Jérémy Jacquet close to contract extension at Rennes
According to Canal+ and former L'Équipe journalist Bertrand Latour, Stade Rennais are set to extend the contract of promising centre-back Jérémy Jacquet (19). The young centre-back has been the subject of interest from European clubs including RB Leipzig near the tail-end of the season.
Jacquet has seamlessly adapted to Habib Beye's backline after being recalled from a loan at Clermont where he spent the first half of the season. Even if it meant that Rennes had to spend €900k on a player that was already on their books – the youngster returned to his parent club and starred during the Breton club's resurgence during the second half of the Ligue 1 season.
Jacquet is already tied-down at Rennes until 2027, but the club will be looking to trigger a further year in his contract in the hopes of either keeping the player this summer, or extracting the maximal value they can for the Frenchman in the case of an offer that they can't refuse.
GFFN | George Boxall
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New York Times
16 minutes ago
- New York Times
How Chelsea won the race for Liam Delap ahead of Premier League and European rivals
He was the man that half of the Premier League wanted, and some beyond that too. Manchester City had first refusal. Manchester United chased him hard. Everton wanted him to lead what they hoped would be a revived club at a new stadium. Newcastle United were looking for a new striker. Nottingham Forest made a strong play. From Europe, Juventus, AC Milan and Bayern Munich all had an interest. Advertisement But Liam Delap, one of the hottest properties of the summer, is now a Chelsea player, and is the first significant domino to fall in what is shaping up to be a frantic bunfight for forward talent at the top end of the Premier League. Chelsea have got themselves a potentially huge bargain: they have paid the £30million ($40.5m) relegation release clause fee that was inserted into Delap's contract when he joined Ipswich from Manchester City last summer. Ipswich will receive £20m of that upfront and also a sell-on percentage from a future move. When you consider that, for most of the other forwards on the market, the bidding will start at double that, you can understand why Chelsea are so delighted with their business. Despite the number of teams involved in the race, people at Ipswich — who, like all of those spoken to for this article by The Athletic, asked to be kept anonymous in order to protect relationships — believed that Delap was always likely to be headed to Chelsea. The Athletic first reported interest from Chelsea in Delap last year, and they first made contact with him in January, some time ahead of most other interested parties. The 'top tier' teams — which is to say, the teams that were most likely to sign him, including Chelsea, Newcastle and Manchester United — held meetings face-to-face, while those who were keen but considered further down the list spoke to him on Zoom. Although it has been pretty clear from around Christmas time that Delap would be leaving Ipswich, he has been described as a model professional: the fact that he won their players' player of the year award suggests that he hasn't caused any problems in the squad. But the Chelsea move wasn't the fait accompli that some thought, and he genuinely did not definitively make up his mind until last week, when some of the other contenders were told by Delap's camp that he was heading for Stamford Bridge. Given the status of the clubs who wanted Delap, Nottingham Forest may have seemed like an unlikely destination, even with their unexpectedly brilliant season, but they were a live option for a while. A move to the City Ground was presented as a sort of stepping-stone transfer, like a lower-key version of what Erling Haaland did at Red Bull Salzburg and then Borussia Dortmund: sign for a club at a slightly lower level than you could have with an achievable release clause in your contract, gain more experience and score some goals, then step up to a top club. Advertisement Manchester City had a buy-back clause of £40million inserted into the deal that took him to Ipswich last summer, but there was never any realistic prospect of them taking up that option, simply because they don't need him. Haaland has just returned to fitness and signed a contract until 2034 in January, while they spent £59m on Omar Marmoush in the winter transfer window. At United, he would have immediately been their starting centre-forward, identified as having the key characteristics that Ruben Amorim wants in a No 9. The approach was led by their technical director, Jason Wilcox, who knew Delap from City, where he was their academy director. There were some doubts over the fact he had similar characteristics and track record to Rasmus Hojlund, so was not a guarantee of success, but they did push hard to sign him, meeting him on May 19. United will now focus on other forward targets and Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo has now decided he wants to join them. Other names have also been considered, including Viktor Gyokeres and Victor Osimhen. Matheus Cunha's move from Wolves was confirmed on Sunday. The choice was always very much Delap's. The low release clause meant he was technically affordable to every club in the Premier League. He took his time to choose: even though the season has only just ended, it has been clear for months that he would be going somewhere, and he waited until he had heard a number of pitches. But for all the