Manchester City have reportedly agreed a £59m deal for AC Milan star Tijjani Reijnders as Pep Guardiola wraps up his first major summer signing.

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Reijnders set to complete Man City transferPersonal terms have already been agreedTwo clubs are in the final lap of negotiationsFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

According to the Netherlands international is set to join the Manchester side with a verbal agreement now in place after personal terms were settled earlier in the week. Only the final formalities are yet to be resolved between the two clubs as the transfer nears completion.

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With Kevin De Bruyne's departure leaving a creative vacuum, and Ilkay Gundogan yet to fully replicate his first spell form since returning from Barcelona, Guardiola was expected to act decisively in the transfer market. At 26, Reijnders is entering his prime years and has been instrumental for Milan. His performances in Serie A were so impactful that he was recently crowned the league’s best midfielder for the 2024–25 season, a testament to his growth since arriving in Italy.

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Guardiola has long prized midfielders who can both dictate tempo and stretch opposition defences with vertical runs, traits Reijnders brings in abundance. Known for his tactical intelligence and work rate, the Netherlands ace fits the mould of a typical Guardiola midfielder, capable of transitioning seamlessly between controlling possession and injecting pace into the attack.

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In 2024-25, Reijnders found the net 15 times in all competitions, a career-best return that signals a growing comfort in front of goal. That offensive output is especially valuable for City at a time when goals from deeper-lying midfielders are increasingly crucial.

The allrounder took another stunning catch on the third day at Edgbaston

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jun-2023

One of Cameron Green’s stunners against India at The Oval•Getty Images

Virat Kohli, AdelaideNow Cummins has the Kohli wicket I think all the wickets at the other end have unsettled Kohli, and made him decide he has to take on the bowling. Fullish in a wide-ish channel outside off, and Kohli does something he didn’t do at all in the first innings, attempt a cover drive against such a ball. Slices it to gully, where Green seems to have taken a clean catch low to his left, but they’re checking anyway. Soft signal is out. He caught it a few inches above the turf, but the issue is whether it slipped momentarily from his grasp on his way down. There seems to be a bit of a juggle, but it’s hard to tell, given he’s landing in an area of shadow, so it stays with the soft signalRishabh Pant, GabbaTaken, super catch! Green in the gully. Short outside off, Pant leans back and tries to send this over the slips. It went very quickly but Green adds another good grab to his listPathum Nissanka, GalleScreamer in the gully from Green! Starc strikes! Back of a length, rising outside off across Nissanka, he tried to drive off the back foot with a vertical bat away from his body, as he did in the first Test, he got a thick edge which flew high to Green’s left and the 200cm giant with an unrivalled wingspan reached up with two hands and plucked it in his left at full stretch diving away like a goalkeeper. Sensational catch. No other Australian fielder could have caught thatJermaine Blackwood, AdelaideThree in the over for Boland as Green takes a stunner at gully! Green is swarmed by his team-mates after he essentially dove low into the air, picked the ball up low and picked up Usman Khawaja who ran in. Absolute joy in the Australian camp. Blackwood was squared up by the length ball on leg. Tried to nudge it through mid-on or midwicket, was indecisive due to the moving ball. Got a leading edge that went low. Excellent catch duly taken.Sarel Erwee, Brisbane, 1st inningsBrilliant gully catch by the big buckets of Cameron Green! Full again, tempting the drive outside off, it seams away a touch, he drives very hard at it and slices a thick edge low to Green’s left in the gully and he pouches it diving to his left. That flew quickly. He is so good there.Sarel Erwee, Brisbane, 2nd inningsPlucked in the gully by Green! Brilliant catch above his head. Short of a length, Erwee shapes to play, it decks across and climbs, he can’t get the bat out of the way and it flies off a thick edge quickly to Green and he jumps up at full stretch to pluck it with two hands. That would have cleared every other gully fielder in the world just about.Ajinkya Rahane, The OvalThey have dropped easy ones, but Green has now pulled off a ripper at gully. This is short of a length, has some width, the field is up, Rahane has a punch at it, gets a thick edge, and Green dives to his right, sticks the big mitt out, and catches it clean as a whistle. The ball is past the line of his body when he takes it. You beauty. End of a terrific knock, but that century on Test comeback is not to be Shubman Gill, The OvalGreen takes another screamer! Left hand this time! Gill stands his ground. The umpires send it upstairs. The third umpire is checking for a fair catch. This was a good length and it bounced a touch extra, Gill jabbed at it with hard hands. The edge flew low to Green’s left, he flings his huge left hand out and plucks it clean, but then his hand brushes the ground as he falls to the ground. The question for the third umpire is did he have full control over the ball. It looked fine. He had his fingers under it between the ball and turf. Out is the decision.Ben Duckett, EdgbastonGot him, what an incredible gully fielder Cameron Green is! Length ball in the corridor, straightens on Duckett, and he offers a bit of a loose response, hanging his bat out, looking for a lazy off-side push. Thick edge, and Green dives low to his left to grab it. Just as in the case of his second-innings catch of Shubman Gill last week, the umpires send it upstairs, but this time it’s very clear that Green has wrapped his fingers nicely around the ball by the time his hand hits the turf

