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6 min Liam Delap breaks free on the right side of the Flamengo area but just delays his shot a touch – he does let fly, forcing Rossi to palm the ball away for a corner.

4 min Sánchez provides two wayward kicks from the back to land Chelsea in trouble but a toe-punt from De Arrascaeta, from outside the area, flies high.

• Germany’s attacking midfielder to cost initial £100m

• Second summer buy from Leverkusen after Frimpong

Liverpool have confirmed the signing of Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen. The German will cost a club record £100m and his price could rise with add-ons to £116m, which would make him the most expensive British transfer.

Leverkusen had wanted €150m (£127.6m) for the 22-year-old, who also attracted interest from Bayern Munich, but weeks of talks brought down the price. Wirtz, an attacking midfielder, scored 16 goals and provided 15 assists in the past season in 45 club appearances.

• Midfielder likely to have limited game time next season

• Former Germany international wants to keep playing

Galatasaray are considering a move for Ilkay Gündogan, with Manchester City open to a transfer for the 34-year-old midfielder.

The Turkish club are believed to have inquired about Gündogan’s availability in the winter window but City did not want him to leave midway through the season. But with Pep Guardiola having signed Nico González in February and Tijjani Reijnders in this window, with Rodri again fit after a serious knee injury and Mateo Kovacic expected back from an achilles problem in mid-September, game time for Gündogan may be limited.

• Netherlands midfielder arrives on free from OL Lyonnes

• Kitagawa due for medical to sign from Häcken

London City Lionesses have made a statement of intent after promotion to the Women’s Super League by completing the signing of the Netherlands midfielder Daniëlle van de Donk.

The independently run club, who will play in the WSL for the first time next season after winning the Women’s Championship title in May, have acquired the 33-year-old on a free transfer from record eight-time European champions Lyon, recently renamed as OL Lyonnes, after the conclusion of her contract. OL Lyonnes are, like London City Lionesses, owned by the American businesswoman Michele Kang.

Marcia Lewis has handled her son’s stellar rise by becoming an agent and setting up No1Fan.club to support parents of children in academies

If Marcia Lewis has learned anything in the past seven years, it is to keep pushing. “They probably thought by now I’d have disappeared,” the mother of the Arsenal and England left-back Myles Lewis-Skelly says with a laugh. “But I’m not that kind of girl. If I want to do something, I’m going to do it.”

In March Lewis-Skelly, at the age of 18, became the youngest player to score on his England debut, and life has changed considerably for Lewis since she received a call from an agent who wanted to represent her son when he was 11.

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Venganza is on the cards in Trnava on Saturday night when England take on Spain at the European Under-21 Championship quarter-finals. There are constant reminders on the Channel 4 coverage in the UK that “we” are the holders, despite the fact there are only a couple of remaining members from the squad that defeated La Rojita in the final in Batumi two years ago. It’s a night that Oliver Skipp will never forget. There is another stark difference between then and now: England were properly decent at that point. This current crop have stumbled their way into the last eight like a weary boozer, six pints deep, picking his way through an All Bar One terrace on a hot day.

The American dream. We guess the cowboy won …” – Botafogo remind PSG chief suit, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, of the insult he hurled at their owner John Textor, also chief suit at Lyon, after the Brazilian side’s shock 1-0 Copa Gianni victory over the Bigger Cup champions.

Re: the thinly veiled contempt from the Juventus players standing behind Donald Trump (yesterday’s Football Daily), brought to mind this scene from The Simpsons …” – Adam Clark.

The photo in yesterday’s Football Daily makes Mr Infantino look very much like Mickey Mouse in his magnum opus, Fantasia. On reflection, Mickey Mouse is a perfect description for Mr Infantino, and his mate Donald shares many comparisons with [Snip – Football Daily lawyer]” – Joe Carr.

Given the PFA has a young player of the year award, isn’t it only fair they also have an old player of the year award (over 78s perhaps? – Football Daily Ed)? I had a really good game with my dog in the garden recently so surely I qualify and I’m even older than James Milner” –Martyn Shapter.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

The young Eintracht Frankfurt striker has rough edges but he may be the best value goalscorer on the market

By WhoScored

Alexander Isak is a man in demand this summer. Liverpool and Arsenal have been linked with the Swede. It would take a monumental bid to convince Newcastle to sell their prized asset, and for good reason. Isak scored 23 goals in the Premier League in the season just finished; only Mohamed Salah (29) scored more.

