter had a culture of “expectation and entitlement” and that many members “displayed a disregard for ethical guidelines”.

It is also why FIFA should be embarrassed that they are being lectured by their former President, whose resignation in 2015 was supposed to represent a turning point.

As hard as it is to believe now, Infantino was seen as the man to restore FIFA’s reputation when he was elected in February 2016. Then-FA chairman Greg Dyke hailed Infantino as a “straightforward guy”, while David Gill, the former Manchester United chief executive who was Vice-President of FIFA at the time, called it a “good day for football”.

Meanwhile, Infantino said: “We’ll restore the image of FIFA and make sure everybody will be happy with what we do.”

Needless to say, it hasn’t worked out that way.

Among many unpopular decisions, we have seen the World Cup expanded to 48 teams (and potentially 64 in 2030), the 2030 competition awarded to three continents to smooth the way for Saudi Arabia to host in 2034, a 32-team summer Club World Cup with Infantino’s name engraved on the trophy, the creation of the FIFA Peace Prize in a desperate attempt to suck up to Trump, sky-high World Cup ticket prices and, of course, Infantino’s sell-off plan, which could cost him the presidency.

When you consider all of that, Blatter looks like the lesser of two evils - and that is why football should be embarrassed.

Even when FIFA’s reputation was in the gutter in 2015, many of the decisions that have happened on Infantino’s watch would have sounded ridiculous.

Yet before his World Cup investment plan blew up in his face, more than 200 of FIFA’s 211 member associations had backed Infantino for re-election, which shows how untouchable he had become.

Countries and confederations have since joined forces in a bid to remove him from office, but the fact they let so much slide beforehand doesn’t inspire confidence that football will be brought “back to its roots”, as Blatter apparently hopes.

It’s too late for that now - and Blatter must accept he helped create what football has become.

How was your week?

It's been a strange old week, with a Thursday that felt like a Friday and still no football on television to set our watches by, with just the circus of the transfer market to track the dawn and dusk by – so thank goodness for another edition of FourFourTwo Weekend Crossword.

Once again, we have 24 clues aligned in a grid: can you solve our cryptic teasers and complete the crossword in record time?

Love football crosswords? Here are some handpicked football quizzes we know you'll love

Tearing through the Weekend Crossword is the ultimate warm-up for a footballing brain, but once you’ve cracked the grid, it’s time to move from cryptic clues to international icons and world-stage royalty. Fresh off the heels of Spain’s historic World Cup triumph in North America, keeping your knowledge sharp across the game's greatest legends and quirky stats requires elite mental conditioning, courtesy, as ever, of Kwizly.

We’re starting at the absolute summit of modern greatness with the ultimate magician himself and the newly crowned world champions. First, we want you to test your knowledge of Argentina's eternal captain by seeing if you can get 20 correct answers in The Big Lionel Messi Quiz, tracing his unmatched journey from Rosario to global immortality. Once you’ve honored the GOAT, pivot to the newly crowned kings of the world and see if you can name every Spain player with over 50 caps.

Next, audit English goalscoring heritage by trying to name every England player with 10+ goals, before taking on a wonderfully quirky test of Dutch naming conventions: are these 20 Netherlands facts about a Van or No Van? It's harder than it first appears.

Then, wrap up your statistical marathon with the Big World Cup 2026 Quiz, testing how much you truly remember about the goals, shocks, and breakout stars of North America's historic 48-team tournament. To ensure you stay top of the table as pre-season kicks off, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for your daily afternoon briefing of hand-picked trivia. To complete your transfer to the elite tier of fans, join The Club, our free membership hub where you can unlock secret hints for our toughest quizzes, fight for the top of the global leaderboards, and debate the latest footballing topics directly in the comments section.

This week I’ll start with talking about Bruno Guimaraes’ move to Arsenal. I think he's a top player - one of the best around in that position.

The effect he had at Newcastle, alongside Joelinton and Sandro Tonali, was first-class. When they were playing together a couple of seasons ago, I thought they were the best midfield three in the Premier League. He can play as a holding midfielder or as the one who goes from box-to-box.

Clinton was speaking on behalf of Free Bets, the number one destination for betting sites.

Clinton Morrison: '

You look at their midfield and think, "Did they really need him?" But when a player like that becomes available and ticks all the boxes, it's a no-brainer. Newcastle will be disappointed, because it feels like they're losing all of their players - but what a signing for Arsenal.

It'll be interesting now to see what happens with Martin Zubimendi, because obviously Declan Rice will play. I know they're in a lot of competitions and you need a big squad, but midfield is probably where they wanted to strengthen, as they’re going to lose Christian Norgaard.

There'll be certain games where all three probably play together and they won't play a natural ten - whether that's Eberechi Eze, Martin Odegaard or Mikel Merino. They've got fantastic options in those areas, so they're strengthening in the right places.

As for Newcastle, I think Eddie Howe’s departure was always coming; it wasn't a surprise. I feel for Howe, because I think he's a tremendous manager - even last year when people were saying he might lose his job. He's just a top manager, and I feel like he's probably been let down a bit by the people above him.

He's selling his best players, which I understand, money does talk, but they’re not bringing in players that are just as good as the ones who've moved on. He's probably got to the stage where he thinks enough is enough.

He probably doesn't want another season like the one he just had, so it's time to have a break and then come again. You never know - not now, but one day soon, you might see him as the England manager, because I do think he's a strong candidate for that.

His replacement, Matthias Jaissle, managed one of the top Saudi teams in Al-Ahli, but it’s difficult to judge him, because the standard is not as high as the Premier League. There will be a lot of questions surrounding his style of play, because everything at Al-Ahli was built around Ivan Toney to score goals.

This is a massive step [for Jaissle], but he deserves this opportunity - if you've done all your badges, you deserve your chance. So you wish him well, but it's a big job, considering he's stepping into Howe’s shoes. Howe got Newcastle a trophy and delivered Champions League football twice, so it’s a huge job for him.

Turning attention back to the transfer window, and it was interesting to see Mohamed Salah join Trabzonspor. You'd think that one of the bigger Turkish clubs like Galatasaray or Fenerbahce would have gone for him. But Trabzonspor are probably trying to fight to win the league ahead of those two, and a signing like Mo Salah might attract more big-name players through the door.

It is a bit disappointing. I'd love to see him still in the Premier League. You wish him well over there, and Liverpool will miss him, but it's a great signing.

One club that’s certainly been very busy in the transfer market is Chelsea. They’ve got Mykhailo Mudryk back in the squad, and he could be a threat. However, I think it’s likely he’ll be moved on, even if it’s a loan to get more game time. I'd be surprised if he stayed at Chelsea - but if he has a good pre-season, you never know, because there's a new manager in Xabi Alonso.

They have got such a bloated squad at the moment, and as a striker, if I’ve got four others to compete with, you start thinking, "What chance have I got, really?" They just keep signing players! I always said it's like the computer game, Championship Manager: you just keep signing players, and you're thinking, "Am I going to get an opportunity?"

I know the main number nine at Chelsea at the moment is Joao Pedro, and he's going to sign a new long-term contract, so I understand that. And the Danny Welbeck signing is a brilliant one.

For the season he had at Brighton & Hove Albion, and how good he is in and around the dressing room, signing him is a very, very good bit of business. But the other players will be thinking, "Where do I fit in?" Chelsea need to move players on.

First and foremost, they've spent a lot of money over the previous seasons and haven't been good enough. They're not in Europe. So it might help Chelsea, like it helped Manchester United last season - but how are you going to keep everyone happy? That's the big question.

Finally, I’ll end the column with a few words about Franco Baresi. He was an unbelievable player and one of the best ever to play the game.

When me and my friends were out somewhere and someone was standing too close, we'd say, "Give me space - you're man-marking me like Franco Baresi!"

That AC Milan back four had him marshalling it - I remember when he used to play beside the likes Alessandro Costacurta, Paolo Maldini and Mauro Tassotti. A fantastic back four, but Baresi was pure class. He just oozed quality as a centre-half, and my condolences go to his friends and family.

What's a footballer to do when he has a great move on the table and his manager won't let him go?

It's a position that many professional players find themselves in at some stage or another - and for Michail Antonio, it was particularly frustrating given his chairman and manager were at odds as to whether to sell him or not.

Antonio was plying his trade at troubled Nottingham Forest in the Championship at the time, and his sudden consistency at the age of 25 after years of up-and-down performances had landed him on the radar of a few top-flight clubs.

'West Ham came in and Forest weren’t answering their calls'

Antonio told FourFourTwo: "I had the players around me and everything just clicked.

"I found what I’d needed before that, when I hadn’t been consistent - I’d have a great game, I’d be a nine out of 10, then the next game I’d be a two or a three. At Forest and West Ham, I found the consistency to be seven out of 10 in every game."

Antonio's performances inevitably attracted the attention of Premier League clubs - but actually getting Forest to allow him to take one of those moves was more difficult than he would have liked and left him feeling like he was forced to take matters into his own hands.

He explained: "All I wanted for my entire career was to get to the Premier League, but Dougie Freedman was the Forest manager – he had the same agency as me, and kept telling me and the agency that he’d help me to get out.

"I believed him - but then I found out West Brom had put a bid in and the club had turned it down.

"Then West Ham came in and Forest weren’t answering their calls. I said, 'Look, you’re not answering any calls, I’m one of the lowest-paid players at the club, either double my wages or let me go – I don’t mind playing in the Premier League on less money, because my dream is to get there'.

"They couldn’t increase my wages because they were under an embargo, and [Freedman] kept blaming the owner Fawaz [Al Hasawi], saying he didn’t want to let me go. But Fawaz needed the money to get out of the embargo, so I just thought ‘I’m pretty sure [Fawaz] wants to sell me.’

" One day, I went into the training ground and was like, 'Gaffer, West Ham are going to put a bid in today and I need you to accept it'.

"Later, as I was about to go home for the day, Fawaz walked in and I said, 'Mr Chairman, can I have a chat? Dougie, Fawaz is here, we might as well have a meeting together now'.

"Dougie had a face of thunder. I found out he was blocking the deal because he couldn’t sign anyone and I was his best player. He was trying to stop my dreams, for himself.

"Later, I sent him a long text saying, 'If I’m at this club, don’t tell me any tactics, don’t talk to me, I’ll be out on that pitch playing for myself – you won’t be my manager, I’ll be out there managing myself'.

