Latest news with #Berta
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Arsenal working on 6 new contracts for first-team stars after Gabriel agreement
Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes signed a new long-term contract earlier this week but Gunners sporting director Andrea Berta does not intend to stop there Andrea Berta will now seek to iron out new long-term contracts for four key Arsenal stars after defender Gabriel Magalhaes committed his future to the club until 2029. While the Gunners are yet to make any significant early moves in the transfer market besides pushing ahead with a £5million swoop for Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, Italian chief Berta has made notable progress on a number of key contract extensions behind the scenes. Sources have told Mirror Football that since arriving at the club in March, Berta has been working extremely hard on a number of key agreements as Arsenal want to keep their house in order and retain the services of their most-prized assets. Both Bukayo Saka and William Saliba, who have two years left to run on their current deals, have held positive dialogue with Arsenal over fresh terms and want to stay at the club. Saliba has been courted by Real Madrid but Mikel Arteta's indispensable duo have already spoken publicly about their desire to remain in north London in a major boost for the Spaniard. Arsenal are relaxed about the process and while there's an understanding that while negotiations can take time, they maintain confidence that agreements will be struck in due course. Academy graduates Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly are also in line for new deals which would also include lucrative pay-rises. Their current contracts are due to expire in the summer of 2026 but there is optimism agreements for both players are now in sight following two stellar breakthrough seasons at the Emirates. Conversations with Lewis-Skelly began prior to Berta's arrival while one of the Italian's first acts as Arsenal sporting director was to approach the representatives of Nwaneri to propose formal contract discussions, which are advancing. Negotiations also remain ongoing with both Thomas Partey, who is currently set to become a free agent at the end of the month, and winger Leandro Trossard. Arsenal made Partey what they considered to be a competitive offer around 10 days ago but at this moment in time, there is still no agreement between the parties and the situation remains open. The Ghanaian midfielder, who turns 32 next Friday and has also attracted interest from Barcelona, wants to stay with the Gunners and is understood to be settled in north London. However, Partey is said to be cautious that his next contract could potentially represent his last big deal and his agents want to see his importance to the team reflected within the terms proposed. All parties want to find a quick resolution as Partey and his agent Jose Daniel Jimenez Pozanco, who has been handling talks with Arsenal, are currently scheduled to be in Ghana from June 10 to June 13 for the second edition of the 'Thomas Partey tournament' where scouts from Europe will cast an eye over young local talent. Additionally, Partey is due to appear at the All Star Festival in Accra, Ghana on June 18. Meanwhile, Trossard remains in line to extend his stay with Arsenal having joined the club from Brighton in January 2023. He was the subject of a verbal offer from Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad last September and sources close to Trossard have confirmed there is still interest from the Middle East but to date, there have been no concrete offers this summer and the 30-year-old Belgian's priority is to continue with the Gunners. Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. 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.
