Category Uncategorized

Antony has delivered a cryptic “we will see” message when it comes to his future, with the Real Betis loanee due back at Manchester United.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

Fell out of love with football at Old TraffordRediscovered lost spark during stint in SpainWaiting to discover what transfer window bringsFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

The Brazil international severed ties with the Red Devils when completing a switch to Spain in the winter transfer window. He has spoken of how unhappy he had become towards the end of his time in England, with the South American falling out of love with football.

Advertisement(C)Getty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

A spark has been rediscovered with Betis, netting nine goals and reaching the Conference League final, but it remains to be seen what the summer has in store. With his loan deal expiring, Antony will be due back at Old Trafford if no move elsewhere is agreed.

WHAT ANTONY SAID

Antony is reluctant to speculate on what the summer window will hold, telling when asked about what happens next: “I don't know what will happen in the future, only God knows.

“My work is playing and I'm doing that well. I have a lot of affection for Betis, for everyone but I have a contract with Man United and I don't know what's going to happen.

“Now I will go to the national team and then on holiday then we will see what happens in the future. I'm very happy here, everyone knows that but I have a contract.”

Getty Images SportDID YOU KNOW?

Antony suffered Conference League heartache in his final outing for Betis, as they threw away a first-half lead to lose 4-1 against Chelsea, with the South American saying of that setback: “Right now it's difficult to say any words, we knew the importance of this final but we lost. Congratulations to Chelsea for the title. Concentration was our downfall.

“It was a good first half but in the second half, we didn't have the ball. We need to remember that it's a game of 90 minutes and we didn't concentrate for the entire game.”

Real Madrid star Arda Guler has revealed how he inadvertently turned Cristiano Ronaldo into Michael Jordan 'Last Dance' mode.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

• Pair crossed paths at Euro 2024
• Turkish star idolises Portuguese GOAT
• Never got his post-match chat

Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Turkish sensation Guler was just a teenager when lining up against Portuguese GOAT Ronaldo during the group stage of Euro 2024. He had hoped to enjoy a special outing when facing his boyhood hero.

Advertisement

• Getty
  

  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  The plan was for Turkey to pick up a positive result before entering into a post-match discussion with CR7 – potentially swapping jerseys along the way. Events outside of Guler’s control ultimately conspired against him.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Unfortunate headlines in the build-up to a crunch clash in Dortmund provided added motivation for Ronaldo, who ended up on the winning side and opted to shun any discussions with rivals at the final whistle.

• Getty Images
  

  WHAT ARDA GULER SAID

  Reflecting on that encounter for , Guler said: "For our match against Portugal, I was a little nervous. I hoped that Ronaldo would talk to me after the game, because I respect him so much.

  "Then on the day of the game, Marca printed this front page: GULER CHALLENGES CRISTIANO. Oh, no…..

  "The truth was, I was honoured to share the pitch with Cristiano. Have you seen The Last Dance? Cristiano is like Michael Jordan. A headline like that is fuel to him. Portugal won 3–0, and after the game he did not speak to anyone."

Discussing a possible managerial fight, Ricky Hatton says Jose Mourinho is the "equivalent of Floyd Mayweather" and Pep Guardiola is a "nuisance".

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

• Ex-Real Madrid & Barca bosses have clashed before
• Both are passionate characters & born winners
• A battle inside the boxing ring would be intriguing

Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Former world champion and passionate Manchester City fan Hatton is not convinced that current boss Guardiola would want to lace up a pair of gloves and step into the ring with outspoken Portuguese Mourinho, despite previous differences between the pair.

Advertisement

• Getty
  

  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Both men have never backed down from a challenge and continue to talk a good game, with Mourinho famously billing himself as ‘The Special One’ during his memorable first stint at Chelsea while Guardiola has shattered records with Barcelona and City.

• WHAT RICKY HATTON SAID

  Hatton told when asked for his take on a potential clash between two born winners: "Pep Guardiola looks very passionate on the touchline flying in there, here and everywhere and in the changing rooms talking to the boys, he’s also passionate so Pep may be a bit of a dark horse. Pep can be a nuisance. I’ve never met Pep, so I don’t know him personally. But it’s like Eubank vs Benn with Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.

