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Tottenham Hotspur could swoop for Torino centre-back Gleison Bremer, according to Calciomercato (via Sport Witness). 

The lowdown

Antonio Conte is intent on strengthening his defence ahead of his first full season in charge at Tottenham. The Italian is particularly keen to recruit a left-sided centre-half for his back three, and while Bremer is right-footed, The Athletic reported that he’s still under ‘serious consideration’.

Torino offered Bremer a route into European football, signing him from Atletico Mineiro for £5.2m in 2018.

The 25-year-old, who has since made 110 appearances for the Serie A club, signed a new contract as recently as February. Howeverm it only runs until the summer of 2024, and his manager Ivan Juric has already confirmed that the defender will be leaving the Turin outfit this summer.

The latest

According to Calciomercato (via Sport Witness), Tottenham ‘have strongly entered the race’ to sign Bremer, along with newly-crowned Serie A champions AC Milan.

The report advises readers to ‘watch out’ for a ‘serious assault’ from Conte and Spurs’ managing director of football Fabio Paratici.

The north Londoners are ‘ready to invest’ as much as €50m (£42.6m) to get this prospective deal done.

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The verdict

Spurs do have other options in mind. According to Jack Pitt-Brooke and Charlie Eccleshare, Conte is a big admirer of both Inter Milan’s Alessandro Bastoni and RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol.

However, they claimed that the Italian will cost around £50m, and the Croatian even more, so Bremer could be the cheapest candidate.

The Brazilian is an ‘incredibly aggressive’ defender, even ‘more so than [Cristian] Romero’, in the words of European football expert Alex Barker. He clearly defends on the front foot, ranking in the 98th percentile among positional peers in Europe’s top five leagues for pressures per 90 minutes.

On top of that, he records exceptionally high volumes of interceptions (98th perecentile), blocks (99th), clearances (96th) and successful aerial duels (99th), as per FBRef. He is also someone who backs himself to carry the ball, slotting into the 79th percentile for dribbles completed.

Bremer won the Serie A Defender of the Year award even though Torino finished 10th, and that’s a glowing reflection of his talents.

Indeed, journalist Maxi Angelo has billed him a ‘monster’, perhaps a fitting summary of how huge a presence the 25-year-old could be in Conte’s defence if he comes to north London.

In other news, a journalist has shared a transfer update on Ronnie Edwards.

Sadio Mane would be ‘crazy’ to trade Liverpool for any other club in Europe in the summer transfer window, according to former England international Paul Robinson.

The Lowdown: Mane’s future up in the air

The 30-year-old has continued to be one of the Reds’ most important players this season, scoring 15 goals in 31 starts in the Premier League and 22 in all competitions.

However, Mane has recently been linked with a summer move to Bayern Munich, with the Bundesliga giants potentially looking to sign a replacement for Robert Lewandowski.

The Senegal star’s current Liverpool contract expires in 2023 and there is currently no sign of a new deal being agreed.

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The Latest: Robinson discusses ‘crazy’ situation

Speaking to Football Insider, Robinson admitted that Mane would be ill-advised to move elsewhere at the end of the season, given how well both he and Liverpool are performing.

The Sky Sports pundit warned:

“It’d be crazy to leave now. I see now value in leaving Liverpool now. He is playing the best football of his career in a team that is challenging for every major honour. He is playing in one of if not the best team in Europe right now.

“Would you want to go and play for Bayern Munich or PSG? Yes, you will win the league and the domestic trophy and challenge in the Champions League but you’d rather be doing that in the Premier League.

“The best managers and the best players are here. Liverpool are one of the best teams in the world in the best league in the world. It would be a winding down move if he went to Bayern Munich or PSG. I don’t see the value in it.”

The Verdict: Surely he stays?

While the idea of a fresh challenge may possibly be appealing to Mane at his age, he must surely see extending his stay at Liverpool as the best option this summer. Is there really a better team to be playing for in the world right now?

