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The Sun
11 minutes ago
- The Sun
Steven Gerrard convinced ‘incredible' former England star was better than Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe as a teenager
LIVERPOOL legend Steven Gerrard believes 'incredible' Michael Owen was better then BOTH Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe as a teenager. Michael Owen burst onto the scene aged 17 before famously winning the Ballon d'Or whilst at Liverpool in 2001. 2 He scored 18 goals in his first full season in the Premier League, sharing the golden boot with Chris Sutton and Dion Dublin while also sweeping up the PFA Young Player of the Year Award. The ex-Liverpool striker still holds the title of the most goals scored by a teenager in Premier League history as he incredibly netted 40 in 79 matches before turning 20 in 1999. Owen joined Real Madrid for £8million in 2004, cutting short his eight year stay in Merseyside. Although he enjoyed a decent campaign with Los Blancos, he quickly returned to England with Newcastle United, injuries curtailing a promising career. Owen still managed to score 40 England goals but never hit the heights of his early potential. And Gerrard believes that his early Ballon d'Or win - just days after his 22nd birthday - gives the Owen the edge over present day superstars Mbappe and Yamal, although both players have been nominated for the award this year. He told ESPN: "Well, the other two are chasing the Ballon d'Or and one's got one. "So I think you'd have to respect the fact that Michael Owen has been voted the best player in the world. "I played with him. He was an incredible teenager. So I'd have to say Michael Owen [as the best]. "But what I would say is: Mbappe and Lamine Yamal, wow, they're two incredible players." Barcelona's 18-year-old wonderkid Yamal is among the favourites for this years prize, which would make him the youngest-ever winner of the award. The Spanish youngster was a sensation in Catalonia last season, firing on all cylinders and racking up 43 goal involvements in a campaign where his side won the domestic treble. Yamal caught the eye of the entire world in the summer of 2024 as the then 16-year-old helped his country to win the Euros in Germany. As well as winning the competition as a whole, the winger was named Young Player of the Tournament as he racked up the most assists and scored an unbelievable goal in the semi-final against France. I think you'd have to respect the fact that Michael Owen has been voted the best player in the world. Steven Gerrard Mbappe, 26, has been nominated for the Ballon d'Or on EIGHT occasions in his career, becoming the youngest player to ever be nominated in 2017 at 17 years old. However, he is still to win the trophy, having been beaten by the likes of Rodri and Lionel Messi in recent years. His initial nomination came off the back of a superb season at AS Monaco where he helped the French side win their first league title in 17 years. They also got to the semi-finals of the Champions League with Mbappe scoring 28 goals and assisting 16 in all competitions. The Frenchman would follow this up with another incredible year as a teenager after earning a move to French giants PSG for €180 million - the highest fee ever paid for a teenager. France won the World Cup in the summer of 2018 with Mbappe, then 19, netting four along the way and scoring in the final.
Daily Mail
11 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Sam Burgess reveals how Hollywood A-lister Russell Crowe lured him to the Rabbitohs - and it involves a prank call to Shane Warne and Leonardo DiCaprio
Sam Burgess had been 'hell-bent' on joining the Manly Sea Eagles. Under the stewardship of legendary coach Des Hasler, the Sea Eagles had gone on to win the 2008 premiership, having placed as a runner-up the year prior, before going on to win the flag again in 2011. The club was expanding and it was an attractive prospect for 'Slammin Sam' Burgess, who admitted he had been blowing up Hasler's phone with calls, even offering to play for the club for reduced fees. Multiple other clubs had been interested in snapping up the former Bradford Bulls star, who had his sights set on making a move Down Under to play in the NRL. But that's where Hollywood A-lister Russell Crowe stepped in. The Gladiator star and co-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs had been over in the UK at the time filming Robin Hood and had heard through the grapevine that the now Warrington Wolves coach, Burgess, was making rumblings about a move to play rugby league in Australia. So Crowe got hold of Burgess' phone number and gave the footy star a quick call to see if he could tempt him to join the Bunnies. But speaking to cricket legends, David Lloyd, Sir Alastair Cook, Phil Tuffnell and Michael Vaughan on The Overlap and Betfair's Stick to Cricket show, Burgess revealed he actuall snubbed Crowe's phone call because he thought someone was prank calling him. 'We were playing down in Wales at the time,' he said to The Overlap and Betfair's Stick to Cricket show. 'I'm just getting a massage - you're not really supposed to have your phone on the massage beds - but I took the call because I was taking anything at the time. It was Russell Crowe on the phone! 