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Everton are close to ending their striker search with Villarreal’s Thierno Barry expected to fly into Merseyside for a medical before completing a £27m deal.

The formalities are not completed yet, but the move is progressing with manager David Moyes ready to clinch Everton’s biggest deal of the summer so far.

Barry had a £34.5m release clause in his Villarreal contract, but Everton expect to pay a lower fee for the 22-year-old, who scored 11 goals and provided four assists in 38 games last season as the Spanish club finished fifth in La Liga to qualify for the Champions League.

He will add to Everton’s attacking resources after Dominic Calvert-Lewin left at the end of his contract.

Forward Armando Broja also exited when his loan ended, returning to Chelsea without the deal being made permanent.

Barry was born in Lyon and left French club Sochaux aged 19 to play in the Belgian second division with Beveren.

Australia’s preparations to face the British and Irish Lions have suffered a major setback after first-choice fly-half Noah Lolesio was ruled out of the series.

The 25-year-old was carried off the pitch in the Wallabies’ 21-18 win over Fiji on Sunday with an apparent whiplash injury.

He was initially discharged from hospital later that day, raising hopes he would be fit to face the tourists. However, after further check-ups, he had surgery on Tuesday afternoon.

Rugby Australia said Lolesio “will spend a period of time away from the game during his rehabilitation”. That absence will span the entirety of the series against the Lions.

Lolesio was left out of Australia’s Rugby World Cup squad in 2023 but has since become the Wallabies’ go-to fly-half under head coach Joe Schmidt.

He started five of the Wallabies’ six Rugby Championship games last year and all four of their autumn internationals in the northern hemisphere.

Ben Donaldson seems most likely to take on the 10 role, with Tom Lynagh – the England-raised 22-year-old son of Wallabies great Michael Lynagh – also in the squad named for the Fiji fixture.

Schmidt could call on the experience of Bernard Foley and James O’Connor to bolster his options.

The first Test against the Lions takes place in Brisbane on 19 July, with the second and third Tests being staged on the following weekends in Melbourne and Sydney.

Tottenham have signed Japan defender Kota Takai from J-League side Kawasaki Frontale for £5m.

The 20-year-old has signed a five-year contract until the summer of 2030 and will be part of Thomas Frank’s first-team squad.

Takai has won four caps for Japan’s senior side, making his international debut in a World Cup qualifier versus China last September.

The defender played a key role in Kawasaki Frontale winning the Japanese Super Cup in 2024 while also being named the nation’s best young player that year.

Former undisputed super-middleweight champion Savannah Marshall had not fought for two years, and Chantelle Cameron was unsure whether a new promotional deal with Queensberry would actually deliver the Katie Taylor trilogy.

There appeared little room for the best in the women’s code when three of Britain’s top talents were at a crossroads in their careers and Saudi Arabia took big-time boxing to the desert.

Many of the best all-British fights were stacked undercards in Saudi Arabia, which also put pressure on the UK boxing scene.

With the exception of a few standout events like Lauren Price’s welterweight showdown with British rival Natasha Jonas in March, the women’s code continued to grow.

After years of constant improvement, Cameron claims that “everyone had given up on women’s boxing.”

All three women shook hands with Jake Paul, a man who they were considering their futures.

The first Catford’s Scotney messaged the American YouTuber-turned-boxer on Instagram was sent to Catford’s Scotney.

The 27-year-old is a member of the podcast 5 Live Boxing with Steve Bunce, and she says, “I just thought, “A shy kid gets no sweets and I was a fat kid.”

“Within three hours, I hung up Jake.”

Before Ramla Ali and fellow super-bantamweight Scotney were announced, alycia Baumgardner, the undisputed super-weight champion, was the first unexpected signing for the Jake Paul co-founded Most Valuable Promotions (MVP). Cameron was courted by MVP once, but not this time.

In the weeks that followed, the company began looking for more stars, including world champions Cherneka Johnson and Dina Thorslund as well as Marshall, Cameron, Holly Holm, and other stars.

Soon after signing, Scotney was traveling for the first time to meet the MVP team in person while sipping filtered water in a luxurious vehicle. She had assumed that the airport would require a taxi reservation.

She spent the day playing for the New York Knicks with Irish legend Taylor while the next she was practicing pads with Amanda Serrano during an exclusive press conference for Taylor v. Serrano 3.

Money and exposure were key factors in enticering fighters to join MVP. Last November, Taylor and Serrano reportedly made more than £4 million each in their light-welterweight rematch, with an estimated 50m people watching the match.

Nakisa is very transparent, which is unusual from a promoter, says Scotney.

Ellie, “Not all of them are like this,” he said.

For Bidarian, the pitch was straightforward: look at what Puerto Rican Serrano did when he went from being only a few thousand dollars per fight to becoming a millionaire in a single night.

He claims that when something is hot, we put our weight behind it. We’re not fair-weather friends.

They want people to participate in big fights, says Scotney. Give you the opportunity to fight for your money.

Cameron of Northampton believes that women’s boxing has been lagging in the UK for the past year.

“Fights weren’t occurring,” he declared. The 34-year-old, who previously signed to powerhouse promoters Matchroom and Queensberry, says, “Jake Paul’s come along and signed up all the top girls and the fights are there to be made again.”

Bidarian claims that MVP’s ultimate goal is to combine boxing’s fastest-growing industry with one promotional hub.

Bidarian has been incredibly helpful in Paul’s own career.

The 28-year-old’s ascent has been carefully managed, not more so than his most recent victory over former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who is rapidly declining.

No project or venue is too big for them, despite MVP’s astute matchmaking. However, Serrano and Taylor continue to demonstrate that rivalry is what makes them strong.

For the new signings of MVP, there are many options. Some of them, like Scotney v. Johnson 2, or Serrano v. Baumgardner, will have their own volition. Others will be put to the test of their abilities.

Each woman pursues without joy in an effort to retaliate against her former foes, such as Taylor and Claressa Shields.

Hartlepool’s Marshall says, “I want Shields, that’s no secret.

“Absolutely the winner of [Green] should fight Claressa next,” argues Bidarian. Claressa and I have confidence that we can create that type of event.

He also acknowledges that Serrano’s chances of remaining in the light-welterweight division would be slim if she defeated Taylor and won the titles that Cameron and the 39-year-old Irishwoman won.

If Taylor wins, Bidarian says, “We will work with her to make the trilogy with Cameron and try to make it happen at Croke Park.”

The MVP faces a challenge. Marshall has repeatedly ruled out a rematch, and Shields is now a heavyweight champion. With Cameron posing as one of her most physically demanding contests, Taylor might even retire this year.

However, two years after their first encounter, MVP brilliantly rekindled Taylor’s Serrano rivalry and delivered a significant benefit for her.

Where would these British women’s fights be staged, which is a big question?

According to Bidarian, “the UK is unwaveringly the best boxing market in the world,” pound for pound.