BBC
West Ham are eyeing a move for Bournemouth's 26-year-old England striker Dominic Solanke. (Telegraph - subscription required)
Chelsea lead Arsenal in the race to sign Napoli's 25-year-old Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen this summer. (Teamtalk)
Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel will prioritise a move back to England when he leaves the German club at the end of the season. (Telegraph - subscription required)
Jurgen Klopp will not replace Tuchel at Bayern Munich when he leaves Anfield at the end of the season, according to the Liverpool manager's agent. (Sky Sports Germany - in German)
Bayern Munich will rival Liverpool in pushing to appoint Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso as their next manager. (Guardian)
Former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane would return to management to take the Bayern Munich job. (Sport - in German)
AC Milan's 37-year-old France striker Olivier Giroud could leave the club for MLS at the end of the season. (Corriere dello Sport - in Italian)
Chelsea will listen to offers for Spain goalkeeper Robert Sanchez this summer and the Blues could look to replace the 26-year-old. (Football Insider)
But the Blues are not entertaining offers for 20-year-old England defender Levi Colwill, who is a target for Paris St-Germain and Liverpool. (Standard)
Real Madrid's 38-year-old Croatia midfielder Luka Modric is set to leave the club this summer. (Bild - in German)
France forward Kylian Mbappe, 25, will take a pay cut to join Real Madrid when he leaves Paris St-Germain this summer. (Sky Sports)
Al-Ittihad will target Tottenham's 31-year-old South Korea forward Son Heung-min and Liverpool's 31-year-old Egypt forward Mohamed Salah in the summer transfer window. (Football Transfers)
Manchester United and Arsenal are keen on Bayern Munich's 18-year-old French forward, Mathys Tel. (Bild - in German)
Everton midfielder James Garner is being targeted by Tottenham and Newcastle, with the 22-year-old Englishman appealing in many aspects for the Premier League sides. (Football Insider)
Liverpool hope to be favourites to sign 18-year-old Brazilian midfielder Luis Guilherme from Palmeiras this summer. (Football Insider)
Chelsea and Arsenal are leading the race to sign 15-year-old Aberdeen centre-back Lewis Carrol at the end of the season. (The Athletic)
Sky Paper Talk
DAILY MAIL
Thomas Tuchel is open to a Premier League return after Bayern Munich confirmed he will leave the club at the end of the season.
Manchester United fear Luke Shaw could miss the rest of the season after suffering a recurrence of a leg muscle injury in last weekend's win at Luton.
Manchester City are close to tying down Oscar Bobb to a new long-term contract after breaking into Pep Guardiola's first-team squad this season.
Harry Kane is reportedly at the centre of a dressing room chasm at Bayern Munich as Thomas Tuchel's reign in Bavaria crumbles.
Chelsea have made another appointment to their backroom team by recruiting Jim Hicks from the PFA as the club's head of coach development.
Jon Fearn is set to leave his role as head of medical at Nottingham Forest after less than seven months.
Luke Littler has signed a first professional contract at the age of 17 and launched his very own range of darts merchandise.
Ollie Lawrence is set to reinforce England's midfield for the Six Nations showdown with Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday - while Danny Care is also destined to be promoted to the starting XV.
Tiger Woods' son Charlie could be heading to the PGA Tour a lot sooner than expected after he signed up for a pre-qualifier event.
Inter Miami boss Tata Martino hinted he would not be rotating his squad to rest Luis Suarez against LA Galaxy next week despite the veteran striker appearing to be limping as he was substituted late in their victorious season-opener.
DAILY EXPRESS
Thomas Tuchel has set his sights on becoming Manchester United's next manager according to reports in Germany.
As well as coveting Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso, Premier League leaders Liverpool are also reported to be interested in three of their key players - Piero Hincapie, Florian Wirtz and Edmund Tapsoba.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Thomas Tuchel will put the country's top clubs and potentially the Football Association on red alert by prioritising a move back to England when he leaves Bayern Munich at the end of the season.
West Ham United have put Dominic Solanke high on their list of summer targets to bolster their attack and boost their quota of homegrown players.
Heung-Min Son held face-to-face talks in London with his South Korea team-mate after a row about ping-pong that resulted in the Tottenham Hotspur captain breaking a finger. The Tottenham captain has asked fans to forgive Kang-In Lee for the bust-up.
Women's Super League matches could be played on Friday and Saturday evenings from next season once a new television rights deal is agreed.
