How to watch Man United vs. West Ham in Premier League Summer Series
The round-robin style English Premier League Summer Series tournament continues tonight with a matchup between Manchester United and West Ham.
The match follows this afternoon's Everton vs. Bournemouth tilt at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium.
Last season, West Ham (11-10-17) and Man United (11-9-18) finished back-to-back in the Premier League table, at 14 and 15, respectively. Both teams have a long history of stateside matches, with West Ham's most recent appearance being just last summer in the inaugural Stateside Cup.
Man United vs. West Ham: what to know When: July 26, 7 p.m. ET
July 26, Where: MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, New Jersey)
MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, New Jersey) Channel: Not on TV
Not on TV Streaming: Peacock
Here's everything you need to know to tune in to tonight's Summer Series match
What time is the Man United vs. West Ham match?
The Man United vs. West Ham Summer Series match begins at 7 p.m. ET today, July 26.
How to watch Man United vs. West Ham
The Manchester United-West Ham match is exclusive to Peacock.
Peacock currently offers two subscription types with live sports: Premium with ads and Premium Plus ad-free. Peacock Premium costs $10.99/month, while Premium Plus costs $16.99/month.
You can save a bit by subscribing to one of Peacock's annual plans, which give you 12 months for the price of 10. These cost either $109.99 with ads or $169.99 without ads.
2025 Premier League Summer Series schedule
Saturday, July 26 – MetLife Stadium, New Jersey
Everton vs. Bournemouth, 4 p.m. ET
Manchester United vs West Ham, 7 p.m. ET
Wednesday, July 20 – Soldier Field, Chicago
West Ham vs. Everton, 6:30 p.m. ET
Manchester United vs. Bournemouth, 9:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, August 3 – Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
Bournemouth vs. West Ham, 2 p.m. ET
Manchester United vs. Everton, 5 p.m. ET
Why Trust Post Wanted by the New York Post
This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Streaming Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping, Page Six, and New York Post's streaming property, Decider. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she's also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. Prior to joining Decider and The New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews
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New York Times
13 minutes ago
- New York Times
Crystal Palace at CAS: What could club argue as they try to win back Europa League spot?
Common sense would suggest that confirmation of John Textor's exit from Crystal Palace should resolve the issues around the Premier League club's connection to French side Lyon. After all, the American investor has now both sold his Palace stake and left all positions of authority at Lyon. Unfortunately, one person's common sense is another's opinion — fun to debate, but not the best foundations for a cross-border sports competition involving huge prizes. Advertisement To do that, you are better off with a set of written rules which are fair, proportionate, transparent and well-drafted. If they are not, well, that's why we invented lawyers. This is where Palace find themselves: denied entrance to the Europa League, the competition they qualified for by winning last season's FA Cup, and effectively demoted to the third-tier Conference League for breaching European football governing body UEFA's multi-club ownership (MCO) rules. And so Palace are taking their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), asking the so-called 'supreme court' of worldwide athletic endeavour to overturn UEFA's decision. Palace have also named Nottingham Forest and Lyon in their appeal, as their fellow Premier League side have been elevated from the Conference League to the second-tier Europa League at their expense, while their disputed stablemates from Ligue 1 have been left in the Europa League, as their higher domestic league finish of the two sides trumps winning the FA Cup. Steve Parish, Palace's chairman, will not mind which of those clubs CAS demotes, as long as what he views as the 'terrible injustice' of his team being removed from the Europa League is reversed. He believes he must take this fight on for Palace's players, staff and fans, as well as others who might find themselves in this position one day. And he clearly thinks this would not happen to a bigger, established side, so there is an 'us versus them' element to his crusade. Having said all that, how could Palace go about persuading CAS? It was then International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch who first realised global sport needed an in-house