Latest Sports Stories

Football News

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

Football News

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

Football News

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.

Football News

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.

Football News

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

Football News

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.

Football News

Florentino Pérez pressed the Special One button again after two straight trophyless seasons at Real, but Lamine Yamal and co remain title favouritesA lot has changed since José Mourinho was last appointed Real Madrid manager, but a lot has also not changed. Before his first game in charge in 2010, Spain had just become world champions, their extra-time winner in the final scored by a Barcelona player after their opponents, who had been reduced to 10 men, had tried to kick them off the park. Like then, Mourinho’s task is to take down a Barcelona team that have won two La Liga titles in succession. And like then, he has a host of world-class talent at his disposal.Florentino Pérez is also still around – and he is largely the reason why Mourinho is back. After the chief executive, José Ángel Sánchez, was said to have led the charge to appoint Xabi Alonso last summer, the 79-year-old club president has made the decision his own this time. He promised Mourinho, who won La Liga with 100 points in his first spell, would return if he was re-elected in snap elections in June and the announcement came, in true Pérez style, on the opening day of the World Cup.Jorge Valdano, the former Madrid player and manager who worked upstairs during Mourinho’s first tenure, was of the opinion that a lot has indeed changed since then. “Almost 15 years have passed: football is no longer the same, society is not the same, Florentino is no longer the same, and Mourinho certainly won’t be either,” he told A Bola.But Mourinho was the outstanding law-and-order candidate. Even after Alonso’s sacking last January, Madrid’s season continued its descent into chaos under Álvaro Arbeloa. In May, Federico Valverde was taken to hospital for stitches after a bust-up with his teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni. A few days later, Madrid conceded the league title in the clásico and would finish the campaign trophyless. By then an online petition calling for Kylian Mbappé to leave had reached 30 million signatures. Speculation about the future of Vinícius Júnior, who had 12 months left on his contract, would not go away.Not everything has gone right since – a £129m bid for Julián Álvarez was turned down by Atlético Madrid, while Barcelona look more likely to sign Rodri from Manchester City – but Madrid’s preparations for the new campaign have exuded an air of calm. Mourinho began work a month before his contract started and has not had an official unveiling in front of the media. “It’s not about working at Real Madrid, it is working for Real Madrid,” he said sternly in a short in-house interview at the start of pre-season. The soundbites are limited to his new Netflix documentary. There has been no globetrotting summer tour either; just a series of low-key friendlies across Europe.Perhaps most importantly, after all that Arsenal talk, Vinícius has signed a new six-year deal. “Vinícius has become one of the most important players in one of the most successful periods in our history,” the club said. Mourinho will have to find a system that gets the best out of him, Mbappé and Jude Bellingham, not to mention a new galáctico, the £115m winger Yan Diomandé, who was playing across town for Leganés B in Spain’s fifth tier only last year.Diomandé made his Leganés first-team debut at the Bernabéu in March 2025. “Who makes their debut at 18 against Real Madrid? It was a dream. And then it was a nightmare,” Diomandé wrote in the Players’ Tribune this summer, while he was shining for Côte d’Ivoire at the World Cup, in a raw and emotional article dedicated to his sister Roxane, who died aged 15 after her drink was spiked at a party, just weeks after her brother’s La Liga debut.Supporting Diomandé and Vinícius