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Bayer Leverkusen are ready to spend “a lot of money” to sign Chelsea goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, a report in Germany has claimed.

Despite impressing last season under Mauricio Pochettino, Petrovic was sent out on loan to sister side Strasbourg during the summer when new manager Enzo Maresca named Robert Sanchez as his preferred goalkeeper.

While Sanchez and newly signed understudy Filip Jorgensen have endured mixed campaigns, Petrovic has excelled with Strasbourg. The 25-year-old boasts a save percentage higher than either of Chelsea’s senior stoppers (80.1%) and is a candidate to win Ligue 1’s Goalkeeper of the Year award this season.

Petrovic will return to Chelsea in the summer and is expected to be part of a significant goalkeeper reshuffle. The Blues will have seven stoppers on the books when Kepa Arrizabalaga returns from his own loan with Bournemouth and 19-year-old Mike Penders finalises a £17m arrival from Genk.

It is thought that Petrovic stands a chance of forcing himself into Maresca’s thinking for next season, but kicker states there are several clubs who have taken a liking to the Serbia international, who is Leverkusen’s top priority to reinforce in goal.

Just how much Petrovic could cost is unclear but Leverkusen are said to be ready to commit significant funds to his signing in an attempt to convince Chelsea to sell.

If Petrovic returns to the Chelsea squad, that would likely spark a departure for either Sanchez or Jorgensen. The popular Marcus Bettinelli will remain as the third-choice option.

Offers will be entertained for Kepa, who could remain with Bournemouth beyond this season if Real Madrid do not act on their re-emerging interest. Penders is expected to depart on loan and United States international Gabriel Slonina, a £12m signing in 2022, will also be made available for a temporary switch.

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Liverpool manager Arne Slot intends to keep his emotions in check if his players are able to secure the Premier League title against Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield.

The Reds need just a point from their clash with Ange Postecoglou’s Europa League semi-finalists to deliver Slot the title in his first season at the helm.

The Dutchman has experience of winning top-flight titles, after besting Ajax and PSV Eindhoven with previous employers Feyenoord, but he revealed in the build-up to the game that he won’t be going crazy if and when Liverpool get over the line.

“I enjoyed it a lot when Feyenoord won the title – but I don’t go crazy,” Slot said. “It wasn’t like I ran three times around the stadium. I was just very, very happy inside and I shared my emotions with the people around me and the fans. But I will never be the one who is the loudest nor the weirdest in the moment. I’m not like that.”

Liverpool’s success this season has caught many by surprise. Though Slot wasn’t expected to struggle, the transition to his way of working from the eight-and-a-half-year tenure of Jurgen Klopp has been seamless – allowing the club to take advantage of a rare off-season for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

Champions League semi-finalists Arsenal also haven’t been able to keep pace with Liverpool in the Premier League, but Slot says he’ll leave the analysis of the job he’s done to others – his primary responsibility being to assess the performance of his wider coaching team.

“It is for other people to judge,” Slot continued. “It would be a bit weird to judge myself, but I can judge the performance for my staff and the medical staff – and they should get a lot of credit over the course of the season.”

“If you start to work here, then quite quickly you get a certain feeling,” he added on the bond he’s creating with the club and supporters. “I feel part of it. But to say I am a scouser now would be too much. The good thing about the people here is that they welcome you from the start and you feel part of them.

“But it would be weird if I said after ten months that I feel the same as people who have lived here for 30 or 40 years. Ask me after ten years.”

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Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim insisted that the decision to let Marcus Rashford and Antony leave the club on loan was worth the short-term pain for the long-term gain.

The two forwards, who are both on course to return to Old Trafford when their deals with Aston Villa and Real Betis respectively expire at the end of the season, have impressed away from Manchester. Antony has been directly involved in nine goals while leading Betis into La Liga’s Champions League qualification spots and the Conference League semi-finals.

Rashford has averaged a goal or assist every 94 minutes for Villa this year, delivering a brilliant individual display against Manchester City in midweek which captured the renewed verve and vigour he has enjoyed away from his boyhood club.

United have desperately struggled for any sustained attacking threat in the duo’s absence. As Amorim admitted this week: “We lack a lot of things in the team. We saw with Milan in the past, a lot of problems – big teams that when you get inside [the club and understand], in one context, it’s really hard. And in January we lost Rashford and Antony and we didn’t bring new ones – [it] was a risk.”

However, the Portuguese boss defended the club’s transfer activity. “There are things here that are more important than scoring ten more goals this season. We are trying to do something that is more important. We can hurt the squad now but in the future it will help the club.”

