Fenerbahçe submit €15m offer to PSG for Marco Asensio
Asensio, who joined PSG on a free transfer from Real Madrid last summer, spent the 2024/25 campaign on loan at Aston Villa, where he impressed with 8 goals and 1 assist in 21 appearances. Despite that successful spell in the Premier League, he does not feature in Luis Enrique's plans for the upcoming season.
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With PSG open to letting him go, the decision now rests with Asensio. Fenerbahçe manager José Mourinho is actively trying to convince the winger to make the move to Istanbul. The Turkish club are also in talks with the Ligue 1 champions regarding a potential permanent transfer for Milan Škriniar, who is under contract in Paris until 2028.
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Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What is the greatest save you've ever seen live?
This coming Sunday, the winners of the Women's European Championship will be crowned, but perhaps the most iconic moment of the tournament has already been and gone. It's wasn't a goal nor a celebration, but instead the breathtaking, gravity-defying save pulled off Germany's Ann-Katrin Berger that kept her team alive in their quarter-final encounter with France. It was spectacular enough on a TV screen but imagine seeing it in the flesh. Inspired by Berger's moment of brilliance and the feeling of wonder it evoked, we asked our writers to take a trip down memory lane and wax lyrical about the best goalkeeper saves they've been privileged enough to see live. Enjoy this list and make sure to share the greatest save you've ever seen in person in the comments section below. Now, let's start with the save that inspired this collection of treasured stops… Ann-Katrin Berger, July 2025, Germany 1-1 France AET, Euro 2025 The existential urge that arises when an athlete executes some other-worldly feat is to go full rankings mode. Get out of the pantheon of (insert similar moments here) work backwards and write accordingly. That didn't happen in St. Jakob-Park after 105 minutes during Germany's Euro 2025 quarter-final win against France. It just simply didn't. And that's because what Ann-Katrin Berger did is simply unquantifiable and unrankable. Did you see her left arm? The way it effectively abandons its socket and sinews? The way she torqued and adjusted her body mid-scramble/leap? All while being completely and utterly beaten by the ball's arc, its headstart towards her goal? And yet somehow there's power to propel herself upwards despite falling explicitly backwards? But I want to go back to her arm because all the freeze frames of her save call to mind not any goalkeeper but Odell Beckham Jr. Specifically, 2014 OBJ for the New York Giants against the Dallas Cowboys, the one-handed catch that launched a million others. That is what we are talking about here: a save that is not really a save but a piece of transcendent sporting artistry that very few, if that, are capable of executing in these masses of bones and muscles we call human bodies. Megan Feringa Jordan Pickford, May 2022, Everton 1-0 Chelsea, Premier League Stuck perilously in the bottom three at the business end of the season, the arrival of European champions Chelsea at Goodison Park was daunting for Frank Lampard's side. Nevertheless, Everton managed to get ahead with Richarlison's goal and held on thereafter thanks to a performance by Jordan Pickford that beggared belief. There were many remarkable stops, including one at point-blank range with his face, but the finest of them all was from Cesar Azpilicueta. Pickford dived to his right to try to keep out a Mason Mount shot and the ball struck one post before zipping across goal, hitting the other upright and pinballing out to the waiting Chelsea captain. The Everton keeper had the awareness to crane his neck after his dive, following the trajectory of the ball along the line and realising it had stayed in play. So in a split second, despite regaining his feet in a slightly awkward position that left him facing the crowd not the play, he sprinted across goal in time to be in position to stop Azpilicueta's shot. It was an eight-yard dash that probably saved his team from a slow march to relegation. Greg O'Keeffe Nigel Martyn, Leeds United 1-1 Everton, April 2004, Premier League 'Nigel, give us a goal…' sang the Leeds United fans towards their former hero in the Everton goal. It was meant in jest, even though Leeds' predicament at the time during the 2003-04 Premier League season was deadly serious. Just three years after reaching the Champions League semi-finals, United were heading for relegation. Back-to-back wins in early April had brought renewed hope of survival but, still, only another three points against Everton would do if there was to be a great escape. Hence the