Category Sports News

Manchester City defender Kyle Walker is close to joining Burnley after passing a medical at the Premier League newcomers.

The 35-year-old England right-back will sign a two-year contract with the Clarets, having spent the second half of the 2024-25 season on loan at Serie A side AC Milan.

The move will end Walker’s eight-year stay at City, where he won 17 trophies including six Premier League titles and the 2023 Champions League.

He made 15 appearances for Pep Guardiola’s side in the last campaign before joining Milan, who did not activate the option to sign Walker permanently.

Walker will link up at Burnley with head coach Scott Parker, who he played alongside at Tottenham during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons.

The defender was part of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad during June’s international fixtures and won his 96th cap in a 3-1 friendly defeat by Senegal.

Chelsea and Aston Villa have been fined by Uefa for breaching the European governing body’s financial rules.

The two clubs could be prevented from registering new players for Uefa competitions for the forthcoming season unless they have a positive transfer balance by the end of the summer transfer window.

Chelsea have been fined 31m euros (£26. 7m) and could be fined a further 60m euros (£51. 2m) if they do not comply with the rules in the next four years.

Villa have been fined 11m euros (£9. 5m), with a further 15m euros (£12. 9m) conditional on compliance in a three-year period.

The punishments relate to a breach of Uefa’s football earnings rule and having a squad cost ratio – the proportion of their income paid out in wages – above 80%.

In a statement, Chelsea said: “The club has worked closely and transparently with Uefa to provide a full and detailed breakdown of its financial reporting, which indicates that the financial performance of the club is on a strong upwards trajectory.

“Chelsea FC greatly values its relationship with Uefa and considered it important to bring this matter to a swift conclusion by entering into a settlement agreement. “

The punishments were issued by Uefa’s club financial control body (CFCB).

In a statement, the CFCB said profits from “the sale of tangible or intangible assets, the exchange of players (so-called ‘swaps’) and the transfers of players between related parties” cannot be included in submitted accounts.

Chelsea posted a pre-tax profit of £128. 4m in June 2024, a figure that included the £200m sale of the women’s team to a separate entity within the club’s parent company BlueCo.

The club also sold two hotels to a sister company that were used to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), which differ from Uefa’s regulations, last season.

There have been reports Aston Villa have agreed a deal to sell their women’s team in order to comply with PSR.

Chelsea have made transfers worth £150m on five players this summer, while Villa have yet to make a major signing.

Barcelona were also fined 15m euros (£13m) for breaching Uefa’s financial rules, while Lyon were sanctioned 12. 5m euros (£10. 7m). The French club agreed to be excluded from European competition if their appeal against relegation to Ligue 2 for domestic financial breaches fails.

Chelsea and Aston Villa have been fined by Uefa for breaching the European governing body’s financial rules.

The two clubs could be prevented from registering new players for Uefa competitions for the forthcoming season unless they have a positive transfer balance by the end of the summer transfer window.

Chelsea have been fined 31m euros (£26. 7m) and could be fined a further 60m euros (£51. 2m) if they do not comply with the rules in the next four years.

Villa have been fined 11m euros (£9. 5m), with a further 15m euros (£12. 9m) conditional on compliance in a three-year period.

The punishments relate to a breach of Uefa’s football earnings rule and having a squad cost ratio – the proportion of their income paid out in wages – above 80%.

In a statement, Chelsea said: “The club has worked closely and transparently with Uefa to provide a full and detailed breakdown of its financial reporting, which indicates that the financial performance of the club is on a strong upwards trajectory.

“Chelsea FC greatly values its relationship with Uefa and considered it important to bring this matter to a swift conclusion by entering into a settlement agreement. “

The punishments were issued by Uefa’s club financial control body (CFCB).

In a statement, the CFCB said profits from “the sale of tangible or intangible assets, the exchange of players (so-called ‘swaps’) and the transfers of players between related parties” cannot be included in submitted accounts.

Chelsea posted a pre-tax profit of £128. 4m in June 2024, a figure that included the £200m sale of the women’s team to a separate entity within the club’s parent company BlueCo.

The club also sold two hotels to a sister company that were used to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), which differ from Uefa’s regulations, last season.

There have been reports Aston Villa have agreed a deal to sell their women’s team in order to comply with PSR.

Chelsea have made transfers worth £150m on five players this summer, while Villa have yet to make a major signing.

Barcelona were also fined 15m euros (£13m) for breaching Uefa’s financial rules, while Lyon were sanctioned 12. 5m euros (£10. 7m). The French club agreed to be excluded from European competition if their appeal against relegation to Ligue 2 for domestic financial breaches fails.

Tickets for Chelsea’s Club World Cup quarter-final against Palmeiras are on sale for just £8. 17 ($11. 15) amid concerns over another low attendance at the newly-expanded tournament in the United States.

They are among the cheapest tickets at the Club World Cup to date, although some have gone for as low as £3. 60 ($5) for matches involving minnows in the group stage.

Sources have explained that Fifa expected a lower attendance because of a free Fourth of July parade and concert, taking place at the same time in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was drafted in 1776.

Chelsea matches have not been well-attended outside of the group-stage game in Philadelphia against Flamengo that saw 54,019 inside Lincoln Financial Field.

Matches against Los Angeles FC, ES Tunis and Benfica had crowds of 22,137, 32,967 and 25,929, respectively – leaving stadiums more than half-empty in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Charlotte.

A mixture of reasons have been cited for low attendances, including extreme heat and thunderstorms, a potential lack of interest, kick-off times when the majority of US-based fans are working, poor marketing locally and initial high prices of more than $200 set by Fifa when announcing the matches in December.

Tickets for Real Madrid’s quarter-final with Borussia Dortmund in New Jersey on Saturday start at $183. 40 (£134. 37), while the most affordable for Paris St-Germain versus Bayern Munich in Atlanta are currently listed at $83. 65 (£61. 29).

However, after both Manchester City and Inter Milan suffered upsets in the round of 16, the Al Hilal against Fluminense tie in Orlando has tickets from $11. 15 (£8. 17).

A week ago, Solana Sierra was out of Wimbledon. Since then, she has picked up her fourth different room key as she keeps up her historic progress at the grass-court Grand Slam.

The 21-year-old Argentine has become the first ‘lucky loser’ in the Open Era to reach the women’s singles fourth round at the All England Club.

Lucky losers are players who lost in qualifying but end up in the main draw if others withdraw.

Sierra only got 15 minutes’ notice before her first-round match that she would be playing, following an injury to Belgium’s Greet Minnen.

And Sierra has grasped her opportunity with both hands, beating Cristina Bucsa 7-5 1-6 6-1 in the third round on Friday.

“I remember I was really sad that day [I lost in qualifying], and today is like the best day of my life,” she told BBC Sport.

“So it’s been really crazy. Seven days ago, I was out of the tournament, right now I’m into the second week. So it’s really crazy, and I’m just super happy. “

She is the first Argentinian woman since Paola Suarez in 2004 to reach the last 16 at Wimbledon.

By getting to that stage, Sierra will take home a minimum of £240,000 in prize money, adding considerably to her £330,000 career earnings until this point.

“[I feel] super lucky,” said the world number 101, who beat Britain’s Katie Boulter in the second round. “But I think I also take the opportunity, and I really want to keep going and to keep dreaming in this tournament. “

While Sierra is the first woman to achieve the feat, there have been five lucky losers to reach the men’s singles fourth round, most recently Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in 2024.

And there is a lucky loser impressing in the men’s singles this year too.

The 2021 Wimbledon quarter-finalist Marton Fucsovics beat Gael Monfils over five sets, and across two days, to reach the third round.