Latest news with #Offside
Daily Mirror
30-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Second Arsenal transfer target emerges as Gunners close in on £51m deal
Premier League runners-up Arsenal have a busy summer ahead of them as Mikel Arteta looks to make the additions needed to compete for the title again next season Arsenal's busy summer is already getting into gear as Mikel Arteta seeks improvement after an injury-impacted season. The Gunners were able to secure another second-place finish in the Premier League, but their points tally dropped off significantly compared to the previous two campaigns. There are clear areas of focus as we approach the opening of the transfer window. One of these is up front, where injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus left Arteta short of options at a key point in the season. A new deep-lying midfielder is also a priority, whether or not Thomas Partey sticks around. Martin Zubimendi looks like being that man, and we'll have the latest on the Spain international in today's round-up. Arteta is set to lose a couple of fringe players, too. Kieran Tierney is on his way back to Celtic and Jorginho is Flamengo-bound, while Neto and Raheem Sterling will return to their parent clubs after a season on loan in North London. We've also got the latest on some of the Gunners' other transfer targets, with potential to bolster the squad in all areas. Here are Mirror Football 's latest lines from around the Emirates Stadium. Zubimendi on his way, Sane next? Arsenal have met Martin Zubimendi's release clause, with a £51million move now looking to be a matter of time. They won't stop there, though, with Leroy Sane remaining a target. Sane worked with Mikel Arteta at Manchester City and is believed to remain on good terms with the Spaniard. He is out of contract at Bayern Munich this summer, though the German champions haven't fully given up on convincing him to stick around. According to The Times, Sane's agent was due to meet with Bayern on Wednesday. The winger's new offer is thought to be on a lower base wage than his current deal but with bonuses included. Man Utd keen on Arsenal-linked Garcia Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia has long been linked with Arsenal, but the Gunners appear reluctant to meet his £21million release clause. That may leave the door open for fellow suitors Barcelona, but they aren't the only ones in the mix. According to Caught Offside, Manchester United are readying a late bid to bring in Garcia as they look to offload at least one keeper this summer. Barcelona remain in the hunt, though, as do Newcastle United, while the Spaniard could yet end up staying put. "I'm very calm, and whatever decision needs to be made, I'll definitely think it over a lot with my people and choose what will be best for me. And I'm sure it will be like that," Garcia recently said when asked about leaving Espanyol for their local rivals. Arsenal told what they're getting with Zubimendi A former team-mate of Martin Zubimendi has assured rsenal they are getting a great person as well as a great footballer. The midfielder looks to finally get his move to the Premier League after sunning Liverpool interest to stay with Real Sociedad last summer. "He was always a very complete player," Benoit Cachenaut, who came through the ranks with Zubimendi at La Real, told Sky Sports. "Technical, quick, intelligent, potent. "You could already see he had everything to get to the highest level. But as well as being very good on the pitch, he was a very humble guy, always smiling, always very friendly." 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
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Arsenal ‘in talks' to sign £50million forward
Arsenal Push Ahead in Nico Williams Race as Arteta Makes Direct Contact Arteta takes personal approach in pursuit of winger Arsenal are intensifying their pursuit of Athletic Bilbao star Nico Williams, with manager Mikel Arteta reportedly holding direct talks with the Spain international as the Gunners look to fend off interest from Real Madrid and Chelsea. Photo: IMAGO According to Caught Offside, Arteta has taken a hands-on approach, personally outlining his project to Williams in an effort to convince the 22-year-old that north London is the right destination for the next phase of his career. Advertisement The winger, who has a £50 million release clause, has also been the subject of admiration from Madrid and Chelsea. Yet Arsenal believe their early groundwork — led by Sporting Director Andrea Berta — has placed them in a strong negotiating position. Williams fits strategic recruitment model Williams is seen as a player who not only fits Arteta's tactical profile but also represents Arsenal's long-term transfer vision. With 11 goals and seven assists in 44 appearances this season, his pace, versatility and technical quality have made him one of Europe's standout wide players. Photo IMAGO Former Madrid boss Jose Mourinho called Williams 'unique' and 'wonderful' in December 2024 — a view that reflects his rising stock across elite clubs. His Copa del Rey triumph with Athletic and success with Spain at Euro 2024 only strengthen his credentials. Photo: IMAGO Competition heats up but Arsenal remain confident Madrid's long-standing interest and Chelsea's financial clout mean the deal is far from done. However, Arsenal are quietly confident that their manager-led pitch, Champions League football, and an increasingly attractive project under Arteta will make the difference. Project appeal could