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BBC News
20 minutes ago
- BBC News
Who is Zubimendi?
Martin Zubimendi played 236 times for Real Sociedad - his only club to date - and scored 10 he is not a goalscorer, because he is primarily a defensive Sociedad played several formations last season, though mostly it was a 4-1-4-1 with Zubimendi as the La Liga in 2024-25, he ranked in the top five of central midfielders for successful passes, successful long passes, progressive passes, touches, tackles, interceptions, aerial duels won and distance of completed upfield passes (8.5km)."He's not a paragon of technical prowess, nor does he stand out for his vision, his long ball touch, or his ability to link up," said Spanish journalist and Real Sociedad expert Roberto Ramajo, external."He delivers in every aspect of a midfielder's game, and he always contributes. And that's what sets him apart, what allows him to excel the way he has at Real Sociedad since he came into the first team."Martin has very good tactical ability. He knows how to occupy space on the pitch almost perfectly, and he reads his team's needs very well when it comes to helping his team-mates."He has fantastic reading of the game, because he's very intelligent without the ball. I know he's hailed with the ball, but I like him better off it."Read the full piece here
Times
22 minutes ago
- Times
Chelsea must sell to register new signings for Champions League
Chelsea are on course to hit the jackpot at the Club World Cup: their victory over Palmeiras in the quarter-final was worth £15.6million alone and took their total earnings so far to almost £60million. It is a handy windfall, particularly after Uefa inflicted its largest fine on the west London club last week — £27million unconditionally with the threat of a further £51.8million, part of a settlement agreement for breaching the body's financial rules. Yet it is not the fines that may have a particularly punitive impact on Chelsea. Rather, it is the sporting sanction to which the club have agreed, as have Aston Villa, who were similarly sanctioned, that poses an interesting dynamic for the rest of the summer transfer window — and likely ups the pressure on selling players. Chelsea will not be able to add players to their squad for the Champions League next season unless their 'List A transfer balance is positive'. That's a requirement in place for at least two seasons. In short, it means that any spending to add to their Uefa-registered squad list must be covered by the income of outgoing players. No Club World Cup bonus can help with that. Chelsea have a lot of players still to register, having signed Liam Delap, João Pedro and Jamie Gittens, while Estêvão Willian, Dario Essugo, Andrey Santos, Mamadou Sarr and Mike Penders — should they not go on loan — may also need to be added. On Friday Enzo Maresca, the Chelsea head coach, said it was not something 'he had paid attention to'. But that may not be so easy. Chelsea's 'List A' refers to the last squad they registered with Uefa, which was delivered in February for the knockout phase of the Conference League. Crucially, that means Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana will need to be registered too, as they were not on that List A. They, along with new signings, will add costs to the incoming column. The cost of registering a new signing takes into account the salary and amortised transfer fee. So Delap's £30million signing, spread over his five-year contract, amounts to £6million for this year. Uefa does not accept contract lengths of more than five years, which it limited back in 2023. A rough calculation of amortised transfer fees alone, not including salary costs, suggests Chelsea may need to find north of £60million to register all the players mentioned above and achieve Uefa's 'positive balance' requirement. Notwithstanding any new deals for players like Fofana or Lavia, which could bring their amortised transfer fee numbers down, the pressure turns to sales. Fortunately for Chelsea, it appears outgoings do not have to be solely from last season's List A. Those that were left out of Chelsea's Club World Cup squad and are due back in training at Cobham from Monday — including João Félix, Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell, Renato Veiga and Axel Disasi — can count towards improving their transfer balance. They can be added to List A before the September 2 submission deadline and thus income from their sales will count. It is only if Chelsea's overall transfer balance is negative after the list is submitted that new players could be prevented from registering. But moving unwanted players for permanent sums can be troublesome, as Chelsea know well. So others may fall into the picture. Christopher Nkunku's future is already uncertain, and he is expected to court offers this summer. Noni Madueke, meanwhile, who has been one of Maresca's better performers and an important player en route to Champions League qualification last season, will not see the club stand in his way should he want to leave, amid interest from Arsenal. 'Noni has been very important for us during this season,' Maresca said. 'But my message to the players and to the club is that I want just players that are happy to be with us. The ones that are not happy, they are free to go. It's not for Noni, it's for all the players we have.' Another key performer during the second half of last season is the new England international Trevoh Chalobah, and an exit for him cannot be ruled out either, despite some high praise from Maresca. 'All the players that are here with us, I don't want to lose them,' Maresca said last week. 'We made the Champions League and that's also because of Trevoh. He helped us a lot. We are happy with him. Unfortunately, when the window is open, anything can happen.' Chelsea sources remain confident that they will not be adversely affected by this settlement agreement. They stress they are not forced to sell players like Madueke — unless they want to go — and are not concerned about registering players for the Champions League. Indeed, they have not ruled out further moves in the window either. West Ham United's Mohamed Kudus is of particular interest and should Madueke go, a move for the Ghanaian is set to become more likely. 'He is not our player, so I cannot say anything,' Maresca said. 'The only thing is I have known about Kudus since he was in Ajax.'
