Arsenal set to sign Newcastle captain Guimaraes

Bruno Guimaraes has appeared 48 times for Brazil

Arsenal are set to complete their protracted move for Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes.

BBC Sport reported on 30 July that Guimaraes was expected to move to the Premier League champions following a breakthrough in talks.

And a full agreement is now almost done, with Guimaraes waiting for permission to leave Newcastle’s training base in La Manga, in Spain, to finalise the formalities of his move to Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners are now making preparations for the Brazil midfielder’s medical this week. There is no confirmation of a fee but sources are indicating it could reach £80m.

Guimaraes, who joined Newcastle from Lyon in 2022, has made clear his intention to join Arsenal as the 28-year-old has emerged as Mikel Arteta’s first-choice central midfield target.

Newcastle and Arsenal have been discussing the finer terms of the deal this week with a final agreement now considered a formality.

Chelsea nearing £16.3m deal for Rayo defender Chavarria

Chelsea are closing in on an agreement with Rayo Vallecano for defender Pep Chavarria.

The Blues, who have already agreed personal terms with the 28-year-old, are finalising a move worth about £16.3m plus further add-ons, with all parties increasingly confident about striking a deal.

Left-back Chavarria is a key target for new manager Xabi Alonso having faced him while he was in charge of Real Madrid last season.

It has been almost a month since Chelsea had an initial £15m bid rejected by the La Liga club when talks began at the end of June.

Negotiations became protracted amid a belief at Chelsea that Rayo were raising their valuation during the process, asking as much as the full £42.8m release clause at one stage.

Chavarria made it clear to Rayo, who lost to Crystal Palace in the Conference League final in May, that he wanted to move to Stamford Bridge.

Alongside new right-back Marco Palestra, who joined Chelsea for £47m from Atalanta in July, Chavarria’s arrival would give Alonso the chance to replicate his wing-back system that helped Bayer Leverkusen win the Bundesliga title in 2024.

His signing also adds depth to the left-back position after Marc Cucurella joined Real Madrid in June for £51.8m.

It is also another player with experience added to the squad, along with the signings of striker Danny Welbeck, 35, from Brighton and Jordan Henderson, 36, after he cancelled his contract with Brentford.

Chelsea have also signed club-record £117m forward Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa and defender Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace for £52m, with midfielder Valentin Barco expected to join from partner club Strasbourg imminently.

They are expected to focus on player sales in the coming weeks having reached an agreement to sell Trevoh Chalobah to Italian club Como 1907 for about £31m.

Why Liverpool are ready to make Barcola third £100m signing

Liverpool have twice paid more than £100m for players - midfielder Florian Wirtz and striker Alexander Isak - and could be about to do so again.

Paris St-Germain and France winger Bradley Barcola has become a main target for Liverpool, with the Reds prepared to pay about £100m, while PSG are holding out for somewhere near £145m.

Liverpool, who finished fifth in the Premier League last season, 25 points behind champions Arsenal, could eventually end up paying Bayer Leverkusen £116m for Wirtz, while they shelled out a club record £125m to sign Isak from Newcastle.

And they could be about to break the bank for 23-year-old Barcola, who was part of France’s squad at the World Cup.

He came on as a second-half substitute in both the past two Champions League finals, when PSG beat Inter Milan 5-0 in 2024-25 and then in May when they edged past Arsenal on penalties to retain their title.

Barcola moved to PSG from Lyon in 2023 for a reported £38.5m and has since also won three Ligue 1 titles, the French Cup twice, as well as the Uefa Super Cup and the Fifa Intercontinental Cup.

He is right footed, although he prefers to play on the left wing, but can also play on the right or through the middle.

However, with PSG also having Georgia’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and France’s Desire Doue as wide options, Barcola does not play 90 minutes every match so a move to Anfield would give him more playing time.

With Mohamed Salah leaving on a free transfer at the end of last season having scored 257 goals in a hugely successful nine-year spell with the Reds, Liverpool clearly need to strengthen their attack.

France forward Hugo Ekitike ruptured his Achilles tendon in April and is not expected to play again in 2026, while Cody Gakpo, another who can play on the left and in the middle, has been linked with a move to Tottenham, although Liverpool say they do not want to sell.

The Reds’ other current attacking options include 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha, Italy forward Federico Chiesa and new signing Victor Munoz.

Barcola has played 28 times for France and scored three goals in this summer’s World Cup, including in the 6-4 loss to England in the third-place play-off.

However, like at club level, his game time was limited because of the skills of his 21-year-old PSG team-mate Doue.

Boss Didier Deschamps stuck with Ballon d’Or holder Ousmane Dembele on the right and rotated Barcola and Doue, with both men starting four of France’s eight World Cup matches, but never in the same game.

At first glance, Barcola looks like the natural successor to Luis Diaz.

Liverpool chose not to sign a direct replacement after the Colombian’s departure last summer, but the underlying data suggests the PSG forward could fill that void.