down the left wing will be Marc Cucurella who, along with Bernardo Silva, Ibrahima Konaté, Denzel Dumfries and the 6ft 4in striker Carlos Espí, are all signings that should adapt easily to Mourinho’s coaching. But of all the star quality on the pitch, it is the Portuguese coach who will attract the most attention.By landing the Real Madrid job again, Mourinho has staged a comeback few expected after his later struggles in the Premier League and a tour of Europe that delivered mixed results. His orchestrating of Benfica’s remarkable Champions League escape against Madrid last season, with the goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin’s late goal, thrust him back into the spotlight. But his disappointing comments after Vinícius accused Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni of racist abuse – Prestianni was ultimately banned by Uefa for “homophobic conduct” – were criticised by Kick It Out as “a form of gaslighting”. “Mourinho is Mourinho,” said Arbeloa.After returning for pre-season, Vinícius said: “It has gone very well, getting to know the new coach … Mourinho wants me to be as I have always been: happy, cheerful and playing my football.” There has been no suggestion of any lingering bad blood.It is not only Mourinho who is returning to La Liga after a lengthy absence. Racing Santander are back for the first time since 2012 and have welcomed back one of their own in Sergio Canales, now 35, who left aged 19 to join Mourinho’s Real Madrid in that summer of 2010. “I’m still struggling to believe this is real,” the midfielder said last month. Deportivo and Málaga also return to La Liga for the first time since 2018 having both dropped to the third tier in that time. Depor’s marquee signing has been a 37-year-old Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.Diego Simeone, beginning his 15th full season in charge of Atlético, reunites with Mourinho in the dugout for the Madrid derby. Atlético have started life after Antoine Griezmann with investment in their squad that has included signing Lee Kang-in from Paris Saint-Germain and giving him Griezmann’s No 7 shirt. Manuel Pellegrini, Mourinho’s predecessor in his first spell at the Bernabéu, remains in charge of Real Betis while Villarreal, the other of Spain’s five clubs in the Champions League this season, have appointed Iñigo Pérez after his feats at Rayo Vallecano.Pellegrino Matarazzo, the American in charge of Real Sociedad, will be looking to build on the club’s Copa del Rey triumph in April. The other hotseat in the Basque Country, at Athletic Club, is occupied by a German for the first time since Jupp Heynckes in 2003. “Athletic is the only club where a handshake is more important than a signature,” Heynckes told the new man, Edin Terzic, before he took the job.It is Barcelona, though, who remain favourites for the title. Like Griezmann, Robert Lewandowski has departed for Major League Soccer in the US, and there is still a gap up front while Atlético stand firm on Álvarez. Anthony Gordon has replaced Marcus Rashford to fight for a place with the injury-prone Raphinha on the left wing, but, with respect to Karim Adeyemi, there is no real competition on the other flank. Lamine Yamal did not take the World Cup by storm as many expected but he has returned from America as a world champion and, let’s remember, a 19-year-old. He will probably be the ringleader once more if Hansi Flick is to match Pep Guardiola’s achievement of three successive league titles. The first clásico is at the Camp Nou at the end of October.Unlike Europe’s other major leagues, La Liga is staggering the start of its new season. Owing to their players’ involvement in the later stages of the extended World Cup, none of Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético are in action on the opening weekend. The league’s president, Javier Tebas, is one of Gianni Infantino’s loudest critics and said on Sunday that the Fifa president’s projects are “destroying” the national leagues. All this means José Bordalás’s Getafe, soon embarking on a European campaign, will raise the curtain at Quique Sánchez Flores’s Alavés on Saturday evening – what more could you ask for?

