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Pep Guardiola admits he feels bad for not giving Kalvin Phillips more playing time at Manchester City.

The midfielder made a big-money move from Leeds to the Etihad in 2022 but has made only two Premier League starts for Guardiola’s side, while loan spells at West Ham and Ipswich have also proved difficult.

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Phillips, on £150,000-a-week, has not played for City since December 2023, but is now back training with City after an Achilles injury scuppered his chances of a summer move.

Asked why it had not worked out at City for the 29-year-old, Guardiola said:

City have had a stuttering start to the season, with Sunday’s draw against Arsenal leaving them eight points behind leaders Liverpool after only five games.

Guardiola believes the biggest difference to their years of dominance is a change in the prevailing playing style of the majority of teams.

The Catalan cited veteran Italian coach Gian Piero Gasperini, who spent nine years with Atalanta before moving to Roma this summer, as the key influencer in a more combative era.

Guardiola spoke about his players’ fatigue after the Arsenal draw, and he said: “More than the physicality, it’s the way that the opponents play.

“They are more and more aggressive in all departments, more man marking, don’t leave you spaces. In the last one or two years, it changed a lot. I don’t know if it will come back (to) what it was before and the teams have to adapt in a different way.

“You see Bournemouth, you see Brentford with Thomas Frank and now with Tottenham, going a lot in that way. And that’s why football is so nice, not always is it the same and you have to adapt with the players you have, the way you’re thinking, and especially in the way you want to attack.”

Next up for City is a trip to Huddersfield in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, where Guardiola will change his side for the first time in four games.

He confirmed James Trafford will start in goal but one player who will not feature is defender Abdukodir Khusanov, who is expected to miss three games with the injury he picked up against Arsenal.

The young Uzbek has started the last four games, and Guardiola spoke glowingly about his potential.

“He’s been really, really good against the tough, tough opponents we faced,” said the City boss. “He’s so young. He came in a season that was difficult for us. He’s incredible, he’s learned quick. You smell that he’s an incredible top signing for the next many, many years at this club. This guy will make a career in this club.”

Mathys Tel has revealed the pain of being left out of Tottenham's Champions League squad left him fuming, but has vowed to use the snub as motivation and prove his doubters wrong. Spurs' decision was due in part to the club's struggles to meet UEFA's homegrown player quota, which forced manager Thomas Frank to reduce the squad size from 25 to 22, meaning several players had to be excluded, including Tel.

Tricky start to life under new boss Frank

Tel made permanent his move to Spurs earlier this summer in a £30 million ($40.2m) move from Bayern Munich, after joining on loan in February, but the 20-year-old forward has struggled for consistent playing time under boss Frank this season. He played just 19 minutes in Tottenham's first three league matches of the season, facing stiff competition from players like Richarlison, Brennan Johnson, and Mohammed Kudus. However, Tel recently scored his first goal of the season in Spurs’ Premier League victory over Leeds United and then started the match against Aston Villa. But the Champions League snub has been a bitter pill for him to swallow. 

AdvertisementGetty Images SportTel reveals anger over Europe snub

Tel, speaking to , has revealed his pain over missing out on Europe's elite cup competition, but vowed to bounce back. He said: "To be honest, I was very, very mad for a lot of weeks. But I was like, 'use this and show him you need to be on the squad list'. Bad things help me more than good things to be better. So I will face a lot of bad things, but I'm going to be OK with that. I'm not in the squad list right now, but I will do everything to be in the squad list in January. This is a new challenge for me, I love challenges. I’m a fair person and I was not on a good day for the [Super Cup], I didn't play well enough.

"If I'm a gaffer and I can see a player is not good enough, I will maybe do the same. So in my mind I was like 'this is fair because we've got a lot of good players. It's OK'. After the game against Leeds, he pushed me to the fans and that was quite emotional for me. Because he showed me that 'I didn't put you in the squad, but you're still there, I still believe in you, I'm still behind you'. It's not because 'you didn't do this or I don’t like you'."

Message of support from Spurs hero

Tel has stayed in touch with one of his former Bayern teammates, a player who remains a legend in north London – Harry Kane. Kane has shared words of support with Tel, a move which has been warmly welcomed. Tel further told the Telegraph: "Kane helped me a lot. Four days ago, he sent me a voice note and we spoke together about how I can be better, about finishing, positioning in the box.