He remains a vital player for arguably Europe’s best team, one which could win the Champions League next Saturday. That should continue to be the case for several years to come and he is still adored by his manager, with Jurgen Klopp recently hailing the 30-year-old as a “world-class” player with “brutal” physicality.

It could simply be the case that Mane’s future is sorted once the season reaches its end, in order to not be a distraction during this pivotal week for the club after such an epic run-in to the campaign.

In other news, Liverpool have been linked with a move for a midfielder. Find out who it is here.

A significant West Ham United transfer update has now come to light involving Wolfsburg forward and current Torino loanee Josip Brekalo.

The Lowdown: Moyes eyeing fresh faces…

Hammers boss David Moyes, having guided his side through another memorable Premier League season, reportedly has fresh faces on the agenda before the beginning of 2022/2023.

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The Times say he’s set to target a central defender, new midfielder and striker with West Ham having failed to bolster the latter position in January.

Moyes needs an alternative option to Michail Antonio given the Jamaica international’s concerning injury record in past campaigns with news now emerging on Croatia international Brekalo.

The Latest: West Ham open discussions…

According to Calciomercato.it, West Ham have opened discussions to sign Brekalo by expressing their interest – emerging as one of the clubs to either lodge a ‘draft offer’ or ‘formal request of information’.

Indeed, the Italian source also claims that Moyes’ side have made a ‘concrete’ pre-summer move for Brekalo alongside the likes of Atletico Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt and Southampton.

The Verdict: Ideal man?

The 30-cap ace has seriously impressed whilst on loan in Serie A from Wolfsburg with members of the media even calling his form ‘frightening’ (Josh Bunting, Islington Gazette).

His seven goals and two assists domestically just scratch the surface of his quality with Brekalo also averaging more key passes per 90 than any regular Torino regular over 2021/2022 (WhoScored).

The forward averages 1.3 successful take-ons per 90, a greater number than all of his teammates, leaving little wonder Moyes and co have now made contact.

In other news: Report: Moyes now very likely to make major bid for ‘world class’ player who ‘likes’ West Ham! Find out more here.

Leeds United are back in action on Sunday with a crucial Premier League clash against Brighton & Hove Albion at Elland Road.

With the Whites currently in the relegation zone, they will need to make sure that they do all they can to pick up all three points this time around and hope that Burnley and Everton do the opposite in their games.

Their previous outing turned out to be yet another disappointing one for Jesse Marsch and his side, who lost 3-0 to Chelsea in midweek.

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One concern which arose during this defeat was that Raphinha looked to have picked up an injury problem, which eventually led to him being taken off in the 78th minute.

Looking ahead to this clash against Graham Potter’s side, it seems as though an update has emerged which will have lots of Whites supporters buzzing.

What’s the news?

Leeds journalist Phil Hay shared a post on Twitter relaying news from Marsch in his recent press conference regarding the fitness and availability of Raphinha.

According to the Leeds manager, the winger will be fit enough to play against the Seagulls this weekend.

Taking into account how the Brazilian is currently the Whites’ top scorer in the league this season with 10 goals and three assists to his name in 33 appearances, this will come as a huge boost to everyone of an Elland Road persuasion ahead of the Brighton clash.

To further highlight how important the 25-year-old has been for the Whites in the current campaign, he has the highest number of shots (78) and shots on target (19) at the club. He also has the highest number of shot-creating and goal-creating actions to his name out of anyone at Leeds.

The 25-year-old’s overall performances in 2021/22 have earned him a season rating of 6.94/10, making him the joint-highest rated outfield player at the club according to WhoScored.

With all that in mind, it’s undeniable that having him available to take on Brighton will have Whites fans elated and give the home side a much bigger chance of securing a victory than if they didn’t have him.

Marsch and everyone else connected with Leeds will undoubtedly be hoping that Raphinha can push his side to a much-needed victory against the south coast club as they make the long trip to Elland Road.

