Celtic add two new arrivals ahead of season opener
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Daily Record
a few seconds ago
- Daily Record
Celtic transfer news as Giuseppe Ambrosino move 'blocked' and Etienne Youte interest escalates
Italy U21 star Ambrosino was linked with the Hoops earlier this summer Celtic have suffered a blow in their pursuit of reported transfer target Giuesppe Ambrosino, with the striker now seemingly set to stay at Napoli. Brendan Rodgers is on the hunt for attacking reinforcements and the Hoops were credited with an interest in the 21-year-old earlier this summer after he caught the eye for Italy at the U21 European Championship. Ambrosino is also said to be target for Serie A new boys Cremonense, who have reportedly held talks over a potential loan deal for the forward. But Italian outlet Il Mattino (via now claim that the youngster won't be going anywhere this month. Belgium hero Romelu Lukaku picked up an injury in Napoli's friendly win against Olympiacos earlier this week ahead of the first game of their title defence against Sassuolo next weekend. And while Antonio Conte's side have forked out to sign Udinese frontman Lorenzo Lucca, Lukaku's injury, coupled with Giacomo Raspadori's departure to join Atletico Madrid - has left the champions a bit short in the striker department ahead of their league opener. The report adds that although Ambrosino's long-term future at Napoli is yet to be decided, he will remain as part of Conte's squad for the foreseeable future. Celtic-linked Etienne Youte Kinkoue is also said to be attracting interest from the aforementioned Udinese. The Hoops are one of several clubs said to be keen on the Le Harve defender, who is reportedly valued at £4.3million. Anderlecht and Besiktas have their eye on the player and SportItalia now report that Serie A team Udinese have joined the race to land the 23-year-old. Just last week, Youte had thrown the door open on a potential move to Parkhead by revealing he is looking for the right club in the next stage of his career. He said:: "I know now that I have to be patient before making a decision. For the moment, I'm here and I feel good within this group. I'm preparing for the season. "If there are interesting offers for me and for the club, we will find an agreement together." You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Celtic page and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We're also WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Celtic community here.
Times
a few seconds ago
- Times
Manchester United show plenty of promise with new signings but Arsenal win ugly
It has been a summer of change at Manchester United, but one key deficiency remains — their goalkeeping department is short of the standard required to challenge at the top of the Premier League. That is exactly why Ruben Amorim's team failed to claim what should have been a morale-boosting victory against an Arsenal team that somehow clung on to claim all three points despite being way off the pace. André Onana has been the fall-guy for United so many times during his two-year spell at Old Trafford, but this time it was his understudy Altay Bayindir who gave Arsenal the helping hand they desperately needed to win their opening game of the season. The Turkish goalkeeper failed to withstand the physical pressure exerted on him by William Saliba and flapped at a Declan Rice corner, leaving Riccardo Calafiori to head into an empty goal at the far post. Some will argue that Saliba went over the top in his man-handling of the United goalkeeper, who was standing in for Onana because the latter had a hamstring injury. The referee Simon Hooper and his video assistants thought otherwise though and United's fans left the stadium with a bitter taste in their mouths. They have had to endure some terrible performances at Old Trafford over the past few years, but this was a showing of promise. The two debutants, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha caused Arsenal no end of problems with their thrusting runs, but a mixture of David Raya's athleticism and some rushed finishing, meant that they were unable to get on the scoresheet. Benjamin Sesko looked promising in his 25-minute spell on the pitch, which was in complete contrast to that of his opposite number Viktor Gyokeres, who was completely isolated and was taunted by the home fans after he was substituted on the hour. Mikel Arteta promised his side would erupt like a volcano, but they spent most of this match on the back foot, incapable of dealing with the threat posed by Cunha and Mbeumo, but that