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Man City Face Major PSG Battle for €70M-Rated Bernardo Silva Replacement Amid Man Utd Interest

Man City Face Major PSG Battle for €70M-Rated Bernardo Silva Replacement Amid Man Utd Interest

Yahoo04-05-2025

AS Monaco's Maghnes Akliouche could be on the move this summer transfer window. The Frenchman is on several clubs' radars, and Paris Saint-Germain's new philosophy of pursuing young French talent is in the mix for the 23-year-old.
L'Équipe reported last month that Manchester United entered the race to sign Akliouche, joining rivals Manchester City in pursuing the Monaco standout.
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A summer exit appears likely, with Monaco valuing the midfielder between €70 million and €80 million. Despite the high asking price, interest remains strong from Manchester City, PSG, and now United.
What's the latest on Maghnes Akliouche?
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/AFP via Getty Images
On Friday, 90min France reported that the midfielder has attracted strong interest from Manchester City and PSG, with a summer move looking increasingly likely.
Monaco are open to selling and have set an asking price of around €70 million. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is said to be a big admirer of Akliouche's skill set—particularly his versatility, left-footed ability, and dribbling—and views him as a potential successor to Bernardo Silva. City reportedly made an approach during the winter window, but Monaco were not willing to sell midseason.
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PSG are also in the mix, though their approach has been more reserved. The French champions have been in contact with Akliouche's camp for several weeks but have yet to make a formal move with Monaco. For now, PSG remain focused on finishing their season before diving fully into the transfer market.
While a transfer seems likely, there's still a chance Akliouche stays put. If Monaco qualify for the Champions League, the midfielder—under contract through 2028—could be convinced to remain for another season.

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Football's capacity to make men cry: ‘I was buying milk and just burst into tears thinking about Palace'
Football's capacity to make men cry: ‘I was buying milk and just burst into tears thinking about Palace'

New York Times

timean hour ago

  • New York Times

Football's capacity to make men cry: ‘I was buying milk and just burst into tears thinking about Palace'