  "I remember the one time Jose was sat on the bench talking to his assistant coach and somebody pointed that a Man City player should have a yellow card, so he sprints over to the referee and puts his hands in the air demanding a card. He hadn’t even seen it but what a character he is. I don’t look at Jose as someone who could have a fight though, I think of Sam Allardyce or Sean Dyche, you think they could have it but not with Jose Mourinho scaring anyone. But he is passionate, like Pep."

• AFP
  

  DID YOU KNOW?

  Hatton added on why Mourinho, despite not being a fighter, remains box office in sporting circles: "Jose Mourinho is the equivalent of Floyd Mayweather, very confident, very arrogant, and says he is the best and the Special One while Floyd calls himself ‘Money’ Mayweather.

  "They would get on well having a meal together. It would be interesting. You need characters and that’s what makes sport. We’d be lost without characters in boxing and football, it would not be very entertaining would it."

Glasgow Rangers head coach Danny Rohl was thrown into a difficult situation when he decided to take on the job as Russell Martin’s replacement at Ibrox.

The former Gers boss only won five of 17 matches in charge of the club, whilst the summer transfer window was navigated by Kevin Thelwell, who has since been relieved of his duties.

Now that Thelwell has departed, Rohl will have a chance to lead the charge to recruit his own players in the upcoming January transfer window, and a new winger has to be on the agenda.

Ranking Rohl's winger options for Rangers

Rohl has plenty of options who can play on the left or the right flank, but very few of them have shown that they have the quality to be reliable options in the present day.

Oliver Antman and Nedim Bajrami are both currently out through injury, which means that they are not current options for the manager, whilst Kieran Dowell has only just returned from injury and has yet to be given a chance to shine.

1

Mikey Moore

2

Djeidi Gassama

3

Findlay Curtis

4

Danilo

5

Kieran Dowell

N/A

Nedim Bajrami

N/A

Oliver Antman

As you can see in the table above, we have ranked Mikey Moore as the best current option on the wing for Rangers, because he has scored two goals in his last two Scottish Premiership games.

No other natural Gers winger, with Danilo a striker by trade, has scored more than one league goal for the Gers this season, with Djeidi Gassama on one goal and one assist.

Gassama has been particularly disappointing of late, with one goal and no assists in his last 11 matches, and Rangers could finally replace him as a starter by signing Yelimay Semey left winger Galymzhan Kenzhebek in January.

Why Rangers should sign Galymzhan Kenzhebek

The 22-year-old forward has been the subject of a bid from Rangers ahead of the January transfer window opening for business, and they should push to get a deal done for him because he could be an upgrade on Gassama.

Rangers should bolster their options in the wide areas in the winter market because we have ranked the Frenchman as their second-best wide option, despite the fact that he has only scored one league goal for the club.

A return of one goal and one assist in 15 Premiership matches for the Gers, per Sofascore, is not a good enough return for a team that should be competing to win the title, which is why Kenzhebek should be considered as a possible replacement for the starting XI.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

The young winger currently plays in Kazakhstan, which makes it hard to predict how he will adapt to the Premiership, but it is worth remembering that Hearts, who top the league, signed Alexandros Kyziridis from Slovakia and Claudio Braga from the second division in Norway.

There are hidden gems to be found in more obscure leagues, as evidenced by those two signings, who have combined for 15 goals and nine assists for Hearts, per Transfermarkt, this season.

Appearances

11

15

Goals

6

1

Minutes per goal

162

1,171

Key passes per game

1.7

0.9

Assists

4

1

Successful dribbles per game

8.6

2.0

As you can see in the table above, Kenzhebek’s form for his current club is far more impressive than anything Gassama has produced at the top end of the pitch for the Light Blues in the Premiership.

Whilst there is no guarantee that he can translate that form over to Scottish football, there is also no guarantee that signings from the Championship or other top leagues in Europe can adapt to the league or Ibrox.

It is also worth taking into account that Kenzhebek, who was hailed as a “very pacy” player by Rangers Journal creator Kai Watson, has also shown promise at international level.

The Rangers target has scored two goals and provided one assist in six World Cup qualifiers for Kazakhstan, per Sofascore, which shows that he can compete on the international stage, as well as impress for his club domestically.

