Latest news with #SteveMadeley
New York Times
02-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Joao Pedro to Chelsea: Transfers TLDR
Chelsea have signed Joao Pedro from Brighton for a fee in excess of £50million with the 23-year-old signing a seven-year deal at Stamford Bridge. As part of this summer's transfer coverage on The Athletic, in addition to breaking news, tactical analysis and in-depth reads, our Transfers TLDR series (you can read them all here) will bring you a quick guide to each of the key deals. Joao Pedro emerged from a difficult childhood — his father, also once a professional footballer, was jailed for 16 years for being an accessory to murder — to become a success on the field. He had already moved around 450 miles from his hometown of Ribeirao Preto to Rio De Janeiro to join Fluminense as a teenager, but then travelled even further at the age of just 18 when he moved to Britain to sign for Watford. Advertisement In 2023, he moved to Brighton, where he flourished, taking his Premier League tally to 22 goals and 10 assists from 57 starts and 89 appearances overall. Steve Madeley Despite a respectable record of goals and assists — 0.35 goals and 0.16 assists per 90 minutes in the Premier League — Joao Pedro is not known as a prolific scorer or finisher, so Chelsea fans should not expect him to be finding the net on a regular basis. He is a player drawn towards the ball, linking up play and combining with team-mates in deeper areas, so fans should look forward to him playing his part in helping his team function more effectively in attacking areas. Steve Madeley Chelsea lack attack-minded technicians capable of progressing the ball through the thirds. Given Enzo Maresca's emphasis on controlled possession, Joao Pedro's through-passes and off-the-ball movement from the No 10 position should add unpredictability to their attacks. The Brazilian converted 21 per cent of his shots into goals last season — a better rate than all of Chelsea's forwards. But as his shotmap from the last two seasons shows, he does not always get into optimal scoring positions, with minimal attempts from inside the six-yard box. Outside of his goal contributions, Joao Pedro is a shrewd operator, winning 2.1 fouls per 90 in the Premier League in 2024-25. His pressing improved under Fabian Hurzeler, and his 1.1 possessions won in the attacking third per 90 ranked fifth among all Premier League forwards. Anantaajith Raghuraman Since breaking into the first team at Fluminense, Joao Pedro has suffered three lay-offs due to ankle issues as well as one each because of calf and hamstring problems. But none of his five periods out has lasted for more than two months and three of them have been three weeks or less. Transfermarkt has calculated he has missed 32 games altogether in the last six years. Steve Madeley Speaking to The Athletic in 2020, Eduardo Oliveira — who coached Joao Pedro as a teenager at Fluminense — described him as 'an extremely technical player, with a really good personality'. 'He dedicated himself completely. Every single shot he took was on target. That really caught my eye, because it's not easy to be so efficient in front of goal. Advertisement 'One thing I worked on with him was reading the goalkeeper. He would shoot in a way that took the goalkeeper out of the equation. He always had great concentration during those individual drills. His competitiveness shone through. He had a real will to win, and he was able to transfer that to the other players. Those two aspects of his game — the finishing ability and the positive influence his attitude had on the group — were what impressed me. He was determined to improve.' Cerys Jones Joao Pedro has joined Chelsea on a seven-year deal, committing to the west London club until June 2032. Chelsea have paid Brighton in excess of £50m for Joao Pedro. Assuming agent fees of 10 per cent on the transfer plus a four per cent levy transfer levy, Joao Pedro's signing will add a minimum of £11.4m in amortisation costs to Chelsea's annual expenses, at least in terms of profitability and sustainability calculations, up to the end of the 2029-30 season. While Joao Pedro has signed a seven-year deal with his new side, both Premier League and UEFA regulations dictate clubs can only amortise transfer fees over a maximum of five years. There'll therefore be a disconnect between Joao Pedro's annual cost in Chelsea's PSR calculation against their publicly disclosed accounts. In the latter, Joao Pedro's fee will be amortised at a rate of £8.1m annually over seven years – £3.3m less than the annual PSR cost. Joao Pedro's wage across his seven-year contract is unknown but will add substantially to the minimum estimated £57.0m cost of acquiring his registration. Brighton signed Joao Pedro for £30m from Watford two years ago, with the potential for the deal to rise by a further £5m if clauses were met. The extent to which they have been is unknown but, assuming half the extra amount was payable in the past two years, alongside adding on the cost of signing Joao Pedro in additional fees and levies, his book value at Brighton was around £21m. Advertisement Brighton won't see all of that, with Watford known to have a sell-on clause. The Athletic understands that to be less the 20 per cent reported elsewhere, which would mean Brighton exceed £26m in profit in Pedro, to go alongside the hefty sums banked from Stamford Bridge in recent seasons. Chris Weatherspoon
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Women's Euro 2025: Ranking the best and worst of the home kits
Ah, the home kits of national football teams. A safe haven where experimentation is kept to a minimum to preserve precious national identity, right? RIGHT? Perhaps not when it comes to the 16 home strips that this summer's Women's European Championship contenders will wear in Switzerland next month. Advertisement There are the good, the bad and the downright ugly to review, so to complete the set after running the rule over the away kits, Nick Miller returns — with a little help from Steve Madeley — to rate or slate every home shirt we will see at Euro 2025. Let us know whether you agree with their critiques in the comments. Iceland England Switzerland Belgium Netherlands Italy Poland France Portugal Denmark Spain Norway Wales Finland Sweden Germany This article originally appeared in The Athletic. England, Wales, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Iceland, Women's Soccer, Women's Euros 2025 The Athletic Media Company
