Aston Villa have now stepped up their interest in signing a Club World Cup star, who is set to be available for a bargain fee this summer, according to a report.

Villa set sights on new goalkeeper

There has been a great deal of speculation surrounding the future of Emiliano Martinez, with former scout Mick Brown revealing that a number of Premier League clubs are in the race for the goalkeeper’s signature.

Brown said: “Martinez is a very good goalkeeper, and from what I hear there are a few clubs who have been made aware that he will be available this summer. One of those clubs is Chelsea, who have been looking to strengthen in that position.”

Speaking about Manchester United’s interest, Brown went on to add: “United are very much in danger of missing the boat over this one. They’ve held talks but a Chelsea hijack is looking likely.”

Aston Villa make enquiry to sign £60m star who scored in win at Villa Park

Aston Villa are among the teams interested in signing a Premier League striker.

ByBrett Worthington Jul 13, 2025

A move to Stamford Bridge could be of great appeal to the Argentina international, fresh off the back of the Blues winning the Club World Cup, and the Villans could look at a goalkeeper who excelled in the new-look competition as a potential replacement.

That is according to a report from Football Insider, which states Aston Villa are now stepping up their interest in Botafogo goalkeeper John Victor, who put in a number of eye-catching performances for the Brazilian side out in the USA.

Not only that, but Victor helped Botafogo secure the Brazilian Serie A title and Copa Libertadores last season, being named in the Team of the Year in both competitions, indicating that he could now be ready to test himself in Europe.

A deal for the 29-year-old would by no means break the bank, as he has a release clause of just £6m in his Botafogo contract, but there could be competition for the goalkeeper’s signature, with Manchester United also in the race.

"Incredible" Victor has earned Premier League move

It is little wonder that Carlo Ancelotti is considering calling the Botafogo star up for Brazil, given that he has performed extremely well across some key metrics for goalkeepers over the past year.

John Victor Stats

Average per 90

Goals against

0.76 (95th percentile)

Save percentage

80% (94th percentile)

Clean sheet percentage

47.8% (93rd percentile)

Botafogo defender Philipe Sampaio has also singled his teammate out for praise in the past, describing him as a “warrior” last December, with the shot-stopper going on to make some very impressive saves out in America at the Club World Cup.

Given Villa’s PSR concerns, Victor could be a fantastic low-cost addition to the squad, but Unai Emery will still be hoping that Martinez is willing to commit his future to the club.

Mahika Gaur and Lauren Filer have been handed full ECB central contracts for the first time, while a senior core of seven players – including captain Heather Knight and senior allrounder Nat Sciver-Brunt, have been given two-year deals, ahead of a busy women’s schedule that includes the Ashes in January and back-to-back 20- and 50-over World Cups in 2025 and 2026.Gaur, the promising left-arm seamer, and Filer, England’s fastest bowler, are the only new additions to the 17-player pool, having been on development contracts last year. Emma Lamb and Tash Farrant have been cut from the list from 2023-24.A further three players have been handed development deals for the next 12 months, including Ryana MacDonald-Gay, who made her ODI and T20I against Ireland in September, and is currently in South Africa ahead of the one-off Test at Bloemfontein which starts on Sunday.Clare Connor, England women’s managing director, said: “As ever, we have awarded central contracts to the players we feel will play a significant role for England in the foreseeable future.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“We are delighted that Mahika Gaur and Lauren Filer have transitioned on to full contracts, having been part of our group over the past year.”Ryana MacDonald-Gay has had an outstanding year, and the development contract affords her the opportunity to continue to push her claim for selection. We look forward to working with all three players on development contracts and their Counties to ensure they continue their development.”We have another significant period of cricket ahead and we believe this group of players have the skills to be successful in all conditions and formats which will be essential as we look forward to a two-year period that includes the Women’s Ashes in early 2025, multiple bilateral series, the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in India, and a home ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the summer of 2026.”This is another landmark year in terms of increased remuneration for England Women. We have been able to make another significant increase in the value of central contracts on the back of last year’s equalisation of men’s and women’s international match fees across all formats. We continue to work positively with the England Women’s Player Partnership (EWPP) and the PCA and are grateful for both their support and challenge in these matters.”England Women’s Player Partnership Management Board Member, Emma Reid, said: “EWPP and the PCA are really encouraged at the progression of standards within the Women’s Central Contracts, achieved through strong collaboration between the ECB and player representatives.”It is positive to see multi-year agreements, showing long term commitment from the ECB and also the players who continue to prioritise representing their country.”We are pleased to have worked with the ECB and the players to achieve the priorities of being well supported in their England careers.”

