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Ruben Amorim told fans they need to suffer to find success. Michael Carrick has reminded fans that there's a United way to do it all.A year ago, Marcus Rashford was at Barcelona, Carrick had just been sacked by Championship side Middlesbrough and Ruben Amorim was preparing for his first full season in charge at Old Trafford. A year later, they all meet in the same place under totally different circumstances.Rashford, Manchester United's prodigal son, has returned to new management, but for him it's not so new. He finds Carrick, United's new head coach and his former team-mate and captain, with his arms wide open, willing to offer him a chance to write another chapter in the story that began a decade ago in Manchester.Amorim, on the other hand, was sacked five months into last season, took over at AC Milan this summer and is looking to end a winless pre-season with victory against his former employers. In many ways, Carrick's progress in the role, acted out with a steely stoicism, has contrasted with the drama that surrounded Amorim's spell at Old Trafford.Rashford's return to the fold adds another layer of intrigue as Amorim felt he had to move him on after publicly questioning the England international's attitude on several occasions. United's pre-season meeting with AC Milan on Saturday feels less like a friendly and more like the continuation of a soap opera.As such, the pre-season finale for both sides provides a perfect opportunity to reflect on the year and how United navigated their midseason recasting to kick-start a promising new era. Here are three things Carrick has changed since Amorim's dismissal...Stream the Premier League with no contractAmorim's unwillingness to adapt was the indelible stain of his tenure at Old Trafford. Tasked with turning the tide of results at Old Trafford, the Portuguese installed a shape he knew and loved.Amid scrutiny, Amorim famously told reporters that not even the Pope could convince him to change his 3-4-3, which eventually led to his downfall. As the squad's numbers were reduced for the Africa Cup of Nations, he couldn't find a solution to maintain results.There were signs of some adaptation towards the end of his time in charge but Amorim ultimately reverted to type, which was the reported root of the angst between him and the United hierarchy.There was friction between the direction Amorim was taking the team and what United fans wanted to see. Though United were among the free-scoring sides in the division in spells under Amorim, the three-at-the-back formation was a far cry from what fans were accustomed to and were willing to tolerate in the long term.Similar issues are reportedly plaguing his early days in Milan. There have been suggestions of confusion in the camp, where players are being forced into positions to suit the system.In Carrick's first game in charge, the blueprint was laid out, and it was more "Manchester United". Carrick used the occasion of a Manchester derby to allow the horses to run free at Old Trafford, devastating Manchester City with almost every attack. United's 2-0 win flattered their opponents, who left Old Trafford escaping a further drubbing.United's front-foot style has continued into pre-season, with the intention being placed on moving the ball forward quickly. Summer recruit Andrey Santos has been keen to break the lines with forward passes and Bryan Mbeumo has thrived centrally, constantly running in behind and disturbing defences.Bruno Fernandes was among the greatest beneficiaries of Carrick's arrival, moved to his favoured No 10 position where he would go on a creative run that saw him set a new assist record in the Premier League.Under Carrick, question marks over United's style have disappeared.The mood at Old Trafford has changed and it's all started with the man at the top. Amorim's box-office outbursts, while entertaining, created a pessimistic atmosphere around the club. From talks of storms and suffering to being called the worst team in the club's history, Amorim's words rarely inspired confidence.When Amorim was sacked, United were in touching distance of the top four, but at times under Amorim, you wouldn't be able to tell from his demeanour or the messages he relayed to fans. Carrick got United over the line to secure a Champions League spot that Amorim had previously said his side were not ready for.Ahead of the new season, there's a great deal of optimism. Leny Yoro and Mbeumo have spoken of their desire to win the league this season, and Carrick has embraced his squad's dreams.Carrick believes his side have the potential to do something special this season, a year after the previous management had United teetering on the brink of a relegation scrap.There was a feeling once you crossed the line or found yourself out of favour, your race was run at United under Amorim. It's an admirable stance to take as a manager, especially after the squad's character had been under scrutiny for years.Alejandro Garnacho felt the brunt of this, while Kobbie Mainoo looked like he would follow suit and Rashford had two loans away after his position in the squad became untenable.Amorim will feel he was proven right in his decision on Garnacho, who, after an underwhelming spell at Chelsea, finds himself on loan at Aston Villa. However, his treatment of Mainoo has proved to be questionable. The midfielder went on to be a mainstay in Carrick's team and, despite not starting a league game until January, was nominated for PFA Young Player of the Year.The jury is still out on Rashford. His ability to impact the United team in terms of his quality was never in question. Amorim took umbrage with Rashford's general conduct, so impressive flashes at Villa and a LaLiga-winning campaign at Barcelona will need to be backed up by a willingness to match the culture that now exists within the club, should he stay beyond September's deadline.However, Carrick has opened up the opportunity for Rashford to return when his United career seemed over. Whether it works remains to be seen, but Carrick seems intent on second chances, owing to his man-management.

