Former Tottenham defender Vertonghen to retire
"Not only towards the fans and my fellow players, but also towards myself. That is why I will be stopping after this season."Vertonghen joined Spurs from Ajax, where he won the Eredivisie and Dutch Cup twice, and after leaving north London he won the Portuguese league with Benfica.
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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.
Daily Mail
a few seconds ago
- Daily Mail
Newcastle confirm £39million Jacob Ramsey signing from Aston Villa – as Magpies take advantage of rivals need to comply with UEFA financial rules
Newcastle have confirmed the signing of Jacob Ramsey from Aston Villa in a £39million deal. Ramsey had been at Villa since the age of six but the club's financial position with regards UEFA spending rules meant his sale, as an academy graduate, was necessary. The package includes a further £4m in add-ons, with the midfielder becoming Newcastle's fourth summer signing after signing a long-term deal. He told the Magpies' official site: 'I'm delighted to be here. It's been a mad two or three days, but I'm really happy to be here and I can't wait to get started. 'This is a big move for me, but as soon as I knew the gaffer was interested and really liked me, it didn't take much time to decide. His track record of developing players, especially those who have gone on to become internationals here, speaks for itself. 'It was always a tough game playing for Villa against Newcastle - the team is full of energy, so athletic and the fans are so passionate. I feel my game will suit that and I'm excited to be on the other end of it now.' Ramsey also paid farewell to Villa fans in a lenghty post on Instagram. He wrote: 'It's impossible to put into words what playing for Aston Villa has meant to me. From being a young fan in the Holte End to living my dream and scoring in front of it. 'This club has been an extended family to me, and I've got memories for life - from making my Premier League debut, experiencing Champions League nights back at Villa Park and scoring my first goals in those competitions. 'To everyone at Aston Villa, both at the academy and in the first team, thank you for your support, belief and guidance. You've helped me become the person and player I am today. I've played with some of the best & made friends for life. 'And finally to the fans - thank you for the love and backing. To represent you, as a boy from Birmingham, has been an absolute honour.' 'Onto the next chapter now, but wish you all nothing but the best in the future. Thank you for everything!!' Ramsey progressed through Villa's academy before making his senior debut in 2019. He went on to make 167 appearances in all competitions for the club, scoring 17 goals.
Daily Mail
a few seconds ago
- Daily Mail
Man United 0-1 Arsenal: Goalkeeping howler hands Gunners rare Old Trafford win on opening weekend as Red Devils are made to rue missed chances
If anything new can be thrown at Manchester United this early season then it is that they have tried hard to fix some problems over the summer while ignoring another quite obvious one. Here at Old Trafford, that conversation was played out quite plainly and painfully in the sunshine of a summer's day. United have invested in attacking talent to the tune of £200m since last season ended so impotently and desperately in Europa League final defeat to Tottenham in Bilbao. The early evidence of this game suggests they have bought good players. Bryan Mbeumo, recruited from Brentford, was terrific down the right in a game that saw Ruben Amorim 's team play much of the good football. Matheus Cunha had his moments too while the big forward Benjamin Sesko came off the bench as United went a little more direct late on. For reasons unknown, however, United have not sought to fix their goalkeeping problem and here that decision bit them and bit them hard. United's number one Andre Onana was dropped for this game and that tells its own story. The problem was that his replacement Altay Bayindir threw the winning goal in to his own net in only the fifteenth minute. It was a setback from which United – manfully as they tried – could not recover. At times Arsenal 's physical approach to set pieces borders on the unlawful. Mikel Arteta 's team drew much praise for the detail and precision of their routines last season but that should not detract from the fact that pushing and shoving and blocking at corners and the like is not within the rules of the game. This one was comfortably the right side of the line, however. The delivery from Declan Rice from the left side at the Stretford End was a good one and Bayindir simply couldn't cope with a legitimate challenge for the ball from Arsenal defender William Saliba. Indeed the United goalkeeper hardly got off