Bournemouth signs left back Truffert from Rennes amid reported imminent exit of Kerkez
BOURNEMOUTH, England (AP) — Bournemouth signed France left back Adrien Truffert from Rennes on Monday, potentially paving the way for Milos Kerkez to leave amid reported interest from Liverpool.
The 23-year-old Truffert has joined on a five-year contract after deciding to leave Rennes, where he was the captain.
Advertisement
'It's a dream for any player to play in the Premier League,' Truffert said 'It's one of the best and most competitive leagues in the world.
"I'm looking forward to testing myself at this level, facing top players every week and helping the team achieve great things.'
British media have reported that Kerkez is heading to Premier League champion Liverpool, which would continue the breakup of Bournemouth's defense following Dean Huijsen's move to Real Madrid.
Belgium-born Truffert won his lone international cap for France as a substitute in a 2-0 loss to Denmark in the Nations League in September 2022.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tottenham Hotspur to open talks to sign Rennes' Arnaud Kalimuendo
Tottenham Hotspur are expected to ramp up their pursuit of Rennes striker Arnaud Kalimuendo (23), according to a report this Monday from L'Équipe. The 23-year-old centre-forward has logged 18 goals and three assists in 34 games played with Les Rouge et Noir this season. The outlet adds that Erik ten Hag's Bayer Leverkusen and Newcastle United are said to monitor Kalimuendo's situation, but they are yet to submit an official bid to the Ligue 1 club. Kalimuendo has spent three seasons in Brittany on the back of a €25m move from Racing Club de Lens. Rennes may be tempted to cash in now, considering the striker's value has hit its ceiling. Tottenham Hotspur, who previously announced the signing on a permanent basis of Mathys Tel, are reportedly committed to taking their pursuit of Kalimuendo – also a France U21 international – to the next level. Advertisement Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly planning to make contact with Rennes to enquire about the terms of Kalimuendo's exit. The former PSG Academy youth product is tied with Rennes over a contract set to expire in 2027. GFFN | Bastien Cheval
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Barcelona fear Liverpool will ask a fortune for top attacking target after key purchase
Barcelona fear Liverpool will ask a fortune for top attacking target after key purchase Liverpool appear to be on the verge of securing the services of Florian Wirtz, who is set to join from Bayer Leverkusen on a big-money move. Wirtz will easily become the biggest purchase in Liverpool's history, which may even have a trickle-down effect on the club's transfer activity this summer. Advertisement At least that is what Barcelona think. Barcelona's fear about Luis Diaz According to Victor Navarro, Barcelona fear that Liverpool may ask for a fortune for Luis Diaz after paying a hefty fee for Wirtz. The club, though, have set a strict boundary and are not expected to pay more than €60 million for the winger. Barcelona, therefore, will not entertain any move for the Colombian international if Liverpool ask for anywhere between €65-80 million. Barcelona face a tricky situation with regards to the Luis Diaz pursuit (Photo by) This comes on the back of earlier reports which claimed that Luis Diaz, despite being Deco's favourite, has been overtaken by Nico Williams as Barcelona's top target. Advertisement The Catalans are, in fact, looking at potential solutions that will allow them to meet the Spaniard's €62 million release clause at Athletic Club. Barcelona, though, do have an advantage should they go after Luis Diaz instead. Unlike Nico, they can afford to pay for the Colombian through various instalments. Not to mention, the Nico deal does seem all too sudden, with many in the Barcelona camp even raising concerns over the club's pursuit of the Spaniard. Nico's close proximity to Lamine Yamal and other Barcelona players could be a major risk factor, though it appears Joan Laporta is ready to overlook the issue and sign the player regardless.
New York Times
32 minutes ago
- New York Times
Potential Sheffield Wednesday owner calls for 55,000 stadium and says club ‘way bigger than Wrexham'
Sheffield Wednesday should have a 55,000-capacity stadium, one of England's best academies and be 'way bigger than Wrexham', according to the co-leader of a North American group trying to buy the crisis-hit Championship club. The four-time title winners are the second-oldest professional club in English football, and were founding members of the Premier League in 1992, but they dropped out of the top flight in 2000 and have spent the 25 years since yo-yoing between the second and third tiers. Advertisement Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri bought the South Yorkshire side in 2015 — and initially spent heavily on a push for the Premier League — but that financial support has long since dried up and Wednesday are yet to meet all of their wage bill for May, having also been late with April's payments. Having first said he would sell the club in late 2018, only to place a Premier League-level valuation on the business, Chansiri's price tag is coming down fast and he is in talks with two U.S.-based groups about a sale. One of those parties wants to remain under the radar for the time being but has hired a club broker from the UK to negotiate with Chansiri on its behalf. But the other has chosen to go public with its interest, with Florida-based property investor John Flanagan giving an interview to the local BBC radio station last week and his partner in the venture, Adam Shaw, a Sheffield-born businessman based in the same U.S. state, now speaking exclusively to The Athletic. 'Sheffield Wednesday are nowhere in America. We sell zero shirts and have no commercial presence there — that's got to change,' says Shaw, a lifelong Wednesday fan. 'With the World Cup in the U.S. next year and with the individuals we have in our ownership group, we could easily become Florida's English football team. 