Football News

You can’t help but feel the Argentinian with a penchant for red cards will arrive at his spiritual home when he completes his move to Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid‘He’s not that kind of player” is perhaps the greatest of the co-commentators’ meaningless banalities. Used shortly after a “nice guy” has scythed someone in half about a day after the ball has gone, it is by definition nonsense because if you have scythed someone in half about a day after the ball has gone, then you are indeed that kind of player.But I don’t recall ever hearing anyone saying “the thing is Clive/Brian, he is that kind of player”. I haven’t analysed every foul in Premier League history to tell if you those kinds of challenges are carried out by players all of us would consider to be “that kind of player” as opposed to the opposite – but the list of players with the most red cards suggests a pattern – Richard Dunne, Duncan Ferguson, Patrick Vieira with eight reds, Lee Cattermole and Roy Keane on seven, Vinnie Jones, Joey Barton and Alan Smith (obviously not that one) among those on six.This article is about Cristian Romero – who I would have in tier A of “that kind of player” if I had any idea how to do one of those Instagram reels where you rank things (posh hotels you can’t afford, non weight-bearing exercises for middle-aged people, biscuits of the 80s etc). There is not a debate about the category in which he belongs.A player with a permanent look of mild confusion about the situation he finds himself in – am I really playing for Spurs? Consistently inconsistent. And always just a moment away from just giving the whole game a Falling-Down-full-Michael-Douglas-ing.Six red cards in his Spurs career. It feels like so many more. The one that sticks in my mind is in the last 16 of the Champions League exit to Milan in 2023. Hopefully you don’t remember the game, it was awful. 1-0 going into the second leg, it’s goalless in the 77th minute at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Spurs aren’t doing much. Romero’s already on a booking for lunging into Rafael Leão. And then for no apparent reason he flies into Théo Hernandez on the touchline.It’s peak Romero. That sense that he was just a bit annoyed he wasn’t playing for someone better and so he needed a release. And in this case Hernandez was that release.His four Premier League red cards feature all your favourites. Two yellows against Manchester City featuring a wild late tackle on Erling Haaland deep in the City half – really letting him know he was there.There are a couple of straight red get-the-ball-really-get-the-man challenges that he probably would have got away with in 1986. One against Chelsea when Spurs were top of the league and 1-0 up early in the Ange Postecoglou tenure earned a “oh nooooo Romero, you … you … you …” from Gary Neville. The other on Casemiro last season came shortly after he criticised the club on social media prompting calls for Thomas Frank to strip him of the captaincy. It was his second red of the season after getting two yellows for dissent and kicking Ibrahima Konaté on the floor against Liverpool last December. “What’s he doing?” Neville again.It’s often said the great defenders don’t go to ground – but it feels like that is exactly where Romero spent his entire Spurs career.And yet. And yet – he spent most of the Europa League final win against Manchester United on the floor – hurling himself at shots, and United players, in a man-of-the-match performance. People rightly remember the Micky van de Ven goalline clearance, but Romero was unbeatable in that game. He can’t not be good. Gasperini, Scaloni, Conte, Postecoglou, Frank, Simeone all like him. He has played in two World Cup Finals (if you accept any Argentinians actually played in the last one).All fans like a player who flies into challenges – we like to think we’re subtle, but we evolved from primates – one of your own putting in a reducer, an oof into the turf perhaps it takes us back somewhere deep into our past. And he scored vital goals too.Atlético Madrid feels so perfect. The people I talk to who watch Spanish football (ie Sid Lowe once he’s actually replied to a WhatsApp) tell me Atléti aren’t the Atléti we want them to be anymore. It’s not all Godín Giménez and Juanfran. Perhaps Simeone is taking them back there. But we should all be thankful that he has arrived in his spiritual home.As soon as the Atléti rumours began it felt perfect – it is rare for a player to feel like they fit at a club before they’ve even worn the colours. But in the same way James Maddison always looked like he should be in a Spurs shirt, perhaps Romero never did, even when he was wearing it – even when he was playing brilliantly in a gritty backs-to-the-wall job in a Europa League final. Is that really emblematic of what a Spurs centre-back should be? At their best Spurs centre-backs are Gary Mabbutt or Ledley King, Jan Vertonghen or Toby Alderweireld – solid, reliable, measured. At their worst – well there have been lots of them, but not many as rash as Romero.It is perhaps a fault of mine, or a fault of how we watch and consume football, that I’ve already made my mind up. Watching Romero I was either annoyed by something he’d done, or annoyed that I was going to be annoyed about something he was going to do later. This permanent pre-annoyance rendered an objective judgment impossible.So when people talk about his leadership and especially his ability on the ball, I was never totally convinced. But good luck Cristian, I get the feeling it will be much less stressful watching you play for a team I am less invested in. He might leave Spurs a club legend, it’s hard to say for sure; but if he does, he leaves as an incredibly infuriating one.