method for washing dirty linen, as the regular courts are expensive, potentially embarrassing and painfully slow. With the IOC willing to pay for it all, housing it in Lausanne, the Olympic Movement's Swiss home, made sense. Advertisement CAS opened in 1984 and, initially, three-person panels picked from a small pool of experts nominated by the IOC, its president and Olympic federations made decisions about commercial and disciplinary arguments. The system worked pretty well until 1992, when the International Equestrian Federation found a German rider named Elmar Gundel guilty of doping his horse and banned him. When CAS rejected his appeal, Gundel took his fight to Switzerland's Federal Supreme Court. He did not get much joy there either, but the court did agree that the link between CAS and the IOC was too cosy. The result was the 1994 creation of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS), an arms-length body that would run and finance CAS for all Olympic and Paralympic sports. When the World Anti-Doping Agency was created in 1999, CAS was also formally established as the last stop for doping cases. Its workload has increased each year. In 2024, more than 900 cases were submitted to CAS, with about 300 progressing to full-blown hearings. It now has 45 permanent staff, plus around 400 experts serving as visiting arbitrators, who are housed in a purpose-built office in Lausanne's poshest convention centre. The basic proposition has not changed much. Each side in a dispute chooses a member of the panel, with those two usually picking a third expert from the pool to be the panel's chair. If they can't decide, ICAS will select one. Hearings are private, with costs kept low. Verdicts typically come within six to 12 months but expedited hearings are held for matters in need of quick answers, such as doping cases during an ongoing Olympics and over Palace's predicament. The draw for the final round of Conference League qualifying is a week today (August 4), with those two-legged ties then scheduled for August 21 and 28. Palace, Forest and Lyon need to know ASAP which competition they're in. In terms of results, sports federations still tend to win the day, as Gundel discovered, but Manchester City famously beat UEFA at CAS in 2020, while Paul Pogba's doping ban was reduced from four years to 18 months last year, saving his career. Palace's starting point is likely to be that Textor, whose Eagle Football Group still contains his controlling stakes at Brazilian side Botafogo, Belgian's RWDM Brussels (rebranded from Molenbeek earlier this year) and Lyon, did not have what UEFA calls 'decisive influence' at Selhurst Park, and that they have never been part of his multi-club group. Advertisement This, you would think, is supported by the fact he has just sold his 43 per cent stake in Palace to Woody Johnson, the billionaire owner of the NFL's New York Jets and former U.S. ambassador to the UK. Furthermore, that 43 per cent stake only gave Textor one of four voting shares at Palace, with Parish and two other American investors, David Blitzer and Josh Harris, also holding one each. As Textor has previously explained to The Athletic, decisions at Palace very rarely, if ever, went to a vote, as Blitzer and Harris are silent partners who trust Parish to run things. So, Parish would always have 75 per cent of the votes, and he had no interest in Textor's plan to integrate the Londoners into the Eagle multi-club universe. Blitzer, Harris, Parish and Textor all went to UEFA's headquarters in the Swiss city of Nyon last month to make this point but the Club Financial Control Body (CFCB), the arms-length unit that decides which teams can and cannot be licensed to play in the three European competitions, wasn't buying it. Instead, it ruled that Textor's influence was decisive at Palace because he has injected more than £100million ($134m at the current rate) into the club since 2022, money that helped them finish their new-look academy facilities and sign players, and was the largest single shareholder which meant he must, at the very least, have had a say in what they could and could not do. A decisive say? Well, that is why CAS exists. Dr Antoine Duval is the head of Asser International Sports Law Centre in the Netherlands and a seasoned watcher of CAS's decision-making. He believes it's possible the CAS panel will disagree with the CFCB assessment but says the 'quality of the evidence provided by Palace about its internal management structure and the role, or lack of it, of Textor/Eagle will be crucial'. Textor's voting rights will be a key consideration for CAS, but so will his financial contributions and influence on recruitment and commercial strategy. For example, he was a strong advocate of appointing Oliver Glasner, the Austrian