Category Sports News

Chelsea have signed defender Mamadou Sarr from partner club Strasbourg for £12m.

The 19-year-old Frenchman has signed an eight-year deal and is eligible to play at this month’s Club World Cup in the US.

Enzo Maresca’s side start their tournament against LAFC on 16 June, before facing Brazilian side Flamengo on 20 June and rounding off the group stage against Tunisian champions ES Tunis on 25 June.

He made 28 appearances in all competitions for Strasbourg this season. They finished seventh in Ligue 1 to book a spot in the Conference League play-offs.

Like Chelsea, Strasbourg are owned by American Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital under the BlueCo umbrella, and Sarr’s is the first transfer between the clubs.

The signing is Chelsea’s fourth of the summer, following the arrival of Liam Delap for £30m from Ipswich Town, Estevao from Palmeiras for £29m and Dario Essugo from Sporting Lisbon for £18m.

BBC Sport understands that Chelsea are pursuing Borussia Dortmund winger Jamie Gittens.

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell says contending for his first LIV Golf title reminded him that he still has “something left in the tank”.

The 2010 US Open champion led during Sunday’s final round in Virginia but was edged out by Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, who shot an eight-under 63 to clinch his fourth win of the season.

McDowell, whose last win came at the Saudi International in February 2020, made just two bogeys across the three rounds to finish one stroke behind Niemann.

McDowell carded five birdies in a bogey-free 66 on Sunday, but his momentum was stalled by two weather delays as heavy rain hit Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

After a birdie on the 17th, the 45-year-old gave himself the chance to match Niemann’s 15-under mark on the final green, but missed his putt on the left.

“I’m happy with the fight. It was tough to keep the momentum going with the breaks. I just asked Joaco [Niemann]’s caddie what they did in the second break because whatever they did was good,” added the four-time Ryder Cup player.

“It’s hard to play loose when you need it, when you kind of haven’t been there for a while.

“But I was really happy the way I composed myself generally today. Drove the ball great. I felt pretty comfortable out there.

Having failed to qualify for the US Open last week, McDowell is targeting a return to major competition on home soil at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush next month.

He finished tied for 57th when the Open returned to Portrush in 2019.

He will play in the next LIV event in Dallas on 29 June before attempting to qualify for the Open in the final qualifying event at Royal Cinque Ports in Kent.

“I’m going to use this as momentum to take forward to Dallas and then on to the British Open qualifier,” said McDowell, who has not played in a major since the 2020 US Open.

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell says contending for his first LIV Golf title reminded him that he still has “something left in the tank”.

The 2010 US Open champion led during Sunday’s final round in Virginia but was edged out by Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, who shot an eight-under 63 to clinch his fourth win of the season.

McDowell, whose last win came at the Saudi International in February 2020, made just two bogeys across the three rounds to finish one stroke behind Niemann.

McDowell carded five birdies in a bogey-free 66 on Sunday, but his momentum was stalled by two weather delays as heavy rain hit Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

After a birdie on the 17th, the 45-year-old gave himself the chance to match Niemann’s 15-under mark on the final green, but missed his putt on the left.

“I’m happy with the fight. It was tough to keep the momentum going with the breaks. I just asked Joaco [Niemann]’s caddie what they did in the second break because whatever they did was good,” added the four-time Ryder Cup player.

“It’s hard to play loose when you need it, when you kind of haven’t been there for a while.

“But I was really happy the way I composed myself generally today. Drove the ball great. I felt pretty comfortable out there.

Having failed to qualify for the US Open last week, McDowell is targeting a return to major competition on home soil at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush next month.

He finished tied for 57th when the Open returned to Portrush in 2019.

He will play in the next LIV event in Dallas on 29 June before attempting to qualify for the Open in the final qualifying event at Royal Cinque Ports in Kent.

“I’m going to use this as momentum to take forward to Dallas and then on to the British Open qualifier,” said McDowell, who has not played in a major since the 2020 US Open.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers 123-107 in game two of the NBA Finals to level the series at 1-1.

