European Leagues

Arsenal agree deal with Brentford to sign £30m-rated David Raya

Arsenal and Brentford have reached an agreement for the transfer of David Raya, with the north London club set to pay around £30 million for the goalkeeper.

Arsenal’s move to sign Raya, a long-term target, comes after they sanctioned the departure of Matt Turner to Nottingham Forest in a deal that could be worth up to £10 million.

Raya will come in as competition for Aaron Ramsdale, who now faces a fight to keep hold of the No 1 shirt at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal first tried to sign Raya in the summer of 2020 and their goalkeeper coach, Inaki Cana, has previously worked with the Spaniard at Brentford.

In a recent interview with ITV, Ramsdale was asked about the possibility of another goalkeeper coming into the club.

“Bring it on,” Ramsdale said. “Nothing comes easy in football. At the same time you need to move along and adapt as well.

“I’ve done it to other people when I’ve moved clubs. So I’m not going to be thinking that’s it’s never going to happen to me. If it happens, it happens and then we’ll fight and we’ll make each other the best version of ourselves because that’s what the manager is telling us as well.

“And I’m sure whoever plays, me or whoever comes in, the goalkeeping union people laugh at but it’s a real thing and your individual disappointment will go away. You will put the team first and you’ll put that goalkeeper first as well.”

The imminent arrival of Raya will take Arsenal’s summer spending to around £230 million. He will be their fourth signing, after Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber.

The priority for Arsenal will now be to sell unwanted players, with Folarin Balogun the most likely to generate a significant fee. AS Monaco and Inter Milan are both interested in the striker.

Meanwhile, Brentford have made an offer of around £26 million for Fiorentina winger Nicolas Gonzalez.

Brentford have been keen to further strengthen their attack this summer and have been attempting to sign Brennan Johnson from Nottingham Forest.

Gonzalez, 25, has 24 caps for Argentina and scored 14 goals in all competitions last season.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Romanian Referee To Handle PSG-Inter Champions League Final

Romanian Istvan Kovacs will be the main referee for the UEFA Champions League final between Paris St-Germain and Inter Milan, which will be played on May 31 in Munich.

The match will be Kovacs’ third European final in the last 4 years. The 40-year-old referee has previously officiated the UEFA Europa Conference League final in 2022 (the first edition of the competition), disputed between Roma and Feyenoord 1-0, and the UEFA Europa League final in 2024 between Atalanta and Leverkusen 3-0.

This season, Kovacs has refereed 7 other Champions League matches.

He will be assisted by linesmen Mihai Marica and Ferencz Tunyogi. The fourth official will be Bruno Alves Jesus from Portugal. In the VAR room will be Dennis Higler (Netherlands), Cătălin Popa, and Paulus von Boekel, according to FRF.

UEFA has also announced the referee teams for the other European competition finals. Felix Zwayer (Germany) will officiate the Europa League final, Tottenham – Manchester United (May 21), Ivana Martinčić (Croatia) will officiate the Women’s Champions League final, Arsenal – Barcelona (May 24), and Irfan Peljto (Bosnia and Herzegovina) has been appointed for the Conference League final, Chelsea – Real Betis (May 28). Additionally, this year’s Nations League final will be refereed by Sandro Schärer (Switzerland).

PSG secured their spot in the final after completing a 3-1 aggregate win over Arsenal, while Inter narrowly beat Barcelona for its place. The clash between the two established teams promises to offer much enjoyment to football fans.

Romania-insider.com

Premier League

Can You Name The 30 Highest-scoring African Players In EPL History?

There have been some amazing African goalscorers during the Premier League era – but how many of the 30 highest-scoring players from the continent can you name?

The continent has been a reliable source of Barclays legends throughout the last 30-odd years, with plenty of African players becoming worldwide names by banging in the goals on our shores.

From trophy-guzzling machines to cult heroes in some unexpected places, we’ve seen a wide variety of African footballers grace the Premier League since 1992 – but how many of the top 30 goalscorers from the continent can you remember?

There are some truly legendary names here, so we’re expecting a good score. We’ve even given you the clubs they played for and their total goals as clues, so there’s no excuse.

You’ve got 15 minutes to name the top 30 and the score to beat from our office is 27/30. An asterisk denotes the player that is still active in the Premier League.

If this gives you the taste for another quiz, have a go at naming the highest-scoring South Americans in PL history.

Planetfootball.com

Serie A

Juventus Director Resigns To Join Aston Villa; Chiellini Is Prepared

Francesco Calvo, managing director of commercial and institutional relations at Juventus, has resigned from his role with two games of the 2024-25 season left to go and is reportedly close to joining Premier League outfit Aston Villa instead, with Giorgio Chiellini poised to take over some of his responsibilities in Turin.

Juventus director Calvo resigns amidst Aston Villa links
According to Tuesday’s reports, Calvo has decided to resign from his position with Juventus. The Bianconeri director is not only in charge of the commercial side of the football club, but also sits on the board of the FIGC.

Tuttosport claims that if/when Calvo’s departure is made official, Chiellini is likely to take on his responsibilities with the FIGC, although Juventus will still need to hire a permanent commercial director.

Juventus directors at annual shareholders’ meeting in November 2024 (picture via www.juventus.com/it)
Bianconeri directors at annual shareholders’ meeting in November 2024
Monday’s report suggests that Calvo’s departure could also bring a restructuring of Juve’s senior management team.

Calvo’s colleagues are set to meet in the coming days in order to organise the running of the club from a commercial perspective and to discuss potential replacements.

Football-italia.net