other interest, most strongly from United, Chelsea were always confident for a range of reasons. They have a good relationship with Ipswich, partly from last summer when Omari Hutchinson's loan was turned into a permanent move. The nature of the Delap deal, with Chelsea triggering his release clause, meant that there weren't exactly significant rounds of hard-nosed negotiations, but the relationship made the whole process much smoother. Ipswich are keen to sign young striker Marc Guiu on loan as a sort of replacement for Delap, but those are regarded as separate deals. Guiu's move is not done yet. Advertisement Delap already has some ties to key figures at Chelsea. Head coach Enzo Maresca has known Delap since he was 16 and their time together at Manchester City, when he was coach of their Elite Development Squad (their under-23s, essentially). That team won the Premier League 2 title in 2020-21, with Delap scoring 24 goals in 20 games, including three hat-tricks. He was signed by City from Derby County's youth system in 2019 by Joe Shields, who at the time was City's head of academy recruitment but is now Chelsea's co-director of recruitment. Another familiar face from City, their former head of academy coaching, Glenn van der Kraan, is also now at Chelsea in a similar role. Andrew Cousins was the director of professional football and scouting at Stoke and brought Delap in on loan — he is now head of scouting at Chelsea. Justin Walker and Liam Rosenior, who both worked with him at Hull City, are with BlueCo sister club Strasbourg. And Walker coached Delap in Derby's academy. Maresca expressed his admiration for Delap before Chelsea played Ipswich in April, although he was careful about how he discussed another team's player. 'In terms of numbers, he's doing fantastic,' he said. 'It's not just in terms of his numbers. The way he plays and fights and is always 'there'.' Chelsea's need for a new striker was evident throughout the season in a number of ways. It felt less than ideal that a club that has spent £1.5billion on new players since BlueCo took over in 2022 were relying entirely on Nicolas Jackson as their only centre-forward. When Jackson was out, Maresca had to improvise, playing Pedro Neto or Christopher Nkunku out of position, or leaning on talented players with potential who are clearly early in their careers, like Guiu or Tyrique George. Maresca has publicly praised Jackson (in April he described the Senegal forward as his 'perfect No 9' and said Chelsea were a 'completely different team' when he was unavailable), and, while he's a better player than some give him credit for who offers more than just goals, he was among the worst-performing strikers in the Premier League when it came to expected goals. He scored 10 times in the Premier League last season against an xG figure of 12.3: among centre-forwards, only Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Evanilson had a bigger negative disparity. Delap, on the other hand, was quite the opposite: he scored 12 against an xG of 9.3. This is not the only measure against which strikers should be judged, but it does provide one reason why Delap was so coveted. He fits with Chelsea's policy when it comes to age. Since the summer of 2022, BlueCo's first transfer window after their takeover when they signed Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly, among others, they have not spent a fee on an outfielder over the age of 25: their only two recruits older than that were goalkeeper Robert Sanchez and Tosin Adarabioyo, who arrived on a free from Fulham. Advertisement The 22-year-old Delap will join Brazilian winger Willian Estevao (18), Ecuadorian midfielder Kendry Paez (18) and Portuguese midfielder Dario Essugo (20) in arriving this summer, with Essugo's Sporting CP team-mate Geovany Quenda (18) on his way next year. Champions League football, which was by no means a certainty right up until the last day of the season, was something that United and Forest couldn't offer, but wasn't the main factor in Chelsea persuading Delap to join them. A more important factor is that he gets to join a young team at Chelsea. Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo and Noni Madueke are 23, Enzo Fernandez is 24, Reece James is a hoary old veteran at 25. Delap is joining contemporaries, a club where there aren't dominant, older figures in the dressing room: had he gone to United, say, he would be joining Bruno Fernandes' team, at Liverpool it's Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah. At Chelsea, they hope that by bringing together young players, it will help form more of a collective — a group that they hope will be together and successful for a long time. He also has the opportunity to be the main man there, which wouldn't have been the case at Newcastle as things stand, although Alexander Isak will be another prominent name in this summer's transfer talk. Chelsea are also stable in comparison to United, who finished the season in 15th place and have been a black hole for talent over the last few years. He is also not walking into an entirely alien environment, with several on-pitch connections from his days at City: being coached by Maresca there is one, but he's also good friends with Romeo Lavia and Cole Palmer, combining well with the latter a number of times for City's EDS, probably most memorably in a 7-2 win over Liverpool where they both scored two past Caoimhin Kelleher. Jamie Gittens, who Chelsea are interested in this summer, was also in the academy at City with Delap but did not play