Latest news with #Bilbao
BBC News
7 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
A transfer window Man Utd 'cannot afford to fumble'
So, what now?The dust has (mainly) settled from the heartbreak in Bilbao, that... eventful... post-season tour of Asia is history and we can finally try to generate some excitement before is desperately needed in different areas across the coming months. Encouragingly, it has already United did something they have not done in seven years by announcing their first summer signing on the opening day of the Cunha is joining from Wolves in an early statement of intent from Ineos. It is a strong start, and this is a transfer window they cannot afford to fumble.I expect at least one more forward to arrive, although Ruben Amorim wants a striker on top of another number 10. It would also be a surprise if there was not a new midfielder in his engine room at the start of next will be player sales to fund such moves. I expect loanees Marcus Rashford, Antony, Jadon Sancho and Tyrell Malacia to be playing for other clubs permanently come that quartet could just be the start of a ruthless exodus following one of the club's worst campaigns. Almost every player will have a will remain head coach and have a full pre-season to work with his squad in United's new £50m training facility at combination of new, better players and superior settings can only spark for what I want to see, it is not too dissimilar to what should happen, which is something to be optimistic about.I want United to get brutal. They have to. With no European football, it is easier to trim this underperforming squad, given not every player will need must enter 2025-26 with a senior squad no larger than 26 players and use a less congested campaign as an opportunity to start moving in the right more from Alex Turk at Turk Talks FC, external
Telegraph
9 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Son Heung-min set to leave Tottenham
Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min could be another high-profile departure this summer as the club seek to generate transfer funds and reshape their squad ahead of a return to the Champions League next season. There is an opportunity for Spurs to generate a fee for Son, 32, who lifted the Europa League trophy in Bilbao last month. He has one year left on his existing contract after the club triggered an option for another year this January. Saudi Pro League clubs have long been interested in Son, a recognisable world star with a major following in Asia as well as Europe. Son would depart on a high as one of the greats of Spurs in the last two decades. He has been captain since August 2023 and the departure of his erstwhile strike partner, Harry Kane. A persistent foot injury meant Richarlison just edged ahead of Son for the Spurs XI that started the final against Manchester United, although the South Korean came on in the second half. Arguably the best Spurs signing of the modern era, Son joined from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015 and has become a star of the Premier League and in his home country, South Korea. He was not in the squad for the final Spurs game of the season, a 4-1 home defeat to Brighton as a consequence of the foot injury. Son is currently with the South Korea national team, which plays its final two World Cup qualifiers against Iraq and Kuwait this month. They need only a single point to reach the tournament and Son is not expected to feature in a prominent role as he recovers from injury. He did not feature in Tuesday's new season kit launch. Ange Postecoglou's future looks very much in doubt, with no assurances yet from chairman Daniel Levy that the Australian will continue as manager next season. Postecoglou has been on holiday in Europe since the end of the Europa League victory celebrations last week. Telegraph Sport reported on Monday that Levy's key aide at the club, Donna Cullen, is stepping down after a long period of service with Enic, the company that controls Spurs. Cullen has been on the board at the club since 2006. In addition, there are questions over the future of finance director Matthew Collecott. Nevertheless, victory over United and the first European trophy since 1984 has changed the mood among supporters after a league season in which Spurs finished 17th – with a victory parade on Tottenham High Road. Postecoglou said after the parade it was not he who would make the decisions on his future. Asked how he felt about Spurs' season, Postecoglou responded to the BBC: 'How do I assess it? Outstanding. We won a trophy which we haven't done in 17 years and we are in the Champions League. Ask anyone at this football club at the start of the year whether they would take that – I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be a person in the house who wouldn't.'
