Hoffenheim set to sign Club Brugge centre-back Stanley Nsoki

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According to Foot Mercato an agreement is being finalised between Hoffenheim and Club Brugge for former PSG and Nice centre-back Stanley Nsoki (23) who is set to arrive in Germany on a 5-year deal for a transfer fee valued up to €12m. He is also set to complete his medical visit tomorrow. 

The Poissy-born defender, who is currently under contract at Brugge until June 2025, comes off the back of a successful season in Belgium after making 42 appearances for the club – including a Champions League campaign in which the young defender tested himself against the likes of Manchester City and former club Paris Saint-Germain.

At his time in the French capital, the player made 16 appearances in the 2018/19 season – before moving to OGC Nice  where he made 44 appearances between 2019 and 2021, featuring in the club’s Europa League campaign in 4 outings. The centre-back is a two-time Ligue 1 and Trophée des Champions winner – as well as winning the Belgian league with Brugge last season.

 

 

 

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Lens’ Séko Fofana on his future: “I don’t know why I’d be fixated on leaving.”

In an interview with L’Équipe published this afternoon, Lens midfielder Séko Fofana notably discussed his future at the club amid rumours of a departure, and looked ahead to the start of the season, as his team host Brest on Sunday to kick off their campaign.

How are you experiencing this uncertain period, with the transfer window?

I’m very calm about it. I’m not the only decision-maker in this situation. As long as I’m here, I’ll do what I have to do. I’m really happy. Maybe you want to see me elsewhere, I don’t know! [laughs] But right now, things are going very well, there have been new signings and we have a very complete squad. I don’t know why I’d be fixated or leaving and doing my head in with that.

Have you set yourself a deadline to decide on your future?

No. There are no certainties on anything in football. To be honest, as the coach [Franck Haise] said, we are very happy together, we’re working well. There are things that can happen. It’s a situation where lots of people are asking questions, where I’m being linked all over the place. I’m trying not to pay attention to that. The reality is that I’m at Lens right now and I’m very happy to be here. Sometimes, being set on leaving, I wouldn’t say that it scares me but the last two years have gone by quickly. I want to keep enjoying myself and I won’t take any decision lightly.

[…] Are you targeting a European place with Lens this season?

You might be, I’m not. The goal is not to put ourselves under pressure. We’ve had two good seasons. It’s true that maybe people expect us to go higher. This season, the league will be another proposition because there are four relegation spots, it’s a lot. So at the start of the campaign, I can’t really tell you what the objective is.

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Milan Škriniar heading towards Inter extension as PSG still push for deal

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According to today’s L’Équipe paper Paris Saint-Germain target Milan Škriniar is likely heading towards a contract extension at Inter Milan despite PSG still pushing for the Slovak defender – the Serie A side are still demanding €70m for the defender.

The Parisian side were still confident over a deal last month, but the negotiations for the defender have dragged on into August with PSG unwilling to match Inter’s €70m valuation.

As reported by Get French Football News, the centre-back was one of three players the Ligue 1 champions had agreed personal terms in principle with last month, along with Gianluca Scamacca and Renato Sanches. Scamacca joined West Ham United late last month, yet a move for Renato Sanches is edging closer as the player is set to complete a medical in Paris this week.

The Slovakia international has been with the club for the last five years, making over 200 appearances and notably playing a part in the 2020/21 title win under Antonio Conte.

 

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Kasper Schmeichel set for Nice medical ahead of move from Leicester

Santi Aouna of Foot Mercato reports this afternoon that Kasper Schmeichel is set to undergo his medical on Wednesday ahead of a move from Leicester to Nice.

The Danish international will sign a three-year contract with Les Aiglons, as he leaves the Premier League side after an eleven-year spell during which he notably won the 2015/16 Premier League title and reached the Champions League quarter finals.

An agreement was reached between the two clubs over a €1m fee, which excludes potential add-ons of which several would be activated if Nice qualify for the Champions League.

The goalkeeper had agreed to join the Ligue 1 club last week after initially giving himself time to think about the offer, while Leicester appeared to be unwilling to let him go at first until they found a replacement number one.

The Dane arrives as a replacement for the Franco-Argentine Walter Benítez, who left on a free transfer to PSV Eindhoven, while initial target Yann Sommer changed his mind on joining despite having a contract offer on the table.and a fee being agreed with Borussia Mönchengladbach.

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Jonathan Sexton: Ireland captain a doubt for the Six Nations after suffering an injury with Leinster

Jonathan Sexton is in doubt for Ireland’s Six Nations campaign after Leinster confirmed the fly-half would miss their upcoming match against Ospreys.

The Ireland captain suffered a facial injury in Leinster’s United Rugby Championship (URC) match against Connacht on New Year’s Day and is a serious doubt for the Six Nations.