"He told me 'whenever you want to call me, just call me. We're going to talk together and try to find what is the best work for you'. It's very good because he takes his time to talk to me. To explain how I can be better. For me, he's the best striker in the world and now he has played 13 games and scored 21 goals. We are in October! He told me 'whenever you want, just call me or text me and we will talk. If you want to talk about football, if you don't want to talk about football, you want to talk about life, I'm always there for you'. He's a very good guy."

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AFPChances coming thick and fast for Tel

There will be plenty of opportunity for Tel to prove his doubters wrong in the coming weeks as Tottenham have an action-packed schedule in cup and domestic action. Following the clash with Monaco in midweek, Spurs face Everton in the league, Newcastle in the League Cup and then there's the eagerly-anticipated London derby with Chelsea on November 1.

Criticised in the past for his slow scoring rates, KL Rahul has evolved into a quick-scorer, finishing IPL 2025 with 539 runs at a strike rate of 149.72

ESPNcricinfo staff25-May-20251:07

Moody: ‘Rahul has managed to adjust again to a different role’

KL Rahul’s IPL is over. Next up is Test cricket, five Tests in England. Then much else before we get to the next T20 World Cup, in February-March next year in India and Sri Lanka. Rahul is hoping to make that squad – “the World Cup is in my mind” – even though he hasn’t played a T20I since November 2022.”Yes, I want to get back in the T20 team and the World Cup is in my mind, but for now it’s just trying to enjoy how I’m playing right now,” Rahul said in a interview with Nasser Hussain on the sidelines of IPL 2025. He’s done with the IPL now, his team Delhi Capitals (DC) having been knocked out of the race to the playoffs some time ago, but Rahul ended as their highest run-getter: 539 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 149.72.Scoring a lot of runs in the IPL isn’t new for Rahul, who scored 520 in IPL 2024, 616 in IPL 2022, 626 in IPL 2021 and 670 in IPL 2020, which earned him the Orange Cap. The issue has been with his strike rate, failing to top 140 in the last many seasons, which has seen him being edged out of the India T20I side.Related

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'Back to enjoying my cricket, not thinking about taking it deep'

“I obviously had some time to think about my white-ball game and white-ball cricket; I was quite happy with my performances and where I was,” Rahul, who had once come under fire for saying “strike rate is very, very overrated”, said. “But [there] was a time probably 15 months ago or 12 months ago where I realised that the game is slightly getting ahead or it’s changing and becoming much more faster, and I said this in an interview as well, that it’s become more about the team that hits more boundaries is winning the games more often than the team that’s, I can’t say playing smarter, but the team that doesn’t hit as many boundaries is always finding themselves on the losing side.”When India won the T20 World Cup in 2024, Rahul wasn’t a part of the line-up.”So that’s where white-ball cricket is getting and I haven’t been part of the T20 team in the last couple of years. [That’s] given me some time to think about my T20 game as well,” Rahul said. “So, overall, just sitting and thinking about where I can get better, where the game’s gone and what I need to do to catch up with the game and what can I do to perform and get back in the T20 team, what can I do to become an important player for my team in ODI and T20 overall in white-ball cricket…”Just sitting and thinking about these things, I’ve come up with certain things obviously with the help of coaches that I’ve worked with, Abhishek Nayar is one of the guys I’ve worked with in the last 12 months quite a lot. He’s come into the Indian team as a batting coach [but has been removed since] so I spent a lot of time with him and he really helped in helping me change my thinking and helping me work on my game.”KL Rahul scored at 149.72 this season. He hadn’t crossed 140 in the five preceding seasons•BCCIIn early April, on a video posted on the IPL website, Rahul was engaged in a bit of banter with Kevin Pietersen, the DC mentor. The video showed Rahul quoting Pietersen from an earlier time as having said, “Watching KL is like sitting and watching the paint dry on the wall.””Did I say that,” Pietersen asked, to which Rahul replied, “Yeah.” And Pietersen, never short of a quick comeback, finished with, “Well, I’m glad you changed your game.”For the record, Rahul’s strike rate of 149.72 in IPL 2025 is a steep rise from his 136.12, 113.22, 135.38, 138.80 and 129.34 in the five preceding seasons.”I think it’s good to have a little bit of banter, and yeah, I mean, these were times when I still used to read and see stuff that was said about me,” Rahul told Hussain. “There is obviously a drive if someone’s saying that I can’t do something or someone’s saying that is the most boring player to watch in T20 cricket or in the powerplay… I mean there’s a bit more in me when I go into the next game.”I’ve spent a couple of weeks with KP here at the IPL and you realise that they don’t mean any harm to you, just what he’s seen on TV and it’s what he felt and he said that on TV. So there’s nothing more. So it’s been easy for me since I started seeing it that way: if someone is a commentator or a fellow cricketer has said that, obviously it’s what he’s seen and what he feels so that you don’t take it personally I think that’s a bit easier.”

