Sports news

Manchester City have unveiled the club’s new home shirt for the 2025/26 season, incorporating a white sash onto the traditional sky blue jersey.

The sash holds fond memories in City’s history, first appearing on away kits in the 1970s and honoured in further change designs in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.

But in what Puma call “creating a connection to the past with a futuristic design” and “bridging the gap between different generations of City fans”, this is the first sash ever seen on a home shirt.

“Kits hold special memories for players and fans. The sash has always been a loved design that people remember fondly, and I’m delighted to see it return this year, on a home kit,” City legend Mike Summerbee commented on the release.

“It was also an honour to be part of the kit launch video. I hope fans around the world enjoy the video and that this kit brings more special memories for the club.”

Available in authentic, worn by the players and loaded with the latest technology, and replica versions, the latter is made using at least 95% recycled textile waste.

City will finish the current Premier League season, as well as contest this weekend’s FA Cup final, in the 2024/25 strip, but the new design will then be used at the summer’s FIFA Club World Cup.

Their first game of the competition will be against Morocco’s Wydad on 18 June in Philadelphia.

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Lyon winger Rayan Cherki, a target for a number of Premier League sides, has dropped a major hint about the club he most wants to join this summer.

Cherki has impressed with 39 goals and assists across all competitions so far this season, including scoring in each leg of the Europa League quarter-final against Manchester United.

Speculation is mounting about a £20m summer transfer, particularly after Lyon owner John Textor confirmed in January that Cherki had specifically asked to join PSG last summer.

“It’s been three or four seasons that Cherki has wanted to leave,” the American said. “He wanted to go to PSG last year. He sent me a message saying: ‘I really want to go to PSG’.”

Although Textor vowed not to sell a player to PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, Cherki’s desire to join the capital club doesn’t appear to have changed.

Cherki was named in Ligue 1’s Team of the Season at the annual ceremony over the weekend, the only outfield representative of a club other than PSG. On stage, the 21-year-old was asked about whether he like to be in the same team of as the other names in the list in real life.

“Yes, absolutely,” he said “I know them all. Ousmane [Dembele] and Bradley [Barclola] are good friends of mine. When you have good chemistry on the pitch, it shows off the pitch too.”

Asked if he was dropping hints about PSG, Cherki smiled and simply said, “I don’t know”.

It might be considered a blow to the English sides in the hunt for Cherki, but Le Parisien claims that PSG are not planning to resurrect their interest in the player. The same report writes of enquiries from Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.

Manchester United are also linked, with Cherki on the club’s radar since he was invited for a tour of the facilities at Old Trafford and Carrington at the age of 15.

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Chelsea have not yet ruled out a move for Napoli striker Victor Osimhen, who reportedly remains under consideration as the Blues brace for a transfer battle with Manchester United.

Both Premier League sides are chasing attacking reinforcements this summer and, after being linked with big-money names like Osimhen, Viktor Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko, have turned their attention to Ipswich Town’s £30m-rated Liam Delap.

Chelsea have been trying to wrap up a deal for Delap as soon as possible but are now wary of significant competition from United, who are looking at the England Under-21 international as their top attacking target.

Those nerves have forced Chelsea to keep an open mind when it comes to a new striker and BBC Sport state the Blues are giving very little away behind the scenes, such is the uncertainty surrounding a potential incoming.

Sesko and Gyokeres are named as options but, interestingly, it is claimed Chelsea have not yet walked away from Osimhen, who came close to moving to Stamford Bridge last summer before talks collapsed late in the window.

Central to the collapse in talks last year was Osimhen’s wage demands, which have not changed this time around. The 26-year-old is thought to be asking for over £300,000 per week – enough to convince United to walk away and focus their efforts on Delap instead.

Chelsea, despite priding themselves on an incentivised wage strategy which seldom offers such significant wages, have seemingly not been deterred by Osimhen’s demands and continue to see the Galatasaray loanee as a possible signing.

