Mohamed Salah and Alessia Russo collect Football Writers' Association awards
Salah scored 28 goals during Liverpool's league campaign, and is the club's third all-time greatest goal scorer.
That record belongs to Ian Rush, who presented Salah with his FWA award – and said he hoped to see his own record broken. Arsenal's Alessia Russo collected the FWA's women's trophy, as the Gunners prepare to face Barcelona in Lisbon in Saturday's Women's Champions League final.
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The Irish Sun
8 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
Liverpool AGREE Premier League record Florian Wirtz transfer as Reds beat Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Man City to ace
FLORIAN WIRTZ 's record-breaking transfer to Liverpool has been agreed. The Advertisement 3 Florian Wirtz has completed his blockbuster move to Liverpool Credit: GETTY 3 The Reds fought off interest from Real Madrid, Bayern and Man City Credit: AFP The deal is £100million up front with £16.5m in add-ons - making it a Premier League record transfer. It beats the previous record of £115m that Chelsea paid Brighton for Moises Caicedo in 2023. Wirtz has enjoyed back-to-back stunning seasons in the Bundesliga. His form has made the 22-year-old one of the most sought-after stars in Europe. Advertisement READ MORE ON FOOTBALL Liverpool went toe-to-toe with Kop chiefs And Real Madrid and Manchester City were also interested in securing Wirtz's signature. The attacking midfielder has posted double-digit goals and assists in each of the last two Bundesliga seasons. Advertisement Most read in Football Exclusive Latest Exclusive BEST ONLINE CASINOS - TOP SITES IN THE UK 3 Wirtz joins the Reds after bagging 10 goals for Leverkusen as they finished second in the table behind Bayern. THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY.. Advertisement The Sun is your go to destination for the best football, boxing and MMA news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video . Like us on Facebook at
Irish Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
St Pat's defender on why he is grateful to Liverpool and to Cardiff target
Ryan McLaughlin has got a licence to thrill thanks to top managers such as Brian Barry-Murphy and Stephen Kenny - and now he has a licence to coach thanks to his former club Liverpool. The St Patrick's Athletic full-back has just completed his B badge, with the Anfield club coughing up the cash to pay for his education. It's the latest example of how the Premier League champions continue to look after players long after they leave Merseyside. 'I was actually on a call with the player liaison officer at the academy. I was on a call with him last week,' said McLaughlin. 'They are always checking in on you, calling for half-an-hour or 45 minutes, and catching up. They are always there if you want to do anything, they are always inviting you over to go in and watch training.' On the pitch, McLaughlin's focus is on Pat's busy second half of the season, with European and FAI Cup football to look forward to along with a title challenge. The former Northern Ireland international has made 10 first-team appearances so far this season, and is well on course to surpass last season's tally of 16. Click this link or scan the QR code to receive the latest League of Ireland news and top stories from the Irish Mirror. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. He is enjoying life under Kenny, who encourages his wing-backs to get forward as much as possible. 'That's something I really enjoy and it's something I've been doing since I was a kid,' said McLaughlin. 'When I was signing for clubs, it was something I always looked for, that style of play and having the licence to go forward as a full-back. 'I've always felt I've had managers like that who allow you to do that and express yourself. 'We are obviously in a team with good talented footballers, and you obviously want to help them as much as you can too. 'It's something that I really enjoy and something I want to go more of.' Barry-Murphy is another coach that emphasises attacking play. He looks set to get the Cardiff City job and continue his rise up the coaching ladder - one that has taken him from Rochdale to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, where he was manager of the club's Elite Development squad. Currently number two to Ruud van Nistelrooy at Leicester City, Cardiff are looking to the Corkman to lead them back to the Championship after their relegation to League One. According to McLaughlin, they are onto a winner with Barry-Murphy. 'He was brilliant for me. I really enjoyed playing under him. What we touched on earlier about giving full-backs the licence to go forward, he gave us a big licence,' he said. 'It was one of the more enjoyable times of my career. He was a brilliant coach and you could tell that he would go onto bigger things. 'I know that he went, obviously, to Man City and had close dealings with Pep (Guardiola), and now he's Leicester assistant. 