In other news: Insider drops huge Leeds transfer claim involving “big names”, supporters will love it

The batter spotted India bowling with one fewer fielder in the ring than mandated, and alerted the umpires to it

Matt Roller11-Oct-2023Hashmatullah Shahidi hardly played a shot in anger while scoring 16 runs off his first 27 balls, so it came as a surprise when he heaved wildly at Ravindra Jadeja at the start of the 22nd over of Afghanistan’s innings against India in Delhi on Wednesday afternoon.Shahidi cleared his front leg and shaped to slog-sweep Jadeja over midwicket; instead, the ball skewed away fine off his outside edge, beating short third and running away to the boundary.Related

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But this was not a thoughtless shot born of frustration – quite the opposite. Instead, Shahidi was the only man on the pitch who had noticed that Rohit Sharma had made a blunder when setting his field, and had only stationed four fielders inside the 30-yard circle – short third, short fine leg, midwicket and cover – rather than the mandated five.Shahidi immediately remonstrated with Michael Gough, the standing umpire, gesturing with four fingers; Gough waited for confirmation, then signalled a no-ball and a free hit. Shahidi had another big swing and holed out to the fielder at long-off, safe in the knowledge that he could not be dismissed.The boundary was enough to get Shahidi’s innings moving. After a relatively slow start, he accelerated through the middle overs during a 121-run partnership with Azmatullah Omarzai, before his eventual dismissal, trapped lbw reverse-sweeping Kuldeep Yadav. He scored 64 off his final 61 balls, making 80 off 88 in all.It was Shahidi’s fourth-highest ODI score, and his highest at a World Cup, beating his 76 against England at Old Trafford four years ago.It was the second incident of its kind in the first nine matches of this World Cup. During Pakistan’s 81-run win over Netherlands, Saud Shakeel spotted an extra man in the deep while facing Roelof van der Merwe’s left-arm spin. He alerted the umpires after chipping the no-ball for four over midwicket, then pulled the free hit for six.Speaking on ESPNcricinfo’s Matchday Live show, Dale Steyn recalled a similar incident from the first season of the IPL back in 2008 when Chennai Super Kings’ Stephen Fleming was bowled by Vinay Kumar, but reprieved when he informed the umpires that Royal Challengers Bangalore only had three fielders inside the ring instead of four.”I remember I was standing at square leg and all of a sudden, uncharacteristically, Stephen Fleming having this wild swing… and him then going to the umpires and letting them know that there were only three fielders in the ring, so it should be a no-ball,” Steyn said. “It’s rare, but smart cricketers often see these things.”Anil Kumble said the incident demonstrated Shahidi’s presence of mind and attention to detail. “It is smart cricket,” Kumble said. “It is awareness about the field and what you’re doing, and that really shows that Hashmatullah was on the dot there, every ball, looking at where the fielders were. As soon as he noticed that, he capitalised on that.”

Manchester City are now willing to make an unexpected decision about Rodri’s future at the club in an attempt to sign Jude Bellingham from Real Madrid in 2026.

The Citizens were in a ruthless mood against Liverpool before the international break, with Pep Guardiola overseeing his 1000th game as a manager in classic, dominant style.

Injured £150k-a-week Man City star in protective boot, will miss 20+ games

He’s had more surgery.

ByCharlie Smith Nov 14, 2025

It was the first time that the Citizens have sent a damning statement to the rest of the Premier League about their title credentials this season and former player Micah Richards believes that they could yet beat Arsenal to the crown once again.

What has made City’s quietly impressive form even better is the fact that they’ve coped without Rodri. In the Spaniard’s absence last season, they looked a shadow of their controlled best. This time around, as Rodri continues a stuttered recovery from an ACL injury, Nico Gonzalez has provided Guardiola with the perfect replacement.

It’s allowed City’s Ballon d’Or winner to slowly work his way back to his best, but has also welcomed some interesting reports about his long-term future at the Etihad. Some in Spain have even gone as far as to suggest that Rodri could yet be sacrificed as part of another £100m+ deal.

Man City willing to spend £100m+ to sign Bellingham

According to those reports in the Spanish media, Man City are now willing to spend €150m (£133m) to sign Bellingham in 2026 and could be prepared to use Rodri as a makeweight in any potential deal with Real Madrid.

