Football

10:13 AM ET Tuesday marks officially one week to go before the summer transfer window closes for 2021, meaning all the big clubs are racing to fill gaps in the squad, find new clubs for fringe players or figure out the financials to make the signing of the season. Where do Man City and Tottenham

4:00 AM ET The sparkling pair of 24-karat goals Vinicius Junior scored on Sunday for Real Madrid at Levante in LaLiga was so shimmeringly beautiful that it would be easy to be distracted by the duo’s majesty. It would be simplicity itself to be focus exclusively on the killer-clinical finishes, or to hail the theatrical

12:26 PM ET What a weekend of fun we had across Europe! There were big wins for Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City in the Premier League, a big fight in Ligue 1 that will resonate for some time, and some off-field drama involving Cristiano Ronaldo‘s status at Juventus. Also we saw Barcelona, Man United and

6:30 AM ET Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has set a scorching pace in the race for the 2021-22 Premier League Playmaker of the Season award (given to the player who registers the most assists) so far. Two games in and he has already managed five assists for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team, more than he

6:29 PM ET Depay’s under pressure to fill the void left by Messi and while he’ll never do what the Argentine did, he can certainly be the goalscorer and creative force Barcelona need. David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images What a weekend! Barcelona appear to found a nice balance in attack — and perhaps their new talisman in

7:17 PM ET Alex KirklandESPN FC Vinicius Junior came off the bench to score twice as Real Madrid were held to a wild 3-3 draw at Levante on Sunday. Gareth Bale opened the scoring in the first five minutes after David Alaba spotted Karim Benzema’s run down the left. The forward pulled back for Bale

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1:23 PM ET Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was furious at Burnley’s treatment of his players during their 2-0 win on Saturday and said: “It’s like we’re going 10 to 15 years backwards.” Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane scored as Liverpool started the Premier League season with back-to-back wins but Klopp was unhappy about the number

1:36 PM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent MANCHESTER, England — Jack Grealish celebrated his first Manchester City goal by putting his fingers in his ears, but you can already tell he’s listening to Pep Guardiola. It’s probably not the way Grealish dreamt it — the ball bouncing off his knee and over the line to help City

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5:00 AM ET Romelu Lukaku has a five-year contract to try and replicate the impact of his idol Didier Drogba at Chelsea but Sunday’s trip to Arsenal gives him the perfect opportunity to start. There will be a sense of foreboding among many of the home contingent at the Emirates this weekend, mindful not just

11:52 AM ET The overlap between when the European soccer season begins (this season: Aug. 8) and when the summer transfer window closes (Aug. 31) is ripe for confusion and overreaction — we’re responding to early impressions from a given team when we don’t even know who’s going to be on its roster for the

4:00 AM ET Manchester United have added Kylian Mbappe to their list of striker targets for next summer — ESPN’s Insider Notebook has the latest. PLUS: Why Raphael Varane almost missed his grand entrance. Jump to: Varane almost missed United unveiling | Messimania in Paris | Benzema’s Real deal | Lyon’s meltdown | Explaining Arsenal’s

4:00 AM ET The transfer window deadline in Europe has is just under two weeks away and clubs are busy putting the finishing touches to their squads for the new season. 2 Related However, while there have been some big-money moves already (Man City dropping £100m to land Jack Grealish, Chelsea spending £97.5m to sign

10:00 AM ET Austin LindbergESPN FC First it was Tanner Tessmann. Then it was Sam Vines. Now it’s Gianluca Busio. Three homegrown players from Major League Soccer (two of whom, Tessmann and Busio, are teenagers) are leaving their clubs midseason for the brighter lights of European football. Tessmann and Busio are moving to Venezia FC,

9:15 AM ET Social media is a boon for athletes because it allows them to speak directly to the world. No filters, no club press officers, no sponsor PR reps, no misquotes. Just their voice, with their chosen words and the opportunity to clarify and rectify. Somebody probably should have told Cristiano Ronaldo’s social media

10:31 PM ET John Tolkin scored his first career goal and Carlos Miguel Coronel made four saves when the New York Red Bulls defeated the Columbus Crew 1-0 in Harrison, N.J., on Wednesday to end a seven-game winless streak. Tolkin, the 19-year-old homegrown product in his 16th MLS game, put the Red Bulls (6-9-4, 22

2:34 AM ET Cristiano Ronaldo has lashed out over the transfer rumours regarding his future, accusing people of being “disrespectful” yet stopping short of committing his future to Serie A giants Juventus. The former Real Madrid forward, who scored a record 451 goals during his nine years at the club from 2009-18, was linked with