This season feels like a massive one for Chelsea.

Enzo Maresca’s side ended last season in spectacular fashion by securing Champions League football and winning the Conference League, and now there is an expectation they’ll at least challenge in the Premier League.

Fortunately, this summer has gone about as well for the Blues as could have, as they won the Club World Cup and are undefeated in their pre-season clashes.

Moreover, the board have made some smart additions to the team, and are now being linked with an upcoming star who has been compared to Jude Bellingham and Lamine Yamal.

Chelsea target a Bellingham & Yamal hybrid

Chelsea have really made the most of the transfer window this summer, as on top of making a pretty penny on the likes of Noni Madueke, Djordje Petrovic and Lesley Ugochukwu, they’ve seriously strengthened Maresca’s squad.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

The likes of Liam Dealp, Joao Pedro and Jamie Gittens should bring a mountain of goals to the team, while Jorrel Hato looks like he could be one of the next great defenders in world football.

Yet, with the window still open, the Blues appear keen on adding more talent to their already impressive squad, and in this case, a player who has been compared to both Bellingham and Yamal.

At least that is according to a recent report from The Athletic, which has reaffirmed Chelsea’s concrete interest in Xavi Simons.

In news that should reassure fans, the report has revealed that the West Londoners are still in talks with RB Leipzig over the incredibly talented Dutchman.

A potential price is not mentioned in the story, but reports from earlier this summer have claimed that the German outfit want £61m for the dynamic attacker.

While that may seem like a lot, it’s probably fair for a player of his talent, especially as he’s been compared to Bellingham and Yamal.

How Simons compares to Bellingham & Yamal

So, there are a number of fairly surface-level similarities you can point to between Simons, Bellingham, and Yamal, such as them all being relatively young stars who are full internationals, play in Europe’s top five leagues, and are capable of creating chances out of nothing.

However, with FBref, we know that there are also plenty of quantifiable statistical similarities between them, as they looked at all attacking midfielders and wingers at last summer’s European Championships and concluded that the Real Madrid ace was the tenth most similar to the Leipzig star, and the Barça gem ranked as the sixth most similar.

You can gain a better understanding of how these comparisons were made by examining the underlying numbers in which the Dutchman ranked closely to the two international superstars.

Non-Penalty Expected Goals

0.11

0.09

Passing Accuracy

82.6%

85.7%

Passes into the Final Third

3.60

3.78

Tackles + Interceptions

2.60

2.57

Ball Recoveries

3.40

3.65

When it comes to the former Borussia Dortmund star, these metrics include things like non-penalty expected goals, passes into the final third and ball recoveries per 90, suggesting that the former PSV Eindhoven ace could be as dangerous in the right situations.

Interestingly, one of the standout similarities with Barcelona’s teenage sensation is their goal-creating actions per 90, which encompasses the two most critical offensive actions that precede a goal, which is a great metric to share with someone as effective as Yamal.

Non-Penalty Expected G+As

0.79

0.89

Live Passes

35.4

33.6

Goal-Creating Actions

0.79

0.72

Tackles Won

1.00

1.07

Carries

31.8

34.8

However, while comparisons to two of the most exciting players in world football are undoubtedly encouraging signs, there are other clear reasons why the Pensionsers should be all over the 22-year-old “game-changer,” as talent scout Jacek Kulig dubbed him.