England centre Henry Slade is poised to sign a new deal to stay at Exeter Chiefs despite the continuing uncertainty around the Rugby Football Union's enhanced Elite Player Squad contracts.
THE TIMES
Gary Neville has been invited by Manchester United to join a special committee to oversee the regeneration of Old Trafford and the surrounding area.
Matthew Benham has appointed Rothschild to oversee the potential sale of Brentford in a deal that is expected to value the Premier League club at about £500m.
The historic white pavilion at Trent Bridge is set to receive a multimillion-pound upgrade intended to secure the Nottinghamshire ground's future as a Test venue.
THE ATHLETIC
Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw is expected to be out for 12 weeks after picking up a muscle injury.
Chelsea and Arsenal are leading the race for Aberdeen youngster Lewis Carrol with both clubs interested in a summer transfer.
THE SUN
Thomas Tuchel has been tipped to take over at Manchester United by club legend Steve Bruce.
A secret £7,200 statue of Harry Kane has remained hidden for years, according to reports.
Francis Ngannou has so much "ungodly power" even his boxing coach fears for his opponents - in a brutal warning to Anthony Joshua.
Fiorentina winger Christian Kouame has been hospitalised after contracting malaria during his time with the victorious Ivory Coast squad at the Africa Cup of Nations.
DAILY MIRROR
Organisers of the recent Green Football Weekend have admitted their disappointment that the Premier League stopped clubs from wearing green armbands during matches, instead limiting it to just pre-match warm-ups.
Danny Murphy has warned Liverpool against appointing Thomas Tuchel as their replacement for Jurgen Klopp, claiming the former Chelsea boss would be "too divisive" for the club.
German media claims a huge rift in the Bayern Munich squad caused the departure of head coach Thomas Tuchel, with Harry Kane on the side of those wanting him to stay, while Thomas Muller and Joshua Kimmich led those wanting him replaced.
THE INDEPENDENT
UEFA and FIFA are in a stand-off over regulation on multi-club ownership, as the two biggest confederations struggle to find a solution for one of the biggest issues facing football today.
THE GUARDIAN
Wales will face South Africa, the world champions, at Twickenham in June as part of preparations for their tour to Australia. The Principality Stadium in Cardiff is unavailable with Taylor Swift performing there on June 18 and Foo Fighters appearing there the following week.
DAILY RECORD
Old Firm slayer Derek McInnes has revealed he wants to end a dream campaign at Kilmarnock with a place in this season's Scottish Cup Final.
Nikola Katic has praised his former Rangers team-mate Connor Goldson for helping to mould him into the player he has become ahead of the defender's 300th appearance for the club.
Celtic great Darius Dziekanowski hopes Maik Nawrocki can prove himself as a valuable member of Brendan Rodgers' squad after a generally disappointing first season at the club ruined by a series of niggling injuries.
THE SCOTTISH SUN
A supercomputer is predicting that the Scottish Premiership title race will go right down to the wire.
Caught Offside
West Ham want to sign 20-year-old Juventus star, Italian club willing to sell
Juventus’ winger Samuel Illing-Junior is available for a summer transfer, and West Ham United are prepared to fight for his services. HITC reports that the Serie A team is open to a sale.
The news site claims that the Hammers, Crystal Palace, Brighton, and Wolves are interested in signing the England youth international, who is the youngest player to have started a Champions League match for Juventus.
After failing to make an impression on Max Allegri’s team this season, Juventus are willing to sell, and a £16 million price tag could be sufficient to get him into the Premier League.
The Hammers have a ton of important decisions to make, therefore this summer transfer window will be monumental.
In light of David Moyes’ uncertain future and rumours that the team is interested in Thomas Tuchel despite having already contacted Graham Potter and Julen Lopetegui, the club must first decide on a manager.
These choices must be made as soon as possible since only then will the club be able to decide on their transfer targets.
Though Raphinha of Barcelona has previously been mentioned as a possible alternative, it is certain that a winger has been pursued for the summer, with Lucas Paqueta being a priority for Manchester City.
Iling-Junior, on the other hand, may be a less expensive option. He would join with a maximum amount of improvement potential and be able to be sold later on for a profit. Undoubtedly, this is one to watch.
The Hammers are expected to be active in the market this summer as they are looking to add key players to a number of positions.
The Athletic
David Moyes is both right and wrong – he might ‘win more’ but West Ham can demand more
By Liam Tharme
West Ham are eight games without a win. It is their longest winless run since early 2020 and makes 2024 their worst start to a calendar year in 17 years.
