
Kuhn completes switch to Como from Celtic
"I think it's very clear, the model of Celtic," Rodgers said last week. "In the 18 months, he's done absolutely fantastic for us. He was aware of interest towards the end of last season and that sort of followed through."Other teams have joined in that interest over the summer and that's why a lot of the young players come. It's a brilliant club to come to develop and improve."Cesc Fabregas' Como finished 10th in Italy's Serie A last season, having been promoted the previous season as Serie B runners-up.Kuhn could come up against Celtic later this month in the Como Cup. The hosts will play Al-Ahli in the semi-final on 23 July, with Ajax meeting Celtic the following day. The third and fourth place play-off and final take place on 26 and 27 July.
Ambitious Como climb at rapid rate
The lakeside Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia is smaller than Tannadice, while average crowds are lower than Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs.However, Kuhn is joining one of the richest clubs in Serie A.In 2019, with the team playing in Serie D, Indonesian billionaire brothers Robert and Michael Hartono paid less than £1m to take over, following the club's third bankruptcy.The initial plan was to introduce Indonesian players into the lower leagues for a reality TV series but rapid success resulted in a change of strategy.Kuhn is the third winger to arrive in the space of a week, with Jesus Rodriguez signed from Real Betis for a reported £20m fee and AZ Alkmaar receiving over £10m for Jayden Addai.Alex Valle, who had half a season on loan at Celtic, is there after making a permanent switch from Barcelona, while former Nou Camp midfielder Sergi Roberto is among the star names recruited by Fabregas, who ended his illustrious playing days with Como in Serie B before taking his first steps into coaching.
More to follow.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
37 minutes ago
- The Independent
Rory McIlroy eyes overdue win after moving into share of lead at Scottish Open
Rory McIlroy put himself in pole position to win the Scottish Open after he carded a fine four-under par 66 at the Renaissance Club. The world number two landed five birdies, and just one bogey, to leave him on 11-under par for the tournament, and a share of the overnight lead with American Chris Gotterup. England's Matt Fitzpatrick and Marco Penge are two shots back following rounds of 69, tied for third with Americans Wyndham Clark and Jake Knapp. McIlroy landed his first birdie at the par-five third before dropping a shot at the seventh. However, he bounced back by picking up a shot on the next hole before further birdies at the 10th and par-three 14th. The Northern Irishman appeared in slight trouble on the par-five 16th after a wayward drive ended in the deep rough. But a beautiful approach allowed him to roll in a straight uphill birdie putt. He set himself up with another birdie chance at the following par three only to see his putt sail agonisingly wide. A perfect 340-yard tee shot at the concluding hole put him in the driving seat once more, but again his birdie attempt rolled narrowly past the hole. However, McIlroy's encouraging performance – with clear signs of him being back at his best – comes at a crucial time with The Open at Royal Portrush to follow next week. It also marks a significant improvement on McIlroy's form since he won the Masters in April to complete the Grand Slam. And he said on Sky Sports: 'It is my first realistic chance to win after the Masters. 'I have had a great season but yes, and I have said this before, when you do something you that have dreamt of for your whole life, and then do it, it was a huge moment in my life and career. 'I just need that little bit of time, and to be back here for the last couple of weeks and digest all of it, I feel like I came here for this tournament with renewed enthusiasm and excitement for the rest of the year.' World number 158 Gotterup equalled the course record with nine birdies in a bogey-free 61 on Friday to start the third day two shots clear. However, he will start the final day on level terms with McIlroy following a level-par round featuring two birdies and the same number of bogeys.


The Sun
38 minutes ago
- The Sun
Transfer news LIVE: Newcastle ready £86m bid for Ekitike, Chelsea set HUGE Jackson asking price, Spurs eye Wissa
Magpies eye Isak cover Newcastle could launch a club-record £86million swoop for Hugo Ekitike after reigniting their interest in the French forward. The Magpies are stepping up the hunt for a new striker after finally landing right-winger Anthony Elanga - a position that was their top priority to strengthen. Now they want back up for top scorer Alexander Isak. Boss Eddie Howe knows the Swedish star needs help given the addition of Champions League football to go with their Premier League schedule plus both the League and FA Cup.


