BBC
Manchester United have held talks with Benfica over a deal worth up to £100m, including add-ons, for Portugal striker Goncalo Ramos, 21. (Mirror)
Chelsea hope the potential appointment of Mauricio Pochettino as manager could help persuade France midfielder N'Golo Kante, 32, to sign a new contract at Stamford Bridge. (Telegraph - subscription required)
Chelsea are ready to offer 33-year-old Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Spain defender Marc Cucurella, 24, as makeweights in a deal to turn 23-year-old Portugal forward Joao Felix's loan from Atletico Madrid into a permanent deal. (Standard)
Manchester United are ready to rival Arsenal and Chelsea for the signature of Declan Rice after being impressed with the 24-year-old England midfielder's performance for West Ham against the Red Devils on Sunday. (Sun)
Bayer Leverkusen are interested in signing Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka, 30, with the Switzerland international having received interest from the German club last season. (Mirror)
West Ham are interested in Coventry City's 24-year-old Sweden forward Viktor Gyokeres. (Mirror)
Arsenal are hopeful England winger Bukayo Saka, 21, will sign a new five-year contract worth £300,000 a week before the end of the season. (TalkSPORT)
Newcastle are among a number of Premier League clubs set to rival Inter Milan and Juventus for the signature of Monza's 24-year-old Brazilian full-back Carlos Augusto. (Calciomercato)
Liverpool are in advanced talks to appoint German Jorg Schmadtke their new sporting director. (Mail)
Everton's Abdoulaye Doucoure, 30, says he does not know if he wants to stay at the club with the France midfielder out of contract in the summer but with the option to extend for 12 months. (Daily Mail)
Barcelona and Spain veteran Sergio Busquets is set to leave the Nou Camp this summer, with the 34-year-old midfielder deciding against renewing his contract after 15 years at the club. (Marca - in Spanish)
Fulham manager Marco Silva has a £6m release clause in his contract with West Ham considering an approach for the 45-year-old Portuguese should they decide to sack Scot David Moyes at the end of the season. (Mail)
David de Gea has agreed a new contract with Manchester United on reduced terms but there is no guarantee the 32-year-old Spain goalkeeper will be the club's number one. (Telegraph - subscription required)
Former England midfielder James Milner, 37, rejected an offer from Everton in favour of joining Brighton once his Liverpool contract expires this summer. (Football Insider)
Chelsea Women expect 30-year-old Denmark midfielder Pernille Harder and Sweden defender Magdalena Eriksson, 29, to leave for Bayern Munich on free transfers when their contracts expire this summer. (Standard)
Former West Brom and Barnsley boss Valerien Ismael is in advanced talks to become Watford manager. (Athletic - subscription required)
Sky Paper Talk
DAILY MIRROR
Manchester United are preparing to step up their interest in Goncalo Ramos with a potential record bid as part of a major summer rebuild.
Newcastle are reportedly willing to spend big this summer in order to secure their main transfer targets, with Barcelona winger Raphinha said to be high on their list.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
David De Gea has agreed the terms of his new contract at Manchester United to stay beyond the current season.
Chelsea's decision to offer Mauricio Pochettino the permanent head coach job could help get N'Golo Kante's proposed contract renewal over the line.
THE SUN
Declan Rice's performance against Manchester United has seen the West Ham star rocket to the top of Erik ten Hag's summer shopping list.
Brighton are preparing a summer bid for Hoffenheim attacking midfielder Christoph Baumgartner.
Manchester City have joined the chase for Italian wonderkid Cher Ndour.
Yan Dhanda is being watched by Blackburn, Birmingham and Ipswich.
Sergio Busquets has reportedly decided to not sign an extension at Barcelona and will leave this summer.
Yerry Mina is reportedly set to leave Everton for free after the club failed to offer him a new contract.
Former NFL star JJ Watt enjoyed a pub crawl before Burnley's last game of the season for "research" purposes.
DAILY STAR
UEFA has a back-up plan should the Champions League final be unable to be held in Istanbul as Turkey prepares to go to the polls over the weekend.
DAILY MAIL
Marco Silva has a £6m release fee in his Fulham contract amid interest in the Portuguese coach ahead of what is set to be a summer of managerial upheaval.
Chelsea are exploring ways to keep Joao Felix at the club on a permanent basis with Atletico Madrid continuing to demand £88m for the forward.