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3 CommentsLeft-back Calum Scanlon has returned to Cardiff City on a season-long loan from Liverpool.The 21-year-old helped the Bluebirds secure promotion back to the Championship at the first attempt after joining in February.Scanlon made eight appearances in League One and has come back to boost Brian Barry-Murphy's squad for the 2026-27 campaign.Cardiff, who beat Swindon in the Carabao Cup, start their league season with a home game against Welsh rivals Wrexham on Monday (20:00 BST)."I'm grateful for the experience I've already had here and I can't wait to make new memories at the club," said Scanlon, who signed a new Liverpool contract before sealing the loan move.Three clubs, six derbies as Welsh rivals collide"I'm ready to go, it's been a positive pre-season getting minutes," he said. "It was good for me. My body is ready for the season."The defender, who has represented England through the age groups, is Cardiff's third senior signing of the summer after Nathan Trott's loan from Copenhagen was turned permanent and midfielder Jack Moylan arrived from Lincoln City.Latest Cardiff City news, analysis and fan views

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Women’s football has much to gain from the kind of reforms that threats to snub upcoming tournaments might prompt. Infantino should be taken on“And I say to all the women … Pick the right battles. Pick the right fights. You have the power to change. You have the power to convince us men what we have to do and what we don’t have to do. You do it. Just do it. With men, with Fifa, you will find open doors. Just push the doors. They are open.”Those were the condescending words of Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, three years ago during a tone-deaf speech in Sydney, which left his audience, including some of the most senior women in the game, exasperated. It is a damning indictment of Infantino’s tenure that his patronising monologue on the eve of the Women’s World Cup final now barely even creeps into the top 10 of the most controversial moments since his latest re-election, in March 2023.Yet, with the Swiss administrator’s future hanging finely in the balance, the power to enforce once-in-a-generation change at Fifa may well be in the hands of women’s teams after all, as the threat of a boycott lingers over September’s Women’s Under-20 World Cup, the Women’s Under-17 World Cup, which gets under way in October, and that month’s senior World Cup playoff ties for next summer’s major showpiece, the Women’s World Cup in Brazil.This week Lisa Nandy told the BBC that Infantino “should go” and, overall, the culture secretary spoke well on the matter, but she added that she would not support a boycott of the U20 World Cup and said she was “not generally in favour of sporting boycotts full stop – because they unfairly penalise athletes and competitors who are not responsible for the reason that these boycotts take place”. On that specific element, it is important to respectfully disagree with Nandy and the many others who share that view.Yes, it would feel deeply unjust for football’s political turmoil to have an adverse impact on the development of the world’s best young women footballers through no fault of their own, but that is why any participating countries being prepared to boycott the upcoming under-20 tournament would send such a powerful message.It is tempting to follow the stance that many working within the women’s game are taking privately, which is that it would be a travesty if women’s football, having been neglected and let down by the authorities for generations, was harmed again by disruption to such a significant tournament, but the painful reality is that the young generation of women’s stars stand to be most affected by the decisions that are made by governing bodies in the days, weeks and months ahead.And yes, is it unfair for women’s teams, and young women’s teams in particular, to shoulder the responsibility of taking a stance against the now-scrapped vision of selling off a stake in Fifa tournaments – which, we should remember, would include all Fifa’s women’s tournaments too – through the murky concept of the Fifa Forward Enterprise subsidiary, but it is their futures, and the organisation of the World Cups finals that will come to define their careers, which are at stake.And the future of the governance of the sport, and decisions about who runs the game, is a debate that women’s football players, coaches and fans all deserve a much more vocal say in, on far more deep-rooted injustices than those that have dominated the news in recent weeks.Is it fair that, for example, there are only two women – Paola López of Mexico and Vietnam’s Thi My Dung Nguyen – among the 18 members of Fifa’s disciplinary committee, which hit the headlines amid the farcical Folarin