New York Times
29-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Women's Euro 2025: Ranking the best and worst of the home kits
Ah, the home kits of national football teams. A safe haven where experimentation is kept to a minimum to preserve precious national identity, right? RIGHT? Perhaps not when it comes to the 16 home strips that this summer's Women's European Championship contenders will wear in Switzerland next month. Advertisement There are the good, the bad and the downright ugly to review, so to complete the set after running the rule over the away kits, Nick Miller returns — with a little help from Steve Madeley — to rate or slate every home shirt we will see at Euro 2025. Let us know whether you agree with their critiques in the comments. (Design: Eamonn Dalton/The Athletic; Getty Images)
New York Times
09-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Rayan Ait-Nouri to Manchester City: Transfers TLDR
Manchester City have signed Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers in a deal worth €37million (£31.2m/$42.3m). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract. As part of this summer's transfer coverage on The Athletic, in addition to breaking news, tactical analysis and in-depth reads, our Transfers TLDR series (you can read them all here) will bring you a quick guide to each of the key deals. Born and raised in Paris, Ait-Nouri left the French capital to start his football education with Angers in the north-west of the country. He turned professional aged 16, making his senior debut six months later, and was still only 19 when he joined Wolves, initially on loan, in 2020. The move was made permanent a year later and in the past two seasons he became a fixture in Wolves' starting XI, excelling as an attacking force, mainly from left wing-back. Having represented France at youth levels, he switched international allegiance to Algeria, where his parents were born, and won his first cap in 2023. Steve Madeley Ait-Nouri loves to showcase his ability on the big stage, so City fans can look forward to an array and flicks and tricks to go with the Algerian's natural athleticism and ball-carrying ability. He is also adept at weighing in with goals and assists. But despite spending much of his career playing left-back or left wing-back, he remains raw defensively, so don't expect to see consistent excellence in that aspect of his game. Steve Madeley Left-back is an area City have struggled to strengthen across Pep Guardiola's nine-year reign. Looking at their current squad, Ait-Nouri should, in theory, be an undisputed starter from the off. He often played left wing-back for Wolves, with his ball-carrying standing out. Ait-Nouri combined that with a variety of chipped and grounded crosses and cutbacks to make seven assists last season in 37 Premier League appearances. He often operated high and wide in what was his final year at Molineux but is quite two-footed and capable of inverting into midfield, as he does below in December's match against Tottenham Hotspur, in which he got two of those assists. Defensively, Ait-Nouri is susceptible to lapses in concentration and occasionally slow to react to evolving moves. He has not played enough minutes as a specialist left-back for Wolves either. There will be some learning and unlearning required, but the 24-year-old is a necessary addition. Anantaajith Raghuraman Ait-Nouri had multiple niggles early in his time with Wolves, though none resulted in lengthy lay-offs. At Angers, his worst injury was a broken jaw which ruled him out from early January 2020 until the Ligue 1 season was halted in the March because of the pandemic, before it was later abandoned. He has had a relatively clean bill of health over the past two seasons, featuring in 70 of the 76 league games, with 66 starts. Anantaajith Raghuraman 'He's matured an awful lot,' Wolves' then head coach Gary O'Neil said last season in a news conference, having restored Ait-Nouri to the team following an exile under predecessor Julen Lopetegui. 'I didn't know him last year, but I'm led to believe he's made huge improvements in his maturity and his demeanour and how he is around the place and how he trains every day. It shows on the pitch, and he's been one of our best performers throughout the season.' Steve Madeley Ait-Nouri has joined City on a five-year deal, ending in June 2030. City have paid Wolves £31.2million for the Algeria international. Three weeks of the fee will be accounted for in City's 2024-25 financials, alongside Ait-Nouri's salary for the rest of this month. Wolves' annual accounting date was previously May 31 but has been shifted to June 30 this year, so they'll book all of their profit on the deal into an extended 13-month accounting period covering the 2024-25 season. Chris Weatherspoon Assuming agent fees of 10 per cent on the transfer, Ait-Nouri's signing will add £390,000 in amortisation costs to City's 2024-25 figures. Thereafter, to the end of the 2029-30 season, the fee spent here will be charged at a rate of £6.8m annually in City's books. Ait-Nouri's wages at his new club are unknown, but it goes without saying that the full cost of signing him will stretch well beyond the estimated £34.3m City are paying in transfer and agent fees. Advertisement Wolves signed Ait-Nouri in July 2021 from Angers, after he had spent much of the previous season on loan at Molineux. That deal set them back around £10m. Ait-Nouri signed a five-year contract back then which was never renewed or extended, leaving his book value now at an estimated £2.2m. As part of the deal with Angers, Wolves agreed a hefty 50 per cent sell-on clause in respect of any profit made if and when Ait-Nouri was eventually sold on. That would make a big dent in their profit on this deal, but there was a further proviso whereby Wolves could buy out that clause. The Athletic understands the cost of doing that to be around £8.5m ($11.5m at the current rate), which looks a no-brainer when set against the £10.5m Wolves would have to hand over as 50 per cent of their profit. Assuming they do buy it out, we estimate Wolves' accounting profit on selling Ait-Nouri, booked into their 2024-25 financials, will be £20.5m. Chris Weatherspoon
New York Times
09-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Premier League predicted line-ups: Who do our writers think will start in Gameweek 36?