In isolation, it would justify ending David Moyes’ second stint as head coach, having returned in late 2019. Even in a season of historically few sackings, tenures have been cut short for less.
After the recent 2-0 away defeat to Nottingham Forest, Moyes, often reserved in press conferences, fought back: “I don’t think we can ever please everybody, but it would be hard to say there have been many better times at West Ham.
“I think they’ll (the fans) honestly have to say that it’s as good a time as there’s been regarding winning a trophy (Europa Conference League) and league positions. Maybe they’ll be managers who excite them more. But the one who’s sitting here wins more.”
His bigger-picture-focused counter-argument is valid. Last season, West Ham claimed their first European trophy since 1965. That was an important success for a club famously knocked out by now-dissolved Romanian side Astra Giurgiu in Europa League qualifying rounds in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
In 2020-21 and 2021-22, Moyes guided West Ham to consecutive top-seven finishes for the first time in Premier League history.
How else could we look at West Ham’s strength under Moyes? Well, we can look at the club’s Elo numbers, with help from ClubElo.
ClubElo is a rating system that works by allocating teams points when they win, giving more for beating tougher sides (for example, Bayern Munich in the Champions League) and fewer for dealing with easier opponents (for example, Norwich in the Premier League).
As we can see from the graph below, West Ham’s Elo rating is almost as high as it’s ever been, suggesting their recent bad patch of form is not reflective of their overall strength.
This season is set against the backdrop of Declan Rice’s departure to Arsenal. Losing their club captain and academy graduate could have catalysed collapse, but West Ham have doubled down on a risk-averse, defend-first and counter-attack strategy. They are ninth, just two points behind seventh-place Brighton & Hove Albion, and into the Europa League round of 16 as group winners.
It is not a debate about success but the importance of style in achieving it. The Athletic’s playstyle data — which you can read about in more detail here — can be used to longitudinally assess West Ham. It measures teams based on style and effectiveness, condensing multiple metrics into easier-to-understand concepts (ie, chance prevention, rather than non-penalty xG conceded per 90 minutes).
Under Moyes, they have consistently kicked long from the goalkeeper (low deep build-up scores) rather than trying to bait a press. This season, they have the fewest open-play sequences of 10-plus passes of any top-half Premier League side.
Their declining field tilt (the share of possession a team has in a game, considering only touches or passes in the attacking third) since 2021-22 shows a team increasingly prepared to concede territory. In 2021-22, West Ham finished seventh and reached the Europa League semi-finals at their wide-attacking best. Moyes had dribbling wingers in Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen, who both hit double-digit goal tallies (all competitions), to support No 9 Michail Antonio.
They circulated the ball around opponents, had overlapping full-backs, wingers attacking crosses/cutbacks and plenty of box-crashing midfielders: Rice, Tomas Soucek, Manuel Lanzini and Pablo Fornals hit 24 goals combined in all competitions.
Moyes is correct that “the one who’s sitting here wins more”. He has the best points-per-game average, as per Transfermarkt, of any manager/head coach with 20-plus games in the club’s history.
His previous teams, particularly Everton, were also about structure and organisation. Moyes spoke of having “to try and compete in a different way” to keep West Ham “punching above our weight”, which echoes former West Ham manager Sam Allardyce. He was clearly bothered when he spoke about “the ‘West Ham way’”. He added: “Nobody could define (it), but, whatever it was, I apparently didn’t play it.”
Allardyce continued: “The fans were being brainwashed into thinking that, historically, the club had a particular style of play, akin to Barcelona, which was potty. I once called the supporters deluded and I stand by that. I don’t know who invented the ‘West Ham way’ phrase, but it’s a millstone around the club’s neck.”
West Ham are at something of a glass ceiling.
There might be a halo effect, whereby head coaches born in continental Europe and with experience in Europe’s other major leagues have more mystique to English football fans. Moyes has coached the third-most Premier League games (only Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have more) and the most among active coaches.
He is the longest-serving West Ham manager since Harry Redknapp (1994-2001). Simply, fans know and have seen Moyes teams, and — for better or worse — might just want something new.
Football clubs cannot make managerial decisions purely based on play-style excitement, but it is telling that West Ham have tried to evolve with and without Moyes and both times reverted to him and his tried-and-trusted system.
Chairman David Sullivan replaced him with the former Manchester City (and title-winning) head coach Manuel Pellegrini in 2018. Sullivan’s reasoning? Pellegrini’s “reputation for attacking football”. Seventeen months later, after a 10th-placed finish and more goals conceded than scored, Pelligrini was sacked with West Ham in 17th. Moyes returned. They took 20 points from their final 19 games and stayed up.