will not trouble their manager too much. They, like their title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City, have at least begun their season with a win. After a successful pre-season campaign and a £200million spending spree, the United fans filed through the turnstiles in good spirits. The optimism levels diminished slightly an hour before kick-off when the teamsheets were released. Onana endured a difficult season last year, but his deputy Bayindir has hardly covered himself in glory since he joined the club two years ago. The fact that the Turk is available for transfer says everything about how United view him. The away support were confident, particularly after seeing Gyokeres and Martín Zubimendi in their starting XI, but it was two other debutants on the opposing side who made the best impression early on. Mbeumo and Cunha were unrelenting in the pressure they applied on the Arsenal defence early on. Just three minutes into the match, the United supporters were chanting Mbeumo's name after he muscled Zubimendi off the ball and advanced towards goal, but his shot lacked conviction. When Mason Mount, starting up front as a false nine, dropped into the gap between defence and midfield and slotted a lovely cutting ball through to Mbeumo. The forward had the goal in his sights again but once again, he failed to strike the ball cleanly. Bayindir undid all the good work with his attempt to clear a Rice corner in the 14th minute. The goalkeeper failed to brush off the physical challenge posed by William Saliba in the six yard box and he flapped at the ball with his left hand. His scoop served as a perfect tee-up for Calafiori, who nodded in unchallenged at the back post. 'Set-piece again olé olé' the Arsenal fans sang. It was the 31st league goal that Arsenal have scored from a corner since the start of the 2023-24 season. No wonder Nicolas Jover, the set-piece coach, embraced Arteta so warmly on the touchline. For the rest of the first half, United continued to dominate. Casemiro threw himself into tackles, Mount caused problems by dropping deep, but it was Cunha and Mbeumo who caused the most problems. After Casemiro robbed Martin Odegaard, Mbeumo turned on the pace, but scuffed his shot. After another switch of play from left to right, Mbeumo charged towards the box and slipped the ball to Diogo Dalot but his cross landed in a box that contained six Arsenal players and none wearing United red.| Patrick Dorgu got in on the act too, piling forward before clipping the outside of the post with a venomous shot. Cunha twisted and turned his way into the area with a mazy run that brought the home fans to their feet, but Raya thwarted the Brazilian with a brilliant fingertip save. Shortly after Calafiori was booked for pulling back Mbeumo, United attacked again down the left but Dorgu found the same problems as Dalot when he crossed — no one was there to convert. United maintained possession well and continued to pressure Arsenal at the start of the second half. Gyokeres was barely involved in the game. United's only weak spot was their goalkeeper. Bayindir was not confident enough to pass out from the back so he lumped the ball long quite often, but United had no striker on the pitch. Immediately after Saliba flattened Cunha as he tried to control a long pass from Bayindir, Amorim told Sesko to warm up. Ten minutes after bringing Amad Diallo, Sesko replaced Mount and he was given a rousing reception by the home fans. In between those substitutions, Arteta withdrew the ineffective Gyokeres, who had managed 21 touches and zero shots on his debut. Mbeumo, on the other hand, was seeing plenty of action in the box. The Cameroonian headed a cross from Dorgu towards the corner of Raya's goal, but the Spaniard dived to his right to deny him a debut goal. Some old errors crept back in. Manuel Ugarte passed to Kai Havertz which meant that Harry Maguire had to bring him down to prevent the German from shooting. Ugarte sent a long shot spiralling high into the stands as United ran out of energy. Manchester United (3-4-2-1): A Bayindir – L Yoro, M De Ligt, L Shaw (H Maguire 80min) – D Dalot (A Diallo 55), Casemiro (M Ugarte 65), B Fernandes, P Dorgu- B Mbeumo, M Cunha- M Mount (B Sesko 65). Booked: Dorgu Arsenal (4-3-3): D Raya- B White (J Timber 71), W Saliba, Gabriel, R Calafiori (M Lewis-Skelly 72) – M Odegaard, M Zubimendi, D Rice (M Merino 83) – G Martinelli (N Madueke 60), V Gyokeres (K Havertz 60), B Saka. Booked: Calafiori, Raya Ref S Hooper. Att 73,635
BBC News
a few seconds ago
- BBC News
Chelsea's £250m attack misfires - but should they be worried?