With few, if any, clubs prepared to match Newcastle’s reported £150m asking price, those keen on Isak could do worse than make a move for a striker whose style is eerily similar to that of the Sweden international. An Isak-lite, if you will. Hugo Ekitike is hot property on the forward market after he enjoyed a fine campaign for Eintracht Frankfurt, scoring 15 times and providing eight assists.

Modest 23-year-old still does not understand the fuss around him as he prepares to face Flamengo in the Club World Cup

Cole Palmer sees himself as a normal kid. Strangers watch him with something close to fascination, though. What’s going on beneath the chilled exterior? The shrugging demeanour adds to the mystique. Kids copy the Chelsea attacker’s “cold” celebration. Interviewers walk away amused but bemused after spending time with him. What’s the story with those answers? Why are they all so short and sweet?

The Philadelphia sun is beating down when Palmer mooches over for a quick chat at Subaru Park, where Chelsea are training before facing Flamengo in their second game at the Club World Cup on Friday. So, Cole, can you tell us why you walked out wearing a mask when the team plane landed in the US last week? Are you ill? Enzo Maresca, your manager, thinks you were playing a trick on everyone.

With the group stage approaching halfway, it is time to take stock of key issues surrounding the expanded tournament

The Club World Cup is into the second round of games in the group stage, with matches across the United States showing off all that was hotly anticipated about this newly expanded tournament, as well as a few concerns.

Here’s a breakdown of five major storylines we were keeping track of before the games, and where we stand.

Here’s how to follow along with our coverage – the finest writing and up-to-the-minute reports

After his rapid rise at Leverkusen, Liverpool’s new club-record signing is well set to step outside his comfort zone

When the Bayern Munich charm offensive starts in earnest, few players are impervious to it. When months of public flattery and declarations of interest in Florian Wirtz continued past the Rekordmeister’s title celebrations in Marienplatz and the departure of Xabi Alonso from Bayer Leverkusen, the whole of German football felt they knew which way the wind was blowing.

So it is an unpleasant surprise to Munich’s finest to see the red jersey Wirtz is holding up for the camera is not theirs, but that of Liverpool, who have signed him in a record £116m deal. Make no mistake: this is an authentic coup for the Premier League champions. How Wirtz came to choose a future in north-west England rather than southern Germany tells us much about the personality, as well as the player.

Netherlands midfielder talks about rejoining FC Twente, the club in her heart, and her hopes for the Euros

For Jill Roord, even after winning the Bundesliga title and reaching a Champions League final, eight years on from saying goodbye to FC Twente, there is simply no place like home. The 107-time capped Netherlands midfielder is returning to the club where she began her career and says the opportunity to move back closer to her family and friends was irresistible.

“It had nothing to do with [Manchester] City. My time with City was really good,” says Roord of her decision to leave after two years. “I have been away for eight years playing abroad and it becomes tough being alone for that many years. In the past few years I lost my fun and my happiness in football a little bit because of being away, travelling a lot and not being able to be with family and friends. With busy summers every year I never really got a break. I needed to move back home, enjoy life and enjoy football again.”

All the latest Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A deals and a club-by-club guide

• Women’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves

Every deal in the NWSL, WSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Première Ligue and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide

• Men’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves

• Bayern Munich striker says he expects intimidating atmosphere

• Kane ready for physical battle with Argentine side in Miami

Harry Kane had an early taste of the great American outdoors ahead of next summer’s World Cup as Bayern Munich’s plane to Miami was delayed by Florida thunder storms ahead of Friday’s game against Boca Juniors at the Hard Rock Stadium.

On arrival Kane was still his familiar mild and temperate self in response to repeated questions, mainly from the Argentinian press, about the volatility of the reception he can expect from Boca’s fans, who have been the most vivid spectacle of the Club World Cup so far.

• Chelsea keeper says predecessor put role ‘on the map’

• Hampton happy with clarity to prepare as a starter

Hannah Hampton has vowed to try to live up to Mary Earps’s legacy after being confirmed as England’s first-choice goalkeeper for Women’s Euro 2025.

After Earps’s shock retirement from international football last month, the England head coach, Sarina Wiegman, confirmed that her first choice was Hampton, who had started the Lionesses’ three previous games and has been selected five times in a row in the buildup to July’s tournament in Switzerland.