Forget the scoreline in the top corner of the screen. The image of the distraught Inter Milan supporter who flashed up on television screens around the world, as his team prepared to take a meaningless corner in the 76th minute, told the story of the Champions League final. Crestfallen and broken, his bottom lip was quivering and tears were streaming down his face. A fourth Paris Saint-Germain goal had not long been scored at the other end of the stadium and it was all too much for a man who looked like his world had come to an end. 'Imagine getting like that about football?' It's hard to explain to people who have no interest in the game why so many of us are so immersed and emotionally invested in this sport that it leads to the kind of behaviour — uncontrollable tears (of joy as well as despair), hugging total strangers, or even turning the air blue after something totally innocuous — that would be almost unthinkable in a public space anywhere else. Advertisement Football, essentially, is escapism; a place for us to forget about the trials and tribulations of everyday life and, for better or worse, completely lose ourselves. 'It's a cathartic experience,' Sally Baker, a senior therapist, says. 'Men are very rarely given permission to express their emotions. But within the context of football, they are — and no one's going to judge them. Everyone's in it together. 'They could swear — people use language at a football match that they never would use outside. It's a safe place and it's a unique environment for men to let off steam.' Those comments resonate on the back of something else that happened last Saturday night in Munich. With less than two minutes remaining, the television cameras showed PSG's assistant coach in tears in the technical area. His name is Rafel Pol Cabanellas and he lost his wife to a long-term illness in November last year. With or without a heartbreaking personal story, football's capacity to stir the emotions is extraordinary. Carrying our hopes and fears, the game plays with our feelings in a way that few things in life can and, at the same time, provides a form of sanctuary. The video features crying. A lot of crying. It lasts for one minute and 24 seconds and was filmed at Wembley Stadium on the day of the FA Cup final. The referee's whistle had just blown after 10 minutes of stoppage time and Crystal Palace, after 164 years of waiting, had beaten Manchester City 1-0 to finally win the first major trophy in their history. Joao Castelo-Branco, ESPN Brazil's correspondent in the UK, had decided to leave his seat in the press box moments earlier to try to get some footage of the Palace supporters. To describe what follows as scenes of celebration doesn't come close. It's so much more than that. It's raw. It's magical. It's moving. It's genuinely heart-warming. It's football — that simple game that means nothing and everything — touching the soul. Advertisement 'It just captured something special,' Castelo-Branco says, smiling. So special that you find yourself watching it over and again, looking at the faces of the people — men and women, young and old — and thinking about all the stories they could tell you about how their lives became so entwined with Crystal Palace Football Club, as well as wondering why this moment means so much personally to them. 'When I was there, I was feeling, 'This is incredible, and I was just trying to hold it together',' Castelo-Branco says. 'There was so much going on that you don't know where to film. And I think sometimes then you see fans turning the camera everywhere really quickly. But I tried to hold on a bit, to rest at that couple, but then at the same time move on a bit to show that there were all these different characters that were celebrating. Everywhere I turned was a beautiful shot of emotion.' 'That couple' feature at the start of the footage, when a woman overcome with emotion falls into the arms of a man who looks like he has been following Palace for more years than he cares to remember. His eyes are filled with tears. Behind them, another supporter of a similar age stands alone with his arms aloft, totally overwhelmed by the moment. Some fans have their hands over their mouths in disbelief, almost frozen. Others are wiping away tears with their scarves. One man is hunched over, face down and sobbing. Another supporter — his father, perhaps — wraps his arms around him and the two of them end up singing together. People of all ages are crying everywhere you look — crying and smiling. 'It's beautiful,' Castelo-Branco adds. 'And a really special thing about it is that not many fans were filming (on their phones). People were really living that moment.' True raw emotion, fans really living the moment. As I joined in the stands to film this video, there were hardly any fans with their phones out. Grown men and women hugging and crying. Amazing atmosphere. #CrystalPalace beautiful ⚽️#Wembley #FACup — Joao Castelo-Branco (@j_castelobranco) May 18, 2025 Following Palace's triumph at Wembley, there were similar scenes a few days later in Bilbao, where Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United to win the Europa League. A couple of months earlier, it was Newcastle United's turn after they defeated Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final. But it doesn't have to be a long wait for a trophy that tips people over the edge at a football match. Gary Pickles remembers being in the away end at Brighton in 2019, when Manchester City were on the verge of winning their fourth Premier League title in eight seasons, holding up his phone, filming the fans all around him, and suddenly being stopped in his tracks. 