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Cristiano Ronaldo is set to return in Saudi Arabia, a change in Barcelona’s boardroom might determine whether Marcus Rashford stays in Spain, and Zinedene Zidane may be heading back to Real Madrid.

Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to end his strike at Al-Nassr and play again for the Saudi Pro League club on Saturday. The 41-year-old Portugal forward has missed two games because he is unhappy with the way the club are run. (Sky Sports)

England international Marcus Rashford’s Barcelona future hangs on the club’s presidential election next month. A £26m deal for the on-loan Manchester United forward, 28, is the centrepiece of Joan Laporta’s re-election bid. (Times – subscription required)

Manchester United will target Everton‘s 25-year-old Senegal forward Iliman Ndiaye if Rashford moves to Barcelona in a permanent deal. (Caught Offside)

Bournemouth are planning to offer 19-year-old French forward Eli Junior Kroupi a lucrative new contract in a bid to ward off interest from some of Europe’s biggest clubs, including Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Paris St-Germain. (Sun)

Manchester City are preparing a £100m summer move for Nottingham Forest‘s 23-year-old England midfielder Elliot Anderson. (Teamtalk)

Bayern Munich are not looking at Atletico Madrid’s Argentina forward Julian Alvarez, boosting Arsenal‘s hopes of signing the 26-year-old. (Christian Falk)

AC Milan are confident Fulham will exercise a £21m option-to-buy for 26-year-old Nigeria winger Samuel Chukwueze, who is on loan at the Cottagers. (Gazzetta – in Italian)

Manchester United are keen on Borussia Monchengladbach’s 23-year-old German midfielder Rocco Reitz, who is valued at about £35m. (Fichajes – in Spanish)

Another Manchester United midfield target, Sandro Tonali of Newcastle United, is likely to have a price tag of up to £100m. The 25-year-old Italy midfielder is also attracting attention from Arsenal, Manchester City and Juventus. (Talksport)

The managerial merry-go-round might bring changes at a number of major clubs in the coming months, but Spaniard Luis Enrique says he is “so happy” at Ligue 1 PSG. (Fabrizio Romano)

Among those looking for a big name are Real Madrid, who may make an approach for German Jurgen Klopp. France World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane is more likely to return for a third spell in the dugout though. (ESPN)

The Liverpool board will consider the future of Dutch manager Arne Slot if the club fail to qualify for the Champions League this season. (Football Insider)

The Sam Darnold redemption story is quite something – from being rated as one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL to Super Bowl champion.

It’s a tale of never giving up, of character, unwavering self-belief and persistence, but also a warning for teams not to write a quarterback off too soon.

As youngsters being drafted into the NFL are at the mercy of circumstance, not every team will fit every rookie and the sport’s history is littered with college stars deemed not good enough.

So how bad was Darnold? Well, the numbers were not great, as after being drafted in 2018 he spent three seasons with the New York Jets and two with the Carolina Panthers – during which time he ranked bottom or near the bottom in several areas.

Wins were the main one – just 21 of them in five seasons – but categories like passer rating and completion percentage were the worst of any quarterback during that time.

As a third pick in the draft he was ridiculed for his “seeing ghosts” comment as he struggled, and labelled a bust, but now he’s getting fitted for a Super Bowl ring it’s clear he was only part of the problem.

Fellow Jets quarterbacks Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith and Zach Wilson also all finished dead last in passer rating in their first three seasons with the team. Notice a theme?

That’s a quirk of the NFL Draft system, the best players go to the worst teams, and while some could just be having an off season so can build for success, some have serious issues.

After Sunday, Darnold has now won 39 games since leaving New York, including serving two years as a back-up – the Jets have won just 26.

The Panthers have won 15 to Darnold’s 31 since leaving Carolina and even the Vikings and 49ers can’t match his wins since he departed.

“Quarterbacks need tonnes of help to allow you to go show how great you can be. If you do not get that help, you are limited in how great you can be,” said former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and three-time Super Bowl champion Steve Young.

“And there are not 32 places in the league today that can give you that help.”