The Guardian
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Tottenham's Pedro Porro: ‘We won. Let them talk and do all the memes they want now'
Pedro Porro had to take a pee. 'I wouldn't wish it on anyone,' the Tottenham Hotspur defender says and then he laughs, which he does a lot. It was late in Bilbao and in the home dressing room at San Mamés, up the tunnel and to the right, players divided by metal bars, the party had begun. But he had been selected for the drugs test and was stuck in a much smaller and much, much quieter room, drinking as much possible as quickly as possible until he could go. And that, he says, took ages. 'It was hard for me. You've just won something huge, you have all your family there, all your teammates, all the people and … ' And the party would have to wait. He Porro missed those moments but at last they did all come together, the Europa League champions in their kit – 'clean,' Porro adds swiftly – and winners' medals round their necks, families joining them dancing downstairs at the Carlton Hotel, a mile east of the stadium where they won the tournament. Around 3am, someone turned the main lights on, so someone else turned them off again; some didn't stop until they reached Tottenham High Road the next day, although he wasn't one of them. 'We wanted to carry on a bit, that's normal,' Porro says, 'although I had to go because my little daughter was tired. It had been a long, hard year and it was lovely to celebrate together.' A long hard year? How about 17 of them? Or more. Even sitting here in the sunshine at Spain's Las Rozas training camp, focus now turned instead to the Nations League semi-final against France on Thursday evening, Porro admits they still haven't quite assimilated what they have done, despite the congratulations with which he has been met upon arrival – along with Fabián Ruiz and Marc Cucurella, he is one of only three members of the squad to have won a European title this season – and despite seeing it for himself. He had imagined the scenes, he says, but not quite like what he witnessed in N17. 'It's more than 40 years since a European trophy. People's reaction was lovely. When you get on the bus and go round London, you get a feel for how important it is. You change families' lives. They had suffered. We had suffered too inside, day by day.' It's not just that Spurs' season had been mostly awful, or that they hadn't won for almost two decades; it was that they had become a kind of running joke. 'A meme', in Porro's words. 'That's just, like, people's opinion. Of course that reaches you, but we don't care … actually, in fact, I would say thanks to them because it can be extra motivation, petrol to fuel you. And we won. Let them talk and do all the memes they want now.' There may be no meme, no trope, quite like the old favourite. Lads, it's Tottenham. Porro laughs; oh he heard that one, all right. And? 'And it was used. The coach said: yes, we're Tottenham. We have to believe we're a big team. Now people have to respect Tottenham a bit more because they're Europa League champions. The season had been really bad in the Premier League and winning a European title brought such happiness. The fans had suffered, we had suffered too. But it's not how it starts, it's how it ends.' So much for Spursy. There is always vindication in victory. For Porro, for the club, and of course for the coach. Yet that is no guarantee that Ange Postecoglou will continue, his future uncertain, the axe still hovering over his head however much of hero he became in Bilbao, even if those familiar old lines were replaced by the one about always winning in his second season, a vow now fulfilled. If at first this is something that the full-back would rather not be drawn into, his position is clear. 'I'm not thinking about club football right now because I am here with Spain and we have two important games this week,' he says, 'but him continuing would be good for the dressing room. He has built a very good group and coaches also need time. In the league things didn't go well but he makes you win a trophy. That's important too. The people in the dressing room with weight have to understand that. But as I say I'm thinking about the national team now; there will be time for that.' Hang on, do you mean there are some players who don't understand that? 'No, it's simply just that ... we're inside and we know more or less how things are, no? I'm not going to lie, it did impact me to see [people say] they were going to sack him to be honest. I'm very close to him. He's been an important coach for me and it's thanks to him that I have brought out my [best] football these two years. It's complicated because in football in general things don't always depend on you but, honestly, in the team – I think, in my opinion – we're happy with him.' Yet a trophy is one thing; the daily reality another, and the doubt lingers over whether silverware should eclipse all else. On some simple level, it's almost baffling. How do you explain the difference between domestic form and European success? How can the worst season in decades end up being the best, a team that lost 22 times in the Premier League lifting a trophy at last? 'It's football,' Porro says, smiling. And supporters deserved something good at the end of all the bad, the suffering, he suggests, almost as if fate repaid them. But there is something else: priority, environment, a shift. 