Amorim revealed that is was “my idea” to let Rashford and Antony leave, but insisted that the club’s hierarchy offered him their full support. “That is clear,” he said. “I try to help the team and sometimes help the players that needed something different – that’s all.”

The 40-year-old coach has previously explained that he “couldn’t get Marcus [Rashford] to see the way you’re supposed to play football and to train the way I see it”.

United’s transfer policy wasn’t the only aspect of Amorim’s tenure he defended before his side’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth.

The former Sporting CP manager had asked to remain with the Lisbon outfit until the end of the season before ultimately accepting United’s ultimatum of joining now or never. “If you ask me four months ago, with all the problems, maybe I have the feeling I should be stronger in saying I will start at the beginning of the season,” Amorim admitted.

“But today, I am feeling it is something that is going to help us in the future.

“We are suffering a lot here. There is a lot of frustration but I feel, in this moment, maybe because we are near the end, this is the most important time, maybe, in the next few years.

“We are going to use all the information to prepare better the next few years, so [I have] no regrets.”

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Peering through a pair of mirrored sunglasses with another set resting on his peroxide blonde hair, Barcelona’s triumphant teenage phenom Lamine Yamal declared that Real Madrid simply “can’t beat us” this season.

Yamal provided the assist for two of Barcelona’s goals in a bonkers 3-2 victory over their arch-rivals in Saturday night’s Copa del Rey final. This season, the Catalan giants have already romped to a 4-0 thumping at the Santiago Bernabeu and cantered through a 5-2 demolition of Madrid in the Supercopa de Espana final, proving the 17-year-old’s point.

After a one-sided first half saw Barcelona take a 1-0 lead which did not accurately reflect their dominance, the introduction of Kylian Mbappe, swiftly followed by Luka Modric and Arda Guler, shifted the momentum in Madrid’s favour. The returning French talisman equalised with the first direct free kick of his senior career before Aurelien Tchouameni headed the capital club into the lead.

Yet, as Yamal laughed after the game, Barcelona weren’t worried. “If they scored one goal, it wouldn’t matter, if they scored two, it wouldn’t matter either,” the teenager shrugged. It was Yamal’s devilish scooped pass which teed up Ferran Torres for an 84th-minute equaliser, sending the contest into extra time and the early hours of Sunday morning before Jules Kounde struck a final blow in the 116th minute.

“This year they can’t beat us,” Yamal said, “and that’s been proven.”

There was a growing possibility that this engrossing final may never have even taken place. Referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea broke down in tears during the pre-match press conference when discussing the pressure exerted on officials by Real Madrid’s in-house media channel. The reigning Spanish champions boycotted their press duties before belatedly turning up for the showpiece.

Yamal wasn’t the only one to aim a jibe at Real Madrid. At the final whistle, former Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique tweeted in Catalan: “In the end, the good guys always win.”

No one could argue with Yamal’s assessment of Barcelona’s superiority over Real Madrid in this season’s Clasicos, but his teammate Frenkie de Jong questioned his celebratory outfit. “Everyone has to do what they want. But there wasn’t any sun, so there’s no point in wearing sunglasses,” the Dutchman tutted.

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Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has praised centre-back Dean Huijsen for his response to the increasing speculation surrounding his future at the club.

With a release clause of £50m which can even be paid in instalments, 20-year-old Huijsen is emerging as one of the most-wanted players in world football after a dazzling debut season with Bournemouth.

In the Premier League, Chelsea and Liverpool lead a list of suitors which also includes Arsenal and Newcastle United, but Real Madrid are thought to be keen on luring Huijsen over to Spain, the country he represents at international level.

It is believed that Madrid are Huijsen’s preferred landing spot but Los Blancos’ interest is not yet as concrete as those sides chasing his signature in the Premier League.

While such significant speculation could easily take its toll on a young player, Iraola insisted Huijsen’s previous experiences with Juventus and Roma have helped prepare him to take the next step.

“From what I see every day, training and playing and I don’t see [the speculation] affecting him at all,” he said.

“I see him in the same mood that he normally is, he is training well. He is playing well also and I think, even being young, it’s not something strange for him.

“He’s coming from big teams even if they were not in the first team, so from teams, probably these things are quite natural and I see him quite normal.”

Just where Huijsen may end up this summer is up for debate. An English report argued Chelsea were leading the race, but others have quickly denied the existence of any favourite at this point in the saga.

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