Football transfer news

Manchester United could face competition if they opt to pursue OGC Nice centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo in the summer transfer window, with Atletico Madrid now linked with the defender.

United have seen the heart of their defence ravaged by injuries throughout 2023/24 – at present, Harry Maguire is the only senior centre-back available to manager Erik ten Hag – so recruiting in that department seems like a must ahead of a crucial 2024/25 campaign.

Todibo, once briefly of Barcelona but now thriving at Nice, marshalling Ligue 1’s meanest defence this season, has emerged as a target in recent months. He is also well known to Sir Jim Ratcliffe already through INEOS’ ownership of the French side.

But a new report from France states Atletico Madrid’s firm interest. According to Footmercato, Atletico have made Todibo their first-choice target to strengthen at the back, having seen their once ironclad defence become much more porous since last winning La Liga in 2021.

The 24-year-old is under contract with Nice until 2027, which would require negotiating a transfer fee with Nice in addition to persuading the player to return to Spain.

Manchester United’s interest in Todibo actually predates the arrival of the new INEOS contingent at Old Trafford. But 90min has previously reported there will be no favours or discount offered by Nice, leaving United officials concerned over a premium asking price of up to €60m (£51m).

That isn’t as much as the £70m and higher Everton are expected to quote for 21-year-old Jarrad Branthwaite, who is also admired by United – as well as Real Madrid, but Todibo’s price tag is not currently seen as the best value money on the market.

Tottenham Hotspur were previously put off Todibo by the €60m valuation and subsequently landed Radu Dragusin in January for around half that price. Despite still being linked with Todibo, 90min understands there are no plans to resurrect interest or make an approach. Spurs are also eyeing Branthwaite, who received his first senior England call-up in March.

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Prior to Julian Nagelsmann signing a new contract to remain Germany head coach until after the 2026 World Cup, his agent had hinted that talks were taking place with former club Bayern Munich in addititon to a handful of other teams.

The former Bayern boss, who was surprisingly sacked by the Bavarians just 13 months ago, initially had a contract with the DFB until the end of Euro 2024 on home soil this summer. But an expected return to club football, having made his name as a manager before his 30th birthday, hasn’t happened.

Representing Nagelsmann, Volker Struth stated on German podcast Spielmacher that a decision on the 36-year-old’s future was likely to be made iimminently, which turned out to be case when the DFB then confirmed the contract extension on Friday morning.

“It will be decided soon, in the next five, six or seven days. It would be complete nonsense to say that we are not talking to interested parties,” Struth explained earlier in the week.

“Without saying who the interested parties are, I can only say that it is not just Bayern Munich. That is normal. It is my job and it would be a bit of a joke in the media to say we are not in talks. Of course we are talking now,” he clarified.

Bayern are on the hunt for a new boss after already confirming that Thomas Tuchel, who replaced Nagelsmann, will be leaving the club this summer. They were eyeing a treble when he was dismissed but ended up scraping only the Bundesliga title and have gone backwards domestically in 2023/24.

Nagelsmann was a name being discussed internally at Liverpool, with the club yet to decide on a successor to Jurgen Klopp. The shortlisting process has been data-led, leaving doubts over Nagelsmann due to the need to prove himself in terms of character rather than coaching alone. Concerns over his maturity and a swagger bordering on arrogance previously led to issues at Bayern and a reluctance to change frustrated some players.

Chelsea didn’t feel Nagelsmann had the right personality for them prior to appointing Mauricio Pochettino last summer, while Tottenham Hotspur didn’t take initial interest in the German beyond the due diligence stage before formally pursuing Ange Postecoglou instead.

Ruben Amorim has scored particularly highly as part of Liverpool’s search, while Roberto De Zerbi remains of interest. Nagelsmann was not first in line to get the job. Prior to recommitting to Germany, he was also linked with Barcelona but was considered an outsider.