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Mukesh Kumar have been selected in India’s Test squad for the first time for the tour of the West Indies, while Cheteshwar Pujara has been dropped and Mohammed Shami rested. Fast bowler Navdeep Saini has also made a comeback to the squad in place of Umesh Yadav.It means India will have a new No. 3 for the series after Pujara, 35, scored only 14 and 27 in the World Test Championship final against Australia earlier in June. Unless India move Shubman Gill down to No. 3, Pujara’s spot could be taken by either Jaiswal or Gaikwad for India’s first series in the 2023-2025 WTC cycle.Related

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Ajinkya Rahane, who was India’s highest scorer at The Oval, has kept his place after making a comeback following a 15-month absence from the Test team. He has also been named vice-captain. The rest of the squad, led by Rohit Sharma, includes most of the players selected for the WTC final.Jaiswal had made the trip to London as a stand-by player along with Mukesh, after Gaikwad, who was part of the original list of back-ups, withdrew to get married. While Jaiswal and Mukesh are uncapped, Gaikwad has played ten limited-overs internationals; his most-recent an ODI against South Africa in October last year.Gaikwad, who plays for Maharashtra, has a first-class average of 42.19 from 28 games with six centuries, and his technique has impressed the selectors and team management who have been looking to bring him into the Test team for a while now.Jaiswal has been prolific for Mumbai and has a first-class average of 80.21 in 26 innings. In his most recent first-class game – the Irani Cup – he made 213 and 144 for Rest of India against Madhya Pradesh. That aggregate of 357 is the most for any batter in an Irani Cup game. Jaiswal has the ability to not just open but also bat at No. 3 if required.Mukesh is a workhorse who plays for Bengal. The 30-year-old is a line-and-length fast bowler who has built an impressive body of work in domestic cricket. He was key to Bengal making two Ranji Trophy finals in the last three seasons and has been on the Test radar for a while, having featured in every India A tour over the past two seasons. He has 149 wickets in 39 first-class games.Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are all still recovering from surgery for various injuries, and with Rishabh Pant undergoing rehab after surviving a car crash last December, KS Bharat and Ishan Kishan have been picked as India’s wicketkeepers in the Caribbean. Bharat has played all five Tests since Pant’s injury, but has scored just 129 runs at an average of 18.42.What next for Cheteshwar Pujara?•Associated Press

On the spin-bowling front, Axar Patel provides back up to R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Jaydev Unadkat, who has been part of every Test squad since the tour of Bangladesh last December, was also retained and is the only left-arm seamer in a fast bowling group that also includes Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Saini and Mukesh, all of whom have fewer than 100 Test wickets each. Saini has not played a Test since the famous victory at the Gabba in 2021.India open their tour of the West Indies with the first Test in Dominica from July 12. The second Test begins on July 20 at Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain. They won their previous Test series in the Caribbean 2-0 in 2019.India’s Test squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk), Navdeep Saini

Arsenal are now planning to submit a £50m offer for an “incredible” striker who has been compared to Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe, according to a report.

Gunners stepping up striker pursuit

With Andrea Berta recently officially taking up the role of sporting director, the Gunners appear to be stepping up their pursuit of a new striker, which seems like one of the Italian’s main priorities as we approach the summer transfer window.