On top of being an attractive target on paper because of his statistics, Kenzhebek’s contract with his club is due to expire at the end of this month, per Transfermarkt, which means that the Gers can pick him up on a free transfer.

Therefore, Rangers must push to get a deal done for the talented youngster because he could be a hidden gem, away from the usual markets that the club shop in, who could come in and take Gassama’s place in the side.

Rangers dud was as "rotten" as Miovski, now he's Rohl's most improved player

This Glasgow Rangers flop who looked as bad as Bojan Miovski is now Danny Rohl’s most improved performer.

ByDan Emery 3 days ago

If he can then translate his current form over to Ibrox, Rohl would finally have a consistent winger who can provide goals and assists on a regular basis.

The batter has been with RCB since 2021, and has grown into one of their key players

Ashish Pant13-Feb-202511:44

Will RCB captaincy affect Patidar’s batting?

Rajat Patidar has been appointed captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for IPL 2025, which begins around March 21. The development was contrary to wide speculation that Virat Kohli would lead RCB again after they did not retain Faf du Plessis, their captain from 2022 to 2024, before the mega auction.RCB made the announcement in Bengaluru on Thursday at an event attended by team director Mo Bobat, head coach Andy Flower, and Patidar. He is the eighth captain for RCB and has played three seasons for the franchise since joining them in 2021 and has grown into one of their key batters, scoring 799 runs in 28 matches at a strike rate of 158.85.”I could speak for quite a long time about Rajat, but I’ve settled on three main things that I thought might be interesting to share,” Flower said. “The first one is there’s a calmness and a simplicity to Rajat that I think will stand him in really good stead as a leader and a captain, particularly in the IPL. As we know, the IPL is one of the premier competitions in the world and there’s pressures involved in that, and I think the calm, simple demeanour that inherently lives within Rajat is going to serve him really well in the hurly-burly of that tournament.Related

• For RCB, Rajat Patidar might be just what the doctor ordered

• Mo Bobat: 'Virat doesn't need a captaincy title to lead'

• Samson expected to be fit in time for IPL 2025

• Pant unveiled as LSG captain, says he will give '200%'

• IPL begins March 21 weekend; WPL to start from February 7

“And his decision-making will be tested like all of ours is. But I think these qualities will stand him in really good stead. We watched Rajat very closely as he captained Madhya Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament and we really liked what we saw around those qualities.”The second thing I’d say about him, he’s inherently quite a quiet guy, but observing him, he cares about the people around him, he cares about the people that he plays with, that he shares a dressing room with. And I think that’s a quality that means that he will instantly have the respect and care from other people. As a leader, those qualities are important. In that people will follow you and get behind you.”And then the third thing that stands out for me about him is that he’s got a stubbornness and a strength and a steeliness about him. I’ve seen it myself when I’m trying to coach him in the nets and he won’t listen to me, but you see it in the way that he plays. You see the bravery with which he takes on the game and I think that quality within him will be really important for him through the ups and downs, the inevitable ups and downs that come along with playing in the IPL, and now stepping up another gear into leading a big franchise in the IPL.”Bobat confirmed that Kohli was an option the team management had thought about.”With our retentions, it’s probably worth noting that we obviously retained three players, three Indians, and of those three, it’s worth saying that both Virat and Rajat were obviously credible captaincy options for us going into the auction,” he said. “And then at the auction itself, we spent quite a lot of time thinking about leadership characteristics. We didn’t necessarily want to go into the auction and have our heart set on a captain because we felt that was quite a dangerous approach and then you end up probably overvaluing somebody potentially.”Rajat Patidar has been a part of RCB for the past three IPL seasons•AFP/Getty Images

