Category Sports News

Sebastiaan Bornauw has been signed by Leeds for a four-year contract worth £5.1 million.

The 26-year-old is Leeds’ third signing since Lukas Nmecha and Jaka Bijol joined the Premier League.

Junior Firpo, a left-back at Leeds, announced earlier on Tuesday that he had left the club at the end of his contract, and that he was set to join Real Betis.

Bornauw, who has four Belgium caps, made the move from Anderlecht to Cologne in Germany in 2019 before joining Wolfsburg in the Champions League.

The 6’3″ centre-back scored twice in 15 Bundesliga games between the years of injury and the 2024-2005 season.

Nottingham Forest defender Neco Williams has signed a new four-year contract which will keep him at the City Ground until the summer of 2029.

The 24-year-old Wales international joined Forest in July 2022 in a £17m switch from Liverpool and has made 107 appearances in all competitions for the Reds.

Williams, whose previous deal had been set to expire in 2026, helped the East Midlands club finish seventh in the Premier League last term as they secured a European spot for the first time since 1994-95, when they were third.

“This club has come so far in recent years, and I am proud to be on the journey,” said Williams.

“Everyone knows how ambitious our owner [Evangelos Marinakis] is, and I’m grateful to him for showing belief in me and showing belief in the club.

“The future is exciting. It’s a privilege to be playing for a football club with fans like the Forest fans.

Martin Donnelly cannot remember the crash that almost killed him. Not only once, but three times.

In qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix in 1990, mechanical failure caused his Lotus to crash into the barriers at 160mph.

The scenes that came next were harrowing, as Donnelly’s stricken body, still strapped to his seat, lay in the middle of the track, surrounded by pieces and shards of his car that had been split in two by the violent impact.

When Professor Sid Watkins’, Formula 1’s key medical and safety delegate, arrived at the scene, Donnelly’s face was turning blue due to swallowing his tongue.

After stabilising his condition, he was transferred to Seville and eventually to Watkins’ hospital in London.

The Northern Ireland driver had sustained head and lung injuries, and both his legs were broken – to the point where it took Watkins’ intervention to stop Spanish surgeons amputating his left leg.

While he was in an induced coma, his organs started to fail and his heart stopped twice. His condition was so bad he was given the last rites by a priest.

It started with a phone call from a withheld number on a Saturday night in April 2023, when Donnelly was sitting watching TV in his Norfolk home.

“You know what it is like, you get these withheld calls on your mobile. I thought it was a cold caller, so I wen’t ‘Hello, who’s this? ! ‘.

“The voice at the other end said, ‘is that Martin? ‘.

“‘Yes, what do you want? ! ‘. I was almost aggressive.

“He said, ‘it’s Lewis’. ‘Lewis who? ‘.

“‘It’s Lewis Hamilton’. “

It’s the best cold call Donnelly had ever received.

The seven-time world champion, who was an executive producer, pitched the idea that Donnelly’s crash would become the back story of Brad Pitt’s character, Sonny Hayes.

Donnelly had first met Pitt, the film’s star, at Silverstone when the American called him a “hero” after watching footage of his crash.

It wasn’t long before Donnelly, 61, was on set at Brands Hatch, helping to guide Kosinski about the details of a Formula 1 garage in the 1990s, including set up and the engineers’ uniform.

When the cameras were rolling, Pitt was there, standing at the front of the garage. At the other end of the car, behind the rear wing and out of camera shot, Donnelly was watching on.

And then a voice rang out.

“‘Hey Martin, where should I be standing? ‘. “

“I looked around and there was nobody else called Martin,” recalled Donnelly.

“He was asking me to direct him around the garage. I had a superstition of getting in at the left hand side and putting my left leg in first, and he does exactly the same thing in the movie.

The film shows the aftermath of Donnelly’s crash, with Hayes’ blue helmet imposed onto the orange of the real-life driver.

If movie-goers were now aware of Donnelly’s accident, they would find it hard to believe the crash site had not been mocked up.

Such was Donnelly’s influence in the production, he was given a special mention in the film’s credits and Pitt even gave him a personal shoutout while on stage at the London premiere.

“My kids Charlotte and Owen were there and they turned to me and said ‘Dad, dad, he just mentioned your name! ‘.

“I laughed it off, saying ‘it’s just Brad’. About a third of the way through the movie he came up the steps to two empty seats and sat beside Owen, my youngest.

Despite the serious injuries sustained, Donnelly was determined to get back to Formula 1.

Weighing just 53 kilos, Donnelly visited Willi Dungl in Austria in 1991, who helped get Niki Lauda back in a Formula 1 car just six weeks after his infamous crash in 1976.

“I went there naively thinking I’d spend two months there, he would wave his magic wand and I’d be back in F1 driving cars again.

“The motivation was to get back into F1, the accident was just an inconvenience. “

He tested for Jordan at Silverstone in February 1993. There were still lingering after effects from his accident, which included nerve damage in a left leg that was now two-and-a-half inches shorter than his right.

But once he left the pitlane, he was back in his “happy place”.

“It didn’t feel like two-and-a-half-years, it felt like weeks,” Donnelly said.

