Latest news with #UefaConferenceLeague
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
‘Nice boy' Enzo Fernandez ‘will be even better next season'
'Nice boy' Enzo Fernandez 'will be even better next season' – Maresca Enzo Fernandez has been backed to get even better next season by Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca as he prepares to face former club Benfica. The 24-year-old midfielder struggled to match the £106.8 million transfer fee the Blues shelled out to buy him from the Portuguese outfit in January 2023, putting in a series of underwhelming performances in his first two years at Stamford Bridge. Advertisement But Fernandez was arguably Chelsea's best player in the back half of the 2024/25 term, finishing the campaign with eight goals as the team won the Uefa Conference League and qualified for next season's Champions League. The Argentina international has taken his good form to the FIFA Club World Cup, where he scored the opener against LAFC and created two goals against Esperance in their final group game. His 11 goal involvements (4G, 7A) are more than any other Premier League player combined since the end of April. Fernandez will be reunited with Benfica in the round of 16 as Chelsea bid to win more silverware. Read – Stat shows growing Enzo Fernandez importance at Chelsea Maresca: Enzo Fernandez 'will be even better next season' 'I'm very pleased with Enzo, especially because, first of all, he's a nice boy. He's polite, he's a good boy,' Maresca said in his pre-match press conference. Advertisement 'Then he's worked very well in all aspects inside the pitch, outside the pitch. Our struggle at the beginning was (for him) to understand the way we want to play. 'But he is doing fantastic in terms of numbers, goal assists. This is what we want from our attacking players. 'I've said many times that I prefer to have the attacking players score 10-12 goal each, rather than just a striker with 40 goals. 'So his contribution this season has been top and I am sure next season will be even better.' Fernandez was linked with a move to Real Madrid in May, but Maresca dismissed the possibility of a deal at the time. Advertisement The former River Plate star was at the centre of a controversy after he filmed the Argentina national team singing a derogatory chant about France striker Kylian Mbappe after winning the Copa America last summer. Chelsea released a statement condemning the 'racist and discriminatory' song and instigated an internal disciplinary procedure against Fernandez. Read – Newcastle and Brighton in transfer 'talks' as £50m bid for Chelsea target rejected See Also – Chelsea boss reveals transfer stance on defensive duo amid exit speculation Follow The Football Faithful on Social Media: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | TikTok
Belfast Telegraph
4 days ago
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Cliftonville ace on why Irish League sides can't be counted out in Euro clashes with southern rivals
Cliftonville ace Conor Pepper believes top League of Ireland teams are a class apart but Northern Ireland sides can take them down in Europe. Pepper and his Solitude team-mates will wrestle with Shamrock Rovers if they can see off St Joseph's of Gibraltar in the first round of Uefa Conference League qualifying.
Scottish Sun
4 days ago
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Cyriel Dessers transfer twist as Euro giants ‘enter race' for Rangers star after having bid rejected for ex-Celtic ace
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) AEK ATHENS have been desperate to get a deal done to sign Cyriel Dessers from Rangers. But at what appears to be the 11th hour, a major European club have reportedly entered the race to sign him. Sign up for the Rangers newsletter Sign up 3 Cyriel Dessers was Rangers' top scorer last season Credit: Getty 3 Dessers could depart as Russell Martin begins reshaping his squad Credit: PA Dessers, 30, looks likely to be on the way out of Rangers this summer. That's despite the fact the Nigeria international finished last season as the club's top scorer and won the Scottish Premiership golden boot. Despite his return in front of goal, Dessers has proved a polarising figure with the Light Blues support. With a new era now underway at the Gers, it's likely the new owners and new head coach Russell Martin will look to put a major stamp on things this summer. That'll mean incomings and outgoings and Dessers has looked set for a move to Greece. AEK Athens have been pushing hard to land the frontman, who netted 29 times in all competitions last season. The move has appeared an attractive one for Dessers himself. Reports out of Greece at the beginning of the week claimed he had agreed personal terms. However, no deal has gone through with Rangers understood to be holding out for a higher fee than what's been on offer from AEK. Now, it's being claimed one of Dessers' PREVIOUS clubs could be about to make an attempt to sign him. New Rangers chiefs Andrew Cavenagh and Paraag Marathe's first interview Sport24 and SDNA say Feyenoord are preparing to 'drive a wedge' in AEK's pursuit of the striker. Dessers had a spell with the Rotterdam giants in the 2021/22 season. He spent that campaign on loan at the club from Genk, scoring 20 times across all competitions. With 10 goals, Dessers was also the top scorer in the Uefa Conference League in its inaugural season as Feyenoord made it all the way to the final where they lost to Roma. A permanent switch to Serie A with Cremonese followed before he made the move to Ibrox in the summer of 2023. Feyenoord are on the lookout for forward reinforcements this summer and have seen a bumper bid kicked out for a former Celtic striker. 