Archive February 1, 2026

Juventus want Everton’s Beto, Marcus Rashford’s future may be out of Manchester United’s control, and Newcastle United’s Jamaal Lascelles could be heading for the Championship.

Juventus have made an enquiry about Everton’s Beto, but the Toffees are reluctant to let the Guinea-Bissau striker, 28, leave because he is one of only two senior forwards in the squad. (Talksport)

Juventus are close to a deal for Manchester City’s 19-year-old English striker Justin Oboavwoduo. (Sky Sports Italia – in Italian)

Tottenham, Leeds United and Sunderland are monitoring Real Madrid’s 19-year-old Brazil forward Endrick, who is impressing on loan at Lyon. (Fichajes)

Manchester United will not be able to prevent 28-year-old England striker Marcus Rashford from staying at Barcelona if the Spanish club offer 30m euros (£26m), under the terms of his loan deal. (Mundo Deportivo – in Spanish)

Nottingham Forest are looking at other targets as their approach for Inter Milan’s Italy midfielder Davide Frattesi, 26, is unlikely to succeed. (Sky Sports)

Celtic have rejected a £14m offer from Nottingham Forest for 22-year-old Belgium midfielder Arne Engels. (Mail)

Liverpool are interested in Inter Milan’s 29-year-old Netherlands wing-back Denzel Dumfries. (Fabrizio Romano)

Fulham have reached an agreement with PSV Eindhoven for 23-year-old USA forward Ricardo Pepi, but a move depends on their finding a replacement. (Sun)

Liverpool’s Hungary midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai, 25, says his future is not in his hands as talks continue over a new contract. (Athletic – subscription)

Chelsea are monitoring Nantes’ 18-year-old French defender Tylel Tati. (L’Equipe)

Leicester City and Birmingham City are two of six Championship clubs who have contacted Newcastle United about 32-year-old English defender Jamaal Lascelles. (Sky Sports)

The inaugural Women’s Champions Cup delivered the kind of spectacle Fifa would have hoped for when launching the new inter-continental competition last March.

Arsenal’s extra‑time triumph over Brazilian champions Corinthians produced plenty of drama, tension and quality at the Emirates Stadium.

In a game where momentum swung both ways, Corinthians struck a 96th-minute penalty to force extra time in which Arsenal’s Catilin Foord then emerged as the hero with a 104th-minute winner that secured the silverware.

The scenes at full-time said plenty too as Arsenal’s celebrations after receiving the trophy from club legend Arsene Wenger underlined just how valuable this competition was to a squad searching for momentum amid a challenging domestic season.

“It’s not often that you can write history at Arsenal because history has been written so many times,” goalscorer Lotte Wubben-Moy told Sky Sports after the triumph.

“We stand on the shoulders of giants. To come to this inaugural competition and win it and do it with all of our fans here in style – our fans are wonderful and that’s who we do it for.”

For Arsenal, the Champions Cup title arrives at a vital moment in their season.

Having failed to capitalise on Chelsea’s faltering WSL campaign and been knocked out of the League Cup by Manchester United less than two weeks ago, the tournament offered a welcome distraction and the victory will give them a boost as they go into the second half of the campaign.

But they had to do it the hard way in the final against a resolute Brazilian opposition.

The home side dominated large stretches of the title showdown and failed to pull themselves clear of Corinthians but their quality proved the difference in extra time as Frida Maanum sent Foord through on goal to secure the silverware for Arsenal.

“It’s football in all its ways today,” said manager Renee Slegers, who won the Champions League with the club last season.

“There was good football, duelling and momentum shifts. I’m proud of the team in the rain, in the circumstances, we get over the line and find a way to win this game.”

The Gunners were moments away from a regulation-time victory only for Katie McCabe to concede an injury-time penalty from which Vic Albuquerque levelled the game at 2-2 and forced extra time.

Little said: “We showed incredible character and resilience, having conceded the goal right at the end, to come back in extra-time.

“These things happen in football. You have to bounce back. When we came out in extra-time we showed that, we created chances, and Caitlin scored a great goal to get the win.

“We’ve got an incredible squad of players and staff and it feels great to get more silverware for this club.”

Sitting 13 points off leaders Manchester City in the WSL, the Gunners will turn their focus to defending their Champions League title when they face OH-Leuven in the last 16 later this month while they are also alive in the FA Cup.

Corinthians may have ultimately fallen short of the trophy – but only after transforming the first-ever Champions Cup into a blockbuster.

Having arrived in London during their off‑season and then pushed one of the best teams in the world all the way for the title, they can return to Sao Paulo with their heads held high.

Having already produced a shock 1-0 win over Gotham FC in the semi-final, the seven-time Brazilian champions were agonisingly close to another upset in the final.

Travel fatigue, lack of match fitness and a rain‑soaked Emirates pitch did nothing to blunt their competitiveness as they proved a constant threat to Arsenal on counters.

The Brazilians also showed plenty of character to come back into the contest twice.

“Corinthians had a great performance,” said Slegers. “They gave so much energy, intensity, passion and intelligence.”

Their supporters, too, were a force of nature among the 25,031-strong crowd in north London – a passion that was matched on the pitch by their team.

“Magnificent,” Wubben-Moy said in describing the travelling supporters.

Tournament of Champions final leaderboard

-13 N Korda (US); -10 A Yang (Kor); -7 B Henderson (Can); -6 L Ko (NZ); -5 M Hamashita (Jpn), Y-M Hwang (Kor). Selected others: -4 L Woad (Eng); -1 C Hull (Eng).