It’s advantage Arsenal in the Premier League title race after Liverpool’s recent slips and former player Jack Wilshere believes that one player will be the “key” for Mikel Arteta.

Arteta provides latest Odegaard injury update

On a day that saw the Gunners go top of the Premier League, it wasn’t an afternoon without one frustrating moment.

Yet again, captain Martin Odegaard was forced to depart in the first-half after picking up another injury concern. The Norwegian has already had a stop-start opening to the current campaign and could now be set for another spell on the sidelines.

Providing an update on Odegaard’s injury, Arteta told reporters in his post-match reaction: “With Martin it was a clash knee to knee. It’s not looking very positive at the moment.”

The Spaniard was also forced to provide an update on Declan Rice, who asked to come off after discomfort in his back. The Arsenal boss said: “With Declan he was struggling with back pain and he asked me to come off. Let’s see what the doctor says now and what is best for him.”

Unlucky Arsenal star is very quickly becoming the new Jack Wilshere

The new Jack Wilshere may have emerged for Arsenal.

ByMatt Dawson Oct 5, 2025

In truth, despite sitting top of the Premier League and in excellent form, the international break comes at a good time for the Gunners. It provides them with the perfect opportunity to ensure that Rice is fully fit and Odegaard finally recovers from recent injury woes.

Alas, even if they’re left with no choice but to go on without those two, Wilshere believes that it’s another player who’s going to be “key” to Arsenal’s title hopes.

Wilshere: Timber the "key" for Arsenal

For all of Bukayo Saka’s excellent work and the solid partnership between Gabriel and William Saliba, it is another star who stands out for Wilshere. According to the former midfielder, Jurrien Timber is the “key” to Arsenal’s title hopes after making such an impressive start to the current campaign.

Wilshere’s praise is certainly justified, too. Timber has been a revelation ever since returning from injury at Arsenal and the West Ham game was no different. The Dutchman had six touches in the West Ham box, wasn’t dispossessed once and made six tackles in another complete performance from the versatile fullback.

As time goes on, the £90,000-a-week star looks more and more important for Arteta and Arsenal as they look to build on their lead at the top of the Premier League.

Manchester United are keen to add more talent under Ruben Amorim and could now look to make a move that would make the world sit up and take notice of developments at Old Trafford.

Man Utd look to strike tactical balance under Ruben Amorim

Undoubtedly, Amorim’s decision to stick with his complex 3-4-3 formation has drawn his fair share of admirers and critics. However, the Portuguese boss doesn’t appear likely to change that any time soon.

Per Pundit Arena, Emile Heskey has claimed that regardless of their tactical set-up, a lack of leaders in the Old Trafford dressing room is a reason behind their inconsistent form this season.

He stated: “Nothing seems to go right for Ruben Amorim. Everyone keeps talking about the tactics, but when you put 11 players on the pitch, they’ve got to fight. Where’s your leaders? I remember playing at Liverpool, I was only 22 at the time, we had Gary McAllister and he would be on to us. Steven Gerrard was younger than me, he would be on to us, Sami Hyypia, too.

“It doesn’t look like Man Utd have any leaders on the pitch, who are really digging people out.”

Now, that may be a little harsh. Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire are two shining examples of leadership, but ultimately, the best form of authority in football comes from players who do their talking with the ball at their feet.