High tackle

Sexton suffered the injury in the final quarter of Leinster’s 41-12 victory over Connacht when he made a tackle on Jarrad Butler.

The 37-year-old was replaced shortly afterwards, sporting a nasty dent on his head.

Leinster confirmed on Tuesday that Sexton will be unavailable for selection against Ospreys as he had suffered a cheek bone injury. 

The Irish province did not specify whether he broke or fractured a bone but did say that he would have a procedure on Tuesday and would be further assessed afterwards.

Further injury updates

Sexton joins scrum-half Luke McGrath and back-rower Max Deegan on the sidelines after the pair picked up ankle injuries against Connacht.

Meanwhile, prop Tadhg Furlong and flanker Will Connors are closing in on returns for Leinster as they step up their rehabilitation programmes this week.

Furlong is working his way back from an ankle injury and Connors from a bicep injury.

There was no further injury news from the club with the following players still ruled out through injury: Thomas Clarkson (arm), Ed Byrne (knee), Jason Jenkins (hamstring), Robbie Henshaw (wrist), Martin Moloney (knee), Ciarán Frawley (knee), Charlie Ryan (knee) and Tommy O’Brien (knee).

Ireland kick off their Six Nations campaign on February 4 against Wales, providing some time for Sexton to recover.

After the Ospreys, Leinster have Champions Cup fixtures against Gloucester and Racing 92 before a clash with Cardiff ahead before the URC goes on a break for the Six Nations.

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Nottingham Forest join Leicester in bid to sign OL’s Houssem Aouar

According to Foot Mercato Nottingham Forest are set to join Leicester City in a bidding war to sign Lyon’s Houssem Aouar. According to reports, the newly-promoted Premier League side are keen on the midfielder but could face competition from two other interested parties which include Leicester City and La Liga side Real Betis. Lyon are not willing to let Aouar go, but could consider a departure if they receive a bid for around €15m.

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Leicester City, who are yet to bring in any recruits this summer, have made Aouar a priority to strengthen their midfield and to also soften the blow of the potential departure of England’s James Maddison – who is being pursued by fellow Premier League side Newcastle United. 

Last month Lyon accepted an offer from Real Betis which included midfielder William Carvalho in the deal – however Les Gones were unwilling to give in to the player’s high salary demands.

Aouar, though, was holding off accepting the offer as he believed he should be moving to a better club, according to sources contacted by Get French Football News.

In any case, the French international has confirmed his desire to leave to the Lyon upper management. With just one year left on his contract, the club know they will need to sell him this summer to get a transfer fee.

 

 

Kylian Mbappé to return for PSG next weekend

Following Paris Saint-Germain’s 5-0 victory over Clermont in what was Christophe Galtier’s first match in Ligue 1 as the Parisian boss, the manager spoke to Canal+ following the game on Kylian Mbappé’s absence, caused by a minor injury and kept out of the team as a precaution. Galtier confirmed the French international will be back next weekend for PSG’s home game against Montpellier. 

“We wanted to preserve him, if it was a Champions League match, he might have played but he will be with us next weekend! We are in the continuity of what we’ve been doing since the start of pre-season in Japan or the Champions Trophy. The team is better set up than at the start, which is normal. We have a lot of talent but what I remember is the collective desire to want to win the ball back early with intensity. The team played very well, they want to play with each other, they make efforts. Pablo is making effort, Messi and Neymar are equally doing so in response.”

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AlphaTauri lands new marketing head to boost team fortunes

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AlphaTauri has created a new ‘head of commercial’ position within the team’s management, as the squad strives to shore up its finances with the operation’s continued existence believed to in question.

Rumours have been circulating that the parent Red Bull energy drinks company sees AlphaTauri as being too expensive for the relatively little it achieves on the track and is exploring various cost-cutting options.

Team boss Franz Tost last week denied rumours in the German media that Red Bull is exploring options to sell AlphaTauri in the wake of the death of founder Dietrich Mateschitz last year.

  • Read also: AlphaTauri dispels rumors of team’s sale by Red Bull

One way of bolstering AlphaTauri’s position would be to improve its financial position through more effective marketing, which will be the focus for Lars Stegelmann whose appointment was announced this week.

Stegelmann was previously chief commercial officer of the Motorsport Network, and later managed the sales team at ITR, the DTM Series organiser until 2022.

He also worked on the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the European football association UEFA, and the original sales and marketing concept, development and implementation of the all-electric ABB FIA Formula E championship.

“Interest in Formula 1 has developed extremely well,” Tost explained. “With the support of Lars, we also want to develop our commercial activities,

“He has an exciting mix of strategic know-how, international sales experience and a great understanding of the advertising industry.”

For his part, Stegelmann agreed that “Formula 1 is booming and is offering companies excellent activation and communication opportunities, premium hospitality and awareness on a global scale like no other sport series.

