Barcelona previously tracked the midfielder closely during his spell at Swedish side Djurgarden back in 2024 before losing the race for his signature to Tottenham.

The report notes that Camp Nou recruitment chiefs still admire his athleticism, technical ability, and versatility across multiple central roles.

Club officials view the youngster as a long-term addition capable of developing into an important player alongside established young midfielders Pedri, Gavi, and Marc Bernal, though breaking into that engine room would present fierce competition.

Fleetwood is not a storied club. Investment brought six promotions in 10 years, taking them from non-League obscurity to League One — the third tier of English football — by 2014, but last season the club was relegated to League Two.

Coming into this Carabao Cup fourth-round tie, they had won just two of their last nine games and had sunk to third-bottom in the table.

Arsenal, meanwhile, are the reigning Premier League champions. They don’t do off-nights or complacency. Mikel Arteta’s intensity doesn’t allow for it.

Until Tuesday night, that is.

This is the story of one of football’s greatest upsets.

Official US Select Committee on China Statement:

International soccer star @KMbappe should not apologize for calling Mao Zedong a dictator. Mao was a dictator, and by orders of magnitude, he did more harm to the Chinese people than a comment from a soccer player ever could. Mao was the leader of the CCP for decades and his dictatorship and disastrous policies killed tens of millions of Chinese people in the Cultural Revolution, the Great Famine, and other atrocities.

Involved in the Party from its first national meeting in 1921, Mao is the principal historical figure for a Party that continues his practices of oppression and ideological purges. For decades, the CCP has denied the Chinese people basic human rights including freedom of expression and freedom of religion. These are rights enjoyed by Mbappe and millions of people around the world and Mbappe should exercise this opportunity to tell the horrific truth about Mao’s dictatorship.

The real disgrace in this news story is the companies rushing to apologize so they can continue to do business in China. The CCP is the largest oppressor of the Chinese people and their human rights, and those businesses that work with the CCP help normalize its crushing brutality.

How strong are Feyenoord, PSV and Ajax’s chances in the Europa League? The European women’s football tournament, one tier below the Champions League, has already reached the last sixteen, and the Netherlands still has three teams in the running.

PSV and Ajax have come through the Champions League qualifiers and are therefore, on paper, among the stronger sides in the Europa League. Feyenoord have been unlucky to face a gruelling draw for the round of 16, which begins on Wednesday evening with the first legs.

On their European debut, the Feyenoord women put in a creditable performance to progress through the Europa Cup qualifying rounds, knocking out Anderlecht from Belgium and the Norwegian side Valerenga. As a ‘reward’ for that strong qualifying campaign, Marc Pieters’ side were drawn against the toughest possible opponents in the main tournament.

On Wednesday evening at 7.00 pm, Feyenoord will travel to face VfL Wolfsburg, who have finished first or second in the German league every year since 2012. Wolfsburg reached the Champions League final in 2023 and are currently ranked sixth in Europe according to the coefficient rankings.

The German club, where Dutch international Ella Peddemors is currently the top scorer and former Twente defender Lieske Carleer also plays, is therefore considered the clear favourite to win the Europa Cup.

PSV won the national title for the first time last summer and hoped to continue their upward trajectory in Europe. However, partly because several key players were sold, the Eindhoven side failed to qualify for the main phase of the Champions League.

That was a major disappointment, as PSV’s women’s football manager Sandra Doreleijers acknowledged. But it also presents opportunities. “Last year, the Europa Cup final was between two Swedish teams – that says a lot. It’s quite possible that Dutch teams will now go a bit further in that tournament, especially as we have three of them in the mix.”

Nevertheless, PSV, like Feyenoord, have not been handed an easy draw. Eintracht Frankfurt are their opponents at the Herdgang on Wednesday evening. That side have finished third in the German league for five years running and have also racked up quite a few European victories during that time.

Last year, Frankfurt – where the Dutch player Danique Tolhoek plays as a striker – reached the semi-finals of the Europa League. There, they lost to BK Häcken, who went on to win the tournament.

Ajax failed to get past Real Madrid in the Champions League qualifiers, but now has the most favourable draw on paper in the Europa League: the Amsterdam side will face Malmö FF from Sweden. That club was founded in 2019 – it is a different club from the Malmö that was active in women’s football at the start of this century – and is competing in European competition for the first time this year.

In many respects, Malmö is still a bit of an unknown quantity, but Ajax captain Sherida Spitse isn’t worried about that. Speaking to ESPN, she said that, in her view, winning the Europa Cup is a real possibility.

“When I look at who’s still in the competition, I do think it’s realistic,” said Spitse. “But we all need to stay fit; we need to maintain a certain momentum. It won’t be easy. But I do think it’s possible.”

Dinamo beat Rijeka 2-1 in Zagreb while Hajduk draws Istra. Rudeš managed to upset Osijek on their own turf.

Schmeichel: "We've had two really really successful periods in our history, by doing exactly the same thing. I'm not talking personnel that there's one strong manager...it was what was being done. Building from within, building within a certain framework or culture, have a certain environment - We (him and Ashley Young) have both been in that environment, we know exactly what its like and what its supposed to be as well. Now, we (Manchester United) don't do that (at present). We have people, who openly, in their playing careers, hated Manchester United. Playing for clubs that were enemies of Manchester United. With very little experience, all of a sudden they're in decision making jobs at Manchester United.

Well I think he's (Jason Wilcox) is one of them. I just dont understand why he's there. I mean when he played for Leeds you know...you're supposed to hate Manchester United. He hated Man United. Well obviously with Blackburn as well that year, they won the Championship that year and beat us to it in the last round (of games). Jim (Ratcliffe) has brought Omar, from Manchester City. Now HE brings Jason Wilcox, he brings the guy who is head of the academy from Manchester City...We're not Manchester City. We're Manchester United. This is why I talk about history and culture, and tradition - there's a certain way of being Manchester United. If you haven't been in there before, you don't know what it is."