For example, in just 33 appearances last season, totalling 2763 minutes, the Amsterdam-born dynamo scored 11 goals and provided eight assists.

In other words, the sensational talent, who one analyst has dubbed “one of the best 10s in the world,” managed to average a goal involvement every 1.73 games, or every 144 minutes.

Ultimately, while he will cost a pretty penny, Chelsea should be doing all they can to secure Simons’ services as soon as possible.

Dream Colwill fix: BlueCo prepare bid to sign £43m "beast" for Chelsea

The incredible international could help solve Chelsea and Maresca’s most significant problem…

ByJack Salveson Holmes Aug 13, 2025

The duo discounted the significance of their conflict, as convincing international break put a turbulent summer in the past

Christian Pulisic needed a moment. He had been excellent against Japan, running the game in a performance he would later dub the best for the USMNT under Mauricio Pochettino. But this is a results-based sport, and all of the pretty turns, nice passes and deft dribbles in the world can't beat a cold, hard stat.

And after an hour, it looked as it would never come. Pulisic had done everything right except, well, materially impact the game. 

Finally, fortunately, that singular moment came. It was the kind of thing he has done so many times on a football pitch: a turn away from a defender, drop of the shoulder, charge forward, poked pass. Folarin Balogun delivered the finish, sealing the USMNT's 2-0 win. But Pulisic got the assist, and it really was goal. Balogun careened away in celebration – this was big for him, too.

Pulisic, meanwhile, celebrated in his own right, a casual punch of the air, and an expression of relief. Balogun wanted the goal. Pulisic the assist. 

And so we can finally all be friends again. This summer was chaotic on so many levels. Pulisic did something entirely reasonable in sitting out of the Gold Cup, but left himself open for criticism from the largely hyperbolic masses. Yet with 70 minutes of excellent work – and one fine assist – he went a long way torward burying it all.

No, it's not done yet. Yes, there might still be some residual chatter here. But the U.S. has its star man back, and for all of the hot air directed toward Pulisic, the human being, Pulisic, the footballer, makes this team infinitely better.

His return couldn't be more welcome.

• Getty Images
  

  What a summer it was

  The broad idea here has always been that, at some point, Pulisic would have the chance to let his game do the talking. This is the curse and benefit, of course, of having a transcendent star. Pulisic is too good to bench. Pochettino was going to have to call him back in. The challenge for the player was to prove that his impact was worth burying the hatchet.

  And what a summer it was. Pulisic decided that he didn't fancy playing in the Gold Cup. Fine. He was then told that he couldn't play in the pre-Gold Cup friendlies, despite his offer to do so. Sure. It could have ended there, but there were podcasts and counter-podcasts, contrasting opinions from the guys who are, perhaps, just a little bit jealous that their version of the USMNT never got this level of attention.

  By the time Tim Howard, Landon Donovan, Alexi Lalas and many more had stretched out a non-issue into weeks, it all just seemed a bit petulant. Of course, Pulisic played his role here. There is such a thing as moral high ground, and Pulisic could have taken it. There would have been, in theory, little harm in shutting up.

  That is not allowed, because content has to happen. Pulisic had a dig back, explained himself, and then complained in his high-profile documentary. There was scattered speculation that Pulisic might not even make the September roster.  Pochettino didn't commit either way. 

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• Getty Images
  

  'I haven't talked with Christian'

  It was, then, something of a relief when the roster came out and Pulisic was on it. Pochettino made the right choice. He enjoyed his summer of control and clarity. Now, it seemed, it was back to reality for the Argentine. He had to loosen the reins a little bit. 

  The ensuing days after the roster drop served, effectively, as a showcase of how to assert authority as a head coach. He played everything as simply as possible. Yes, he and Pulisic were buddies again. No, there was no real falling out. And, perhaps most enlighteningly, no, they had not talked.

  That seemed admittedly odd. If there was a feud between the two highest profile figures in American men's soccer, why hadn't they figured it out behind the scenes? Does he not talk to his guys regularly?