“If you don’t remember the accident, you don’t fear it. “

However, unlike on the big screen, there was no Hollywood F1 return for Donnelly.

Just hours before his accident, Lotus had taken up an option on Donnelly to drive for them the following season with Jordan, Tyrrell and Arrows vying for his signature.

However, the crash meant he barely scratched the surface of what would have been a lucrative contract.

Donnelly had competed against, and often beaten, the likes of Damon Hill, David Coulthard, and Eddie Irvine in the junior ranks, but had to watch their careers grow while his own F1 dreams came to an end.

He added the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994 was the moment he knew it was time to halt his pursuit.

The pair were friends after racing through the junior categories together, and Senna, who stopped at the scene of Donnelly’s accident and visited him in hospital, had even offered financial support in his recovery.

“Ayrton had his millions made and he was a three-time world champion, but he had nobody to leave it to.

“He had no offspring, no wife. I thought, I’ve died three times, I’m still involved in the sport I love and had a young son at the time, so I just let it go. “

Donnelly is still involved in the sport he loves, just in a different capacity. He was a drivers’ steward for Formula 1, and still competes in the national racing and runs his own Martin Donnelly Academy in Norfolk.

“Time is a healer and you adjust your way of life.

Iconic England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff says he has not thought about the prospect of replacing Brendon McCullum as head coach.

Flintoff, 47, who played 227 times for England between 1998 and 2009, was appointed coach of England Lions – the development side below the senior XI – last year as he returned to cricket following his life-threatening crash on the set of Top Gear.

He has also worked with the senior squad as an assistant and is the head coach of Northern Superchargers in The Hundred, leading to suggestions he could replace New Zealander McCullum, who is contracted until 2027.

“It’s not something I’m looking at. Baz McCullum is incredible – the best England coach,” Flintoff told the Stick to Cricket podcast.

“Honestly, at the moment, I feel as though I’m in the perfect place working with the Lions.

Flintoff led the Lions on trips to South Africa and Australia in the winter and, having been with England Under-19s for their win against India in Northampton on Monday, joined the full squad at their practice on Tuesday in Birmingham before the second Test against India.

McCullum was made England Test coach in 2022 and has overhauled the side by implementing a positive approach since. At the start of the year he also took on the role of England white-ball coach, having replaced Australian Matthew Mott who was sacked last year.

Flintoff worked under Mott on a temporary basis, first in September 2023 and then at the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean last year.

He is also a long-time friend of England managing director of men’s cricket Rob Key, who has said Flintoff would make an excellent head coach in the future.

“I’m enjoying working under Keysy,” said Flintoff, a crucial player in England’s famous 2005 Ashes win.

“It’s no secret he’s one of my best mates and he’s helped me so much in other things. With Baz, we’ve got a great relationship and the utmost respect.

“He’s unbelievable and the culture he’s created is incredible. It’s similar to what Gareth Southgate did with the football lads. “

Flintoff had largely moved away from cricket prior to his crash in December 2022, which left him with serious facial injuries.

After an initial private return – he attended matches in a balaclava at the invitation of Key – he was named head coach of the Superchargers’ men’s side in The Hundred last year and has become an increasingly public figure again.

“I’m not looking at the franchise world or anything else, although I do the Northern Superchargers which came around last year and I enjoy working with [Superchargers captain] Harry Brook on that.

“I think ‘I’ve got a job to do here’ and it’s not like ‘what’s next? ‘. “

Crystal Palace have grown increasingly exasperated at the delay in Uefa’s ruling over their Europa League future and feel they are being unfairly treated, BBC Sport understands.

Well-placed sources have indicated the south London club will also almost certainly launch a legal fight against any decision to ban them from the competition next season.

There are frustrations at Selhurst Park that the delay in ruling whether Palace have breached multi-club ownership (MCO) rules in relation to American businessman John Textor’s involvement at Palace and Lyon is aiding the French club’s fight to stay in next season’s Europa League at the expense of the Eagles.

Uefa were due to reveal on 27 June whether Palace were cleared to play – but the decision was put back to this week.

On Monday, the governing body confirmed a final decision would be postponed until Lyon’s domestic appeal against their relegation from the French top flight.

Despite their enforced relegation, Lyon can currently compete in European competitions next season.

However, if the French football authorities uphold Lyon’s demotion into Ligue 2, Lyon would relinquish their licence to play in Uefa competition – paving the way for Palace to play in the Europa League.

Uefa’s decision to wait is believed to have annoyed members of Palace’s hierarchy, who feel the club are being unfairly treated because of their lack of pedigree at European level.

Textor – who owns Eagle Football Holdings, which currently owns stakes in Palace and Lyon – announced his decision to step down from his leadership roles at Lyon on Monday.

The restructure of the board at Lyon is expected to aid the French club’s hopes of overturning their domestic relegation.

Well-placed sources have also suggested to BBC Sport that Lyon are open to selling a number of their players to raise funds to ease their current financial problems.

It is not lost on Palace officials that the deal to sell Textor’s 43% stake in Palace to American businessman Woody Johnson last week – a transaction worth in the region of £190m – may have contributed to easing Lyon’s financial plight.