head coach who led Palace to their FA Cup triumph, in February last year, although he recently insisted on UK radio station Talksport that the notion he 'made the hire (at Palace) happen… that's not true at all. I tried to get him at Lyon — if he spoke French, he'd be there. I told UEFA that a suggestion is not decisive influence. Nobody tells Steve (Parish) what to do, he's as stubborn as anybody.' Palace, no doubt, will say the only player to be transferred between them and Lyon was centre-back Jake O'Brien in 2023: beyond some young players going on loan to Molenbeek (including O'Brien, earlier in his career), they had no other transactions with an Eagle Football Group club, despite Textor's frequent suggestions. Advertisement But Dr Gregory Ioannidis, an experienced campaigner at CAS and an associate professor at Sheffield Hallam University, is not sure this will be enough to sway the panel. He believes Palace will try to argue that a 'more flexible and purposeful interpretation of the regulations' should be applied, with the club's lawyers asking the panel to think about what UEFA is trying to achieve with its MCO rules, fair competition, and whether the English side pose any threat to that legitimate aim. 'But if the panel decides the rules are clear, and therefore a strict and literal approach needs to be applied, the chances for a successful appeal will be minimised,' explains Ioannidis. While each case is considered on its own merits, precedents can be helpful, and two CAS panels have recently made very quick decisions on MCO cases involving Slovakian team FC DAC 1904 and Drogheda United from the Republic of Ireland. Both were blocked from playing in the Conference League by the CFCB and then lost their appeals, DAC unanimously and Drogheda on a majority verdict. The two cases were different but both argued they simply did not have enough time to create the separation UEFA requires between them and their MCO sister clubs. As MCO groups have proliferated across Europe, UEFA has given owners two options: reduce your stake in one of the clubs that want to compete in the same competition to less than 30 per cent, step down as a director and halt whatever player-trading strategy you are pursuing with the two teams, or put one of into a blind trust, so you have no influence over day-to-day operations. Crucially, UEFA moved the deadline for doing one or the other of these workarounds from early June to March 1. DAC, Drogheda and Palace all missed this memo. However, in both the DAC and Drogheda cases, the CAS panels backed UEFA. Advertisement 'What is of immense importance here is the panels' findings that the current regulations do not require evidence of actual influence, but rather only the possibility of such influence,' says Ioannidis. 'This, in conjunction with the finding on the procedural aspect of submitting the changes in the club's ownership structure on time (or not), may cause serious difficulties for those arguing Palace's case.' Parish has explained in recent interviews that Palace were too busy playing Championship neighbours Millwall in the last 16 of the FA Cup on March 1 to be thinking about what might happen if they were to win the whole thing and play in Europe for the first time in their history, but Duval says the deadline argument is doomed. 'It seems to me that a possible argument about the new deadline has already been rejected, thus the main focus will probably be on whether Textor had decisive influence,' he says. And while Palace will come armed with evidence that shows Textor was routinely ignored, UEFA's lawyers will no doubt point to the letter CFCB chair Sunil Gulati sent to the club licensing managers at UEFA's 55 member associations last May which spells out what 'decisive influence' means. A literal reading of that document — the 30 per cent shareholding threshold, significant financial support, being a director, the ability to influence recruitment decisions and so on — would suggest Palace's legal team are going to have their work cut out. Given all that, it might make sense for Palace to make a more general argument that a strict application of the rules in this case simply make no sense, as there is obviously no threat to the integrity of the competition, which is the entire point of article 5.01 in UEFA's rulebook, the regulation that deals with MCO clubs. And there is some encouragement here, in that the concepts of fairness, integrity and sporting justice are all enshrined in Swiss law. But there are risks attached to this approach, too. 'Swiss law does protect such principles and both CAS and the Swiss Federal Tribunal (where any appeals over a CAS verdict are heard but rarely upheld) have ruled accordingly,' says Ioannidis. 