A £59m offer has reportedly been submitted for RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko, who is believed to be the north Londoners’ top target, given that a deal for Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak may not be possible.

David Ornstein has also dropped another update on the Viktor Gyokeres transfer saga, suggesting Berta is a big fan of the Sporting CP star.

Arsenal have a wide array of potential targets, with Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike becoming the latest player to make the shortlist, according to a report from Caught Offside.

Ekitike is attracting widespread interest from the Premier League, having impressed in the Bundesliga this season, and the German club are looking to hold out for €80m (£67m).

Newcastle United, Liverpool and Chelsea are also in the race for the striker, which is now starting to heat up, and the English clubs – Arsenal included – plan to submit opening bids of about €60m (£50m) to test the waters, with Frankfurt willing to sell if they receive a suitable offer.

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The Gunners have set their sights on a player who has impressed in the Premier League this season.

ByDominic Lund Mar 30, 2025 "Incredible" Ekitike enjoying best season to date

It is clear to see why so many top clubs are taking an interest in the French striker, given that he is having the best season of his career to date in terms of goals, scoring 19 times in all competitions, while also registering eight assists.

Such is the 22-year-old’s level of performance, he has even been compared to Real Madrid’s Mbappe by Wesley Sneijder, who said: “He has the grace of Neymar, but also the movements of Mbappe.

“To suddenly accelerate, that’s something that Mbappé also has. And he’s only 22 years old. There’s really a lot of potential in this boy.”

Having also been dubbed “incredible” by teammate Rasmus Kristensen, the Frankfurt star is showing signs he could be ready for a move to a top Premier League club this summer.

That said, it would be a risk for Arsenal to sign Ekitike, given that this is the first season of his career where he has been prolific in front of goal, and fellow targets Gyokeres and Isak have proven themselves as reliable goalscorers over a sustained period of time.

تحدث نادر السيد حارس مرمى منتخب مصر والزمالك الأسبق، عن مشاركة الأهلي في بطولة كأس العالم للأندية، موضحاً موقف نجله من الانضمام إلى القلعة البيضاء.

وقال نادي السيد في تصريحات عبر قناة “دي إم سي”: “كأس العالم للأندية حدث مهم ويجب أن نكون فخورين به، لأنه كان هناك مشاركة مصرية، الأهلي ظهر بشكل جيد جدًا في البطولة، الجماهير كانت لديها طموحات وتريد أن يصل الفريق لأبعد من ذلك وهو التأهل لدور الـ16”.

وتابع: “التجارب تعلم، مشاركة فريق مصري مثل الأهلي يُعطي طموحات للفرق المصرية الأخرى”.

طالع أيضاً.. شيكابالا يوجه رسالة وداع إلى ثنائي الزمالك

وأوضح: “أحمد نادر السيد موقفه مع نادي باوك جيد جدًا ويتدرب مع الفريق الأول، متبقي موسم في عقده ويرون أنه جاهز للمشاركة، ولكن لا توجد فرصة للعب مع الفريق الأول، وتحدثوا معه في النادي أنه ممكن يخرج للإعارة من أجل المشاركة وسيساعدونه في ذلك، وينضم لاحد الأندية في اليونان، ولكن هو طلب منهم أن يختار النادي الذي سينضم له”.

وأكمل: “طموح نجلي أن يكون متواجدًا مع فريق يستفيد منه، كان هناك حديث قوي جدًا مع حسين لبيب في شهر يناير الماضي، وما زال هناك كلام ولكن لا يوجد رد فعل حتى الآن”.

وأتم: “يوجد اهتمام من بعض الأندية بالدوري المصري بضم نجلي بخلاف الزمالك”.

The 2024/25 campaign is heading toward the final stretch, and Everton look all but safe to enter Bramley Moore on the fertile soil of the Premier League.

In fact, with David Moyes at the helm, there are budding hopes that the Toffees could be set for a period of prosperity, perhaps challenging for a place at the upper end of the table.

Of course, the Blues will need to get it right in the transfer market, and with so much change up the hierarchical ladder, there is an element of uncertainty, though optimism is back and rightly so.

Director of Football Kevin Thelwell will leave in the summer, and in his place Leeds United’s Angus Kinnear will assume transfer seniority in The Friedkin Group’s system. He’ll have plenty to get busy with.

