Spurs will play Charlton, Preston v EvertonBrentford away at Birmingham; Ipswich v LeicesterFive-time winners Chelsea have been handed a home draw against League One Luton in the second round of the Carabao Cup. Chelsea’s new manager, Xabi Alonso, will begin the club’s attempt to win the competition for the first time since 2015 later this month.Fellow Premier League side Tottenham have also benefited from a home draw, against Championship opponents Charlton. The 11 top-tier sides not involved in European competition enter the draw in the second round, with the remaining nine following in round three. Continue reading...
Confederations write open letter damning Fifa presidentConcacaf president Montagliani seen as top contenderUefa, the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf will push for Gianni Infantino to resign after writing an open letter calling for “leadership that serves football, not seeks to command it”.In a dramatic escalation of the war that has threatened to tear football apart since details emerged of the Fifa president’s failed Football Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme, the three governing bodies accused Infantino of “trust broken through deception” and condemned his failure to acknowledge that the proposal should not have been unilaterally launched. Continue reading...
Tebas says Swiss is ‘destroying essence of football’Any reform at highest levels must be ‘genuine’Javier Tebas says Gianni Infantino’s position as Fifa president is untenable, claiming he is “destroying the very essence of football” while calling for reform at the highest levels of the game.The La Liga president, who is a longstanding and vociferous critic of the current Fifa regime, said “the Infantino era is over” and called for control of the game to be expanded beyond the current “elite”. Continue reading...
Man Utd seem to have beaten Arsenal to the signing of highly-rated young midfielder (Photo: Getty) Manchester United are in talks to sign one of the most exciting young players in the EFL ahead of rivals Arsenal, according to reports. Following the arrival of Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans, Michael Carrick is looking to add another midfielder to his squad ahead of the start of the season. While plenty of big names have been linked to Old Trafford, the club are also snapping up young prospects, with BBC Sport reporting they are working on a deal to sign teenager Louis Page from Leicester City. Page only turned 18 last month, but has already made 21 senior appearances for the Foxes, most recently in the Carabao Cup win over Northampton Town on Saturday. Get the latest transfer news every morning Sign up to our daily football newsletter for personalised updates on who your team is trying to sign and who won't be around next season. The England youth international enjoyed a breakthrough campaign last season, but was powerless to prevent the former Premier League champions from being relegated to League One. At season’s end, he was named Championship Apprentice of the Year and his impressive performances and high ceiling have clearly caught the eye, with Arsenal and Aston Villa showing a big interest in the box-to-box midfielder. But it appears United are winning the race for his signature, with Page said to be keen on moving to Manchester. Louis Page only made his senior debut last season but already has plenty of admirers (Photo: Getty) If so, it would be the second time this summer that Arsenal have missed out on signing a highly-rated teenager from Leicester after Jeremy Monga joined Manchester City for an initial £10million. Last September, then Leicester manager Marti Cifuentes showered praise on both Monga and Page, highlighting the youngsters’ fearlessness. He said: ‘They are playing because they are good. Of course we need to help them to develop their qualities, because there’s a lot of quality with those guys. Jaydan Kamason has impressed Man Utd during pre-season (Photo: Getty) ‘They will play better some days than others because we know as a young player sometimes there are ups and downs. But I’m most pleased that they show personality. ‘They want the ball, they are not afraid. They play with the freedom I like them to play with.’ While United look to sign one teenager they must make a decision whether to sell another, as the Daily Mail report there is much interest in their academy graduate Jaydan Kamason. Southampton are keen to sign the 19-year-old on a permanent deal, while the right-back has also attracted interest from Preston North End, Blackburn Rovers, Bristol City and Sheffield Wednesday. However, those at Carrington rate Kamason very highly, especially after impressing in the first-team during pre-season and it seems he will likely stay at United for at least the first-half of the season. For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source
The sponsorship deal between Cwmbran Celtic and the Welsh indie-rockers is a nostalgia trip rather than a cynical attempt to monetise ‘adjacent audiences’As someone born on the cusp of the gen X-millennial divide, I am the perfect target for today’s 90s nostalgia. I played my modest, teenage part in the Battle of Britpop (verbal skirmisher, Blur division); I fervently sang – and, God help me, believed – that Things Can Only Get Better. Super Furry Animals were a band I knew only distantly, via the transgressive thrill of that song they had with all the swearing in. And yet the news they’ll be shirt sponsor for a Welsh football club this season has managed to whisk me straight back to a time when things seemed simpler, kinder and more hopeful.Nearly three decades have passed since Super Furry Animals last had their logo on a football kit. Back in 1999, their frontman Gruff Rhys and bassist Guto Pryce, both Cardiff City fans, persuaded their Bangor-born bandmates to lay down their north Wales allegiances for the duration of the Bluebirds’ Welsh Cup run – which was, incidentally, all they could afford. The cup shirts cost them £2,000 and were, according to Rhys, knock-offs made for ice hockey. This year’s beneficiaries are a more modest outfit: Cwmbran Celtic, just relegated from Wales’s second tier. Cwmbran is the town where the band send their stage props for repair, and given the props in question are giant inflatable bears, you wonder whether they could get one installed in goal. Continue reading...
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