'The coach wanted to compete in both competitions because he's a winner,' Porro says. '[But] when you have a clear idea that you can do something big, you focus more on one thing than another. We knew that through the Premier League it was impossible to reach Europe and that the only option, the only objective, was to win the Europa League. In the Europa League, different demands are made of you. You have focus on pressing better, defending better. You saw it: three clean sheets in the last three games. Don't let in goals, and we have dynamite up front. We said if we kept a clean sheet we had a good chance.' That doesn't sound like Angeball, Postecoglou altering his approach; this was a success that was countercultural, the principles the coach spoke about laid aside, pragmatism allowed in, especially from January. 'Well,' Porro says. 'Look, it's like the final. I say to everyone: people can tell the story of that game any way they like; what matters in the end is that you win it. People say, we didn't have a shot on goal … what does it matter? Football is like that. Sometimes you have 50 shots on goal and you don't score any, and others one is enough.' He laughs. 'That's called effectiveness.' It brought a Champions League place, even if Arsène Wenger, the former Arsenal manager whose rivalry with Manchester United was fierce, suggested before the final that it should not have done. Both teams had been too bad to be handed such rich reward, the 15th or 17th best teams in England permitted to play alongside the continent's elite. 'That rule has been there for years, it's not news,' Porro says, shrugging. 'We have to concentrate on ourselves, not what old coaches say … even what old coaches of our own say.' Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion That'll be Tim Sherwood, then? When Porro made his debut, a 4-1 defeat at Leicester in February 2023, the former Spurs coach described him as 'so bad it's unbelievable'. A smile flashes across the Spaniard's face, that fuel there again. 'You can ask him from me what he thinks now,' Porro says, laughing. 'People can think what they want. I've got no problem with him or anyone. It's normal. It's his opinion. Lots of people have an opinion: if you're good, if you're bad. 'In truth, it does affect you, of course. It's normal. You're new, you have only been in the team a week, it was my first game. But it's football. And football is capricious. A year later I went back to Leicester and scored the first goal of the season. Football is like that. That toughens you. And as I have said before: thanks very much for having a go at me because that makes me strong too. It's true that at first it hurts because you think: 'Bloody hell, let me breathe.' But that's normal: it's the pressure that comes with football. They've paid £50m for you. And I have always had that mentality to change people's opinions.' To change himself too. Porro eloquently discusses the shifts between full-back and wing-back, for example: when to move, when to wait, when to step out, when to hold. There is, though, a twinkle of mischief when he admits that it's still the 'offensive weapons' that set him apart, even if that spirit may also be what balances him on knife-edge. There's the warrior in him too. Above all, he describes it as a 'mental change'. Opportunity counts and can't always be controlled. 'You have to be hard, self-critical. If someone says something like that, it's because you have to change. You grow. It's a process.' It has been played out here too, with the selección. Two years passed between Porro's first Spain game and his second. Nineteenth months passed between his second and third. In the meantime, he missed Euro 2024; his absence was possibly the one big surprise in the squad. Now though, still only 25, he has played five of their last six. He is likely to start against France in the Nations League semi-final. 'Look, I'm not going to lie: it hurt [to miss the Euros] because it came off the back of a very good year,' Porro says. 'But, well, football is like that. I had two legends in front of me – Dani Carvajal and Jesús Navas – so it's understandable. They both have their trajectories. It's like what happened with Rodri and Sergio Busquets: until your moment comes [you have to wait]. There's no need to even talk to Luis [de la Fuente, the Spain coach]: I know that if that's what he decided that was what he thought was best for the team. We have known each other for a long time and he doesn't have to explain anything to me. He had his two players and that's that. What matters is that we won the Euros. 'I wouldn't say I feel like a fixture now but I do feel more confident every day. Continuity and confidence is very important, you let go. If you play a game every year it's not the same: you come with the pressure to prove yourself. But Luis has always trusted me. And now we have a semi-final against a very competitive team. Their wingers are very fast, but then almost all the wingers in the Premier League are fast and strong. France have great players but so do we. We have our weapons too. Then there's the final. I played more minutes than anyone this year which is important to me. It's been a big season and hopefully we can put the icing on the cake on Sunday. It's a Nations League, a trophy. And whenever you play for a trophy, it matters.'