Neymar wants to leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer, according to reports.
Eintracht Frankfurt CEO Axel Hallmann has said it would take a bid in excess of £78m for the club to sell Randal Kolo Muani, amid interest from Manchester United and Bayern Munich.
Arsenal are hoping to announce Bukayo Saka's new contract before the end of the Premier League season.
Chelsea striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is considering a heartfelt request from the Gabon president to step out of international retirement.
Erling Haaland's dad Alf-Inge was seen being escorted out of a corporate box after allegedly clashing with Real Madrid fans during their semi-final with Manchester City.
Abdoulaye Doucoure has cast doubt on his Everton future and said he is not sure if he wants to stay at the club.
Liverpool are in advanced talks to make Jorg Schmadtke their new sporting director and want him in place for the start of the summer transfer window.
Newcastle midfielder Sean Longstaff has avoided a serious foot injury amid fears his season could have been over.
THE TIMES
Aaron Ramsdale is set to be rewarded with a new long-term contract after playing a leading role in Arsenal's surprise title charge this season.
Dean Smith pulled his Leicester City players in for training on a planned day off after their disappointing defeat by Fulham.
Italian football and rugby are joining forces in an attempt to win hosting rights for three major sporting events in the space of five years and to fast-track renovations of the country's crumbling stadium infrastructure.
Sam Billings has revealed that he underwent surgery last year for skin cancer, which informed his decision to play in the Pakistan Super League rather than tour Bangladesh with England.
THE ATHLETIC
Watford are in advanced talks with Valerien Ismael over becoming the club's new head coach.
Aston Villa want to strengthen their senior management structure by hiring former Philadelphia 76ers President Chris Heck.
The takeover bids for Manchester United made by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani are not contingent on where they finish this season.
Eintracht Frankfurt have confirmed that head coach Oliver Glasner will leave the Bundesliga club at the end of the season.
THE GUARDIAN
Dani Alves will remain in jail after a Spanish court denied his request to be freed on bail on Tuesday while a sexual assault accusation against the former Barcelona player is investigated.
DAILY RECORD
Kenny Barclay is to leave Rangers, as the finance director becomes the latest victim of a boardroom shakeup.
Roberto Martinez has saluted Rangers' recruitment and says Nicolas Raskin is 'very close' to a senior Belgium call-up.
SCOTTISH SUN
Rangers will listen to summer offers for Antonio Colak after knocking back January interest.
Ryan Jack is close to agreeing a one-year deal with Rangers.
Portugal manager Roberto Martinez has revealed he is keeping close tabs on Jota.
Police have issued a warning to Celtic fans after plans emerged online of their intentions to gather in Glasgow city centre to celebrate winning the league.
The Athletic
What West Ham can expect from AZ Alkmaar: Attacking full-backs and patient build-up
By Roshane Thomas and Thom Harris
A London-born manager, a former Premier League goalkeeper and an ex-Southampton midfielder means there’s a gentle familiarity to AZ Alkmaar.
West Ham United will host the Dutch side on Thursday in their Europa Conference League semi-final first-leg. Pascal Jansen, AZ’s manager, was born in London to an English mother and a Dutch father. Since his appointment in 2020, Jansen has exceeded expectations and the 50-year-old has cited Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and Louis van Gaal as his inspirations.
Jansen’s first choice between the sticks is Mathew Ryan, the former Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper. He joined the semi-finalists last summer from FC Copenhagen. Ryan, who has kept four clean sheets in his past four games, saved two penalties in the shootout victory over Anderlecht in the quarter-finals. Then there is Jordy Clasie, a familiar name to Southampton supporters. The defensive midfielder has been capped 17 times by the Netherlands and made 49 appearances for the Premier League side between 2015 and 2017, before spending two seasons out on loan at Club Bruges and then Feyenoord.
Like West Ham, AZ finished top of their Conference League group. They lost only one match in the group stage and have subsequently beaten Italian side Lazio 2-1 at home and away on their journey to the semi-finals – but this is the first time in 18 years they have reached this stage of a European competition. And their only appearance in a European final was the 1981 UEFA Cup, in which they lost 5-4 on aggregate to Ipswich Town.