half-tongue-in-cheek plea to a now 37-year-old Nigel Martyn, sold by a skint Leeds the previous summer. The fans could have saved their voices, as the veteran went on to produce a truly stunning individual display to earn Everton a 1-1 draw. His best save came after a miscued clearance had found James Milner. The teenager's curled shot was going in all the way until Martyn thrust a big hand skywards to tip the ball wide. Leeds never recovered, losing their next four games to drop out of the top flight, destined not to return for another 16 years. Martyn, though, rightly remains hugely popular at Elland Road, his name invariably at the very top of any polls to decide their best ever goalkeeper. Richard Sutcliffe Mary Earps, Spain 1-0 England, August 2023, World Cup final It's the World Cup final. Spain, who are trained from infancy in the art of collectively zip-wiring the ball around you, have a penalty. They are already 1-0 up. It is 69 minutes into the second half and their No 10, Jenni Hermoso, is standing over the ball. This is going in. Until it's not. Step up, Mary Earps, the 'queen of stops'. Look, this wasn't the best penalty but it was one great save. Earps clamped onto the ball low to her left like it was a car Hermoso had parked in the wrong place — but the bigger moment came next. England's goalkeeper jumped up and swore like mad. She stuck her tongue out which, along with the industrial language, felt like a rallying cry that boosted a nation and restored belief with 20 minutes to play. England ultimately lost the final but that sweary save will live on in our hearts forever. Caoimhe O'Neill Petr Cech, Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool, May 2012, FA Cup final This was not just a superb stop to light up an ordinary game. It was on the big occasion — a major cup final being played at Wembley against a bitter rival. It also ensured Chelsea would lift a trophy. Chelsea seemed to be cruising to another FA Cup triumph in 2012 when they went 2-0 up early in the second half only for Liverpool substitute Andy Carroll to get a goal back in the 64th minute. Carroll looked certain to equalise with eight minutes to go. He was picked out by Luis Suarez unmarked at the back post, just four yards out. The striker headed the ball with all his might and from my vantage point in the press box — and basically everyone else's inside the stadium that day — it looked a certain goal. However, Petr Cech dived to his right and somehow clawed the ball away, even though it was already behind him, before all of it crossed the line. To add to the drama, the ball came off the underside of the crossbar and was then cleared to safety by Branislav Ivanovic. Carroll and Suarez had already begun their celebrations and could not believe Cech had denied them. They were not the only ones. Simon Johnson Joe Hart, Manchester United 1-0 Manchester City, November 2008, Premier League It's not usually the marker of a brilliant save, but the most impressive part of Hart's heroic stop in the dying moments of the Manchester Derby back in 2008 was the pace that he showed to get there. City had been here before — a goal down to their arch-rivals thanks to Wayne Rooney's opener — but few could have anticipated just how close they would come to both nicking a point, and conceding a second, in added on time. With minutes to go, Joe Hart came up for a corner, and could only watch as Richard Dunne swivelled and stabbed a volleyed effort towards goal, blocked on the line by Patrice Evra and hacked away by John O'Shea. The goalkeeper stayed up for the resulting free kick but was caught miles out of his goal as a terrible back-pass gave Ryan Giggs and Rooney a clear run at City's open goal. Giggs didn't seem to fancy his chances from range, laying it off for Rooney to cut inside and blast it goalwards from all of 45 yards. But Hart, somehow, made up the ground, punching the ball just wide of the post at full-stretch before clattering into the net. In the end, it was another dismal derby defeat for City, but the sheer absurdity of the situation — watching in horror as the ball sailed towards the unguarded net, a flash of bright green shooting across the pitch to save it — makes it a game I'll struggle to forget. Thom Harris Guillermo Ochoa, Mexico 0-0 Poland, November 2022, World Cup Mexico entered the 2022 World Cup in turmoil. The country had turned against Argentine manager Gerardo 'Tata' Martino and there was little hope that the CONCACAF giants would progress from Group C that featured Poland, Argentina and Saudi Arabia. But Mexico still had Guillermo 'Memo' Ochoa in goal. He had been spectacular for Mexico at the 2014 and 2018 World Cup finals. His acrobatic reflex saves became part of World Cup lore, often saving Mexico from elimination. But could he do it again in Qatar, during his fifth World Cup at the age