'We should and can be way bigger than Wrexham. Ryan Reynolds would give his left leg to have what we already have at Wednesday in terms of our history and fanbase. Let's use that.' Neither Flanagan nor Shaw has wanted to reveal the identities of their investment partners, but the latter says the 16-strong group includes current and former Major League Baseball players, an ex-Premier League star and, if the deal can be done, a well-known celebrity. He is adamant the star power of this group would have the same transformative impact at Wednesday that Wrexham's owners Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have had since their arrival in north Wales. The Hollywood duo paid £2million to buy the club, then in the fifth-tier National League, in 2021 but sold a minority stake in the team, now in the Championship with Wednesday after three straight promotions, earlier this year which valued them at £100m. And now, according to reports, they are looking for new partners at a valuation of £350m. Advertisement While most football finance experts believe that is an unrealistic price for a newly-promoted second-division side with a relatively small stadium, no training ground and no real tradition of developing players, every expert believes McElhenney and Reynolds have a much better chance of attracting investment at that level than Chansiri, as that was his original asking price, too. That number has fallen as Wednesday's recurring annual losses, late payments and English Football League (EFL) sanctions have piled up but Chansiri is still holding out for significantly more than what anyone has put on the table, so far. Shaw, who has been speaking to Chansiri about buying the club for two years, says his group offered $65million (£48m), with a significant chunk of that in performance-related bonus payments, in April. That was flatly rejected, so the group returned the following month with a bid of a guaranteed $75m, only to receive short shrift once more. Chansiri seems to believe Wednesday's history, large stadium and loyal fanbase are worth a premium on top of the usual valuation for Championship clubs, which is about double a side's annual revenue. Wednesday earned just over £26million in the 2023-24 season, their first back in the Championship after two years in League One, which would suggest an enterprise value in the £50m to £55m range. For comparison, American investor Shilen Patel bought second-tier side West Bromwich Albion for £60m last year, while British businessman David Clowes paid £55m to rescue Derby County from bankruptcy in 2022, shortly after their relegation from the same division. Chansiri, of course, is probably thinking more about the £105million that U.S.-based investors Steve Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy paid for Wednesday's city rivals Sheffield United last Christmas, although United were vying for promotion out of the Championship at the time, have Premier League-level facilities and are still in receipt of parachute payments following their 2024 relegation from the top flight. Advertisement Shaw believes Wednesday could and should be worth more than neighbours United one day, too, but the road back from years of fan unrest, too many managers and not enough investment will require radical thinking. The 47-year-old, who runs a mental-health platform and publishing business called Triggerhub, says his group would immediately upgrade Wednesday's academy and training ground, renovate their near 35,000-capacity Hillsborough stadium and lean into their American contacts to boost commercial revenues. 'We are Sheffield Wednesday, we are a big enough club to create the best academy and training facilities in the UK if we put our minds to it,' he says. 'Let's get Hillsborough fully open and give fans something decent to eat and drink, with service with a smile. We'd also really like to see if we can wrap three of the sides, to create a more modern, bowl effect but we would leave the South Stand (main photo) alone, as we want a mix of old and new.' Shaw would also like the club to 'review and increase the honour' it has shown to the 97 Liverpool fans who died in a crush at the stadium in 1989, the worst disaster in British sporting history. While this may sound a noble idea, it could perhaps be controversial with some Wednesday supporters, as the club has struggled with the legacy of the tragedy for decades. As an expert on mental health, Shaw believes 'one way to overcome something that traumatic is to embrace what happened for all those affected'. He said one possible idea for marking the tragedy in a more public way is to let the families of those who died rename the West Stand, also known as the Leppings Lane End, which is where the crush occurred. Looking further ahead, 'perhaps five years', Shaw's group would like to move Wednesday away to a new, 55,000-capacity ground. Advertisement 'We wouldn't do anything without consulting the fans, but we think the club should have a home where people can park more easily and have up-to-date facilities,' he says. 'If we want to create a culture that ensures we become a sustainable, competitive and successful Premier League side, then we must be proactive. Premier League clubs are all upgrading their stadiums.' He said the group have a site in mind but reiterated that it would not do anything without the fans' support. In the meantime, he wants to cut the cost of tickets for all fans and give away up to 5,000 seats per game to ambulance crews, fire fighters, National Health Service staff, police officers and current and former members of the military. 'I know this is an American tradition, but I believe all Sheffield Wednesday fans would get behind this initiative,' he says. 'It's the very least our great club can do for all those brave first-responders and military personnel who have sacrificed so much for others every single day of their lives.' Among the group's other plans are improving the quality of the club's merchandise and its retail operations, going back to a more traditional version of Wednesday's distinctive owl logo and backing manager Danny Rohl, who is currently in dispute with Chansiri over his return to work this month. Shaw would also like to see a fans' representative join the board. Whether Shaw and his partners — or the other group in takeover talks — will ever get the chance to deliver any of their plans is likely to depend on Chansiri's tolerance for bad news. His most recent failure to pay his staff on time means the club have been in arrears for more than 30 days in the past 12 months, which brings an automatic three-window registration ban. That sanction cannot be published on the EFL website under its current rules but the league is in the process of changing these so that three-window bans can also be listed. Advertisement The EFL has also charged Chansiri personally for breaching regulation 21.2.2, which states that a club owner should not take, or omit to take, any action that would result in breaking the rules. With the main source of the Chansiri fortune, the family's stake in the world's largest tuna producer, Thai Union Group, under pressure from U.S. tariffs and a plummeting share price, pressure is mounting to sell up. Wednesday have not responded to requests for comment.