Football News

Liverpool's owners Fenway Sports Group have sold a stake in Liverpool Football Club to a consortium including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.The world's third richest person is part of the group fronted by former QPR co-owner Amit Bhatia. Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin is also part of the syndicate.According to Sky News, the consortium has agreed to buy a roughly one-third stake in the club in a deal that values Liverpool at more than 7bn (£5.2bn). Closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.We take a look at some of the key questions surrounding what the deal could look like...Bezos is one of the most famous businessmen in the world and the owner of e-commerce giant Amazon, which he founded in 1994 out of his Seattle garage.His other investments include aerospace company Blue Origin and venture capital firm Nash Holdings, which is the ownership vehicle for The Washington Post.Bhatia is a 46-year-old British Indian entrepreneur, who has an investment banking background.Stream the Premier League with no contractHe currently manages a multi-asset investment firm called AyBe Capital which invests in range of diversified sectors including technology, media, property and real estate, consumer retail and health.Bhatia is married to Vanisha Mittal Bhatia, who is the daughter of Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal.He leads and manages 1892 Holdings, the consortium that has agreed the minority investment in Liverpool with majority owners Fenway Sports Group.Forbes estimates that Bezos' personal fortune is in the region of $281bn (£209bn), making him the third-richest person in the world behind Elon Musk and Google co-founder Larry Page.It's unclear how much Bhatia himself is worth. But his father-in-law, billionaire steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, is worth an estimated £23.2bn according to Forbes. That makes him the 72nd richest person in the world.Bezos is a big American Football fan and has previously been reported to have explored bids for the Washington Commanders and the Seattle Seahawks.He is not known to hold a significant stake in any other sports team or enterprise currently.Bhatia was just 28 when he joined the board of directors and became vice-chairman of QPR in 2007 after the Mittal family bought a 20 per cent stake in QPR, joining Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore as investors in the London club.He spent five years as QPR chairman between 2018 and 2023 and stayed on as a director and co-owner until earlier this week when he transferred his stake in the club to majority owner Ruben Gnanalingam.Through AyBe capital, Bhatia is an investor in TGL - Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods' golf league which fuses golf and technology and features six teams with some of the best players in the world in a season-long competition.His firm also invests in Switch Hitter, which is a media brand founded by Kevin Pietersen, delivering exclusive interviews and content with the world's top cricketers.Earlier this year, Bhatia's father-in-law acquired a 75 per cent stake in the Rajasthan Royals Indian Premier League cricket franchise.FSG were under no pressure to sell but did indicate in 2022 that they were open to new investment in Liverpool, with the sale of a small stake to Dynasty Equity completed the following year.Liverpool have enjoyed huge success under FSG, lifting every major trophy available to win.FSG may think it is mission accomplished somewhat as far they are concerned, and therefore were amenable to fresh investment. They also stand to make a huge profit on their initial investment, with the deal for a 30 per cent stake worth more than five times what they paid for the entire club back in 2010.The consortium is acquiring a roughly one-third stake in the club.Liverpool's new minority investors have an option to become majority shareholders of the Premier League club for a valuation of around $8bn in the next 12 months, according to Sky's US partner CNBC.However, sources have stressed that the existence of such an agreement is not a guarantee of any future transaction.Liverpool's statement says FSG continues to retain majority ownership and operational control of the club.Liverpool are the fourth most valuable club in the world. The consortium's investment in Liverpool values the club somewhere in the region of £5.2bn ($7bn), making it one of the sport's richest-ever deals.FSG have complete operational control of Liverpool, but private equity firms RedBird Capital and Arctos Sports Partners hold minority stakes in the club. Dynasty Equity are also passive investors in Liverpool after injecting £164m into the club in 2023 in a deal valuing Liverpool at more than $4.5bn.FSG were known as New England Sports Ventures when they paid £300m for Liverpool in October 2010 after a tumultuous period under former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.The deal - which was first reported on at the end of last month - has accelerated at a rapid pace. Now that everything has been agreed, the closing of the transaction will happen after regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions are met.Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and his wife Elaine are also part of the syndicate of investors. Saverin, 44, was part of a consortium which assembled an unsuccessful takeover bid for Chelsea during the 2022 auction triggered by Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Football News

The rules are simple. Each day there's a new footballer and the challenge is to guess who they are in as few attempts as possible.After each wrong guess you unlock a new clue. The fewer clues you need to get the right answer, the more points you score.Three is a good score, four or five points is exceptional.So take part and return for more tomorrow.Today's player and clues set by BBC Sport's Flora Snelson.After more quizzes? Go to our dedicated Football Quizzes and Sports Quizzes pages and sign up for notifications to get the latest quizzes sent straight to your device.What information do we collect from this quiz?Related topicsFootballPremier LeaguePlay more quizzesAll our Premier League Who Am I? quizzes in one placeCan you name the players with most Premier League appearances?Can you name the 10 Lionesses with most England caps?Can you name every team to have played in the WSL?