'He's someone whose career I'd follow quite closely. If he does get another manager's job. I'm sure he'll do brilliant going into that transition.' Barry-Murphy has taken an unconventional route in coaching - going from first-team coach to manager to City's underage set-up to a Premier League number two role. What about McLaughlin's long-term ambitions? One of the reasons Liverpool fork out for former players to get their coaching badges is that they might one day return to the club. 'There are obviously jobs that come up there too for after football,' said McLaughlin. 'It's something where I've got a very good relationship with people at the academy at Liverpool, it was a really good period of time when I was there. 'I've always had very good things to say about them because they have treated me well. 'It's probably quite rare for some clubs, especially a club as big as Liverpool, they don't have to do that (pay for coaching courses). 'But they look after the players when they've left and are on their own journey, which is nice to see.' He added: 'Not everyone can retire and have unlimited money from playing in the Premier League for so many years. In football, coaching is the next step for a lot of players. 'It happened to my brother (Conor), for example, when he retired at 30. He retired early enough and he went into scouting (with the City Football Group, Manchester City's parent company). 'It makes that transition from playing to the other side of the game a lot easier, when you have that help, so we are obviously very grateful to Liverpool for putting that on for us. 'Obviously I'm 30, coming up to 31. When you are going to be finishing in a few years, hopefully I've got a good few years left in me, but after that you want to have those options, and obviously the A Licence would be the next step for me. 'I'm not sure if I want to be a coach, but it's something that I want to have if I do fall into that and I do really enjoy it.'
The 42
3 hours ago
- The 42
The great transfer gamble: Why League of Ireland clubs must not rely on add-ons for value
IT LOOKS LIKE Ringmahon Rangers have already won this summer's transfer window. The 20% sell-on clause that was included in the Cork club's deal that sent Caoimhín Kelleher to Liverpool in 2015 paid off when his transfer to Brentford was completed just after the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper linked up for international duty at the start of the month. Brentford paid an initial €15 million, which could rise to just over €21m depending on add-ons being triggered. Regardless, Ringmahon will receive a guaranteed €3m from Liverpool and, as per Fifa solidarity payments, an additional amount in the region of 2% of the transfer fee will be forthcoming from Brentford. Not only that, unlike the training compensation mechanism that ensures clubs who develop players from the age of 12 to 23 are properly remunerated, the solidarity payments are attached for every transfer a player makes throughout their professional career. So, should Kelleher's star rise in the Premier League and a club decides he is the first €50m Irish goalkeeper, Ringmahon and Rockmount (he spent half a year there) will be divvying up another 2% that is calculated by the recently-established Fifa Clearing House system. In November, the world governing body confirmed that just shy of €110m had been distributed to grassroots and professional clubs over the last two years, and around €200m more is pending. Advertisement A decade after Kelleher left for Anfield, Ringmahon finally hit the jackpot financially. That's because Liverpool's initial outlay for the teenager was only in the region of €50,000. And therein lies the great add-on gamble for clubs when players are moving on. In hindsight, Ringmahon's 20% sell-on clause with Kelleher was astute. In reality, it was a price the Premier League giants were more than willing to pay given the odds of it ever being triggered are stacked against any youngster leaving in their mid-teens. It was a win-win scenario for them. That's another element of this deal that seems like it's part of a bygone era for Irish football. A year after Kelleher left home for Merseyside, the United Kingdom voted for Brexit. That means no Irish youngster can join a club there until the age of 18. On the whole, League of Ireland clubs will be the ones creating the market for the most talented youngsters here. No longer will a Kelleher or a Nathan Collins leave these shores without being in the national league set-up. And, increasingly, grassroots clubs will likely be cut out of any major deals going forward as training compensation is due from the age of 12, and that is now the point at which many players are joining League of Ireland academies. The compensation system is currently as follows. Clubs are benchmarked into four different categories, with the big five leagues in Europe (England, Spain, Germany, France, Italy) and those top tier clubs in Argentina and Brazil in Category 1. League of Ireland