In a video released by RCB, Kohli congratulated Patidar on the appointment, emphasising that he has earned the right to be in this position.”The way you have grown in this franchise and the way you have performed, you have really made a place in the hearts of all the fans of RCB all over India and they get really excited to watch you play,” Kohli said. “I’ve seen Rajat evolve in the last couple of years as a player. He has got the chance to play for India. His game has improved many levels in the last couple of years.”The way he has led his state team as well and the responsibility that he’s taken and has shown everyone that he has what it takes to lead this amazing franchise and I just wish him all the very best and I would request all the fans to show him absolute support, get right behind him and know that he will always and always do what’s best for the team, what’s best for this franchise.”Discussions within the group confirmed to the coaches that Patidar was the right choice, Bobat said.”We spent some time discussing things with the likes of DK [Dinesh Karthik, the batting coach], who’s obviously a really important part of our management team now. [We] had multiple conversations with Virat, even had some discussions with Rajat and I say discussions, they probably felt a little bit more like interviews for Rajat. But Andy and I spent some time talking to Rajat about his captaincy aspirations and what struck us was that he was very determined and ambitious about leadership and captaincy and he really wanted to do this and that was really important for us to understand and feel.”Bobat also said that they wanted an Indian captain to lead RCB this time around.”Andy and I felt quite blessed that we had quite a few to choose from,” he said. “Whether we went Indian or overseas was an important discussion point for us. We felt quite strongly that an Indian captain was preferable.”That’s nothing against any overseas options, but we were really keen on an Indian option primarily because it’s an Indian competition on Indian pitches against predominantly Indian players. So somebody who’s got that local knowledge and insight is really, really helpful for us.”While this will be 31-year-old Patidar’s first captaincy stint in the IPL, he has captained MP in the 2024-25 season of the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (where they finished runners-up) and the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy. Those tournaments were his first full-time assignments as captain in domestic cricket.”I had a conversation with Mo last year,” Patidar said. “I told him before getting the captaincy of RCB, I want to captain a state team. When they told me about this, that it could be between Virat and Rajat, I was happy. I can’t express my reaction.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“I really feel good right now. If I talk about my way of captaincy, I’m not that much expressive, but at the same time, I’m aware of the situation of the matches. So I think for me it’s important to back my players and stand with them and give the sort of involvement where they feel relaxed and confident. So yeah, I’m lucky that I am surrounded by one of the best people in the team and we have a group of leaders as well where their experience and ideas will definitely help in my new leadership role and growth as an individual also.”Patidar was the second-highest run-scorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with 428 runs in nine innings at an average of 61.14 and strike rate of 186.08. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he made 226 runs at an average of 56.50 and strike rate of 107.10.RCB have not won the IPL title yet, though they have been finalists three times, the last of which was in 2016. They have made the playoffs in four of the last five seasons, including in 2024, when they won their last six league matches to get into the top four but then lost the Eliminator.With RCB appointing Patidar, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) are the only teams yet to name their captains for the upcoming season. Shreyas Iyer, KKR’s captain last year, will lead Punjab Kings (PBKS) this year, while the former DC captain Rishabh Pant is now leading Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

The leggie has honed her wrong’un for years to turn it into a deceptive and deadly weapon

