Mills runs second fastest British 1500m in Paris
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
4 minutes ago
- The Sun
Mikel Arteta's Arsenal transfer spending tops £1billion and passes Pep Guardiola as Ebereche Eze deal nears completion
ARSENAL'S £67.5million acquisition of Eberechi Eze is set to take Mikel Arteta's transfer spending to north of £1billion. The Gunners hijacked Tottenham's swoop for Eze after Thomas Frank's side had struck a deal with Crystal Palace. 4 4 Eze, 27, will undergo a medical at London Colney on Friday after featuring for Palace against Fredrikstad in the Conference League tonight. Arsenal have splashed the cash once again this summer, forking out around £270m on Martin Zubimendi, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Christian Norgaard, Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueke, Cristhian Mosquera and Eze. Since arriving in December 2019, Arteta has been allowed to fork out plenty of money in order to reshape his squad. The imminent arrival of Eze takes the Spaniard's spending to around £1.097bn. For context, Pep Guardiola 's mega-rich Manchester City have spent around £975m on transfers over the same period. Of the Arsenal starting XI that was picked against Manchester United last weekend, only Bukayo Saka and William Saliba were not signed by Arteta. But for every recruitment success story such as Gabriel Magalhaes and Declan Rice, there are some horrors. For example, in 2022 the Gunners splashed around £34m on Fabio Vieira. Arsenal are currently struggling to shift the Portuguese flop, after he endured an average season on loan at Porto in his homeland last time out. The Gunners also spent £19.5m on Takehiro Tomiyasu, who has since had his contract terminated a year early, as well as £32m on fringe player Oleksandr Zinchenko. How Arsenal survived Man Utd's attacks with 'forcefield defence' 4 TRANSFER NEWS LIVE - KEEP UP WITH ALL THE LATEST FROM A BUSY SUMMER WINDOW Injury-plagued Gabriel Jesus cost £45m, while the Gunners also spent £17m on forgotten man Albert Sambi Lokonga in 2021. City, meanwhile, landed Erling Haaland for a snip at £51.4m - but did splurge £100m on Jack Grealish and £45m on Kalvin Phillips. Since Arteta left his Etihad Stadium post as Guardiola's No2 to rock up at Arsenal, Man City have won four Prem titles, an FA Cup, two League Cups and the Champions League. Arsenal, meanwhile, have won a solitary FA Cup, back in 2020 behind closed doors due to Covid-19. Remarkably, no player from the starting XI that day remains at the club - with Kieran Tierney the last man standing before moving on in the summer. Of the matchday squad the last time the Gunners won a major trophy, only unused substitutes Saka and Reiss Nelson are still on the books.
The Sun
4 minutes ago
- The Sun
Transfer targets for Gameweek 2: Antoine Semenyo among strong options ahead of first double headers
DREAM TEAM managers have until 6:30pm on Friday to confirm their transfers for Gameweek 2. Many may choose to rollover having meticulously crafted their initial XI with the entirety of August in mind but others will want to act and start building their overall budget. Allow us to present some transfer targets for consideration. Antoine Semenyo (£4.5m) Bournemouth ultimately succumbed to Liverpool's attacking might in the season's curtain-raiser but their Ghanaian talent shone brightly. Semenyo scored a brilliant brace at Anfield to bank 16 points in his first outing of the campaign. He scored 11 league goals last term and will feel confident of bettering that tally this time around having already notched two in arguably the most difficult fixture of the lot. The Cherries are due to face Wolves and Brentford in Gameweek 2 with both games taking place at the Vitality Stadium. Semenyo will be unleashed upon Vitor Pereira's side but it's not guaranteed that he'll feature against the Bees as rotation is to be expected across the board in the Carabao Cup second round. Given Wolves conceded the most goals on the first weekend of the season, he may only need this weekend's fixture to satisfy his owners. Semenyo was comfortably the top-scoring midfielder in Gameweek 1, five points clear of Mohammed Kudus (£4.5m) and Tijani Reijnders (£4.5m) who will be in direct competition this Saturday lunchtime. 4 Robin Roefs (£2m) Dream Team bosses should resist the urge to chase lost points but sometimes it makes sense to recruit a surprise star performer after the fact. Take Sunderland's new goalkeeper for example. Roefs was the only player in his position to hit double figure in Gameweek 1 as he impressed on debut to help the Black Cats beat West Ham 3-0 at the Stadium of Light. The young Dutchman supplemented his clean sheet with four saves and a bonus point. And Regis Le Bris will be hopeful of another clean sheet against Burnley at Turf Moor this weekend. Sunderland will also play League One's Huddersfield in the Carabao Cup but there's a high chance Anthony Patterson (£2m) will start between the sticks in midweek. Even so, Roefs is a good option and there's every chance his owners will be able to sell him for a tidy profit in a fortnight's time. Much of the same logic applies to Dan Ballard (£2m), who we put in the spotlight earlier this week. Erling Haaland (£7.5m) A insultingly obvious suggestion but one worth making after Manchester City's ominous 4-0 victory at Molineux. Perhaps Wolves were just poor but Pep Guardiola's new-look side bore a closer resemblance to his title-winning units than the under-par collective of 2024/25. And if City are back to anything vaguely near their best then their prolific No9 will be essential in the world of Dream Team. Haaland tends to start strong and 16 points via two goals in his first outing has put him on course for another hugely prosperous August. Those Dream Team bosses who felt brave enough to go without him from the get-go may already be thinking twice. 