
Italian cyclist Samuele Privitera dies at 19 after crash in Giro della Valle d'Aosta
Italian cyclist Samuele Privitera, 19, died following a crash during the opening stage of the Giro della Valle d'Aosta, his team Hagens Berman Jayco confirmed late on Wednesday.
Privitera crashed during a descent, losing his helmet and colliding with a gate, Italian media reported. He was transported to hospital but succumbed to his injuries.
Authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.
"Samuele was and always will be the life and personality of this team. This team has always been a small family, and moments like this are unimaginable," Axel Merckx, owner of Hagens Berman Jayco, said in a statement.
The second stage of the race, which takes place in northern Italy's Aosta Valley near the French border, has been cancelled.
The Giro della Valle d'Aosta is the largest under-23 race in Italy, following the Giro Next Gen, held annually in August in the Aosta Valley.
"The stage goes to him and his family. It's the first thing I read in the morning," Tour de France overall leader Tadej Pogacar said after winning the race's 12th stage on Thursday.
"I was thinking of him in the last kilometre."
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New York Times
25 minutes ago
- New York Times
Evan Ferguson and Brighton – is there any way back?
Evan Ferguson's season-long loan from Brighton & Hove Albion to Roma is a pivotal moment in his career development. The switch to the Italian capital until next summer for the 20-year-old Republic of Ireland international striker, with the possibility of the move becoming permanent, could go one of two ways. Advertisement Everybody involved in the deal — the player, his representative, both clubs — will hope it works out the same way as it did initially at Roma for Tammy Abraham, the No 9 he is replacing at the Stadio Olimpico. After leaving Chelsea in summer 2021 as a 23-year-old, Abraham scored 17 goals in his first season in Serie A, while also helping Roma to win the inaugural UEFA Conference League and earning himself an England recall. His career has not hit those same heights since, however. An ACL injury in his left knee at the end of his second year in Italy cost him much of the 2023-24 season, before the last one was spent on loan to Italian rivals Milan, scoring only three times in 28 league appearances. The now 27-year-old joined Turkish side Besiktas, again on loan, at the start of this month — a transfer which will become permanent if certain conditions are met. His exit to Istanbul created the vacancy up front in the Roma ranks. If Ferguson hits the ground running along similar lines to Abraham four years ago, his confidence levels and prospects will be restored. Brighton will then get back a rejuvenated player at the end of a deal in which Roma have paid an initial loan fee of €3million and are covering his wages in full. Alternatively, a €37m (£32.2m$45.5m) buy option clause for Roma kicks in — a very healthy profit on a player signed to Brighton's academy from Bohemians in his homeland as a raw 16-year-old in January 2021. Do please note the 'if' at the beginning of that previous paragraph, though, because there is another scenario where his time in Italy is much gloomier. A continuing of Ferguson's downward spiral over the past 20 months — injuries contributing to irregular game time, the goals drying up and belief ebbing away — could be accompanied by a nosedive in the value to Brighton of a player who was being talked about as a £90m ($121.7m at current rates) prospect when he first broke through in the Premier League with six goals and two assists in 19 top-flight appearances in 2022-23. Advertisement In those circumstances, Ferguson would return to the Amex Stadium with the chance of re-establishing himself at his parent club further diminished and the likelihood of leaving next time for a club at a lower level than Roma and West Ham United, where he spent the second half of the last Premier League campaign on loan. The Irishman does not feature in the immediate plans of Brighton's head coach Fabian Hurzeler. That is self-evident from this move to Roma happening in the same month the German has lost Joao Pedro from his forward options for the new season, with the Brazilian's sale to Chelsea. The landscape could be different in a year's time if Ferguson's latest temporary exit goes to plan. 