Balogun scandal this summer? Or that all 10 of the members of Fifa’s Future of Football committee are men?Is it fair that, of the 37 members of Fifa’s council, the organisation’s strategic and oversight body, 29 are men and only eight are women? Or that seven of the eight vice-presidents are men?Is it fair that the 2023 Women’s World Cup prize money totalled $110m and this summer’s men’s World Cup’s prize pot was around eight times larger, at a record-breaking $871m?It would be wrong to say that there have not been positive improvements in women’s football across the world since Infantino took office in 2016. The past decade has included long overdue, albeit still very important and welcome, enhancements to provisions for players and coaches at women’s tournaments, a sizeable growth in financial investment and huge uplift in prize money, albeit from a very low bar. It is also fair to say that there are many key figures in the women’s game, across all continents, who support Infantino and are appreciative of the gradual improvements that are being made, while acknowledging that there is still a very long way to go.But everyone associated with women’s football should be concerned that the 25-page sales pitch that was titled Fifa Forward Enterprise Member Materials contained only one token reference to women’s football. It is why the England defender Lucy Bronze was right to use her voice to say she backed a boycott “for the good of the game”.On Friday morning, the latest twist in Infantino’s future delivered both positives and negatives for the under-fire president, as on the one hand, the Oceania Football Confederation declared its support for Infantino, while the confederation’s biggest member, New Zealand, withdrew its backing for him. New Zealand, impeccable co-hosts of the most recent Women’s World Cup, will have had plenty of reasons to support Infantino but has chosen to use its platform to call for “stronger governance, accountability and transparency”.Shortly before that news, on Thursday, a feature article was published on Fifa’s website entitled “Europe’s finest hours at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup”, looking back at dazzling performances of young breakthrough stars such as Spain’s Salma Paralluelo’s in 2022 or the Germany striker Alexandra Popp in 2010. Next month six European teams – including the hosts, Poland – are scheduled to show the world what they are capable of, but – whether the timing of that article was purely coincidental, political or ironic – European women’s under-20 teams’ finest hour may still be yet to come.

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Spain World Cup winner signs five-year deal‘I’m delighted to be beginning a new adventure’Paris Saint-Germain have signed Spain’s World Cup-winning ⁠forward Ferran Torres from Barcelona on a contract until 2031. Financial ​details were not disclosed, but reports said PSG paid €50m (£42.7m) ⁠for the 26-year-old.“I’m delighted to be beginning a new adventure at such an ambitious ⁠club as Paris Saint-Germain,” Torres said in ​a statement. “I’d like ‌to thank President ‌Nasser al-Khelaifi, Luis Campos [PSG’s football adviser] and coach ‌Luis Enrique for giving me the opportunity to join the team, which I hope to help win as many trophies as possible.”Spain’s World Cup hero arrives in the French capital after ‌scoring an extra-time winning goal in the World Cup final against Argentina. The forward scored ​21 goals and provided three assists in 49 appearances across all competitions for Barça in their last campaign as the club retained their La Liga ⁠title.Torres joined Barcelona in 2022 after a brief ​spell at ​Manchester ​City. He has scored 25 goals in ​65 appearances ‌for Spain ​and will ​be reunited with Luis Enrique, having previously played under the Spaniard during his time in charge of the national team.

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PSG have completed the signing of Spain's World Cup final hero Ferran Torres from Barcelona for £42.7m.Bienvenue à Paris ! ✍️❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/pS3RVLgW7NTorres etched his name into the history books by scoring the only goal of the final in extra-time as Spain defeated Argentina.The forward was a prime target for PSG, despite their other signings in this position which includes Maghnes Akliouche.Torres will wear the No 9 shirt in Paris and has signed a deal until 2031.In 207 matches for FC Barcelona, Torres netted 65 times, including in the Copa del Rey final victory against Real Madrid - one of six major honours he won in Spain.The transfer potentially frees up some funds for Barcelona's pursuit of Manchester City midfielder Rodri.City rejected a £55m bid from Barcelona for Rodri last week but the Catalan giants remain determined to sign him and are considering their next move as talks remain ongoing.