"Within two days I was at West Ham."

Watch Middlesbrough vs Wrexham for free as the Red Dragons travel to the Riverside in the first round of the Carabao Cup, with FourFourTwo bringing you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.

Both teams' sole aim for the season will be promotion to the Premier League, so this cup clash should provide a useful barometer of how they stack up against another side likely to challenge towards the top of the Championship.

While the focus will be on their respective league openers next weekend, this Friday-night clash presents both Middlesbrough and Wrexham with a great chance to hit the ground running.

Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information you need to watch Middlesbrough vs Wrexham online, on TV, and from anywhere.

Can I watch Middlesbrough vs Wrexham for free?

Yes! In the UK, free-to-air broadcaster ITV is showing at least one game per round in this season's Carabao Cup - and Middlesbrough vs Wrexham is their chosen first-round match.

You can watch live on ITV1 or on the ITVX free streaming service at no cost (pre-registration is required). Kick-off is at 8pm BST.

Not in the UK? Use NordVPN to unlock your ITVX stream from anywhere in the world.

Watch Middlesbrough vs Wrexham from anywhere

Away from home right now? You don't have to miss Middlesbrough vs Wrexham. The solution to your geo-restriction nightmares is a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a piece of software that can set your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.

FourFourTwo’s tech-obsessed office-mates over at Tom's Guide know everything there is to know about VPNs, and they rate NordVPN as the best VPN you can buy.

How to watch Middlesbrough vs Wrexham in the UK

Middlesbrough vs Wrexham is being shown live on Sky Sports in the UK, as well as on ITV.

The clash at the Riverside is live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football.

Fans in the UK can watch every single Carabao Cup game on Sky Sports during the 2026/27 season, so you won't miss a minute. Plans start from £35 a month, or £22 a month for new Sky TV customers.

Abroad? Use NordVPN to access your usual stream.

How to watch Middlesbrough vs Wrexham in the US

Middlesbrough vs Wrexham is available to watch on Paramount+ in the US, with kick-off at 3pm ET.

Paramount+ plans start at $8.99 a month and include live coverage of select Carabao Cup and EFL matches, plus every single Champions League game and much more.

Outside of the US? Watch Middlesbrough vs Wrexham on Paramount+ with NordVPN.

How to watch Middlesbrough vs Wrexham in Australia

Fans in Australia can watch every Carabao Cup match live on beIN SPORTS this season, including Middlesbrough vs Wrexham.

The game kicks-off at 5am AEST (Sat) and will be live on beIN SPORTS 3, as well as on the beIN Sports Connect streaming platform.

Plans start from $15.99 a month or $159.99 a year, and you can also take advantage of a one-week free trial.

Away from Australia? Get NordVPN to access your usual beIN SPORTS stream.

Middlesbrough vs Wrexham: Preview

Middlesbrough fans will hope 2026/27 proves a cathartic season after experiencing heartbreak several times in the closing weeks of last term.

Kim Hellberg's side fell short of automatic promotion despite sitting in the top two of the Championship for 35 of the 46 matchdays, before losing in the play-off semi-finals to Southampton - only to receive a lifeline after their opponents were kicked out over the 'Spygate' saga. Boro supporters who thought that was a sign it would be their year then saw their dreams crushed in brutal fashion at Wembley, as Oli McBurnie's 95th-minute winner snatched promotion for Hull City in the play-off final.

Middlesbrough have since lost talismanic midfielder Hayden Hackney to Everton but they have strengthened elsewhere, most notably with the signing of Tottenham Hotspur striker Will Lankshear for an initial £10m that could rise to £20m with add-ons. The 21-year-old is highly-rated and scored 12 goals in all competitions for Oxford United last season, despite their relegation from the Championship.

Lankshear will be itching to open his account for his new club as Boro aim to lay down a marker ahead of their league opener at home to Lincoln City next Saturday.

SEE ALSO Carabao Cup TV Guide

Facing Middlesbrough may conjour thoughts of 'What if?' for Wrexham, whose 2-2 draw with Boro in North Wales on the final day of last season saw them miss out on a play-off place (they would have finished sixth, ahead of Hull, if they'd won).

That being said, it was a strong first campaign back in the second tier for Phil Parkinson's men, who have since embarked on a globe-trotting pre-season tour which included wins over Manchester United in Helsinki and Leeds United in Tampa, Florida.

Wrexham's final friendly in the US was only last Sunday, against Sunderland, so it will be a quick turnaround for this Carabao Cup clash, especially with a squad that is largely unchanged from 2025/26 - despite boasting the Hollywood millions of co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

Parkinson is still looking to strengthen so his starting XI could look very different by the end of the transfer window, but this is a chance for his existing players to cement their place for the trip to Welsh counterparts Cardiff City in the opening Championship game of the season on August 17.

FourFourTwo's prediction

Middlesbrough 2-1 Wrexham

Boro might just have the edge here, with Lankshear a good bet to get on the scoresheet.

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Reports indicate that last season's Premier League runners-up have identified Lille youngster Ayyoub Bouaddi as the Spaniard's long-term successor at the Etihad Stadium.

With Rodri nearing a return to LaLiga with Barcelona, Manchester City’s recruitment team have moved swiftly to ensure their engine room suffers no lasting void.

According to reports from The Athletic and French publication L'Equipe, City have begun discussions to secure Bouaddi's signature.

One in, one out at the Etihad Stadium - but are Bouaddi and Rodri like-for-like?

At just 18 years old, 'The Boy's A Bit Special' alumnus Bouaddi has established himself as one of the more complete deep-lying playmakers in European football.

Having broken into Lille’s senior setup at the age of 16, the Moroccan international has drawn positive reviews for his press-resistance and passing range from the base of midfield.

His standout performances in Ligue 1 and the UEFA Champions League have led Manchester City to position themselves at the front of the queue.

Man City’s recruitment structure are said to view Bouaddi as a talented potential successor to Rodri. Replacing a Ballon d'Or and World Cup winner like Rodri is no easy task, but City’s proactive manoeuvre suggests they're in a position to bring a similar calibre of player to the Etihad Stadium.

Rather than seeking a short-term, potentially costly stopgap, the club are choosing to invest heavily in a long-term solution that can grow with the new iteration of this Man City team in the post-Guardiola era.

While Rodri’s anticipated departure to Catalonia marks the end of a trophy-laden chapter in Manchester, securing Bouaddi ensures the club remain well-prepared for the future. If Rodri's £60 million transfer reaches its expected conclusion, it would greenlight Bouaddi's move, leaving the Etihad faithful to witness the arrival of Europe's next top-level midfield anchor.

Bruno Guimaraes is closing in on a £75 million move to Arsenal, ending a transfer saga that has punctuated the summer window.

However, the Brazilian midfielder’s departure from Tyneside was set in motion long before formal negotiations between the two clubs took place.

FourFourTwo understand Guimaraes informed Newcastle as early as January that he would like to leave the club in the summer.

Bruno Guimaraes to complete Arsenal move

While external speculation suggested Arsenal’s interest only gathered momentum deep into the summer, Guimaraes' exit roadmap began at the start of the year.

Despite making his intentions clear to the Newcastle hierarchy in January, the 28-year-old remained committed on the pitch, captaining the team and performing with trademark intensity throughout the remainder of the 2025/26 campaign.

Newcastle officials were initially hopeful of convincing their captain to sign a new contract. However, with the club unable to offer European football for the upcoming season, Guimaraes viewed an exit as his preference.

It is widely reported the Brazilian deems his Gunners switch as the final opportunity to consistently compete for domestic and European trophies.

When incoming manager Matthias Jaissle met with Guimaraes at Newcastle's pre-season camp in La Manga, he respectfully reiterated his desire. The conversation was reportedly cordial, and Newcastle subsequently accepted Arsenal's £75m package.

Since the turn of the year it had become apparent in Newcastle circles that marquee members of Eddie Howe's squad had one eye on the exit door at St. James' Park.

The team were struggling in the league and looked unlikely to clinch European football, and so conversations between players and their agents began taking place. Guimaraes was one of a number who privately communicated their wish to be granted a move.

For Arsenal, signing Guimaraes provides Mikel Arteta with a battle-tested midfielder capable of adding steel and swagger to their engine room.

His press-resistant traits, ball progression, tenacity, and tactical intelligence will alleviate the burden carried by Declan Rice over recent campaigns.

Upon the completion of medical tests, Guimaraes will complete his long-awaited switch to the capital.

Arsenal and Chelsea doing business with one another used to be on just one condition: “only if we have to”.

The London rivals didn't actually negotiate a deal until 2006, and the highly contentious cross-capital switch of Ashley Cole from north to west – with William Gallas thrown into the deal for good measure.

Even in 2015, there was an extreme reluctance from Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho to accept Arsenal's move for Petr Cech – but it had been promised by owner Roman Abramovich.

Times have changed: Arsenal and Chelsea could do business yet again this summer

By 2018, the Gunners were struggling to qualify for the Champions League and Chelsea were faring a lot better – meaning that Olivier Giroud left N5 for SW6 with a fraction of the bad blood that came with Cesc Fabregas' move, via Barcelona, of course.

David Luiz in the opposite direction wasn't seen as strengthening a rival either, followed by Willian on a free from the Blues to the Gunners – while in recent seasons, it's been Chelsea rebuilding and Arsenal taking their used parts, with manager Mikel Arteta making a signing in every year of BlueCo's ownership.

Often it makes sense for Arsenal to shop in West London: Chelsea have a recent history of stockpiling talent, developing them in the Premier League and are willing to listen to offers for players of a certain level that would be way more expensive elsewhere.

That was certainly the case for Kai Havertz, a player who was nowhere near his prime but had already scored in a Champions League final and who certainly strengthened Arsenal in a problem position – and Noni Madueke, who had shown plenty of promise and was available for a good price and good wages, especially when compared to others on the market at the time.

Kepa Arrizabalaga, Jorginho and Raheem Sterling, meanwhile, were market opportunities – and while it's debatable how successful each has been, they did all at least provide experience and cover for very little expense.

Simply put, Arsenal would have been quoted at least £80 million for a starting target man from most clubs, but got Havertz for around £60m: Madueke went for a similar fee to Anthony Elanga, and Chelsea spent nine figures replacing Jorginho with Enzo Fernandez.