West Ham will be the seventh English club they have faced since, picking up just two wins from 10 along the way. Domestically, AZ will qualify for the Europa League if they remain fourth in the Eredivisie. They are currently 15 points behind league leaders Feyenoord.
AZ’s success this season is built on a possession-heavy style of play that looks to lure teams out of defensive shape so they can attack with incisive runs from deep.
Building up in what is nominally a 4-3-3, Jansen’s system relies on a trio of versatile midfielders. Clasie is the anchor, having completed more tackles and interceptions than any other team-mate, all while knitting together play with an average of 56.1 accurate passes per game.
Further forward is January signing Sven Mijnans. Since joining from Sparta Rotterdam, the 23-year-old has scored three goals and registered three assists in 16 appearances. The midfielder has added attacking endeavour with his runs from deep, averaging 1.8 shots and 1.7 key passes per game, while academy graduate Tijjani Reijnders has shone in his role as a box-to-box midfielder.
Both Reijnders and Clasie find themselves in the top 10 for total touches in the Eredivisie this season, along with centre-back Pantelis Hatzidiakos, illustrating Jansen’s measured approach to building attacks.
Only Ajax, with an average of 4.35, have been able to string together more passes per sequence of play this season than AZ’s 3.69. West Ham, for context, average around 3.0 in the Premier League.
Looking to stretch the opposition, moving the ball from side-to-side as Clasie drops between the centre-backs, AZ are always keen to get their talented full-backs involved.
Yukinari Sugawara, their 22-year-old right-back, is quickly making a name for himself with his excellent, out-swinging deliveries having already provided 11 assists in all competitions this season, whipping in more than four crosses a game.
His latest contribution, picking out Mijnans’ typically elusive midfield run for the opening goal against RKC Waalwijk in April, encapsulates Jansen’s idea of positional play. With eight players in the attacking third, including both full-backs, AZ’s structural fluidity keeps defenders moving and opens up the half-space for their best creator. Sugawara obliges with a perfectly flighted ball into the box.
Meanwhile, on the opposite flank, 19-year-old Milos Kerkez is one of the club’s brightest prospects, crashing forward into attacks wherever he can. But Kerkez will miss the first leg because of suspension. He was booked in the second leg of AZ’s quarter-final win over Anderlecht. UEFA’s competition laws state any player receiving three yellow cards between the start of the group stages and the end of the quarter-finals will be handed a one-match ban and Kerkez also picked up a yellow card in each leg against Lazio in the round of 16.
He will, however, be available for the second leg and his attacking threat might give David Moyes something to ponder.
Receiving almost seven progressive passes per game, the Hungarian’s relentless running makes him a valuable outlet on the left. Technically proficient in the right half-space in more patient build-up, he also loves to dart inwards to receive the long diagonal, as below.
Again, with both Sugawara and Kerkez up high and Mijnans dropping into a back-three, fluency of movement sees AZ create another overload – this time with five players able to attack the gaps between the back four.
AZ shouldn’t be dominating possession against West Ham to the extent they can consistently manufacture such attacks. Even so, Moyes should be preparing the likes of Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen to take advantage of the space left by the AZ full-back’s adventurous forward runs.
Up top, coach Jansen is also expected to be without Swedish long-shot specialist Jesper Karlsson, who is still recovering from a muscular issue. The 24-year-old had been in terrific form, scoring or assisting all four of AZ’s goals against Lazio.
He is likely to be replaced by 19-year-old Myron van Brederode, a tireless dribbler from the club’s academy. Right-winger and former Inter Milan trainee Jens Odgaard could consign left-back Aaron Cresswell to a difficult evening. He has been a key performer for the Dutch side having amassed 12 goals and six assists in 43 appearances.
No one can better his 87 efforts on goal this season in the Netherlands, having tried his luck 106 times last year for strugglers Waalwijk – with both season tallies averaging out at 3.8 shots per game. Top scorer Vangelis Pavlidis returned to action against Ajax on Saturday night. Only three players have scored more in the Dutch top flight this campaign.
This tie is anything but a walk in the park for West Ham. AZ will arguably be their toughest opponent thus far in the competition and a number of their players will be intent on impressing visiting scouts. But the heartache of last season’s Europa League semi-final loss to Eintracht Frankfurt still lingers – and one year on, Moyes’ side will aim to use that disappointment as their motivation.
