Archive June 15, 2025

Real Madrid hopeful of move for Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate on a free next summer, Arsenal still keen on Viktor Gyokeres but could instead opt for Benjamin Sesko, Rasmus Hojlund tipped for Inter Milan move.

Real Madrid are hoping to snap up Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate, 26, on a free transfer next summer, when the Frenchman’s contract is due to expire. (Marca – in Spanish)

Arsenal are actively pursuing moves for Sporting’s Sweden striker Viktor Gyokeres, 27, and RB Leipzig’s Slovenia attacker Benjamin Sesko, 22, though will only sign one forward this summer. (Mirror)

However, Arsenal think the asking price for Gyokeres is too high so will focus on signing Sesko or Aston Villa’s England forward Ollie Watkins, 29. (Record – in Portuguese)

Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund, 22, has emerged as a top target for Serie A side Inter Milan. (Gazzetta dello Sport – in Italian)

The Old Trafford side have decided to keep hold of Netherlands forward Joshua Zirkzee, 24. (Corriere dello Sport – in Italian)

Manchester United made contact with representatives of French striker Hugo Ekitike, 22, who plays for Eintracht Frankfurt, this weekend. (Bild)

Chelsea, Aston Villa and Tottenham are all keeping tabs on Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho, 20, after the Argentine was told to find a new club. (Mail)

Al-Hilal have improved their offer to Napoli striker and Manchester United target Victor Osimhen, 26, proposing a deal with an annual salary worth up to £42.6m. (Goal)

AC Milan have opened talks with Arsenal over signing the Gunners’ Ukraine defender Oleksandr Zinchenko, 28. (Corriere dello Sport – in Italian)

Multiple enquiries have been made from Premier League and Serie A clubs about the availability of Bayer Leverkusen’s Czech striker Patrik Schick, 29. (Sky Germany via Florian Plettenberg)

Paris St-Germain have agreed personal terms with Bournemouth defender Illia Zabarnyi, 22, and are in talks over a fee with the Ukrainian’s club. (Fabrizio Romano)

Galatasaray have made an offer for 33-year-old Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. (Sport – in Spanish)

Portuguese giants Porto want to buy Southampton’s English winger Tyler Dibling, 19. (Record – in Portuguese)

Title rivals and McLaren team-mates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri came to blows for the first time as the Briton appeared to misjudge a passing attempt in the Canadian Grand Prix.

Norris hit the back of Piastri’s car on the pit straight with four laps to go as George Russell took Mercedes’ first victory of the season with a controlled drive.

Norris, who had been attempting to pass Piastri for fourth place, told his team it was “all my bad” and that it was “stupid of me”.

Norris’ car retired on the spot with front suspension damage and the race finished under the safety car with Piastri in fourth place behind Russell, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.

The move that could well become one of the defining moments of the season came at the start of lap 67 of the 70-lap race.

Norris had driven well on an inverted strategy, starting on the hard tyre from seventh on the grid and running long to his first pit stop, to come into contention for the final podium place with Antonelli and Piastri.

Norris had been within a second of Piastri, and with use of the DRS overtaking aid, for several laps and on lap 66 dived down the inside of his team-mate at the hairpin to take fourth place.

Piastri got the cut-back on Norris out of the corner and they drove down the back straight towards the final chicane side by side, Piastri on the inside.

Approaching the last corner, Norris braked earlier than Piastri, with the aim of getting a quicker run through the chicane and attempting a move into the first corner.

But Piastri held his line on the pit straight, and as Norris closed on him, his right front wheel and front wing ran into the back of the rival McLaren.

Norris retired on the spot with broken front suspension but Piastri was able to continue as the safety car came out, and led the pack to the chequered flag.

Norris’ engineer Will Joseph asked Norris over the radio whether he was all right and the Briton replied: “Yep, I’m sorry. It’s all my bad, all my fault. Unlucky, sorry. Stupid from me.”

The move had echoes of a similar incident between McLaren team-mates in Canada, when Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button collided in more or less the same place at this race in 2011.

But the incidents were different. In 2011, Hamilton had some of his car alongside Button, who moved over slightly. This time, Norris did not have space to edge alongside and appeared to misjudge the manoeuvre.

