logo
AC Milan shortlist Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta

AC Milan shortlist Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta

Yahoo11-07-2025
According to a report from Sacha Tavolieri, AC Milan have shortlisted Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta (28) as they look to add attacking reinforcements to a squad that underwhelmed last season, finishing the campaign 8th in Serie A and missing out on European football.
Last season, the Frenchman had an impressive campaign with the Premier League side, helping the squad to a 12th-place finish in the league, but more importantly, to a maiden FA Cup win, bringing the London side their first-ever major silverware.
Advertisement
Mateta made 46 appearances across all competitions, scoring 17 and assisting four. Enough to capture the attention of the Serie A side. Tavolieri writes that the interest is mutual, and the number nine's entourage are reportedly putting pressure on Palace to open the door for a summer exit.
Palace have reasons to keep the fan-favourite striker, especially since their FA Cup trophy has brought them a shot at playing in Europe, although what competition they will take part in remains up in the air following the decision to appeal Olympique Lyonnais' relégation.
GFFN | Nick Hartland
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Oleksandr Usyk is the best fighter of his generation — even if he doesn't believe so himself
Oleksandr Usyk is the best fighter of his generation — even if he doesn't believe so himself

Yahoo

timea minute ago

  • Yahoo

Oleksandr Usyk is the best fighter of his generation — even if he doesn't believe so himself

Oleksandr Usyk stood in the center of the ring and snarled. This wasn't the charming and familiar gap-toothed grin we've become accustomed to from the affable Ukrainian over the past decade, but rather a warning sign to his latest foe, Daniel Dubois. In that mid-round moment last Saturday, Usyk's mouthpiece camouflaged his magnetic personality. It's strictly business in the heat of battle — and the 38-year-old has endured enough of that throughout his life and career to know how to adapt and overcome. It was as if the front-footed, aggressive advances of Dubois (22-3, 21 KOs) tweaked the settings of Usyk's internal motherboard. No longer was it safe — nor sensible — for the unified heavyweight champion to use his fleet-footed craft and wizardry to slay one of the biggest punchers in the heavyweight division. Instead, Usyk would have to trade heavy artillery with the Briton. 'Don't punch with a puncher,' they say — but when you possess the infinite tool box the Ukrainian does, catchphrases and slogans aren't worth the paper they are written on. As soon as that switch was flicked, it was game over. Usyk wound up landing a devastating left hook and conquered Dubois for a second time in two years, and, in doing so, he rubber-stamped his position as a generational great in the sport. Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) has now come as close to perfecting his art as possible. A mere glance into the trophy cabinet of the decorated champion will find gold medals from the European Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games, alongside undisputed status as a professional in both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions — the latter now being completed twice, thanks to the political tug of war among the four major sanctioning bodies. And if these accolades weren't proof enough, Usyk has achieved them against a plethora of fighting styles, ranging between the weight classes with the biggest gulf in size — and doing so with variation, adaptation and aplomb. Since winning his first world title in 2016, Usyk has bested big, concussive punchers in the likes of Murat Gassiev, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, routing the former and stopping the latter two twice. He has traveled to the backyards of technicians in Mairis Briedis and Michael Hunter, bamboozling them with skill, yet sitting down on his punches when required, reading the perfect fight and knowing when to put his foot on the gas through tricky periods. He has sent Tony Bellew into retirement and wounded Tyson Fury, making him question his future in the sport, twice, after back-to-back wins in Saudi Arabia. He has snatched five unbeaten records in world title fights, going 13-0 in championship bouts, and has done so fighting away from his beloved home nation of Ukraine since 2015, as well as coping with the emotional toil of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The list goes on, but Usyk's career won't. He will turn 39 in January and, if he is to be believed, then perhaps we'll only see him grace a boxing ring one more time before hanging up his gloves for good. Talk of whom that final foe might be — Joseph Parker, Agit Kabayel, Derek Chisora and Jake Paul will all argue their corners — can and should wait, for now. 'I'm not the best fighter in the world,' Usyk stated before becoming a three-time undisputed champion this past weekend. 'That is Terence Crawford.' Usyk was lying — or perhaps being modest to a fault. There is an anti-recency bias in sport — maybe none more so than in boxing. We are often afraid to compare active fighters positively against those who have their names deeply imprinted in the sport's history. There's a perception that in doing so, you are automatically siding with modernity; shunning the legacies and showing a lack of knowledge and understanding of past greats. Usyk may well be considered on the smaller side of the modern day heavyweights, but standing 6-foot-3, he scales the same height as Muhammad Ali — and there should be no question the Ukrainian would prove a handful for any of the best heavyweights who dominated their own decades. The likes of Ali, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Larry Holmes, George Foreman, Lennox Lewis, Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, etc., now have a new name jostling for position in the all-time standings. 'I want a rest,' Usyk stated in the post-fight press conference. 'I want to be at home with my family, my wife and my children. I want to rest for maybe two, three months.' Whatever is next will be Usyk's decision and Usyk's decision only. He has fought with the hearts of a nation weighing heavily on his shoulders and has had his hand raised on every single occasion. There will be a moment when he looks in the mirror and asks himself what he has left to give — or perhaps to prove. 'I don't have motivation. I have discipline,' he continued. 'Motivation? It's temporary. Today, for example, you have motivation. But tomorrow you wake up early and you don't have motivation.' 'Thirty-eight is a young guy, remember!' he then exclaimed, with the trademark twinkle in his eye. But how long does discipline last? Ideally, not so long that Usyk is beaten by the only opponent who will have his number: Father Time.

