BBC
Inter Milan could move for France forward Anthony Martial when the 28-year-old's Manchester United contract expires this summer - if they fail to sign Iceland forward Albert Gudmundsson, 26, from Genoa. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian)
Brighton will not look to re-sign Ansu Fati after his loan move from Barcelona but Wolves, Valencia and Sevilla are potential destinations this summer for the Spain forward, 21. (Sport - in Spanish)
Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim, who has been linked with Liverpool, has a verbal agreement that allows him to leave for £8.5m (10m euros) if a top side makes an approach this summer (Fabrizio Romano)
Everton will demand more than £40m to sell England striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, 27, this summer. (Football Insider)
Luton have raised their interest in Blackburn's 28-year-old Republic of Ireland striker Sammie Szmodics but face competition from Brentford. (Sun)
Amadou Onana is likely to leave Everton this summer, with the Toffees hoping to receive £50-60m for the Belgium midfielder, 22. (Football Insider)
Bundesliga sides are interested in making a summer move for Tottenham's 22-year-old Republic of Ireland forward Troy Parrott, who has been on loan with Dutch side Excelsior this season. (Football Insider)
English defender Jarrad Branthwaite, 21, insists his focus is on winning games for Everton and that he is blocking out all the speculation about his long-term future, having been linked with Manchester United. (Liverpool Echo)
Juventus have reached an agreement in principle with Thiago Motta for the Bologna boss to become their new coach - and Bologna's Scotland midfielder Lewis Ferguson, 24, could follow him to Turin. (Calciomercato - in Italian)
Italy winger Nicolo Zaniolo wants to return to Serie A when his loan from Galatasaray to Aston Villa expires this summer, with Fiorentina and Napoli having already enquired about the 24-year-old. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian)
Manchester United have firmed up their interest in Girona's Miguel Gutierrez and are looking to beat Arsenal to the signing of the Spanish left-back, 22, this summer. (Mirror, via TeamTalk)
Real Madrid are watching River Plate's 16-year-old Argentine midfielder Franco Mastantuono, who is also being monitored by Chelsea and Paris St-Germain. (Fabrizio Romano)
Barcelona and Manchester City are also interested in Mastantuono, who has a release clause of 45m euros (£38.6m). (Sport - in Spanish)
Manchester United have approached Palmeiras over 19-year-old Brazilian forward Thalys, who is yet to make his first-team debut. (TeamTalk)
Sky Paper Talk
THE TIMES
Jarrad Branthwaite has said he doesn't know why he didn't feature for England in recent friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.
DAILY MIRROR
Sir Alex Ferguson didn't join Sir Jim Ratcliffe at Old Trafford for Manchester United's game against Liverpool because he was at the EFL Trophy final.
Bayern Munich's sporting director Max Eberl has admitted his full focus is on Tuesday's huge Champions League clash against Arsenal - not the search for a new manager.
Anthony Joshua has confirmed he will return to the ring in September following his KO win against Francis Ngannou.
THE SUN
Fans spotted Andre Onana smothering his gloves in Vaseline - but there is a clever reason behind the bizarre move.
Luton have upped their interest in Blackburn's red-hot forward Sam Szmodics.
Paul Heckingbottom may only be able to bring in one member of backroom staff if he takes the Sunderland job.
DAILY STAR
Former Rangers star Josh Windass revealed what Steven Gerrard was really like as a boss during training.
Mesut Ozil has revealed that there's one club he wished he'd played for at some point.
Liverpool have discovered a bargain release clause for Xabi Alonso, providing a new avenue to secure the Bayer Leverkusen boss.
DAILY MAIL
Martin Odegaard says his Arsenal team should respect Harry Kane but not "fear" him ahead of Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg against Bayern Munich.
Noni Madueke has revealed the Chelsea dressing room was "silent" following his side's 2-2 draw away to Sheffield United.
THE TELEGRAPH
Scottish football fans face hate crime complaints from members of the public who hear chants on TV at home, a senior lawyer has warned.
SCOTTISH SUN
Celtic have hit out at 'unacceptable' scenes that saw assistant boss John Kennedy allegedly struck with several coins at Ibrox.
DAILY RECORD
A former player of Jimmy Thelin says the Swedish manager is ready to give Aberdeen his decision.
TeamTalk
West Ham barge Liverpool, Tottenham aside in free agent swoop, as key advantage works in Moyes favour
Steve Pearson
West Ham are pushing to steal a march on their rivals to land Fulham defender Tosin Adarabioyo on a free transfer this summer, TEAMtalk understands.
Centre-back Adarabioyo is due to become a free agent this summer when his contract at Craven Cottage expires.
Fulham have offered Adarabioyo a new contract, but no deal has been agreed as yet between Fulham and the 26-year-old.
Adarabioyo has impressed for Fulham this season, making 23 appearances in all competitions and contributing two goals for Marco Silva’s side.
A number of clubs are monitoring Adarabioyo’s situation at Fulham and are ready to offer him a new challenge away from west London.
The likes of Tottenham, Liverpool and Italian giants AC Milan have been credited with an interest in signing the former Manchester City youngster on a free transfer.
The fact he’s on the prime of his career, holds extensive Premier League experience and can be signed without paying a transfer fee is emboldening numerous suitors to circle.
However, TEAMtalk has been told West Ham have entered the race for the defender and are ready to offer a lucrative long-term contract to try and lure him to the London Stadium.