• NY Jets owner wants to buy Textor’s 44.9%

• Liverpool expected to make bid for Guéhi

The New York Jets owner, Woody Johnson, is closing in on a deal to buy John Textor’s shares in Crystal Palace in a move that could help the FA Cup winners’ chances of playing in next season’s Europa League.

Johnson, who has owned the Jets since 2000, offered £190m for the 44.9% stake in the club last week, while Textor is believed to have received two similar bids from ­separate investors in recent days.

Hero of 2006 World Cup was second choice behind Claudio Ranieri and has not had a successful career as manager

Gennaro Gattuso said all the things he was expected to say at his first appearance as Italy manager. He talked about the need to restore enthusiasm to an Azzurri side whose morale has been dented by recent setbacks, as well as that sense of shared purpose that bonded him to teammates in the World Cup-winning side of 2006.

The word he kept coming back to was “family”, insisting: “That’s the most important thing, more than tactics or formations.” His is not a vision of paternalistic authority but of a group close enough to speak hard truths to each other’s faces.

• Midfielder offered salary reduction

• Lewis-Skelly to be one of world’s best-paid teenagers

Thomas Partey is at an impasse with Arsenal in talks over a new contract as the midfielder weighs up whether to extend his stay. Partey, whose deal expires at the end of this month, has been offered a deal on slightly reduced terms.

The 32-year-old and his representatives are believed to want a similar pay structure to the one in the contract he signed when he joined from Atlético Madrid in 2020 for £45m, after he played an integral role last season, making 52 appearances.

Playing out from the back works for top teams but sides at the bottom are giving away too many chances

By Opta Analyst

Long-ball football has, for better or worse, been on the decline for years. Football was once a kick-and-run game, shaped by long balls and the thinking that getting the ball close to the opposition’s goal as quickly as possible increased the chances of scoring, well, more quickly.

That was swiftly disproved and left further and further in the rear-view mirror as the game sped off into the Premier League era and further still in the Pep Guardiola-inspired 2010s. As the technical standard of players increased, the ball was kept on the floor more and more. The laws of the game have even been changed to allow teams to play passes so short from goal-kicks that they do not even leave the penalty area.

With the top-level juggernaut careering away the majority of Europe’s clubs need help and should be better rewarded for players they develop

While a dozen of Europe’s elite clubs were chasing the American dream, 170 of their less garlanded peers gathered for a barbecue next to Lake Geneva. They had converged on Uefa’s headquarters to attend the qualifying round draws for next season’s continental competitions; Tuesday night was time to get together, perhaps to speed-date representatives of the team you had been paired with or simply to cut loose before a labyrinthine summer spent journeying in search of league-phase football.

Borussia Dortmund were slugging out a goalless draw with Fluminense while the meat hit the grills, but “Club World Cup” is a dirty formulation in Nyon’s corridors of power. Any available screens showed action from Uefa’s own Under-21 Championship and alternative sources of entertainment roamed the pastel green lawns. A caricature artist did the rounds, stopping at the table occupied by Aleksander Ceferin and putting his pencil to work.

Plus: goal-difference chasms between league-table neighbours, a rare Welsh feat in defeat, and more

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“During the Liechtenstein v Scotland game there was a reference to Billy Gilmour scoring more goals for Scotland (2) than his various clubs (0). But has a recognised striker ever finished their career with more goals for their country than their clubs?” asks Stuart McLagan.

The structure of women’s football in North America, particularly before the NWSL was founded in 2012, makes it the likeliest source of an answer to this question. There was no league at all in the US between 2003 and 2009, and to this day players sometimes appear more for their country than their club in a calendar year.

The 2026 tournament will feature more teams and more air miles travelled than ever, casting doubt upon ambitious climate goals

As next summer’s World Cup approaches, excitement is building for the biggest global soccer tournament ever held, but so too are concerns over the viability and environmental sustainability of the vastly expanded competition.

Held across 16 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico, the 2026 World Cup will be marked by the tournament expanding from 32 nations to 48 competing for soccer’s most coveted prize. It will be a tournament of unprecedented scale both in terms of the number of teams, and the vast geographical expanse it will cover. Both of these factors bring significant environmental concerns, however – particularly regarding the tournament’s carbon footprint and the effectiveness of Fifa’s proposed mitigation strategies.

