Category Sports News

Borussia Dortmund accepted a £55 million offer for Chelsea’s winger, and the winger is now scheduled to undergo a medical there.

The 20-year-old Englishman earlier in June, made a seven-year deal with Chelsea.

On June 10, Dortmund rejected a bid for Gittens worth 42 million, with the German Bundesliga side known to be putting up a £60 million offer.

After returning to Manchester United after completing a loan spell that cost the Blues a £5 million penalty fee, he was identified as Chelsea’s main target to replace Jadon Sancho.

Mykhailo Mudryk also has a temporary suspension after being accused by the Football Association (FA) of breaking anti-doping regulations by failing a drug test.

Because he has played for Dortmund, Gittens would not be able to compete in the upcoming Club World Cup.

With midfielder Andrey Santos returning from his loan spell at Strasbourg, he would be Chelsea’s fourth summer signing, along with striker Liam Delap, midfielder Dario Essugo, and defender Mamadou Sarr.

After winning the Club World Cup with Palmeiras, Estevao Willian, 18, will join Chelsea.

Chelsea will next look to add a versatile forward, with Brighton’s Joao Pedro included among those on the wish list. Newcastle is one of the Premier League clubs that is believed to be interested in the Brazil international, with Brighton rejecting two offers from Premier League clubs.

Paul Pogba, who had received a doping suspension, signed a two-year contract with Monaco that made him eligible for play football again.

After Juventus’ opening game of the 2023-24 season against Udinese, the 32-year-old former Manchester United and Juventus midfielder was randomly tested.

Following an appeal, he later received a four-year ban that was voided to an 18-month ban.

After writing the final word on the Monaco deal, an emotional Pogba thanked the audience for their support and capped his own announcement video with the words “La renaissance,” presumably promising fans a career revival.

He and Juventus mutually terminated their contract in November, and he has since started playing free agent since March.

In the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), it was established that Pogba had unintentionally taken dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a substance that boosts testosterone and was put on the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) banned list.

Crucially, the decision only applies to females, though it is important to note.

Pogba made his debut at Manchester United before moving to Juventus, where he won Serie A in each of his four seasons, including two Doubles.

In his first season at Old Trafford, he won the Europa League and the FA Cup before earning a world-record $89 million at Old Trafford in 2016.

Pogba, who has 91 caps for France, then scored in the final of the 2018 World Cup victory over Croatia in Russia, helping Les Bleus to victory.

Austrian Grand Prix

Date: 29 June Race start time: 14:00 BST

Ferrari’s second and fourth spots on the grid at the Austrian Grand Prix were a “fantastic result,” according to Lewis Hamilton.

At the Red Bull Ring, Hamilton placed second and team-mate Charles Leclerc placed third.

It matched their best performance in Monaco during the grand prix qualifying session this year.

Ferrari’s first major car upgrade since the Aprilana race in Bahrain followed the introduction of a new floor.

“I think it’s really fantastic for us to be much closer, and we should be in the second row, and for Charles to be in the front row.”

Hamilton, who was only 0.09 seconds behind Leclerc, claimed that if he had optimized his final lap, he might have qualified for second.

The seven-time champion said, “I think that could have been worse than that. If I had finished that lap, I would have finished second.”

There are many benefits to be gained from that session, they say. Additionally, I believe it was the best day ever, both operationally and technically, especially with qualifying, how the team operated, and how the team’s timings and positionings on track are being handled. It was the best day ever and was proper world class. We are pursuing that goal.

Ferrari’s improved performance comes after two well-known Italian newspapers recently published articles questioning Frederic Vasseur’s leadership as team principal.

When Hamilton said, “Ultimately, we continue to work together, protect each other, block out all the noise, and just keep our heads down,” it appeared to be making reference to this.

“It’s a fantastic team,” said the team. Working together, and with Fred, we’re putting everything in order, step by step.

It can’t be accomplished in a single attempt. Simply put, you must work on it. I’m pleased with how far we’ve come.

Very pleased to be second, Leclerc said. For us, qualifying-wise, this has been a very challenging season.

“Without Monaco, we’ve always been fighting for P5, P6, in the best cases.” It was a one-time event. Therefore, it’s good to be launching a little bit further and being right away with the fast guys.

Leclerc claimed that the new floor’s first indications were encouraging, but that it would take some time to fully understand its impact.

He claimed, “It undoubtedly helped us.” There were some positive steps, I thought. How much must it be seen in various track characteristics.

We have to assess that not just on this track but also across several other tracks.

Bulawayo’s first of five tests, on day one.

South Africa 418-9 (Pretorius 153, Bosch 100*, Chivanga 4-83)

Zimbabwe is yet to bat

Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who turned 19 years and 93 days old on his debut, recorded a brilliant 153 in South Africa’s Test history, making him the youngest centurion in the country.

The Proteas won 418-9 at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on day one of their first Test against Zimbabwe thanks to the left-handed batter’s 100 off 112 balls.

Pretorius broke the previous record set by Graeme Pollock, who had 19 years and 318 days to set a record against Australia in Sydney in December 1963.

The Bangladeshi wicketkeeper-batter, who was 17 years and 61 days old when he scored a century against Sri Lanka in 2001, became the 10th youngest Test centurion ever to do so. On debut, he was the fourth-youngest to do so.