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Julian Nagelsmann has signed a contract extension to remain Germany’s national team coach until the 2026 World Cup, ending speculation that he could join Bayern Munich or Liverpool.

Nagelsmann’s current deal with Germany was due to expire after Euro 2024 and a number of clubs had expressed interest in hiring him.

Liverpool, who will part ways with Jurgen Klopp this summer, explored the possibility of hiring Naglesmann, while former employers Bayern Munich were keen on a reunion this summer.

The 36-year-old’s agent even recently admitted he was talking to a number of interested parties, but he has now signed a new two-year contract to extend his tenure as Germany boss.

Nagelsmann publicly admitted that he wanted to resolve his future before Euro 2024 and the former RB Leipzig boss has been granted his wish.

Nagelsmann has been away from club football since March 2023, when he was sacked by Bayern and replaced by Thomas Tuchel, who will step down at the Allianz Arena this summer.

Bayern were pushing to reunite with Nagelsmann, despite previous behind the scenes tensions with players, and he emerged as a top target after Xabi Alonso confirmed his desire to stay with newly-crowned Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen.

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Roberto De Zerbi is another high-profile name linked to Bayern, alongside Hansi Flick – who has also previously managed the Bavarians.

As for Liverpool, they have turned their attentions to Sporting CP boss Ruben Amorim, but he is one of a number of candidates being considered as the club prepare for life without Klopp, who has been in charge for eight-and-a-half years.

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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed that Erling Haaland asked to be substituted heading into extra time of Wednesday’s defeat to Real Madrid.

Having struggled across both the first and second legs of the ties, Haaland headed to the bench for extra time at the Etihad Stadium, with Guardiola bringing Julian Alvarez on in his place.

Both Kevin De Bruyne and Manuel Akanji were withdrawn closer to the final whistle, and Guardiola has now admitted that all three players asked to leave the field as they felt they could not continue.

“Erling and Kevin asked me to go out, like Manu, they could not continue,” the City boss explained.

“The game we were playing they were amazing and I am not a big fan of making a lot of substitutions but Kevin, Erling and Manu asked me to go out.”

Despite the frustrating result, Guardiola refused to criticise City’s performance. They ended the game with 67% possession and 33 shots compared to Real Madrid’s eight, only to ultimately fall on penalties.

“It is what is – sometimes you win on penalties and sometimes not,” Guardiola reflected. “We should have done it before – for how we played.

“I absolutely don’t have any regrets – we did everything offensively and defensively. Football is about scoring goals and they did it a little bit better than us from the penalty spot. They are in the semi-finals and we are not. I have to say from my heart, thank you to my players. The performance, the commitment was exceptional.”

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Thomas Tuchel was full of praise for Arsenal after Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg but insisted the experience in his Bayern Munich side gave them the edge.

With Bayern enduring a difficult season domestically, Arsenal were the favourites heading into the tie, but a 2-2 draw in the first leg was followed by a 1-0 defeat in the return fixture as Bayern booked their spot in the semi-final.

After the game, Tuchel was keen to hail Arsenal’s recent improvement but pointed to his side’s big-game history for the edge.

“For me they are an elite team,” Tuchel explained. “I know that Mikel [Arteta] maybe does not want to hear this.

“If you watch Arsenal games it’s consistent, it’s fun to watch, and every match something to learn. Maybe what they miss a little bit is experience in big games like this.”

Arteta acknowledged that his Arsenal side perhaps are not ready to compete at such a high level, having only made their return to the Champions League this season.

“We haven’t played in the competition for seven years, we haven’t been in this position for 14 years,” he explained. “There’s a reason for it, and we want to do everything.

“Fast forward, super quick in one season and after we had the capacity and the quality to be in the semi-final, because the margins have been very small. But those margins sometimes are coming from something else, that maybe we don’t have yet.

“We have to learn it, when you look historically, all the clubs to get to certain stages, it took them seven, eight, some of them ten years to do it. Today that is not going to make us feel better, that’s for sure.”

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