🚨💣 BREAKING: Real Madrid are expected to ACTIVATE Nico Paz’s €9M buy-back clause TODAY.
Real will give Como the option to sign him permanently for €60M.
If Como reject, MORE CLUBS could join the race. @FabrizioRomano
Javier Alonso is joining will Andrea Berta's technical team at Arsenal. Who is he?
Right after @MatteMoretto said Javier Alonso will leave Granada to join Andrea Berta's technical team at Arsenal, I did a brief check and this is what i found.
Javier Alonso isn't a flashy signing. He isn't the guy announcing transfers or standing in front of cameras. He's a football recruitment specialist who has built a strong reputation across Spain, working with Atlético Madrid's scouting department before moving to Granada as Technical Secretary.
He is being described as one of the sharpest talent identifiers in Spanish football. At Atlético Madrid, he was part of the recruitment structure that consistently helped the club compete with Real Madrid and Barcelona despite having fewer resources.
While individual signings are rarely credited to one scout or recruitment official, Alonso was part of Atlético Madrid's recruitment department during the arrivals of players such as Rodrigo De Paul, Nahuel Molina, Marcos Llorente, Reinildo Mandava and Samu Omorodion. That's a recruitment record any club would be proud of.
So what does he bring to Arsenal?
• Strong scouting network across Spain and Southern Europe.
• Elite talent identification and player profiling.
• Extensive knowledge of the South American market.
• Data-driven recruitment combined with traditional scouting.
• Better succession planning for key positions.
• More depth and quality in Arsenal's transfer decision-making.
With Berta and Javier Alonso in the building, expect Arsenal's scouting reach to expand significantly into Spain and South America.
🚨| 💣🔥 "Arsenal aren't just rebuilding the academy and the squad. They're now rebuilding the medical department too. One of la liga's most trusted rehab specialists is coming to north london 🔴⚪🇪🇸"
This signing won't make front pages. But it might matter more than people realise.
Eneko Angulo, Real Betis' first-team physical rehabilitation lead since 2024, with over a decade inside the club is set to leave for Arsenal, taking on the challenge of working in the demanding Premier League.
And honestly… the timing and context behind this move says everything about how highly regarded he is.
Angulo had spent several seasons already integrated into Betis' structure before taking full responsibility for first-team rehabilitation in 2024, succeeding David Alvarez. From that point he became a key figure within the technical staff, overseeing player recovery and conditioning processes.
His departure represents a significant loss for Betis they will need to reorganise a strategic area of their performance department once again. But it also represents international recognition for years of work, with his professional progression now allowing him to take on one of the biggest challenges of his career in the Premier League.
🔸 Began his journey with Betis back in 2014 over ten years across various roles in physical preparation, player recovery and performance analysis, particularly within the academy, before fully integrating into first-team dynamics
🔸 This will be his first professional experience working outside Spain.
🔸 Betis are simultaneously losing their long-serving club doctor José Manuel Álvarez in the same restructuring a significant overhaul of their entire medical department this summer.
🔸 Arsenal have endured a season defined by injury complications Timber, Merino, White and others all sidelined for extended periods at various points.
Here's why this appointment matters more than it looks 👇
Arsenal's title-winning, Champions League final season was undermined at times by exactly the kind of injury and recovery issues a specialist like Angulo is brought in to solve. Bringing in someone trusted enough to run an entire first-team rehabilitation department at a La Liga club is a quiet but deliberate upgrade.
The dynasty isn't just being built on the pitch.
It's being built in every department behind it too. 🔴⚪🏆
🚨 Gabriel Magalhães:
“I am extremely happy at Arsenal. Honestly, I don’t even think about playing anywhere else. This club means so much to me, and every season my connection with Arsenal grows even stronger.
I never get tired of representing this badge. As long as the club wants me here, I’ll continue giving everything for the team and the supporters.
