Man Utd staggered as Chelsea surge into race for classy defender with tempting release clause
Chelsea and Manchester United are both keen to sign a new centre-back in the summer and reports suggest they are converging on the same targets.
On Thursday, TEAMtalk reported that the Blues have joined Man Utd in the race for Lille star Leny Yoro, who’s considered to be one of the best young defenders in the world.
Now, it seems that Mauricio Pochettino’s side are chasing another player shortlisted by Man Utd’s new recruitment team led by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and co.
According to reports from Spain, as cited by Football Talk, Chelsea have ‘joined Man Utd in the race’ for Juventus centre-back Gleison Bremer.
READ MORE: Man Utd, Chelsea get new manager boost with ‘frustrated’ Prem boss ‘tempted’ to push for exit
The Brazil international signed a new contract with the Italian giants in December, but it includes a €50m (approx. £42.7m) release clause that can be triggered this summer.
Chelsea ‘see Bremer as a potential replacement for Thiago Silva,’ who is set to depart Stamford Bridge when his contract expires in June.
Chelsea, Man Utd keen on Juventus star
Bremer signed for Juventus in 2022 and has established himself as one of their most important players. He’s made 27 Serie A appearances this season, scoring two goals and helping his team to 12 clean sheets in the process.
The 26-year-old is regarded as one of the best centre-backs in Italy at the moment, so it’s no surprise to see Chelsea and Man Utd tempted to trigger his €50m release clause.
Related video: Why Manchester United Wants Dan Ashworth So Badly (Dailymotion)
As well as losing Silva on a free transfer, Chelsea could also sell Trevoh Chalobah in the coming months due to their need to generate funds from homegrown players.
As previously revealed by TEAMtalk, it’s thought that Conor Gallagher and Armando Broja could also leave on permanent deals, even if that’s not necessarily what Pochettino wants.
The money generated from those sales will be put towards bringing in a new centre-back – which is where Bremer comes in – as well as a new striker.
Napoli superstar Victor Osimhen has been Pochettino’s top forward target for some time. However, Paris Saint-Germain are also keen on him and he’ll cost around £111m this summer.
Other strikers linked with Chelsea include Brentford’s Ivan Toney, who looks set to depart the Gtech Community Stadium in the summer as he eyes a new challenge.
In terms of Bremer, it will be interesting to see whether Chelsea or Man Utd are willing to match his release clause. What’s almost certain, though, is that the Blues will be signing a new centre-back.
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Relentless Mohamed Salah rises above Liverpool’s goalscoring legends with underrated trick
When Mohamed Salah joined Liverpool, the 20-goal barrier felt just that. In five of the seven previous seasons, Liverpool’s leading marksman finished with a tally in the teens. In 2016-17, the season they were scouting him at Roma, Philippe Coutinho led the way with 14.
In 2023-24, amid a rout of Sparta Prague, Salah made it 20 goals. That might not seem noteworthy, given he always does, given that he has raised the bar to such an extent that 30 can feel the new 20 for him. Salah has got there four times; he may yet make it 30 for a fifth campaign. Jurgen Klopp greeted news of the Egyptian’s 20th with a metaphorical shrug. “The stat is not really surprising, because he is an outstanding player,” he said.
Yet 20 is still a historic first. No one else had reached the milestone in seven successive seasons for Liverpool. Not Ian Rush or Kenny Dalglish, Robbie Fowler or Michael Owen, Kevin Keegan or Roger Hunt, not any of the succession of superb forwards who have graced Anfield. Instead, Salah has become Liverpool’s man for all seasons.
“In seven years together with him, the one problem we never had was consistency,” said Klopp. Salah, who never got 20 goals in a campaign before signing for Liverpool, has never failed to do so since then. His astonishing debut campaign on Merseyside yielded 44 but he has proved no one-season wonder.
“Mo is just delivering and delivering and delivering, his desire doesn’t stop, his quality is there and his desire to score doesn’t stop,” added Klopp. “He has improved in so many aspects since he started here. That’s how it is, he will not stop.”
And if Salah’s development reflects on his own relentlessness, it reflects well on Klopp, who first elevated him to a new level and then helped keep him there, who designed a formation where he could excel as a narrow winger, who created an environment that Salah was reluctant to quit for the Saudi millions, there was a timeliness to his latest feat: Michael Edwards, returning to Liverpool as Fenway Sports Group’s CEO of football, helped persuade Klopp to sign Salah instead of the less prolific Julian Brandt.