Hammers boss David Moyes is keen to bolster his side’s central defensive options in this summer’s transfer window and Adarabioyo is viewed as an attractive proposition for the Scot.
West Ham’s advantage
West Ham feel they could have an advantage over their rivals for Adarabioyo by being able to offer him regular first-team football.
That same guarantee perhaps cannot be made by rival suitors Liverpool and Spurs given the quality of right-footed centre-half they already have at their disposal.
The Sun and Football Insider both reported West Ham could make a second attempt at signing Manchester United’s Harry Maguire at season’s end.
However, despite agreeing a £30m fee with the Red Devils last summer, Maguire vetoed the move. There is little to suggest his stance on joining West Ham has changed one year on.
Adarabioyo thus represents a more than worthy alternative and has made 130 appearances for Fulham since joining from Man City in 2020.
The Athletic
James Ward-Prowse’s olimpico: The goal Lionel Messi hasn’t managed to score
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By Roshane Thomas
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What’s the one thing (well, OK, one of the things) that separates James Ward-Prowse and Lionel Messi?
Unlike Messi, Ward-Prowse has scored an ‘olimpico’.
An olimpico is a goal scored directly from a corner kick — and Messi’s quest was chronicled brilliantly by my colleague Felipe Cardenas here. They are unmistakably memorable and to pull one off takes some doing, and a sprinkle of skill, opportunism and luck. The Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry scored an olimpico for New York Red Bulls against Columbus Crew in 2012, and the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham, now Inter Miami’s co-owner, did the same for LA Galaxy in the same year.
Last season, the Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz scored directly from a corner in a friendly against Walsall, a Carabao Cup tie against Bolton Wanderers and then against Arsenal in the Premier League.
The USWNT icon Megan Rapinoe is the only player in women’s or men’s soccer to score two olimpicos at the Olympics.
The player who is thought to have scored the first one, Argentinian Cesareo Onzari, did so in a friendly against the reigning Olympic champions Uruguay in 1924, hence the name.
A century later, Messi has scored more than 800 career goals, but is yet to stick one in from a corner. It’s not because he hasn’t tried, either.
Ward-Prowse, the West Ham United midfielder who joined last summer from Southampton for £30million ($38m), is a set-piece specialist. In 410 senior appearances for Southampton, he scored 55 goals. Of those 55, 33 were from a penalty kick or a direct free kick. Although he has yet to score a free kick for West Ham, he has provided the most assists (11) by any West Ham player this season.
His proficiency from dead balls saw the 29-year-old hailed as the best free-kick taker in the world by Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola in 2022. Ward-Prowse has scored 17 Premier League free kicks, one short of Beckham’s record.
“To be spoken about like that from somebody like him (Guardiola) is amazing, considering he has coached arguably the greatest player of all time in Lionel Messi, who is not so bad at free kicks,” Ward-Prowse told TNT Sports in December.
So how did the midfielder pull off an olimpico?
It happened in the 84th minute of West Ham’s 2-1 victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday. It was a windy afternoon at the Molineux Stadium, which worked to Ward-Prowse’s advantage. The midfielder celebrated with his typical swing of an imaginary golf club. It has become part of Ward-Prowse’s routine because his son, Oscar, loves golf.
Edson Alvarez, the Mexico international, was the first player to embrace Ward-Prowse, followed by defenders Konstantinos Mavropanos and Aaron Cresswell. Forward Michail Antonio tweeted: “No words Prowsey,” in shock at what his team-mate just did. Wolves’ defence were emotionless.
After an olimpico is scored, there’s always a debate about whether the strike was intentional or not. As for Ward-Prowse, he says that his goal against Wolves is not the first time he has scored directly from a corner.
“Part of the plan was to shoot on target and you hope someone can get a little touch to disrupt the goalkeeper, and thankfully it went all the way in,” he said. “The wind was helpful today and it was a good assist. The last time I scored from a corner was probably when I was a kid. I’m going to get the odd shouts to shoot from every corner now!”
Ward-Prowse, who has earned 11 England caps, has registered six goals and 11 assists across 42 appearances in all competitions for West Ham this season.
“He brings so much quality,” said the Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp in August. “He brings world-class delivery, he’s brilliant at pressing.
“£30million — when you look at that price tag, he’s going to add a lot of quality. He’s a brilliant signing. I think we talk so often about his set pieces but I think it gets almost disrespectful because of what he does apart from that: he presses people well, he’s very comfortable on the ball, he can make interesting passes.
“I’m just a massive fan of his. He’s improved so much throughout the years.”
Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski also praised Ward-Prowse’s olimpico but believes the weather was a factor in his team-mate achieving the spectacular.
“I think the conditions played a bit into what happened with that goal,” said the West Ham goalkeeper. “Even in the warm-up, I could feel the ball was coming a lot quicker, whereas from the other side, it would die a bit. I don’t want to take anything away from Prowsey! Obviously, there was a lot of quality in there but I think the windy conditions helped a bit.”
David Moyes, the West Ham manager, also acknowledged the wind playing a part but he has been pleased with Ward-Prowse’s contributions this season and how reliable he has been on set pieces.
“I’m going to praise James for it because of his technical ability but I also think there was also a bit of blustery wind, which may have helped,” said Moyes.
“But don’t take it away from him because he actually put in a brilliant delivery just before that from a corner, and we didn’t have the players placed correctly to deal with it. His impact has been huge for us this season.”
Over to you, Lionel.