I don’t pay attention to transfer rumours, and I don’t want to hear them. My focus is on Arsenal, my teammates, and winning trophies. I’m happy here, and that’s all that matters.”
❤️🤍 #Arsenal #AFC #GabrielMagalhaes #COYG #ArsenalFC 🔴⚪️🏆
Lionel Messi on the 100-year-old fan holding the “100 YEAR OLD MESSI FAN” banner:
🗣️ “When I saw her in the stands… I honestly had to hold myself together. In that moment, football disappeared for me. It wasn’t a stadium anymore, it wasn’t noise, it wasn’t pressure it was just emotion.”
“Someone who has lived a whole century of life… through wars, through generations, through everything the world has endured… and she is still here, smiling, holding my name in her hands. I don’t even know how to explain what that feels like.”
“It made me think about everything my first steps in football, the dreams I had as a child, the sacrifices my family made… and somehow, through all those years, my name reached someone like her. It’s overwhelming.”
“I don’t deserve something like that. No player does. Because this goes beyond football. This is love from a lifetime, not just a moment.”
“I looked at her and I just wanted to stop time for a second… to say thank you properly. Not as a footballer, but as a human being who understands how rare it is to be loved like that for so long.”
“There are goals that make noise, trophies that make headlines, but this… this was something completely different. Pure, unconditional connection between two lives that were never meant to meet, but somehow did through football.”
“If I could give her anything, it wouldn’t be a shirt or a photo. It would be time. Because the fact she spent part of her life supporting me… I will carry that forever.”
“When I retire, I will remember nights like this more than anything else. Because at the end of everything, football is not about records… it is about hearts that connect without even speaking.”
“And in that moment, I realized something very simple… I am not just playing for trophies. I am playing for people like her.”
NOW - Lionel Messi becomes the all-time leading goalscorer in World Cup history.
17 — Lionel Messi 🇦🇷
16 — Miroslav Klose 🇩🇪
15 — Ronaldo 🇧🇷
14 — Gerd Müller 🇩🇪
14 — Kylian Mbappé 🇫🇷
🚨🗣️ Arsène Wenger on Lionel Messi becoming the World Cup’s all-time leading goalscorer:
"I have never seen a player like Lionel Messi. He is a different breed, a completely different kind of footballer.
People compare him with Cristiano Ronaldo, and while Ronaldo is one of the greatest players to ever play the game, Messi is something else entirely. He sees passes before anyone else, creates chances out of nothing and scores goals with an ease that almost looks unfair.
What amazes me the most is that he never forces the game. He doesn't chase headlines or try to prove anything. He simply reads the moment, waits for the right opportunity and destroys opponents with his intelligence.
In all my years as a manager and in all the football I have watched, I have never seen another player who combines vision, creativity, dribbling, goals and playmaking the way Lionel Messi does.
For me, he is one of a kind, and I don't think football will ever produce another player quite like him." 🐐🇦🇷
🚨🚨GARETH BALE:
"In soccer, there was a moment that changed the way I saw competition. While I was dealing with a chronic muscle injury that kept following me throughout my career, I received an unexpected message from Real Madrid’s fitness coach.
He said, 'Leo is asking about your condition and wants to help.'"What happened next? A personal call from Messi’s private doctor, offering me a tested treatment protocol, and sharing the same rehab exercises Messi used back in 2013.
He also recommended a specialized clinic in Barcelona that treats many top-level footballers — where competition is as intense as it gets."
"That moment taught me that true professionalism goes beyond teams and colors.
Greatness is measured by what you offer others — even your rivals. Messi is a human being before he is a legend. At a time when many see the Real Madrid–Barcelona rivalry as a war, Messi reminded us that football is a beautiful game. Some moments don’t need goals — just humanity.”
🚨🎙️ Nicolás Otamendi on how Argentina treats Lionel Messi:
“People always ask if we treat Messi differently in the national team.
The answer is yes... and anyone who says otherwise is lying.