'I thought someone was pranking me, so I hung up. I thought: 'I'm not paying a fine just for someone on a prank phone call'. 'Anyway, he rang me back a few times, I let it go through.' After Burgess got off the massage bed, the Bradford Bulls star finally answered one of the Gladiator star's phone calls. 'He said: 'It's Russell Crowe. I want to catch up with you, I want to meet you. Do you want to come play in Australia?' 'I said: 'Yes, I do.' He said: 'Okay then. I'm filming a movie in Derby, I'll be there next week, you want to come down?'' Burgess, who had spent three years at Bradford before finally moving to the Souths in 2010, agreed to come down and asked the Hollywood star if he could bring some friends along with him. Crowe, keen to get the England star on board, obliged. 'So, I took four of my mates down and we go to this fancy hotel in Derby - can't remember what it's called - that's where he was staying,' he told the cricket legends. 'We arrive and security's there - 'Name? Where are you from? Who are you seeing?' - Yes, come in. My mates are all walking in, looking at this establishment. We sit and have dinner - the cutlery's laid out perfectly. Burgess and his friends sat down for dinner with Crowe but the footy great revealed that rugby was not spoken about once during the meeting. 'We end up having a great feed, didn't talk one thing about rugby, but we got a little bit p***ed,' he explained. 'They start bringing out desserts - they had like gold spoons, real gold. So, my mates are ordering extra desserts, saying, 'Yeah, get me one more of them please,' and they're pocketing the spoons. We get in the car on the way home and they've all got two or three spoons each - 'We're killing it, boys!' 'We didn't have any conversations about rugby.' Instead, they opted to play a few pranks on some of the illustrious names in Crowe's phone book, including Leonardo DiCaprio and legendary Aussie cricketer Shane Warne. 'We were prank calling off Russell's phone - that's how the night finished up. We prank-called all these movie stars,' he said. 'We rang Leonardo DiCaprio. We rang Shane Warne - Warney, big mate. We rang a few other people. I'm thinking, this is amazing, how fun is this?' After the lavish dinner, Burgess explained he went down to meet Crowe again where they talked shop. 'A couple of days later, I went down, and we spoke a bit more about the opportunity to play in the NRL and my ambitions as a player - I was only 20 at the time. From that day on we've been great mates. 'He's been true to his word: 'There won't be a door in the world I can't open, you just gotta walk through them.' And he's just such a great bloke. Loves his cricket.' The rest is history, with Burgess going on to cement himself as a legend of the club, helping lift the Bunnies to win their first premiership in 43 years during the 2014 season. He would go on to make 176 appearances for the footy club across two spells, sandwiched between a stint in rugby union back in England. He would notably pick up the Clive Churchill medal during the Grand Final that year, after suffering a horror head collision with fellow Brit James Graham in the opening minute of the match. Burgess had fractured his cheekbone in the collision and could barely see out of his right eye. 'First tackle of the game, I clash heads with James Graham a great mate of mine and smash my face up,' he told the podcast. 'I had no option but to come off. South Sydney hadn't won for 43 years. We'd had a great season, worked our backsides off, and now we're here. 'The trainer comes out, I tell him I'm in a bad way - he says: 'Oh f***'.' Burgess revealed to the podcast that he tested out the injury to see if he could keep playing. 'One of my thoughts was: 'I'm not going to have a beer tonight, because my face will be out here.' But I thought: 'Let's see how far I can get before I have to leave the field'. Tried running, tackling - pain was manageable - so I stayed on. 'At half-time, the doctor wants to assess me. I say: 'Doc, all due respect, I want to sit and listen to the coach, stay connected to the team'. In the second half, my brother George misses a tackle. I give him a spray: 'You lazy b******, I'm here covering you with my face busted - you better make it up'. Next set he scores one of the greatest individual tries in a grand final. The footy great revealed he didn't go to hospital after the game, instead joining his team-mates to celebrate the huge victory.
BBC News
11 minutes ago
- BBC News
Black Cats sign defender Alderete from Getafe
Sunderland have signed defender Omar Alderete from Getafe on a four-year 28-year-old made 99 appearances for the La Liga club, including 36 last has spent previous campaigns with Basel, Hertha and Valencia after moving to Europe from South America in 2019."I'm feeling great about signing for this great team, so I'm really happy," said Alderete. " I'm looking forward to my first experience in the Premier League – it's a great challenge for me."I know it's a historic club, and when they told me there was an opportunity, I was excited about coming here."It's always important to have the support of the people, and I'm going to give it my all on the pitch."Alderete will wear the number 15 shirt.