Man Utd have a "£100m + footballer" who's becoming their new McTominay

Man Utd will not want to repeat the mistake they made with McTominay

2 ByJoe Nuttall Oct 13, 2025

Bringing new talent with the potential to be world-class is what will take Manchester United closer to their glory days. Nevertheless, that is easier said than done, all things considered.

However, they may now be plotting a seismic move to sign a proven international who is becoming one of Europe’s best attacking forces due to his excellent displays.

Man Utd ready to go big for Kenan Yildiz

According to reports in Europe via Stretty News, Manchester United are planning to launch an offensive for Juventus star Kenan Yildiz, someone who was previously of interest to the club during the summer window.

Regardless, it would take a fee well over the region of £86 million to entice him to Old Trafford, with the Serie A giants keen to retain the 24-cap Turkish international at all costs.

Five similar players to Kenan Yildiz (FBRef)

Lazar Samardzic

Atalanta

Francisco Conceicao

Juventus

Mohammed Kudus

Tottenham Hotspur

Zuriko Davitashvili

Saint-Etienne

Dejan Kulusevski

Tottenham Hotspur

Labelled “brilliant” by Massimiliano Allegri, Yildiz has registered two goals and four assists in eight appearances for Juventus this term across all competitions, proving his worth as the Old Lady aim to push for the league title.

Furthermore, the Regensburg-born winger has already created 17 chances and delivered eight successful crosses in Serie A, per Fotmob, illustrating his ability to carve open defences.

With Manchester United pushing hard for his signature, it remains to be seen whether they can come to an agreement with Juventus on a structure for a potential deal and whether he would be open to moving to Old Trafford.

With the title race having already swung back and forth while the top-four and relegation battles are as open as they have been for a few years, the Premier League is becoming increasingly difficult to predict. Sure, the odd match still follows the formbook, but a number of teams are proving tough to pin down and figure out what to expect from them on a game-to-game basis.

As such, knowing what shape the news cycle is going to take is anyone's guess at the start of a round of fixtures. Refereeing controversies, outrageous managerial quotes and even the reactions of big-name pundits can drive the narrative around the English top-flight, and thus it's difficult to figure out what will be dominating the newspaper back pages, website homepages and fan reaction shows in the hours and days that follow.

That hasn't stopped us at GOAL from trying, though. Rather than merely predicting the weekend's results, we have looked into our crystal balls to figure out what headlines you, the fans, will be reading and clicking on as you digest the latest Premier League action…

Getty Images Sport'Man Utd emerge as title dark horses after breezing past Brighton'

Manchester United's first win over Liverpool at Anfield for nine years was the turning point in Ruben Amorim's reign. Not only did the Portuguese coach handily outfox Arne Slot in the tactical stakes, he also finally ended his wait for back-to-back victories as United manager, and you could feel the confidence surging through the Red Devils' squad.

It has so often been one step forward, two steps back for Amorim, but Brighton won't have enough to halt his team's momentum at Old Trafford on Saturday. With new goalkeeper Senne Lammens bringing a sense of stability to a defence that had been lacking for so long and feeding long balls to the frontline, United finally have a recipe for success.

Whether Mason Mount starts as a false nine again or Benjamin Sesko gets the nod upfront, the Red Devils will have too much firepower from the second balls for Brighton to cope with. A third successive win and a clean sheet are on the cards, which could put United into the top six. With no European football commitments and all the players now fully up to speed with Amorim's system, they should then be considered dark horses for the title, and 'The United Strand' will soon be able to take a hair clipper to his out-of-control afro.

Advertisement(C)Getty Images'Salah blows last chance as Liverpool are stung by the Bees'

Liverpool snapped a four-game losing streak by thrashing Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday as Slot was rewarded for making some bold changes. That included dropping struggling club legend Mohamed Salah to the bench and shifting to a 4-4-2 formation, which made the Reds both more solid at the back and more potent going forward. 

But Brentford will bring the reigning champions crashing back down to earth at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday. Despite Salah being on a run of seven Premier League matches without a non-penalty goal, Slot is liable to give the Egyptian one final chance to rediscover his best form, which will mean reverting to a 4-2-3-1 and leaving Liverpool exposed on the right flank again.