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16 CommentsFerran Torres, who scored the winning goal for Spain at the World Cup, has joined European champions Paris St-Germain from Barcelona.The 26-year-old has signed a deal with the French champions until 2031 for a reported fee of about 50m euros (£42.7m).He scored the extra-time winner against Argentina to help Spain claim their second men's World Cup last month, while his stock had already risen considerably after a strong season with Barcelona.The forward scored 21 goals in 49 appearances in all competitions, providing three assists, and helped Barcelona win the La Liga title.PSG, managed by former Barcelona coach and player Luis Enrique, have won the Champions League in the past two seasons.Torres is the second high-profile forward PSG have signed this summer after the arrival of Maghnes Akliouche from Monaco.PSG added to their silverware collection on Wednesday by beating Aston Villa 2-1 to win the Uefa Super Cup.Torres has been at Barcelona since 2022 having previously spent two years at Manchester City.He has scored 25 goals in 65 appearances for Spain and made his debut for the national team under Enrique.PSG could lose Bradley Barcola this summer, with the forward wanted by Liverpool.Romero reflects on Spurs stay as Atletico move confirmedListen to the latest Football Daily podcastSoundsGet football news sent straight to your phone

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1 CommentsLittle more than three months after their play-off tilt was ended in agonising fashion, Wrexham are set to reignite their bid to reach the promised land of the Premier League.The Red Dragons' season started in disappointing fashion as they were beaten 1-0 by Middlesbrough in the first round of the Carabao Cup.But the bread and butter of the Championship is undoubtedly the prime focus, and Phil Parkinson's side start their 2026-27 league campaign at Cardiff City on Monday (20:00 BST).The north Wales side will hope their efforts last term - their first campaign in the second tier since 1981-82 - will stand them in good stead as they bid to go one better this time around.As has always been the case during the remarkable ownership of Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac to date, new faces have arrived while other key figures - including icon Paul Mullin - have left the Racecourse Ground.But where do they stand in their quest to complete their dream of rising from the National League to the top flight?In ending the 2025-26 campaign in seventh, Wrexham secured their highest-ever finish.Their efforts were helped by the addition of 13 first team signings in the summer of 2025, which has ensured the club do not need to be so heavily active in the current transfer window.Full-back Danny Imray has arrived from Crystal Palace and central midfielder Ben Whiteman joined from Championship rivals Preston North End.In an additional boost, Wrexham have also completed a big-money move to bring in goalkeeper Anthony Patterson from Sunderland.It is hoped the fine-tuning - with a few more incomings expected - will help the club be more consistent and have the ability to shift up a gear when required.Scoring goals was not an issue for Wrexham last season.Only five teams - Coventry City, Ipswich Town, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Hull City, who all finished in the top six - scored more than Wrexham's 69 league goals.Parkinson's men were impressively efficient too.Their conversion rate of 13.24% was bettered only by Hull (13.42%) and Derby County (13.29%).Wrexham also outperformed their expected goals (xG) figure by 12.21, more than any other side in the second tier.Off the field, the new 7,500-seater Kop Stand is due to be completed next year.Wrexham's revenue is also expected to jump significantly from around £33.3m in 2024-25 to between £46m and £50m for the year ending June 2026.It means, despite having gained three promotions across the past four seasons, everything remains geared towards building for even bigger and better things in the future.Former Wales international Nia Jones told the BBC's Feast of Football podcast: "Wrexham will have learnt a lot after missing out on the play-offs last season."The fact they went back to back to back put a lot of pressure on them and put them even more in the spotlight."They were the team to beat, the team that everyone wanted to play their best players against and wanted to make the documentary and the highlight reel."So now they have stayed in the same league, hopefully it puts them a little bit more under the radar, and they'll have less pressure on them."What information do we collect from this quiz?Issues to rectifyWrexham's proficiency in front of goal was crucial as their defensive record was something of a concern.Only five teams conceded more than Wrexham's tally of 65 goals. Two of those sides - Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester City - were relegated.Just six sides made more than Wrexham's 29 errors leading to a shot, while Sheffield Wednesday, Hull and Swansea City were the only teams to face more than the 203 shots on target the Red Dragons faced.Parkinson's men also conceded two or more goals in 22 of their 46 league games.Injuries to first choice wing-backs Issa Kabore and Liberato Cacace did not help, nor did the regular changing of the back three in the opening half of the season.Things settled as the campaign progressed, with the likes of Callum Doyle and Dom Hyam impressing, while midfielder George