“The various stakeholders, especially the advertisers and agencies, have been my clients for many years,” he added. “I look forward to making my contribution to further global development.”

“The positioning of Scuderia AlphaTauri fits perfectly into the current times and offers a first-class platform for companies that want to appear modern, young and dynamic, digital, design and technology-oriented.”

Among the possible cost-cutting options believed to be under discussion is relocating the team from Faenza to the UK to benefit from integrating back office services with the senior Red Bull Racing squad at Milton Keynes.

So far this season, AlphaTauri is one of only two teams (along with McLaren) nopt to score any championship points in the first two round sof the year in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Yuki Tsunoda has twice finished just outside the top ten in P11, while new signing Nyck de Vries has been 14th at the end of both races.

A clearly frustrated Tost said last week that he ‘no longer trusted’ the team’s engineers after the AT04 failed to live up to their predictions of pace and performance.

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Piastri looks to Aston for inspiration amid McLaren slump

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It’s not been a good start to the new season for McLaren, or for its rookie driver Oscar Piastri who replaced Daniel Ricciardo behind the wheel over the winter off-season.

The 21-year-old Australian was the first driver to retire from a race in 2023, just 20 minutes into the Bahrain GP. While he did finish the second race in Saudi Arabia, it was well outside the points after sustaining damage on the opening lap.

But it’s not just Piastri who is suffering amid McLaren’s serious slump in form. His experienced team mate Lando Norris has also failed to finish in the points so far this season.

  • Read also: McLaren announces organisational changes – Key departs

It’s certainly not the way that the squad wanted to start its 60th anniversary year of operation, but Piastri is determined to remain optimistic and points to a rival teams’ rapid turnaround as inspiration.

“We’re obviously not where we want to be at the moment and we’ve been very open about that,” Piastri said in Jeddah.

“At this point, getting laps under my belt is still the most important thing. In the end, there was good experience gained,” he said, lamenting the damage done to his front wing on the first lap of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

“Qualifying was obviously a really good day for myself and the team – just a shame about lap one,” he told Australian sports website Speedcafe.

“After that, the race was reasonable. Doing 49 laps on the hards is just some good learning for us on the tyres and stuff like that,” he said. “Definitely some positives, just the results don’t really show it on Sunday at the moment, unfortunately.

“[But] we’ve got a good development programme in place to try and get ourselves back to where we should be, which is chasing the top three or four teams,” he continued, referring to Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin.

“Obviously to get on the same level as those top three or four teams is difficult,” he acknowledged.

“But I think we can probably take inspiration from what Aston Martin has been able to do over the winter and try and energise ourselves with it is possible to make that jump with a lot of hard work.”

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The sudden rise of Aston has been the talk of the paddock over the first two race weekends of 2023.

Last year the squad finished in a lowly seventh place with just 55 points (compared to Red Bull’s runaway 759 points at the end of the 22-race season.

Although the team wrapped up the season with a double points finish in the final race at Abu Dhabi, Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel were only P8 and P10.

But right from the start of pre-season testing, Fernando Alonso has been leading the charge against the frontrunners and succeeded in joining Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez on the podium in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Piastri believes that if Aston can pull off such a remarkable ‘overnight’ turnaround, then so can McLaren.

“Yeah, I think obviously we want to try and get back,” he said, pinning his hopes on an upcoming upgrade package scheduled for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the end of April.

“We’ll see what these new developments in Baku bring for us, but obviously it’s going to be a step in what is a multi-step plan for us this year.”

Before that, Piastri is set to star in what will be his first home Grand Prix at Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit.

“Obviously, it’s my first home race as a driver, which will be an amazing experience, regardless of how it goes. So yeah, can’t wait.”

Of course, even better would be his to come away from next weekend’s race with his first world championship points in the bag. But let’s not get carried away about the team’s prospects quite so soon.

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Mauro Icardi misses out on PSG’s opening Ligue 1 game due to private issue

L’Équipe report today that Mauro Icardi is absent from the Paris Saint-Germain squad to start the Ligue 1 season off against Clermont tonight so as to allow him to settle a private matter.

The Argentine, who is among the 11 players who were placed on the club’s transfer list at the start of the summer, remains at the club but was ostensibly not set aside by Christophe Galtier for tactical reasons.

The former Inter man had been in the squad for the pre-season tour of Japan, but was an unused substitute in the 4-0 win over Nantes in Tel-Aviv that saw the team lift the Trophée des Champions.

Icardi had missed several days of training last season amid a much-publicised separation with his wife and agent Wanda Nara, which would even see him miss out on a Champions League fixture against Leipzig.

The press in Argentina have indicated in the last few days that Nara has once again asked for a divorce, which the player himself has denied on social media. It remains unclear whether his absence from tonight’s game is linked.

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