The likes of Kevin Schade and Igor Thiago could subsequently have a field day. The Bees have looked very strong at home, beating Aston Villa and Manchester United while drawing with Chelsea, and Liverpool will be their next victims. This game could mark the end of the Reds' title defence and ensure that Salah is relegated to a place among the substitutes for the foreseeable future.

AFP'Villa expose Man City's flaws as Haaland kept on a leash'

"I don’t think they’re a top team at the moment. They’re still in the title race because of [Erling] Haaland," former Arsenal star Paul Merson said on when assessing Manchester City's 2-0 victory over Everton last week. "But you take Haaland out of the equation and then I’d struggle to think they would get in the top four."

Indeed, the Norwegian terminator's haul of 11 Premier League goals accounts for 65 percent of the 17 City have scored so far in 2025-26. Their second-highest scorer is Maxime Esteve, who gave up two own goals when Burnley went down 5-1 to Pep Guardiola's side at the Etihad. That is conclusive evidence that City are a one-man team, which makes their current form unsustainable.

The flaws in City's set-up will be exposed when they travel to the West Midlands to face an Aston Villa side brimming with confidence after back-to-back league wins. If Villa can put a leash on Haaland, as they did to Mathys Tel and Xavi Simons when picking up a 2-1 victory at Tottenham last time, it could even be an easy day's work for Unai Emery's men. They should be able to overrun City in midfield, allowing the likes of Ollie Watkins, Donyell Malen and Morgan Rogers to wreak havoc upfront.

Guardiola may have to reassess his aims for the campaign after this one.

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AFP'Arsenal lay down another marker with easy Palace win'

Arsenal continued their ominous run of form by putting four goals past Atletico Madrid without reply in the Champions League on Tuesday, and a seventh consecutive win is inevitable when Crystal Palace arrive at the Emirates. Oliver Glasner's Eagles are a match for any side at their best, but they'll only be at 50 per cent again after their Thursday night exertions in the Conference League.

Palace followed up their last European outing with a 2-1 loss at Everton, and Arsenal will be next to exploit their tired legs. Bukayo Saka hasn't scored from open play since matchday two, but he could boost his numbers significantly here, with a battle against Tyrick Mitchell threatening to be a complete mismatch.

After doing a job on Julian Alvarez, Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba should have no trouble with Jean-Philippe Mateta either. David Raya will be celebrating his ninth shut-out of the season in all competitions come full-time, and Arsenal will be six points clear of the chasing park after laying down another title marker.

His first Test century in 14 innings helped the visitors recover from 45 for 3 on the first day in Galle

Mohammad Isam17-Jun-2025What could Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim have wished for after enduring a fairly long time without Test centuries? Couple of helpful pitches in Sylhet and Chattogram, perhaps. But those had come and gone. Under pressure, Shanto and Mushfiqur broke free from their barren run on Tuesday on a Galle pitch that allowed them to play freely yet kept them honest to the fact that they couldn’t just play their shots freely.On the eve of the first Test against Sri Lanka, Shanto had pointed out how Galle is at its best for a batter on the first couple of days before the spinners take charge. However, Bangladesh were reduced to 45 for 3 on the first day itself as ambidextrous spinner Tharindu Rathnayake and seamer Asitha Fernando struck early. But Shanto and Mushfiqur added 247 for the fourth wicket, and went back undefeated on 136 and 105, respectively.It was Mushfiqur’s 12th Test hundred, and his first in 14 innings since August last year. His highest score in this period was 40 against Zimbabwe. After play on the first day against Sri Lanka, Mushfiqur recalled his first innings in Galle from 12 years ago, when he got Bangladesh’s first double-hundred in Tests.Related

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Shanto, Mushfiqur hundreds headline Bangladesh's dominance

