Football For All

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Chelsea are in the process of finalizing a deal to sign Danny Welbeck from Brighton. ✅ Welbeck has been granted permission to undergo a medical by Brighton which, if all goes to plan, is expected to take place by the end of the week, enabling him to join the Chelsea squad in Hong Kong ➡️ Chelsea and Welbeck have an agreement in principle on a two-year contract

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Chelsea are in the process of finalizing a deal to sign Danny Welbeck from Brighton. ✅ Welbeck has been granted permission to undergo a medical by Brighton which, if all goes to plan, is expected to take place by the end of the week, enabling the 35-year-old to join the Chelsea squad in Hong Kong ➡️ Chelsea and Welbeck have an agreement in principle on a two-year contract.

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Marc Cucurella has fulfilled his pre-2026 FIFA World Cup promise by getting a new tattoo featuring Spain men’s national football team coach Luis de la Fuente. ➡️ In the run-up to the tournament, Cucurella said he would get a tattoo of de la Fuente’s face if Spain lifted the trophy

🚨⚽️ | NEW: FIFA President Gianni Infantino is considering selling a stake in the World Cup to private investors in what has been labelled by insiders as a nuclear bomb for football. ◽️ FIFA is planning to sell a stake, believed to be between 20 and 30 percent, in a new company that will control the World Cup ◽️ It is understood that preliminary agreements over the terms have been signed for a deal that could be worth about £15BN ◽️ It is said that the Donald Trump administration has been consulted over the plan and JP Morgan is handling the process ◽️ Infantino could become the commissioner of the new entity upon the end of his presidency at FIFA in 2031 and he would expect to bank millions of pounds in such a role ➡️ FIFA would hold a majority stake and then private investors would be able to invest in minority shares that would run into the billions

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Manchester City have confirmed that Rodri has undergone successful surgery on a minor back complaint. ✅ Rodri had scheduled the procedure for after his participation in this summer’s 2026 FIFA World Cup, which he won with Spain ➡️ City have not given a timeline for his recovery but sources with knowledge of his situation, say he is expected back with the team a few days before the 2026 FA Community Shield against Arsenal on August 16

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Manchester City have confirmed that Rodri has undergone successful surgery on a minor back complaint. ✅ Rodri had scheduled the procedure for after his participation in this summer’s 2026 FIFA World Cup, which he won with Spain ➡️ City have not given a timeline for his recovery but sources with knowledge of his situation, say he is expected back with the team a few days before the 2026 FA Community Shield against Arsenal on August 16

🚨⚽️ | NEW: A leading Democratic lawmaker has written to FIFA President Gianni Infantino to request that he appear before the House Judiciary Committee in a fresh attempt to scrutinize his organization’s relationship with the Trump administration. 👀 Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, is pushing FIFA to provide all of its records on its contacts with Donald Trump, his administration, and the Trump Organization, which is the U.S. president’s family business, by August 9, 2026 ➡️ In a letter sent on Sunday night, Raskin requests Infantino produce “a list of anything of value [including transfer of money, gifts, prizes, awards, or public appearances] given to President Trump, members of his Administration, or their family members, or any entity associated with them, such as The Trump Organization”

🚨⚽️ | NEW: The International Football Association Board (IFAB), global football’s law-making body, has approved a trial of a measure intended to stamp out the tactic of goalkeepers allegedly feigning injury. ◽️ The IFAB has approved two variations of the trial, with the English game choosing the nominated-player option, while leagues such as Australia’s A-League will test a version in which the captain always has to leave the field ◽️ Under the version which will be used in English football, the manager will have 10 seconds to tell the fourth official who they are choosing to take off, or the captain will be the one who is temporarily removed ➡️ English football will implement the trial immediately, which means from next month whenever the referee gives permission for a physio to treat a goalkeeper, that team’s manager must nominate an outfield player to leave the field for one minute

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Ismael Saibari’s injury at the 2026 FIFA World Cup has been diagnosed by Bayern doctors as a torn muscle fiber in his thigh. ➡️ Saibari will work on his recovery in Munich after his vacation and will join his new teammates after Bayern’s Asia tour, which ends on August 8

🚨⚽️ | NEW: FIFA President Gianni Infantino has been branded unfit to govern world football after he angrily hit out at his detractors for spreading hate. Nicholas McGeehan, director and co-founder of human rights organization FairSquare: “Infantino’s score-settling rant further underscores his unfitness to govern world football. He is cosseted by yes-men inside the organisation and divorced from the reality of his unpopularity outside of it.” ➡️ In a 15-page message published on Instagram on Sunday, Infantino claimed critics had “missed all that joy and togetherness” and said they had been “spreading hate and false rumours”

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Yan Diomandé has returned to RB Leipzig for pre-season ahead of the 2026/27 season. ➡️ There is still no agreement between Leipzig and Real Madrid for the transfer of Diomandé