The Independent
42 minutes ago
- The Independent
How Marc Cucurella fought through hell to adjust to Chelsea's ‘expectation of winning'
As Marc Cucurella engaged in one of his last press duties of what has felt like an interminable season, the focus of a table of journalists at a New York hotel, the left-back's minute tally for the campaign sat at 4,912 for club and country. He'll expect to hit the 5,000 mark on Sunday - a figure only the most indispensable can achieve. 'I feel very good to be fair,' he insists, showing the spirit he'll need against the challenge of the electrifying PSG starlet Desire Doue. But as he stares down the prospect of ending a year of almost constant football as a world champion, Cucurella can only reflect on the imperative adjustment in mentality that brought him to this point, now one of the most relied-upon, revered starters in the Chelsea team. Of course, it wasn't always this way. Cucurella's career at Stamford Bridge got off to a nightmare start. Joining from Brighton in a deal worth £63m in August 2022, the Spaniard was thrown into the deep end of a side that 'didn't have an identity', with new owner Todd Boehly's all-guns-blazing transfer approach and spontaneous managerial turnover plummeting the club into a place of on-pitch instability. 'I'm not a player that has the quality to take the ball and change the game in one action,' Cucurella admits. 'I'm more of a player that needs to have the team playing well to show my qualities. So at the beginning it was very tough because the team maybe didn't have an identity or a clear way to play.' His performance struggles, reflective of an entire team that floundered to a dismal 12th that season, led to the fans getting on his back. There was an atmosphere of expectation at Chelsea that acted as a stark shift from what Cucurella, whose senior career prior to the Premier League consisted of stints at Getafe and Eibar, two Spanish sides whose priority in LaLiga was simply survival. With the step up in quality and stature came the diminishing value of victory. 'You win? Ok, it's your job and you don't celebrate,' Cucurella says. He struggled to get his head around this. 'In first months I was like 'oh f***ing hell'. I enjoyed it more at other clubs because when you win, you are happy all week and the feeling is very different. But if you are at a big club, you need to understand this and you fight for a lot of things. Here you need to win every game because at the end of the season, you want to play for trophies and play finals. It's difficult to understand this and you need to find the motivation in different ways.' Cucurella was taken out of the Chelsea firing line in February 2023, removed from the squad by manager Graham Potter - a fellow faltering ex-Seagull - to give the Spaniard a momentary mental reprieve. At this juncture, Cucurella was at rock bottom. It wasn't until another low point that things began to turn around. 'I started to enjoy my journey here after my injury,' Cucurella says, reflecting on being sent for ankle surgery in December 2023. 'When I was injured, I was three months out, and then I had a lot of time to think about myself and to know me better and what is good for me and what I needed to work on more. This is probably the moment that changed my career. 'Yes, it was a bad moment, it was very tough for me. But then after this injury, my first game back when I played against Leicester, I scored. Then that evening, the national team called me because they had an injured left-back. Everything moved forward.' After finally earning some plaudits at Chelsea as one of the bright sparks of the underwhelming Mauricio Pochettino era, Cucurella rose to the occasion on the international stage. Among the litany of Spanish standouts that downed the competition - including England in the final - at Euro 2024, he helped guide his nation to triumph in a first major tournament since the days of Vicente del Bosque. He was playing with confidence and it showed, now with the maturity and understanding of what it takes to be a winner. In a matter of months, Cucurella went from being booed by his own fans to beloved, now only drawing the ire of the opposition. He's become arguably the best left-back in the Premier League, a staple of Enzo Maresca's fledgling regime with a newfound penchant for finding the net - last season netting seven goals from his regular forays forward. But knowing how public perception can change at the flip of a switch at this level, he remains to determined not to let the noise get to him again - whether positive or negative. 'The most important thing, it's difficult, but it's to not lose my confidence,' Cucurella says. 'I'm the same player that I was when I signed in my first years. It's difficult to understand that when you play a good game, you're not the best and when you play a bad game, you're not the worst. You need to always try to stay in the same line. It's an important thing to learn in the big clubs.' From a man who once struggled to come to terms with the expectation of winning, Cucurella now verges on immortality with the Blues. There is one game left of this behemoth of a season, and it's against European champions PSG in the inaugural Club World Cup final. Contrary to the tournament's detractors, the stakes are high for Cucurella, who wants his place in history. 'All the people will remember us because it's the first club to win this trophy.' But as the 2024/25 campaign ticks over to 329 days, a duration indicative of an over-crowded football calendar, Cucurella will not let Sunday's outcome impact what little time he will have dedicated to spending with his family. He's a father and husband first, and promises to switch off from football entirely once the tournament is concluded, having only three weeks of downtime at his disposal before he's required for pre-season. 'I have spent a lot of time away from my kids,' he says. 'We have booked a cruise with the kids with Disney. I will need to watch all the cartoons, just enjoy what they want to do. Try to spend time with them. The most important thing is that when I'm with them I don't think about football and I think only to enjoy these moments.'