So given that, yet again, Chelsea are looking at trimming a 41-man squad, it makes sense for Arsenal to do their rivals another favour.

There are contenders – but Josh Acheampong could be Arsenal's best bet to buy from Chelsea

This is Chelsea, and only a handful of their squad – not even including all their new signings, hilariously – are untouchable.

Arsenal need a left-winger (as is well broadcast) and cover on the right side of defence, while they would likely be open to opportunities across the pitch: it wouldn't exactly be a shock for Arteta to rekindle a desire to revive Mykhailo Mudryk's career, there was historic interest in Jamie Gittens, while Nicolas Jackson feels like a very Arsenal signing all over.

Really though, the opportunities lie at the back, following new manager Xabi Alonso's comments that his collection of nine centre-backs needs reducing to “four or five”.

In terms of those who can replace either William Saliba or Jurrien Timber, Malo Gusto is valued at £75m amid interest from Manchester City; Wesley Fofana has had his injury problems; Trevoh Chalobah looks to be leaving for Como; and either the jury is still out or we haven't seen enough of Tosin Adarabioyo, Mamadou Sarr and Aaron Anselmino; Reece James, meanwhile, is as unsellable as you get.

Which leaves Josh Acheampong, who is still just 20, able to cover both right-back and centre-back, and would fit the bill technically and tactically of what Arteta demands from a player in that area of the pitch.

The BBC noted in June that the defender really is viewed within the “untouchable” bracket at the club, and that Arsenal were among a throng of English clubs interested in the England youth international – but with the transfer window approaching the endgame, the move makes a lot of sense for all involved.

Chelsea need to offload before the window ends, having spent big again, and though pure profit sales perhaps aren't as golden as they once were for the Blues, they could collect a good fee for a player who doesn't have a clear future – and who reportedly wants to leave the club to develop elsewhere.

Arsenal, meanwhile, have a very clear hierarchy with Timber and Saliba as the established first-choice options in their respective positions, but it makes sense to bring in someone who could potentially challenge either within three years, while adding quality in depth now.

FourFourTwo understands that rather like Gusto, Tino Livramento is valued at around £75m, too: so could spending slightly less on Acheampong could be looked back upon as sensible business in five years' time with inflation?

Manchester United are chasing yet another cost-effective signing.

The Red Devils have enjoyed a frugal summer, completing the likes of Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos while shunning the opportunity to pay bigger bucks for Matheus Fernandes – and that trend could well continue.

Manager Michael Carrick is hoping to add a little more depth to his squad this month, as Manchester United return to the Champions League and look to compete on four fronts once more.

Manchester United to move for Jhon Lucumi - in another cut-price transfer

According to Corriere di Bologna in Italy via Sport Witness, United are weighing up a move for £21.7 million defender Jhon Lucumi.

Chelsea are also in the race for the Colombian, who starred at the World Cup, while Juventus have an agreement in place with the 28-year-old but haven't met Bologna's modest demands.

United, meanwhile, would reportedly be happy to simply pay the asking price for the player, while Bournemouth, Sunderland and Nottingham Forest have all been credited with interest this summer, too, with the report describing Lucumi's exit as “inevitable”.

With Bournemouth having tied up a deal for Antonio Silva and Forest still chasing Ousmane Diomande, however, United have a clear run and can offer Champions League football – something Chelsea can't – though they, too, have other targets.

Giorgio Scalvini has been linked with a move in recent days, with the fellow Serie A stopper capable of stepping into midfield, which may interest Michael Carrick.

FourFourTwo understand that United have also been credited with an interest in fellow Bologna man, Jonathan Rowe, with the Red Devils exploring moves to improve their frontline as well as their defence.

With the BBC confirming that Tielemans cost just £35m and Santos £48m, United have spent just £83m in the transfer market since returning to the top table of European football – but will no doubt have to spend more to improve their squad.

Moves for Lewis Hall and Ismaila Sarr have both been explored, with owners INEOS looking to operate within a tighter wage structure.

Lucumi's contract expires next year, forcing Bologna's hand into a sale before they lose him for nothing.

The Colombian is worth €22m, according to Transfermarkt. Manchester United kickstart their season against Hull City.

Preston North End and Huddersfield Town will kick off in the Carabao Cup First Round on Saturday, August 8 in unique surroundings.

The two Football League clubs meet at Everton’s former ground, Goodison Park, rather than Deepdale.

The venue shift stems from pitch improvement work currently taking place at Preston's home stadium of Deepdale.

Preston North End vs Huddersfield Town at Goodison Park explained

Following a summer renovation, the playing surface at Preston remains unprepared for competitive fixtures, forcing the Lancashire club to source a temporary neutral venue to fulfil their cup commitment.

Preston released an official statement which read: "Preston North End have agreed a deal with Everton to host the club’s first round Carabao Cup tie against Huddersfield Town.

"The tie will be played at 3pm on Saturday 8th August at Goodison Park, the home of Everton Women, formerly the home of the Toffees men's first team up until their move ahead of the 25/26 season.

"The Lilywhites applied to the EFL for permission to play at the alternative venue due to the installation of the new hybrid pitch at Deepdale.

"The pitch will be complete in time for the club’s first home league game against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday 22nd August, but to ensure no issues after a significant £1.5m-plus investment, the decision was made to ask permission to play away from PR1 in round one."

Last summer, Everton moved to their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, leaving operational use of Goodison Park to their women's team.

The arrangement grants the 134-year-old stadium another evening of senior men's football before a planned community redevelopment phase gets underway.

Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven is to commit to a new deal in N17.

That's according to new reports that claim Tottenham boss Roberto De Zerbi has pulled off a masterstroke to convince his player to remain a part of the project, and turn down some of Europe's elite circling.

Van de Ven joined Spurs from Wolfsburg in 2023 and has been a hit – with TEAMtalk claiming that a five-year extension beckons for the 25-year-old.

Micky van de Ven commits his long-term future to Tottenham Hotspur

According to the report, De Zerbi has “transformed the mood” at the club and played a huge role in convincing Van de Ven to remain at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and complete a U-turn on his future.

The Lilywhites have endured 17th-place finishes in the past two seasons, with the Netherlands international one of the bright sparks in a patchy team – but injuries have blighted his career in English football thus far.

With Cristian Romero edging ever nearer to the exit door, Van de Ven has taken on more importance in the squad – and with Jan Paul van Hecke joining from Brighton & Hove Albion, De Zerbi may look to build on the Dutch partnership next season.

FourFourTwo understands, meanwhile, that Van de Ven will be leaned on post-Romero as one of the leaders in the Italian's squad, and may well be given the captaincy once his fellow centre-back departs.

The fastest player ever recorded in the Premier League, Van de Ven's Spurs career started brightly under Ange Postecoglou, as the club went on an unbeaten run at the start of the 2023/24 season until November, and a first international call-up came mere weeks into his journey with Spurs.

Postecoglou's first Premier League loss of the season, however, coincided with a game in which the defender was withdrawn with a hamstring injury – a theme of his time in the capital, with Spurs enduring several injury crises at the back during their relegation battles.

Tottenham have recruited the experience of Andrew Robertson at left-back, but the Scotsman turns 33 this season: and De Zerbi may well be leaning on the recovery pace of Van de Ven on that side of the pitch this season, with this extension coming as an important part of the Italian's project.

Earlier this summer, World Cup winner Pedro Porro committed his future to the North Londoners, too.

“Internally, Spurs view renewals as every bit as important as their summer signings, believing they have secured the core of the squad for years to come,” TEAMtalk says.

Van de Ven is worth €50m, according to Transfermarkt. Spurs travel to Brentford to begin their Premier League campaign.

Arsenal are set to pay Newcastle United more for Bruno Guimaraes than has been publically revealed.

FourFourTwo understands that a deal has been all but completed for the Brazilian, who will sign his contract with the Gunners to bring an end to one of the longest-running sagas of the summer.

But while Arsenal have managed to talk Newcastle down from the €100 million that they received for Sandro Tonali, the fee isn't quite as low as some outlets have claimed, according to those in Brazil.

Bruno Guimaraes to sign four-year Arsenal deal for around £80m

ESPN Brazil journalist Bruno Andrade has provided an update on Mikel Arteta's new signing, after previous stating that the deal was all but completed by weekend.

“There are a lot of details involved in this transfer and many bonuses that Newcastle are not planning to make public,” he explained.

“I’ve spoken to people who took part in the negotiations, and there is actually more money involved in the agreement between the clubs.”

The move apparently totals around £80 million in all, with FourFourTwo understanding that the two clubs have met somewhere in the middle of the £60m originally offered by the North Londoners for a player in the last year of his deal, and the £100m asking price.

Win bonuses for another Premier League title, and that elusive first-ever Champions League crown are almost certainly included, while there may be a figure to settle once Bruno has played a certain number of fixtures.

Intriguingly though, the champions seem to be looking to amortise their payment over four years rather than five, meaning that they could be looking at paying £20m a season to the Magpies rather than £16m.

According to Andrade, Bruno will sign a four-year deal with Arsenal, with the option of a fifth year on the table at the end of his contract – perhaps given his age.

The Rio-born schemer turns 29 in November, with Gunners sporting director Andrea Berta perhaps wishing to avoid another scenario like Bruno's compatriot, Gabriel Jesus.

Like Guimaraes, Jesus was signed in his prime, but after injuries took their toll on his body, Arsenal have struggled to move him on this summer – four years into his contract – and may have to stick with the star and his healthy salary for another year.

Guimaraes is worth €70m, according to Transfermarkt. It's champions vs champions on the opening day of the Premier League season, as Arsenal face Coventry City on Matchday 1.

Merely eight months ago, Mohamed Salah was benched for three consecutive matches by struggling Liverpool manager Arne Slot.

The response from the Egyptian was vicious: a scathing assessment of Slot's management, and veiled accusations towards the Reds' hierarchy, claiming the prerogative was to see him escorted for financial gain out of the back door.

Salah believed then, and later backed it up, that he had far more left to give to the game. With his move to Trabzonspor confirmed, those media antics should be called out exactly as they now appear – farcical, disappointing, and an insult to his most ardent fans.