'However, I wouldn't run this argument, because the panel may take the view that it is precisely for these principles that UEFA's decision may be upheld, as the other clubs in the competition acted promptly and ensured they followed the rules and deadlines.' Advertisement That said, the Drogheda case shows that one of the panel disagreed with his colleagues. The written judgment has not been published, so we do not know why they disagreed but it is possible the Irish club's plea for a more common-sense-based assessment of the rules was persuasive. Palace may think that if they can do the same, they are halfway there. 'Not everything is negative for Palace,' says Ioannidis. 'I would argue that the intention of the regulator is to ensure fair competition. As such, the fact that Palace may have realised their mistake and acted in compliance with the rules, albeit late, shows a genuine and honest approach to the legitimate aim pursued by UEFA. 'In this instance, it would be fair, just and reasonable for UEFA to allow Palace to be admitted to the Europa League.' Another possible line of attack for Palace is the apparent inconsistencies in the application of UEFA's rules — and this is where the decision to make Forest a party in this appeal is intriguing. The argument, presumably, would be that Evangelos Marinakis, owner of both Forest and Greece's Olympiacos, did not place the former in a blind trust until the end of April, a move he reversed when they eventually failed to join their cousins from Athens in next season's Champions League. It is a moot point now but Marinakis seemed to miss the UEFA deadline, too, and, if literal readings are important, you either meet it or you don't. If Palace wanted to be really mischievous, they could ask what Marinakis was doing on the pitch at the end of Forest's home draw against Leicester City on May 11. While he may well have been checking on the health of an injured Forest player, the episode suggested the Greek billionaire still exerted some influence at the City Ground despite that blind-trust move. And, just to add some further spice to the pot, Parish has suggested that Forest played a part in Palace's demotion to the Conference League. But an argument that effectively depends on the panel accepting that it is OK for a club to be confused about the regulations is unlikely to pan out. 'The rules and deadlines have always been there, and Palace had to act promptly, irrespective of what other clubs did,' says Ioannidis. 'The panel might say that a professional club, with an army of expert lawyers, ought to be more diligent and proactive. If confused, they could have asked UEFA for clarification.' And with that sensible advice, we should probably wrap this up and wait for CAS to make sense of it all. Hopefully.
New York Times
13 minutes ago
- New York Times
Why are Aston Villa making so many €5m to €9m signings?
Aston Villa's player recruitment these days can be separated into two clear categories. The Premier League club have demonstrated a couple of strands to their strategy on incoming transfers since sporting director Monchi arrived in summer 2023 to head up their football department. The first is to sign 'oven-ready' players who can immediately supplement manager Unai Emery's first-team squad. They may not always start matches, but are capable of making an immediate impact. The second is to add young recruits who have begun their senior-level careers in lesser-seen leagues in other countries. Or, as Emery calls them, 'potential players'. These are not purchased to help the Villa cause in the here and now, but later down the line. Advertisement A pattern has emerged over the past 18 months with Monchi, in combination with the data and recruitment staff, working to complete deals for such relatively-unknown targets. Each is bought for a similar ballpark figure — the €5million to €9m mark (£4.3m-£7.8m/$5.9m-$10.6m at current rates) — and usually gets loaned out, either to a third club or back to the one they were just signed from. If one proves a success, Villa would, in the long run, turn a sizeable profit. This is pertinent in the profitability and sustainability (PSR) era. One notable change since Monchi's appointment is that staff in these departments are now asked to focus on specific regions. Villa are rebuilding some upstairs rooms at their Bodymoor Heath training ground, moving their data insights team into the office next to Monchi's, making it easier to discuss private matters with him. This branch of recruitment is leaned upon when debating 'potential players' — young, raw talents needing to be refined. This area of the club's transfer business can be frustrating for supporters, who are not likely to learn of or see the development of such signings immediately — or indeed ever, if they are sold for profit before integrating into the squad. Kosta Nedeljkovic is a case in point. Signed in January 2024 for €9m from Crvena Zvezda, the then 18-year-old right-back stayed with the Serbian club on loan until the end of that season. 