NIGERIA

Akwa United head coach, Fatai Osho says the team is undergoing transformation ahead of the 2023–24 Nigeria Premier League season.

Osho led the Promise Keepers to the semi-final of the Naija Super eight pre-season tournament in Lagos.

The former Rivers United assistant coach assured that he would produce a team that would fight for laurels next season.

Nigeria Premier League champions, Enyimba have announced the sacking of their head coach, George Finidi, who guided it to a historic ninth NPL title less than a month ago.

The club on Monday announced the dissolution of the technical crew.

The Peoples’ Elephant in a statement signed by sporting director, Ifeanyi Ekwueme, directed all the coaches to re-apply for their positions.

The Abia State Government recently appointed former Super Eagles captain, Nwankwo Kanu as new chairman of the club.

Mohammed Babaganaru is set to be announced as the new head coach of Nigeria Premier League side, Niger Tornadoes.

The Ikon Allah Boys are without a manager following the departure of Bala Abubakar to Lobi Stars.

The club’s management met with Babaganaru to sort out the details of the contract.

Super Eagles goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye is set to join Serie A club, Udinese, on a season-long loan deal.

Okoye is seeking a move elsewhere after failing to break into the first team at Sky Bet Championship club, Watford last season.

The Nigerian international who joined Watford from Eredivisie outfit, Sparta Rotterdam last summer made only two appearances for the Hornets.

ENGLAND

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says £100m signing Declan Rice can be a “lighthouse” for the Gunners and the midfielder is “exactly what we needed”.

Rice, 24, has joined from West Ham in a deal that could rise to £105m.

He is their third signing after forward Kai Havertz joined from Chelsea in a £65m deal and defender Jurrien Timber from Ajax for £34m.

New Tottenham manager, Ange Postecoglou has spoken to Harry Kane but the chat was nothing earth-shattering.

Postecoglou said while Kane is still at Tottenham, he remains totally committed to what the team’s doing.

The England captain who has been linked with a move to Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich this summer, was selected in the squad for the tour of Australia and the Far East.

Tottenham is in Postecoglou’s native Australia, preparing to face West Ham in a pre-season friendly on Tuesday.

West Ham have reportedly had a loan offer for Harry Maguire rejected by Manchester United.

The Hammers are keen to strengthen their defence this season ahead of their return to the Europa League.

Maguire announced that he had been stripped of the captain’s armband at Old Trafford by Erik ten Hag, after slipping down the Dutchman’s pecking order last season.

Manchester Uinted forward, Marcus Rashford is on the brink of signing a new five-year deal with the team.

The star is preparing to commit to his boyhood club long-term after a blistering season at Old Trafford, which saw him score thirty goals in fifty-six games across all competition.

Rashford’s deal was set to expire in 2024, but as per the Athletic, Rashford’s new contract will see him stay at the club until at least 2028.

Also, Manchester United will pick up talks with Atalanta over striker Rasmus Hojlund this week.

Paperwork is still being exchanged on Monday on the club-to-club agreements for Inter Milan goalkeeper Andre Onana.

The fee expected to be closer to forty-one million pounds all in, United have a little more in their budget to throw at the deal for Hojlund.

Chelsea have discussed the merits of signing, Dusan Vlahovic from Juventus but his salary is deemed prohibitive as they restructure their wage tiers.

Chelsea players sought assurances that the club still intends to strengthen after losing some experienced heads with more to go this week.

The team has been profiling youngsters and talks are ongoing with Brighton for Moises Caicedo with an eighty million pounds bid expected.

Manchester City remain determined to swoop for main defensive target Josko Gvardiol from RB Leipzig.

But they are also casting an eagle eye over Lyon’s highly rated centre-back Abdoulaye Ndiaye.

Gvardiol has been impressing on loan with Ligue 2 Bastia drawing attention from a number of clubs mindful of Lyon’s financial issues.

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Leicester City are among the clubs interested in Manchester United winger, Amad Diallo as they plan for Harvey Barnes’s departure.

Newcastle United, West Ham and Aston Villa are jostling for Barnes though Eddie Howe’s side are considered firm favourites after opening talks.

Leicester would like Diallo but appreciate they now face competition from Premier League clubs such as Burnley and Sheffield United.

Luton Town have been charged by the Football Association for incidents in their Championship play-off semi-final second-leg win against Sunderland.

Amad Diallo, who was on loan at Sunderland from Manchester United at the time, appeared to be pushed by a supporter during the game sixteenth May.

In the wake of the match, the Hatters issued a fan with a lengthy club ban.

Former Crystal Palace star, Craig Harrison thought his dreams of a career in football had ended when he suffered a double compound fracture in his left leg at the age of twenty-four while playing in a reserve game.