Young knows when a team is not a good fit, as he was drafted by a poor Tampa Bay squad and won three games in two seasons before leaving to join the 49ers and eventually becoming a Hall of Fame member.

Ironically enough it was a largely forgotten season in San Francisco that also provided the catalyst for Darnold to launch the comeback of all comebacks.

“I didn’t play great football the first few years of my career,” Darnold admitted after the Super Bowl. “Then I come here to San Francisco and I think because of that year I was able to learn a tonne. I was able to kind of learn and go to Minnesota and play good football there. I was able to come to Seattle and do the same.”

Working in a fully functioning franchise, learning from coach Kyle Shanahan and serving as back-up to Brock Purdy in a Super Bowl saw Darnold head to Minnesota better equipped to succeed.

The irony of returning to Levi’s Stadium for his crowning glory was not lost on him.

A stellar season in Minnesota came after he replaced injured rookie JJ McCarthy, but then more irony in the Vikings opting to stick with the quarterback they drafted saw Darnold move on again.

He left after massive career highs of 14 wins, over 4,000 yards and 35 touchdowns, but still with question marks after a play-off capitulation against the Rams.

Quarterbacks grab all the headlines, for good or bad, but they simply cannot do it all by themselves in this ultimate team sport.

Tom Brady regularly had, and needed, a top-10 defence on his side to win Super Bowls, while Patrick Mahomes lost two of them because he was soundly beaten up by opposing defences.

In Seattle, Darnold found the perfect storm of a team on the up and a defensive head coach assembling a crack unit that would go on to dominate the NFL, needing just a solid quarterback to steer the offence.

Having the league’s leading receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Super Bowl MVP running back Kenneth Walker also helped, and plenty will say Darnold did not have to do much.

He became the first quarterback to enjoy successive 14-win seasons with two different teams – only Brady had managed it with one – but still there were questions as he led the league in turnovers, giving the ball away 20 times.

Around 80% of play-off games are won by teams with the fewest turnovers. In Super Bowls the record was 40-7 when winning the turnover battle.

Darnold has the fourth most giveaways in the NFL since being drafted (106) despite spending two years as a back-up, so once again he had to prove himself as he was written off as a liability before even entering the post-season.

The response was remarkable as Darnold’s Seattle became the first Super Bowl champions without a single turnover in the play-offs.

He answered the mental questions of facing the Rams again with 346 yards and three touchdowns, before doing just enough in the Super Bowl itself.

Was it flashy? No. MVP worthy? Not even close. But Darnold, now 28, did what he had to – he kept hold of the ball, made plays when needed and managed the game without ego or trying to be the hero.

No quarterback has won a Super Bowl having played for five teams before, but then no quarterback has been counted out so many times and got back to the top.

Luck has played a part, teams like Minnesota and Seattle took a chance and the Seahawks have furnished Darnold with everything he could possibly want in a team – and maybe there’s a hatful of quarterbacks in the league who could have won a Super Bowl with them this season.

Paul Green has left his role as Chelsea’s head of women’s football after 13 years at the Women’s Super League club.

Green worked closely with former manager Emma Hayes, helping her deliver five successive WSL titles and reach a first Women’s Champions League final.

He acted as interim manager in Hayes’ absence in 2022 when she had emergency hysterectomy surgery, and has led recruitment across a number of successful transfer windows.

The club said Green “played a significant role in the development and growth of the women’s programme” and “contributed to the establishment of strong foundations and the evolution of Chelsea Women into one of the leading teams in the domestic and European game”.

Co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley have become increasingly involved with the decision-making on the women’s side, and have already taken steps to shape the future of the club.

Last week, Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor signed a new contract keeping her at the club until 2030.

That came days after she voiced her frustration at their recruitment in the summer transfer window, highlighting injuries and a lack of squad depth as one of the reasons Chelsea have fallen nine points adrift of WSL leaders Manchester City.

Some fans had expressed concern over Bompastor’s tactics, despite the Frenchwoman leading Chelsea to an unbeaten domestic treble in her debut season in charge, but the timing of her contract extension was a strong statement from the club.

However, Green’s departure comes as a shock given he has been a stalwart of the club’s structure for more than a decade, and hugely successful in his position.