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Andrea Berta closing in on first Arsenal arrival ahead of summer spending spree
Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta is a busy man - and he hasn't just been in negotiations with players recently, with a move for a new recruitment specialist gathering pace Arsenal are reportedly trying to strengthen their recruitment team ahead of a busy summer transfer window by moving to hire Matteo Tognozzi. The Gunners are embarking upon a hugely important off-season and new sporting director Andrea Berta is keen to bring in reinforcements. The club knows that they need to improve their squad if they are to take the next step under Mikel Arteta in 2025/26. Arsenal have finished second in the Premier League for three straight campaigns and were knocked out of the Champions League in the semi-finals by eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain last season. Former Atletico Madrid recruitment chief Berta was hired in March with the remit to provide Arteta with key signings this summer. The Gunners have already snared Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi for £51million, but have a whole host of other players on their radar. They are not just working on signing players, though, with The Athletic reporting that Tognozzi is in advanced talks to join Berta's department. The 38-year-old Italian has previously worked for Juventus and Granada and is well regarded as a recruitment specialist. He made his name working under former Tottenham sporting director Fabio Paratici at Juventus. If Arsenal can conclude a deal, then Tognozzi will effectively replace Jason Ayto, who left last month having climbed the ranks over 10 years at the club to become assistant sporting director under Berta's predecessor Edu. Arsenal are keen to get Tognozzi on board soon because time is of the essence in the transfer market. Zubimendi is expected to become the first signing of what will be an extremely busy summer, with several other positions being looked at. According to reports in Greece, Arsenal are in talks with Genk over a deal for 17-year-old Greece international Konstantinos Karetsas. The young midfielder could cost the Gunners around £38m, although he would remain at Genk for next season to continue his development. HAVE YOUR SAY! What is the most important deal Arsenal can do this summer? Comment below. Meanwhile, the main focus is on landing a top-class centre-forward, with Arsenal keen on both RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko and Sporting Lisbon's Viktor Gyokeres. A final decision on which they will go for is reportedly yet to be taken by Berta, who has been pondering the financial frameworks of the deals. Arsenal also have a long-term interest in Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams and would like to sign a new back-up goalkeeper after Neto returned to Bournemouth at the end of his loan deal. They are reportedly keeping an eye on Kepa Arrizabalaga, who performed well at Bournemouth last season and has a £5m release clause in his Chelsea contract. The club's co-chairman, Josh Kroenke, has made it clear that the Gunners mean business this summer. "We plan to invest to get behind winning and doing better next season," Kroenke said. "We're delighted we have our sporting director, Andrea, who will play an important role in this. "He is part of a unified and strong team, supported by the board, who are crystal clear on exactly what we need to do and the way in which we want to do it. The right way. The Arsenal way." Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. 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.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘You show up and get deported anyway': Migrants with court hearings face an impossible choice
Protesters gather at the immigration court in downtown Phoenix on May 22, 2025, to guard against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arresting people showing up for their scheduled court hearings. Photo by Gloria Rebecca Gomez | Arizona Mirror Federal immigration officials continued targeting people at the Phoenix Immigration Courthouse on Thursday, surveilling and detaining migrants whose cases were dismissed minutes earlier in ways that appear to be an attempt to minimize attention from both protestors and media. Berta, a soft-spoken 48-year-old woman who was afraid to give her last name, spoke to the Arizona Mirror while she and her lawyer took refuge near protestors. She said that the United States has been her home longer than Mexico ever was. 'It's been 28 years,' she said. 'More than half my life.' Returning to Mexico terrifies her, she said, and she's been working with an immigration lawyer to make sure that never happens. On Thursday, she went to Phoenix Immigration Court to attend a mandatory hearing. ICE agents were waiting. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Berta is one of hundreds of people across the country with tenuous legal protections who have lately been caught in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign. Trump promised on the campaign trail that he would deport millions of people. But doing so has proven more difficult than simply declaring that it would happen, and Trump has reportedly spent months angry that immigration agents haven't rounded up more immigrants. In what legal experts have derided as a bid to boost deportation numbers, the Trump administration has recently launched raids at immigration courthouses in multiple cities, targeting migrants and asylum seekers who show up for scheduled immigration hearings. Last week, more than a dozen people were detained by ICE agents in Phoenix, shortly after federal prosecutors filed to dismiss their cases, effectively leaving them open to deportation. That same pattern played out in Berta's hearing on Thursday afternoon. The federal prosecutor made a motion to dismiss her case, and the judge granted it. The consequences were almost immediate. When she and her lawyer, Erica Sanchez, exited the courtroom, they noticed ICE agents. Thinking quickly, they ducked into the bathroom to wait it out. Later, the pair were able to exit the courthouse building and stood with immigrant rights advocates until Sanchez's husband arrived to pick them up. At the same time that Berta and Sanchez climbed into the black Jeep, a federal agent raced down the stairs from the courthouse's covered carport towards them, but they drove away before he could stop them. On the second floor of that parking structure, which is directly