The defender had been trying to force his way into the Crystal Palace first-team when the incident occurred which left him unable to play again.

Harrison toiled in vain to get back onto the pitch for a year and half before packing it in and deciding to make a living out of renovating and selling properties.

Former Manchester City footballer, Benjamin Mendy was all smiles as he showed up to a local kick-about in Manchester after being cleared of rape.

Mendy, donned his former team’s kit as he shook hands with local lads at the Powerleague venue, who were ‘shocked’ when he asked to join in their five-a-side game.

The former Premier League star had turned up unannounced to the sports complex in Ardwick after being cleared by a jury of carrying out sex attacks on two women at his four million pounds mansion.

A former Premier League footballer has documented his daring journey to the top of the highest mountain in Germany in the middle of the night without a shirt on.

The Zugspitze has a peak of just below three thousand metres above sea level, making it a difficult task to climb for anyone at any time.

But one ex-player, who featured sixty-eight times in England’s top division, chose to take on the challenge, with the temperature below freezing, and to cap it all off he was only wearing a pair of shorts, hiking boots and gloves.

England icon, David Beckham has had a sit-down conversation with Lionesses star Alessia Russo ahead of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Russo is hoping to help England achieve more success at the tournament which gets underway on Thursday with the Lionesses kicking off against Haiti on Saturday.

The pair spoke during the launch of adidas’ new campaign to celebrate the World Cup, in which they discussed a number of topics throughout.

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OTHER SPORTS

In Tennis; Novak Djokovic has been fined $8,000 for smashing his racquet against the net post during the Wimbledon men’s singles final.

The incident occurred in the fifth set of his loss to Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz when the 36-year-old Serb’s serve was broken in the third game.

Umpire Fergus Murphy immediately issued Djokovic a warning for a code violation for the transgression.

In Rugby; England have cut Bath flanker Sam Underhill and Sale prop Bevan Rodd from their World Cup training squad.

Coach Steve Borthwick has trimmed the party from 41 to 39 players as England step up their preparations for September’s tournament in France.

Underhill was one of the stars of England’s run to the 2019 final but has endured an injury-hit few years since.

In Athletics; Britain’s Aled Sion Davies claimed his fifth consecutive shot put title on the final night of the Para Athletics World Championship in Paris.

The 32-year-old Welshman led the F63 event from start to finish with his best throw of 16.16m coming in the penultimate round.

British professional boxer, Anthony Joshua has criticised former coach Rob McCracken for failing to teach him defence following the duo’s split after the Brit’s defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021.

The two parted ways following the loss, with a ‘massive breakdown’ in Joshua’s camp cited for a reason for the split.

They were long-term friends and partners but Joshua reshuffled his staff following the defeat to the Ukrainian, employing Robert Garcia for the rematch, but losing again.

In Golf, Northern Irish professional golfer, Rory McIlroy has cancelled his scheduled press conference ahead of this week’s Open at Royal Liverpool.

The world number two and winner of the Genesis Scottish Open had been due to speak to media to preview the final major of the year on Tuesday.

No reason was given as organisers announced on Monday this would now not be happening.

OTHER LEAGUES.

Barcelona’s new signing, Ilkay Gundogan says he still has a lot to prove after he was unveiled at the Catalan club following his move from Manchester City.

The German midfielder, captained City to the Treble last season, playing a key role with eleven goals in fifty-one games.

He signed a two-year deal at Barca after joining on a free transfer.

Bayern Munich insiders fear the comments made by honorary president Uli Hoeness regarding Harry Kane could prove more damaging to their pursuit of the Tottenham captain.

Hoeness turned up at Bayern’s training camp in the Bavarian town of Tegernsee and, never shy of an opinion.

Jude Bellingham has revealed that two of his new Real Madrid team-mates have been particularly helpful in helping him pick up Spanish.

The midfielder completed his first week of training for Madrid following his £113million transfer in June.

He was signed for a record fee for a British player, agreeing a six-year deal with the club, and will follow in the footsteps of fellow Brits Gareth Bale and David Beckham who also played for the LaLiga giants

Kylian Mbappe has returned to training with PSG on Monday, despite continued uncertainty over the Frenchman’s future at the club.

The Ligue 1 champions shared images on Twitter showing the return of the first internationals to the training compound, with Neymar, Danilo Pereira, Marco Asensio and Fabian Ruiz also pictured in a gym session in Poissy, France.

For Asensio, it is his first time with PSG, after joining the club this summer, having previously been on the books at Real Madrid.

Australia’s squad have criticised the gender disparity in World Cup prize money and the fact some nations do not have collective bargaining rights.

All twenty-three Matildas players featured in a video posted by the Australian professional players union PFA, three days before the tournament begins.

The squad also called for all of the players in Australia’s A-League Women to be fully professional.

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it…Words from Michael Jordan.