of 37? We found out rather quickly. In Mexico's opening group-stage match against Poland at Doha's Stadium 974, Ochoa danced on his line as he stared down Polish striker Robert Lewandowski. The match was scoreless when Poland were awarded a penalty in the 56th minute, in a match that had all the makings of a 1-0 affair. A Lewandowski conversion would surely have demoralised a Mexican side that was already under fire back home but the Poland great had struggled to score for his country on the biggest stage. Ochoa, on the other hand, relished the limelight. When Ochoa dove to his left and blocked Lewandowski's penalty, the roar inside the stadium was deafening. Ochoa had done it again. It was another masterclass from a World Cup legend. Mexico later crashed out in the group stage, proving that hope is futile, but Ochoa's class is timeless. Video for UK readers Video for U.S. readers Felipe Cardenas Phallon Tullis-Joyce, Manchester City 0-2 Manchester United, April 2025, FA Cup Goalkeepers are often peppered with balls from different angles, high to low, left to right, in training. The aim of the game is to get your body from a lying position to standing as quickly as possible. But rarely do you see such reactions in matches. In last year's FA Cup Manchester derby semi-final, Yui Hasegawa hit a beauty of a free kick right on the edge of the penalty arc. Manchester United's Phallon Tullis-Joyce did so well to dive to the right and get a firm hand on the shot to tip the ball onto the bar, but she was down on the ground. The rebound fell right in front of City's Lily Murphy. Surely she would score but up popped the USWNT goalkeeper in a flash. Somehow, she had the balance and strength to stick her left leg out and clear Murphy's header. United's No 1, usually so calm and measured, pumped her arms and let out a roar. 'LET'S GO!!!' United won 2-0, sending them through to their third consecutive FA Cup final. Charlotte Harpur Jimmy Walker, Swindon Town 1-1 Walsall, December 1999, First Division It was almost the end of a century and, for Walsall, it was an age of possibility. They were back in the second tier of English football for the first time in over a decade and only the fourth time in their history and, having upset all of the odds in the previous season to beat big-spending Manchester City and win promotion alongside even-bigger-spending Fulham, a team made up largely of other clubs' cast-offs was making a decent fist of batting to stay there. Collecting something from Swindon, who began the day bottom, was vital for a Walsall team two places and two points above them and, after a young midfielder called Michael Carrick (whatever happened to him?) had scored for Swindon to cancel out Darren Wrack's opener for Walsall, Jimmy Walker clinched the visitors a point in dramatic fashion in stoppage time. Grainy YouTube footage does not do it justice. As Iffy Onuora fired in a shot from a rebound off the frame of the goal, Walker already looked beaten, the ball seemingly past him, yet somehow he managed to react and claw it away. Walsall ended up relegated on the final day of the season but the fight to avoid the drop was epic and Walker's role in it helped cement his legend at Bescot. This young reporter from a weekly newspaper, given the chance to cover a club he had watched from the terraces a couple of years earlier, has never forgotten that moment. Steve Madeley Mike Maignan, Republic of Ireland 0-1 France, March 2023, World Cup qualifier These days, heroic failure rather than tangible results is the steady feed that fuels Republic of Ireland fans, nine years on since they last tasted the delicacies of major tournament football. All the usual ingredients were on show when then-world champions France came to Dublin in March 2023 for a European Championship qualifier. A resolute defensive display, undone by a moment of quality — this time a long-range Benjamin Pavard strike — followed by an earnest yet limited effort to equalise. But when awarded a last-minute corner, murmurings of belief echoed around the Aviva Stadium. This turned to cacophonous expectation when Nathan Collins connected perfectly with Josh Cullen's whipped delivery, powerfully guiding it towards the top right corner from just outside the six-yard box. Then a clawing hand appeared. Mike Maignan, with body and fingertips fully outstretched, legs splayed mid-air, reached behind his body to miraculously keep out the Irish captain's effort. 