Sarina Wiegman ‘not for sale', says English FA CEO Mark Bullingham
Sarina Wiegman ‘not for sale', says English FA CEO Mark Bullingham

Yahoo

timea minute ago

  • Yahoo

Sarina Wiegman ‘not for sale', says English FA CEO Mark Bullingham

England head coach Sarina Wiegman is 'not for sale', says the England Football Association CEO Mark Bullingham. Wiegman, who has reached the last five consecutive major tournament finals with the Netherlands and England — a 100 per cent record that no manager has done before — is under contract until after the 2027 World Cup. Bullingham described the Dutchwoman, who joined in September 2021, as a 'special coach' who has an 'incredible tournament record'. But when asked how many millions another federation would have to pay for Wiegman, the FA chief would not name a price and said: 'She's not for sale.' Bullingham is also not concerned Wiegman will be tempted to leave for other national teams or domestic clubs. Her assistant Arjan Veurink will depart after this tournament, despite having a contract with England until 2027, to become the Netherlands head coach. Wiegman has already selected two new Dutch assistants to replace him: Arvid Smit and Janneke Bijl. 'We are committed to her until 2027 and she is committed to us,' Bullingam told media on Thursday from England's Dolder Grand hotel in Zurich. 'We have a new team (of assistants) coming in for her. We haven't quite started working on the plans for (post) 2027 but I know her focus, hopefully after success on Sunday, will shift quite quickly to 2027.' Discussions regarding contract negotiations usually happen a tournament cycle or a year in advance and no such conversations have taken place. When the inevitable question arose about the possibility of Wiegman managing England's men's team — as Thomas Tuchel's contract expires after the 2026 World Cup — Bullingham said it was 'almost disrespectful to assume the men's job is more senior to the women's'. 'That is not the way we view it,' he said. 'I said two years ago (at the 2023 World Cup) Sarina could do any job in football, she is an amazing talent and we are delighted to have her running the women's team until 2027.' 'I see the work she has done with players and the relationships and connections she builds in camps,' added Bullingham, who hugged Wiegman straight after the full-time whistle following the dramatic quarter-final penalty shootout win against Sweden. 'We both said things we probably couldn't repeat here. I was just so proud of her. It's brilliant how they pulled through. 'It is phenomenal. She is just a cool head in the way she transmits that onto the pitch. She looks like the coolest person in the stadium and I have no doubts that helps in critical moments. We are lucky to have her.' England will face Spain in the European Championship final on Sunday, a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final which England lost 1-0. This article originally appeared in The Athletic. England, Women's Soccer, Women's Euros 2025 The Athletic Media Company

Former Czech ice hockey great Josef Černý has died. He was 85.
Former Czech ice hockey great Josef Černý has died. He was 85.

Yahoo

timea minute ago

  • Yahoo

Former Czech ice hockey great Josef Černý has died. He was 85.

PRAGUE (AP) — Josef Černý, one of the highest-scoring forwards in the former Czechoslovakia who helped his country win three Olympic medals, has died. He was 85. His former Czech club, Kometa Brno, announced his death on Thursday. Černý hit 75 goals in his 210 appearances for Czechoslovakia. With 478 goals in the domestic league and in international games, he was the sixth best scorer in the country, according to the Sport daily. He said he considered his 'biggest one' to be the second goal in a memorable 2-0 victory over the Soviet Union at the 1969 world championship in Stockholm. That was the first major tournament after the Soviet-led occupation of Czechoslovakia in August of the previous year that crushed a period of liberal reforms known as the Prague Spring. 'I scored more than 400 goals but the Russian one I value the most,' he once said. Černý played in the team that finished runner-up at the Olympic tournament in Grenoble in 1968, and claimed bronze in 1964 in Innsbruck and in 1972 in Sapporo. He also won four silver medals and four bronzes at world championships. He retired from international hockey briefly before the 1972 worlds in Prague that Czechoslovakia won. In his 21 seasons in the domestic league, he became the first player to score 400 goals. Černý rejected an option to emigrate in fear of the persecution of his family, he once said. After retirement, he turned to coaching at home and in Austria and Italy. In 2007, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Ice Hockey Federation. The Czech ice hockey association offered condolences to his relatives, calling him 'a legendary forward.' ___ AP sports:

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store