There’s been more unrest at the Bernabeu since the arrival of Xabi Alonso, with Vinícius Jr particularly struggling with the Spaniard’s call for discipline, and that has opened the door for a number of potential exits.

Whether Bellingham is among those is the question that many will be asking. There’s no doubt that he — as one of the best midfielders in the world — would take City back to the level that resulted in Premier League dominance not so long ago.

Former Real boss Carlo Ancelotti has been one of many iconic names to hand Bellingham plenty of praise in recent years, having told Gary Lineker on the Rest is Football podcast earlier this week: “I think Jude is a fantastic player.

“If I have to compare, we were talking about Kaka. He is this kind of player, a really intelligent player, who is physically really strong, fantastic to arrive in the box at the right time.”

Every current manager in the 2025/26 Premier League ranked

The entire MLB world continues to wait in anticipation for Juan Soto to make his decision on where he intends to sign in free agency. His agent Scott Boras indicated Tuesday that some progress has been made in that regard.

Speaking at the Los Angeles Dodgers' introductory press conference for Blake Snell, another one of his clients, Boras was asked about Soto's free agency and where he's at in the process.

Boras informed reporters that although no decision is imminent for the 26-year-old, Soto has begun the process of eliminating teams from contention for his signature.

There have been a handful of teams reportedly in the mix for Soto, including the Toronto Blue Jays, Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and New York Yankees. Boras didn't hint at a timeline for Soto's signing, but he noted that the pool of franchises he could sign for is beginning to dwindle.

Soto has reportedly had meetings with all of the teams in contention and now he's beginning to narrow down his choices before making a final decision. Boras didn't specify what teams had been eliminated by his client, only that the process had gotten underway.

Manchester City's star winger Jeremy Doku launched a scathing attack on his Belgium team-mates after the Red Devils threw away a chance to secure an automatic World Cup qualification during the weekend. The European giants failed to register a win against a 10-man Kazakhstan side as they came back from behind to play out a 1-1 draw in Astana on Saturday.

Belgium held to a draw

The Red Devils, who have now won just one out of their last three international games, were held to a 1-1 draw as they came back from behind against Kazakhstan. Rudi Garcia's side dealt with an early blow as Dastan Satpayev latched on to a loose ball at the back and handed the hosts the lead in the ninth. Belgium then staged a comeback early in the second half as Hans Vanaken equalised for his side from Timothy Castagne's assist. 

Kazakhstan were reduced to 10 men in the 79th minute when striker Islam Chesnokov picked up a direct red card, but Belgium failed to take the man advantage and pile on the opposition's misery. 

AdvertisementAFPDoku slammed Belgium team-mates

After the game, a frustrated Doku ranted against his colleagues as he told reporters: "We've already dropped too many points because we weren't good enough in a large number of matches. Our campaign hasn't gone well, no. Everyone needs to do better. The coach, me, everyone. Kevin, Romelu. Thibaut, if we need them to win against Kazakhstan, then we can't do anything at the World Cup. We looked at this team and thought they would play long but then they played short and started playing football. It was a completely different match than last time. Maybe we didn't analyse our opponent enough."

Defender Arthur Theate also expressed his frustration as he added: "If you feel like it, go ahead. It's not that I disagree. But if you concede a goal, that's the problem. If you don't score, it's the attack's fault. Of course, we shouldn't have conceded that goal but we haven't conceded many goals this campaign. Agreed, conceding three goals at home against Wales wouldn't have been right. 'But otherwise, we weren't put in much danger. But you can judge for yourself. I just think we're having a good campaign defensively."

Will Belgium qualify for the World Cup?

Belgium threw away an opportunity to secure a direct qualification to the World Cup next year but they still remain the favourites to book their berth in the flagship from Group J. With 15 points from seven points, Belgium stand at the top of their group, two points clear of North Macedonia.

A win against rock bottom Liechtenstein on Tuesday will help them secure World Cup qualification. North Macedonia and Wales, on the other hand, will clash in their final group game to secure a play-offs spot. 