in that game. The Palmer connection is not just a case of him wanting to play with his mates. The fact that Delap has an existing on-pitch relationship with Chelsea's key creative force was attractive, and is something that should reduce the adjustment period that is inevitable when a player moves from a struggling club to a bigger one. It could also mitigate the adjustments that Delap will have to make when adapting to a new style of play: Ipswich were among the Premier League's more direct sides last season, while Chelsea favour a slower, more possession-based style. Chuck him into that among entirely unfamiliar players, and he could struggle. With players he knows, it should be easier. Chelsea wanted to get the deal done as soon as possible, with Delap registered in the new, mini transfer window established to help those involved in the Club World Cup sign players for the tournament. But a decision hasn't yet been made over whether he will go with Chelsea to the U.S., or whether he will play for England in the European Under-21 Championship, held in Slovakia more or less in parallel to the Club World Cup. He has been named in Lee Carsley's preliminary squad, but that call will have to be made before June 6, when England's final 23 will be announced. It also doesn't mean their business is done when it comes to attacking options. They remain keen on Eintracht Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike, although not at the German club's current valuation. Jadon Sancho will leave Chelsea at the end of his loan. Beyond Gittens, Chelsea have Alejandro Garnacho on their list for this summer. Advertisement Delap is not guaranteed to succeed. Playing for a team that was in the bottom three for most of the season is very different to one at the top end of the table. He could struggle to adapt to the different style of play. He only has one season of Premier League football to his name, and his goalscoring record in the Championship before that was modest: over three loan spells from City, with Stoke, Preston and Hull, he scored 12 goals in 69 appearances. But Chelsea believe he can be England's No 9 of the future and, at such a relatively low price, believe he could be just what they need. Additional reporting: Laurie Whitwell
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Deschamps banking on France depth against 'best in the world' Spain
Didier Deschamps says France have the depth to challenge Spain in the Nations League semi-final even with three defenders missing through injury (Franck FIFE) France coach Didier Deschamps said his injury-hit side had the quality to trouble defending Nations League champions Spain in Thursday's semi-final, with Germany or Portugal awaiting the winner in the title match on Sunday. France will face the Euro 2024 winners Spain in Stuttgart missing first-choice defenders William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano and Jules Kounde who have 100 international caps between them. Advertisement But Deschamps has a history of pragmatism in such matters, leading France to triumph at the 2018 World Cup, and to the final in 2022, after campaigns that were also hit by selection worries. Speaking to reporters in Stuttgart on Wednesday, the 56-year-old said he remained confident. "When it comes to a match against Spain, with their attacking potential, it's not ideal but I wouldn't say we are weakened," he said. "I'm counting on the guys who play on Thursday." In attack France will be looking to Kylian Mbappe and freshly-minted Champions League winners Desire Doue and Ousmane Dembele of Paris Saint-Germain. Advertisement Deschamps praised Dembele, saying the forward "deserves the Ballon d'Or" for his dazzling season with PSG. "Over an entire season, and with the one Ousmane is having, he deserves it and that's all I wish him." The coach said Dembele was ahead of Spain's teenage talent Lamine Yamal, but the pair will share the spotlight on Thursday. "The Nations League can provide some answers, as can the Club World Cup," said Deschamps. After Saturday's Champions League final, PSG coach Luis Enrique also backed Dembele for Ballon d'Or honours. Defender Ibrahima Konate joined the chorus on Wednesday. Advertisement "What Ousmane has done this season is simply incredible," said Konate. "Ousmane deserves the Ballon d'Or, period." The wave of injuries leaves Liverpool centre-back Konate as the likely leader of France's defence. "We are the French national team, and we have an exceptional talent pool," Konate said. He will be joined in defence by either Benjamin Pavard, Lucas Hernandez, Clement Lenglet or two debutants, Loic Bade and Pierre Kalulu. The winner take on either Germany or Portugal, who face off on Wednesday in Munich, in the final on Sunday. France won the Nations League in 2021, with Portugal winning in 2019 and Spain in 2023, while Germany are through to the semi-finals of the fledgling competition for the first time. eba-dwi/dmc/bsp
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Nations League semifinal between Germany and Portugal delayed because of hail shower
MUNICH — Stormy weather caused a 10-minute delay to the kickoff time for the Nations League semifinal between Germany and Portugal on Wednesday. Germany goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen and reserve keepers Oliver Baumann and Alexander Nübel had to run for cover from a heavy hail shower as they warmed up, and referee Slavko Vinčić checked the field afterward to make sure Wednesday's game could go ahead, albeit with the slight delay.