Mykola Lykhovydov is living his sporting dream with Ukraine’s Real Pharma, helped by a haka-like warm-up, local water and naps

Mykola Lykhovydov half-boils a kettle and, pausing slightly for dramatic effect, decants its contents into the waiting glasses. The water comes from an artesian well close to this small, rickety dressing room that doubles as a clubhouse. They say it flows from 80 metres underground and should be consumed just like this, served a little above body temperature and sipped gently so the body’s cells can properly hydrate. Nobody at FK Real Pharma would drink anything else before training and Lykhovydov swears by an extra benefit. “A doctor from Dynamo Kyiv told me this is the best water in Ukraine,” he announces. “It is the secret of eternal youth.”

Whether marvel or myth, the regimen is serving Lykhovydov well. He turned 59 in January and is, as far as anybody knows, the oldest active professional footballer in the world. At almost a year older than the Japanese great Kazuyoshi Miura he lays convincing claim to the record and has no intention of stopping here. He can still do a job in the Ukrainian third tier. “I was thinking I’d make it to 50,” he says. “But now I’m almost 60 I won’t put limits on myself.”

The WSL has settled on a 14-team top division with a unique playoff system and a vision for sustainable growth

The announcement that the Women’s Super League is to expand to 14 teams is welcome and long overdue. For years there has been a clamour for expansion and it was a matter of time before it happened, but how did we get here?

The transfer of ownership of WSL and WSL2 last summer from the Football Association to WSL Football, in which the clubs are shareholders, prompted an in-depth analysis of the leagues’ future. Every format and variation was on the table and explored, with fans, clubs and other stakeholders consulted.

• Europe-based players get a break, except Naomi Girma

• Four new arrivals in squad to play Ireland and Canada

With US coach Emma Hayes giving many of her Europe-based players a break, there were several new faces on the national team Wednesday for a trio of upcoming matches against Ireland and Canada.

Lindsey Heaps, Catarina Macario and Emily Fox were among the players given time off after the European season. One exception was defender Naomi Girma, who is working her way back from a calf injury.

• Much of squad in hospital after game against Sampdoria

• Double relegation looms after playoff first-leg defeat

Salernitana’s fight for survival has veered into chaos with a bout of food poisoning hospitalising much of the squad halfway through their showdown with Sampdoria.

The Serie B side, fighting to avoid dropping to Italy’s third tier, have requested a postponement of the second leg of their relegation playoff on Friday because players and coaching staff remain too ill to train.

The Belgian remains a superstar despite his age and will be a huge boost to Conte, Lukaku and McTominay

Kevin De Bruyne’s move to Napoli this past week felt understated: one of the finest players of a generation switching clubs for the first time in a decade, to little fanfare. The arranging of his medical in Rome, not Naples, played a part, avoiding the crowds that would have turned out to greet him. A handful of fans still found a way to be there when he arrived at the Villa Stuart clinic, 140 miles from their team’s home ground.

Confirmation of his move came first from the Italian club’s owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis, who posted a picture to social media of them sitting side-by-side in director’s chairs. “Welcome Kevin!” were the accompanying words.

• Effigy of Real Madrid forward was hung from a bridge

• All four signed a letter of apology to the Brazilian

Four people have been handed suspended jail sentences by a Madrid court after being found guilty of a hate crime related to an effigy of the Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior.

They were involved in hanging a banner reading “Madrid hates Real” and an inflatable black effigy in a replica of the Brazilian’s No 20 shirt on a bridge before a Copa del Rey match between Real Madrid and Atlético in January 2023.

Bayern Munich legend defined not only a position but an entire way of thinking about the game

It’s 17 years since Thomas Müller made his debut for Bayern. Since then he has played 751 games for the club, scoring 248 goals, while also scoring 45 goals in 131 games for Germany. He has won 13 Bundesliga titles, two Champions Leagues and a World Cup. He will retire at the end of the Club World Cup after a career played entirely at the highest level and yet still nobody has been able to quite work out what he is.

Is he a centre-forward? Is he a false 9? Is he a wide forward, a second striker, an attacking midfielder? Is he all of those things, none of those things or some of those things some of the time? Louis van Gaal loved him; Pep Guardiola never seemed quite so sure.