  Pochettino had an answer there, too. There was, if his words were to be believed, never any drama in the first place. 

  "I haven't talked with Christian," Pochettino said upon on the roster release, "but I think we have nothing to talk about. It's all behind us, everything that happened in the summer. And I think we all need to look forward. We have a plan for every single player, and the plan for Christian now is to call him and to see him in this camp."

  Yet for all of Pochettino's good vibes, there was still an ominous sense about this whole thing. How much would Pulisic play? Would he start? Would he be allowed to go all 90? He could only manage 30 minutes of Milan's final game before the international break. There was talk that he had a knock that limited his participation. Would that carry over? 

  No one had any real, substantive answers there, either. Pochettino wouldn't give away his team – why should he? 

• Getty Images Sport
  

  A South Korean disappointment

  South Korea, then, seemed a decent platform for a little Pulisic redemption. When the lineup came out last weekend, everything seemed very Pulisic-coded. This was his ideal platform: a couple of defensive midfielders behind him, a No. 10 to link up with and a wide player to feed. Josh Sargent might not be the answer at striker, but Pulisic, at least, had a No. 9 to play off. 

  He wasn't quite a disaster. But he may as well have been. The USMNT were outcoached and outplayed by the Koreans, who knew exactly how to exploit Pochettino's 4-3-3 in attack, and see them off in defense. Pulisic ended up playing hero ball in the end, asking for it when he wasn't open, dribbling into lanes that didn't exist, and taking shots that weren't on. 

  His pass completion percentage was low. He completed just one of five dribbles, connected on none of his crosses, and cut a frustrated figure throughout. There wasn't a meltdown. This wasn't a total nightmare of a performance. But it just wasn't very good. The U.S. lost 2-0, and deserved the result in full.

  Pulisic didn't speak to the media before or after last Saturday's match – thereby continuing a worrying trend. Social media overeacted, while the slew of usual talking heads criticized Pochettino's roster, lineup and tactical decisions, and the team as a whole for perceived lack of effort.

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• (C)Getty Images
  

  Triumph(ish) against Japan

  That made Tuesday's match against Japan so much more important – even if it already felt a little seismic. The day before the gae, Pochettino gave an emotional "we know what we are doing" news conference in which he addressed his side's poor string of results – he had only won nine of 17 matches as U.S. manager entering the Japan game.

  His view was that final scores didn't necessarily matter. The World Cup did.

  "We need to start to win when the World Cup starts,” he said. “Too many examples of teams that win during [prior] years and then arrive at the World Cup, and they don’t arrive in the best condition.” 

  But that, somehow, added pressure. If Pochettino was making so much noise about tactics beforehand, then whatever system he deployed better work. The U.S. were given a leg up by Japan's team sheet.

  The benched all of their big names after putting out a full strength side against Mexico a few days before (the irony that seems to have been missed is that the visitors clearly saw Mexico as a far more significant threat than the USMNT). 

  And of course, things ended up looking pretty decent. A groovy back three – treated as a tactical revolution of the like never seen in soccer before – gave the U.S. a little more balance. Pulisic was given freedom to roam around and do fun things with the ball. He popped up left, right and center.

  The assist to Balogun was a wonderful thing, but through 65 minutes of work he really could have found the net once or twice in his own right. The U.S. won 2-0. Pulisic was the best player on the pitch. Drama over?

Tottenham have been given some encouragement over the potential signing of a star player after unceremoniously missing out on Morgan Gibbs-White.

Tottenham set to make offer for "sensational" £45m star after holding talks

Spurs have been in contact over a deal for a midfielder, with an opening bid now in the works.

2 ByDominic Lund Jul 28, 2025

Gibbs-White was due at Hotspur Way for a medical nearly three weeks ago (BBC), and chairman Daniel Levy was ready to activate the England international’s £60 million release clause (ESPN), only for Evangelos Marinakis to block the transfer, threaten legal action and somehow convince the player to stay.