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GettyDoku's stellar run of form

Individually, Doku has enjoyed a purple patch in the 2025-26 campaign with Manchester City. He has featured in 16 matches across all competitions for Pep Guardiola's side where he has scored three goals and provided four assists. 

Former City star Paul Dickov recently hailed Doku as the best winger in the world, as he told : “I would say he's probably the best in Europe at the minute. Not just of his performance against Liverpool, which was top drawer, but I said before the game, that despite Erling Haaland’s goals, Doku has consistently been City’s best player and biggest threat. 

"People were forgetting last season. They were questioning his end product a little bit. And maybe he was doing all these dribbles and was playing at a mile-a-minute. Maybe his crossing and finishing suffered, but he’s worked so hard at his game. He’s only 23 years old. He’s a young boy, and he’s just impossible to defend against when he gets you one on one."

Hosts pay price for underwhelming batting effort as Superchargers cruise home with 18 balls to spare

ECB Media20-Aug-2025Northern Superchargers returned to winning ways under the lights at Lord’s to romp home past hosts London Spirit and climb to third in the table in The Hundred men’s competition.Zak Crawley took most of the plaudits for 38-ball 55, but it was a batting effort that owed a debt of gratitude to his colleagues with the ball – the Superchargers attack impressing as they limited Spirit to just 135 for 3 batting first.The win takes Superchargers to 16 points, level on points with defending champions Oval Invincibles and Trent Rockets, with a gap threatening to open up underneath fourth-placed Southern Brave on 12 as the race for qualification hots up.The Lord’s faithful might have hoped to see a performance from Aussie superstar David Warner but it wasn’t his night, departing for a four-ball duck. Jamie Smith and Ollie Pope scored 41 and 52 respectively but no Spirit batter was able to get away and really open their arms, and at the interval the visitors would have fancied their chances of chasing down the total.Crawley lay a marker down immediately, demonstrating his class against Dan Worrall’s opening salvo with a couple of stand-and-deliver boundaries through the off-side and that was much the story of the reply, with Spirit never able to build sufficient pressure with the ball.It was left to Crawley’s captain Harry Brook to slap the winning runs over mid-on, with 18 balls still remaining, to signal a comfortable win and keep Superchargers right in the hunt for qualification.Meerkat Match Hero Crawley said: “It was an important game for us to get a win tonight, so the boys are very pleased with that win and it was a good all-round performance.”I try and keep the fundamentals the same whether playing red-ball or white-ball cricket and then maybe premeditate a little bit more in white-ball cricket than I would in a red-ball game, but I try and play similar shots. I think that’s what I’ve done a bit better this year than I have done in previous years.”When you’ve got great players coming behind you, you can just be a bit free at the top and today it wasn’t as easy after the powerplay. It felt good in the powerplay – really good – and then definitely got harder. So it was nice to have that cushion behind with those boys coming in.”I’m surprised to be standing here, to be honest, I thought Rash [Adil Rashid] would be the Meerkat Match Hero. He bowled unbelievably tonight and so did all the other lads to keep them to 140. We felt like we could chase that and it definitely got easier under lights.”

Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson had a good day at the office on Tuesday, as he went 1-for-3 with a pair of walks, a home run and three RBI in the club's 9-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

The home run wasn't just any ordinary round-tripper, though. It was a birthday present for Swanson's mother Nancy, who was among the 13,619 in attendance in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

And the Cubs shortstop, after touching them all, made sure to wish his mother a happy birthday from the dugout in a sweet moment caught by the Marquee Sports Network cameras.

After getting his mother's attention, Swanson can be seen mouthing the words "Happy birthday", to the delight of Nancy Swanson, who mouthed back, "Thank you, baby."

"Just showing my momma some love," Swanson told MLB.com. "I hadn’t seen my folks in a while, so it was nice to be able to see them the last few days."

Here was the blast:

Swanson, who has two homers and seven RBI in his last two games, and the Cubs have now won seven of their last 10 games as they look to make a playoff push in the stretch run.