Across nearly seven years, Frank achieved great things. His switch to Spurs feels like a break-up but we wish him well

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. Thomas Frank is no longer Brentford’s manager and that’s not easy to write. We knew the day was drawing near but it’s still a bitter pill to swallow. It feels like a break-up, a one-sided one where we do not get the chance to ask why and how. And the grief supporters are experiencing is because we were so emotionally invested in a partnership that brought us so much joy in the near seven years we had together.

Rewind to October 2018, when Frank was appointed as Dean Smith’s successor, and not many of us would have thought we would now be looking forward to a fifth campaign in the top flight. There is much to be grateful to Frank and his team for. They brought us the fabled BMW (Saïd Benrahma, Bryan Mbeumo and Ollie Watkins); they broke our playoff hoodoo at the 10th time of asking to take us to the Premier League; they set club records and beat some of the best teams in the land. It really has been quite the ride.

Club World Cup offers new coach a first chance to measure task ahead at a club that has become angry and unmoored

Of course he has been taking part in training. Quite frankly, it would have been deeply and offensively off-brand for Xabi Alonso not to have joined in. Darting around in the roasting heat, physically moving players into his desired positions, pinging pinpoint passes in his classic Predator boots: it was Alonso in his purest essence, and as the new Real Madrid coach oversaw his first sessions at Valdebebas this week it was hard not to feel that on some level nature was healing.

As a player Alonso was a difference-maker, a details man, a midfielder who adored the ball and tried to leave nothing to chance. As a coach, the same traits define him. Sessions are high-intensity, fast-paced, but almost always with the ball at feet. He intervenes constantly, always correcting, always cajoling, and in case of doubt he can always grab a ball and illustrate the point himself. Zinedine Zidane would occasionally participate in training if numbers were short. But with Alonso it is almost as if he needs to be involved, that playing and coaching are simply two ways of painting the same picture.

Changes to the channel come as phone alerts and YouTube have replaced highlight packages and yellow ties

A constant in pubs, gyms and hotel breakfast rooms, almost always with the sound down. Perhaps not since cinema’s silent age have faces been so familiar without the general public knowing their voices. The vibe is more casual than in previous times, shirt sleeves rather than business suits, but the formula remains the same: a carousel of news, clips, quotes, quips, centred around highlights, all framed within a constant flow of results, fixtures and league tables.

Sky Sports News hits 27 years of broadcasting in August, having been launched for the 1998-99 football season by BSkyB. As the domestic football season concluded, news came of changes within the Osterley-based newsroom. Seven members of the broadcast talent team would be leaving, including the long-serving Rob Wotton and the senior football reporter Melissa Reddy, within a process of voluntary redundancies.

Our cartoonist looks back at the opening games and empty seats as Gianni Infantino’s vanity project finally began

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Wing of the club responsible for developing girls’ pathway programme is celebrating its 40th anniversary

It is 40 years since the establishment of Arsenal in the Community, the wing of the club responsible for founding the women’s team. The announcement that all the side’s Women’s Super League games will be played at the Emirates Stadium next season returns the team to the N5 community that birthed it.

With the players ending an 18-year wait for a second European title by beating Barcelona in the Champions League final in May, it has been a year of full-circle moments for Arsenal. Bringing all league games to the Emirates Stadium “is another step in driving towards the best conditions for our players to be able to perform at their best and towards one of our main objectives, which is to win trophies”, says Arsenal’s director of women’s football, Clare Wheatley. “We also just felt that a connection back to where we began, back to our roots, was warranted.”

Saudi-backed streaming superpower’s TV deal for Fifa’s global project is next expansionist step towards a world super league

“And what exactly are you doing here, sir?” To be fair, the border guard at Miami international airport made an excellent point. As ice-breakers go, frowning over the passports and visa stickers of the long-haul crowd on matchday minus four of the Fifa Club World Cup, the border guard was at least in tune with the zeitgeist. What is football doing here?

What are Lionel Messi, Trent Alexander-Arnold and the massed engines of the football-industrial complex doing hovering like an alien landing party over this fun, sinking sandbank of a city, a strip of land where the ocean seems to be punching a mulchy green hole in the asphalt every few miles, a place that from the air seems to be made entirely from deep-fried crumb, tropical weed and traffic?