Even as Salah has amassed formidable figures, Klopp has rarely concentrated on the numbers themselves. Salah reached 18 for the season on New Year’s Day, 19 at Brentford in February. His manager had assumed he had already reached 20. “I’m less surprised than maybe some others, I thought it had already happened but he was injured for a while, otherwise he would have done it in January or February,” he said. “But great, very good, and great to have him back.”
Sparta Prague brought Salah’s first start for Liverpool since the opening day of the year; he ended up playing 90 minutes after Bobby Clark had to go off, reducing his effort. “I told him not to defend anymore, I don’t think I’ve ever said that to a player before,” smiled Klopp. But that interruption to his season is an illustration that, until then, Salah was setting such a pace as to suggest he could get 40 goals this season. As it is, he looked enviably sharp ahead of Sunday’s trip to Manchester United, who have been among his favourite victims, but his bit-part role in the last 10 weeks means that, on an individual basis, it is unlikely to go down as his best campaign.
But the paradox in Salah is that, for a player often accused of selfishness, whose hunger for goals Klopp referenced, is also one of Liverpool’s finest creators. Salah recorded a hat-trick of assists against Sparta: it could have been five, but for a ridiculous miss by Darwin Nunez and a moment when Cody Gakpo strayed offside. It took him past Steve McManaman to 86 assists for Liverpool: of those to debut in the last six decades, when such statistics were first compiled, only Dalglish, Steven Gerrard and John Barnes have more; in that time, only Dalglish and Trent Alexander-Arnold have averaged fewer appearances per assist.
© Provided by The Independent
If Salah has been the great guarantee of goals, he has been a great provider of them, too. He is a major reason why the Klopp era has contained over 1,000 goals. When he wreaks havoc, others can capitalise: indeed, he has made it easier for others to score in his slipstream. Sadio Mane has reached 20 goals in three campaigns without outscoring Salah, Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota one apiece. Now Nunez is up to 17, despite his propensity for missing open goals.
They have been golden years for Liverpool; goal-filled years, too. Salah is taking the momentousness out of milestones by chalking them up on an annual basis, he has made it seem normal. But the fact that none of Liverpool’s other attacking greats has shown this level of potency for seven straight seasons shows it is really not normal.
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Man Utd handed huge Champions League boost after heroics by Premier League rival
Manchester United have been provided with a massive boost in their quest for Champions League football next season after West Ham secured Europa League progress.
David Moyes guided his side through to the quarter-finals of Europe's secondary competition with an outstanding 5-0 win over Freiburg as the Hammers wiped out their one-goal deficit from the first leg. Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen and Aaron Cresswell ensured a positive result was on the cards at the London Stadium before a brace from Mohammed Kudus.
That victory improves England's standings in the UEFA co-efficient rankings, with the Premier League on track to secure a fifth place in Europe's elite club competition next season. Those rankings will decide which nation receives an additional qualification for the Champions League's new format next term.
The 2024/25 season will see the Champions League move to 36 teams competing in a Swiss format where clubs will play eight matches against eight different opponents. The top eight performing sides will then progress to the knockout rounds, with teams ranked from ninth to 24th competing in play-offs to make the quarter-final.
The expansion sees an extra place awarded to the two best performing leagues in Europe this term. With Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, West Ham and Aston Villa all still in contention across Europe's various competitions, the Premier League now appears to be in the driving seat to earn a fifth Champions League spot bar a series of poor quarter-final results.Related video: Martin Odegaard reacts to making it through to the Champions League quarter finals (Dailymotion)
Co-efficient points are earned when teams win, draw or progress through each competition. All points won by clubs in each nation are compiled before being divided by the number of teams from that country in Europe.
Italy, Spain and Germany are the counties competing with England to earn an additional qualification spot. Before this week, Italy and Germany led the rankings but both now have fewer teams remaining in European competition than England.
© CameraSport via Getty Images
The news could also come as a boost to mid-table sides Chelsea and Newcastle as the extra place could see teams as low as eighth earn a place in Europe next term. The Blues are four points behind Brighton who currently hold the position and have a game in hand, despite currently sitting in 11th position in the Premier League.
