Pedro was 'training harder' for Chelsea call
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Daily Mail
22 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Enzo Maresca 'trials Chelsea star in a new position' - as the Blues boss gets creative with the £50million signing
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has reportedly trialled moving one of his player's positions in a bid to find a place for the star. Since taking the reins at Stamford Bridge last summer Maresca has led the club to victory in the Conference League and steered them back into the Champions League. However, having already inherited a bloated squad upon his appointment and with yet more new arrivals during his tenure, a number of expensively-acquired stars have found themselves struggling for minutes. One of the players to become lost in the shuffle is France international Christopher Nkunku. Signed for £53million in the summer of 2023, Nkunku had been prolific in back-to-back Bundesliga campaigns with RB Leipzig. An knee injury suffered during a pre-season game curtailed his involvement however, and he was ultimately limited to just 14 appearances in all competitions in his maiden season in west London. In the Premier League last season Nkunku was largely restricted to appearing off the bench, and he is expected to be allowed to depart for pastures new this summer. Although it appears his time at the club is coming to an end, reports from France suggest Maresca had experimented with deploying Nkunku deeper. According to L'Equipe, the 27-year-old has often played in defensive midfield during training sessions, a move that has been described as potentially intended as a means of testing Nkunku's strength of character. The move also be an experiment on Maresca's behalf to see if Nkunku's talents could be adapted to a more defensive role, similar to Joelinton at Newcastle under Eddie Howe. The report also suggests that Nkunku is keen on a move this summer in the hopes of being able to figure in Didier Deschamps' plans for next summer's World Cup in North America.
The Guardian
30 minutes ago
- The Guardian
World Cup will use more indoor venues for day-time kick-offs to combat heat
Fifa's president, Gianni Infantino, has said indoor air-conditioned venues will be used as much as possible for day-time kick-offs at the 2026 World Cup to combat expected high temperatures. Concerns have been raised about player welfare during the Club World Cup in the US, which will co-host next year's tournament with Canada and Mexico. Enzo Fernández described conditions during Chelsea's semi-final against Fluminense, when the temperature was 35C, as 'very dangerous'. Infantino said better use would be made of indoor air-conditioned venues in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Vancouver. There are 16 host venues – 11 in the US, two in Canada and three in Mexico. Vancouver has by far the coolest average June and July temperatures of the indoor venues. 'The heat is definitely an issue,' Infantino said. 'It's an issue around the world. I remember it was the same in the Olympics in Paris and in other football games. But we have stadiums in America that are covered and one in Canada in Vancouver and we will definitely use these stadiums more during the day.' Infantino declared the Club World Cup a huge financial success and said the revamped, 32-team tournament had generated close to £1.5bn in revenue. The competition concludes in New York on Sunday with a final between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, which is due to be attended by Donald Trump. Infantino said: 'The golden era of global club football has started. We can say definitely this Fifa Club World Cup has been a huge, huge, huge success. Of course, there are a lot of positives, some negatives. We respect everyone's opinion. It has been successful. 'We heard financially it would not work but I can say we generated over $2bn (£1.48bn) in revenues with this competition. We earned on average $33m per match. There is no other cup competition in the world that comes close to $33m per match. It is already the most successful club competition in the world.' Infantino responded to criticism over poor attendances at some matches by saying 2.5m tickets were sold, equating to an average of 40,000 per match. 'There is no league in the world with that number, except the Premier League which, of course, has home teams.' Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Infantino thanked Trump for his endorsement of the tournament. 'He loves the game,' he said. 'You cannot organise a competition like this without the full support of the government. Great thanks to president Trump – he has been fantastic and he is attending the final tomorrow as well.'
Telegraph
44 minutes ago
- Telegraph
How Chelsea can beat PSG to win Club World Cup final
Yet PSG have played the heat impressively. They have overwhelmed teams in periods and stretched them out of shape. Chelsea will have to find a way of conserving possession so they can try to do the same to their opposition. An afternoon of chasing the ball in the July heat of the marshlands of the Hackensack River plain, where the MetLife Stadium is located, will not be easy. 'Some places have been really hot,' Colwill said. 'The boys did really well in the last round because it was so hot. I was stuck watching it and thinking, 'Wow, this is so tough.' I felt bad for them but they managed it really well. When we play our football, we have the ball for the majority of the time and that helps a lot and we have to keep that going.' Match the athleticism and the overloads This Luis Enrique team loves to break quickly and, when they do so, they can suddenly put an opponent in a position where they are outnumbered. PSG do it all at such speed and with such precision that it can happen in the blink of an eye. Chelsea are a young team – albeit less polished than PSG – and they can cope with the physical demands, but the quality from PSG is on a level at which no one has been able to compete since the turn of the year. It goes without saying that Chelsea need their player of the season, Moisés Caicedo, in the team. Even if he is, it is by no means sure that the midfielder will be at his peak performance. A lot will hang on the first 30 minutes. If Chelsea can stay in the game, they will grow in confidence. Go behind early to PSG and, as Inter and Real have experienced, it can be very difficult once the game is stretched. 'I don't care, to be honest, that everyone is bigging up our opposition,' Reece James said. 'PSG have beaten all the English teams. They have an amazing team but we have an amazing team and have surprised a lot of people. We've come a long way on our journey from where we started. We are preparing right and going there to win. I believe we will go toe-to-toe. Stats, data, favourites and not favourites doesn't mean anything to our team.'