The Dane showed at Brentford how he will approach some issues, though handling the chair will, as ever, be key

Early in Ange Postecoglou’s reign, Spurs fans chanted: “We’ve got our Tottenham back.” The Australian departed as a cult hero after a Europa League triumph but in Bilbao his team had played nothing like the “glory game” of club lore, instead hanging on for dear life. And that was a marked improvement on the sludge served up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, amid 22 Premier League defeats. Is Thomas Frank the manager to return Spurs to the days of Bill Nicholson or Keith Burkinshaw? With the right players and a trailing wind, it’s not impossible. Before promotion to the Premier League, Frank’s Brentford played an attractive hybrid passing and pressing game, only to readjust to the division above with a style that at first seemed agricultural, a playing of the margins, though one that embraced attack rather than defence as the means of survival. Frank does not shun creative players; Christian Eriksen’s signing in January 2022 was a masterstroke, while Mikkel Damsgaard’s awkward running belies a playmaker of high quality and high output. Last season, Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Kevin Schade were in double figures for Premier League goals. No other team attacked with such fearlessness.

What was once simply a garment that declared your affiliation to a club is now a global business earning millions from collectors of vintage kits

On the second floor of an unprepossessing building on the outskirts of Amsterdam, there is a metal cabinet that destroys footballers’ DNA. The contraption belongs to MatchWornShirt and was part of a deal to sell the kits of Real Madrid players to the public. To allay concerns that the genetic material of Cristiano Ronaldo might escape into the wild, the steel wardrobe was built so that every shirt could be blasted by a germicidal lamp.

For new, read old, because MatchWornShirt sells precisely what the company’s name suggests: kits that have been stuck to the bodies of professional athletes. Want the jersey Son Heung-min pulled on against Manchester United in the Europa League final? You can have it, if you beat the current auction price of £22,000. The very shirt Cole Palmer had on when he scored four first-half goals against Brighton last season? That went for £34,000.

Fifa’s much-hyped Club World Cup and Concacaf’s Gold Cup opened to crowds far short of what organizers might have hoped

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That the two events should coincide was so perfect as to almost feel heavy-handed. Donald Trump’s comically underattended military parade lurched through Washington DC at the exact same time on Saturday as the overwrought opening ceremony unspooled for Fifa’s beleaguered Club World Cup, in a definitely-not-full Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Trump’s jingoistic birthday bust contrasted painfully with the multimillion-strong turnout at the “No Kings” anti-Trump rallies that gathered all over the country. The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, meanwhile – or “Johnny”, as Trump pronounces the name of one of his favorite allies in the sports world – had promised the opening match of the swollen tournament he forced down the soccer world’s throat would be sold out. Instead, attendance between Inter Miami and Al Ahly, a fitting 0-0 stalemate, was announced at a still-better-than-expected 60,927 in the 64,767-seat venue.

One of the world’s best strikers talks about being part of a revolution, moving to Gotham FC and the upcoming Euros

Esther González is at the top of her game. The 32-year-old striker’s list of accolades – World Cup winner, three-time Liga F champion, National Women’s Soccer League champion, Copa de la Reina victor and Concacaf W Champions Cup winner – is matched by few in the sport. But as a young girl growing up in southern Spain, her path was uncertain, rife with obstacles. “As a child, I dreamed of what I wanted to be when I grew up,” she says. “It was a soccer player. But, let’s say, circumstances didn’t allow me to see women’s soccer or anything close to women’s soccer.”

As she grew up with three sisters, González’s earliest memories of football were playing with her hermanas in their small village in Andalusia. She dreamed of being a footballer, but there wasn’t a path before her. The shy young talent with a nose for goals would play with the local boys: they needed a goalscorer and she stepped in. As González grew, her father took her on car journeys of more than four hours each way to get to training.

Tanzanian’s career has been defined by a series of firsts and the 21-year-old is keen to make a mark at her first Wafcon

Aisha Masaka became the first Tanzanian footballer to play in the Women’s Super League when she signed for Brighton last summer, and she is a pioneer for her country in several ways. Masaka was the first to play in the Champions League, when she was with the Swedish club BK Häcken, from 2022 to 2024, and recently launched the AKM Foundation, aimed at fighting poverty and promoting gender equality through sport.

Masaka started playing street football as a teenager and dabbled in every other sport available to her including basketball and volleyball, much to her parents’ dismay. “We fought a lot because parents, especially in Africa, find it difficult to allow their girls to play football,” says the 21-year-old. “They wanted me to go to school and not be involved in any sport at all.”.

