Shelbourne 'toughest draw' we could have got
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Daily Record
23 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Dermot Desmond can make £20m Celtic move amid Youte transfer 'interest' and Calvert-Lewin 'incentive' deal pitch
Rangers are busy in the transfer market following a US takeover at Ibrox Celtic principal shareholder Dermot Desmond could respond to Rangers takeover with a £20million cheque this summer. That is according to Parkhead diehard Alan Brazil in the midst of a jam-packed transfer window for Brendan Rodgers ' side. With Celtic facing the tricky Champions League qualifiers this season, the Hoops' have moved quickly to bring in Kieran Tierney, Benjamin Nygren and Callum Osmand, Ross Doohan and Hayato Inamura so far this summer. But following a £20million investment by Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises at Ibrox the wheels are also turning across the city with Russell Martin aiming to assemble a squad ready to challenge for the Scottish Premiership crown. But Brazil reckons supremo Desmond could throw money at Celtic this summer - but will hold fire on any spending splurge. He told the talkSPORT Breakfast Show: 'Well, we know Mr Desmond at Celtic is very, very, very (wealthy). He could just write a cheque now. It's petty cash for £20million if he wishes. 'But he doesn't do that. He makes Celtic generate its own money. If he has to, then he will.' Rangers hero Ally McCoist responded: 'Of course he does. Listen, Alan, you know as well as I do, they have been a great success for the last few years. "The performances in Europe. Some great performances in Europe and the Champions League, and without any real competition domestically.' Le Harve centre-back Etienne Youte is reportedly on the shopping list this summer for the Hoops. L'Equipe report that Anderlecht and Besiktas have joined "keenly interested" Celtic in the signing race for the 23-year-old. Youte only has a year remaining on his currently contract and the Ligue 1 would reportedly accept a €5million (£4.3million) fee this summer. A striker is also on the agenda with Shin Yamada reportedly inching closer to a £1.5m move to Glasgow's east end while Napoli frontman Giuseppe Ambrosino could arrive on loan. Dominic Calvert-Lewin has also bee touted as a target after the 28-year-old's Everton contract expired. Reports suggest Sunderland are currently in pole position to land the free agent but face a challenge from Scotland with the England international "attracting attention" from the Hoops while a surprise switch to Manchester United has been touted. Former Parkhead star Tony Cascarino has warned that a pay-as-you-play contract should be put on the table by suitors amid ongoing injury problems for the England cap. He told talkSPORT: 'It's got to be an incentive contract, it has got to be backed up with appearances, goals, matches per season. 'I just think that is the only way I would want to attempt to bring in Calvert-Lewin, I'm not questioning his ability, I'm questioning the amount of football he is going to play. You have to when a player has been injured so regularly.'
The Guardian
32 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Carlisle to Bosnia: Tyler Burey on an unlikely path to the Champions League
At the end of last year Tyler Burey was playing out of position in defence for a team doomed to relegation from the Football League. Seven months later he is preparing to make his Champions League debut after leaving England behind, seeking to rediscover his love for the game in an unlikely location. Burey moved to Igman Konjic, a club in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in January on a short-term deal and impressed to such an extent that the country's title winners, Zrinjski Mostar, signed him on a two-year contract. On Tuesday they visit Virtus of San Marino in the opening leg of their Champions League first qualifying round tie, allowing Burey to live out a lifelong dream. It is not the first time Burey has sought a new chapter away from what he knows best. The London-born winger had a five-month spell with Odense in Denmark, where he used his spare time to learn how to cook Jamaican food. The 24-year-old is on his eighth club, having started out in the youth setup at AFC Wimbledon, where his performances earned a move to Millwall in the Championship. 'I left Millwall in 2023 and if I'm being totally honest there were more dark times than light,' Burey says. 'I didn't have free-flowing football. I went to this place, didn't work; went to that place, didn't work; went to this place, didn't work; and it was just constantly down, down, downwards and there were times when I wanted to give up. Whenever I was going through problems or anything I just went straight back to my Bible and just kept going, kept going and now it's like I've seen the light from all the downs that I went through and I can say to myself that I'm proud of myself because I never gave up.' After exiting Odense early, Burey moved to Carlisle on a short-term deal with the hope of getting minutes. His spell at Brunton Park in League Two was irritating, playing at right-back when he is a left-winger. There was little desire to extend the deal and Burey felt the need to cast his search wider than the English pyramid. The former Preston midfielder Jeffrey Monakana, acting as an agent, offered a solution in Konjic, in a town with a population of about 25,000. 'I have had a couple of players say to me: 'Well done, oh my gosh, it's crazy what you've done,'' says Burey. 