Premier Division clubs fall into Category 2, First Division clubs here are in Category 3, and Category 4 are grassroots clubs. If a transfer is being worked out solely on compensation terms, then as it currently stands, a club receives €10,000, regardless of category, for each year a player spent with them from the ages of 12 to 15. It's once a player turns 16 that the categorisation comes into effect. For every year a player is there between the ages of 16 and 23, Category 1 clubs get €90,000, €60,000 for Category 2, €30,000 for Category 3, and €10,000 for Category 4. One major difference now when it comes to arranging compensation if an English, Scottish or Welsh club come calling is the fact they are no longer in the European Union. That means the category of the buying club determines the compensation. So, if Arsenal decide to sign a player who has been with Shamrock Rovers from 12 to 15, Rovers will receive €10,000 per year for those three years, but Arsenal will then have to shell out the maximum €90,000 per year for each year beyond that. The caveat, of course, is that League of Ireland clubs won't want to be relying on compensation figures for their best players. That is why it's vital to ensure professional contracts are in place so the transfer market can determine a player's value, and building up the marketplace over time here is pivotal. Take this summer, for example. With four Premier League clubs among those keen to sign Cathal O'Sullivan, the Republic of Ireland U21 international will most likely leave Cork City for a transfer fee that should be in the high six figures, potentially even seven. That's despite the fact his current contract runs out at the end of this season. If such a market didn't exist and the 18-year-old wasn't already a professional, were he to join a Premier League club, under the current training compensation system Cork would be entitled to €10,000 per season he was at the club from 12 until 15. After that, as England is outside the EU and he would be joining a Category One club, the compensation from ages 16 to 18 would be worth €90,000 per season. Cork, you can be sure, will insist on a sell-on and if O'Sullivan hits the heights like some expect, that should be a welcome bonus rather than relying on it so as not to feel short-changed. Further add-ons for senior international appearances will be built in too, and in the most recent case of Killian Phillips, who was capped twice for Ireland by Heimir Hallgrímsson, Drogheda United will still benefit despite St Mirren triggering the option to buy the midfielder last month after an impressive loan spell from Crystal Palace. The Premier League club signed Phillips from Drogheda but even though the Scottish side took up the option, his registration won't officially sign over until 1 July, which means he was technically still a Palace player and thus the original add-ons are valid as per the first transfer. That, again, shows the gamble that comes with such aspirational add-ons. It's why, for example, clubs here will make sure there are add-ons of varying value for any first-team appearances a former player makes while sent on loan – the cost depending on whether it's a Championship, League One or League Two they are sent to. Related Reads 'He was awful, that's the worst I've seen Josh' - Shamrock Rovers star heads for Ireland duty on a low Grounds for change in League of Ireland shines a light on anguish and joy in equal measure 'I'm not one bit mortified for myself, I'm mortified for the league': Damien Duff on that viral photo Mason Melia is a prime example of a standard-setting deal, the €2 million transfer to Tottenham Hotspur coming to fruition as a result of competing clubs in the marketplace, in this instance Everton and Celtic. Melia did also play for St Joseph's Boys and Bray Wanderers between the age of 12 to 14 so they will be due training compensation. But nothing like what St Pat's will rake in, and the Premier Division club also have not one but two sell-on clauses to ensure they maximise the earning potential from the deal. If that sounds cold and cynical, that's because it's how the business of the game works and it will be vital for League of Ireland clubs to build on this for a sustainable and profitable industry. Rovers, of course, have already shown their capabilities by earning the guts of €3m on Gavin Bazunu – because of various add-ons and a sell-ons – and the earlier reference to Arsenal is not completely plucked from thin air either as they are likely to confirm a deal with Rovers for 16-year-old Victor Ozhianvuna. It's expected that the guaranteed upfront amount for Ozhianvuna will set a new League of Ireland transfer record, and could potentially even rival what Ringmahon's speculative clause for Kelleher delivered. That is no slight on the Cork club, of course, as they were simply trying to get the best deal possible in the system they were operating in. But, in the 10 years since, the market has changed and so have the demands on League of Ireland clubs.