the ground, managing only to paw the ball back towards goal where Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori headed it over the line from a couple of inches. The truth is that ball was going in anyway. So United were undone in a fashion not unfamiliar and one wonders whey the Old Trafford recruitment team have not addressed the issue. Maybe now they will. The transfer window closes in a fortnight. It was a shame for Amorim and his team, too. Arsenal managed the game out reasonably well. Their own goalkeeper David Raya was not called upon to do anything particularly heroic. United were the better team, though, and showed themselves to be rather better than they have previously been under their Portuguese coach. After an hour, for example, they had enjoyed more than 65 per cent of the possession and much of the territory. That's the way it used to be here at Old Trafford, in the days before authority and confidence gave way to fear. They weren't perfect. Far from it. The opening goal was a disaster, both in the way that Bruno Fernandes gave the ball away to eventually concede a corner than indeed the manner in which the United goalkeeper collapsed under a hint of physical pressure. Teams who do things like that don't tend to win things. On the whole, though, United were more fluent and fluid and carried a threat from wide areas. Mbeumo was particularly dangerous and on several occasions United managed to get him one on one against his immediate opponent, goal scorer Califiori. Another new signing, Sesko, did not start and indeed did not appear until more than 60 minutes had been played. Arsenal's new striker Viktor Gyokeres did play from the get-go, on the other hand, and was largely dreadful until he was hauled off in the second half. With Arsenal under pressure for long periods, Gyokeres couldn't get hold the ball well enough to give his team an outlet. When he was replaced by Kai Havertz, Arsenal improved. Arteta will doubtless have been pleased with his team's goal when it arrived. A stray Fernades pass inside his own penalty area at the Stretford End led to a corner and when it was delivered on to the six-yard line Bayindir showed himself unable to cope. United could have retreated after that disappointment but they didn't. They were the prominent attacking force throughout. With Sesko on the bench, United operated without a centre forward as Mbuemo, Cunha and Mason Mount fanned out across the top of a 4-3-3 formation. Mbuemo carried the greatest threat and United fed him well. When they went long to one of the other two – too often through the air – it didn't work. Raya in the Arsenal goal wasn't called upon to make any fabulous saves and Amorim will have noticed that. Indeed not until he dived to palm away an Mbeumo header in in the 73rd minute did the Spaniard really do anything out of the ordinary. Both Mbuemo and Cunha did bring routine saves from Raya in the opening half while left wing-back Patrick Dorgu struck the outside of the far post with a low drive across goal from the left hand flank and Cunha beat Declan Rice to the byline to cross low. Arsenal, for their part, rarely threatened. The London club, pretty much at full strength, were far from recognisable. Gyokeres was poor, Bukayo Saka was anonymous and Rice and new partner Martin Zubimendi could not get a grip on the midfield. It was unlike them. They have played much better than this here in recent seasons. But they had the lead early and they managed to hang on to it. The second half saw United threaten once again through Mbeumo. Raya saved an overhead kick in the 65th minute and then the header. Soon after that, Sesko nodded goalwards but had no power. Into the latter stages and United did start to flag a little. It was a hot day and they had put a lot into this game with no reward. Amorim had made what appeared to be reasonable substitutions – Sesko, Amad, Manue Ugarte and Harry Maguire coming on – but they hadn't really have an impact on the game. If anything, Arsenal started to look a little more comfortable and Havertz's influence brought them a little more calm and structure in the United half. Indeed Rice thought he had crept a free-kick in at Bayindir's left post late on only for the ball to strike the side netting. There were flurries from United at the death. Saliba challenged Cunha from behind on the six-yard line late on and didn't seem to take the ball. No offence was spotted by referee Simon Hooper. Arsenal then worried United with another low ball into the area. Pressure was once again building. Hooper gave the home team six added minutes, too. Reason for hope. Two late free-kicks were pumped into the Arsenal penalty area and the second one – with 90 seconds left – won them a corner. Predictably, Arsenal were strong in a way that United had not been earlier on.
