The Guardian

Palace take financial hit on £35m signing from January McNeil gets Selhurst move six months after aborted sale Crystal Palace and Everton have agreed a straight swap for Brennan Johnson and Dwight McNeil – six months after McNeil’s partner accused Palace of “messing with the winger’s mental health” after pulling out of a deal. McNeil and Johnson, who became Palace’s record signing when he joined …

Overall winner was uncertain until final climb – a world away from Slovenian’s dominance of men’s event Demi Vollering’s second overall win in the Tour de France Femmes in Nice on Sunday was achieved after a heated dispute with Kasia Niewiadoma, but by the time the sun was setting on the Promenade des Anglais, the sisterhood that has always characterised this race had kicked back in. On a final s…

Unai Emery’s task seems to get harder each year, and the Europa League winners need their big signings to shine Guardian writers’ predicted position: 7th (NB: this is not necessarily Ben Fisher’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips) Last season’s position: 4th Continue reading...

Player agrees terms but Lille want €100m for 18-year-old Barça to return with improved bid for Rodri this week Manchester City are closing in on signing Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille, with the midfielder’s expected arrival clearing the path for Rodri to join Barcelona. The 18-year-old has agreed personal terms with City but the club are still finalising the deal with his French club Lille, who value …

Barcelona’s Ronald Araújo set to arrive on loan at Anfield Captain made first pre-season appearance in Monaco loss Virgil van Dijk is ready to welcome Ronald Araújo as his new centre-back partner at Liverpool with the deal to sign the Barcelona defender almost complete. Van Dijk played almost an hour, his first pre-season appearance, as Liverpool were beaten 3-2 by Monaco at Anfield, having led 2…

Confederations write open letter damning Fifa president Concacaf president Montagliani seen as top contender Uefa, the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf will push for Gianni Infantino to resign after writing an open letter calling for “leadership that serves football, not seeks to command it”. In a dramatic escalation of the war that has threatened to tear football apart since details eme…

There will be a host of world-class athletes in Birmingham this week but the 800m should shine like a supernova They say betting is a mug’s game. But here are two predictions to take to the bank. The European Athletics Championships this week in Birmingham, with the BBC shoving its considerable heft behind it, will be far bigger than people expect. And the women’s 800m final on Friday night, feat…

Former Wimbledon champion’s suspension comes as Mykhailo Mudryk returns for Chelsea, exposing stark contrast in processes In the months between the first announcement of Marketa Vondrousova’s doping test refusal and the release of the full reasoned decision after her four‑year ban, the 2023 Wimbledon champion did her best to grab hold of the narrative. Between her social media posts and later int…

Record 10-time Super League champions are poised to miss out on playoffs for the first time but their problems run deeper than poor results Perhaps the biggest concern as the full-time hooter sounded on another miserable evening for St Helens on Thursday was that the anger, along with thousands of supporters, had long since disappeared and had been replaced with a sense of apathy. No club have be…

Today’s fluff is counting the pennies A sense of excitement is what Aston Villa need at the moment after selling off key players. What better way to create it than signing a prodigal talent from Real Madrid? The Villans have made an enquiry about Brazilian Endrick , who impressed on loan at Lyon last season, and would make a similar temporary move to the Premier League, all being good and well. M…

Mourinho says he reneged on deal to return to Chelsea Ferguson confirms story in new Netflix documentary José Mourinho has revealed he signed a contract to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager in 2013 only to tearfully renege on the deal and return to Chelsea. The football world was rocked when the Scottish great announced he was retiring having overseen a 13th Premier League ti…

With most of their rivals changing managers, can the champions go back-to-back for the first time in more than 90 years? Guardian writers’ predicted position: 1st (NB: this is not necessarily Ed Aarons’ prediction but the average of our writers’ tips) Last season’s position: 1st Continue reading...

The fifth edition of women’s version of the Tour de France featured 147 riders from 21 teams racing 1,175km, broken into three flat stages, three hilly stages, an individual time trial stage and two mountain stages which included a first visit to Mont Ventoux. Here are some of our favourite images from nine exhilarating stages Continue reading...

Delap scores twice from spot in 3-3 draw with JDT Manager made 11 changes against Malaysian champions Chelsea’s problems mounted as their pre-season tour came to an end in a strangely fiery draw against the Malaysian champions Johor Darul Ta’zim. The omens do not look promising with a bloated choice of forwards, echoes of their inexperience and indiscipline last season, and fewer than two weeks f…

Nelson had second-most coaching wins in NBA history Won five titles with Boston Celtics in 1960s and 70s Helped develop stars Steph Curry and Dirk Nowitzki Don Nelson, the second-winningest coach in NBA history who won five championships as a player with the Boston Celtics, died on Sunday. He was 86. Nelson’s death was announced by the Golden State Warriors, one of the teams he coached. Continue …