Shashank Kishore18-Feb-2022Amelia Kerr is making her WBBL debut, in October 2019. She comes to Brisbane Heat with a big reputation. Can she live up to it?For a while, it appears as if she might not bat or bowl. And then in the ninth over of the chase, she is thrown the ball. Two uneventful overs pass but she already has the batters wondering: is she a legspinner or a googly bowler? It’s a question that player after player asks for the rest of the evening.In her third over, Kerr makes a splash. Out come three wrong’uns, again. This time, the over reads 0W0WW0 – no hat-trick, but she caps a memorable debut with a triple-wicket maiden.That over in itself makes for absorbing viewing because of her variations. The first wicket is off a googly that dips and spins gently to beat the inside edge and crash into the stumps. The follow-up is a flipper that is left alone on line and length. Then she bowls a fizzing googly that strikes the pad even before the batter has shaped to play the cut.Sydney Sixers are eight down and Kerr has a chance to close out the game in the same over. She brings out a flighted delivery. It drifts in, pitches on off and spins back in to beat a forward prod. Bam! Another googly, another wicket. It’s a dream beginning – a teenager varying her pace and trajectory like an international veteran.The story repeats in the Super Smash final of 2021. Kerr’s high-quality bowling leaves batters unsure of which way the ball is turning. They’re stabbing nervously at her, with leaden feet. They fall like ninepins. Kerr picks up a hat-trick, though Wellington Blaze lose out on the title to Canterbury Magicians, thanks to Lea Tahuhu’s cameo with the bat.”I called her a googly bowler,” laughs Ivan Tissera, Kerr’s childhood coach, who is now in charge of Wellington Blaze, her domestic team. Tissera first met Kerr when she was a ten-year old, who her father, Robbie, wanted to spend summers outdoors. As they began working together, Tissera remembers accuracy being Kerr’s first big strength.”She had a natural legspinning action – clean, good arm-speed, a lot of flight. As kids, the wrists are flexible, so she’d come to the nets and keep bowling, not knowing which way she’s turning the ball. She’d land the ball in the same spot outside off, see the ball rip away both ways and then ask in amazement how it’s happening.”As she grew up and hit her teens, Kerr began to understand the nuances of the googly. She worked on developing a quicker arm. “Initially, I just wanted her to enjoy bowling,” Tissera says. “Then she understood the googly needs to be subtle, but struggled a bit with drift. So the line would end up being middle and leg. It took a good two years of hard practice to get that balance right.”As Kerr began to travel the world and play in the leagues, the realisation dawned that she ought not to be a one-trick pony. She watched Rashid Khan and wanted to fizz the ball around like he did. It was her next project, to get quicker through the air but without losing the bite in her bowling.It’s this awareness of her craft, the ability to understand the subtle differences and work on them tirelessly, that helps her execute unfailingly in a match scenario. It’s also this aspect that sets her apart from the next best at the googly, Poonam Yadav.The India legspinner relies heavily on flight and dip, to the extent that her slower pace and trajectory can sometimes allow batters to line her up. This is perhaps what made her predictable when South Africa toured India last year. She finished the ODI series with no wickets, and managed all of two overs in her lone outing in the T20Is, a far different bowler than the one that bamboozled Australia on that magical opening night of the T20 World Cup in February 2020.”I think bowling at her usual speed, she has dismissed good batters like Meg Lanning, but it’s just that when you play non-stop, you want to pick up aspects of your game you don’t have, and that drives her,” Tissera says. “Now she bowls around 76-80kph, earlier she was around 65-67. Before, when she bowled quicker, she used to lose the shape of the ball. Now, she has lost that bit of extra turn, unless it is a rank turner, but her consistency in lines and lengths are amazing.”Who Does it Best?: The cutter | The pull | The googly | The cover drive | The yorker | The cut | The bouncer | The sweep

MatériaMais Notícias

da bet esporte： Sem Calleri, que só deve retornar para a temporada 2024 por conta da cirurgia no tornozelo, Erison terá um desafio pela frente. Nesta temporada, ‘El Toro’ chegou com uma função: ser uma segunda opção no elenco justamente para a posição na qual o argentino ocupa.

RelacionadasSão PauloPrefeitura cobra São Paulo por pendências fiscaisSão Paulo12/10/2023São PauloProjeto de reforma do Morumbi fica em segundo plano no São PauloSão Paulo12/10/2023Futebol NacionalReferência em futebol de base, clube de São Paulo vira SAF e busca salto na categoriaFutebol Nacional11/10/2023

da bet7k： Mas com contrato até o final do ano, a temporada não foi das melhores para Erison. Isso porque o jogador sofreu bastante com lesões, o que causou uma perda de espaço na equipe. Em abril, sofreu um estiramento na coxa esquerda. O tratamento atrasou também por conta de um estiramento na fibrose pouco tempo depois.

Após três meses, retornou aos gramados, em um jogo contra o Bahia. Lá, deixou a partida chorando ainda no primeiro tempo ao sentir dores na mesma coxa que tinha lesionado. Nesta temporada, Erison atuou por oito partidas, mas desde o jogo contra o Bahia em julho, não entra mais em campo.

Mas quais os planos do São Paulo para o jogador? Como dito anteriormente, seu contrato com a equipe termina no final do ano. Com o retorno dos jogos após a Data Fifa e o período de convocações, Erison pode surgir como uma opção para o atleta. E por este motivo, esse período de ‘testes’ deve acontecer.

+ A sua carreira no futebol pode começar hoje. Garanta a sua vaga no curso Gestor de Futebol e capacite-se!

+ Aposte R$100 e ganhe R$375 com o Brasil e Neymar contra a Venezuela nas Eliminatórias

+ Garanta o churrasco do feriado! Aposte R$500 e ganhe R$2000 com o Brasil!