seal the deal Arteta's personal involvement underlines just how pivotal this signing could be. The club views Williams not simply as a statement acquisition but as a central figure in their push to return to title contention next season. Our View – EPL Index Analysis Nico Williams isn't just another name on a transfer list — he's a proven talent with European pedigree, and at 22, he fits the mould of what Arsenal are trying to build: young, hungry, technically gifted players with room to grow into superstars. Advertisement The idea that Arteta is personally pitching the club to Williams is exciting for Arsenal fans and speaks volumes about how much they value him. In past years, Arsenal might have watched Madrid or Chelsea swoop in with bigger promises and deeper pockets, but this is a different era. This is a club that knows what it wants and is willing to go all in to get it. There's also something poetic about trying to lure a Copa del Rey and Euro winner to the Emirates. It signals Arsenal's intent to compete with Europe's elite again, not just participate. If Arsenal can beat Madrid to Williams, it would send a powerful message — not only to fans, but to future targets too.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jafar Panahi Speaks Out for First Time in 14 Years as New Film ‘It Was Just an Accident' Premieres at Cannes: I Spent ‘Eight Hours a Day Blindfolded' and ‘Being Interrogated' in Iran Prison
Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who is considered one of the country's greatest living film masters, is in Cannes with his latest film 'It Was Just an Accident,' marking his first project since being incarcerated for several months in 2023 for criticizing the Iranian government. In 2010, the auteur — known globally for prizewinning works such as 'The Circle,' 'Offside,' 'This is Not a Film,' 'Taxi' and most recently 'No Bears' — was banned from making movies, speaking to the press and traveling, though he surreptitiously kept making them anyway. The ban was lifted in April 2023, and now Iranian authorities have allowed him to travel to Cannes to launch 'It Was Just an Accident.' More from Variety Taraji P. Henson Says Hollywood 'Lied to Me' About Black Movies and TV Not Selling Overseas, Spent Years Being 'Graceful in Getting Paid Less ... Not Anymore Though!' Spike Lee Says Denzel Washington Deserved Oscar for 'Malcolm X' Over Al Pacino: 'It's Like Basketball, Where the Ref Blows a Call' Palestine Film Institute Calls for Decision-Makers to Amplify Palestinian Filmmakers' Voices at Cannes Docs Showcase In one of his first interviews since the 14-year ban was lifted, Panahi spoke to Variety through an interpreter about 'It Was Just an Accident,' revealing how the drama — which centers around an outpouring of strong feelings by a group of former prisoners toward a torturous guard — stems from his incarceration. Pahani also expressed his desire for Iranians to see 'It Was Just an Accident,' his first feature in which women do not wear the mandatory hijab, which he said reflects 'the new reality of our society.' To put it simply, your latest film talks about people who are very angry about how they were treated in jail. Is it just an accident that you made it after being jailed in Tehran's Evin prison for political prisoners for several months? When you spend eight hours a day blindfolded, seated in front of a wall, being interrogated by someone standing behind your back every day, you can't stop wondering what kind of conversation you can have with this man. Out of these specific circumstances, what would be your relationship with such a human being if you meet them again? Not that I came up immediately with the idea of making a film out of it. It's just a reflection, the kind of thought that you have while you are undergoing these specific circumstances in prison. But that's normal. As a filmmaker, you are always influenced by your environment, and when they take you out of your life and your society to lock you in a space like a prison, of course you come up with these reflections and ideas. But then [again] I didn't mean to make a film out of it. Even when I was released, whenever I would walk or go by the prison, I asked myself: 'What has happened to all these people who were with me, who are now on the other side of this wall? What are they up to? What are they going through these days while I'm out?' And so it was only gradually that all these reflections came together and gave me the idea of putting up this script and making a film out of it. Is it fair to say that this film is an attempt at some kind of reconciliation? It's not about war and peace. It's about the cycle of violence. We are social filmmakers, and as social filmmakers, we have no such thing as an absolute good character or an absolute bad character. Nobody is completely good or bad. Everybody is part of the system, and everybody is the outcome of a structure of a system that imposes its own rules and its own values on these people. So, the issue is more than reconciliation. It is a question of understanding how, when this system collapses, people who have been bombarded with medieval propaganda for nearly half a century can live together peacefully and express their needs and desires in an authentic way. Of course, you shot this film, as has been the case in the past, without a permit. Was it more difficult to do that than before? Well, my situation changed because the sentence — that had been running for over 16 years now, that banned me from filmmaking and even interviews and traveling — is now canceled. So officially, I'm like any other filmmaker who can undergo the process of censorship and ask for a permit to make a film. But of course, this is only the official aspect. In reality, given the subject that I wanted to deal with and the script that I had in mind, there was no way I could submit it to a commission and wait for their approval to make this film. So in reality, although the formal situation is different, for me it was exactly the same. I had to work in total secrecy, and again, do clandestine filmmaking with only my very close crew being aware of the subject of the film and of the content of the script. It was only my DP, my sound person and my actors. They were the only ones who really knew what we were going to work with, and that was the way we had to proceed all the way through. I believe that this is the first time that you shot a film in which one of the characters is a woman who is not wearing a veil. Is that true? If so, tell me about the significance of that and why you chose to do that? Well, this is the rule of Iranian cinema. It's been the rule since the revolution. You are not allowed to show a woman's hair. And because we had to put up with this rule, all of us were constantly trying to find solutions. And the first solution was not to give into this contradiction of showing women at home, where not even a religious woman would wear a scarf or a veil. And that's the reason why I always made films that happened outside. Never in homes. Never interiors, so that we could justify the fact that they wore a veil according to the social rule. So this is something that I have respected in all my films by showing women on the streets, in the countryside, outside, so that they wear a veil as they actually did in Iranian society. But then almost three years ago, there was this Woman, Life, Freedom movement after Mahsa Amini's death, and this totally changed Iranian society. At the time we were in jail, so we couldn't fully realize what was going on and what was the actual image, the transformed image, of Iranian society. I realized what really happened when I had a health problem and I insisted for weeks and weeks to be taken to a hospital. It was only after a few months that they finally accepted to transfer me to a hospital in a van. And it was when I was crossing the city that all of a sudden I realized that Tehran had changed, because some women were just walking around with no veil. Most women had taken off their veils, and in spite of all the repression and all the conflicts that there had been on the subject, we could just see them walking freely with no veil on their head after four decades. And this was something totally new. Something that was the new reality of our society. And as I said [to myself] because we are social filmmakers, we depict the reality of our country. The reality of our society. So there was no way I could make a film and go on covering the female actresses, because that's not what Iranian women – or many of them – are now doing. And this is why when I shot this film, I showed this character as she would have been in her real life. And as a matter of fact, it was not just my actresses, it was also all the extras that you can see on the streets. We never asked them to put on a veil or to take off their veil. They were just as they were. And when we were shooting this bookshop scene, we were there and then some passers-by, they noticed us and they realized that we were making a film, and they recognized me. And as they were just talking on the street, I asked them, 'Would you mind appearing as extras in the film?' And so the women said: 'We don't mind, but we will not wear a veil. If you ask us to wear a veil, we won't do it.' Do you feel that Iran's authorities, by allowing you to travel, want to signal that they are being less repressive? Well, I don't think it's really a decision with a specific meaning. I think I just did what my sentence required, which was that I was banned for 20 years. I did 15 years of it, 16 years of it, so I almost went through the [full] punishment that I was given. So I think even if you follow their legislation, they could not renew this sentence. It came to an end. But I don't really see it as a sign of less repression or any openness. I think they are just putting up with their own laws as they go. This is clearly a film that will not be able to have official distribution in Iran, as is always the case. However, when I was in Tehran a few years ago I went to the national museum of cinema and I found it interesting that there were posters of your films and prizes that you won in Cannes on display and that you were fully acknowledged as an important figure in Iranian cinema. When you make your films, do you consider the fact that they will be seen, albeit maybe not through the official channels? Are you making the film to speak to your own people? As I said, we are social filmmakers. We get our inspiration from our society. Of course, the first spectators that we would like to have are our own compatriots, the Iranian viewers. And we really struggled with that. We even asked to have at least one specific theater where we could show our films for free, at least one place. But this was never made possible. This is how this regime has been running this country for decades now. They decide what you should say, what films should be made, what films should be shown, how you should get dressed, what you should eat. They decide about every aspect of your life. This is the appearance that they impose on the