across from the courthouse's entrance, ICE agents could be seen looking through binoculars and speaking into walkie talkies, ostensibly taking note of which cars immigrants were leaving in and relaying that information to other federal officials waiting in white paneled vans and vehicles with out-of-state license plates in the surrounding streets. Thursday was the second day ICE agents employed a new tactic of following migrants outside of the courthouse grounds and pulling them over blocks away. Immigrant rights advocates say the move is intentional: detaining people in the surrounding streets instead of the elevator or courtroom lobby makes it more difficult for advocates to protest or film the arrests. At least one woman was observed by a reporter being detained after being pulled over in her car, but it's unclear how many more people were arrested under the new strategy. But opponents of the raids haven't let that new difficulty deter them from at least trying to monitor ICE activity. Members of pro-immigrant groups, including the Phoenix branch of Indivisible, Common Defense, Fuerte and the Borderlands Resource Initiative, organized themselves via text messages, Signal chats, phone calls and walkie talkies. Some protestors gathered in front of the courthouse entrance and warned migrants entering and exiting the building that ICE agents were watching. Others stood near two white paneled vans with U.S. Department of Homeland Security license plates parked behind the courthouse on 9th Avenue and Van Buren Street. A few jumped into a car to respond to a tip sent to the ICE watch hotline set up by immigrant advocacy groups in January, in anticipation of Trump's hostile agenda. And when an immigrant woman whose case had just been dismissed approached protestors waving posters at oncoming traffic advising them of ICE's presence, a man who would only identify himself as 'P' for fear of repercussions, accompanied her to the McDonald's across the street and ordered her a Lyft home. 'P', who teaches music in the Creighton Elementary School District, said that it was clear the woman was being followed by ICE because the duo had cut through a construction area, crisscrossed streets and turned down corners only to consistently find ICE vans nearby. He said it was 'surreal' to watch federal agents try to arrest a person simply attending a scheduled immigration hearing — going through the same legal process border hawks have for years advocated for. Artie, who also teaches at Creighton Elementary School District, said he was inspired to join the handful of protestors because of his own history with the immigration system. In 1979, at just 14-years-old, Artie left Guadalajara, Mexico, with his parents to immigrate to the United States. He's since become a citizen, but that experience helps him empathize with the fear that people attending immigration hearings on Thursday felt. 'I'm here to support, to try to get ICE to be less effective,' he said, calling their strategies 'crazy'. While the threat of a detainment persists at Phoenix Immigration Court, migrants with scheduled hearings have no other option but to show up. Those who skip a hearing have a deportation order filed against them and their case is closed; getting back into the legal process is much more difficult if that happens. Carlos accompanied his wife to Phoenix Immigration Court on Thursday morning. While she attended her hearing inside, Carlos waited across the street on a public bench. He was nervous and restless, walking back and forth between the bench and the courthouse, then up and down the public sidewalks near both. When Phoenix police officers arrived to keep protestors away from the courthouse entrance, he kept a close eye on them, worrying that they might be ICE agents. He had heard about the arrests of the past two weeks, and said the news scared him and his wife. 'It almost makes you not want to show up,' he said. 'You show up and you get deported anyway.' But, he added, they went to the hearing despite the risk because the alternative only guarantees a deportation order. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Arsenal could sign boyhood fan in surprise move: report
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Arsenal have been touted to land a lifelong fan of the club this summer in their quest for a top striker to take them over the line. For the third season running, manager Mikel Arteta has failed to deliver a Premier League title, with Liverpool wrapping up their 20th championship recently, while the Gunners' form has dipped following major injuries in attack. With Champions League action returning tonight for Arsenal, there could yet be big silverware coming to North London before the end of the season – but new sporting director Andrea Berta is said to already be busy looking to secure a prolific no.9 ahead of next season. With Raheem Sterling looking likely to return back to Chelsea following his loan spell, Gabriel Jesus out with an ACL injury until midway through next season and Leandro Trossard a real possibility to sell this summer, big moves are expected in attack at N5. Despite this, links with new forwards have gone quiet, with the likes of Martin Zubimendi said to be close and defender Cristhian Mosquera said to be in talks. Now, CaughtOffside have reignited the rumour mill, claiming that Ollie Watkins would be interested in a move this summer. Speaking to former scout Mick Brown, the report states that any impending permanent arrival of Marcus Rashford at Aston Villa could push the 29-year-old out of the picture and that his historic support of Arsenal could be a decisive factor in wanting to join the Gunners. FourFourTwo understands that Watkins is merely one of several options on the radar for the club: but the England international isn't necessarily the top pick of either manager Arteta or director Berta. Arsenal were heavily linked with an opportunistic move for Watkins back in January but any possible transfer back then was dependent on Jhon Duran remaining in the Midlands – and with Berta having since joined, he has his own ideas of forwards to chase. Berta's arrival would make a Watkins move a surprise to say the least: Viktor Gyokeres has emerged as a target in recent weeks, while historic interest in Benjamin Sesko could well be sparked up once more, should his club, RB Leipzig, fail to qualify for the Champions League this season. Watkins is worth €50m, according to Transfermarkt. Arsenal travel to PSG tonight in the second-leg of the of the Champions League semi-finals.