Opta’s player similarity model rates the Frenchman as the winger whose output most closely resembled Diaz’s across Europe’s top five leagues in 2025-26 (78%), with Mohamed Salah (65%), Lamine Yamal (61%) and Vinicius Junior (61%) the next closest matches.

A closer look, however, suggests Liverpool would not simply be replacing one winger with another.

Barcola is a left winger by trade, having played almost all of his Champions League minutes for PSG on that flank, but his game is shaped by a centre-forward’s instincts. He played as a striker until the age of 17, something reflected in his movement and shot selection.

Last season, he averaged 3.5 shots per 90 minutes in Ligue 1, placing him among the division’s most active shooters despite operating from wide areas.

His 9.83 expected goals (xG) ranked in the 95th percentile among wingers across Europe’s top five leagues, meaning only around 5% of wide players consistently found themselves in better goalscoring positions.

Barcola converted those chances into 11 league goals, outperforming his xG, while no PSG player or Ligue 1 winger recorded a higher xG total during the 2025-26 campaign.

Those instincts are reflected in how he attacks defenders. Barcola was the only player across Europe’s top five leagues to average more than two shot-ending carries per 90 minutes (2.06), illustrating his ability to drive at opponents before creating shooting opportunities for himself.

He also averaged 8.69 touches in the opposition penalty area per 90 minutes - the seventh-highest figure among more than 1,500 eligible players - reinforcing the profile of a winger who consistently occupies goalscoring positions.

His shot map highlights a player who attacks dangerous central areas rather than settling for speculative efforts from distance. Only Ousmane Dembele had a better combined shot volume with chance creation in Ligue 1, underlining Barcola’s rare ability to both finish attacks and create opportunities for team-mates.

The comparison with Salah is equally revealing. While both pose a significant goal threat, Barcola is a more direct ball carrier.

He attempted more take-ons per 90 than the Egypt forward last season (4.26 to 3.38), but created fewer chances (2.16 to 2.33), attempted far fewer crosses (1.15 to 4.89) and through balls (0.25 to 0.59).

The numbers point towards a player who looks to eliminate defenders himself rather than orchestrate attacks from wide areas.

There are also signs that his game continues to evolve under Luis Enrique.

Barcola’s passing profile across his three Champions League campaigns at PSG has become increasingly focused on progressing play in the final third, reflecting greater tactical maturity.

Rather than dribbling at every opportunity, he now shows a better understanding of when to accelerate attacks and when to recycle possession.

His work without the ball is another reason Liverpool’s recruitment team are understood to admire him. Barcola ranked ninth across Europe’s top five leagues for possessions won in the final third last season, a metric that reflects the aggressive pressing and intensity likely to be demanded under Andoni Iraola.

That profile may suit Liverpool’s evolving attack. With Wirtz excelling at releasing runners between the lines, and Ekitike and Isak expected to occupy central defenders, Liverpool arguably need another player capable of attacking space rather than demanding the ball to feet.

Barcola’s willingness to make penetrative runs and arrive in goalscoring positions could provide exactly that.

Perhaps most encouragingly for any prospective buyer, there is reason to believe Barcola has not yet reached his ceiling.

A late physical developer, he has already transformed from a promising Lyon academy graduate into a two-time Champions League winner with PSG.

At just 23, his blend of pace, intelligent movement, elite shot volume, relentless pressing and growing creative output suggests one of Europe’s most complete young wide forwards is still improving.

Mourners line streets of Milan for legend Baresi's funeral

Franco Baresi spent his entire 20-year professional career at AC Milan

Thousands of people gathered on the streets of Milan on Tuesday for the funeral of legendary defender Franco Baresi.

The 66-year old died last week after a period of ill health.

Regarded as one of the greatest defenders to play the game, Baresi captained Milan for 15 seasons, making 719 appearances and scoring 33 goals.

The centre-back won 18 trophies with the Rossoneri: six Serie A titles, three Champions Leagues, four Italian Super Cups, three Uefa Super Cups and two Club World Cups.

He was capped 81 times by Italy and was part of the squad which won the 1982 World Cup. He played and was captain in the 1994 final, which Italy lost to Brazil.

Baresi was made honorary president of Milan in 2020, and his number six shirt was retired when he finished his playing career.

The funeral service was held at Sant’Ambrogio Basilica and club greats including Paolo Maldini, Marco van Basten, Clarence Seedorf, Roberto Baggio and Alessandro Costacurta were in attendance.

The current AC Milan squad is in Australia on a pre-season tour but some first-team players not involved did attend, including USA forward Christian Pulisic.

AC Milan will pay tribute to their former captain ahead of their friendly match again Inter on Wednesday.

The ex-sandwich maker who cycles to Champions League games

Jacob Bergstrom never imagined he would be rubbing shoulders with stars like Yaya Toure in the Champions League.

The 31-year-old was never picked up by a youth academy and was still playing amateur football at 22.