All Nigeria Soccer
West Ham United sign Chelsea's Anglo-Nigerian forward to bolster youth team
Chelsea's Anglo-Nigerian forward Joshua Ajala has moved on to pasture new ahead of the 2023-2024 campaign.
With a statement on their official website, West Ham United confirmed on Tuesday that Ajala is among the twelve promising talents that have penned full-time scholarship contracts with the Academy of Football.
Last month, Ajala was a member of the Chelsea U17 side that took part in the Future Cup - a prestigious youth tournament hosted by Ajax Amsterdam.
The promising teenager has departed Stamford Bridge without making his competitive debut for Chelsea U18 team.
"Joshua is a young forward who has impressed and we’re all excited to see him play in Claret and Blue going forward," West Ham United wrote.
Ajala is in contention to make his debut in the U18 Premier League next season and could also be registered for the 2023-2024 UEFA Youth League if the Hammers see off Manchester City in the U18 Premier League national final.
The FA Youth Cup winners and U18 Premier League South champions will face U18 Premier League North champions Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday to determine the champions of the division.
All Nigeria Soccer
Flying fullback and versatile CB of Nigerian descent sign scholarship deals with West Ham
Through their official website, Premier League club West Ham United have announced their new intake of academy scholars for the 2023-2024 season, with at least two players of Nigerian descent part of the group.
As per Premier League rules, all U17 players are required to start next season on a scholarship deal before they are permitted to sign their first professional contracts.
Emeka Adiele and Rayan Oyebade each put pen to paper on their respective scholarships with the Academy at a special evening held in their honour at Rush Green training ground.
Ten other talented teenagers have signed scholarship deals including Dondre Abraham, Joshua Ajala, Gabriele Caliste, Preston Fearon, Mehmet Halim, Riley Hargan, Ezra Mayers, Jethro Medine, Amara Nallo and Elisha Sowunmi.
The twelve first year scholars for the 2023-2024 season will be promoted to West Ham U18 team permanently next season.
Adiele has been described by West Ham's official website as a flying full-back who can play anywhere on the left side, and has already made his competitive debuts for the U18s and development squad while still a schoolboy.
Oyebade is a left centre-back and wing-back, who has played non-binding games for England at U15 level.
The 2007-born player made his competitive debut for West Ham U18s in his final season as a schoolboy.
Independent.ie
‘Sky’s the limit’ for rising Cork City star Joe O’Brien-Whitmarsh amid interest from West Ham
Joseph O'Brien-Whitmarsh of Cork City celebrates after scoring his side's second goal against St Patrick's Athletic at Turner's Cross. Photo by Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile — © SPORTSFILE
Seán O'Connor
Cork City assistant manager Richie Holland believes the sky’s the limit for Joe O’Brien-Whitmarsh, as the teenage midfielder attracts Premier League interest.
West Ham are hoping to sign the Corkman while Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur are also interested. He previously trialled with the Hammers in 2021, as well as Preston North End.
O’Brien-Whitmarsh has netted two goals in his last three games and has made 10 Premier Division appearances to date in his breakthrough season, as the club sit in ninth following Colin Healy’s resignation as manager last week.
Holland says he was always aware of the potential of the academy graduate, who turns 18 tomorrow, and admits it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the attacking midfielder move across the water.
“Joe is a very good player,” said Holland, ahead of Cork’s trip to Dundalk this Friday. “He has come through the academy again. We have always known he was coming. You see the performances he had at underage and with the Irish teams.
“In the first team, when a younger player comes up you always know by the players, if they are having him. First session you could see it, the boys were having him straight away. You could see the qualities he had.
“He always wants more information, always looking to improve and get better. The sky’s the limit for him really.
“I haven’t heard any truth in that. I saw it myself yesterday. It wouldn’t surprise me.
“We have a brilliant academy manager here in Liam Kearney, Liam has experience of going across the way (to the UK). He has lived that, so Joe has people here who will advise him the rights and wrongs of how to deal with these situations.
“We can all see the quality he has at his age, but at the moment, Joe is just concentrating on Cork City and getting his games here in the first-team.”
Holland also praised the Ireland U-18 cap’s determination after returning from a knee injury last year.
“He has been very professional in terms of his rehab and he looks stronger now for his age,” added Holland.
“You see him in duels and he’s able to deal with players now. He’s always been very good technically and has an eye for goal from midfield which is great as well.”