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Real Madrid are expected to reach an agreement to sign Yan Diomandé from RB Leipzig soon. ❌ Madrid had an initial bid for Diomandé rejected by Leipzig around 10 days ago and returned with an improved offer more recently worth €120M, which includes an €100M fixed fee ➡️ The second proposal has yet to receive a response from Leipzig and is also expected to be turned down, however there is confidence on all sides that an agreement will be reached in due course

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Serie A club Como 1907 have set out a new pathway in its academy to limit children’s exposure to the impacts of heading a football and to protect brain health. ◽️ Under-10 level There will be no heading in training or matches, with throw-ins instead taken by passing the ball along the ground, and corners replaced by throws which are played on the floor ◽️ Under-11 level Heading techniques may be introduced towards the end of the season, but with a light rubber ball ◽️ Under-12 level Players would be taught heading technique once a month, again with a light rubber ball, with a maximum of five headers in a session ◽️ Under-13 level Heading will remain “carefully limited” in training, once a week with a maximum of five headers in a session, and that throw-ins would be taken by hand but directed below head level

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Federico Chiesa has said that he wants to stay at Liverpool as he targets a bigger role under new head coach Andoni Iraola this season. Chiesa speaking after scoring the third goal in Saturday’s 4-2 friendly win over Sunderland in Nashville: “Right now, at the moment, I am happy here at Liverpool. I love the club, I love the fans, I love everything. I am doing the best I can to have a chance here and then we will see. At the minute, the only thing I am thinking about is Liverpool. It is always a fresh start at the beginning of the year. Maybe there have been too many fresh starts, but I don’t care. I am trying to do my best for this new manager. Last year I also felt ready to play a bigger role, but then it depended on whether the coach wanted me to play or not… This year, let us say it is a new chapter. There is a new manager and I have to focus on that.”

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Inter Milan have entered talks with Tottenham over the potential signing of Cristian Romero. Inter’s sporting director, Piero Ausilo: “It’s definitely a deal we are trying to sign with the player and the club. These things take some time but there’s definitely interest. Let’s see.”

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Eddie Howe is confident that Bruno Guimarães will not demand to leave Newcastle United for Arsenal and echo Alexander Isak’s acrimonious departure to Liverpool last summer. Howe when asked if he feared a repeat of Isak with Guimarães this time around: “I’ve spoken to him as I would do with Bruno normally. He is a fantastic person and we have had some really good conversations both before, during and after the World Cup. What we speak about obviously has to remain private but he is a great player and a great person. Look, I don’t know what is going to happen with Bruno. That is up to other people to speculate about but also other people to have conversations about which I’m not a part of. I don’t think it is fair to compare situations and what happened previously. You’ve got to look at this in its own right.”

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Roberto De Zerbi has said that any members of his Tottenham squad who are not happy or proud to play for the club have to leave. De Zerbi speaking ahead of Tottenham’s pre-season friendly against Auckland FC: “Listen, I was very clear at the start of my time in Tottenham. I said, ‘Who doesn’t want to stay in Tottenham, who is not happy, is not proud to stay here, has to leave’. I want proud players who are happy to stay here and to go on the pitch at Tottenham [Hotspur] Stadium with a big motivation. If you think also [from what we’ve seen] in the World Cup, the motivation makes the difference. The motivation is to be happy to stay in one team.”

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Roberto De Zerbi has said that any members of his Tottenham squad who are not happy or proud to play for the club have to leave. De Zerbi speaking ahead of Tottenham’s pre-season friendly against Auckland FC: “Listen, I was very clear at the start of my time in Tottenham. I said, ‘Who doesn’t want to stay in Tottenham, who is not happy, is not proud to stay here, has to leave’. I want proud players who are happy to stay here and to go on the pitch at Tottenham [Hotspur] Stadium with a big motivation. If you think also [from what we’ve seen] in the World Cup, the motivation makes the difference. The motivation is to be happy to stay in one team.”

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Senegal's appeal against being stripped of their African Cup of Nations 2025 title will be heard on October 8. ✅ The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has confirmed that the hearing will take place at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on October 8 and will be held behind closed doors after none of the parties requested that it be made public ➡️ Senegal initially beat hosts Morocco 1-0 after extra-time on January 18 but were stripped of the title 57 days later in March after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) ruled that they had forfeited the match

🚨⚽️ | NEW: Real Madrid have entered the race to sign Yan Diomandé and are in talks with RB Leipzig over a potential deal for the 19-year-old winger. 😬 Paris Saint-Germain remain keen on Diomandé had made the European champions his preference, but they have not yet shown a willingness to offer a level of fee that would convince Leipzig to consider a sale this summer ➡️ The German club had been holding out for a fee closer to €130M while also trying to tie Diomandé, whose existing contract runs through to the summer of 2030