Mogadishu City · Attacker · #29 · Somalia · 31 yrs
Stephen Welsh says Swansea City "really wanted me" after he agreed to join the Championship club from Celtic following a second loan spell at Motherwell. The 26-year-old defender will arrive in Wales on a two-year deal with the option of a further 12 months on 1 July after agreeing to terminate his contract at Celtic Park. Welsh made 31 appearances in total last term, with two of those for Celtic in between his loan spells at Well.
Manchester United's academy director Stephen Torpey has spoken of the immense pride felt at Old Trafford over Tyler Fletcher's shock World Cup call. Fletcher was picked in the Scotland squad by coach Steve Clarke despite having just 17 minutes' experience of senior football prior to making his international bow in the friendly victory over Curacao at Hampden Park on 30 May. Fletcher elected to play for Scotland, while twin brother Jack has plumped for England, where the pair were born.
Lionel Messi and Son Heung-min are headlining a historic World Cup for Major League Soccer, as a record-breaking contingent pushes MLS to seventh among all global leagues in player representation. Lionel Messi and Son Heung-min have become the most visible symbols of a league that is now capable of attracting global stars and expanding its footprint on the international stage. In a concrete reflection of that evolution, MLS has ranked seventh among all leagues worldwide in the number of players competing at the 2026 World Cup. As confirmed by MLS, 44 players from the league will be representing their countries in the tournament. Those players come from 21 different MLS clubs and will feature for 17 different national teams. The club lending the most players is LAFC. Among their international contingent, Mathieu Choiniere, Stephen Eustaquio and Jacob Shaffelburg will represent Canada in Group B, while Son Heung-min will captain South Korea in Group A, making the Boys in Gold the most represented MLS club on the world stage. Beyond LAFC, eight additional MLS clubs will have three players each at the tournament. Among them is Inter Miami, which has contributed Lionel Messi and Rodrigo De Paul to Argentina‘s title defense, along with goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair to Canada’s squad. Lionel Messi #10 of Inter Miami CF reacts with teammates Dayne St. Clair #97 and Rodrigo De Paul #7. According to The Athletic‘s Tom Bogert, the 44 players represent the most MLS has ever contributed to a single World Cup in the league’s history, good for seventh overall in the global league rankings. For context, 19 MLS players traveled to Russia for the 2018 edition and 32 made the trip to Qatar in 2022, making 2026 a record-breaking milestone for the league. MLS still far from the top MLS’s rise as one of the more prominent leagues in the international player supply chain reflects the growing quality and credibility of the competition, sitting as the second league with more players in the World Cup apart from the top five European leagues. However, the gap between it and Europe’s elite remains significant. The Premier League leads all leagues globally, with 183 players heading to the World Cup from England’s top flight, according to the league’s official website. Manchester City alone is lending 19 players to national teams representing Algeria, Belgium, Croatia, Egypt, England, France, Ghana, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Uzbekistan, underscoring the sheer depth of the world’s most high-profile domestic competition.
Scotland have been warned. Haiti - the opening World Cup opponents for Steve Clarke's side on 14 June - served notice they will be no pushovers with a 4-0 friendly thrashing of New Zealand. Stephen McGowan, football writer for The Herald, was at the game in Miami and left impressed by the Caribbean nation.
Celtic fans remain on tenterhooks as the club's managerial search rumbles on. Martin O'Neill, who has been in situ as interim boss since January, and Robbie Keane are vying for the vacancy. "I wouldn't entirely rule him out yet, even though he appeared to do it himself on Monday," said Stephen McGowan, football writer for The Herald, on the BBC's Scottish football podcast.
Stephen: It's the defence that needs strengthening the most, so I'd be looking at Konstantinos Mavropanos, who had some impressive games for West Ham. Tomas Soucek would also give us more options in midfield. Ian: I would take a look at Zian Flemming, as he had a good return for Burnley last season and the previous one.