'I noticed my son, Niall, had his hands on his head and tears were streaming down his face. We were winning the league. But he's really sobbing. I was like, 'What's up?' Whatever it was just triggered him. He was about 25 — it's not like a young kid doing it.' Pickles, who has been following Manchester City since the 1970s, makes an interesting point when we discuss whether his son's behaviour at Brighton is not as unusual as it would have been in the past. 'That video was just before Covid,' he says. 'But I think certainly since Covid, when there was a lot of talk about mental health issues, it's helped men to speak about that and maybe show their emotions.' Looking back provides a bit of context. In an article on the BBC website in 2004, under an image of the former England international Paul Gascoigne crying at the 1990 World Cup, a clinical psychologist talked about how 'a lot of men know more about how a car works than their own emotions'. Reading that quote again now, a couple of decades later, makes you realise how much life has changed – and in a relatively short space of time too (either that or all my mates are especially useless when it comes to knowing how to change a tyre). 'I think men have moved on hugely,' Baker, the senior therapist, says. 'I guess the old stereotype is that if men and sports were going to exhibit any emotions, it was normally anger. And there were apocryphal stories of women living in dread of their menfolk coming back if their team had lost. But men are more willing, and able, to express a fuller range of emotions than just anger. Advertisement 'I think they've changed a lot in the last 20 years. And I know that by the number of men I see. It used to be one man for every nine women I saw. And now it's much more like I'll see two men for every three women, so it's coming up to parity. There's a willingness to explore their own sense of self, what drives them and who they are.' That's not to say that men never cried at football in years gone by. When this topic of conversation came up in the office, my colleague Amy Lawrence told a story about being in the away end at Anfield in 1989, when Michael Thomas scored a dramatic late goal to clinch the league title for Arsenal against Liverpool on the final day, and how she was nowhere near her friends when she eventually came up for air amid the chaotic celebrations that followed. 'I found myself next to a guy who looked like your absolute classic 1980s football hooligan,' she said. 'He was massive. He was a skinhead. He was covered in tattoos. He looked terrifying. But he had tears rolling down his cheeks and he was blubbing like a baby. I can still see his face today. It was beautiful because he was the last type of person that you would ever expect to break down emotionally at a match.' The same can't be said for young Ricky Allman, who was only 11 years old when Leeds United were on their way to being relegated from the Premier League in 2004. With his shirt off and 'Leeds Til I Die' written across his chest, Allman was heartbroken as the television cameras homed in on him in the away end at Bolton Wanderers. Leeds were losing 4-1 and it was all too much for him. 'My bottom lip came out. A full-on, uncontrollable lip,' Allman told The Athletic in 2020. His mother, Beverley, was watching at home. 'She rang me in tears, 'Are you alright?' she said. You've been on telly. They panned on the crowd and you were crying — I haven't stopped crying since.'' Plenty of Palace fans were saying the same thing for a week or more after beating Manchester City. In Kevin Day's case, the initial sense of shock eventually gave way to tears in, of all places, his local supermarket. Advertisement 'For the first minute (after the final whistle) I couldn't speak,' the writer, comedian and lifelong Palace fan says. 'Then I looked around me and I was the only one not in tears. It was incredible. Mates of mine who I've known for so long, stoic people, who normally wouldn't cry… they were just broken. 'I've never felt elation like it. My son came round at 9am the next morning. He's 29. He threw himself into my arms like he hasn't done since he was a five-year-old. He was sobbing. 'And then, Monday morning, I was in the Co-op buying a pint of milk and I just suddenly burst into tears. I just thought to myself, 'The last time I was in here we hadn't won the FA Cup'.' Thinking about those who are no longer with us and unable to share a landmark moment can often trigger our emotions at football, as was almost certainly the case with the PSG coach Rafel Pol Cabanellas in Munich. It could be the memories of a grandparent who introduced someone to a club in the first place or, for Day, of his late father, who was always at the end of the phone to discuss the Palace match afterwards. 'Everyone I spoke to on that Saturday evening had someone they wished they could have called,' he says. 'There must have been about three million Palace fans looking down from heaven. 'On a serious note, though, I do wonder whether all the posters put up in pubs in south London over the last five years, about how it's alright to talk, have actually had a positive impact and that this generation of men do think it's alright to show their emotions. Maybe that message is finally getting through. 'Or maybe it's just any group of men where something happens that they've waited 120 years for, finally happens. I don't know. 'But I'm starting to get goosebumps thinking about it all again now.' (Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Manan Vatsyayana/AFP, Odd Andersen, Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