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Jordan Henderson lost for words after humiliating Premier League return
Jordan Henderson said Ajax's thumping defeat at Aston Villa was "hard to put into words" as he endured a miserable return to England.
The Dutch giants had held the Premier League side to a goalless draw in Amsterdam, but were beaten 4-0 in the second-leg of their Europa Conference League tie. It means their European hopes are over for another year, with the famous outfit having a largely forgettable season.
Henderson was signed in January after he chose to cut short his time in Saudi Arabia. Up until the summer the midfielder had spent his entire career in England, largely with Liverpool. However his return to his homeland certainly didn't go to plan.
Villa, who are eyeing a spot in the Champions League, were leading at half-time courtesy of Ollie Watkins. They then scored three times in the second-half through Leon Bailey, Jhon Duran and Moussa Diaby to seal a dominant victory as Ajax ended with ten men following Sivert Mannsverk's red card on 66 minutes.
Henderson faced the media after the match and told TNT Sports: "Tough game. It is hard to stand here and put it into words straight after the game. We were beaten quite easily in the end. I felt we could cause them problems and then we concede a second, which was poor from us, then it is tough from that point to get the game back.
"Injuries and everything seemed to go wrong from then. If we'd kept it at 1-0 for a bit longer I felt we could've hurt them but we're well beaten in the end."
On the red card he added: "I thought it was harsh, but again I'm not going to make it an excuse. That was a difficult moment for us, that and conceding the second. That is football at the end of the day, you've got to deal with those things and unfortunately it wasn't our night."
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The last time Henderson played at Villa Park was last season as Liverpool landed all three points on Boxing Day. The England international played in his usual midfield role for 80 minutes as the Reds secured a 3-1 victory with Mohamed Salah among the goals.
Since Henderson joined in mid-January the Dutch outfit have managed to somewhat salvage their season. Ajax were bottom of the Eredivisie earlier this term but now sit in fifth, which would present them with the chance to play in Europe.
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Man Utd news: Dan Ashworth move edges closer as Rasmus Hojlund interview sparks backlash
Manchester United are preparing to take on rivals Liverpool this weekend in the FA Cup.
It is the only remaining trophy Erik ten Hag's side can win this season and whoever emerges victorious this Sunday will earn themselves a semi-final clash at Wembley. United head into the game having managed to get back to winning ways last weekend, bouncing back from a 3-1 defeat to Manchester City by beating Everton 2-0.
The result leaves them eight points off fourth placed Aston Villa and they remain in with an outside chance of qualifying for next season's Champions League. Here, Mirror Football rounds up the latest Manchester United news.
Ashworth move edges closer
Dan Ashworth is closing in on a move to United, with Newcastle now searching for a replacement sporting director.
Ashworth was put on gardening leave by Newcastle last month and new United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has made no secret of his desire to bring the former FA chief to Old Trafford. And while the two clubs are yet to agree on compensation, the Daily Telegraph are reporting that the Magpies 'want to speed up' Ashworth's exit.
The report states that Newcastle are willing to negotiate a fee less than the £20million they originally demanded. Paul Mitchell, Brentford chief Phil Giles, West Ham's Tim Steidten and former Roma sporting director Tiago Pinto are all being considered as potential replacements for Ashworth.
© PA
Hojlund interview sparks backlash
The United Stand has received death threats after Rasmus Hojlund conducted an interview with the fan channel last month.
Owner and presenter Mark Goldbridge has been an outspoken critic of the club at times and he told the Daily Mail : "I totally understand that football is a passionate and divisive sport, and that people are free to decide and have an opinion on what content they consume.
"However, the pile-on some of our staff were subject to over the weekend was incredibly sad to witness. To be threatening people's lives yet again evidences the vile pack mentality that exists on social media."
© The United Stand
Man denies Keane assault
A 43-year-old man appeared at Highbury Magistrates' Court on Wednesday and denied assaulting United legend Roy Keane.
Keane was allegedly headbutted while working as a pundit for Sky Sports at the Emirates for Arsenal's 3-1 win over United last September. Scott Law was charged with common assault last month and has now entered a not guilty plea.
Law, from Waltham Abbey in Essex, has been released on unconditional bail until his two-day trial is set to begin on May 29.
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