Mohamed Salah has betrayed himself and his supporters with this decision, but the Egyptian can still achieve redemption

The truth is, Salah was right. Being benched was a statement, and the Liverpool hierarchy were almost certainly devising ways to send him packing, and free up their wage bill from his astronomical salary.

But his choice to move to the Super Lig, a competition that would do well to make it into the world's top ten highest-quality leagues, is no less than a stab in the back to those long-time supporters that adamantly defended him in light of that unfair treatment.

Salah ended the 2025/26 season with 29 goal contributions across the Premier League, Champions League, Africa Cup of Nations, and the World Cup.

He appeared in just 41 games for Liverpool, reaching 22 involvements in at least ten less matches played than any season barring 2023/24, another injury-ridden campaign for Salah, since the turn of the decade.

He enjoyed his most prolific Africa Cup of Nations campaign with Egypt, and spearheaded his nation to their first-ever World Cup win, and a victory in the knock-outs vs Australia, with seven contributions across both major tournaments.

But even his most optimistic supporters would surely concede that the decision to move to Turkey reeks of a man who has seemingly given up.

In a summer when similarly aged departing Premier League legends have opted to lower their salary demands to remain at the top level, including free agents Bernardo Silva and John Stones, both leaving the team that Salah rivalled for nearly a decade, this decision should disappoint followers of his extraordinary career deeply.

FourFourTwo understands that the Egyptian, now the highest paid player in Europe after tax, turned down lower salary offers from multiple clubs in the Serie A. Even Salah's most vocal critic, Jamie Carragher, acknowledged that Turkey is ‘a level too low' for the Liverpool icon, and confessed that he expected to see him back in Italy.

FourFourTwo also understands that two factors were particularly vital in Salah's decision: his wife, Magi, was enticed by Turkey as a location for their family to live in, and, naturally, the size of his enormous pay packet played a significant role, which links back to his financially strained upbringing in Nagrig.

The Salah family purchased a sea-view villa for $10 million in Bodrum, Turkey, over a year ago, which initially signalled that they believed the country was as an attractive place to reside.

The Egyptian escaped impoverished, isolated conditions from his rural farming village roots to become one of the greatest players in history, and, as a result, Salah views salary as a crucial measurement of his worth and success.

Despite these motivations, the collective disapproval of this decision globally is entirely rightful, and becomes far more intense when narrowed down solely to Egyptian supporters.

In that corner of the world, the response is fuelled by love – Salah is the greatest African footballer in history, and he, virtually single-handedly, put their nation on the sporting map.

But to see the Liverpool icon choose money over glory feels like both the disappointing conclusion to an era they hoped would never end, and a deep betrayal, because he appears to have pulled the plug prematurely.

For those fans, the ones who believed Salah's words when he told the press last December that he is still one of the finest players in the world, and watched him excel for the Egyptian national team throughout 2026, it is as sad as it is rage-inducing.

Luckily for the 34-year-old, he can indeed redeem himself. But he has placed a ludicrous burden on his shoulders, perhaps the most ever in his career, to pull off a feat he has been unable to get over the line since his debut.

That is to win the Africa Cup of Nations for Egypt, the most successful footballing nation in the competition's history, who have never won the tournament since Salah made his international debut.

Of course, Salah is far from responsible for that. In fact, the 34-year-old is the primary reason that Egypt did not fade into obscurity after the Port Said disaster stalled footballing development in the country, back in 2012.

The riot tragically caused the deaths of 74 people, and injuries to over 500 others, and shut down domestic football in Egypt for two years.

As a result, the national team was greatly affected, and Salah's talent was integral in them still making it to two AFCON finals in 2017 and 2021, and the third and fourth World Cups in Egypt's history.

To redeem himself in the eyes of those who rightfully feel that Salah has abandoned his competitive edge at an age far too early (the Egyptian, one of football's fittest athletes, confessed to Gary Neville in 2025 that he will still be playing at 40), winning Africa's greatest international prize is a must.

During his Premier League playing days, it became truth among fans that the tournament, if held mid-season, would inevitably lead Salah to suffer an underwhelming end to the campaign, due to the overwhelming demands of Africa Cup of Nations football.

This was clearly evident in 2021/22, when the now 34-year-old was, by a considerable stretch, the best player in the world from August to December, contributing to 21 goals in 15 straight Premier League games.

During the January tournament, he registered involvements in 75% of Egypt's goals en-route to the final vs Senegal, which Salah's side lost, and played four consecutive matches that went to 120 minutes.

Upon his return to Liverpool, Salah's output dropped, as the mental and physical load of carrying his domestic and international sides finally took its toll.

In Turkey? That problem no longer exists, not even at 34, with Salah being able to enjoy the lessened physical impacts of a far, far less competitive league than the English top-flight.

And with Egypt almost prevailing against eventual finalists Argentina at the 2026 World Cup, in which Salah delivered a stunning assist for his country's second of the game, which was controversially disallowed, expectations were already high ahead of the 2027 tournament.

The Liverpool legend will have two chances back-to-back, first in 2027, during the summer tournament hosted by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, then again in 2028.

After that, the Africa Cup of Nations will be held every four years, meaning Salah's next opportunity would be in 2032. That is, for obvious reasons, entirely unfeasible.

In the Super Lig, Salah's clearest shot at Turkish football immortality is taking Trabzonspor to Europa League glory, if the team even makes it beyond the qualifying phases.

However, long-time fans of the Egyptian will likely not care even if he breaks Messi's 91-goal calendar year haul in Turkey. A better ending to his career could have came still on Merseyside, continuing to break Premier League records as a rotational player.

Perhaps most sickeningly of all for those supporters, this choice has effectively vindicated the most dishonest of narratives surrounding Salah, even emanating from within the Liverpool fanbase, that rushed to proclaim him as 'finished' after one sub-par season.

Salah still has plenty left in the tank, even if his transfer priorities appear to disagree with his, often warranted, arrogant antics.

He can cement his legacy in finely carved stone with the Africa Cup of Nations victory which has eluded him for his entire career, but Egyptians will no longer accept excuses if he doesn't find the means to prevail.

For a player who impossibly escaped the most arduous of childhood circumstances and became arguably the greatest player in Premier League history, it feels bizarrely apt that he'd place such extraordinary pressure on himself to deliver at the tail end of his journey.

And somehow, because it's always somehow with Mohamed Salah, isn't it obvious he will do it?

The final moments of last season’s Scottish Premiership title race will eventually be forgotten, lost to history amongst an ocean of Celtic trophies.

For just a few weeks, Scotland had the attention of the football world. The prospect of Celtic winning a 56th championship wasn’t the draw.

A midweek match between Motherwell and Celtic attracted viewers because Celtic had a challenger but what happened next was no more than a moment in time for most of the onlookers.

The cost of dominance

It’ll be remembered forever in Edinburgh, where a fully-kitted Heart of Midlothian arrived barely an hour after the final whistle wasn’t blown on their dream in Glasgow on the final day.

The Premiership is hardly unique among European leagues when it comes to being a closed shop at the top but it might be uniquely committed to the bit. Celtic and Rangers have now won 111 league titles between them.

As enjoyable as that must be for their fans, as thunderous as it makes the rivalry between the two, it will take more than a meaningful championship tilt from Rangers to give the Scottish game a shot in the arm.

Derek McInnes and Lawrence Shankland, the manager and captain who led Hearts to within a whisker of their fifth title, are now the manager and captain at Ibrox.

They’re both Rangers men but it’s still hard to shake the idea that the wayward half of the Old Firm were able to watch Hearts run Celtic close and then tuck into the Jam Tarts without chewing.

The wellbeing of Scottish football is an extremely complicated matter. A healthy game means not only a more diverse title picture but an improved national team, depth in the division and beneath, arses on seats, and an unbreakable bond between clubs and their communities.

Saying that the Premiership needs title challengers beyond the norm is far too simplistic – football contributes to life in Scotland regardless – but last season hinted at a thrilling alternative.

The importance of a competitive capital

Occasional pushes from outside Glasgow won’t cut it. In the last 10 seasons, the Old Firm have been the top two seven times. Rangers were still rebuilding when Aberdeen finished second in back-to-back seasons.

Last time a team from outside Glasgow cracked the top two, Celtic and Rangers went on to lock up first and second for the next seven years. Celtic won all but one of those titles but the catalyst for a more open Premiership is more than just a competitive city rival.

Aberdeen occasionally have a say but, in FourFourTwo’s opinion, Edinburgh is the key. Hearts almost showed what’s possible. Hibernian – also with four titles – have a similar level of potential.

Hearts and Hibs are never going to be as wealthy as the Old Firm clubs. They’re trying to be smarter and that’s the only option. Given the chaotic management of Celtic and Rangers in the last two years, the odds might not be as stacked against Edinburgh as they should be.

Their blueprints emerged not in Scotland but on the south coast of England, where two of the Premier League’s more progressive upstarts have been changing the landscape.

Black Knight, Bill Foley’s multi-club empire that includes AFC Bournemouth as well as Lorient and Moreirense, bought into Hibs in 2024. Foley’s involvement lasted under two years but offered an insight into the fresh outlook required to bring success to Easter Road.

The potency of an alternative strategy

Hearts now count Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom among their shareholders. Bloom’s co-ownership means that Hearts are the only club in Scotland running Jamestown Analytics, Bloom’s data platform and the secret sauce in Como’s success under Cesc Fabregas.

Wouter Vrancken, the new Hearts boss, won’t have been selected without significant predictive data backing his appointment at Tynecastle.

Old Firm fans won’t take kindly to the idea of losing a piece of their slice but football is a dynamic sport and a social phenomenon that thrives on competition. Stasis is the enemy of growth and greater unpredictability would energise the whole shebang.

Glasgow’s grip isn’t going away but it can be, must be, loosened by more advanced thinking in Edinburgh. Maybe that comes from having football’s leading poker whizz in the boardroom. Maybe it requires a visionary manager at Hearts or Hibs.

Wherever it originates, Scottish football would be enriched from root to tip by capital clubs who are at least primed to capitalise on Celtic and Rangers in flux.

Edinburgh standing up to battle with the bigger boys could be the making of the modern Scottish game, boosting the entertainment baseline and filling those seats more readily.

Hearts fired a shot last season and narrowly missed the target. Every community project and every jaded fan questioning the worth of their dedication must be hoping beyond hope that it was the first mission of many.