The Pacers snatched victory in the final second of the opening game on Friday week, but on Sunday the Thunder dominated from start to finish.

Gilgeous-Alexander’s first basket at Paycom Center in Oklahoma took him to 3,000 points for the season, making him the 12th player in NBA history to reach the milestone.

“They play a full 48 minutes and you can’t just throw the first punch,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “You’ve got to try to throw all the punches all night.

“That’s what we did. We threw enough punches tonight to get a ‘W’.”

Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, added five rebounds and eight assists.

The Thunder’s Jalen Williams scored 19 points, Aaron Wiggins had 18 and Chet Holmgren recovered from a disappointing six points in game one to score 15 points with six rebounds.

The Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton was limited to 17 points, three rebounds and six assists.

“It’s still a race – first to four,” he said. “We are going to our home court tied 1-1.”

Haliburton walked out of the post-game news conference with a slight limp.

Former Northern Ireland and Leeds United wide man Stuart Dallas is part of BBC Sport NI’s coverage of Tuesday’s friendly with Iceland.

Reaching the Premier League is a dream for any player.

I know how Trai Hume and Daniel Ballard feel after they won promotion with Sunderland, it’s an incredible feeling and achieving it with Leeds was one of the highlights of my career.

It’s a big step up from the Championship, not only on the pitch but with everything that comes with it.

There’s more spotlight and every game you play is a big event that is shown all over the world. It’s literally a different ball game.

That’s always what gave me the belief I could perform well in the Premier League.

I wasn’t playing all the time with my club, but with Northern Ireland I was playing against some of the best players in the world and I always felt I held my own.

Taking on some of the best players from Germany or the Netherlands, it only added to the belief that I belonged at that level, and I’m sure Trai and Daniel will feel the same.

You could say the same for Conor Bradley at Liverpool and Justin Devenny at Crystal Palace too, as they were both playing international football before playing week in, week out for their clubs.

I can relate a lot to Trai’s journey to the Premier League. Like me, he started off in the Irish League and had a lot of senior games under his belt before he moved across to England.

I had played between 150 and 200 games of senior football for Coagh United and Crusaders, and I can’t speak enough about how much that prepares you to step up to professional football in England. I still had a lot of developing to do when I moved to Brentford, but it set me up so well.

You can be in an academy in England from the age of eight, and in a pre-academy even younger. I look at some players who haven’t played a senior game by the age of 20 or 21 because they are stuck in youth football, and when they get their chance they struggle to adapt because it’s hard to bridge that gap.

While the result in Denmark was disappointing, there are still positives to take from the game. Denmark deserved to win, and they are a level above where Northern Ireland currently are.

But it is where Michael O’Neill wants his team to be, and it was another good learning experience for his young squad.

Defensively, particularly in the first half, they were very good against a strong and creative attack but they will want to improve going forward. They needed to be more brave on the ball. They made a great start with the goal but didn’t really threaten after scoring, and I’m sure that will have disappointed Michael.

In that regard, I think Iceland in the perfect game to follow it up on Tuesday. As the home team, the onus is on you to take it to the opposition and play with the energy and desire to win the game. The crowd will play a role in that too, and we know how important Windsor Park can be.

I know Michael likes to play with a back three, but I think he will set the team up a little bit different to get his key players on the ball to try and make something happen.

It’s a new era for Northern Ireland, and that is highlighted by the fact that George Saville was the only player in the 26-strong squad over the age of 30.

Paddy McNair would have been in there too if he wasn’t injured, but it just shows how young this team are.

The Iceland game is the final chance to prepare for World Cup qualifying in September, and it’s hard because these players are effectively learning on the job. The only way to prepare for big games is to keep playing strong teams and learn from any mistakes.

There aren’t any shortcuts in international football, and that is why Michael is keen to take on higher-level friendlies.

The leadership group in the squad is young, but I’m seeing good qualities on the pitch.

Stuart Dallas was speaking to BBC Sport NI’s Andy Gray.