Where Everton will strengthen this summer

Everton had fallen into a state of entropy under the dysfunctional rule of Farhad Moshiri, but there is truly hope things are changing now that a new order is in place.

Players are going to need to leave.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin, for example, is approaching the end of his contract and has only scored three times this season. With Beto superseding him at number nine, it feels the right time for the 27-year-old to move on.

Ex-Goodison scout Bryan King has also suggested Abdoulaye Doucoure is going to leave this summer on a free transfer despite the option of a one-year extension.

Moreover, Jack Harrison and Jesper Lindstrom are both loanees on the right flank and neither have set the world on fire this term, albeit improving since Moyes replaced Sean Dyche.

These, it seems, are the key areas of concern for the summer. Though you’d think centre-forward will receive the most dramatic attention.

Moyes has spoken since arriving of his desire to bring Everton back to prominence in the Premier League. There might even be tentative and rudimentary plans mapped out to find a pathway toward Europe.

To do that, Everton may want to aim big in the transfer market.

TFG eyeing audacious signing for Everton

As per GIVEMESPORT, Everton have been put on alert after Juventus reduced Dusan Vlahovic’s £35m asking price to £25m and are now ‘considering’ a move for the powerful striker.

While this might feel like a name beyond the Toffees’ reach, progress under Moyes and the Serbian’s own issues at Juventus make it very possible indeed.

With Calvert-Lewin’s set to depart – incidentally, he’s wanted by the Old Lady – and Armando Broja’s loan move unlikely to become permanent after an injury-wrecked campaign, there really could be something in this one.

What Dusan Vlahovic would bring to Everton

Juventus actually signed Vlahovic from Fiorentina for a huge £67m fee back in January 2022 after his stunning start to life in Italy at Fiorentina.

Strangely, you could say he’s never quite hit the same heights as that balmy start with La Viola, and the Scudetto still eludes him.

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Though Vlahovic has been perceived to have struggled this season, it’s curious that he’s still outscored all of Everton’s forwards on league ground, with his reputation attracting criticism like a glaring firefly glow.

Indeed, he was hailed as a “world-class player” by Bologna head coach Vincenzo Italiano only in December.

The prolific international, who has 13 goals from 32 Serbia caps, still ranks among the top 12% of players in Serie A this season for goals scored, the same again for shots taken and the top 15% for touches in the attacking penalty area per 90, as recorded by FBref.

Such poaching prowess has even led the data-driven site to pin Moise Kean as one of his most comparable players across Europe, with the former Toffee riding the crest of a wave in Italy with, incidentally, Fiorentina.

We already witnessed Moyes’ tactical nous when it comes to powerful and athletic strikers from Italy; Beto has been reborn since the Scotsman made his fated return to Goodison.

Now, he could repeat the trick with Vlahovic, especially since he’s profiled similarly to Kean, who has scored 19 goals from 32 matches in all competitions this term.

Maybe one of the biggest disappointments of the Moshiri era, Kean joined Everton form Juventus in a £25m deal in 2019. He was just a teenager, and the Blues’ problems precluded his success as he scored only two goals from 32 matches in the Premier League.

Though Everton’s success in selling him back to Juve for a similar £25m ballpark fee took the edge off the blunder, it’s somewhat frustrating to watch the Italy international now perform so admirably for Fiorentina.

All this said, he was still regarded as a top talent when Everton came calling and his profile was billed as perfect for Premier League football. You’d think Vlahovic, more refined and complete at 25 than Kean was, stands a good chance of hitting the mark when considering this.

Signing a forward cut from the same tactical cloth as Kean, who failed to make it work at Everton, would be a neat offshoot from this building tale. Moyes has the capacity to revive Vlahovic, turn him into a top-class Premier League star.

There will be a range of daunting competition for his signature, but Everton have the tools to become an attractive club for such players once again, and this is the kind of deal that could help Moyes replicate the European success he forged at West Ham United.

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The Everton board surely can’t wait to see the back of this miserable signing.