'I thought I had done everything,' said Collins post-match. He had, but Maignan's lightning reflexes meant it was yet another gut-wrenching, last-gasp rug-pull for the Irish faithful. Conor O'Neill Matz Sels, Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool, March 2204, Premier League Last season, Matz Sels conjured up a truly remarkable save to keep out Brighton & Hove Albion's Danny Welbeck, when he dived full length to get the slightest of touches to a shot that was bound for the top corner, steering it onto the crossbar. But the Nottingham Forest keeper had pulled off an even better one during the 2023-24 campaign. When Darwin Nunez connected powerfully with a corner, his header already looked to be beyond Sels' reach, but he somehow stretched out a hand with remarkable speed and strength to swat it away from goal, right on the line, before gathering the ball into his grasp. The fact that the ball also seemed to take a deflection off Murillo only made his effort even harder to read — and the save all the more impressive. Sels has been the most influential keeper at Forest since Brice Samba, who produced penalty shootout heroics against Sheffield United in the Championship play-off semi-final as the club plotted a course to promotion in 2022. Paul Taylor This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Premier League, Soccer, Women's Soccer, Women's Euros 2025 The Athletic Media Company
New York Times
39 minutes ago
- New York Times
Blood, hope and a broken finger: Two weeks on the road with the Tour de France's relegation rivals
Like European soccer and many other global sports, professional cycling has embraced relegation. For just the second time in WorldTour history, the 2025 season will see two teams demoted. At the end of the last three-year cycle in 2022, Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto-Soudal were relegated to ProTeam status, replaced by Arkea-Samsic and Mathieu van der Poel's Alpecin-Deceuninck team. Advertisement Relegation does not spell complete disaster for a team — teams outside the WorldTour can secure wild-card invites to the biggest races, including the Tour de France — with the top two ProTour teams (based on points scored) getting automatic invites to WorldTour races. Even so, sponsorship is harder to secure for teams outside the top flight, with the situation in the lower echelons of the WorldTour already difficult. The other complication for struggling teams is that riders with a WorldTour deal can terminate their contracts and become available for transfer should their team suffer demotion. With the Tour de France supersized in the UCI's points weighting, the three-week race was always going to play a big role in dictating survival — not just for WorldTour status, but for the existence of teams themselves. Picnic-PostNL's pre-race base is a Novotel by Lille airport. This is not any sort of down-at-heel story but typical for the sport — they're sharing the facilities with Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe and Decathlon-AG2R. But what separates them from their roommates, whose budgets exceed their own by at least €10million (£8.7m; $11.6m) per year, is their status for next season. Red Bull and Decathlon are sixth and 10th. Picnic are 18th, just one place above relegation. A burst of form pulled them out of the relegation zone, highlighted by Casper van Uden's surprise stage win at May's Giro d'Italia, but they are still only separated from 19th-place Cofidis by a toenail. Put simply, they need more points. At this year's Tour, they are led by 22-year Scottish climber Oscar Onley and the veteran Breton Warren Barguil. 'We are not scared of relegation,' Barguil tells The Athletic. 'But it will be s**t, and I don't think we'd deserve it, because the entire team is working, and we're doing all the right things for cycling.' 'In Arkea (Barguil's former team, whose relegation is all but certain), we knew it was better to put, like, three guys in the top 10 and only go for the sprint with one guy. Here, you will never see this thing happening. We have one goal: it's to win the race. It's how cycling needs to be.' Advertisement Barguil admits to checking the UCI standings obsessively, at one point speaking to his sporting directors to ask if they would be able to enter an extra race in Brittany to gather more points. 'They told me not to stress,' he laughs. The team's coach, Matt Winston, is one of the men making those calls. Despite the relegation threat, he is insistent that the team will chase wins, rather than conservatively earning points by racking up high finishes. 'Let's say you offer me three stage wins, which would be 630 points, or 15 top 10s,' he argues. 'What are you going to take? I'm going to go for three stage wins every day of the week, because that's what people will remember us for. We have a lot of people doing the best they can to prepare the team — we want to repay that.' In football, relegation comes with the spectre of job losses. Picnic's relegation rivals Astana have said they need to stay in the World Tour to survive. 'That's something you'll have to ask our big boss, but I know whatever happens there will be a team next year,' says Winston. 