BBC News
34 minutes ago
- BBC News
'Result won't go down in history but occasion will'
Wales suffered defeat in their first game at a major tournament - a 3-0 loss to the Netherlands at Euro 2025 in by 4,000 travelling fans, Wales went into the game as the lowest ranked of all 16 Miedema's brilliant goal on the stroke of half-time undid a solid 45 minutes of defending from Wales against the 2017 Pelova added a second for the Netherlands early in the second before a third from Esmee Brugts sealed was then a case of damage limitation for Rhian Wilkinson's side, who could have easily lost by a greater margin and next face France on Wednesday in Group Sport Wales looks at how pundits reacted to Wales' Euro 2025 opener. Katie Sherwood, former Wales midfielder on BBC Match of the Day"It wasn't the fairytale we wanted was it? We knew coming into this game they would have to defy the odds to get something out of this game against the footballing giants."The moments we conceded, they're key moments of the game and ultimately they cost us. It's really difficult then to get back into the game when you concede in those moments."Regardless of the score, we need to be proud we're at our first major tournament. Yes, we know there are moments we can improve, but we are not a top-tier team yet - that's where we want to be."But this crowd and the family and friends that have travelled here is massive for the players." Ellen White, former England striker on BBC Match of the Day"Wales defended really well - it was just that they gave Miedema that yard and she's a special, special player and scored a world-class goal. From a Wales perspective it's back to the drawing board - they've got two more games."The fans will be very proud of their intent and enthusiasm but ultimately they haven't got enough tournament experience - the Netherlands have a lot of tournament experience."There's a lot of positives to take from the game but there's obviously things that they need to improve and they've got two more games to hopefully be as successful as they can be in this group, because it's a tough one." Nathan Blake, former Wales striker on BBC Match of the Day"You have to climb the mountain and maybe you haven't got to the top, but if you play against the best, you start to understand what it's really about."I think the positive for Wales is, this game you have seen what you are up against in these tournaments. I definitely think they will look at is as a positive. OK, 3-0 they've lost but look where you are, look where you've come from to where you are."At the end of the day they were up against a top-quality team. so you've got to give yourself some credit, not think to yourself 'we haven't performed to the best of our ability'."Maybe you have performed to the best of your ability but the team you're up against is just better."But for now you go back to the drawing board and what can we do to try and be better in the next game? You're always evolving, trying to get better and find ways to win."It's something where you have to sit down and watch this game and try and improve little things - energy levels, recovery is really important. Substitutions - it's important who you use and where you use them."There's lots of little nuances to improve on." Wales must get over this quickly - Jones Nia Jones, former Wales defender on BBC Radio Wales"This performance and result won't go down in history, but the occasion certainly will."The Dutch didn't miss their chances - they were so clinical and the timing of their goals, before half-time and just afterwards, knocked the wind out of the Welsh sails."Miedema had so much time and space on the edge of the box - they will be looking back and cringing at that in analysis this week. That was the catalyst for the Dutch to run away and they came out with a spark."The stars in their squad - Jill Roord, Vivianne Miedema, Danielle van de Donk – they really were in a class of their own. That's probably the one thing this Welsh squad is now lacking - world-class performers playing at the top level, week in week out for their clubs."There's no substitute for that coming into a tournament of this stature."I think upon reflection Wales will be lucky that it was only three. They will need to debrief and get over this emotionally and physically very, very quickly."Tactically they will have to look at a couple of things out of possession. The backline on occasion - especially in the second half - wasn't connected together." Kath Morgan, former Wales captain on BBC Radio Wales"Firstly I'm very, very proud of these players. I don't think they got overawed by the occasion."Our structure, our defensive strategy, our discipline - you can only do that for so long against really good teams."I think our midfield struggled with the runs in behind their shoulders and they didn't track those runners and that made Josie Green and Rhiannon Roberts pull out of their defensive line, and we got punished."This has happened and they will learn from it."We've never been here before - all these other teams have been here multiple times so I'm not here to criticise the players."This is the level they need in order to compete consistently and it's been a hard evening - they will take positives from it." Former Wales defender Danny Gabbidon, Radio 5 Live pundit"They're a quality outfit the Netherlands, they've got some quality players but I was a little bit disappointed with the manner of the goals conceded."I thought it was very difficult in that midfield for Angharad James and Hayley Ladd at times. I thought they were overrun and it was very difficult for them to get pressure on the opposition or protect that backline. They were caught in between two stools really."You can take heart from how we kept going - we always do, we never gave up. But we certainly can look at the game back and say that there are things we can do better and there are positives we can take from it as well."But we will reset and refocus and we won't let that result worry us too much - this group has been through so much, so many disappointments and negative things. They won't let a 3-0 loss in the first game worry them too much going into the next game."
