Why Manchester City’s £86m Bouaddi signing should ring alarm bells in French football August 25, 2026 Manchester City’s €100m (£86m) signing of Lille midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi is more than just another example of a super-rich European giant hoovering up a promising talent. It is also the latest sign of French football’s talent drain, a phenomenon fuelled by the Premier League’s ever-growing spending power and the financial struggles of most of Ligue [...]
Bayern Munich old boys in takeover of Portuguese top-flight club August 25, 2026 Former Bayern Munich footballers Thomas Muller, Mats Hummels, Lucas Hernandez and Yann Sommer have become part-owners of Portuguese top-flight club Estrela Amadora. The quartet are part of a majority takeover of the Lisbon-based outfit fronted by Johannes Mosmang, a former player liaison at German giants Bayern. The €40m deal for 90 per cent of Estrela [...]
Spurs take outlay to £320m with Savinho deal but still aren’t England’s biggest spenders August 25, 2026 Tottenham Hotspur have taken their summer spending past the £300m mark by completing the signing of winger Savinho from Manchester City. The Brazilian is the fourth player to join Spurs for a fee of more than £50m since the end of last season, following Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes and Jan Paul van Hecke. They have [...]
England stars back player-led calls for Fifa president Infantino to quit August 25, 2026 Gianni Infantino is facing more calls to step down from Fifa insiders after Mikael Silvestre, a member of its Players’ Voice Panel, joined the chorus of dissent. Former Manchester United and France defender Silvestre, who also hosted a podcast for Fifa during this summer’s World Cup, posted a statement titled “Enough is Enough” on social [...]
Was Fifa able to sack senior exec Lamour without consequences? A lawyer explains August 24, 2026 Fifa’s chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, has been shown the ultimate red card after being sacked from his senior executive role last week. The dismissal followed Lamour’s recent criticism of Gianni Infantino’s proposal to sell a stake in Fifa’s tournament business. Despite Fifa U-turning on this decision after a strong backlash, it appears that no [...]
Uefa boss Ceferin rules out running against ‘naive’ Fifa president Infantino August 24, 2026 Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has ruled out running for the top job at Fifa but warned that efforts to oust Gianni Infantino will not stop. Infantino is battling to save his job after sparking widespread outrage when his now-abandoned plan to partly privatise the World Cup leaked earlier this month. He has resisted calls from [...]
Why Liverpool deal proves demand for Premier League stakes is soaring August 23, 2026 There is strong demand for English football stakes, writes Ed Barnett of Latham & Watkins, which advised the Amit Bhatia-led consortium on its acquisition of a minority stake in Liverpool. The recent sale of a stake in Liverpool FC to a consortium of investors led and managed by Amit Bhatia shows the summer’s biggest transfers [...]
Who sponsors the 20 Premier League clubs after gambling ban? August 22, 2026 The Premier League is underway and you may have noticed a lack of shirts featuring gambling and casino brands. That’s not because they’ve been banned outright, but because the 20 Premier League clubs agreed to a voluntary removal of the sector from the coveted front-of-shirt advertising space. It has meant a mad rush for those [...]
Illegal Premier League betting could hit £1bn within year August 21, 2026 The betting black market could take £1bn in illegal Premier League bets within a year, analysis has warned ahead of tonight’s kick-off. The Premier League returns this weekend with its 20 clubs voluntarily banning gambling and casino brands from occupying the lucrative front-of-shirt sponsorship slot. Gambling brands – not all of whom are regulated within [...]
Liverpool and LA Lakers deals set new bar for sport investment August 21, 2026 In one week Fenway Sports Group (FSG) sold 38 per cent of Liverpool to a consortium led by Amit Bhatia that also includes Jeff Bezos and Eduardo Saverin at a £5.5bn valuation, and former Disney chief Bob Iger and Donald Trump-linked Josh Kushner agreed to buy the LA Lakers for £9bn. These deals are massive, [...]