Here we go, folks.

It's the Friday Football Quiz, and that means one thing: 20 questions, no time limit and a deep dive into football past and present, as we stretch the limits of your ball knowledge with the hardest quiz you'll find all week.

So let's test you on Mohamed Salah's new team-mates, the birthplaces of Ballon d'Or finalists, Luton Town and the Italian managerial merry-go-round. As ever, drop your score below and thank you very much in advance for playing.

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Smashing through the Friday Football Quiz is the ultimate warm-up for the weekend, but true football intellect requires keeping that momentum going well beyond that. Can you handle a shift to domestic goalscoring royalty and golden awards heritage? Let's find out, with more quizzes courtesy of Kwizly.

First, we want you to test your macro-vision of the English game by naming every team to have won one of English football's top four tiers, a comprehensive audit spanning top-flight champions to historic League Two and Fourth Division title winners. Once you’ve mapped out the pyramid's trophy-winners, pivot to individual stardom and see if you can name every Premier League player nominated for the Ballon d'Or since 2000, honouring the icons who represented the English top flight on football's most prestigious stage.

If your expertise leans more toward footballing landmarks and locker-room literature, we have two unique challenges waiting in the tunnel. Put your geographical and visual memory to work by trying to locate these famous football statues, identifying the bronze tributes erected to celebrate game-changing legends across the globe. Following that, trade the turnstiles for the library and test your bookish credentials by naming the authors of these footballer autobiographies, proving you know the minds behind the game's most famous tell-all memoirs.

To lower your pulse after that culture-heavy workout, settle into a quiet spot in the dugout for FourFourTwo’s Weekend Crossword 64, with clues on Silvers, Silvas and Sylvas. To ensure you stay top of the table every single day, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for your daily briefing of hand-picked trivia and deep-dive analysis. To complete your transfer to terrace legend status, join The Club, our free membership hub where you can unlock secret hints for our toughest quizzes, climb global leaderboards, and debate the latest topics directly in the comments section.

It's one of the most oft-repeated pub claims: that Tony Cascarino was 'not really Irish', despite having made 88 appearances for the country over a 14-year international career.

Amusing though that nugget may be, it is based on a rather peculiar set of bygone attitudes.

The former Gillingham, Millwall and Marseille striker appeared at three major tournaments for the Republic of Ireland: Euro 88, plus the 1990 and 1994 World Cups.

Tony Cascarino clears up Irish eligibility controversy

At the time there was a lot of nonsense peddled by English fans and media about 'plastic' Irish players who had grown up in Britain but qualified through their ancestry.

And an extra wrinkle in London-born Cascarino's route to the international scene made the reaction to a 'revelation' in his autobiography that much harsher in 2000.

Newspapers had a field day at Cascarino revealing that his mother had been adopted by Irish parents, as if that makes any material difference to anything whatsoever.

More to the point, Cascarino himself didn't even know his mother was adopted until 1996, eight years in to his international career; and she had been registered in Ireland some years before his debut, too.

Nonetheless, the fact she was not Irish by blood led Cascarino to briefly question his identity, saying his initial reaction was: "I didn't qualify for Ireland. I was a fraud. A fake Irishman."

The FAI subsequently confirmed Cascarino's eligibility still would have stood because yeah, obviously it would.

Cascarino now feels rather less mixed about the matter, though, as he revealed to FourFourTwo.

He said: "My name’s Cascarino, so everybody always assumed I was Italian [in heritage].

"My mum is Teresa O’Malley – her [adopted] family are from Mayo, in Ireland.

"If my name had been O’Malley, not one person on the planet would have questioned me playing for Ireland - but because of my surname, everyone just assumed

.My grandfather was Michael O’Malley. He lived with us, but he never saw me play for Ireland.

"He’d have been really proud because he loved the country. I never had a second thought about it. When I got the chance to play for Ireland, I didn’t hesitate. I loved it."

We've got yet another FourFourTwo Quickfire Quiz waiting for your trivia attentions! Can you bag all 10 of these football questions in just 90 seconds?

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FourFourTwo has loads more football quizzes, all courtesy of Kwizly. First up, we want you to name all 95 clubs to have won any one of the top four tiers of English football.

If you know your famous football figures, why not have a crack at this quiz that asks you to identify 10 iconic football statues or name all of these footballer autobiographies from their titles alone. We also want to know whether you can name every Premier League player nominated for the Ballon d'Or since 2000.

This expert-level quiz asks you to guess these team line-ups based on the nationalities of their players alone. If that's too much, try naming the top 100 goalscorers in the history of the Premier League instead.

FourFourTwo's Big World Cup 2026 quiz will put your through your paces on the latest major summer football tournament. Let's find out how much you can remember about the competition in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

If you're on the hunt for a real test of your mettle, why not try to name 100 players from the clubs where they've played football in our latest career path quiz?

We have puzzles too. Our Weekend Crossword is a regular football teaser for your Sunday, and don't forget to sign up to the newsletter for more quizzes in your inbox. Don't forget to join The Club for free additional membership benefits!

You know when it became really obvious that the sun was setting on Trent Alexander-Arnold's Liverpool career? It had nothing to do with the transfer links, the fist-pumping after big games or even his own silence on his future – it was all the talk of individual trophies. “I want to be the first right-back to win the Ballon d'Or,” he told FourFourTwo in an exclusive interview – before reiterating that ambition upon signing for Real Madrid.

But come on, where is the logic in that? Why would you go to Real Madrid to stand out? Eight Los Blancos players have lifted the award – more than any other club – and in this day and age, the voters usually just converge upon a star of whoever has won the Champions League. But as was dramatically proven in 2024, that's where your colleagues can split the vote. Although he'd scored in the Champions League final that year, if Vinicius Jr had scooped team-mate Dani Carvajal's votes, he'd have comfortably beaten Rodri. That Jude Bellingham was also an option that year confused things further.

It's something that Real Madrid president Florentino Perez failed to grasp when it came to the Super League: if everyone's absolutely huge, then no one is. And now, Vinicius himself has seemingly fallen into the same trap.

It's not just about the Ballon d'Or, either. With goals in two Champions League finals, it would be utterly churlish to suggest that Vinicius has been anything other than a huge success at Real Madrid, ascending to a level where he is regarded, if not as the best left-winger in the world, then certainly one of a handful of footballers on Earth whose transfer saga could spark such interest. He is a superstar of the highest echelon. He is special.

But arguably, the best has already happened in Madrid for the Brazilian. And it happened before Kylian Mbappe arrived.

You can bring out the numbers to support your argument (and we will). Vini averaged over 60 touches per 90 minutes alongside Karim Benzema, which dropped to 50-something next to Mbappe. The goals have dropped slightly, too… but frankly, Vinicius will know this himself, with his team having conducted thorough analysis themselves as to which club would suit his profile. His output has dropped – but not massively – because he's an elite footballer. And rather like most things at the Bernabeu, no one will concern themselves with nerdy numbers.

But it's an obvious fact that the club is no longer Vinicius Jr's. This is Kylian Mbappe FC, now: another left-sided winger-cum-striker, who Real coveted for so long that they didn't give much thought as to how he would play with the superstar that they already had at home. When everyone is massive, no one is – as Vini found out to his chagrin last season, when Xabi Alonso hauled him off in the Clasico.

It's not that Vinicius is no longer a big deal in Madrid: he clearly is, as his new contract will “reflect his status”. Even the wording of that, however, makes it clear that Mbappe is top dog.

Should it come to it, perhaps Jude Bellingham is higher in the pecking order, too – given that he's better off the ball. The game is changing. Having two players like Vini and Mbappe is now seen as a throwback to the Galacticos, with Madrid having suffered two trophyless seasons and serious questions raised over who will step up and put in the work out of possession. Jose Mourinho could well be the final roll of the dice from Perez – one last go at conquering Europe again through aura alone – after getting in an actual tactician in Alonso failed.

And while one can never write off Real Madrid, it certainly seemed like the perfect chance for a clean break for all involved. Mourinho needs 10 players to work their backsides off for Mbappe. Vinicius has achieved everything at Real and doesn't need to prove himself much further – or to a manager who asked, “Why celebrate like that?” when Vinicius Jr was allegedly racially abused by one of his own players. Los Blancos were looking at collecting a nine-figure fee for a player who arguably causes more tactical headaches than he solves problems. It would have been a statement that no one is safe in this new regime.

Ousmane Dembele had a similar conundrum. The Frenchman was brought to Barcelona to service Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez: he moved to Paris Saint-Germain, and not unlike Vini, he was relegated to being Mbappe's sidekick.

As soon as he was given his own spotlight, he thrived. He won a team their first Champions League, instantly writing his name as a legend of that club. He lifted the Ballon d'Or and immediately took on more importance for his country, having been substituted in the first half of a World Cup final in 2022. Dembele is not just a better player than he's ever been before; he's a bigger player, too, because he's had the time and space to stand out on his own away from other stars.

Vinicius could have had a similar glow-up at Arsenal: a team geared towards playing for him, with the best out-of-possession structure in world football to mop up for him. The Gunners reached the Champions League final without a killer up front – arguably, without an A-list star of any kind – and Vini had the opportunity to be that player. He could have been the face of the biggest league in the world.

And were Arsenal to win the Champions League, the man who wins it for them becomes a shoo-in for the Ballon d'Or. Winning it is a big if – but it shrinks a little with a player like that in your team.

Instead, Vini has opted for the same path that Rodrygo chose last summer when he was rumoured to be offered a route out of Madrid. To remain one of several superstars in a team who will always prioritise other names. A team who are in the midst of a rebuild and not exactly patient when it comes to transition. A team whose big plan to reclaim the Champions League comes courtesy of post-Fenerbahce Mourinho.

It would have been nice to see some bravery, anyway. The next time he's thinking about leaving Spain, there might not be such big interest in him.

Liverpool are looking to hijack Arsenal's next transfer.

With the Gunners have tied up a move for Bruno Guimaraes and their ambitious pursuit of Vinicius Jr now over, Arsenal are looking to bring in a new defender, with Ezri Konsa of Aston Villa high on the priority list.

But with Liverpool also looking to bring in defensive cover, the Reds could hand another blow to the Premier League champions behind the scenes.