Football News

The 37-year-old is discussing his decision to leave Rangers and join Red Bull Salzburg in June.These days, his base as an immaculate office at the club's training ground in Taxham, part of Salzburg's suburbs.The towering Berchtesgaden Alps provide the backdrop as Rohl details his eventful 12 months, in which he went from crisis at Sheffield Wednesday to the relative calm of Salzburg via Glasgow.In eight months at Ibrox, Rohl nearly produced a stunning turnaround during a chaotic season, taking over when Rangers were sixth in the SPL after one win in eight games.He brought them back into title contention, only for four defeats in their final five games to leave them third.Rohl was expecting - and expected - to stay at Ibrox but a call about Salzburg's interest while on holiday in June changed his course again."I was not prepared for this change in the summer," he tells BBC Sport."I was in Hawaii, the time difference was 12 hours and I was often on the main deck on the cruise around five or six in the morning. I had some calls and I thought about the situation."I have all these situations in my mind. I saw the beautiful sea, I saw the sun and then you think: 'OK, what is the future?'"I spoke, of course, with Rangers. I was really transparent and open on how I feel, how I see it. On the other side there was Red Bull Salzburg, especially Marcus [Mann, sporting director] - he really gave me the feeling of what we can do here."I said from the first day to both, if there's no agreement then we carry on, we move on because I have big respect to Rangers. It was also clear, our story was not finished."I saw a lot of opportunities, what we can do in the summer, what we should do but on the other side, I saw also a good opportunity to restart, to start from zero with a group of players with high quality."Derek McInnes - who took Hearts to the brink of the title only to lose out on the final day to Celtic - replaced Rohl.After Thursday's Europa League exit to Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok, McInnes has now failed to win his opening four games.Rohl, speaking before that defeat, says: "Consistency, this is the most important thing. The environment is really demanding."Everyone who goes there, it doesn't matter if it's a manager, a player, a staff member, you have to understand this club is demanding and this creates a lot of pressure on people to make the right decisions."Nobody can prepare [for] this step. I cannot speak for the new manager but you can't prepare. You have to be there and if you are there, then you really feel what it means."Rohl is focused and settled in Austria, returning to Salzburg after starting his coaching career at RB Leipzig under Ralph Hassenhuttl, before following him to Southampton.He joins with Salzburg having failed to lift the Austrian Bundesliga title for the past three seasons - after winning the previous 10 in a row. They finished third last season.Rohl's move to Austria continues his history of bold career choices."This is the main part of my character, be brave. In the last three years I always pushed the limit," says Rohl, who describes saving Sheffield Wednesday from relegation in 2023-24 as a miracle."I want to win titles and, after the season, I will measure myself on this result."When you take over, the main part is winning titles, the cup and the league and in the last few years we couldn't win this as a club, this is one big goal."The second is of course developing young players."Lucas Gourna-Douath is the latest, the midfielder close to joining Hull, but a recent list underlines the quality of the production line at Taxham.Karim Adeyemi moved to Borussia Dortmund in 2022 and joined Barcelona this summer while Erling Haaland's season at the club in 2019-20 gave him the platform to join Borussia Dortmund. Sadio Mane, Dayot Upamecano and Dominik Szoboszlai are all alumni.Former Bayern Munich and Germany coach Rohl adds: "Ten years ago we were the model for other clubs and now you see more and more on the market have this multi-club ownership and this is also now a competition for us."I want to win titles, develop young players, be attractive and I want to bring Salzburg back into the light in Europe."Thursday's Europa League comeback in Pafos - coming from 2-0 down to draw 3-3 and progress 4-3 on aggregate - ensured Salzburg reached the Europa League play-off round against Sweden's Mjallby.They go to WSG Tirol on Sunday having collected four points from their opening two matches - a win over Hartberg and a frustrating 1-1 draw at Wolfsberg, where Salzburg dominated."Nobody spoke directly about the eight changes or the reason why we didn't win," Rohl smiles. "We analysed the game, we had greater chances, and we really focused on the content and we were not looking for some headlines."The main focus is on the football."That stance allows Rohl more perspective and clarity. His family are still in Leipzig, just a few hours away, and he has just been to the theatre to watch Jedermann, a play by Austrian playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal - one of the centrepieces of Salzburg's festival which has been running for 106 years.The city allows Rohl to enjoy some anonymity and serenity after his whirlwind year, at least for now."You can't compare, especially in Glasgow - it's all about football," said Rohl, who speaks with affection for Rangers and Wednesday. "Let's look just how many podcasts you have after every game. So many opinions."Here you are a part of the city. You have loyal supporters but you will have not these [fan] handshakes in the city because this is not usual here."It's also enjoyable after three intense years. Ask me - hopefully - after three years here what I like more then I will tell you. But at the moment it's great to go through the city, to have dinner and you are a little undercover."What's going wrong for Rangers and McInnes?Europa League exit leaves Rangers counting the financial cost