ByAngus Sinclair Mar 12, 2025

Scott Boland will likely return if the selectors feel a change is needed

Andrew McGlashan05-Jul-2023The risks of asking Josh Hazlewood to push through three consecutive Tests is likely to be the decision that will most occupy the minds of Australia’s selectors ahead of Headingley, where the Ashes can be secured.Todd Murphy’s inclusion to replace the injured Nathan Lyon is all-but rubberstamped, but when Hazlewood appeared at Lord’s it became the first time he had played consecutive Tests since 2020-21 following a series of injuries.He was held back from the World Test Championship final against India to ensure he was ready for the Ashes and has since bowled 56 overs in two Tests, claiming eight wickets, although his economy is 4.64. It is not a massive workload, but one that may give the selectors some pause with the third Test beginning just three days after Lord’s.Related

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“He’d be the obvious one you’d be a bit more careful of,” captain Pat Cummins said. “The tour so far for him has gone as well as he could have hoped – no injuries, but he is kind of uncharted territory for the last year or two.”I think there will be some conversation around that. I think he bowled 25 and 35 [25 and 31], which isn’t extreme numbers, but again you weigh up this game versus the last two, how he’s tracking so we’ll work through that.”It’s a quick turnaround,” he added. “It’s obviously a huge match, but there are three matches to come. So you don’t want to put anyone in high risk than you’d like knowing that there’s a couple of fresh guys on the bench that come straight in.”While the major prize of retaining the Ashes with a series victory can be achieved at Headingley, the two remaining Tests at Old Trafford and The Oval would still carry important WTC points with this series being the first in the new cycle where Australia are defending champions.Should Hazlewood be benched for this game, Scott Boland would be the likely replacement ahead of Michael Neser, who has been retained in the squad. Boland played the opening Test at Edgbaston, where England took him at nearly a run-a-ball, but Cummins would have no qualms over his return.Josh Hazlewood took the match-deciding wicket of Ben Stokes at Lord’s•Associated Press”We have such high standards of him [Boland] because of how well he has bowled,” Cummins said. “You saw in that little stretch where conditions were in our favour, how damaging he could be.”During the Lord’s Test, David Warner spoke about the difficulties he was facing with damaged fingers, but Cummins was not aware of them being a concern and Warner netted on Tuesday.”I saw him icing them at one stage in the changeroom and then him talking about it was the only time I’d heard of it,” he said. “So I don’t think it’s an issue.”Victory at Headingley, meaning a first away Ashes series win since 2001, would cement the legacy of this Australian Test team following their WTC title. Cummins was a central figure in the drawn 2-2 series in 2019, which meant the urn was retained, but conceded there were mixed feelings.”I think everyone felt a bit differently about it,” he said. “In Manchester, when we won that Test match to retain it, there was a big celebration where some people, me included, kind of thought, ‘do you celebrate when you retain it’. I genuinely didn’t know. For me it’s always about winning a series outright so that’s the goal. We want to win one of these last three Test matches.”

Steve Parish and Crystal Palace have now set their sights on a new 41-year-old target to replace Dougie Freedman, according to Sky Sports.

Crystal Palace begin search to replace Freedman

It was announced on Monday evening that Freedman would be leaving his role as Palace’s sporting director to take up a role overseas, which is believed to be in Saudi Arabia. The Scot has held that role since 2017, during which he worked across all areas of football for the first team and the academy.

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Freedman was at the heart of the club’s recent success in the transfer window, with him being a part of the team that brought the likes of Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi, Adam Wharton, and Dean Henderson to the club. But his time at Selhurst Park is now over, and the club’s search for his replacement has already begun, with it being reported on Tuesday that Parish is eyeing up a move to bring Iain Moody back to the club.

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The Eagles could be about to bring a former employee to the club as a replacement for Dougie Freedman.

ByBrett Worthington Mar 18, 2025

This could be seen as a controversial decision, should a deal go though, as Moody was sporting director at Palace for 11 months between 2013 and 2014 before he resigned after he allegedly sent racist, homophobic, and sexist text messages to Malky Mackay, who he had worked with at Cardiff City before moving to Palace.

Crystal Palace set sights on new 41 y/o to replace Freedman

But the Eagles and Parish are keeping their options open, and according to Sky Sports, Crystal Palace are also interested in Middlesbrough’s Kieran Scott to replace Freedman.