'He was inexperienced (when Villa bought him),' Marko Mitrovic, the Belgrade side's head scout tells The Athletic.'But with his body shape and long step in sprints, he looked very good. He had started in our feeder club in the Serbian second division and it wasn't until September 2023 he started regularly training with our first team. He played 12 Serbian league games before joining Villa.' Advertisement Once he reported to Villa for pre-season, Nedeljkovic made nine appearances under Emery over the next few months but did not start a single Premier League game. He was loaned to RB Leipzig at the end of the winter window in a deal that gave the German Bundesliga side an option to buy the now 19-year-old this summer, indicating Villa did not view him as having a longer-term future with them. Leipzig decided against exercising that option but have borrowed him again for the whole of the upcoming season. If Villa developed reservations about Nedeljkovic, there was greater excitement about Sverre Nypan. They were frontrunners to land the teenage midfielder from Norway's Rosenborg. Staff made trips there to monitor Nypan, with detailed work going into convincing him to join their project. Monchi had dinner with the family and built a good relationship with Nypan's father. His case was both different from how Villa recruited 'potential players' and the same. Nypan's acquisition, if achieved, would generate plenty of internal excitement at the club. Though the initial plan was for the 18-year-old to form part of Emery's squad and build minutes, Villa were also amenable to the idea of him going out on loan in the first season. The longer Nypan refused to commit, the club lost more confidence that he would. Instead, Nypan has since joined Manchester City in a deal worth £12.5million. Villa moving for Nypan fell outside the bracket of relatively-unknown players arriving at the club. He, similar to their pursuit of Toulouse defender Jaydee Canvot (Villa have made an opening offer for the 18-year-old), was on a larger financial scale than those kinds of deals. Going into this year's winter transfer window, Villa wanted to sign a right-back, with senior options considered. When they were all deemed financially unviable, they looked to Spanish second-division side Levante's then 21-year-old, Andres Garcia, who was available for €7m and regarded as a market opportunity. He was represented by the same agency, Interstar Deporte, as Villa's Spain international centre-back Pau Torres, who have a good relationship with Monchi and Emery from their La Liga days. Advertisement Villa had tracked Garcia's data from when he played in Levante's B team, with his characteristics deemed as transferable to the Premier League. They had faith in their convictions, given he had accrued nearly 3,500 minutes of football across three seasons in Spain's second tier. His work rate and volume of sprints in a game — even if technical aspects in possession require work — suggested he can be effective in the Premier League, where he made seven appearances and five starts in the second half of last season. Bolstered by coaching and the critical fact that Emery trusts him to play, staff believe he will show more adaptation to the English game in the coming campaign. Whether Garcia is Villa's first-team right-back of the future is another question but if he continues to rack up appearances, there is a possibility he can be sold for two to three times the amount he cost. Also in January, Villa finalised an agreement with Turkish club Kasimpasa for teen centre-back Yasin Ozcan to join them in this window. The 19-year-old has signed a contract until 2030, with the fee being €7m plus a further €1m in possible add-ons. Villa's scouting system extracted a good amount of data on Ozcan, due to him making his top-flight debut at 16 and playing 81 games for Kasimpasa to that point (he got to 94 before season's end), combined with caps at various youth levels with Turkey. From Villa's perspective, it was clear he was on the path to be a full international before too long, which would accelerate his value. And they were right — he made his debut for Turkey in a friendly against Mexico last month. They noted how Ozcan was adept in different formations and positions (he can operate at full-back), while possessing the gold-dust-like centre-back requirement of being left-footed. Emery has tried him at left-back and on the left of a back three in pre-season, which means he can add depth to the Villa first team, or to that of another club he joins on loan before the September 1 transfer