Thomason performed admirably as a makeshift left wing-back.A fully-fit Imray should ease any worries on the right flank, although some concerns remain on the left.An upgrade in between the sticks was also key given the mixed fortunes of Arthur Okonkwo and Danny Ward.Parkinson handed Patterson, 26, his professional debut at Sunderland in November 2020 just weeks before leaving the Stadium of Light.The goalkeeper won two promotions with the Black Cats and played a key role in helping Millwall reach the play-offs last season during a loan spell with the Lions, so has plenty of experience to hit the ground running in north Wales.Three clubs, six derbies as Welsh rivals collideTheir lofty ambitions swiftly became evident to outsiders as performances and results improved - with players going on to make no secret of the club's desire to finish in the top six.It will be similar this time around, although, unlike last season, the target is abundantly clear to everyone internally and externally from the outset."The aim is to finish higher than last season," said defender Zak Vyner."To do what we did in the middle-to-back-end of the season where we picked up a lot of points and had a right go and just build on what was a positive end to the season with a disappointing finish."An intriguing campaign awaits, and the expansion of the play-offs presents an opportunity.It is one Wrexham will feel they are more than capable of taking.Latest Wrexham news, analysis and fan viewsListen to the latest Wrexham interviews, news and discussion on BBC Sounds

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9 CommentsCrystal Palace have signed Israel international Anan Khalaili on a deal which runs until 2031.The Eagles have reportedly paid a £21m fee for the 21-year-old, who can play as a full-back or winger.He arrives from Union Saint-Gilloise where, since joining in 2024, he helped the side win their first Belgian Pro League title in 90 years and a Belgian Cup.Khalaili will add European experience to Palace's Europa League campaign, having scored three of his six goals last season in the Champions League."I have followed the Premier League for a long time, it's a new challenge for me," Khalaili said."And Crystal Palace I like, because I have followed them for a long time. They have deserved to win three trophies and I want to do more."Khalaili becomes the fifth addition to Pierre Sage's side.Defenders Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oscar Mingueza each signed on a free, while Dwight McNeil arrived in exchange for Brennan Johnson and Evann Guessand returns on a season-long loan from Aston Villa.Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page

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Tottenham captain Cristian Romero has completed his £34.2m move to Atletico Madrid.Spurs retain a 15 per cent sell-on clause as part of the deal that has seen him pen a five-year deal.Atletico have been long-term admirers of the Argentina international, and there was an expectation that Spurs would allow Romero to depart this summer if the right offer arrived.The central defender was always believed to have preferred a move to Atletico, with Inter Milan and Spurs' north London rivals Arsenal among the other clubs to have been interested.Romero's Spurs deal was due to run until the summer of 2029.The 28-year-old was sent off twice last season during Spurs' Premier League relegation battle. He then missed the end of the campaign due to a knee injury.Romero received criticism from supporters when he appeared to be set to watch his boyhood club Belgrano play River Plate in the Argentina Primera Division Apertura final instead of being at Tottenham's crucial last game against Everton. However, he did ultimately attend the game.In a post on Instagram, Romero bid farewell to the fans on Friday and said he had achieved his dream of leaving his name in the club's history as the captain of the side that ended Spurs' 17-year trophy drought.View this post on Instagram A post shared by Cristian Romero (@cutiromero2)"Today, I say goodbye to a place that, for five seasons, was much more than a club. It was my home, my challenge and the place where my family and I built such an important part of our lives."I leave with a heart full of memories and enormous pride for everything we lived and achieved together."When I arrived, I had a clear dream: to leave my name in this club's history. I knew the only way was through hard work, sacrifice and achieving something that had seemed so difficult for so long: lifting a trophy again. And we did it."The journey wasn't perfect, but I don't want that to define my goodbye. I choose to remember the happy moments, the lessons, the people who stood by me and, above all, the love I received during these five years."Thank you to everyone at the club who shared this journey with me. Coaches, team-mates, staff and every person working behind the scenes you are all part of my story and have a place in my heart.""Even announcing the move before the club have announced it, it's Romero."On his day he was one of the best centre-backs in the world but those days came against Ecuador, Peru on international duty."There's nothing wrong with being proud to play for your nation but there was too many times it was a chore playing for Spurs."He posted a few public comments about the board, which you can't do. He was a key part of winning the Europa League but there was that final day saga about whether will he or won't he watch his team try to avoid relegation.