The drama between the title contenders took the focus off an impressive performance from Russell and Mercedes as they converted his superb pole lap on Saturday into a comfortable victory.

The Briton made a good start and was under no threat from Verstappen into the first corner, and from there he controlled the race.

The largest the gap got was 5.2 seconds shortly before Verstappen made his second pit stop. The world champion narrowed that margin in the final stint but even when traffic in the final stages of the race reduced Russell’s lead to a second, he was able to pull away again.

Antonelli’s race was much more pressured. He passed Piastri with excellent race craft through the first few corners, which gave him the inside line for Turn Three.

Piastri dropped back to a couple of seconds behind during the first stint, but McLaren ran him slightly longer than the Italian into both his pit stops, which gave him a tyre advantage for the final stint.

Piastri closed on to Antonelli’s tail with 17 laps to go but their battle allowed Norris to close up, which meant the Australian had to turn his attentions to his team-mate until their collision.

Behind the top four, Ferrari were the slowest of the top four teams, Charles Leclerc taking fifth ahead of Lewis Hamilton, whose race was compromised by hitting a groundhog on lap 13, which damaged his car’s floor and cost some downforce.

Leclerc spent much of the race complaining about the team’s strategy choices.

Like Norris, he started on the hard tyre and ran a long first stint. He told the team he wanted to run much longer and try a one-stop, but instead they pitted him on lap 28 – one before Norris – and fitted another set of hards, which meant he was now locked into a two-stop.

Behind the Ferraris, Fernando Alonso took points for Aston Martin for the second race in a row with seventh place after his excellent sixth place on the grid in qualifying.

Northern Ireland won the World Cup of Darts for the first time with an epic victory over Wales in a final-leg decider.

Daryl Gurney and Josh Rock were in tears after overcoming two-time champions Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton 10-9 in Frankfurt.

The winning pair, playing together for the first time, picked up a team first prize of £80,000 after keeping their composure despite missing four tournament darts.

“Me and Daryl said when we team up for the World Cup, we’ll win it and we did. We’ve won for our country, we’ve made history,” said Rock, 24.

Clayton, fifth in the PDC’s Order of Merit, and Price, who is 11th, held the rankings advantage over the 17th-ranked Rock and Gurney (25th).

But Northern Ireland started brighter and Rock missed two attempts at a double which would have put them 4-1 ahead, before Clayton checked out on 142 to level the match at 3-3.

The Welsh duo pushed ahead to lead 7-5 but their opponents rallied to win the next four legs.

The 2020 and 2023 champions Wales had fought back against the Dutch pair Danny Noppert and Gian van Veen to win 8-5 in their semi-final.

After four titles in the first eight editions of the tournament, the Netherlands had high hopes of a first triumph since Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld’s 2018 success.

The Dutch opened up a 4-2 lead on Wales before being pegged back to 5-5 after missed doubles from Noppert and it proved a turning point, with Price sealing victory in style by hitting double 20 twice.

Northern Ireland reached the final with a 8-1 demolition of hosts Germany, who had posted a shock last-16 victory on Saturday over the English pre-tournament Luke Littler and Luke Humphries.

Gurney averaged 105 as Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko were beaten.

Northern Ireland started Sunday with a comeback victory over the Republic of Ireland, represented by Keane Barry and Willie O’Connor, in their last-eight tie.

Barry and O’Connor were 5-4 up before Rock and Gurney reeled off four consecutive legs to secure an 8-5 victory.

“It was a fantastic game and a great advert for Irish darts,” said former World Grand Prix winner Gurney. “Big credit to Keane and Willie – it takes four to make a great game.”

Germany beat 2022 champions Australia in a decider after Australia’s Damon Heta missed a match dart at double top in the penultimate leg.

Schindler confirmed the host nation’s place in the last four with his first attempt at double 12.

Wales posted a three-dart average of 99.66 in their 8-4 win against Hong Kong.

The Dutch had not lost a leg in their first three matches in Frankfurt, including an 8-0 thrashing of Scotland in the last 16.

Quarter-final results

Semi-finals

Final