Club World Cup team guide – Manchester City: Wounded giants primed for a new era
Club World Cup team guide – Manchester City: Wounded giants primed for a new era

New York Times

timean hour ago

  • New York Times

Club World Cup team guide – Manchester City: Wounded giants primed for a new era

The inaugural Club World Cup starts on June 14, with its 32 teams split into eight groups of four in the opening phase. As part of our guides to the sides that will feature in the tournament, Jordan Campbell gives you the background on Manchester City. City are no strangers to the FIFA Club World Cup. Indeed, they will arrive in the United States to take part this summer as its most recent champions, courtesy of their 2023 win over Brazilian side Fluminense. After winning a continental treble in 2022-23 — English football's Premier League and FA Cup, then the UEFA Champions League — they beat Spain's Europa League winners Sevilla on penalties to add the UEFA Super Cup in the August, then travelled to Saudi Arabia four months later looking to make it five trophies in the calendar year. Advertisement Their 4-0 victory in Jeddah in the final of the annual, seven-club version of the competition, now rebranded the Intercontinental Cup by football's global governing body FIFA, cemented their status as the dominant force in the sport worldwide. However, after a uniquely difficult 2024-25 season, Pep Guardiola's side are not the same force. City did, however, find enough form down the home stretch to secure Champions League football for a 15th consecutive season. So they come into this tournament in better spirits than they might have done, but this is not a swift two-game trip like last time, where they were seeded directly into the semi-finals. The greatly-expanded competition means City will need to play well in seven matches if they want to be crowned Club World Cup champions again on July 14. This would usually require little explanation but from winning an unprecedented six out of seven Premier League titles between 2017 and 2024, City suffered a collapse late last year that they did not fully arrest until April. They won just 12 out of 32 matches in all competitions between October 27 and March 30, and finished third in the Premier League on 71 points, the lowest tally of their nine-year Guardiola era. The Spaniard attempted to reframe their late rally by saying that most champions would have plummeted to mid-table once they knew the title was gone. He also played down the prospect of a rebuild this summer but, with long-time midfield star Kevin De Bruyne leaving at age 34 after 10 years, this tournament marks the start of a new chapter. 'We're going there to win it,' said City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak last month. 'This is the beginning of the new season, not the continuation of last season.' City qualify as one of the three most recent winners of the UEFA Champions League. They chased the holy grail of European football for over a decade but suffered many bruising losses in the knockout stages: a Monaco comeback in 2017, humbled by Liverpool in 2018, a dramatic defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in 2019, upset in a pandemic-enforced one-off tie by Lyon in 2020, heartbreak in the final against Chelsea in 2021, two stoppage-time goals conceded in the semi-final with Real Madrid to somehow miss out again in 2022. It felt that the trophy was destined never to arrive at the Etihad Stadium but in 2023, City avenged that defeat to Madrid at the same semi-final stage, then beat Inter 1-0 in Istanbul thanks to a goal from Rodri. Guardiola has evolved so often as a coach but the overarching theme of his football has been dominant positional football and intense pressing. It is a combination that slowly suffocates opposing teams, although last season they lost that grip of old, with their build-up being disrupted and their pressing game losing its edge. Advertisement This tournament could offer an insight into Guardiola's next planned evolution. So often, other coaches have followed Guardiola's first move but it feels like he is having to adapt to the shifting sands of the Premier League. His football has been methodical and about players positioning themselves exactly where he wants them. Could we be about to see a more free-hand variation of his football? Guardiola has remodelled football several times and has been a serial winner in all his jobs, since he first took over at Barcelona in 2008, having played for the Spanish club and then managed their B team. But this is somewhat uncharted territory for him. He has never stayed so long at any club as he has at City, and he has never had to recover after such a tumultuous period in which his team lost their invincibility. It looked like the stress was getting to him early during City's poor run around the turn of the year but his genius has been about reinvention and driving the next evolution in the sport. Can he do it again? Rodri. It is tempting to choose goal-machine striker Erling Haaland but midfielder Rodri last season received the Ballon d'Or award as the game's best player worldwide over the previous 12 months, shortly after suffering an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) knee injury that would keep him out of action until May. If there was any doubt that he is this team's guiding star, their struggles in his long absence underlined just how pivotal he is. It is difficult to imagine City would have looked so disjointed or been so vulnerable to teams running through their midfield had the Spaniard been fit. His vision and passing range set the tempo for the team, while his physical presence and reading of the game help City pin opponents in and prevent counter-attacks. Advertisement At his best, Rodri plays with an aura that comes from very few opponents ever being able to get close to him. In his last couple of seasons, he started adding goals — big, important ones — to his game: a final-day equaliser against Aston Villa in 2022 to set up another Premier League title, the curling strike against Bayern Munich during their triumphant Champions League run and that side-foot finish against Inter in the final. His return in their final home match of the season was huge news for City, who will hope that these games in the U.S. will also get him ready for when the Premier League starts again in August. Nico O'Reilly. City's academy has been extremely productive in recent years, with Phil Foden the shining light, but Rico Lewis, James McAtee, Oscar Bobb and O'Reilly are all now established squad players. Many more youngsters developed at City have been sold on to other clubs for seven- and eight-figure sums, such as Liam Delap and Cole Palmer, who found it difficult to earn regular minutes under Guardiola. In his 2024-25 debut season, however, O'Reilly showed he has the ability and athleticism to vault that bar. He made his debut in the Community Shield win over Manchester United in August and went on to make 19 appearances across all competitions. The now 20-year-old's ascension towards the first team was curtailed by an ankle injury at the start of the 2023-24 season, which kept him out for several months, but he took advantage of the absences of Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and John Stones in the next one. Guardiola chose to reinvent O'Reilly, from an attacking midfielder into a left-back, due to the team's injury troubles and he put in some stellar performances, especially against Bournemouth in March when his rampaging runs set up two goals. He has a wide passing range, can dribble, tackle and score — the full package of skills — and plays with the maturity of someone much more experienced. Blue Moon, a ballad first composed by Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart in 1934, is City's club anthem, though their rendition is a revved-up version perfect for the terraces. It is the song that fills the Etihad Stadium air at kick-off on a matchday and it blares out regularly during games too. Advertisement Sung for over 30 years by City fans, folklore says it was first adopted in ironic fashion. City were not used to winning in that era and were relegated from the top flight in 1987 without a single away victory all season. Attempting to make light of their travails, it is believed some fans drew parallels with the phrase 'once in a blue moon' and sang the song. It has stuck ever since, but the irony in 2025 is that City have barely been able to stop winning in the past decade. Manchester United. Having been in the shadow of their hugely-successful neighbours for so long, the period of dominance they have enjoyed over the past decade is in stark contrast to the turmoil that has plagued United since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as manager in 2013. City have flipped the fear factor that used to exist when Ferguson was in charge of United and have inflicted several embarrassing losses upon them. Since a 6-1 away win at Old Trafford in 2011, they have won Manchester derbies by a three-goal margin or more another five times. United have still, despite their differing form, won 10 of those matches since Guardiola's summer 2016 arrival, including the 2023-24 FA Cup final. It is why City's fans are revelling in the current struggles of their rivals. On the final day of last season away to Fulham, a new chant parodying a popular modern United song was heard: 'Ruben Amorim… they're never gonna win again… they're crying in the Stretford End… the Reds are going down…'. If you are the sort of person who watches the first two Rocky movies and finds themselves rooting for Apollo Creed, then you are going to love City's Club World Cup group. Up against the third-best team from Morocco last season, Wydad AC, and United Arab Emirates' fifth-strongest force for the same campaign, Al Ain, there are plenty of Davids for Goliath fans to wish ill upon. Advertisement Beyond the group stage, providing City navigate their way past that hazardous terrain, neutrals may find the prospect of them winning the tournament as the perfect precursor for a Premier League season in which there could be the widest number of credible title-challengers in years. (Top photos: Getty Images; design: Kelsea Petersen)