Chelsea used six attackers signed for a combined £250m in their Premier League opener, but could not find a way to score against Crystal Palace. Joao Pedro, signed from Brighton this summer for £55m, started up front. Winger Jamie Gittens, who joined from Borussia Dortmund for £52m last month, made his debut on one flank, with £45m winger Pedro Neto on the other. Cole Palmer, the £40m attacking midfielder, played in behind as a number 10 - but despite Chelsea's attacking riches it was Palace who dominated the early stages and almost opened the scoring. Midfielder Eberechi Eze rifled home a 13th-minute free-kick, but the goal was subsequently ruled out by VAR because Palace captain Marc Guehi was less than one metre away from the hosts' defensive responded in the second half by bringing on two more new attacking signings - £29m winger Estevao Willian, who joined from Palmeiras, and £30m former Ipswich striker Liam Delap. They both missed big chances, as did fellow substitute Andrey Santos, as the Blues were held to a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge in a disappointing start to the new season. While this was only one match, and no titles are decided on the opening weekend, there will be ongoing scrutiny around Chelsea if they fail to build on their Club World Cup victory in the have tipped the Blues to mount a title challenge, but they will need to improve both creativity and goal-scoring to challenge champions Liverpool and the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City over a 38-game said, Chelsea's internal target remains to qualify for next season's Champions League through a top-four finish. What does the data say? When they dig into the data after the match, Chelsea will see one worrying statistic: they had just three shots on target - one fewer than Palace managed over 90 minutes. However, they will be more encouraged by the figure of 1.81 expected goals (xG), which was superior to Palace's 1.07, and was the Blues' highest xG figure without scoring in a league match in was the 2-0 defeat away at Ipswich in December last year when Chelsea last amassed such chances without show that 88% of teams with an xG of between 1.7 and 1.9 have scored at least once since the start of the 2022-23 Premier League serves to highlight both some bad luck and poor finishing, with Chelsea's best chance, according to Opta, being hit well over by midfielder Santos on his weaker left foot in the dying moments. Should Chelsea be worried? Chelsea are unlikely to be worried at this early they will know that victory in the Club World Cup will not easily translate into the Premier League, particularly after a truncated 13-day pre-season having becoming world champions in July. Manager Enzo Maresca was reluctant to blame a lack of pre-season for Sunday's display, saying: "I don't think so, because until the end we competed. We try to win the game. I think we had some chances at the end with Estevao and Andrey Santos. "So that showed that probably we competed quite good overall. For sure, they already played, I think, seven, eight games (in pre-season). And for us, last week we played two games, but we tried to share minutes. "So the real game for us was today. But for sure, slowly, slowly we're going to be better."Joao Pedro, Gittens, Estevao and Delap are all new signings that may need time to bed into their new surroundings and build an understanding with their team-mates. Former Brighton striker Joao Pedro looks the most ready to hit the ground running, with three goals in his three competitive starts for Chelsea having cut his holiday in Brazil short to take part in the Club World contrasts starkly with Palace, who selected 10 of the same 11 players who started the FA Cup final and Community Shield wins against Manchester and Liverpool, with only injured midfielder Daichi Kamada unavailable to play. Maresca's biggest ongoing concern is the serious injury to defender Levi Colwill, which he feels disrupts their ability to play out from the back. The Italian coach has asked the club to sign a new centre-back but they have told him to work with what he has got - and academy graduate Josh Acheampong earned praise from his manager after stepping into Colwill's place. Maresca added: "Today he did very well, he dealt with [Jean-Philippe] Mateta very well. So overall, he did a good game."Striker Nicolas Jackson was suspended after a red card against Newcastle late last season, but would not have been selected had he been available. Chelsea remain open to selling Jackson and fellow attacker Christopher Nkunku and are also in the market to sign a forward, with both Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho and RB Leipzig's versatile attacker Xavi Simons targeted before the transfer window shuts on 1 September.