'Relegation has been in football for years, but it's still new to cycling, and scares a lot of people. But I enjoy the challenge. Would I rather be 11th place, playing at Stoke on a Tuesday night with no chance of a result? I'd rather be in the game and with something to think about.' There is silence at the Intermarche-Wanty bus. Riders glide in, chains whirring, but that is the only noise as they prop their bikes against the bodywork and climb up the steps for a shower. Biniam Girmay, the team's Eritrean sprinter, is second on the bus but sixth on the stage. Intermarche-Wanty should be safe from relegation, sitting in 16th position, but Picnic and Astana's form has been far better than the Belgian squad's. Girmay, their star rider, has not won all season. His last victory came on stage 12 of last year's Tour, where he earned the green jersey. He was involved in a mid-race spat with current green jersey wearer Jonathan Milan during stage two of this year's race. 'It's not every year that you start the Tour de France and win stages,' says Aike Visbeek, the team's upbeat sporting director. 'We have a second place, we have a sixth place, we were a bit unlucky yesterday, but we are working hard. That's what we've got to do all the way to Paris. Advertisement 'We are sprinting to win stages. We're safe from relegation, and our focus is on the green jersey.' But the mood on the bus was still sombre. This had been an attritional day. Riding at the front to avoid crashes, two riders — Laurenz Rex and Georg Zimmermann — both went down, their absence harming Girmay in the final sprint. The Eritrean was well-beaten by stage winner Tim Merlier, who pipped Milan by a wheel rim but is still just four points behind the latter in the race for a valuable green jersey. Rex's knees and fingers wept blood as he showed his soigneur the damage the day had inflicted on him. Astana have been one of the success stories of this season. They have earned the fourth-most points of any team this season, moving from relegation favourites to two places clear of the drop. But with the UCI ranking table still tight — they are still just 1,500 points ahead of Cofidis — their form cannot afford to drop. Team owner Alexander Vinokourov has ratcheted up the pressure, telling his squad the team would cease to exist if they were relegated from the WorldTour. Publicly, that position has not changed and the results have not been coming at the Tour. Stage seven, however, is an opportunity. They are targeting a good result with Sergio Higuita and Clement Champoussin, but both are outsiders amid the stellar field. This season, Astana have made a habit of winning where they shouldn't. Today would top the lot — almost every team in the peloton is hoping for a good result at Mur de Bretagne. Mark Renshaw made his name as arguably the greatest lead-out man in the sport's history for sprinter Mark Cavendish, but has been at Astana as a directeur sportif since 2023. 'We've been really unlucky,' he explains. 'But on the flip side, we've had three top 10 results. It's not easy to win at the Tour de France, but we'll be happy if we start to get some riders on the podium.' Advertisement But another relegation rival snags third place on the day. Onley's third for Picnic-PostNL is arguably the finest result of his young career. The 22-year-old finishes behind only Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, earning his team 110 points in the process. Post-race, Pogačar complemented the Scotsman: 'He showed in the past already what a super engine he has, with a punchy kick. He's riding super well.' The next morning, Onley was bashful at hearing that praise. 'I told my coach that I wanted to focus on my engine because naturally, I'm quite a punchy rider. We'll find out in the next couple of weeks how it's going.' Relegation? 'Myself and the team are aware of it, and obviously you can't hide the fact that it's happening,' he replies. 'But it doesn't change anything. I'm still trying to get results.' Cofidis hoped for better on Bastille Day. Cofidis hoped for better this season. They are one of the most historic squads in France, once home to Lance Armstrong, Frank Vandenbroucke and David Millar — but they are at risk of disappearing from the WorldTour. Bastille Day is the day that French teams target. Cofidis always knew it was a long shot, but have decided to attack the day with three riders — Alex Aranburu, Ion Izagirre, and Dylan Teuns. Emanuel Buchmann will target the general classification. But here they are at Châtel-Guyon — and all three riders but Teuns have been dropped by the main peloton. Eventually, Buchmann climbs back on. Teuns falls away. 'It's difficult to say why we're at this level,' says Gorka Gerrikagoitia. He grips the steering wheel tightly. 