deadline. Athletic, left-footed centre-backs are simpler to make money on. Last summer, Villa signed teenage central defender Yeimar Mosquera from Colombian second-tier side Orsomarso before loaning him to sister club Real Union in the Spanish third division for the first half of the campaign. Mosquera's low-cost transfer was facilitated partly because of Villa's relationship with his representatives, DV7; Damian Vidagany, the club's director of football operations, was formerly the agency's chief executive. Now 20, Mosquera is involved in Villa's pre-season as Emery wants to take a closer look before deciding on a longer-term strategy for his development. Advertisement This month, Villa confirmed the €5m signing of Modou Keba Cisse from Austrian side LASK, edging out France's Troyes for his services and so keeping the 19-year-old out of the clutches of the City Football Group (CFG), which owns the Ligue 2 side. He will be loaned back to LASK for the coming season. Cisse only joined them last July from the Be Sport Academy in Senegal and didn't make his league debut until February, so the data available on him is a much lower sample size than some of the other young additions mentioned in this article, but Villa's checks indicate there's something promising about him. 'I brought him to the second team initially,' Luka Pavlovic, who was LASK's under-18s coach at the time, tells The Athletic. 'He went on trial and I said: 'He is the next Pogba' — he was a midfielder then. But the club put him at centre-back, which was a great decision. He is great in training, hard-working and a nice, quiet guy.' Whether any such 'potential players' are a success depends on your definition. Villa accept that not every such prospect they sign will turn out to be a first-team option for them. But they can, possibly, all be assets down the line — either on the pitch or the spreadsheets.
New York Times
13 minutes ago
- New York Times
Inside Leeds' Germany training camp: Full-blooded challenges, paintball, and singing
Leeds United are flying home from Germany today after the third of their six weeks spent preparing for the forthcoming Premier League campaign was played out behind closed doors on the continent. Daniel Farke took his squad and staff to Hotel-Residence Klosterpforte in Harsewinkel, North Rhine-Westphalia, just as he did 12 months ago. The sad similarity with 12 months ago was the absence of supporters. Advertisement While Euro 2024 was a convenient excuse for tired and overworked police, unable to marshal incoming Leeds fans a year ago, that same excuse was not available this time. United maintain they were confident fans would be allowed up until mid-June, when the German police informed them their matches would have to be played behind closed doors. This was because segregation at the matches was a concern to the police and, in effect, the need for reserves to be called in from around the country to support the local force was a red line it was not prepared to cross. Leeds tried to convince the police to change its verdict and even looked into changing their own plans, but at the 11th hour, this proved too difficult. With a grovelling apology, United had to ask their fans to stay away from Germany while the team trained. Here, The Athletic takes you behind the scenes of what has played out over the past eight days in Germany. It was a late but necessary check-in for the squad on Saturday, July 19, at their training base. Staff and players flew directly from Sweden to Germany after their opening summer friendly against Manchester United in Stockholm. By the time everyone had woken up for their first full day, they were preparing for an addition. Private flights had been chartered to take Anton Stach from his Hoffenheim base to his family home, and then to Paderborn, the most convenient airport for accessing the club's training camp. The Germany international met the first of his colleagues on Sunday before undergoing his medical and the final stages of his £17.3million transfer on Monday, July 21. Stach was kept out of sight as the invited media descended on Harsewinkel to watch a full-blooded training session. No matter how often you watch these professional athletes, who have had to fight and scrap for every inch to get to where they are in their careers, their competitive edge and desire to conquer every aspect of training never fails to surprise. Advertisement The players started with warm-up exercises led by sports scientist Jack Pullan. After a variety of stretches on mats across the complex's basketball court, they gathered around Farke and his coaching team on the grass. Assistant coach Christopher John was celebrating his birthday. Farke and fitness coach Chris Domogalla led the squad in a round of applause for him, and after that, the footballs were not in play straight away. Domogalla split the squad into quartets and they rotated through a variety of drills involving hurdles, cones and poles. It's all done with the aim of preparing the players' bodies for what's to come in their intensive session ahead. Captain Ethan Ampadu found himself initially grouped with compatriot Joe Rodon, Sam Byram and new boy Sebastiaan Bornauw. Humour is central to trips like these and crucial for building the bonds that will have these footballers running through brick walls for each other over the next 10 months. 