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Ange Postecoglou breaks silence amid growing uncertainty over Tottenham future
Ange Postecoglou has implored Tottenham not to settle for their Europa League success despite continued uncertainty over his own future. After becoming the first Spurs head coach in 17 years to win silverware with a 1-0 victory over Manchester United in Bilbao on May 21, Postecoglou is still in the dark over whether he will be allowed to enter the third year of his contract. Even though the 59-year-old received enormous roars of support after he declared at a trophy parade - in front of an estimated 220,000 fans - that "season three is always better than season two", no call on his future has been made after he presided over the club's worst ever Premier League campaign. Chairman Daniel Levy is expected to make a decision this week, but in the meantime, Postecoglou took time out of his family holiday in Greece to speak with Australian broadcaster ABCTV about the meaning behind his trophy parade speech. "I didn't want us to just enjoy the moment," Postecoglou said. 'I also wanted us to think about what's next, you know - don't settle for this. 'We've got a taste of it now. My players have got a taste for it. The club's got a taste for it. Well, let's make sure we're back here again." After Postecoglou secured Tottenham's first European trophy since 1984, he revealed that towards the end of January he made Europa League success the priority over the Premier League. Plenty of rotations, as Postecoglou tried to protect the fitness of various key players, followed alongside a number of defeats, which increased the scrutiny and pressure on the Australian. While Postecoglou remains in the dark over his Tottenham future, he has no doubt there are more notable achievements to come in a coaching career which started in 1996 and has seen him win trophies with South Melbourne, Brisbane Roar, the Australian national team, Yokohama, Celtic and now Spurs. "When we sat down 10 years ago and did the initial Australian story, I think maybe even you guys thought that that was the culmination of what I was about to achieve," Postecoglou reflected. "In 10 years' time, if we sit down again, I've got no doubt in my mind that there'll be more stories to tell." PA
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
PSG and Inter prepare to serve up a continental treat in Bigger Cup final
With the 2024-25 season in Uefa-land drawing to its glamorous close, is there a better time to assess how the whole thing went down with everything considered in the round? Yes! But Football Daily doesn't publish on Sunday morning, so let's make the best of a bad lot. And it's been a good year for English football all right. Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United went to the artistic and creative mecca of Bilbao and staged what can only be described as a dirty protest, a Chelsea squad worth £1,400,000,000 struggled against (though eventually steamrollered) a team collectively priced at 0.96% of a Mykhailo Mudryk, and it's fair to say the rest of the continent will be extremely glad to see the back of us. It was a close-run thing that there's no English representation in Saturday's Bigger Cup final, mind you. Paris Saint-Germain may have reached tomorrow's mega-game by beating all four Premier League contenders, but it wouldn't have taken too much for matters to pan out in a very different way altogether. Perhaps if Manchester City hadn't, for a couple of John Bondian months, reverted to their 1977-2009 norm? Perhaps if Willian Pacho hadn't been able to clear Ian Maatsen's fine volley off the line during the last knockings at Villa Park? What if Liverpool's analytics department had told Jürgen Klopp to cool his boots over Darwin Núñez? And how about a world in which Mikel Arteta didn't spend his life obsessing over WWE-style corner routines and turned the attackers loose instead? Give the old open play a quick go? See what happens? Eh? The slim margins. And so it's fair to say the rest of the continent will be extremely glad to see the back of us. And yet, having said all that, Internazionale aren't necessarily guaranteed to bring big smiles to the big event either. Anyone who speaks fondly of their 1964 and 1965 champions, Helenio Herrera, catenaccio, liberos and all, are trying way too hard, lying both to you and themselves. There's a reason even some Rangers fans were cock-a-hoop when Celtic's Lisbon Lions did their thing. Inter's 2010 winners, meanwhile, are solely remembered these days for driving Barcelona up the wall and round the bend, the final that year almost an afterthought for José Mourinho, his main goal of breaking Po' Pep's noggin already achieved. Although to be scrupulously fair, Romelu Lukaku provided some primetime Saturday-night light entertainment two years ago when keeping goal for Manchester City. So it's swings and roundabouts. This year Inter could finally feature in a showpiece to remember, as anyone who watched their latest iteration's gloriously batty defenestration of Barcelona in the semi-finals can attest. Admittedly their 7-6 aggregate win denied everyone the dream final showdown of Lamine Yamal and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, but it'd be churlish to deny Inter their destiny after their role in that instant classic, two matches that scraped the sky before finally breaking into heaven when Francesco Acerbi, 83½, celebrated his campaign-saving stunner with a joyous Fred-Astaire-style mid-air heel-click. Anything similarly thrilling and life-affirming tomorrow – e.g. Davide Frattesi pulling off exactly the same celebration but backwards and in high heels – and it'll be an occasion to remember. We're not there for a start, so have fun, Europe! Follow England 4-2 Portugal in the Women's Nations League with Xaymaca Awoyungbo tonight (7.45pm BST). And don't forget to join us for Bigger Cup buildup on Saturday, before PSG 1-2 Inter (aet) live with Scott Murray (8pm BST). 