'We're doing all we can to improve, and for sure, it's not an ideal situation if we're not in the WorldTour. The sponsor in Cofidis will continue, but not at the same level, not at the same budget.' By the end of the day, Buchmann has lost seven minutes. The WorldTour is not necessarily the be all and end all in the cycling world. Uno-X were founded in 2016, and serve as a conduit for Scandinavian cycling talent — this year's Tour squad is comprised of eight Norwegians and Danish rider Magnus Cort, who has won stages in all three Grand Tours. Since their foundation, Uno-X have pushed for WorldTour status, but as of now, they are a ProTour squad, 20th in the standings, and almost 2000 points and two places away from achieving automatic promotion. Though they have an outside chance of overtaking Cofidis, that would still only place them 19th. Advertisement Back in 2016, the team's founders announced their squad in alphabetical order. 'Jonas Abrahamsen,' were their first words. 'Twenty-one years old.' Nine years later, Abrahamsen is now 20 kilograms (44 pounds) heavier — and a Tour de France stage winner, outsprinting Swiss champions Mauro Schmid on the streets of Toulouse. Their hordes of fans, all in replica jerseys, found propping up the bars of finish towns until the town's beer is finished, have their first moment of real celebration. It is the team's first Grand Tour stage win. Uno-X earns 210 points. The mechanics are crying. Former green jersey Thor Hushovd, now a DS at the team, is crying. Abrahamsen is crying. The Norwegian squad are a team on the up, with big dreams, but at this moment, which of the above means more? Cofidis' Bryan Coquard needs energy to get through the Pyrenees. A sprinter, not a climber, each day in the mountains is a battle to avoid the time-cut and disqualification from the race. With Cofidis' specialist climbers struggling, picking up consistent sprint results may be their best chance of points. The bunch is passing quickly on stage 12 as Coquard grabs the musette holding his lunch. The strap wraps around his fingers. He breaks his fourth finger. That day, he battles to complete the stage in time. On the same day, having already had their bicycles stolen on the second day of the Tour, before they were later rediscovered, the women's squad suffers the same fate. Cofidis are a small team. They cannot afford a loss of at least €100,000, not with the looming threat of relegation. 💪 Despite two fractured fingers at the beginning of the stage, 🇫🇷 @bryancoquard hung in there and finished the stage bravely and on time! 💪 Malgré deux doigts fracturés en début d'étape, 🇫🇷 @bryancoquard s'est accroché et termine l'étape au courage et dans les délais !… — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 17, 2025 'We have a sponsorship deal signed with Cofidis without a WorldTour clause,' says team boss Cédric Vasseur. 'But in reality, it's true that when you lose your place in the first division, you are losing a lot of money from organisers, from sponsors. 'You are weaker than when you are in the first division — and of course when a good rider wants to choose a team, he always chooses the WorldTour. The impact for us of losing a licence is huge.' Further up the road, Onley, too, is in the high mountains and has still not cracked. On the legendary Hautacam, the Picnic-PostNL rider climbs through burning sunshine to finish fifth, ahead of Grand Tour winners Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic. How does he feel? 'Tired.' But the 22-year-old Scotsman is flourishing. Sitting fourth after the Pyrenees, he is just one minute and 25 seconds away from the podium — a result that could net Picnic-PostNL a massive 880 points. It would put them almost 2000 points above Cofidis. The French squad appear doomed. The news breaks in the Belgian press the previous evening. Intermarche-Wanty and Lotto have agreed to a merger. It shows an inherent truth of modern cycling — that for low-budget teams, this sport is a battle for scraps. Lotto were demoted to ProTour status ahead of the 2023 season, while Wanty have desperately struggled for results this season. With Girmay out of form, it is difficult to see where consistent wins will come from. Together, they reason, offers them a better chance of survival. But an unintended consequence? Lotto and Intermarche-Wanty are set to receive WorldTour licences next season. Rather than two, they will now receive one combined licence. It means there is one left free, to be given to the 19th-best team in the UCI rankings. The next morning, sources confirm the story is true. Cofidis have hope. If they protect an 800-point lead over Uno-X, the French squad should be safe. Advertisement Vasseur is sitting on a coolbox at 1600m, waiting for his riders to arrive at the team car from the time trial — a steep 13km climb to Peyragudes. He says the sun is too hot, but remains resolutely away from the shade. There is a lightness to his manner. The relief is clear. His words, however, come with caution. 