Spain vs France – Predicted lineup and team news
Spain vs France – Predicted lineup and team news

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Spain vs France – Predicted lineup and team news

Spain take on France in the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League this evening. The European champions and current Nations League holders face France in Stuttgart, with the winners to meet Portugal in Sunday's final. Advertisement It's the first meeting between the teams since Euro 2024, when La Roja eliminated France in the last four on route to tournament success. Luis de la Fuente's side will be aiming for a repeat, as the Spanish look to maintain their status as Europe's finest. Spain vs France – Predicted lineup and team news Spain team news La Roja remain without Rodri, who missed the majority of the 2024/25 campaign with an ACL injury. The Ballon d'Or winner returned during the Premier League run-in but will remain with Manchester City as he steps up his fitness ahead of the Club World Cup. There are returns to the squad for Isco and Gavi after long absences, with the former in contention to make his first international appearance since 2019. The veteran impressed as part of the Real Betis side that reached the Europa Conference League final. Advertisement Elsewhere, Barcelona forward Ferran Torres is ruled out after undergoing surgery last month. Dean Huijsen is back involved, with the newly-signed Real Madrid defender hoping to add to his two senior caps. Spain predicted lineup Spain predicted XI: Simon; Porro, Cubarsi, Le Normand, Cucurella; Zubimendi, Pedri, Ruiz; Yamal,N. Williams; Morata. When is Spain vs France? Spain face France in the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League on Thursday 5th June 2025. Kick-off in Stuttgart is 20:00 BST. What TV channel is Spain vs France? Viewers can watch the Nations League match live on Amazon Prime, with coverage of the game available to watch on pay-per-view for £2.49. Advertisement Read – Five international debuts to look out for this month See more – The Premier League transfer stories to watch this week Follow The Football Faithful on Social Media: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | TikTok

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