Iranian people, but behind the curtain, the Iranians have not all submitted to these laws. They go on living their own lives with their own taste, with their own habits. And so of course, they discover our films as part of their lives, their social and cultural lives. And thank God, now we have all the new technologies and the virtual world that allows us to make this process very simple and quick, and reaching very quickly the Iranian audiences with our films. So even if it harms us economically, we don't mind. We just want the Iranians to see our films, and we still wish we had at least one theater to show them. But even if we can't, at least they can see them in illegal ways or in unofficial ways. As for the museum that you were referring to, all the prizes, the awards that are there are related to the films that I shot before being imprisoned. Because when I was in jail, the interrogator was putting so much pressure on me for all these awards and the festivals and the recognition of my films. The first time that I saw my wife after that, I told her: 'Go to the museum and get these awards back because now they are really problematic for me.' So now they are in my home. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘It Was Just an Accident' Review: Iranian Director Jafar Panahi's Done Being Discreet, Launching an Open Warning to His Oppressors
Take heed: Jafar Panahi is no longer the filmmaker he once was, transforming from understated humanist (in films such as 'The White Balloon' and 'Offside') to openly critical of the Iranian regime, as revealed in his punchy new political thriller, 'It Was Just an Accident.' The greatest irony of that change is that Panahi may never have become so explicitly defiant of his persecutors if the system itself had not tried to crack down as harshly as it did. Arrested multiple times for so-called 'propaganda' and locked up on two occasions (released only after he went on hunger strike), Panahi can't help but make art, emerging fired up and ready to fight back. The same is true for the five characters in 'It Was Just an Accident,' who've assembled almost like the diamond thieves in 'Reservoir Dogs' post-heist to point fingers and dispense justice. Strange as it may sound (for a slow-burn scripted drama with endless driving scenes and a detour through the maternity ward), their mordantly funny task crosses the absurdism of Samuel Beckett with one of Tarantino's more furious revenge pictures. Each of these survivors swears he'd recognize the self-righteous one-legged prosecutor who tortured them in prison, even though none of them saw the man with his own eyes. More from Variety Jafar Panahi Speaks Out for First Time in 14 Years as New Film 'It Was Just an Accident' Premieres at Cannes: I Spent 'Eight Hours a Day Blindfolded' and 'Being Interrogated' in Iran Prison Taraji P. Henson Says Hollywood 'Lied to Me' About Black Movies and TV Not Selling Overseas, Spent Years Being 'Graceful in Getting Paid Less ... Not Anymore Though!' Spike Lee Says Denzel Washington Deserved Oscar for 'Malcolm X' Over Al Pacino: 'It's Like Basketball, Where the Ref Blows a Call' Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) was blindfolded every time he was beaten, but he knows the sound of Peg Leg's walk when it limps into the auto garage where he works. For Shiva (Maryam Afshari), who refuses to wear the veil in her work as a wedding photographer, the man's smell is the giveaway: the way 'the Gimp' reeked of sweat. Meanwhile, hot-headed Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr) insists it's the guy's voice that takes him back to those traumatic days, when he was interrogated and threatened, left to stand for hours with a noose around his neck. So what if none of these survivors can make a positive visual identification? Together, they can surely determine whether the man tied up in Vahid's trunk is indeed Eqbal, the oppressor they share in common. How did he come to be Vahid's prisoner? That's the outcome of the film's disorienting first act, which begins with a bearded man named Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi) driving home with his family. His pregnant wife (Afssaneh Najmabadi) and daughter (Delmaz Najafi) are dancing to the radio when he hears a whelp, the sound of a wild dog being struck by his car. 'God surely put it in our path for a reason,' his wife reasons, unable to comprehend how much this minor accident will change their lives. According to traditional narrative logic, audiences should be predisposed to sympathize with this family, who are introduced first and seem like decent Iranian citizens (even if striking a dog doesn't earn the patriarch any points). At a nearby garage, Panahi adds Vahid to the cast, but does nothing to manipulate our feelings toward him. If anything, this disheveled new addition comes across like a slob, cowering out of sight in the rafters of the building the way a frightened child might. But something about Eghbal has upset him, and it's not until the next day, when he stalks and eventually abducts this stranger that his motives shift into focus. Vahid digs a grave and is ready to bury Eghbal in an open expanse of desert (barren but for a scraggly tree that looks as if it was borrowed from a production of 'Waiting for Godot'), but his panicked captive introduces just enough doubt for Vahid to seek out other witnesses. 