'Of course, it has not been (formally) confirmed yet,' he says. 'But if it's happening, it's a sign that we can be confident about staying in the first division.' He pauses. 'But just staying in the first division for the sake of staying in the first division makes no sense. You have to be in the first division to be competitive. It is already filled with strong teams, very strong teams, and Lotto and Wanty together will be stronger too. 'We have to think about our model — to see if it's still reliable to keep on going like we are today.' At the summit, the glare is bright from a cloudless sky. Vasseur stands and pulls down his sunglasses. He closes the car boot and walks away, towards his finishing riders, back down the hill.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Frankfurt are about to hit profits of €345m in six years just from selling strikers – this is how they do it
Most clubs would feel a little uneasy, maybe even start to panic, if they always had to think about selling their best attacking player come the end of a season. Others, understandably, would fight tooth and nail to try to keep that key figure. But for Eintracht Frankfurt, under the guidance of sporting director Markus Krosche, letting their top goalscorers go — as they have done after four of the past seven German Bundesliga seasons — has swiftly become a natural and necessary part of their self-sustainable approach. Advertisement 'I call them end clubs,' Krosche said in an August 2024 interview with Sky Sports, referring to the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Liverpool. 'We are a club in between, who sell to these end clubs. 'This is what I tell the players: 'If your development is faster than our development as a club, and I get the money I expect, I will let you go'. This is why so many young talents like to come to Frankfurt, because we know what we have to do to develop them. 'Selling players is part of my job. I am not emotional about it. It's business.' Though it sounds clinical, Krosche's attention to detail — having invested heavily in the training facilities and coaching staff at Frankfurt over the past few years — is just as beneficial for the players as it is for the club's financial growth. They have hired psychologists and nutrition experts and can rely on a team of specialist coaches to work individually with young players, helping them to achieve their goals, which are, transparently, to move on and to play for Europe's biggest sides. With the imminent sale of Hugo Ekitike to Premier League champions Liverpool, reported by The Athletic to amount to around €91million with add-ons, Frankfurt's net transfer profit since summer 2023 will rise to around €161m. Their two biggest sales until that deal is official — Randal Kolo Muani and Omar Marmoush — both arrived as free agents and left commanding fees of €165m between them. When Ekitike is factored in, and only accounting for the centre-forwards they've sold, Frankfurt will have made a profit of around €345million (£300m/$405m at current rates) in just six years. Even before Krosche's 2021 appointment, in summer 2019, Frankfurt more than tripled their original investments when they sold Sebastien Haller and Luka Jovic in the same window. Andre Silva, who came in that summer on an initial loan to replace them, left for almost eight times the price for which he was purchased in summer 2020, just a year later, after scoring 28 league goals in the ensuing campaign. From a pure profit perspective, no club have generated more across the past three years, according to Transfermarkt, and they've done it while climbing steadily up the table: from seventh in 2022-23, to fifth, to matching their highest-ever Bundesliga finish last season by coming third. So, just how do Frankfurt keep doing it? And is it something we can expect to continue, with even more money coming their way? From a player-recruitment perspective, Frankfurt's approach to ensuring future profitability isn't groundbreaking. They target youngsters with high sell-on potential, placing particular emphasis on those who are positionally versatile and suit the club's style of play. It's the consistency and commitment to their methodology, along with the environment they create for incoming players, that helps them reap the rewards. Advertisement The execution of their strategy is always clear to see, with 21 of Frankfurt's last 26 permanent signings being under the age of 25 when they joined the club. They also, crucially, are not afraid to spend themselves if they spot a market opportunity, and will offer eight-figure fees if they believe that player fits their model. A look at their 10 most expensive buys illustrates that pattern. One of the oldest purchases in the list was that of Arthur Theate, though