It is important to stress Uefa have no jurisdiction over Lyon’s relegation appeal.

In their view, Palace are one of the most well-run sides, financially, in England. Their clean track record in terms of staying the right side of financial regulations indicative of their prudency.

The fact Lyon’s financial state is so chaotic they have provisionally been demoted from the top league is not lost on figures at Palace.

Nor is the irony of the Premier League side losing their place in the Europa League to Lyon given the juxtaposition between their respective balance sheets.

For the time being, Palace’s European fate appears to be in the hands of the French football governance system.

Whether Lyon’s relegation to Ligue 2 is now upheld remains to be seen amid a feeling that doing so would devalue the French top flight.

There are varying levels of scepticism as to whether there is a will in France to forcibly remove one their most prestigious clubs from the top flight given the uncertainty surrounding it’s TV revenue.

There were reports in May that sports broadcaster DAZN terminated its five-year domestic broadcast contract with France’s Professional Football League (LFP) for Ligue 1 after just one season.

DAZN paid a reported 400m euros for the domestic rights over five years. In contrast, in 2023, the Premier League received £6. 7bn for a four-year contract – which starts next season – for Sky and TNT to show up to 270 live games a season.

Manchester City are heading home from the Club World Cup after a shock defeat by Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in the last 16 in the United States.

The squad are scheduled to fly back to Manchester on Tuesday night, bringing to an abrupt end a tournament which promised so much but instead delivered a stunning upset.

“We have been on an incredible journey together and were in a good place. The vibe was really good,” manager Pep Guardiola told BBC Sport.

“But we go home and now it is time to rest – rest our minds for the new season. “

The sunny climes of City’s Florida base appeared to refresh and rejuvenate a side that was so disappointing this season – but on Monday night their Club World Cup hopes fell apart.

The new signings all played a significant part in the tournament and it was evident that Dutchman Tijjani Reijnders will bring much-needed energy and enthusiasm to the midfield.

France international Rayan Cherki got off the mark in the group stages and provided a glorious assist for Phil Foden’s extra-time goal against Al-Hilal, but there are major concerns at the other end of the pitch.

While Algerian full-back Rayan Ait-Nouri’s attacking ability is undoubted, there are question marks over his defensive capabilities, having been caught out on occasion against the Saudi side.

Matheus Nunes is a midfielder playing at right-back and though City managed to paper over it during the group stages, the square peg in a round hole was glaringly obvious once up against decent opposition.

Sources had not ruled out the signing of a new right-back before the tournament and it remains to be seen whether the club make a move for one.

Guardiola also needs to address the lack of pace in the heart of the defence, with the two central defenders looking particularly sluggish when attempting to chase back the speedy Al-Hilal forwards.

The Spanish boss has made it clear he needs to trim his squad heading into the new season and there may be question marks over the future of England international John Stones, who was the only outfield player not to see any minutes on the trip.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether midfielder Rodri, who missed most of the season through injury, has suffered a setback.

The Club World Cup has been a lucrative outing for all those involved, that is despite City missing out on extra prize money with their last-16 exit.

City earned the most in the group stage because they were the only side to win all three matches, and will depart the US having banked approximately £37. 8m.

That includes almost £1. 5m per win and a participation fee, believed to be £27. 9m, which Fifa bases on “sporting and commercial criteria”.

If Guardiola’s team had reached the quarter-finals they would have earned an additional £9. 5m in prize money, with that total rising to an extra £53. 8m had they gone on to lift the trophy.

City paid £31m for Wolves left-back Ait-Nouri, who assisted a goal in their 5-2 win over Juventus, and £30. 5m for Lyon forward Cherki, who scored in the 6-0 win over Al Ain, so have already paid off one of those transfers.

If there’s any solace for Manchester City, it is that the squad now has a chance to recharge before the new season.

The 61 games played by City since August equals their most in a season since Guardiola became manager in 2016.

Chelsea had the luxury of fielding vastly different line-ups in the 2024-25 Conference League compared to domestically.

Manchester City, with a smaller squad, have four of the 15 outfield players currently with Premier League clubs to have played more than 100 games over the past two seasons.

They are new signing Tijjani Reijnders (107), Ilkay Gundogan (105), Phil Foden (102) and Bernardo Silva (101).

In addition, that quartet were regular starters for their country at Euro 2024 and, with the exception of former Germany midfielder Gundogan, continue to play international football.

Defeat by Al-Hilal brought to an end a season which began 325 days ago with the Community Shield against Manchester United on 10 August.

City lost 17 games in all competitions, which is at least five more than in any other season since Guardiola’s appointment and the club’s highest total since 2008-09.

While City scored 130 goals in 61 fixtures, the defensive lapses exposed in their Club World Cup exit have become increasingly common.

City players will head off on holiday for about four weeks before reporting back to the club for the start of pre-season.

Having spent three weeks in the USA, it remains to be seen what plans are put in place for friendly matches before the new campaign.

Will they keep it light by playing domestic opposition at City Football Academy? Could they head off to somewhere in Europe for a short trip?