3 They launched a huge £9million offer for Oh Hyeon-gyu, who's now in Belgium with another of Dessers' old clubs, Genk. Oh only left Celtic a year ago in a deal worth an initial £2.5m. But the bid from Feyenoord wasn't accepted by the Belgian side. Meanwhile, Max Aarons could become the first signing for the Gers since Martin took over as boss. The Bournemouth defender has been spotted in Glasgow ahead of sealing a season-long loan deal. Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
The 42
5 days ago
- Sport
- The 42
'€25, you're having a laugh' - Season-low Cork City crowd takes aim at club owner Usher
GER NASH HAS defended the Cork City ownership amid fan chants demanding 'we want our club back'. The Shed End supporters among a season-low 1,815 crowd at Turner's Cross sang throughout the 1-1 draw with Drogheda United that the club is 'in the wrong hands'. They also directed chants of 'we want Usher out' at majority owner Dermot Usher, who took over the club from supporters' trust Foras before the 2023 season. Amid a 10-game winless streak, the prospect of a second Premier Division relegation in three years has angered supporters. Raised ticket prices have been an aggravating factor, with fans singing, '€25, you're having a laugh'. Nash, who replaced Tim Clancy last month, said: 'I understand the fans. I could hear it during the game. 'I can promise the fans that since I've come to this club, the club have backed me. 'I've brought in a couple of staff. There's not lots of jobs in football in Ireland or England, and people have left jobs to come and work for me. The club have really backed me in that regard. 'We've signed two players who were at English Football League clubs under contract. They had contract offers. This club has really backed me to bring them to the club. And they've come here knowing the situation that we're in. 'I can promise you, since I've come to this club, every member of staff, everyone that I'm working with, we are fighting. Advertisement 'Everybody wants this to be better. Everyone wants this club to be where we want to be. 'We have a plan for that. I think you're starting to see that with some of the signings and the staff that have come to the club. That's what we want to do. 'So, I'm grateful for what's going on with having players available and having players coming into the building.' Earlier on Monday, City announced the signing of Rory Feely from Crawley Town for an undisclosed fee. Like Colchester United recruit Fiacre Kelleher, the ex-Bohs defender will be available to play from the start of July. Former Ireland international David Meyler led the warm-up, having joined as assistant manager from Hull City's academy over the mid-season break. Meanwhile, Drogheda United boss Kevin Doherty got in an argument with an 'alleged' supporter in the away end at full-time. Fresh from the devastation of their Uefa Conference League expulsion, Doherty defended his players after leaking a late equaliser. 'I did have to remind someone after the game, and I really am very, very annoyed about it, what we've done for this town and this club over the last while,' Doherty said. 'What this group has been through, it's still killing us. 'We have consistently had lowest resources in the league. What I heard after the game really put me off. 'It was no one I've ever seen before, but having a go at the lads for possession. What an idiot — an absolute idiot. 'The supporters here have been brilliant, and I'm very disappointed to hear that, but again, I shouldn't be reacting to that. Probably no one even saw them bringing it up, and now everyone knows about it. 'All I want to do is defend my players because we've been on our knees, and we're currently on our knees, and we're trying to keep fighting. 'To hear someone being so ungrateful, I'll always defend this group.' Amid links to his former role as Shelbourne manager in the wake of Damien Duff's departure, Doherty insisted that Drogheda's game is 'all I'll be concentrating on'. Drogs soaked up constant pressure following Shane Farrell's 12th-minute free-kick until Djenairo Daniels' 96th-minute equaliser. City boss Nash said of the free-kick: 'I would have a very different opinion to the referee. 'I'm finding it hard to do this interview because I'm just gutted. We're all just absolutely gutted because I don't think we got what we deserved from the game. It really hurts.'
Irish Independent
5 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
‘Devastating' blow won't stop Drogheda United challenging for Europe again insists Darragh Markey
VICE-CAPTAIN Darragh Markey has given an insight into what it's been like to have a Uefa Conference League campaign taken away from the Drogheda United squad, calling it a 'devastating blow'. However, he insists that the strength of the bond between the players will help carry them through this massive setback and they are now focused on qualifying for Europe for a second year in a row through either the league or a successful defence of their FAI Cup crown.