We're talking about the greatest player in history.
But it's not about giving him special privileges. It's about understanding who he is and what he means to Argentina.
When Messi speaks, everyone listens. When Messi is on the pitch, everyone runs a little harder. Not because he asks us to, but because he inspires it.
I've played with him for many years, and what surprises me most is his humility. A player who has won everything could act like a king, but Leo is one of the most normal people you'll ever meet.
That's why the dressing room protects him.
Not because he's Messi the superstar, but because he's Messi our captain, our teammate and the man who carried the dreams of an entire country for so many years.
Some teams have great players.
We have Messi.
And trust me, that's a privilege none of us take for granted."
Víctor Muñoz is not Yan Diomande. Full stop. Quick audit.
Diomande already looks like the real deal. He is a near-complete right-sided #IntelligentEngine. Elite or near-elite across final product (97th), progression (96th), creation via passes (99th) and carries (98th), dribbling (99th), pass accuracy (98th), and total VAEP (100th). Muñoz?
Different animal. More volatile. A carry-first left winger built for explosive transition moments, not the full multi-phase package.
The attraction is right there on the radar. He receives in space, drives past defenders with real thrust, and turns running power into danger. Elite dribbling (91st). Strong creation via carries (86th). Solid progression (71st). Good own-shot generation (69th). Strong finishing quality (78th). Useful Total VAEP (60th). On the dribble side, he is posting 1.01 productive dribbles per 90 at the 90th percentile with solid successful dribble volume too. This is a vertical accelerator who injects quick ball progression and one-v-one bite. The kind of runner who punishes transitions and stretches defences.
But the limitations are loud. Final product only 46th. Pass creation almost non-existent at 7th. Pass accuracy lagging at 39th. Active defending weak at 11th. These are not the numbers you want from an Iraola wide player. This is a direct, carry-dominant attacker who still has to prove he can connect phases, create for others, and do damage when the ball leaves his feet.
The gap between Diomande and Muñoz is stark. Final product (97th vs 46th), creation via passes (99th vs 7th), progression (96th vs 71st), pass accuracy (98th vs 39th), active defending (38th vs 11th), total VAEP (100th vs 60th). One is a specialist accelerator. The other is the full archetype.
Drop Muñoz into a Liverpool-style system as a squad weapon and he brings vertical punch, depth, and transition sting. The fit can work. Sell him as the polished left-sided answer? The profile does not match. Not yet. And that is fine. Buy the potential. Build the final product.
Right now it is Carry -> Generate -> Shoot more than the complete circuit. Create and regain still lagging.
With recent reports linking Alex Scott with Arsenal, the discussion should go beyond the simple question of whether he is an immediate starter or not.
The more important question is: what specific tactical function could he add to Mikel Arteta’s midfield?
That is where Scott becomes interesting. Not as a direct alternative to Declan Rice or Martin Zubimendi, but as a different type of modern No.8 — one who can add ball-carrying, pressure resistance, second-ball aggression and more verticality between the lines.
Scott is not a pure defensive midfielder. He is not a deep tempo-setter in the Zubimendi mould, and he does not yet offer the complete defensive authority that makes Rice so valuable in coverage, duels, transition control and box-to-box dominance. His value sits in a different lane: receiving under pressure, turning away from contact, carrying through midfield traffic, and helping his team sustain attacks after the first action breaks down.
The numbers point in that direction:
Ball Carrying: 75.7
50/50 Duels: 80.4
Build-up Passing: 69.8
Defensive Anchor: 55.7
That is not the profile of a finished No.6. It is the profile of a dynamic interior midfielder. The most interesting part is the combination of carrying and duelling. Scott is not just a player who wants the ball between the lines; he is a player who can take contact after receiving, protect the ball, rotate away from pressure and drive into the next line.