'There's no need to dig their graves. They've done that for themselves,' says his friend Salar (Georges Hashemzadeh), opening a dialogue that Panahi seems to be having with himself in the film. By now, the Iranian regime's victims far outnumber its oppressors, whose draconian measures are inadvertently creating the very resistance they're trying to suppress. When things eventually reach a tipping point — and they will — Panahi wonders whether the citizens' revenge should be correspondingly cruel, or should they show mercy? Just how far off can revolution be? It's telling that Panahi is no longer obliquely challenging specific policies (the way 'The Circle' depicted gender inequality and 'This Is Not a Film' pushed back on limits to personal expression) but openly threatening his overlords with payback. Like fellow Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof ('The Seed of the Sacred Fig'), Panahi is still working with both hands tied behind his back. Except for Azizi, who plays Eghbal, his performers are all nonprofessionals, and much of the low-budget production is spent not on traditional sets, but within a few meters of Vahid's white van — or else in the back, where Shiva has brought along the bride (Hadis Pakbaten) and groom (the director's nephew, Majid Panahi) from a recent photo shoot. Her story is the most upsetting one we hear in a film that boils with rage, but still takes its time to play out. The director's anger comes as no surprise, though audiences may be caught off-guard by the humor, as in a shot of the couple pushing the van in their wedding gown and tuxedo. As the livid bride-to-be tells the man she's supposed to marry, 'It all started before you, and it has to stop someday.' That's the takeaway warning from a film that will almost certainly bring fresh heat on Panahi. While the simple premise recalls certain post-WW2 dramas, in which survivors recognize the Nazi culprits who once terrorized them, the film's chilling last scene feels like a call to action. For most of its running time, 'It Was Just an Accident' leaves unanswered whether Vahid and company have the right one-legged man. In a sense, it doesn't matter. The movie shows that those who've been wronged — for protesting unfair working conditions or appearing immodestly dressed in public — are now united by their mistreatment. Case in point, the characters' backstories were directly inspired by things Panahi heard while incarcerated, suggesting that he couldn't have written this movie without meeting like-minded people in prison. That means, even if the authorities crack down on Panahi, he's not alone. Best of Variety The Best Albums of the Decade
19-05-2025
- Sport
Mom speaks out after coaches say 11-year-old daughter is too old to compete
An Oregon mom is speaking out after two softball coaches were caught on camera questioning her 11-year-old daughter's age and height in an on-field incident that left the girl in tears. The coaches accused the child of being too old to compete mid-game and in front of an audience in the stands. "I want to see birth certificates or this game's done!" one coach said. Tracy Burchfield said the incident, which involved her daughter Brinley Stephens, was hard to watch. "I was holding back my tears because I was like, 'Oh my gosh, she's out there by herself. There's these two adults confronting her.' Thank God that our coach was there to step in between," Burchfield recalled. Brinley Stephens is an 11-year-old softball player and fifth-grader. Brinley stands nearly 5 feet, 10 inches tall, and she and fellow players in the league had proven their ages previously before they joined the team. But during a May 11 game, Brinley had just hit a line drive for her team, the Astoria Future Fish, before the opposing team's coaches stormed the field and began questioning her. "It was like, scary, like, him coming at me," Brinley recalled. "And I was just looking at him like, 'What the heck was going on?'" Brinley's family said she is used to comments about her height, but this experience was unlike any other. Following the verbal exchange, Burchfield claimed the opposing team's coaches continued making obscene gestures towards parents when the game ended. "We were upset, but we took it to the association and hoping that they do better and reprimand and hold him accountable for his actions," Burchfield said. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, about 70% of children quit playing organized sports by the age of 13, often due to pressure from adults who they say stop making games fun to play. Brian Barlow is the creator of Offside, a Facebook page that calls out bad behavior among adults at youth sports games. "We're not making room for our kids to be successful. We're not making room for our kids to understand that it's OK sometimes to lose, and in fact, sometimes when you lose, there's a victory in the loss," Barlow said. Since the on-field incident, one assistant coach has been suspended for the year while another was suspended for 10 days with probation for the year. Tournament organizers told ABC News they are looking into the incident. "We are still investigating the incident … The player did nothing wrong as she is just tall … and skilled for her age," Benjie Hedgecock, the executive director of North American Fastpitch said. Meanwhile, Burchfield said she has heard from other parents with kids in similar situations and who have thanked her for sticking up for her child and speaking out. Burchfield said she hopes the incident can serve as a lesson to show more kindness. "It doesn't take much to hurt a kid that much and make them just stop believing in themselves. These kids deserve better. We as adults need to do better," Burchfield said.