Perceptions on style have been impacted by the move to the London Stadium, the third biggest in the Premier League and a 77 per cent capacity rise from Upton Park. They have gone from a cauldron of noise and the smallest pitch (better for defending and counter-attacking) to a bigger, quieter stadium, which is suited to a controlling style.
Sullivan’s vision with the change of ground was to “take the club forward so we can compete on the pitch at the highest level.” West Ham have had more than 60 per cent possession just 13 times in 158 league games of this Moyes era.
At the start of last season, they tried to evolve again. Antonio explained this on his podcast, The Players’ Channel: “Because we were so close to the Champions League places last year (2021-22), we decided we wanted that and changed our mark. Everyone in the top six plays possession football, so we have been trying to score more free-flowing goals. We wanted to make the next step but we’re conceding more goals because we’re more open.”
In Moyes’ second spell, West Ham have won 61 league games. Only 13 have been by three or more goals, and 31 have been by a marginal goal. They do not blow teams away, but are rarely put to the sword themselves: 33 of their 63 defeats have been by a singular goal, and only nine times have they lost by more than two — though, four of those defeats by at least two goals have been since November.
The team has succeeded in recent seasons but as a club, West Ham have further to go. It is a case of striking a balance between understanding history and being realistic with expectations while not settling on achievements and allowing appropriate idealism. Moyes, in some regard, is suffering from success as he has raised the bar. Their 17-game unbeaten run in Europe, between August 2022 and October 2023, was the longest in English history.
That said, Brighton, Aston Villa and Bournemouth have all been promoted to the Premier League more recently than West Ham and evolved their tactical style, becoming possession-based and high-pressing, while changing head coach.
Similarly, Brentford and Wolves have shown tactical flexibility, trying to dominate games against lower-table opposition and switching shape to play defensively against ‘Big Six’ sides.
“We’re not a team that signs with a project for the future, we’re signing for now,” Moyes said after the 1-1 draw with Bournemouth at the start of this month. “We’re not a Brighton model, we’re not a Brentford model, but we’re a side who have tried to sign to keep us near the top”. Since 2018-19, they have spent the sixth-most of any Premier League side — more than Liverpool and Newcastle, though those two are among eight teams with a bigger net-spend negative.
Fulham (29.4) are the only Premier League club with a higher average age this season than West Ham (28.8), while West Ham’s average age has been among the four highest in every season since 2018-19. This is at odds with their history, the self-styled “Academy of Football” (emblazoned across the sideline at the London Stadium).
It is not as though they are lacking the talent. Their under-18s are joint-top of the league, having been runners-up in 2021-22 and winners last season by 17 points — they won 19 out of 22 games. They also won a first FA Youth Cup in 24 years last season.
The problem is the talent tends to stay in those age groups, rather than being fast-tracked into the first team or sent out on loan. Declan Rice and Ben Johnson are the only academy graduates born since 1990 to play more than 50 Premier League games for West Ham.
Divin Mubama epitomises this. He was the second top-scorer in the Premier League 2 last season (13 goals in 18 starts) and the top-scorer with eight goals in the Youth Cup run. He showed glimpses of his talent in fleeting Europa Conference League minutes last season, and could be the ideal all-round No 9 profile for Moyes’ 4-3-3.
But Mubama has been limited to bench displays ahead of Danny Ings. West Ham spent £12m ($15m) on Ings in January 2023; he has three goals in 44 appearances.
Johnson is the only club-trained player to play in the first team this season regularly. The CIES observatory group defines ‘club-trained’ as players who spent at least three years at the club between the ages of 15 and 21. For West Ham, these players account for just 0.3 per cent of their league minutes, with the divisional average being 7.5 per cent. Teams such as Brighton, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United all give over 18 per cent of minutes to their graduates.
Similarly, West Ham only appointed a technical director, Tim Steidten, as of July. Chelsea appointed one as early as 2011, United in 2021, while Arsenal, Brentford and Brighton introduced the role in 2022. It is another area in which West Ham are playing catch-up, something which — if being critical — Moyes is a symptom of rather than a cause.
This adds to the theory that the grass is greener where you water it, not just on the other side. Changing head coach could raise West Ham’s ceiling, but Moyes has lifted the floor a long way, and they could equally return to scrapping near the bottom of the league rather than being European contenders.
There haven’t been better times than this at West Ham, but they are equally entitled to want even more.