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One name has become the toast of Cameroon following her heroics at the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon).Some in the Central African nation are already calling for a statue to built in honour of Michaely Bihina after her incredible performances which have helped the Indomitable Lionesses return to the final for the first time since 2016.The young goalkeeper has been one of the stars of the tournament with player-of-the-match performances against Nigeria in the quarter-finals and hosts Morocco in the last four."I'm very happy and full of emotions because for our generation it's the first time to play the final," she told the BBC World Service after saving four penalties, one in extra time and three in the subsequent shootout, in Wednesday's semi-final win over the Moroccans."We thank all the people who support us."The 22-year-old made nine saves against Nigeria, setting the record for the most in a single match at the finals as Cameroon dethroned the defending champions - a victory which also booked their place at the 2027 Fifa Women's World Cup.Bihina described it as "a great day for Cameroonian football"."Playing in my first Wafcon and being able to beat Nigeria and qualify for the World Cup is historic," she told the Confederation of African Football (Caf)."I am so excited and happy that as a team we have achieved this."We had an objective - to change the history of our national team against Nigeria."Cameroon have previously lost three Wafcon finals - all against Nigeria (2004, 2014 and 2016) - but will now face debutants Malawi for the continental crown on Sunday (19:00 GMT).Bihina has been at the heart of the Indomitable Lionesses' challenge, with three clean sheets in five matches.A tense semi-final against Morocco saw few clear-cut chances in Rabat before the game went into extra time.Bihina was presented with her chance to shine late on when the Atlas Lionesses were awarded a penalty after Cameroon defender Maryam Nyadjou caught Sakina Ouzraoui in the face with her arm.Fatima Tagnaout stepped up to take the 118th-minute spot kick, but Bihina dived to her right to push the ball away and send the tie to a shootout."When I saved the first penalty during the game, I said inside my mind if we go to penalties I think I can do more," Bihina said."I have to catch minimum three penalties."The Benfica keeper was as good as her word as she kept out efforts from Kenza Chapelle, Maryame Atiq and Ouzraoui to help her team to a 3-1 win."I studied the penalties of Morocco girls during all the competition," she revealed afterwards.Bihina is widely considered as a contender for player of the tournament alongside Malawi's Chawinga sisters Tabitha and Temwa.Younger sibling Temwa leads the goalscoring charts with five goals and two assists, while Temwa has four goals.Bihina was born in Ekounou, in the Nkoldongo area of Cameroon's capital Yaounde, on 28 December 2003.She started playing football as a striker, but as she grew her coach advised her to switch positions."My coach told me that I was too tall to be a striker and that I would do better as a goalkeeper," Bihina told Caf as she described her rapid rise to the top after switching position."I did that and six months later I was summoned to the national team."She joined Portuguese club Racing Power aged 15 and helped them win the second tier league title in 2022-23.The following season Bihina was named the top flight's best goalkeeper as her side finished third in the table.This February she joined Benfica on a three-year deal, a move she described as "a dream come true", and she has already won a league and cup double with the Lisbon giants.Now she has inspired her country to reach next year's World Cup in Brazil and progress to the Wafcon final."For me personally, it has been a long journey of hard work and discipline," she said."I continue to work with humility and try to improve every day."Bihina will now face one last test against Malawi and the Chawinga sisters, with Cameroon aiming to put their previous Wafcon final heartbreaks behind them."It will be a good game," she told the BBC."We try to give our best like every game. We know we will challenge."Whatever happens, Bihina has already written her name in the Wafcon history books.Claiming the title could be the icing on the cake to cap the spectacular displays which have announced the goalkeeper as a star of the women's game on the continent.

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When Manchester City paid £12.5m to sign Jeremy Monga from Leicester City last month, they were not alone in wanting one of English football's most highly rated teenagers.Arsenal also coveted the 17-year-old winger, but City won the battle for a player who joined Leicester aged eight and has already broken records in senior football.Monga became Leicester's second-youngest Premier League player in April 2025, aged 15 years and 271 days, before becoming their youngest league starter and surpassing Jude Bellingham as the Championship's youngest goalscorer.He represents the more established end of a wider battle for young domestic talent.Antoine Semenyo was rejected by several academies before Bristol City spotted him playing college football. After loans at Newport County and Sunderland, he established himself in the Championship before joining Bournemouth for about £10m, then Manchester City in a £64m move.Ollie Watkins came through at Exeter City, Adam Wharton at Blackburn Rovers and Eberechi Eze - after being released by Arsenal - rebuilt his career at Millwall and QPR.For recruitment departments, finding the next player capable of following a similar route can be enormously valuable.Man City sign Monga - how good is the 17-year-old?That matches the 14 such transfers made across the whole of 2025-26. There