'It doesn't take a genius to work out that every attacking stat for Arsenal is down from what it was last year when they finished second. Then they finished second again. Whether it was the manager, or whether it was the top brass whose decision was it to go into the season without having a striker, it's cost them dearly because they never really put up a serious fight to Liverpool' – Alan Shearer gets his chat on with Alexander Abnos, and appears to fancy a gig with AFTV. 'How do Chelsea fans feel about a £1bn+ investment yielding the Conference League trophy? To paraphrase Tina Turner, Wroclaw Got To Do With It?' – Peter Oh. 'Re: Thursday's Football Daily main story – 'I would rather defecate in [my] own hands and clap' will be my new method of refusal to various people for sundry suggestions from now on' – Simon McMenamin. 'Can we say Chelsea have Delap in their hands now?' – Krishna Moorthy. Send letters to Today's prizeless letter o' the day winner is … Rollover. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Bruno Fernandes have had plenty of battles down the years. For the record it's W6 D5 L3 for the Liverpool right-back against Manchester United, while Fernandes has won just a single game in nine Premier League appearances when facing their fierce rivals. But who knows? Their next head-to-head could be an unexpected showdown in next month's Club World Cup. After reports of being only prepared to pay Liverpool in cured meats and Panini stickers to get TAA in time for the big bash in the USA USA USA, Real are now willing to line Liverpool's pockets with a boo-calming £10m when the transfer window opens on Sunday. Fernandes, meanwhile, is pondering whether taking a monstrous wage offer from Al-Hilal is a better option than losing friendlies to pub teams in Malaysia. Real Madrid face the Saudi side in the Club World Cup, so if Fernandes does do one, it's on: Trent v Bruno on 18 June in Miami. A former Royal Marine has appeared in court accused of driving into and injuring fans at Liverpool's Premier League victory parade on Monday. Paul Doyle, 53, appeared at Liverpool magistrates court on Friday charged with offences including wounding and causing grievous bodily harm to six people. West Ham have been fined £120,000 for homophobic chanting by fans during their 2-1 Premier League loss at Chelsea in February. The club accepted the FA charge of misconduct and have vowed to ban those involved from future matches. Milan have reappointed Massimiliano Allegri as head coach, one day after sacking Sergio Conceição. Allegri won the scudetto in 2010-11 during his previous spell in charge at San Siro, and takes over a side with no European football next season. Elsewhere in Italy, Raffaele Palladino has left his role as Fiorentina manager by mutual consent, just three weeks after signing a contract extension until 2027. Kelly Simmons, the former FA director of professional women's football, has said Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe's remarks about Manchester United's WSL side 'send a signal … about what he thinks about women, not just the women's game.' Chelsea are poised to add Liam Delap to their attacking ranks after triggering the Ipswich hot-shot's £30m release clause. Having successfully kept Mohamed Salah on board amid Saudi interest, Liverpool have turned around to find Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal sidling up to Luis Díaz and Darwin Núñez respectively. Manchester United have spoiled our fun by ending their post-season Asia tour with a win. Chido Obi scored twice in a 3-1 friendly win over a Hong Kong XI. And fancy another trophy, Spurs fans? Tottenham will face either PSG or Inter in the Uefa Super Cup final on 13 August at Udinese's Stadio Friuli. Not so long ago, Michelle Agyemang was a ballgirl for Sarina Wiegman's first England game at Wembley. Now the Arsenal star is chasing a place in the Euro 2025 squad, as she tells Tom Garry. Tom also got his chat on with Esme Morgan, the England and Washington Spirit defender who's hobnobbed with diplomats and adopted a kitten. Xaymaca Awoyungbo takes in the Unity Cup, a tournament at Brentford's Gtech Stadium for London's diaspora communities to celebrate. PSG have enjoyed a youthful, crowd-pleasing regeneration this season, but a Bigger Cup win for them is still an even bigger win for Qatar, writes Barney Ronay. Philipp Lahm is looking forward to a France v Italy final on Saturday after years of Spanish and English teams making the big game. In Switzerland, third-tier Biel-Bienne are taking on the mighty Basel/Basle/Barrrrl in the Cup final. Michael Yokhin charts their journey from bankruptcy to the big game. On this day in 1979: a big Cup final in Munich, won by Nottingham Forest after Brian Clough's side beat Malmö 1-0, Trevor Francis scoring the only goal. John Robertson (pictured left) got the winner when Forest defeated Hamburg to retain the title 12 months later in Madrid.