A ideia é buscar um centroavante no mercado. Mas caso Erison mostre que está correspondendo, uma renovação pode ser feita. Tudo depende de como irá se desenrolar nos próximos jogos. O diretor de futebol do São Paulo, Carlos Belmonte, esclareceu a situação do jogador, comparando com o mesmo que deve acontecer com David – que vive um cenário parecido.

– Assim como o Erison, ele teve alguns problemas de contusão ao longo da temporada e ele acabou não tendo grandes sequências. Queremos ver um pouco mais até o final da temporada para decidir se vai fazer a aquisição, se vamos tentar novo empréstimo. O que eu posso dizer tanto do David quanto do Erison é que são excelentes profissionais, comprometidos – explicou sobre os jogadores em entrevista ao ‘Globo Esporte’.

O São Paulo volta a jogar na quarta-feira (18), pelo Campeonato Brasileiro, contra o Goiás. O jogo será às 21h30 (de Brasília), no estádio da Serrinha.

MatériaMais Notícias

da fazobetai： Chamada de “Torneio Mundial de Campeões” ou “Campeonato Mundial de Clubes” pela imprensa brasileira na época, a Copa Rio foi um torneio internacional de clubes de futebol disputada por dois anos seguidos, no Brasil. Em agosto de 2014, o campeonato de 1951 foi reconhecido como mundial pela FIFA. O vencedor naquele ano foi o Palmeiras.

continua após a publicidadeRelacionadasPalmeirasLesão de Dudu: especialistas detalham gravidade e tempo de retorno do atacante do PalmeirasPalmeiras28/08/2023PalmeirasDudu agradece mensagens de carinho após sofrer grave lesão no PalmeirasPalmeiras28/08/2023PalmeirasQual é a lesão de Dudu, do Palmeiras? Quando ele deve voltar a jogar?Palmeiras28/08/2023

da stake casino： +OLHAR DO PORCO: Abel Ferreira terá que se virar para substituir Dudu no Palmeiras

Com o retorno da Copa do Mundo em 1950, a ideia era realizar uma versão do torneio de seleções entre os melhores clubes do mundo. E foi o que acontreceu já em 1951, também no Brasil, como a Copa do ano anterior. Os idealizadores do torneio convocaram diversos clubes campeões em seus diversos países. A escolha dos países foi baseada no desempenho destes na Copa do Mundo de 1950.

No ano em que o Palmeiras venceu, 1951, também participaram: Vasco da Gama, campeão carioca de 1950; Sporting POR, campeão português da temporada 1950/51; Áustria Viena AUS, campeão austríaco da temporada 1949/50; Nacional URU, campeão uruguaio de 1950. Esses foram os integrantes do grupo “Rio de Janeiro”.

continua após a publicidade

No grupo do Palmeiras, “São Paulo”, participaram: o próprio Palmeiras, campeão paulista de 1950; Juventus ITA, campeã italiana da temporada 1949/50; Estrela Vermelha RSF, campeão da Copa da Iugoslávia de 1950; Nice FRA, campeão francês da temporada 1950/51.

Na final, o Palmeiras venceu a Juventus e foi reconhecido como campeão mundial. A FIFA, no entanto, mudou de ideia diversas vezes sobre o valor dessa conquista do Alviverde. No site oficial da entidade, somente são reconhecidos como mundiais os títulos a partir de 2000. Por isso, considerar ou não o título vai um pouco da opinião de cada torcedor.

continua após a publicidade

Tudo sobre

Palmeiras

As rumours persist over Jean-Philippe Mateta’s future, Crystal Palace have now reportedly entered pole position to sign an impressive striker who could replace the Frenchman this summer.

Mateta could leave Crystal Palace

Following another excellent season at Selhurst Park, Mateta was always likely to find himself on the radar of several top clubs. The big question is whether he departs this summer. Recent reports have revealed his desire to push towards France’s 2026 World Cup squad with a move away part of that plan, and that could deal Palace a killer blow.

What makes matters worse is that Manchester United are reportedly among those jostling for the forward’s signature this summer. To lose Mateta to any club would be a major blow for the Eagles. To lose him to another Premier League side, however, would be more frustrating than anything.