Liverpool weighing up move for Ezri Konsa – despite Arsenal interest

According to The Guardian, Konsa is now on the Reds' radar, as Andoni Iraola looks for who to partner Virgil van Dijk in defence.

With Ibrahima Konate having left for Real Madrid and Van Dijk now 35 years old, there is a need to improve depth at the back – especially given the youth of both Jeremy Jacquet and Giovanni Leoni, who are both coming off the back of injuries.

Jacquet and Victor Munoz are the only two signings brought to Anfield thus far this summer, with Andoni Iraola's lack of depth highlighted by the fact that his assistant, former Bournemouth captain Tommy Elphick, had to fill in at centre-back during a recent training session.

Konsa has the benefit, too, of being able to play at right-back – which has been a problem position for both Arsenal and Liverpool.

FourFourTwo understands that the North Londoners have been spinning plenty of plates in the transfer market, with the £60 million price tag one that the champions have been reluctant to meet while pursuing the likes of Vinicius Jr and Bruno Guimaraes.

Interest from Mikel Arteta's childhood friend Iraola may spur the Gunners on to wrap up the move, with Ben White and Jurrien Timber having both suffered injuries to rule them out of the World Cup.

With doubts over William Saliba's fitness, too, Konsa could well cover there.

“With the centre-back, with the right-back situation, in terms of defensive depth, we are, I think, very thin right now,” Iraola recently admitted.

Joe Gomez will miss the start of the season, too, through injury.

Konsa is valued at €45m, per Transfermarkt. Liverpool take on Newcastle United on the first weekend of the new season.

Manchester United are to pivot, with another lower-price central midfielder in mind for Michael Carrick's rebuild.

The Red Devils have been priced out of several big moves this summer, with the likes of Youri Tielemans preferred to Matheus Fernandes, as Carrick looked to strengthen ahead of the club's return to the Premier League.

With more depth still needed, Manchester United are now targeting Giorgio Scalvini, according to The Telegraph.

Manchester United to pivot to alternate targets (again)

United are trying to keep costs down this summer: players like Eduardo Camavinga have been linked with moves, but United have brought in Tielemans and Andrey Santos, both for less than £50 million.

Now, Atalanta star Scalvini is said to be on the radar for around £32m – due, in part, to an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

The Italian was valued at around €60m at the start of 2024, with the likes of Chelsea and Inter Milan competing with United for the star – but following an ACL injury that kept him out of Euro 2024, Scalvini's value has dropped hugely.

The Express relays that the 22-year-old is now worth £32m, which could represent a huge steal, given that he was one of the great hopes of Italian football just a few short years ago.

Interestingly, Scalvini could well be an option across the defence – but also in midfield.

The Italian can play as a midfielder, with his tall frame and ability to get around the pitch likening him to Declan Rice as a midfield presence, suggesting he could well develop into a more defensive-minded presence alongside Tielemans or Kobbie Mainoo.

Scalvini played just eight times in the season following his injury, but racked up 30 games in all competitions last term, as he returned to his best.

With United eyeing what could be an expensive move for Newcastle United's Lewis Hall, cheaper signings elsewhere could fund a bigger rebuild.

Another forward could well be targeted, along with a right-back.

Scalvini is valued at €38m by Transfermarkt. United face Hull City on the opening day of the Premier League season.

It's time for another big quiz from FourFourTwo and this one's all about the professional game outside the Premier League.

Now known officially as the EFL, the Football League is a true original. Since 1992, it has been formed of the second, third and fourth tiers of the professional game, propping up the Premier League and supplying much of the cultural richness of the English game.

The EFL is made up of 72 teams and you have 15 minutes to name each and every one of them. Let us know your score below.

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FourFourTwo has a big ol' vault filled to bursting with football quizzes, all courtesy of Kwizly. There are some real toughies to tackle, including these challenges to identify the authors of these football autobiographies based on their titles and name the top 100 goalscorers in the history of the Premier League.

How about a football trivia classic? We've put together this enormous career paths quiz. Can you name all 100 players based on the clubs they represented in their careers?

Specialists in football's crossover with geography will be all over this quiz that asks you to identify these team line-ups from the nationalities of the players alone. If it's history that floats your boat, perhaps you'll be able to name every member of England's 1966 World Cup-winning squad.

We also have some great stuff for puzzlers, including FourFourTwo's Weekend Crossword 64. There are clues on Champions League finals, Olympic medallists, and name-dropping rappers. Remember to subscribe to our newsletter for your daily afternoon briefing of football trivia and analysis, and don't forget to join The Club: our free membership portal where you can secret hints and get on the leaderboard.

Transfer season invariably breeds sensationalism, and the latest rumour swirling around St. James' Park is a classic example.

A recent report from CaughtOffside claims that Newcastle are actively considering offloading Nick Woltemade this summer, with suggestions that the Magpies would even entertain a loan offer with an option to buy.

Naturally, domestic rivals including Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Manchester United have reportedly been put 'on alert.'

Nick Woltemade is gannin' naewhere

To the casual observer, the narrative makes sense. Woltemade’s debut campaign in Tyneside wasn't exactly a goal-a-game triumph, culminating in a bench-warming role for the latter part of the season.

But are Newcastle really ready - or able - to cut their losses so soon?

This assumption would overlook the most crucial factor dictating Newcastle's immediate future: their new head coach.

Newcastle’s decision to appoint German manager Matthias Jaissle as Eddie Howe's successor was not made on a whim, you'd hope. Football governance at the top levels dictates that when a club makes a managerial hire, they do so with their core squad investments firmly in mind.

Just 12 months ago, Newcastle committed roughly £70 million to bring Woltemade from VfB Stuttgart to the Premier League. Boardrooms don't simply write off a 24-year-old German international after a single adjustment season.

On the contrary, when Newcastle executives sat down with Jaissle during the recruitment process, maximising the potential of their £70 million marquee asset was almost certainly high on the agenda.

Part of Jaissle's remit will be to build a framework that puts to work the talent already in the building.

Throughout his successful tenure as Red Bull Salzburg boss, Jaissle deployed a dynamic, high-pressing 4-4-2 diamond midfield shape.

Unlike systems that rely heavily on traditional wingers, Jaissle’s diamond demanded a very specific profile upfront - a pairing featuring a clinical focal point alongside a technically-proficient, physically-striking forward able to drop into the half-spaces, link play, and connect midfield to attack.

Standing 6ft 6in, with great technical ability and link-up play, Woltemade is on paper, tailor-made for this role. Far from being surplus to requirements, the German forward is arguably the most natural tactical fit for Jaissle’s pressing diamond in Newcastle's squad.

Setting tactics aside, the logic of selling or loaning Woltemade to domestic rivals falls completely flat.

Newcastle’s leadership has repeatedly declared their ambition to consistently challenge for titles and silverware, outlining their 2030 goals. Sanctioning a move, especially a loan deal, that strengthens rivals with a 24-year-old German international forward to direct competitors would be foolish, to say the least.

Why would any club actively bolster a rival's attacking depth, undermining their own competitive objectives, all the while receiving little in return?

Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso wants Martin Zubimendi of Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

That's according to reports from Spain, which claim the new Blues boss still wants to add faces to his midfield options, and has targeted his fellow Spaniard as a potential new signing alongside Moises Caicedo.

Zubimendi has enjoyed a phenomenal 12 months, winning the Premier League and World Cup – but may well be open to the switch, given his playing time might be about to drop significantly.

Arsenal braced for Chelsea move, with Martin Zubimendi in Xabi Alonso's sights

FourFourTwo understands that Real Madrid – managed at the time by Alonso – were one of the frontrunners to sign Zubimendi a year ago, when it became apparently that the no.6 was open to leaving boyhood club, Real Sociedad.

Real pushed hard for the midfielder – as did Liverpool and Manchester City at different stages – though Zubimendi was won over in the end by the prospect of working with fellow Basque, Mikel Arteta, along with former team-mates Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino.

Zubimendi played a whopping 57 games in all competitions last term for the Gunners, including every single Premier League fixture – but now, Spanish outlet Fichajes have reaffirmed claims from Chelsea writer Si Phillips that Alonso has requested the signing, following a potentially complicated future.

Arteta leant on Zubimendi heavily in the first half of the season, but by the end of the campaign, Myles Lewis-Skelly was starting in midfield alongside Declan Rice, even starting the Champions League final in place of the more experienced midfielder.

With Arsenal closing a deal for Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes now, minutes might become even harder for Zubimendi to come by in N5.

The 27-year-old was one of Arteta's most important players early in his debut term but looked tired towards the end of the campaign, becoming sloppier on the ball and failing to play with the same verticality and bravery that he showed when he first joined.

From Zubimendi's perspective, a move to Stamford Bridge would give him the opportunity to work with another Basque coach who understands his position – also having played there himself – and with Chelsea out of Europe this season, he wouldn't be as overworked in his sophomore season in English football.

Arteta has been quick to make up his mind about midfielders in the past, though FourFourTwo understands that he doesn't want to lose the World Cup-winning Spaniard, and the club will not be entertaining offers unless they're exceptional – especially with fitness concerns over Declan Rice.

The England international carried a back injury for much of the World Cup and played through “terrible pain” for the Three Lions at times, sparking fears that he may need a lengthy layoff before returning to domestic duty.

Zubimendi is worth €75 million, according to Transfermarkt. Chelsea start their Premier League season against Fulham.

Barcelona are on the brink of pulling off one of the most daring transfer hijacks of the summer window.

Ahead of arch-rivals Real Madrid, Los Cules are reportedly now in pole position to secure the signature of Manchester City midfielder Rodri.

According to a report from The Athletic, the Catalan giants have swooped in, capitalising on a breakdown in negotiations between Madrid and Man City, with a deal to take the 30-year-old Spain captain to Spotify Camp Nou now nearing completion.

Rodri to Real Madrid HIJACKED

For weeks, it appeared as though Real Madrid looked destined to land Rodri.

Following his excellent performances leading Spain to World Cup glory, Madrid president Florentino Perez supposedly prioritised the former Villarreal and Atletico Madrid star as the missing piece in Los Blancos' midfield.

Despite reaching an initial verbal agreement on personal terms, transfer talks between Madrid and Man City have broken down.

The Spanish club were unwilling to meet City’s £80 million asking price given he turns 31 next summer and is entering the final year of his contract. City’s refusal to lower their demands stalled progress, leaving the door open for a late intervention.

