Gareth Bale hopes Wrexham "keep doing Wales proud" as they continue to build towards their aim of reaching the Premier League. The Red Dragons missed out on a play-off spot in the Championship on the final day of the 2025-26 season as they were pipped to sixth spot by Hull City, who went on to gain promotion to the top-flight. "I don't think it's the model (to follow), but obviously it's a model and what they've done is absolutely incredible," the former Real Madrid star told US media outlet Front Office Sports.
Bukayo Saka says winning the Premier League with Arsenal has given him "even more hunger" to achieve similar success with England at the World Cup. The 24-year-old played 31 times as the Gunners ended their 22-year wait for a league title, and is expected to start for the Three Lions in Wednesday's Group L opener against Croatia. Saka only started 25 Premier League matches across the campaign and had his minutes managed as he recovered from hip and Achilles issues during the run-in.
John Stones started alongside Aston Villa's Ezri Konsa in England's latest friendly and could be given the nod ahead of Manchester City team-mate Marc Guehi for the Croatia game (Wednesday, 21:00 BST). Stones played just 439 minutes of Premier League football in the season just ended, featuring in only 18 games for City across all competitions.