'Is this the stiff and fragile group?'Ampadu said to Domogalla. Byram's injury history and status as the squad's oldest outfield player should not be lost on anyone. For Farke, too, his quips throughout the week, and one assumes throughout the whole season, are central to building his own relationship with the players. The 48-year-old is the boss, make no mistake, but he has been around dressing rooms long enough to know how to manage morale. As Rodon followed Byram in their group between poles, Farke wandered over to comment with a wry grin, 'Can you be quicker than Byram?' The 31-year-old, who credited Farke with saving his career after last season's title triumph at Plymouth Argyle, will relish beating his younger peers in training through the campaign. Do not forget, Byram has already been filmed putting everyone but Joel Piroe away in the club's pre-season bleep test this summer. Advertisement Once the team got into their drills with the balls, we had a priceless glimpse of Farke as the coach, the manager on the grass invested in improving everyone under his watch. In one exercise, which had seven players passing from various angles in a diamond shape, he insisted: 'Ten passes, not nine or 10 passes. Ten passes.' It's Bornauw, Harry Gray, Sam Chambers, Rhys Chadwick, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Jaka Bijol and Jack Harrison in the group nearest the watching media. 'Keep the ball on the floor, the ball does not bounce, no hectic, guys,' says Farke. The manager talked about body shape and having the players relax. In one amusing moment, as Chambers went to pass to a colleague, his effort snapped one of the training poles. 'Not only do you try to hurt my players, but my poles, too!' Farke shouted and put a hand on Chambers' shoulder, smiling. The level of competition ramps up as Eddie Riemer, Farke's right-hand man and stand-in at Bramall Lane when the manager was banned from the touchline last season, reorganises the groups into small-sided games with two teams aiming at two mini goals apiece. The team in possession could only score once it successfully completed seven consecutive passes, while the team pressing was encouraged to win the ball back and then score at the earliest opportunity into their designated nets. Rodon has built a reputation at Leeds as someone with their heart on their sleeve, never shy about expressing how he really feels about something. In one amusing moment, as Jayden Bogle put the ball between his legs, Rodon threw his head back and, with an exasperated tone, moaned: 'Oh, f*** off.' This was training, but any time a player made a mistake or felt hard done by a coach's decision, they would be furious. Farke was watching one of the teams that included Rodon, Ampadu and Daniel James. When things began to bubble over, he could be heard saying: 'Three Welsh players in one team is always dangerous.' The German has repeatedly glorified his Welsh players' roots over the past two years. He adores their fight and spirit. There were signs of how Bornauw has settled with his new squad as he wheeled away from one poor miss with a Yorkshire impression of '******* hell, man!' No quarter given in training today. I will always underestimate how much they want to win every minute aspect of training. Look out for Bornauw's improving English impression and Rodon's nutmeg reaction. #lufc — Beren Cross (@BerenCross) July 21, 2025 Largie Ramazani was never too far away from the needle that lurked in every exercise and had the players facing off with one another. In one particular moment, when something had gone against Wilfried Gnonto, it was Ramazani, Ampadu and even Farke, teasing the Italian. As Bornauw limped away with what we came to learn was a thigh injury that will rule him out for a fortnight, Riemer again divided the squad into four teams for a tournament. Illan Meslier, Karl Darlow, Alex Cairns and Rory Mahady marshaled a full-sized goal each as the outfield teams rotated between them, across two small pitches. Advertisement This is where the fight for goals and wins really ramped up. Ramazani was central to the most eye-catching flashpoint. As he grappled with Bogle for the ball, the winger ended up tearing the full-back's bib, pulling half of it off his back. Riemer whistled and, as he stopped play, Ramazani swivelled to boot the ball at the already-floored Bogle. A penalty was awarded, with the squad gathering to watch it. Bogle vs Darlow. Farke: 'No rebounds!' Rodon: 'All day, Karl. All day!' Ilia Gruev, apparently the most placid member of the squad, went to stand by the ball in an effort to put Bogle off. Ampadu marched over to carry the Bulgarian away. At Leeds United training in Germany. The footage speaks for itself. Ramazani had torn Bogle's bib to give away the penalty. 