🚨💥 BREAKING | Johan Manzambi to Aston Villa - DONE DEAL ✔️
⚠️ EXCL DET: Hijack completed. Aston Villa have reached a full agreement with SC Freiburg. The total package is worth almost €70m, including add-ons, outbidding Newcastle.
Aston Villa were in the race from the very beginning, as exclusively revealed. Manzambi had not given #NUFC his final commitment. His camp have now informed Aston Villa that he wants to join them. Long-term contract agreed. Medical soon.
SC Freiburg were unavailable for comment. @SchreinerFabian@SkySportDE 🇨🇭
BREAKING @TheAthleticFC
Folarin Balogun will be available to play the USMNT’s round of 16 match against Belgium with his one-game red-card ban suspended. Extraordinary development.
Story with @Dan_Sheldon_
https://t.co/oQ61J9btzT
Folarin Balogun on his controversial red card against Bosnia, questioning the referee and VAR:
🗣️ “I cannot accept that decision. I've watched the replay over and over, and I know in my heart there was never any intention to hurt anyone. It was a football action, nothing more. To send me off for that is one of the harshest decisions I've experienced in my career.”
“What's frustrating isn't just the red card it's the inconsistency. Week after week, challenge after challenge, we've all seen similar incidents judged differently. Sometimes VAR says it's football, sometimes it becomes a straight red. How are players supposed to understand the rules when the standard changes every game?”
“The referee had one look. VAR had every angle, slow motion, every replay imaginable, and they still chose the harshest possible outcome. That's the part I cannot understand. Technology was introduced to remove obvious mistakes, not to create even bigger controversies.”
“This decision didn't just punish me. It punished my teammates, my coaches, every supporter wearing a USA shirt and everyone who travelled to support us. One whistle changed an entire World Cup night, and that's something impossible to forget.”
“If football wants players and fans to respect VAR, then VAR has to start respecting football. Consistency isn't optional it's the foundation of fairness. Right now, too many careers, tournaments and dreams are being decided by officials instead of the football itself.”
“I'll accept responsibility when I'm wrong. But I will never stay silent when I believe the game has been let down. Players deserve clarity, supporters deserve honesty, and this tournament deserves officiating that applies the same standard to everyone not different standards depending on the badge you wear.”