“I think I get a pretty good wicket every time I have played in Galle,” he said. “I have seen how some other Tests here had a lot of purchase for spinners. We knew that one of us out of the seven batters had to capitalise on the first two days in Galle. If I am not wrong, myself and [Mohammad] Ashraful batted the whole day here in 2013. It was my plan this time too; I was telling Shanto that we need to bat the whole day.”It was Mushfiqur’s fourth century against Sri Lanka, and his second in the island nation. He said that he had told his younger team-mates about what to expect from Sri Lankan pitches.”After Bangladesh, I [most] love playing in Sri Lanka,” Mushfiqur said. “There is always a sporting wicket, whether it is the red or white ball. If you apply your strength here, you can do well – whether you are a batter, quick bowler or spinner. I was telling this to a few of our young players who are playing their first Test in Galle.”I like to play with wind around. I have to adjust when the newer ball turns a bit, or against the older ball. It is really special to play in Galle. I love batting here.”Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim added an undefeated 247 for the fourth wicket•Associated PressMushfiqur, though, acknowledged that he wasn’t as comfortable this time. Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva changed the field several times, often putting catchers in different positions and asking the bowlers to switch from conventional lines. Mushfiqur spent 23 balls in the nineties, before reaching the three-figure mark in the 86th over.”These are not easy runs. I took a lot of time in the nineties, as they were not giving me a freebie,” Mushfiqur said. “It shows that they are a tough side to score against. They made smart bowling changes and field placements. I trust my process when I am batting with control. Usually, we see that our opponents send a fielder to the deep after two or three boundaries. Sri Lanka change their fielding according to the conditions. You have to bat patiently against them.”Mushfiqur insisted that taking plenty of singles allowed him and Shanto to put the pressure back on Sri Lanka. He also praised Shanto, who got to his first Test century since November 2023, for dominating proceedings at the other end without giving a sniff to the opposition.

“You can’t get runs in every game, but when you do the right things over and over, hopefully the big score will come soon enough. When it does come around, you have to make sure to make it count.”Mushfiqur Rahim after an unbeaten 105 on day one in Galle

“I think rotating the strike is important – maybe as much as hitting fours or sixes,” Mushfiqur said. “Rotation of strike causes problems for the bowlers, especially when there’s a left-hander and a right-hander [combination] in the middle. It is very important to pick singles as the fielding side have to constantly change their placements. This is why we are always in training so that we remain fit.”Shanto has been in good form for a pretty long time. He has a good Test record. He is a good batter. It was nothing special. I was really impressed by his control factor today. He scored a hundred in Kandy some years ago, but I thought this was the right approach. It is important to play a chanceless innings, when you are mostly in control. It is going to give confidence to the next batters.”Mushfiqur said that Bangladesh must look to take advantage of such a start by batting long on the second day.”It is obviously a satisfying effort. Nobody wants to get any less runs after playing for so many years for your country,” he said. “You can’t get runs in every game, but when you do the right things over and over, hopefully the big score will come soon enough. When it does come around, you have to make sure to make it count. I am not finished yet. I will try to maximize tomorrow.”

James Trafford found himself in the bizarre situation where he was both bought and replaced by Manchester City during the same transfer window this past summer, starting the 2025-26 season as the main man between the sticks but promptly dropped. Pep Guardiola is still an admirer, though, ultimately tipping the goalkeeper for a big role with England in the future.

Trafford quickly replaced by Man City

City committed up to £31 million ($41m) during the summer to re-sign Trafford from Burnley, having let him go for a fraction of that price in 2023 without making a first-team appearance. But after a patchy start to the season, including a high profile error in the Premier League defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, Trafford lost his place to fellow new arrival Gianluigi Donnarumma, whose availability on the market at all had been unexpected given his world class status. City remarkably had to pay less money for the Italian, around £26m ($34.5m), who quickly went on to land his second career Yashin Trophy.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportGuardiola concedes goalkeeper situation is 'special'

Guardiola has chosen to fight Trafford's corner, defending him in public and insisting City are very happy with him. The Spanish coach has also implied there could be opportunities for rotation in goal, with the club hoping to compete on four fronts this season: Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup. Chances for Trafford may come in the latter two competitions, and if Donnarumma suffers an injury or gets suspended at any point.

"The keeper is a special situation because the keeper plays, normally one, and the second one doesn't. All I can say is we are delighted with his behaviour in training," Guardiola said of Trafford ahead of City facing Swansea in the Carabao Cup fourth round this week. "One of the reasons why we want to go through in this competition is because they all have to be ready in case we need in the Premier League and the Champions League."