'Shitbag.' #lufc — Beren Cross (@BerenCross) July 21, 2025 Ramazani, being calmed by Gnonto: 'Watch him f*** it now, s***bag.' Bogle tucks it in the corner and Harsewinkel's residents can hear the roar. Ampadu runs up to Ramazani's face: 'You s***bag!' It's impossible not to laugh at how petty this all is and it must be like this year-round. These are the little moments, no doubt forgotten by the players hours later, which forge their connections, their will to fight for each other when it matters. Aside from that tete-a-tete, there was some superb quality on show. Followers of the club's social media will have seen Darlow's full-stretch parry of James' volleyed rocket. Piroe sent Rodon, Ao Tanaka and Gruev sliding out of the way with one chop of the boot before finishing one of his many goals. 😍 SAVE! @KarlDarlow — Leeds United (@LUFC) July 21, 2025 Harrison and Lukas Nmecha were spotted firing shots at Mahady after the session had finished, squeezing in their extras as club security chief Martin Sykes and kit manager Chris Beasley returned on their bicycles, beaming. Several of the official and expensive Premier League footballs had been lost in the woods behind the pitches. Sykes and Beasley were not to be denied. Advertisement Once the media had been sent packing from that session, club footage would later show Stach got involved in an afternoon knock-around. His transfer would be finally announced on the Tuesday morning. Operations manager Matt Robertshaw said he couldn't help but marvel at his height when he saw the midfielder stood with Meslier at one of their meals. The media had their first look at Stach when he arrived with the squad for Tuesday's friendly against SC Verl. His international clearance had not been received in time, so he watched from the stands with Bornauw, Isaac Schmidt (calf), and Brenden Aaronson, who only arrived that morning after prolonged summer service with the USMNT. There was no access for the media on Wednesday, but we learned this was a key day of social bonding for the players. Aside from a players-against-staff paintball match (Farke not included), which the former predictably took very seriously, there was a raft of initiation songs for any employee to have arrived since last year's Germany trip. Among the players, this meant Tanaka, Ramazani, Schmidt, Nmecha, Bijol, Bornauw, Gudmundsson, Sean Longstaff and Stach were on a chair singing what they desired. The song choices have remained a closely guarded secret, but the Swedish left-back is understood to have been the keenest to get up and get on with his. While this was all unfolding, United executives were accelerating their pursuit of goalkeeper Lucas Perri. It was a move that came together far quicker than any of them expected. Hannah Cox, head of football administration, and Adam Underwood, sporting director, had been in Germany at the start of the week to get the Stach deal over the line. They then flew back to the UK, not expecting any further deals during the training camp. They had to fly back to Germany once the Perri talks entered their final stages. A second significant transfer of the week represented an outstanding week for the club, which was entirely worth the air miles. Perri arrived with his family on the Thursday night, had his medical on the Friday, and signed off on the final bits of paperwork before the club got ready for his announcement on Saturday morning. There was a minor administrative delay, but while Perri was taking in the Paderborn friendly, the announcement was set for that evening. Advertisement Perri was in the stands as Leeds faced a far sterner challenge from the 2 Bundesliga outfit. Luis Engelns, Farke's 18-year-old son, began in the heart of the home midfield. There was nothing over the line, but a couple of firm Ampadu challenges on the teenager caught the eye. There was a knowing grin shared between father and son as the latter walked past the away dugout following his second-half substitution. It proved a valuable test for Leeds at the end of their third week of preparation for the new season. Farke will take a lot more from the forthcoming matches against Villarreal and Milan. We will only see the real impact of a week like this next May.