Football News

37 CommentsThe golden ticket came gift-wrapped in flamingo pink. Instantly iconic. Nailed on to adorn bedroom walls from Buenos Aires to Barcelona and be splashed across billboards the world over.Lionel Messi's arrival at Inter Miami was about as sure a marketing hit as you could ask for. Social media accounts spiked, shirts sold out, match tickets went for stupid money.But new followers hadn't just come for the Herons."A lot of people are walking around cities and towns in the UK and Europe wearing that flamingo pink of Inter Miami with zero affiliation to Miami, having never been there," explains sports brand strategist James Kirkham."It's quite a normal thing now. But it is the player who has done the job."That football lovers should want to show a connection with arguably the greatest player of all time comes as no surprise - likewise his long-term rival in the now-distinct yellow of Al-Nassr.Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Barcelona or Real Madrid. MLS or Saudi Pro League.These generational superstars have long stirred heated debate, from curious kids with jumpers for goalposts to social media cultists armed with memes and virtual binders of blistering stats.But this trend of following individual players transcends merely Messi and Ronaldo."It's been happening for a while, ever since the sheer impact and influence of gaming, particularly on young fans," says Kirkham, who remembers a swell of support for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.Kirkham says younger fans are actually "less rigid or tribal than they used to be" and boast a "more encyclopaedic knowledge" developed through video games - including EA Sports FC or Football Manager. Other touch points come via YouTube and trading cards.They follow teams from different countries or leagues not for the badge on the front, but because of the name on the back."Fans play as these players in games," says Kirkham. "So there is a really thin line between virtual and real life."Following a player and buying them as part of your Ultimate Team and then wearing that player's name on the back of your shirt, be that Atletico Madrid or Chelsea or Dortmund, kind of makes no difference."To paraphrase Eric Cantona, you can change most things in life but never your football team.Who you support is primarily an emotional connection forged through family or geography. In many cases, you're born into it.According to a study called 'The Rise of the Second Club Fan', however, published before this summer's World Cup, 80% of global supporters now also follow a second team.Head of insights Matthew Kyle, who authored the report by Engage and MTM, says that does not mean fans are abandoning the team they have supported their whole life, rather choosing another or sometimes multiple others to engage with too.It can be more common in countries or regions that do not boast a strong league, with geography no barrier to second-club fandom."They are often looking for 'who else can I support?' It's more natural," adds Kyle.This can be a more rational choice - fans might relate to the club's story, their culture and values, or simply like their kit.The most powerful entry point to following a second club the study suggests, though, is players - meaning support can move when the player does."For this audience, they are the club," adds the report. "These fans track individuals, not institutions."It was the summer of 2018, days before France kicked off their World Cup-winning campaign that Antoine Griezmann laid out his plans for the big reveal.'The Decision', he teased, would come at the end of a half-hour documentary broadcast on Spanish TV. Barcelona thought they had him, as did most fans when Gerard Pique - whose company produced the show - tweeted a popcorn emoji.At the end of the documentary, however, Griezmann stood in front of the Metropolitano and revealed he was staying at Atletico Madrid in one of two different endings reportedly filmed to keep the decision secret.The self-confessed NBA fanatic - inspired by LeBron James' live show by the same name in 2010, when the basketball star joined the Miami Heat - was attempting to own his narrative. Instead he, and Pique, caught some criticism.Kyle says that "self-commercialisation" did not have the impact it would have done now if it was Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe.Griezmann was almost before his time. Many prominent players now share regular updates from their lives on their own YouTube channels - from Haaland, to Ronaldo, Jude Bellingham and Lionesses' star Ella Toone."Players are becoming their own distribution levers, with some in particular taking a driving seat in terms of 'how I project myself onto the world' and building their own channels and audience," explains Kyle.Now, in many cases, the players do own the narrative and fans are increasingly able to invest in their journeys, which are more accessible than ever."Players are far more culturally symbolic than they used to be," says Kirkham. "It is not that players don't do endorsements now, but they know they have to resonate with fans, so fans can really latch on to them and get behind them."Look at what Marcus Rashford did during Covid in terms of changing actual legislation."Young