Today’s rumours are working in the garden

Marcus Rashford’s future is very much in the category of “up in the air”. The chances of him ever playing for Manchester United look slim-to-none as he will not be given a boarding pass for the club’s US tour, while a dream move to Barcelona is going up in smoke. A few Serie A clubs have had a sniff but his wages may be a stumbling block. What he really needs is a Champions League club with plenty of cash. Step in … Newcastle. The Magpies are back in the bigger time, will be eager to make a statement signing or two, and Rashford fits the bill. Liam Delap chose Chelsea over Newcastle and Eddie Howe likes to have the best English talent at his disposal, so Rashford would be an ideal candidate as an extra attacking option.

It takes a brave man to move from Liverpool to Everton (and vice versa). Nick Barmby, Abel Xavier and Gary Ablett did the Merseyside double in their time and the next potential candidate is Ben Doak. The Scottish teenager impressed on loan in the Championship last season at Middlesbrough and is ready to step up to the Premier League but there is no obvious role he can play under Arne Slot. It means Doak might need to find an alternative and at least this one would mean he didn’t have to move house.

Plus: has anyone done the Beautiful South journey; champions in three different confederations; and did a player score while carrying an umbrella?

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Fenerbahçe have finished runners-up for the fourth season in a row and 26th time in the Turkish top flight (since 1959),” weeps Emre Öztürk. “Which teams have been runners-up most times? Is my team second in that list, too?”

Fear not, Emre: Fenerbahçe are among the also-rans in this particular competition. But they are Turkey’s greatest runners-up: they’ve assumed the position 30 times overall, 26 since the introduction of the Süper Lig in 1959. That puts them well clear of Galatasaray (19 overall, 11 since 1959) and Besiktas (19/14).

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, George Elek and Lars Sivertsen to discuss England’s laboured win over Andorra, the Nations League final and Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs exit

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On the podcast today, the panel discusses England’s World Cup qualifier as they edge past Andorra in a game that raises familiar questions – low block, players out of position, and why is Jordan Henderson playing? The panel also rounds up the home nations’ international fixtures as Wales ease past Liechtenstein ahead of a crunch tie in Belgium, while Scotland stumble badly against Iceland and Italy sack Spalletti after a humbling by Norway.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Paul Watson and Dan Bardell to discuss transfers and preview the international break

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On the podcast today: England get ready for Andorra and Senegal but are there any interesting questions to ask about Thomas Tuchel’s squad and should we care? We also preview the upcoming fixtures for the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Best players, best managers, best matches, best goals, biggest flops and biggest gripes: our writers have their say

Mohamed Salah. The numbers don’t lie – 47 goal contributions in the Premier League was an outstanding return from the Egyptian, who seems to be getting better with age. Ed Aarons

Arne Slot’s first season could not have gone any better while Wolves fans drank to Vítor Pereira’s arrival

By winning the league, the Dutchman surprised pretty much everyone. He faced the daunting task of succeeding Jürgen Klopp and inherited the German’s squad, adding only Federico Chiesa, who barely kicked a ball in anger. Not much changed from the previous year, except Ryan Gravenberch became the designated defensive midfielder as Slot’s Liverpool looked to get on the ball as much as possible. Slot was never going to be a personality who generated headlines like Klopp did, keeping his cards close to his chest, but he always comes across as someone who is very personable and has brought the players closer together. Slot made Liverpool an efficient winning machine – rarely thrashing teams, often winning by the odd goal or two – and that allowed them to race to a second Premier League title. No one could compete with the Reds, which was partly down to rivals dropping their standards but most of it can be attributed to the fact Slot made his team superior.

Managers, teams and players who have disappointed over the campaign – including the reigning footballer of the year

Ruben Amorim’s average points tally of a point per league game since arriving at Manchester United in early November puts him just above Malky Mackay’s record at Cardiff and Paul Jewell’s Premier League record with Bradford, Wigan and Derby. While Sporting won the Primeira Liga title without Amorim, United have fallen down the table to 15th since the Portuguese took the reins from the interim coach, Ruud van Nistelrooy. Much of the ire towards United has been directed at the owners but on the pitch Amorim has failed to adapt his squad of expensive, experienced internationals into anything approaching a cohesive unit. The Europa League final defeat by Tottenham showed how much work is left to do.