Appearances

45

Goals

17

Assists

4

All it takes is one look at the numbers to realise exactly why Manchester United have set their sights on signing Mateta. The Crystal Palace star, who helped his side defeat Manchester City in the FA Cup final recently, has done something that both Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have failed to do by reaching double figures for goals this season.

Palace will be desperate to keep their forward, of course, and Oliver Glasner is well aware of his quality. The Austrian told reporters earlier this season: “We don’t always talk because he knows what we demand of him. With his two goals today, he is amazing in the box.

“He has the feeling that a number nine must have in the box. He makes so many runs where he doesn’t get the ball. You need to suffer as a striker because you make so many runs where you don’t get the ball. He gets the reward and it decides the game for us.”

Whilst his future continues to hang in the balance, however, those at Selhurst Park are reportedly eyeing an instant replacement for Mateta this summer.

Crystal Palace leading Emegha race

According to TEAMtalk, Crystal Palace are now leading the race to sign Emanuel Emegha from RC Strasbourg this summer. The 22-year-old has enjoyed a fantastic campaign for the Ligue 1 side, who shocked the rest of France’s first division by finishing as high as seventh under Liam Rosenior.

Almost a month since football talent scout Jacek Kulig dubbed his season as “fantastic”, Emegha has taken his total to 14 goals in all competitions to leave the likes of Crystal Palace in pursuit of his signature.

Crystal Palace jostling to sign "complete" midfielder in deal worth £30m

The Eagles could swoop in ahead of rival clubs.

ByTom Cunningham May 24, 2025

At this stage, a fair few dominoes would have to fall for Emegha to become a Crystal Palace player, but if Mateta does depart, he should remain the Eagles’ top target to arrive in the coming months.

Hayley Matthews continued her remarkable all-round form as Welsh Fire cruised to a commanding nine-wicket victory over bottom side Southern Brave at the Utilita Bowl. The margin of victory ultimately guaranteed the Fire top spot and progression to the Hundred’s final on Sunday at Lord’s.The Barbadian, opening the bowling, delivered figures of 4 for 14 with her offbreaks, before her unbeaten 35, in the slipstream of Tammy Beaumont’s 59 not out off 40 balls, helped the visitors knock off their target with 26 balls to spare.Fire’s win put them in a strong position, due to their superior net run rate, to finish in top spot and qualify automatically for their first Hundred final. Their progress was confirmed when Oval Invincibles failed to chase their 92-run target inside 58 balls against Trent Rockets later on Wednesday afternoon, which would have been enough to leapfrog the Fire on net run-rate.”I think we’ve been really good,” Matthews said. “When you look at our line-up, we’ve got a lot of experience, and we’ve played on that really well.”The bowlers have done a really good job at making sure we don’t have to chase too big of a total. I think it’s been a complete team performance and that’s where we’ve performed really well, everyone’s been chipping in and playing their role.”Tammy Beaumont’s half-century set up Welsh Fire’s win•ECB via Getty Images

After Beaumont put the Brave in at the toss, Matthews dismissed the in-form Danni Wyatt, caught at deep midwicket, before Smriti Mandhana departed four balls later to the pace of Shabnim Ismail, to leave the Brave 15 for 2 at the end of the powerplay.And Brave were quickly four down when Jess Jonassen had Georgia Adams stumped, before Maia Bouchier fell to give Matthews her second after Phoebe Franklin held onto a superb diving catch in the deep.Wickets continued to fall. Freya Kemp got a feather to a Jonassen arm-ball, Naomi Dattani was bowled by a beauty from Matthews, and when Kalea Moore was stumped two balls later, the Brave were tottering on 47 for 7.Chloe Tryon singlehandedly rescued the innings with an aggressive 55 (38), dominating the latter stages with boundaries down the ground and through the cover region, adding 52 with keeper-bat, Rhianna Southby.Despite this mini-fightback, the result rarely looked in doubt after the Fire’s flying start, with 34 runs posted before the loss of Sophia Dunkley to the final ball of the powerplay.Beaumont was especially strong on anything loose, working the field with sweeps and cuts, while Matthews picked the gaps behind square as the former reached her half-century in just 31 balls. The pair put on 72 in 54 deliveries to ensure Fire roared into the latter stages of the competition.