It is noted that Chelsea found Osimhen’s wage demands “prohibitive” during negotiations last summer, which former Blue John Obi Mikel insisted could be reignited and finalised quickly if Chelsea decide to pursue the striker again.

Osimhen has scored 33 goals in 38 games since joining Galatasaray on a season-long loan. The Turkish side are known to be keen to sign him permanently but predict they will fall short when it comes to competing with the riches on offer in the Premier League.

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Former Liverpool defender and prominent TV pundit Jamie Carragher warned that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta could face the sack if he doesn’t “win something big” next season.

After consecutive second-placed Premier League finishes to Manchester City, the Gunners again came up short in their tilt at the top-flight title, with Liverpool scooping the crown this season.

Arteta also led Arsenal to their first Champions League semi-final in 16 years, but lost both legs to Paris Saint-Germain to confirm another trophy-less campaign. The only major piece of silverware won during his near six years at the helm was the 2020 FA Cup less than six months after his appointment. Arteta, however, would also point to the pair of Community Shields won in 2020 and 2023.

In the aftermath of Arsenal’s spirited 2-2 draw away to Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, Carragher reflected on another campaign of near misses for the Gunners. “This season felt like it should have been their season,” the 2005 Champions League winner lamented in his capacity as a Sky Sports pundit. “There’s no doubt next season that the pressure will be on Mikel Arteta massively in terms of winning something and winning something big.

“The Arsenal board, if they don’t [win a major trophy], will have a massive issue because they won’t want to change their manager, but there will be that many people saying: five or six years without a trophy. They will be looking at how many managers can make that next step.”

While Arsenal’s trophy cabinet may not have been dramatically altered under his watch, Arteta has transformed a club which was teetering on the brink of chronic mediocrity back in 2019. The former midfielder inherited a side 11th in the Premier League table with a negative goal difference and has since oversee two of the four highest points totals in Arsenal’s modern history.

As Carragher himself conceded, Arteta has done a “brilliant job”. “Arsenal could easily become what Chelsea are right now. They could go from a team coming second year in, year out to a team that doesn’t actually get into the Champions League.

“[Changing managers] is the big conundrum that Arsenal as a football club will have in 12 months, if Arsenal go close again don’t actually get across the line.”

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Real Madrid will be sweating over the fitness of Vinicius Junior and Lucas Vazquez for the remainder of the domestic campaign ahead of a summer dominated by the Club World Cup, according to reports in Spain.

The duo both limped off in the closing stages of Madrid’s chaotic 4-3 defeat to Barcelona on Sunday afternoon and have since had their injuries confirmed in official statements by the Spanish giants.

Vinicius has been diagnosed with a “sprain in his left ankle” while Vazquez picked up “an injury to the pectineus muscle in his left thigh”.

MARCA were quick to report that Vinicius will be sidelined for Wednesday’s potentially decisive league fixture away to Mallorca. If Madrid fail to earn a victory on the island, Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champions without even having to contest the Catalan derby against Espanyol on Thursday. The Spanish outlet claims that there is doubt as to whether Vinicius would be able to recover in time for Madrid’s final league fixture at home to Real Sociedad on May 25.

If there are any concerns over Vinicius’ fitness – and with no domestic titles left to play for – Madrid are expected to let their Brazilian forward recover fully before bounding into the Club World Cup in June. By that point, Xabi Alonso may very well have assumed the role of head coach following Carlo Ancelotti’s appointment at Brazil.

There was a more optimistic timeline regarding Vazquez’s recovery provided by AS. While the veteran full-back will also likely sit out the midweek trip to the Balearic Islands, he should be at “90%” for next weekend’s league meeting with Sevilla.

It remains to be seen how involved Vazquez will be at this summer’s Club World Cup. The five-time Champions League winner turns 34 on the same day he is set to become a free agent, 1 July. This date falls in the middle of the expanded tournament, although Madrid have the option of agreeing a mini-extension with Vazquez – and any other player on an expiring contract – to cover the whole competition.

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