'For sure, he has a future at Brighton,' Hurzeler told The Athletic at the end of Brighton's training camp in Marbella, Spain, on Monday. 'I am very happy for him that we found a good solution, that he now has an opportunity to get game time. That is the most important thing for Evan. I still see a lot of potential, and I still see that he is a player for us for the future.' That switch to West Ham in January looked a logical step to re-energising the career of a player who became Brighton's youngest Premier League goalscorer against Arsenal on New Year's Eve in 2022 and the fourth-youngest to get a hat-trick in the competition's three-decade history, aged 18 years and 318 days, against Newcastle United the following September. The loan reunited him with Graham Potter, who had been his first senior head coach at Brighton, but Ferguson made just eight appearances under him for West Ham, just one as part of the starting line-up, and did not score any goals. 'It is most important that the player gets the game time, but it is also the responsibility of the player to make sure that he trains hard, to make sure that he is ready for the games,' Hurzeler said. 'We can't say to the other coach (signing him on loan) that he must play, that's his decision, but we had good talks with Roma. It is a good stage for him. He had a nice arrival. There were a lot of cheers for him and hopefully now he can bring his quality onto the pitch.' Ferguson was all smiles, signing autographs as he received a rousing reception from Roma fans at the airport as they welcomed him to Italy on Sunday, before he completed the medical and paperwork formalities of his move. What a reception for Evan Ferguson in Rome by the Roma fanbase The start of something special — Rep of Ireland Player Tracker (@reptracker) July 20, 2025 Even fresher in the minds of those expectant Roma supporters than Abraham's first-season exploits for their club will be the successes of Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay and Ferguson's Brighton team-mate Billy Gilmour in helping Napoli to the Serie A title last season after the Scotland international colleagues moved to Italy a year ago. Advertisement That increases the pressure to deliver on a young player who has three goals in 44 Premier League appearances since that hat-trick against Newcastle and who did not score for almost a calendar year between November 2023 and last October. Ferguson was in the middle of that goal drought when he made second-half substitute appearances under Roberto De Zerbi in both legs of Brighton's 4-1 aggregate defeat by Roma in the Europa League's last 16 in March last year. On the plus side, there is a good chance he will get the game time he needs under Roma's new manager Gian Piero Gasperini, who spent the previous nine years finding various levels of success at Atalanta, including winning the 2023-24 Europa League. Roma will be competing in the league phase of that same competition in the coming season after finishing fifth in Serie A despite a campaign of managerial turbulence — Daniele De Rossi was sacked in September with just four games played, replacement Ivan Juric left after two months for a Southampton side who already looked on course for relegation from the Premier League and a 73-year-old Claudio Ranieri had to be coaxed out of retirement in November to steady the ship. 'Evan had a challenging period across the past season and a half, and it has been one disrupted by niggling injury issues which haven't allowed him a run of games,' Hurzeler says in Brighton's announcement of the Roma move. 'He is over those injuries and has come back in great shape. Now he really wants to play regularly. This is an exciting opportunity in a strong league and with the prospect of European football.' A whole country is also keeping its collective fingers crossed for Ferguson as he makes this switch to the three-time champions of Serie A. He is still the golden boy for the Republic of Ireland's national team, with five goals in 22 caps since his senior debut as an 18-year-old in November 2022, as they target a place in the World Cup next summer from a tricky-looking group also containing two Euro 2024 sides in Portugal and Hungary. For the sake of all parties, but especially a young lad who has experienced a dramatic rise and fall, this is a move that needs to work.