American Nelly Korda overcame “brutal” weather to win the LPGA season-opening Tournament of Champions in Orlando after the final round was scrapped.

Korda completed her third round on Saturday in freezing and blustery conditions, describing the final two holes in her eight-under-par round of 64 as “probably the hardest holes I’ve ever played in professional golf”.

Players wore ear muffs and ski caps in an effort to stay warm at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club.

Two-time major champion Korda held a three-shot lead over South Korea’s Amy Yang, one of six players who had to complete their round on Sunday.

With the weather continuing to cause issues for players on the practice range and bad weather also forecast for Monday, organisers cancelled the final round.

“The ground was really hard and it was changing the trajectory of their shots as players were practising,” said Ricki Lasky, LPGA chief tour business and operations officer.

“We tried to take as much time as we could to get all 72 holes into play. We couldn’t. We had to make the really hard decision to call it after 54.”

Canada’s Brooke Henderson finished third on seven under after a third-round 66 on Saturday.

It was a 16th LPGA title for Korda but her first since November 2024.

“I really, over the off season, was motivated to get back in the winner’s circle,” said the 27-year-old.

When Mikel Arteta tried to settle the nerves of Arsenal‘s fans by urging them to “jump on the fun boat” to Premier League title glory, little did he realise Pep Guardiola and Unai Emery would be at the helm.

The Gunners manager was attempting to calm the air of panic that appeared to grip Arsenal – manager, players and supporters – during and after the Premier League leaders’ home defeat to a resurgent Manchester United.

Fast forward seven days and The Gunners are sitting pretty with a six-point lead at the top after Manchester City and Aston Villa suggested that even if Arsenal opened the door, they would trip over the mat on the way in.

This has been a perfect weekend for Arsenal, one that has added to the sense that this is the “now or never” season for Arteta and his players.

If Arsenal do not end up as Premier League champions now, the blame will lie firmly at their own feet.

Arsenal did their bit by thrashing Leeds United 4-0 at Elland Road on Saturday then sat back to see what Manchester City and Villa would do about it.

The answer? Shoot themselves in the foot in a manner that suggested if “the fun boat” hit some choppy waters ahead, it would still sail triumphantly into port at the end of the season.

Villa slipped up by suffering a second successive home defeat, this time to Brentford, while Manchester City showed the sort of carelessness, complacency and soft centre that is a serious weakness when casting aside a 2-0 lead at Tottenham Hotspur to take only a point.

If the cheers inside the vast Tottenham Hotspur Stadium were deafening when Dominic Solanke’s “scorpion kick” drew his side level with 20 minutes left, they might just have been even louder four miles away in Arsenal’s part of north London.

Guardiola put on his bravest face to tell BBC Sport: “We played a really good game in general. At 70 minutes they put more balls in behind, more players there, more players in the middle to attack more direct.

“They found a goal and we know what’s happened and after that they had the momentum. The Premier League is like that. We had our momentum again at the end.

“It is a setback but we are still there, we move on. There are 14 games to go and a lot of points. We will see.”

Antoine Semenyo, who scored City’s second goal, was also defiant as he told BBC Sport: “The way we set up was to draw them out a little bit. It worked perfectly in the first half. I had another chance before my goal. I am kicking myself but we have to go again.

“Winning would definitely have helped our cause but it is not over yet. There are 14 games to go so anything can happen.”

Guardiola must still be furious and frustrated at how City were so much in command at half-time with a two-goal advantage, yet somehow contrived to cast aside two points and almost lose all three.

Spurs showed grit to get back and draw, but City were the architects of their own downfall as they were rattled out of calm control by Thomas Frank’s side, who have still only won two home league games out of 12 this season.

On this evidence, even moreso against these opponents, this flawed City showed they can be got at and undermined in a manner that does not give confidence they will overhaul Arsenal.

This was the first time City had led by 2+ goals at half time in a game but failed to win since April 2018 (3-2 defeat to Manchester United). They had won on each of the last 115 occasions when leading by 2+ goals at the break in all competitions.

With 14 games to go, even taking into account that loss to Manchester United and the fact tension can swiftly grip Arsenal’s supporters at Emirates Stadium, The Gunners are the most consistent, rounded squad and team.

Guardiola, justifiably, will say City are still in the race but league form since the turn of the year says otherwise, with only one win from six games coming at home to doomed Wolverhampton Wanderers.

City also slipped in an embarrassing 3-1 loss away to Bodo Glimt in the Champions League. This is not the form of a team comfortable in its own skin as it pursues the big prizes.

Arsenal have had to navigate difficulties of their own, dropping points in draws at home to Liverpool then at Nottingham Forest, before losing to Manchester United, but they have emerged from this period six points clear with their closest rivals stumbling around them.

Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino is set for a sustained spell on the sidelines and will need surgery on a serious foot injury.

The 29-year-old Spain international suffered the injury in his side’s loss to Manchester United last week.

He missed Saturday’s win over Leeds with manager Mikel Arteta saying the midfielder would see a specialist to determine a full prognosis.

The club has now confirmed a bone injury in the player’s right foot.

“Mikel will have surgery in the coming days and will then begin his recovery and rehabilitation programme,” a club statement read.

“Mikel is expected to be out of action for an extended period, with the aim of returning to full training before the end of the season.”