As we approach another weekend of action in the Premier League, our writers have had a go at naming the starting XIs for the upcoming matches. There could be late changes or injuries, but our staff have predicted these line-ups given the information available at the time of writing. Ben Dinnery is also holding his weekly Fantasy Premier League live Q&A today. Follow the Premier League and FPL on The Athletic How to watch: Not available (UK); Peacock (U.S.) Notes: Reiss Nelson, Timothy Castagne, Sasa Lukic, Harrison Reed (injured); Rodrigo Muniz, Andreas Pereira (doubts) Justin Guthrie Notes: James Tarkowski, Jesper Lindstrom, Orel Mangala (injured) Patrick Boyland How to watch: Not available (UK); Peacock (U.S.) Notes: Wes Burns, Chiedozie Ogbene, Sammie Szmodics, Arijanet Muric, Jaden Philogene (injured); Leif Davis (suspended); Nathan Broadhead, Conor Townsend (doubts) Ali Rampling Notes: Aaron Hickey, Josh Dasilva, Fabio Carvalho, Vitaly Janelt (injured) Jay Harris How to watch: Not available (UK); USA Network, Fubo (U.S.) Notes: None Nancy Froston Notes: Rodri, Oscar Bobb, John Stones, Nathan Ake (injured) Thom Harris How to watch: Not available (UK); Peacock (U.S.) Notes: Yerson Mosquera, Enso Gonzalez, Sasa Kalajdzic (injured); Hwang Hee-chan, Jorgen Strand Larsen (doubts) Steve Madeley Notes: Solly March, Georginio Rutter, Ferdi Kadioglu, James Milner (injured); Joao Pedro (suspended) Andy Naylor How to watch: Sky Sports (UK); NBC, Fubo, Peacock (U.S.) Notes: Enes Unal, Luis Sinisterra, Ryan Christie, Dango Ouattara (injured) Dan Barnes Notes: Marcus Rashford, Youri Tielemans (injured) Jacob Tanswell How to watch: TNT Sports (UK); USA Network, Fubo (U.S.) Notes: Lewis Hall, Matt Targett, Joelinton (injured) George Caulkin Notes: Wesley Fofana, Marc Guiu (injured); Mykhailo Mudryk (suspended) Simon Johnson How to watch: Not available (UK); Peacock (U.S.) Notes: Diogo Dalot, Joshua Zirkzee, Lisandro Martinez, Ayden Heaven, Toby Collyer, Matthijs de Ligt (injured) Carl Anka Notes: Michail Antonio, Crysencio Summerville (injured) Roshane Thomas How to watch: Sky Sports (UK); USA Network, Fubo (U.S.) Notes: Callum Hudson-Odoi (injured); Murillo (doubt) Paul Taylor Notes: Mads Hermansen, Abdul Fatawu, Stephy Mavididi, Ricardo Pereira, Bobby De Cordova-Reid (injured) Rob Tanner How to watch: Not available (UK); Peacock (U.S.) Notes: Radu Dragusin, James Maddison, Lucas Bergvall, Son Heung-min (injured) Jay Harris Notes: Chadi Riad, Cheick Doucoure, Adam Wharton (injured) Matt Woosnam How to watch: Sky Sports (UK); NBC, Fubo, Peacock Notes: Joe Gomez, Tyler Morton (injured) Gregg Evans Notes: Takehiro Tomiyasu, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel, Kai Havertz (injured) Art de Roche (Top photos: Anthony Gordon, left, and Conor Bradley; Getty Images)