New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Alexander Isak could cost £250m to sign. This is why – and who could afford it
Alexander Isak wishing to leave Newcastle United is one thing; working out who could afford to buy him is quite another. Newcastle hope any serious transfer fee conversation will start at the mind-boggling figure of £150million ($203m). To put that into context, it would make Isak the third most expensive footballer in history, behind Paris Saint-Germain recruits Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. Advertisement The field of possible destinations looks slim. Even ignoring the football factors, the financials in play are huge and an obvious barrier to entering the Isak market. Buying Isak for £150m is more like a £171m transfer once we add in some estimated agent fees and, if the buyer is a Premier League club, a four per cent transfer levy. From a profit and sustainability rules (PSR) perspective, spread over a five-year deal, those fees alone would add £33m-35m to a club's costs. Then there are Isak's wages. 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They would be the most feasible Italian suitor yet still an unlikely one; their most recent wage bill was lower than Newcastle's. In Germany, Eintracht Frankfurt's heady player sales have imbued them with cash and regulatory headroom but signing up to a commitment like Isak is fanciful. Their 2023-24 revenues were £213m, so his signing would cost over 70 per cent of annual turnover. Advertisement Borussia Dortmund's wage bill in the same season, when they reached the Champions League final, was only around £12m higher than Newcastle's, so meeting Isak's demands seems unlikely even with the club on a generally sound footing. Dortmund weren't expected to spend much this summer and have already spent their Club World Cup earnings on Jobe Bellingham and Yan Couto. Bayern Munich are a possible option, but success in their other plans, like getting Luis Diaz from Liverpool, would reduce that likelihood. 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Still, moving on someone like the unwanted Randal Kolo Muani would feasibly open a space for Isak, both in the squad and in terms of remaining within any financial rules. Cash tends not to be a problem in the French capital. In Spain, Barcelona are having enough trouble making room to register players they've already signed. Atletico Madrid just about break even but have high debts to service and, based on most recent figures, the amortisation cost of signing Isak would be more than half their total amortisation bill. They've spent big (£65m) on Julian Alvarez since those figures were released, but that in itself likely rules them out of being able to enter the market at over double Alvarez's price. Real Madrid tend to be able to afford just about anyone and recently announced 2024-25 revenues of €1.2billion (£1.0bn), the largest in the world. Even with Mbappe's huge wage coming onboard, Madrid were profitable last season, to the tune of €24m (£20m) after tax. Even so, they have pressing needs elsewhere, and there are only so many huge salaries you can take at once. Real have already spent just shy of £150m in transfer fees alone already this summer, and doubling that again looks unlikely, even for them. It's not impossible, but it is improbable. Advertisement And so, what of England? The world's richest league is naturally the one where clubs could most realistically afford Isak, though even here he'd be limited for actual choice. Tottenham Hotspur have the PSR headroom but unlikely the cash or space on the wage bill, which is kept notoriously low relative to income, and especially as they're already spending this summer. Further south, as we detailed in June, Brighton & Hove Albion have much in the way of regulatory headroom but are plainly an unrealistic option. That same piece outlined Chelsea as, ludicrously to some, the club with the greatest scope to spend from a PSR perspective. They don't want for cash, having received not far shy of £1bn from their current owners, but this deal, alongside their other activity this summer, would be pushing things. Particularly as Chelsea are in their own UEFA settlement regime, and the impact of recent intra-group asset sales won't boost their PSR calculations forever. Chelsea are already in the position of needing to sell players to free up space on their Champions League squad list and, in any case, it's unclear how Isak's salary would line up at a club where there's been a concerted (albeit sometimes overstated) effort to reduce staff costs. Arsenal were long viewed as a viable landing spot for Isak, but the imminent signing of Viktor Gyokeres casts clear doubt on that. Even without Gyokeres, they have spent over £100m already this summer, albeit after a lean year last season (net spend: £20.9m). Arsenal probably could afford the £50m annual cost of signing Isak, especially as revenues continue to rise, but their activity this summer (both completed and pending) would mean they'd very much be pushing toward their limit by doing so. Manchester City have plenty of money and PSR headroom, even after spending some £300m or more since the turn of the year. They could afford Isak, having booked nearly £200m in profit in the past three