England's No.1 sooner rather than later

It's no pressure, but Guardiola believes Trafford has the ability to be a starting goalkeeper for England. He is uncapped by the senior side for now, having made 34 appearances across various age-restricted England teams from Under-17 level through to Under-21. Having been cut from the provisional Euro 2024 list, he has also been selected for every senior England squad for the past year, remaining an unused substitute for each game.

"We have an incredible keeper. For England, sooner or later, he will be the one," Guardiola predicted. "I am pretty sure Gigi learns from James and James learns from Gigi. The goalkeepers are always connected."

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Getty Images SportTrafford fighting two of the best ever

If Trafford wants to command regular minutes for either club or country, he has a monumental job on his hands. Donnarumma is arguably the best goalkeeper in the world right now, having only been improving ever since becoming AC Milan's No.1 from the age of 16 a decade ago. He has two Yashin Trophies to his name under the Ballon d'Or banner and is nailed on favourite to collect a career first Best FIFA Men's Goalkeeper award in the coming weeks. As much as PSG wanted to move on and play with a different focus, they likely wouldn’t have won the Champions League last season without him.

England's Jordan Pickford is also a mountain to try and move. The Everton stopper has never enjoyed much success during a club career that has often seen him fighting at the wrong end of the Premier League table, but he is easily England's best goalkeeper of the 21st century and also one of the national team’s all-time greats, given his achievements in the role. He's played in two European Championship finals and currently presides over a record of nine consecutive clean sheets.

Moving clubs for 23-year-old Trafford, even so soon after returning 'home', might be the only real solution for him to make good on the potential Guardiola is convinced of.

Aston Villa are now exploring a move for an “extraordinary” goalkeeper as a replacement for Emiliano Martinez, with Unai Emery considered an admirer.

Villa looking to sign Martinez replacement

Martinez is undoubtedly one of the best goalkeepers in the world, winning the Yashin Trophy in 2023 and 2024, so it is no surprise that Emery has chosen to reintroduce the 33-year-old to the starting XI, despite him pushing for a move to Manchester United during the summer.

The Argentinian was keen to complete a move to Old Trafford on deadline day, but Man United ultimately ended up signing Senne Lammens, who kept a clean sheet on his debut against Sunderland.

However, having pushed for a move in the summer, the controversial goalkeeper’s future remains in doubt, with it recently being revealed that he has lost faith in Emery, amid the slow start to the season.

According to a report from Spain, Aston Villa have now set their sights on a new goalkeeper, with Martinez’s future in doubt, having identified Real Madrid’s Andriy Lunin as a target, and there are signs that a deal could be possible.

Lunin has made it clear he wants to leave the La Liga side, having been left frustrated with his role as a back-up to Thibaut Courtois, given that, at 26-years-old, he needs to be playing regular first-team football.

It is suggested that Madrid could hold out for around €30m (£26m) for the Ukrainian, making him a relatively affordable option for Villa, with it previously being revealed that Emery is personally keen on signing him.

"Extraordinary" Lunin could be fantastic Martinez replacement

Although the Madrid shot-stopper has fallen behind Courtois in the pecking order, he has previously proven himself at the highest level, making 12 Champions League appearances, including eight en-route to the Spanish side’s 2023-24 triumph.

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Courtesy of his performances that season, the former Zorya Luhansk man also received very high praise from CBS Sports’ Nico Cantor.

Whenever called upon over the past year, the Ukraine international has been solid, recording a clean sheet percentage of 42.9%, which places him in the 97th percentile, when compared to other goalkeepers.

Given his age, however, Lunin needs to be a first-choice goalkeeper, so a move to Villa Park would make perfect sense, and Aston Villa should no doubt make an approach if Martinez makes it clear he still wants to leave.