Shortly before tea, he clipped off Hamilton Masakadza and brought up his century.

When Pretorius pulled a short ball from Tanaka Chivanga, who had taken 4-83, into Masakadza’s hands midway through, Pretorius was eventually dismissed after getting lives on 30, 54, 55, and 127.

His 153-run knock, which included 11 fours and four sixes, was also his highest first-class score in the game.

It was incredible, I said. Even at 23-3, I was a little anxious, but it’s been a dream come true. It hasn’t sunk, in my opinion. Pretorius expressed his satisfaction that today is over.

“I just adore batting, and fortunately it turned out well for me today. For my parents and family to be here, it makes a real dream come true, and it makes a fantastic end to it.

The stocky leftie looks set for great things thanks to a batting style and frame that have more than a hint of Graeme Smith’s influence.

He was educated in South Africa’s private schools system before moving on to the professional game in Potchefstroom in March 2006.

With 287 runs in six games and a 57.40 average, he was the Under-19 Cricket World Cup’s top run-scorer in 2024.

At the age of 17, he made his domestic T20 debut for the Titans in South Africa, and he immediately caught the eye with an 82 off 43 balls against Gauteng.

Pretorius then scored 120 on his first-class debut for the Titans against Warriors in December 2024 before an impressive knock on his SA20 debut earned him more respect.

In January 2025, Pretorius made his career-best 97 T20 franchise debut for the Paarl Royals, which impressed England captain Ben Stokes.

“One of the many things franchise cricket has done is give young, unproven, incredibly talented players opportunities to compete against the best players in the world and demonstrate their talent.” According to Stokes in a January post on X, “Lhuan-dre Pretorius is doing that right now.”

Pretorius appeared in one game as an impact player but did not bat when Rajasthan Royals called him up to the Indian Premier League in May 2025.

Lois Leaver of Great Britain won the bronze medal at Saturday’s Prague Canoe Slalom World Cup competition, joining Adam Burgess of gold.

Despite the 23-year-old Scot receiving a penalty, Leaver finished third in the women’s kayak final by just 0.01 seconds.

Camille Prigent of France and American Evy Leibfarth won gold, while Leaver has already taken bronze in all three of the previous year’s World Cup competitions.

At the start of this month, Burgess won the men’s C1 silver, and the Olympic silver medalist clinched gold on Friday to finish off that feat.

Burgess won the short course format after missing out on the final run in Spain, and it made its debut in the Czech Republic with 12 gates rather than the standard 21.

The 32-year-old defeated Slovenia’s Ziga Lin Hocevar to claim bronze while Olympic champion Nicolas Gestin of France won the C1 team gold at last month’s European Championships.

Austrian Grand Prix

Date: 29 June Race start time: 14:00 BST

After taking the stunning pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix, Lando Norris said he felt like he was back in the form he had been lacking for the majority of the season.

The McLaren driver’s season has been hindered by repeated mistakes in qualifying, but he won by more than a second on one of the Red Bull Ring’s shortest laps of the year.

Briton Norris described his pole lap as “as close as I would probably ask for” in a statement.

Norris will start alongside Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, while Oscar Piastri, the championship leader, and team-mate and McLaren champion, will take the starting spot.

Norris remarked, “It’s nice to occasionally see the old me back.”

“It’s more of a feeling than the feeling I’ve missed for a while, the understanding of where the grip is and how to exploit it,” I said.

When he attempts to push the car’s maximum qualifying limit, Norris has come to the conclusion that a lack of emotion from the front axle has been making mistakes.

McLaren changed the front suspension at the most recent Canadian race to lessen what the team called “numbness.” Although Piastri believes he doesn’t need it, Norris has continued with that in Austria.

The car’s front wing and suspension were upgraded to the highest possible margin in all-season thanks to aerodynamic improvements, which included the largest percentage increase any pole winner has ever had.

A big thanks to them, Norris said, “To come into this weekend and at least move in the right direction was very positive and very comforting for me most of all but probably for our as a team as well,” so it was that.

When they are more my way and more where I want them to be, I can put on better performances and have days like today, as I’ve been requesting.

Therefore, he needs a convincing result on Sunday in Austria to take Piastri’s lead.

From a delivery perspective, Norris said his Saturday session was “easily my best qualifying of the year.”

Max Verstappen, the McLaren drivers’ closest rival, is in third place, 21 points adrift of Norris.

The Dutchman, however, finished seventh overall, had a difficult qualifying day.

Verstappen was unable to complete his final lap because Pierre Gasly had to turn his Alpine through 720 degrees in front of him, despite posting the sixth-fastest time on that first turn.

The Dutchman claimed that Red Bull’s lack of grip had taken them by surprise.

Verstappen remarked, “Basically everything felt bad in qualifying.” I simply didn’t have the balance because every corner was a struggle. It either slowed down or increased. Every lap I completed, I behaved slightly differently around the car. That’s not ideal, then, so yeah.

No one on the team, in my opinion, did it so badly in qualifying. Therefore, we must consider that.

However, Verstappen and Norris both stated that they would not prevent him from competing.