he was just 24 at the time. With plenty of top-flight experience in Italy's Serie A and France's Ligue 1 behind him, he came in from Rennes last August and played the third-most minutes of anyone in the Frankfurt squad. Of the 10, six are still at the club, and the others were sold for a cumulative profit of €111million, with a hefty boost to come when Ekitike officially becomes a Liverpool player. Jonathan Burkardt has yet to play competitively for Frankfurt but looks to be another acquisition that aligns closely with their recruitment project. Burkardt only turned 25 this month, so the three-time Germany international centre-forward has his best years ahead of him after leaving boyhood club Mainz. He scored 18 Bundesliga goals in what was his farewell season after recovering from the knee injury that kept him out for most of 2022-23 and the start of the following campaign. Able to play across the front line, as the position map illustrates below, even filling in at wing-back in his early appearances in the top flight, Burkardt is another forward who is adaptable, athletic and quick to spot opportunities to run in-behind — exactly the kind of attacking player who tends to prosper in a high-energy Frankfurt side. There are distinct similarities between him and now-Manchester City forward Marmoush, who was also picked up by Frankfurt after showing his versatility elsewhere in the Bundesliga with Stuttgart and Wolfsburg. As he has gone on to show in the Premier League, the Egyptian can play anywhere across the final third, but his skill set — an excellent striker of the ball from distance and a springy, powerful runner on the counter-attack — saw him thrive at a club that gave him the freedom to exploit space in transition. Advertisement As we can see below, Frankfurt were the side to have generated the most expected goals (xG) from fast-break situations last season, only being outscored in those scenarios by Liverpool across Europe's big four leagues (Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A). With Marmoush at the heart of their distinct attacking approach, alongside Ekitike, another player similarly well-suited to free-flowing football on the break, the pair saw their respective valuations take off. In that respect, Frankfurt's commitment to quick, attacking football under coach Dino Toppmoller goes some way to explaining their recent success in the transfer market. Appealing to clubs in the Premier League, far and away the highest-spending division in world football, will be key to the consistent profitability of their model. And given that the English top flight jumped above the Bundesliga for the number of direct attacks per game last season, players who can be decisive at speed will continue to command premium prices. Speaking to The Athletic in May, Frankfurt CEO Axel Hellmann used the example of Marmoush to underline the importance of targeted training within his club to accelerate the upward trajectories of their talented players. 'We have one of the best coaching teams in the Bundesliga,' Hellmann said. 'That's really important, because we sign young players and the process of educating them, which is what is making us famous at the moment, involves a lot. 'When Marmoush arrived, he wasn't really a goalscorer, but our coaches worked with him mentally, physically, strategically, and tactically and technically on the pitch. Our team worked on all his abilities and we created a whole new player. It's good education and good coaching.' Marmoush joined Frankfurt as a pacy, positionally fluid attacking player, but he left 18 months later as so much more. He became a clinical finisher, his work on free kicks and set pieces was evident, plus the technical ability and combination play to both break down low blocks and strike with space ahead. Some will view their approach as lacking ambition, but Frankfurt's acceptance of their place in the footballing food chain is arguably their greatest strength. Their track record of developing and upselling young players now speaks for itself and helps attract some of the best prospects to their club. There are no delusions at Frankfurt, no blockers; if a player works hard to realise their talent, they will get the move they crave and help the club to achieve their objectives along the way. Advertisement All that remains to be seen now is how they continue to scale up on the pitch. Even with Champions League football on the menu for the coming season, Frankfurt will struggle to reinvest all of their immense transfer profits into the squad, as they are unlikely to attract the kind of star player who can sign and then immediately improve them. They have little choice but to keep investing in the future, so even if we see a slight drop-off from that third-placed finish, don't expect Frankfurt's striker conveyor belt to slow down.