England Men’s managing director unconcerned about throwing fast bowler straight back into Test cricket

Andrew Miller27-Jun-2025Jofra Archer will be ready to hit the ground running, as and when his return to Test cricket comes, despite having bowled just 18 overs for Sussex against Durham in his long-awaited comeback to first-class cricket at Chester-le-Street last week.That is the view of Rob Key, England Men’s managing director, who is confident that Archer’s slow but steady return from a series of career-threatening injuries means he’ll be ready to slot straight back into England’s starting XI, either in next week’s second Test against India at Edgbaston, or – perhaps more likely – in the subsequent third Test at Lord’s, beginning July 10.Archer was this week named in England’s 15-man squad for the second Test, meaning he is in line to play the format for the first time since the tour of India in February 2021. England have played 52 Tests in the intervening years, during which time Archer’s career was left in limbo due to multiple operations on his right elbow, and a stress fracture of the back.However, he made a successful return to white-ball cricket for England in May last year, with appearances at each of the last two ICC global events: the T20 World Cup in June 2024, and the Champions Trophy in February this year.Related

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Jofra Archer added to England squad for second Test

Though a broken thumb sustained at the IPL delayed his return to red-ball cricket, Archer himself confirmed this week that his body was ready to hold up to the demands of the longer format, having returned figures of 18-8-32-1 on a flat deck against Durham in the County Championship.”To see him back will be brilliant,” Key said at a Rothesay media event in London. “He’s an unbelievable talent, and it’s been such a long road. For two years now, [we’ve] mapped it out: from T20s and four-over spells, into 50-over cricket to build up his robustness, to now. He has been doing so much work in the lead-up – even when he’s not playing – to building up that resilience to being able to play, because he’s a serious talent.”England’s impressive victory in the series opener at Headingley, allied to the nine-day turnaround between games, might persuade the selectors to stick with an unchanged frontline seam attack of Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue. That could also enable Archer to be released for at least two days of Sussex’s next County Championship fixture against Warwickshire, after his county coach Paul Farbrace suggested he might benefit from more red-ball overs under his belt.However, Key liked what he saw of Archer’s rhythm at Chester-le-Street, having tracked his performance on the county live stream, and insisted he was ready for selection, come what may.Rob Key, England Men’s managing director, speaking at a Rothesay media event in London•Getty Images”Jofra is such a talent,” Key said. “He was straight on the money. Bowling on a slow pitch, with good pace. He ain’t gonna forget how to bowl, so when we have that call, we’re not concerned. He will be fit and available for both [Tests]. Whether he could play both, we’ll find that out afterwards, if he did play at Edgbaston.”Despite his long absence from red-ball cricket, Key likened Archer to Mark Wood – currently injured, but on course to be available for next month’s final Test of the series – for his ability to pick up from where he left off, without the need to build up his workloads.”The spectrum for that is Mark Wood to other guys who you feel need a longer [lead up],” Key said. “You saw those guys playing in the last Test; they got better the more they bowled. Mark Wood is someone that could just turn up after bowling a bit in the nets, like he did at Headingley in the Ashes, and bowl 96mph, swinging in and hitting a length.”On that sort of scale, Jofra is close to the Mark Wood end. He’s a pretty pure talent. There’s not a lot of moving parts to his action in terms of complications, and he’s 30 years old now, so he knows exactly what he’s doing and what he’s about. So it’s more of a question of him just getting back into red-ball cricket.”We’ve picked him in the squad, and we’ll see how the conditions are. We’ve got decisions to make because these next two Tests are very close together, and you want to be able to sustain that pressure throughout these back-to-back Test matches. So we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. At the moment, he’s in the squad [but] any of those players can go back to county cricket as well.”

“We don’t know who’s the next great England opening partnership – the next Broad-Anderson – because there’s a number of those options that could be the mainstay of England bowlers for years. I can’t wait to see who that will be.”Rob Key on England’s bowling stocks

With Jamie Overton and Sam Cook also in England’s Test squad, plus last season’s break-out star Gus Atkinson likely to come into contention later in the series, Key was upbeat about the state of England’s bowling stocks – both for the remainder of this summer, and the Ashes tour to follow.”There was a time where you thought it was all about Wood and Archer, and we needed that X-factor pace – but now we’ve got a few of them,” Key said. “It’s so encouraging. You need bowlers for all conditions, [and] not just the Ashes. You need a pack of bowlers that all complement each other.”Jofra is another piece in that puzzle as Woody will be if he comes back at the end of the series. We don’t know who’s the next great England opening partnership – the next Broad-Anderson – because there’s a number of those options that could be the mainstay of England bowlers for years. I can’t wait to see who that will be.”