'And I just said: 'Look bro, I just took a risk and I trusted God and that's what happened.'' Coffee culture in picturesque Mostar makes for an idyllic life for Burey, whose main problem in the country he calls home is staying away from the local delicacy burek, a pie filled with meat or cheese. The city has a population of 113,000 and Burey is easily recognisable when he pops out for his favourite snack, happily posing for selfies and signing autographs for his new fans. Burey enjoyed a short break in England over the summer but once the option to return to Bosnia arose, he packed his two suitcases, one of clothes and the other of football equipment, put his PlayStation in his rucksack and flew to Sarajevo. Burey has made a concerted effort to learn the language to smooth interactions on and off the pitch as he seeks to integrate into Bosnian life. 'The best players always play in the top division and they play in Europe at the end of the day,' says Burey. 'If I want to be in that bracket, I've got to allow myself to go to places that may be uncomfortable for me to go and get that opportunity that I may not get, for example, playing in England if I was in League One or the Championship. I didn't feel respected or anything and I said to myself: 'I need to put myself into places where I'll be recognised for doing well.' I think a lot of English players, they don't realise … They would rather stay in the Championship their whole life if they could, whereas I don't think like that.' Zrinjski are almost certain to defeat Virtus and would then face Slovan Bratislava, who played in last season's Champions League league stage. Zrinjski have been regulars in the early stages of Uefa competitions in recent years, and played Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League group stage in 2023, drawing at home and losing 1-0 away in a proud moment for the club. Last season, Bosnia's Champions League representatives, Borac Banja Luka, ended up in the Conference League league stage, progressing to the last 16. Zrinjski's chances of making it through Champions League qualifying are slim but they have the chance of a prolonged period of continental football because defeated clubs fall into the Conference League or, after the first qualifying round, into the Europa League. Whether in San Marino or at San Mamés, when the anthem plays, a player knows what they have achieved. 'Any time I've watched Champions League football, I've always said to myself: 'I will get there one way or another,'' Burey says, 'and I've always been big on European competitions because the way I see football compared to the normal Englishman, I think it's a bit different. Every English player has a dream of playing in the Premier League but you don't see a lot of English players having a dream about playing abroad. It's like living a second dream that you never had.'
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
No anthems or special balls - but Champions League starts now
In some ways the purest form of the Champions League starts this is only 38 days since Paris St-Germain demolished Inter Milan at the Allianz Arena in front of the eyes of the world - but the vibe is very different as the new campaign kicks first qualifying round begins on Tuesday at 16:00 BST in Kuopio, Finland, with 28 teams - all of them champions of their country - in action this may be no Champions League anthem before games and clubs just use their own balls but it is the Champions League still - including Virtus, from San Marino, who are eight games away from the league Liechtenstein, who do not have a league, and Russia, who remain banned because of the war with Ukraine, do not get at least one Champions League is a long road to the 2026 final in Budapest in 326 days' time, although it is likely every club kicking off this week will be footnotes by Sport has a look at some of the stories, teams and ties involved this week. Could someone go all the way? Only 10 teams managed to go all the way through from the first round of Champions League qualifying to the group or league phase - including Slovan Bratislava last got past Struga, Celje, Apoel and Midtjylland... before losing all eight league games. But just getting there meant they earned more than £15m. And their 16 matches played were only one fewer than champions a team went all the way through to the final they could end up playing 25 Champions League games (a path that requires them featuring in the the knockout phase play-offs).Only one team have reached the knockout stages after starting in the very first round - Liverpool in Reds were Champions League winners in 2005, but finished fifth in the Premier League - and back then the holders did not automatically qualify. Uefa gave them special dispensation, but they had to start in the first round of got through three rounds of qualifying (as it was back then) - beating TNS, FBK Kaunas and CSKA Sofia - and won their group before a last-16 exit. The 552nd best team Virtus, champions of San Marino, are the lowest-ranked team in the draw by some distance. All of their players and staff have other 10-year club coefficients ranks them 552nd (out of 554 teams), a list that only includes teams who have played in Europe over that period of season was their debut in Europe, as they lost 11-1 to Romanian side FCSB in this round.A second consecutive league title has them competing again - this time against Bosnian champions Zrinjski the club accept they have very little chance of advancing and see it as a privilege to be involved. For one thing no Sammarinese team have ever won a Champions League they are confident of competing well in the Conference League third qualifying round, which the losers of this game will drop president Pier Domenico Giulianelli said: "This is our second time in the Champions League, and we're sure that the experience last year will be useful. "We know these will be two very tough matches, but I'm confident the boys will give their all on the pitch."The club are expecting about 1,000 fans at the San Marino Stadium in Serravalle, with about three-quarters