That skill set matters for Arsenal. Arteta’s side are already excellent at structure, spacing and circulation, but against compact mid-blocks and low blocks, they sometimes need a midfielder who can disrupt the rhythm of the defensive block by carrying rather than simply passing around it. Not every progression has to come from a line-breaking pass or a switch to the opposite flank. Sometimes you need a midfielder who can create the advantage himself: receive in the half-space, attract pressure, carry past the first defender, and open a new passing lane for the winger, full-back or striker.
That is where Scott’s potential fit becomes clearer. He looks more suited to operating as a left or right interior, especially with a more secure midfielder behind him. If Rice or Zubimendi are providing the platform, Scott does not need to be the main controller or the defensive anchor. His role can be more aggressive: connect midfield to attack, support the full-back, press forward, attack the half-space, and carry the ball when Arsenal need to break pressure through movement rather than circulation.
His off-ball value is also important. The 50/50 duel score and second-ball profile are highly relevant for an Arsenal team that wants to sustain pressure after losing the ball. Arteta’s system depends heavily on keeping attacks alive: winning loose balls after clearances, reacting quickly to second balls, counter-pressing around the box, and preventing opponents from escaping the first wave of pressure. Scott’s duel capacity suggests he could contribute to that territorial dominance.
The limitation is just as clear. A Defensive Anchor score of 55.7 means he should not be viewed as the player who protects the back line on his own. He is not the solution if Arsenal are looking for a lone No.6, a Rice replacement, or an immediate elite deep controller. If the priority is pure first-phase control or defensive security at the base of midfield, Scott is not that profile right now.
But if Arsenal are looking for a young, developable No.8 who can add physicality, carrying power, pressure resistance and second-ball value, the logic becomes much stronger. He would not instantly raise Arsenal’s midfield ceiling as a finished elite midfielder, but he could raise the squad’s functional variety.
More carrying from midfield.
More contact.
More second-ball security.
More counter-pressing value.
More verticality when passing circulation alone is not enough.
So the fit is not “Scott instead of Rice or Zubimendi”.
The fit is “Scott next to them”.
Alex Scott would be an Arteta-type project: not the complete answer today, but a midfielder with the tactical ingredients Arsenal usually value — intensity, mobility, technical security under pressure, duel strength and the ability to progress the ball in different ways.
Zinedine Zidane sobre la controversia de la tarjeta roja a Lionel Messi contra Argelia:
🗣️ “He visto el incidente con Lionel Messi varias veces ya, desde diferentes ángulos, y honestamente no entiendo cómo algunas personas están pidiendo una tarjeta roja.”
“Sí, hay contacto. Nadie lo niega. Pero el fútbol es un deporte de contacto, y cada contacto no se convierte automáticamente en una expulsión solo porque las redes sociales quieren una historia más grande.”
“Lo que me decepciona es que la gente esté pasando más tiempo hablando de un momento accidental que hablando de la obra maestra futbolística que Messi produjo durante noventa minutos.”
“Un jugador marca un hat-trick, rompe récords, domina un partido de la Copa del Mundo, y de alguna manera la conversación se convierte en un desafío que duró unos segundos. Eso lo dice todo.”
“Para mí, la intención importa. El contexto importa. La velocidad de la acción importa. Y cuando miro el incidente, veo una acción de fútbol, no a un jugador tratando de lastimar a un oponente.”
“Creo que algunas personas ya se habían formado una opinión antes de que se mostrara la repetición. Si ese mismo incidente involucrara a otro jugador, no creo que todavía estuviéramos discutiéndolo horas después.”
“La verdad es simple: Messi no escapó de una tarjeta roja. No había una tarjeta roja de la que escapar. El árbitro lo vio, el VAR lo revisó, y llegaron a la misma conclusión.”
“En lugar de buscar controversia, tal vez deberíamos apreciar lo que presenciamos esta noche: uno de los mejores jugadores en la historia del fútbol entregando otra actuación inolvidable en la Copa del Mundo.”