Metro
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Metro
Mikel Arteta responds to claim he will be overruled on Benjamin Sesko transfer
Mikel Arteta has opened up on his relationship with new Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta amid speculation they are at odds over several key transfer targets. After missing out on the Premier League title for a third season in a row, the Gunners are expected to spend heavily in the summer window. Having resisted the temptation to add a new forward to their ranks in January, a new striker looks to be the No.1 priority. Arsenal came close to signing RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko 12 months ago before he opted to sign a new contract and Arteta is thought to be a huge admirer. Alexander Isak is the dream target, but Newcastle have little need to sell, especially now they appear guaranteed to qualify for next season's Champions League. Wake up to find news on your club in your inbox every morning with Metro's Football Newsletter. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link we'll send you so we can get football news tailored to you. Berta, who joined Arsenal as Edu's replacement earlier this year, meanwhile, is thought to be pushing his new club to make a move for Sporting Lisbon's Viktor Gyokeres. Asked ahead of Sunday's match with Newcastle, Arteta was asked about how the dynamic is working between him and Berta andhe said: 'Very good, they're two very completely different personalities, characters and backgrounds. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 'But he's someone who's very driven and very clear in his ideas, vision and how we want to achieve it, and very supportive of everything that's been done here, with a lot of people who have contributed massively to the position that we are today as a club. 'The squad that we have, the players and the staff that we have, and he's ready to add value and make us better. That's the reason why we've chosen him to be here with us.' Pressed on whether the two men are fully alligned on which players to target, he said: #On what we have to do, yes. On what we can do, I don't know. I think sometimes from the plan that we had, and actually what we're able to execute, we've never been able to replicate it exactly. 'This is football, it happens to every football club, that's why we plan certain ways and okay, if we cannot do it, we do something else. 'I think the aim is clear but then you have to just do it slowly, thing by thing and start to achieve it. 'A big part of that as well is keeping and making sure that the players that are here are happy, they feel valued and they are willing to continue with us. That's very, very important.' More Trending On the consequences of potentially not all being on the same page, he added: 'If that happens that means that we cannot explain ourselves well enough and we are not clear enough on what we want, and I guarantee you that hasn't happened. 'It didn't happen in five-and-a-half years with Edu and I guarantee you [the same] with Andrea. They are good to say: 'Mikel, look this and this is what we need,' and I say go for it and do it. 'If not it's because I will ask that many questions and we will do so much work that it will be so evident that this is what we don't have to do, it's not going to fit. 'We have learned a lot, some of them that have worked really well and others not and that's for the ones as well that we have to learn so well to make sure that we make the right calls but we are all human beings and fortunately nobody's got a crystal ball here!' MORE: Andrea Berta could push Mikel Arteta to sign cheaper alternative to long-term transfer target MORE: Eddie Howe confirms two big injury concerns for Newcastle ahead of Arsenal clash MORE: Chelsea and Arsenal target move for £30million Brighton star