fans want to know players stand for something more - that gives them more chance to follow and pursue them, find a deeper connection with them."They look for stuff that is aligned to them, who they are, their causes and where they're from. I think we will increasingly see that."With eyes around the globe focused on North America this summer, the World Cup was a great launch pad for many players' personal brands.Vozinha, the previously little-known Cape Verde goalkeeper, became a cult hero for his heroics against Spain - the 40-year-old's Instagram growing from 50,000 to nearly 30 million followers.But big-name players were also big winners. Spain and Barcelona star Lamine Yamal saw a huge spike in followers, as did Bellingham. Even Ronaldo, the most-followed athlete on Instagram, experienced a healthy leap.Most notable, though, was Norway forward Haaland, whose popularity skyrocketed as fans flocked to his Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat accounts.Haaland's winning formula was a mix of his humble and relatable persona - whether sporting a cowboy hat or helping Norway's kit man - a very active social media presence in which he comments and replies to posts, and being the centre of viral clips and memes, from his "bromance" with former team-mate Bellingham to the Russian model who shared an uncanny likeness to the forward."Haaland was a massive winner from the World Cup," says Kyle. "He gained more than 51 million followers since 1 July on his social accounts - bear in mind the first six months of this year he only gained 11 million."Oviously he had a good World Cup. But a massive part of it was the personality coming across, interacting with fans, memes, his stature and what he looks like, Norway being there [in the last eight] for the first time and the fans' rowing celebration - all that kind of stuff."Indeed, Haaland has almost 20 million more Instagram followers than his club Manchester City and, as mentioned, his own YouTube channel."You'll see more and more creating their own entertainment formats, content networks, and that is away from the clubs," adds Kirkham, who worked with Harry Kane on the England captain's app Cleats Club, aimed at helping the forward reply to fans' questions on his own terms."The clubs are very aware, but they can't do a lot other than build their own club ecosystem. It is difficult because they don't fully own the player - they can go and talk about their favourite rap music on a show or do a podcast."It will be a continual trade off, where the club get everything from them because of shirt sales but they know ultimately they are human with their own power to do the shows and content they want."It is, however, good news for fans, says Kirkham."It means more and more for them," he adds. "Fans have an insatiable appetite for football and the chances are it can't be fully quenched, because at the moment you can't put enough out there."Whatever the platform you're choosing to pursue players on, there is more and more for you as a fan. Players and fans are realising that and leaning into it increasingly."The question for clubs is whether they can keep those fans who arrived because of a player when they leave.That brings us on to another theme - the national hero.Turkish side Trabzonspor are currently experiencing such a windfall after signing Egypt star Mohammed Salah following his glorious nine years at Liverpool, while Tottenham Hotspur enjoyed a decade of Son Heung-min before the South Korea icon joined LAFC last summer."Son is a great example," says Kyle. "He wasn't a global superstar when he arrived but he was a huge player from South Korea, and over the course of his time with them Spurs became the most-supported foreign club there, topping Manchester United."Now, when Son left, Spurs didn't immediately lose millions of followers on their socials from Korea. But we did see a small spike on his new club."Kyle says it is about trying to deliver content those fans still want to engage with."The easy answer is to say global superstars will do it on their own and these clubs without them will struggle," he adds. "But every club has characters."Every player leaves eventually, even if they leave by retiring at your club. So it's about using them as an asset while there and thinking about how all fans are also interested in stuff off the pitch."Behind the scenes content always does really well. Even if you're not a fan of that club, you might stop scrolling and watch 'a day in the life' of a player because it might be good content."Think Welcome to Wrexham. Which poses another thought: perhaps we're entering the era of fans following the star owner, too?"Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac would have been a huge draw for people who don't know football," adds Kyle. "On the counter, there will be people in the football community saying 'this will be interesting because what the hell do they know?'."You've got the benefit of football being like soap opera - seasons of television, seasons of football, different stories. And football never ends."Who to pick, who to avoid - your team's FPL assets analysedWhen do the major European leagues start and what are the big stories?All our Premier League Who Am I? quizzes in one place