were eight in 2024-25, 18 in 2023-24 and seven in 2022-23.Among the youngsters to have moved so far this summer are Blade Earley from Cambridge United to Aston Villa, Valentin Joseph from Blackburn Rovers to Brighton, George Munday from Cambridge United to Brighton, Harrison Bettoni from Wigan Athletic to Chelsea and Maxwell Adedeji from Leicester City to Tottenham.Monga is not part of BBC Sport's 14-player sample because he had already broken into Leicester's first team. His fee, however, illustrates how quickly the equation can change once a teenager proves himself at senior level.At 18, players have already received years of professional coaching but remain young enough to spend time in an under-21 or B-team environment before decisions are made over loans or first-team opportunities.The financial outlay can also be relatively small. Nine of the 14 moves identified this summer are listed as free transfers, with the other five for undisclosed fees. Eight of last season's 14 were also listed as free transfers.For clubs accustomed to paying tens of millions for established first-team players, spreading comparatively modest sums across several promising teenagers offers obvious appeal. Only one needs to develop into a Premier League regular for the strategy to potentially generate significant value.The economics of academy recruitment have also become a wider issue. The Premier League has approached the EFL over potentially capping compensation paid when young players move between academies.Clubs losing youngsters can receive training compensation alongside future appearance-related payments and sell-on entitlements, while unresolved cases can be referred to the Professional Football Compensation Committee.Before freedom of movement ended, English clubs could scout a vast European market without having to consider whether EU players were eligible to work in the UK.Analytics FC estimated in a 2022 report, external with immigration specialists Fragomen that about 60,000 professional players in Europe had potentially been available to British clubs before Brexit.Under the Governing Body Endorsement system it estimated only about 5,000 would be likely to qualify for a permit - a reduction of roughly 92%.The restrictions are especially relevant to younger players.Liverpool's Ifeanyi Ndukwe is a good example. The 18-year-old centre-back joined from Austria Vienna and impressed during pre-season but cannot play competitive matches for the Reds because he does not qualify for a work permit. A loan abroad is expected to help him build the experience required to become eligible.A teenager already progressing through an English academy presents no equivalent immigration obstacle.Brexit has also affected players moving the other way. Analytics FC found Premier League 2 produced more British transfers to EU clubs than any other English division before Brexit, but those moves had halved by 2021-22.That does not prove Brexit directly caused Premier League clubs to target EFL academies, but it changed the environment in which young players are recruited and developed.There is no uniform approach to youth development among Premier League clubs.International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) figures for 2025-26 show club-trained players accounted for 16.2% of Manchester City's Premier League minutes, followed by Chelsea on 15.5% and Brighton on 12.5%.CIES defines a club-trained player as someone registered with their current club for at least three full seasons, or 36 months, between the ages of 15 and 21. That means an 18-year-old recruited from an EFL academy can still go on to qualify as club-trained if he spends the next three seasons with his new Premier League club.At the other end of the scale, Tottenham's club-trained players accounted for just 0.1% of league minutes, while Bournemouth, Brentford and Burnley were all at zero.Recruiting from EFL and Scottish academies therefore offers another way of building that development pipeline.Rather than relying solely on players who have been with a club since childhood, a Premier League side can identify somebody developed elsewhere, bring them into their under-21 structure at 17, 18 or 19 and take responsibility for the final stages of their development.The numbers do not yet show a relentless increase. There were 18 such moves in 2023-24, meaning this summer's 14 cannot be described as unprecedented.But the concentration of 18-year-olds and League One players suggests clubs are becoming increasingly precise about the market they are targeting.For EFL clubs, that raises questions over how long their best youngsters can realistically be retained.For Premier League clubs, the calculation is different. The next Watkins, Eze, Wharton or Semenyo may already be somewhere further down the pyramid. The challenge is finding them before everybody else does.Meet Liverpool's rising star who can only play friendlies

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Spain defender on swapping Barcelona for Bromley, embracing the contrasting style of the WSL – and her newfound love for beans and crumpets‘No, I can’t, I’m sorry, it’s a secret!” Mapi León roars with laughter, in response to being asked what persuaded her to join London City Lionesses. Does this bode badly for our interview? Fear not, the Spain centre-back is in as banterous and jovial a mood as you could imagine any new signing to be, as she embarks on her first major interview since signing for the Women’s Super League club.Across the course of our conversation, in bright sunshine outside a quiet hotel near Maidstone, it is evident that the 31-year-old could scarcely be happier about her decision to swap Barcelona for south-east England. She is sorely missing her cat, Bagheera (“Here, you ask for so many things for pets, you can’t [really] fly with them, it’s so many documents, so many things”) but, that aside, she is buoyant, relaxed and clearly embracing English life. She says she likes the “little bread” in the morning, and we eventually establish she is referring to crumpets, and reveals: “I like the beans in the morning. It’s really interesting. My Spanish teammates like Alexia [Putellas] and Jana [Fernández] are like: ‘What are you doing eating beans in the morning? You need to train.’ I go: ‘No, it’s fine I like it.’”However, English breakfasts were surely not what attracted her to Kent to play for London City Lionesses so, returning to that first question, she explains thoughtfully: “My body was craving something different. I spent many years in a comfortable position, because playing at Barça has been absolutely wonderful and very nice; it is a style of game that suits me a lot and coming to England, the football is very different from the Spanish one, at first glance. So, I think [the reason was] being able to challenge myself and see if I am capable. I am going to make an effort to adapt to this league and also to show myself that I’m able to compete in another style of play that is not the one that makes me stand out the most.”An undisputed club legend at Barcelona, León certainly stood out in Spain as the best ball-playing centre-back of her generation, and won seven league titles, seven Copa de la Reina’s and – most impressively – four Champions League titles, during a nine-year period of relentless dominance with Barcelona, whom she joined from Atlético Madrid in 2017.This summer she was one of four members of the Spain starting XI that beat England 4-0 in June in Mallorca to leave Barcelona, together with Arsenal’s new signing Ona Batlle, OL Lyonnes’ new winger Salma Paralluelo and, most notably, her London City Lionesses teammate Alexia Putellas. Together, León and Putellas drew raised eyebrows across the women’s game by swapping the reigning European champions for a lesser-known team that finished sixth in the WSL last term, but they have been joined by a series of other world-renowned names including the former England goalkeeper Mary Earps and the France winger Kadidiatou Diani.The club’s new signings meet the vision of their ambitious owner, the American businesswoman Michele Kang, of whom León says: “The impression I get is of an empowered woman, with a winning mindset, driven by a desire to see things improve and a drive to win. And that is a competitive and winning mentality. And if in the end, I want to be part of it because it is a club created for women and that is not common, I think it is beautiful and exciting.“Everything counts when you make this kind of a decision, and of course, [Kang] was an important part because seeing another woman doing so much to help women’s sports, and women’s football grow, I think it’s impossible not to value that. I think it’s something very powerful.”The club’s signings of Putellas and León were announced five days apart in July, which prompts the question: did they discuss their decision with one another and was it a case of “If you go, I’ll go too”?“No, not really, no. I think we take the issue of personal matters very seriously,” León says. “It’s a very different challenge. You come from a league where you win every year. Where you have achieved great things internationally and you come to a club that finished mid-table with some different challenges. And I think it is a very personal decision for each individual to make, choosing what is best for you personally.“[You ask yourself] what do you really need right now? What is your body telling you? What do you think is best for you to keep improving, to keep pushing yourself, and to maintain that ambition? And I think each person needs different things. So, there wasn’t much communication between us. And that the decision wasn’t planned.”The more she reflects on her move, the tactical differences between Liga F and the WSL become clear as a key factor, as the Zaragoza-born defender continues: “The English league can give me a lot. You can learn a lot. The transitions, the style of play, playing with more space. The pressing is different too because I’m used to teams often sitting back in a mid-to-low block, whereas here, it’s probably more of a high press. I’d like to bring a bit of calm to the game.“I don’t know if that really fits with English football, but no, of course, I don’t want to change the system, but simply the timings as a centre-back. I am a centre-back so I see everything. And I like to control a little bit of the timings so maybe we can try to have a little bit more of the ball. Or there are many spaces, so we can go. So I like to have a bit of control.“The league is so competitive, the commitment the league is making, the clubs, I mean, I think everything makes it very attractive to come because I have been following the English league over these years and it feels like it can’t let you relax even for a second, not in any match, not during the match. Not a single second can relax you, because the English league is much more competitive.”Her new side open the season at home to Manchester United on 4 September. Until then, she is embracing a comparatively quiet life and enjoying not being recognised in public, adding: “It’s so different [here]. It’s not a bad thing but, I can just walk to buy food, and no one recognises me! And sometimes it’s nice, because in Barcelona we are not ‘famous’ but people know us. It’s one of the many amazing things. But also sometimes you miss this freedom. Like, just go and shop.”How long that newfound anonymity will continue is hard to tell, as it will surely not take long for León to become one of the most recognisable faces in the WSL if she can bring her form for Spain and Barcelona straight to London City Lionesses. For now, she can enjoy her beans and her crumpets in peace.