Sky Sports states that as well as Scott being of interest to Palace, they are also interested in Moody and Brentford’s Lee Dykes. Scott is currently working as Boro’s head of football and has been since September 2021. The 41-year-old has been at the heart of Middlesbrough’s change in recruitment and has been the driving force behind their general transformation in recent years.

Interest in Scott comes as the Eagles are currently keeping an eye on a few Boro players ahead of the summer transfer window. Midfielder Hayden Hackney is a player that Palace are very much interested in and are now considering making a move to sign him. Meanwhile, Rav van den Berg is a player who has emerged on their radar in recent weeks, and winger Ben Doak, who is on loan from Liverpool, has also caught the eye of the South Londoners.

Scott has proven to be a smart operator when it comes to transfers, as he helped Boro sign players like Morgan Rogers and Emmanuel Latte Lath, who were a success at the Riverside Stadium and then have gone on to leave, making the club a lot of money in terms of transfer money. Palace may like him to be able to do a similar job should he arrive at Selhurst Park, making this one to watch.

Nasser Al-Khelaifi has shared his thoughts on Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique's work ethic, stating there were worries about his well-being.

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• PSG won a historic quadruple under Luis Enrique
• Al-Khelaifi emphasized on the coach's commitment
• Revealed Spaniard has been living at training ground

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• WHAT HAPPENED?

  President Al-Khelaifi has shared details regarding the coach's immense work ethic which resulted in the team's historic quadruple, including their maiden Champions League title. The Qatari businessman noted that the Spaniard employed unique analytical methods on the training ground. He emphasised that the extensive time and effort invested eventually raised concerns within the club.

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• WHAT NASSER AL-KHELAIFI SAID

  Speaking in an interview on , Al-Khelaifi said: "I think we're the only club — or maybe there's another one like Bayer Leverkusen — to have a giant screen in their training ground. He sits with the players while they train, shows them the screen, the opponent, and his game. He uses an analysis I've never seen before. He's been living at the training ground for eight months. We told him we were worried about him."

• Getty Images Sport
  

  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Luis Enrique was appointed as head coach of PSG in 2023, with a treble with Barcelona already on his CV. In his debut season at Parc des Princes, the Spanish manager achieved the bare minimum of firing Les Parisiens to Ligue 1 victory, but the Champions League evaded them, getting knocked out in the semi-finals by Borussia Dortmund. However, unlike other years, PSG opted against firing the manager, placing their bets on Luis Enrique's experience and tactical nous. This season, he guided PSG to an almost invincible Ligue 1 triumph, their maiden Champions League, as well as the Coup de France.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR LUIS ENRIQUE?

  Luis Enrique and Co. will travel to the United States for the revamped Club World Cup, which begins on June 14. The newly-crowned Champions League winners will take on Atletico Madrid in the first group stage game on June 15.

Manchester United have initiated talks with the entourage of Eintracht Frankfurt's Hugo Ekitike, with Liverpool and Chelsea also in the race.

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United launch move for EkitikeRed Devils held talks with striker's campLiverpool & Chelsea also keen on the Frankfurt manFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

After reports of United ramping up their interest in Ekitike, the Premier League side have now officially opened talks with the Eintracht Frankfurt forward's entourage and have expressed "concrete interest" in signing the player, according to journalist Florian Plettenberg.

Advertisement(C)Getty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

German publication further reported on the interest, revealing that United are so far the only club to have held talks with Frankfurt regarding a potential move for Ekitike, despite suggestions that Liverpool have also been in touch with the Bundesliga side. What could work in United's favour is the relationship shared between Frankfurt sporting director Markus Krosche and United's head of recruitment Christopher Vivell, who are believed to be friends.

DID YOU KNOW?

Chelsea are also said to be interested in acquiring the 22-year-old's services after already beating United in the race for Liam Delap. United were heavily linked with Sporting CP striker Viktor Gyokeres, but the Swedish international has reportedly rejected the opportunity to reunite with Ruben Amorim at Old Trafford.

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It remains to be seen whether United can the Ekitike deal over the line after facing two snubs in the forms of Delap and Gyokeres. Frankfurt have placed a hefty €100 million (£84m/$112m) price tag on the former PSG man. But a move to the Premier League likely beckons for the youngster, with three teams set to battle it out for him this summer.