4 Georginio Rutter (£3.5m) During pre-season we suggested that Brighton's No10 might be deployed as a striker this term and so that proved to be against Fulham last Saturday. The skilful Frenchman was credited with a (fantasy) assist having drawn the foul that resulted in the hosts' penalty -- he notched six points of his efforts in total. Crucially, Rutter is categorised as a midfielder in Dream Team and therefore allows gaffers to essentially select an additional striker. The Seagulls travel to Everton this Sunday before visiting Oxford in midweek. Rutter may not lead the line consistently as Danny Welbeck (£3.5m) represents stiff competition but he should be assured more minutes this season following the departure of Joao Pedro (£4.5m).
BBC News
4 minutes ago
- BBC News
Cutting Welsh rugby teams to two a 'sad day', says fan
"If Scarlets went it would be a disaster for us as a community. It would be a huge loss, like losing your best friend."That is how lifelong rugby supporter Alan Evans, from Hendy, Carmarthenshire, reacted to Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) proposals to cut its professional men's teams from four to organisation's chief executive Abi Tierney said it had "to do something radically different" as the current rugby model was "no longer delivering what our game needs", when the proposals were unveiled on Wednesday. But some fans and critics said the move would "alienate a lot of supporters" and could have far-reaching consequences for the future of the game in Wales. The WRU insisted no decisions had yet been made, but revealed four potential options for the future of the sport. It said cutting the number of professional teams to two would be the best options, but also proposed keeping four regions with unequal levels of funding, or cutting to three professional teams, either with equal or unequal funding. The WRU also admitted cutting two regions could start a legal battle. A consultation will start on 1 September, with a final decision expected four regions are Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets. Mr Evans said rugby was part of Welsh "culture" and "tradition", calling the potential loss "like taking emotion out of marriage.""It is a sad day for rugby in Wales," he said he feared Scarlets could be one of the regions cut, which would be "a disaster" for Llanelli, where rugby has been played for 150 years."It would mean losing 5,000 regular supporters in south Wales," he Evans said he would not switch to supporting Ospreys in Swansea. "I think Llanelli will rebel," he said. "If Scarlets are to suffer, I hope we join an English league to keep our identity." Denise and Jaff, were on a day out in Newport when they found out about the proposals. Jaff, 66, said: "I'm an Ospreys fan. You cannot mix the Ospreys and the Scarlets."His 68-year-old wife and Dragons fan, Denise, also said she was unhappy with the proposed changes, adding that the current four-region setup was "really nice" as it added: "You'll get people saying 'I don't want any Dragons in my team'."I don't know how this mix will work." Chair of Cardiff Rugby supporters group CF10 Lynn Glaister, said her "first thoughts are with the staff and players" after recent financial challenges. The club was taken over by the WRU in explained how its fans are "very worried" about the club's future but would take part in the consultation. "We've got a fantastic history as a club, and we want a fantastic future," Ms Glaister said."We stand ready to make our case for Cardiff to survive."She added it would be a "travesty if the capital city of Wales didn't host a team with Cardiff in the name". Another fan who has voiced frustration at the proposed changes to Welsh rugby is Ryan Price, treasurer of the Dragons Official Supporters Club. He said the consultation was meant to be open, "but at the same time you have a statement from the chief executive saying it is very difficult to see a situation where Cardiff is not part of that solution". While he accepted "radical change" may be needed, he said he found it hard to envisage supporting entirely new teams and names. Mr Price added: "We are comparatively lucky, we are only 30 miles on the train from Gloucester."There are opportunities to support top level rugby that hasn't been pulled out from under your feet." Additional reporting by Iolo Cheung, Sara Dafydd , Jordan Davies and Tomos Morgan.