Even after joining Mjallby in 2018, he continued working at Subway to make ends meet. He did not become a full-time professional until he was 24.

But over the past year the burly striker has helped Mjallby win the Swedish championship and Swedish Cup for the first time in their 87-year history.

He then scored on his Champions League debut and now aims to help Mjallby continue their fairytale by overcoming Slovan Bratislava, whose new head coach is Champions League winner and former Manchester City midfielder Toure.

“When I first came here, we were in the third division,” Bergstrom tells BBC Sport. “I was so happy to sign. It was so big to me then.

“I never dreamed of anything like this. It was like, I didn’t even think about it. For me to be here now is crazy, and to do it with Mjallby as well is amazing.”

Last season’s surprise title triumph made headlines around the world, mainly because of Mjallby’s remote location. The club is based in Hallevik, a coastal village in southern Sweden with fewer than 1,000 residents.

As the strongest football team in Blekinge County, Mjallby attract fans from across the region, averaging home crowds of 5,000 last season.

They also attract players such as Bergstrom, who grew up an hour’s drive north in Blekinge’s capital Karlskrona, a naval city where handball and ice hockey are more popular.

When Bergstrom rejoined Mjallby after a brief spell with Stockholm-based Djurgarden in 2023, he and his wife moved to Hallevik. They and their two children now call it home.

Although Hallevik is a sleepy fishing village come the winter, holidaymakers quadruple its population in the summer.

And Bergstrom likes to cycle to games and training at Mjallby’s home ground Strandvallen. It is just 100 metres from the Baltic Sea, nestled between some woods, a campsite and an outdoor swimming pool.

“You have the ocean and the people,” adds Bergstrom. “It’s so beautiful by the water and the beach.

“In the winter there’s not many people here, so it doesn’t fit for everyone, but it fits for us.”

Mjallby fans now regard Bergstrom as one of them. The 6ft 3in target man has come to embody the underdog mentality of the region’s rural communities.

He once celebrated in front of Malmo fans and did not flinch when they showered him with beer, saying later “it tasted very good”.

And after last season’s win at Mjallby’s big-city rivals he grabbed a megaphone and led a chant of “whoever doesn’t jump is a Malmo pig”.

Despite his and Mjallby’s remarkable rise from obscurity, Bergstrom remains a regular guy.

He still cycles to games and fans might still bump into him in the local supermarket, just as BBC Sport did the day after last month’s Champions League qualifier at Strandvallen.

There was a carnival atmosphere for Mjallby’s first European game against Gibraltar’s Lincoln Red Imps. A jazz band welcomed 3,500 fans while another 2,300 carried deckchairs and cool boxes to Hallevik’s marina to watch on a big screen.

“[Playing in Europe] is special for the whole village and for everyone here at the club,” says Bergstrom.

“Every time I take my bike to the game, I see all the people in their yellow and black shirts. Everyone has flags in their garden. It’s so fun to see everyone get together.

“They are so proud to be part of this journey we’ve made together.”

Hallevik has become the second smallest village to stage a Champions League fixture - after Streymnes in the Faroe Islands (population 321).

Before the 3-0 win over the Red Imps, Mjallby fans revealed a tifo which featured a ship and a map of Europe, with a banner which read: “A new chapter in the history books - written by all who dared to dream and those who refused to give up.”

Bergstrom said the tifo was unbelievable while captain Jesper Gustavsson had goosebumps. Gustavsson is one of those that refused to give up - literally.

The 31-year-old is the last survivor of the Mjallby team that avoided relegation to the fourth tier - and probable bankruptcy - on the final day of the 2016 season.

“At that time, me and some team-mates were like ‘are we gonna quit after this season?’” he says.

“It was tough, but we kept going and now I’m living my dream with Mjallby.”

Gustavsson grew up just 20 minutes north of Hallevik. He went to Mjallby games with his dad before making his debut aged 18.

Now the diminutive midfielder leads a loyal, tight-knit group that has a core of local players and punches above its weight.

“It means everything because I’ve been here my whole life,” he says. “Mjallby believed in me so I’m forever grateful.”

A 0-0 draw in Gibraltar meant Mjallby progressed to the third qualifying round to meet Slovan Bratislava, who gave Yaya Toure his first managerial job in June.

The 43-year-old helped Barcelona win the 2009 Champions League final at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico. Tuesday’s first leg at Strandvallen (17:00 BST) will be unlike any Champions League game he’s been involved in.

Many away teams do not like visiting Mjallby. They face a long drive through acres of farmland, with virtually nothing of note except Mjallby flags hanging from tractors.

They reach a modest ground with a vociferous home crowd, which is even louder for European games because Mjallby’s hardcore fans must relocate to the biggest-seated stand.

Toure said Mjallby have “something that other teams don’t have” and now they face the 24-time Slovakian champions for a place in the Champions League play-offs.

But even if Mjallby don’t pull off another upset, they’re guaranteed to play in at least this season’s Conference League so Bergstrom is set to meet a few more stars yet.