Rodri is reportedly open to the idea of joining Barcelona instead of Madrid, which will no doubt leave Man City chiefs pleased given the previous breakdown in talks that would have cost them up to £80m.

Barcelona are keen to bolster their central midfield options after a long-term injury to Frenkie de Jong, too.

With Los Cules guaranteeing a key tactical role alongside up-and-coming pair Pau Cubarsi and Lamine Yamal, Rodri has reportedly agreed to make the switch to Catalonia rather than Madrid.

A successful hijack would represent a statement of intent for Barcelona ahead of the 2026/27 season.

The LaLiga champions' transfer decision could see them land one of the world's best defensive midfielders, in addition to doing so from under the noses of their closest rivals.

For Real Madrid, losing out on their top transfer target to Barcelona would be a bitter pill to swallow, but does free up resources and strengthen their negotiating positions elsewhere.

KSI's ambitions for Dagenham & Redbridge would amount to one of the most ridiculous ascents English football has ever seen if he is able to pull it off - but the club's chief executive believes there is nothing to be gained from refusing to dream big.

The YouTuber bought a stake in Dagenham & Redbridge in March, which chief exec John Grabowski described as 'transformative' for the club.

They are now set to kick off their season in the sixth-tier National League South away to Dorking Wanderers, and are approaching this campaign with high hopes of beginning a climb up through the English football league.

Dagenham & Redbridge are starting the new season with huge ambitions

KSI's ambitions for a sixth-tier club with a ground holding just over 6,000 fans were met with no shortage of cynicism - but Grabowski believes it's not so unthinkable.

After all, we've already seen Wrexham launch themselves from the National League to the Championship, where they finished just one place outside the play-offs last season and will be looking to go again and reach the top flight in the coming campaign.

Grabowski told FourFourTwo: “Everyone wants to know, ‘Cool, what’s the plan?’”

"It’s naive to think we have too grand a long-term plan, but it would also be foolish not to think long-term given the opportunity.

"We all know that in KSI’s announcement, he said, ‘We’re going to get to the Premier League.’

"The first time I heard that, I sort of went ‘Uhh!’ and did a little gut check, but it’s not my job to tell him that’s not possible.

"He followed it up quite quickly, saying, ‘It might take time, it might take 20 years’, and I think in that context, it is absolutely possible – why not us?

“Phase one is to get out of the National League and back into the Football League, then once we’re in the Football League again, we’ll regroup.

"We’ve got other plans, but I think talking about those other plans before achieving phase one risks us getting out a little over our skis."

KSI is an owner of Dagenham & Redbridge – you can watch Race To The Top on the KSI Originals YouTube Channel

The last two seasons as a Tottenham Hotspur fan have been pretty miserable – aside from that glorious Europa League triumph – but I have a feeling the club has turned a corner ahead of the new campaign, and it’s largely thanks to Roberto De Zerbi.

In all honesty, though, I was dubious as to whether his appointment back in March would be the right move for Spurs long-term. I was pretty confident that he would drag the club to Premier League survival, and that he did, but would his fiery temperament be at odds with the powers that be at Tottenham?

There’s still plenty of time for that to happen, of course, but we are witnessing what appears to be a real change in the whole mindset of the club this summer, and it could even lead to a surprise title challenge.

Roberto De Zerbi’s appointment at Tottenham Hotspur had me worried

I don’t think I was alone in having doubts over De Zerbi. Tottenham had reportedly tried to hire the Italian before they recruited Igor Tudor for his ill-fated tenure in N17, but to no avail. The fact he changed his mind a month or so later didn’t sit right with me.

Add to that the fact that this is a manager who doesn’t stick around at clubs for too long (his average time at a club is just over a year), plus the way he left Brighton, and I feared we would be a quick gig with no real consideration of the future.

Even De Zerbi’s track record should raise a few eyebrows.

Aside from a Ukrainian Super Cup during his brief spell with Shakhtar Donetsk, his greatest achievements are steering Marseille to second in Ligue 1, and helping Brighton to a top six finish.

They’re not results to be sniffed at, but they also don’t get me dreaming of glory, either. More than anything, though, it was De Zerbi’s personality that just didn’t seem like it would fit at Spurs.

Much like Antonio Conte before him, this is a man who will say exactly what’s on his mind without fear of upsetting anyone, and as we’ve seen in the past, the Tottenham Hotspur board don’t really like that approach.

I do believe that no-nonsense style was exactly what the squad needed at the backend of last season, though, and it’s no coincidence that those seven matches in the run-in were the best Spurs had looked all year.

Tottenham Hotspur look more disciplined and confident under De Zerbi

Under both Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor, the Tottenham players looked bereft of confidence, lacked any kind of fight, and played turgid football. Since day one under De Zerbi, there has been clear passion and a real togetherness on the pitch, and that delivered the results Spurs needed to stay in the top flight.

After survival was secured, De Zerbi himself even claimed it was the “biggest achievement in my time”, before adding, “We are Tottenham, and we can't suffer like this until the last second of the last game to stay up.” You just get the feeling that De Zerbi is raising the standards at the club and will absolutely not tolerate anything like what we saw last season.

For me, no player exemplifies the shift in attitude at the club more than Micky van de Ven. Under Frank, the flying Dutchman appeared to mentally check out and became a liability. As soon as De Zerbi took over, Van de Ven turned into a leader once more, and looked back to his best.

Speaking to The Standard recently, Van de Ven said: “You can see [De Zerbi] has brought a lot of passion into our group, a lot in terms of mentality and passion on the pitch. It is something we needed because everybody was a little bit down.

“He brings a lot of good energy and, from pre-season, we have really had the time to bring his football into the team. That's really enjoyable.”

He’s right, too. This summer’s pre-season activity for Tottenham has been refreshing, with positive results (including a rare win over bitter rivals Chelsea), a mix of experienced and youth players having important roles, and most importantly, the levels in terms of intensity and quality have not dropped despite these games being friendlies.

Another key case study is the comeback story of Antonin Kinsky. The Czech goalkeeper hit rock bottom in the Champions League last season when he was substituted in the first half against Atletico Madrid after a couple of errors. Now, he looks world-class and is Tottenham’s undisputed number one, and it’s all because De Zerbi put faith in him.

The mentality at Tottenham Hotspur has shifted greatly in such a short space of time, and now feels far more aligned with the spirit Ange Postecoglou brought to the club. While Postecoglou’s tactics were questionable, his man management was outstanding. What’s really exciting is that De Zerbi appears to be capable of both.

Tottenham Hotspur are not messing around this summer

Whether it’s due to De Zerbi’s influence or merely a reaction to back-to-back 17th place finishes, the Tottenham hierarchy are finally showing ambition and loosening the pursestrings this summer.

The £85m signing of Mateus Fernandes was a lavish surprise. The £100m capture of Sandro Tonali was, frankly, mindblowing. The club immediately recognised the fact that things needed to change, and put their money where their mouth is to fix it. The same can be said about the defence, too, with the £52m signing of Jan Paul van Hecke and free transfers of Marco Senesi and Andy Robertson adding real depth to an already strong backline.

I’ve also been really intrigued by the manner in which Spurs have sold off some of their younger players this summer. While the departures of the likes of Luka Vuskovic, Alfie Devine, and Will Lankshear were disappointing, Tottenham received good fees for players who were not likely to make an impact on the first-team this season. In years to come, we may regret not having them around, but that’s a problem for another day. What matters now is immediate improvement and success.

Now, if Spurs can follow through with their pursuit of Savinho (or another top winger) and, most crucially, find a high-level striker to lead the line, I see no reason why the Lilywhites can’t be considered genuine dark horses to challenge for the title. The squad is good enough, the manager is determined to make his mark, and the club as a whole demands and deserves better than what we’ve seen over the last two seasons.

The idea of Spurs pushing for the title, especially after the dismal showing in 2025/26, may be a naive pipedream to some. But, I’ll leave you with this… In the 2014/15 season, Leicester City ended up with 41 points and a -9 goal difference. The following season, they performed a miracle and won the Premier League title.

If the Foxes can do it with relatively meagre resources, I see no reason why a free-spending and revitalised Tottenham Hotspur can’t do the unthinkable and rise to the top.

When reports first surfaced linking Arsenal with a move for Real Madrid’s Vinicius Júnior, eyes widened across North London and further afield.

Signing one of world football’s best wingers would be the ultimate statement of intent for a club keen to build on their recent Premier League success.

But strip away supporters' excitement over transfer rumours and examine the realities of modern transfer sagas, and a very different picture emerges.

Vinicius Jr. knows how to work the Real Madrid boardroom

It is this writer's opinion that Arsenal are not on the verge of landing a Real Madrid superstar.

Instead they're being used as a pawn in a game of contract poker with eye-watering stakes.

The core of this drama lies in the ongoing contract negotiations at the Santiago Bernabeu.

According to reports from ESPN, Real Madrid recently presented Vinicius with a fresh extension offer worth approximately €22 million per year. For Vinicius, this fell short of expectations, leading to another round of contract talks.

The 26-year-old Brazilian international is said to have rejected the proposal, with his representatives holding out for a total package closer to €30m annually, to reflect his standing alongside football's top earners and importance at Real Madrid.

Enter Arsenal.

Reports of Mikel Arteta’s interest and the Gunners' theoretical willingness to make Vinicius the highest-paid player in their history have naturally made headlines - he would be the Premier League's marquee summer signing.

But while Arsenal are undeniably ambitious, the notion that the Emirates hierarchy would blow apart their wage structure to offer in excess of the €22 million proposed by Real Madrid is fanciful.

Arsenal have built their recent success on smart financial discipline; destroying that wage balance for a single arrival would undermine a lot that Arteta has built during his seven years in charge.

The public narrative of Arsenal links growing increasingly credible couldn't be more conveniently timed for Vinicius' camp.

With just 12 months remaining on his current contract, Real Madrid face time pressure to reach a solution that satisfies all parties. This window represents the club's final realistic opportunity to command an above-market transfer fee for their star man before risking a cut-price deal or losing him for free next summer.

Florentino Perez and the Madrid board know they are backed into a corner: sign the extension or watch a prime asset walk next summer.

In modern transfer sagas, a mega-club’s public interest is the ultimate bargaining chip, and Vinicius evidently knows how to play the room.