of them coming from Bosnia. They usually get 50-100 people at their home only San Marino international is Alessandro Golinucci, who captained the country to their famous win over Liechtenstein last September which ended a 20-year run without a victory. The new boys The only Champions League debutants in the first round of qualifying are Armenian side FC season they went through every round of Conference League qualifying before reaching the league phase, where they lost one game 8-0 at Yerevan side, who were only formed eight years ago and named after the religious figure Noah, are a team trying to get places quickly under owner Vardges signed 16 players last summer and a new manager in Rui Mota. They went on to win the league and cup Mota left for Ludogorets (more on them in a bit) this summer, with 41-year-old Croatian Sandro Perkovic taking his place. Club development director Anna Ohanyan told BBC Sport: "Taking part in the Champions League qualifiers is a historic moment for FC Noah. "Just two seasons after the new management stepped in, we managed to qualify for the league phase of a European competition, became champions of Armenia, won the Armenian Cup - and now here we are in the first qualifying round of the Champions League. This is only the beginning."We fought hard to win the Armenian championship because we have bigger ambitions for ourselves and for Armenian football. This qualification gives us a chance to show that ambition to the whole of Europe."They play Montenegrin side Buducnost side Pafos FC, who enter at the second-round stage - where they play Maccabi Tel Aviv - are also in the competition for the first time. The regulars Bulgarian champions Ludogorets are in the first round of qualifying for the eighth consecutive six years before that they entered in the second qualifying round - under an old system where the first round only involved a handful of their 14 consecutive league titles have meant 14 years of Champions League qualifying. Twice they reached the groups: in 2014-15, where they earned a 2-2 draw with Liverpool, and 2009 they were an amateur third-tier team, who had never been in the top following year pharmaceutical multi-millionaire Kiril Domuschiev took them over, they won immediate promotion and have won the title in each and every top-flight season they have ever played year they take on Belarusian side Dinamo Minsk. The derbies There are two derbies between teams from neighbouring countries in the first qualifying side Shelbourne and Belfast club Linfield meet in a rematch of the 2005 Setanta Sports Cup, the old competition between the champions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern was also the last year Shels were in the Champions League until now - with a young Wes Hoolahan in the go into the game with a new manager in former West Ham defender Joey O'Brien after the surprise resignation of Damien as 57-time champions of Northern Ireland, are regulars at this stage. They are also managed by an ex-Premier League player, with former Leeds, Preston and Sunderland striker David Healy at the respective grounds are less than a two-hour drive apart - which for Shelbourne is a shorter journey than some league games. However, they have to stay in Belfast the night before the game because of pre-match media legs of that tie will be live on the BBC Sport website and other derby is between Levadia Tallinn of Estonia and Latvian side RFS (which once stood for Riga Football School but is now their name).They could meet again later this year if the irregularly held Livonian Cup - between the champions of Estonia and Latvia is played again. Paulius Jakelis, head of marketing and communications at RFS, told BBC Sport: "From a travel perspective, it's ideal - just a four-hour bus ride and we're there. "It means minimal travel costs, simpler planning and logistics, and much easier access for our fans." How about the British teams? Perennial Welsh champions TNS, who play their home games in England, play Shkendija of North Macedonia. Neutrals will hope it is half as dramatic as when they met at this stage in 2018 with Shkendija winning 5-4 on aggregate. The Macedonians won 5-0 at home, with TNS falling just short in the second leg in Oswestry's Park Hall with a 4-0 Red Imps, champions of British Overseas Territory Gibraltar - the second lowest-ranked league - face Faroese side their squad is 43-year-old Lee Casciaro, who has been with the club since 1998, and scored against Celtic in a shock first-leg win in of Glasgow teams, Rangers enter the Champions League at the second qualifying round against Panathinaikos. Celtic start off at the play-off six representatives - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle and Tottenham - go straight into the league phase. What next for the losers? The teams who lose this round are not out of Europe entirely - dropping into the Conference League would go into the second round of the Conference League but a random draw picked two ties whose losers would go into the third round. San Marino club Virtus and Gibraltar's Lincoln Red Imps are involved in those two games - meaning they would be only two rounds away from the Conference League group who lose in the second round of Champions League qualifying would go into the third qualifying round of the Europa League by the way, and not the Conference League. Starting in the league phase, watch highlights of every Champions League game from 22:00 BST on Wednesday on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and will also be a Champions League Match of the Day on BBC One on Wednesday nights. Watch highlights of every Champions League game from 22:00 on Wednesday on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and will also be a Champions League Match of the Day on BBC One on Wednesday, from 22:40 to 00:00.