Son Heung-min

7.00

James Maddison

6.98

Pedro Porro

6.95

Dominic Solanke

6.84

Dejan Kulusevski

6.83

via WhoScored

Marinakis proudly watched over Gibbs-White from an uncomfortably short distance in his interview confirming the surprise contract extension on Saturday evening, with the player both praising Forest’s owner and exclaiming his delight at remaining.

After what was an unprecedented twist, the 25-year-old will no longer become a Tottenham player despite all signs previously pointing in that direction. Luckily for Spurs supporters, the end of this bizarre saga by no means spells the conclusion of Levy’s search for new attacking options.

According to Fabrizio Romano, Tottenham are actively working on an alternative to Gibbs-White, and there are even other suggestions that Frank’s side have now emerged as shock contenders for Real Madrid forward Rodrygo.

The forward, who signed for Real seven years ago from Santos for around £40 million, has gone on to become a notable first-team star for Los Blancos, with midfielder Jude Bellingham calling him their most underrated star.

However, uncertainty surrounds Rodrygo’s future, with Real apparently telling the Brazil international’s agents in a recent meeting that they’re open to letting him go this summer.

“His agents are talking to Real Madrid,” said Romano on his YouTube channel last week.

“They already had a meeting last week [with Madrid] to just present their own position. In that meeting, from what I’ve heard, Real Madrid confirmed that they are open to letting Rodrygo go.

“Now it’s Rodrygo, together with his agents, who has to decide what he wants to do – stay and fight for a spot or leave and explore all the options.”

Now, according to journalist Graeme Bailey and TBR Football, his team are also speaking with Tottenham.

Rodrygo hints he's prepared to join Tottenham as Spurs speak with agents

It is believed that Spurs have opened discussions with intermediaries over signing Rodrygo, and the versatile attacker has “indicated that he would be open” to making a move to N17 before deadline day on September 1.

Levy is after a statement signing in the event Son Heung-min formalises a move to Los Angeles, and that is growing distinctly possible amid reports that the South Korean is close to agreeing personal terms.

The Lilywhites have also made it ‘known’ that they’re ready to make Rodrygo their highest-paid player, with a lot of their discussions encouraged by the 24-year-old’s willingness to join Frank’s side.

In more good news, Levy has apparently set aside funds in Spurs’ transfer budget to allow for another ‘big-name addition’. That being said, Tottenham would still need to break their transfer record for Rodrygo, given Alonso’s side value him north of £70 million.

“It’s a bit of a homecoming for Ashwin, but he’s a world-class bowler,” Fleming says of the INR 9.75 crore buy

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Nov-20241:48

Moody ‘a little bit surprised’ by Ashwin’s price tag

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming called R Ashwin’s return to the franchise “a homecoming” after buying him for INR 9.75 crore (US$1.16 million approx.) at the IPL 2025 auction in Jeddah. Ashwin was with CSK from 2009 to 2015. To acquire Ashwin, CSK had to beat Rajasthan Royals (RR), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in a four-way bidding war.The franchise also signed Afghanistan’s left-arm wristspinner Noor Ahmad for INR 10 crore (US$1.19 million approx.). Mumbai Indians (MI), too, were interested in Noor but stopped bidding when CSK raised the price to INR 5 crore. Gujarat Titans (GT) exercised the right-to-match option but when CSK raised the bid, they backed off. Having retained Ravindra Jadeja ahead of the auction, CSK look all set to stifle teams on their spin-friendly home pitches.”It’s a bit of a homecoming for Ashwin, but he’s a world-class bowler,” Fleming said. “It’s not so much the price – you look at how someone fits in, and there’s an emotional attachment for Ashwin with Chennai, so it’s a nice fit. He has still got a very good skillset; his numbers are fantastic. He’s obviously towards the latter part of his career, but the experience he brings, he’s handy with the bat, and we think we can use him in a number of ways.”The Noor Ahmad pick was looking more at the middle [overs] to attack. So if we do get turning conditions, then we’ve got an opportunity to keep taking wickets. We’ve got [Matheesha] Pathirana at the end, which is the death aspect.