Keeping Arsenal’s interest front and centre, and highly publicised, Vinicius and his representatives are generating maximum leverage for ongoing contract talks. The threat of the Premier League champions waiting in the wings forces Real Madrid’s hand, nudging them closer to bending towards that €30m figure.

For over a decade, Manchester United treated the transfer window like a global billboard, spending over a billion pounds on individual fame, while the actual football team fell apart.

They bought the clout instead of the profiles, paid the ‘United tax’ without question, and trapped themselves in a toxic cycle of bloated wages and broken dressing rooms. But today, that era is dead.

From walking away from extortionate fees to signing Premier League-proven quality, here is why Manchester United can finally be trusted in the transfer window again.

Manchester United chased the biggest names on Earth – with fees to match

Following the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, Man United stopped operating as a football club and started operating honestly as what felt like at times a click farm. The commercial department discovered a lucrative cheat code: sign the biggest names in the world, dominate the digital news cycle, and watch the shirt sales and sponsorship deals soar so that you can then afford the biggest and best players.

And the cycle continues. Di Maria, Paul Pogba, Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku, and the emotional homecoming of Cristiano Ronaldo weren't always tactical additions – they were also brand activations.

In the boardroom, these transfers were triumphs. Pogba's announcement broke the internet (#Pogback). Sanchez playing the piano gathered millions of impressions. But on the pitch, the evidence was damning.

Across 10 years and five permanent managers, United consistently ranked among the highest spenders in Europe with a staggering 1.5 billion paid out on new players post-Fergie, while producing little to shout about on the pitch aside from a couple of trophies, none of which will be standing front and centre alongside the others in the club's illustrious trophy cabinet.

The structural conflict was unavoidable. Managers were handed expensive collections of individuals rather than compatible profiles. Louis van Gaal wanted functional system players; he was given superstars. Jose Mourinho wanted defensive steel; he was given commercial assets and untameable egos. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer built a fluid counterattacking side only to have it disrupted by the arrival of an ageing Ronaldo.

United was zigging when they should have been zagging. The ultimate lesson was painfully obvious: clout produces instant social media numbers, but without a unified tactical blueprint, it guarantees long-term sporting decay.

And nowhere was this more damaging than when they were getting out the chequebook. Because every club in Europe knew United lacked a modern scouting strategy, knew they had the money to spend due to the size and revenue of the club, and knew there was an air of desperation to get back to the top and sign the latest shiny toy, they applied a surcharge on every deal. It was the classic “they saw you coming” you give to your mate when he's paid 19 quid for two pints. The problem was they didn't learn their lesson and stamped up the cash every single time. This was the birth of what was known as the ‘United tax.’

When Ajax demanded £86 million for Antony, a winger who was valued at half of that just a few months earlier, United paid it. When Leicester held out for £80m for Harry Maguire, a fee deemed way too much by Man City, United folded.

United's wage structure was a mess

Worse than the transfer fees, however, was the wage structure. To convince world-class names to join a Europa League-level project, United handed out astronomical long-term contracts.

Alexis Sanchez was on nearly £500,000 a week, and David De Gea became the highest-paid goalkeeper in history. Despite constant rumours of a departure for the Spaniard, this created the sort of financial paralysis that crippled the club for a decade. When a player underperformed, United couldn't sell them. No club in Europe – only pretty much Saudi Arabia – was willing to match the wages of United's benchwarmers. Players like Anthony Martial, Donny van de Beek, and Eric Bailly sat on high salaries for years, eroding their market value to zero while soaking up big chunks of the wage budget.

Internally, too, it was a nightmare because when a long-standing player or new signing sees a teammate earning £300,000 a week, wage demands across the entire squad skyrocket. It destroyed the dressing room hierarchy and left the club unable to maneuver in the transfer market without risky moves or suffering big losses.

United's greatest weakness was a total absence of, let's call it, “walking away power.” By overpaying for everything, they built a cage that kept bad players in and modern success out.

And perhaps the most damning of all signings was Jadon Sancho: £73m to sign him, five years of inconsistency coupled with a few loan spells away from the club, hundreds of thousands of pounds per week in wages, and then released on a free at the end of it all.

So, how have INEOS turned things around in the past couple of years since taking over? And why does it feel like an image rebrand as well as a footballing one?

United never lacked a posterboy: they just lacked everything else

In years gone by, it's always seemed like Manchester United's success was defined by an enigmatic posterboy of a leader – a star individual or two backed up by the ones willing to do the dirty work. Cantona, Beckham, Ronaldo, Rooney. They won more titles than we care to recall for United. But that success doesn't happen without Neville, O'Shea, Carrick, Park. That was then though, and this is now.

Bruno Fernandes has been one of the best players in the Premier League for years. But without the squad around him, that isn't reflected in United's team success. Statistically, Bruno's output since arriving in 2020 is staggering. Nobody has created more chances in Europe's top five leagues. But relying on one man to be the primary creator, presser, and emotional anchor created an unhealthy dependency. When Bruno had an off day, Manchester United had an off day.

The strategy during those post-Fergie crisis years didn't change with the times, though. They still bought headliners and prayed they could hide the cracks in the ceiling. Enter Varane, Zlatan, Pogba, Rashford's new contract – Casemiro to an extent, although he did make a better go of it towards the end of his stint at Old Trafford. This hero complex crippled the development of a modern team structure.

Elite sides like Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City don't rely on ‘heroball’. They rely on raising the floor of their squad so that everyone is capable of producing a certain level of quality regularly, whether in the starting XI or on the bench. Every player knows where to stand, where to pass, and where to press when the ball is lost.

Is this mechanical football the best to watch? No. Would we rather watch players enjoy themselves and play with this indescribable joy that can't be taught? Yes. But modern football is modern football, and it's been working for a while now.

Needing a hero also stifles youth integration. Young academy players coming through weren't entering a functional, well-oiled machine that protected them; they were being thrown in at the deep end. That sort of thing has worked in the past. To be fair, nothing typified this more than when Marcus Rashford played out every club's dream scenario: the big club giving the opportunity to a young star, and he hits the ground running and never looks back. What a story. You don't, however, need me to explain why that isn't the greatest of strategies because you just can't rely upon it.

But now the story is different, and the most recent transfer windows are the proof. United are doing three things that have elevated their recruitment strategy and earned plenty of trust back from the supporters.

The critical change in United's fortunes

First, they are targeting Premier League-proven players that make sense from a value-for-money and squad-improving perspective. The additions of Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha represent a complete pivot in strategy. Let's face it, going from shopping at Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund to Wolves and Brentford is quite the switch. They aren't vanity signings designed to sell shirts around the world, but high-intensity, ready-made, proven profiles bought to win matches in the Premier League.

Secondly, they've got rid of an astronomical wage bill in favour of something more structured. Gone are the De Gea, Casemiro, Varane, and Sancho days. Now, salaries are reportedly all kept under 200 grand per week. That probably explains why Sandro Tonali wasn't of interest with his 270,000 per week deal that would have blown the bloody doors off that structure immediately. It's also evident in the wages of Mbeumo, Sesko, Cunha, and Tielemans, all between £150 to 180k per week.

And lastly, United have rediscovered the most powerful tool in negotiation: that walking away power we mentioned earlier. When faced with crazy, ransom-style demands for targets like Fernandez from West Ham, United didn't panic or overpay, but calmly walked away. Instead, they secured Youri Tielemans for an incredible £35m release – a move driven by his suitability to United's starting XI and financial sanity behind it all.

You could say that the quiet, pragmatic move lacks the thrill of a 100 million pound marquee signing that a club like Manchester United needs to be seen making to draw in show-stopping talent. But why would they continue to bang their head against the wall if it doesn't work? Tielemans provides immediate control and experience in the midfield, and he also does it without blocking the development runway for the talented Kobbie Mainoo. Mainoo remains the long-term heartbeat of the midfield. The throne is still his for the taking eventually, but for now, he's supported by experienced heads rather than overshadowed or competing with someone the same age who could literally block him for his entire career.

For the first time in over a decade, United aren't buying to solve a PR crisis or win a transfer window. They're buying to assemble a sustainable, modern football team – one that can compete not only at the top of the Premier League, but in European and domestic competitions, too. PSG have proven that ditching the superstars can reap rewards. And whilst they are in a completely different domestic situation to Manchester United, it's not a terrible model to follow. As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Arsenal’s summer pursuit of Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes is reaching its climax as the Brazilian midfielder prepares to finalise a £75 million move to the North London club.

Fresh details have emerged revealing the specific negotiation tactics employed by the Gunners during the transfer saga which is nearing a conclusion.

According to Sky Sports' North East reporter Keith Downie, Newcastle executives were left perplexed by Arsenal’s approach, particularly during the initial weeks of discussions.

Bruno Guimaraes to Arsenal is almost a done deal

The groundwork for the transfer was reportedly laid weeks ago when intermediaries approached Newcastle to gauge what it would take to tempt their star midfielder to the Emirates Stadium.

Shortly thereafter, Guimaraes indicated to Newcastle management that he was open to joining the reigning Premier League champions.

Rather than capitalising on the momentum with an immediate, official approach, Arsenal backed off.

Downie reports: "Arsenal elongated the transfer by refusing to contact Newcastle for weeks — which Newcastle found bizarre."

Instead of opening a direct line of communication between boardrooms, Arsenal are said to have continued operating through middle-men for an extended period. This approach reportedly left Newcastle officials scratching their heads over why the Gunners were deliberately stalling formal contact when the player's interest had already been established.

Newcastle were desperate to retain Guimaraes and had zero desire to sell their marquee midfielder, but found their hands tied. Had the 28-year-old expressed a willingness to remain on Tyneside, the Magpies would have rejected any offers from Arsenal or any rival suitor.

However, 28-year-old Guimaraes maintained his stance, informing Newcastle bosses that he wanted to leave because he felt joining Arsenal represented a better chance of competing for major titles.

Once Arsenal did initiate club-to-club contact and met Newcastle's financial valuation, negotiations progressed swiftly towards the £75m agreement which is close to being ratified by the Premier League.

Relations between Guimaraes and Newcastle remain entirely amicable ahead of his arrival in North London.

While losing their captain is a major blow, the £75m windfall provides financial flexibility as the club rebuilds itself ahead of the new season and a new sporting cycle on Tyneside.