seasons. Football reasons seem a more likely impediment to moving there. Across town, Manchester United have been heavily loss-making in recent years but, as The Athletic detailed in June, their PSR losses are much lower than previously thought. United remain the fourth-highest-earning club in the world and have undertaken significant cost-cutting over the past year. Advertisement From a PSR perspective, they may well be able to stretch to someone like Isak, even without Champions League football this year. But cash is another issue. United's transfer debts were over £300m net even before the recent signings of Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, and their need to sell players this summer is more cash-focused than rules-based. To that end, adding Isak's wage and paying a huge fee to Newcastle looks highly unlikely, and would rely on either a further injection of shares (Sir Jim Ratcliffe invested £238.5m in 2024) or adding to an already hefty debt pile. Remarkably, despite their £300m-plus spend already this summer, Liverpool represent the likeliest Premier League destination for Isak. The Anfield outfit would need to sell players but are already planning to; the departures of Diaz, Darwin Nunez or Harvey Elliott, or even all three, would provide a boost to profits and cash, and help them back toward the policy of sustainability driven by Fenway Sports Group over the past decade and more. Liverpool have been able to spend so much this summer through careful financial management, and it's exactly that which keeps them in the frame for Isak — even at the huge asking price. It's a tall ask, even for a club as well managed as they have been, but the conditions to do it really are there: low transfer debt, strong cashflow, surging revenue and saleable assets to help offset the hit both now and in the future. Away from the Premier League, the oil-soaked elephant in this particular transfer room is the instance whereby Isak's overarching employer doesn't change. Al Hilal are, like Newcastle, owned by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and, at the risk of stating the obvious, have no financial worries at all. Since being taken over by PIF in June 2023, Al Hilal have spent over £400m on new signings and goodness knows what more on wages. If they want to sign Isak, they can afford to. The financials would be easy from Al Hilal's perspective, and while selling to a club of such supreme wealth might comfort Newcastle fans in the knowledge they'll get a chunky fee for Isak, the reality is more nuanced. Advertisement Under Premier League rules, any sale to a fellow PIF-owned club would require a 'fair market value assessment'. In other words, if the league deemed the fee spent by Al Hilal excessive, Newcastle would have to revise down their profit on Isak in their PSR calculation. The ramifications of a move to Saudi Arabia would be even worse on the continental stage. Under UEFA rules, player sales between related parties — which Newcastle and Al Hilal are — have to be measured at zero profit (or a loss), just as Allan Saint-Maximin's move to Al Ahli in July 2023 was. Isak could be sold to Al Hilal for £150m and Newcastle would enjoy the cash, but under UEFA rules, they'd be disallowed from booking any profit — thus doing nothing to improve their ability to remain compliant on the European stage.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Man Utd Get Bad News as Juventus Eye Swap Deals for PSG, Tottenham-Linked Star
Juventus striker Dušan Vlahović is attracting serious interest this summer, with PSG, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Aston Villa all reportedly eyeing a move for the Serbian international. Although Vlahović is under contract through 2026, Juventus seem open to parting ways, in part due to his high wages putting pressure on the club's finances. On the PSG side, the French champions are reportedly planning changes up front, with growing speculation that both Randal Kolo Muani and Gonçalo Ramos could be made available. CaughtOffside previously reported that PSG started tracking Vlahović earlier this year, while Arsenal and Manchester United have also been linked—raising the possibility of a bidding war. With just one year remaining on his contract after this season, Juventus could be motivated to sell now rather than risk losing him for free in 2026. Juventus plotting swap deals for unwanted striker?Juventus are still having trouble finding a buyer for striker Dusan Vlahovic, and according to Gazzetta dello Sport, they may look to move him in a swap deal instead. One option on the table is a move to Atletico Madrid, with defender Nahuel Molina—valued by the Spanish side at €30 million—heading to Turin. The report also reveals that another possibility would see the Serbian forward join AC Milan, potentially in exchange for Malick Thiaw or, more likely, Strahinja Pavlovic. CaughtOffside recently claimed Newcastle United, Tottenham, Aston Villa, and Nottingham Forest are exploring potential moves for the striker. In addition, Manchester United are said to have opened discussions with Juventus about a possible swap deal involving Jadon Sancho. The winger is expected to leave Old Trafford this summer, and Juventus have long admired him—potentially making a deal that benefits both sides.